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https://nerdist.com/article/sag-aftra-strike-what-you-need-to-know-what-is-it-what-does-it-mean/
SAG-AFTRA is going on strike as of Thursday afternoon after four weeks of negotiations. It’s the first time the union has called a strike for this contract in 40 years. The union that represents some 160,000 working performers across many media called the strike on July 13. This news comes after the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) failed to meet the guild’s requests for more fair compensation, among other items. President Fran Drescher and chief negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland shared the announcement in a press conference. They explained they had hoped the union would not be forced to strike.
SAG-AFTRA’s contract expired on June 30, then received an extension through July 12, but AMPTP wouldn’t budge. SAG-AFTRA will be on strike as of midnight July 14. The Screen Actors Guild will join the Writers Guild of America (the WGA) on the picket lines. That union has been on strike since May 2 after the AMPTP failed to meet their proposals for better compensation and equity for its members. Here’s what you should know about the SAG-AFTRA strike.
Why Is SAG-AFTRA Striking?
SAG-AFTRA’s negotiating committee made requests for its members on numerous points from AMPTP, who negotiates on behalf of Netflix, Amazon, Apple, Disney, Discovery-Warner, NBC Universal, Paramount, and Sony. As with the WGA strike, the change in the content business model to favor streaming plays a huge role in negotiations. Streaming has had a negative impact on actor residuals. Additionally, the union has concerns about the use of generative AI technology and the transfer of audition costs to the actors with the increasing call for self-taped auditions.
Crabtree-Ireland explained during SAG-AFTRA’s press conference that one of the AMPTP’s proposals was that member background actors should “be able to be scanned, get paid for one day’s pay, and their company should own that scan, their image, their likeness and to be able to use it for the rest of eternity in any project they want with no consent and no compensation.”
What Does the SAG-AFTRA Strike Mean?
The strike applies to performers working under SAG-AFTRA’s 2020 TV/theatrical contract. Union members cannot work on set or promote current or past series. For example, the Oppenheimer cast left the UK premiere as SAG-AFTRA announced the strike. SAG-AFTRA issued a strike notice to its members about what they can and cannot do. Crabtree-Ireland noted members cannot participate in panels, Emmy campaigns, or promote projects on social media. The upcoming San Diego Comic-Con, which has become a key promotional event for many studios, will look very different.
The strike means work ceases immediately. Some filming for already written series or films has continued since the WGA strike began in May. Now, however, the Hollywood machine will essentially stop. Some series, like House of the Dragon, have casts who are filming under different contracts. The UK production, like most in that country, is under Actor’s Equity rather than SAG-AFTRA. Many productions will pause, though, and we will see emptier content schedules in the near future. This will continue until AMPTP returns to the negotiating table with SAG-AFTRA and WGA.
Get more details about picket schedules and more at SAG-AFTRA’s site.
Originally published on July 13, 2023.
The post Here’s What You Should Know About the Actors’ Strike appeared first on Nerdist.
SAG-AFTRA is going on strike as of Thursday afternoon after four weeks of negotiations. It’s the first time the union has called a strike for this contract in 40 years. The union that represents some 160,000 working performers across many media called the strike on July 13. This news comes after the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) failed to meet the guild’s requests for more fair compensation, among other items. President Fran Drescher and chief negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland shared the announcement in a press conference. They explained they had hoped the union would not be forced to strike.
SAG-AFTRA’s contract expired on June 30, then received an extension through July 12, but AMPTP wouldn’t budge. SAG-AFTRA will be on strike as of midnight July 14. The Screen Actors Guild will join the Writers Guild of America (the WGA) on the picket lines. That union has been on strike since May 2 after the AMPTP failed to meet their proposals for better compensation and equity for its members. Here’s what you should know about the SAG-AFTRA strike.
Why Is SAG-AFTRA Striking?
SAG-AFTRA’s negotiating committee made requests for its members on numerous points from AMPTP, who negotiates on behalf of Netflix, Amazon, Apple, Disney, Discovery-Warner, NBC Universal, Paramount, and Sony. As with the WGA strike, the change in the content business model to favor streaming plays a huge role in negotiations. Streaming has had a negative impact on actor residuals. Additionally, the union has concerns about the use of generative AI technology and the transfer of audition costs to the actors with the increasing call for self-taped auditions.
Crabtree-Ireland explained during SAG-AFTRA’s press conference that one of the AMPTP’s proposals was that member background actors should “be able to be scanned, get paid for one day’s pay, and their company should own that scan, their image, their likeness and to be able to use it for the rest of eternity in any project they want with no consent and no compensation.”
What Does the SAG-AFTRA Strike Mean?
The strike applies to performers working under SAG-AFTRA’s 2020 TV/theatrical contract. Union members cannot work on set or promote current or past series. For example, the Oppenheimer cast left the UK premiere as SAG-AFTRA announced the strike. SAG-AFTRA issued a strike notice to its members about what they can and cannot do. Crabtree-Ireland noted members cannot participate in panels, Emmy campaigns, or promote projects on social media. The upcoming San Diego Comic-Con, which has become a key promotional event for many studios, will look very different.
The strike means work ceases immediately. Some filming for already written series or films has continued since the WGA strike began in May. Now, however, the Hollywood machine will essentially stop. Some series, like House of the Dragon, have casts who are filming under different contracts. The UK production, like most in that country, is under Actor’s Equity rather than SAG-AFTRA. Many productions will pause, though, and we will see emptier content schedules in the near future. This will continue until AMPTP returns to the negotiating table with SAG-AFTRA and WGA.
Get more details about picket schedules and more at SAG-AFTRA’s site.
Originally published on July 13, 2023.
The post Here’s What You Should Know About the Actors’ Strike appeared first on Nerdist.
Secret Invasion is full of Skrulls. There are so many, in fact, that we don’t know who is human and who is not. Like Nick Fury, we truly don’t trust anyone, especially James “Rhodey” Rhodes. The pair’s tense and powerful conversation in episode two, a few story hints, and Rhodey’s general vibes had everyone like hmmmm. But is Rhodey a Skrull in Secret Invasion? In episode four, we discover that the answer is a resounding yes. Rhodey is, in fact, a Skrull, at least in this Marvel series, even though Rhodey was never a Skrull in the comics. But how long has Rhodey been a Skrull on Secret Invasion and in the MCU, and how did he get replaced? Let’s take a look at what we know so far about Rhodey and how we discover he’s a Skrull.
Rhodey’s Slip of the Tongue Pointed to Him Being a Skrull
Long before we got our Rhodey Skrull confirmation in Secret Invasion episode four, there was a lot of evidence in Rhodey and Fury’s not-so-friendly chat in episode two of Secret Invasion. Not only was the potential Skrull wildly disrespectful (even for Rhodey) when he volunteered to fire his comrade, he called Fury “Nick.” As we all know, no one calls Nick Fury by his first name except his mother. In episode three, Fury affirms this when he catches a Skrull who imitates Talos because he calls him Nick. The real Rhodey knows Nick is the incorrect address for Fury, a person he’s known for a long time… but a Skrull doesn’t know this.
Rhodey Was the Mysterious Voice on the Phone in Secret Invasion Episode Three
At the end of Secret Invasion‘s third episode, Fury’s wife (and known Skrull) Priscilla gets a mysterious phone call from someone. She tells this person that she needs to speak to Gravik, but the voice says that her only choice is to talk to him.
That person sounded a lot like Rhodey, further hinting at him being a Skrull. And, of course, we discover in episode four that it was Rhodey or at least the Skrull version of him. Secret Invasion brings Rhodey and Priscilla together, and he asks her to kill Fury. She doesn’t do this, of course, and Fury hears their plan, which leads him to Rhodey’s house for a confrontation.
Rhodey Is Indeed a Skrull… and Nick Fury Surely Knows It
We see a Skrull hopping out of the shower. The alien being looks in the mirror, and its face transforms into James Rhodes. Yep, we were right. Rhodey is indeed a Skrull in Secret Invasion. He comes out of the bathroom and is shocked to see Fury sitting at his dining room table. (Should anyone be shocked by Fury breaking and entering at this point?) Once again, Fury asks him about getting his job back, and Skrull Rhodey isn’t trying to hear it. He even shows Fury a video of when Gravik (disguised as Fury) shoots Maria Hill and says he will use it if needed. Fury leaves without causing a ruckus, but surely he knows the truth about this James Rhodes.
How Long Has James Rhodes Been a Skrull in the MCU?
So, how long has Rhodey been a Skrull in the MCU? Once again, it’s hard to know for sure at this point. But we’d wager not long. We highly doubt Rhodey has been a Skrull since the beginning of his time in the MCU, and he probably wasn’t even one when we saw him last in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. He was likely still himself and not a Skrull before the events of Spider-Man: Far From Home, which took place in 2024 before G’iah knew about her mom’s death. (For context, this show takes place in 2026.) So, the clearest answer at this point is that it took place during this gap, which is after the Blip.
Where is the real Rhodey now? Most likely, we’ll find Rhodey trapped with the other humans whose forms the Skrulls take in Gravik’s compound. Since he’s a main character though, there’s probably a little more to it than that.
Either way, the truth about Rhodey being a Skrull in Secret Invasion is finally confirmed.
Originally published on July 5, 2023.
The post Is James ‘Rhodey’ Rhodes a Skrull in SECRET INVASION? appeared first on Nerdist.
The Supreme Court has invalidated President Joe Biden’s student loan debt relief plan, meaning the long-delayed proposal intended to fulfill a campaign promise will not go into effect. The justices, divided 6-3 on political lines, rejected the Biden administration’s arguments that the plan was lawful under a 2003 law called the Higher Education Relief Opportunities for Students Act, or HEROES Act. The law says the government can provide relief to recipients of student loans when there is a “national emergency,” allowing it to act to ensure people are not in “a worse position financially” as a result of the emergency.
Biden said the ruling was disappointing and vowed to take additional steps to relieve the financial burden on those holding student loan debt. “I will stop at nothing to find other ways to deliver relief to hard-working middle-class families,” he said. “My administration will continue to work to bring the promise of higher education to every American.”
Biden has been talking a good game for quite a while now, and we have to ask ourselves why we’ve been so supportive of him. It could be because he was President Obama’s right hand, which, for some, gave him an automatic stamp of approval. Or, it could be because in the 2020 election he was the lesser of two evils, which caused us to be more receptive to the storyline he was feeding us. Biden has always hooked us in, but he has a long history of being disconnected on the issues of race and economic development in the Black community.
Biden won 92 percent of the Black vote in 2020, and he needs just as much to win re-election next year. But the reality is that he hasn’t honored the current soil or done the real work to fulfill promises that he made. The truth is, he’s made no difference in Black people’s lives.
Student loan debt has been the culprit for making the racial wealth gap wider over the past few decades. Black families had 25 cents for every dollar of white family wealth, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. Because Black families have less wealth, their children typically need to borrow more for their education. Nearly 85 percent of Black students graduate with their bachelor’s degree holding student debt, compared to nearly 70 percent of white bachelor’s degree recipients.
Because of historic racial and economic inequities, Black student loan borrowers struggle to repay their debt more than their white peers. Without student loan forgiveness, these challenges will only get worse.
Biden’s Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona called out Republicans by name for their hypocrisy on student loan forgiveness and for accepting “millions of dollars” for their businesses through COVID-era loans. “It’s outrageous to me that Republicans in Congress and state offices fought so hard against a program that would have helped millions of their own constituents,” Cardona said.
I had the opportunity to attend a virtual White House briefing with Cardona, Under Secretary of Education James Kvaal, and Deputy Director of the White House National Economic Council Bharat Ramamurti to discuss the Supreme Court’s decision and what happens now.
The administration has three immediate focal points.
- First, under an alternative authority, the Higher Education Act, they will seek to provide debt relief to as many borrowers as possible as quickly as possible. The first step is a public hearing to take place later this month that will be in partnership with the public’s opinion.
- Second, with loan repayments beginning in the fall, they are focused on the most vulnerable borrowers who may not be able to make their payments. It’s a 12-month on-ramp period in which payments will be due and interest will continue to be accrue. However, if a borrower misses a payment or two, they will not be put into delinquency, go into default, or be reported to a credit agency.
- Third, they are rolling out an income-based repayment plan which they call “extraordinarily generous” plan for lower income and middle-class borrowers. Under this plan, those who had been making significant monthly payments before will be paying substantially less and, in some cases, nothing at all. These borrowers would also still qualify to have their loans forgiven under any new plan.
Honestly, I didn’t hear anything hopeful within this briefing. It’s more of the same, and these are not permanent solutions. The alternative plan they are aligning with now is from 1965. I don’t understand why they continue to force a square into a circle.
Student debt as a means of running a mass higher education system dependent on tuition has failed. The income-based plan, in particular, will not work in my opinion. As student loan balances escalate, repayment has become increasingly difficult. The solution for student loan default has been complex, including refinancing defaulted loans with loans that are not yet in default. Perhaps, they believe the answer is to simply reduce required payments to a give back a percentage of disposable income. What I see is converting the short-term problem of delinquency into a long-term problem of nonrepayment.
I believe that Black voters are just tired of being tired; tired of being disappointed whenever our issues are never addressed. The seeds always seem to get planted — to pacify us — but the soil is never tended to. Biden has been pandering to us for years, especially when it’s time to vote. His pledge to achieve his first-term promises have forced most of us into frustration because those promises have fallen by the wayside. The fact that he will not directly and progressively address this student debt issue is a disgrace. When things don’t go according to what you said publicly, Joe, you can’t just sweep them under the rug and think we’ll forget.
Canceling student loans completely will grow the economy. Student debt changes how Black households decide where to live, what type of career to have, and whether to start a family or a business. Biden has to create a progressive plan that will cancel student loan debt and not just temporarily remediate it.