Jeri Ryan on the Possible Studio-Suggested Clause in the Proposed New Contract: ‘If it’s All AI, This Entire Industry is Gone’

Hours after the SAG-AFTRA negotiating committee delivered their counter to the AMPTP’s “last, best, and final” offer on Monday, November 6, The Hollywood Reporter had alarming details about one of the key AI issues allegedly holding up a possible deal.

“Multiple sources familiar with the state of the negotiations tell The Hollywood Reporter that SAG-AFTRA has pushed back on an AI clause that is included in the studios’ latest offer. The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers is seeking to secure AI scans for Schedule F performers — guild members who earn more than the minimum for series regulars ($32,000 per TV episode) and feature films ($60,000). The companies’ suggested clause would require studios and streamers to pay to scan the likeness of Schedule F performers. SAG-AFTRA is seeking to attach compensation for the reuse of AI scans, as AMPTP member companies would also need to secure consent from the performer. The language in the AMPTP’s offer would see the studios and streamers secure the right to use scans of deceased performers without the consent of their estate or SAG-AFTRA, according to a union-side source.”

Naturally, the THR article and the implications of what the clause could mean for the industry was a hot topic on the WB picket line on Tuesday, November 7.

“They’re already doing that, by the way,” Jeri Ryan tells Give Me My Remote. If protections aren’t secured to stop that, acting as a career “would be gone. And that’s why we had IATSE out here in force yesterday with us, which is the union for the rest of the crew, basically. It’s why the writers are still out here with us. It’s why Teamsters have been out here with us. Because [the studios’] endgame is to get rid of actors.”

“They want their few A-listers that they can use and then everything else will be AI,” she continues. “They don’t have to deal with hair and makeup. They don’t have any craft services. They don’t have to deal with crews, they don’t have to deal with any of the rest of it. So they don’t need camera operators. They don’t need lighting. They don’t need costumes. They don’t need props. If it’s all AI, this entire industry is gone. There are no drivers driving people around. There are no trucks, there are no sets to build.”

For the actors themselves, outside of losing out on income (both while they’re alive and for their estate post-death), a digital replica would also take away their autonomy.

“They could do anything [with it],” Ryan says. “We have to have control. There are other things we can give or take on and be happy or not happy. That one, there is no wiggle room. All they need is a crack. That’s all they need. Our language has to be so airtight—and that’s why they’re being careful and that’s why we’ve got the best attorneys; that’s why they are wording this the way it has to be worded and why they’re fighting back so hard.”

“They can make you do whatever,” she continues. “Without our consent being tied into it, they can throw you in nude scenes, they can throw you in sex scenes, they can throw you in all kinds of stuff that you would object to or I’d never ever agree to do as a real job. It’s big. And it’s everyone’s industry.”

Ryan is a regular on the strike lines, drawing love from both regular picketers and those who pop in for a day or two. (One such admirer quickly popped in during our interview to express her love for Ryan’s work.) But the actress has also taken the extra step of using her large platform on social media to bring fans into this process, shedding light on the rumors that frequently spread.

“The people that we talk to directly can know what they see in say, Deadline, for example, specifically—we know that that’s bullshit,” Ryan explains. “But the wider audience doesn’t necessarily. So they’re reading this in the trades and they’re thinking, ‘Oh my god, this is true. We’re this close to a deal!’ And it’s not true. And it is so important—so important—that we all amplify that message as far and wide as we can.”

“People need to understand that [the trades] are owned by the AMPTP, they are owned by the studios,” she continues. “This is all crap that’s being dropped by their crisis PR firm that they hired to make themselves look better. And it’s not real. Not one word of what came out last week was real, none of it. The AI deal, I can tell you, was crap. So people need to listen to what our negotiating committee says; as soon as they can, they will release information. We’re supposed to be under a media blackout, by the way, which we’re adhering to…until it comes from SAG-AFTRA, directly, it is not real.”

The NegCom and the studios continue to negotiate, but Ryan also makes it clear she’s in it for the long haul, if necessary.

“We are here and we will be here another f—ing year if we need to be,” she says. “I hope it’s not! But they’re doing exactly what they said they were gonna do, which is try to starve everybody out. Screw them. They don’t get to do that. We’re here as long as it takes.”

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