Hollywood Strike: Solidarity, Surprising Pay, and Pan-European Festival

Actors from the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) picketed outside Netflix's Hollywood headquarters in scorching heat to show solidarity as the SAG-AFTRA strike against Hollywood studios and production entities began. The strike addresses the issue of declining residuals and the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) tools, which threaten the livelihood of actors, particularly background players and extras. The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers' AI proposal, which allows the scanning of background actors' likenesses for perpetual use in exchange for a one-time fee, has raised concerns. Actors are determined to protect their profession and highlight the importance of fair compensation and the preservation of artistic integrity.