Seth Rogen says ‘still a great distance to go’ in Hollywood writers’ dispute – as strike enters its 100th day
Seth Rogen says the film studios and streaming giants are unable to get on the same page because they “hate each other” as the Hollywood writers’ strike enters its 100th day with no hint of an agreement.
Both actors and writers are on strike for the first time since 1960, bringing the film and TV industry to a standstill and wreaking financial havoc in Los Angeles.
Traditional film studios like Disney, Universal and Warner Brothers and streaming giants, like Amazon and Netflix, are represented in negotiations by the same body, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP).
But Rogen, who is an actor, writer and executive producer, says they have hugely different priorities.
“The studios haven’t even spoken to each other, is what I’ve heard,” Rogen told Sky News.
“So not only does it seem as though the writers and actors have a great distance to go when it comes to the studios, I think the studios have a great distance to go, probably a greater one, when it goes to them getting on the same page.
A person holds a sign on the picket line of the writers’ strike in Hollywood
“These are people who hate each other. To think that Universal has the same priorities as Netflix is insane.
“What concerns me is that they will be completely unable to bring forth a coherent and unified proposal because of their own infighting and divergent priorities.”
Rogen starred in and was an executive producer on films such as Superbad, Pineapple Express and Knocked Up.
Actors and writers are striking for a number of reasons, but dwindling pay and controls around Artificial Intelligence are the main sticking points.
‘If you need me, pay me’
Sheryl Lee Ralph, an Emmy nominated actress, says AI threatens creativity in filmmaking.
“If we can all be artificially generated, that’s frightening,” she tells Sky News.
Sheryl Lee Ralph, an Emmy nominated actress, says AI threatens creativity in filmmaking
“We need something that’s far more important. We need the art of human beings. I want to know, would William Shakespeare stand for this? I think not.”
But Ralph says she would consider selling her digital likeness for use after her death, provided she had given her consent and received compensation.
“If I die and somebody wants to scan my body before I die, they can scan it for a price to make sure that generations after me are not left out of whatever money somebody else makes on my image.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Zoe Saldana backs actors’ strike
“I don’t want somebody to take my image, repurpose it, put another face on it and I get nothing from it.
“Just be fair. Compensate me. What did Diana Ross say? ‘If you need me, pay me.'”
‘Technology not the problem – it’s how it is used’
Flawless AI is one of the biggest AI companies in film.
They designed a system, called TrueSync, to provide a better dubbing solution for films translated into other languages.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Actors’ strike: ‘We will not allow you to take away our dignity’
Read more:
US actors’ strike: Why are Hollywood stars walking out
Hollywood stars strike outside Netflix and Disney
TrueSync creates deepfake-style effects altering the mouth movements of actors to match the alternate dialogue being spoken.
Chief executive Nick Lynes recognises that AI in film faces a PR battle.
“I can understand why people are scared,” he says.
Chief Executive of Flawless AI, Nick Lynes
“Generative AI is legitimately as powerful as people talk about, but we work very much in cooperation with all the stakeholders and we have done for a long time.
“Our view is that if any new creation has come from data born from other people’s existing creation, then the relevant consent and the relevant compensation needs to be arranged.
“I’m not sure technology is ever the bad guy, it’s how it’s being used.”
Strike may last well into the autumn
Justine Bateman, a writer and director, has been on the picket line most days of the strike.
The Hollywood writers’ strike has entered its 100th day, with no hint of an agreement around the corner.
She views the debate in binary terms.
“I think it’s a zero-sum game,” she says.
“It’s using generative AI to make films or using people. When you’re talking about the greed that motivates people to use generative AI instead of humans, that’s what’s going to ruin this business.
“These generative AI models make little Frankenstein performances in which you can order up a character to look like Brad Pitt combined with Mickey Mantle and have them dance like Fred Astaire with a Spanish accent.”
This strike is already one of the longest – and hottest – in Hollywood history and many expect it to last well into the autumn, disrupting TV broadcast schedules and wrecking film promotion tours and the early part of the awards season.
It is a marathon, with no finish line in sight.
The man suspected of shooting dead two Israeli embassy workers in Washington DC leaned over and fired at them repeatedly after they fell to the ground, the FBI has said.
Elias Rodriguez, 31, has been charged with murdering Sarah Milgrim and her boyfriend Yaron Lischinsky, after they left an event at the Capital Jewish Museum on Wednesday night.
Israeli PM attacks Starmer – latest updates
Footage has showed Rodriguez, from Chicago, chanting “free, free Palestine” as he was arrested.
It later emerged Mr Lischinsky had bought a ring and planned to propose to Ms Milgrim.
Authorities are investigating the killings as both a hate crime against the Jewish community and terrorism.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Shootings suspect shouts ‘free Palestine!’
‘I did it for Gaza’
It comes as the FBI has said in a charging document on Thursday that surveillance footage shows how Ms Milgrim and Mr Lischinsky died.
Rodriguez is allegedly seen passing the couple after they left the museum before shooting them in the back.
The FBI says the footage then shows him leaning over the couple and firing at them several more times after they fell to the ground.
The video then shows Ms Milgrim attempting to crawl away before “(Rodriguez) followed behind her and fired again”, the charging document says.
The suspected gunman is then accused of reloading his weapon and firing at Ms Milgrim as she sat up.
According to the charging document, Rodriguez then jogged to the museum and once inside asked to speak to a police officer before stating that he “did it” and that he was unarmed.
He is then said to have told police: “I did it for Palestine, I did it for Gaza, I am unarmed.”
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
DC shooting: Father pays tribute to ‘perfect’ daughter
Suspect ‘expressed admiration’ for fatal protest
The court document also states that 21 expended 9mm bullet cases were found at the scene and the gun was slide-locked – meaning it was empty of ammunition.
An empty gun magazine was also recovered from the scene.
The FBI says it has obtained travel records which show Rodriguez flew from Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport to the Reagan National in Washington DC on Tuesday with the gun in his checked baggage.
Rodriguez had bought the weapon in the state of Illinois on 6 March 2020, according to the charging document.
The FBI has said that while Rodriguez was in custody he “expressed admiration” for a US Air Force member who set himself on fire in front of the Israeli embassy in Washington DC on 25 February 2024.
Aaron Bushnell died in the apparent act of protest against the war in Gaza.
Rodriguez also told police he bought a ticket to the museum around three hours before the event that was attended by Ms Milgrim and Mr Lischinsky.
Read more:
Why Trump will worry about attacker being glorified
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Starmer ‘on wrong side of history’
During a brief court appearance at the E. Barrett Prettyman Federal Courthouse in Washington DC today, Rodriguez was charged with two counts of first degree murder and with the murder of foreign officials.
He has also been charged with causing the death of a person through the use of a firearm and discharge of a firearm during a crime of violence.
Rodriguez was told he could face life in prison or the death penalty if he is found guilty.
He remained calm throughout the hearing, paying attention to the proceedings throughout and confirmed that he is asking the court to appoint an attorney on his behalf.
He will next appear at a federal court in Washington DC on 18 June.
Murdered couple ‘were perfect for each other’
Meanwhile, Ms Milgrim’s father, Robert, says he feared his daughter might be in danger when he saw news alerts of a fatal shooting in Washington DC.
Ms Milgrim’s mother Nancy opened a phone locator app and saw Ms Milgrim was at the Capital Jewish Museum.
“Shortly after that, the Israeli ambassador called us on my wife’s phone,” Mr Milgrim told Sky News’ partner network NBC News, fighting back tears.
He added that it was the ambassador who told them Mr Lischinksy had bought a ring and was planning to propose to Ms Milgrim.
“They were perfect for each other, he said.
Mr Milgrim continued: “They just brought us joy, and her memory, which is a blessing, will continue to bring us joy – but it’s not the same as her not being here.”
Donald Trump hosted a dinner for investors in his meme coin on Thursday, as critics warned the US president was putting personal profit first.
Some 220 of the biggest investors in the $TRUMP meme coin descended on the exclusive dinner at Mr Trump’s private country club in Northern Virginia.
As the US president arrived, more than a hundred protesters at the Trump National Golf Club held signs that included “America is not for sale”, “stop crypto corruption” and “release the list”.
Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren described the dinner, where the US president spoke for about half an hour before dancing to the song YMCA, as an “orgy of corruption”.
Donald Trump leaves the White House to attend his own meme coin gala. Pic: Reuters/Evelyn Hockstein
Access to the dinner, and the president, was earned by purchasing enough of his $TRUMP meme coin to secure a seat.
The White House insisted Mr Trump would attend the event “in his personal time”, but the lectern he stood behind had the presidential seal.
NBC News reported that during his remarks, Mr Trump did not unveil any new crypto policies but spoke in support of a potential bitcoin reserve and then left promptly afterward.
In total, investors spent an estimated $148m (£110m), with the top 25 holders of the coin spending more than $111m (£82.56m), according to crypto intelligence firm Inca Digital.
A company controlled by the Trump family, and a second firm, hold 80% of the remaining $TRUMP coins and have so far earned $320.19m (£238.14m), including at least $1.35m (£1m) after the dinner announcement, according to blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis.
‘Trump a very successful businessman,’ says White House
According to blockchain analysis, more than half of the 220 holders who attended the black-tie event are likely based outside the US.
This has led to claims the US president has auctioned off access to himself to foreign investors for personal gain.
In response to criticisms about Mr Trump using his office to enrich himself from the meme coin, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said: “All of the president’s assets are in a blind trust, which is managed by his children.
“And I would argue, one of the many reasons that the American people re-elected this president back to this office is because he was a very successful businessman before giving it up to publicly serve our country.”
Protesters gather outside Trump National Golf Course ahead of the dinner.
Pic: Reuters
Trump arrives back at White House after attending the crypto dinner. Pic: AP/John McDonnell
Who was on the guest list?
One of those attending was China-born crypto entrepreneur and billionaire Justin Sun.
He won first place in the dinner contest with his $18.5m (£13.76m) wallet of the Trump meme coin and is the largest publicly known investor in the family’s crypto platform – which has made them hundreds of millions of dollars.
Mr Sun posted videos of himself visiting parts of the White House complex on Wednesday, and on Thursday of Mr Trump at the dinner event.
In February, the US Securities and Exchange Commission paused a 2023 fraud case against him, citing public interest.
Demonstrators protest near Trump National Golf Club before the arrival of the president.
Pic: AP/Rod Lamkey Jr
However, the identities of the majority of the coin holders attending the event remain unknown.
Of those going, one was simply known as Ogle, a crypto security specialist who appears in video interviews with his face covered by a bandana and sunglasses.
He says this is to protect his identity.
Read more:
Why Trump’s South African farmer claims are inaccurate
Trump administration accepts $400m plane as gift from Qatar
👉 Follow Trump100 on your podcast app 👈
Even some pro-Trump crypto voices worried his personal involvement may hurt efforts to establish credibility.
“It’s distasteful and an unnecessary distraction,” said Nic Carter, a Trump supporter and partner at the crypto investment firm Castle Island Ventures.
“We would much rather that he passes common sense legislation and leave it at that.”
The event was capped off with an after-party, called “Meme The Night,” thrown by a Singapore-based meme-coin engagement company called MemeCore.
-
Sports3 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports1 year agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports2 years agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike
-
Business3 years agoBank of England’s extraordinary response to government policy is almost unthinkable | Ed Conway