Connect with us

Published

on

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.
Image:
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.”

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.
Image:
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. The company is one of the biggest AI firms in film. They designed a system, called TrueSync, to provide a better dubbing solution for films translated into other languages. TrueSync creates deepfake-style effects altering the mouth movements of actors to match the alternate dialogue being spoken
Image:
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.
Image:
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.

Continue Reading

Entertainment

Rapper Ghetts charged after man killed in hit-and-run

Published

on

By

Rapper Ghetts charged after man killed in hit-and-run

The rapper Ghetts has been charged after a man was killed in a hit-and-run in northeast London.

The musician, whose real name is Justin Clarke-Samuel, was charged with causing serious injury by dangerous driving.

He allegedly failed to stop after hitting a 20-year-old man in Ilford last Saturday, the Met Police said.

The 41-year-old appeared at Stratford Magistrates’ Court on Monday – the same day the man died in hospital.

The indictment is expected to change from causing serious injury to causing death by dangerous driving at the next hearing.

Ghetts was remanded into custody and is due to appear at Barkingside Magistrates’ Court on 27 October.

The police are appealing for witnesses to the crash to come forward.

Read more from Sky News:
Two charged in connection with arson attack on mosque
Furious Trump cancels ‘all trade negotiations’ with Canada

Ghetts is a grime rapper who played at Glastonbury last year and has collaborated with Ed Sheeran, Stormzy and Skepta.

He also had a role in the Netflix drama Supacell.

Last year, he received the Mobo Pioneer Award for his significant contribution to British black culture.

Continue Reading

Entertainment

‘People want you to stay in your lane’: Reese Witherspoon on her ‘deeply personal’ decision to write a novel

Published

on

By

'People want you to stay in your lane': Reese Witherspoon on her 'deeply personal' decision to write a novel

It is “pretty surreal”, Academy Award winner Reese Witherspoon admits, finding herself at the top of The New York Times bestsellers list.

When I meet the actress alongside her co-writer, best-selling author Harlan Coben, overnight the pair have learned that their thriller is now at number one.

He jokes: “I was texting her last night and saying you’ll now have to call yourself number one bestselling novelist, forget about Oscar winner!”

Reese Witherspoon and Harlan Coben told Katie Spencer about their novel Gone Before Goodbye
Image:
Reese Witherspoon and Harlan Coben told Katie Spencer about their novel Gone Before Goodbye

As one of the most successful authors in the world, Coben has sold over 80 million books to date, while for Witherspoon this is new ground.

Not content with running a hugely successful production company responsible for a string of hits, as well as one of the most successful book clubs in the world, she explains she felt compelled to give writing a try.

“People want you to stay in your lane… as a creative person I think it’s impossible to just choose one kind of life.

“Creativity is infinite and who I was as a creative person when I was 20 is very different from the person I am now at 49.”

More on Reese Witherspoon

Gone Before Goodbye, a thriller about a talented surgeon who finds herself caught up in a deadly conspiracy, is the result of Witherspoon daring to put her head above the parapet.

Witherspoon says she felt compelled to give writing a try
Image:
Witherspoon says she felt compelled to give writing a try

Coben admits he was “a little wary” at first.

“I don’t co-write novels but when she made the pitch and started talking about it, I was like ‘dang that’s good, we can do something with that’.”

While countless celebrities work with ghostwriters, Coben says: “I said to her from day one ‘it’s only going to be you and me in here… no third person in here, I don’t do that’. So every word you [read] comes from Reese and me.”

Coben has sold over 80 million books to date, while for Witherspoon this is new ground
Image:
Coben has sold over 80 million books to date, while for Witherspoon this is new ground

Witherspoon explains: “He was like ‘if we’re going to do this, it’s going to have to be at a really high level because people going to expect a lot, so our bar was really high.”

“I said to her, in the beginning, novels are like a sausage,” Coben laughs. “You might like the final taste, but you don’t want to see how it was made and Reese got to see the full sausage getting made here.”

Read more from Sky News:
Bob Vylan’s gig postponed
Tainted Love star dies
Strictly stars to quit

When it came to writing, Coben says they “fell into a rhythm right away”, working together in three-hour stints, “back and forth with a yellow legal pad – what about this? What about that?”

Coben says they 'fell into a rhythm right away'
Image:
Coben says they ‘fell into a rhythm right away’

Witherspoon says it “feels really deeply personal” to have their work now in print.

“Usually, as an actor, I walk into other people’s worlds and it’s already set up… but this was creating the whole world with Harlan and just from beginning to end feels very personal.”

While the story seems an obvious fit for being adapted to the screen, perhaps with a certain blonde actress in the leading role, Coben says that was never their intention.

“The biggest, biggest mistake novelists make when you write a book is to say ‘this would make a really great movie’. A book is a book, a movie is a movie, and we both focused on wanting this to be just a great reading experience.”

Given that their collaboration is already selling in big numbers, will the pair team up again to write a second?

Witherspoon says: “Let’s just see what people think of this one first.”

Continue Reading

Entertainment

Kim Kardashian diagnosed with brain aneurysm

Published

on

By

Kim Kardashian diagnosed with brain aneurysm

Kim Kardashian has revealed that she has been diagnosed with a brain aneurysm.

  • Footage from the latest season of The Kardashians shows the reality TV star going for an imaging scan.

The 45-year-old appears to suggest her small aneurysm may have stemmed from stress.

Brain aneurysms are relatively common, with data suggesting they affect about one in every 50 people.

In many cases, patients may be unaware that they have one – as they tend to cause few symptoms when unruptured.

Brain aneurysms are common but often go undiagnosed. iStock file pic
Image:
Brain aneurysms are common but often go undiagnosed. iStock file pic

Should an unruptured aneurysm grow to a larger size, it can cause headaches, balance problems and speech issues.

Those that burst are extremely dangerous and can prove fatal in some circumstances.

While aneurysms can emerge throughout the body, they are most typically found in the aorta, which carries blood out of the heart.

More on Kim Kardashian

Research suggests brain aneurysms are most common in adults between the ages of 30 and 60 – with women disproportionately affected.

Read more entertainment news:
Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman to leave Strictly

Bob Vylan’s Manchester gig is postponed

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

May: Eight found guilty over Kim Kardashian Paris heist

Associate professor of neurology Dr Laura Stein told Sky’s US partner NBC News: ” The most well-described risk factors include a predisposition [family history of aneurysm], high blood pressure, cigarette smoking and inflammation.”

She went on to explain that most fatal ruptured aneurysms are in the brain, killing about one in three patients.

“When it’s a blood vessel that’s in the head and it bleeds, there’s a much higher risk of having a very bad problem just because the brain is enclosed in a fixed space,” Dr Stein added.

Low-risk aneurysms are monitored by doctors for growth or abnormalities, and there are a series of potential treatment options for those considered dangerous.

Elsewhere in The Kardashians clip, Kim admitted that her ex-husband Kanye West will be in her life “no matter what” because of the four kids they share together.

Continue Reading

Trending