[Music] hey trainees and trendsetters so I'm sure y'all have heard Rumblings and even more about the writer's strike in the actor strike um through sag after and um probably maybe because the rock just donated a historic 7 million or 7 million seven figure donation to help the cause but I did want to bring your attention to Giovanni Samuels and I did see uh impressive video first so that's how when I watched her video and I watched Giovanni Samuels explain it um you know it just hits home more for people you've seen and you recognize their face you might not recognize her name but you probably recognize her face but I also have another actor that did a news interview I don't necessarily know him but his explanation was so good I had to include it but the reason I ended up like okay this is how I can talk about this is because Giovanni her first Tick Tock she's very bubbly she's her Disney Nickelodeon personality that I've known her for and just trying to explain what's going on but I'm guessing the internet attacked her so much she broke down and she came out with another video she looks way more vulnerable she's crying and she's trying to explain how she's honestly living right now and how the residuals are not enough to live off on and how streaming is really not taking care of the actors like that even though you know streaming is I'm sure collecting a lot of money um and then of course there's an issue with how AI will be incorporated and could take over certain jobs that's gonna that would be a different video but it is a lot and I think that these three Clips would really kind of explain in case you were wondering what you didn't really look into it yet what's going on with the actors and writers and why they're on strike all right so take a look at these and let me know what y'all think talk to you later bye around 160 000 Hollywood actors may be going on strike soon and that's because the union representing them sagaftra could not come to terms with major Studios on a new labor deal Tech after president Fran Drescher referred to the Studio's negotiations as insulting and disrespectful the union is demanding higher wages increased residual payments from streaming services and job protections from artificial intelligence for its actors we're joined Now by one of those actors Mary Barack Chan Betty has been in hit shows you've seen some of them manifest you and the last OG it's great to have you with us and share your your personal experience absolutely Lana Errol both of you thank you so much for giving light to this issue it's exciting as someone who's in my position who is what I would call a middle class actor someone that maybe you don't recognize my face immediately but you've seen me around on television that's the majority of us who are in the union that's a very small percent that are the folks that you recognize the a-listers and we're the ones who've been impacted by this the most the reality is that it used to be such that you can make a living a living I'm not talking about red carpets and champagne I mean just the standard American living by working on television as a middle class actor as someone who shows up as a guest star or a recurring role which is somebody who you'll see you know for a handful of scenes every episode and that's I've been very very fortunate that's a tremendous achievement but the reality is we can no longer make a living doing that something that I may have been in in 2017 2018 2019 would have aired on network television and I would have been able to pay my rent one day own a home uh one day plan for a family but the reality is that with streaming and the changes in technology and inflation none of the current rates representing it that we're on much older contracts absolutely you guys just uh did a segment on the avocado machine that will take the pits out of the avocados and then a human gets to mash it afterwards that's kind of the same thing that's happening with AI the reality is that um AI is an advancement in technology we're talking about the potential for them to be able to use our name our likeness our movements our voice for future projects without our consent and when you look at Ai and what it is fundamentally what are we talking about we're talking about content that was created previously from lived experiences by writers by artists by painters by anyone who works in those fields and what AI is doing is taking the regurgitated average of all that and presenting it as new material I personally believe that you're not going to be able to replace actors necessarily with that but there is a bridge that they are trying to Gap here by being able to cut us out and make more money without having to pay us and that has to be addressed this is very similar to the kind of issues that labor unions like Amazon labor unions and anyone who works let's say in a field of carpentry or any of those fields when you have technology coming in there have to be changes made to the contracts so that you don't end up taking this entire middle class of workers and effectively eliminating them and to touch on the a-listers and Hollywood folks that everyone seems to think are the ones who are complaining the folks out there the a-listers the Meryl streeps the Julie louis-dreyfuses who are speaking they're speaking for us those of us who don't have the voice those of us who are working on the minimums they don't have to worry about the minimum amount they have to make on a one-day contract or that they have to make twenty six thousand dollars this year to have health insurance next year which more than half of us in the union can't make do you feel a sense that things all be negotiated in good sense or are we just witnessing a massive cultural and economic shift in front of our eyes I think it's both I think uh what's happening here is that look what's going to happen in this is that we have a lot of eyes on this situation people are paying attention to what's going to happen with us in AI because it's going to send repercussions across other Industries we're the first ones that have to face it in terms of literally facing in terms of us being on camera and the use of that but all the industries are going to have to come to terms with that I think many of them are looking at sag after and these labor negotiations as a precedence for okay well if they're able to stand up for themselves and say you can't use copyrighted material without the consent or payment to those people who originally created it then you don't get to use it at all and that's something that I would love to see other unions and the folks who are working across other Industries to step forward and say you know what that makes sense because that's going to affect all of us hi everybody I'm Giovanni your favorite TV cousin and I'm going to talk to you guys a little bit about the writer and actor strike I'm sure a few of you guys are like oh Giovanni you've been working this business a long time you've probably got money in the bank yes but no back in the first Friday strike in what 2007 I was one of those lucky actresses that was able to live off my residuals and able to afford health insurance through sag after the writer strike and streaming started to really kick off I lost my health insurance and haven't had sag health insurance since then when Netflix started airing bring it on back in 2004 and then again in 2018 becoming one of their popular movies I ain't get no money okay I got a little bit of money like a thousand dollars for the whole year streaming okay yeah that was back then but here is a check for a movie that I did in 2020 and I got six dollars and 56 cents from streaming only let me not pull the residual receipts but when I get paid internationally those checks be like five cent bottom line is you getting paid off of my work I need to be still getting paid off of that work I need y'all to understand that not all child stars are rich not all of us are balling the leads of the cast they get the big money checks The Supporting Cast like myself we don't get that that's why we're striking okay I'm asking for a livable wage I'm asking for health insurance you have no idea how hard it is we just came out of covid and now we're going into a strike I use my 401k my Nest Egg my savings to survive covet I don't know what money y'all think I have or I I I'm I'm saving up something no no no no okay between family members stealing from me or doing a show where they didn't pay me or now I'm fighting for residuals because Executives don't want to give me a dime I'm asking for a livable wage I'm asking for health insurance I got responsibilities and things that I got to take care of we got back to school coming I got to put my son in a private school private oh you ain't got to do that you put them in public school I can't put him in public school because when I did they was picking on him because of me the parents were jealous because I was on TV and famous and they told them their kids to pick up my kids so I had to take him out and put him in a decent School I'm tired I don't own a home I barely owned my car so I don't know what money I think I have but I don't I have a job I've got two someone sit there and go oh well why don't you just go get a job I got a job I got a job I don't make enough money to qualify for sag health insurance but I make too much money to qualify for assistance but not enough money to to pay for whatever procedures I need a pocket foreign this is why I strike [Music]