When it comes to industry

On these pages films are often treated as products of human creativity and spectators are advised to watch them consciously, especially in the designated places, cinemas.
In recent days, however, some international events have shifted the focus to the fact that cinema is also and fundamentally an industry often grappling with the difficulties that every business faces in a constantly changing world.

At the moment in the USA some categories of the entertainment world are protesting for better working conditions with the classic tool of the strike: the first to move were the screenwriters and their unions who want guarantees against the rapid advancement of AI technology which could soon create the first television series written by Artificial Intelligence. Actors have followed suit, fearing that studios will scan their bodies, replicate their voices, simulate their ways and essentially appropriate their talent. Already in the last episode of the Indiana Jones saga, Harrison Ford's face was treated in some scenes by software to make him much younger than he is at the moment. Studios insist Hollywood will remain "humane" but have not accepted unions' proposals to regulate AI. The strike prevents actors not only from acting, but also from promoting, throwing marketing plans for upcoming films into chaos. Union members cannot therefore act, sing, dance or write with a consequent block of any creative process.

A typically contemporary phenomenon is therefore replicated such as the need to adapt and regulate the work of many professionals hired by huge multinational companies (Amazon and many others) who often dictate their conditions. In the case of cinema, the multinationals are above all, in addition to the studios, also the streaming services (Netflix and Amazon) which do not share information on ratings, practically preventing fair compensation for authors for replicas of films or television shows.
And we must not make the mistake of thinking of the category of actors as exclusively made up of mega stars like Brad Pitt but of many professionals who work below the average hourly wage.

Complex dynamics and problems but very current in an industry that needs to be protected and which still attracts the interest and partly the enthusiasm of spectators capable of being over 250 thousand in Italy at the end of July on the first day of Barbie programming.

Davide Bracco
NP August / September 2023