IAC Chairman and “Pivot” podcast host on Hollywood strikes
WASHINGTON, D.C. (CBS, KYMA/KECY) - Chairman and Senior Executive of IAC Barry Diller spoke to Face the Nation host Margaret Brennan on Sunday about the SAG-AFTRA and Writer's Strikes in Hollywood.
Friday marked the first day that members of SAG-AFTRA, the labor union representing 160,000 performers, went on strike, joining the Writers Guild of America (WGA), whose members have been striking since May, in a push for better working conditions.
"Well, the problem with this...all strikes get settled. The issue for this one is when, because you have almost a perfect storm here, which is you had COVID, which sent people home to watch streaming and television and killed theaters. You've had the results of huge investments in streaming, which have produced all these losses for all these companies who are now kind of retrenching. So at this moment, this kind of perfect storm, it's okay if it gets settled in the next month, but I'll pause it. What happens if it doesn't and there doesn't seem to be enough trust and energy to get it settled soon, what will happen is if in fact it doesn't get settled until Christmas or so...then next year, there's not gonna be many programs for anybody to watch," Diller divulged.
When asked what he would do for the strikes to end, Diller said, "The only other thing I would do, I would call for a September 1st deadline...I think there should be a settlement deadline."
AI worries and Bob Iger comments
During the interview, Brennan and Diller spoke on SAG-AFTRA Union President Fran Drescher's comments on actors "being in jeopardy of being replaced by machines," with Diller saying:
"Right now, [overhyped] as all revolutions...at the very beginning. You know, the downward consequences of the beginning of a revolution...But in this case, I think...not much is gonna happen. But post that, there are, of course, all these issues...These issues are not, I believe, relative to some of the worries about replacement. I do not think you're going to replace AI generated actors. I don't think you're gonna replace writers. Yes, you can ingest all this stuff and spit out something that sounds like Shakespeare, but guess what? It is not original Shakespeare and writers will get assisted, not replaced. Most of these actual performing crafts, I don't think, are in danger of artificial intelligence."
Later in the show, Brennan spoke with "Pivot" podcast host Kara Swisher about AI, with Swisher agreeing with Diller about Hollywood not making AI versions of Hollywood actors saying, "They're not gonna suddenly make, you know, an AI, I don't know, Brad Pitt or something like that. He'll be around till his career is over, essentially, and be fine."
Brennan and Swisher also touched on Disney CEO Bob Iger's comments on strike, with Swisher sharing, "I think he's probably right[, but] at the same time, he earns enormous salary. So, it's easy to point to it and say what a greedy man, that kind of thing. And I get that...I think it's important for them to talk about financials, but it almost has nothing to do with what's going on in Hollywood right now, which is this streaming...This shift to streaming, which is necessary and important...is expensive. The economics aren't worked out, they've overspent...There's enormous competition between and among all the different companies. And nobody's figured out how to pay for people. Now, the actors are correct as they should get a piece of this and figuring out whose value, who values and who's valuable is gonna be very hard. But there is a real strain on these companies. At this moment in time, it doesn't mean it's not gonna change, but it certainly is one of those sort of Rubicon moments that Hollywood faces from time to time."
