Hundreds of Irish actors, writers and creatives gathered by the statue of Wolfe Tone on the fringe of St Stephen’s Green to show solidarity with their striking peers in the United States.
The US television industry has ground to a halt in recent months as a result of widespread industrial action over how studios and productions companies plan to use artificial intelligence and the falling rates of pay for many actors.
Addressing the Dublin gathering, Equity president Gerry O’Brien stressed the importance of creatives in Ireland and across the world.
“We are the ones who tell your stories, make you laugh, cry, yearn, dare to dream,” he said.
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Mr O’Brien said the good faith of actors and writers in the US “has been stretched to breaking point” by streaming and production companies who “want to own everything and deny the actors, the writers and other creatives a share in the success that we create”.
Executives are “paid in the hundreds of millions of dollars a year and many of our colleagues cannot make the minimum required to trigger their health care. Many cannot make their rent even though the productions they are in are generating vast revenue streams and garnering industry awards”, he said.
He reminded the gathering that the strike in the US and the show of solidarity in Ireland was “not about the star names but about the working actors and writers, the equally talented feature players who work alongside the star names and must ensure the storytelling is seamless in its quality”.
Addressing the issue of AI he said it was “now possible that a production company can scan a human being, a worker and generate a digital version and use it in perpetuity without having to pay the performer”.
“Trade unions fought throughout their collective histories for a fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work. We are now at the dawn of the age of an unfair day’s pay for an eternity of work.”
Hugh Farley of the Writers Guild of Ireland said it stood in solidarity with Equity and their colleagues in the US.
“Stories matter, stories that are performed by actors matter. They give us resonance and they help us understand the stuff that we’re going through.”
He said that the screen actors and writers guilds of America and unions all over the world had recognised that “this is an existential moment where we have to decide whether or not we place a real value on our work and whether or not we are prepared to let other people disproportionately benefits from the work that we create”.
Actor Marty Breen was in the crowd, which also included Bryan Murray and Domhnall Gleeson.
“It’s really hard for young actors coming up,” Breen said. “Most of us spend more time working waiting tables or teaching or doing odd jobs than we do on our careers. Most of the people that you watch on your screens or in theatres or the writers on the shows you adore, are not able to pay their rent and not able to make ends meet. And that’s the reality people don’t see.”
She said many of the negative things that had impacted the sector in the US had yet to cross the Atlantic but expressed concern that it was a matter of time.
“We’re not being asked to go on strike but we’re showing support because the US is where all the big moves happen and if big moves take a negative turn, that’s invariably going to happen to us. It’s just this insidious thing.”
