An Open Letter to the AMPTP

 

To the membership of the AMPTP:

Ladies, gentleman and variations thereupon, my name is Sheri-Lynn Gleason (aka C.P. Crowley). In the interest of transparency, I am not a member of SAG-AFTRA or the WGA (yet). My involvement and employment in this industry is peripheral at best. That, however, does not that I do not have thoughts on what is not happening for these unions.

What you all need to accept is the hard truth that without the artists who make the product that makes you the money you are selfishly hoarding, you will not be able to make the product that makes you the money that you are selfishly hoarding. Do you see how that works? I know some intrepid keyboard jockeys sold you on the idea of art made by artificial intelligence. Those people don’t understand the meaning of art and, as you are making painfully evident, neither do you. All they and you see is product. Something to be bought and sold. As a consumer and a creator myself, I can tell you that it is so very much more. There is a deeply human aspect of this business that you either cannot or will not accept. Allow me to explain.

When emotionally intelligent people create art and, likewise, consume art a connection gets made. It becomes a shared experience. This is possible because human beings, as a whole, tend to have similar life experiences. We all fall in love or lose loved ones. We feel joy and grief. I’ll give you a personal example.

I am a huge fan of “Star Trek”. I have been since before I had control of my neck muscles. To me, the USS Enterprise in all her glorious iterations has always symbolized family, mother and home. In January of 2016, my mother passed away from cancer. In July of 2016, “Star Trek: Beyond” was released in theaters. In this film, Captain James T. Kirk is suffering from a little bit of an identity crisis as he tries to figure out who he is as an individual and not simply as his father’s son. I felt that in my soul because I was going through the exact same thing in the wake my mother’s death. Also, in this film (spoiler alert), the Enterprise is completely destroyed. This destroyed me. I sobbed uncontrollably in the theater watching that beautiful ship disintegrate into nothing. Why? Because of what she represents to me. Watching the Enterprise die was like watching my mother die all over again.

I tell you this to illustrate a point. While the ship and her heartbreaking demise were done with computers, it was human writers who wrote that scene. It was human writers who wrote Kirk’s internal struggle. I connected very deeply with these. These are the reasons why “Beyond” is my favorite of the three Kelvin timeline films. I knew exactly what the writers were trying to communicate because I was living it. They wrote from their own experience and I could relate to it because of my experience. Do you honestly think that a chat bot will ever be able to do that? Because that is the reason why writers and actors do what they do and they are very good at it. Well, most of them. They deserve to get paid fairly for the work that they do. I mean fairly by the standards of actual costs of living, not what you consider to be fair because they’ve been living on that and they’re barely getting by.

This obstinance of yours is not a brave stance. It’s petulance. You don’t want to share your profits with the people who have made you the money you covet. Moreover, you think so little of the people who consume your “product” that you think we won’t notice the decline in quality. We will. I read scripts. I have read some very poorly written scripts from human writers, but the worst ones I’ve read were written by bots. I have also seen “Ghostbusters: Afterlife” and that CGI Harold Ramis, while done with the best and purest intentions, was just creepy and should never be attempted again.

I read that “Deadline” piece. Whether it was factual or not, I have no doubt many of you are at least thinking these terrible things of not saying them out loud. It is clear that none of you have ever really worked for a living if you actually think you’re going to wait the writers out. Many of these people have been working two and three jobs to make ends meet for years. The same can be said for the majority of working actors. None of you have to supplement your incomes by tending bar, driving for ride sharing services, tutoring… any number of things that pretty much everyone who works in Hollywood has to do even without a strike on.

You’re dealing with people who know how to hustle and know how to survive, and survive, they will. Without their labor, you will not. I smell many a studio bankruptcy coming if you do not give the unions what they are asking for. Doing so is mutually beneficial. You know this is true. You know it, but you refuse to admit it because you want to appear strong. You got where you are through the intelligence, talent and grit of other people. That’s not strength. What you’re seeing right now from the WGA is strength and I stand with them. If the actors strike next, I stand with them, too. Most regular, working folks do.

And if you think strikes are the worst thing that can happen, you slept through your history classes. In another place and another time, heads would literally be rolling by now. Count your blessings.

I think I have said everything I need to say. I would also like to encourage you to pay for original IP, too. I’m really tired of the endless reboots and rehashings. How many origin stories can Batman have? Enough already. Try something new! J.J. did a great job with “Star Trek”, but that seems to be the exception and not the rule. Do what is right and fix this. The sooner you do, the sooner you can start making money again. That’s all you care about anyway.

Wishing you all the best,

Miss Sheri-Lynn Gleason