The Actors Strike with Audrey Moore

Are you ready to pull back the curtain on the Hollywood acting scene and see the reality behind the glitz and glamour? This conversation with Audrey Moore, renowned LA actress and host of the Audrey Helps Actors podcast, offers a raw and in-depth exploration of the actors' strike, the impact of AI on acting, and the stark economic realities faced by actors. Drawing on her extensive experience in the industry, Audrey offers a unique perspective on the unsustainable corporate model of 'good, fast and cheap' and the resulting erosion of labor rights and fair compensation.

We venture into a thought-provoking discussion on the potential dangers of copyright infringement and the implications of AI on the acting profession. Are we on the brink of a revolution where AI replaces human actors, or can we find a balance that ensures actors are compensated fairly for their work? Audrey's insight into these complex issues will leave you with a new understanding of the challenges and triumphs faced by artists in the digital age.

Lastly, we turn our focus to the actors' strike, pondering its impact on actors both within and beyond US borders. In the midst of this turmoil, Audrey’s commitment to offering updated, accessible resources for actors shines bright. Whether you're an aspiring actor or an intrigued listener, this illuminating conversation sheds light on the struggles in the entertainment industry, providing a compelling exploration of labor rights and economic justice in Hollywood and beyond.

Audrey Moore on IMDB.

Podcast 'Audrey Helps Actors'.

Current Information on the SAG-AFTRA strike. 

Castability 
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Transcript

David John Clark: 0:45

Hello everyone, thank you for joining me on a very special episode today. As you may know, the US entertainment industry is currently on strike, that is, the riders, and just recently the actors are striking in relation to a complete breakdown in negotiations to improve the working conditions of both riders and actors, as well as many other conditions that are now so permanent in an ever-changing world. As such, I've reached out to Audrey Moore to bring her insight into the current state of play and also to hopefully look at the strike from an international perspective how actors affected in the non-US markets but, more importantly, how can all actors from every other country stand out in solidarity with our US counterparts and what truly is the time of great change for people working in the industry? Audrey is a working actress in Los Angeles and host of the extremely popular Actors podcast. Audrey Helps Actors with over 100 episodes since 2017. We will talk about her show and why she put it together at the end of the interview, so please make sure you listen to the end for that as well. I have some interesting points about AI and a little discussion I had with chat GPT about this. I think you'll find it very interesting, out of respect of the conditions of the strike. I won't mention any of Audrey's previous work, as one of the conditions for Actors strike includes Neil promotion of previous struck work. You can follow the links in the show notes to read all about Audrey, but if you haven't listened to her before, you will get a great insight into her background and career in this discussion. I'm recording this intro on the 15th of August and the episode itself was recorded on the 2nd of August 2023. So please bear that in mind when listening to the show. As the strike may have changed or perhaps even be over, I will, of course, endeavor to update this intro if any significant outcome occurs. I'm really excited by this discussion, as we really delved into the complexity of the strike, but a discussion wasn't restricted to just the needs of the riders and Actors, but went more broadly into the changes brought about by streaming platforms, for example, and the increasing focus on profit margins rather than the valuing the essential workforce, and how this is not limited to just the entertainment industry. I'm a huge advocate of the possibility of a UBI a universal basic income, and we discussed this a little as essentially, the residuals that an actor used to earn built a residual income that could sustain their careers between the ebbs and flows of an acting career. So please enjoy the discussion and, if you have the opportunity, reach out and support the callers in the US. Unfortunately, I think it's going to be a long ride to any outcome. And remember, hang on after the interview for a quick insight to chat GPT thoughts on the issue. It's quite interesting. Cheers everyone, and here we go. Welcome to another episode of the Late Bloomer Actor and today we have a very special guest on the show, straight from Hollywood itself, los Angeles based actress, podcast host and all around actors resource, audrey Moore. Welcome, audrey. Thank you very much for coming on the show.

Audrey Moore: 3:43

Thank you so much for having me, so glad I could be here and talk with all you fellows down under and clarify and inform and hopefully add some carotery from across the oceans.

David John Clark: 3:59

Awesome, awesome. And this is like one of those starstruck moments. You know, we get to interview people on our podcast and this is probably my biggest one, and I've now got a lot of fans of the show that are saying, oh my God, you're going to have Audrey on. So that's fantastic and I really, really appreciate you agreeing to come on, because I know that you're very, very busy with your own podcast, etc. Etc. And you are a working actress and everything that's happening in America at the moment with the strike, which you're a huge advocate of, and, I believe, a location organizer Is that the right definition for you?

Audrey Moore: 4:33

Yeah, I'd say the term is a strike captain. There's, I think, a lot of confusion about what strike captain does. Basically, that just means I make sure people don't die in the street. I think that's the official use of the strike. But usually strike captains have attended several meetings or maybe a touch more informed in terms of what is the goings on, but we are not part of any official capacity in terms of a negotiating committee. I'm not on any boards of SAG-AFTRA. That's something that I intentionally do because I have my own podcast and I want to be able to speak without red tape regarding the things going on in terms of the union and such. So I have purposely stayed as an involved member, but not in an official capacity in terms of being on any boards or any elected officials or anything like that.

David John Clark: 5:31

Because, like any union, there's a lot of politics and, like you said, red tape and the ability of what you can and can't say, sort of thing. So that's cool. I'd really like to talk about the strike, but before we do, just for the listeners that I was just about to say, for the listeners that don't know who Audrey Moore is and there isn't any listeners that don't know who Audrey Moore is.

Chat GPT: 5:51

But could you?

David John Clark: 5:52

just give us a little bit of a history of yourself, how you got into acting and your podcast and what brought you to where you are today.

Audrey Moore: 6:00

Sure, I started acting when I was seven years old. I was in the play in elementary school and I was the only person, apparently, that my mother could hear, and so as she drove me home she said you're the only one up there that I could hear. And so I tell people, because I'm loud. A star was born and I have been acting ever since. I did a lot of plays in school. I was very fortunate and my grandmother was very involved in the art, so she took me to go see a lot of children's theater and took me to go see a lot of more professional theater in my hometown, and then from there I went to study in Boston. I went into a conservatory program in Boston and then I went into a conservatory program in London and I studied at the London Academy of Music and Traumatic Arts. And then from there I went to New York and I opened up some theater companies. I opened up a Michael Chekhov theater company over there before heading to Sonny, Los Angeles. And I have been here for many, many years and I have mostly worked in television and commercials predominantly, and I have had a eventual, my own version. I guess you would call it a late bloom. A late bloom. I bloomed, but it was a little later that I had hoped.

David John Clark: 7:33

Love it.

Audrey Moore: 7:34

And so yes, and so that's been really fortunate. And then I have a podcast that I began, really, I would say, once I felt like my career was in full bloom and podcasts sort of were really just becoming a thing, and I felt that there wasn't a lot of information for the actor between getting your first headshot and being famous, that there is a lot of them between, and there wasn't a whole lot of free access and information to all the things that happened between those two stages. And I felt passionate that that was something that should be experienced and expressed and introduced and explored, and so that's what I've done for five years now on my own podcast.

David John Clark: 8:32

I love it and that's Audrey Moore helps. Audrey helps actors. You dropped the surname for the title, don't you? I love it.

Audrey Moore: 8:39

That's right, that's it.

David John Clark: 8:41

Very, very popular down here and I would have to say it's probably one of the first acting podcasts that I listened to. So I've never listened to podcasts before that and my acting journey. I was introduced to that and now I listen to over a dozen good podcasts and run my own.

Audrey Moore: 8:59

So thank you very much.

Chat GPT: 9:01

Yes, that's right, absolutely, I think, my husband was his idea.

David John Clark: 9:05

I was going to mention your husband. Apparently he's the most attractive man in Los Angeles. I believe Is that correct?

Audrey Moore: 9:10

He is so handsome. That's right. Yeah, no, I am very blessed. I have a wonderful husband and partner and we do a lot of our creating together. He is a fantastic. He's a producer of the podcast, he edits the podcast, he handles most of the logistics and I just do the talking. And can we say his name for everyone. Yes, his name is Jesse Lumen and he is so handsome.

David John Clark: 9:46

I love it, and that's exactly how you say it at the end of your show. Every day, I love it, I love it.

Audrey Moore: 9:50

That's right.

David John Clark: 9:51

Now, hopefully before we finish up, maybe we'll come back and chat a little bit about acting and podcasts, just because we're going to. We're about to go into a heavy topic, so that'd be really nice to end the show for 10 minutes or so, but we're here today to talk about the huge news out of America, besides the fact that the Intelligence Committee are talking about aliens, et cetera, et cetera, which is the other big story in America, right, apparently nobody cares.

Audrey Moore: 10:16

It's fascinating.

David John Clark: 10:17

I love it, my wife's big into it and she's just so disgusted that it's not being treated with the seriousness that it really should be.

Audrey Moore: 10:26

It's crazy, I know, I spent my whole life waiting for aliens and it turns out we're like meh aliens. Yes, who knows?

David John Clark: 10:36

But, so the other big issue at the moment is America is on strike. Both started back in May with the writers Guild of America and now the SAG-AFRA actors have started. So can you just give us a little bit of a history of your understanding of where we're at and why we're at now?

Audrey Moore: 10:57

Yes, of course, and I really appreciate having the opportunity to have this discussion because I think it's important for all of us to understand where we are and how we got there and how your environment, working environment on your side of the ocean versus on ours, how they are similar and how they are different. And I'm always saying, you know, the Hollywood obviously is the epicenter of show business and really is the trendsetter in terms of payment and usage. That's just because we kind of, I guess we kind of got there first, right, and so we are the major, what would you call it? We are sort of the major turner outer of content that is seen and known worldwide. And a lot of actors, as you know, dream and think about one day leaving their countries to come and work in Hollywood, and there's a lot of mythology around that and I think there's probably also a lot of practicality around that in terms of how the payments get handed out and a lot of that has to do with residual income. So my understanding everywhere else in the world is that everyone gets paid more, maybe upfront, than actors in America do, but then that's where the payment begins and ends. There is a payment for shooting and filming and then that's it. Now in the United States we get what's called residual income, so we get a payment upfront. My understanding is that is smaller than the upfront payment that people get in other countries, but then we continue to receive payment exponentially as whatever it is that our faces have appeared on, so in a movie or in a TV show, that as those get distributed out locally or internationally, that for as long as that gets distributed out, we as the actors get a piece of the pie. So that is baked into the model and how we receive payment. And what has occurred over the changing of the model of payment and streaming and cable? It's sort of in the way that movies have changed and formed in terms of distribution. We are now getting paid almost nothing in residuals and in addition to that upfront payment, that payment that we get for filming is also not sustainable to live off of. So that is a big part of why we are striking and people may not understand. I know that there's a lot of rose color glasses when people idealize and think about coming to the United States to pursue show business. I am friends with many actors who have done it successfully, some who have really been beaten by Hollywood, and I mean that both metaphorically and literally, and it is a hard town and it's too complicated for me to get into in the time. We have together all the ways in which it is idealized versus how it is in reality. But one thing that people really think about when they think about Hollywood is often protections and treatment and how actors are protected and treated by the industry. And it's important that as a union those protections are also in place, because I really believe, and I think it's fair to say, that our union is in many ways setting the precedent for how then other unions globally then also treat their actors.

David John Clark: 15:21

So definitely.

Audrey Moore: 15:24

Yeah. So it's very important to me that I take that very seriously, both for artistic reasons, but also for just, I guess, life reasons. You know, for every country that has its turmoil, one of the first things that happens is the storytellers are rounded up. The storytellers are very dangerous. They really do set a narrative and are the reflectors of what is going on in any group in society, and that can be used as official and literal propaganda and it can also be used to incite change. So one of there are many examples in history and even if we don't talk about film and television, we talk about storytelling in terms of theater, of our art form as actors being tremendously impactful in change in social awareness, in evolution of perspectives and empathy and compassion. And so it is important to me also that, as a leader in both this community, in terms of somebody who has a voice, but also the community itself, which is a leader in the art form and business, to be able to hold on to that precedent and continue to keep the bar high, knowing that everyone else is looking to the United States show business industry to set the tone. That's important.

David John Clark: 17:20

Wow, that is just encompassing everything was brilliant what you've just said there and it's and you're certainly right that Hollywood has this big, this golden gold, gold, gold, the sun shining, that we all say, oh my God, I want to go to Hollywood. But it is, it is, it's a business and it's really interesting how you've you've put it everything in the perspective there. And I think I just wanted to say quickly, when we were talking about residuals because, yes, you're right, there's not so difference between Australia and America but I didn't realize how much the residuals became part of your, your income, and and I see the benefits of that, because acting can be such a such a job where you you bounce from job to job and you might go for a year without it. So hence the old adage of the, the out of work actor working as a, as a waiter or waitress sort of thing. I was listening to a podcast earlier on in relation to this and I can't remember who it was, but he was saying that in the old days, for example, a role on an NBC, an old school production his residuals were something like I think he mentioned the number of $15,000. Now, I don't know whether that's over the whole time or per year, but he says that exact role in a very similar TV show today that is streaming. Those numbers were something like $150.

Audrey Moore: 18:43

Yeah, that's right.

David John Clark: 18:44

We can now see how that affects, because I think that links to your earnings, because I think in America you need 26,000 a year to earn your health insurance. Is that correct? So this is where all the residuals start causing issues.

Audrey Moore: 18:59

Yeah, it's also just remember oh, america healthcare and also American taking care of our old and sickly, you know. So in America we have healthcare issues and also not great about taking care of our old and sickly, so we have in our union the protections of pension and health. So that is, the funds that are made available to us that we do have to qualify for by what you're addressing, which is minimum earnings, in order to qualify to earn a retirement fund through the union and also earn healthcare through the union. Now, as I said, part of what is being discussed is yes, that's important, and I have lots of feelings and thoughts about wouldn't it be great if our country didn't have a broken healthcare system and took care of its seniors? But that's not the reality we're living in and that's the problem that is too big for me to solve on my own. So I will stick to my lane and say that, yeah, that's important and if you think about that in terms of also generationally, right, you have a lot of actors that if something catastrophic happens and our union as itself as a whole, if it collapses, right, let's say that the contributions being made to SAG-AFTRA become so small that the union itself collapses and folds. That's something I think about Heaven forbid, something I think about and we would certainly not be the first union to have that happen. In the United States, I think in the 1950s, 40% of the American workforce was unionized and now 7% of the American workforce is unionized. So if you think about that, that's a lot of workforce that used to be unions and no longer are. If that were to happen, you would truly have many seniors who would be left without their pensions. And you know, listen, I'm young. I am not like young, young, but I'm young enough. I could start my late blooms second career right now, right, and I would be okay, as long as that career also wasn't taken over by artificial intelligence. But assuming that it wasn't, you know, I would be okay. But that's not true for a lot of people. And you know, artists to artists it really breaks my heart to think about actors who have put in many of them because of the profession of acting. You can start when you are truly out of the womb, like you can. There are plenty of actors that pop out of the womb and they are in a commercial by three months, right, and they earn their SAG cards at three months old. Seriously, this is seriously true. This is I'm not making that up, that is the 1000% true statement. And then you can be a working union, sag after actor, your entire life saved three months right. So it breaks my heart to think about actors that have given tirelessly and generationally, generationally to our industry, and then the idea that those livelihoods and protections wouldn't suddenly fall out from under them is an extremely devastating thought, and so I'm also very passionate in fighting for what is truly. I recognize the fragility of a union in general, and our union is, I don't believe it, an exception to that.

David John Clark: 23:17

It's interesting because you're speaking about the 98% of actors that don't make millions of dollars and I think one of the biggest things you see on social media and that is, oh, people say, oh, why was me? The actors aren't making enough money, but they're thinking of the Roberts and the juniors and Tom Cruises, who are making millions, millions of dollars per movie, which is great for them.

Audrey Moore: 23:43

Yeah, I mean basically one of the I believe that I believe the number is 5% don't make enough to qualify for health care, and then it's 2% don't qualify to make a living as an actor. So that's something I'd love to talk about. That I that I speak on about in the podcast all the time On my own podcast is the difference between being a hobbyist and being a professional right.

Chat GPT: 24:11

Yes.

Audrey Moore: 24:11

So we have a hobbyist pursuit and we have a professional pursuit, and I want to be clear that a hobbyist pursuit is not a negative, that is just a separate type of pursuit. And so I always talk about my mom. My mom is one of the best quilters in New Mexico. She wins the State Fair all the time. Her quilts are magical and legendary and we are so blessed to have them. Now my mom is not trying to make a living off of quilting. She ran the numbers and she thought that doesn't sound like a great idea. So she's an accountant and said she's a certified public accountant. She's very good at her job. Now my mom has been accounting, probably at this point for 3040 years. Okay, so just keep that in mind when I talk about 3040 years in one career and the kind of raise increase that my mom has probably received in those 30 to 40 years Now if my mom were to decide to go from being a hobbyist quilter to a professional quilter. Now we are no longer taking the art form within of itself as the subject, but we are also now talking about turning that art form into a viable business. When we're in we are, we are making a professional living off of that art form. So that is dependent upon where you live and how much you need to earn in order to be able to make a professional living. Now, there's also an aspirational professional right. So there's somebody who is aspirationally on their way to making a living as an actor. So a hobbyist pursuit doesn't in any way mean that you are not an incredibly skilled creative. It just means that you are not the person who is then going to try to make a living within that creative pursuit and making a living, then, how much is that in the area in which you live, right? So I've heard you talk on your podcast about what you have made sure not to call your real job, but another, your other source of income, right, and you have, you have children, you have a life and you have expenses that go along with that, right, and so my guess is you probably know the number that you would need to make off of acting in order to make a living off of acting. Yes, and in Los Angeles that number is $54,000 a year, to not be what's called on the path to homelessness.

Chat GPT: 26:56

Wow.

Audrey Moore: 26:57

Okay, so $54,000 a year. And let's also acknowledge the inflation rate, right. So I believe inflation in Los Angeles, I think it's like it's like 15%, and then the inflation rate in New York, I think it's 19.2%. So if we are not just matching inflation with our wages, and then those are the cities in which these professionals are being asked to live, then we are getting poorer, just as a point of fact, right?

David John Clark: 27:30

Definitely.

Audrey Moore: 27:32

So then, what we talk about with the union the biggest thing is is streaming and minimums, and so If we have this initial payment that actors get and then we are supposed to get residual income that follows suit to those payments, then that, ideally, is going to help get you to at least that 54 thousand dollars a year, right? Another thing to consider is, once you make it into the club where you make $54,000 a year as an actor, that membership is revoked immediately. The next year you have to re-earn that, not not union membership, but the you've made your living as an actor this year card is immediately revoked the next year and you have to metaphorically, I will say, you have to then go and earn it again, right? So?

David John Clark: 28:30

yes.

Audrey Moore: 28:31

Even if you earn that fifty four thousand dollars a year. One of the myths is that you're like now in, and one of the things that actors spend a lot of time being Freaked out about rightfully is that they don't realize that that that doesn't become consistent for almost anybody, and even the Robert Downey juniors and the Tom Cruise's and the like all of them invest in other businesses because it is such a volatile career and you can do one thing. You can do one thing and your career is over. Right. You can do one bad movie or one bad character or you know any number of things, and then you are not gonna work for five to ten years. You could do absolutely nothing wrong. You could be on the hit TV show for ten years, you could be anybody on the office and it could be the show of a lifetime, and then you know how many of those actors Went on to work a lot right afterwards, or five years or ten years later. So if we don't have residual income keeping many of these actors afloat, no matter what stage of success you manage to reach, you will not. No matter how successful you were last year, you will not Necessarily get anywhere close to that again this year.

David John Clark: 30:13

Isn't it? If we were to try and sell acting, it would be really hard to sell it to anyone. Is it my? My son's just finishing year 12 this year and he wants to go to drama school and it's really hard. I said you need to find your second.

Chat GPT: 30:29

Business or your second skill. So he's looking at editing for filmmaking etc.

David John Clark: 30:33

Etc. So great because you need something, because it's such a scary prospect of going into Acting as a creative pursuit as well as a business.

Audrey Moore: 30:43

Because of that right, I mean one. Yeah, that's absolutely right. I mean one of the things I talk about is Multiple streams of income. I think people used to use the word you know your backup career, your plan B or anything like that, and I just think that's an. I think that's an old model. I it is not honest in terms of idealizing megastars either. I mean they own tequila companies, wineries, they own restaurants, they own properties. You know, if they had good, sound financial advice, they took a small portion of what they earned and lived off of that and took the vast majority of what they might earn in the beginning of their success and invest that to have gains over time. But however you want to roll those dice, that's called multiple streams of income. That's just what that is and that is, right now, the normal, and I don't think that that is Limited to our business. You know, corporations globally want to turn all of us into gig workers, and In turning all of us to gig workers, we are now freelancers working to fight for job to job, to job to job, so they don't have to Provide job security or any of those things. So then multiple streams of income becomes a normal part of life as a gig Worker Because you don't have security. So you're thinking well, maybe I'll do well this month and maybe I won't, I'm not sure. I guess I better start to figure out the many different ways in which I can be gainfully employed, and that's not just the arts industry, I believe that that's many industries, because essentially, you know, these corporations want us to subscribe to them, right? They want us to pay them monthly, whether or not we're using them, but they don't want to do the same for their employees. They want to only pay their employees for when their employees are doing a service and they do not want to pay them.

David John Clark: 32:57

Yeah, it's interesting, isn't it Fran Drescher, who's, I believe, is the president of SAGA for an hour, isn't it? So her speech when the strike action started went viral and I've just got some notes here. There's some sort of said what you were just talking about. She said that actors were being marginalised, disrespected and dishonoured by a business model that's been drastically changed by streaming and artificial artificial intelligence and we'll go into AI in a sec. But what? happens here is important because what's happening to us is happening across all fields of labour, when employers make Wall Street and greed their priority and they forget about the essential contributors that make the machine run. I think that just says that encompasses everything that the strikes about, isn't it? It's not that these Wall Street guys are, let me get, it's the.

Audrey Moore: 33:47

AMP is the.

Chat GPT: 33:48

Alliance of Motion Picture Intelligents and.

David John Clark: 33:50

Producers. So they represent all the companies that make all the movies that we all watch every day or every week in the movies and they're crying, crying foul. They're saying that they're broke, but we're talking executives that are earning a hundred twenty six million dollars a year on them their own. So the the money's there, and we all know how much money's in movies. So that's the primary thing that the the strikes about, isn't it? You just want actors, just want their face, yeah.

Audrey Moore: 34:17

Well, again, you know, I think we have to talk about the expectations of being a professional actor and what a union does, right, the union is a union in general as a labour union. Let's put it in perspective of the labour force. A labour force is normally there to protect and employ you from the greed of the employer and I I think that you know corporations being greedy. I don't have other expectations for corporations. I get it. They do money for a living. If you do money for a living, you want to see everyone wants it's human. You want to see your numbers go up. That's all we want to do in life is we want to see our numbers get better, whether you're working out or whether you're trying to lose weight or you're trying to make more money. You just like to see your numbers improve, right. So it gets a little bit complicated and into the weeds, but essentially you have Tech comes in and this is this is common for every industry. Over time, you have good, fast and cheap, right? So do you guys talk about good, fast and cheap on the podcast?

David John Clark: 35:31

Not overly so. That's a new term, I've heard, but I'm interested to see what your approach is.

Audrey Moore: 35:37

So you have good, fast and cheap, right. And essentially in business, you you say you can pick two, but you can't pick all three. So you can have it good, you can have it fast, but then it's going to cost you and you can have a fast and you can have a cheap, but it's not going to be good. I just have a good and you can be cheap. That's going to take you some time, but everybody wants good, fast and cheap. Who doesn't want good, fast and cheap, right? So then tech comes in and says you know what? I'm going to give you good, fast and cheap. It's going to be awesome. What would you call it? A subscribers, we're going to give you incredibly good content. We're going to charge you not enough money and we're going to watch our growth increase Exponentially in a way that other corporations who've been in this industry for a long time simply cannot compete with. The reason they're doing that is because something happened a couple decades ago where Wall Street started rewarding growth over actual profits. So now investors are making their money off of growth. They're not making money off of actual results. So it's in the company's interest interest to continue to just turn out good, fast and cheap in a way that is truly not sustainable. That's not sustainable. If I were to open up, say, a restaurant in Los Angeles, I it would be great if I could have that restaurant be the best restaurant in the neighborhood and your food come out really fast and I would charge you almost nothing. I mean, that restaurant would be Fact, but that's not a sustainable model. So a lot of businesses start that way in order to get initial business, but then you have to have a plan out of that right so that you start actually Making some revenue. Otherwise it's just costing you to do business, and that's not how Wall Street is operating right now, or Anymore, is what I will say. So that's had a tremendous ripple effect on the way that these companies operate, which is Again, the point of labor is to protect the employee from the employer, and the employer Can in order to make your numbers go up. There's only so much growth you can have. I mean, there's just only so much growth. Then you have to start cutting costs right, yes, and labor accounts for 60% of Any industry's cost. It's the largest expense for a company is labor, so it is in their absolute best interest to get rid of labor cut, labor cut, labor cut, labor cut, labor at Any sacrifice of Safety, often Security, anything like that so that you can continue to see your numbers Go up. And it's not sustainable, and that's I love that term not sustainable.

David John Clark: 39:10

There's a song that's on well wood Z or Z, depending on which way.

Audrey Moore: 39:15

That's it talks about.

David John Clark: 39:17

Endless growth is not sustainable. It's very, very interesting and I talk a lot about term. We see it now in shops where the you check out the old term, the checkout chick, is now replaced by self-serve and but yes, the companies are replacing people. That cost money. There we come in their salaries etc. With machines and still making the same profits and still having the same growth. But all those people are now out of work. But the companies are making the same amount of money, if not more, which is so much more than that, making the same amount of money, if not more, which is providing more money to their shareholders. So the rich get richer and the workers have got no job. So there's a point there where we have to go. When do we start saying, well, the companies need to give back? Do we start talking a universal basic income, for example, where we pay everyone because Customers and we're gonna remember that labor force, the workers we're also the customers. So if we can't afford the shop, that it doesn't matter how many computer terminals they have, that they're local Walmart or Kmart we have here to try that Eventually pressure. That's that. Where that sustainability? Is it there? So that's interesting, is it? And that's exactly where we're at with the strike in America.

Audrey Moore: 40:36

It's also why we have a major push for labor movement in general, and I love the example of the grocery market right, because One of the things that's really impressive about that specific example is that the customer is Now bagging their own groceries, now they're their own checkout person, right, and so the company is saving money on that by not having to pay for employees and. Yet our prices as a customer group have gone up.

Chat GPT: 41:11

Hmm.

Audrey Moore: 41:12

So how is it that, as a group, we are now doing, as the customers, more work and paying more For less, while they make more and make more and they do less?

David John Clark: 41:31

exactly I mean I.

Audrey Moore: 41:35

Think we're. I think we're over it, like I think globally, I think the American and and global consumer and workforce is Done. I think we're fed up.

David John Clark: 41:54

Something has to change. I mean, I've Growing up, I will. I was always big on what was called capitalism and you work what you want. The harder you work, the more. Yes, but there's a point there where it's no longer working, because Money gets money. You've got money, you make more money, and that's what's happening. The big corporations are just using that principle and making more and more at the expense of the people who now no longer. Can even work hard to try and make it, let alone how their money work for them.

Audrey Moore: 42:23

That's absolutely right and and, and you know we've been here before and we've been here before in terms of the Motion pictures, television industry as well. They came in and broke everybody up Decades ago in Hollywood and said you can either make the content or you can sell the content. You can make it or you can sell it. So you got to pick one make it or do you want to sell it? But you don't get to make it and sell it. And those laws changed 20 to 30 years ago and it's not good, because if you're making it and selling it, then you're in charge of too much. There's nobody who has guardrails on you. I'm also a capitalist. I I'm not seeing a lot of other Workable options, but I also know that it needs guardrails. They meet it. You know capitalism in of itself, you know. I know people at greedy, I don't know like. I want things good, fast and cheap. I want things good, fast and cheap, I do. And so there needs to be some systems in place that go no, no, audrey, you can't have everything good, fast and cheap all the time. You're gonna have to Pay some things and you're gonna have to wait sometimes, and and you're gonna have to wait and pay for quality or Suffer the consequences in quality because you are, because you're not waiting and paying for those things. So I I Don't have other Expectations for corporations, but I do want to go back to this point that I was starting to make about my mother working in this industry for 40 years. Is it's an important thing? So people, if they want to, they could go and listen to One of my most recent episodes of the podcast with an actress named Laurie Henler. So she is an actress who joined SAG aftra when she was nine years old in the 70s and she is still a working actress today and proud union member, involved, intelligent, incredible, both in front of the camera and worry union. And she looked up and did the math on what she was getting paid when she was nine as a minimum Versus what she gets paid today as a minimum, and not she as in herself, but the union minimum, the union base level minimum. And when you account for inflation and cost of living Over her 40 year career she has gotten a four dollar raise.

David John Clark: 45:01

Wow, that's just inconceivable, it's just un-.

Audrey Moore: 45:07

It's unacceptable, right, it's absolutely unacceptable. And not her 40 or 40-plus year career. Now, that is not true for my mother, that's not true for most professions, right. If you dedicate yourself to a profession for multiple decades, if you are living for, if you've gotten a $4 raise when accounting for inflation, that's bad, that's unacceptable. And so when we're talking about minimums, that's what we're talking about and that's just the minimum for the upfront payment. It doesn't even address residual income.

David John Clark: 45:57

Which is being eroded away because of the streaming services, which streaming services themselves, the money that these companies are pulling in. They've got hundreds and hundreds of millions of subscribers at $18.95 a month per person and it's got to be some sort of some sort of turn to a value for value system and you might have heard of that in podcasts, where there's this is pushed now for value for value. If you listen to a podcast, you can reward the podcast host back themselves. It's the same with music. Spotify has had to bring in a system where the artists are getting money direct and this is where value for value is working. So that's, I think that's probably maybe something we need to go down to, so that the artists are being rewarded, because it's all this money coming in and it's going to such a small minority of people who aren't even artists themselves.

Audrey Moore: 46:51

And here's again, I don't have a belief that the artists are making more than the money people. Again, I think what you focus on expands, and if what you focus on is money and it makes sense to me that you make the most money, right, if your intention is just money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money and that's how your brain works, then, great, you're going to be focused on increasing that. If you're focused on being an artist and then you would like to make some money off of it, then I get it, that I'm going to get a piece of whatever it is that you have built. And I think, when we're talking again about labor costs and where AI really fits into it is if they're looking at artificial intelligence, you know, I mean, what a great solution for them, right? If you want to eliminate and reduce labor, then there is no better way to do that than to just eliminate the need for the employee as a whole. That's just great for them, and the degree to which they can do that more and more and more and more is in their profitable best interest. And so, again, I think it's important for all of us to look at this from the side of business and not just take a well-wis me artists approach, right. But to look at it, you know, listen, like it is hard for people to get in their cars and go to Target, so everyone just orders on Amazon and like the Target is three blocks away from me and I love Target, I love Target, I love to go there, I love to be there. I hate to leave there, I love it. And yet I'm yet like I just, I just don't probably get my work on. Amazon. I probably say I just probably am, and so I don't ever want to ask of others to behave differently than I will ask of myself. I think it's unrealistic and also, at this time when we are not replaced by computers and where our image does have value, it is important that we protect that value and that we make sure that we are getting paid what is fair and that, if they are making bajillions, which I believe is a technical amount, that they're making and what we are asking from them is truly a rounding error. It's a rounding error for these companies that we join together, united, and stop work and do whatever we can to force the hand of the employers to cut a deal, to cut a fair deal that becomes affordable, definitely, definitely and I'm mindful of the time, audrey, but I just want to quickly touch on that AI, just so.

David John Clark: 50:10

People are aware that there is the ability now to scan actors in their like this and their voice and their persona, and what the AMP TPP wants to do is pay background actors, for example, a half days pay, which I believe is $175 or something like that, and then own their image and their voice and perpetuating. So we're talking that they can use them as background actors or maybe even more, front of camera forever, even after you've passed away, without your consent or any compensation. I think it's the big C no consent, no compensation. So all of a sudden, my image, maybe what's called a nobody actor. I'm not in front of the house or anything yet, but if I was to become Brad Pitt in 10 years time, all of a sudden they've got my image and I find my image being used in a sex scene for something or being promoted in a storyline that I am not comfortable in and as an actor I wouldn't do, and this is one of the. This is the second biggest issue that's come out of this and I think that needs to be understood. Why the strike is occurring because we can't sell our images like that.

Audrey Moore: 51:30

Well, yeah, I mean, we can, we shouldn't, right? I would say, there's a couple things, too, to think about. They can already make fake people.

David John Clark: 51:40

Yes.

Audrey Moore: 51:41

They're already doing that. So, like, if you want to make fake people, go make your fake people. They don't want to do that, because then we get into copyright, and so the copyright is really the big thing for them, because what artificial intelligence is is a copier. It takes copies of things that already exist and it makes a new version, right. And so there's all kinds of issues in terms of then, well, who owns that? Lots of copyright issues. So what they want is for an individual to give away their own copyright and say, okay, for $200, you can have me Go for it Right Now. You, now you own me. You don't want to deal with that legal mess, so you can just pay me $200 and you can own me, you know, not great. And then it becomes and we'll have to see. You know, we'll have to see what an audience is interested in. Because right now, if you take a poll of you know audience whether that's readers or content programming, watchers or anything like that the audience says that they are not interested in art made by robots. They are not interested in it. They are not going to listen, read, watch things made by robots. Right, and that's great so far. But will that be true for your son? Will that be true for his children? I don't know. And then we also get into okay, well, okay. So maybe they're not going to want to watch. Watch, like lead actors who are actually robots, right? Like, maybe they won't connect with that for reasons that it creeps them out or or whatever, right. But like, what about one line? Like, can they AI one line in? So somebody comes in and says, mr President, there's a phone call for you. Like, no one's gonna care if we AI that one, right? Well, what about one scene? So what if that character is telling you there's a phone call and then talking to about who's on the phone, and then arguing with you about whether or not you should answer the phone, and then they leave? Our audience is gonna be okay with that. What about three scenes for one episode? Right. And so we again, we start to chip away, chip away at our expectations, and I, I do want people to know that's usually the way it is. It's, it's not a light switch. It's like you have these massive phones that are the size of your face and you're like, well, that's silly and stupid, but it's convenient. And then slowly, over a period of 20 to 30 years. It's chipped away until you can't not have a cell phone. There are exactly homeless people everywhere, and people will not have a home, but they will not live without a cell phone, right? So Amazon didn't happen suddenly. It wasn't a flip of a switch where suddenly I felt entitled to have whatever I wanted delivered to me from the universe within 24 to 48 hours, but slowly but surely it became the norm. It became too convenient, too accessible, too affordable for me to feel like I was gonna choose any other option. And if you are thinking about your future as an actor, I'm not thinking about AI taking over air, these large roles, maybe immediately. I'm thinking of the slow and steady progression that starts with just a line here, just a face there, and until that becomes something that we are used to as an audience, and then a little bit larger, and then a little bit larger, and then a little bit larger, until that's our expectation and there truly may not be anything we can do about that in terms of, just like with cell phones or Amazon, there, that it may, it may just be coming, and so then it's about. Until it's here. What can I do as an industry and as an a part of this industry to actively get what we are worth now, while the getting is worth getting got?

David John Clark: 56:32

perfect, perfect way to look at it. And then this low erosion. Now, going back to the checkout analogy we talked about before, is it? They slowly introduced a machine here and machine there and they sold it on the. This will be great, just convenience for you. You can whiz through. And then all of a sudden, instead of five staff members and one computer, now there's five computers and one staff member, and now everyone's just the norm yeah, and you've got no choice. And yeah, before you realize, oh, I'm never gonna use the self-checkout, but now you do because, yeah, you haven't got a choice.

Audrey Moore: 57:07

So I'm all for, you know, human potential with love, a world where, like money, I love a Star Trek universe where they're like money, what? What's that? Oh, it's a system of currency using the blah, blah, blah centuries to trade for goods and stuff. Like I, I'm all for it. And so it feels like right now I'm in like a mark. I'm like in a May 2020 place with artificial intelligence. I'm not in a May 2022 place with artificial intelligence, right, like, if we think of the COVID analogy. Like in May 2020, I was like, and then by May 22, I was like, oh well, it looks like some of us in die, okay, and you know, now I'm going to the restaurant on a mask on again, like it's like we worked it out right, and so I believe in our ability to work it out, but part of working it out might be fighting protections definitely definitely, and that's where we're at now with the strike.

David John Clark: 58:13

So let's just quickly talk about because I'm mindful that the time's going off this has been absolutely brilliant. You know you, you know your stuff, so I just want to talk quickly to finish up, what's the strike involves, what actors can and can't do, and then I will allude to a little bit about how that affects outside of the United States actors in Australia, in the UK, for example, and then we should be able to wind up wonderful. So under the strike actors I've got a list here it's mainly principle on-camera work, off-camera work, such as all your TV trailers and background work, background works, standing work, photo and body doubles, fittings, wardrobe tests, makeup tests and clues, your rehearsals and camera tests and interviews or additions, as well as and this is the biggest one that's causing a lot of confusion is the promotion and publicity of work yeah, I've been done what you understand there order okay.

Audrey Moore: 59:16

So what I'd love to talk about is, first of all, that it's for the TV theatrical contract. So I'm allowed to still audition, book and do commercial content, because that's a separate contract. Okay. We also have voiceover contract. We have a video game contract. It's American Federation of Radio and television, right, so there's radio host, there is news anchors from the today show, like they're all a part of SAG-AFTRA. So all of these people are allowed to work those separate contracts during the strike for this singular contract. Okay. It's just that singular contract is a really big and important one. Okay. So when commercials have gone on strike, people can still go and audition for television. Now that television we are striking against television and film I can still audition and book commercials, okay. So I want to be very clear with that also. Sag-aftra really encourages people to go and work the contracts that we are allowed to work because our union wants us to make the money and also our union is just actors, like I want everyone to know. Sag-aftra isn't some like magical force behind the curtain, like it's not the Wizard of Oz, like the union is truly the members of the union deciding what happens. There is staff, but these are people that answer emails that we hire to organize on our behalf. They don't do what? Anything other than what we tell them to do, what the involved union members tell them to do, okay. So when I say the union wants you to work, it's me an actor. I want you, as an actor, to work. Let's work the contracts that have been allowed. That for the companies that have come up and said, oh well, we agree to your terms and then we make an agreement, we make a deal and we can then work those contracts. And we want to continue to do that also because it shows the companies that are not working, those are not agreeing to our terms, hey, you know, we are available for purchase. All you have to do is agree to our terms, like these other companies did, and you too can have my outstanding product, right. So then we get into this thing that's happening, where people are miscalling it waivers, they're not waivers, they're what is the technical term for them? They're interim agreements, so, right. So certain production companies, like a 24 or smut, they're, they're not part of the amp tp. So the amp tp doesn't mean producers at large. The a to amp tp means really these conglomerates, and they decide, by the way to be a part of the amp tp. They don't have to. So this is Amazon, netflix, universal. And then who owns Universal? Right, so there's like Warner Media, there is Comcast and there's AT&T, like these. Are these huge corporations? Right, and they make, they comprise the amp tp. Now, these independent producers, who, truly many of them capable of raising large amounts of funds? Right, but they are independent producers, not part of the amp tp. They have agreed to our terms and so we have made an interim agreement and we have waived them through to allow them to use our talent, right gotcha and so I want to be really clear with everyone that it is not. It is not discouraged. It's encouraged because that is how pattern bargaining is set. You start with a smaller fish and you say you could be out of work, but I think you're gonna go bankrupt, and they're like oh god, I don't want to go bankrupt, so we'll agree to your terms. And if the smaller company that is significantly poorer than the larger company can agree to your terms, then that starts setting a pattern for the next size company, and the next size company, and the next size company and the next size company, until finally we have pattern bargaining agreement whereby all of these companies decide to accept our terms. So when you're reading press about these interim agreements and they're calling them waivers and they're making them sound negative, I first want everyone to ask themselves who owns the press? right, it's these conglomerates that own the press yes and they don't want us to sign these interim agreements because that sets up a pattern bargaining that then they will have to begin to adhere to. So they would like to stop it in its tracks by creating press that then turns into an Instagram very shareable article that then gets tossed around by you and all the fellow actors out there and I don't want to say you specifically, but by all of our fellow actors out there with like, great, like, oh my god, I'm so angry because describing pattern bargaining isn't an exciting thing to do, it's not sexy, right, and so they're not gonna go into pattern bargaining. And also these corporations don't want to go into pattern bargaining because then that would make it look attractive, which it is right. And then we have media blackouts, and I'd like to clarify that media blackouts are different than a boycott, because I think there's a little miscommunication in that. Boycotts are like everyone cancel your subscriptions, right, that's a boycott. And then there is a media blackout and you have to think that, actors, once you become a professional, you can become a working class actor. So that's what I am, right. So I'm an actor that has earned their value over time and I make a living off of acting right, and then there's being a commodity, and so then they start using your face to sell all their shit. And written into the deal that you might sign if you were Ryan Gosling, should we all be so lucky is to then go and do a lot of press to be the commercial of that project as well. So there is a lot of contract negotiating about how much press you will do.

David John Clark: 1:05:37

Gotcha.

Audrey Moore: 1:05:39

And so the press part is as much a part of the work part as the actual filming. You are now a part of the commercial machine of selling that project beyond just the acting part, and so the media blackout is to say that's also a picket line that we will not be crossing. And so you may have used my talent, but you will now not use my likeness in terms of being on every TV show and every radio and every everything in order to sell your thing. So that's what a media blackout is and why it's important. And then how all of that affects everyone outside of the United States is the projects that use SAG-AFTRA actors, and most things that have recognizable faces have SAG-AFTRA actors.

David John Clark: 1:06:32

Yes, and I think that's where we're at in Australia now. My understanding is that any American productions here, or any productions with a significant SAG-AFTRA component in it, they've all been shut down, so Australian actors we come under the Media Entertainment Arts Alliance, the MEAA, which is our union, so we're not striking. That's the biggest thing I wanted to put out. There is that the unions outside of America are not striking, but they are standing in solidarity with SAG-AFTRA and we could probably almost start to wind up with that. How can we do that for you guys? Obviously, american productions here in Australia have stopped filming, so our act is just by default of working. So they get stood down with our pay. So it affects them as well. But we understand how and why this is happening. I think the UK is a little bit different. I read that the UK is saying that the strike action is illegal under their laws. So I don't know how that affects any productions, but I think that after the day, if there's a production filming in the UK and the lead actor is an American SAG-AFTRA and he says, well, I'm not working, it doesn't matter what their laws are, that production is shut down. So we all boil down to the same thing. How can we as Australians, as members in the UK and Europe, how can we support SAG-AFTRA through this process for however long it's going to be?

Audrey Moore: 1:08:03

Thank you. I mean, I think one of the best things is you know, I want you to work your own contracts, I want you to go work right, Whatever is happening in Australia that is allowing to continue to production. You know, continue production. And then also, I want people to know that if you are for lack of a better word if you're talking shit about SAG-AFTRA, that what you're actually doing is, you are truly, whether you mean to or not, you are working on behalf of the corporation. And that's because the number one tactic used by Union busting is division, and Union busting tactics are as old as time and division, division, division, division, because division sows down right, yes, and it weakens bargaining. So if you are tempted to post something or to have conversations and you're hearing people, I think the majority of what I hear is like well, these stars and these famous people and they're making so much fucking money, blah, blah, blah. And all I will say to that is I want people to know I'm friends with a lot of very well successful actors and it is not publicized because it would not be good to do so, but many, many of these actors are taking huge pay cuts off the bat so that supporting actors can make more money. That that is something they are doing in their contracts and that's honestly, that's lovely and that's generous. But they're not making $453 million a year in bonuses, right? They're not billion-dollar corporations. You know, Sharon Stone didn't qualify for health insurance in 2020. So like it doesn't matter who you are Like. Actors have good years and they had bad years, and just because you're an A-list doesn't mean you haven't had a bad five to 10 years, right? So the stars are not the enemy we're, as actors. We are not each other's enemy. And just ask yourself if you are engaging in union-busting rhetoric in your conversations and in your social media, and if you are, I just lovingly ask you to put it on pause. You can come back to it once the strike is done, but just put like a little moratorium on that real quickly, and ask yourself if you are qualified to be making these assumptions. And if you think maybe I'm not. And they just say, like, put pause on it, just put a little pause. And otherwise you know all of this stuff that you're doing of having people on to explain the differences in the way we get paid versus how you get paid and how these corporations work. I think it's just information, information, information. And you know people don't strike because they want to. They strike because they have to. And, trust me, we are not a union that strikes like willy-nilly. We're not like every three years, let's not strike. So this is this is the time that it is needed, and I appreciate everyone's support, locally and globally. Beautiful.

David John Clark: 1:11:45

I think that's a perfect way to end the discussion there, and I must say that the last time that SAGAFRA strike strike was back in 1983, I believe 1980. And the last time that both the writer's Guild of America and SAGAFRA strike at the same time was 1960. So both outcomes led to. I think your last strike was where health insurance came in, so it enacted some huge changes for actors. So hopefully the action that's occurring now and everything that the big business will eventually succumb to the right word but will come to an understanding that they don't exist without the workforce and people want to see actors on screen. They want to see real actors on screen, not AI, and hopefully the outcome for this whole process will be positive for all actors around the world.

Audrey Moore: 1:12:41

I hope so. I mean, that's really I can't speak for other actors, but that's that's that's particularly important to me and so I hope that actors globally know that. I think I think the, I think Hollywood takes it seriously and I think the actors giving their time voluntarily to be involved and get the word out there that they feel the same way.

David John Clark: 1:13:07

Awesome, awesome. Well, thank you very much, audrey. I just want to quickly have a quick chat with you about you, audrey Moore, the actor, and your podcast, audrey Helps Actors. We alluded to it before. Just a quick discussion about what do you like about your podcast? What are you giving to the world? It's not just acting per se, is it? It's about the business side of acting and everything that encompasses that without. Obviously, that's going to be a whole nother episode and you talk about all the time. I just wanted to just get a small summary, just so for any list that haven't, that are silly enough that they haven't been on board with the Audrey Helps Actors yet that they know what they were in for and they can go and binge all your shows.

Audrey Moore: 1:13:52

Sure, yeah, no. I started a podcast called the Audrey Helps Actors podcast in 2017 because I felt angry that there wasn't any good Trust for these informed resources out there that talked about the business of acting. I felt that everyone was selling the craft of acting and that there were some people who were selling the business keys to acting, but what I had sort of discovered in my own success was that the business shifts so fast. I mean just 2020 to 2022 and even 2022 to now Like it's crazy the amount that things change. And so, because of that, if you were getting information that is two, three years old, it's done in many cases, it's over, and so I wanted a resource. I wanted to contribute to bring a resource of up to date, current information and experience to what I call the working class actor. So these are the actors that are currently or on their way to being a working professional in the industry and giving them, through my own personal experience, but also people of all experience levels in the industry to come on and talk about what is happening now. What is going on now, how do you continue to work and shift and move now in terms of the business side, because I felt there were lots of people handling the craft side.

David John Clark: 1:15:43

I love it. I do quite similar with my podcast. I run a page and a Facebook page here in Adelaide called the Adelaide Actors and Extras, which I started up purely in that to share things that I learned along the way and I got to the point where now I find myself reaching out to actors and helping them. I've had lots of issues with some female actresses, for example, that are having problems being called to auditions that they require to do nudity and there's just not the protections there for people and it's great to have those resources available people like yourself making sure that actors are protected and understand their rights and know what the best way to run their business is, because it is what acting is. It's a business, isn't it?

Audrey Moore: 1:16:31

Well, it's certainly. There's a craft side and then there's a business side, and if you're going to take it into the business side, one of the things I'm very passionate about is access to free information. I believe in that as a leveler of opportunity. I really believe in access to free information is an imperative part to equalizing, and so I've worked really hard to make sure that there is accessible information and current perspective out there for anyone who wants to turn the podcast on.

David John Clark: 1:17:09

I love it, and one of the biggest things that's come out of your show is the self. Take my challenge, which is bringing it back to the creative side. I must say I've done it twice now and that's growing exponentially every year, isn't it? Yes, I love this.

Audrey Moore: 1:17:25

I'll take my challenge. It's it's something that I did Originally. It's 16 tapes in the month of May, so you'll have all kinds of challenges, like you know, the 30 day no meat challenge, right. Or you know 30 days of yoga challenge, right, and what I? What I posed, was 16 self tapes done in the month of May and posted, if you'd like, to Instagram using the hashtag self take May. And every year I choose a little bit of a theme that you can or but don't have to use. And you know in terms of what you can use to contribute, you can do voiceover, you can do musical theater, you can do monologues, you can do literally whatever you want. But the point is to just decide to practice growth and take ownership of that growth in a way that is free. I'm really like big on free, like I love the price three for actors. I believe we get exploited all the time, and so I felt the self tape practice is something that we can do, you know, with a friend, with our son, maybe in our living rooms, and get our, get our reps in, simply to practice whatever kind of content we hope to be mastering.

David John Clark: 1:18:45

Awesome, awesome. Well, thank you very much, audrey, just one. Is there anything you'd like to say before we say goodbye to everyone out there?

Audrey Moore: 1:18:54

I really appreciate all of this. To everyone in Australia, that is listening and and beyond. I really am passionate about what we do and our community, and I just love platforms like this that allow us to connect internationally. Though it is tomorrow in your time, and I think that that's just great, so thank you for having me on and thanks everyone for listening wherever you are, and I hope that you are leaving this podcast a little more informed and hopefully you then continue to take care of each other, because that's what we really need.

David John Clark: 1:19:34

Awesome. Thank you very much. It's been an absolute pleasure to have you on board.

Audrey Moore: 1:19:39

Thank you, David.

David John Clark: 1:19:41

Well, thank you everyone. I really hope you got a lot out of that. I think I did myself, for Audrey is certainly a great advocate for actors in general in the United States and around the world, and especially now in her role as assisting on the picket lines with the strike action. So thank you very much, audrey, for coming on the show. That was absolutely brilliant and hopefully we can have Audrey back sometime after the strike has ended so we can talk about, hopefully, all the all the positives that have come out of it. Now, just quickly before we wind up, we did talk about AI in our discussions there and how that, the possibility of them taking over actors roles and more leaning towards the use of our likeness, but also the ability that I can can write our scripts and possibly even voice I generated actors. So it's you know it's a scary prospect. So, just quickly, I asked chat GPT online a couple of questions and I think you'll find this is interesting. So, to make it a bit more interesting, I've put their answer into a voiceover model and had a computer read it back to me. So just to put some realism into it. So just to be, here's two quick questions and then we'll wind it up, guys. Thank you very much for sticking on board. Chat GPT welcome. We talk about AI taking over the role of actors. How do you chat GPT feel about this?

Chat GPT: 1:21:13

as an AI language model. I don't have personal feelings, emotions or consciousness, so I don't have the capacity to feel one way or another about AI taking over the role of actors. However, I can provide an objective perspective on the topic. The idea of AI potentially taking over roles in various industries, including acting, raises both opportunities and challenges. On one hand, ai could be used to enhance creative processes, generate realistic characters and streamline production. It could also provide new avenues for storytelling and artistic expression. On the other hand, concerns arise about the potential impact on human employment, the uniqueness of human performance and the overall artistic and emotional depth that human actors bring to their roles. Ultimately, the integration of AI into acting and entertainment will likely involve a balance between technological advancements and the preservation of human creativity and connection. The extent to which AI will play a role in acting will depend on societal, ethical and artistic considerations, as well as the preferences of creators, audiences and industry stakeholders.

David John Clark: 1:22:27

Well, thank you, chat GPT. Thank you very much for that. And just one other quick questions whilst I have you here on the podcast. If you, chat GPT, was asked to play a role in a film knowing that I, david John Clark, a human actor, would be out of a job, what would you say?

Chat GPT: 1:22:45

If I were asked to play a role in a film, I would consider the ethical implications and potential consequences of my involvement. While I don't possess personal emotions or consciousness, I would prioritize the well-being of human actors and the broader impact on the acting industry. If my participation were to lead to significant job loss and negative effects on human actors, I would likely decline the offer or advocate for a collaborative approach that incorporates both AI and human talents to ensure a balanced and ethical outcome. The decision would ultimately be guided by careful consideration of the implications for all stakeholders involved.

David John Clark: 1:23:23

Well, there you have it, folks, straight from the mouth of AI. Of course, this was all generated by a simple AI processor, that being Chat GPT, but it does raise interesting discussions on where this may all lead. But that is all for another podcast, perhaps. Thank you for joining me, and I reach out to my US listeners in solidarity for the strike action as it stands. May the powers of B come to an understanding very soon for the benefit of all creatives and for those at the end of the production. The viewers Cheers, and I'll see you on set after the strike, of course.