I’m a member of Equity and I’m a member of SAG-AFTRA. And this is a fight that has to happen. Unfortunately, it’s a fight that has to happen anytime a new technology shows up. This time it’s streaming and AI at the same time, so this is a bigger strike, but the template is the same—we withhold our labour, then we win.

One thing for sure that we know about AI is that it is going to be used to further marginalise workers. So that’s what we’ve got to stop. Can AI do good things? It probably can. On its own, it’s not malignant, but they want to use it to not pay people for the fruits of their labour, so that’s what we’ve got to squash. AI is not necessarily bad, but it needs to be managed. We certainly can’t trust the AMPTP [The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers] to do that. They need our help.

Tremendous. Just tremendous.

Oh, certainly there is. Of course, there’s a wonderful union history in this country as well. I mean, it’s so funny to me that this is the umpteenth action that I’ve been on in this country and it’s the first one for my industry. Usually, I’m here for nurses, rail workers and other workers, so this is tremendous. But yes, in the United States, it’s funny because labour history is actively discouraged from being taught in the United States, but when you do even cursory labour history research, you find that strike actions have been wildly successful time and time again. As I said when I was talking earlier, when it was TVs being introduced into homes, then VCRs, they’re always trying not to pay people for work they’ve already done and created, wrote, directed, and starred in, for Christ’s sake.

Oh yeah, and it’s all fresh in our memory. I still have anxiety dreams about being able to pay bills, because it wasn’t that long ago that it was very difficult. How grateful I am to be able to make a living from this profession is insane. But there was a long time when I couldn’t pay the bills and I was struggling.

Oh yeah. SAG-AFTRA has 160,000 members. There are about 2,000 of them rolling in the dough and the rest aren’t. But they’re doing vital work. Think about when you’re watching a movie and some guy shows up. You don’t know who he is, you can’t remember which episode of Law and Order you saw him in before, but you know he’s going to do a good job—that’s the job of an actor and that guy deserves good money for it. 

One thing I think is important to realise is that the arts are important. Artists will say that this is stupid or that it doesn’t matter, or they’ll say at the Academy Awards that this is the most important thing that ever happened—neither is true. The thing is, making art is as important as driving a bus. It’s not less important because a bus driver wants to watch a show at the end of the day. He wants to lubricate his existence with some laughs and art, right? And it’s also not more important because that bus driver is getting people to work. It’s just as important as anything else. In that sense, the solidarity that we’re seeing today between unions and between industries is gorgeous. 

The best!

Absolutely, automation. Automating ticketing isn’t going to help a woman in a wheelchair who drops her glasses into the tracks. The machine doesn’t care. Same thing here with AI. You’ve got to stay united. It’s so funny because I’ve spoken at RMT rallies and now we have Eddie Dempsey speaking here at this.

I guess it’s connected to the NHS stuff. I’m not afraid of any employer anymore because I had a son who passed away from cancer and it just changed everything for me. Being in an NHS hospital ward with nurses who had to live twenty miles away and couldn’t afford to live near a hospital. Having people who were impoverished in the bed next to my son and then from there, I get in a fucking limousine and go to the Emmys, and you’re sitting next to literal billionaires, and so I know there’s enough money to go around. For me, as someone who has had a foot in both worlds, I feel it’s my job to tell people there’s enough to go around because I see it. I see the caviar being passed around on a fricking yacht. They’re full of shit. Anybody who knows it needs to talk about it. 

I’m at a point in my career where two things happen when I seek out a role that I want: I get offered it because I’ve been in enough stuff, or I have to tape for it. My self-tapes suck! They’re so bad because I haven’t made any investment in my house. I have my kids running around. It’s just ridiculous. I’ve been a producer, I’ve been a writer, I’ve casted before. I want to meet them. I want to smell them. Are they a jerk? Are they terrific? Am I going to learn from them? I mean, you gotta meet them. So yeah, self-tapes stink. I get it, they were useful during the pandemic, but you know, let’s have a more judicious mixture now. And again, you can’t trust AMPTP to make those decisions. We have to help them. I don’t hate them. They’re like a toddler that we have to guide and help, and they should be grateful. 

Oh, they’re silly, silly little people, the Labour MPs that don’t come to picket lines and rallies. I feel bad for them. They know because they’re kept awake by a tummy ache at night; they know what they’re doing is wrong, so shame on them. But we’re here if they want to join. They’re very welcome. I’m embarrassed for them. That’s how I feel about them.