Abstract

In 2023, the Writers Guild of America (WGA) and Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Radio and Television Artists (SAG-AFTRA) went on strike at the same time, shutting down Hollywood film and television production for seven months. The potential role of artificial intelligence (AI) in the creative labour process emerged as a key theme in negotiations for both unions. This thesis asks: How did AI become a major issue in the 2023 dual strikes and what
does this reveal about Hollywood labour in the early 2020s? By taking a historical critical media industries framework, this project places the 2023 strikes in the context of a century of organized
Hollywood labour struggles, including previous strikes organized in response to emerging technology, as well as the distribution shift to online video streaming in the 2010s. Using critical discourse analysis of entertainment news coverage of the strikes in Deadline, The Hollywood Reporter and The New York Times, this thesis examines union members’ statements about AI to theorize Hollywood labour at the micro-level of practices and the macro-level of structure. An intersectional feminist approach to production studies examines how the incorporation of AI into
Hollywood film and television production practices will most strongly impact creative workers who are already marginalized in the industry.