“Consent Is Surrender”: SAG-AFTRA Board Member Matthew Modine Will Vote Against Guild Deal With Studios, Again; Full Agreement To Be Released Friday

deadline.com:

Matthew Modine voted against SAG-AFTRA’s tentative agreement with the studios once, and he’s damn sure going to vote against it again. “Consent, in the context of this agreement, is tyranny,” says the National Board member in a lengthy pre-Thanksgiving statement decrying the deal, especially its AI provisions. “It is submission.” Read Matthew Modine’s full statement against SAG-AFTRA’s tentative agreement below “If ratified, SAG-AFTRA members who consent will be digitally exploited in ways not clearly defined and are currently beyond our individual abilities to control,” Modine exclaimed. “The US Government, with all its resources, doesn’t know how to create AI guardrails to provide protections for citizens,” the Stranger Things actor added. “SAG-AFTRA certainly doesn’t have the financial resources or technology to navigate the AI tsunami crashing upon the shores of the entertainment industry.” With eligible members of the 160,000-strong Guild currently voting to ratify the deal reached between SAG-AFTRA and the AMPTP on November 8 after a 118-day strike that shut Hollywood down, a growing chorus of dissent against the agreement has emerged.

In fact, it was evident when the Guild National Board met on November 10 that not everyone was marching in the same direction.

The hybrid meeting went much longer than anticipated and eventually saw nine members of the Board, including Modine vote against the deal.

That translated into a total approval from the wide-ranging Board of 86% taking the deal to the general membership for ratification.