"Don't Scan Me!" SAG-AFTRA strike sign carried by Melvina Starks
date: label: date made
content: 2023
name: label: Associated Name
content: Starks, Melvina
label: Associated Name
content: Bremond, Sharon R.
label: maker
content: Starks, Melvina
label: maker
content: Bremond, Sharon R.
label: maker
content: Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists
notes: label: Description (Brief)
content: This SAG-AFTRA strike sign was carried by union member Melvina Starks in the summer 2023 strike picket line demonstrations in Los Angeles, California. The front of the sign features the SAG-AFTRA logo and the text "SAG-AFTRA ON STRIKE!" printed in white and yellow on a black field. In a white section below, the phrase "DON'T SCAN ME!" has been written in black ink. The back of the sign features the SAG-AFTRA logo printed in white on a black field. The sign's two sides are seperate, but have been stapled together. The sign has has been detached from the picket stick it was originally stapled to.
label: Description (Brief)
content: The 2023 entertainment industry strike was a historically significant labor action led by the Writers Guild of America (WGA) and Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) after contract negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) broke down in the Spring of 2023. The historic strike was the first instance of actors joining writers in striking since 1960, and brought the American entertainment industry to a near standstill of new production. Issues at stake included changes in compensation due to the rise of streaming, the use of artificial intelligence in film and television production, COVID-related changes in industry practices and working conditions, and the ever-growing gap in pay between workers and executives. The WGA reached an agreement on a new contract with the AMPTP and members voted to ratify on October 9, 2023.
label: Description (Brief)
content: The sign illustrates one of SAG-AFTRA members' primary concerns and demands in the strike, regulation of the use of artificial intelligence and computer-assisted/generated animation. Striking actors spoke out about a new practice in which producers ask them to submit to full body scans in order to animate them in digital replicas rather than paying them to perform in person. In some cases, the production companies and studios may have then claimed to own their digital likeness in perpetuity. Many working actors, especially those hired for background work or bit parts, said that they opposed this new development, fearing that it would deprive them of their livelihood, but feared speaking out about it due to the possibility of retaliation or blacklisting for future work. SAG-AFTRA leaders made regulation of this new technology and practice a key demand in their negotiations with the AMPTP, demanding that new agreements for digital scanning and cloning must include provisions for “informed consent” granted by performers and that rights to use digital scans beyond their original purpose must be separately bargained.
label: Description (Brief)
content: SAG-AFTRA member Melvina Starks is a Los Angeles-based actor who has appeared in background and stand-in roles in productions such as the ABC television series The Rookie. She and fellow actor friend Sharon Bremond participated in picket line demonstrations throughout the summer of 2023, and modified the standard SAG-AFTRA signs they had been issued with the slogan “DON’T SCAN ME!” to express their opposition to digital body scans and use of computer generated clones in entertainment productions. This particular sign was carried by Starks and Bremond in demonstrations at Paramount Studios from July 14 to October 5, 2023.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: California, Los Angeles
topic: label: Subject
content: Labor
label: Subject
content: Strikes and Boycotts
label: Subject
content: Technology
setName: label: See more items in
content: Culture and the Arts: Entertainment
label: See more items in
content: Popular Entertainment
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Melvina Starks and Sharon R. Bremond
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2023.0132.01
label: accession number
content: 2023.0132
label: catalog number
content: 2023.0132.01
objectType: label: Object Name
content: sign
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: paper (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: printed (overall production method/technique)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 14 in x 18 in; 35.56 cm x 45.72 cm