Directors Guild of America

• Exclusively for MasterClass, DuVernay will take members on the actual set and through the post-production process of her newest film, ORIGIN.
• The class is available now only on MasterClass , where subscribers have unlimited access to all 200+ instructors with an annual membership.
• In this class, DuVernay takes MasterClass members on a journey of self-discovery, guiding them through the art of reframing their mindset to unleash their full potential in everyday life.
• "Collaborating with MasterClass to create a learning module unlike anything they'd done before was truly thrilling," DuVernay said.

• The event will feature a new mini size egg from Southern California plant-based egg producer, Yo Egg.
• Star Simmons, founder of Vkind, expressed her enthusiasm for the latest Yo Egg creation.
• "We are absolutely thrilled to feature Yo Egg's newest invention at the Vkind Experience.
• Simmons concluded, "This exciting plant-based egg and the Vkind Experience represent a bridge between culinary art and sustainable choices.

• Working conditions, adequate pay, and the increasing encroachment of artificial intelligence (AI) into their professions.
• But in the current strike, the specific concern is a subset of AI known as generative AI.
• It is crucial that an equilibrium is reached between protections for creative professionals, and the application of generative AI as a useful tool.

Remind me, what is generative AI?

• What is significant about generative AI is the capacity to undertake the so-called “learning” process relatively autonomously and to generate original content.
• Many of us are most familiar with generative AI as the technical process that gives us increasingly sophisticated deepfakes.
• Generative AI has taken off in the mainstream through companies such as Midjourney, Stable Diffusion, Meta and OpenAI.

So what is happening in Hollywood?

• This would significantly reduce opportunities for people entering the workforce to gain necessary expertise in their craft.
• Questions arise around how these works would be attributed, who or what would be given credit, and consequently how payment would be allocated.
• But many experts and industry professionals see this proposal as alienating writers from the creative process, repositioning writers as copy editors.
• One of the most dystopian scenarios to be put on the table by big studios has been termed “performance cloning”.

It’s also a question of copyright

• With generative AI, consent is closely bound together with issues of copyright.
• Comedian Sarah Silverman is currently suing OpenAI and Meta for copyright infringement.
• She alleges their AI models were trained on her work without her consent, and were consequently able to roughly reproduce her comedy style.

We need collaboration without exploitation

• An early example is David France’s 2020 documentary Welcome to Chechnya, which explores the persecution of LGBTQ+ people in Russia.
• We need regulatory measures that enable creative collaboration with generative AI while ensuring creative workers are not exploited to further centralised power.
• Read more:
  The exploitation of Hollywood's writers is just another symptom of digital feudalism

• Daniel Kwan & Daniel Scheinert won the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Theatrical Feature Film for Everything Everywhere All at Once.
• In a special announcement, the Guild's First-Time Feature Director Award was renamed in honor of the late DGA President Michael Apted.
• Judd Apatow hosted the ceremony for the fourth time before a capacity audience of more than 800 guests.
• OUTSTANDING DIRECTORIAL ACHIEVEMENT IN THEATRICAL FEATURE FILM FOR 2022:
  MICHAEL APTED AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING DIRECTORIAL ACHIEVEMENT OF A FIRST-TIME THEATRICAL FEATURE FILM DIRECTOR FOR 2022: