Massimo Ghini, Hollywood fights against a common enemy AGI Agenzia Italia

AGI – “It’s a fight against a common enemy. We must be aware of this and seriously engage in solving the problem. Even if it doesn’t affect us in this sense, let’s not let ourselves be discovered and surprised.” It’s our turn”. He told AGI Massimo Ghini Actors, comments on the actors’ strike Hollywood and even ahead of the screenwriters, against a system that is badly affecting the sector in the hands of streamers and has led to the disappearance of secondary profits, to the ever more massive use of artificial intelligence, to the exploitation of platforms with the emptying of cinema.

“Here,” explains Ghini, “there is no real industry like the American one. We had a lamp in the ’60s, but then it all came to an end, so much so that the big Italian manufacturers left and we became sort of ’employees’ by any means necessary.” Respect for the category, employees of the foot, of the fund Unique to the show This is a chain that ties you to political power in Italy.Fus.Ogni much There are phenomena that emerge from this logic, films that might collect millions of euros, but today, like today, I say that the signal coming from the United States must be understood immediately.”

In America However, they are well organised: “Of course – the actor underlines – they immediately form a category, they make group demands, I was union secretary for 15 years and I say we have to move. Actors like in the US.” Matt Damon They face the problem of colleagues who, for example, are unable to pay for medical care, because there are these cases: they exist. We make little impression, we don’t make ourselves heard. Just remember that we are in 2023 and there is no audiovisual contract… What are we talking about?”

But why is there no group? “Well, there’s also fear, and that’s why we don’t push writers, actors and directors to make claims. There is the fear that there will be a moment and you will disappear. There’s the whole context that’s also difficult when I’m confident though.” in the fact that if we don’t hit rock bottom we’re not going to come back. There is fear, but on this issue we must form an opinion on the ground and ensure that someone comes up with an idea, a strategy that binds us least to the rest of the world. Europe .

The system should be revolutionized from within. We have Unita who is now busy. The most important point, however, is that unless we enter a general dimension and all fight together, we won’t get out. And I am convinced that this system will soon get out of hand for the producers too. Platforms rule and the manufacturer isn’t what it used to be.”

Therefore, for Massimo Ghini: “What is happening in Hollywood must create a real debate by speaking up: representing an act of courage and ideally uniting American protest and arguing along those lines.” In the US, we protect the work of workers, actors and screenwriters. .. We can’t pretend it won’t happen here one day. I’m very sad, I lived and was born in the cinema and today I don’t see the cinema. Watch the film on the platforms. Do we want to make it happen? And then the conversation: we are talking about a small Italian art category that is part of GDP We As artists, we participate in GDP. Americans come here to produce because the labor costs them less and it’s a fact of the market that we too have now embraced, for example touring in other countries. But this should also be regulated. However, Ghini concludes, we should not lose sight of the fact that we are on the verge of a revolution that will completely change the way we think about an artistic entertainment product. I hope that there will be attention from intellectuals, from the current Minister of Culture, who is a journalist and has written books. We need greater cultural sensitivity than before, with politicians presiding over the culture minister.”