Urbanworld CEO Stacy Spikes Warns of Guilds Policing Filmmakers After WGA Pulls Sponsorship Over AI Initiative (EXCLUSIVE)
“There wasn’t a lot of insight into their full thinking process,” Stacy Spikes, the founder of the film festival Urbanworld, told Variety about the...
Key points
- “There wasn’t a lot of insight into their full thinking process,” Stacy Spikes, the founder of the film festival Urbanworld, told Variety about the Writers Guild of America East‘s decision not to sponsor the 30th edition of the BIPOC-focused festival in October.
- Spikes said he found out about the WGAE’s decision through an email forwarded to him, prompting him to propose a phone call to clarify the move further.
- While Spikes acknowledged the guilds that have sponsored the festival don’t write “massive checks,” he worried that the move could impact the pipeline of filmmakers who try to submit their work to the festival — and risk policing them as they navigate a transforming industry.
- “The danger is for people to start to tell creators what tools they can and cannot use is a very slippery slope,” Spikes said.
What happened
“There wasn’t a lot of insight into their full thinking process,” Stacy Spikes, the founder of the film festival Urbanworld, told Variety about the Writers Guild of America East‘s decision not to sponsor the 30th edition of the BIPOC-focused festival in October. Spikes said he found out about the WGAE’s decision through an email forwarded to him, prompting him to propose a phone call to clarify the move further. While Spikes acknowledged the guilds that have sponsored the festival don’t write “massive checks,” he worried that the move could impact the pipeline of filmmakers who try to submit their work to the festival — and risk policing them as they navigate a transforming industry. “The danger is for people to start to tell creators what tools they can and cannot use is a very slippery slope,” Spikes said. Spikes said the move resembled the industry’s earlier consternation surrounding new technology, such as the pivot from film to digital cameras, but that he has “never seen people say you can’t do this, or we’re going to cancel you, or not work with you if you allow filmmakers to do certain things.” The AI category has not been an issue for other sponsors, who Spikes declined...
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