shuttering the showbiz industry for months, taking billions out of the economy. and its repercussions? well, they'll play out in homes and theatres around the world. at its heart, the threat to actors and writers from artificial intelligence. you can take my face and my body and my voice and make me say or do something that i had no choice about. that's not a good thing. so can the studios find a hollywood happy ending, or are we looking at a horror story for industry pay and the studios�* balance sheet? well, i'm going to be discussing all of that with these two. there they are, duncan crabtree—ireland, the man leading the negotiations for the actors, and tim richards, the big boss of europe's largest independent cinema chain, vue international. plus, can we use aland still respect the copyright of creators and writers? the big boss of the american software giant adobe believes we can. but can he get his latest $20 billion deal past the regulators?

wherever you'rejoining me from around the world, once again, a big hello and a warm welcome to the show. you know, for the first time in six decades, the film industry, well, it's been shut down as both writers and actors have gone on strike, halting, well, productions for tv, film and the big streamers like netflix and prime video. the writers�* strike has now gone on for more than four months and the actors joined them two months ago, effectively shutting down the entire industry. one big issue at the heart of the strike is the role of artificial intelligence in the industry. writers, they're worried it'll eat up their work and actors say they don't want their likeness recorded and copied and, well, made to do things that they don't want to or get paid for. the studios, they're already counting the costs, with reports of hundreds of millions of dollars already being lost from their balance sheets due to the action. in a moment, we're going to hearfrom the man leading the negotiations for the actors. but first, our woman

in hollywood, regan morris, went down to a picket line outside netflix to give us a sense of, well, how this is playing out. actors and writers say this fight is existential, that if they don't get their demands met now, that they could be relegated to gig economy workers in the future, that al could possibly replace them and that they won't have the protections that their union has traditionally afforded them. a lot of people have resorted to secondary jobs like bartending. i've seen that a lot. i myself have taken on a job in retail, and so that's been common to see. but, you know, as artists we're pretty familiar with figuring things out and making things work. how are we surviving? off grants and loans at the moment. - residuals when they come in, if they come in. - not very well, to be honest. it's already been very economically devastating here for writers and actors, but also for everyone that relies on this industry.

with the actors not showing up, no one shows up to work. that means all the camera crews, the set decorators, prop masters, everyone�*s at home. there is a little bit of reality tv and some commercials happening, but not enough for anyone to make a decent living. the alliance of motion picture and tv producers, that is who represents the studios in these negotiations, they say they've come back with multiple offers for the writers, which have either been ignored or rejected. the writers say none of those offers are serious. and interestingly, they sent out an update to their members suggesting that maybe they need to negotiate separate deals with different studios. they're saying the old legacy studios in los angeles and hollywood are more respectful of the unions and might be more willing to make a deal than sort of the new—in—town tech giants, the streaming giants that have disrupted so much in hollywood — netflix, amazon, apple, etc. there's no executives that have come forward and said this publicly, but the writers are saying they are hearing behind the scenes that they could make

separate deals and that maybe they end this strike incrementally that way. the alliance has outright dismissed that. they said it's not true, that they are unified and committed to striking a deal across the board with all the studios. regan morris in los angeles there. so here's the question — how long can this strike go on and how might it be resolved? well, for the latest, let's go to the man in the negotiating room on behalf of the actors and performers. he's the national executive director and chief negotiator for the actors�* union sag-aftra. duncan crabtree—ireland, thanks forjoining me. and duncan, let�*s start with this. it�*s been over four months since the writers went on strike. i�*ve got to ask you, duncan, did you expect the strikes just to go on this long? yeah, i mean, really not. it�*s been over four months since the writers guild went on strike. for us, it�*s 60 days, two months, since sag—aftra, the actors, went on strike, and i didn�*t really imagine that it would have gone on this long with so little communication and interaction

from the studios and streamers, because the strikes are having a huge impact on the industry, not only in the us but around the world. and frankly, i think it�*s a bit irresponsible that they haven�*t gotten back to the table yet. and duncan, what do you want to see that�*s not being offered on the table right now? well, what i first want to see is some type of opportunity for us to talk about moving this negotiation forward, because there has never been a strike that ended with no communication between the parties. the only way that parties can reach an agreement is to talk to each other. when we have that conversation, i think we�*ve been really clear about what our biggest priorities are and what really has to happen. the sort of theme of that is coming back to the table with a sense of respect for the contribution of the creative talent in the industry and that�*s reflected in having increases to basic minimums that keep up with inflation, that means having guardrails around artificial intelligence so that our members know that

they�*re not going to have their image, voice, likeness, persona taken by companies and just used without permission or compensation, and also sharing a little bit of the revenue, the success from the streaming platforms that have been built on our members�* faces and voices. and, you know, as a parent myself, i can say, you know, teaching everyone to share, that shouldn�*t be that hard of a lesson. and duncan, correct me if i�*m wrong here, but the studios have responded to some of your demands with improved pay offers for writers. are some in your union thinking, well, it�*sjust time to end this strike? well, just to be clear, they have gone back to the table with the writers guild for about two weeks or so. there has not been a meaningful advance during that time with the writers. there have been one or two adjustments to proposals, but nothing big. and as far as we�*re concerned on the part of the actors, there�*s been nothing new whatsoever from the companies since july 12th. and duncan, let�*s just be clear here, because we�*re notjust talking about big stars and their multi—million paycheques, are we?

because most of your members, i�*m assuming, aren�*t paid the same asjulia roberts or george clooney. no, aaron, you�*re absolutely right. i mean, we have 160,000 members approximately in sag—aftra and over 80% of them make less than $26,000 a year, which is not even enough to qualify for health insurance from our health insurance fund. so, yes, we have the benefit of having some big celebrities, big stars who go out and help advocate, but they are actually fighting for working actors who are just trying to pay the rent, trying to pay for basic necessities. and when we talk about our, you know, basic minimums, keeping up with inflation, that�*s not an issue of a—list stars. that�*s an issue of working people, just like everybody else, trying to get by. as we know, duncan, i mean, the industry, it�*s been through a lot of change. you�*ve got the big streaming giants and then you�*ve got the traditional studio giants. they�*re quite different. how is that playing out in the negotiations? well, you know, it is hard to tell because we aren�*t

really inside their room, but it is pretty clear that they are having a hard time getting on the same page. i�*m not sure that breaks down only along lines of streamers versus traditional studios, but i think even within the so—called traditional studios, there are some divisions, for example, between companies like sony that don�*t have a online platform and that primarily are producers of content for others, as opposed to companies like disney or warner brothers that have warner brothers discovery, that have a sort of combination of their own platforms, both digital and traditional, as well as a production. so there are a lot of different sort of sets of interests in their room, and i�*m sure it�*s a tough job to get them all on the same page, but the future of the industry is at stake. these ceos, you know, they�*re there to lead. it�*s time that they lead. they�*ve got to get themselves together, they�*ve got to get down to brass tacks, talk with the writers guild, get back in the room with us and let�*s move this forward so we can bring these strikes to an end that have really completely shut down this industry. and duncan, do you feel

that your strike is resonating beyond your industry to other industries where workers may be feeling that they may be impacted by the greater use of ai? definitely, it is resonating far beyond our industry. i mean, just to give you a couple of data points, i mean, here in the united states, we are having a very active summer of labour, of intense labour activity by workers who are standing up for themselves and saying the big companies, whether it�*s starbucks, whether it�*s amazon, whether it�*s big hotel chains, you know, it�*s auto—makers standing up for themselves and saying, "hey, we�*re not just going to let big corporations dictate terms to us any more. we have a seat at the table and we�*re going to use it." the studios and the streamers, they�*re already counting the cost. so i�*ve got to ask you, duncan, what�*s your message to them? look, i mean, warner brothers discovery, just one of the eight major companies we�*re negotiating with, said publicly that they expect to lose between $300 million and $500 million in the third quarter of this year

as a result of the strikes. that amount of money is almost enough to pay for our entire contract demands for three years, and that�*s just one company for one quarter. it really shows you how the sort of lack of respect and greed that�*s been brought to this negotiation makes no sense. why do these companies choose to shut down this industry over something that they could easily have said yes to back onjuly 12th? they could have easily avoided both of these strikes byjust coming to the table and making a fair deal. they didn�*t do that. and, you know, it is long past time for them to change that mindset and get back to the table. and we could staunch all these losses immediately. you know, it would not take a long time for us to complete these negotiations if the companies come in with a mindset ofjust basic respect for the creative talent that make this industry possible. and duncan, we know the award season, it�*s a big thing in the film community and right now is when we�*d expect to start seeing those films being released and promoted. i�*m wondering, could this

force, well, the likes of the oscars and the whole awards season to be postponed? well, i mean, the emmys have already been pushed back as a result of the strikes. will it cause a pushback in the, you know, sort of film awards season? that�*s definitely a possibility. i think there�*s still a window of opportunity between now and, say, the next six to eight weeks for these contracts to get resolved and avoid a major impact on award season. but certainly, if it doesn�*t happen soon, then i do think you will start seeing significant impacts on award season, because i can tell you, sag—aftra members, and if they�*re still on strike the writers guild members, are not going to show up for award shows while we�*re on strike. so that�*s a reality and i think the industry is going to have to come to terms with it if these contracts aren�*t resolved in short order. well, on that point, duncan crabtree—ireland, a pleasure having you on the show. best of luck with everything and i�*ll check in with you soon. no worries, thanks.

the strikes have reportedly pushed back major releases of big films like the next dune film. and despite a big summer thanks to hits like barbie and 0ppenheimer, cinemas, well, they�*ve had to face almost existential threats in recent years, including the rise of the streaming services, a shutdown due to the pandemic and now this strike. so i sat down with the big boss, the man who created and runs the biggest independent cinema chain in europe, vue international. tim richards, a real pleasure having you on the show. and tim, let mejust start with this. are you already seeing films that you were expecting now being held back by studios? yeah, i mean, absolutely. i mean, what we�*re seeing is... i mean, all the studios have had a hard look at their slate and big talent—driven vehicles, tentpole feature films and just big films generally, the studios are having a hard look at. fortunately, only dune has really been moved into next year, and that�*s really on the back of two major stars, timothee chalamet and zendaya,

plus a huge cast as well, who are desperate to get out there and promote their film and they can�*t. so warner brothers took the view that it was best to get it done properly in 202a. so it�*s now being released in the spring of 202a. and to mean properly, you mean have the big a—listers do the rounds and promote the... because i�*m just wondering, as a layman, does that make a difference? if the film�*s already in the cinemas, that�*s great. but does it really make a difference if the a—listers are doing the rounds and propping up the film? it�*s huge, i mean, it is huge. and you can see it and feel it and you can feel the buzz kind of that�*s created by the talent themselves, and the red carpet�*s never to be underestimated. and it creates a marketing buzz, it creates a press buzz, and that has always translated into promoting the film and helping to launch that particular film. so as a person who runs cinemas, this has to be

a major problem for you. yeah, i mean, it is potentially going to be very challenging. and this is an industry globally that came out, well, pre—pandemic we set box office records, $42 billion in 2019, and then we were effectively closed for the best part of a year and a half to two years. it was devastating worldwide, but we�*ve come back and we�*ve come back slowly. and i think the recovery has been a lot slower than any of us had thought it would be. but along that road, we have set records for some of the biggest movies of all time. this year we started off with the incredible avatar, third highest grossing film of all time, and then it�*s been blockbuster after blockbuster. record after record has been broken. and then barbie and 0ppenheimer, now known as barbenheimer, came out of nowhere and and just set the world on fire. and itjust really shows that

our customers never left us. this is a supply issue and we need movies, we need great movies. when those movies are there, our customers come back in record numbers. and you mentioned possible gaps for cinemas in terms of movies to show. so what do you do? i mean, could it be a similar situation to the pandemic where you dust off old films? i think someone was telling me hocus pocus got a second life, but would you have to dust off older films? yeah, i mean, we tried that during the pandemic. i mean, we had movies that matter. we had all the classics. and i mean, there is an audience for that, absolutely, but there�*s no substitute for our core business. and, you know, we�*ve been very early adopters. we�*ve been doing alternative programming, sports, and live theatre, and opera, and comedy, since 2005 and we will absolutely be doing

the new taylor swift as well, which is getting a lot of kind of press in the us. we�*ll be doing that when she does her european tour next year. but you can backfill a fair bit, but the fact is is that we�*re missing our core business. and that�*s why, you know, this is really an impassioned plea to both sides to put their differences aside and just for the greater good, try and find a solution and get back on track again. given the huge importance and the impact that these strikes are having, why hasn�*t someone, as you say, of big name stepped up? i mean, that�*s a great question and i think everyone�*s scratching their head why no one has. and the thing is too, what�*s really important, this isn�*t an la issue, this isn�*t a california issue, this isn�*t an american issue, this is a global issue. this is having an impact around the world. absolutely. and we�*re seeing it in all of our markets across europe. it took a little bit of time to really hit,

but if you look in the uk right now, 75% of film and television workers are now unemployed and it is massive. this is an industry that was the fastest—growing industry in the uk. we were creating more jobs than anyone else in the uk as a sector, the screen sector, and suddenly we�*ve come to a stop and this isn�*t just about actors, it�*s the whole production team, it�*s set designers, it�*s hairdressers. it�*s the whole ecosystem. it�*s everything. and they�*re all out of work right now. and tim, let me end on this. let�*s look ahead. five years�* time, what�*s the state of the cinema? still with us? second, maybe third golden age. and because we�*ve proven right now, we�*ve come through the pandemic, we�*re still here. we�*ve been around for over 100 years, we�*ve been through recessions, we�*ve been through wars and we are still something that is high on everyone�*s lips to go out

and see with their family, with theirfriends, and enjoy a big screen entertainment for an evening out. well, on that point, tim richards, a real pleasure having you with us. thanks very much. good luck with everything and i�*ll check in with you soon. very good. thank you, thanks. you know, just a few weeks ago, john warnock, the man who invented the pdf, or to give its full name, the portable document format, he died, but the company he co—founded, adobe, certainly lives on. as well as the pdf, adobe is best known for, well, iconic software like photoshop for editing images and adobe premiere forfilm editing. today, it�*s in the middle of a controversial $20 billion acquisition of the product design software company figma, which regulators are taking a very close interest in. plus, it�*s also launching its own generative ai tool, which adobe claims respects the copyright of creators. so i caught up with adobe�*s big boss. shantanu narayen, a real pleasure having you on the show.

and shantanu, let�*s start with this. we�*ve just heard from the chief negotiator for the us actor�*s union who told me that this strike is resonating beyond the film and tv industry to others that feel threatened by ai. do you think there will be or could be a lot more industrial action? i hope not, aaron. and i think, you know, in all of these issues, i think having a conversation is important. but at the end of the day, when you look at every big technology wave that has arisen, the reality is that more people have made that their profession and have benefited from it. but i don�*t think it�*s the only issue because i do believe at the end of the day, we are going to see more people in the profession. shantanu, let me ask you this. what�*s different about what you call firefly, your generative ai product? i think one of the things that people really worry about the most is what is it about the blank screen and how do you start the creative process? and so what firefly really

is is our generative ai technology. i think there are a couple of specific things about firefly that make it so unique. first is the data on which firefly was trained. we�*ve designed it to be commercially safe, and we�*ve ensured that we have licence to the data that went into the training of the model. that makes us unique. the second thing that�*s unique about firefly, we�*ve had over 2 billion generations, is how we�*ve integrated firefly into our applications. because, as you know, aaron, at the end of the day, people are using photoshop, or they�*re using premiere pro, or they�*re using illustrator, and the fact that it�*s so seamlessly integrated into applications that people love, and the interfaces is where i think adobe has also done some really unique innovations. and shantanu, you�*ve launched a $20 billion acquisition of the product design company called figma. now, we know american and uk regulators are looking closely at this. the eu have launched an in—depth anti—trust investigation into all of this.

shantanu, do you think this acquisition will go ahead? well, let me first talk about the strategic rationale, aaron. and, you know, we are doing this at adobe from both a position of strength, our core business is doing incredibly well, but we�*re always looking around the corner. we�*re trying to understand what are the adjacencies where if we combine the strengths of adobe with the strengths of figma in this particular case, how can we serve customers better? how can we usher in a new generation of creativity and productivity because those two fields are merging? how can we think about product design and the integration of their leading products in product design with what we have done on the creative side? how can we think about collaboration as a fundamental new way in which we get more people into the creative process? so as you mention, you know, we are in conversations with all of the regulatory authorities, so it would be inappropriate for me to talk about them, but we fundamentally believe

that this benefits consumers, it benefits customers. we�*re doing this from a position of strength. and, you know, we�*re confident that the strategic rationale and the business rationale makes sense. and shantanu, correct me if i�*m wrong here, but it�*s notjust regulators, i believe, market analysts, they say that you�*re overpaying. i mean, this is more than facebook paid for whatsapp. i mean, do they have a point? well, if you look at what adobe has always done, i mean, we certainly have been for our shareholders really thoughtful about how can we ensure that in any acquisition that that our shareholders benefit and we believe that will be true in the figma case as well. i think valuation is one of those areas where people may have different opinions. but make no mistake, we think about adobe shareholders, we�*re confident that they are one of the key stakeholders in addition to customers that we always have to focus on. and i think our track record demonstrates, aaron,

that our shareholders have done really well through the acquisitions that we�*ve done, because these have been seminal acquisitions that have transformed the company. when you think about what we did with omnichannel that enabled us to get into the digital marketing space. what we did, you know, many decades ago with photoshop enabling us to be in the creative space. so i think adobe has a track record of being thoughtful and we are confident that our shareholders benefit from any acquisition that we do. and shantanu, let me end on this, but still on al, because let�*s be frank, it is the next big thing. shantanu, how do you see it changing, the way we all do things, let�*s say, in the next five years? well, if i take a step back first and think about the profound impact that al can have on society at large, you know, for the first time on a mobile device with al, we can have a personal tutor that enables education to be transformed for billions of people, enables them

to have digital access. when you think about health and with personalised medicine, the fact that you can both monitor as well as hopefully get personalised medicines that transform health and society as we know it. i think in the creative space, what we think about is, i am so convinced that every single individual, whether you�*re a k through 12 student or you�*re the largest enterprise in the world, you have this innate desire to want to engage with customers and engage with them in a unique and differentiated way. well, ending on that positive note, shantanu narayen, the big boss of adobe, really appreciate your time. thanks forjoining me and i�*ll talk to you soon. thanks for having me again, aaron. well, that�*s it for this week�*s show. i hope you enjoyed it. don�*t forget you can keep up with the latest on our global economy on the bbc website or the smartphone app. of course, you can also follow me on x. x me, i�*ll x you back. you can get me @bbcaaron. thanks for watching. i�*ll see you soon, bye—bye.

hello. the weather story for the first half of the weekend was one of big temperature contrasts. it felt like summer�*s last gasp in the south—east of england, 28 celsius there in london. compare that with a much more autumnal 1a or 15 in belfast and edinburgh. the second half of the weekend i think will be less about temperature contrasts and more about heavy downpours. you can see all of this cloud swarming to the south of us on our earlier satellite image. those showers and thunderstorms will make their move during the day on sunday. in the north of scotland, the day getting off to a cold start under clear skies.

further south, significantly milder. generally a lot of cloud around away from northern scotland, some bits and pieces of rain for northern ireland, western parts of scotland but then we turn our eyes down to the south, because this is the heavy, thundery rain that will be drifting across southern counties of england into wales and the midlands. we could see some really intense downpours with a lot of rain in a short space of time, some hale, some squally, gusty winds, could potentially cause a little bit of disruption. temperatures north to south between 15 and 23 degrees in most places. during sunday night the showers and thunderstorms will drift erratically northwards across parts of england and wales into southern scotland, possibly northern ireland. here a separate band of rain pushing its way in from the west. plenty of wet weather around to take us through the night into the first part of monday. a mild start to monday, 11 to 16 degrees. through monday we�*ll see this band of rain pushing its way eastwards, essentially scooping up all the thunderstorms and taking them all away with something brighter

following on behind. still though with a scattering of hefty showers, temperatures 13 to 22 degrees. but that band of rain sweeping through is associated with a weather front and that is a bit like opening the door to autumn, because behind that we see a run of westerly winds from the atlantic, various areas of low pressure moving through, so on tuesday, expect some outbreaks of rain, some quite brisk winds actually, particularly i think on the southern side of this weather system. temperatures of 1a to 19 degrees and through the middle and the end of the week, we will see further bouts of wet and potentially rather windy weather, so it certainly is going to feel like autumn through the week ahead.

live from washington, this is bbc news. international aid finally reaches libya�*s flood—ravaged city of derna — but concerns grow for survivors struggling to access clean water. the british actor and comedian russell brand is accused of rape and sexual assaults. he denies the claims. and — protesters around the world mark one year since a young iranian woman

died in police custody. hello, i�*m helena humphrey. fears are growing for the survivors of the catastrophic flood in the libyan city of derna, where there is a lack of medicine and clean water and worries that a cholera outbreak is looming. some international aid has begun to arrive in the city, including an italian ship with tents and blankets, and the world health organization says it has delivered medical supplies. up to 11,000 people are known to have died after two dams collapsed — inundating the city with water. thousands more are still missing. the head of the libyan search and rescue efforts has said the operation could take months — or even years. 0ur correspondent anna foster is in on the ground in derna and filed this report. a landscape changed beyond recognition.