Hello, listeners, How are you well? I trust and ready for a
short, sharp audio lump of me in your ear holes? Oh how lovely?
Yes? So what news? What news? Well, in a moment,
I'll give you the results of the Lydia Flinch casting poll that took place
on Spotify, Patreon and other places this month, the results of which make
surprise some but come as no surprise to others. But first, as some
of you may have noticed, I've been putting out these you know, the
short vertical videos at places like YouTube and though I shudder to say it,
TikTok, Yes, I joined the fire hose of jabbering, incoherence and drivel
that is apparently the world's favorite social network because I thought there's an audience there
that I really should be trying to reach. So I made a bunch of
these videos, you know, like little promos for my stories and for the
classics that I reread. And though the results at first were quite encouraging,
you know, encouraging enough to lure you onto the site. After a couple
of days on all platforms, but I'll just focus here on TikTok, the
stats started stopping at around the two hundred and forty mark Why, I thought,
why was that? So? You know, as you do. I
googled it, and it seems that unless your video gets lots of likes and
other user engagement, you know, shares and comments and things, the TikTok
algorithm marks the video as unworthy and stop sharing it, I mean, just
stops sharing it. Oh, I thought, so that's it, is it?
That's the big deal? Two hundred and fifty views and then no more.
And how many of those views were actually you know, people watching the
videos and not just swiping past them. Who knows, But I do know
that my vertical video campaign has achieved nothing in terms of new listener stats on
my podcasts, so I guess it's all been kind of a waste of time.
Really. I'm glad I tried. I'm glad I experimented with it,
But as ever, it seems the algorithms of the socials a raging torrent that
I simply cannot swim against. And sadly I've been washed away with all the
rest of the tryers but not winners. Maybe I should try pissing in my
trousers to get some views. I hear that's a thing on TikTok. But
if that's the price of reaching people, then the world has gone mad.
Ladies and gentlemen, As you can count me out. My vertical videos will
remain at TikTok and YouTube, Facebook and Instagram. So if you'd like to
check them out, please do, and do please like the damn things,
leave a comment, share them, slap your social media defibrillators onto them,
and do what you can to electroshock them into the attention of those infernal algorithms.
But until if ever things improved for me there, I won't be doing
anymore of those little videos. It's a waste of bloe mid time in it.
And so let's get to the Lydia flinch poles, shall we. And
let's see what you guys thought of who should play Lydia? And and yes,
let's see all right. So on Spotify, Stephanie Richly Staples Goodman suggests
Alice Braga who she you may cry well. Alice Brager is a Brazilian actress.
I didn't know. I had to look her up on IMDb. It's
a Brazilian actress who was in I Am Legend from two thousand and seven.
She was in Predators in twenty ten, and she's in other stuff too,
but you know, I don't know her, but anyway, that was Stephanie's
suggestion, and thank you, Stephanie. Nick Robinson suggests Jamie Murray. Now,
she was in Dexter. I don't remember what season it was, but
she played like an English sort of sidepath if I remember rightly. She's you
know, pretty dark English and she was evil tis to boxes really doesn't she?
So yes, thank you for that, Nick. Just keV twenty thirteen
says I only see Eva Green as Lydia and in that, keV, you
are not alone. My friend Scott Dougherty says Vanessa Kirby from The Crown and
Mission Impossible films would be perfect. And I agree she would be perfect,
wouldn't she. But she's such a hot ticket these days. Everybody wants a
bit of Vanessa Kirby. She's going to big places. Maybe she'd like to
be on our little television show. Maybe not. I don't know. Ali
suggests Elizabeth Gillies. Is that a pronounce it? I don't know who she.
I don't know how to look her up again, And it turns out
that Elizabeth Gillies is known for Dynasty, a TV series where she played Falon
Carrington, and it seems Alexis Carrington that was very clever of her. So,
yep, that's her. Courtney Kelsey says, I think Eva Green would
be a fantastic candidate for the role of Lydia Flinch. Also, was that
a Dalek who used towards the end there? Yes, it was. Yes,
I have a little gang of Daleks that I'd like to use occasionally on
my podcast, Courtney and yes, so there we are. John eleven Carr
says Eva Green would be immense Yes, indeed. At my website, Mike
Bennett, author Mark Ryan says Aubrey Plaza wouldn't make a great Lydia. She
was fantastic in Legion. I didn't see her in that, but I did
see her in season two of The White Loaders and I thought she was very
good. Yeah, Yeah, she'd she'd be very good, very popular though
these days, didn't she old orb Meanwhile, over at Facebook, Don Howard
said, Samantha Morton, who's that person? Samantha Morton? I know that
name, Yes, of course you do. She was Alpha in The Walking
Dead lots of other things too, for many many years. You know,
Samantha Morton has been around for a long time. I don't mean to say
she's old. I just mean to say that she's had a long career.
Also, Don suggests Emily Blunt as Lydia for the Team V series. Well,
there you are. There's another hot ticket, Emily Blunt. Don't know
if we'd get her. She's on the list. Steve Morris says Juno Temple
from Ted Lasso as Lydia. M not sure if I agree with that one
personally, Steve, but if she works for you, then you keep using
her in the theater of your mind. My friend over at Patreon, Jennifer
Dniel said, I think Angelina Jolie. I think she is pretty, but
a perfect kind of cold for Lydia. Hmm years quite possibly, but of
course again Angelina Jolie. Oh a list, isn't it. Don't know,
we'll see. Frederico Rodriguez says Georgie Henley would be a wonderful Lydia in my
opinion, behind her angel face like features, I sense a lot of evil
that she can conjure up. If that could be achievable. What a catch?
M Georgie Henley, Who's she? I thought so? I looked her
up and it turns out that she is an English actress who was in the
Chronicles of Narnia films from what two thousand and five to twenty ten, And
she was also in the TV series The Diplomat, which I started watching that
and then I kind of tuned out because I don't know, I must have
got a bit sidetracked by other stuff. Christopher Crouch says, Eliza Butterworth as
Lydia for me, she's an awesome actress from the last Kingdom and town called
Malice Fame. M Well, I must confess I haven't seen her in either,
but I'll take your word for it. Chris Francisco Marquez says, my
vote is for Eiva Green or Rihanna in that order. Terrible thing the writers
strike, but very necessary in order to sort out what their rights are.
Yes, indeed, Pako, thank you for that. Eva Green again or
Rihanna. Well, I don't know. I haven't seen her act in anything,
come to think of it, I haven't. I haven't actually sort of
seen her in a musical capacity either. You know, I'm a bit old
for all that sort of thing. I'm I'm a sort of a seven eighties
nineties music guy myself hashtag granddad. Next, what have we got? Craig
Darby says, I think Katherine Tate would be a candidate to play the role
of Lydia. Yeah, I can't see it myself, Craig, But as
I said earlier on, you know, if she works for you, then
you keep her crackling on in the theater of your mind. Cheryl Bullock suggests
Joni Comer would make a great Lydia. She was a phenomenal, phenomenal psychopath
in Killing Eve, which indeed she was. But again another hot ticket.
Douglas Lawson announces with an exclamation point, Emma Stone and why not? Lauren
Aggie echoes the sentiment with Emma Stone, Jenny or Taga, or Katherine Zeta
Jones or Eva Green. So what does all that looked like? When you
compile the results together and you've got them all in a graph, which I
have here, it looks like this. Alice Brago, Jamie Murray, Sa
Kirby, Elizabeth Gillies, Aubrey Plaza, Jenny or Tager, Jolie Comer,
Katherine Zida Jones, Catherine Tate, Rhanna, Eliza Butterworth, Georgie Henley,
Angelina Jolie Juno Temple, Samantha Morton and Emily Blunt all have one vote.
Emma Stone has two. But the winner, by a long shot is the
old and indeed eternal favorite for the role, Eva Greene. Well done,
Eva, you remain the most popular candidate for the role of Lydia Flinch and
I can't argue with it. I think she would be fantastic and who knows,
you know, maybe a possibility. Maybe we shall see. As I
say, olso send this list off to the producer and he can do with
it as he will. I hope he takes it into serious consideration. And
so yes, as Pacer mentioned in there, the writers strike over there in
the state, it's now joined by the actors as well. That that basically
means that Underwind Flinch the television series is not going to be made anytime soon.
It's not going to be pitched, and nothing is going to happen at
all until this is resolved. But you know, in terms of pain being
suffered by people affected by the writers and actors strike, I think that,
you know, we the fans of Underwind Finch are probably the least affected people
in the world. You know, certainly the writers and actors are, especially
those who you know who live pretty much hand to mouth, and that's by
far the majority of them. It's it's a very painful and difficult process,
but I absolutely support them in their action and wish them all the best for
success. I was reading in the newspaper, and maybe you've read this or
heard this yourself, that the whole question of AI, I think is is
really not very pleasant as far as actors and writers go, you know,
because I mean, I've I've used chat GPT. I think I told you
this last time. I've used chat GPT, and you can just ask it
anything. It's great for research when I'm doing my research on things in my
stories, but it can it can write stories, it can, you know.
Just a friend of mine said, why don't you ask it? Because
I was demonstrating the thing you said, ask it to write a story about
humans that live in the magma at the Earth's core. Hah, that should
that should flumm exit. Of course it didn't. It made up a story
about the Magmarians in like one second, showed it all out, and it
was well written, boring, stupid, but nevertheless it was done. It
did it, but it is I think an existential struggle for writers and actors
because although the technology isn't there yet, it's soon will be. And a
guy from the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers the AMPTP says that he's
made a groundbreaking I quote, groundbreaking proposal over AI protections for actors, but
sag after as the Actors Union chief negotiator, guy called Duncan Crabtree Ireland wasn't
having any of that. He said, and I quote, they proposed that
our background performers should be able to be scanned, get one day's pay,
and their companies should own that scan, their image, their likeness, and
should be able to use it for the rest of eternity on any project they
want, with no consent and no compensation. So if you think that's a
groundbreaking proposal, I suggest you think again. And who can argue with that?
He certainly not me. So yeah, best of luck to them.
But you know, this issue of AI generated content script actors being scanned and
used as what not so much actors as avatars of themselves, I think this
is a really short sighted approach because we the public, we pay to go
and see a movie because it's something else. It's something way way beyond our
capability of doing ourselves. You know what I mean. We can't. We
simply can't do it. Any of us could knock out a movie script and
get some friends to act in it, you know, film it on our
phones, and it would be very bad. We might have fun making it,
but I don't think anyone else would have fun watching it. And there's
no way, no way in a million years, that it could ever compare
with a film made using real actors, with a real screenplay written by a
qualified screenwriter. If it can get into a cinema, it's good, isn't
it? Even if we personally don't like it. I mean, it's still
good. It's still got merits. Otherwise it wouldn't be in the cinema and
on a level that our homemade movies simply could never be. But and this
is a thing, What if some years down the line, we can use
an AI program to make our movies. We can get AI to write it,
we can get AI to cast people to star in it. Though star
and people are probably the wrong words here, But what I'm saying is that
we can essentially make our own movies too, even though we didn't write them
and we're not acting in them, and indeed no one is acting in them.
We could make them and we can watch them. And then meanwhile,
you've got the movie companies essentially doing the same thing. They've got rid of
the writers. They've got their body scans of the actors and their voice prints
or voice patterns, whatever they're called, and they just feed them into their
AI along with their AI written script, and they say, Wow, we'd
like you computer to cast Christian Baiale or his avatar as Bob, and Angelina
Jolie or her scan her avatar as Jane, maybe Kelsey Grammar as Dad,
and a bunch of background actors as everyone else. So how then is their
movie going to be any different from the ones that we can make. They
don't actually have Christian Bail. It's not like it's it's him on the street,
not Christian Bale up there acting and doing that thing that only he can
do, being himself, acting as only he can. No is his AI
avatar any more talented than the avatars in our movies. No, none of
these AI generated avatars is going to have any more talent or any more character
than any of the others, because none of them are real. Why is
their story, their AI generated story, going to be any better than they
that AI has generated for us. Their movie wasn't written by Christopher Nolan.
It was maybe written in his style, but then so is the one that
we made on our Aida chat GBT. Please write me a movie script in
the style of Christopher Nolan. Please don't off we go, So there's no
difference. So why then would anyone pay in the future to go and see
a movie? What are we paying for nothing that we can't do ourselves at
home? So movie companies then they've got nothing. They've lost their usp the
very matter of their existence, the writers and the actors, because if we
all have what they have, then what they have it's just valueless. So
in a way, it could be argued that the writers and actors aren't just
fighting their own existential battle, they're fighting for the existence of film and television
itself. Anyway, that's what I was thinking. I don't know what you
think. What do you think? Leave a comment at Spotify or Patreon,
etc. Etc. And you know I'll share it next time and perhaps I'll
get pulling to discuss your points. With me, but anyway, by that
time. By next month, hopefully the matter will have been amicably settled and
Team Underwooden Flinch TV can get back to the serious business of pitching Underwooden Flinch
to buyers. Huzzah. And so that's it for this time, ladies and
gentlemen, Thank you so much for listening. I will be back in your
ears again next month. Until then, take care and farewell.