According to reports, producers expect writers will run out of money, possibly lose their homes and be forced to come to bargaining table. Producers denied these reports.
I’m curious about the timing of this, because it seems to me that doing this while the writers are striking gives the actors less leverage. A bunch of productions are already shut down due to the writers’ strike, so the actors on those productions also being on strike doesn’t delay production or cost the studios any additional money.
Obviously not all productions were already shut down, so the strike does hurt the studios, but if I were a studio exec, I’d much rather have all the strikes happen at the same time to minimize the cost to me.
This is good for multiple reasons. First off, people should get what they’re worth. This is most important. But it’s also good for viewers. Writers are often on set to adjust scripts that feel awkward in the filming process. When the writers went on strike, I imagine a lot of productions just went ahead without having a writer on set. With actors also now striking, production should surely stop and we’ll get better quality content overall.
Solidarity with the writers and actors!! Aside from donating to the fund, another way to help is to cancel subscriptions for shows/movies. Either pirate or read a book.
The writer’s strike probably still won’t be really felt for a while, but this will have an immediate effect. No press junkets, no premieres, no conventions, etc.
Conventions are still happening, but actors can only talk about old work, nothing active. That makes sense, but curious if actors will just refuse to go altogether. Would be wild for SDCC to become an actual comic book convention again.
Edit: Maybe not? I’ve seen conflicting sources on that.
The linked article says “During the strike, actors will not be permitted to promote past projects through conventions, interviews or panels.” That seems to me like they can’t promote anything they’ve acted in, no matter how old.
According to reports, producers expect writers will run out of money, possibly lose their homes and be forced to come to bargaining table. Producers denied these reports.
That’s so horrible, threatening people’s homes. Just the fact that they have enough money to try to wait it out while some writers are borrowing suits for their award shows proves the imbalance of profits, and it proves their point: that the studios should be able to pay the creators and workers if they weren’t so greedy and paying their execs millions of dollars to remove shows from existence and say they’re business geniuses.
Does anyone know if there’s a way to donate or support the unions if it ends up coming down to people’s homes and stuff being on the line?
I saw a story I think yesterday, saying that the producers/studio executives that said this bullshit were backtracking because they basically admitted to illegal retaliation.
Good. Labor movements are most successful when solidarity is in play. What I'd really like to see is the directors join them - that segment of the industry has considerably more clout than the talent. Cherry on top would be producers joining in, but I don't see that happening unless they also have exposure as celebrities (lookin' at you, Affleck... the strike already shut down Unstoppable, so you might as well jump onto the picket line and show your support - would get you good press).
Honestly the studios have too much power. They are producing the content, distribute it, and own the delivery channels. It’s like when the studios owned the movie theaters and it meant you couldn’t shop your product around.
It also doesn’t help that the residuals model is such a mess. You get paid when the content is posted to a streaming channel but isn’t even being watched.
It’s like when the studios owned the movie theaters
Isn’t this still basically a thing? IIRC Quentin Tarantino is still fuming at Disney because they bought up all the showtimes for the first week of Star Wars 7 and his movie got screwed over.
Technically Disney doesn’t own those theaters, but they told the theaters they wouldnt get any more Disney releases if they didn’t do what they were told. And given how nearly every big blockbuster is Disney nowadays, that basically made it impossible to ignore.
It really should’ve been squashed, it’s cut and dry monopoly behavior.
It also doesn’t help that the residuals model is such a mess. You get paid when the content is posted to a streaming channel but isn’t even being watched.
Stream viewership numbers are some of the most tightly guarded secrets in the world right now. People have been fired from studios for looking at these numbers without authorization. Even when they’re released to third parties due to contractual requirements (such as music licenses), they’re only released with a 6 months delay.
Until there’s transparency about viewership numbers, this will remain a mess.
I’m having a hard time believing that industry executives are negotiating in even remotely good faith. If that were true, it’s not likely that a second major union would have joined the strike.
Such ridiculous pandering; get ready for the PR tactics that will make union demands look unreasonable and paint the workers as lazy and greedy.
It’s important to know what side the source is on for anything but right now for the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strike do know that major publications Variety, Deadline, and the Hollywood Reporter are all owned by a member of the AMPTP.
Their last offer apparently I cluded a bit where extras could be paid for one day. Where they would be scanned and a digital likeness could then be used in any project for perpetuity without additional pay…
So yeah, fair to say they’re not negotiating in good faith.
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