5 votes

Time to break up Hollywood

3 comments

  1. NaraVara
    Link
    Matt Stoller is an economist and policy analyst. He talks here about the economy of the streaming market and how it has dramatically shifted the financial logic of content creation. He also...

    Matt Stoller is an economist and policy analyst. He talks here about the economy of the streaming market and how it has dramatically shifted the financial logic of content creation. He also stresses that what the WGA is striking for is basically existential and, if they don't get it, it will spell doom for the production of good content in the future.

    4 votes
  2. [2]
    skybrian
    Link
    This was during the pandemic, so I'm not sure that example demonstrates anything other than people weren't going to theaters nearly as much in 2021. Streaming TV got a big boost then. Also, while...

    When pricing went away, when customers were simply paying a subscription fee every month instead of buying tickets or DVDs, executives had no way to know what to make or how to value anything. As just one example, in 2021, Warner Brothers put their whole slate of films onto their streaming service at the same time as they went into theaters, revealing how executives were mis-pricing their products.

    This was during the pandemic, so I'm not sure that example demonstrates anything other than people weren't going to theaters nearly as much in 2021. Streaming TV got a big boost then.

    Also, while there is little price information about individual shows, the streaming services have a whole lot of data about what people are watching. Doesn't that count for something? It's better data than commercial broadcast television ever had.

    The connection between all this and the writer's strike seems a bit thin.

    Here are some of the shows that got their start in the U.K., and then were licensed for an American audience: American Idol, America’s Got Talent, X-Factor, Dancing with the Stars, Wife Swap, Undercover Boss, Super Nanny, Who Wants to be a Millionaire. And there are hundreds more. In the U.K, independent producers have increased their TV related revenues from £1.5 billion in 2004 to more than £2.6 billion in 2017.

    Do these shows even have writers? Reality TV got a big boost during a previous writer's strike.

    2 votes
    1. NaraVara
      Link Parent
      The production companies don't because none of it is public and even what's publicized is biased/manipulated/selectively released. That's how it got its first start, but reality TV at this point...

      Also, while there is little price information about individual shows, the streaming services have a whole lot of data about what people are watching. Doesn't that count for something? It's better data than commercial broadcast television ever had.

      The production companies don't because none of it is public and even what's publicized is biased/manipulated/selectively released.

      Do these shows even have writers? Reality TV got a big boost during a previous writer's strike.

      That's how it got its first start, but reality TV at this point is heavily written and pre-scripted. The people involved aren't actors, but the edit and hosts and structure of the show is designed to manage them for the desired outcome.

      4 votes