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Megathread for news & discussion about the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes in Hollywood
topics about the strike are becoming one of the most common things in ~movies. for example, compare:
https://tildes.net/~movies?order=new
https://tildes.net/~movies?tag=strikes&order=new
as we do with other frequent topics, a megathread helps consolidate the discussion, making it easier for people interested in the topic to talk about it, and easier to discuss small or minor updates that may not warrant a full topic of their own.
(it also makes it easier for people not interested in the topic to ignore it - because they only need to ignore a single post, rather than a topic tag)
Sam Reich, the CEO of Dropout.tv made a statement that was great.
Here is Sam's statement on Twitter directly
Here is Sam's statement screen captured and transcribed on Tumblr.
Here is the transcript:
Sam strikes me as a standup guy. I don't know him personally of course, but I assume a lot of it is because of who his father is. I'll probably throw a couple of dollars to the fund as well once I figure out my finances, after all, I spend a LOT of time watching the work produced by these people.
Semi-related, everyone should go watch stuff on Dropout, it's super relevant to just the general nerd stuff that I feel like does well here.
If I had a nickel for every phoenix-based-username person on Tildes extolling the virtues of Dropout, I'd have two nickles, which isn't a lot, but it's still kinda weird that it happened twice.
/joke response again pls
It's obvious that great minds think alike!! (I really wish I could have gotten the phoenix username tho haha)
So I just want to respond to one unrelated point: public corporations with shareholders v. private corporations.
There are many reasons for corporations to be public (i.e., have publically available shares for sale), not least of which is that ordinary people can buy in, which is not available with a private corporation. Public corporations are also subject to disclosure rules and other regulatory limitations that private corporations are not. And, this may be most important, the usual objection about public corporations having to be dedicated to shares dollar value is largely a myth. Leadership has a duty to act in the best interests of the organization, but the board can easily set a business goal of "doing good" or "paying living wages," etc. They just don't often, and the people who sit on the boards are rightly the target of our ire (and note, small shareholders often have a right to vote. We often ascribe it to a proxy recommended by whoever our broker is, but we don't have to, and we can be heard).
So yes, there are fatcats on superyachts sitting unfairly at the apex of a pyramid built by the hard work of others, and they should be removed, tarred, feathered, and run out of town on a rail. But it's not all shareholders by a wide margin, nor are public corporations at fault as a structure. Private corporations can be bad, and often are (Academi comes to mind).
Tree-Trimming or Picket-Busting? L.A. City Auditor Investigates
some trees were "trimmed" on a sidewalk where picketers have been picketing.
I'm no arborist, but it sure looks like they just chopped off all the branches that make up the crown of the tree. seems bad.
the pretty obvious accusation from the unions is that this was done very deliberately to deprive the picketers of shade.
and the trees in question are managed by the city of LA, not the studio
(insert chanting of TREE LAW! TREE LAW! TREE LAW! here)This is called "tree topping" and it is - unfortunately - not uncommon among municipal tree trimming. Those types of trees (the name escapes me as they aren't planted where I live now) are often trimmed this way. They will grow back, but it is bad for the long-term health of the three and not a recommended approach for tree management. The fact that they didn't get a permit may or may not be unusual - the level of enforcement for permits on tree trimming varies dramatically by city.
This may have been malicious (and probably was), but I've looked upon trees topped like this from cities dozens and dozens of times.
Shouldn't this be done before the tree starts growing the leaves though? During the time where it's dormant and without leaves? I am no expert on trees, so it just seems strange to cut it back now in the middle of the summer?
Ficus should be trimmed in Winter, period. But the reality is a lot of tree trimming just occurs at the whims of property owners, with or without permits. It makes me sick when I see it.
But I do believe Universal did this maliciously, upon further reading.
how can I support the striking workers?
https://entertainmentcommunityfund.org/
with any fundraising or donation link of this kind, you should always verify it's legit and actually benefiting the thing you think you're donating to.
in this case, that link was shared on twitter by Adam Conover, who's been one of the more publicly vocal writers involved in the WGA strike.
should I cancel my such-and-such streaming membership, or not buy tickets to see such-and-such movie, or any other sort of boycott?
short answer: no
long answer:
as explained in the tweet I linked above, the unions are not asking for a consumer boycott at this time.
hypothetically, if they were to call for some sort of boycott, and you wanted to be part of that boycott, you'd want to cancel your service when the boycott was announced, rather than at some random time before then.
(obviously, if you want to cancel your subscription for other reasons, have at it - but don't cancel it simply because you feel like it's contributing to the strike in some way)
an important corollary to "don't cross the picket line" is "don't come up with your own picket lines". the unions have published FAQs (WGA and SAG-AFTRA) and the main thing they're asking from non-members right now is to not scab (meaning don't do the work of a striking union member). that only applies to a pretty small segment of other entertainment industry workers.
for the rest of us, what they're asking for is donations to the strike fund, and spreading awareness and support for the strikes on social media. consumer boycotts may or may not happen as part of this strike, and if they do, there will be unambiguous messaging from the unions asking for it.
No one is trying to put it back in the bottle. The actors are fighting for use of their likeness being a paid event each and every time it is used instead of the one time day pay to be scanned. Currently the studio argues that after that scan they own an actor's likeness and can use it whenever and however they like without ever paying the actor again. This is an obvious non-starter for actors, and one of the main reasons they are on strike.
There are some interesting comments about how the Joan Is Awful: Black Mirror episode on Netflix is strongly influencing the strike.
(The episode is a cautionary tale on signing away your digital rights for streaming.)
I find it amusing that someone at Netflix is responsible for totally screwing with Netflix's business model.
ehhhhhhh.
I wish this were true, but really, look at youtube. There's PHENOMENAL work on youtube, and I do what I can to support it. It's also the vast minority of content watched. We already see a huge audience for short, stupid, simple videos and that's going to be the same in movies. Sure those who really want a story will still seek those things out, but things like oppenheimer might not be happening much longer as giant budgets are going out the window.
Top of the line actor pay does make up a huge part of it, and they're about to be paid a hell of a lot less I suspect, but sets and equipment and a zillion other things also make up the budget, and if the alternative is "spend 1/100th of the cost for something 1/10th the people watch" well....yeah.
So in short, I think we're about to get FLOODED with crap. The output of "movie studios" is now going to look like the output of influencer nonsense, and just go direct to streaming.
I remember reading an article about some streamers who admitted they were dismayed that their 6 second stupid reaction memes made them more money on Tiktok than their carefully planned and filmed content. They continued to make the memey stuff because it made them money, and it was disheartening to read that they weren't alone in having to trade good content for adbait.
I sadly feel like this is the future. Just tons of mediocre crap. It has been going on for years now, where I get the sense that many movies can seemingly get away with dodgy CGI work, plotholes and weird continuity errors in the script simply because don't care enough. It doesn't have to be great, just "good enough". Why spend extra money on quality when you can make the same money with passable quality.
I just want to leave this excellent article by Ben Thompson here, it talks about these writer and actor strikes in a historical context and changes in the media landscape, where viewer attention, not broadcast time, is now the scarce resource, and how this shift means that there is less money in the industry and the way it is distributed may need to change.
https://stratechery.com/2023/hollywood-on-strike/
The biggest thought I have is, prepare for the quality of movies and TV shows to be absolutely terrible for the next five or so years.
On one hand, I support the strike and getting everyone involved their fair share of wages and conditions. On the other hand... let's face it: Americans (really people in general) are mass consumers of media. On other sites I often see posts of "I've watched XYZ movies and shows, is there anything new that's actually GOOD?". I remember the strike back in 2008, and how for years after that all programs on TV were atrocious. Arguably, it also leads to an increase in garbage "Reality TV" shows, because those are cheap to produce and make $$$$$$$$.
In fact, I've already seen some lamentations about how some of the newest releases in theaters were absolutely terrible. Alas, I think that trend is going to continue for quite a while.
What's the theory behind the reason of content quality being poor for 5 years if the strike doesn't last nearly that long? Is the thought that they'd spin up a bunch of trash reality tv shows and they'd linger after launch despite the return of writers and actors?
And how are new theater releases being bad related to this strike? Didn't the writers strike start a few months ago? Anything rolling out to theaters now went through scripting and dialog adjustments well before the strike.
A couple of things I think happen:
For the releases currently out that should otherwise be unaffected... I think of them being harbingers. They should've escaped the strike and thus poor quality is based on other factors, but it is entirely possible that when we look back at things, we'll find that the strike only made a bad situation even worse when it comes to movie quality.
As for my theory about shows and movies being bad for years after the strike itself ends- often, good writers don't return after a strike. I think this is what happened in 2008- the strike happened, the good writers were fired/ walked away, and the ones who came in to replace them were of much poorer skill. I expect the same will happen here- the good and skilled writers will ultimately leave this industry and find work elsewhere, and so everyone who comes in AFTER the strike will be untested and undeveloped. Add in that it can take time for writers to become skilled (much like with anything else), so it might be years before we see any new replacements start to produce the current (or r even better!) quality of what we have now.
Ah ok, that makes sense. So you're basically talking about brain drain from the industry as a result of the strikes.
I saw this:
And thought that you had attributed that to the strike, but I think I misinterpreted it.
Ishana Night Shyamalan’s ‘The Watchers’ & Sam Raimi’s ‘Don’t Move’ Among Latest Projects Granted SAG-AFTRA Waivers To Shoot During Strike
Hollywood is on strike because CEOs fell for Silicon Valley’s magical thinking
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