Actor and Writer Strikes in Hollywood

[Yel]

I'm no expert on this, but I'm not sure how it will ever be resolved. The main issue seems to be money and now we're in the streaming era this media is a lot less profitable. Yet another model that has very quickly totally changed everything.

Drew Barrymore is coming back with her talkshow, seems to have a lot of negative comments - but has it been hijacked by those with vested interests? I'm not sure if the average American is overwhelming in support of the strikes?

2023 SAG-AFTRA strike - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

 

[prozacprincess]

My husband and I are in the film and tv industry. The strike is about money for writers but the actors strike is more about the use of AI and how it affects the royalties of actors (both big names and the lower rankings such as extras) in the future.

 

[Sure…Media!]

It’s interesting Drew is copping flack for exactly what David Letterman got away with… still using writers during the strike last time.

 

[Yel]

I know the AI thing is what the unions are pushing as the main issue. But many other (less biased) sources are saying the main issue is residual payments from streamers and them not disclosing numbers.

Since streamers replaced cable the money coming in is apparently 6 times less. Disney's gamble in streaming does seem to have paid off with huge losses and now huge cuts. People are switching from streamer service to only have them when needed, rather than having half a dozen running 12 months a year. There's so much less money thesedays.

 

[LaBlonde]

I know the AI thing is what the unions are pushing as the main issue. But many other (less biased) sources are saying the main issue is residual payments from streamers and them not disclosing numbers.

Since streamers replaced cable the money coming in is apparently 6 times less. Disney's gamble in streaming does seem to have paid off with huge losses and now huge cuts. People are switching from streamer service to only have them when needed, rather than having half a dozen running 12 months a year. There's so much less money thesedays.

this is a big part of it i think. there’s a video of aaron paul on the picket line saying he gets nothing at all from breaking bad being on netflix.

i’m in favour of anyone getting paid what their work makes tbh. i know people get irritated with actors complaining because of how much money they make anyway, but (using aaron paul as a example again) if the product they’re a part of is making money for a streaming service then they are entitled to some cut of the revenue.

i also fully back them on the ai thing, which is getting creepy af. disney already admitted to keeping 3D body scans of some of the marvel actors.

 

[Yel]

this is a big part of it i think. there’s a video of aaron paul on the picket line saying he gets nothing at all from breaking bad being on netflix.

i’m in favour of anyone getting paid what their work makes tbh. i know people get irritated with actors complaining because of how much money they make anyway, but (using aaron paul as a example again) if the product they’re a part of is making money for a streaming service then they are entitled to some cut of the revenue.

i also fully back them on the ai thing, which is getting creepy af. disney already admitted to keeping 3D body scans of some of the marvel actors.

The breaking bad situation kinda makes sense as they didn't realise streaming would be a thing when signing contracts. I'm sure they get royalties from DVD's, but no one is buying those

For normal people residual payments may seem very alien. I maybe wrong but I don't think crew members ever get them, they do their days work, get paid for it and that's that.

I've seen quite a few BuzzFeed employees do "exposing" videos where they reveal that they don't get extra when something goes viral or they don't own shows they created while being employed. Which is what you'd expect when being employed by a company. Unless you were very high up or in a partnership like John Lewis.

Scarlett Johansson had a good case against Disney as they reduced the theatrical window with the streaming release and reduced expected the bonus of tens of millions. Disney of course knew this and they settled.

 

[Yel]

No suprise that bill Maher is restarting real time. He called their demands kooky.