The Hollywood actors and writers’ strike has halted production on next year’s movies and TV seasons after negotiations with studios stalled.
Artificial intelligence is at the top of the pile that broke down negotiations. Studios want to be able to hire background actors once, scan them and use their likenesses forever without payment. They want to use AI to write scripts in place of human writers. (By the way, don’t get me started on the fact that Google is already scraping Google Docs to train its own AI). They can pose these as legitimate offerings because the law cannot keep up with innovation. But why would the unions agree to any of this?
The unions are also trying to rectify streaming services shortchanging actors and writers over time. Just as an example, cast members on Netflix’s “Orange is the New Black” worked second and third non-acting jobs while starring in the show.
Here’s what studio execs are making while they follow a strategy of starving out actors and writers to end the strike.
David Zaslav, Warner Bros. Discovery Inc.: $498,915,318
Ari Emanuel, Endeavor Group Holdings Inc.: $346,935,367*
Reed Hastings, Netflix: $209,780,532
Bob Iger, Walt Disney Co.: $195,092,460
Bob Iger was quoted saying that the unions were being unreasonable. Critics called his pay unreasonable.
Ted Sarandos, Netflix: $192,171,581
Rupert Murdoch, Fox Corp.: $174,929,867
Lachlan Murdoch, Fox Corp.: $171,359,374
Brian Roberts, Comcast Corp.: $170,158,088
Joseph Ianniello, Paramount Global: $152,793,125
Patrick Whitesell, Endeavor Group Holdings Inc.: $143,584,597
This is analysis first published by the L.A. Times. *Apparently Endeavor’s reported numbers were potentially skewed.
One film and TV writer told the L.A. Times, “If they gave us everything that we asked for, it would make a difference of 2% in the bottom line that the studios currently are paying. That’s a rounding error for a lot of these guys.”
There’s also a viral video of “Hellboy” actor Ron Perleman saying that people can lose their houses in lots of ways, including finding out the anonymous source who said the studios planned to wait for people to miss rent and lose their homes (Yes, someone really said this).
Carol Lombardini is the current president of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP). I’m curious about the lawyer representing AMPTP in negotiations, because they clearly aren’t doing so great. I’m also curious about possible union-busting activity by lawyers. There’s a few business lawyers known for that in Missouri.
In the meantime, actors and writers can’t work on ongoing projects or promote films or TV series they’ve worked on (with few exceptions for contracts not yet completed). Aspiring actors and writers who hope to work in the future and join respective unions will be barred from those respective unions if they accept work during this time or (as an influencer) promote films, TV series, etc.
I’ve seen a lot of people saying they are intentionally switching to DVDs and canceling streaming services in support of the strike. I’m not sure if watching films in theaters counts as crossing the picket line, but I’m pretty sure it does. Other people plan to pirate movies.
Here’s other (legal) entertainment alternatives if you don’t want to support streaming services during the strike, in order of effectiveness:
Rented library DVDs
Live theater productions
Live musicals
Concerts
Game shows (if you have cable)
Reality TV shows (if you have cable)
FREE YouTube web series from creators like Markiplier and StarKids musical parodies (Keep in mind that YouTube is a streaming service if you pay to watch anything)
AMPTP’s website is super outdated but if you’ve got something to say to the studios, you can try their contact page here. If you want to donate to the Entertainment Community Fund in support of strikers, click here.
I’m dropping another newsletter update on MOHELA later today, but realized I couldn’t not say something about the Hollywood strike. If you’ve enjoyed this newsletter, please consider sharing or Venmo @Chloe-Murdock or PayPal @ChloeMurdock.
Hey! Found out today that you do NOT need to boycott movies and TV shows and it's not considered crossing the picket line. Promoting them as influencers and content creators, however, is still considered strike breaking activity.