As Long As The Hollywood Strikes Go On, AMPTP Could Be Negotiating, But It’s Not Right Now:
There’s a story going around the entertainment industry this week about how a friend asked the CEO of a big entertainment company how long he believed the WGA as well as SAG-AFTRA strikes would last.
“Not sufficiently long,” the suit was said to have said in response. If this talk really took place in Hollywood, what started as a dark joke is often turned into a juicy story. As the WGA strike goes into its fourth month next week, the executive’s joke shows some of the worst worries of many workers.
Companies With A Lot Of Debt Are Delaying A New Deal:
Companies with a lot of debt are delaying a new deal on purpose because stopping production for a period of time will cancel out a lot of the debt they racked up throughout Peak TV.
“The strike has benefited a lot of these locations within the short term,” says an experienced studio insider who supports the groups. “That’s what makes it sad.”
Avatar Movie’s Distribution Dates Might Be Pushed Back Due TO Strike:
Due to the WGA strike, it is said that Disney has pushed back the distribution dates of several “Avatar” as well as “Star Wars” movies.
The Hollywood Reporter says that “Avatar 3” by James Cameron will now come out in 2025, “Avatar 4” in 2029, as well as “Avatar 5” in 2031. Two unnamed “Star Wars” movies will also not come out until 2026.
Bad News For Star Wars Fans You Have To Wait More Longer To Watch Fourth Installment Of Star Wars:
Production Weekly says that fans of “Star Wars” will also be waiting longer for the fourth installment of “The Mandalorian” since production has been pushed back. Disney didn’t answer a question about whether the strike was to blame for the delays.
But unless you believe an even more selfish idea, the studios have chosen to make an effort to dissolve the unions as well as are willing to wait for as lengthy as it needs to get the contract they want.
Within the following month or two, talks are expected to start up again with either the WGA or SAG-AFTRA, or with both.
The Most Important Question Is How Both Group Fill The Gaps Between Their Current Position:
Then the question will be, “How do the two groups close the huge gaps between their current positions on many issues?” There has been a lot of talk in the Hollywood trades as well as the media about a “Elder Statesperson” of the industry coming in to help rebuild trust and break the deadlock.
Former Fox boss Peter Chernin was suggested by Richard Rushfield at the Ankler, and other bigwigs such as Jeffrey Katzenberg and others have also been suggested by other people.
Not to put down those famous people in show business, but the problems at stake within the present standoff are so complicated that it might not be enough to just bring in recognized people in the business.
According To Fran Drescher That The Current Labor Deals Are Based On A Model That Does Not Exist:
In her angry speech launching a strike, SAG boss Fran Drescher said that the TV and film industries have changed so much in the 15 years since the last WGA strike that the current labor deals are based on a model that doesn’t exist anymore.
“If the business model changes as much as it has, you shouldn’t anticipate the contract to stay the same,” she said. Instead of tweaking, there wants to be rethinking, which will take industry experts who have worked on difficult deals that management and the workers can agree on.
In other words, it’s time to turn to the business-affairs executives in Hollywood, who are more used to wearing green eye masks than walking red carpets.
Deanna Giulietti Passed Down $28,000 Last Week Because The Union Is Upon Strike:
Even though Deanna Giulietti is not a member of the actors’ union, she passed down $28,000 last week because the union was on strike.
Ms. Giulietti, a 29-year-old video maker with 1.8 million TikTok fans, was asked to promote the fourth installment of Hulu’s hit program “Only Murders within the Building.”
If Any Influencer Promoted The Studios They Can Not Take Part In Strike:
But the union, which is called SAG-AFTRA, just put out new rules that say anyone who promotes for a single of the Hollywood companies the players are striking against won’t be able to join.
That was enough for Ms. Giulietti, who also plays and wants to join the union one day, to turn down the offer from Influential, a marketing firm that works with Hulu.
The Union Made New Rules For Strike:
The union’s rule is just one of a number of bold moves that came at a crucial time for Hollywood workers. It shows that the union wants to be heard in a new era with a new, primarily younger flood of creative ability.
Ms. Giulietti said, “I want to be part of these Netflix shows and these Hulu shows, but we’re sticking by the writers and SAG.” “When I say I’m an activist, people laugh at me, but I say, “No, I really think I could make a difference here.”
Over the years, I’ve heard many times that BA leaders, at least the good ones, are the hidden stars of the entertainment business.
Even though the big companies that pay their wages are on their side, it’s part of their job to earn the trust of everyone. They require to make sure that their bosses don’t think they’re giving away the shop and that big talent as well as their reps don’t think they’re getting screwed.
These leaders are also good at making difficult deals between firms that often have very different goals. For example, NBCUniversal’s Peacock was able to get the streaming rights to Yellowstone from Paramount Global.
Ms. Giulietti Refused The Deal OF $5,000 Offer From TodayTix:
This difference costs something. In addition to the Hulu deal, Ms. Giulietti recently turned down a $5,000 offer from the app TodayTix for advertising the Searchlight Pictures movie “Theater Camp.”
She stated she was living with her parents within Cheshire, Connecticut, and wasn’t getting an apartment within New York City yet because she wanted to see how the strike and a writers’ strike, which could last for months, would impact her income.
Social Media And “Influencers” Didn’t Exist When Hollywood Actors & Writers Last Went On Strike:
When Hollywood actors and writers last went upon strike, social media sites and the $5 billion business of “influencers” did not exist. The actors’ union started letting content makers join in 2021, but there are still not many of them. Questions have been raised quickly about how the union’s fight with the big Hollywood companies will affect well-known internet figures.
Executives at BA aren’t liked by everyone, that’s clear. There’s no question that middle-class as well as lower-class Hollywood employees have been taken advantage of by terms and other tricks meant for making up for the nine-figure deals given to some A-list showrunners.
And some of the biggest differences between the two sides, like the use of AI, will be outside the area of knowledge of the average business affairs executive. This means that the labor relations people who have been negotiating will still be an important part of the process.
But when it comes to a basic problem like rethinking what residuals ought to appear such as within the age of streaming, multiple people I talked to this week agree that professional business-affairs hands might come up with the creative ideas meant to break the impasse.
One industry veteran told me, “If you want to fix residuals, you need someone who can think outside the box and come up with an elegant way to change the business relationships between studios and talent.”
“Someone with a background in business affairs could be a huge help. They should be in there with a whiteboard trying to figure out how to do this.”
The union’s message that content makers won’t be able to join if they do work or services for companies that are on strike has made many people scramble.
Several makers have promised to help writers and actors, and “scab” names of influential people who push new releases or show up at related events have been passed around.
Others have been irritated or confused by orders from an organization that doesn’t protect them as well as one that some of them have never heard of.
The Studio Have To Agree With WGA And SAG That They Need A Whole New Framework For A Deal:
Of course, for any of this to happen, the studios are likely to have to agree with the WGA and SAG that what’s needed is a whole new framework for a deal, not just a facelift and more money for the current one.
The Good Place writer Mike Schur, who is on the WGA’s talking group, told Variety this week, “The companies have to admit they need a solution.”
What Is The SAG’s Plan?
“When shows do well, there needs to be a better way to pay actors, writers, directors, and everyone else, whether it’s SAG’s plan, our plan, or some other plan.”
But so far, as Variety wrote in the same story, the AMPTP has declared the idea of letting writers and stars share within the success of shows “a nonstarter,” which has led to the current standoff: nobody has succeeded and nobody is talking.
So, we’re back to where we started: do the companies in the AMPTP really mean it when they state they want the strike to end as soon as possible?
Many people used to think that Disney’s Iger was the kind of well-liked person who could help break the impasses. However, his words to CNBC earlier this month did nothing to give people hope on that front.
Instead of trying to make peace with the artistic community, he said that the lack of progress was because unions had “a level of expectation that’s just not realistic.” This is a classic example of stating the quiet part out loud.
Since then, suits like Netflix’s Ted Sarandos and Paramount’s Brian Robbins have given less bombastic opinions, but no one in the studio C-suites has even hinted that they’re willing to accept the idea that a compensation system made for the age of linear doesn’t make sense in the age of streaming.
“Licensing as well as relicensing these television programs for streaming makes the companies so much money. Why shouldn’t the people who wrote it enjoy the results?” One former network executive who would never be called a union supporter says this.
“It doesn’t make sense to stay in the same place we’ve been. You need to pay the writers and artists in a completely different way. But what worries me is that the companies really think they can force them and hold out until they give up. It’s an interesting clash of ideas.”
Almost 160,000 Actor’s And Writer’s Voted To Go On Strike:
On July 13, SAG-AFTRA, which is made up of about 160,000 movie and TV actors, voted to go on strike. Most of the disagreement with the studios comes from worries about how they will be paid in the streaming age and with AI.
They joined the screenwriters who quit in May, making it the first time since 1960 that two groups of people quit at the same time. Actors can’t promote their projects or go to film festivals as well as events such as Comic-Con while the strike is going on.
Still, what has been asked of 27-year-old Whitney Singleton, who has 1.2 million TikTok fans, has been frustrating. Before the last couple of weeks, she wasn’t aware of SAG-AFTRA.
Ms. Singleton has fans because she sings and raps regarding her preferred video games such as Fortnite as well as streams herself play video games under the name @KeepUpRadio.
Since three years ago, this has been her full-time job. In the past, she has worked with well-known companies like Amazon.
If The Strike Does Not Stopped Soon This Can Hurt Economy Even More:
Now that actors are participating in the strike, it could hurt the economy even more. This is the first time in over 60 years that both actors as well as writers have gone on strike at the same time.
The Writers Guild of America went upon strike upon May 2, and SAG-AFTRA members decided to go on strike on July 14. Fox said Thursday that the 2023 Emmy Awards weren’t going to air on September 18 as planned because of the current strike.
