I guess lucky for Hollywood the visual artists (i.e. CGI) aren't in a union.
They aren't yet in a union.
[deleted]
Actors union will join writers on strike, shutting down Hollywood
101–110 of 187 posts
Re: Actors union will join writers on strike, shutting down Hollywood
#102Earlier quoted context omitted.
You seem to misunderstand what unionisation is. The current state of things has been reached as kind of a gentleman's agreement. If employers want to revert to life threatening solutions, unions will revert to life threatening solutions too. Sequestration, destruction, tarring, and other fun things. But then again, defenestration of a bunch of execs might just be the exact thing the world needs to put some fear back…
> You seem to misunderstand what unionisation is. The current state of things has been reached as kind of a gentleman's agreement. If employers want to revert to life threatening solutions, unions will revert to life threatening solutions too. Sequestration, destruction, tarring, and other fun things. Weird, my definition of "unionization" is "workers bargaining collectively". It doesn't involve any veiled threats of…
Violence begets violence. Pretty simple.
Re: Actors union will join writers on strike, shutting down Hollywood
#103Earlier quoted context omitted.
>Its tar and feather territory if you ask me. Refusing to accept a deal is akin to acts of violence? I feel like the pro-union rhetoric is getting hyperbolic, and is detrimental to the quality of the discussion. If simply refusing to accept a deal is "tar and feather territory", then what do you call it when studios are literally covering union members in tar and feather? "tar feather (fr!) territory"? Rather than di…
I think you're vastly oversimplifying their stance as merely "refusing to accept a deal". If studios are waiting for writers to "start losing their apartments and losing their houses,"[1] that is a major negative impact to people's lives. [1] various sources, e.g. https://www.ign.com/articles/hollywood-studios-want-writers-...
[deleted]
Re: Actors union will join writers on strike, shutting down Hollywood
#104> “In that ground breaking AI proposal, they proposed that our background performers should be able to be scanned, get paid for one day’s pay, and their company should own that scan, their image, their likeness, and should be able to use it for the rest of eternity in any project they want with no consent and no compensation,” he said. “So if you think that’s a ground breaking proposal I suggest you think again.” I m…
> their company should own that scan, their image, their likeness, and should be able to use it for the rest of eternity in any project they want with no consent and no compensation
Thats how science works globally! Do you think scientists should be striking, or are they too stupid to realise how they are being used by the global population?
There is also one other deer in the headlights which I havent seen mentioned yet, and thats the financial system. Financiers dont realise their days are numbered and I certainly dont see nay VC's or bankers striking yet, but then I dont get paid for pointing out their demise.
Re: Actors union will join writers on strike, shutting down Hollywood
#105The business philosophy of "maximize shareholder value above all else" is going to eviscerate our society until there's nothing of quality left. Hollywood has always been a dirty and money-focused business, but it seems like the latest crop of execs are hellbent on entirely divorcing the creative enterprise from its human elements. Now studios are just exotic financial instruments that seek to turn "content" into sto…
> The business philosophy of "maximize shareholder value above all else" is going to eviscerate our society until there's nothing of quality left. Well no, because there are literally an entire industry (luxury goods) where the main selling point is quality, and I don't see any sign that's going to disappear anytime soon.
Our society will be eviscerated, but at least we’ll have luxury goods,
Re: Actors union will join writers on strike, shutting down Hollywood
#106Now this could actually force the Hollywood studios back to the negotiating table in earnest. Its one thing to outsource writers, its not easy (I'd say rare to impossible) to outsource the actors themselves.
Digital actors are the future
Re: Actors union will join writers on strike, shutting down Hollywood
#107> “In that ground breaking AI proposal, they proposed that our background performers should be able to be scanned, get paid for one day’s pay, and their company should own that scan, their image, their likeness, and should be able to use it for the rest of eternity in any project they want with no consent and no compensation,” he said. “So if you think that’s a ground breaking proposal I suggest you think again.” I m…
From an end-user's point of view, though, that's actually really great. I love Star Trek The Next Generation. They're never making any more than those seven glorious seasons. If I could subscribe to a streaming service that offered an infinite number of AI-produce believably-authentic episodes featuring the original characters, and plot that could plausibly have been real episodes, I'd subscribe in a heartbeat. I'd j…
Toss in the 100+ novels with a lower weight to account for the more spotty quality and you have another 5-6 seasons.
Re: Actors union will join writers on strike, shutting down Hollywood
#108Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Given the explicit "we'll just wait for them to lose their housing" messaging from the Hollywood executives... Yeah, that was fuckin disgusting. Its tar and feather territory if you ask me. I'm in full support of this strike and I applaud the actors for getting in on it. Bring the studios to their knees if that's what it takes.
What's to stop the actors or writers from simply making their own content? It made sense to me when you had terrestrial television stations with actual monopolies over broadcast rights. But now with the internet they have many vectors to share and market their content. So you won't be on NBC or Netflix or whatever, so what, post it on Twitter and YouTube. If they move to alternative distribution platforms and the stu…
> What's to stop the actors or writers from simply making their own content?
1) access to capital to cover the cost of production. $/min of a Mandalorian episode or even a late night comedy show is way above self funding capacity of most of the people employed as writers or actors.
2) critical mass providing leverage in distribution. It is very very cheap for Netflix to market just one more show, as compared with the costs of a new subscription service to try to acquire new customers. On the feature side, studios pay a lot less to be in theaters (as percentage of box office revenue) than indie films.
> So you won't be on NBC or Netflix or whatever, so what, post it on Twitter and YouTube.
It's not like people haven't been trying. But take any successful show in the last few years, it simply could not have made nearly the same audience or revenue on these platforms. The stuff you see there is already hyper optimized for these platforms - it'd be a very poor business decision to take a show with the production cost of TV or subscription services, and monetize it purely on these platforms.
Re: Actors union will join writers on strike, shutting down Hollywood
#109Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Given the explicit "we'll just wait for them to lose their housing" messaging from the Hollywood executives... Yeah, that was fuckin disgusting. Its tar and feather territory if you ask me. I'm in full support of this strike and I applaud the actors for getting in on it. Bring the studios to their knees if that's what it takes.
What's to stop the actors or writers from simply making their own content? It made sense to me when you had terrestrial television stations with actual monopolies over broadcast rights. But now with the internet they have many vectors to share and market their content. So you won't be on NBC or Netflix or whatever, so what, post it on Twitter and YouTube. If they move to alternative distribution platforms and the stu…
Some of the best content I've encountered is exactly this. A good example is "High Maintenance", which started as a Vimeo web series and cost $1000 / episode to produce. [1] Another example is Christopher Nolan's first film, "Following", which cost $6,000 to produce. "El Mariachi" by Robert Rodriguez famously had a $7,000 budget.
They could also pool their money, crowdfund, or otherwise shoot for a bigger budget, in which case they could mimic the first Coen Brothers movie, "Blood Simple", which had a $1.5 million budget. There's also "The Blair Witch Project" ($200k), "Clerks" ($230k), "Paranormal Activity" ($15k), etc. [3]
I truly hope this latest labor dispute causes an industry shift in the direction of creatives taking more control over production and distribution of their content. Musician Anton Newcombe said this about the recording industry, and I think it applies equally well to film studios:
"...it’s a mafia. And until they can write the letter that I’m writing, they are the postman, and I am the letter writer. Period. End of discussion."
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Maintenance
Re: Actors union will join writers on strike, shutting down Hollywood
#110Given the explicit "we'll just wait for them to lose their housing" messaging from the Hollywood executives... Good on SAG-AFTRA. This can only increase the bargaining power of both groups.
Waiting until striking workers run out of money is absolutely gentille, when it comes to the history of strike-breaking.
That is just a silly argument. Yeah, they aren't hiring private armies and shooting at the striking workers, but that doesn't mean it's gentille.