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Hollywood is on strike because CEOs fell for Silicon Valley’s magical thinking

latimes.com

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Re: Hollywood is on strike because CEOs fell for Silicon Valley’s magical thinking

#61

Post by lacrimacida »

taeric wrote: post #45
lacrimacida wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Let me put it in perspective for you: Hollywood the actors and writers are on strike because Hollywood, the money making machinery decided to replace them with a product from SV. I don’t care for Hollywood and indeed it has gotten quite garbage anyway but I do support the actors and writers striking because they can. For the rest of us it remains to be seen how we’re going to handle it or whether we boil slowly.. In…

I'm trying to see how this put anything "in perspective." :( I could as easily say they are on strike because the economy is contracting, and they are the least shielded from the contraction. No need to add SV into the mix. Studios have always been on the lookout for ways to not pay them, such that the latest attempt being streaming seems a bit of a non story item. Again, consider if we had never moved to streaming a…

Sorry, re-reading my comment I could see how my comment may sound offensive and if it does I appologize, that wasn’t the intention. And I do agree with your reasoning from your angle. But do consider other angles so we don’t disagree unnecessarily when we may in fact see the whole picture from different angles.

Re: Hollywood is on strike because CEOs fell for Silicon Valley’s magical thinking

#62

Post by koolba »

theptip wrote: post #50
taeric wrote: post #5

I support the strikes and hope it comes to a good conclusion; but this feels a touch forced, honestly. I get that it is in vogue to blame silicon valley, but hollywood has a littered history of killing their goose, as it were. For fun, consider that if netflix had stuck to the DVD model, they could still be profitable. You don't need a special license to buy a dvd and rent it out to anyone. Just as you don't need a s…

My impression was that Netflix came along with up-front pay packages because taking a residual-heavy deal was not attractive back when streaming was unknown. No mustache-twirling required, just a business model that made sense then and is no longer equitable. The other point is that extras are getting full-body 3D scanned for a day’s pay, licensed in perpetuity. That is an existential threat to the profession; no act…

> The other point is that extras are getting full-body 3D scanned for a day’s pay, licensed in perpetuity.

Wtf? Is this really a thing?

Re: Hollywood is on strike because CEOs fell for Silicon Valley’s magical thinking

#63

Post by andrei_says_ »

AmericanChopper wrote: post #46
tekla wrote: post #9

I continue to wonder how much studios are ACTUALLY hurt by this strike. The studios have reserves of money, they still get money from streaming existing content. And short term they can still release content that are in post-prod enough to release. On the other hand, the public supports of the strike amounts to ... wanting new TV shows and movies. It's annoying for many I'm sure, but its not exactly something that ke…

> the public supports of the strike amounts to ... wanting new TV shows and movies Nobody in my social circle has taken any notice of it, because movies and TV has become so bad that none of us watch them anymore. Dune was the last Hollywood movie I watched, Oppenheimer and the next Dune are the only movies I’m looking forward to watching. There’s nothing on TV that I watch. I’m somewhat looking forward to the 3 Body…

I find this quite cynical.

The same executives who want to steal the wages of the writers and actors are responsible for the quality and range of productions. It is only a handful of directors who get full creative license.

I agree that good sci-fi is rare but don’t think that my personal dissatisfaction should result in many thousands of already exploited people who put in incredibly hard work, their heart and souls in what they do, to go jobless - because you and I don’t like how their bosses, the same bosses who are trying to squash them, do their jobs.

Finally, we might have similar tastes. A few things you might like: Outer Range; The Underground Railroad.

I believe that the entertainment workers strike in Hollywood deserves my support.

Re: Hollywood is on strike because CEOs fell for Silicon Valley’s magical thinking

#64

Post by majormajor »

rtpg wrote: post #53
majormajor wrote: post #22

The interplay between SV in the form of Netflix and Hollywood in the last 15 years of streaming wars is interesting but the author loses the plot a bit in trying to connect to Uber, WeWork, etc. By the time those companies were making waves the Hollywood trends were already in motion. Netflix made waves for sure with original content, but if you look at in another light, it was just an extension of what HBO and other…

> at the same time the contracts weren't particularly well thought out I think they were plenty thought out: Netflix set more or less fixed residuals, which is quite different from “more popularity = more money” for other distribution models. People were mostly fine with it because most shows were not super popular. But if everything is on it suddenly there is no “high end”. And streamers pulling shows means your “lo…

Fair, that makes sense too, but that part of "now stuff will be black holed" is what I think wasn't particularly anticipated from either side. Especially from the streamer's side: now you've spent money on shows that aren't even gaining you "niche back catalog size" benefits.

Re: Hollywood is on strike because CEOs fell for Silicon Valley’s magical thinking

#65

Post by DriverDaily »

zabzonk wrote: post #38
DriverDaily wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They’re stuffed with content, but much of the content is of poor quality. The good stuff everyone has seen, and you can attract new viewers with a new show that is good.

but the new shows, written by those striking writers, aren't good - rings of power, she-hulk etc. etc.

Yes, and that’s because they’re focused on quantity over quality. And if that’s your strategy, you can do it with AI.

Re: Hollywood is on strike because CEOs fell for Silicon Valley’s magical thinking

#66

Post by pie_flavor »

This seemed like a pretty tortured explanation of what's going on here, as though the punching bag was selected before the mechanism was figured out. Then I realized the guy they were citing was Adam Conover, who drafts explanations like that for a living. Mystery solved.

Re: Hollywood is on strike because CEOs fell for Silicon Valley’s magical thinking

#67

Post by foundart »

taeric wrote: post #5

I support the strikes and hope it comes to a good conclusion; but this feels a touch forced, honestly. I get that it is in vogue to blame silicon valley, but hollywood has a littered history of killing their goose, as it were. For fun, consider that if netflix had stuck to the DVD model, they could still be profitable. You don't need a special license to buy a dvd and rent it out to anyone. Just as you don't need a s…

Is Netflix a Silicon Valley company? I think so.

The article claims the trend of going big on streaming started at Netflix and the more traditional players followed along. It seems a reasonable claim.

Re: Hollywood is on strike because CEOs fell for Silicon Valley’s magical thinking

#68

Post by Turskarama »

contravariant wrote: post #26
myownpetard wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, they are almost certainly suggesting crypto would solve the issue...

I mean that's just a gold standard with internet gold. Anyway I'd also like to express my sympathies to the moderators here, as I seem to have upset a whole botnet of them.

Crypto is the opposite of the gold standard. Instead of backing currency with a physical object with inherent value, it's backed by absolutely nothing and grows at a pace governed by people whose primary goal is to benefit off a pyramid scheme.

Fiat currency gets a bad rap because it can be mismanaged, but a metal backed currency isn't compatible with rapid growth and we've yet to find a better alternative.

Re: Hollywood is on strike because CEOs fell for Silicon Valley’s magical thinking

#69

Post by nitwit005 »

lacrimacida wrote: post #14
taeric wrote: post #5

I support the strikes and hope it comes to a good conclusion; but this feels a touch forced, honestly. I get that it is in vogue to blame silicon valley, but hollywood has a littered history of killing their goose, as it were. For fun, consider that if netflix had stuck to the DVD model, they could still be profitable. You don't need a special license to buy a dvd and rent it out to anyone. Just as you don't need a s…

Let me put it in perspective for you: Hollywood the actors and writers are on strike because Hollywood, the money making machinery decided to replace them with a product from SV. I don’t care for Hollywood and indeed it has gotten quite garbage anyway but I do support the actors and writers striking because they can. For the rest of us it remains to be seen how we’re going to handle it or whether we boil slowly.. In…

They're also on strike over rather mundane things like residual payments, which have been very low for some streaming shows.

The AI bit is just much more exciting to talk about, for everyone involved.

Re: Hollywood is on strike because CEOs fell for Silicon Valley’s magical thinking

#70

Post by andrei_says_ »

ocdtrekkie wrote: post #59

It's worth noting most of this article is spelled out by Adam Conover, the ex-CollegeHumor star of Adam Ruins Everything. Generally speaking, the man does his research.

Highly recommend his YouTube interview with Jane McAlevey on how organizing for power works and the incessant efforts to defang unions. Eye opening.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=nA2AMxRz0iA

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