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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

#81

Post by LapsangGuzzler »

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…

> That is all to say, no, SV is not the root of the problem here.

In 2015, %80 of people watched network tv regularly and 50% had streaming accounts. That has flipped in the last 8 years. Total television revenue has declined 35% in that timeframe.

What’s happening to television now is what happened to newspapers 10 years ago: low-cost distribution alternatives disrupted the major networks and created new business models to control distribution and make employees take the financial hit. The fact is that Netflix was first to adopt streaming and did so with vast venture capital backing. This analysis does a pretty good job of looking at the financials of television in the streaming era.

0: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=PRk5_ohCB70&pp=ygUeU3RldmUgcmF...

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

#82

Post by roody15 »

Most the writing on TV today is just awful. I support living wages and fare compensation but the quality of programming and writing seems to be at an all time low. Dune was probably the last solid movie I have seen in years … and that’s because it mostly stayed true to a novel written decades ago.

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

#83

Post by lotsofpulp »

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…

> I could as easily say they are on strike because the economy is contracting, and they are the least shielded from the contraction.

The writer’ and actors’ problem is not a contracting economy (if that is even true). Their biggest problem is people now have tons of cheap entertainment options other than movies/TV, such as TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, WhatsApp, and arguing on forums like Hacker News.

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

#84

Post by renewiltord »

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…

If Netflix had stuck to that model they'd be dead.

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

#85

Post by taeric »

lacrimacida wrote: post #61
taeric wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

:) Same, I definitely do not intend my comment in a harsh way.

And I do want to stress that I agree getting the writers and actors back at the table is worth doing. Same for all parties involved, all told.

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

#86

Post by gumby »

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…

As you say the studios are good at killing the goose: tv, cable, VHS: each a huge money spinner and each caught tooth and nail by the studios.

> You don't need a special license to buy a dvd and rent it out to anyone.

Actually the studios strong-armed Netflix into not distributing new disks but maintain a “release window”.

Redbox wouldn’t do this and anyway couldn’t get Netflix’s sweet deal, so ended up asking people to buy disks themselves and send them to Redbox. First sale doctrine makes this legal in the US (as you implied) and the studios could do nothing.

Now Netflix and the studios are in a Mexican standoff and the studios make less.

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

#90

Post by taeric »

gumby wrote: post #86
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…

As you say the studios are good at killing the goose: tv, cable, VHS: each a huge money spinner and each caught tooth and nail by the studios. > You don't need a special license to buy a dvd and rent it out to anyone. Actually the studios strong-armed Netflix into not distributing new disks but maintain a “release window”. Redbox wouldn’t do this and anyway couldn’t get Netflix’s sweet deal, so ended up asking people…

Yeah, the nuances around movie rentals are absurd. Would love to see more of an exploration around that.
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