Writers/Actors Strike

[Sabin]

Thank God!

[Greg]

STRIKE OVER: Actors Make a Deal With Studios After 118 Days:

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/busin ... 235607563/

[Greg]

"The Writers Strike Is Over: WGA Votes to Lift Strike Order After 148 Days:"

https://variety.com/2023/tv/news/writer ... 235735512/

The details in the article include quite substantial AI restrictions.

[Sabin]

Waiting to read the details but fucking god bless.

[Greg]

Writers Guild and studios reach tentative deal, potentially ending a monthslong strike that ground Hollywood to a halt:

https://www.cnn.com/2023/09/24/business ... index.html

[Greg]

Barry Diller Says Studios Should Split From Netflix and Amazon by Cutting Their Own Deals With Guilds:

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/busin ... 235578907/

[Mister Tee]

The movie industry was finally overcoming the aftermath of the pandemic -- audiences were returning in big numbers, culminating in this weekend, where two non-sequel films seem set to break the bank.

And, instead of capitalizing on this, the studios have pushed us into this dark place. It's awful above all for the not-overpaid portion of Hollywood (which is to say, most involved), but it now threatens to deal a self-inflicted second blow to the industry. Big movie titles like Dune 2 and The Color Purple are floating moves to 2024, as if COVID were back. Smaller items, which rely on actors and critics combining to elevate their profiles, are pulling out of the festivals and resetting their release dates as TBA. The Fall TV schedule will be a void (or, I suppose, glutted with Reality TV).

The winners, one assumes, will be the streaming services, who have all that "product" that bored audiences will seek out the way they did The Tiger King 3 years ago. Are the studios so blind, they don't get that they're collaborating in their own destruction?

I remember, after the punishing baseball strike of 1994, fans were reluctant to come back to the ballparks. The sport got lucky, with, first, all the hoopla about Cal Ripken breaking Lou Gehrig's consecutive game streak, and then the McGwire/Sosa home run chase (however subsequently degraded that last became). You get the feeling, if Hollywood studios were involved, Ripken would have been put on the Injured List, and McGwire/Sosa would have been intentionally walked for the final month.

From my own, quite parochial spot: I was so looking forward to a real-feeling Oscar race, for the first time since 2019, populated by strong, popular films from excellent directors. With Past Lives, Barbie, Oppenheimer and Killers of the Flower Moon (and The Holdovers/Saltburn yielding strong advance buzz), such a year seemed within our grasp. And dumbbells are snatching it away from us, because they can't live with the idea the average industry employee deserves to live a fraction of the privileged life executives do. Deeply sad.

[Greg]

SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher gave an on-fire speech at the press conference announcing the actors' strike:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mphpgRI00js

[OscarGuy]

Sure makes the DGA look like tools, doesn't it?

[Greg]

SAG-AFTRA is now on strike against the AMPTP, making the first time Hollywood has two simultaneous strikes since 1960.

[OscarGuy]

From what I heard, the DGA just rolled over for the AMPTP and that's how it usually happens.

[Greg]

SAG/AFTRA members just voted overwhelmingly for strike authorization while the DGA just renewed its contract with the AMPTP.

[OscarGuy]

Ah. So, if the Actors make a deal with the producers to renew the contract, they cannot effectively join the demonstration. I assume those who have dual-membership between SAG/AFTRA and WGA can still strike?

[Greg]

Which is rather interesting since SAG issued instructions not to guild members not to participate in the strike. I'm sure it was to try and prevent issues with getting their contracts ratified, but it still sounds like bull shit to me.

The current SAG contract has a no-strike clause, which prohibits the actors from striking while the contract is still in effect.

[OscarGuy]

Which is rather interesting since SAG issued instructions not to guild members not to participate in the strike. I'm sure it was to try and prevent issues with getting their contracts ratified, but it still sounds like bull shit to me.