Netflix's "new" section is a throwback to retro content; CEOs got a compensation cut due to shareholder-imposed pay reductions. Iger and Disney face multiple lawsuits from various investor groups. 1/4
An "activist" shareholder, Nelson Peltz, seeks to dismantle Disney. These companies and CEOs hurt themselves and us, they need our work, badly. And will try hard to divide us to get it for nothing. 2/4
"Alone we beg, together we bargain" isn't just for individual people: it means unions working together succeed together. IATSE and Teamsters are up next year and SAG-AFTRA doesn’t have a new contract in place yet. This year we set the tone, next year we bring it home. 4/4 end
We need contractual, legislative & judicial safeguards in place to keep things more fair for everyone on all sides of every deal. We must own & control our likenesses & voices. Full stop.
Laws, courts & contracts will have to make things work better.
CEOs, unfamiliar with labor issues, lack experience and mentors in organized labor. They must grasp that relying on a Victorian labor playbook harms themselves in the 21st century. Collaboration with labor is crucial. Harvard Business Review thinks so too:
“Hollywood will restart, and while studios may pretend that the industry as a whole has to cut back on future projects after the cost of the strikes, it's worth noting that the value of the deals SAG-AFTRA and WGA received are still worth way less than the L studios took by refusing to come to the bargaining table.”
Ok Mr. “Talent friendly CEO,” this is how the world sees you. Is it talent friendly to for roughly 107 days out of 118 refuse to even talk with your talent? Your actions have consequences.
"Instead of choosing the easy way out by simply paying writers and actors their fair share to begin with, studios have opted to make this excruciating not just for workers, but for themselves. Back in September, it was reported Warner Bros. Discovery bled $300 to $500 million in this fight..."
I was graciously referred to a producer during the #WGAstrike about Billy Shakes Is Out for Royalties. Just sent an email, fingers crossed for a meeting.
Billy Shakes is coming for all the royalties he’s owed by the producers, a fun fever dream of a film noir exploitation film.
I made an orca’s picketing with #SAGAFTRAstrong and #WGAstrong design and you can get it from Threadless on t-shirts and more for adults and kids in various colors. All my proceeds go to The Entertainment Community Fund to support those impacted by the strikes.
“The streaming industry has thrived on data opacity — allowing an industry in the business of fiction to twist the story to how it sees fit with carefully crafted data. Now, there will be real, actual, hard data available to the WGA membership.” https://www.theverge.com/2023/9/26/23891835/wga-contract-summary-ai-streaming-data