WGA/SAG-AFTRA 2023 Strike Post-Mortem

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Edward Mass: Sep 14, 2011; 𝅘𝅥𝅮 I wanna go home with the armadillo
Good country music from Amarillo and Abilene
Friendliest people and the prettiest women you've ever seen𝅘𝅥𝅮

At 12:01 AM Eastern Daylight Time, WGA East and WGA West members went on strike, beginning the first Writers Guild of America strike since 2007-08. According to the WGA, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers were unwilling to discuss minimum staffing, the establishment of viewer-based streaming residuals, the use of artificial intelligence, and full pension and health contributions for writing teams, among other issues. It is estimated the strike may last at least four months.

This thread is designed to discuss the strike, its impacts on TV and film, and also post broken Twitter links because that's where we're at.

Updates from the website Deadline are here

# ¿ May 2, 2023 08:25

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# ¿ May 12, 2024 02:57

Edward Mass: Sep 14, 2011; 𝅘𝅥𝅮 I wanna go home with the armadillo
Good country music from Amarillo and Abilene
Friendliest people and the prettiest women you've ever seen𝅘𝅥𝅮

If someone uses scab writers or AI, I'm pretty sure we'll hear about it. As it stands, the only show I could imagine using scab labor is Gutfeld!, so nobody here needs to worry just yet.

# ¿ May 3, 2023 07:25

Edward Mass: Sep 14, 2011; 𝅘𝅥𝅮 I wanna go home with the armadillo
Good country music from Amarillo and Abilene
Friendliest people and the prettiest women you've ever seen𝅘𝅥𝅮

Timby posted:

Gutfeld is a non-union production already.

Well, there we are.

# ¿ May 3, 2023 07:32

Edward Mass: Sep 14, 2011; 𝅘𝅥𝅮 I wanna go home with the armadillo
Good country music from Amarillo and Abilene
Friendliest people and the prettiest women you've ever seen𝅘𝅥𝅮

Are there any breakdowns on where the studios make their money? I know nobody but Netflix makes money in the streaming game, so I'd guess linear television is still important on the bottom line.

# ¿ May 3, 2023 20:44

Edward Mass: Sep 14, 2011; 𝅘𝅥𝅮 I wanna go home with the armadillo
Good country music from Amarillo and Abilene
Friendliest people and the prettiest women you've ever seen𝅘𝅥𝅮

Nystral posted:

Not really. It's 66% own by Disney and 33% owned by Comcast. Both sides can force the sale of the Comcast stake of Hulu with a minimum valuation of ~$28B (meaning ROUGHLY Comcast's share is worth $9B) in Jan 2024. Following that magical date in Jan 2024 Hulu's value will be assessed by an an independent third party, and given Hulu is second only to Netflix it's likely that $28B valuation will only go up.

Is Hulu really second only to Netflix? The widely-available numbers only give worldwide subscribers, but it doesn't FEEL like Hulu is number two in the U.S.

# ¿ May 5, 2023 18:02

Edward Mass: Sep 14, 2011; 𝅘𝅥𝅮 I wanna go home with the armadillo
Good country music from Amarillo and Abilene
Friendliest people and the prettiest women you've ever seen𝅘𝅥𝅮

Rental Sting posted:

I'm super curious what this situation of having no scripts is going to mean for these streamers that have been pumping out a colossal amount of content for years, now. It's going to be a real debacle.

It's almost certainly going to slow down rollouts of new scripted programming. Depending on how long the strike lasts, we could get down to a trickle of content by the end of the year.

# ¿ May 5, 2023 20:21

Edward Mass: Sep 14, 2011; 𝅘𝅥𝅮 I wanna go home with the armadillo
Good country music from Amarillo and Abilene
Friendliest people and the prettiest women you've ever seen𝅘𝅥𝅮

kliras posted:

better

https://twitter.com/THR/status/1656154515316375552

NOW we're talking.

# ¿ May 10, 2023 20:43

Edward Mass: Sep 14, 2011; 𝅘𝅥𝅮 I wanna go home with the armadillo
Good country music from Amarillo and Abilene
Friendliest people and the prettiest women you've ever seen𝅘𝅥𝅮

The WGA negotiators put out this graphic for how much their proposed deal costs the major players:

# ¿ May 16, 2023 21:13

Edward Mass: Sep 14, 2011; 𝅘𝅥𝅮 I wanna go home with the armadillo
Good country music from Amarillo and Abilene
Friendliest people and the prettiest women you've ever seen𝅘𝅥𝅮

SAG-AFTRA's strike may be delayed by a week for extended negotiations with AMPTP.

# ¿ Jun 29, 2023 03:38

Edward Mass: Sep 14, 2011; 𝅘𝅥𝅮 I wanna go home with the armadillo
Good country music from Amarillo and Abilene
Friendliest people and the prettiest women you've ever seen𝅘𝅥𝅮

OldSenileGuy posted:

Can SAG-AFTRA solidarity strike with the WGA? Like, can they negotiate a deal that both sides agree to, and then say "we'll sign this deal as soon as you have a deal with the writers in hand."?

Or is that like illegal for some reason

Illegal under the Taft-Hartley Act of 1947. It's also illegal in the UK, Australia, and in some circumstances in Europe.

Edward Mass fucked around with this message at 05:13 on Jun 29, 2023

# ¿ Jun 29, 2023 05:11

Edward Mass: Sep 14, 2011; 𝅘𝅥𝅮 I wanna go home with the armadillo
Good country music from Amarillo and Abilene
Friendliest people and the prettiest women you've ever seen𝅘𝅥𝅮

MechanicalTomPetty posted:

From reading the article it sounds like the extension is mostly so the negotiators don't have to spend all day in the office on the 4th of loving July, but who the hell knows what happens after that. Would the union's membership have to abide by any sort of restrictions if they don't have an agreement by the 30th since they technically wouldn't have a contract anymore after that?

IANAL, but my experiences with labor negotiations like this is that yes, SAG-AFTRA members would still be under contract under the soon-to-be expiring deal. As you brought up, not much is going to be done on the 4th of July, so it's not like this matters long-term.

# ¿ Jun 29, 2023 07:08

Edward Mass: Sep 14, 2011; 𝅘𝅥𝅮 I wanna go home with the armadillo
Good country music from Amarillo and Abilene
Friendliest people and the prettiest women you've ever seen𝅘𝅥𝅮

Well, it certainly looks like SAG-AFTRA is going to strike in a week�s time.

anonymous WGA member posted:

The writers have gone it alone on 7 out of 8 strikes and won each of them. We�ll get the deal we need this time as well, but we would welcome them on the line. The actors joining us would be as historic as in 1960, when concurrent strikes gave us health care and our pension. The WGA has long known that the studios give up nothing without a fight, which means walking, and it appears the SAG-AFTRA membership does now as well. The membership seems ready to walk the line.

# ¿ Jul 6, 2023 23:41

Edward Mass: Sep 14, 2011; 𝅘𝅥𝅮 I wanna go home with the armadillo
Good country music from Amarillo and Abilene
Friendliest people and the prettiest women you've ever seen𝅘𝅥𝅮

We'll see pretty soon if the studios are really digging in their heels - the networks have to plan for mid-season shows by August/September, and ABC isn't going to inspire many advertisers if their spring lineup is as uninspiring as their fall lineup is.

# ¿ Jul 13, 2023 02:02

Edward Mass: Sep 14, 2011; 𝅘𝅥𝅮 I wanna go home with the armadillo
Good country music from Amarillo and Abilene
Friendliest people and the prettiest women you've ever seen𝅘𝅥𝅮

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H27rfr59RiE&t=48s

# ¿ Jul 13, 2023 20:00

Edward Mass: Sep 14, 2011; 𝅘𝅥𝅮 I wanna go home with the armadillo
Good country music from Amarillo and Abilene
Friendliest people and the prettiest women you've ever seen𝅘𝅥𝅮

That brings up a good question: how do you judge viewership for a streaming series? Minutes watched? Minutes watched per episode? Say what you will about Nielsen ratings, at least everyone agrees what it measures.

# ¿ Jul 17, 2023 02:44

Edward Mass: Sep 14, 2011; 𝅘𝅥𝅮 I wanna go home with the armadillo
Good country music from Amarillo and Abilene
Friendliest people and the prettiest women you've ever seen𝅘𝅥𝅮

I dunno, how about trying to make it a fair deal before throwing the baby out with the bathwater?

# ¿ Jul 17, 2023 21:13

Edward Mass: Sep 14, 2011; 𝅘𝅥𝅮 I wanna go home with the armadillo
Good country music from Amarillo and Abilene
Friendliest people and the prettiest women you've ever seen𝅘𝅥𝅮

Mister Speaker posted:

https://twitter.com/KartoonistKelly/status/1681051217294663683

Thank you, Kelly.

# ¿ Jul 18, 2023 03:46

Edward Mass: Sep 14, 2011; 𝅘𝅥𝅮 I wanna go home with the armadillo
Good country music from Amarillo and Abilene
Friendliest people and the prettiest women you've ever seen𝅘𝅥𝅮

Has ANYONE spoke in support of the AMPTP that's not a studio executive? I remember during the last strike that even guys like Mike Huckabee showed support for the writers.

# ¿ Jul 18, 2023 20:20

Edward Mass: Sep 14, 2011; 𝅘𝅥𝅮 I wanna go home with the armadillo
Good country music from Amarillo and Abilene
Friendliest people and the prettiest women you've ever seen𝅘𝅥𝅮

In case anyone is wondering, no, pro wrestling has no unions.

# ¿ Jul 20, 2023 00:05

Edward Mass: Sep 14, 2011; 𝅘𝅥𝅮 I wanna go home with the armadillo
Good country music from Amarillo and Abilene
Friendliest people and the prettiest women you've ever seen𝅘𝅥𝅮

nine-gear crow posted:

Vince is a long and proud unionbuster, so it's not surprising.

It's not just Vince McMahon, and I'm pretty sure it's not uniquely American.

# ¿ Jul 20, 2023 01:28

Edward Mass: Sep 14, 2011; 𝅘𝅥𝅮 I wanna go home with the armadillo
Good country music from Amarillo and Abilene
Friendliest people and the prettiest women you've ever seen𝅘𝅥𝅮

Countblanc posted:

Pardon my ignorance on the topic but most people more educated than me on the battle seem to agree that the execs and rich folk don't actually see this as a matter of dollars, since their fortunes are assured regardless, but one of principles - that it's more seeing the creatives as leeches who rely on the good will and financial backing of studio owners to do anything, and that they need to send a message to the creatives to stay in their place. If that's the case and they can simply just never engage with the WGA/SAG and opt to wait until they all become desperate and homeless, what's the winning play here? Just like, hope it suddenly does become about dollars at some point (and that said point is sooner than it is for the workers)? I'm not really familiar with how things of this scale go. Unionizing my old office was one thing because the owners were simply normal rich, not "insane billionaire media owners" rich, this seems completely different.

The 'winning play', as it were, is for the studios to run out of new content. Without new content, people will slowly tune out and you anger the 800 lb. gorilla in the room named advertising.

# ¿ Jul 20, 2023 19:27

Edward Mass: Sep 14, 2011; 𝅘𝅥𝅮 I wanna go home with the armadillo
Good country music from Amarillo and Abilene
Friendliest people and the prettiest women you've ever seen𝅘𝅥𝅮

Dawgstar posted:

Some folks have commented that given how razor thin the margins are the studios can't afford a bad quarter but are counting on the unions folding before they're given a bad quarter.

I looked, and Q2 earnings are coming in the next few weeks from the studios, so we'll learn a little bit from then.

# ¿ Jul 20, 2023 19:44

Edward Mass: Sep 14, 2011; 𝅘𝅥𝅮 I wanna go home with the armadillo
Good country music from Amarillo and Abilene
Friendliest people and the prettiest women you've ever seen𝅘𝅥𝅮

Pinterest Mom posted:

They're airing Yellowstone (from Peacock!) starting with S1, SEAL team, FBI True, and probably something like Evil all from Paramount+.

Yellowstone is actually a Paramount Network show licensed to Peacock for streaming.

# ¿ Jul 21, 2023 18:01

Edward Mass: Sep 14, 2011; 𝅘𝅥𝅮 I wanna go home with the armadillo
Good country music from Amarillo and Abilene
Friendliest people and the prettiest women you've ever seen𝅘𝅥𝅮

I'll say this about Eisner - he appeared in the intros for the Wonderful World of Disney when he ran the company, and I'm sure Iger would never do that.

# ¿ Jul 27, 2023 02:29

Edward Mass: Sep 14, 2011; 𝅘𝅥𝅮 I wanna go home with the armadillo
Good country music from Amarillo and Abilene
Friendliest people and the prettiest women you've ever seen𝅘𝅥𝅮

In a way, Michael Eisner was the Boris Yeltsin of the Walt Disney Company. In this 5-hour video essay, I will

# ¿ Jul 27, 2023 04:41

Edward Mass: Sep 14, 2011; 𝅘𝅥𝅮 I wanna go home with the armadillo
Good country music from Amarillo and Abilene
Friendliest people and the prettiest women you've ever seen𝅘𝅥𝅮

Movement, perhaps?

quote:

The WGA has confirmed that it will sit down with the AMPTP on Friday to try and put an end to the writers strike that has been going on since May. The guild sent a note to its members tonight that said, �The AMPTP, through Carol Lombardini, reached out to the WGA today and requested a meeting this Friday to discuss negotiations.�

�We�ll be back in communication with you sometime after the meeting with further information. As we�ve said before, be wary of rumors. Whenever there is important news to share, you will hear it directly from us,� the note, which came from the WGA�s negotiating committee added.

# ¿ Aug 2, 2023 04:39

Edward Mass: Sep 14, 2011; 𝅘𝅥𝅮 I wanna go home with the armadillo
Good country music from Amarillo and Abilene
Friendliest people and the prettiest women you've ever seen𝅘𝅥𝅮

WGA statement:

quote:

We have been on strike for 94 days. SAG-AFTRA joined us 21 days ago. Both our unions are striking to ensure the future of writers and performers in this business that cannot exist without us.

Every step of the way through this struggle, the AMPTP has run its tired anti-union playbook straight out of the 2007/08 strike.

We first talked to you about this in May when the AMPTP was attempting to divide and conquer labor by refusing to negotiate, and going first to the DGA and then to SAG-AFTRA to try to make deals they would then attempt to force on writers, regardless of our needs.

We know how that went.

Now, two unions are on strike and the industry is three months into a shutdown that is causing delay after delay to TV and movies. It is obviously past time for the companies to get a new playbook�one that recognizes the legitimate issues that caused these strikes and takes steps to address them.

But we have been down this road before.

Here�s what happened in 2007/08: After negotiations broke off on October 31st causing the strike, they resumed in late November only to break off for a second time in December as the strike continued. Why? Because when the companies came back to the table they weren�t serious about addressing the WGA�s proposals. They called Guild leadership �out-of-touch�. They waged a relentless campaign through the media and surrogates to spread dissent.

We won�t prejudge what�s to come. But playbooks die hard. So far, the companies have wasted months on their same failed strategy. They have attempted, time and time again, through anonymous quotes in the media, to use scare tactics, rumors and lies to weaken our resolve. Article after article has perpetuated a myth that the strike has no impact because streaming services have libraries and some product in the pipeline. Pundits quoting studio executives claim that the strike is good for the companies financially and that they will be happy to have it extend into 2024 so they can write off their losses.

This is calculated disinformation about the real impact of the ongoing strikes. We have shut down production. Union writers and actors are so essential in this industry that the companies cannot even attempt to do the work without us. It is not a viable business strategy for these companies to shut down their business for three months and counting no matter how much they try and pretend it is.

The rumors of backchannel talks were rampant this week, entirely driven by management, and only because they see it as a useful tactic. Give the town hope, soften us up, and try to use the suffering of other workers and businesses to pressure us to settle. Get us to throw away the power we have collectively accumulated and make us accept a bad deal. It is all part of the playbook. Every move they make at the bargaining table and every rumor away from it needs to be evaluated through the lens of their attempts to get us to accept less.

We�re not falling for it. Writers � screenwriters, Appendix A writers, episodic television writers, all writers � have marched together for 94 days now. We have struck to make writing a viable profession for all of us, now and in the future. We have not come all this way, and sacrificed this much, to half-save ourselves.

Therefore, we challenge the studios and AMPTP to come to the meeting they called for this Friday with a new playbook: Be willing to make a fair deal and begin to repair the damage your strikes and your business practices have caused the workers in this industry.

Until then, our fellow writers, we will see you on the lines.

In solidarity,

WGA NEGOTIATING COMMITTEE

# ¿ Aug 3, 2023 23:12

Edward Mass: Sep 14, 2011; 𝅘𝅥𝅮 I wanna go home with the armadillo
Good country music from Amarillo and Abilene
Friendliest people and the prettiest women you've ever seen𝅘𝅥𝅮

Well, the WGA SAID to not hold our breath for the meetings yesterday.

# ¿ Aug 5, 2023 19:33

Edward Mass: Sep 14, 2011; 𝅘𝅥𝅮 I wanna go home with the armadillo
Good country music from Amarillo and Abilene
Friendliest people and the prettiest women you've ever seen𝅘𝅥𝅮

With regards to live-action Bebop, I think I read that the show went super over budget due to Cho breaking his leg and then COVID-19 happening. It's not that it wasn't a success, it's that it wasn't AS BIG a success as it needed to be to get renewed. At least, that was what I remember the official story being.

# ¿ Aug 6, 2023 06:56

Edward Mass: Sep 14, 2011; 𝅘𝅥𝅮 I wanna go home with the armadillo
Good country music from Amarillo and Abilene
Friendliest people and the prettiest women you've ever seen𝅘𝅥𝅮

The most amusing outcome would be Disney playing hardball, and we end up with a Fantastic Four film with the SFX of Roger Corman but with none of the charm.

# ¿ Aug 8, 2023 03:24

Edward Mass: Sep 14, 2011; 𝅘𝅥𝅮 I wanna go home with the armadillo
Good country music from Amarillo and Abilene
Friendliest people and the prettiest women you've ever seen𝅘𝅥𝅮

MechanicalTomPetty posted:

Aprops of nothing, I looked up a plot synopsis of that Crater movie Disney pulled a while back just to see what that was about, and apparently the ending to that movie involves a successful strike action to demand better working conditions from some comically evil conglomerate.

There has to be a German word for this.

# ¿ Aug 9, 2023 04:14

Edward Mass: Sep 14, 2011; 𝅘𝅥𝅮 I wanna go home with the armadillo
Good country music from Amarillo and Abilene
Friendliest people and the prettiest women you've ever seen𝅘𝅥𝅮

It's entirely possible that A24 is paid a flat fee from streamers for x amount of time on a service, but that's just my idea.

# ¿ Aug 11, 2023 04:21

Edward Mass: Sep 14, 2011; 𝅘𝅥𝅮 I wanna go home with the armadillo
Good country music from Amarillo and Abilene
Friendliest people and the prettiest women you've ever seen𝅘𝅥𝅮

The fact that the WGA committee is actually discussing the counter-proposal is hopefully a good sign the AMPTP is coming to their senses.

# ¿ Aug 12, 2023 05:38

Edward Mass: Sep 14, 2011; 𝅘𝅥𝅮 I wanna go home with the armadillo
Good country music from Amarillo and Abilene
Friendliest people and the prettiest women you've ever seen𝅘𝅥𝅮

Plus, these are, you know, negotiations plural. Nothing is final until both sides agree.

# ¿ Aug 15, 2023 05:44

Edward Mass: Sep 14, 2011; 𝅘𝅥𝅮 I wanna go home with the armadillo
Good country music from Amarillo and Abilene
Friendliest people and the prettiest women you've ever seen𝅘𝅥𝅮

WGA West put out a report about how Disney, Amazon, and Netflix are 'the new gatekeepers'.

# ¿ Aug 19, 2023 06:58

Edward Mass: Sep 14, 2011; 𝅘𝅥𝅮 I wanna go home with the armadillo
Good country music from Amarillo and Abilene
Friendliest people and the prettiest women you've ever seen𝅘𝅥𝅮

I'm pretty sure the fact that every media company has vastly changed its ownership structure since the last strike is part of these impasses. Since 2008:

-Comcast purchased NBCUniversal
-AT&T purchased Time Warner, then spun it off into a merger with Discovery
-Viacom and CBS Corporation re-merged
-Disney bought a lot of things, including 21st Century Fox
-Netflix, Amazon, and Apple all started making their own content

It would be silly the believe the AMPTP WOULDN'T change.

# ¿ Aug 23, 2023 22:00

Edward Mass: Sep 14, 2011; 𝅘𝅥𝅮 I wanna go home with the armadillo
Good country music from Amarillo and Abilene
Friendliest people and the prettiest women you've ever seen𝅘𝅥𝅮

Remulak posted:

Nobody making decisions for the the AMTP needs to work again, ever. This skews the way negotiations work.

Here's the thing: they can only sit on a pile of money for so long before they realize the pile of money isn't increasing at the rate they want, if it is increasing at all.

I always come back to advertisers. At some point in the next month or so, ad revenue from TV and ad-supported streaming will start to dry up as a result of the lack of programming.

# ¿ Aug 24, 2023 04:08

Edward Mass: Sep 14, 2011; 𝅘𝅥𝅮 I wanna go home with the armadillo
Good country music from Amarillo and Abilene
Friendliest people and the prettiest women you've ever seen𝅘𝅥𝅮

�Good as a human being� is not necessarily the same as �good as a CEO of a billion-dollar company�, yes.

# ¿ Aug 26, 2023 03:08

Edward Mass: Sep 14, 2011; 𝅘𝅥𝅮 I wanna go home with the armadillo
Good country music from Amarillo and Abilene
Friendliest people and the prettiest women you've ever seen𝅘𝅥𝅮

LividLiquid posted:

I've been saying this exact thing for five years. "At some point some bean counter will decide to bundle all this poo poo together and we'll just have cable again."

I wish I could be happy about being right about a thing, but... fehhhh.

I made a thread about the future of pay TV, but nobody posted in it. :smith:

# ¿ Sep 7, 2023 20:54

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# ¿ May 12, 2024 02:57

Edward Mass: Sep 14, 2011; 𝅘𝅥𝅮 I wanna go home with the armadillo
Good country music from Amarillo and Abilene
Friendliest people and the prettiest women you've ever seen𝅘𝅥𝅮

FlamingLiberal posted:

The AMPTP has been fractured from almost the beginning from what I can tell

Not the beginning, I�d surmise, but the longer the strikes have drawn out the division between the companies that have to schedule a prime time network lineup and those who don�t have manifested themselves.

# ¿ Sep 9, 2023 08:27

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > TV IV > WGA/SAG-AFTRA 2023 Strike Post-Mortem

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