2023 Writers + Actors Strike Thread

[Vee]

Allegedly, it was a push from up top (Zaslav) to try to blur the lines on content.

 

[Khan]

Since when don't viewers love unscripted shows?

[Vee]

They mean the HBO audience.

[Khan]

I see.  In other words, @Vee, they want to make HBO/WB and Discovery content indistinguishable from each other.

Yeah, that plan is not gonna work, lol.

Edited May 24, 2023 by Khan

[DRW50]

 

[Darn]

 

As a "Tech Person" I chafe at this being blamed on tech people, this sounds absolutely like top brass not wanting to properly accredit creatives.

Improper accreditation impacts your ability to secure future work or be properly recognized for existing work. This is a bit of real nastiness from Warner Bros.

[Vee]

Yep. And it still hasn't been fixed. They're blaming logistics and claiming it will take time, which I don't buy.

[Darn]

Trust me, they're haranguing the developers to find the files where everything was credited correctly and figure how to incorporate them into the new app database or something.

The fact that Max is a whole new app you have to download is further proof that this rollout is an utter mess.

[Chris B]

I wonder if the soaps will get picketed once they start filming scab materials. We have multiple soap writers out protesting and I know one mentioned there is someone who is addressing specific soap needs, so this strike is actually personal to them. I wonder how that would go down. We didn't have social media like we do today during the last strike. Could be a big mess for them.

[DramatistDreamer]

The executives at the very top find everyone else to be expendable, no matter the industry. And they are not above pitting one industry against the other to further their aims of avoiding any type of profit-sharing within their companies, all the while hiding behind the goal of “efficiency” and crying poverty all the while.

Very interesting question. In this day and age, do soap operas draw enough attention from the general public to become a site of protest spectacle? Or do they think not enough people will care since soaps seem to be hanging on by a thread?

[BoldRestless]

I've been thinking about it too and I wonder if soaps will be given as much grace as in the past. Movies can pause production. Primetime shows can push back the season start. Talk shows and comedy shows can show reruns. Those are all not ideal, but  they can be done if production must stop. It was always different for daytime, because daytime dramas were pretty much the one type of program that HAD to have new content every single day without reruns. Particularly with the strike in 2008, there were very real concerns that if the soaps shut down, there wouldn't BE a show for the striking writers to come back to. There was perhaps an understanding that although being a scab was controversial, someone had to take one for the team and do it because the shows had to run. The genre loves to complain that a couple of preemptions for OJ's trial killed it off (which I think is BS, but is a commonly accepted argument/excuse), so shutting down production for months would be fatal.

 

Now due to COVID, it actually happened. The four soaps had to stop production and three of them went into reruns because they didn't have enough in the can. And they all survived. I have not taken a good look at the ratings to see how they bounced back, but they did stabilize after reruns stopped. I thought for sure we'd lose a soap to COVID. Days got pushed to streaming but it's the only show that had new material the whole time! It's shown that it's possible to temporarily go to reruns and come back. The reruns temporarily hurt the bottom line (which, in the case of a strike you want, to put pressure on the negotiation), but the shows survived.

 

It seems to be that in this case there is an argument that letting the soaps stop production would hurt the networks and production companies for a while, bolster the argument for the writers, but not completely kill off the genre, and that's a stronger argument for not scabbing.

[DramatistDreamer]

For the record, I am vehemently anti-scabbing, I just don’t know whether daytime soaps garner enough attention and interest to draw protests. If there are picket lines in front of Sony studios, it will likely be because of their primetime shows.

Once the GH, Y&R and B&B run out of first run episodes, I will assume that they will draw upon the same strategy employed when production was shut down during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, which was to show reruns.

[DRW50]

I imagine they will, as so much of what is still filming is being picketed, but as @DramatistDreamer said, soaps are the lowest form of entertainment to many in the industry, so I'm not sure how much anyone is going to care. I think there may also be more hesitation on some parts because most who are left in the industry probably know its in its last few years anyway. If there is a WGA/SAG/DGA strike I wonder how many of the soaps will survive.

[Soaplovers]

I sometimes liked the scan written episodes better so I hope they don't go dark (unless actors strike and then it will be moot).

[Adamski]

Sorry, I don't understand what "there is someone who is addressing specific soap needs" means, can you elaborate?