2023 Writers + Actors Strike Thread

[Contessa Donatella]

Robert Reich, a good article about the strike https://post.news/@/rbreich/2SjmYSgsYauSWssb7GYtJ3CNIg8

 

[Vee]

An accurate thread:

 

Also accurate:

 

[Vee]

Another thread I think is relevant to the above and the dug-in philosophy re: the strikes from the great Mark Harris:

[DramatistDreamer]

Thanks to your alt-Twitter suggestion @Vee, I was able to read some of Harris tweets and I do hope what he said about what actually drove people to the cinema in large numbers this weekend is really the case (marketing over memes) because it can possibly be a way to break the cycle of too-online culture feeding the troughs of the likes of Netflix, Disney+ and Max and bringing about some parity.
And most importantly the statement about creativity and audiences seeing something that they hadn’t seen before versus more of the same being the biggest force that sent them to the cinema to see Barbie and Oppenheimer in droves really strengthens the statements of screenwriters and actors who are now trying to assert their rights to their fair share of the profits.

I always thought that streaming would be helpful to the future of entertainment but I guess I always just thought of this in terms of shows that had no other ‘place to go’ in terms of platforms, like classic shows, cancelled soaps and also indie/foreign/art house films that would otherwise be ignored by mainstream movie theaters—like how Netflix used to do, many moons ago.

[Vee]

I think streaming still can be good for entertainment, as it was at the outset and in many of the ways you describe. But when everything in it is driven by a ceaseless drive for endless content, nostalgia bait, algorithmic analysis and tech bros focused on the next quarter vs. any industry longevity, it's not a recipe for future survival for entertainment. That has to change. I think we may well be at an inflection point for the industry not unlike the end of the '60s, just as Harris describes. But this period resembles the '60s in many ways, not just in media.

Edited July 24, 2023 by Vee

[DramatistDreamer]

The likes of Netflix, Prime, (HBO)Max were able to get into the motion picture industry and find success in the first place was because the movie business had become so ossified in an endless stream (no pun intended) of action blockbusters and predictable sequels, with no thought to originality, citing risk aversion. At the time, the streamers were offering something that the movie industry was unwilling to offer which was variety. Personally, I think the entire entertainment industry needs substantial change (film, theater, television) in just about every aspect-there is such stagnation throughout.

[Vee]

 

A very, very smart interview overall.

[titan1978]

I rarely participate in soap discourse on whatever the hell Twitter is now, because it’s often filled with stupidity. I’m thankful that we have this board for soap fans that for the most part think beyond the basic. Reading Lisa Ann Wolter from Abbott Elementary interacting with a GH fan site and other fans about what their contract stipulates is embarrassing for all soap fans.

People are making the argument (more than one person I might add), that she doesn’t understand the contract and that FI-CORE (writers)is the same as Netcode (actors). And then they add that if the contract says soap actors have to work then somebody has to write the shows so why is she calling those writers scabs.  Jesus people are just so ignorant, and within internet fandom soap fans really think they know stuff they know nothing about. And whoever the hell Alan Sarapa is chiming in with more of the same ridiculous nonsense.

Edited July 26, 2023 by titan1978

[John]

No the issue is that Lisa knows Soaps are under a different Contract but also seems to think SAG AFTRA is striking over that contract as well. They are Not. The Netcode Contract goes thru July 2024. Fi-Core writers can write for the soaps since they are not struck work UNTIL the WGA strike is over.

[Vee]

John, does it really feel like a good use of your time to argue with a star of Abbott Elementary about soaps on the Internet?

[titan1978]

That is not at all what I saw. What I saw was an actor that was calling those writers scabs because that is what they are. Fi-Core is a technical term which means they get the same benefits of their union but do not stand in solidarity with them. They have to pay fees associated with bargaining because they get those benefits, but they are not actual union members. That’s the definition of a scab.
 

Just because the actors on daytime cannot strike does not mean they have to have scripts. That is a choice by the production company, made possible by production assistants and scab writers creating material.

I am so annoyed by this tonight for some reason that I keep rehashing the same post over and over again myself but in opposition. Soap fans be wild in these streets!

[Vee]

@DRW50

[DRW50]

Thanks. I'm glad Melanie is mostly settled into that face.

[Vee]

 

[Contessa Donatella]

I like Meredith Stiehm's words. 

https://deadline.com/2023/07/wga-west-president-meredith-stiehm-shares-the-wealth-deal-strike-1235447806/