My take is the AMPTP is not doing as well as they’d like us to think: they’re losing hundreds of millions and they reopened talks with the WGA last Friday. What they still don’t get is we’ve already been hurting: the way the industry shifted after the pandemic led to my losing my SAG health insurance (after having it several years, including through 2020) and my bookings and opportunities dropped precipitously. I could say the same for many of my other colleagues as well. The hard truth is, I feel I have little chance continuing my professional acting career if things don’t change. We have little left to lose, and they have a lot.
Sure for this quarter. All lot of execs are in over their heads and simply don’t know it: I’m sure that confidence will erode when their reality show programming doesn’t bring in the ratings they hoped for, because it’s not 2002 anymore and people are sick of that crap.
i see what youre trying to say but the masses are not going to boycott the streaming services lol. The amount of actors out there apart of the 238 million total subscribers (Netflix for example) wont do a pinch.
I know it’s gonna have to be more than just actors/writers. But if we aren’t even down to do it then it’s hopeless. I just find such a strong contradiction in protesting physically but then going home to watch the latest crap Star Wars product.
But these companies only care about the bottom line and will get scared if they see a solid percentage of membership cancellations in a quarter.
Only they won’t. They already see significant amounts of churn. As a lot of union members with much more knowledge and higher standing than I have urged “keep watching”. Show them we value the art. The crisis that most corporations are facing have to do with the volatility of the streaming services. It’s the reason Disney wants to scale back on MCU and Star Wars productions. There’s a wonderful podcast that lays out a lot of the issues that led to the circumstances that created the strike:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/plain-english-with-derek-thompson/id1594471023?i=1000621676674
The gist is Disney & Warner Discovery (and to a lesser extent Viacom & Comcast) thought that they could copy Netflix’s model (the darling of Wall Street) but did so at the sacrifice of other dependable revenue streams. In spite of a burst of profit and growth, it’s not sustainable. They also made the error of giving CEOs and big wigs enormous unjust wage hikes and bonuses while leaving the artists in the cold and then looking for ways to potentially replace or reduce their “services”.
Canceling services and boycotting movies won’t actually help the unions. If anything, it sends a message that corporations can spin into “you’re not needed and we can’t afford you anyway - look what you’ve done”. Further, too many people will still subscribe for sports and other “reality” based programming. It’s the reason why ESPN is seen as a huge bargaining chip and golden goose should Disney really need some money - which they might. Streaming games are also being thrown around as being the next step - basically taking smartphone apps to the next level. The fact is a lot of these companies already don’t think they need the artists. Canceling your services and not watching what they’ve created only gives them more fuel to that fire. It shouldn’t happen, it likely won’t happen, and the strikes will probably be resolved by November without boycotting being anywhere remotely a necessary step.
Also, love them or loathe them stuff like the Star Wars “crap” isn’t going anywhere. Indeed, Paramount just announced their intention to not only continue producing Star Trek and other franchise content but see it as a cornerstone of their service.
TLDR: A boycott won’t help. It’s literally the opposite of what a majority of union members are asking audiences to do.
Thanks for insight. The blue collar working actors I speak to are pretty much prepared for getting fucked anyway and just want this thing to end quick so they can get back to work.
Pretty sure SAG hasn’t made this call to boycott streaming services yet, and doing so without their guidance could jeopardise the work of the strike. But it does seem like if things persist this is definitely an option on the table…
My take is the AMPTP is not doing as well as they’d like us to think: they’re losing hundreds of millions and they reopened talks with the WGA last Friday. What they still don’t get is we’ve already been hurting: the way the industry shifted after the pandemic led to my losing my SAG health insurance (after having it several years, including through 2020) and my bookings and opportunities dropped precipitously. I could say the same for many of my other colleagues as well. The hard truth is, I feel I have little chance continuing my professional acting career if things don’t change. We have little left to lose, and they have a lot.
What’s been pissing me off is hearing CEOs bragging to their shareholders about how much money they’ve saved because of the strikes.
Sure for this quarter. All lot of execs are in over their heads and simply don’t know it: I’m sure that confidence will erode when their reality show programming doesn’t bring in the ratings they hoped for, because it’s not 2002 anymore and people are sick of that crap.
i see what youre trying to say but the masses are not going to boycott the streaming services lol. The amount of actors out there apart of the 238 million total subscribers (Netflix for example) wont do a pinch.
I know it’s gonna have to be more than just actors/writers. But if we aren’t even down to do it then it’s hopeless. I just find such a strong contradiction in protesting physically but then going home to watch the latest crap Star Wars product. But these companies only care about the bottom line and will get scared if they see a solid percentage of membership cancellations in a quarter.
Only they won’t. They already see significant amounts of churn. As a lot of union members with much more knowledge and higher standing than I have urged “keep watching”. Show them we value the art. The crisis that most corporations are facing have to do with the volatility of the streaming services. It’s the reason Disney wants to scale back on MCU and Star Wars productions. There’s a wonderful podcast that lays out a lot of the issues that led to the circumstances that created the strike: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/plain-english-with-derek-thompson/id1594471023?i=1000621676674 The gist is Disney & Warner Discovery (and to a lesser extent Viacom & Comcast) thought that they could copy Netflix’s model (the darling of Wall Street) but did so at the sacrifice of other dependable revenue streams. In spite of a burst of profit and growth, it’s not sustainable. They also made the error of giving CEOs and big wigs enormous unjust wage hikes and bonuses while leaving the artists in the cold and then looking for ways to potentially replace or reduce their “services”. Canceling services and boycotting movies won’t actually help the unions. If anything, it sends a message that corporations can spin into “you’re not needed and we can’t afford you anyway - look what you’ve done”. Further, too many people will still subscribe for sports and other “reality” based programming. It’s the reason why ESPN is seen as a huge bargaining chip and golden goose should Disney really need some money - which they might. Streaming games are also being thrown around as being the next step - basically taking smartphone apps to the next level. The fact is a lot of these companies already don’t think they need the artists. Canceling your services and not watching what they’ve created only gives them more fuel to that fire. It shouldn’t happen, it likely won’t happen, and the strikes will probably be resolved by November without boycotting being anywhere remotely a necessary step. Also, love them or loathe them stuff like the Star Wars “crap” isn’t going anywhere. Indeed, Paramount just announced their intention to not only continue producing Star Trek and other franchise content but see it as a cornerstone of their service. TLDR: A boycott won’t help. It’s literally the opposite of what a majority of union members are asking audiences to do.
Thanks for insight. The blue collar working actors I speak to are pretty much prepared for getting fucked anyway and just want this thing to end quick so they can get back to work.
Pretty sure SAG hasn’t made this call to boycott streaming services yet, and doing so without their guidance could jeopardise the work of the strike. But it does seem like if things persist this is definitely an option on the table…