Civil war in Hollywood, support crews can't afford to support the strike

[Andrew Reid]

“Today we lost our jobs for you”

https://www.eoshd.com/news/film-support-crews-hit-out-at-sag-strike/

The strike is only ok for those who can afford it!

[Michael S]

I'm sorry for the small (wo)man getting crushed by this, but when you are working on a freelance basis, that's part of the deal and a foreseeable risk. You are essentially an entrepreneur with the risks that comes with it. If you find you can't strike and have effectively no leverage on your employer, you know that you are in a vulnerable position.

I'm not saying I'm fine with companies exploiting people by "outsourcing" all work from contracted employees to freelancers but it is a trend that is happening over the years and it is up to governments to re-balance the risk and reward between employers and employees through legislations. Because if we leave free market forces reign supreme, we either end up with an industry that is exploiting people, or an industry that can't get the people it needs because everyone becomes aware of it's practices and decides to pursuit their ambitions elsewhere, where less risk is involved. Sometimes something of a crisis is needed to make people aware and improve things.

[newfoundmass]

Aren't most SAG-AFTRA members making less than $50,000 a year?

I think the anger should be directed at the studios, not the folks that are acting in solidarity with the writers.

As Michael said, it's the unfortunate side effect of being a freelancer. It sucks, but none of this would be happening if the studios weren't so greedy. 

[MrSMW]

This 6-12 month strike… Is it really 6-12 months or just the potential for as in it might get sorted one way or the other within the next few weeks?

As is usual with these things, both sides have a point or points and there’s always a knock on effect for someone, somewhere, but what should folks do? Never protest, never speak out?

Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.

The twats at French air traffic control cause mayhem in Europe several times every Summer and it’s like a ritual. I don’t think they even know why they do it other than they can and “haven’t done one for a while”.

[Andrew Reid]

19 hours ago, newfoundmass said:

Aren't most SAG-AFTRA members making less than $50,000 a year?

I think the anger should be directed at the studios, not the folks that are acting in solidarity with the writers.

As Michael said, it's the unfortunate side effect of being a freelancer. It sucks, but none of this would be happening if the studios weren't so greedy. 

Of course the buck stops with the studios, but the unions also have a responsibility to the wider ecosystem of the film industry, because without them, there is no industry.

As far as I can see they didn't even consult with the non-union freelancers, they just went and did their own thing and put them out of work.

The polite thing to do, surely, would to be to at least consult them and support them financially during the strike.

But of course, the knock on effect of it is so huge, the financial support would have to be unfeasibly big.

The studios know this of course, which is why the strike will fail. The studios know they can't afford to have it go on for very long.

Someone has made a very large strategic error, and it ain't Netflix.

[Evgeniy85]

Only union productions are affected, everyone else can continue working. 

[ntblowz]

Even NZ get hit by the strike

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/writers-strike-hundreds-of-locals-out-of-work-after-hollywood-blockbuster-shuts-down/3KQJ5AC2LZE5BHN3HDWX5ZYUHE/

[IronFilm]

27 minutes ago, ntblowz said:

Even NZ get hit by the strike

Yeah I've been hearing from both acting friends and on the crew side that work has really slowed down a lot here in Auckland, and it has been quiet. 

Haven't noticed that quite so much myself just yet, have been working the last few days, and on another shoot again tomorrow. But also I've been trying to juggle a heavy study load too, thus I'm happy turning down work as I have been sometimes lately. 

[newfoundmass]

On 7/21/2023 at 7:41 AM, Andrew Reid said:

Someone has made a very large strategic error, and it ain't Netflix.

I think that right now was the ideal time to strike, honestly. Most studios are not in a position to go very long without new content in the current environment. The transition to streaming has been incredibly costly. Streaming growth has slowed down and people are ditching cable at record levels. Without new content or new episodes of people's favorite shows growth will slow even further and the decline in cable will accelerate even more.

Between 2016 and 2023 television and satellite subscribers have declined from 100 million to a projected 61 million. That number declined 12.3% in the last year alone. Streaming has yet to make up for the loss of carriage fees and advertising revenue, but sure hastened the decline in traditional pay TV subscriptions. It's just one of the reasons why WBD is in the position it is in today and why live sports rights fees have exploded, as it's one of the few things slowing the decline.

The changing landscape has impacted Netflix, too. Netflix revenue saw its first decline last year, and though it has rebounded this year, that is because of they have started charging people for sharing accounts and have tightened up their content budget. They aren't really in a position to go without new content as they attempt to increase subscription and revenue growth.

Maybe the strike will be their line in the sand, but these studios and media companies aren't in nearly as strong of a position as they were even a year ago.

[M_Williams]

On 7/20/2023 at 11:56 AM, newfoundmass said:

Aren't most SAG-AFTRA members making less than $50,000 a year?

I think the anger should be directed at the studios, not the folks that are acting in solidarity with the writers.

As Michael said, it's the unfortunate side effect of being a freelancer. It sucks, but none of this would be happening if the studios weren't so greedy. 

Yes, a majority of SAG members are making far less money than people think. WGA even less, most likely.

[M_Williams]

Andrew, it would be great if you could include links to the sources in your articles, like this one. Not that I don't trust it's accurate, but because I'd like to read sources as they will have additional information.

(obviously this doesn't apply to like, a new camera announcement or something that is well known and covered everywhere)

[M_Williams]

On 7/21/2023 at 12:28 PM, Evgeniy85 said:

Only union productions are affected, everyone else can continue working. 

Yeah this is what I don't understand (and would like a source link to for context). IATSE covers virtually everyone behind the camera. Crew members on a union shoot are IATSE. And IATSE issued a statement in solidarity with WGA and SAG: https://iatse.net/teamsters-iatse-writers-guild-dga-issue-joint-statement-in-solidarity-with-sag-aftra/

[Emanuel]

No worried at all, more power for indies like me.

There is looooooooot of content outside, that's the PURE truth.

Nothing will change.

 

To me, they could stop for decades, I would still have no time to put on track everything I absolutely have no time to watch, while I am busy on my the production(s) of my own.

[Emanuel]

*...on the production(s) of my own.

(time is short even to properly type, go figure for everything else)