writers' strike and Trek

[Christopher]

More or less the way I figured it would go. The longer the strikes go on means longer without new product being made which is going to cause the Suits to become very irate.

But the Suits are the ones to blame for it. The unions would've been happy to return to the table any day; it was the execs who decided to play a waiting game and refuse to negotiate, because they care more about crushing the unions than resolving the strike. After all, the execs profit even if their companies fail, so they don't care if they fail.

What Serveaux is saying is that it's the stockholders who will be irate at the Suits for their stubbornness.

 

[The Wormhole]

Irate stockholders will still result in stressed and irate Suits.

 

[Christopher]

Irate stockholders will still result in stressed and irate Suits.

Again, though, the Suits have nobody to blame but themselves. Saying they're the angry ones implies that someone else is at fault, and it's important to remember that the Suits are the perpetrators, not the victims. They're the ones everyone else should be angry at.

 

[bdub76]

More or less the way I figured it would go. The longer the strikes go on means longer without new product being made which is going to cause the Suits to become very irate.

Not really. Netflix has been socializing foreign content for a while now. I wouldn’t be surprised if we see more subtitled content to bridge the gap here along with licensing older content and reality TV. The other streamers are strictly US content with BritBox being the exception.

 

[Noname Given]

Not really. Netflix has been socializing foreign content for a while now. I wouldn’t be surprised if we see more subtitled content to bridge the gap here along with licensing older content and reality TV. The other streamers are strictly US content with BritBox being the exception.

Plenty of other streamers are already showing foreign subtitled content. Anyone who is streaming the Asian martial arts films are showing subtitled versions of them, all the Godzilla films available on streaming are mostly the subtitles versions, and not the dubbed versions that I recall growing up with; so there's plenty of non-US made content that's being streamed by both paid streaming services and free streaming services. That goes double for most of the Anime that's available these days on various streaming services.

 

[Sci]

I see a distressing number of people in this thread enjoy the taste of boots. Oh well.

WOW, that AI stuff sounds interesting!
So many implications for all societies on this planet and for all mankind!

If only we had a Science Fiction show that could explore in an allegorical way the political, economic, sociological, and philosophical implications of AI in a multifaceted way.
Maybe add a demographic dimension to it?
If only...

But, no. Let's tell stories about high school-level interpersonal relationship drama, Alien/Predator ripoffs, musicals, revenge, and especially about evil AIs taking over Federation starships that shoot at other Federation starships.

And let's do that four times...

That's gonna do it. Oh well.

This is a thread about the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. It is not a thread for your umpteenth post whining about modern Star Trek.

 

[Mudd]

As the Hollywood writers strike continues, the two sides have continued to trade proposals as one source says, "There’s more positive momentum this week than last.”

Having concluded their negotiations Friday, Hollywood’s top companies and the Writers Guild of America will meet again the following week after the studios presented the union with its latest counteroffer.

In a message to members Friday night, the WGA negotiating committee reiterated that studios had offered “responses to our proposals in all work areas” the previous Friday, Aug. 11. “We met this week and continued to exchange proposals. We will continue to meet next week,” the committee told members.

The group, co-chaired by Chris Keyser and David Goodman, also thanked its members for “messages of support and solidarity” and warned them of “rumors from third parties,” adding that “the Guild will communicate when we think there is something of significance to report.”

 

[Mudd]

AI-Created Art Isn’t Copyrightable, Judge Says in Ruling That Could Give Hollywood Studios Pause
A federal judge on Friday upheld a finding from the U.S. Copyright Office that a piece of art created by AI is not open to protection.

Not a small thing - it's entirely plausible that courts may continue to rule in this direction and, if they don't, that the government will actually restrict or prevent copyright or trademark protections for AI-generated content.

There's an elegance to it as a solution, in an odd way.

If that turns out to be the case, the entertainment industry will find it very difficult to make effective use of the technology. Studio lawyers would have fits at proposals to release films, TV shows etc. containing a great deal of content that could not be legal protected as part of the corporate IP.

 

[UssGlenn]

The headlines on that case are very misleading. The ruling is that an AI can't be listed as the author, only a human can be. And a human has to modify an ai piece somehow in order to be the author. The only thing left to be hashed out is how much modification is required.

 

[Tuskin38]

AMPTP Hires New Crisis PR Firm as Strikes Go On
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/b...p-hires-new-crisis-messaging-firm-1235575124/

 

[Brainsucker]

I'm surprised that the strike is still go on.

 

[cooleddie74]

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[F. King Daniel]

This has taught me just how big the gap is between the rich executives and the actors. The recent quote from Netflix? Oof.

 

[Tuskin38]

I'm surprised that the strike is still go on.

The studios are too greedy to let go.

 

[Mudd]

We've been expecting this, haven't we?

Barry Diller Says Studios Should Split From Netflix and Amazon by Cutting Their Own Deals With Guilds

“I think one fundamental thing, they should certainly get out of the room with their deepest fiercest and almost conclusive enemy, Netflix and probably with Apple and Amazon because Netflix is in one business and and they are the rulers of the business,” Diller said. “Apple and Amazon Prime are in completely different businesses that have no business model relative to production of movies and television, it’s just something they do to support Prime or something they do to support their walled garden at Apple.”

“I just don’t think they belong in the same room,” Diller added. “I think the producers ought to go [to the guilds] and say, we’re on our own, we’re going to go straight with you directly, we are your savior. Historically, we’ve been in business together for literally 100 years. We are your natural allies, not your enemies.”

Netflix, Diller argued, was the “architect” of the strikes, due to its business model, and the fact that every other entertainment company abandoned the lucrative pay-TV model to go all-in on streaming. Now, thanks to the strikes, Diller told Swisher that he thinks next year, when the content pipeline dries up, the hit to subscriptions will be “kind of catastrophic” to every streaming service except for Netflix.

“The strike does one thing and one thing only, in the end because the strike will get settled,” Diller says. “What does it do? It strengthens Netflix and weakens the others.”

"Saviors" is oversell to put it politely. Overall, though, he's right.

 

[Mudd]

Majority of Americans Support Writers, Actors Over Studios in Strikes, Gallup Poll Finds

"Majority" in this case refers to more than 70% support for the strikers.

 

[bdub76]

I'm surprised that the strike is still go on.

I'm not.

The plan seems to be to keep it going until the actors and writers really feel economic pain. I wouldn't be surprised if this continued into next year. What is interesting this month is that I'm seeing P+ shows on Prime. More HBO/MAX shows on Netflix. And AMC+ shows on MAX. The studios obviously have a plan.

 

[Mudd]

They don't.

 

[Sci]

I'm not.

The plan seems to be to keep it going until the actors and writers really feel economic pain.

The problem with this plan, of course, is that the vast majority of writers and actors already feel that they have nothing left to lose and have to support themselves outside of the industry. You can't make the writers and actors accept a bad deal on pain of being forced to wait tables or drive for Uber if they already almost all have to wait tables and drive for Uber.

 

[Christopher]

The problem with this plan, of course, is that the vast majority of writers and actors already feel that they have nothing left to lose and have to support themselves outside of the industry. You can't make the writers and actors accept a bad deal on pain of being forced to wait tables or drive for Uber if they already almost all have to wait tables and drive for Uber.

Yes, exactly. The whole reason this strike happened is because the conditions the writers and actors were living under were already so bad that striking was a better alternative. They already weren't getting paid. They were already going months without work. Heck, that was common enough for writers and actors even when the industry was healthy.

I'm reminded of the Chinese emperor who imposed the death penalty for even minor offenses or perceived disloyalty, so the military figured "If the penalty for rebellion is no worse than the penalty for other stuff, we might as well rebel," and overthrew the emperor.