Some streaming services don’t make any money, so how would that work out? Are the creators overpaid?
SAG-AFTRA vote to go on strike
- Thread starter Morpheus 02
- Start date
No, they are run by bad businessmen in a highly competitive market who fail to understand that good creative people are rare and need to be respected and paid appropriately. You can get mediocre people anyway to churn out forgettable stuff, aka the Netflix approach, but even when they have proven people they still don't pay them enough. You can't keep a streaming service profitable if 70% of the new product is mediocre at best, people will not keep paying money monthly for a service where they only like 1-2 shows that only air one season a year if that.
There will be a big consolidation coming in the next 10 years, maybe even one of the big ones will be forced to merge with another or several other services, because people are just fed up to have to track at least half a dozen services and hunt for shows that are actually watchable ( and stay around, which is a whole other issue, looking again at you Netflix).
Netflix is most consistent with good content, and they make money.
Paramount+ creates good content, but it’s losing money. Some Disney+ content is good, but it also loses money.
If you don’t have the subs, it doesn’t matter how good your content is.
Cobra Kai wasn’t a hit until it moved from YouTube Red to Netflix. Platform matters.
Good content is subjective but i still don't see the correlation between subscriptions and the strike.
It’s where the money comes from. As ad revenue is tiny unless you’re a network show or on YouTube.
And again - you said that subscriptions were stable despite price increases, so why would the actors strike if it's about subscriptions? If your argument is that the streaming services should have enough money to pay the people producing the shows well then say so, otherwise i still don't understand your point.
However they don't and never have as this distribution method was not included in the last union contract that was signed before streaming took off and so the streaming companies took advantage of that to increase their profits on the backs of the writers and actors, without whom there would be nothing.
Despite this most streamers are losing money.
I saw something on CNN claiming there's such positive progress that the strike could potentially be over next week if everything works out properly.
While that certainly would be nice, this is far from a certain thing, so I wouldn't get too excited yet, though I do hope everything works out all the same.
While that certainly would be nice, this is far from a certain thing, so I wouldn't get too excited yet, though I do hope everything works out all the same.
And once they reach a deal business will go back to normal and the studios will learn nothing.
What would they need to learn once a contract is signed that both parties agreed to? They can't wiggle out of the contract, at least not while its in effect and it's up to the union to keep the studios "honest" when the time comes to renegotiate.
Given how unions in the US are making a comeback at the moment i expect the writers and actors unions now know how and where to fight the studios if they need to, let's see if other areas like the VFX people, who are working under horrible conditions apparently, can get theirs too.
Not being shitty business people.
Yes, it's a big ask. Sorry, I'm completely cynical on this whole process. Once the contracts are reached people on both sides will go back to business as usual and no one will learn a damn thing.
They're good business people which means they bring in profits, at whose expense is of no interest to those who profit from their actions. Now the people on whose backs these profits were made struck back and got their slice of the pie and i expect them regularly revisit the contracts and negotiate possible and necessary changes.
But i still don't understand why going back to business as usual under newly negotiated terms means nobody learned a damn thing - the unions learned how to beat the studios and the studios learned that their bully tactics are not working anymore so i figure in the long run something has changed and eveybody has learned something. It remains to be seen if that knowledge will stick around and make future negotiations easier and faster without need for months of strikes.
By whom? The studios?
I am also sure they will try to get better conditions for themselves in the next negotiation but the unions now have the blueprint on how to proceed, the studios will not go through business as easy as before.
The whole point of union negotiated contracts and labor regulation is that executives can't be trusted to treat workers fairly on their own. All we need to teach executives is that workers won't back down when executives try to break the will of unions during lengthy negotiations. Anything else is just gravy.
Ok. Well, we shall see. Color me cynical.
I trust that is sufficient for you.
Unless you're in the union, you have no say in what's considered "standard".
If it's sufficient for the actors and union, then it's sufficient, case closed. We have no horse in this particular race.
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