STRIKE!
From Wikipedia:
“On May 2, 2023, at 12:01 a.m. PDT, the Writers Guild of America (WGA)—representing 11,500 screenwriters—went on strike over an ongoing labor dispute with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP).”
“One of the main focus points in the labor dispute is the residuals from streaming media; the WGA claims that AMPTP's share of such residuals has cut much of the writers' average incomes compared to a decade ago. Writers also wanted artificial intelligence such as ChatGPT to be used only as a tool that can help with research or facilitate script ideas and not as a tool to replace them.”
If you are reading this, I’m sure you are wondering, “Why do I care?” I’m going to explain why this is such a huge deal for my industry, and how in certain circumstances, can actually impact other industries as well.
Let’s talk about residuals for a moment. You might know what that means, but in case you do not, let me explain. Residuals are a percentage paid for the ongoing usage of something your created. In media, it would be a percentage of every sale of a film, video, song you created. In art, a portion of any photograph or painting. This is important for the creator of whatever widget we are discussing, gets compensated for their work. Now, the alternative is to just have a lump sum payment for your project, and then the creator waives all claims to residuals down the line. Seems sensible, right? You make something, you get paid for it, deal is complete,? Well, here is where it becomes murky.
First and foremost, creators hardly ever get fairly compensated for the content they deliver. Sure, it seems like a lot, but when you look at how much money the corporations make off their work, it’s small potatoes. Example, imagine you wrote “Avengers Endgame.” And say you were paid $150,000 for your duties. Seems like a lot. Now consider that box office receipts alone, it made just shy of $2.8 BILLION. That is only 5% of the profits. And that doesn’t even include digital release sales, streaming rights, so on and so on. The corporation continues to make revenue for years, and the person who wrote the story gets nothing.
As a parallel, let’s consider this, you design a evolutionary, state of the art car. Maybe it runs on something other than electricity or fossil fuels. A manufacturer offers to build it and sell it, but pays you an up-front lump sum payment, then proceeds to make millions off your design, does that seem like a fair arrangement?
Friends, in our industry, a great project begins on paper. Ask anyone who works in theater, film, music, they will all tell you the same thing. A great actor, director, cinematographer, editor cannot save a bad script. There is no way to ‘fix it in post.’ Don’t believe me, look at the swill Disney has been producing the past 2 years. Too soon?
All these writers are seeking is fair compensation for their intellectual property rights. They want their contribution to be valued. I support this strike. This has happened to me. I have produced content for clients and the arrangement was I’m paid per video. I found out later the client had sold my videos to another group as templates for the wider corporation to institute as the gold standard. Did I receive a bonus? No. Did they tell them I made the videos? No. It’s more than unfair, it’s morally bankrupt.
If you are a fan of entertainment, you enjoy films, streaming series, etc., this is a huge deal. I know executives will come out and say, “this could be tragic for the industry.” This isn’t “could be” at this point. Our industry is struggling, and in some markets it’s dying. The pandemic destroyed our industry. Many of my peers are still out of work or making a fraction of what they did before. Everyone has moved onto new ways to consume media, so the need for qualified creators has dwindled significantly. So, when someone stands up to corporate America, and challenges authority to get what they are entitled to, I stand with them. They aren’t asking for the whole pie, just their fair share.
“David Drumlin: I wish the world was a place where fair was the bottom line, where the kind of idealism you showed at the hearing was rewarded, not taken advantage of. Unfortunately, we don't live in that world.
Ellie Arroway: Funny, I've always believed that the world is what we make of it.” – Contact, 1997