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It's cold but... what strike doesn't work this way? This is the definition of a strike - you are holding out until the other party is suffering more losses than

It's cold but... what strike doesn't work this way? This is the definition of a strike - you are holding out until the other party is suffering more losses than they can reasonably sustain compared to the costs of giving in; in order to obtain a favorable deal. On that note... I'm not actually convinced "new content" is all that necessary, even though that is an intuitive assumption on my part.

readthenotes1 3y ago
Since Hollywood peaked in about 1962, and since most people haven't seen much of what before, the execs could just recycle old movies for years
- gjsman-1000 3y ago
  Right. But take, for example, Warner Bros. Discovery. $40 billion in revenue yearly, $50+ billion in debt needing servicing, annual gross profit $13 billion, Market cap $32 billion. They aren't exactly the world's healthiest company. What's the plan? "World-class" Cost-cutting and price hikes, everywhere. Even if it's multiple 95%-finished movies (Scoob! Holiday Haunt, Batgirl), send them to the shredder for the tax write-off if their success is uncertain. Taking risks or releasing anything that possibly won't be a hit, is not affordable at the moment. What about Disney? Disney+ is losing $4 billion every year, and now has a lawsuit ongoing about whether the projections of profitability were ever reasonable. And it has also become apparent to investors that the content deluge and the expectations it set has caused massive damage to Marvel, as well as Pixar's Box Office profits. Pixar's Elemental, for example, just had the second-worst box office opening after the original Toy Story... except that Toy Story opened with 28 years less inflation, and on a Wednesday. The good news for Disney is that Elemental has had quite a recovery, even if it almost certainly won't break-even. Now you've got this quibble with the Writer's Guild; at the same time that making new content to prop up streaming numbers has never been under more scrutiny, and the pocketbook has not been such a concern in years. You can afford to take a break - heck, you might have even been considering taking a break anyway; and by taking a break you can theoretically win a better deal with the Writers to save even more money in the future.
- greenhearth 3y ago
  Are you talking about money or creativity? It could be argued the late 1960s to mid 70s is the greatest creative output artistically, the New Hollywood style, and after that the start of the blockbuster age, which made more money anyone has ever seen.
  - readthenotes1 3y ago
    I'm talking about enjoyability. That could include creativity, entertainment, or meaning. When I say "peak" I didn't mean it was a cliff, I'm at the quality of the net produce started declining somewhere around then. Sure, there have been some fantastic movies made since the early sixties, but not as many as before
    - greenhearth 3y ago
      This is true. Golden age, prewar and classic Hollywood are very profound and prolific periods of cinema. But I think the later iterations cannot be dismissed this disdainfully as something unworthy of attention or subpar.
aetherson 3y ago
Yeah, this. A strike is the definition of playing hardball. Let's not suddenly pretend that everyone is just trying to see the other side flourish as human beings and we care deeply about you personally.
jjulius 3y ago
>I'm not actually convinced "new content" is all that necessary, even though that is an intuitive assumption on my part. I somewhat agree. I think that "new content" is certainly necessary, but I think there's a massive deluge of it, beyond what we actually might need/want - the volume could certainly decrease, IMO. But we digress...

readthenotes1 3y ago

Since Hollywood peaked in about 1962, and since most people haven't seen much of what before, the execs could just recycle old movies for years

gjsman-1000 3y ago
Right. But take, for example, Warner Bros. Discovery. $40 billion in revenue yearly, $50+ billion in debt needing servicing, annual gross profit $13 billion, Market cap $32 billion. They aren't exactly the world's healthiest company. What's the plan? "World-class" Cost-cutting and price hikes, everywhere. Even if it's multiple 95%-finished movies (Scoob! Holiday Haunt, Batgirl), send them to the shredder for the tax write-off if their success is uncertain. Taking risks or releasing anything that possibly won't be a hit, is not affordable at the moment. What about Disney? Disney+ is losing $4 billion every year, and now has a lawsuit ongoing about whether the projections of profitability were ever reasonable. And it has also become apparent to investors that the content deluge and the expectations it set has caused massive damage to Marvel, as well as Pixar's Box Office profits. Pixar's Elemental, for example, just had the second-worst box office opening after the original Toy Story... except that Toy Story opened with 28 years less inflation, and on a Wednesday. The good news for Disney is that Elemental has had quite a recovery, even if it almost certainly won't break-even. Now you've got this quibble with the Writer's Guild; at the same time that making new content to prop up streaming numbers has never been under more scrutiny, and the pocketbook has not been such a concern in years. You can afford to take a break - heck, you might have even been considering taking a break anyway; and by taking a break you can theoretically win a better deal with the Writers to save even more money in the future.
greenhearth 3y ago
Are you talking about money or creativity? It could be argued the late 1960s to mid 70s is the greatest creative output artistically, the New Hollywood style, and after that the start of the blockbuster age, which made more money anyone has ever seen.
- readthenotes1 3y ago
  I'm talking about enjoyability. That could include creativity, entertainment, or meaning. When I say "peak" I didn't mean it was a cliff, I'm at the quality of the net produce started declining somewhere around then. Sure, there have been some fantastic movies made since the early sixties, but not as many as before
  - greenhearth 3y ago
    This is true. Golden age, prewar and classic Hollywood are very profound and prolific periods of cinema. But I think the later iterations cannot be dismissed this disdainfully as something unworthy of attention or subpar.

aetherson 3y ago

Yeah, this. A strike is the definition of playing hardball. Let's not suddenly pretend that everyone is just trying to see the other side flourish as human beings and we care deeply about you personally.

jjulius 3y ago

>I'm not actually convinced "new content" is all that necessary, even though that is an intuitive assumption on my part. I somewhat agree. I think that "new content" is certainly necessary, but I think there's a massive deluge of it, beyond what we actually might need/want - the volume could certainly decrease, IMO. But we digress...