3 ms·

"Not in a position to concede on"? In what world? I've seen a dozen different posts and articles where people did the math, and showed that what the WGA is ask

"Not in a position to concede on"? In what world? I've seen a dozen different posts and articles where people did the math, and showed that what the WGA is asking for, financially speaking (annually), could be paid out of a single studio's profits for a single quarter (at least, I think that was the degree of disparity; in any case, it was painfully obvious that the studios were being obscenely greedy). The only way one can argue that the studios are "not in a position to concede on" these demands is if they take Wall Street's insistence on ever-increasing growth as mandatory, rather than purely for the benefit of increased bonuses for the already-very-wealthy people at the top.

JumpCrisscross 3y ago
> only way one can argue that the studios are "not in a position to concede on" these demands is if they take Wall Street's insistence Sure, this. Management is constrained because, after the last years' spending and leverage binge, they are unusually dependent on investors. Investors who didn't like the past years of spending levels and demanded cuts. Cuts management promised and the WGA delivered. > on ever-increasing growth I don't think this is about growth. See this commentary on Discovery's equity [1]. The focus isn't growth, but servicing debt. If they give into the WGA, there are knock-on concessions to other unions, and altogether that could bankrupt them. Certainly quicker than not putting out scripted content. To be super clear, I think the writers deserve better pay. But the strike doesn't make sense. [1] https://finance.yahoo.com/video/warner-bros-discovery-merger-branding-145835304.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAADaS-I3_xcECQCg7IvN2LTv_re-XTXzGtZe0XdYMf1A8HDwjkXgxj7XZEwWOqhnn37ejcW4qHcji028PUwHqwom1ECBRJn2hmVYZtwjoPNDjpJ9yJdximfDsJLHG96chp4pGJdmc04MvoXSgZC-wQ-SlHgyjdu9xTbzWrW9u4XOQ https://finance.yahoo.com/video/warner-bros-discovery-merger...
- danaris 3y ago
  Oh nooooo if they have to service debt they might have to cut exec bonuses by 5%! How awful! Oh nooooo if they have to give concessions to other unions, too, then more people might be able to live comfortable lives without having to bow and grovel every time an exec looks at them funny! The strike is absolutely necessary, and it's about more than just pay right now. First, it's about the near-complete loss of residuals as viewing shifts from TV to streaming (because the old contracts didn't cover it), which would, as I alluded to earlier, mean that writers would basically never have a stable income stream again. The entire visual-medium-writing profession would be consigned to lives of scraping together little jobs here and there to make ends meet. While the studios raked in the billions in profit (not gross!) off the backs of the scripts those writers created for them. And second, and possibly more importantly for the long-term viability of the industry as a whole, the studios are destroying writers' rooms. Traditionally, when writing a script, they'd hire a whole bunch of writers—including both senior and junior writers—and have them all work together on it for an extended period—possibly the entire run of a season, or most of the way through the production of a movie. This was a vital way for newer writers to gain experience and practice their craft. Now, they're instead hiring a bunch of writers for a week or so, getting them to hash out the rough outline of a script, and then having one showrunner take over from there. And what they're trying to do is get rid of that first step, and have ChatGPT do it, instead. They're eating their seed corn, all to juice their profits in the short term, and totally ignoring what the long-term effects will be: fewer and fewer writers who have any experience actually writing for television and movies, on top of making sure to starve the ones they do still (occasionally) hire, thus driving even more out of the profession. In short, if the studios get their way, they'll be guaranteeing a decline in quality of writing across the board for the foreseeable future, until eventually there's nearly no one human left who's both willing and able to do the job and still pay rent.

JumpCrisscross 3y ago

> only way one can argue that the studios are "not in a position to concede on" these demands is if they take Wall Street's insistence Sure, this. Management is constrained because, after the last years' spending and leverage binge, they are unusually dependent on investors. Investors who didn't like the past years of spending levels and demanded cuts. Cuts management promised and the WGA delivered. > on ever-increasing growth I don't think this is about growth. See this commentary on Discovery's equity [1]. The focus isn't growth, but servicing debt. If they give into the WGA, there are knock-on concessions to other unions, and altogether that could bankrupt them. Certainly quicker than not putting out scripted content. To be super clear, I think the writers deserve better pay. But the strike doesn't make sense. [1] https://finance.yahoo.com/video/warner-bros-discovery-merger-branding-145835304.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAADaS-I3_xcECQCg7IvN2LTv_re-XTXzGtZe0XdYMf1A8HDwjkXgxj7XZEwWOqhnn37ejcW4qHcji028PUwHqwom1ECBRJn2hmVYZtwjoPNDjpJ9yJdximfDsJLHG96chp4pGJdmc04MvoXSgZC-wQ-SlHgyjdu9xTbzWrW9u4XOQ https://finance.yahoo.com/video/warner-bros-discovery-merger...

danaris 3y ago
Oh nooooo if they have to service debt they might have to cut exec bonuses by 5%! How awful! Oh nooooo if they have to give concessions to other unions, too, then more people might be able to live comfortable lives without having to bow and grovel every time an exec looks at them funny! The strike is absolutely necessary, and it's about more than just pay right now. First, it's about the near-complete loss of residuals as viewing shifts from TV to streaming (because the old contracts didn't cover it), which would, as I alluded to earlier, mean that writers would basically never have a stable income stream again. The entire visual-medium-writing profession would be consigned to lives of scraping together little jobs here and there to make ends meet. While the studios raked in the billions in profit (not gross!) off the backs of the scripts those writers created for them. And second, and possibly more importantly for the long-term viability of the industry as a whole, the studios are destroying writers' rooms. Traditionally, when writing a script, they'd hire a whole bunch of writers—including both senior and junior writers—and have them all work together on it for an extended period—possibly the entire run of a season, or most of the way through the production of a movie. This was a vital way for newer writers to gain experience and practice their craft. Now, they're instead hiring a bunch of writers for a week or so, getting them to hash out the rough outline of a script, and then having one showrunner take over from there. And what they're trying to do is get rid of that first step, and have ChatGPT do it, instead. They're eating their seed corn, all to juice their profits in the short term, and totally ignoring what the long-term effects will be: fewer and fewer writers who have any experience actually writing for television and movies, on top of making sure to starve the ones they do still (occasionally) hire, thus driving even more out of the profession. In short, if the studios get their way, they'll be guaranteeing a decline in quality of writing across the board for the foreseeable future, until eventually there's nearly no one human left who's both willing and able to do the job and still pay rent.