Actually, if you’re not buying movies and TV, the money comes out of producers pockets, not the tradespeople. They never get residuals. The case you point to is

Actually, if you’re not buying movies and TV, the money comes out of producers pockets, not the tradespeople. They never get residuals. The case you point to is about box office flops, which, again, come far after tradespeople have cashed their last check from a production. People made stinkers every year even before pirating and past performance does not guarantee future success. Also, I would consider pirating a perfectly valid protest of what producers have done over the last two years, dragging their feet to break the backs of unions in advance of negotiations. Hollywood, Atlanta, New Orleans, NY, all filming far less over the last two years due to producer’s greed and hope that they can enjoy these pesky trades entirely by automation and AI. This has done more damage to tradespeople than pirating ever did. Fortunately, it’s pretty clear that it will not be feasible to make a coherent movie or TV show via AI in the near term. Hopefully consumers vote with their wallets too and don’t buy or stream any content that is made without trades.