The Strikes Were About Equity and More Lots More

The Strikes Were About Equity and More Lots More

Andy Marken November 14, 2023

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Well, that's how it is at the retirement home. Company wants to get rid of us old heads. They give all the jobs to you new guys, - Frank, Unstoppable, 20th Century Fox, 2010

You had to see it coming.

The studio and streamer bosses walking away from the discussions with the actors representatives because the negotiations were no longer moving forward.

After nearly 200 days - combined walkouts they'd heard the same complaints from directors, writers and actors we need a living wage for all of our people and you can use your AI technology, just not in our part of the business.

And there's already a litany of similar complaints/demands being prepared by the other nearly 20 union/guild groups that represent the folks who work on films and shows around the country.

They're not alone.

Empowerment - Ordinary folks across the country hear the words of how necessary they are for their bosses business but the love hasn't been showing up in paychecks as the cost of living rises. Across the board - and increasingly around the globe - people are demanding more pay and better benefits.

More than 450,000 workers have participated in 312 strikes in the US this year, according to Cornell University's Labor Action Tracker.

That's more than twice the number of walkouts compared to last year.

For most Americans, financial progress slowed to a crawl over the past decade with income and wealth inequity soaring.

Workers across industries - healthcare, education, services, entertainment - barely made it through the global shutdown of 2019/2020. Higher prices have not kept pace with inflation falling two percent over the past two years.

It has become a major concern for people's standard of living.

Losing Ground - It costs more to produce and deliver products and services, but it also costs people more to live.

In addition, the top one percent has pulled away from everyone else, even as the entertainment industry was undergoing a seismic shift as it adjusted to meet consumer needs/demands.

Fake Growth - Theater operators continue to talk about major growth, primarily because ticket prices/concessions increase in price even as total sales slide.

Movie theater ticket sales managed to increase to about 825.2M tickets; a slight increase over 2022, but still well down from the industry's peak in 2002.

At the same time, pay TV has slowed its decline.

Slide Slows - The number of US households that cut their cable bundle has slowed, but the bundle is becoming less important to the home-viewing public.

While pay TV has experienced a significant drop in paid subscribers, millions of folks continue to rely on it for specific shows, sports and news

To retain viewership and profits, studios and networks have shifted from scripted shows to less-expensive unscripted reality, game and competition/contest programming.

Home entertainment has changed dramatically with the rapid growth of streaming services that initially focused on constantly growing their subscriber numbers to show Wall Street they were growing despite a constant flow of red ink.

The studio/network reinvention to tech-focused organizations marked a change in the long-standing usage residuals model creators, producers, writers and actors (and studios) had used for years to provide professionals with long-term residual income.

With an estimated 85 percent of US households having at least one video streaming subscription, the market is expected to reach $825B this year, according to PwC. At the same time, the industry faces consolidation as streamers shift their attention to ARPU (average revenue per user), churn and profitability.

That means fees will go up for SVOD and they'll work to guide you to their ad-supported service.

Churn? There's not a d*** thing they can do about it. It's stuck at 35 percent for the time being.

Keeping Pace - The income for studio and streamer bosses has kept pace with their business and industrial counterparts, even as the organizations struggle to be profitable.

Writers Stake Film and show writers receive a decent paycheck while they're writing, editing, enhancing and revising scripts. But it's the residual payments that tide them over between gigs. Unfortunately, studios/streamers arbitrarily add/subtract shows from their viewing mix and when they're retired, residuals disappear. In addition, CHATGP and other AI tools have moved into the writers room, which means fewer and shorter gigs for people.

Their earnings were slightly higher than those of the average Hollywood writer, which remained virtually flat. Median pay for the 11,500 union member screenwriters dropped 14 percent when adjusted for inflation over the past five years.

Studios have also pressed to have fewer writers involved in each project.

In addition to pay increases, WGA wanted to establish guardrails on the use of AI technology, which was strongly being considered by industry executives and managers around the world.

At almost the same time, the 171,000 plus actors were seeking a realignment of their residual pay that would pave the way for a more reliable income for members and a stronger professional safety net.

Action - The vast majority of folks who act in the films/shows people watch can have a decent income when they're working on a project, but residual - the money that tides them over until the next gig have slowly disappeared. In addition, allowing AI to replace their image/voice is becoming a major issue.

According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average salary for an actor last year was $27.73 per hour. Most are hired for day work and seldom work a 40-hour week throughout the year.

That means that unless you're a one percenter

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