DJariya

CBS Mornings did a piece on the strike this past weekend. They interviewed one of the striking writers, who has worked on multiple shows. She said she's on food stamps right now and walking dogs to make ends meet. The journalist asked her, so have your family or friends suggested why don't you get out and do something else? She said, she's not in the business to get rich or have a house in Malibu. She truly loves the craft and wants to be a writer, but also wants to be able to survive doing it.

Some will probably think this person is crazy or naive, but I admire her passion to be persistent and want to stay doing what she loves. I know the vast majority of Americans can't do what they love as a career and need a steady paycheck to feed their kids and pay their mortgage.

Gizmo

No it’s not. Look at the lunatic (Warren Light of law and order fame) who made up lies on Twitter and had to step down from his post after Murphy threatened legal action.

Up until a few days ago the cast and crew were getting paid to work. Good on Murphy. Meanwhile on Deadline the crew and everyone else has been jobless for months now on the verge of losing their homes so
writers can make a few more bucks.

dex14

None of which has anything to do with conventions that are private events with actors who are not there under studio contract to do promotion.

Gizmo

And writing for TV is not a full time job. There are very little shows (Soaps?) that write 365 days a year like an office job. Shows end, shows get reduced episodes counts, shows go on hiatus. If they don’t like that lifestyle, go work somewhere else. You’ll need a second job if your writing sucks so bad you can only find a job writing once a year. How is it anyone else’s problem but their own? No wonder why they want 12 writers per episodes for law and order. Lots of writers are not working because studios are ordering less scripted because no one is watching it and they can’t monetize it. Should they just act as a charity?

Gizmo

Sure, if you are an unemployed/barely employed actor still getting convention gigs from your work on Buffy 20 years ago, but anyone else will likely stay away to
not be blackballed. Guess we’ll see soon enough!

fujishig

So basically, if you can't make a living wage, go look somewhere else. Don't expect it to pay out a living wage. I'm sure that will do nothing but help the other workers you're so concerned about, plus I have no doubt the quality of all these shows will either maintain or go up as people leave the industry in droves.

Have you even looked at the demands? They don't seem unreasonable to me, unless you're Zaslav or Iger.

I'll add that everyone seems to think it's easy to just change jobs if you're not getting paid until they have to do it.

dex14

Plenty of working actors work just at Montreal Comiccon this weekend.

Gizmo

I’ve looked at the demands, many are laughable like having double the amount of writers for a scripted show or forcing writers for those that don’t want them.

Scripted boom is over. Everyone is reducing - from
broadcast to streaming . Many of these writers will need to change professions as jobs will naturally
dry up. Do you think studios feel obligated to keep them employed forever?

DJariya

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv...73e828aa12daf1

CBS is re-vising their "Fall schedule"

Censored version of Yellowstone and the UK version of Ghosts will air.

Also a censored version of Seal Team will also air.

I can't imagine anyone will watch the cut version of Yellowstone when you can see it on Peacock or buy it VOD or on BD. I think the ratings will be under 2M viewers maybe under 1M.

Gizmo

ABC is also airing Mrs Marvel soon. I think only 12 people initially watched it.

fujishig

Honestly they should have done that even without a writer's strike, considering the tie in to the movie. But is this the first time a Marvel Disney+ property has been on network tv?

Gizmo

Please air Dexter New Blood so we can come full writers strike circle.

Evil will be interest to see how they cut it up.

Gizmo

No, they’ve aired the pilots of a few shows (Mandalorian?) and a few others. Nothing full season AFAIK. Some kids shows ended up on Disney Channel.

Casts are gonna be like “holy shit look at the residuals! Why are we working for streamers”.

Jay G.

Right, because actors typically have their pick of shows to be on. They can just go up to an NBC exec and say "I want to be on Young Sheldon," and boom! They're now a regular.

When Evil was dropped by CBS after the first season, the actors' choices likely were:

• Continue the show for reduced pay and/or residuals on Paramount+
• Start looking for a new job, with no guarantee they'd get one

There's a massive power imbalance between the studios and networks and the cast and writers. The unions exist to try and rebalance it a bit. But a union is useless unless they can actually strike and impact the studios every once in a while.

Giantrobo

Nice! That will be cool for those who don't have MAX

Gizmo

Evil had an entire season produced before paramount+ picked it up. But yes, they could choose to be employed (or not) elsewhere, just like what Flockhart did when Supergirl moved from CBS to CW. She didn’t want the pay cut. Same can be said for many others when shows moved networks/streamers.

They also get to choose if they want to do the project. Do you think actors just get assigned to shows?

Deftones

Flockhart is a terrible example because she is married to one of the highest paid actors in movies.

Gizmo

Oh shit. So if you are married to a rich person you can just not work at all? Why do people in dual acting marriages both work at all?

it’s a perfect example and I’m sure I can come up with a bunch more if you like. Won’t change the fact the deals change when shoes move networks to steamers and they can choose not to be apart of it. Streamers come with higher upfront pay but nothing in residuals. It’s a trade off you can choose to make. Star in a shitty NBC sitcom or on Peacock where you’ll be viewed by dozens of people , maybe hundreds!

Cusm

I am still waiting for the newest season of UK Ghost to be available on MAX.

Jay G.

Plenty of actors do it for the love of the work, but that doesn't mean they shouldn't get paid a fair wage. Calista Flockhart can afford to walk away from a project if she feels like she's not getting paid what she's worth, and she likely was never getting compensated the SAG-AFTRA negotiated minimums for that show. But very few actors are in that privileged position.

Since Supergirl, Calista Flockhart hasn't had many roles, and not a regular on anything since 2015. It's very few actors who can afford to go without much work for 8 years.

SAG-AFTRA reported 171,157 members in 2022, there's not enough "shitty NBC sitcoms" for all of them to even appear as background characters, let alone star.

There were 600 scripted TV shows produced in 2022:
https://www.statista.com/statistics/...s-number-usa/#

There's an overabundance of labor available, and if you don't take a particular job when it's offered to you, somebody else will, and you may not land another job for years, if ever. This is a situation that's ripe for explotation by the studios, and they've been doing so for years.

Kdogg

I think that it was the change of location from LA to Vancouver that was the biggest factor in her leaving.

Jay G.

I remember when David Duchovny got enough clout to move X-Files production from Vancouver to LA:
https://screenrant.com/xfiles-tv-sho...tion-exit-why/

Deftones

Absolutely. But she also has a ridiculously wealthy husband. She could walk away from the job because of that.

Gizmo

Out of context, that's the same for most jobs. If you don't want it, someone else is right behind you to take it.

spainlinx0

Yes, so you should understand why unions and worker solidarity would be a good thing. I guess you would prefer us as crabs pulling each other back into the boiling water.