Why Hollywood Writers Are Striking 

I see a problem. How many thousands of lifetimes of stockpiled scripts and public domain works have these networks stockpiled already? We saw some of that during the last writers' strike. That's also where the current wave of "talent shows" and reality tv was born. It feels to me like things in every artistic field are moving in the direction of the book publishing industry. Pretty soon, it will be up to the "writers" to produce the entire series themselves and then shop the finished product around to distributors.

Good! Nobody cares or watches this garbage

Yeah! Let's all go to Paris and set fire to some rubbish in the streets!

私もこのストライキには賛成です。 労働者の権利を大切にしたいです。

@@-O-bv7fb That's easy for you to say.

There's no shows like Lost of Heroes on right now so LETS GO WRITERS STRIKE! They deserve to be paid what they're worth like everyone else. :)

Last writer's strike was amazing. TBH I'd love to see it last long enough to cut some of these companies down to size

Unfortunately, there will probably will never be one. Most writers will be replaced by AI

I'm still _fuming_ about Warner canceling _Westworld_ - arguably a flagship HBO Original, no less, and one which I really, really enjoyed... AND it was about to head into production on the 5th season, _of the long-planned, long since settled total run of... _*_*5 SEASONS!*_*_ They also decided on canning my beloved _Raised By Wolves,_ completely blindsiding the cast, crew, and fans - one moment, it's seemingly smooth sailing, with everyone involved planning their _lives_ around the job of creating _Raised._ Next thing everyone outside of the executive offices knows, it's all canceled... _and_ this **beautiful** science fiction world, that I proudly admit I was falling in love with, was entirely killed off, supposedly because not enough people watched it fast enough! That really stings, because, aware that each new season is released a year after the prior one, _I was intentionally taking my time, savoring each episode,_ BECAUSE I DIDN'T WANT IT TO BE OVER TOO QUICKLY! Worst of all, after putting a wrecking ball through the hard work and dedication of talented visual storytellers, because they saw cash... After pulling the whole effing _floor_ out from below every person expecting and planning their _lives_ around going into production, and working on the next (3rd) season, and really hurting fans with such a callous disregard and _disrespect_ for all of us who loved _Raised_ - the cast includes some children who are (or were, anyway), just about to hdt puberty. There is/was a _seriously_ limited window of time available to incorporate the children's growing up into the show. The lost, squandered potential... It just eats me up inside. It's the last time for a long time that I'm going to start watching a new series, without waiting for it to successfully reach an intentional, planned conclusion. I am shocked that, for the first time I can remember, HBO isn't the sole option for anyone who wants to stream HBO's prestigious originals, such as _Oz,_ _The Wire,_ _GoT,_ big comedy specials, et cetera. HBO always kept a tenacious hold on their successful shows. (this is part 1 of 2 - part 2 is in a following comment)

. . . Now, we don't even know if we'll **ever** be able to ever watch these abortions, short of buying an eventual compilation - but we're merely **hoping,** blindly, that it becomes an option to settle for paying _even more_ to stream, download, or purchase on disc. I found recently that... Starz or something, some channel had taken possession of _Wolves;_ Now, _I can pay exorbitant prices to _*_*stream*_*_ the episodes - you know, JUST LIKE I'VE _ALREADY BEEN_ PAYING **HBO** TO DO! I'm honestly livid. I really enjoyed _Minx,_ which was not only a minor hit, and was being promoted on HBO, teasing the upcoming 2nd season... That second season? HBO had already paid for the whole production. It was so far along, principal filming for _Minx_ Season 2 was less than 5 days from completely finishing. In fact, from what I've read, it was so very close to completion, the entire _Minx_ cast & crew still showed up and finished the work, _DESPITE HAVING JUST LEARNED THAT HBO WAS PULLING THE PLUG, CANCELING _MINX_ DESPITE THE FACT THAT IT WAS ALREADY PAID FOR! THEY WOULD ESSENTIALLY TOSS OUT A FULL SEASON OF A POPULAR SHOW, **BEFORE** EVEN GIVING SUBSCRIBERS A CHANCE TO MAKE IT A HIT! At the end of the day, this greed-driven, shameful disregard, trading away the creative output _that provides the reason for the very existence of Home Box Office,_ jilting loyal fans and gifted, tireless creative employees alike, looting and wrecking what took countless people countless days of work to create. It's like taking a stolen car - an immaculate, hand-built '60s Mercedes, for an apt analogy - and letting the high-school dropout crew at the shady scrap yard just cut it up and crush it for scrap... Destroying a piece of art and of history, angering just about everyone who learns of the story... all for a quick $200. When they do this, it makes me seriously consider canceling my subscription. But now I have to wonder, is it some sort of _The Producers_ scam, where the new owners at Warner actually _want_ to drive HBO or HBO Max completely out of business?

@Dr. Pyssinshytz Paintings are a tool of the establishment. A painting will still show its subject even if you aren't looking at it. No imagination or participation is required to consume a painting. Books are a tool of the establishment. They encourage us to go off individually and read by ourselves. There is no human connection, social intelligence, audience participation, etc. required, unlike the oral storytelling tradition. Music is a tool of the establishment. Games are a tool of the establishment. All art and culture is a tool of the establishment!!!! Like, come on man. Obviously media can be used in a way that is manipulative, propagandistic, etc. And we, as enjoyers of media, can enjoy media mindlessly or mindfully. But the idea that an artform is inherently turning people into sheeple or whatever goes a long way to ignore more important questions about how media is produced, who produces it, etc. And, frankly, at no point has media ever been solely about deep engagement. I don't want to live in your analytical utopia where nobody ever has fun because we're too busy doing media analysis.

@Dr. Pyssinshytz The last time there was a writers strike, they replaced the shows with reality shows. We got "The Apprentice" out of that and the rest is bad history.

Bruh. Tv and film and are useless. 🤷‍♂️

@@dangelo1369 The only Writers' Guild of America strike I have any conscious memory of ran from November of '007 through February of '008, and was satirized in Episode #1204, Canada On Strike. I had to look up when The Celebrity Apprentice aired because I thought it was from the '980s or '990s. There must be some way to reconcile screenwriters' need to make a living with the decline in network television.

@@Dr-Pyssin-Shytz I'm disappointed in you. You come in here barging in on how everything TV related is useless and propaganda, then you got a good logical argument against your point, and all you say is "Ok." and "nah sorry still only propaganda" Yes, propaganda does exist but it's not hard to avoid it if you know what you're watching. Same thing for books as well. As long as media has existed throughout humanity, propaganda has existed within it. So saying that TV is susceptible to propaganda as well isn't a good argument. Just make sure the news you're consuming is as unbiased as possible and make sure the TV shows you're watching have good morals instilled in them. It's not that hard.

@@BeachCity I hope so. 😀

Forget fantasy land. I hope all of those corporations go bankrupt tomorrow and the entire film and tv industry goes away.

@@BeachCity Then there needs to be a plan to fundamentally update the national economic system so that everyone working at those studios can still have food on their tables once the studios die.

I would agree,.but you how capitalism works, right? Basically, the executives on top make decisions for everyone under them, a tiny percentage of people make 10000 x more than the average worker. This is a larger. Issue than just writers. Americans need to wake up and democratize the work place..but, that's socialism? That means it sucks equally for everyone and everyone gets paid the same? No, it means everyone has a vote, and pay gaps aren't as insane as with capitalism. Doesn't mean that the CEO will get the same salary as the cleaners. That's just non sense propaganda from America. It means the CEO might get 7 x more than the cleaner, instead of 10000x or whatever it is. Instead of worshipping writers, how about we democratize the work place??

Support exemplary, independent creators. "Reflect upon the Past. Embrace your Present. Orchestrate our Futures." --Artemis 🐲✨🐲✨🐲✨ "Before I start, I must see my end. Destination known, my mind’s journey now begins. Upon my chariot, heart and soul’s fate revealed. In time, all points converge, hope’s strength re-steeled. But to earn final peace at the universe’s endless refrain, We must see all in nothingness... before we start again." 🐲✨🐲✨🐲✨ --Diamond Dragons (series)

@Adrian Sandlin - Truth. Standing in solidarity with the Writers 100%. Period!

If you think about it, what lesson do they need to learn? They always run in the end. Ever since our US Supreme Court voted to give corporations the same rights as people, publicly traded Goliath streaming corporations’ 1st responsibility is in increasing shareholder profits. For any private corporations, well they’ve learned from the giants, & they do the same if they want to compete. Like the late 19th & early 20th centuries, during the time of the Robber Barons, we now live in an era of legally sanctioned thievery, where huge powerful corporations & oligarchs are the ones who run everything, including all 3 branches of our federal government apparently, & many of our elected state officials too. They squeeze everybody who is not them eventually. This is one more symptom of the bigger issue.

In an ideal world, the creative people would be running those industries like their own bosses. I find it absurd that people with no creative talent at all get to be Hollywood or Disney execs or get to be on the board of directors. Glorified middle men is all they really are.

What lesson? It's working for them.

Learn what lesson? That screwing ppl = more money?

@@GenerationX1984 All people are creative. AI will help release and explosion of human creativity.

​@@BeachCity lmao that's a fucking joke

​@@BeachCity judging by your dumbass answer, you've never used ChatGPT 😅

Spoken like someone who’s never used gpt

@@BeachCity I’m not a writer but I have used ChatGPT and no it can’t do the same job for zero😂

@@BeachCity What point are you even trying to make here? AI taking over jobs or not, literally either way it doesn't matter. The working class was already being mistreated even before AI was an excuse, it just gets worse over time no AI needed. The bottom line remains that people need to strike, everywhere in every industry. You reminding them what AI can do is irrelevant.

Right dude!? Some of the most bizarre television, it also ushered in a whole slew of "reality" TV crud. This strike needs to happen.

@@_jjcaballero How do we know we won't get a second wave of shows like The Real Housewives?

Support independent, exemplary creators. "Reflect upon the Past. Embrace your Present. Orchestrate our Futures." --Artemis 🐲✨🐲✨🐲✨ "Before I start, I must see my end. Destination known, my mind’s journey now begins. Upon my chariot, heart and soul’s fate revealed. In time, all points converge, hope’s strength re-steeled. But to earn final peace at the universe’s endless refrain, We must see all in nothingness... before we start again." 🐲✨🐲✨🐲✨ --Diamond Dragons (series)

@soon I am 24

@soon Lmao not at all; I meant 80s ass Don Johnson in the mint green suit smoking unfiltered Lucky Strikes Miami Vice. Edward James Olmos plays Lt. Costello. He's got a whole character arc where his past as a DEA agent in the Golden Triangle catches up with him. You always know when the show goes to South America because generic pan flute music starts playing. They put all of MV on Hulu when I was around 9, if you're wondering how this ends up happening.

@@BeachCity Perhaps I need to watch Episode #2604, Deep Learning, a little early, just so I can know what my generation's up against.

And even then...

Unfortunately Reality TV became a goldmine. This next one might be a platinum mine.

History channels-reality tv Discovery channel-reality tv Tlc-reality tv E!-reality tv Cheaper ,easy to make , makes great background noise and rage bait

Amen

🔥💪

Gone are the days of script writers, comedy writers, and quality programming especially "family" shows like Everybody loves Raymond, King of Queens, Seinfeld, Frazier, Cheers, Taxi, Who's the Boss, The Facts of Life, Family Ties, and many more; those days are long gone. They know this generation has the attention span of a gnat. If they strike, I don't think it will make a difference to the Industry. they can put anything on and stupid people will be entertained by it. Greed wins again.

​@@peacebeyondpassion2 not everyone wants to watch split screen train track games with reruns of Seth MacFarlane shows sludge content.

@@Iqueydon’t you like to watch milf manor?😂

They are a dime a dozen. That is why. ANd even the best ones are utterly terrible.

@@theoneonly259- That's where the realities of life as a scriptwriter come in. A writer may show up with a couple of stories already plotted out in their heads, ready to pitch. But the person in charge is a dunce, the writer needs to pay the rent, and so the writer throws out the next couple of ideas, and the next, and the next, until the dunce finally likes one. Now the scriptwriter has to write _that_ idea, the one vomited out in a moment of desperation. (Harlan Ellison described this process, once, and I'm working off memory.) With the rise of the Internet, face-to-face meetings may not even occur. If the writer does sell a script, they lose control over it. As you said, 'dime a dozen.' Everybody from the dunce in charge to the janitor can suggest changes. Actors count lines, or insist that they can't say certain lines (not 'My character wouldn't say that' but 'I can't say that'). Something happens at the last minute. Standards and Practices sends over a memo. What viewers see may bear little resemblance to the script the writer sold. And these writers have to do this over and over.

Greedy no-talent writers can always start their own corporations if they think they can do things better.

@@theoneonly259 okay they will you boot licker

@@theoneonly259why are you bootlicking so hard?

@@Lemonincense These scumbag minions are worse than the people they work for. They are the true enemy and the sooner we all understand that the better.

One word *Greed* Greed is *not* good Michael Douglas lol!

How much does it cost to produce a single hour long episode, let alone a season? I understand the writers want compensation! But I’m not blind to simply vomiting out the word “greed” and moving on simply from that from the perspective of capital.

​@@acbower4468 Profits are higher than ever, so however much it is, there's plenty left over to increase wages. There's also the fact that profits are higher explicitly because wages and residuals have been cut.

thank you MPU for such a great video

And when they are done they’re done. They don’t get time in post production, because it would be fucking odd to have an editor do the opposite.

With ChatGPT4. I expect an age of AI written shows trained on the numerous Scripts they have lying around.

Well, it’s not just that. The production cost of producing a bad show is astronomical now. Add that to diminishing returns on individual shows in regards to the streaming service as a whole and I can see where production is trying to go…I’m not saying I like it or support it, but it is what it is. The writers will get what they want after this, but the long term might not be what they had in mind.

And the dynamics have changed. Content used to drive revenue…I first got an HBO subscription to watch “The Sopranos” 25 years ago. I think producers are seeing that’s not the case anymore…people will have streaming services or cable regardless of what’s being produced. So the dynamic of what drives capital is very weird now. I think we all see a “quantity over quality” trend happening, especially on streaming services. From my own personal view, my TV has sports on and my phone has RU-vid on. The want or need to watch shows isn’t what it used to be, especially being a northerner in Spring! Why in the hell would I want to be inside with a TV, lol

Are we? Beloved shows are getting axed before they can even hit their stride, quantity is clearly being prioritized over quality, Disney owns fucking everything, and Warner Discovery is in free fall with a right-wing nut in charge. I think media eras are now shorter lived than ever, and you’re referring to something that was maybe true 10-15 years ago, but breathed its last gasp already.

With piracy working so well atm I don't think anyone would be willing to stick around for shitty television anymore. Lets hope that's the case.

You sound like a shill. You're probably too young to have seen actually good shows. Today is full of unwatchable garbage

Actually I DO want to see ChatGPT written stories-because I want to watch them fail and see it proven that humans are irreplaceable when it comes to creativity. We may need the dark before the dawn.

I'll sign up for Nebula if writers want to hop on that platform and write good fiction there.

Why should we care about script writers? You people in the comments are some pretty weird communists thats for sure. And are you suggesting terrorism? In the name of script writer compensation? HAA!!!!!

This is already a guarantee. Striking now when the technology is new and unintegrated makes more sense than waiting until the corps are "ready" and just lay everyone off.

I would say it won't work, but people already ingest slop like capeshit.

👍 Same here.

@@BeachCity Feeling better now...?

@@BeachCity Your nitpicking is beyond infantile. I sincerely pity You.

Ha... I haven't been to the movie theater in a quarter century. I haven't bought or rented a physical copy of a movie or show for nearly a decade. I haven't paid for cable tv since Netflix launched its streaming service. I refuse to watch ads. I'll delete streaming services (Hulu several years ago) if I'm forced to watch ads.

@@BeachCity AI bros are so cringe and out of touch. We're talking about serious topics that may involve AI but don't revolve around it, and you come in acting like Julius Cesar because you're playing with AI, get over yourself, these things would be going on with or without AI, or you, your majesty 🙄

It was not for a script, but per episode re-airing. So if your show with 10 episodes re-airs, he would get 200.000 normally as a residual. Might be a little less since typically writers focus on certain episodes and don't write the whole show.

Nobody makes that much though. Most ppl have contracts that only let them do one or two scripts. And tv is really different and it’s dominating rn

Holyshit , even in europe ? Which country ?

@@DLCS-2 Germany. I don't think it is so different to anywhere else in this regard. This wouldn't be so bad, but there are rules to limit the number of class hours that can be given to a lecturer at each university (ie: 10 hours), which just means that lecturers need to work for multiple universities to ear a living wage, or land a full-time employment contract. There is a push everywhere to have more adjunct lecturers who are either paid by the lesson, or a lump sum for the semester. This of course changes with actual 'employment.' It's all a load of crap, of course. Many moons ago, I worked at a bookstore in New York (/the/ bookstore, at the flagship location). I was never scheduled for more than... 37.5? (I can't remember the exact number) hours, because any more than that and they would have to give me benefits. That was in the early 2000s. I highly doubt anything has changed for the better anywhere. ... I hope I am wrong.

@@tammyd.970 damn that evil to hire people and not give them benefits

Well, yeah. And capital provides the workers with the means. Without workers, industry is useless and without industry, the workers are useless.

I'm ready for writers strike to end hollywood once and for all made my day man can't wait.

Dont turn up for work and you are fired. How about that? These people are a dime a dozen. Let them take illegal strike action and see how it turns out for them.

Facts!

Neo-Feudalism, in other words. Sci Fi predicted it in the 80's, and here we are.

Well said!

Yep, that's exactly it. Centralized power, that's the problem. Nailed it!

@@shimrrashai-rc8fq centralized power is also the aim of the economic system in the complete other direction though…

​@@acbower4468 Ever heard of Makhnovia?

@@wqsuuhhdrvjj I didnt' say i made bank, i only made "a living" rent/bills. Writer's with stock portfolios are not something I've run across. I bounced over to being a marketing writer/copywriter and now Creative Director. I had to it was the only way to continue writing (if you could call it that...) and paying bills. And now AI is shutting even that down. I've aged out of marketing agency work in person at least anyway i can't brag about the olden days or else i don't get called back!

@@wqsuuhhdrvjj Thank you and i agree. The web has created a new level of apathy that, to cut through it, goes beyond what an AI bot can do. In fact let me coin a whole new phrase to describe it: "Only a real writer can think outside the BOT..."

Seo destroyed the internet, but that what people want, entertainment is the lowest priority for most people, so they like it cheap and that we’re ads comes in but everybody complain about ads, also most shows suck , article are one line or a bunch of paragraph repeating the same thing, RU-vid nowadays is the same they extend the video because longer videos pay more , that why everyone is creating a podcast. Unfortunately in this world is always about the money, everything you find weird or strange in a industry the answer is always money.

@@wqsuuhhdrvjj seo leads to traffic, more traffic mean more ad revenue, with you example of cooking ever go recipes website they are awful. You just need some keywords and your page will rank higher even if the information sucks, google search nowadays is worst than before.

wouldn't that hurt the residuals of the writers?

Hollywood is only destroying itself. I mean you have an industry full of top people that will lecture everyone else about “paying their fair share” while simultaneously, those same people will pack up and film in Toronto or Georgia or anywhere else where they can snag a tax credit… And as production becomes more and more expensive it’s only going to get worse and worse.

They already have.

Hey they can always sell it to Tubi if nobody wants to watch it. Or pay for it anyway. There is a market for content like that you know. People like me that refuse to pay for modern entertainment watch Tubi from time to time. People that pay for streaming services make me sick. What the hell are you watching anyway? Stranger Things? What is wrong with you people?

Which makes no sense 😅

Anglophone Canada has its own Hollywood North.

Won't BC start taxing them then for establishing permanent bases? I don't think the Canadians will want to set a precedent for a foreign business entity evading taxes.

@@Theomite Are the natives of Vancouver in the province of BC tired of Hollywood companies filming a crapload of Spider-Man stuff in their state?

Well that Great PurpleRobe is not entirely accurate. Here in BC ( British Columbia) We do in fact have a union that is indeed connected to the USA unions. We are one and the same. Where things differ would be our labor laws and levels of compensation. But our dues are in part paid to the union in NYC. So yes they have sway.

@@SlapstickGenius23 Well first slapstick Genius, we DONT have states!! We have provinces, and we ARE NOT TIRED of Hollywood companies filming here. We welcome it and we give tax credit for it...

It's gonna make TV weird again

They will outsource to another country that’s cheaper😂

You know a lot of those are people writing their own concepts and then the producers make them use an established IP for brand recognition. It's dumb.

Might?

and do propaganda

You may not realize it but any entertainment that you consume is a form of propaganda and the point of it is not at all to make money. These corporations do not need your money. Thats what you idiots fail to understand. Stepping on the writers isnt about the money. Anyway - what are you even talking about? These worthless writers havent produced anything of value in the last two decades. Why shouldnt so-called AI replace these people? All they really do is cut and paste anyway? Formulas already exist. Templates that make their propaganda very easy to produce. Chatbot could do it easily and probably a lot better too. Its the same when it comes to journalism. Its all very simple. What great art have you been watching anyway? I dare you to name something. You cant can you. Not without feeling embarrassed and knowing that you are being stupid. What? Stranger Things? Walking Dead? Game of Thrones? What have you been watching? What did I miss?

Why wouldn't you stand up for them? They didn't make a whole lot of money before all this. It paid the bills, and for those who also wrote print fiction, it allowed them time to write their own stuff (rather than wait tables or whatever).

@@julietfischer5056 indeed it allows food on the table, ability to pay bills, etc.

@@julietfischer5056 I should've said that "Hollywood writers" had never been on my radar. I believe EVERY worker, no matter the job, should earn a livable salary commiserate with the money their employer rakes in. Not that long ago CEO pay was 12x the average employee salary. It's now ballooned to 300-400+ times! Things have to change. Things will change. The question is whether or not the change will be "peaceful".

@@BeachCity ChatGPT is only the newest invasion of AI into our lives. Imagine a world where the AI is fused with sex bots, robotic police "dogs" (for now), and possibly taking over our "human" jobs nearly entirely. Many knowledgable scientists have warned about this "takeover" for years. Unfortunately, the warnings seem to fall on deaf ears.

@@x5775- And whether that change will be from a massive economic collapse that will drag down the world, or from a revolution that will also affect the world. We're far too interconnected for the economic woes of one nation to not influence others.

HAA!!

oooh then the ai is just reading other ai scripts that don't make any sense! the new writers position during the strike will be trying to make the ai scripts sound less stupid

That is exactly where the studios are going, that is why they are not negotiating. Better to strike sooner than later..

This would not go as well as you'd imagine.

@@BeachCity what is this mind vomit? It's like you asked chat GTP to give a stereotypical right wing troll commemt about Hollywood. There's something sort of resembling an overarching theme, but that's it.

@@BeachCity coming out as what??

The Rings of Power was so bad. I would bet someone good money I could write a better Lord of the Rings show that actually respected Tolkien's legacy and ideas.

Or play some indie games. There some raw gems that are worth playing.

Yet people still defend capitalism and claim it works.

@@BeachCity None of that is true but I'm not going to waste time trying to educate a willfully ignorant stranger. If you wanted to know better you would.

Art was always reliant on someone musicians were beggars, painter need patrons, footballers were poor, so everything is reliant on selling advertising musicians in music video and lyrics, tv ( series,films,tvShows) on product placement and ads in intervals, that why streaming is not profitable, if a 30s ad on Super Bowl costs 7 millions dollars , to make money they need to charge like 50$ a month before a tv show could be on a 1000 channel now only on 5 (if streaming wins).

The actors and actress and directors, producers and the industry is on high alert.

sorry kid this comment will not be picked up for a season of television

Hollywood and the rest of the gangs this is not the time to celebrate this is for real they not playing with at all.

Reruns were imposed on you by networks, streaming you open the app and nothing is playing you choose what you want to watch, also most tv shows made money with ads streaming there’s no ads (I know Netflix is trying an ad model)

@@BeachCity I want my own holodeck too, but I live in the real world. All economic models from socialism to capitalism fail for the same reason. They don't factor in human greed.

@@BeachCity That future you're describing is socialism with automation, or perhaps even communism. There will never be a world where everything is virtually free under capitalism, even if almost all work is automated because business owners will still want to maximize profits. We'll just get paid less and have a larger percentage of unemployed people. The executive class isn't suddenly going to grow a heart then. If somehow what you describe does end up being the case under capitalism, it will only be a local affair, propped up by the continued exploitation of workers in the global south. Something like the current Nordic countries' models.