More from Hollywood’s strikes are over
Since last week the AMPTP has been working on a counter offer that the Writers Guild of America might actually agree with. It’s unclear if the studios succeeded, but according to Bloomberg the latest offer includes giving writers more insight into streaming metrics and a guarantee that AI can’t be credited in penning screenplays.
The WGA has been in strike since May 2.
Yesterday Bloomberg reported on what might be some of the most fascinating news around the contract negotiations in Hollywood right now: the names of the 12 studio execs meeting weekly to work out the AMPTP’s bargaining positions.
According to Bloomberg these 12 execs are: David Zaslav (Warner Bros. Discovery), Ted Sarandos (Netflix), Jen Salke and Mike Hopkins (Amazon), Zack Van Amburg and Jamie Erlicht (Apple), Donna Langley (NBCUniversal), Tony Vinciquerra (Sony Pictures), Brian Robbins and George Cheeks (Paramount), Dana Walden and Alan Bergman (Disney).
You might have noticed Bob Iger is missing from that list, but Bloomberg says he’s apparently started attending recently.
[Bloomberg.com]
In a move highlighted by Hollywood’s ongoing strikes and reports of unsustainable working conditions during the production of Across the Spider-Verse, a supermajority of the more than 50 people in Marvel Studios’ visual effects crews signed cards saying they want to be represented by the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE).
Vulture reports they’re seeking an election as soon as August 21st.
For almost half a century, workers in the visual effects industry have been denied the same protections and benefits their coworkers and crewmates have relied upon since the beginning of the Hollywood film industry. This is a historic first step for VFX workers coming together with a collective voice demanding respect for the work we do.
In an earnings call on Monday, Paramount CEO Bob Bakish said the company will rely on its slate of international content, fall sports, and completed productions, such as Killers of the Flower Moon, to get through the double Hollywood strikes:
From a content perspective, we’re in pretty good shape, it all comes down to duration. We’re hopeful that as an industry, we can solve this sooner rather than later because we’d all like to get back into the content production business.
Paramount Plus gained a modest 700,000 subscribers during the past three months following a wave of price hikes and the addition of a new Showtime tier. The company also announced that it agreed to sell Simon and Schuster to the private equity group KKR.
While Hollywood’s ongoing double labor strike has exposed the studios’ willingness to see the workers who help create their profits become destitute, Warner Bros. Discovery also wants investors to know that it’s saved more than $100 million in Q2 because of the work stoppage.
Said WBD head David Zaslav:
“We’re in the business of storytelling. We cannot do any of that without the entirety of the creative community, the great creative community.”
So true, David. So true.
With no movement on resolving Hollywood’s strikes by actors and writers, the third animated Spider-Man movie, Beyond the Spider-Verse is going from March 29th, 2024 (a date now filled by the sequel to Ghostbusters: Afterlife) to entirely unscheduled.
Gran Turismo will have a “sneak peek” launch on its previously scheduled August 11th date, but plans for more showings have been pushed back to the 25th.
Kraven the Hunter was set for October 6th and has been pushed back to August 30th, 2024, while Venom 3 now has a release date of July 12th, 2024, and fellow Spider-Man spinoff Madame Web moved up two days to February 16th.
In this video, I talk about how the strikes have increased Netflix’s free cash flow, and what they may mean for new movies and TV shows going forward.
Also, has SAG-AFTRA answered anyone’s emails?
During Netflix’s earnings call on Wednesday, co-CEO Ted Sarandos opened with a statement about the writers’ and actors’ strike:
You should know that nobody here nobody within the AMPTP... took any of this lightly. But we’ve got a lot of work to do. There have a handful of complicated issues. We’re super committed to getting to an agreement as soon as possible — one that’s equitable, and one that enables the the industry and everybody in it to move forward into the future.
The AMPTP still isn’t budging on the conditions that writers and actors want, including higher streaming residuals and protections surrounding the use of AI.
Netflix says it expects a free cash flow of at least $5 billion in 2023 — $1.5 billion more than its original $3.5 billion estimate, citing the “ongoing WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes,” but noting there could be “lumpiness” moving to 2024.
The strikes have already shut down several Netflix productions, including Stranger Things, Big Mouth, Emily in Paris, and more.
The Screen Actors Guild went on strike over major studios’ refusal to meet their demands for a two percent cut of streaming revenue and a 230 percent increase in foreign streaming residuals, among others, according to Variety.
On studios’ use of generative AI and actors’ digital likenesses, Variety writes:
The union wants to require that a performer has to consent to any use of their performance to train an AI system. The AMPTP would accept that for AI training used to alter or recreate that performer’s likeness. But according to Crabtree-Ireland, the AMPTP would give studios carte blanche to train AI systems to create “synthetic” performers, or for other purposes.
SAG-AFTRA also wants studios to get union consent on individual uses of AI, which the studios have refused to grant. There is also the dispute over background actors.
With both writers and actors on strike, the future of Hollywood is at stake.
Two out of the big three Hollywood labor unions are on strike, citing streaming and AI as major issues, and actors are starting to picket offices for companies like Warner Bros., Netflix, and Amazon. This screengrab from CNBC captures the initial reaction of Wall Street.
