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Will Streaming Media Lead To A Massive Writer's Strike? (latimes.com)
"A decade ago, Hollywood writers brought the entertainment industry to a standstill when they walked off the job for three months in a dispute over pay for movies and TV shows distributed online," writes the Los Angeles Times. But they're reporting that it may happen again, with the Writers Guild of America now seeking a strike authorization vote from its members.
Streaming services like Netflix and Amazon have transformed Hollywood and contributed to an unprecedented number of quality series being produced -- a phenomenon often described as the new Golden Age of TV. But times haven't been golden for many writers for whom more is now less. Shorter seasons are the new norm, with many series consisting of 10 or fewer episodes on cable and streaming -- less than half the length of traditional seasons on network shows. That has put writers in a financial crunch since many have exclusivity clauses that prevent them from working on multiple shows per season...
"It's getting more and more difficult to make a living as a writer," said John Bowman, a TV writer-producer, and former head of the WGA negotiating committee. Studios are equally dug in as more customers cut the cable cord in favor of streaming options. They're also grappling with a dramatic fall-off in once-lucrative DVD sales and a flattening of attendance at the multiplex. They are releasing fewer titles a year, meaning fewer opportunities for screenwriters... Complicating matters is a lack of transparency. Streaming services operate on subscription models and don't release viewer data, making it difficult to devise a formula for residuals (fees for reruns).
Amazon is a member of the studio alliance, while Netflix "is expected to sign on to an eventual contract." (Though streaming also seems to be hurting the popularity of reruns, which is also reducing the residuals writers receive.) But underscoring the impact of online media, Slashdot reader JustAnotherOldGuy asks, "with all the alternative content available, does anyone care...? Would the writer's strike have any serious impact on your life?"
"It's getting more and more difficult to make a living as a writer," said John Bowman, a TV writer-producer, and former head of the WGA negotiating committee. Studios are equally dug in as more customers cut the cable cord in favor of streaming options. They're also grappling with a dramatic fall-off in once-lucrative DVD sales and a flattening of attendance at the multiplex. They are releasing fewer titles a year, meaning fewer opportunities for screenwriters... Complicating matters is a lack of transparency. Streaming services operate on subscription models and don't release viewer data, making it difficult to devise a formula for residuals (fees for reruns).
Amazon is a member of the studio alliance, while Netflix "is expected to sign on to an eventual contract." (Though streaming also seems to be hurting the popularity of reruns, which is also reducing the residuals writers receive.) But underscoring the impact of online media, Slashdot reader JustAnotherOldGuy asks, "with all the alternative content available, does anyone care...? Would the writer's strike have any serious impact on your life?"
I for one will drop my subscription to Amazon or Netflix if they try to bust the strike with crap.
But I doubt most will so I'm looking forward to reading more since last time reality tv reigned for a decade
A decade ago, I quit watching House MD and various other shows impacted by the strike when they stopped mid season. By the time they came back, I had moved on and didn't care anymore. For big shows, the risk is probably minimal, but for the niche stuff this can be a killer.
You're seeing a massive money shift as people vote with their expenditures, which have to slowly ripple through the thick layers of money and lawyers in Hollywood.
I'm sad for writers that have negotiated bad contracts. A strike will not further their cause.
Money now comes from a different source, the online hegemony. The medium has changed because the delivery system changed, because the old one was leaden and corrupt.
I watched a nice NetFlix produced video tonight on my big screen, which is the place most people can afford to view one, Hollywood and the theater SYNDICATES having made the price of a night at the movies really expensive.
Between Amazon and NetFlix I have most stuff I want to watch, and I didn't have to worry about screaming children, seats, or what the goo is on the seat. I didn't worry about a cable company-- most all of them are universally loathed-- and I could opt out for the same money as opt-ing in if I didn't like the video.
So if you're a writer for TV, get out. You're sailing on a sinking ship.
---- Teach Peace. It's Cheaper Than War.
Not really.. It's a show designed to make people who made fun of nerds in highschool laugh.
Feel bad for these people but nobody ever promised them anything. Hollywood has always been extremely fickle about what it would support and when, and those tastes change all the time. Things go in and out of favor and writers have to cope with that, including periods of starving. OH WELL.
Now, how the audience consumes content and who, exactly, is making it, is changing. We no longer need TV networks to fund content so they can sell ads against it -and THAT is the only reason TV networks bother with shows anyway, to sell ads.
Without TV networks, the content that is funded and produced IS going to be different. The customer is different. If you paint houses and your customers decided they want blue houses and no longer want yellow houses, you as a painter don't get to stomp your feet and demand that people want yellow houses. You paint blue houses or you starve. Pick.
Anyway, the writers are running a huge risk: as the whole distribution model has changed, we may eventually see the writing model change too. Do we really need union writers or could they find freelancers to do it? Of course they could. And with the script to screen path being more streamlined than ever, the union writers are in a precarious position. The client sitting at home won't care who wrote it as long as it is good.
Sig for hire.
The last time hollywood writers went on strike we got a whole lot of unscripted reality TV such as The Apprentice which in turn made Trump a media 'star'. Can't wait to see the unintended consequences of a second strike.
Regards Sinesurfer A Nerd is someone who lives for technology, A Geek is someone who lives for technology and loves it
Television is the big 55" screen I bought a lot cheaper (500 EUR 3 years ago; 1080p) than a monitor.
Link the laptop to the big screen and you have a much nicer experience. Or you can use the TV directly or indirectly to other divices. Plenty of options.
To me television is just a word for "cheap bigass monitor".
Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
Nah, the problem is that primarily in order to get higher base wage rates per episode/weekly across the board, the unions fucked themselves over with exclusivity contracts that don't allow writers to work for more than one show at once. With shorter seasons they're making 1/2-2/3s of what they were making when the contracts were designed. Course, had they been paying attention to the internet and the pattern emergin in HBO et al, they would have known that was a bad idea, but I digress.