I started questioning his idea once he said "anyone can create a streaming platform". There are alot of very big companies spending enormous amounts of money trying to be (or stay) relevant in the streaming wars. Saying you'll create a platform, growing it, and retaining subscribers enough to become profitable is easier said than done.
Exactly! Anyone can create a youtube channel or a website or social media page with content, but then you have to count on that site or channel or page to take off in order to get noticed. Due to the algorithm on youtube, that can be difficult.
I’m an animator from Canada, and our entire industry was shut down (and basically still is) because of this strike. Nothing in Canada happens without the backing of Hollywood. And I for one have always thought we should start our own Hollywood, and stop relying on the fat cats that currently hold the $$. But no one seems to want to take that step… Hurry up and crush these bastards, we need to pay our bills up here!
If it's 100% non political content it could work. People are looking for alternatives and are sick of Hollywood. In the past the artists entertainend the audience, now the audience has to please the artists, or else they are [insert insult}
The internet also probably helped kill that reality TV strategy. Social media wasn't what it is today back in 2008. You can get a constant barrage of trashy drama content, for free, across UA-cam, Twitter and TikTok nowadays. No one really **needs** reality TV for their fix anymore.
the ones that end up watching reality tv end up being those that aren't on social media or the internet that much...that's whats keeping the few alive.
Boy! Is this guy CLUELESS! He mocks the Producers relying on “Reality TV” as passe and praises series like “Breaking Bad” but completely misses WOKEwood where Cancel Culture no longer “allows” entertainment and pushes Socialist Soviet Party MESSAGING and tanked all shows and movies that embraced propaganda… Producers are making more money buying Treasury Bills! So why did they settle? Simple. The writers accepted MORE writers per “successful” show… and less shows… net loss of jobs. And Producers “gave up” on AI - which they didn’t want anyway because they could not copyright their work - and gave that to the “writers” so that writers could use AI - lack any copyright to that content - and pass it on to the Producers who could then copyright what the “writers” gave them… No one could credit writers with being the brightest bulbs in the chandelier of celebrity. (And he’s so “grateful” to the actors for joining the strike… then the writers settled and hung the actor out to dry!)
An entire generation has grown up not watching network TV, because there's always more stuff on UA-cam. The suits just greedheaded away their industry's future.
What's more is that writers currently have that shared pain, but when the next generation comes up without that common struggle, their empathy will take a hit and we'll be back where we started.
I kept laughing listening to this guy talk about how they are really in charge. Lmao. Writers and actors have been saying this for decades and decades. Ok let’s see them try to start their own Netflix. Lmao
This is so encouraging!!! I remember Prince did this with sales of his tickets. He cut out Ticketmaster. I mean, when people realize they can do things themselves, real changes can and does happen! Very cool video!
I disagree, I didn’t notice the strike on Netflix at all. New shows were the same low-quality shows that were coming out before. My viewing habits didn’t change. I continue to watch older things.
Boy! Is this guy CLUELESS! He mocks the Producers relying on “Reality TV” as passe and praises series like “Breaking Bad” but completely misses WOKEwood where Cancel Culture no longer “allows” entertainment and pushes Socialist Soviet Party MESSAGING and tanked all shows and movies that embraced propaganda… Producers are making more money buying Treasury Bills! So why did they settle? Simple. The writers accepted MORE writers per “successful” show… and less shows… net loss of jobs. And Producers “gave up” on AI - which they didn’t want anyway because they could not copyright their work - and gave that to the “writers” so that writers could use AI - lack any copyright to that content - and pass it on to the Producers who could then copyright what the “writers” gave them… No one could credit writers with being the brightest bulbs in the chandelier of celebrity. (And he’s so “grateful” to the actors for joining the strike… then the writers settled and hung the actor out to dry!)
@@TheGeoDaddydo you watch those videos of nerds sitting infront of 1,000 action figures that call ever avengers and starwars woke because of black characters and female Characters
Netflix just reported earnings. They added 8,760,000 subscribers in the last three months. The company beat estimates in every category and the stock soared in after hours trading. Meanwhile, UA-cam accounted for 8.5% of total TV viewing while Netflix was a close second at 7.9%. What reality TV was to the previous strike, the creator economy of UA-cam and social media may be becoming the new reality TV of this strike.
@@HelloMisterJAMWAH There are said to be an estimated 100,000,000 (100 million) shared subscribers. The 8.76 million is part of that crack down. In other words, it is likely there are still more new subscribers in the coming months who are part of the shared password crack down.
@@filmcourage It might also be interesting to add, the strikes are actually financially forcing the studios and networks into exploring AI options for future programs. Hindsight may look at this actors strike as the catalyst into using AI generated characters who the studios and networks own rights to to make shows. Nvidia stock's success with their AI GPU chips can be viewed as an attestment to this. (Nvidia makes the GPU chips for ChatGPT). Thank you for making such interesting videos @filmcourage!
@@HelloMisterJAMWAH yes, there are an estimated 100 million shared subscribers and the expectation is that a large percentage will pay for their own subscription. Thus, the stock price closed on Oct. 18, 2023 at $346 a share and after the earnings report, the stock soared in after hours trading to $390 a share and has continued to climb higher since.
The "Creative Collective" Corey pitches at the end, is more or less how PIXAR worked under John Lasseter during its most successful years. I was fortunate to experience that environment-- and compared to working under typical studio executives who are MBA and Lawyer drones it was gloriously freeing. I hope it happens.
Yup, in theory the concept is spot on: Those who run the farm should have their hands dirty. It's not perfect but at least it would bring actual nuts-and-bolts experience to the table, both technical *and* creative, and not the detached "meet arbitrary deadline, fix it in post, throw most of the budget at the star power behind the voice acting, invest in transitory tech that overworks the crew" that we see now. If those in charge have never experienced the pain, they shouldn't be directly involved in the game. Email chains, Excel spread sheets and endless conference room meetings are a part of the production pipeline, but they're not the main draw for an audience.
the MBA and Lawyer drones are the true root problem. there was a time that UA-cam was so fresh, but you can feel it going more stale everyday as all the old staff from the cable television world eventually find their way into the new social media boardrooms
Boy! Is this guy CLUELESS! He mocks the Producers relying on “Reality TV” as passe and praises series like “Breaking Bad” but completely misses WOKEwood where Cancel Culture no longer “allows” entertainment and pushes Socialist Soviet Party MESSAGING and tanked all shows and movies that embraced propaganda… Producers are making more money buying Treasury Bills! So why did they settle? Simple. The writers accepted MORE writers per “successful” show… and less shows… net loss of jobs. And Producers “gave up” on AI - which they didn’t want anyway because they could not copyright their work - and gave that to the “writers” so that writers could use AI - lack any copyright to that content - and pass it on to the Producers who could then copyright what the “writers” gave them… No one could credit writers with being the brightest bulbs in the chandelier of celebrity. (And he’s so “grateful” to the actors for joining the strike… then the writers settled and hung the actor out to dry!)
Listening to him, I get the impression that the audience’s opinion doesn’t mater. My take is that the Film/TV Industry is headed for a “financial correction” because Hollywood forgot that the customers opinion maters most of all. Further, the shiver for Hollywood should come when looking at the Neilson/Samba ratings
Boy! Is this guy CLUELESS! He mocks the Producers relying on “Reality TV” as passe and praises series like “Breaking Bad” but completely misses WOKEwood where Cancel Culture no longer “allows” entertainment and pushes Socialist Soviet Party MESSAGING and tanked all shows and movies that embraced propaganda… Producers are making more money buying Treasury Bills! So why did they settle? Simple. The writers accepted MORE writers per “successful” show… and less shows… net loss of jobs. And Producers “gave up” on AI - which they didn’t want anyway because they could not copyright their work - and gave that to the “writers” so that writers could use AI - lack any copyright to that content - and pass it on to the Producers who could then copyright what the “writers” gave them… No one could credit writers with being the brightest bulbs in the chandelier of celebrity. (And he’s so “grateful” to the actors for joining the strike… then the writers settled and hung the actor out to dry!)
The one major thing i noticed. He said the creatives, but not the people who watch the shit. Either way, both business men and creatives live or die by our fat stacks of cash. They better make some good shit.
Tons of creative stuff out there… tons of commercial crap 💩 that’s churned out to sell either soda, cars, or the Giverment that has bankrupt the country but wants good PR But - as said - if people aren’t PAYING to watch it - turns to shit - whether HollyWOKE or the Bolshevik “Socialist Realism” that inspired it! And all the writers and actors and directors and producers will be as remembered as the apparatchiks that staged pageants for King What’s-his-face.
That was an expertly told 10 minute story about the strike, embellished with relevant backstory, intrigue, foreshadowing, motive, stakes, antagonists and pay off, not just a breakdown of events.
@@filmcourage I spent 20 years in the technical publication industry, and after retiring began to fulfill a promise, I made myself, to teach myself how to write fiction. Writing was a part of that 20 year career, and I came to realize that all communication is storytelling, from love letters to technical manuals. We read things because we want to pay off, we watch this video because we wanted the pay off, to learn what’s the moral of the story is, what’s the lesson is we need to learn. The core principle that Cory is trying to present is trust; trust between the writers, the actors, the directors and the producers. The problem with the narrative is this: psychiatrist and psychologist have determined that in any civilization, regardless of religion, economics, geography or race there are five essential elements, foundations, or pillars, call him what you will. These pillars are care, fairness, sanctity, authority, and loyalty. Those on the political left only value the first two: care and fairness. They view sanctity as superstitious suppression of women’s rights. They see authority as tyranny and loyalty, as leading to bigotry and exclusion. Sanctity is the agreement that there is ultimate truth on which we base moral/ethical behavior. Where truth is relative, ethics and morality are negotiable, not stable. Where there is no authority any group, system, company, or country, becomes chaotic. Without loyalty. Trust is fragile and easily broken. The narrator couch is his hope and trust it is, I think, somewhat for Lauren. If you believe in an Ultimate Truth, you have a basis for trust. If you don’t, then you believed you were the product of evolution, survival of the fittest, in which altruism and trust have no basis in survival. Ultimately, it is every man for himself. Ethics, morality, have no part in it; a gentleman’s agreement, and this one either party decides to no longer be a gentleman.
As someone working in post production making Netflix documentaries I can tell you for a fact that you cannot 'make your own content'. It takes a lot of technical knowledge to make those shows suitable for distribution. You simply cannot just do it out of your own bedroom- it’s EXPENSIVE!
Exactly. This guy is not living in reality. There's a reason studios exist. Average Joe can't live off of no-budget indie arthouse stuff, which is what this guy seems to think is what everyone wants.
Yes, I Made my first feature with 25K, and I’ve Seen Great Films With That Budget but That Takes Dedication from Talent and Crew Because Aint No One Living Off 25K Budgeted Film.
Anyone can make an online media platform, yes. But, not everyone can make it work well on a technical level. I hope some artists get together and make a good one.
He's wrong. Just like anyone can write a TV show. It's just as much work and creativity to code those systems up as it is to write a show. The platforms have to keep updating it as well.
Get the right celebs behind them, and they can definitely fund a decent streaming platform. Something like Nebula and Curiosity Stream are good examples of that.
@@darkhighwayman1757 I think his point was that the studio system was the traditional gatekeeper to wide distribution, but now any company could put together its own service on the internet, and potential reach a huge audience.
If you're a creative or writer pls read this: 1. First, just know this guy clearly has ZERO idea on what it takes to run a Tech Operation as large and as global as Netflix. I would bet donuts to dollars Netflix has at least (at least) 50 data centers around the world. And at least 2K of every type of engineer you can think of (security, dB, dev, FE, BE) to maintain their platform. The other major streamers run the same way but just on a smaller scale which is still saying something. These apps need to be built, maintained, enhanced, tested each requires technical expertise and coordination. He clearly has never worked in business or would not speak so cavalier about what it takes. 2. If you could you would. Also just know that the studios signed the agreement, with the full intent of just hiring few writers. That's their strategy. By 2030 the dues paying WGA memberships will have shrunk by at least 50%, with most writing being done by AI-contractors. Who produce the initial drafts and tighten it up to sell to studios. You'll see. 3. If he thinks VC funds, hedge funds or wealth funds are going to throw hundreds of millions of dollars at a big name showrunner just b/c they want to start a platform that pays writers fairly he's crazy. Again he doesn't actually KNOW anyone who runs money. He's just talking out his ass and it sounds fine to the viewers of this channel who are mostly creative and don't know any better. Sure "Showrunner XYZ" can easily raise $100M. So let's say a show runner does raise...who has he just gotten into bed with? Suits...that's who! The same ppl you all are trying to escape you've just let into your "artist friendly" company. And what is that suit gonna do? He's gonna put his ppl on the board, in key positions and you're gonna be back where you started. The internet is a great place. Film Courage is a decent channel. But if you're reading this please know that David Zaslav, Teddy Sarandos, Bob Iger, etc aren't caricatures. These are real businessmen with real skills that are hard to find or replicate. Reducing what they do to a "suit" or saying "anyone can do it" just shows your ignorance on how business works. Like I said "if you could, you would" there's a reason that during an almost half-year strike, not one writer of merit announced he was leaving the union to start his own shop. Because he can't. He doesn't have the money, the know-how, the team, the vision, the discipline, to do what businessmen do.
Perhaps I’ve misunderstood but the model Mr. Mandell is describing is basically this model-UA-cam. Tens, more likely hundred of thousands of creators struggling to raise enough money to to make their films and what might be called TV shows and then struggling again as they try to find an audience in the chaos of abundance. The distinction between amateur and professional might wither more than it has already. The current masters of the art have all made their reputations and gained their significant leverage in the OLD system, including Taylor Swift. It will be interesting to see if the future will be the one conjured here and whether that future will be as splendid as this piece supposes. I hope so for all our sakes.
Indeed a big name like Taylor Swift makes money for a studio, that studio can afford to give a chance to a unknown artist. It's lack of profit that makes them go for more of the same just to be safe. So Taylor Swift doing it alone is bad for the smaller artists.
UA-cam is almost all amateur writers, directors, and actors - and I use those terms very loosely. What he is describing in an online version of Pixar, Dreamworks, or United Artist. Professionals working for the art. 😎
Yes. I cancelled satellite TV and just watch lots of YT. Surprisingly I still pick up about 11 broadcast stations (I inherited the family farm house and have a 20 foot antenna!). But I only watch when something's wrong with my computer. I was born in 1952. You bought a TV, plugged it in, fiddled with the rabbit ears, and received great content. The ads paid the expenses for the program creators. WE weren't charged. I'll be da**ed if I'll pay subscription channel services. Oh, I also read. A lot.
A lot of the reality tv programming dates back to the 2000 actors' strike, not the writers' strike. Even competition shows like AGT and X-Factor predate the writers' strike.
He wasn't saying that they started with the writer's strike, he's saying that they could lean in on it to butt the impact of the strike. Which they did.
Great interview, very enlightening. I hope his predictions about the industry come true. Edit: In my 25 year career in the animation industry, I have heard animators say "We should start our own studio!", countless times. In almost every studio, on almost every production, at some point, when things get frustrating, that phrase is said. But it never happens, because artists are not business people. Which is why I think it is important for any school teaching film, animation schools, writing schools, acting schools, any film making course, should include classes on the business aspect of the industry. It would empower the artists.
Exactly this, it's also why I hate that people praise the whole 'starving artist' thing, it's such bullshit. You don't have to starve to make good art. You can make money and make good art.
On the other hand Image comics were birthed by artists vying for more rights and pay from the largest studios and while Images comics didn't replace the old guard, it did impact the industry.
Artists are going to be artists n businessmen are going to be businessmen. There can be some crossover but people can only spread themselves so thin. I don't want Beethoven having to hock his records on a streetcorner; I need him writing symphonies. Know what we need is for businessmen to wake up and stop being so shortsighted. We need businesses to reteach the ideas of long-standing relationships and good business built on trust, instead of an economy of exploitation. We need a qualitative approach to our products instead of a quantitative approach to our bottom line, if for no other reason than because good products will actually sell.
@@scoutwithoutclout what we really need is for businessmen to know their place as facilitators. they are not at the top of the hierarchy, they should not own everything, they should not be making or controlling artistic decisions. They should be doing what the art needs them to do.
Regarding the comment in the video "anyone can make a streaming platform" or "we don't need them (eg. Netflix)" - please do not underestimate how much technology, coding, data storage, tech support, and cloud data center infrastructure cost that is required to run a gigantic streaming platform like Netflix, and give users a great experience for streaming the video content. There is a big difference in streaming platform quality between Netflix, HBO, Disney+, Hulu, Peacock, etc. If you want to "build the delivery platform yourself" that's fine, just don't go into it with beer goggles on and think anyone can do it well. The key word is "well", it is possible to make a crappy streaming platform (like Peacock), but to build a top flight streaming platform like Netflix is no small feat of software & data engineering. And no, I do not work for Netflix or any other streaming platform, but I do know about these huge cloud data platforms, and trust me that a ton of work goes into them in order to create & support them to give a superior and reliable customer experience, so that your customers will stay with your service.
I don't see the existing streaming companies continuing for much longer since they spend a lot of money for little reward. They'll probably sort things out into two or three like Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon. All the others will shut down or not have new releases, so you'd be paying to watch old stuff from "the vault." I gather if something independent is desired, people will pay to watch it on iTunes. The studios are actually hurting themselves by putting movies on streaming so quickly. If it's not making money in the theater, then digital download is the next step like pay-per-view used to be. But by not delaying it for months like they used to do for video rentals, this encourages people to NOT see it in theaters, but wait a few weeks for "free" streaming.
However, there are many distribution channels and existing technology that is already in circulation. I mean, I hate to borrow from the porn industry, but their artists took control of their own brand. The room is there.
A quality platform is required. Netflix has a great platform, D+ has great content but a horrid platform. Yes, not just anybody can build the platform - but a good coding team is easier to find than good writers, directors, and actors. It can certainly be done, and I hope they do it. 😎
All these actors and writers can go make independent movies anytime they want. But it’s a lot more work at a fraction of the pay. I can’t see anyone in Hollywood actually doing that. Which is why at the end of the day the studios are the ones who actually won.
I kind of felt the same thing myself--that eventually the creatives will self organize to bypass studios. But the one problem is--where do they get the financing from?
The same people who invest in the studios Return on investment = return. Shareholders don’t care if their profit comes from an MFA or an MBA, they just want to see the happy little arrows climb up the graph
@@corpsefoot758hmm not working out to well for Terry Gilliam. Between himself and a lifetime of friends and industry contacts he can't even raise $30 million.
The big name actors and plus guys Like Tyler Perry and others who own studios can be the backbone plus just helping each Other all it takes is one good movie in the theaters you get money after that if split well you can Do Quite well.
In order to bypass the studios, any group of creatives will need to offer higher returns that people could get through the studios. So, despite what the guy in the video said, artist-owned studios will need to be MORE focused on profit than the big studios.
When she asked that after getting rid of the studios, won't that eventually give rise to another hierarchy, another studio essentially, he basically gave a very long winded answer that said, "It'll be different this time. Pinky promise." Sure it will. That's what they all say.
There’s a massive difference in what he’s describing and what the current model is. Hollywood executives were once creatives themselves at some point those top spots were overrun buy businessmen who were never creatives making decisions for shareholders. Hes speaking on a return to creatives looking after or at very least being curious enough to give other creatives a shot.
@@TimoRutanen Yeah, it works fine for smaller projects, but as those scale up to budgets that can break a small production company, studio, or streamer, it starts to break down. The problem now is that many investors have realized that most of these streaming platforms are not going to be profitable anytime soon, if ever unless they have a cheap library of pre-existing films and TV shows that is interesting enough to keep someone from cancelling their subscription until the next season of their show comes around to binge or you have an exclusive on some film they really want to watch, so they must subscribe to your service or rent or buy the media file or get a physical DVD. So getting the money to start up a streaming platform is increasingly hard to come by, and anyone investing a large sum will want to see professional managers running accounting, finance, marketing, etc. and will start making demands of the creatives that no longer own the majority of shares in their company or owe a creditor a lot more than their capital investment is worth. Sooner or later that creative CEO is going to get told to do something like hire a "name" writer or director or star, and when he doesn't he will get pushed out or resign.
@@TimoRutanen Look at Anime studios, they are entirly artist driven and come into existence and disolve/fade as artists move on. This is the kind of model which allows for artistic flourishing. Finance and Distribution are done by other companies, but they don't touch the creative aspects.
United Artists was formed in 1919. United Artists didn't produce films but did help finance and release independent producer's movies. Profit and loss still mattered.
80% of movies lose money, and 50-60% of startups fail within the first five years. Two of my friends in college started making movies almost 30 years ago. They had very little experience on the creative side, but they understood very early on that they needed to take control of distribution. When their poorly-made films started turning a profit right away, they received hate from other indie filmmakers whose arthouse films failed to break even. Many other content creators tried to replicate this and failed miserably, while a handful succeeded. Why? Those of us in creative fields know that it always has and always will be a pay-to-play industry. If you're not lucky enough for one of your first films to turn a profit, you'll end up stuck in that 80% while your money runs out. The people who have the funding and business expertise will usually beat the content creators who don't. The concept of an artist commanding their own distribution is as old as the industry itself. The problem is that most don't have the business smarts to do it. The few who hire that skilled business man usually find success. But that business man will inevitably become large and powerful enough to be one of the very people the writers were striking against.
@@yaimavol There was time, decades ago, when being a Hollywood insider was necessary, but that's not the case anymore. Also, what one considers to be successful is subjective. There are plenty of indie filmmakers making decent livings who wouldn't have had much of a chance in the 90s. Many more editing tools exist to create your own projects on a low budget. Platforms like UA-cam enable publication of your work to millions, without even bothering with distribution. And the smaller streaming services now accept more micro-budget projects. That said, only a small percentage of indie creators manage to turn a profit. The few who make it are the ones who end up selling their work before they run out of money.
@@yaimavol I know EXACTLY what so-called club you are referring to, and I'm not about to get into that type of conversation in a public forum. They've been called Hollywood insiders longer than you and I have been around. In 2023, you can have a successful career in film without ever being a part of a “club” or even doing business with Hollywood. The independent industries in Atlanta and other cities have consistently been proof of that.
Considering the non-stop slop that has been the majority of TV and film for the last 10 years, I think he is severely over estimating the importance of the "professional" writers and downplaying the importance of studio and streaming infrastructure.
"We don't need Netflix" is the rationale behind abandoning the HBO brand, "anyone can distribute programming." Oh really? Just try it. Taylor Swift did it, but the rest of us aren't Taylor Swift. We need the streaming platforms, and Netflix is still #1.
I started questioning when he said that the generals look at (how they fought) the last war and do that (true), and that usually works (almost never true).
I didn't listen to him because I was more interested in the comments. However, he actually said that about generals and wars? If there is one thing war history teaches, its that those who fight the last wars methods either adjust or lose. This guy is a total nutcracker, but typical of modern Hollywood writers who have no talent.
There is a litmus test for writers now and Woke is a pre-req. It's totally killed the comic book industry, but they keep cranking out the woke garbabe. They don't care if they make money anymore. The message is more important
@@yaimavol Comic books have always been "woke:. Where else did you get people with power fighting for the underrepresented and the underclass like comic books? Have you ever f-ing READ X-Men?
@@GregPrice-ep2dk LOL, yeah, Kirby and Lee were so woke. And evidently Claremont is so woke, he gets cancelled by nut jobs due to comments at a convention. Fighting underdogs is not equivalent to 'woke.' Pointing out the hypocrisy of power structures is not the equivalent of 'woke.'
@@GregPrice-ep2dkSorry pal. Incorrect. They were not woke; though they had a voice, they used that voice as a medium to raise ideas and thoughts, much like comedy. Comedy is being crucified right now for having people think, sadly, when an idiot takes on a person whose profession is wit, that idiot will lose every time. Comics were never woke; they were a tool for education, much like comedy. Sadly, though, comics were welcoming to sub-par, half-baked wanna-be activists. They do not make for good writers. Realists do.
@@TheThrashingBurton You have to separate the question of quality from that of content. I agree many of the modern writers are subpar. That makes it an issue of the writers being bad, not that the story content is too "woke" because it includes more than cis-het wh*te dudes and dudettes build like p*rn stars.
Why are there so many horribly written shows today? I was just watching some early episodes of Norman Lear’s All in the Family (Archie Bunker). My goodness, the quality of the writing is far better than most things I see today.
Well, when I actually paid attention to the strike, I was wondering if after the strike we are going to get better stories on better shows? After listening to this, the answer is no. Oh well, it's a good thing there are good movies and shows from other parts of the world. These guys need to compete globally and lt's face it, the product quality from outside the U.S. has gotten a lot better over the years. Different perspectives, different shows, a plethora of choices.
Yes! I love having access on Netflix to shows from all over the world - for the first time ever. I see the guy talking about Netflix killing Blockbuster Video - duh? They were expensive and dreadful back in the day. Awful range of stock. Three videos for the same cost as a month of Netflix - no contest.
Someone said we recently had low-quality or badly-written movies, so the writer's strike was coming at the worst time. But it's based on contract renewal, I'm told, not just when they feel like taking a stand. But it's not the writers who green-light badly-written movies; studios and producers do it. Perhaps it's because they paid a writer a million dollars that they feel they have to make something out of the script, even if it's still not what they want or it has flaws?
Correction. Taylor swift is not the first to self distribute her movie. Master P did that way back in the 90s because the studios didnt want to distribute his movie for reasons im sure is pretty obvious
I love how boomers in industry's outside of tech think all this tech stuff Netflix does is soooo easy and they could totally do themselves, this is totally underestimating what it takes to run a digital platform.
I think the biggest issue here is that people are sick of bad films, bad shows, and it all comes down to bad writing. Usually this is most often referred to Hollywood content. Now, filmmaking is a collaboration, so who's fault is a bad end result? I can't really say, but I do know I can't feel 100% empathy towards Hollywood writers at the moment. Also I live in the Europe, so these things don't affect us that much... Sorry, let me rephrase; there are other countries producing wonderful films outside the US, so go and see them! ;-)
Do more research on the US filmmaking process before forming an opinion. Writers have to write what they’re told to by the studios that hire them. And big studios with greedy CEOs only want to produce what makes the most money not what’s the most original or best quality. Hence the endless sequels and reboots, it’s literally not the writers fault at all.
@@adamjuneau6287 historically these types of recycled shows/movies have made money for decades, it's only pretty recently that the same old formulas have stopped working because people are finally getting tired and have stopped watching. Hopefully this will lead to the shift the industry needs.
@@adamjuneau6287They are making money. Don't believe movie studio accounting, most of it is a money laundering or a corporate theft front. However, most of the streaming services aren't making money, which is a different issue.
@@voicedbird Nah I think US writers probably suck more than foreign writers, just based on the low level of education and the slow death of creativity in the US over the last forty years.
Yes, and he only seems to be considering the reality TV element of subscription cancellations, which makes no sense. He forgets that subscription cancellations on platforms are also (if not the major reason) due to mediocre content, not to mention the identity politics that have driven audiences away.
I don't wanna crush anything here! I just have a question. Am I right that all of this great statement is based on hope and believing in the 'own and only' strength of writers and creators? What if AI is making its way further up (it will) and the studios start to handle it by themselves - and I think this just happens now. Do anyone really believe that they are not capable to handle it by themselves? Or - do anybody really believe that writers will not work for them and help to handle it? Does the audience really see the difference between great content and 'greatest' content? We all know that this / our industry delivers mainly entertainment on different levels. I have no doubt that they can deliver it by themselves - or in alliance with (even very good) writers, who change to this model of business. The why is simple. Because they have the money, because it's their business and they don't let it go to some other side. I am a German writer and former producer. I know both sides. I wish the old times will never end - but I think they do. And - to make a big leap into the future where all the creatives try to find their own ways, because they think they are the only ones who can deliver greatest content... Well: It will be a bitter war for attention. Please have in mind that this is a question, not a judgment day- even I put some fire on it!!! WE writers have a lot of power, YES for sure, but this upcoming thing is going to be more complex then betting on and believing in another and more self driven model. That's what's going on in my mind at the moment. Thanks for reading and maybe answering something! All the best to all of you! And, by the way, thanks for MAKING and sharing all this content on this wonderful channel! It's one of my daily routines to start the day with!
30 years IATSE who has supported WGA and SAG-AFTRA: God bless you all and may you get the deals you deserve, but the line between above-the-line and below-the-line is still in effect, as far as we know. I eagerly await the full-throated support from your guild when the riff-raff of the IATSE crew union are fighting our battles on the picket lines next year. We were there for you all, but I will fall down dead in shock if one actor or writer honors an IATSE picket line in 2024.
creative minds are really only good at one thing, which is creating content. Asking a creative mind to be a producer is like asking an engineer to preform open heart surgery, they are completely different fields of work. Producer establish the connections and funding needed to get project off the ground, not mentions keeping projects on track, making tough decisions, and insuring everyone invested in the project is happy. you can believe that writers will be capable of all of that sure but its not exactly best practice, you want your writers to focused on writing not running the show.
This reminds me of Image Comics in te 90s. The creators left Marvel/DC to make their own thing and it was a huge success. I'd love to see this happening for the entertainment industry.
The difference is that those guys actually understood what the audience wanted and they were willing and able to give it to them. The Hollywood fart sniffers are too detached from the real world and the audience to know what they want, and they are too arrogant to give it too them even if they knew. They will do exactly what the clowns at Marvel and DC comics have been doing and push out more of the same woke garbage that has been failing for the last few years, and then they will be all dismayed when it crashes and burns.
Image Comics wasn’t a huge success. It fractured. They had a horrible time delivering their comics on time and some titles never really finished at all. Basically the founders wound up competing with each other for resources. Never really worked out.
@corpsefoot758 I would say the executives also have a part to play in these strikes as well. From demanding writers to write shitty shows at times to not understanding the audience.
@@MrDJFlyHi They’re directly responsible in many cases, yes. If not most There is no writer whose shoddy work gets greenlit without an exec in the driver’s seat, for example
It's more nuanced than that. It's writers not being given enough time, or someone rewriting someone else's script without ever talking to them. And then testing the movie, and overreacting to the audience to make changes. It's also become a marketing strategy to antagonise the audience to generate buzz online.
@corpsefoot758 I would some of the writers themselves have caused the mess themselves by not respecting the source material....best example the witcher series by netflix. The writers have always hated the source material and wanted to take "creative liberties," but Henry cavil, who was a big big fan of the series couldn't agree with these changes as he was a huge fan of the series.
No one I know, NO ONE, cares about the strike and are starting realize the content (TV, film, etc) has been so bad the last ten+ years because they've been comparing the more recent creations with those of decades past and the quality difference is astounding. I hope all this mess ends with better content creation. That's the best consumers can hope for.
This applies to ALL industries. The workers don't need the employers. The workers can be the owners. Every worker added to the ranks lightens the burden for everyone.
I remember when Netflix first came to Ireland, making some really great content and very excited to see what they would make next. In no way feel that way about it now. Interesting point about pitting artists against each other. Apparently the Oscars was made for the same reason and that about as relevant as my old socks.
Netflix wasn’t even making content until 8-9 years ago. Netflix was just online Blockbuster. Today Netflix puts out better content than it did in the beginning. But it also puts out a ton of crap.
Like others have said, platforms and distribution are hard. It's not something that artists learnt to do, and more importantly, that's not what they want to be doing, because it's tedious and business only. The story about Trilogy is great though, because it shows that former writers or artists who do get into productions don't forget where they come from and protect their own. I simply hope this is not a weird exception and that the pattern can repeat itself.
@@obcane3072 That's silly. If distributors created one Taylor Swift they shouldn't have a problem creating another, or maybe a hundred. The truth is, distributors have no idea how to create success. If they did, there would be no marketing failures.
@MrDJFlyHi true, but I've worked for companies that invest in their employees and treat them like people and others who just use people. The companies that were the former were all better off financially and internally. Trick is, you have to define what healthy culture is and remove corrosive members who will ruin it. Open, honest and disciplined, it works wonders
The writters have been putting out as much garbage as the studios have. They are absolutely not the messiah of this story. And they sure as hell are not the victims, we are.
Hollywood needs to weed out the poor writers not reward them for awful work. The ones that succeed should be rewarded. The amount of money being spent on these shows is ridiculous
Boy! Is this guy CLUELESS! He mocks the Producers relying on “Reality TV” as passe and praises series like “Breaking Bad” but completely misses WOKEwood where Cancel Culture no longer “allows” entertainment and pushes Socialist Soviet Party MESSAGING and tanked all shows and movies that embraced propaganda… Producers are making more money buying Treasury Bills! So why did they settle? Simple. The writers accepted MORE writers per “successful” show… and less shows… net loss of jobs. And Producers “gave up” on AI - which they didn’t want anyway because they could not copyright their work - and gave that to the “writers” so that writers could use AI - lack any copyright to that content - and pass it on to the Producers who could then copyright what the “writers” gave them… No one could credit writers with being the brightest bulbs in the chandelier of celebrity. (And he’s so “grateful” to the actors for joining the strike… then the writers settled and hung the actor out to dry!)
Oh, not to worry. The free market will decide what it likes and what it doesn't. If what this man has described comes to pass, the shit writers and creators will weed themselves out, and the good ones putting out quality content will be rewarded.
😅😂🤣 Mind if a “writer” CENSOR what I don’t wanna hear!!! 😅😂🤣 But I agree wit the Free Market - it’s speaking LOUD and CLEAR - keep your politics OUT of shows… AI can do that!
It isn't true that people canceled their Netflix subscriptions. Netflix added 18 million subscriptions last month, and their stock value has greatly increased
The problem is that the more streaming channels there are the less money the streaming channels make. That’s a huge problem too. There is not unlimited money. People won’t subscribe to more than at most 4 or 5 channels. Content under the idea of creating your own streaming channel is going to get very messy and very cheap. If the writers and actors make their own channels they all make less money too
Social media, UA-cam, TikTok and Instagram has created a new video platform which competes with streaming services. Also, traditional movie theater distribution is in decline and is no longer a reliable distribution option for film. Many people would rather stay home and save money, unless it is a really special event film. These are new challenges for studios.
Really loved his anecdote. I don't think what he's describing is going to be a utopia or anything (and he's not saying that) and it'll have its own problems, but it will overall be better. Theatres are technically already working this way and have been for a very long time. Artists function far better in intimate motley crews creating AND producing their own work. We're just seeing how the corporate monster of capitalism is affecting us. Without the wide distributive power of studios the content will make less money, but artists will get MORE of the money, and that'll generally balance it out but the big difference being artists are far happier and more free.
It really hasn't worked out that well for the music business. We've been able to create and distribute in that industry a long time. Very few make enough money to live on and most end up having to be a cover band and work their songs into the mix
Nebula is a good example of how UA-cam creators made a platform of their own to develope their content the way they wanted to without deference to someone else’s algorithm. Some YT’ers have completely quit the platform and make Nebula-only content. I’ve been been a subscriber for almost three years the content is superior to what TY allows. If writers and actors struck out on their own and made their own streaming platform, I would definitely give it a try over proto-AI generated garbage the studios want to push out.
8:10 interesting. this sounds like golden age studio system where artists were signed exclusively to one studio and would be loaned out if needed rather than the freelance wave in the 70s until present. But a contemporary version. Its all a cycle I guess. Now it may be that the dominant work force is permanently contracted workers rather than freelance. Eventually the pendulum will swing the other way too. But this is what the industry needs right now I think. Gives talented people a better chance of work. Freelance work offers freedom, but this system offers stability and good pay and perks. We need to make sure we don't create monopolies this time around tho. 10:32 I was thinking the same thing. This interviewer is brilliant. Keep up the good work and ask the interesting questions for us x 👍😀
Except once the talent is "locked in" this will "shut out" any new talent for some time. Hollywood is a small and limited space unless you go independent, and then its freelance all over again. Its already a who knows who and who is related to who business currently.
@@0ctag0nZer0 Witcher, Cowboy Bebop, Daredevil, Resident Evil... however the writer strike wasnt only against netflix it included Disney+ and Prime so the once mentioned above still were ruined by the people who went on the streets. Doesnt prove me wrong
@@filmcourageluckily my wife has a job. Still not enough to pay the bills. This is going to cripple many people & businesses for years/decades. Variety & The Hollywood Reporter have seem to have forgotten the hundreds of thousands in IATSE out of work.
Indeed. Back in August, economists said that the strikes have already had a 3 billion dollar impact on the California economy. Lots of hardship. We've heard of businesses and restaurants that have been hurting. Hope you and your wife find your way to higher ground soon.
Propmaker in the U.K. Same story here. I work for an independent company that usually supplies maker services to multiple film and tv productions at once. Since the American Studios basically took over the U.K. industry a while ago, everything is dead. Even when things eventually start up again, there certainly won’t be as many skilled and dedicated services that have survived to actually make anything.
5:43 - omg Dude, SO glad to hear you say that. I know how hard you guys work since I've written and directed 8 feature films myself! And when this strike went down I kept telling myself these writers and actors need to just pool their resources and become creators. Screw the so-called "studios", I mean all your CGI people, composers, spend $100, form corporations and make yourselves the stockholders and just create quality content! The industry is NOTHING without you!
The problem of all of this ultimately is Intellectual Poverty. As long as people think they own ideas there will be broken, monopolistic incentives for someone. Writers are only one component of the process, and they are just as capable of creating dumb rules as studio executives. For one thing, even if they have been starving writers in the past, those who are at the top are not going to evenly distribute the work. It's going to go by seniority or other system like that, and while understandable - this isn't necessarily the right thing to do. If you want the best people to carry forward the "pitch" and do the work, then you want even more decentralization than this. Let everyone make "their version" and battle it out on the market. Let people learn what truly works for audiences without the hamstrings of monopolistic incentives.
Well said. Reminds me a lot of the golden age of jet aircraft(particularly spy planes during the Cold War). A chosen group of engineers, designers, draftsmen etc would all come up with THEIR version of plane, given that it met the criteria and demands of the USAF. After 6 months, and 6 different designs, only 2 made the cut in which they were tested in wind tunnels, slide rules and pilot input, in which 1 met all the requirements, thus the birth of the SR-71. This analogy can absolutely be applied to a screen writing. Only problem, this type of process is incredibly expensive, in which the manufacturer/film studio, has to cover the costs? It’s a huge gamble, but if it turns out great, you end up with a Blackbird or a LOTR trilogy breaking bank! I’m not entirely convinced that these studios take anymore chances, and rather play it safe, which is why we end up with reboots and rehashed stories like Star Wars The Force Awakens, or knock off Avenger films/tv series.
Illuminating thanks. Of all streaming services, Netflix has the most evident need for better writing during development and production to the point where it feels cheap - and avoidably so. The marketing and branding of their entertainment products is upfront alluring, but more than any other streaming service, it can turn out to be an abysmal tv or film project behind that marketing.
I think what's being missed here is that instead of reality TV, lots of people are abandoning produced content altogether in favor of UA-cam, TikTok, and other amusements. Sure, the studios are going to regret this strike but so will the writers and actors. Yes, there are still some great shows but even those aren't offering very much anymore. In the 2000s, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation was one of the biggest shows on TV. Until season 15 (out of a total of 18), there were over 20 episodes every season for a total of 337, and they came out every year at about the same time. Now you're lucky if even the best shows (like The Bear) have 8 episodes, take less than 2 years between seasons, and it's a miracle if they make it past season 3. Even if the shows are great it seems like everyone is doing their best to make it easy to forget them and move on. Also, it really has to be said that I'm finding it very difficult to find sympathy for the strike. As part of the vast majority of the world that only gets paid once for my work, a lack of generous residuals doesn't really strike a chord with me. It's common knowledge that going to Hollywood to be a writer or actor means you'll be working other jobs while you try and probably fail to get anywhere, you might get a low paying gig, or if you're extremely lucky you make a name for yourself and become wealthy. It's the career equivalent of playing the lottery and we're supposed to feel bad for everyone that hasn't gotten their winning ticket? Not to mention that while you're striking for yourselves, all the people that work on the sets are once again out of work.
The same problem is afflicting music. In the old days, record company executives were musicians, writers and producers and they have been replaced by suits whose job is not to create great music, it's to create great profit.
5:44 Netflix changed how media is distributed and are the only streaming service to this day to be profitable. You can't 'just create your own' streaming service and start distributing media, you have to create what is essentially a tech company from scratch and operate at a loss for a decade, while trying to draw customers to your new service. It's a huge technical undertaking that this man is seriously underestimating. If writers go on disparaging the audience, their distributors and investors, they will not receive the support this man thinks they deserve. Him and his colleagues are in for a rude awakening, nothing he said will become reality and studios will have more control than ever.
The one thing I didn't get was where do you get the money from to make the series or movie. Sure distribution looks easy enough, but how do you get the backing in the first place? these are tough times and people aren't willing to take the risk anymore.
He’s a little premature, I think, in his prediction, but I don’t think he’s wrong - the economics may take a while to sort out, but I think the strikes really did put into focus who adds value to the Film/TV industry (e.g. creatives, artists) and who has been shipwrecking the industry (e.g. corporations and suits). I hope the movement for VFX unionization grows. I hope reality TV casts unionize. I hope we continue to ride this wave of labor solidarity into a better future.
The rest of the worlds film and tv industries are already unionised, and their nations expect the industries to entertain their people. The major issue, is almost all of those nations place their content in streaming now. Very rarely are they shown on tv channels.@@Hedgehobbit
@@Hedgehobbit well, yeah. But not because of unions, but because there is no talent in the US anymore. As customers gain more agency to make demands from streaming platforms, the more they will demand bigger and better foreign films.
"Eventually, though, don't you think a hierarchy is going to form." It may, and then we go back to negotiation. There are default states that society tends toward based on human desires and selfishness and we have to constantly push back against. He mentions United Artists being a previous iteration of this idea. I'm sure it shook the industry at the time, but then it became part of it, integrated into what it once fought against, now we potentially have a new one rising. Every win is temporary, but that doesn't make it any less of a win. The best we can hope for is that it lasts a while and the next battle is easier. (of course, I think the less frequent the battles, the harder they are to win because people become complacent or simply forget there's even something to fight for)
Yeah, his logic about UA doesn't make any sense. He acts like it was a "win" and yet they're a part of the so-called problem. What would make his supposed actor/writer clan any different? Eventually they're going to be doing the very same thing he's complaining about right now.
Don't confuse American capitalist malpractice with 'human nature', the way it is here is by no means a universal or natural state that we are doomed to regress too.
This video is already of date since Netflix reported a huge gain in subs yesterday. All the studios were desperate to cut costs this year and the strike really helped them out. Hopefully we will see even more great content from UK and Korea supplanting the current US visual drivel.
The studios are essentially going to pay more to the writers they hire, but that's IF they hire more writers. Which they probably won't. If they agree to hire more than one writer, they're mandated to at least 3 writers for a 6 episode series or about 5 for a 12 episode series. They could legitimately just get a few writers to do stretches of 6 episodes and call each stretch a new series. They could also literally use AI to create scripts and then just let whoever's doing the rewriting KNOW that the job they need is a rewrite, not a write from scratch. So I think the writers are going to regret their strike more in the long run.
I noticed that most news reports of the strike just read the summary but not the actual new contract (which is available online). The mandate for a minimum writer's room can by bypassed if the studio hires "a single writer or team" to write all the episodes. So I suspect that lots of these teams will spring up to have a workaround to writer room bloat.
Seeing how much this guy is dreaming and has his head in the clouds tells me precisely why the strike is happening. I just keep thinking of the she hulk writer saying ”the writing room was a group therapy session”
Comedians have been doing this more and more as well. Instead of releasing a special on Netflix or HBO or Showtime they release it on their youtube page or on their website. Hire someone to film and edit it for them or they do it all themselves like Louis C.K. All the best specials I saw in 2023 were released on that comic's youtube account or the account or the podcast they're on.
The studios aren’t regretting anything. The strikes created a force majure situation that allowed them to get out of so many bad deals, fire writers who were hired to check a box. Those people are never getting rehired.
I love this. As a novice writer, this gives me so much hope and am really excited for the future of storytelling, not just in TV/Film but across entertainment in general
The production value of films from India and Nigeria have improved tremendously! Not all the movies are cringe musicals anymore. I have seen some films from Africa, Turkey, India on the same level as European films, if not better recently. Korea and Japan are already taking over Cannes Film festivals. Screw Hollywood, people are going to watch good content wherever they find it. BTW music videos from Africa and India are a 1000xs better than USA music videos. Everyone please check out some foreign films...you don't know what your missing!
Your team mentality has completely ignored IATSE whose members make actors and writers worlds come alive. IATSE’s contract us up soon after an extension was given to the studios. Our contracts are so terrible and the rates of pay dismal including all of the out of pocket expenses we pay out to benefit these studios. Actors and writers have the best contracts in comparison. We hope you support us when the time comes.
They won't. They don't care about you. They only care about themselves. The IA strike a couple of years ago didn't change anything. IA members still work ridiculous hours and they aren't paid very much. The studios won that fight. Actors and writers don't care and never will care about technicians....
Finally I find a smart guy talking about this! It's not at all about getting "a fair share". Fairness is a stupid concept when it comes to business and negotiation. What matters is your leverage. How much what you have to offer is actually valued. How much it hurts doing without it. THAT's what matters.
If this is an example of the writers in Hollywood, you don't have to be that smart to recognize what's wrong, and it's quite clear the strike hasn't made anything any better.
I'm a bit hesitant to speak about the strike since last time I did the internet's best and brightest decided I needed to be destroyed, but thank you for this perspective. To me it feels like back in 2007 the writers lost the strike, and it still feels like that for the 2023 strike if I'm being honest, but I can more clearly see why someone might consider this strike their victory.
He really ruined for me with his comments about the content distribution comments. It made me question the validity of his other claims. I don't know much about Hollywood. But I do know the creation and support of a streaming service is anything but easy. All of them are struggling right now and cannibalizing each other. And this is with super wealthy companies. And who's paying for the content? Even assuming the actors and writers magically agree to work for free upfront, what about the hundreds of other people that work on a film that don't have the financial freedom to work on a project and wait months or even years to get paid? Where is the money to pay them? Ignoring all of this. Let's say you gat a movie made. It's full of popular stars and everybody who watches it says it's the best movie they have ever see. How are you advertising it? It would be easier to just get it into theatres. Congrats, you just created a studio. Still need to advertise it. Which typically costs about 50% of movie's budget. None of this makes any sense. If it hasn't happened in the music industry yet where the exploitation is much worse and the product much cheaper to make how is the movie industry going to accomplish it? This guy lives in fantasy land. Which makes sense given how his brain is wired as a writer. But none of it makes any sense, This is how these monopiles exist and stand for so long. Cost and complexity of doing business are the moats that keep all but the super wealthy away.
Watching the writers and actors come together to support each other has been wonderful to see. Unions are the reason my 4 generations of family continue to ‘thrive’ in Canada.
& what about everybody BELOW the line? All us contractors? Everybody that is worried about becoming homeless? Writers & actors? FUCK those guys! Coming out of the coof lockdowns was hard enough, then this shit?! I have a 21 year old car that I am BORROWING money to keep afloat. I got $2k root canal I need to take care of, I have property taxes, mortgage bills! I have a fucking life to pay for! But the actors writers, right?! But the fucking millionaires, right?!
Hopefully, this writer's strike will actually result in better wages and benefits and job opportunities for screen writers, so studios can attract better writers to their films and TV shows. We need at least one good writer who cares about quality more than politics to be in charge of projects and train other writers and set a good example for them.
Unfortunately, studios are now beholden to DEI hiring minima’s, which will only guarantee subpar writers blocks, in which quantity will ALWAYS overshadow quality.
I dont go to the movies anymore, unplugged from television January 2016 and never had a streaming service. I have a collection of over 600 DVD's and I never run out of GOOD movies to watch.
You know, I don't think they will regret it. The audience has limited time. There is infinite competition for that time. Video Games, Podcasts, Music, Books, Sporting events. If the value proposition of Movies and TV continues to be as low as it has been, it will only attract the lowest common denominator. Additionally, people are not willing to subsidize the crap being foisted upon them. And the studios are starting to see they need to stop the bleeding. Additionally, the economy is poor, in no small part due to the actions of a particular class of intellectuals who put us all on this road with them because of their insane hypochondria and hatred of democracy, and people are already cutting out non-essential expenditures from their spending. Disney World? Nah. BluRay's? Nah. Multiple Streaming services? Nah.
The only streaming services I have are Prime Video and Paramount + (because of Star Trek; I'm hopelessly addicted). I have a feeling a new entertainment modality's about to emerge. Lr perhaps the studios will see sense and norph into a better version of themselves? Or will they go the way of Khan, ranting about revenge? "He Tasks Me. He Tasks Me, And I Shall Have Him! I'll Chase Him 'Round The Moons Of Nibia, And 'Round The Antares Maelstrom, And 'Round Perdition's Flames Before I Give Him Up!"
Nebula is a good example of a content creator owned platform. I hope the actor and writers guild is studying how they succeeded. The key thing is to not use private or public equity. Finance it like a law firm where partners put in their own funds and non-partners can earn ownership by creating more revenues.
The lack of mention about anything to do with the current culture war we are currently living through strikes me as strange. I like his idealism and optimism, but it seems very telling to me that he makes no mention of audiences annoyance with overly political and identity politics driven content as a driving factor in why major studios are struggling. I think it’s a hard stretch to say that audiences are tired of reality television and that studios over prioritizing reality programming is the major mistake they have been making.
Exactly! When he mentioned that they(writers/actors) don’t need the “online Blockbuster Video” such as Netflix, Prime, Hulu etc I thought to myself- “it’s the audience who doesn’t need EITHER, especially if they continue producing woke nonsense. The customer determines the market, not a bunch of ideologues, who probably haven’t wrote a coherent storyline in their lifetimes?
The reason is simple; one of the two culture war epicentres is Hollywood. It was caused by key figures going to war with each other for everything. Just as the US decided to centre their culture on Hollywood as the frontline conflict erupted, to get away from the capitalistic culture. The other culture war epicentre is Wall Street. This culture war only affects the US. It does not affect other Western nations, because their artists entertain, and their wall street equivalents serve their nations. They do not influence the wider culture, because history and the major events that effect the entire population do that.
I wanna support this perspective. Help me understand (because I want to and I believe there's good disruption) how Blockbuster ( 100% distribution only) is similar to the current iteration of Netflix? (distribution originally then pivoted to massive production + content ownership)
Why has the quality of writing declined so precipitously over the past decade? There is still some great content being made, but it's harder to find than a needle in the proverbial haystack. Netflix original content is 99% garbage. 99% of new content on Disney+ is trash. And so on. What's going on?
I don’t think the studios will regret this strike. It allowed them to clear a lot of junk and it now gives them the power to fire writers. Writers that throng produce will find themselves out of Hollywood.
The rise of You Tube, influencers, Go-Fund me, and all the rest/self-publishing, for instance, has shown that alternative ways to get your IP out to the audience are available and can work. Even if those methods do little more than push you up the food chain towards more conventional financing sources. Every year seems to bring new ways to get your product to the marketplace. And more is coming...
What studios got from the strike -people barely cared or noticed -they were too busy rewatching the office -actors don't have the same pull they used to with audiences -we can just wait for them to starve to negotiate -we saved a lot of money -we threw a few breadcrumbs their way for now What studios learnt according to Corey -its not 2000something anymore we can't replace shows with reality tv -without writers shows don't get made and the back catalog runs out in a couple of months -if actors support the writers it's over because audiences will follow -anyone can create a workers collective and compete with Hollywood -we have all the power even tho technology exists that can do my job for free
I love your story about the writer-run company having your best interest in mind when making a deal with a studio. I work in medical animation, and I can tell you there's a huge difference between working for people who were (or still are) animators, versus people who have no art background whatsoever and just like to do things because they see dollar signs but need skilled people to make that money for them. There's always going to be people whose skill is using the skills of others, but they're getting shut out more and more with the democratization of production and distribution. And I love that, because I have no love for people who don't work for a living.
This guy sounds like a speaking head for the union. It's far more complex than just "making movies" for the corporations. i.e. - AT&T. The name of the game is data. The more carrots they can get people to crowd source around the more marketing opportunities they create for themselves and their constituents. You can blame the media companies all you want, but the elephant in the room is the advancement of technology. It's a new era. Learn to adjust or be eliminated.
I believe it when he says that an artist ran studio would make better decisions than that suits and treat the employees better. ...... at first. It has often been said that oppressed often become the oppressors. I believe that there have been many companies through the decades that started as small companies that wanted to treat their employees well. And then either had to face some harsh realities, or simply saw a change in management at some point that caused them to begin viewing their workers as more disposable pawns than family.
Yep this is true when a businessis small it can treatits employees better but whenit grows it becomes bad, what did stalin say "The death of one man is a tragedy. The death of millions is a statistic." - Josef Stalin It can be applied here as well
I believe there is truth in this idea of a “creative collective”, but here is something we all must realize: it is not just the mindset, it is also that different people have different talents. You will need people who are good with money and who can make the tougher money decisions. That’s hard to find in creative people. (And I am saying this as a creative person.) I think whenever all these different animals somehow get along with each other, then it is about the connections between them, about respect, and about caring for each other. I am not sure, but it seems to me that every generation needs to do this all over again, because these connections need to be made again. Rules help, but nothing works better than caring for each other.
He is articulate. He is also delusional, and woefully ignorant about even the basic mechanics of running a studio or streamer. I wish the interviewer would have pressed harder on that. For example the guy says "We don't need the studios" and the perfect follow-up question from a journalist would've been, "if writers don't need the studios, then why did you all just spend 6-months parked in front of the studios asking them for money?"...but alas.
Here is our full interview with Corey - ua-cam.com/video/CWfcjN8ajHg/v-deo.html
more strikes I say, burnt it all down and let independent and micro budget films rise from the ashes.
amen. 😂
Great, never mind the bills and livelihoods of not just the people striking but all the supporting industries as well.
@@AbcDino843Exactly. We don’t owe them anything. If they can’t perform they need to find a line of work more suited to their abilities.
Dust.
YES! Here comes the IronAge!
I started questioning his idea once he said "anyone can create a streaming platform". There are alot of very big companies spending enormous amounts of money trying to be (or stay) relevant in the streaming wars. Saying you'll create a platform, growing it, and retaining subscribers enough to become profitable is easier said than done.
💯💯💯
Except now there's X and Instagram. People will gobble it up and switch over. I know I'm at the edge of my seat about it.
On the other hand, every billionaire corp started as an idea in one person’s head
Where exactly do you think they all come from
Creative is not the same as Entrepreneur.
Exactly! Anyone can create a youtube channel or a website or social media page with content, but then you have to count on that site or channel or page to take off in order to get noticed. Due to the algorithm on youtube, that can be difficult.
I’m an animator from Canada, and our entire industry was shut down (and basically still is) because of this strike.
Nothing in Canada happens without the backing of Hollywood. And I for one have always thought we should start our own Hollywood, and stop relying on the fat cats that currently hold the $$.
But no one seems to want to take that step…
Hurry up and crush these bastards, we need to pay our bills up here!
I'm surprised there's not more indie animation.
it would be great to have a Canadian streaming platform like what Mandell is describing there.
Look at how Ender's Game worked out for the post production studios. It has been tried but doesn't always work, sadly.
If it's 100% non political content it could work. People are looking for alternatives and are sick of Hollywood. In the past the artists entertainend the audience, now the audience has to please the artists, or else they are [insert insult}
Who cares about Canada and your bills ?
The internet also probably helped kill that reality TV strategy. Social media wasn't what it is today back in 2008. You can get a constant barrage of trashy drama content, for free, across UA-cam, Twitter and TikTok nowadays. No one really **needs** reality TV for their fix anymore.
And some youtubers have the authenticity and lack of filter that people love about reality tv, without the cynicism and censorship of tv.
the ones that end up watching reality tv end up being those that aren't on social media or the internet that much...that's whats keeping the few alive.
Boy! Is this guy CLUELESS! He mocks the Producers relying on “Reality TV” as passe and praises series like “Breaking Bad” but completely misses WOKEwood where Cancel Culture no longer “allows” entertainment and pushes Socialist Soviet Party MESSAGING and tanked all shows and movies that embraced propaganda… Producers are making more money buying Treasury Bills! So why did they settle?
Simple. The writers accepted MORE writers per “successful” show… and less shows… net loss of jobs.
And Producers “gave up” on AI - which they didn’t want anyway because they could not copyright their work - and gave that to the “writers” so that writers could use AI - lack any copyright to that content - and pass it on to the Producers who could then copyright what the “writers” gave them…
No one could credit writers with being the brightest bulbs in the chandelier of celebrity.
(And he’s so “grateful” to the actors for joining the strike… then the writers settled and hung the actor out to dry!)
An entire generation has grown up not watching network TV, because there's always more stuff on UA-cam. The suits just greedheaded away their industry's future.
Yes, they've been showing Big Brother after the Sunday NFL games. I keep thinking what a jarring transition.
He was lucky to work at a time when there were executives at studios that once used to be writers or artists. That has long not been the case.
This is there plan for you dim wits in Hollywood writers... THREADS
What's more is that writers currently have that shared pain, but when the next generation comes up without that common struggle, their empathy will take a hit and we'll be back where we started.
I kept laughing listening to this guy talk about how they are really in charge. Lmao. Writers and actors have been saying this for decades and decades. Ok let’s see them try to start their own Netflix. Lmao
No
They are going to sell to Netflix
And all the other provider services
No
They are going to sell to Netflix
And all the other provider services
This is so encouraging!!!
I remember Prince did this with sales of his tickets. He cut out Ticketmaster. I mean, when people realize they can do things themselves, real changes can and does happen! Very cool video!
Or with his albums. He billed MUSICOLOGY into ticket prices and got a double platinum album for his trouble. Bypassed radio and MTV completely.
I disagree, I didn’t notice the strike on Netflix at all. New shows were the same low-quality shows that were coming out before. My viewing habits didn’t change. I continue to watch older things.
Just wait 6 months for when their backlog of content has run out. It will get bad. We haven't seen nothing yet, its too soon.
Boy! Is this guy CLUELESS! He mocks the Producers relying on “Reality TV” as passe and praises series like “Breaking Bad” but completely misses WOKEwood where Cancel Culture no longer “allows” entertainment and pushes Socialist Soviet Party MESSAGING and tanked all shows and movies that embraced propaganda… Producers are making more money buying Treasury Bills! So why did they settle?
Simple. The writers accepted MORE writers per “successful” show… and less shows… net loss of jobs.
And Producers “gave up” on AI - which they didn’t want anyway because they could not copyright their work - and gave that to the “writers” so that writers could use AI - lack any copyright to that content - and pass it on to the Producers who could then copyright what the “writers” gave them…
No one could credit writers with being the brightest bulbs in the chandelier of celebrity.
(And he’s so “grateful” to the actors for joining the strike… then the writers settled and hung the actor out to dry!)
Agree. I cut Netflix because I didn't log on once in 12 months. I haven't been to a movie theater in about 2 years.
It's all garbage.
@@TheGeoDaddydo you watch those videos of nerds sitting infront of 1,000 action figures that call ever avengers and starwars woke because of black characters and female Characters
So the expert is wrong because you couldn't see the effect from your armchair? What are you, twelve?
United Artists was created in 1919 by Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, and D.W. Griffith.
Haha I came here to add the same information, and saw that you had already beat me. :)
@@yappygm7433 Same here. :)
And had to be rescued in 1951 from going out of business by Arthur Krim and Robert Benjamin - former Eagle-Lion executives and non-artists.
@@johnnhoj6749 best comment here! history wins
Exactly this!!!
Netflix just reported earnings. They added 8,760,000 subscribers in the last three months. The company beat estimates in every category and the stock soared in after hours trading. Meanwhile, UA-cam accounted for 8.5% of total TV viewing while Netflix was a close second at 7.9%. What reality TV was to the previous strike, the creator economy of UA-cam and social media may be becoming the new reality TV of this strike.
Interesting. Thanks for posting!
Doesn't this line up with the Netflix crackdown on sharing passwords though? These numbers may be an anomaly in the long run.
@@HelloMisterJAMWAH There are said to be an estimated 100,000,000 (100 million) shared subscribers. The 8.76 million is part of that crack down. In other words, it is likely there are still more new subscribers in the coming months who are part of the shared password crack down.
@@filmcourage It might also be interesting to add, the strikes are actually financially forcing the studios and networks into exploring AI options for future programs. Hindsight may look at this actors strike as the catalyst into using AI generated characters who the studios and networks own rights to to make shows. Nvidia stock's success with their AI GPU chips can be viewed as an attestment to this. (Nvidia makes the GPU chips for ChatGPT). Thank you for making such interesting videos @filmcourage!
@@HelloMisterJAMWAH yes, there are an estimated 100 million shared subscribers and the expectation is that a large percentage will pay for their own subscription. Thus, the stock price closed on Oct. 18, 2023 at $346 a share and after the earnings report, the stock soared in after hours trading to $390 a share and has continued to climb higher since.
The "Creative Collective" Corey pitches at the end, is more or less how PIXAR worked under John Lasseter during its most successful years. I was fortunate to experience that environment-- and compared to working under typical studio executives who are MBA and Lawyer drones it was gloriously freeing. I hope it happens.
Yup, in theory the concept is spot on: Those who run the farm should have their hands dirty.
It's not perfect but at least it would bring actual nuts-and-bolts experience to the table, both technical *and* creative, and not the detached "meet arbitrary deadline, fix it in post, throw most of the budget at the star power behind the voice acting, invest in transitory tech that overworks the crew" that we see now.
If those in charge have never experienced the pain, they shouldn't be directly involved in the game. Email chains, Excel spread sheets and endless conference room meetings are a part of the production pipeline, but they're not the main draw for an audience.
the MBA and Lawyer drones are the true root problem. there was a time that UA-cam was so fresh, but you can feel it going more stale everyday as all the old staff from the cable television world eventually find their way into the new social media boardrooms
It can, we the people have to put pressure to make it reality.
Boy! Is this guy CLUELESS! He mocks the Producers relying on “Reality TV” as passe and praises series like “Breaking Bad” but completely misses WOKEwood where Cancel Culture no longer “allows” entertainment and pushes Socialist Soviet Party MESSAGING and tanked all shows and movies that embraced propaganda… Producers are making more money buying Treasury Bills! So why did they settle?
Simple. The writers accepted MORE writers per “successful” show… and less shows… net loss of jobs.
And Producers “gave up” on AI - which they didn’t want anyway because they could not copyright their work - and gave that to the “writers” so that writers could use AI - lack any copyright to that content - and pass it on to the Producers who could then copyright what the “writers” gave them…
No one could credit writers with being the brightest bulbs in the chandelier of celebrity.
(And he’s so “grateful” to the actors for joining the strike… then the writers settled and hung the actor out to dry!)
Not likely. Untalented executives like to meddle in the creative process.
Listening to him, I get the impression that the audience’s opinion doesn’t mater. My take is that the Film/TV Industry is headed for a “financial correction” because Hollywood forgot that the customers opinion maters most of all. Further, the shiver for Hollywood should come when looking at the Neilson/Samba ratings
Audience’s opinion only matters as a whole, it's a numbers game. the only thing YOU can do is to watch it or not watch it. 🤷♂
Dude didn't mention the customer once. Says it all
Boy! Is this guy CLUELESS! He mocks the Producers relying on “Reality TV” as passe and praises series like “Breaking Bad” but completely misses WOKEwood where Cancel Culture no longer “allows” entertainment and pushes Socialist Soviet Party MESSAGING and tanked all shows and movies that embraced propaganda… Producers are making more money buying Treasury Bills! So why did they settle?
Simple. The writers accepted MORE writers per “successful” show… and less shows… net loss of jobs.
And Producers “gave up” on AI - which they didn’t want anyway because they could not copyright their work - and gave that to the “writers” so that writers could use AI - lack any copyright to that content - and pass it on to the Producers who could then copyright what the “writers” gave them…
No one could credit writers with being the brightest bulbs in the chandelier of celebrity.
(And he’s so “grateful” to the actors for joining the strike… then the writers settled and hung the actor out to dry!)
The one major thing i noticed. He said the creatives, but not the people who watch the shit. Either way, both business men and creatives live or die by our fat stacks of cash. They better make some good shit.
Tons of creative stuff out there… tons of commercial crap 💩 that’s churned out to sell either soda, cars, or the Giverment that has bankrupt the country but wants good PR
But - as said - if people aren’t PAYING to watch it - turns to shit - whether HollyWOKE or the Bolshevik “Socialist Realism” that inspired it! And all the writers and actors and directors and producers will be as remembered as the apparatchiks that staged pageants for King What’s-his-face.
That was an expertly told 10 minute story about the strike, embellished with relevant backstory, intrigue, foreshadowing, motive, stakes, antagonists and pay off, not just a breakdown of events.
Even if you don't agree, have to admit that Corey is excellent at presenting his ideas and telling stories. More to come!
And the theme song could start something like this:
Turn around
Look at what you see
In her face
The mirror of your dreams
@@filmcourage I spent 20 years in the technical publication industry, and after retiring began to fulfill a promise, I made myself, to teach myself how to write fiction. Writing was a part of that 20 year career, and I came to realize that all communication is storytelling, from love letters to technical manuals. We read things because we want to pay off, we watch this video because we wanted the pay off, to learn what’s the moral of the story is, what’s the lesson is we need to learn.
The core principle that Cory is trying to present is trust; trust between the writers, the actors, the directors and the producers.
The problem with the narrative is this: psychiatrist and psychologist have determined that in any civilization, regardless of religion, economics, geography or race there are five essential elements, foundations, or pillars, call him what you will. These pillars are care, fairness, sanctity, authority, and loyalty.
Those on the political left only value the first two: care and fairness. They view sanctity as superstitious suppression of women’s rights. They see authority as tyranny and loyalty, as leading to bigotry and exclusion.
Sanctity is the agreement that there is ultimate truth on which we base moral/ethical behavior. Where truth is relative, ethics and morality are negotiable, not stable. Where there is no authority any group, system, company, or country, becomes chaotic. Without loyalty. Trust is fragile and easily broken.
The narrator couch is his hope and trust it is, I think, somewhat for Lauren. If you believe in an Ultimate Truth, you have a basis for trust. If you don’t, then you believed you were the product of evolution, survival of the fittest, in which altruism and trust have no basis in survival. Ultimately, it is every man for himself. Ethics, morality, have no part in it; a gentleman’s agreement, and this one either party decides to no longer be a gentleman.
He is a writer, after all, and knows how to present pertinent details to construct a cogent narrative .
Corey is a master storyteller 🙌
As someone working in post production making Netflix documentaries I can tell you for a fact that you cannot 'make your own content'. It takes a lot of technical knowledge to make those shows suitable for distribution. You simply cannot just do it out of your own bedroom- it’s EXPENSIVE!
Sir which documentaries have you worked on?
And many people do post production for fun.
Exactly. This guy is not living in reality. There's a reason studios exist. Average Joe can't live off of no-budget indie arthouse stuff, which is what this guy seems to think is what everyone wants.
@@adriannespring8598 Not with the majority of shows and films the general public actually WANTS to watch they don't.
Yes, I Made my first feature with 25K, and I’ve Seen Great Films With That Budget but That Takes Dedication from Talent and Crew Because Aint No One Living Off 25K Budgeted Film.
Anyone can make an online media platform, yes. But, not everyone can make it work well on a technical level. I hope some artists get together and make a good one.
They could easily steal a few good people from Netflix. I'm not sure how profitable Netflix was though.
He's wrong. Just like anyone can write a TV show. It's just as much work and creativity to code those systems up as it is to write a show. The platforms have to keep updating it as well.
Get the right celebs behind them, and they can definitely fund a decent streaming platform. Something like Nebula and Curiosity Stream are good examples of that.
@@darkhighwayman1757 I think his point was that the studio system was the traditional gatekeeper to wide distribution, but now any company could put together its own service on the internet, and potential reach a huge audience.
If you're a creative or writer pls read this:
1. First, just know this guy clearly has ZERO idea on what it takes to run a Tech Operation as large and as global as Netflix. I would bet donuts to dollars Netflix has at least (at least) 50 data centers around the world. And at least 2K of every type of engineer you can think of (security, dB, dev, FE, BE) to maintain their platform. The other major streamers run the same way but just on a smaller scale which is still saying something. These apps need to be built, maintained, enhanced, tested each requires technical expertise and coordination. He clearly has never worked in business or would not speak so cavalier about what it takes.
2. If you could you would. Also just know that the studios signed the agreement, with the full intent of just hiring few writers. That's their strategy. By 2030 the dues paying WGA memberships will have shrunk by at least 50%, with most writing being done by AI-contractors. Who produce the initial drafts and tighten it up to sell to studios. You'll see.
3. If he thinks VC funds, hedge funds or wealth funds are going to throw hundreds of millions of dollars at a big name showrunner just b/c they want to start a platform that pays writers fairly he's crazy. Again he doesn't actually KNOW anyone who runs money. He's just talking out his ass and it sounds fine to the viewers of this channel who are mostly creative and don't know any better. Sure "Showrunner XYZ" can easily raise $100M. So let's say a show runner does raise...who has he just gotten into bed with? Suits...that's who! The same ppl you all are trying to escape you've just let into your "artist friendly" company. And what is that suit gonna do? He's gonna put his ppl on the board, in key positions and you're gonna be back where you started.
The internet is a great place. Film Courage is a decent channel. But if you're reading this please know that David Zaslav, Teddy Sarandos, Bob Iger, etc aren't caricatures. These are real businessmen with real skills that are hard to find or replicate. Reducing what they do to a "suit" or saying "anyone can do it" just shows your ignorance on how business works. Like I said "if you could, you would" there's a reason that during an almost half-year strike, not one writer of merit announced he was leaving the union to start his own shop. Because he can't. He doesn't have the money, the know-how, the team, the vision, the discipline, to do what businessmen do.
Perhaps I’ve misunderstood but the model Mr. Mandell is describing is basically this model-UA-cam. Tens, more likely hundred of thousands of creators struggling to raise enough money to to make their films and what might be called TV shows and then struggling again as they try to find an audience in the chaos of abundance. The distinction between amateur and professional might wither more than it has already. The current masters of the art have all made their reputations and gained their significant leverage in the OLD system, including Taylor Swift. It will be interesting to see if the future will be the one conjured here and whether that future will be as splendid as this piece supposes. I hope so for all our sakes.
Indeed a big name like Taylor Swift makes money for a studio, that studio can afford to give a chance to a unknown artist. It's lack of profit that makes them go for more of the same just to be safe. So Taylor Swift doing it alone is bad for the smaller artists.
This
UA-cam is almost all amateur writers, directors, and actors - and I use those terms very loosely. What he is describing in an online version of Pixar, Dreamworks, or United Artist. Professionals working for the art. 😎
Yes. I cancelled satellite TV and just watch lots of YT. Surprisingly I still pick up about 11 broadcast stations (I inherited the family farm house and have a 20 foot antenna!). But I only watch when something's wrong with my computer.
I was born in 1952. You bought a TV, plugged it in, fiddled with the rabbit ears, and received great content. The ads paid the expenses for the program creators. WE weren't charged. I'll be da**ed if I'll pay subscription channel services.
Oh, I also read. A lot.
A lot of the reality tv programming dates back to the 2000 actors' strike, not the writers' strike. Even competition shows like AGT and X-Factor predate the writers' strike.
He wasn't saying that they started with the writer's strike, he's saying that they could lean in on it to butt the impact of the strike. Which they did.
True, but it exploded in popularity during that strike. Now it's a juggernaut genre
Yup, this guy doesn’t know what he’s talking about.
Great interview, very enlightening. I hope his predictions about the industry come true.
Edit: In my 25 year career in the animation industry, I have heard animators say "We should start our own studio!", countless times. In almost every studio, on almost every production, at some point, when things get frustrating, that phrase is said. But it never happens, because artists are not business people. Which is why I think it is important for any school teaching film, animation schools, writing schools, acting schools, any film making course, should include classes on the business aspect of the industry. It would empower the artists.
Exactly this, it's also why I hate that people praise the whole 'starving artist' thing, it's such bullshit. You don't have to starve to make good art. You can make money and make good art.
On the other hand Image comics were birthed by artists vying for more rights and pay from the largest studios and while Images comics didn't replace the old guard, it did impact the industry.
Artists are going to be artists n businessmen are going to be businessmen. There can be some crossover but people can only spread themselves so thin. I don't want Beethoven having to hock his records on a streetcorner; I need him writing symphonies. Know what we need is for businessmen to wake up and stop being so shortsighted. We need businesses to reteach the ideas of long-standing relationships and good business built on trust, instead of an economy of exploitation. We need a qualitative approach to our products instead of a quantitative approach to our bottom line, if for no other reason than because good products will actually sell.
Image comics....
@@scoutwithoutclout what we really need is for businessmen to know their place as facilitators. they are not at the top of the hierarchy, they should not own everything, they should not be making or controlling artistic decisions. They should be doing what the art needs them to do.
Regarding the comment in the video "anyone can make a streaming platform" or "we don't need them (eg. Netflix)" - please do not underestimate how much technology, coding, data storage, tech support, and cloud data center infrastructure cost that is required to run a gigantic streaming platform like Netflix, and give users a great experience for streaming the video content. There is a big difference in streaming platform quality between Netflix, HBO, Disney+, Hulu, Peacock, etc. If you want to "build the delivery platform yourself" that's fine, just don't go into it with beer goggles on and think anyone can do it well. The key word is "well", it is possible to make a crappy streaming platform (like Peacock), but to build a top flight streaming platform like Netflix is no small feat of software & data engineering. And no, I do not work for Netflix or any other streaming platform, but I do know about these huge cloud data platforms, and trust me that a ton of work goes into them in order to create & support them to give a superior and reliable customer experience, so that your customers will stay with your service.
I don't see the existing streaming companies continuing for much longer since they spend a lot of money for little reward. They'll probably sort things out into two or three like Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon. All the others will shut down or not have new releases, so you'd be paying to watch old stuff from "the vault." I gather if something independent is desired, people will pay to watch it on iTunes.
The studios are actually hurting themselves by putting movies on streaming so quickly. If it's not making money in the theater, then digital download is the next step like pay-per-view used to be. But by not delaying it for months like they used to do for video rentals, this encourages people to NOT see it in theaters, but wait a few weeks for "free" streaming.
However, there are many distribution channels and existing technology that is already in circulation.
I mean, I hate to borrow from the porn industry, but their artists took control of their own brand. The room is there.
A quality platform is required. Netflix has a great platform, D+ has great content but a horrid platform. Yes, not just anybody can build the platform - but a good coding team is easier to find than good writers, directors, and actors. It can certainly be done, and I hope they do it. 😎
All these actors and writers can go make independent movies anytime they want. But it’s a lot more work at a fraction of the pay. I can’t see anyone in Hollywood actually doing that. Which is why at the end of the day the studios are the ones who actually won.
I supported the strikes. I was hoping they would go on forever.
Same. This was needed. I think we can all feel a renaissance coming. This is only the start
lol nice one.
You applaud unemployment? ok
@@corpsefoot758 Too many people are okay with other people struggling for a cause that makes them feel good.
@@corpsefoot758
Good writers & actors will always get work and be compensated accordingly.
I kind of felt the same thing myself--that eventually the creatives will self organize to bypass studios. But the one problem is--where do they get the financing from?
Tom Cruise. Obviously 😂
The same people who invest in the studios
Return on investment = return. Shareholders don’t care if their profit comes from an MFA or an MBA, they just want to see the happy little arrows climb up the graph
@@corpsefoot758hmm not working out to well for Terry Gilliam. Between himself and a lifetime of friends and industry contacts he can't even raise $30 million.
The big name actors and plus guys
Like Tyler
Perry and others who own studios can be the backbone plus just helping each
Other all it takes is one good movie in the theaters you get money after that if split well you can
Do
Quite well.
In order to bypass the studios, any group of creatives will need to offer higher returns that people could get through the studios. So, despite what the guy in the video said, artist-owned studios will need to be MORE focused on profit than the big studios.
When she asked that after getting rid of the studios, won't that eventually give rise to another hierarchy, another studio essentially, he basically gave a very long winded answer that said, "It'll be different this time. Pinky promise." Sure it will. That's what they all say.
Can't get much worse than where it's going now.
There’s a massive difference in what he’s describing and what the current model is. Hollywood executives were once creatives themselves at some point those top spots were overrun buy businessmen who were never creatives making decisions for shareholders. Hes speaking on a return to creatives looking after or at very least being curious enough to give other creatives a shot.
It'll be fine so long as it's small, but when it gets big, the suits return and it'll be the same again.
@@TimoRutanen Yeah, it works fine for smaller projects, but as those scale up to budgets that can break a small production company, studio, or streamer, it starts to break down. The problem now is that many investors have realized that most of these streaming platforms are not going to be profitable anytime soon, if ever unless they have a cheap library of pre-existing films and TV shows that is interesting enough to keep someone from cancelling their subscription until the next season of their show comes around to binge or you have an exclusive on some film they really want to watch, so they must subscribe to your service or rent or buy the media file or get a physical DVD. So getting the money to start up a streaming platform is increasingly hard to come by, and anyone investing a large sum will want to see professional managers running accounting, finance, marketing, etc. and will start making demands of the creatives that no longer own the majority of shares in their company or owe a creditor a lot more than their capital investment is worth. Sooner or later that creative CEO is going to get told to do something like hire a "name" writer or director or star, and when he doesn't he will get pushed out or resign.
@@TimoRutanen Look at Anime studios, they are entirly artist driven and come into existence and disolve/fade as artists move on. This is the kind of model which allows for artistic flourishing. Finance and Distribution are done by other companies, but they don't touch the creative aspects.
United Artists was formed in 1919. United Artists didn't produce films but did
help finance and release independent producer's movies. Profit and loss still
mattered.
80% of movies lose money, and 50-60% of startups fail within the first five years. Two of my friends in college started making movies almost 30 years ago. They had very little experience on the creative side, but they understood very early on that they needed to take control of distribution. When their poorly-made films started turning a profit right away, they received hate from other indie filmmakers whose arthouse films failed to break even. Many other content creators tried to replicate this and failed miserably, while a handful succeeded. Why?
Those of us in creative fields know that it always has and always will be a pay-to-play industry. If you're not lucky enough for one of your first films to turn a profit, you'll end up stuck in that 80% while your money runs out. The people who have the funding and business expertise will usually beat the content creators who don't. The concept of an artist commanding their own distribution is as old as the industry itself. The problem is that most don't have the business smarts to do it. The few who hire that skilled business man usually find success. But that business man will inevitably become large and powerful enough to be one of the very people the writers were striking against.
And you forgot to mention you have to be a part of a certain club if you really want to succeed. You find that out if you stay in Hwood long enough
@@yaimavol There was time, decades ago, when being a Hollywood insider was necessary, but that's not the case anymore. Also, what one considers to be successful is subjective. There are plenty of indie filmmakers making decent livings who wouldn't have had much of a chance in the 90s. Many more editing tools exist to create your own projects on a low budget. Platforms like UA-cam enable publication of your work to millions, without even bothering with distribution. And the smaller streaming services now accept more micro-budget projects.
That said, only a small percentage of indie creators manage to turn a profit. The few who make it are the ones who end up selling their work before they run out of money.
@@skitsandjiggles7286 I'm not talking about Hollywood insider. You have no idea what club I am speaking about
@@yaimavol I know EXACTLY what so-called club you are referring to, and I'm not about to get into that type of conversation in a public forum. They've been called Hollywood insiders longer than you and I have been around.
In 2023, you can have a successful career in film without ever being a part of a “club” or even doing business with Hollywood. The independent industries in Atlanta and other cities have consistently been proof of that.
Considering the non-stop slop that has been the majority of TV and film for the last 10 years, I think he is severely over estimating the importance of the "professional" writers and downplaying the importance of studio and streaming infrastructure.
True that!
"We don't need Netflix" is the rationale behind abandoning the HBO brand, "anyone can distribute programming." Oh really? Just try it. Taylor Swift did it, but the rest of us aren't Taylor Swift. We need the streaming platforms, and Netflix is still #1.
the point is for now....
I started questioning when he said that the generals look at (how they fought) the last war and do that (true), and that usually works (almost never true).
We can add modern conflict to the long list of things he doesn't understand ...
I didn't listen to him because I was more interested in the comments. However, he actually said that about generals and wars? If there is one thing war history teaches, its that those who fight the last wars methods either adjust or lose. This guy is a total nutcracker, but typical of modern Hollywood writers who have no talent.
Nothing will change if they don't start writing better. However, that was really a great story, I wish him the best of luck.
There is a litmus test for writers now and Woke is a pre-req. It's totally killed the comic book industry, but they keep cranking out the woke garbabe. They don't care if they make money anymore. The message is more important
@@yaimavol Comic books have always been "woke:. Where else did you get people with power fighting for the underrepresented and the underclass like comic books? Have you ever f-ing READ X-Men?
@@GregPrice-ep2dk LOL, yeah, Kirby and Lee were so woke. And evidently Claremont is so woke, he gets cancelled by nut jobs due to comments at a convention. Fighting underdogs is not equivalent to 'woke.' Pointing out the hypocrisy of power structures is not the equivalent of 'woke.'
@@GregPrice-ep2dkSorry pal. Incorrect. They were not woke; though they had a voice, they used that voice as a medium to raise ideas and thoughts, much like comedy. Comedy is being crucified right now for having people think, sadly, when an idiot takes on a person whose profession is wit, that idiot will lose every time. Comics were never woke; they were a tool for education, much like comedy. Sadly, though, comics were welcoming to sub-par, half-baked wanna-be activists. They do not make for good writers. Realists do.
@@TheThrashingBurton You have to separate the question of quality from that of content. I agree many of the modern writers are subpar. That makes it an issue of the writers being bad, not that the story content is too "woke" because it includes more than cis-het wh*te dudes and dudettes build like p*rn stars.
This is a good example of how the dumber someone is, the more confident they become.
The man is practically a politician. He has to appear confident or he wouldn't be there being inteviewed, it would be someone else who does.
Now they just need "Good" actors and "Good" writers
He has a fine imagination doesn't let pesky thing like reality constrain his story telling.
Why are there so many horribly written shows today? I was just watching some early episodes of Norman Lear’s All in the Family (Archie Bunker). My goodness, the quality of the writing is far better than most things I see today.
Because today's Writers Suck and Have No Talent.
Well, when I actually paid attention to the strike, I was wondering if after the strike we are going to get better stories on better shows? After listening to this, the answer is no. Oh well, it's a good thing there are good movies and shows from other parts of the world. These guys need to compete globally and lt's face it, the product quality from outside the U.S. has gotten a lot better over the years. Different perspectives, different shows, a plethora of choices.
Yes! I love having access on Netflix to shows from all over the world - for the first time ever. I see the guy talking about Netflix killing Blockbuster Video - duh? They were expensive and dreadful back in the day. Awful range of stock. Three videos for the same cost as a month of Netflix - no contest.
Someone said we recently had low-quality or badly-written movies, so the writer's strike was coming at the worst time. But it's based on contract renewal, I'm told, not just when they feel like taking a stand. But it's not the writers who green-light badly-written movies; studios and producers do it. Perhaps it's because they paid a writer a million dollars that they feel they have to make something out of the script, even if it's still not what they want or it has flaws?
Correction. Taylor swift is not the first to self distribute her movie. Master P did that way back in the 90s because the studios didnt want to distribute his movie for reasons im sure is pretty obvious
I love how boomers in industry's outside of tech think all this tech stuff Netflix does is soooo easy and they could totally do themselves, this is totally underestimating what it takes to run a digital platform.
I think the biggest issue here is that people are sick of bad films, bad shows, and it all comes down to bad writing. Usually this is most often referred to Hollywood content. Now, filmmaking is a collaboration, so who's fault is a bad end result? I can't really say, but I do know I can't feel 100% empathy towards Hollywood writers at the moment. Also I live in the Europe, so these things don't affect us that much... Sorry, let me rephrase; there are other countries producing wonderful films outside the US, so go and see them! ;-)
Do more research on the US filmmaking process before forming an opinion. Writers have to write what they’re told to by the studios that hire them. And big studios with greedy CEOs only want to produce what makes the most money not what’s the most original or best quality. Hence the endless sequels and reboots, it’s literally not the writers fault at all.
they aren't making money. this wouldn't be a problem if they were. its all a bad product
@@adamjuneau6287 historically these types of recycled shows/movies have made money for decades, it's only pretty recently that the same old formulas have stopped working because people are finally getting tired and have stopped watching. Hopefully this will lead to the shift the industry needs.
@@adamjuneau6287They are making money. Don't believe movie studio accounting, most of it is a money laundering or a corporate theft front. However, most of the streaming services aren't making money, which is a different issue.
@@voicedbird Nah I think US writers probably suck more than foreign writers, just based on the low level of education and the slow death of creativity in the US over the last forty years.
Corey Mandell doesn't seem to acknowledge that there are bad writers, who should not be working as writers.
Yes, and he only seems to be considering the reality TV element of subscription cancellations, which makes no sense. He forgets that subscription cancellations on platforms are also (if not the major reason) due to mediocre content, not to mention the identity politics that have driven audiences away.
Studio suits in da house.
@@hypatia4754Clueless union hacks living in the past, in da house.
I don't wanna crush anything here! I just have a question. Am I right that all of this great statement is based on hope and believing in the 'own and only' strength of writers and creators? What if AI is making its way further up (it will) and the studios start to handle it by themselves - and I think this just happens now. Do anyone really believe that they are not capable to handle it by themselves? Or - do anybody really believe that writers will not work for them and help to handle it? Does the audience really see the difference between great content and 'greatest' content? We all know that this / our industry delivers mainly entertainment on different levels. I have no doubt that they can deliver it by themselves - or in alliance with (even very good) writers, who change to this model of business. The why is simple. Because they have the money, because it's their business and they don't let it go to some other side. I am a German writer and former producer. I know both sides. I wish the old times will never end - but I think they do. And - to make a big leap into the future where all the creatives try to find their own ways, because they think they are the only ones who can deliver greatest content... Well: It will be a bitter war for attention. Please have in mind that this is a question, not a judgment day- even I put some fire on it!!! WE writers have a lot of power, YES for sure, but this upcoming thing is going to be more complex then betting on and believing in another and more self driven model. That's what's going on in my mind at the moment. Thanks for reading and maybe answering something! All the best to all of you! And, by the way, thanks for MAKING and sharing all this content on this wonderful channel! It's one of my daily routines to start the day with!
30 years IATSE who has supported WGA and SAG-AFTRA: God bless you all and may you get the deals you deserve, but the line between above-the-line and below-the-line is still in effect, as far as we know. I eagerly await the full-throated support from your guild when the riff-raff of the IATSE crew union are fighting our battles on the picket lines next year. We were there for you all, but I will fall down dead in shock if one actor or writer honors an IATSE picket line in 2024.
creative minds are really only good at one thing, which is creating content. Asking a creative mind to be a producer is like asking an engineer to preform open heart surgery, they are completely different fields of work. Producer establish the connections and funding needed to get project off the ground, not mentions keeping projects on track, making tough decisions, and insuring everyone invested in the project is happy. you can believe that writers will be capable of all of that sure but its not exactly best practice, you want your writers to focused on writing not running the show.
Producing is a skill set in it's own right and is essential. No one is saying they can be eliminated or replaced.
bullshit. producers just shouldn't exist at all.
Did you not hear him talking about showrunners, for instance? These people know what they are doing.
This reminds me of Image Comics in te 90s. The creators left Marvel/DC to make their own thing and it was a huge success. I'd love to see this happening for the entertainment industry.
The difference is that those guys actually understood what the audience wanted and they were willing and able to give it to them. The Hollywood fart sniffers are too detached from the real world and the audience to know what they want, and they are too arrogant to give it too them even if they knew. They will do exactly what the clowns at Marvel and DC comics have been doing and push out more of the same woke garbage that has been failing for the last few years, and then they will be all dismayed when it crashes and burns.
Image Comics wasn’t a huge success. It fractured. They had a horrible time delivering their comics on time and some titles never really finished at all. Basically the founders wound up competing with each other for resources. Never really worked out.
@@danielh1771this rewriting of history from other people is insane.
At least with the strikes we can raise up good writers and get rid of the mediocre writers that have doled out bad tv shows/movie over the years
That’s cute. Do you have any words for the thousands of mediocre executives
@corpsefoot758 I would say the executives also have a part to play in these strikes as well. From demanding writers to write shitty shows at times to not understanding the audience.
@@MrDJFlyHi
They’re directly responsible in many cases, yes. If not most
There is no writer whose shoddy work gets greenlit without an exec in the driver’s seat, for example
It's more nuanced than that. It's writers not being given enough time, or someone rewriting someone else's script without ever talking to them. And then testing the movie, and overreacting to the audience to make changes. It's also become a marketing strategy to antagonise the audience to generate buzz online.
@corpsefoot758 I would some of the writers themselves have caused the mess themselves by not respecting the source material....best example the witcher series by netflix. The writers have always hated the source material and wanted to take "creative liberties," but Henry cavil, who was a big big fan of the series couldn't agree with these changes as he was a huge fan of the series.
United Artists were initially formed with the same motivations - a collective founded by artists, run by artists.
No one I know, NO ONE, cares about the strike and are starting realize the content (TV, film, etc) has been so bad the last ten+ years because they've been comparing the more recent creations with those of decades past and the quality difference is astounding. I hope all this mess ends with better content creation. That's the best consumers can hope for.
This applies to ALL industries. The workers don't need the employers. The workers can be the owners. Every worker added to the ranks lightens the burden for everyone.
I remember when Netflix first came to Ireland, making some really great content and very excited to see what they would make next. In no way feel that way about it now.
Interesting point about pitting artists against each other. Apparently the Oscars was made for the same reason and that about as relevant as my old socks.
Netflix wasn’t even making content until 8-9 years ago. Netflix was just online Blockbuster. Today Netflix puts out better content than it did in the beginning. But it also puts out a ton of crap.
Like others have said, platforms and distribution are hard. It's not something that artists learnt to do, and more importantly, that's not what they want to be doing, because it's tedious and business only. The story about Trilogy is great though, because it shows that former writers or artists who do get into productions don't forget where they come from and protect their own. I simply hope this is not a weird exception and that the pattern can repeat itself.
They don't have to create the platform. Taylor Swift did not create theaters.
lol you think they are going to program and build it themselves? And they've done this before with United Artists.
The original distributors created Taylor swift and she broke away. The original Taylor swift wouldn't sell out theaters.
@@obcane3072 That's silly. If distributors created one Taylor Swift they shouldn't have a problem creating another, or maybe a hundred. The truth is, distributors have no idea how to create success. If they did, there would be no marketing failures.
I really hope what he said actually happens. I'm so tired of suits getting away with their abuse of power. Throw them off the boat!
Same here
Suits throughout all industries
It's not just the suits but it's also the writers as well...
@MrDJFlyHi true, but I've worked for companies that invest in their employees and treat them like people and others who just use people. The companies that were the former were all better off financially and internally. Trick is, you have to define what healthy culture is and remove corrosive members who will ruin it. Open, honest and disciplined, it works wonders
The writters have been putting out as much garbage as the studios have.
They are absolutely not the messiah of this story. And they sure as hell are not the victims, we are.
The words ‘whistling’ and ‘graveyard’ just popped into my head.
Hollywood needs to weed out the poor writers not reward them for awful work. The ones that succeed should be rewarded. The amount of money being spent on these shows is ridiculous
Most of the money is not being spent on writers. Hollywood HATES writers and tries to pay them as little as possible.
Boy! Is this guy CLUELESS! He mocks the Producers relying on “Reality TV” as passe and praises series like “Breaking Bad” but completely misses WOKEwood where Cancel Culture no longer “allows” entertainment and pushes Socialist Soviet Party MESSAGING and tanked all shows and movies that embraced propaganda… Producers are making more money buying Treasury Bills! So why did they settle?
Simple. The writers accepted MORE writers per “successful” show… and less shows… net loss of jobs.
And Producers “gave up” on AI - which they didn’t want anyway because they could not copyright their work - and gave that to the “writers” so that writers could use AI - lack any copyright to that content - and pass it on to the Producers who could then copyright what the “writers” gave them…
No one could credit writers with being the brightest bulbs in the chandelier of celebrity.
(And he’s so “grateful” to the actors for joining the strike… then the writers settled and hung the actor out to dry!)
Oh, not to worry. The free market will decide what it likes and what it doesn't.
If what this man has described comes to pass, the shit writers and creators will weed themselves out, and the good ones putting out quality content will be rewarded.
😅😂🤣 Mind if a “writer” CENSOR what I don’t wanna hear!!! 😅😂🤣
But I agree wit the Free Market - it’s speaking LOUD and CLEAR - keep your politics OUT of shows… AI can do that!
@@TheGeoDaddy Indeed!
It isn't true that people canceled their Netflix subscriptions. Netflix added 18 million subscriptions last month, and their stock value has greatly increased
The problem is that the more streaming channels there are the less money the streaming channels make. That’s a huge problem too. There is not unlimited money. People won’t subscribe to more than at most 4 or 5 channels. Content under the idea of creating your own streaming channel is going to get very messy and very cheap. If the writers and actors make their own channels they all make less money too
Social media, UA-cam, TikTok and Instagram has created a new video platform which competes with streaming services. Also, traditional movie theater distribution is in decline and is no longer a reliable distribution option for film. Many people would rather stay home and save money, unless it is a really special event film. These are new challenges for studios.
Really loved his anecdote. I don't think what he's describing is going to be a utopia or anything (and he's not saying that) and it'll have its own problems, but it will overall be better. Theatres are technically already working this way and have been for a very long time. Artists function far better in intimate motley crews creating AND producing their own work. We're just seeing how the corporate monster of capitalism is affecting us. Without the wide distributive power of studios the content will make less money, but artists will get MORE of the money, and that'll generally balance it out but the big difference being artists are far happier and more free.
It really hasn't worked out that well for the music business. We've been able to create and distribute in that industry a long time. Very few make enough money to live on and most end up having to be a cover band and work their songs into the mix
Nebula is a good example of how UA-cam creators made a platform of their own to develope their content the way they wanted to without deference to someone else’s algorithm. Some YT’ers have completely quit the platform and make Nebula-only content. I’ve been been a subscriber for almost three years the content is superior to what TY allows.
If writers and actors struck out on their own and made their own streaming platform, I would definitely give it a try over proto-AI generated garbage the studios want to push out.
Yep, that's the kind of model you would be looking at. Even if the mainstream still holds, the existence of alternatives can help keep them honest.
+ they'll earn a share of the ad revenue they help generate through their reco's/reviews
8:10 interesting. this sounds like golden age studio system where artists were signed exclusively to one studio and would be loaned out if needed rather than the freelance wave in the 70s until present. But a contemporary version. Its all a cycle I guess. Now it may be that the dominant work force is permanently contracted workers rather than freelance. Eventually the pendulum will swing the other way too. But this is what the industry needs right now I think. Gives talented people a better chance of work. Freelance work offers freedom, but this system offers stability and good pay and perks. We need to make sure we don't create monopolies this time around tho. 10:32 I was thinking the same thing. This interviewer is brilliant. Keep up the good work and ask the interesting questions for us x 👍😀
Except once the talent is "locked in" this will "shut out" any new talent for some time. Hollywood is a small and limited space unless you go independent, and then its freelance all over again. Its already a who knows who and who is related to who business currently.
the Blockbuster/Enron merger was a real eye opener
People cancled netflix subscriptions because of bad writting.
They destroyed StarWars, LordoftheRings, MCU, ....
Yep, it’s that simple
ok except neither SW, LOTR or the MCU are on netflix...
@@0ctag0nZer0 Witcher, Cowboy Bebop, Daredevil, Resident Evil...
however the writer strike wasnt only against netflix it included Disney+ and Prime so the once mentioned above still were ruined by the people who went on the streets.
Doesnt prove me wrong
@@pepperino-hotterino huh? I was literally just pointing out those specific things aren’t on Netflix, nothing more.
Im in set lighting, and Ive been out of work since June, along with hundreds of thousands of others. This situation is very, very bad
Definitely bad for so many. How are you holding up?
@@filmcourageluckily my wife has a job. Still not enough to pay the bills. This is going to cripple many people & businesses for years/decades. Variety & The Hollywood Reporter have seem to have forgotten the hundreds of thousands in IATSE out of work.
Indeed. Back in August, economists said that the strikes have already had a 3 billion dollar impact on the California economy. Lots of hardship. We've heard of businesses and restaurants that have been hurting. Hope you and your wife find your way to higher ground soon.
Propmaker in the U.K. Same story here. I work for an independent company that usually supplies maker services to multiple film and tv productions at once. Since the American Studios basically took over the U.K. industry a while ago, everything is dead. Even when things eventually start up again, there certainly won’t be as many skilled and dedicated services that have survived to actually make anything.
i am sure all those lovely actors and writers will support you with lavish contributions. i should co co!
5:43 - omg Dude, SO glad to hear you say that. I know how hard you guys work since I've written and directed 8 feature films myself! And when this strike went down I kept telling myself these writers and actors need to just pool their resources and become creators. Screw the so-called "studios", I mean all your CGI people, composers, spend $100, form corporations and make yourselves the stockholders and just create quality content! The industry is NOTHING without you!
The problem of all of this ultimately is Intellectual Poverty. As long as people think they own ideas there will be broken, monopolistic incentives for someone. Writers are only one component of the process, and they are just as capable of creating dumb rules as studio executives. For one thing, even if they have been starving writers in the past, those who are at the top are not going to evenly distribute the work. It's going to go by seniority or other system like that, and while understandable - this isn't necessarily the right thing to do.
If you want the best people to carry forward the "pitch" and do the work, then you want even more decentralization than this. Let everyone make "their version" and battle it out on the market. Let people learn what truly works for audiences without the hamstrings of monopolistic incentives.
Well said. Reminds me a lot of the golden age of jet aircraft(particularly spy planes during the Cold War). A chosen group of engineers, designers, draftsmen etc would all come up with THEIR version of plane, given that it met the criteria and demands of the USAF. After 6 months, and 6 different designs, only 2 made the cut in which they were tested in wind tunnels, slide rules and pilot input, in which 1 met all the requirements, thus the birth of the SR-71. This analogy can absolutely be applied to a screen writing.
Only problem, this type of process is incredibly expensive, in which the manufacturer/film studio, has to cover the costs? It’s a huge gamble, but if it turns out great, you end up with a Blackbird or a LOTR trilogy breaking bank! I’m not entirely convinced that these studios take anymore chances, and rather play it safe, which is why we end up with reboots and rehashed stories like Star Wars The Force Awakens, or knock off Avenger films/tv series.
Illuminating thanks. Of all streaming services, Netflix has the most evident need for better writing during development and production to the point where it feels cheap - and avoidably so. The marketing and branding of their entertainment products is upfront alluring, but more than any other streaming service, it can turn out to be an abysmal tv or film project behind that marketing.
I think what's being missed here is that instead of reality TV, lots of people are abandoning produced content altogether in favor of UA-cam, TikTok, and other amusements. Sure, the studios are going to regret this strike but so will the writers and actors. Yes, there are still some great shows but even those aren't offering very much anymore. In the 2000s, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation was one of the biggest shows on TV. Until season 15 (out of a total of 18), there were over 20 episodes every season for a total of 337, and they came out every year at about the same time. Now you're lucky if even the best shows (like The Bear) have 8 episodes, take less than 2 years between seasons, and it's a miracle if they make it past season 3. Even if the shows are great it seems like everyone is doing their best to make it easy to forget them and move on.
Also, it really has to be said that I'm finding it very difficult to find sympathy for the strike. As part of the vast majority of the world that only gets paid once for my work, a lack of generous residuals doesn't really strike a chord with me. It's common knowledge that going to Hollywood to be a writer or actor means you'll be working other jobs while you try and probably fail to get anywhere, you might get a low paying gig, or if you're extremely lucky you make a name for yourself and become wealthy. It's the career equivalent of playing the lottery and we're supposed to feel bad for everyone that hasn't gotten their winning ticket? Not to mention that while you're striking for yourselves, all the people that work on the sets are once again out of work.
The same problem is afflicting music. In the old days, record company executives were musicians, writers and producers and they have been replaced by suits whose job is not to create great music, it's to create great profit.
5:44 Netflix changed how media is distributed and are the only streaming service to this day to be profitable. You can't 'just create your own' streaming service and start distributing media, you have to create what is essentially a tech company from scratch and operate at a loss for a decade, while trying to draw customers to your new service. It's a huge technical undertaking that this man is seriously underestimating.
If writers go on disparaging the audience, their distributors and investors, they will not receive the support this man thinks they deserve. Him and his colleagues are in for a rude awakening, nothing he said will become reality and studios will have more control than ever.
The one thing I didn't get was where do you get the money from to make the series or movie. Sure distribution looks easy enough, but how do you get the backing in the first place? these are tough times and people aren't willing to take the risk anymore.
He’s a little premature, I think, in his prediction, but I don’t think he’s wrong - the economics may take a while to sort out, but I think the strikes really did put into focus who adds value to the Film/TV industry (e.g. creatives, artists) and who has been shipwrecking the industry (e.g. corporations and suits). I hope the movement for VFX unionization grows. I hope reality TV casts unionize. I hope we continue to ride this wave of labor solidarity into a better future.
The "better future" that unions bring is always best for the people outside the US that benefit when the US-led industry is destroyed by union greed.
The rest of the worlds film and tv industries are already unionised, and their nations expect the industries to entertain their people.
The major issue, is almost all of those nations place their content in streaming now. Very rarely are they shown on tv channels.@@Hedgehobbit
@@Hedgehobbit well, yeah. But not because of unions, but because there is no talent in the US anymore. As customers gain more agency to make demands from streaming platforms, the more they will demand bigger and better foreign films.
"Eventually, though, don't you think a hierarchy is going to form." It may, and then we go back to negotiation. There are default states that society tends toward based on human desires and selfishness and we have to constantly push back against. He mentions United Artists being a previous iteration of this idea. I'm sure it shook the industry at the time, but then it became part of it, integrated into what it once fought against, now we potentially have a new one rising. Every win is temporary, but that doesn't make it any less of a win. The best we can hope for is that it lasts a while and the next battle is easier. (of course, I think the less frequent the battles, the harder they are to win because people become complacent or simply forget there's even something to fight for)
Yeah, his logic about UA doesn't make any sense. He acts like it was a "win" and yet they're a part of the so-called problem. What would make his supposed actor/writer clan any different? Eventually they're going to be doing the very same thing he's complaining about right now.
@@Neonmirrorblack I think you're completely missing the point I was making. There is no win that will last forever.
Don't confuse American capitalist malpractice with 'human nature', the way it is here is by no means a universal or natural state that we are doomed to regress too.
This video is already of date since Netflix reported a huge gain in subs yesterday. All the studios were desperate to cut costs this year and the strike really helped them out. Hopefully we will see even more great content from UK and Korea supplanting the current US visual drivel.
The studios are essentially going to pay more to the writers they hire, but that's IF they hire more writers. Which they probably won't. If they agree to hire more than one writer, they're mandated to at least 3 writers for a 6 episode series or about 5 for a 12 episode series. They could legitimately just get a few writers to do stretches of 6 episodes and call each stretch a new series. They could also literally use AI to create scripts and then just let whoever's doing the rewriting KNOW that the job they need is a rewrite, not a write from scratch. So I think the writers are going to regret their strike more in the long run.
Bingo
I noticed that most news reports of the strike just read the summary but not the actual new contract (which is available online). The mandate for a minimum writer's room can by bypassed if the studio hires "a single writer or team" to write all the episodes. So I suspect that lots of these teams will spring up to have a workaround to writer room bloat.
@@Hedgehobbit - Yes, the WGA screwed most of their writers, and they don't even realize it yet. But, they will ...
Seeing how much this guy is dreaming and has his head in the clouds tells me precisely why the strike is happening. I just keep thinking of the she hulk writer saying ”the writing room was a group therapy session”
Comedians have been doing this more and more as well. Instead of releasing a special on Netflix or HBO or Showtime they release it on their youtube page or on their website. Hire someone to film and edit it for them or they do it all themselves like Louis C.K. All the best specials I saw in 2023 were released on that comic's youtube account or the account or the podcast they're on.
The studios aren’t regretting anything. The strikes created a force majure situation that allowed them to get out of so many bad deals, fire writers who were hired to check a box. Those people are never getting rehired.
This is the correct answer. Writer in this vid is coping hard.
I love this. As a novice writer, this gives me so much hope and am really excited for the future of storytelling, not just in TV/Film but across entertainment in general
I took Corey's screenwriting class at UCLA Extension - it was superb and I still remember his tips today.
The production value of films from India and Nigeria have improved tremendously! Not all the movies are cringe musicals anymore. I have seen some films from Africa, Turkey, India on the same level as European films, if not better recently. Korea and Japan are already taking over Cannes Film festivals. Screw Hollywood, people are going to watch good content wherever they find it. BTW music videos from Africa and India are a 1000xs better than USA music videos. Everyone please check out some foreign films...you don't know what your missing!
Your team mentality has completely ignored IATSE whose members make actors and writers worlds come alive. IATSE’s contract us up soon after an extension was given to the studios. Our contracts are so terrible and the rates of pay dismal including all of the out of pocket expenses we pay out to benefit these studios. Actors and writers have the best contracts in comparison. We hope you support us when the time comes.
They won't. They don't care about you. They only care about themselves. The IA strike a couple of years ago didn't change anything.
IA members still work ridiculous hours and they aren't paid very much. The studios won that fight.
Actors and writers don't care and never will care about technicians....
Finally I find a smart guy talking about this!
It's not at all about getting "a fair share". Fairness is a stupid concept when it comes to business and negotiation. What matters is your leverage. How much what you have to offer is actually valued. How much it hurts doing without it. THAT's what matters.
If this is an example of the writers in Hollywood, you don't have to be that smart to recognize what's wrong, and it's quite clear the strike hasn't made anything any better.
Wow, y'all really are panicking. Sorry, shillie, the unions are rising again, and all your sneering won't change that!
@@Serai3 Shillie? Are you certain I'm not a bot? Lmao.
I'm a bit hesitant to speak about the strike since last time I did the internet's best and brightest decided I needed to be destroyed, but thank you for this perspective. To me it feels like back in 2007 the writers lost the strike, and it still feels like that for the 2023 strike if I'm being honest, but I can more clearly see why someone might consider this strike their victory.
When the writers are writing claptrap, my sympathy is non-existent.
He really ruined for me with his comments about the content distribution comments. It made me question the validity of his other claims. I don't know much about Hollywood. But I do know the creation and support of a streaming service is anything but easy. All of them are struggling right now and cannibalizing each other. And this is with super wealthy companies. And who's paying for the content? Even assuming the actors and writers magically agree to work for free upfront, what about the hundreds of other people that work on a film that don't have the financial freedom to work on a project and wait months or even years to get paid? Where is the money to pay them? Ignoring all of this. Let's say you gat a movie made. It's full of popular stars and everybody who watches it says it's the best movie they have ever see. How are you advertising it? It would be easier to just get it into theatres. Congrats, you just created a studio. Still need to advertise it. Which typically costs about 50% of movie's budget. None of this makes any sense. If it hasn't happened in the music industry yet where the exploitation is much worse and the product much cheaper to make how is the movie industry going to accomplish it? This guy lives in fantasy land. Which makes sense given how his brain is wired as a writer. But none of it makes any sense, This is how these monopiles exist and stand for so long. Cost and complexity of doing business are the moats that keep all but the super wealthy away.
Watching the writers and actors come together to support each other has been wonderful to see. Unions are the reason my 4 generations of family continue to ‘thrive’ in Canada.
if you need a union to survive, you basically have no skills to take care of yourself.
Guilds are not Unions.
& what about everybody BELOW the line? All us contractors? Everybody that is worried about becoming homeless? Writers & actors? FUCK those guys! Coming out of the coof lockdowns was hard enough, then this shit?! I have a 21 year old car that I am BORROWING money to keep afloat. I got $2k root canal I need to take care of, I have property taxes, mortgage bills! I have a fucking life to pay for! But the actors writers, right?! But the fucking millionaires, right?!
I am ready for a writer-driven streaming platform! Bring it!!
Hopefully, this writer's strike will actually result in better wages and benefits and job opportunities for screen writers, so studios can attract better writers to their films and TV shows. We need at least one good writer who cares about quality more than politics to be in charge of projects and train other writers and set a good example for them.
Unfortunately, studios are now beholden to DEI hiring minima’s, which will only guarantee subpar writers blocks, in which quantity will ALWAYS overshadow quality.
@@crazyralph6386Also it slashed overall writers so they, in fact, made it WORSE for the average Union worker.
I dont go to the movies anymore, unplugged from television January 2016 and never had a streaming service. I have a collection of over 600 DVD's and I never run out of GOOD movies to watch.
That's a movie a day for almost 2 years!
You know, I don't think they will regret it. The audience has limited time. There is infinite competition for that time. Video Games, Podcasts, Music, Books, Sporting events. If the value proposition of Movies and TV continues to be as low as it has been, it will only attract the lowest common denominator. Additionally, people are not willing to subsidize the crap being foisted upon them. And the studios are starting to see they need to stop the bleeding. Additionally, the economy is poor, in no small part due to the actions of a particular class of intellectuals who put us all on this road with them because of their insane hypochondria and hatred of democracy, and people are already cutting out non-essential expenditures from their spending. Disney World? Nah. BluRay's? Nah. Multiple Streaming services? Nah.
The only streaming services I have are Prime Video and Paramount + (because of Star Trek; I'm hopelessly addicted).
I have a feeling a new entertainment modality's about to emerge. Lr perhaps the studios will see sense and norph into a better version of themselves?
Or will they go the way of Khan, ranting about revenge?
"He Tasks Me. He Tasks Me, And I Shall Have Him! I'll Chase Him 'Round The Moons Of Nibia, And 'Round The Antares Maelstrom, And 'Round Perdition's Flames Before I Give Him Up!"
Price-gouging drove exploding prices way more than any virus news did, but ok
Nebula is a good example of a content creator owned platform. I hope the actor and writers guild is studying how they succeeded. The key thing is to not use private or public equity. Finance it like a law firm where partners put in their own funds and non-partners can earn ownership by creating more revenues.
The lack of mention about anything to do with the current culture war we are currently living through strikes me as strange. I like his idealism and optimism, but it seems very telling to me that he makes no mention of audiences annoyance with overly political and identity politics driven content as a driving factor in why major studios are struggling. I think it’s a hard stretch to say that audiences are tired of reality television and that studios over prioritizing reality programming is the major mistake they have been making.
Exactly! When he mentioned that they(writers/actors) don’t need the “online Blockbuster Video” such as Netflix, Prime, Hulu etc I thought to myself- “it’s the audience who doesn’t need EITHER, especially if they continue producing woke nonsense. The customer determines the market, not a bunch of ideologues, who probably haven’t wrote a coherent storyline in their lifetimes?
The reason is simple; one of the two culture war epicentres is Hollywood. It was caused by key figures going to war with each other for everything.
Just as the US decided to centre their culture on Hollywood as the frontline conflict erupted, to get away from the capitalistic culture. The other culture war epicentre is Wall Street. This culture war only affects the US.
It does not affect other Western nations, because their artists entertain, and their wall street equivalents serve their nations. They do not influence the wider culture, because history and the major events that effect the entire population do that.
I wanna support this perspective. Help me understand (because I want to and I believe there's good disruption) how Blockbuster ( 100% distribution only) is similar to the current iteration of Netflix? (distribution originally then pivoted to massive production + content ownership)
Why has the quality of writing declined so precipitously over the past decade? There is still some great content being made, but it's harder to find than a needle in the proverbial haystack. Netflix original content is 99% garbage. 99% of new content on Disney+ is trash. And so on.
What's going on?
What do you think is going on?
ESG funds
I don’t think the studios will regret this strike. It allowed them to clear a lot of junk and it now gives them the power to fire writers. Writers that throng produce will find themselves out of Hollywood.
Is he not forgetting the role of the producers is to bring the money? you're counting on crowdfunding?
Do you understand the massive difference between handling money vs owning money, or …?
The rise of You Tube, influencers, Go-Fund me, and all the rest/self-publishing, for instance, has shown that alternative ways to get your IP out to the audience are available and can work. Even if those methods do little more than push you up the food chain towards more conventional financing sources. Every year seems to bring new ways to get your product to the marketplace. And more is coming...
If SAG or WGA started a streaming service, I'd totally give it a shot!
It would essentially be an employee-owned company, and I'd be down for that. Anything to undercut the corporate nonsense
Writers and actors Taylor Swifting the Sudios! Love it!
...if only they had Taylor Swift money and influence.
Except he fails to point out how Taylor Swift didn't hire a single WGA writer. How is her disruption going to help the writers?
What studios got from the strike
-people barely cared or noticed
-they were too busy rewatching the office
-actors don't have the same pull they used to with audiences
-we can just wait for them to starve to negotiate
-we saved a lot of money
-we threw a few breadcrumbs their way for now
What studios learnt according to Corey
-its not 2000something anymore we can't replace shows with reality tv
-without writers shows don't get made and the back catalog runs out in a couple of months
-if actors support the writers it's over because audiences will follow
-anyone can create a workers collective and compete with Hollywood
-we have all the power even tho technology exists that can do my job for free
I love your story about the writer-run company having your best interest in mind when making a deal with a studio. I work in medical animation, and I can tell you there's a huge difference between working for people who were (or still are) animators, versus people who have no art background whatsoever and just like to do things because they see dollar signs but need skilled people to make that money for them. There's always going to be people whose skill is using the skills of others, but they're getting shut out more and more with the democratization of production and distribution. And I love that, because I have no love for people who don't work for a living.
This guy sounds like a speaking head for the union. It's far more complex than just "making movies" for the corporations. i.e. - AT&T. The name of the game is data. The more carrots they can get people to crowd source around the more marketing opportunities they create for themselves and their constituents. You can blame the media companies all you want, but the elephant in the room is the advancement of technology. It's a new era. Learn to adjust or be eliminated.
I believe it when he says that an artist ran studio would make better decisions than that suits and treat the employees better. ...... at first. It has often been said that oppressed often become the oppressors. I believe that there have been many companies through the decades that started as small companies that wanted to treat their employees well. And then either had to face some harsh realities, or simply saw a change in management at some point that caused them to begin viewing their workers as more disposable pawns than family.
Yep this is true when a businessis small it can treatits employees better but whenit grows it becomes bad, what did stalin say "The death of one man is a tragedy. The death of millions is a statistic." - Josef Stalin
It can be applied here as well
I believe there is truth in this idea of a “creative collective”, but here is something we all must realize: it is not just the mindset, it is also that different people have different talents. You will need people who are good with money and who can make the tougher money decisions. That’s hard to find in creative people. (And I am saying this as a creative person.)
I think whenever all these different animals somehow get along with each other, then it is about the connections between them, about respect, and about caring for each other. I am not sure, but it seems to me that every generation needs to do this all over again, because these connections need to be made again.
Rules help, but nothing works better than caring for each other.
Corey is so articulate. I really enjoy hearing his advise/analysis/opinions on this channel.
More to come!
He is articulate. He is also delusional, and woefully ignorant about even the basic mechanics of running a studio or streamer. I wish the interviewer would have pressed harder on that. For example the guy says "We don't need the studios" and the perfect follow-up question from a journalist would've been, "if writers don't need the studios, then why did you all just spend 6-months parked in front of the studios asking them for money?"...but alas.