Hello everyone! It has been a while since I’ve been on here, and I do apologize for it. Teaching took over my life, but this blog was always in the back of my mind. I have sorely missed it.
I’m trying something new today. I’m at work on the next movie review, but I have a lot of thoughts about what’s been happening in the entertainment industry. So here is a round-up of recent happenings and current events, with my own thoughts interspiresed. I guess this is like an op-ed.
Let me know what you think about this. I’m thinking about doing this every two weeks, or every month. I know this is not strictly related to The List, but this keeps me active on here.
Onwards!
SAG-AFTRA Strike: Well boys and girls, it’s finally happened. The Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists has finally decided to go on strike. Negotiations with Hollywood bigwigs did not result in a compromise, so this union joins the Writers Guild of America protesting current and developing labor practices.
Primiarliy, SAG-AFTRA wants movie studios to stop or limit the use of AI as actors in movies, and they want better residual deals for streaming services. This would be similar to the checks actors receive for syndication on television.
This strike will have an immediate impact, as we are in the middle of summer premiers. According to regulations, actors who are part of the union can no longer act on current or upcoming projects; they also cannor promote projects they worked on. This went into effect even before the strike was announced, with the cast of Oppenheimer walking out of the UK priemer. With San Dieago Comic Con slated for next week, there will be a lack of actors to promote upcoming movies and projects, leaving some panels lackluster and bare. Social media feeds will be less about the movies they are in and more about . . . other things.
Combined with the WGA Strike Hollywood has effectively shut down. While some components are still operable – reality/talk/variety tv, commercials, and British-based House of the Dragon will continue as usual – the movies have come to a full stop. Most production schedules are being pushed back; the feeling is that this strike could go on for several months.
So what does that mean for us, the average consumer? It means that the movie we’ve been anxiously waiting for may not be released on the date it’s supposed to. If the strike goes into the fall, it means less original series premiering on streaming and potentionally a thin offereing for Oscar season. Be prepared to scrape the bottom of the streaming barrell, because this strike could be here for a while.
Sources: https://www.sagaftra.org/
https://www.sagaftrastrike.org/
https://variety.com/2023/film/global/matt-damon-oppenheimer-cast-moved-red-carpet-strike-1235669528/
WGA Strike: This strike has been occurring since May 2. The Writers Guild has broke for similar reasons that SAG-AFTRA has; they want AI use to be regulated in Hollywood and better residuals for streaming services. Originally, their strike brought Hollywood to a stand-still but not to a hault. Yes, productions stopped, but the rumor was that the bigwigs had stockpiled screenplays for just this purpose. But now this strike is combined with SAG-AFTRA, meaning that nothing can get done until negotiations are completed.
However, it appears that the WGA has not had further talks with the AMPTP (American Motion Picture and Television Producers). According to Deadline, members of the AMPTP are willing and able to sit this stirke out, waiting until the writers are broken financially before restarting contract negotiations. Deadline admits this is an ice-cold tactic, and it does feel very antiquated. Presumably, the AMPTP decided to focus on the SAG-AFTRA negotiations, but those started on June 7, a month after the WGA striked.
Honestly, this is the most concerning strike. Partly because I’m a writer myself (I don’t belong to WGA, but I do support them). And also because the studios clearly do not have the best interests of their people in mind. Deadline also pointed out that studios have saved money by shutting down productions, and have bought international series onto their streaming platforms to compensate for lack of new material. Evidence points to a system that has been designed to retain money at the top instead of supporting the artists who are actually making the content.
Again, be prepared for this strike to drag out. The sentiment is that both unions will get what they want, as evidenced by the 1960 combined strike. But it’s not going to end soon and it’s not going to be a clean fight. Get comfy everyone; it’s going to be a bumby ride.
Sources: https://www.wgacontract2023.org/
Turner Classic Movies: This has been flying under the radar recently; with the strikes taking over entertainment news cycles, it’s been hard for anything else to get through. But I also find this concerning, as reports have percolated that Warner Bros. Discovery has slowly started to dismantle this important establishment.
It’s hard to pinpoint exactly when things started to go downhil. For me, it’s when they changed their look – they went from soft thirties/forties to a flashly fifties/sixties. Why?!
But then there were more sublte changes. On the Turner Classic Movies website, clicking the “TCM Library” tab takes you to the Hachette Book Group website, not tcm.shop.com. The pages for their specialty series – Silent Sunday Nights, Musical Matinees – are lackluster, giving the basic information and a list of that month’s films. Their Instagram feed has slowly become more colorized, moving away from black-and-white films.
On the backend, CEO David Zaslav has dismissed many producers and programmers for the station, upending a comfortable, quiet, predictable exsistence. It’s gotten to the point where Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, and Paul Thomas Anderson had to intervene to “save” the channel. It’s unknown what their roles will be in this relationship, or even if their influence has made some sort of impact. But the saddest part is that this is happening during Warner Bros. One Hundredth Anniversary. The studio has produced clips and shorts celebrating its longevity, and in the middle of this, Zaslav is actively wipping away the only channel that holds Hollywood’s history at the center of its mission. It’s two-faced, it’s sad, and it’s out of touch.
There are a lot of think pieces being developed about TCM, so I won’t get into that here. But as these news stories show, the Hollywood bigwigs have not been on the ground for a while. They have lived long enough to become the villians of the story.
Sources: https://www.tcm.com/
https://www.npr.org/2023/06/28/1184544944/tcm-turner-classic-movies-david-zaslav
The Land of 1,000 Movies 