WGA/SAGAFTRA Strike Discussion Thread | SAG Ratifies Contract

[Mojoguy]

1 hour ago, cooldude97 said:

 

Really disgusting of Disney to do that.

[Reddroast]

https://deadline.com/2023/08/sag-aftra-election-fran-drescher-maya-gilbert-dunbar-president-joely-fisher-peter-antico-1235453767/

[filmlover]

Awesome to see all those big names contributing to keeping the strike going until AMPTP comes to their senses (and also to shut up the "why aren't those Hollywood millionaires on the picket lines?!?!?" brigade).

[SpiderByte]

 

[YM!]

6 minutes ago, SpiderByte said:

 

Fuck Zaslav. Hope the rest of the slate bombs.

[SpiderByte]

7 minutes ago, YM! said:

Fuck Zaslav. Hope the rest of the slate bombs.

Well if Dune moves it's basically just Aquaman, Wonka and Blue Beetle...

[grim22]

22 minutes ago, SpiderByte said:

 

 

What's with rich people becoming more shameless nowadays? Feels like we have entered a new era of the quiet part being said out loud to shareholders.

 

ETA: Reading the article, it was not Zaslav, it was the CFO which makes somewhat more sense in the sense that it was the CFO just listing out the actual impacts to free cash flow

 

Quote

 CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels stated that WBD had saved more than $100 million due to the strikes in Q2, which ran April 1-June 30. Only WGA was actually on strike during that time, but TV and film productions were already severely impacted by the solo work stoppage.
 

Wiedenfels added that “uncertainty” in the studio segment as a result of the strikes “may have implications for the timing and performance of the remainder of the film slate, as well as our ability to produce and deliver content.”

“While we are hoping for a fast resolution, our modeling assumes a return to work date in early September, should the strikes run through the end of the year, I would expect several $100 million upside to our free cash flow guidance and some incremental downside for adjusted EBITDA,” the CFO said.

 

So the tweet is mostly rage-bait. It is definitely understandable in a sense for a CFO of a public company to list monetary impacts.

[Eric S'ennui]

3 minutes ago, grim22 said:

 

What's with rich people becoming more shameless nowadays? Feels like we have entered a new era of the quiet part being said out loud to shareholders.

 

ETA: Reading the article, it was not Zaslav, it was the CFO which makes somewhat more sense in the sense that it was the CFO just listing out the actual impacts to free cash flow

 

 

Late stage capitalism babyyyyyyyyyyy

[filmlover]

WB won't be bragging once they see how much Blue Beetle is about to eat into those Barbie profits (in part because the stars can't promote it).

 

Hopefully all this has been a wake-up call to those who always complain about how Hollywood is full of nothing but rich snobs when the reality is that those millionaires are in fact the 1% even within the industry.

Edited August 3, 2023 by filmlover

[Kon]

20 minutes ago, filmlover said:

WB won't be bragging once they see how much Blue Beetle is about to eat into those Barbie profits (in part because the stars can't promote it).

 

Hopefully all this has been a wake-up call to those who always complain about how Hollywood is full of nothing but rich snobs when the reality is that those millionaires are in fact the 1% even within the industry.

 

That's likely a pretty little part for that. Blue Beetle will likely be a bomb even with a lot of promotion from actors.

 

Not to mention that big promotion from actors don't tend to be free. So, they are perhaps saving on that.

Edited August 3, 2023 by Kon

[SpiderByte]

1 hour ago, grim22 said:

What's with rich people becoming more shameless nowadays? Feels like we have entered a new era of the quiet part being said out loud to shareholders.

Well there's a little editorializing in the headline but yeah, they are. But with the year WB is having they need every positive they can mention. I can't fucking imagine how things would be if they didn't strike oil with Barbie.

Edited August 3, 2023 by SpiderByte

[Celedhring]

1 hour ago, grim22 said:

 

What's with rich people becoming more shameless nowadays? Feels like we have entered a new era of the quiet part being said out loud to shareholders.

 

ETA: Reading the article, it was not Zaslav, it was the CFO which makes somewhat more sense in the sense that it was the CFO just listing out the actual impacts to free cash flow

 

 

So the tweet is mostly rage-bait. It is definitely understandable in a sense for a CFO of a public company to list monetary impacts.

 

Yeah, it's business as usual. When reporting earnings of al listed company (which WBD are) you *must* detail the factors that have influenced each financial item.

[cooldude97]

3 hours ago, grim22 said:

 

What's with rich people becoming more shameless nowadays? Feels like we have entered a new era of the quiet part being said out loud to shareholders.

 

because the government refuses to limit their power or tax them properly 

 

and the lower and middle classes are so beaten down that the idea of speaking up or fighting back is far in the back of their minds 

[Barnack]

On 7/22/2023 at 5:59 PM, ZattMurdock said:

This is heartbreaking.

 

There 2 different dynamic, if an EP run on a show was paying so much you didn't need to work the next full year and you were working often enough (all the time you would be quite rich). Someone working on a construction project making so much that it last them 12-14 months would sound really nice to many people.

 

A bit the same for actor, $5000 a week as a starting minimum is quite the good money, expenditure for agents-unions-audition junket-living in popular place near the action and being lucky to work 12 weeks a year because there is 160,000 members, a million that want to do it for free and not enough work for half of them.

 

As for no residual that a bit strange thing to say a streaming platform cannot play something out the original window without paying residual, 1.2% of what Netflix pay for the content goes in residual (and if Netflix is the producer of what similar content cost them in the open market), residuals non-adjusted for the WGA-west was at their highest even in 2021 nearly half a billion dollars was paid by the studios.

 

How much pay a day would it be needed for all those people to do a leaving considering how low that amount of days can be...

 

It is a bit of strange situation, were studio pay for days of work is a really high amount and the average worker situation is not that good because of just how much of them there is sharing the pi.

 

On 7/23/2023 at 7:16 PM, Water Bottle said:

They are also very dumb because they don't realize how often they actually are the primary screen.

Would they not have really good data on this, which shows are primary screen and which shows tend to be secondary, that something you see show build to be secondary screen with a little showing of what will happen and what did happen every 8 minutes.

[SpiderByte]

For a comparison to the first strike, generally both sides remained in contact throughout the strike before a deal was made. Now we're about to eclipse that strike and they only begin talking tomorrow. So...this still ain't over.

[Jonwo]

2 hours ago, Celedhring said:

 

Yeah, it's business as usual. When reporting earnings of al listed company (which WBD are) you *must* detail the factors that have influenced each financial item.

People seem to get their knickers in a twist as usual. 

[AniNate]

Business as usual as it may be, it does speak to why they haven't been in much of a hurry to get back to the table until now.

 

They also said they expect the strikes to end in September. The release schedule is starting to get pretty desolate so maybe they really are starting to feel the financial pressure.

 

 

Edited August 3, 2023 by AniNate

[filmlover]

37 minutes ago, AniNate said:

Business as usual as it may be, it does speak to why they haven't been in much of a hurry to get back to the table until now.

 

They also said they expect the strikes to end in September. The release schedule is starting to get pretty desolate so maybe they really are starting to feel the financial pressure.

 

 

To be fair, the only truly major delay (for a movie that was already being marketed at least) is Kraven the Hunter (which clearly must be a winner *sarcasm* if it was delayed all the way to the Labor Day dump spot of next year). All the others that have lost their fall dates (Challengers, Drive-Away Dolls, and Poor Things which is remaining in 2023) are all titles that were going to be on the niche side in terms of appeal. Something like the rumors of WB pushing some of their big Q4 movies to next year is probably getting under their skin more.

 

I still figure they'll get at least SAG resolved by October at the latest to save both the holiday box office + some of the fall festival circuit.

Edited August 3, 2023 by filmlover

[keysersoze123]

I think we are making a big deal on what CFO said. he was just doing his job. He was definitely not "bragging". Short term its cash flow positive but long term it will be negative without new content. Put couple of quarters of stoppage is almost like a furlough for writers/actors and so its beneficial short term and they have obligation to get it out in the conference call. 

 

That said I hope we have an equitable contract for WAG/SAG soon. 

[WittyUsername]

Zachary Levi and Stephen Amell DGAF anymore. They’ve gone full mask-off.