WGA/SAGAFTRA Strike Discussion Thread | SAG Ratifies Contract

[Mr Terrific]

“If I wanted to read, I’d go to school.”

- Beavis

[SchumacherFTW]

2 hours ago, Mr Terrific said:

“If I wanted to read, I’d go to school.”

- Beavis

[SpiderByte]

 

[Kon]

14 minutes ago, SpiderByte said:

 

 

It's interesting that SAG didn't make this from the beginning.

[SpiderByte]

50 minutes ago, Kon said:

 

It's interesting that SAG didn't make this from the beginning.

I'm guessing they think now that there are actual negotiations it hurts the talks, rather than bait to incentivize coming to the table

[babz06]

https://twitter.com/kristapley/status/1691174643108057089

[SpiderByte]

4 minutes ago, babz06 said:

https://twitter.com/kristapley/status/1691174643108057089

[AMC Theaters Enjoyer]

Just realized that we're at one month since SAG went on strike.

 

Obviously don't wanna get ahead of ourselves, but I guess studios finally got the hint. Negotiations usually take around 4-6 weeks right? So if true, we could see deals set by the end of September?

[SpiderByte]

5 minutes ago, AMC Theaters Enjoyer said:

Obviously don't wanna get ahead of ourselves, but I guess studios finally got the hint. Negotiations usually take around 4-6 weeks right? So if true, we could see deals set by the end of September?

Iiiits a little tricky, especially since we don't know the details of the most recent offer to see how far apart the WGA and AMPTP are. SAG and WGA have broadly overlapping concerns, but the specifics are a bit different (like with AI, where writers don't really need to care about likeness rights). But the safe assumption is once they meet somewhere with the WGA it won't be too long before they reach one with SAG. 

 

The "festival season is saved" thing is interesting because that'd specifically mean the SAG strike, which hasn't even begun discussions.

[Speedorito]

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-08-14/hollywood-studios-offer-writers-a-new-deal-with-push-from-netflix-to-end-strike?in_source=embedded-checkout-banner

[SpiderByte]

 

[SpiderByte]

Bloomberg is a paywall so for those wantingore details:

 

[Kon]

11 minutes ago, SpiderByte said:

Bloomberg is a paywall so for those wantingore details:

 

It says AMPTP will reveal the streaming numbers to the writers, but they won't tie compensation to the data.

 

That's a curious offer. 

[SpiderByte]

It definitely feels like a first step but a ways off till a real deal.

[Speedorito]

29 minutes ago, SpiderByte said:

 

Lol I forgot

[filmlover]

1 hour ago, SpiderByte said:

The "festival season is saved" thing is interesting because that'd specifically mean the SAG strike, which hasn't even begun discussions.

The cast of Ferrari (which is being released this Christmas by Neon, an indie studio) got approval from SAG-AFTRA last week to attend the Venice Film Festival for the premiere of the movie. Studio movies are already in low supply at the festivals this year to begin with because of the strikes (and some of them can probably make compelling arguments as to why the cast should be able to attend their festival premieres: for instance, Dumb Money is being released by Sony but wasn't picked up by them until after it had begun filming, while The Holdovers was bought by Focus after it was already made), so if they can find a loophole that can boost the festivals (which are still recovering from the pandemic), they're going to take it. It's like when WGA agreed that the Tony Awards could go on without fear of being picketed due to the realization that there's a bigger picture surrounding these events that need those red carpet premieres to drive ticket sales.

[Celedhring]

4 hours ago, SpiderByte said:

Bloomberg is a paywall so for those wantingore details:

 

 

Giving Shorwunners latitude sounds well and dandy on paper, but to me it sound as just a nice way to avoid putting the terms in the union contract. As usual with labor relations, there's the problem of unequal bargaining power between employer and employee (the reason unions exist).  What I mean is:

 

- Showrunner A gets the greenlight for a 10 episode show. They want a lean team, and request staffing the room with just 4-5 writers. 

- Showrunner B gets the greenlight for a 10 episode show. The studio "suggests" they just hire 4-5 writers. Showrunner wanted a larger room, but they really want to make the show - it's probably their big break - and accepts.  It will be claimed it was the showrunner's decision.

 

How to distinguish between the two and prevent B from happening? As usual the devil is in the details.

Edited August 15, 2023 by Celedhring

[eddyxx]

On 8/13/2023 at 5:22 PM, MovieMan89 said:

The 20+ ep TV season has only ever made sense for sitcoms, where it’s a “day in the life” casual sort of thing. It’s never been the format or fitting for dramas and the type of shows that are big in the modern TV age. Not sure why we suddenly shoehorn those kinds of shows into the sitcom format… 

22 episodes was perfect for Buffy but awful for Lost(which actually had 24 episodes before they went to shortened seasons) and 10 episodes was perfect for game of thrones and the 5 episode seasons were rushed and hated. Every show has different needs.

[Jonwo]

The only show in my mind that could sustain 20+ episodes serialised was 24. 

[4815162342]

18 minutes ago, Jonwo said:

The only show in my mind that could sustain 20+ episodes serialised was 24. 

 

And even then most seasons had chunks where it felt like they had to invent and pad complications to sustain 24 full episodes.