WGA/SAGAFTRA Strike Discussion Thread | SAG Ratifies Contract

[AniNate]

Well, find people with the correct bias, at least

[Dementeleus]

Rebuttal to the latest silliness from Variety from someone not in the WGA:

 

 

[Dementeleus]

Also FWIW, in the distant past (60s-80s), there often *weren’t* writer’s rooms. And while the UL writers were working crazy hours, it wasn’t bad for the freelance writers because seasons ran 22-30 episodes, so you could land several freelance assignments on different series and work consistently *and* you got nice network residuals for your scripts, which really helped cover the downtime. But this is a very different time. 

[filmlover]

It's best to only focus on the news and developments that are actually important. Everything else is just noise to either fulfill the void left due to nothing happening in the industry (the trades typically get the big casting scoops, for instance) and to keep the reporting cycle going since all film/TV new organizations are stuck with "today in strike happenings" articles like they've been for the past month with Barbenheimer Mania as the only distraction (and that's starting to die down, so...).

[SpiderByte]

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/strike-earnings-hollywood-sagaftra-wga-1235567738/

 

TLDR: the studios are wanting this to end in September, which seems...a little too optimistic to me. My guess is early Octoberish.

[Cappoedameron]

4 hours ago, SpiderByte said:

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/strike-earnings-hollywood-sagaftra-wga-1235567738/

 

TLDR: the studios are wanting this to end in September, which seems...a little too optimistic to me. My guess is early Octoberish.

they want it done with because they want to be able to save the January 2024 TVseason. The rest of 2023 is already screwed.

[Jonwo]

16 hours ago, Plain Old Tele said:

Also FWIW, in the distant past (60s-80s), there often *weren’t* writer’s rooms. And while the UL writers were working crazy hours, it wasn’t bad for the freelance writers because seasons ran 22-30 episodes, so you could land several freelance assignments on different series and work consistently *and* you got nice network residuals for your scripts, which really helped cover the downtime. But this is a very different time. 

Writer's rooms are much rarer overseas. In the UK, most scripted programming are written by 1 or 2 writers although some have multiple writers like Doctor Who or soap operas.

[Dementeleus]

52 minutes ago, Jonwo said:

Writer's rooms are much rarer overseas. In the UK, most scripted programming are written by 1 or 2 writers although some have multiple writers like Doctor Who or soap operas.

Right, but your seasons are also much shorter, right? Essentially like our miniseries. 

[ZeroHour]

The golden age of American television was built in the writer's room. It's what makes television special and different from movies. It's why television is considered a writer's medium instead of a director's. If you care at all about quality TV (and as a consumer, I do) then you should want that environment to be protected.

[Jonwo]

55 minutes ago, Plain Old Tele said:

Right, but your seasons are also much shorter, right? Essentially like our miniseries. 

6 episodes is the average but they can be as low as 3 to 4 episodes. Doctor Who was always an exception to that although it has gotten shorter in terms of episode count and they've had years where there has been only had a handful of episodes.

 

It's interesting how rare it is in the US to have one person writing a show. Taylor Sheridan on Yellowstone comes to mind as well as Julian Fellowes for The Gilded Age although the latter did that on Downton Abbey as well,

 

[Dementeleus]

11 minutes ago, Jonwo said:

6 episodes is the average but they can be as low as 3 to 4 episodes. Doctor Who was always an exception to that although it has gotten shorter in terms of episode count and they've had years where there has been only had a handful of episodes.

 

It's interesting how rare it is in the US to have one person writing a show. Taylor Sheridan on Yellowstone comes to mind as well as Julian Fellowes for The Gilded Age although the latter did that on Downton Abbey as well,

 

Scuttlebutt has it that Sheridan occasionally has his assistants write, so he can keep up. Uncredited, of course. 
 

The whole “I don’t need more writers” is such a silly position to take, though. They are writer-*producers*… if you insist on writing (and rewriting) every script yourself, bring them on to help you keep production flowing on schedule, to review cuts, etc. There’s an absolute mountain of work to do and it’s incredibly difficult for a single person to take on unless production slows down or it’s a very short run of episodes. 

[Dementeleus]

Money talks. 

“Trustees Of NYC’s $250 Billion Pension Funds Warn Studios That They Risk Losing Investor Confidence If WGA & SAG-AFTRA Strikes Drag On”

https://deadline.com/2023/08/hollywood-strikes-pension-funds-warn-studios-1235521813/

[babz06]

 

[Ledmonkey96]

Mildly related but it looks like Sony pushed Dumb Money's wid release back to Kraven's old spot on Oct. 6th. It'll have a limited release a week earlier than it's previous release date on Sept 15th though.

[filmlover]

52 minutes ago, Ledmonkey96 said:

Mildly related but it looks like Sony pushed Dumb Money's wid release back to Kraven's old spot on Oct. 6th. It'll have a limited release a week earlier than it's previous release date on Sept 15th though.

It's reportedly expanding to "limited" release on the 22nd and "moderate" release on the 29th but I imagine the latter means about a couple hundred theaters at least. I mentioned in another thread that one of the three releases on the 29th (The Creator, Paw Patrol 2, Saw X) really should move up to the 22nd (one of the sequels, in particular) since Expendables 4 is now the only movie on that date and I'm not convinced it's gonna make that date given how quiet everything surrounding it is a few weeks out (it's now listed as "Coming Soon" with no actual date on Lionsgate's website).

[The GOAT]

 

[SpiderByte]

While there's a lot of factors for recent box office stuff: yeah. Big names help sell, and not being able to utilize those big names the way they used to will have impacts long term.

[ChipDerby]

 

 

[Cappoedameron]

 

expect more of this.

[dudalb]

12 minutes ago, Cappoedameron said:

 

expect more of this.

The first half ,at least, of the 2023.24 season is gone,gone,gone,