CEO's Corner®-By K.L.P Entertainment™-"May 2nd Edition"

CEO’S CORNER The Screen Writers

The television and movie industries have been completely transformed by technological advancement in the 16 years since the last strike in the entertainment industry. The most recent Hollywood strike occurred 16 years ago, before the internet had completely changed the television and film industries. Massive audiences were still attracted to broadcast networks, while cable channels continued to expand. For movie studios, the superhero boom had already started, and DVD sales accounted for $16 billion in annual revenue.

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Since then, Hollywood has undergone an upheaval that few could have predicted due to galloping technological progress. The popularity of traditional television is critically ill. Movie companies have largely turned to franchise spectacles after being hurt by disappointing box office results for comedies and dramas. The DVD industry is over; on September 1, Netflix will begin shipping its final tiny silver discs. The world now is one of streaming. The epidemic accelerated the change.

What remains largely unchanged? the formulae that studios employ to compensate writers and directors of television and film, paving the way for another strike. The founder of the research company LightShed Partners, Rich Greenfield, stated that "writer compensation needs to evolve for a streaming-first world."

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In the absence of an implausible last-minute agreement with studios, more than 11,000 unionized screenwriters may strike on Tuesday in Los Angeles and New York. Depending on how long the strike lasts, this may gradually halt Hollywood's creative production lines. Leaders of the Writers Guild of America have referred to this as a "existential" moment, arguing that compensation has stagnated despite the abundance of content in the age of streaming.to the point where even authors with extensive experience struggle to advance and, occasionally, make ends meet.

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"Writers at every level and in every genre, whether it's features or TV, whether it's features or TV, we're all being devalued and financially taken advantage of by the studios," said Danny Tolli, a writer whose credits include "Roswell, New Mexico" and the Shondaland drama "The Catch."

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Mr. Tolli said, "These studios are making billions in profits, and they are spending billions on content, which we produce with our blood, sweat, and tears. "However, there are still moments when I have to consider my ability to make mortgage payments. the means by which I'll support my family. I've thought about using Uber to complement my income. Heads of studios have Generally kept quiet in public, relying on the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers to speak on their behalf. The group has stated that its ultimate objective is a "mutually beneficial deal," which is "only possible if the guild is committed to turning its focus to serious bargaining" and "searching for reasonable compromises."Privately, several executives from studios and streaming services painted authors as hysterical and out of touch. You can't support yourself as a TV writer?

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-DIAM NOBIS

what criteria? Get used to the fact that business has changed. A significant strike in Hollywood is, by some standards, long overdue. With a few notable exceptions, strikes have virtually routinely rattled the entertainment business since the 1940s, occurring every seven to eight years and typically coinciding with turmoil in the quickly evolving industry. TV's first days on the air. cable networks' ascent. As the film's gangster families "go to the mattresses" against one another, Clemenza, the aged Corleone capo, explains in "The Godfather," one of Hollywood's most storied productions, "These things gotta happen every five years or so, 10 years." It "helps to get rid of the bad blood." Hollywood writers have long claimed that studios regard them as second-class citizens and that their creative contributions are undervalued (and underpaid), especially when compared to those of actors and directors. This complaint dates back generations, to the end of the silent cinema period.

Screenwriters have taken strikes the most frequently (six times) among Hollywood employees, and their 2007 strike was the most recent. The was a The Great Recession was already well under way, but "new media" was on the horizon. Apple had begun to offer videocapable iPods for sale. Episodes of "Lost"

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“Write quickly and you will never

could be downloaded for $2 through Disney. Hulu was still just getting started. The current agreement between studios and the Writers Guild of America, which expires at midnight on Tuesday Pacific time, establishes a minimum weekly wage of $7,412 for some television writers and producers. (Agents for seasoned writers may be able to raise that.) The number of weeks authors work in the streaming era is one issue, according to the group. The network norms of 22, 24, or even 26 episodes each season have largely vanished as a result of streaming. The majority of streaming shows have eight to twelve episodes. The result is According to guild data, the average writerproducer spends roughly 40 weeks on a network show but just 24 weeks on a streaming show, making it challenging to make a consistent living wage. Streaming has also reduced residuals' value. Before streaming, anytime a show was resold (to syndication, for international airing, or on DVD), authors may collect residual money. But those distribution channels have been severed by international streaming services like Netflix and Amazon.

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“Write quickly and you will never

Streaming services instead pay a set residual. Because services hide viewership data, authors claim that it is impossible to determine whether those fees are reasonable. Guild leaders have argued that a new contract has to incorporate a mechanism for residual payments depending on views.

Guild leaders claim that studios would have to pay a total of $600 million. I'll give them anything they desire for a year. However, Wall Street is putting pressure on the businesses to make cost reductions. Additionally, it would almost certainly be necessary to spread out benefits from one group of entertainment workers to another: The union for actors, SAG-AFTRA, and the Directors Guild of America both have contracts that expire on June 30.

Hollywood studios claim that they simply cannot afford to give everyone raises. Disney recently fired thousands of workers as part of a push to cut 7,000 jobs by the end of June despite having a $45 billion debt load. Disney+ is still not profitable, but the business has promised to make it so by the following year. Disney is the biggest producer of union-covered TV comedies and dramas (890 episodes for the season 2021–2022).

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“Write quickly and you will never

which has already made thousands of job cuts as part of a $4 billion cutback and has approximately $47 billion in debt. In an effort to compete with cable cordcutting and a challenging advertising market, NBCUniversal is also making cuts.

These businesses continue to be quite profitable. They haven't, however, been able to provide the kind of consistent profit growth that Wall Street values.

These discussions are entered with a remarkable swagger by screenwriters. Many agency leaders anticipated that the guild would eventually break apart when film and TV writers fired their agents in a campaign in 2019 due to what they perceived to be conflicts of interest. That never happened; instead, following a 22-month impasse, the major agencies effectively granted the writers' demands. There is a repressed need for pay increases among screenwriters that has been made worse by as inflation rises. The last time writers had a chance to bargain a contract, the epidemic was shutting down Hollywood, so the two parties quickly reached an agreement, "essentially kicking the can down the road," in Mr. Greenfield's words. Prior to that, writers concentrated more on bolstering their generous health plan during the negotiation process.

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“Write quickly and you will never

Additionally, conflicting information from businesses regarding their financial health has incensed writers. When the division's top executive was fired last week, Brian Roberts, the chief executive of Comcast, which owns NBCUniversal, wrote to employees, saying, "NBCUniversal is performing extremely well operationally and financially."

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Ted Sarandos, Netflix's co-CEO, received a salary package totaling $50.3 million in 2022, an increase of 32% from 2021, the company said last week.

“Lots "Get Smart," "The War With Grandpa," and the animated "Home" are just a few of the screenwriter Matt Ember's accolades. "A lot of people are still getting very rich off of Hollywood product, just not the creators of that product," he added.

“Write quickly and you will never

Conclusion: Before things get better, they can get worse.

Laura Lewis, the founder of Rebelle Media, a production and financing company for the entertainment sector, stated that "every industry goes through course corrections." Perhaps this is a chance to tweak the models for the next stage of the entertainment industry.

How much suffering will we have to bear to get there, she continued.

Nulla nunc lectus porttitor vitae pulvinar magna. Sed et lacus quis enim mattis nonummy sodales.

“Write quickly and you will never