Actors Strike! Writers Strike! Cut!

The summer of 2023 has been labeled the "hot labor summer." With labor strikes impacting multiple fields of the American economy this year, it's easiest to often just use a large and well documented case to point out some of the overarching themes. The Writer's Guild of America (WGA) and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) talks broke down and led to the first writer's guild strike since 2007. In 2007, the WGA strike lasted 100 days and cost California alone an estimated $2.1 billion. In 2023, we are now over the 100 day mark of the WGA strike and the Screen Actor's Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) joined the strike on July 12th when their own talks broke down. SAG last struck in 1980 and there hasn't been a dual strike since 1960. That's 4 years BEFORE segregation ended.

So why now and what are they fighting over? Over the last decade there has been a proliferation of VOD and streaming services, and because of their pricing structure, these services have cut costs from elements of production over and over again. One of the main elements is residual payments. Many I'm sure in this audience will appreciate the value of a good dividend. Imagine if your dividends dropped and stock prices remained stagnant while company profits soared. Now imagine that that is your only source of income. The median writer is making 23% less than they did over a decade ago while show budgets have increased by 50%. Residuals that could be in the thousands per show have plummeted to 1% of that or less. This means that despite making record profits, these companies are removing the jobs that have created them. The writer of the FX comedy series "The Bear" had a negative bank account and has been applying for jobs at local movie theatres despite winning awards for best comedy series and best new series.

And it's not better on the acting front. The average SAG actor is making 40k a year - IN CALIFORNIA. The average rent of an apartment in LA is $2,781 a month. The studios are now pushing for background actors to get paid ONCE, then get scanned into a computer and that studio will own their likeness, period. Zero residuals. Imagine going into a job for a week. During that week, an AI pattern recognition software shadows your work. When the week is over you are let go because they know basically how you would work in a given situation and they don't need to pay you for that digital copy of you. And I think anyone can imagine the benefits to the other side of the negotiating table. Imagine being the owner of what is an infinite gig workforce. Employ an individual once and simply digitally clone them. Initial cost is not just a large hurdle, it's your only real cost. You can reproduce the product ad nauseum.

Labor and management are clashing over issues that need serious attention for our economy to provide a healthy level of growth, but our politicians are arguing over what bathroom some people can use.

I hope this shines a light and that you have a wonderful day.