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Since we have a thread discussing the video game industry, I thought it would be appropriate to have a thread discussing the practices and going ons of the film and tv industries. Especially in light of recent news surrounding the sets of Batwoman and Rust.

This will not be about films and tv shows but rather about the practices and behind-the-scenes news affecting the industries.

Noaqiyeum we must dissent (it/they) from across the gulf of space (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: Arm chopping is not a love language!
we must dissent (it/they)
#301: May 25th 2023 at 10:06:59 AM

I hope eventually someone manages to define a new art movement around a more specific ethos than "modernity".

ERROR: The current state of the world is unacceptable. Save anyway? YES/NO
alnair20aug93 🍊orange fursona🧡 from 🐾Furrypines 🇵🇭 (Long Runner) Relationship Status: Chocolate!
🍊orange fursona🧡
#302: May 26th 2023 at 1:22:03 AM

Do we have any proper thread discussing metamodernism and modern films?

ᜇᜎᜈ᜔ᜇᜈ᜔|I DO COMMISSIONS|ᜇᜎᜈ᜔ᜇᜈ᜔
Galadriel Since: Feb, 2015
#303: May 26th 2023 at 5:14:30 AM

[up][up] Oh my goodness yes, it’s gotten ridiculous.

MorningStar1337 The Encounter that ended the Dogma from 🤔 Since: Nov, 2012
The Encounter that ended the Dogma
#304: Jun 2nd 2023 at 7:13:31 PM

Wisecrack talks about the WGA strike and the apparent apathy towards it in public consciousness.

windleopard from Nigeria Since: Nov, 2014 Relationship Status: Non-Canon
#305: Jun 2nd 2023 at 11:26:46 PM

Hollywood is staring down the barrel of a triple strike

The Hollywood writers strike marked its one-month anniversary on Friday, with no signs of slowing down. While other guilds in the industry are still on the job — except when they’re blocked by picket lines — the writers may soon get company on those picket lines.

Two other major entertainment guilds, the Directors Guild of America (DGA) and Screen Actors Guild (SAG-AFTRA), also entered the summer with looming contract expiration dates. Both groups’ agreements with AMPTP, the trade association that represents the industry’s film and TV production companies, end on June 30. A lot could happen between now and then, but the situation is looking dicey.

All of that means that come July 1, the studios may be facing a double or even triple strike, in effect shutting Hollywood down completely.

The DGA rarely strikes — the last time was in 1987 — and its leadership has not called for a strike authorization vote. But its relations with the AMPTP have been trickier than usual. Negotiations began on May 10, with demands that in part mirror the WGA’s concerns. The main sticking point is wage and residual increases that keep in step with rising costs of living. In particular, lower residuals for shows on streaming services, where the lion’s share of entertainment now lives, have wreaked havoc for many people in the industry, drastically reducing compensation and making it increasingly difficult to just pay the bills.

windleopard from Nigeria Since: Nov, 2014 Relationship Status: Non-Canon
#306: Jun 3rd 2023 at 1:43:23 PM

Disney Gets Big Write-Off After Pulling Its Streaming Shows

Last week, Disney removed a little over 100 of its original programming from its streaming services such as Disney+ and Hulu around the world. That cut media, which includes the likes of Willow and Marvel’s Runaways, were axed after Disney gave a heads up about a week in advance and for seemingly for no real reason at all. Well, that’s not true—it all came down to money.

According to an SEC filing from late Friday, Disney’s set to write off about $1.5 billion following this streaming purge. It was previously known this was a way for Disney to cut costs, and the filing notes that this will be reflected in the company’s fiscal third quarter. But if you thought this would be a one-and-done affair, that is not the case. Towards the end of the filing, the SEC wrote that Disney is “continuing its review and currently anticipates additional produced content will be removed.” Those removals equate to an additional estimated $400 million. But as far as when these removals may happen (or what canceled shows may be caught in the crossfire), that isn’t touched on in the filing, and Disney hasn’t yet said. Likewise, it’s not known how much the recent shuttering of the Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser experience contributed to this write-off.

diddyknux (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: Anime is my true love
#307: Jun 3rd 2023 at 6:09:32 PM

I kind of wish when companies do this, mass-canceling stuff for blatantly tax-related reasons the IRS would be like "Uh, no, its obvious what this was, we aren't writing off any of this." Or at the very least, audit them.

M1gamiTensei The Scrappy of the Trope Pantheon, God of Thumps from Punished “Brainwashed” M1gami Since: Oct, 2017 Relationship Status: 700 wives and 300 concubines
The Scrappy of the Trope Pantheon, God of Thumps
#308: Jun 3rd 2023 at 7:55:05 PM

Damn it, I knew it writeoffs were the endgame.

This is becoming a gigantic problem, and I hope a guild or even the law catches up to this trend really soon. This is upsetting to me more than most things in the entertainment industry.

Pantheon server for all who click here. Lost too much money and time, this coaster ain’t stopping.
Protagonist506 from Oregon Since: Dec, 2013 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
#309: Jun 3rd 2023 at 7:56:00 PM

How does the tax write-off thing work? Like, how does cancelling result in tax write offs?

Leviticus 19:34
Shaoken (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: Dating Catwoman
#310: Jun 3rd 2023 at 8:33:16 PM

This relates more to voice acting in anime/video games, but putting it in here since it ultimately ties into the SAG which is largely live action.

Recently there was a Tower of God video game, after two anime seasons. The video game has a completely different voice cast to the anime, and one of the voice actors for the anime explained why. It turns out that Crunchyroll contacted the video game developers and told them that CR owned the voice prints of the original cast. Despite this being absolutely wrong as there was no such clause in the contracts for the VAs, the developer didn't push it out of fear of being sued by a Sony-owned company. Also worth noting that the Video Game was a union project, while the anime wasn't.

This isn't the first time Crunchyroll has been under fire for their anti-union stance. They recast the lead actor in Mob Psycho 100 season 3 because he asked that CR have a conversation with the SAG. Not make any firm commitments or anything, just one meeting with them.

Zendervai Since: Oct, 2009
#311: Jun 3rd 2023 at 8:45:54 PM

I'm going to note that this particular thing that Disney didn't isn't the same thing that Warner Bros did.

Warner Bros did a permanent write-off. Disney's done a weird thing where they can technically un-write them off whenever they want, the tax rebate just has to be paid back when they do. Which kinda makes sense, Disney doesn't want to permanently lose access to anything in their library.

M1gamiTensei The Scrappy of the Trope Pantheon, God of Thumps from Punished “Brainwashed” M1gami Since: Oct, 2017 Relationship Status: 700 wives and 300 concubines
The Scrappy of the Trope Pantheon, God of Thumps
#312: Jun 3rd 2023 at 9:46:25 PM

Thats better than what David Zaslav at least though normalizing this damages the credibility of the entertainment industry nevertheless

Pantheon server for all who click here. Lost too much money and time, this coaster ain’t stopping.
Blueace Surrounded by weirdoes from The End Of the World Since: Dec, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Surrounded by weirdoes
#313: Jun 3rd 2023 at 10:38:41 PM

Guess that'll be a topic of conversation with the other two unions.

Wake me up at your own risk.
windleopard from Nigeria Since: Nov, 2014 Relationship Status: Non-Canon
#314: Jun 4th 2023 at 12:52:34 AM

Netflix bosses get their pay requests rejected, for once.

Tonight in “unexpected comeuppance” news: The guys running Netflix got their knuckles rapped pretty hard this evening, as THR reports that shareholders for the company have taken a rare step and rejected a proposed compensation package for the streamer’s top dogs. Although the shareholder vote, which happened earlier tonight, isn’t binding, it is a pretty potent “Hold the fuck up” to Ted Sarandos, Reed Hastings, and recently installed co-CEO Greg Peters, presumably over the trio’s handling of the WGA’s ongoing writers strike.

It’s not new to note that the men running Netflix make frankly ludicrous sums of money, especially as compared to the people who actually make the films and shows that power the streamer’s success: Co-founder Hastings made roughly $50 million last year in salary and stocks, while Sarandos was expected to make some $40 million in 2023. (Peters, who spearheaded the company’s recent ad-supported tier, and who took Hasting’s old spot at the top last year, was set to make roughly $34 million.) All of which makes for pretty terrible optics as the company wrestles with heavy criticisms of its treatment of creators. The rise of streaming, and the subsequent fall of residuals for writers a) has been a major economic shift in the world of TV writing over the last decade, and b) started, at least in part, at Netflix—and so addressing it is just one of the reasons the WGA is currently on strike.

Karxrida from Eureka, the Forbidden Land Since: May, 2012 Relationship Status: I LOVE THIS DOCTOR!
#315: Jun 4th 2023 at 12:58:15 AM

Netflix going down the shitter probably didn't help any, either.

M1gamiTensei The Scrappy of the Trope Pantheon, God of Thumps from Punished “Brainwashed” M1gami Since: Oct, 2017 Relationship Status: 700 wives and 300 concubines
The Scrappy of the Trope Pantheon, God of Thumps
#316: Jun 4th 2023 at 1:01:52 AM

Better to not pay rich dudes than go the route David Zaslav started.

Granted, Netflix values propping their library even if its littered with cancelled shows.

Pantheon server for all who click here. Lost too much money and time, this coaster ain’t stopping.
ITNW1989 a from Big Meat, USA Since: Nov, 2012 Relationship Status: GAR for Archer
a
#317: Jun 4th 2023 at 1:05:54 AM

Important to note is that this vote is very much non-binding. The shareholders can, and should very much be expected to, still turn on a dime and grant them those pay requests once the strike is over.

Hitokiri in the streets, daishouri in the sheets.
Noaqiyeum we must dissent (it/they) from across the gulf of space (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: Arm chopping is not a love language!
we must dissent (it/they)
#318: Jun 4th 2023 at 9:30:47 AM

Warner Bros did a permanent write-off. Disney's done a weird thing where they can technically un-write them off whenever they want, the tax rebate just has to be paid back when they do. Which kinda makes sense, Disney doesn't want to permanently lose access to anything in their library.

Suppose they un-write them off in five years. Do they pay back the exact quantity of the rebate, or is it adjusted for five years of inflation?

ERROR: The current state of the world is unacceptable. Save anyway? YES/NO
Zendervai Since: Oct, 2009
#319: Jun 4th 2023 at 9:36:19 AM

I think (and I could be totally wrong) that it basically gets treated like a tax adjustment and it increases the due taxes for that year by what would have been owned on the written off thing in the year it was written off.

windleopard from Nigeria Since: Nov, 2014 Relationship Status: Non-Canon
#320: Jun 5th 2023 at 12:26:23 AM

Directors Guild Avoids Strike, Makes Deal with Streamers and Studios

On late Saturday night, the Directors Guild of America (DGA) reached a tentative agreement with the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers (AMPTP) to form a new labor contract. Under this new three-year deal, directors will receive increased wages and benefits (5% in the first year, then 4% and 3.5% for years two and three), and a 76% boost in residuals from international streaming. Most importantly, they’ll receive protections against AI, a “groundbreaking” agreement that confirms “AI is not a person and that generative AI cannot replace the duties performed by members.”

The vote will be ratified on Tuesday, June 6.

DGA negotiation chair Jon Avnet called the deal between the DGA and AMPTP “truly historic. [...] This deal would not have been possible without the unity of the DGA membership, and we are grateful for the strong support of union members across the industry.” The agreement, he added, has secured “essential protections for our members on new key issues like artificial intelligence – ensuring DGA members will not be replaced by technological advances.”

Zendervai Since: Oct, 2009
#321: Jun 5th 2023 at 1:42:35 AM

You’re gonna see people saying the DGA threw the WGA under the bus. This did not happen. The DGA was basically always going to get their demands (there’s not really a way to replace directors at this point) but they moved the needle and now the SGA and WGA can demand some of the same things with minimal pushback.

Like the “AI does not count as a person” thing. Now that it’s in the DGA contract, the studios can’t in good faith deny that clause in WGA or SGA contracts and it makes their position on refusing any AI restrictions much weaker.

VeryMelon Since: Jul, 2011 Relationship Status: Anime is my true love
#322: Jun 5th 2023 at 11:25:14 AM

[up]Thanks for explaining that to us. Basically this is good news that should lead to more good news down the line.

Rabbitearsblog Movie and TV Goddess from United States Since: Jan, 2014 Relationship Status: You cannot grasp the true form
Movie and TV Goddess
#323: Jun 5th 2023 at 1:05:07 PM

This is good news! Now the companies would have to take AI off the deal since the directors clarified already about not having AI replace them.

I love animation, TV, movies, YOU NAME IT!
Zendervai Since: Oct, 2009
#324: Jun 5th 2023 at 1:57:20 PM

I think what's tripping some people up is that they expected the DGA to do a solidarity strike. The problem is that the DGA contract hadn't actually expired yet and they can't reject a deal that contains everything they want because they want to wait for a month to do a solidarity strike, because that's not what a strike authorization allows for. If the studios give them what they want, they have no legal grounds to strike.

Zendervai Since: Oct, 2009
#325: Jun 5th 2023 at 7:59:13 PM

Double-post due to new update.

SAG-AFTRA has voted to strike if the studios refuse to acquiesce to their demands. At 97.91% of voters voting in favour. (I'm going to note that less than half of the total voted, but about a quarter to a third of SAG-AFTRA members are barely active and don't seem to pay attention to anything, IIRC)


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