Cop unions are unions in name only because cops aren’t workers.
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Saturday, 13 May 2023 21:10 (one year ago) link
and cops don't respect picket lines
― symsymsym, Saturday, 13 May 2023 21:36 (one year ago) link
Yikes
As a coder and someone with a computer science degree I want to tell you where I believe AI is going. 2/— Justine Bateman (@JustineBateman) May 13, 2023
― The Triumphant Return of Bernard & Stubbs (Raymond Cummings), Monday, 15 May 2023 00:15 (one year ago) link
in Florida if we don't reach 60% membership we're declassified, and, heh, unlike police and fire unions, we're not allowed to use payroll deduction
― the dreaded dependent claus (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 15 May 2023 00:26 (one year ago) link
https://reason.com/2020/06/17/the-case-for-abolishing-police-unions/
― broken breakbeat (sleeve), Monday, 15 May 2023 00:33 (one year ago) link
Feel like the AI stuff is a distraction that the studios are happy to concede on/use as a distraction.
― 𝔠𝔞𝔢𝔨 (caek), Monday, 15 May 2023 01:19 (one year ago) link
https://mattstoller.substack.com/p/can-a-writers-strike-save-hollywood?utm_source=substack&utm_campaign=post_embed&utm_medium=email
― The Triumphant Return of Bernard & Stubbs (Raymond Cummings), Tuesday, 16 May 2023 12:55 (one year ago) link
"As a coder and someone with a computer science degree let me tell you why my films are terrible"
― xyzzzz__, Tuesday, 16 May 2023 13:00 (one year ago) link
Cited in that Matt Stoller article:
Ten years ago, 33% of TV writers were paid the minimum rate. Now, according to the WGA, 49% are. Accounting for inflation, writer pay has declined 14% in the last five years. The median weekly writer-producer pay is down 23% over the last decade, with inflation factored in.
Thanks for the link.
― felicity, Tuesday, 16 May 2023 14:23 (one year ago) link
and the companies for which they write ... their profits haven't gone down much or have they?
― sarahell, Tuesday, 16 May 2023 15:19 (one year ago) link
Bandcamp United has won its vote:
https://blog.bandcamp.com/2023/05/19/bandcamp-and-bandcamp-united-release-joint-statement-on-union-vote/
― Ned Raggett, Friday, 19 May 2023 20:55 (one year ago) link
More WGA strike talk
https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/the-screenwriting-life-with-me-1096076/episodes/138-your-wga-strike-questions-173016839
― The Triumphant Return of Bernard & Stubbs (Raymond Cummings), Saturday, 20 May 2023 10:17 (one year ago) link
Michael Schur interview in Deadline
https://apple.news/AW5YT5dDlTv2GEoC8q1nd9w
― The Triumphant Return of Bernard & Stubbs (Raymond Cummings), Saturday, 20 May 2023 11:14 (one year ago) link
Great interview, thanks.
― Tracer Hand, Saturday, 20 May 2023 12:10 (one year ago) link
This one might be even more enjoyable
https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2023/05/meet-the-writers-strikes-secret-weapon-hollywood-teamsters-boss-lindsay-dougherty
― Ned Raggett, Saturday, 20 May 2023 17:35 (one year ago) link
Good Shohei Ohtani analogy on that Michael Schur interview.
The WGA strike coming not that long after Covid production shutdowns of just a couple years ago is pretty brutal on not just writers but working actors, all the day to day production people as well.
Emmy campaign season is in full swing and it's astounding the studios have not even started talks after a month of strikes. Contempt is a good word.
― felicity, Saturday, 20 May 2023 18:48 (one year ago) link
Err, 2 weeks+. Feels like a month.
― felicity, Saturday, 20 May 2023 18:50 (one year ago) link
SCHUR: Look, there are 600 television shows; there’s one Mike White. The purpose of the guild is to protect the 599 people who aren’t that one person, right? It’s like, (the Los Angeles Angels’) Shohei Ohtan is a hitter and a pitcher. If all baseball teams told all of their employees that they had to both be all-star level hitters and pitchers because one guy did it, that wouldn’t seem fair. And it’s not a perfect analogy, but the goal of the union is to protect the 7000 episodic TV members who aren’t the very small number of people who prefer to do it in the way that they prefer to do it. And if the very worst thing that happened was we saved 6,958 jobs and four people had to hire three consultants to give them a second set of eyes on their episodes of their show, I think we would take that deal.
― Everybody's gonna get what they got coming (gyac), Saturday, 20 May 2023 18:56 (one year ago) link
“The WGA strike coming not that long after Covid production shutdowns of just a couple years ago is pretty brutal on not just writers but working actors, all the day to day production people as well.”
I’m hoping all these unions team up and show one another solidarityz
― The Triumphant Return of Bernard & Stubbs (Raymond Cummings), Saturday, 20 May 2023 22:34 (one year ago) link
Ha, the “z” shouldn’t have been there
You love to see ithttps://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/david-zaslav-booed-boston-university-graduation-writers-strike-1235497440/
― Ned Raggett, Sunday, 21 May 2023 21:30 (one year ago) link
Lol
― The Triumphant Return of Bernard & Stubbs (Raymond Cummings), Monday, 22 May 2023 01:04 (one year ago) link
Get his ass
― Its big ball chunky time (Jimmy The Mod Awaits The Return Of His Beloved), Monday, 22 May 2023 01:26 (one year ago) link
Lol @ this David Simon interview.
"I'd rather put a gun in my mouth"
https://www.npr.org/2023/05/19/1177194215/tv-writer-david-simon-weighs-in-on-the-writers-guild-of-america-strike
― xyzzzz__, Tuesday, 23 May 2023 13:36 (one year ago) link
Interesting take from Simon
Re: use of AI in writing
SIMON: Not only I think is it a fundamental violation of the integrity of writers and also of copyright to - you know, when I sold all the scripts I sold, you know, 150 to HBO and, you know, maybe another 50 to NBC, I didn't sell them so that they could be thrown into a computer with other people's and be used again by a corporation. So...
That is kind of true, from a business and legal perspective, because AI could be used as a way to obscure chain of creation. Studios are usually on a hair-trigger alert about not accepting any kind of unsolicited material, because they are subject to so many idea theft claims. And U.S. copyright law is hear an all-time high point in terms of legitimizing infringement claims for even de minimus copying.
Normally studios have to be on guard to be able to show independent creation or "clean room" development of their materials at all times to defend such claims. The fair use defense to copyright infringement is less friendly to allegedly transformative uses after Goldsmith v. Warhol.
So unless you know and can trace all the inputs into AI generated writing, it can start down a slippery slope of essentially idea theft or copyright infringement if the inputs include copyrighted material. This cuts both ways too. A writer could choose to use AI in their writing, but normally has to warrant that all material is original, so if they choose to use AI they are then exposed to claims for breach of the warranty that all material in script is original.
Again, I don't think any of this means no one can or should use AI in creation. It's just what makes a Guild production version not. Plenty of writers do non-union side projects all the time.
― felicity, Tuesday, 23 May 2023 18:51 (one year ago) link
Re musicians
https://pitchfork.com/thepitch/why-songwriters-cant-have-their-own-writers-strike-yet/
― The Triumphant Return of Bernard & Stubbs (Raymond Cummings), Tuesday, 23 May 2023 19:41 (one year ago) link
Fantastic piece, this
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/01/opinion/wga-hollywood-writers-strike-unions.html
― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 1 June 2023 18:11 (one year ago) link
Gift link version of above story.
― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 1 June 2023 18:20 (one year ago) link
Thanks for that, Ned.
Here’s another strike:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-05-31/amazon-workers-walk-out-to-protest-climate-office-return-policy#xj4y7vzkg
― The Triumphant Return of Bernard & Stubbs (Raymond Cummings), Sunday, 4 June 2023 05:04 (one year ago) link
This is all worth listening to, but there’s a really interesting point made at around the 42 minute mark of how little it would cost the studios to get to where WGA is asking them to go.
https://postshowrecaps.com/tv-show/the-writers-strike-a-discussion-with-wga-member-justin-shanes/
― The Triumphant Return of Bernard & Stubbs (Raymond Cummings), Sunday, 4 June 2023 05:07 (one year ago) link
The DGA seems to have squeezed something out of the studioshttps://deadline.com/2023/06/directors-hollywood-studios-reach-deal-new-contract-1235399542/
― Ned Raggett, Sunday, 4 June 2023 13:44 (one year ago) link
SAG authorizes strike if it comes to it:
https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/business/story/2023-06-05/sag-aftra-strike-hollywood-labor-amptp-strike-authorization
98% margin! The equal of the WGA authorization vote.
― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 6 June 2023 02:35 (one year ago) link
If you need a free-read link:
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/sag-aftra-members-authorize-strike-nearly-98-percent-work-stoppage-1235507295/
― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 6 June 2023 02:40 (one year ago) link
― xyzzzz__, Tuesday, May 23, 2023 6:36 AM (one week ago
apparently they went with the Season 5 theme music or was that Steve Earle?
― sarahell, Tuesday, 6 June 2023 02:45 (one year ago) link
The DGA seems to have squeezed something out of the studios
morelike the studios have convinced the union with the smallest voting base and comparative best per-member compensation not to join in solidarity with their more numerous and more precarious colleagues, reinforcing a class division that benefits the studios?
― serving bundt (sic), Tuesday, 6 June 2023 04:46 (one year ago) link
Yay oh wait
LA this summer! pic.twitter.com/5uJqSdyuP8— Americana At Brand Memes (@americanamemes) June 6, 2023
― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 6 June 2023 04:49 (one year ago) link
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/david-byrne-history-of-union-avoidance_n_647e6c0fe4b0047ed782e1ad
― papal hotwife (milo z), Wednesday, 7 June 2023 02:24 (one year ago) link
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/writers-strike-sag-aftra-actors-1235508507/amp/
― The Triumphant Return of Bernard & Stubbs (Raymond Cummings), Friday, 9 June 2023 16:46 (one year ago) link
this may be a dumb question, but ... are they getting strike benefits from the Union and how do strike benefits work, and what role do they play in successful vs. unsuccessful labor actions?
― sarahell, Friday, 9 June 2023 18:22 (one year ago) link
According to this story, projectionists at an NYC Alamo Drafthouse (unclear which) filed a petition to unionize WedsOn Fri, Alamo sent an email notifying of its intention to eliminate the projectionist role and replace with with "technical engineer" https://t.co/D08dT7xlEH— Screen Slate (@ScreenSlate) June 11, 2023
― papal hotwife (milo z), Sunday, 11 June 2023 20:36 (one year ago) link
good.
― Nhex, Sunday, 11 June 2023 21:19 (one year ago) link
With their latest win, @SBWorkersUnited is now in 80% of U.S. states.The union's recent victory in Missoula, Montana means that there are now 331 unionized Starbucks spread across 40 states.Just 1.5 years ago there were zero.https://t.co/Owmwgi3A9a— More Perfect Union (@MorePerfectUS) June 26, 2023
― Tracer Hand, Monday, 26 June 2023 21:22 (one year ago) link
Pretty good background on the WGA itself, and what it provides its members
https://podtail.com/en/podcast/bonehead-humor/ep-285-todd-farmer-and-the-wga-strike/
― The Triumphant Return of Bernard & Stubbs (Raymond Cummings), Monday, 3 July 2023 21:11 (one year ago) link
SAG-AFTRA went to bed
― mookieproof, Thursday, 13 July 2023 07:55 (one year ago) link
https://variety.com/2023/tv/news/bob-iger-writers-actors-strike-disney-ceo-1235669169/
Hahaha respectfully sir, fuck you
― Its big ball chunky time (Jimmy The Mod Awaits The Return Of His Beloved), Thursday, 13 July 2023 15:23 (one year ago) link
https://www.vox.com/platform/amp/culture/2023/7/13/23793828/sag-aftra-strike-wga-hollywood
― The Triumphant Return of Bernard & Stubbs (Raymond Cummings), Thursday, 13 July 2023 21:24 (one year ago) link
I didn't realize that Fran Drescher was such a militant firebrand
― Andy the Grasshopper, Thursday, 13 July 2023 21:25 (one year ago) link
Fran Drescher's speech is worth watching:
The business model has changed for all of us - this applies to music equally #solidarity pic.twitter.com/j8sbmisCD3— Damon K 🎤 (@dada_drummer) July 13, 2023
― but also fuck you (unperson), Thursday, 13 July 2023 21:51 (one year ago) link
https://www.newyorker.com/culture/notes-on-hollywood/orange-is-the-new-black-signalled-the-rot-inside-the-streaming-economy
― The Triumphant Return of Bernard & Stubbs (Raymond Cummings), Sunday, 16 July 2023 11:44 (one year ago) link
https://www.newyorker.com/culture/notes-on-hollywood/orange-is-the-new-black-signalled-the-rot-inside-the-streaming-economy🕸
― Gerard Grisey Funk (Boring, Maryland), Sunday, 16 July 2023 15:41 (one year ago) link