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According to BoxOffice.com, 2009's domestic cume has already topped 2008's record haul of $9.626 billion from January 1 to December 31, 2008. More on Monday when actuals come in.
So Why Is Most Of Hollywood Out Of Work?
By Nikki Finke | Category: Box Office | Sunday December 6, 2009 @ 9:59pm PST
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Title Studio Gross 1 Alice In Wonderland Disney $116.1M 2 Brooklyns Finest Overture $13.4M 3 Shutter Island Paramount $13.2M 4 Cop Out Warner $9.3M 5 Avatar Fox $8.1M 6 The Crazies Overture $7.1M 7 Lightning Thief Fox $5.1M 8 Valentines Day Warner $4.2M 9 Crazy Heart Fox $3.3M 10 Dear John Sony $2.8M 11 Tooth Fairy Fox $1.7M 12 The Wolfman Universal $1.6M 13 Ghost Writer Summit $1.3M 14 The Blind Side Warner $1.3M 15 The Last Station SPC $0.7M 16 Up In The Air Paramount $0.6M 17 When In Rome Disney $0.6M 18 The Squeakquel Fox $0.5M 19 The Book Of Eli Warner $0.5M 20 The Hurt Locker Summit $0.4M SOURCE: RENTRAKBox Office Poll
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That’s what all of us trying to work out here in L.A. have been wondering for awhile now…
The system is changing…unions will slowly dissolve, non-union / ficore work and production is on the rise….I see studio contract players coming back like in the early days of film. Take a salary, shoot x amount of movies…
The commercial production business is a good gauge to draw from…
Interesting times……a real pendulum shift.
Might want to cut down on the talk radio. Unions are not the problem, in fact if we lose unions you might as well goose step into a gulag! Hollywood will pull out of this, they are smart people. What brings the most risk to the movies and the rest of what is left of our economy is the kind of “blame the unions” by people who think this is still the confederate states of America having more in common with fascist Germany when it comes to economic business models abd thinking than with anything remotely American. For Hollywood all the producers have to do is start going with new material and drop the tendency to try to pull a rabbit out of a hat, twice with remakes. Land of the Lost and Year One were epic flops and totally lame and that is what slows down the industry. Hollywood just needs to think outside the box and go with new material, maybe from outside the 310 area code, as for the rest of us we just have to turn off the AM and turn on our brains as the AM radio guys have not only been the spokesman for the people who trashed our economy and gave away all of our jobs but they also stand for exactly what the USA fought to defeat in WW2, neo-fascism. While we all know the holocaust was very real what we fail to realize is the business model and corporate thinking that made Hitler and Germany the evil monster that it was. The kind of corporatist neo facism that was espoused by Mussolini and his elite right wingers is totally foreign to American ideas and American business fair play where we want a level playing field they wanted slave labor and no competition. You might think doing away with unions and going to a temp work force ill paid and uninsured but that is just the modern version of the stalag concentration camp or slavery except for one thing, slavery is more expensive than the facist model that grew up in the south after they lost the civil war, After they lost slavery they found a cheaper model and that cheaper model while destructive for any society without unions and freedom of democracy in the workplace will only fail if fools buy into the hate and fear on AM radio told to them by right wing extremists who have far to many dollars and not a lick of common sense, let alone humanity and civic responsibility.
Land of the Lost? Really? Did you go there? How many people in LA work on a 100 million dollar film? I have only worked on two. I do however work on 2-3 commercials a month most of which are going non-union and it ain’t mom’s bakery shop….we’re talking major global corporations…
so to be fair it’s not AM radio it’s a slow changing of our industry. most people writing about summer blockblusters on this site have only experienced them from a seat in a theatre and not on a studio lot.
You are obviously not one of these smart people you talk about if you think this way…I almost feel sorry for you that instead of being aware of facts you make up your own and sound like a lunatic because you aren’t smart enough to understand how wrong you are.
Just because you want something or think something is true in no way makes it so. But it explains a lot if the “smart people” in Hollywood think like you.
Idiot.
Is this really a surprise? Film and TV consumption always go up when times are tough, and when the big studios can’t be risking money on smaller films that might not work when by focusing on a few tent poles, and really make sure they’ll go over well. It also doesn’t help much that the networks can save so much money and still get ratings by airing all this reality TV that takes 5 dudes and a trip to the liquor store to make, or that the indie film industry is all but gone since none of our rich buddies have the cash to throw at us anymore. It’s just hard times, and the little people who make up most of the workforce get squeezed out. It’s just what happens.
I think it’s because the studios are making less movies now. They rely too heavily on tentpoles.
yea, what are the margins?
Most films are not shot in Hollywood; even most blockbusters that are “made in the US” are often mostly shot overseas, staying local for just a few elements to stay in Oscar contention.
Because the unions and the cost of doing business in California have gotten so high that everyone is filming in Canada, Australia and Eastern Europe. You all priced and regulated yourselves out of jobs.
Sorry, but thats the sad truth of it…
oh yeah, it’s always labor’s fault, right? all the creative talent have priced themselves out of work by wanting a FAIR percentage of the obscene amount of money made in hollywood… sure, whatever you say. it couldn’t possibly be that the assholes at the top are so greedy there’s none left to go around after they’ve handed themselves all those huge salaries and bonuses. but they’re not at fault… it’s all those greedy working writers and actors who actually generate the material.
Whether you like it or not, that’s how capitalism works. There’s a cheaper labor pool outside of this state that, like it or not, do just about as good a job as locals here.
It didn’t use to be that way, for sure, but in the 90’s when all the LA keys were hired here to work out of state with new crew, well they taught those crews how to do Major League work.
In short, California cannot compete with out of state production houses, because of how business is done here. You don’t think if it was more cost effective to shoot here they wouldn’t?!?
Yes, there are good crews in other states other than CA, however it seems that many features shot in Louisiana, New Mexico, Arizona, etc. bring in the key people; DPs, Camera Operators, Art Directors, Set Designers, Set Decorators, SPFX, etc. from LA. and paying the “union” rates plus per diem.
Perhaps it’s the incentives those states give that CA does not that causes filming to go to those states?
By they way, TV shows and many films shot in Canada pretending to be US locations always look like they were shot in Canada!
I recall, some five or so years ago, that a feature film was being shot in Louisiana. I’m pretty sure it was “Dukes of Hazzard” (but not the point). What is the point is that the producer(s) had bonafide union IA crew coming in from Austin and working as locals. No per diem; paid their own housing; etc. IA didn’t fight for them. They couldn’t afford to fight that for themselves – they needed the work. The producers exploited the crew’s financial position for their own financial gain.
I’m pretty sure that movie made some money, so let’s take a step back and see what might have been…
If those producers had dog-eared just ONE LOUSY MILLION DOLLARS of (potential) profit for crew, everybody could have been better compensated – and at union rates/conditions. One stinkin’ million dollars. (Actually, it would have been well under $200K. Again, not the point.) And please – they could have afforded it. These people (producers) beat down the experienced craftspeople so they can pocket more and more millions. It’s insane!
As Matt continues to remind us (below), solidarity and (threat of) strike are our ONLY true negotiating tools. Some of you blame the writers’ strike for damaging the industry here. What choice did they have? Sooner or later you MUST take a stand against this illegal cartel. We can’t all just sit idly by and bemoan the state of the industry without realizing what’s happening, and letting our so-called “elected leaders” continue to damage the very union(s) they vow to protect.
What’s it gonna take to make everyone wake up and fix the problem?
I agree. I’ve worked in film/television companies that were literally making money hand over fist, but all the profits went to the executives at the top. And the executives spent the money on drugs and hookers, no joke. So I have a real hard time understanding why writers, film crews and character actors can’t be paid a living wage. Also, this is the United States of America. If you have any loyalty to this country at all, you should try to keep jobs here.
I think everyone needs to look in the mirror. I don’t think its labor’s “fault” per se but I do think that members of unions need to ask themselves what benefit thee union is actually providing. Like the rest of the country, the division between have and have nots continues to get larger and a larger % of people in unions are not even working. Feel like too much time is spent complaining about overall deals and trying to bust into unions as opposes to figuring out how to help one another out.
in order for your proposal to happen, the unions/talent pools need to actually do something on their own. Take the executive out of the picture, they are just middle men.
The first Elvis Presley movie cost $1,250,000. Elvis got the million. Now a days production is the cheapest part of the deal and you’re blaming the unions?
First….Just a small percent of Hollywood has always had jobs in the past……Hollywood is now outsourcing jobs because it is too expensive to film in this state….The production companies get tax breaks in other states………The studio system has changed dramatically since I was born here in 1949 without a doubt…………………………Stars are no longer getting big numbers as they used to……………Most of Hollywood simply is not working…………………….REality shows have taken a big bite out of the mix………………………..Very cheap and caters to the lowest mentality…….Below the line talent is no longer needed along with writers…..Want to know more? Ask me……And boring you? I think I have a real grip on whats going on in my town………You are arrogant……….Hows that…..
Because downstream revenues are falling, and thus profit margins for films are down.. Box office is just one small component in a film ultimate. In other words, just because box office is up doesn’t mean movies are more profitable ventures.
Plain and simple. Greed and fear, but mostly greed.
I know I’m out of work because “in these tough economic times” the people running the major media conglomerate I used to work for (rhymes with “ZBS”) decided that the only way to balance the books was with sweeping lay-offs of all the unionized employees… oddly enough all of the $9/hour “temps” in production and post-production were kept on…
For what it’s worth — THIS temp has been out of work from FOX for virtually two years straight — from the Writer’s Strike to the threatened SAG strike to the financial meltdown to who-knows-what now. The temps were first to go….so looks like all of us workers-for-hire are in the same jobless cesspool. Ugh.
I told my mother the other day that the recession does not exist in our business. The lay-offs, the low-pay, no overtime pay…EXPLOITATION. The janitorial staff makes more money than the assistants. FML. I saw an ad for a full-time non-paid apprentice to a CEO. WTF? Disgusting.
Jay Leno.
Because most of the movies and TV shows are done out of town or out of country.
Ok, I’ll go ahead and ask the obvious question.
How many of these films were shot in the country?
Surely that’s a rhetorical question….
- DVD revenue down 20%-30%
- TV revenue and ad market collapsing
- Youngsters today have no respect for anything….especially intellectual property / copyrights
And don’t call me Surely….
Talked to a producer colleague — he said that although DVD revenue is down, so are the offers to big stars because they are hungry for work (down 50%). So, you still make a tidy profit in the end. He was salivating as he told me this, citing a straight-to-DVD model as an example that didn’t even need a theatrical run to make them money. He couldn’t wait to make another film with an A-lister at this time because he felt that everything was so cheap right now.
I think no one wants to talk about it but the truth of the matter is that internally the entertainment industry went from boom to bust too. Wall Street executives are still making a fortune — guess what, media congloms are Wall Streeters too.
But the bigger problem is that media congloms are so large and so powerful that they are like the big banks and doing whatever they want, paying themselves whatever they want. Too big to fail? Why would shareholders buy into this?
Holy crap? Are you serious?
Here’s 3 reasons off the top of my head as to why current revenue is a dumb metric for industry health:
1 – Cash cycle. 2009’s releases were the result of financing secured years ago (in the case of Avatar, MANY years ago). If current financing has dried up, then you get no work.
2 – Revenue is not profit. Having a record haul doesn’t mean jack if you have record costs too.
3 – Change in risk. Dumping the 2008 and 2009 domestic grosses into excel shows that there is both increase in variance and shift in skew. What does that mean? It means that all the money is going to a couple of box office smashes. As an analogy (and this isn’t accurate – it’s just to illustrate the point) in 2008 50% of movies lost money, 40% of movies made money, 10% of movies were box office smashes. In 2009, 60% of movies lost money, 25% of movies made money, 15% of movies were box office smashes. Yes, your chance of being a smash went up but so did your chance of getting your house repossessed.
I don’t like mismanaging moguls any more than rank and file union members, but using domestic box office is like claiming your team had their best year ever because the quarterback set a new passing record – you still need to convert those passes into touchdowns to make the playoffs.
Nice to see a constructive, objective comment on one of these boards.
This is priceless– (ditto)
“I don’t like mismanaging moguls any more than rank and file union members, but using domestic box office is like claiming your team had their best year ever because the quarterback set a new passing record – you still need to convert those passes into touchdowns to make the playoffs.”
I think it’s because studios/networks are seeing that those employees they have kept around are working harder and they are getting the same amount if not more work done with reduced numbers because everyone is trying to keep their job. Same with my company, we haven’t hired anyone in over 18 months, but we’re still managing to handle all the things we need to.
Well hmm…maybe it’s because more money is being made off of less product. The fact that movies that 2 years ago would open in 4,000 theaters now open in 9,000 might have something to do with it.
Also the fact that networks are getting by with L&O franchise reruns instead of original product, maybe?
Because studios have finally figured out less films in the market = more money for everyone
Boxoffice and production are two different animals Nikki. Throw in the fact that all these movies are being made in Boston, New Mexico, Michigan…get the picture?
Answer: Because the REAL story is in the actual number of tickets sold, not this inflation-jacked “record” box office. It really would be a story if actual ticket sales improved over last year.
Good point. FACT: “Gone With the Wind” has sold more tickets (albeit in several theatrical releases) than any other film in cinema history.
Yet, it doesn’t hold the record for biggest all-time BO simply because of inflated ticket prices (say from the late 80’s to now). I would love it, Nikki, if you could investigate & report on the difference between the actual # of tickets sold in 1939 v. 2009 – let’s keep it to U.S. only since the international market in the 30’s was substantially less. I’m sure the % difference would be staggering.
Because a select few circled the f****g wagons. You have to know the secret handshake now.
You mean with the new SAG agreement, and IATSE rolling over, and the AMPTP promises of jobs, there are no jobs???!!!!
Something is fishy in the Town of Nepotism…
Rev has increased but so have costs
Yes, when revenue is at record highs, and the CEOs are still making 30-50 million dollars a year… why has everything else been cut back?
The answer is: because the studios are all owned by multi-national conglomerates now, who view the bottom line (profits) as the only goal, and since they can’t guarantee future revenue (since it is a speculative business), what they CAN do is cut costs.
It’s short-sighted and moronic, and it’s the kind of thinking that got us into the mess we’ve been in for thirty years in this country, but that’s who’s in charge.
And as the CEOs get absurdly richer, the rest of the business suffers. To paraphrase James Brooks’ character in Broadcast News… I certainly hope they die soon.
Easy, just because the entertainment industry is making more money doesn’t mean they’re making more product in Hollywood. That’s why most of Hollywood is out of work.
Because most of Hollywood is filled with people who are only in it for the fame, fortune, etc. Only the true artists who are passionate about their craft have “made it”.
You’re on to something here. Please run with it.
A perfect storm of 3 things;
1) The internet, and online gaming. 10 years ago, the internet and gaming took up about 15% of my “media time”. Now, the internet and gaming take up 85% of my media time.
2) 2 labor strikes. Whatever your politics, by striking, labor forced the studios to learn a lesson that they should have learned a long time ago, – spending a lot of money on developement is STUPID, and not cost effective. All those OWA’s were great and paid the bills for writers, but not a great ROI at all. Does anyone think that Transformers 2 was any better of a movie because it went through 6 re-writes? Really?
Now, it’s up to the producers to bring entire packages of directors, stars, and scripts to the studio – all on spec. So now, the studios only buy “movies” – not projects that require developement.
3) The economy – it shook a lot of money out of this party.
So there you have it! Merry Christmas Hollywood!
As you all probably know, the answer to Nikki’s question is that Hollywood (L.A.) has priced itself out of the film production market, while competing cities continue to grow their film production communities. As hard as that is to recognize and accept, it’s simple economics. Producers don’t care where they make their product – there’s no loyalty to California. With these huge profits they could afford to make their product here (Los Angeles), but how could “people” like Iger get their golden parachute payments if producers spread the wealth around home a little?
The real question is why the studios are so friggin’ cheap with writers and actors when profits are increasing every six months – and increasing at a fantastic rate. They’re crying poor while doing everything in their power to to hide the money they’re making. It’s greedy. And it’s shameful.
But nothing new to Hollywood.
SoCal is heading the direction of Detroit, and for similar reasons. Our industry is drying up and disappearing here because of competition elsewhere, and the only thing AMPTP executives are doing about it is lining their own pockets while they can. And the 2010 CA tax incentives (read: kickbacks) are too little, too late.
It’s like a bad reality show plot.
Honey, I immigrated to Canada when work started drying up in LA. There’s no work right now in Canada either.
The answer to your rhetorical question: More and more of that BO money is being divided up among fewer and fewer projects. Mega-conglomerates put more resources than ever into fewer projects than ever. Nobody’s figured out how to make any money at all in the low end and “mid-level” production isn’t happening because it’s just too expensive for indies to really raise money to make and market anything and the upside’s too small for the mega-conglomerates to bother.
So you have a handful of 2-300-million-dollar productions on one end of the spectrum, people hoping to ‘go viral’ on the other, and the middle filled up with people spending the better part of a decade trying to get cast, director and enough funding from Singapore or India or the Romanian government together to start rolling cameras.
BO numbers could quadruple next year but that wouldn’t indicate anything about numbers of people working or long term health of the industry–both of which are on a very sad trajectory.
Good year for distributors! Less marketing expenses and less losses per project!
Because the number of wide-releases produced AND distributed in North America this year, is off by at least 15 percent (from last year and the year before).
The easy money dried up…and productions were reduced this year by at least 25%…because of the backlog of projects (at least 10% of the annual product) still waiting to be released from the previous “good” years.
The money was good…but most of the product sucked.
That happens when money is too easy to come by. Too many green-lighting decisions made without enough knowledge or profitability conscientiousness.
And now that the easy money is gone…so are the jobs…and we are left with very slim quality heading into the Academy Awards.
So expect the Academy TV viewership to reach an new low too.
But cheer up! We will be out of product soon and the work will pick up. Just about the time its time to go on strike again. Good leverage for the unions…but tough on the little guys.
What little guys?
It’s all about the imperialist Big Six cartel now.
Pray that Icahn buys up MGM and Lions Gate … its your only hope Luke!
I don’t think we’ll be going on strike in 2011. No one has the stomach for it. However, I do think the negotiating will come earlier and be savvier on the unions’ side. Also, SAG and AFTRA will have merged before then — they have to, and they know it — which will add a lot of power to actors. And, there will be a lot more leverage for the unions re: Internet, which the AMPTP will not be able to deny anymore.
No fear everyone. We’re just in tough times. If you stay true to building your craft, on the other side of all of this you’ll be okay.
Sounds like the official line of the party in charge at SAG.
Is it because Hollywood has out sourced it’s ass to India, every Baltic Country, and every other state that offers tax incentives? Shame on The State of California and Los Angeles for not competing.
I understand your point about the outsourcing. Yes, CA is late to the party of tax incentives, but I think it’s encouraging to hear about other states beginning to rethink their incentive programs.
NY’s program barrelled through their budgeted incentive dollars already and is losing productions because the money well is now dry. Do you think the NY-based tv show “Fringe,” after taking NY’s incentive money, stayed in NY after those funds were gone? Nope, they are now in Vancouver this season. How loyal of them! I think it’s Michigan (I’m not 100% percent sure whether it’s MI or another state) that is beginning sour their thinking on their return on investment with the tax incentives.
And for good reason: Financially, these tax incentives are nothing more than State-sanctioned welfare for an industry that doesn’t need it and that has ZERO loyalty to that state once the money is gone. Whether it’s 10%, 15%, or 25% reimbursement for filming in their respective states, that money doesn’t necessarily go back to the studios or that’s states’ local economy. It usually goes back to the producers pockets only.
What these states are beginning to find out is that a lot of Hollywood productions bring a significant portion of their key crews from LA. Because of that and other factors, they are realizing that they are not seeing the financial benefits to their economies that they thought they would. And those tax incentives are paid for by the state’s taxpayers and therefore is a drain on their state budgets.
I hope this trend continues so that states will discontinue these welfare incentives, one by one, and the producers will be forced to be fairer and return production to its home in CA.
I’m just sayin…..
We intend to change that Nicky.
See the group on Facebook.
ITS TIME TO SHOOT MOVIES AND TV IN CALIFORNIA AGAIN!
Ed Gutentag (Los Angeles, CA) (creator)
I like to shoot pictures and movies in the warmth of Cali.
To the editor:
I have concerns about your concerns. As an advocate of actor’s rights, specifically as a member of the Screen Actors Guild (as well as AFTRA, the DGA and Actors Equity), I wonder if you are understanding of the implications of the “subscription-based model” for the actual makers of the content: the actors. Yes, “among others,” but the people you see when you turn on the TV or watch a movie or fire up your computer and somehow expect to watch for free? Are actors not getting paid these days. The latest TV/Theatrical contract approved by the “moderate” faction of SAG, now in power, pays actors, not a “piece of the pie” as the “hard-liner” (me) faction of the union wanted, and was willing to strike over (AKA, a percentage of all gross income, hopefully across all platforms: TV, movies, cable, internet-new media, commercials, voice-overs, etc.), instead, the moderates agreed to a deal so ridiculously low, I recently received a residual check for .01 cents. This is now widespread. A union sending members checks in the mail, costing them a first class stamp, for .01 cents? Is a union run by dumb people. Period.
This “file swapping” you bemoan the loss of, for consumer “choice?” – has another word. Theft. You “swap” a movie, TV show, whatever, with someone you know, or download one for yourself, you are doing it through a file-swapping “bit-torrent” site, like Pirate-Bay, who’s two founders have recently been been convicted in Sweden, and re-convicted after appeal, are, essentially, middlemen in a multibillion dollar series of thefts over the recent years, by giving away content for free, by providing the central servers via which the “consumer” you are worried about can download someone else’s file of content, that, chances are, they didn’t pay for either. The actor who makes a middle-class living, roughly 95% of the Screen Actors Guild, is robbed of residual payments in the case of such theft, as is every other contributor to the content due residuals: writers, directors, etc.
Hulu is the principal player in the “it’s free!” new world these kids are growing up in, and it’s the equivalent of raising an entire generation of kids whose parents told them, “it’s perfectly fine to go to CVS and steal some candy.” No, it’s not. And the fact the losses and theft occur on-line makes it, of course, no different.
What the middle-class SAG actor needs to survive, and remain in the business, is for papers like the NY Times to stop printing op-ed pieces that rationalize content theft on the internet. Then we need a viable “monetization”of the internet. Like a subscription-based system, where owners of content are favored over consumers who expect free choice. Then, we need a new contract that gives actors a “piece of the pie,” a percentage of producer’s gross income across all platforms. Huge pie? X percent. Smaller pie, due to recession or normal ups and downs of the business? Same X percent. Can there be anything more fair than that? Common sense right? An “upgrade in actor’s compensation for the 21st century” I’d call it. The producers and their negotiation consortium, the AMPTP? They call it “a non-starter.” Why? They don’t really like paying actors. They tolerate huge salaries of stars as the cost of doing business, but, the vast majority of the people you see in movies, on TV, on union content you watch on-line, are middle-class SAG actors.That’s where the producers have decided to shed huge financial liability, and, until the “hardliners” get back in power – the actual “unionists” of the union, who want to stop this theft, monetize the internet, then threaten to strike, or strike to get a percentage deal (because we understand the AMPTP will never, based on precedent and common sense, give back what the moderates just gave away in the last contract), are a dying breed. And your editorial waves us good-bye.
Matt Mulhern
SAG, AFTRA, DGA, AEA
@ Matt Mulhern: Please explain the philosophical difference between file sharing movies and the old school swapping video tapes & copying that people used to do? Both are a small portion of the overall of the viewing public. They take a lot of work in terms of waiting for downloads, having the right codecs, and anti-virus software to prevent a computer from being a doorstop. The general public just want to click a button and get entertained because they are lazy. There are no hard and fast numbers for either type of “theft”, mind you that the home taping/swapping was “wink & nod” legalized with the Betamax case opening the door for today’s paradigm.
Also, there were many mom & pop video rental places that had videos that looked like they were duped in the NY area. Are you telling me that writers, directors, & actors received residuals from those grey market rentals?
And last I heard, Hulu was an ad revenue supported model, so it is not technically free. The internet is metized, just not to the degree that you and others would like.
Wake up and smell the coffee of the new paradigm & stop throwing around straw men.
I do get your points and appreciate how well laid out there are.
However, I don’t agree with your view about how SAG’s “moderate” faction rolled over the “hardliners” and gave the AMPTP just what they wanted.
I think it’s the moderates who saved SAG from rendering itself obsolete, at least in Primetime TV. No one thinks the current theatrical contract is a great contract.
I feel the SAG hardliners, lead by Alan Rosenberg, simply blew it! Why do I feel this way?
He allegedy was in lock-step with the WGA leading up to their strike. Coventional wisdom (and networks planned for this scenario by requesting more scripts from showrunners, past the current season and 4-5 ep’s scripts into the next season) was that the WGA was going to wait until SAG/AFTRA’s contract expired next June, in order to strike along-side the actors, if need be.
However, that October, the WGA decided not to wait and went on strike November 1. The leverage of the writers/actors striking together was gone, however the WGA striking in the middle of the season gave them some leverage.
A big boon to the Networks/Producers was that during the WGA strike, just enough time lapsed (60 or 90 days,I forget which) that many writers/actors with production deals and/or contracts could be terminated due to force majeure clauses. This allowed the networks/producers to exit production deals with talent before those deals were set to expire. This saved the networks/producers a shiite-load of moola. Nice move, WGA.
Then after the WGA strike ended, negotiatons with SAG/AFTRA basically went nowhere. AMPTP dragged its heels because they could. Then SAG’s relationship with AFTRA soured so much so that AFTRA terminated their joint negotiation agreement and negotiated with AMPTP on their own.
SAG leaderships’ arrogance didn’t stop there. With AFTRA now negotiating on their own, they would most likely easily settle on a deal just to compete with SAG for production contracts. Anyone with common sense saw the writing on the wall. Not Rosenberg.
Well, AFTRA, basically in the pocket of AMPTP, struck a deal with the producers that was a shiite deal for actors.
Rosenberg and Co., never seemed to take any opportunity to mend their relationship with their sister union. They allowed the split between the two unions to happen. Then when, AFTRA strikes a deal, SAG spent several hundred dollars on a campaign to persuade the 30 or 40 thousand AFTRA members who are also SAG members to vote NO on the contract ratification voting. That tactic was a collossal failure.
AFTRA members overwhelmingly ratified the contract, much to Rosenberg’s administration’s chagrin and embarrasment.
That STILL didn’t deter SAG’s leadership from fighting on. Despite the reality of SAG’s total lack of leverage, talk of striking was Rosenberg’s mantra.
That fall a group of actors, led by Amy Brenneman, weary of Rosenberg’s hardline stance, gained enough seats on the national board to obtain a slim majority.
Contract talks with federal mediator failed and SAG announces it’s seeking a strike authorization.
Rosenberg led a 28-hour filibuster at an emergency SAG board meeting to block the moderates’ effort to fire Allen and replace the guild’s negotiating committee. Two weeks later, the moderates oust Allen through a maneuver known as “written assent.”
A new round of negotiations collapses over the issue of the contract’s expiration date. Considering that the new leadershp at SAG basically agreed to take the same deal as AFTRA/WGA/DGA, this was an arrogant move on the AMPTP’s part. Thus proving what all SAG members know, the AMPTP wanted to twist the screws and see if it could make the new leadership bend.
Back-channel talks with execs and SAG toppers lead to a tentative deal, which includes SAG’s contract expiring in synch with AFTRA/DGA/WGA.
Even though there was not an official strike, there was a huge work stoppage of green-lit projects simply because no film studios wanted to begin filming a project with the ever-present thread of an actors’ strike looming.
Getting back to my point that SAG, through its’ tactics mentioned above,almost rendered itself obsolete in Primetime TV. Many SAG shows were looking to convert to HD video in case of a strike. That way, because of the video-tape medium, they simply could legally switch to AFTRA and not impact production.
Oddly enough, even though a contract was agreed upon, several primetime shows, switched to HD video anyway, due to cheaper costs when compared to developing film. Those shows have remained SAG shows.
However, the big fallout from this contract fiasco is that during pilot season, AFTRA covered a vast majority (70 or 80 %, I think) of the new shows. AFTRA also now covers most of the basic cable primetime dramas.
What I don’t like about AFTRA, is that in their efforts to stay relevant and growing, they undermine SAG contracted rates on a show by show basis just to get the business. So…what is the point of AFTRA agreeing to a contract with the AMPTP? They regularly turn around and undercut even their own contract rates to make themselves more attractive to producers.
I don’t understand why more big-name actor’s don’t hold AFTRA accountable for these tactics. After all, how are their tactics helping actors in general?
I think both actors’ unions should wake the hell up and understand that what happened this go-around can and will happen again, if they let it. The day for two actors’ unions has passed. There is no need to have two entities that can be played off each other.
There is only one answer: Merge.
Signed-
Respectfullydisagreeing
Ummm… I wonder… Could it be holier-than-thou unions???
Um, No.
The unions here are toothless and roll over on any negotiation.
Quit the Republican talking point and get informed.
The studios and their corporations do NOT have to worry about the unions.
good question. someone is making money and it’s not the working writers and directors who are constantly being told they have to put out for less, or even free, to keep working in this town.
Q: So why is most of Hollywood out of work?
A: Because all of Hollywood’s jobs are now in Canada and the other 49 states.
The corporations who run and own it think by buying their way in Hollywood that they are somehow insiders, creatives…but they are NOT and it shows in their widgets (just using corporate speak mr. immelt) i.e. movies and the public knows what’s good and knows that what these corps make is crap. Unfortunately, the next gen of moviegoers have now been fed on this tripe and like lemmings off a cliff, they go to these widgets and think WOW THIS IS DERN GOOD..LET’S GO TO WALMART AND BUY THE VIDEO GAME….DA.
Nope. Everyone I work with in Canada has been unemployed for most of 2009. The work just vanished. It’s not just LA, or unions.
Because of your stupid Strike
Because there is a conservative attitude to new talent or different forms of entertainment despite changing tastes, so new opportunities are too rare for those in need of jobs
-how many people aren’t working because of Leno’s primetime spot takeover alone?
Because DBO only represents about 1/3 of a film’s revenue, and the rest of those streams are tanking and/or becoming less reliable???
While I think Ed and Matt make the best comments here (most of the comments are accurate, methinks) dare I say all the problems with Hollywood are a direct result of something much more powerful and abstract . . .
CAPITALISM
It’s a cancerous organism that NEEDS to grow 15% each quarter, or whatever the actuals the companies promise the shareholders.
The Writer’s strike was an attempt to knock back the beast a little. The effect, however, was equivalent to attempting to fight a lion using a straw and some spit balls.
It’s not one particular pattern (conglomerates eating up the studios) or a union striking or DVD sales falling or Jack Nicholson farting at a Laker game, it’s a stew of particles that comprise one colossal, bubbling, cancerous mass: the current business model in America; a business built solely off of consumption.
The ultimate question, therefore, lies with the current administration: Will Obama change capitalism? CAN he change it?
Yea, that sounds great. Let’s become socialist to save the California film industry. “The trouble with Socialism is that eventually you run out of other people’s money.”
Better yet, how about you move to Venezuela instead…
Indie,
I love it. It seems every time a citizen criticizes the way things are going in this country, they are labeled UN-PATRIOTIC by some “right-thinking” individual and told they should pack up and leave the US. WHAT IF, instead, they STAYED and tried to make this GREAT COUNTRY an even BETTER ONE by asking probing questions instead of merely falling into lock-step with the Radical Right?
Example of the kind of hypocritical stuff that kills me: Ronald Reagan, the Patron Saint of the Republican Party, was very vocal
in his opposition to government assistance. Yet his father supported young Ronnie & the family with the aid from FDR’s NRA program. In fact, as you may recall, Reagan himself was once a staunch Democrat and Union president until Nancy (coming from a loyal Republican family) convinced him to switch sides. You may call that “seeing-the-light.” I call it “being-a-tool.”
But more to the point about Hollywood jobs. Everyone who has targeted the congloms being the main culprit in our national predicament is correct. Is it really necessary for only 1% of our citizens (top CEO’s, bank officers, congloms owners, etc) owning 60-70% of the national wealth – just because they CAN? Couldn’t people at the top take less? And nowhere is this greed more egregious than here in VIACOMCASTFOXCORPGEDISNEYLAND. Y’know, eventually there won’t be enough little people with the $ to afford the things these big fat cats produce. It behooves the rich to put MORE people to work, not less. And at FAIR LIVING WAGES. Then, perhaps America can once again enjoy the prosperity of the boom years when unemployment was below 4%.
And if you don’t like what I ‘m saying, why don’t you leave?
Dude. Why don’t you move to a commune and live off the land – grow some rhubarb and broccoli stew and fart your way into oblivion with Obama. Make your own movie about it, then get Obama to take your profits to make our country “a better place”-that would be heaven – don’t you think? Get as much money from Obama’s monopoly money and the rich he’s stealing from — and then you’ll be able to fund your play one of those shithole theaters on Santa Monica Blvd HOPING that someone DISCOVERS YOU!! You’ll make 10 bucks a night or less depending on who shows up (no one BTW). Then you can go back to your commune and make more farting noises like your post about Capitalism being simply evil.
You have a right to your opinion because you live in the greatest country in the world. So do I.
Your wrong. It has to do with liberal followers who wanted everyone to give them something for nothing and give them too much. This type of thinking destroyed Hollywood. Capitalism is what Hollywood has ALWAYS thrived on. But when dolts started asking for too much (CA government the last admin and current admin and the unions), then the studios decided to cut their losses here and go where they were welcomed to shoot movies. Sure they want to make a profit – like they always have, but so do the actors, writers, below the line professionals and all the supporting businesses. Just at a rate commensurate with the economy of the US, not the insane economy of California–which is now bankrupt thanks to their corruption and stupidity (which BTW is Socialist at best). If the CA government and Fed gov’t. weren’t so stupid, then we could have kept production here and all of us would still be working — Capitalism at its best. But those in government and those on the far left here are so stupid, they do not understand the simple process of economics. The problem is NOT Capitalism -it’s you wanting everyone to help you out and you think Obama is GOD.
You know what this admin has done so far for us here in CA? Taken 10% more out of our paychecks, stolen from the rich, made play money, made us beholden to China, forced production out of here and into tax incentive states where they welcome them – great. But hey – there’s less traffic in Hollywood now. That’s good, right?
Try being a leader and try not depending on the guy in the Whitehouse to make everything better for you. Someday you’ll get this perspective. In the meantime, don’t go spending that stipend from your equity waiver theater in one place. Just give it away, then you can write it off on your taxes as a business seeking expense. Should make a huge dent in what you get in your IOU return.
I just want to say how ridiculous and unproductive it is for the left and the right to go at each other in this thread like spoiled brats.
The problem is not that there are too much socialist policies in CA govt. The problem is also not there is rampant capitalism in CA business. Because either extreme is detrimental to a healthy society.
Blaming Obama for our current ills in America is the height of ignorance. For example your paragraph:
“You know what this admin has done so far for us here in CA? Taken 10% more out of our paychecks, stolen from the rich, made play money, made us beholden to China, forced production out of here and into tax incentive states where they welcome them – great. But hey – there’s less traffic in Hollywood now. That’s good, right?”
So you assert that in less than one year, this administration has done all of that? Really? Please explain how the rich were stolen from? please explain why the rich producers are going to tax incentive states to get state-sponsored welfare rebates? We’ve BEEN beholden to China for WAAAAY more than the past year. Check your facts and then place the blame fairly with both parties.
And you also say:
“If the CA government and Fed gov’t. weren’t so stupid, then we could have kept production here and all of us would still be working — Capitalism at its best. ”
First of all, the Fed doesn’t necessary care where production goes, because they still get their cut. Regarding CA: well, I can’t offer you much of an explanation there. However, to state that Capitalism at it’s best is when CA also joins the state-sponsored welfare for the rich producers is a strange-bedfellow of economic ideas, isn’t it?
Just like you ridicule the dude advocating socialism and your alleging that his belief that one man, Obama, can solve all his problems. The same things applies to you, only in reverse. One man, Obama, is not the reason for all that you perceive is wrong with CA and the industry in general.
Capitalism has been the driving force of our economy for as long as there has been the USA and it’s why this nation has been so successful. However, the extreme in capitalism has had it’s share of casualties and failures: Bernie Madoff, Kenneth Lay, Dick Cheney, outsourcing US jobs, NAFTA (Ross Perot was right), the greed and lack of conscience by those in positions of power during the recent collaspe of the real estate/financial markets worldwide to name a few.
The answer to all of that is NOT socialism. The answer is the balance between capitalism and social responsibility. One without the other is a recipe for disaster.
Regarding falling DVD Sales:
I went to Target 2x recently and there are DVDs on sale for $2, $4, and $6. These titles are not from 1970something and before.
When DVD’s first came out, their price range was from $20 – $40 per title.
I think a fair price range is $10-$20 per title.
I think the studios are deeply discounting these titles cuz they are pushing the $30ish Blu Ray DVD titles. I think that’s a mistake.
How smart is it to get the public used to buying dvds for 2, 4 or 6 bucks?
Many video releases now are in tandem: DVD, Blu-ray, and a special feature or ROM disc at an average SRP of $30-$40. As a consumer, I say that’s a much better value than a single-copy DVD (that my child will eventually scratch up and render useless) for $20. So, royalty-dependent contributors are actually getting twice their bang for my buck had I bought the $20 DVD instead of the $40 DVD/Blu-ray combo package.
And secondly, if I pick up a DVD from the “dollar bin” and the film’s good, then you can bet your sweet bippy I’ll fork out the extra to go buy it on Blu-ray and watch it in HD.
That said, “getting the public used to buying dvds” for $2-6 is no different from the previous transition to DVD from VHS. Blu-ray is just another vehicle for distribution- and a good one at that. Film production costs are somewhat greater in order to create and release a finished product in HD, 3D, or with additional disc features that sway consumers to own a copy. In my household, these features are worth the extra expense and our movie-buying budget has gone from $150/month to $350/month over PY, which is a pretty good increase in the royalty fund amidst an otherwise shitty economic year.
Five years from now we’ll be buying Blu-ray discs for $6 because that medium will be obsolescent as well. Did I mention that I’m also among the a-holes who spent $1200 on a VHS player when they first came on the market? Such is the nature of the beast, my friend.
This has been the worst year of my career. For the past few years I was able to pull 6 figures annually as a writer after a big spec sale not too long ago. This year has been a complete loss.
Everyone wants everything done on spec. Assignments that actually pay are drying up and only there for the A listers or the latest flavor of the minute.
My agent tells me to write specs and then in the next breath tells me specs aren’t selling.
The studio’s want me to come in and give takes on ridiculous things like movies based on toys from the 70’s. When I spent a few weeks working something up for them I was told “it’s a long shot we even make this project”…
Everyone seems gun-shy. The movies I have set up at studios, some that have A list talent attached, are stalled with no sign of progress.
This is a rough patch and I know I’m not alone. I was fortunate enough to be in a position to work for free this past year. However, I have to start earning again soon or it’s time to polish up the resume and make writing my part time job again.
The sad thing is I take meetings and have conference calls all the time. Producers and studio execs want to work with me. They just don’t want to pay me.
This is more blood curdling than the most vile scene in any “Saw” flick.
Your experience is the exact same as my husband’s — a spec sale led to ten years of consistent work in film and TV (with some produced credits) only to see it end around the time of the strike. Of course, we never imagined the dry spell would go on for years; but it did. During that time he wrote a spec (everyone loved it/nobody bought it), and had a lot of meetings/pitches that went nowhere. Now we’ve used up our WGA points and lost our benefits. We are making plans to leave town. Please don’t misinterpret this post as a whine. It’s just a statement of fact and one small example of what is happening in many households all over Los Angeles that depend on the entertainment industry for economic survival. There are a lot of “working class writers” and their families who are struggling, and unfortunately none of us are optimistic that the landscape will improve, especially in TV where they’ve eliminated many mid-level writing jobs. Eventually, all that will be left are A-listers, hacks and newbies. (OK, this last part sounds a little whiney.)
unfortunately you’re not alone. I wonder about all of these people posting on here acting like the hard working people of hollywood have this coming for simply wanting to be paid fairly for years of hard work and dedication to the craft. hopefully your husband can continue to write regardless of where you move to and maybe there are better days ahead for everyone.
Ummmmm…. Are you me?
Good God, Nikki, are you really that stupid or do you just think your readers are morons?
First, revenues are up, but that has jackshit to do with profit. The cost to make movies has skyrocketed, effectively neutralizing the meaningless increased revenue you mention. There isn’t any more profit; no profit, no additional productions. No new productions, no additional jobs.
Secondly, duh. Unions and taxation have priced the jobs away. It costs too much to film in California, and there’s nothing magical about Hollywood. There’s no logical reason to film in a location when you can do it for half the cost somewhere else.
Hey Rocco-
Are you really that stupid?
Only an A-hole calls Nikki stupid for posing a rhetorical question on her own page-
Are you that stupid that you couldn’t figure that out?
Corporations make money with less employees. Recessions are a great excuse for Corporate CEOs to save money by cutting back staff and sing with glee as they distribute the profits among themselves and the shareholders. The shareholders are the rich as are the CEOS. Because the working man and woman can barely afford to survive let alone buy stocks and invest.
Unions came to be to give the exploited working man and working woman a voice that could be heard. Solidarity evened the playing field between the mega rich and the working class because en masse the working class had a voice. Alone the working man has nothing but the ability to say thank you when your employer throws you crumbs.
Anyone Union member, no matter which Union, who whines about IATSE or the WRITER’S GUILD or SCREEN ACTORS GUILD or Director’s Guild as “the problem” is poking a hole in their own boat. That also goes for non-union members who work for a living. Since we’re all in the same boat– all of us who work– as one person and then a group blames SAG or DGA or IATSE or WGA all you accomplish is putting another hole in our boat– your own boat.
Q: You want a chance to keep your house? A: Solidarity.
Q: You want to live like a serf? A: Keep going about it they way you have been. It’s working great.
With a united front against greedy corporations the unions and the working men and women can survive. Without solidarity to all brother and sister unions you’re working PR for the CEO and you’re doing it for free.
Unite or Perish. It’s on you.
economics 101- economies of scale
Take Inglorious Bestards as an example: The entire film was shot on soundstages and some exteriors. So the flic could have been easily shot in L.A. BUT Producers went to Berlin to shoot it. Why? Not because of the three to four EXT. Shots. They went there, `cause German DFF paid some 10 Million Dollars in subsidy. Simple as that. (and a hole less union restrictions, and nice places to hang out after work). – Thank you L.A., and anytime again….
All these people who think the problem is WHERE movies are being shot are not keeping tabs on the more important question of HOW MANY movies are being shot. The number of individual projects that actually pay people money is dropping. To read the posts here, you’d think the same number of movies are being made as were a 10 or 20 years ago, only they’re being made somewhere else.
But that is wishful thinking. (”Maybe,” you hope against hope, “if they’re still making anything like the same number of movies they did in the ‘good old days,’ somewhere else, I can complain about taxes and unions long enough to make that plethora of shows come back to SOCAL.”)
But the number of movies and TV shows is dropping, not merely moving.
Competition for eyeballs, piracy, the success of reality TV and an economic model that moves to investing in fewer theme park style movies rather than more of what we used to think of as movies–all of it is reducing the number of productions and paying jobs and THERE IS NO REASON TO BELIEVE THEY WILL EVER COME BACK IN THE FORM WE’VE KNOWN THEM.
People should be using their efforts trying to figure out what the next model will be and how to fit in and make some money than pointing fingers at this union or that political party.
The changes that are happening are so much bigger.
Why?
1. No contacts.
2. No talent.
Hey d-bag…. This is the same tripe that’s been passed around places like the Sky Bar, Dana Tana’s and Spago for years/decades. Are you blind to the changes that the industry is undergoing? How deep is your head up some Exec’s ass?
The truth is that #1 (”contacts”) seems to be all that matters out here. Talent is almost irrelevant without #1 and the assholes with #1 generally have no clue what #2 is… that’s the truth. Yeah, yeah… I’m just bitter no-talent guy, but take a gander at the the stellar material coming out this year. In film does 2009 match 1939? Can it match 1989 in TV or film? How about 99? 03? Don’t think so… How about we make Talent #1 and then the people with contacts can go f themselves and “quality” can once aghain become a word that can be used again. “How about a Mr. Potato Head movie or TV show? That was a big seller in the 70s?”
Go For It…yeah, with your left hand!
I am pleased to see that most of the commentators have it right. Only a minor few took offense at the answer … “unions” which is a very different audience than we normally have.
But I can say the same thing with less potential arguments. There is no economics textbook, teacher, or scholar who thinks minimum wage is a good idea. What it does is remove the bottom rung from the ladder. You have to pay more than the market will bear, and that forced expediture has to passed on, more or less, dollar for dollar, in your output price. That higher price then eats up more of the household income, so the minimum wage differential is eaten up anyway. All it did was make the costs higher for everyone.
Now that we have discussed a non-controversial topic, please undertand that “scale” is the same as minimum wage.
But its worse. The post-60’s must be avoided at all costs. All you gotta do is NOT hire 2 people from California, shoot outside of the 13 western, and save yourself A LOT of money. That is not hard math to do at all … just don’t hire here. And, funny thing, this is what the union set up!!!!
The point remains … if it is cheaper to fly every man, woman, and child to a foreign state or foreign country, than to shoot right here in L.A., there must be some very high L.A. costs … and those costs are not free market – they are union. [Note: Foreign tax credits are not enough to offset, it is high unions, not the tax rebates]
Matt Mulhern — There is nothing wrong with Hulu. In fact, it’s brilliant. It allows studios to show long-dead TV shows with followings (but not enough to pay for DVDs) with ads.
Hulu is not “free.” It’s “free as in broadcast TV” i.e. ad-supported. I like that model. Most of the shows are worth seeing an ad (spending about 3 minutes watching ads) but not paying for on DVD or download. Sure I like to watch Ed O’Neil in “LA Dragnet” and I figure he and Ethan Embry ought to get a fair share of the ad revenue, but it won’t be much because not many will watch it. I won’t pay for it because it’s not worth my money.
Regardless, Hulu is a huge piracy fighter. The means to get more money out of long-dead projects (which are still entertaining) by making it easy and free to view content is key. You don’t fight piracy by moralizing or suing your customers, but by providing a cheap and easy way to view content. Ask the music industry or the South Park guys. Southparkstudios.com makes it so easy to view South Park that it simply destroys piracy and nets the guys a bit of extra (not much) cash.
Which is the heart of Hollywood’s problem. A FEW films are worth paying for, the rest are at BEST a $1 rental at Redbox. If that. Really, who has passion for “27 Dresses” or “Funny People” or “Land of the Lost?” If they are on TBS or something I might watch it if I have nothing better to do. But its not Batman Begins or Iron Man or 300. Movies that are fun and WORTH PAYING FOR.
Because most of Hollywood’s writers/producers are so decadent and socially removed from the Average Guy that they wouldn’t even have a clue emotionally or socially as to what makes a compelling story. “Brothers?” Crikey that’s right out of Dogme 95 shinola — wretched depressing cliched junk thats a cross between the Lifetime movie of the week and Eurotrash posing.
I honestly don’t think there’s been a time when actors as a whole have been so skilled and often (the workaday ones) so damn likeable. But the writing and producing have been simply awful. You’d have to pay me to watch “the Awful Truth” for instance.
What I HOPE happens is someone opens up a web-only center for serial and film projects, done cheap but good (think: District 9) with new writers and producers hungry for mass audience creating something other than the decadent Hollywood cliches. Streaming Free (with ads) or modestly priced downloads. There’s no reason you have to watch a film or serial at a theater or TV set.
A few things:
As for why Tarantino shot Basterds in Germany, two words: Wheat Beer.
ClearingStuffUp – Prodco’s don’t fly whole crews to the location. They fly key personnel. Most states or nations that offer tax breaks have local hire and other thresholds to meet. I’m in Auckland. America’s Next Top Model flew in here this past week to do some shooting, and the news here treated local hires as a significant issue. I’m sure the same is true elsewhere.
Whiskey made the points I wanted to make about Hulu. It’s a good business model. Oh, and you can’t fast-forward through the ads.
As for file-sharing, multiple studies have shown the people who illegally download the most music also BUY the most music. Is the same true with movies & TV shows yet? Dunno, haven’t seen the studies. Hollywood’s trying to stay ahead of this curve with 3D. A lot of eggs are in JC’s basket on this one.
A friend of mine found out a movie he produced was being widely Torrented, and put up a PayPal button on the film’s official website encouraging folks who liked the movie they Torrented to kick in a couple of bucks. More than a few people did. I’m not suggesting this as a business model, but they did manage to get some lemonade from those lemons.
Which brings me to my next point. Studies have shown that people do want to pay for content so long as the price & delivery system are reasonable & convenient. What we don’t want – and what the industry shouldn’t count on doing any more – is reselling the same content over and over again in different formats and essentially printing money. I’m looking at you, Disney, with your classic animated movies.
A lot of people seem to like the subscription model. HBO and Netflix are, I think, paving the way, and the studios see this. Otherwise, why roll out Epix! in this economy???
Let’s also bear in mind that the studios are mostly owned by conglomerates whose other interests are faring worse than entertainment, and they’re squeezing every dollar they can – by cutting staff, cutting budgets, cutting salaries, playing Canada off against Louisiana against Hungary for the best breaks….
here are some faves out of “whiskey” (with all due respect) who I would bet is under 40, probably 35-ish, NOT an actor, and probably not involved in the business in terms of how he makes his living (that’s my amateur fbi profile. I bet it’s all true)
————————————————
“There is nothing wrong with Hulu. In fact, it’s brilliant. It allows studios to show long-dead TV shows with followings (but not enough to pay for DVDs) with ads.
Hulu is not “free.” It’s “free as in broadcast TV” i.e. ad-supported.”
————————————————
that statement is the statement of someone I’m describing as the next group coming along, with no particular interest in what I’m talking about: actor’s rights. which is fine. I’m sure you couldn’t care less, why should you?
but, hulu is NOT “brilliant.” hulu is, in fact, an unprofitable mess, and now that comcast owns it, it WILL become profitable via a subscription-based system, or it will have it’s doors closed from corporate headquarters in Philadelphia (Comcast headquarters).
as a person IN some of their content, I’d prefer my work not be shown at all, if I don’t get paid a fair slice of the pie, and hulu is built on free in terms of PAYING content creators. consumers? I don’t really care. they are getting to watch tons of stuff, regardless of your particular and specific set of creative opinions, without the content creators being paid. that has to stop.
comcast? I couldn’t care less. hulu? same. getting paid? yes, that’s interesting to me, and it better get real interesting to the moderate faction of the union and they better get ready to strike to get it. or we’re done. it’s that simple.
in other words – it doesn’t matter to me what, or when, or how, the internet is monetized, and I don’t care about consumers getting content for free, the only “price” they pay, a small set of commercials to get through. what matters is a piece of the pie. then, these knuckleheads can do whatever they want, make any crap they want, any platform they want. but, actors get a fair share of their ENORMOUS profits.
and SAG has a dwindling horizon in which to threaten to shut down the industry, just to get a fair contract. just “fair.” the other unions rely FAR less on residuals, whereas the actor gets through with residuals making up 1/3rd, 1/2 – more (often) of their yearly income.
so, you see, I am arguing for people who make a living doing this. ralph nader can fight for better movies and tv, which is a subjective judgment for him, and you, and me, anyway.
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“You don’t fight piracy by moralizing or suing your customers.”
is equal to: “you don’t fight bank robbery by moralizing to, or prosecuting bank robbers.”
the intermediaries? steal. the original source of the file, who allows it to be downloaded for free by someone else? steals. the yahoo downloading it off pirate bay? is stealing. it’s not moralizing or a question of suing customers. it’s enforcing the law, and making sure we are not ripped off.
call me crazy.
___________________________________________________________
“You’d have to pay me to watch “the Awful Truth” for instance.
Really, who has passion for “27 Dresses” or “Funny People” or “Land of the Lost?” If they are on TBS or something I might watch it if I have nothing better to do. But its not Batman Begins or Iron Man or 300. Movies that are fun and WORTH PAYING FOR.”
____________________________________________________________
your creative likes and dislikes are… YOUR creative likes
and dislikes. it’s a business. they don’t care what you like. they make money. if they don’t make money, they make what the masses like, as quickly as they can find it, or, they go out of business, or get fired.
by doing what needs to be done and locking in a percentage of distributors gross, actors doing crap, or “the godfather” have a shot to qualify for health and pension, have good workplace protections, get back clip consent, product placement protections, residuals, and force majeure.
movies and TV and union-content via the internet, and many commercials are still, human interactions. thus it is, and thus it will be – for the forseeable future. humans like to watch humans be human with interesting stuff coming out of their mouths, and interesting behavior, and it helps to be interesting looking and sounding.
james cameron will not change that, and, I’d suspect, he’d be the first to tell you that himself.
I’ll take “coming home,” or “chinatown,” or “reds,” or “all the presidents men,” or “tender mercies,” or “diner” any day of the week over any cgi wonderfest.
people will always respond to a good movie, with good writing, and good actors. always. same for tv, which is exploding via cable and original programming, non-network, with a ton of content: some great, some awful, some mediocre.
but SAG needs to do it’s job, because, increasingly, actors, middle-class actors, can’t hang in there. no money. so when you DO work, you must get PAID and get good RESIDUALS and have a shot at P&H, and a middle-class living, etc.
otherwise, this is all academic and in the abstract. for actors.
I’m just saying…
“people will always respond to a good movie, with good writing, and good actors. always.”
No. No they wont. You’re ignoring cases like The Wire which are fantastic shows and still suffer poor ratings and are definitely not isolated. You can try to explain it away by saying “it’s niche” but at the end of the day quality isn’t enough to put asses in seats. You ABSOLUTELY have to do more, and it annoys the crap out of me that many people have an attitude that all they have to do is get the content right and success will follow.
It doesn’t work like that folks. New Moon made $26million before the opening credits rolled for the first paying customer, and the average movie will take at least 30% of its final box office in the first weekend before anyone has read a review. You can’t claim “quality” when people haven’t even seen the thing yet. Transformers 2 sold most of its tickets to people who went in EXPECTING it to be pretty bad. That’s a neat trick.
It’s not the content itself – it’s connecting that content with people to whom it is valuable.
Just look at youtube – most consistent highest viewer counts? It ain’t scripted material. It’s 30 second clips of people playing with their cats.
You have a point. “The Wire” was an amazing show and it had a loyal following, but not a huge viewership. I think in general that most films and television shows that are truly art will have will have a smaller audience. Just as in publishing Jonathan Lethem will sell less books than Dan Brown. The difference is in publishing you get the sense that the people who work in the field really love literature. The blockbusters subsidize art. I’m a filmmaker and I rarely go to the movies, because the films are so bad. How sad is that?
The media corps bought all the indie companies then had them start making films that were Hollywood light, cheaper versions of the crap Hollywood churns out, filled with stars. They ruined the indie brand and are now shutting all of the divisions down. Why can’t there be a diversity of product? An art film can be done for 1-3 million dollars with limited release and a smaller profit margin. Why does everything have to be about money?
Most of us are not asking to be rich, only to survive, to be paid a living wage, to have a roof over our head and perhaps to create work that is meaningful. I don’t understand the mentality of the corporations and the executives that run them. Their greed has no end. It’s almost as if they want us to return to a time of Feudal Lords and Serfs. Who will buy your product if we can’t afford food?
Capitalism is a system created by humans. It should serve humans, not destroy them.
I agree with the points you made.
The moderates, I feel, did what they had to do to end it, even if the contract is shit. I’m glad they were able to secure locking contract expiration dates in sync with the DGA/AFTRA/WGA. I hope they are able to mend fences with AFTRA (or merge) before the next contract negotiations.
If all the creative unions’ contract goals are in sync , they will prove to be a formidable force. The next contract negotiations are extremely crucial for everyone, especially actors (due to the bs that occured the last go-around). We cannot afford to repeat the mistakes of the past. AFTRA cannot afford to splinter away from SAG this time around and vice versa. If any of the two unions decides to splinter away from the other during negotiations, their members should be demanding their head on a stick because somebody at the top is getting bribed by AMPTP.
There is no excuse this time.
My guesses are these:
1. Tax incentives. Other states have tax rates for film production which have been better than what California offers. It’s not that Hollywood prices themselves too high; it’s the low, low pricing by comparison of Michigan, Georgia, Iowa, Louisiana, etc., and places in Canada. Producers go where they can get the best deals. And that includes union projects with union crews. When California can make Hollywood more appealing again with tax breaks for productions in state, that may change the playing field.
2. Technology. The price of production has come down with the advances in HD cameras and digital editing programs. So anyone, anywhere with a little cash and a lot of creativity can make something people want to see. Sure, for the big CGI films (Avatar), you’d probably stick with Hollywood. But for the surprise moneymaker of the year (Paranormal Activity, with a budget of $15K), grab your camera and a bed. If Hollywood studios encouraged more experimental film work, and then financed those projects on both ends–seed money and promotion money–that could be a greater reason to come work in Hollywood.
3. Outside-the-system successes. Paranormal Activity and District 9 are prime examples. And look at Tyler Perry’s work. His films consistently open at or near the top of the box office. He gets Hollywood distribution, but he’s not making his pictures there. The studios don’t have the same appeal as they once did for offering the “complete package.” When Hollywood realizes that the industry is not just about Tinsel Town anymore, and then involves itself more in productions elsewhere, that might not stem the tide of runaway production. But it might again offer some appeal to producers who could easily say “I can do it so much better on my own.”
4. Miserly financing. This is not about banks not lending or foreign funding sources drying up. This addresses the current practice of studios and networks who say “that’s a great idea, now go spend your own money to develop it and then we’ll see if we want to buy it.” The development deals of the 90’s and the pre-Reality TV days don’t need to return. But companies that want business need to risk capital and risk failure. Which brings me to…
5. Risk aversion. Maybe this seems obvious to anyone in the industry, but there’s a lot of avoidance of the unfamiliar. Have you seen the number of sequels this decade? (And the counter argument will be, “Have you seen the money they make?”) Yes, people can and do buy the familiar. But when studios are only repeating themselves with the latest Harry Potter or Twilight installment (both shot outside Calif.) without using the profits to fund other newer projects, they’re exhausting their potential. When companies are willing to take bigger risks, and then back them up with the best marketing to reach the desired audience, they’ll be more work to go around.
6. Effective use of new platforms. Hulu reaches people in a way that even TiVo and DVR’s cannot. But if not for TV, the Hulu shows wouldn’t exist. People aren’t all giving up their TV’s. They’re just changing their viewing habits to fit their lives. So instead of chasing the latest hot new networking tool, Hollywood can make more work by examining what actually brings in eyeballs to the types of media it uses, and then using the platforms to reach the audiences that will watch TV & movies.
7. Personal accountability. It’s very easy to lay blame and point fingers about what’s wrong. It can be a greater challenge to say “here’s my role in this, and here’s what I’m doing to change this.” If Leno is using up five hours a week of prime time, then take charge of what you want to make and approach the other networks. If a studio isn’t buying your spec, see if you can make it yourself with some people who want to be acting/shooting/editing/lighting/doing makeup. If you enjoy working in Hollywood but feel you can’t continue because of (fill in your reason here), then consider other ways to apply your talent for hire. Maybe you’ll create the new platform through which studios will want to share work. Maybe you’ll do an online series that inspires merchandise and paid public appearances. If we want Hollywood to work, it’s up to us to figure out how.
Good luck to us all.
Hi
Best comment of the lot!!!!!
I am using mobile, blue tooth and gaming to fund and promote my work…beats talking to ‘the powers that be’.
You have totally the right idea..shame Nikki doesn’t organise a forum on generating ideas and actions ……
Bitching about who does this or that is ok to a point..but actually CHANGING the news..now THAT’S something!!!!
Best Charlie Salem charlie12@totalise.co.uk
Very well said. Thank you.
You said it in the proverbial nutshell. I’m a writer, 20 years in the WGA, produced credits, even an Emmy, but have never once believed that this town would take care of me (see Detroit/ Auto Industry, Pittsburg/ Steel Industry, The World/ Newspaper Industry). If you’re not an entrepreneur you’re not serious about your craft, because they are now one and the same.
Whiskey, you make some good points. Audience tastes have changed. If writers and producers give them the kind of experiences they want instead of trying to ram movies like Brothers or Old Dogs down their throats, things will pick up. As always, audiences want to see things they haven’t seen before. That’s a problem for Hollywood, which seems to have a strong herd mentality and goes after the last big thing, when they should be looking for the next. Audiences also want big spectacle experiences with great characters and story. People like to complicate it because if you make it sound difficult, you justify your multi-million dollar studio salary – but it’s really not that hard.
Dear Fan,
I don’t need “big spectacle experiences” to enjoy a movie. Maybe fanboys and fangirls do, but I do agree with your sentiment concerning seeing something I haven’t seen before.
Quirky and different. And a story. Like “Little Miss Sunshine” or “Zombieland” or “Amelie” or “Sunshine Cleaning”, as well as things that work like “Star Trek” or “The Dark Knight”.
They don’t have to be a big spectacle to get my attention. But they MUST have a story that gets my ass into the theatre.
Greed and tax credits…
Hollywood studios … meet the music studios. Both were responsible for gathering and guiding the creative talent to focus their energies on products the masses would purchase. This was a monopoly distribution system that worked fairly well for the last half century. Technological progress has nuked that cozy system out of existence. Things are never going to go back to the way they were. Distribution channels are being remapped and it is a brave new world full of opportunity for some and the dustbin of history for others.
Most of the comments give the state of the union, but few of the comments address how Hollywood as an industry is going to survive. Everything is in play and the global workforce and fragmentation of consumers time and money (as far as what they can do with it on any given day) only makes it more difficult to come up with a solution. This problem is not going away.
Where is “Silver Screen partnerships”?
What happened to ISP’s?
The studios have the billions but you cannot run on films(fumes) forever. They just don’t want to invest those billions to grant a gross deal, they just want a you to take a net share.
See Facebook and MGM and Mary P’s quote on the film red dawn. Unlike Sade, the studios cannot afford to hibernate for 10 years to produce greatness. They could adopt that role model, producing a Dark Knight, Titanic or even my films every ten years, but they don’t want to do that.
They want a quick buck at the expense of the talent.
In reading the old book Off Hollywood, I’ve learned that unless they are at deaths’ door the studios never innovate. History shows from video tape to DVD they continually sit on their asses until someone tries to take the chair away and the money. That day is coming with T3 lines and digital streaming. Remember this Green works on alot of stuff in film making. No work in LA why not use your computer and distribute your film on Amazon or Netflix . Can not wait for the Avid meeting so I can finish my short film.
Please do a follow-up.
I share Matt’s concerns about actors, writers, and other artists getting paid. The last round of contracts, to put it mildly, sucked.
With respect, I think he may be wrong about Hulu. Comcast delivers Internet as well as cable television to its customers. The cable stations – along with regional network affiliate broadcast stations – are fast becoming unnecessary middlemen in the content-delivery pipeline. If Comcast can reach its customers directly without offering a cut to an independent television station in Deluth, why wouldn’t they simply bypass them?
Tellingly, the Epix! trial was offered directly though the Internet as well as by cable channel.
The industry is well on its way in its transition to Internet distribution. IMHO, Comcast needed the deal more than GE because in this brave new world, all Comcast had was dumb pipes.
Fortunately, the Obama Administration is standing tall on Net Neutrality, which gives artists pursuing smaller start-ups an equal footing into people’s homes, at least in terms of download speed.
There are some roses to find amongst the thorns. Disney is investing big at their ranch. They wouldn’t be raising new soundstages if they didn’t plan to stick cameras and actors in them.
I’m all for getting paid. And the current situation is truly awful. The good news on the horizon is opportunities for entrepreneurs as well as a continued – if downsized – work stream in the LA area.
anonymous:
“people will always respond to a good movie, with good writing, and good actors. always.”
“No. No they wont. You’re ignoring cases like The Wire which are fantastic shows and still suffer poor ratings and are definitely not isolated. You can try to explain it away by saying “it’s niche” but at the end of the day quality isn’t enough to put asses in seats. You ABSOLUTELY have to do more, and it annoys the crap out of me that many people have an attitude that all they have to do is get the content right and success will follow.”
——————————————————–
“the wire” was (I thought) the best show on tv. but, to say “the ratings sucked” – first of all, it was on hbo, so there were no ratings, just a sense of whether on a subscription-based system (hbo) the cost was being justified by the subscription rate.
and, of course it was “niche.” come on man. there are millions upon millions of americans who wouldn’t go anywhere near a show about the drug trade in baltimore, with explicit sex, violence, and a cast of brothers.
let’s be honest. “the wire” was NOT a show for the masses. was that unfortunate? did they get the respect they deserved, a set of awards on a par with “the sopranos?”
nope. correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t think they even got nominated for an emmy. not one. THAT is an indication of racism, in my opinion. what other POSSIBLE excuse is there for ANY emmy voter who knows quality from their ass? none.
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and, with all due respect to michael heister, the post confuses me. have you considered comcast is interested not just in internet content (smart pipes) but the businesses, GE made a hash of: NBC-Universal, Hulu, and so on? the comcast cable transition to pure internet content is YEARS off, in my opinion, if it ever happens exclusively at all. network is still HUGELY valuable, if you get a few hit shows, the economy picks up and ad rates rise. that model aint dying anytime soon. cable? is all subscription based, and comcast’s core business. they won’t be fucking that up.
and, I have serious doubts about “entrepreneurship.” cats walking on pianos are fun to click on for some, often millions. but, if they have to pay even 5 cents? there will be a lot of unwatched pianists.
the thing about the “system” in place right now, is, like it or hate it, it sure does make all but the truly committed, talented, or nuts go away. in other words, people will NOT be paying for “bob and tom’s garage news” anytime soon. forget that.
and even digital movies cost more than dead broke “entrepreneurs” can afford. hell, more than I can afford right now, and I’ve written and directed two indies, with one costing 400k and the other 1 million, ‘98 and ‘05 respectively.(privately financed)
I see NO other model for the MAKING and DISTRIBUTION of indies that make money, unless they get WIDE coverage by reviewers, award consideration, or, some smart distributor picks REAL money genre stuff (”paranormal”).
the wide-open nature that can be seen as exciting is going to crash and burn when confronted with the reality that content, even dirt cheap content is expensive to make and BRUTAL to sell – ANYWHERE!
from your OWN site, to cable, a dvd release, theatrical, tv, pay tv, foreign – it’s ALL an uphill battle. and that screens out a TON of crap and/or mediocre stuff. not everybody has chops, but everybody wants to be a star, and my general feeling is “don’t encourage them.”
if you eat it for years, but stick with it and find some cash somewhere? I give it up to people. but, what’s the follow-up, except for those with real range? there isn’t any. “blair witch” anyone? “geniuses!” uh… no. lucky motherfuckers who had no second script. but, hey, they beat the system once, and hopefully got fuck you money and didn’t invest it with bernie madoff.
I think this is leading to an already hugely clogged doorway that is about to be bum rushed by thousands. and that’s no threat, once the hysteria dies down. you take every yahoo reading this as their big break, let the industry eat them for lunch after they spend 5, 8 years getting something made, and 75% will go sell shoes. the other 25% will soldier on, dwindling to… 5% who truly have anything remotely resembling a “career.”
I think what everybody needs to understand is: hollywood aint going anywhere. they WILL dip their beak in EVERYONE’S rice-bowl somehow, someway. that’s what they DO, and have done for decades.
what DO you think is going to happen on those disney soundstages, michael? a bunch of “entrepreneurial” crap? nope. the best shots they can get their hands on, by the best people pitching the best shit they got. and 75% of THAT will fail.
but 25% will make money and 5% will make HUGE money, and, it better be on a percentage deal for UNION actors who get a fair cut WHEN they work, with residuals that carry them through the hard times (most of the time).
THAT covers actors no matter what happens, because you CAN count on only ONE thing: they WILL make money – BOATLOADS of it.
Hey Matt –
Didn’t mean to be confusing. Of course Comcast is buying their way into content-generation. And the libraries of content. And of course Comcast is going to milk the broadcast/cable network model for all its worth in its declining years. Not saying this is happening instantly, but the “channels” are going to be delivered eventually through IPTV (Internet Protocol for Television) and/or Tivo & Tivo-esque boxes connected to TVs.
Matt, you write these very thoughtful but ungawdly long responses about the state of the film/television/media business. I seriously doubt that anyone will argue with your major points.
But… if you keep writing these very looonnnnnnggggg responses NO ONE is going to read through them.
Try to make your point with less words.
Remember less is more!
Too many followers; not enough leaders. So simple. They got to get off their knees and look to the sky.
SORRY…IT IS, UNIONS THAT CAUSED THE MAIN PROBLEMS.. STRIKES ARE DESIGNED TO KEEP ALL OF YOU SCARED, HUNGRY, AND IN THE END..THE BEST OF THE BEST,,,WILL WORK FOR LESS, TO SUPPORT THEMSELVES. THAT’S THE REAL GAME. IT’S NOT 1930,,, UNIONS TODAY ARE CORRUPT, THEY ”TELL YOU” WHO YOU CAN WORK FOR, ONLY UNION WORK, IS NOT ALL THAT’S HAPPENING IN OUR INDUSTRY. TO BE ORIGINAL!!! AND, HAVE LEGAL CONTRACTS TO PROTECT YOUR WORK,AND YOURSELF IS KEY TODAY!!! I’VE BEEN IN THIS INDUSTRY, FOR AWHILE, THE I MAY BE ONE OF THE HIGHEST PAID, MOST SUCCESSFUL WRITERS IN THIS BIZ, UNIONS DIDN’T PAY FOR HOMES ON 4 COASTS, AND 3 COUNTRIES,,, TALENT AND FREEDOM/ RIGHT TO WORK..DID!!!GROUP THINK = group/screw. IN THE END, TALENT RISES ABOVE..POLITICS. IF YOU WANT TO MAKE REAL BOXOFFICE MONEY…OLD TIRED, HOLLYWOOD HACKS, DON’T CUT IT. UNION MONOPOLY OVER OUR INDUSTRY, IS CHOKING OUT TALENT, AND HARDWORKING PEOPLE, IT’S MOBLIKE,,, THINK FOR YOURSELF, BREAK FREE!!!! THIS INDUSTRY IS WORLDWIDE…HOLLYWOOD IS DEAD. BUT, OUR INDUSTRY IS ALIVE AND WELL, AND NOBODY!!! TELLS ME WHEN, WHO, OR HOW MUCH I CAN MAKE!!! LEGAL CONTRACTS BETWEEN INDIVIDUALS, HOLD UP IN A COURT OF LAW.
AT THE END OF THE DAY, THE BEST MATERIAL…MAKES THE MOST MONEY, PERIOD. IF THEY WANT THOSE MILLIONS..THEY HAVE TO HIRE THE BEST. WITH 40 TV SHOWS IN PRIMETIME,,AND AWARD WINNING MOVIES…FOR THE LAST 10 YRS. THE WORK, SPEAKS FOR ITSELF. DON’T WAIT FOR A UNION, TO USE UP YOUR SHORT CAREER-LIFE IN THIS INDUSTRY!!! YOU ARE IN CHARGE OF YOUR LIFE, AND MONEY…TAKE YOUR LIFE BACK!!!! GOOD LUCK!!!
WGA RULES OF 3,, FOR CREDIT.. I AM THE 4 WRITER WHO REWRITES THEIR CRAP,,,,TO GOLD. CREDITS??? DON’T FUEL MY PRIVATE JET!!!
DOWN WITH UNION CONTROL OF THIS INDUSTRY!!!!
Sorry…it is, ..Unions that caused the downfall of our industry!! .. Strikes are designed to keep all of you scared, hungry, and in the end..the best of the best,,,will work for less, to support themselves. That’s the real game. It’s not 1930,,, unions today are corrupt, they ”tell you” who you can work for, dictate only union work, that’s not all that’s happening in our industry. To be original!!! And, have legal contracts to protect your work,and yourself is key today!!! I’ve been in this industry, for awhile, I may be one of the highest paid, most prolific writers in this biz, unions didn’t pay for homes on 4 coasts, and 3 countries,,, TALENT and freedom/ right to work..did!!! Group think = group/screw, in the end, talent rises above..politics. If you want to make real boxoffice money…old tired, Hollywood hacks, don’t cut it. Union Monopoly over our industry, is choking out talent, and hardworking people, it’s moblike,,, think for yourself, break free!!!! This industry is worldwide…Hollywood is dead. But, our industry is alive and well, and nobody!!! Tells me when, who, or how much i can make!!! Legal contracts between individuals, hold up in a court of law. ANY LAW, ANY COUNTRY!!!!!
at the end of the day, the best material…makes the most money, period. If they want those millions..they have to hire the best. With 40 tv shows in primetime,,and Award winning movies…for the last 10 yrs. The work, speaks for itself. Don’t wait for a union, to use up your short career-life in this industry!!! You are in charge of your life, and money…take your life back!!!! GOOD LUCK!!!
Wga stupid-rules of 3,, for credit.. I’m the 4th or later writer.. Who rewrites their crap,,,,to gold. CREDITS??? Don’t buy fuel for my Private Jet!!!
I’ve read many of the comments and understand first hand what it means to be out of work! I am not an actor, but I support many actors by being their personal chef/caterer for events at their homes. The fact many actors are out of work has effected my business big time. EVERYONE is cutting back and everyone is being effected. Do you wait it out with hopes times will come around and jobs will be plentiful again or do you invest your energies into a new career? I don’t know the answer, but would be curious to know how someone with a LOVE and PASSION for cooking exceptional meals is always left out when the $$$ stops rolling in!
I’ve read about half of these posts and no one has mentioned banks as being at the root of unemployment in Hollywood. “The Great Enablers”. Wall Street and international financial institutions are at least part of the problem. When big money tightens its belt because its worthless paper actually turns out to be worthless, the first ones to starve are those near the end of the line. That includes much of creative and production and crews that don’t necessarily have well established brand names.
Less work being available doesn’t have to mean lower earnings and profits for those who are working.
The other factor is that the business is not just about the United States anymore. Sad but true. Very few corporate heads have an interest in the overall welfare of the U.S. film industry. Individually, they just want to make money, eat, shit, and die. If they have to relocate production abroad because it makes better financial sense, they will. Most don’t even care if the films they make are any good, they just want to know how much money will be made or lost. Before anything else they ask, “What are the incentives?”
Sad but true.
AFL + CIO = POWER
SAG + AFTRA = POWER
Multi-nat corporations run your life, not the unions.
Wake up, you’re a slave.
If you focus on margins in this market, you`ll starve. The guy that`s doin 3 commercials a month holds the key….cash flow. It hides alotta sins + keeps the wolves several overpriced doors away. You can negotiate w/creditors w/$$$ flow – you cant w/none. They`ll come & take what you think you own.
So are we over the whole piracy canard finally?
Funny, I actually have a genuine solution to obliterate all net-based piracy and file-sharing, yet it seems that none of the top brass at the MPAA is willing to field my calls.
The ship can’t be too far underwater just yet.