The first Hollywood moguls initially worked as managers in Vaudeville and learned the theatrical trade as exhibitors. They expanded into distribution, and to ensure a supply of quality films, came to produce their own movies.
From the beginning always has been, an elemental conflict between the creators of film and television content and the studios…owners of the means of financing, production and distribution. Studios evolved into entertainment factories, run on a feudal system with studio autocrats, and the workers more as surfs or, at best, tenant farmers in the bosses’ fields.
Writers, directors, stars and most producers were workers-for-hire. Actors were constrained by long-term contracts, film workers were hired and fired at will. There was no job security, no health plans, no retirement benefits.
For over 120 years, the artists and workers fought back for artistic and financial freedom. At times, the US Government helped using the Sherman Antitrust act and other regulations.
Eventually, nearly all film industry groups formed Guilds or Unions to fight for and protect their interests. But it has always been a battle. The difference now is, after decades of progress, the creatives find themselves back where they started, with the owners in total control of their work and, ultimately, their lives.
With each gain by labor, the Studios created new schemes to vertically integrate; to control both production and distribution arms of the business. This paid off handsomely until 1948 when a lawsuit filed by the U.S. government charged them with violating the Sherman Anti-Trust Act. Forced to settle, the studios signed the Paramount Consent Decree. which compelled them to get out of the distribution business. This led to more competition and diversity in both film production and distribution.
It has not been a smooth ride but, over the decades, the creatives have gained improved residual rates, creative rights and jurisdiction, and the industry acknowledgement of the importance of fair compensation for writers in the evolving landscape of media distribution. These gains set precedents for future negotiations. But as new production and critically, distribution and exhibition channels emerged, the Guilds and Union’s interests lagged…
The landscape changed in the 1990s. There was ncreased consolidation and further vertical integration in the film industry. The mergers of NBC and Comcast, and ATT and Time Warner were emblematic of the seismic changes. The 1948 Consent Decree itself was terminated in 2020 by the Justice Department under the Trump Administration - based on the belief that the decree was no longer necessary to protect competition.
Today, the film business is vertically integrated as never before. Companies like Netflix and Amazon control both content, distribution and exhibition and capture a worldwide audience. Owned by large, powerful conglomerates, and with no viable competition and no government regulation, they are free to fully exploit workers and creative talent, to the extent that many can no longer make a living.
As of today, July 12, 2023, anonymous members of the AMPTP have admitted that their “…endgame is to allow things to drag on until union members start losing their apartments and losing their houses.”
Clearly, members of the AMPTP have concluded that the writers who create their content are not a critical part of their business. Therefore, they need not listen to their demands for an end to ‘mini-rooms’ and other practices intended to rob them of needed staff, creative control, fair compensation and creative credit for their work.
Certainly they shouldn’t share in the exorbitant profits being doled out to the likes of Netflix CEO David Zaslov who was paid a cool $498 million and change between 2018 and 2022.
And for what you might ask? Did he create any of the content
that has made him and his company rich? What does a CEO do all day anyway? Perhaps, with AI growing ever more proficient, we won’t need his kind anymore either.
Of the three pillars of wisdom, they seem to be really bad at two. They can’t pick and support shows because they don’t care about the people and they just don’t know how to do it. In a few words, they don’t have the talent. They are only good at distributing someone else’s work and collecting the money. Because that is what they have been taught at business school.
But they better watch out. AIs can do that. And better than these executives can.
One wonders what their goal is…if actors can’t make a living, they won’t act for studios and streamers. Artists do what they do because they like to. Writers will write. Actors will act. Now, they will be forced to do it for themselves. You can shoot a movie with a cell phone. You can give cast and crew a piece of the action; a percentage of revenue in all markets, in perpetuity throughout the universe. You can distribute it on YouTube, Patreon, sub-stack, Vimeo and foreign and soon-to-be startup channels.
In a contest between corporate raiders, bean counters and their C Suite minons… and the writers, actors, and other artists…who do you think will create the successful shows…who do you think will win? And if you were a betting man, who would you put your money on?