An end to the walkout is not yet in sight.
(Photo: AP)
san francisco The show is called Jimmy Kimmel Live!, but only reruns are currently available in the slot. The show’s writers are on strike, along with 11,000 other TV and streaming industry creatives. The midday talk shows have been cancelled, as have late-night shows like Saturday Night Live and similar programs by John Oliver, Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Fellon and Seth Meyers.
Political shows are slowly catching up. The sitcoms had apparently pre-produced, how long their material lasts is unclear. The blockbuster series “Stranger Things” also lets production rest and hopes that the pre-made canned food will suffice.
The strike in Hollywood has been going on since the beginning of May and there are no approaches or negotiations. The union says the concessions made by the American entertainment giants are grossly inadequate. There was radio silence in the corporate headquarters.
Such strikes have happened again and again in the past. Now both sides are particularly contentious. The reason: the authors fear being replaced more and more by artificial intelligence (AI).
The union demands that so-called generative AI, such as ChatGPT, may not be used to rewrite existing works or to create new ones. ChatGPT can write entire encyclopedia articles, program codes or even stories and gags. This could potentially save thousands of jobs in the future. The biggest shortcoming of the chatbot so far is that its statements often do not correspond to the truth – which is often irrelevant in the entertainment industry.
But Hollywood bosses have made it clear that they are not willing to even talk about this point. Late night host Kimmel shows solidarity with the strikers. “I don’t know when this will end,” explained in an interview. “But this will be a long strike.”
Conditions like in Silicon Valley
Mistakes made by the studios also weighed on the mood. The streaming service “Max” from Warner Brothers (formerly HBO) suddenly dispensed with the industry-wide naming of artists and contributors, including their function. Instead, there was only an uncommented list of names under the title “Creatives”.
Many shows have to be canceled at the moment.
(Photo: REUTERS)
The directors’ union in Hollywood (Directors Guild, DG) spoke of an “incomprehensible disregard” and “insult”. “This devaluation of personal achievements is a disturbing trend,” said Lesli Linka Glatter, president of the union. Not all statements from the industry about this process can be quoted.
Max finally relented: “We fully agree that the talent behind the content deserves their work to be properly recognized,” it said. “We will be reverting any changes made during a technical transition period from HBO to Max, and we apologize for that.”
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The writers do not believe in random error. According to the WGA union, the companies have created a “gig economy” within a unionized industry. The term “gig economy” originated in Silicon Valley and describes the system of poorly paid subcontractors with a low level of social security, as is the case with the companies Uber, Lyft or Doordash.
Conditions in Hollywood are approaching that. On linear TV, a series averaged 20 or more episodes per season. The authors’ contracts were correspondingly long-term. The series from the streaming providers, on the other hand, tend to have eight episodes. The copywriters often only get a contract for a single episode.
The teams are getting smaller and smaller
Fees have gone down. In addition, successful TV series were exported and repeated, which also allowed the authors to earn additional royalties. This is not the case with streaming services.
The authors fear being replaced by AI programs.
(Photo: REUTERS)
All of this leads to dramatic losses for creative people. The unions are now trying to negotiate as many commitments as possible and at least prevent further erosion of the conditions.
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The creative teams of TV shows have up to 14 professionals who work out dialogues and gags. The teams at the streaming providers usually consist of only four or five people. As generative AI continues to advance, group sizes could continue to decrease. This is probably one of the reasons why the studio side categorically refused to talk about minimum sizes for creative teams.
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