Streaming Services Will Pay Writers More Under New Writers Guild Pact (deadline.com) 64
An anonymous reader quotes Deadline:
Netflix, Amazon and Hulu will be paying a lot more in writers' residuals under the new WGA film and TV contract. New details, outlined by WGA West, reveal that high-budget shows they run will generate anywhere between $3,448-$34,637 more residuals per episode over the life of the three-year contract than they did under the old contract, depending on the platform and the length of the show. Essentially, it's the same deal the Director's Guild of America got in their negotiations last December. The WGA contract, which has been unanimously approved by the WGA West board and the WGA East council, now goes to the guilds' members for final ratification. Voting begins Friday and concludes May 24.
For every half-hour of a high-budget show, Netflix will be paying $19,058 more in residuals than it did under the old contract.
For every half-hour of a high-budget show, Netflix will be paying $19,058 more in residuals than it did under the old contract.
Re:Just off-shore it all (Score:4, Funny)
The problem with offshoring is that humor and drama are culture dependent.
We think the British are funny, but that view is not reciprocated.
Germany doesn't even have a concept of "humor".
Hitler started out as a standup-comic, and had a gig in a Munich beer hall.
But people took him seriously, so he went into politics instead.
A better plan is to develop an AI that can generate scripts.
It could have a few deep layers to apply cultural context.
How hard can it be?
Re: (Score:2)
Manatees work equally well.
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Ha ha! - Nelson Muntz
If you want to kill streaming. (Score:2, Insightful)
This is how you kill streaming.. And they as a group stood to gain the most if streaming took off...
Re:If you want to kill streaming. (Score:5, Interesting)
Re: (Score:2)
Re:If you want to kill streaming. (Score:5, Insightful)
Over the past 35+ years, the sale and rental of movies on video cassette has generated a couple hundred billion dollars in revenue, created more demand for movies and created an entirely new genre (movies that are released direct to video) all of which created a large number of jobs for actors/writers/directors/etc.
None of that would have happened if the movie industry had been successful in their fight to outlaw the VCR..
People are stupid and short-sighted.
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Like it or not, the world is a zero sum game. The laws of thermodynamics dictate this, same with the concept of time.
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Perhaps you've never heard of this thing called "the sun"?
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If the world is a zero-sum game, then economies would be completely incapable of growth without conquest, and when you kill a person in battle, instead of dying they just fight on your side.
Besides, if thermodynamics implies zero-sum, then it should be possible to create a perpetual motion machine because you could simply recapture all of the spent energy instead of allowing it to dissipate.
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So, the world is a closed system?
You can't think of anything, anything at all, that may be adding to it constantly?
Unions (Score:4, Informative)
I do, however, find it funny (funny strange, not funny ha-ha) that the oddest bunch of employment fields remain union shops.
Baseball players, automakers, the entertainment industry; but not coal miners or their daughters.
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Baseball players, automakers, the entertainment industry; but not coal miners or their daughters.
All ripe for automation. Including the daughters.
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I do, however, find it funny (funny strange, not funny ha-ha) that the oddest bunch of employment fields remain union shops.
Baseball players, automakers, the entertainment industry; but not coal miners or their daughters.
Coal miners have unions, and have since the mid-1800s. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
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Baseball players and the entertainment industry owe their respectively successful unions to the sacrifices made by much lower profile employees, many of whom now suffer job loss and income shrinkage. US automotive worker job losses are well documented, as US automakers lost their world dominance in
Re: Writers' guilds and net neutrality are commun (Score:1)
Impressive you are so stupid you actually got me to log in on my phone to hand you your sign (too bad you didn't log in you partisan hack). Well, here it is you embodiment of the low information voter.
First, Obama didn't sign anything for this. His boy at the FCC got ISPs reclassified as a common carrier under Title II of the Communications Act of 1934.
Second, while not a huge trump fan he has been in office about 2% of the time Obama was. After the first year blaming Obama will get old.
I am sure there is s
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Grabbing pussy was fine when the lech was a Democrat.
_...as were a large number of other things.
Right... (Score:4, Insightful)
"For every half-hour of a high-budget show, Netflix will be paying $19,058 more in residuals than it did under the old contract."
That is like an average person having to pay a few dollars more for lunch.
Re: (Score:2, Interesting)
not even that. more like they had to pay an extra penny for the napkin they used.
netflix is a near-10 BILLION dollar (gross annual revenues) company... considering THEIR TOTAL CUMULATIVE original output, this increase had it applied to all of it, would "only" about $70 million *total* (not per annum) over the history of their company.
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So, if I say I make 50,000k (basically average) one penny is 1 5 millionth of my income.
netflix makes 10 billion. divide by 5 million I get $2,000 being a penny to them.
This is actually closer to 2 million for a network show (5 seasons * 20 episodes/season * 20k/episode).
It's more like paying $10 for those napkins (or I'm orders of magnitude off).
I dont think hollywood understands... (Score:1)
If netflix has to raise their price a lot to cover this we will simply cancel netflix in a heartbeat.
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
What are you talking about, conflating political liberalism with Hollywood business practices. Studios still shoot on set in Hollywood when it makes sense to do so. But they also shoot on location. Which means they're shooting anywhere it makes sense for the story. But it's also true there are production companies around the world who compete, often with cheaper labor and logistics (permitting, construction regulations, insurance, etc)
'Liberalism' is a boogeyman caricature for small minds in need of a scape
Not Sure If This Will Help Netflix (Score:2)
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That's not how it works.
The current bad writers who are willing to work for the current pay have to first be fired. Then new better writers who were unwilling to work for the old amount of pay, but are willing to work for the new higher pay have to be hired to replace all the bad writers you just fired.
TV Animation on the Other Hand... (Score:1)
They're (Netflix, in my case) paying us writers less than the Animation Guild minimums, and we don't get healthcare or pension payments. Also, just so you know, unless you work on a prime time show (WGA, not TAG), you don't get residuals.
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Healthcare? But Obamacare was supposed to enable you to buy your own on the open market like you could in civilized non-blue states before.