Last Updated on 07/24/2023 by てんしょく飯
The strike of Hollywood actors started on July 14. The main body of the strike is the Screen Actors Guild of America, to which 160,000 actors and others belong. The strike has had a major impact on the production and promotion of movies and dramas.
Tom Cruise also canceled his scheduled visit to Japan for the release of his new film “Mission: Impossible.
Eighty percent of the studios are closed and production of dramas for distribution and other productions have been completely halted. It is truly a massive strike that is shaking Hollywood.
The main point of contention is the demand for better treatment of actors and appropriate compensation based on the number of views on video streaming services. Matt Damon, actor, writer, and producer, stressed the importance of saving extras and unknown actors in particular: “We have to protect those who are on the edge. It takes $26,000 a year to get health insurance,” he threw in.
What will happen to the film and drama industry in the future as we enter the subscription era?
In response to the strike, he said, “Actually, Hollywood has come alive with the emergence of Netflix, Amazon Prime, and others. Whereas the film and drama industry used to be dominated by dramas for terrestrial or cable TV, a new market has been born with a bang, and the film industry is growing as more productions are ordered. However, the benefits are not being passed on to the performers and staff, which is where this trend began,” he surmised.
A lot of streaming productions are being made, but the money going to the actors is not increasing,” he said. For example, to get health insurance, one film is not enough, and one needs to appear in a number of films in a year to be considered a blockbuster.
In the past, the business model was to pay additional appearance and reuse fees based on box office receipts for movies and viewership for television, but with the popularity of streaming, traditional money is no longer coming in. In contrast, streaming fees are kept low because ‘it is a new medium and still in the red,’ making it impossible for scriptwriters and actors to make a living. Streaming companies are not disclosing any view counts and pay little or no compensation based on views, so there is a parallel.
Do actors deserve to get secondary royalties? For example, in movies, actors and directors are paid to create works, but it is the production side that pays the money and takes the risk. If the work is successful, it is good, but if it is not, they all suffer losses. Therefore, I don’t think that just because the rules for secondary use regarding distribution are not yet in place, it doesn’t mean that ‘it is natural to get paid.
In fact, the management of distribution streaming services is also difficult. For example, Walt Disney Co.’s Disney+ posted an operating loss of $659 million (January-March 2023). In addition, “non-traditional media companies” such as Amazon and Apple, which entered the market after the success of Netflix, are more profitable in their core businesses, so video production is just a sideline. This complicates the situation.
However, even Netflix, which has been on a steady rise, has had a turning point. When Netflix first started, it was OK as long as the number of subscribers increased, no matter how much it lost. Rivals copied that model, lowering monthly fees as much as possible and increasing the number of subscribers while incurring losses. However, last year, when the news that Netflix’s membership had fallen for the first time in 10 years sent its stock plummeting, shareholders put pressure on the company to keep its profits. This led to a drastic change in the production environment for each company. They had been spending money like hot water, but now they have tightened their purse strings.
Users can watch as much as they want by paying a low monthly fee, but the distribution services are not making any money, and the actors and others involved in the industry are also suffering. If only the users benefit from the service, the industry will not be able to continue in the future.
The fact that successful actors are supporting the strike is proof that the imbalance is beyond acceptable limits. Perhaps this is a sign that the film industry’s management needs to do something about it.
Perhaps this is not just about streaming or film actors. If we don’t speak up now, it will affect the lives of many people in the future.
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