NEW YORK (AP) 鈥� To get a sense of just how much animosity is flying around Hollywood these days, watch how Ron Perlman responded to a report that the studios aimed to long enough
Perlman, the hulking, gravel-voiced actor of 鈥淗ellboy,鈥� leaned into the camera to vent his anger. 鈥淟isten to me, mother-(expletive),鈥� Perlman said. 鈥淭here鈥檚 a lot of ways to lose your house.鈥�
Three years after the pandemic brought Hollywood to a standstill, the film and TV industry has again ground to a halt. This time, though, the industry is engaged in a bitter battle over how streaming 鈥� after 鈥� has upended the economics of entertainment.
Having weathered plague, Hollywood is now fully at war in its own 鈥淎pocalypse Now鈥� double feature. When tens of thousands Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists hit the picket lines last week, joining 11,000 Writers Guild of America screenwriters a smaller clash went nuclear just in time for As striking actors and writers mobilized to mob studio lots and streamer headquarters, Puck鈥檚 Matthew Belloni wrote, 鈥淭he town is burning to the ground.鈥�
鈥淵ou cannot change the business model as much as it has changed and not expect the contract to change, too,鈥� said Fran Drescher, SAG-AFTRA president, in a announcing the strike. 鈥淲e鈥檙e not going to keep doing incremental changes on a contract that no longer honors what is happening right now with this business model that was foisted upon us.
鈥淲hat are we doing?鈥� she added. 鈥淢oving around furniture on the Titanic?鈥�
Disaster also loomed in Hollywood when COVID-19 in March 2020 shuttered movie theaters, emptied TV studios and shut down all production. The recovery is still ongoing. Over the weekend, one of the first major film productions shut down by the pandemic 鈥� 鈥淢ission: Impossible 鈥� Dead Reckoning Part One鈥� 鈥� only just reached theaters. And as showed, some of pre-pandemic Hollywood still just hasn鈥檛 returned. Box office remains about 20-25% off the pre-pandemic pace.
鈥淲e鈥檝e talked about disruptive forces on this business and all the challenges we鈥檙e facing, the recovery from COVID which is ongoing. It鈥檚 not completely back,鈥� Disney CEO Bob Iger said Thursday. 鈥淭his is the worst time in the world to add to that disruption.鈥�
Though many of the demands of SAG-AFTRA and the WGA are longstanding, much of the current dispute gathered force in the helter-skelter days of the pandemic. A digital land rush to streaming ensued, as studios, in many cases, hurried to craft their Netflix competitors. Subscriber growth became the top priority.
Rahul Telang, a Carnegie Mellon University professor and co-author of the book 鈥淪treaming, Sharing, Stealing: Big Data and the Future of Entertainment,鈥� says an entire era of change was condensed into two years.
鈥淲hat is happening right now was bound to happen. With streaming, the whole business got disrupted,鈥� says Telang. 鈥淪o naturally, they鈥檙e complaining, 鈥榃e need our fair share.鈥� But how do you decide what鈥檚 a fair share? There has to be a transparency about where the money is coming from and where it鈥檚 going. Until this gets resolved, this issue will keep coming up.鈥�
The last time screen actors and writers struck simultaneously, in 1960, the guilds established royalty (later residual) payments for replays of films and TV episodes, among other landmark protections. If that strike reckoned with the dawn of television, this one does much the same for the streaming era.
But streaming, especially when companies carefully guard audience numbers, offers no easy metric like box office or TV ratings to establish residuals 鈥� long a foundational part of how writers and actors make a living. SAG-AFTRA is seeking a small percentage of subscriber revenue, with data measured by a third party, Parrot Analytics.
The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which negotiates on behalf of the studios, hasn't agreed to that but says the studios have offered actors 鈥渉istoric pay and residual increases,鈥� along with pension contributions and other protections.
Meanwhile, actors are sharing images of their paltry residual payments for streaming hits. Kimiko Glenn of Netflix鈥檚 鈥淥range Is the New Black鈥� posted a clip of residual
鈥淵ou used to be able to work on a broadcast show, one show and you鈥檙e good for the year because of the residuals,鈥� said actor Nachayka Vanterpool on the picket lines. 鈥淎nd then you have streaming coming along and you got 20 cent residual checks. That impacts you.鈥�
Increasingly, it鈥檚 looking like everyone lost in the so-called streaming wars that went into hyperdrive under COVID-19. Since Wall Street last year began souring on subscription numbers being the be-all-end-all, most media companies have suffered stock declines. Wall Street's message turned to: Show us the profits.
At the same time, the drive to streaming has accelerated the demise of traditional television and its ad-based revenue. That鈥檚 led analysts like Michael Nathanson of MoffettNathanson to survey a fragmented entertainment business and forecast a 鈥渟cary鈥� second half of the year for media companies.
With traditional TV increasingly eroded by streaming, many studios have been cutting costs. Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery and Netflix all slashed jobs over the past year and a half. Streaming profitability has remained elusive. The Walt Disney Co. says Disney+ will get there in fall 2024. WarnerBros. Discovery, which has taken the extreme step of canning finished productions to reshape its streaming strategy, says Max will start making money this year.
Many are now girding for a prolonged stoppage that, if carried into September, would greatly impact the fall TV schedule and the film festivals (Venice, Telluride, Toronto) that launch awards season contenders. Drescher said she 鈥渃ouldn't believe鈥� how far apart her union and AMPTP are.
Ronny Regev, who penned the book 鈥淲orking in Hollywood: How the Studio System Turned Creativity into Labor," thinks this strike could play out similarly to the 1960 stoppage, when actors struck for about a month but the writers strike dragged on.
鈥淚 hate to bring up the cliche but history repeats itself,鈥� says Regev. 鈥淟ike in 1960, there鈥檚 a good chance the actors will reach a deal sooner than the writers. Now we鈥檙e dealing with very different companies. These are conglomerates that have other businesses. I鈥檓 not sure if (Amazon chairman Jeff) Bezos really cares.鈥�
There are also differences that favor the writers. In 1960, the strike by SAG (whose president was a then-Democrat Ronald Reagan) was fiercely opposed by some other guilds, including the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE), which represents below-the-line crew members. This time, the actors and writers have near-universal support throughout the guilds. IATSE, notably, is set to negotiate its own new contract next year.
鈥淭he urgency of this moment cannot be overstated. Our industry is at a crossroads, and the actions taken now will affect the future of labor relations in Hollywood and beyond,鈥� Matthew D. Loeb, IATSE president, said in a statement. 鈥淭heir fight today foreshadows our fight tomorrow.鈥�
Cooler heads could prevail. Perlman, for his part, later apologized for getting so heated. He implored studio executives to find 鈥渁 degree of humanity.鈥�
鈥淚t can't all be about your (expletive) Porsche and your (expletive) stock prices,鈥� said Perlman. 鈥淭here's got to be dignity if we're going to hold a mirror up and reflect human experiences, which is what we do as actors and writers.鈥�
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Aron Ranen contributed to this report.
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Follow AP Film Writer Jake Coyle on Twitter at:
Jake Coyle, The Associated Press
