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I'm sticking with movies from the 1930's and 1940's.
Add in some wonderful procedural crime shows from the UK and Australia.
And just a soupçon of intelligently written, directed, and acted US shows.
I'm doing fine with this.
Amen to that. The shows now are such rubbish, I don't care if they ever make another. I'll take that foreign made stuff any day of the week. Money Heist (Spain) was infinitely superior to anything I have seen from here in decades. I just finished watching all 4 seasons of the Big Valley and it beats today's rubbish by a mile, same goes for The Fugitive and Homicide Life on the Street. Today everybody is an actor, it doesn't matter if they can act, as long as the ratings for that coveted demographic are there. So many awful remakes and reboots and sequels. Bean counters are running things and the great creative artists are long gone.
I'm sticking with movies from the 1930's and 1940's.
Add in some wonderful procedural crime shows from the UK and Australia.
And just a soupçon of intelligently written, directed, and acted US shows.
I'm doing fine with this.
Well, YES!
As I understand it, the strike is about the little people being put out of business and not getting their residues, right? Why it is hard for me to really care about this strike is that there hasn't been anything good, in one style or another, for years.
A further thing I wonder about is where were the arguments when the work of the little guys were destroyed in the years and decades before? When the characters changed from one season to another where they were powerful the first....but then couldn't decide out of a paper bag the 2nd (ie, SeaQuest or any other show that really shifted)? When the credits were squished to the side of the screen, sped up to warp speed? When the opening credits were reduced to the title card and that was it?
Finally, if indeed the studios are the big evil, well, they have done a heck of a good job of getting the public on their side or at least, not to care. All those decades that we were taught not to care about the credits.
As I understand it, the strike is about the little people being put out of business and not getting their residues, right? Why it is hard for me to really care about this strike is that there hasn't been anything good, in one style or another, for years.
A further thing I wonder about is where were the arguments when the work of the little guys were destroyed in the years and decades before? When the characters changed from one season to another where they were powerful the first....but then couldn't decide out of a paper bag the 2nd (ie, SeaQuest or any other show that really shifted)? When the credits were squished to the side of the screen, sped up to warp speed? When the opening credits were reduced to the title card and that was it?
Finally, if indeed the studios are the big evil, well, they have done a heck of a good job of getting the public on their side or at least, not to care. All those decades that we were taught not to care about the credits.
I don't think you understand the reason the writers & actors are striking. And I say all this as someone who works with all sides, all the time.
This has nothing to do with "not caring about credits". It has everything to do with being paid for your work. I won't make this a long post, but the basics are the industry has changed. Streaming is becoming the big dog, and the creatives aren't being paid for it.
Quick example: You make a TV mini-series. You get paid for it. You also get a small residual every time it's shown again; it's not live in Hawaii money, but it keeps food on the table. And if you make enough of them, and they keep being shown, you can make a decent living.
Streaming: You get paid when it's made. But you get nothing ever again. Even though people are streaming it forever, you don't get one penny.
That has to change.
Finally, you say "hasn't been anything good for years". Most people would disagree. While there is a lot of junk out there, there has never been a better time to watch TV & movies. Maybe you don't like what they make. And I believe most of the public is on the side of the actors/writers, not the producers.
I don't think you understand the reason the writers & actors are striking. And I say all this as someone who works with all sides, all the time.
This has nothing to do with "not caring about credits". It has everything to do with being paid for your work. I won't make this a long post, but the basics are the industry has changed. Streaming is becoming the big dog, and the creatives aren't being paid for it.
Quick example: You make a TV mini-series. You get paid for it. You also get a small residual every time it's shown again; it's not live in Hawaii money, but it keeps food on the table. And if you make enough of them, and they keep being shown, you can make a decent living.
Streaming: You get paid when it's made. But you get nothing ever again. Even though people are streaming it forever, you don't get one penny.
That has to change.
Finally, you say "hasn't been anything good for years". Most people would disagree. While there is a lot of junk out there, there has never been a better time to watch TV & movies. Maybe you don't like what they make. And I believe most of the public is on the side of the actors/writers, not the producers.
Thank you for the explanation.
As to the last paragraph, difference of opinion. As another said about "Big Valley" (mind is The High Chaparral), the shows of today are NOTHING to what was in the past. Just as one small example, 50 minutes is a heck of a lot better show than 42 minutes.
Another example ARE THE CREDITS. Ever watched Charmed when it was on the WB, especially the latter seasons on Sunday? The show ends, we get the end commercials, then "the end credits" only those are shoved off and squeezed in the corner with the advertisement of what's next. Now, compare that to the DVD where we have full screen credits and soft Wicca type music, no voices.
The latter gives the viewer, me, a gentle leaving of the fantasy world back into reality while the former.........well, the former in addition to be abrupt, rather shows this viewer that they are nothing but something to be used. That for whatever pleasurable feeling we have for having just watched the show, the way they do it dashes it pieces.
Even if the shows are better (and I vastly doubt that), how they are being presented......well, the viewers and the strikers do have a thing in common in that they are being used.
Last edited by TamaraSavannah; 07-22-2023 at 09:52 AM..
Looks like the actors guild may go out as well. I'm not too concerned about the TV side as I've got plenty of shows backed up in my personal queue to watch, but I am concerned about the movie theatres. After nearly being wiped out by Covid, they're just now getting back to some normalcy in terms of attendance and while nobody is going to feel sorry for AMC, there are a lot of small town independents and small chains that don't deserve the calamity of going through another period without new product.
So is it guys like Kurt Sutter, DB Weiss, David Benioff, Taylor Sheridan, Nick Pizzolatto and David Chase that are striking? Those guys are named as the "writers" for shows.
Michael Hirst too. He wrote Vikings, and Billy the Kidd biopic tv show.
As to the last paragraph, difference of opinion. As another said about "Big Valley" (mind is The High Chaparral), the shows of today are NOTHING to what was in the past. Just as one small example, 50 minutes is a heck of a lot better show than 42 minutes.
50 minutes isn't better than 42 minutes. Good is better than bad, but time isn't good or bad.
As far as your TV shows, you are comparing one generation to another. You clearly grew up watching and loving those shows, they will always be better than current shows in your mind. Just like music, the tunes you grew up with are always "better" than current music, just like young people think their music is the best, and oldies are oldies garbage.
As far as credits, we call that the "Credit Squeeze". I totally agree with you. Universally hated by those of us in the industry, but we have no control over it. It's done by the airing network. Most agreements prohibit it during a first run, CBS can't do it during CSI, but TBS can do it when they show CSI reruns in syndication.
If you notice, often when they do the credit squeeze, they'll show a commercial or preview at the same time. Then when that's over, they go right into the next show, no commercial break. That's their way of keeping you in your seat, so you don't switch channels between shows. So they get to show a commercial, but keep you watching. Cake and eat it.
All of this is why the strike is happening. Producers are by nature greedy, which is fine. But writers and actors want a fair share of it.
So is it guys like Kurt Sutter, DB Weiss, David Benioff, Taylor Sheridan, Nick Pizzolatto and David Chase that are striking? Those guys are named as the "writers" for shows.
Michael Hirst too. He wrote Vikings, and Billy the Kidd biopic tv show.
Some of those are both writers and producers. David and DB are writers and producers and directors. They can continue to direct and produce during the strike, but not write. Some of them have stopped production on their shows in sympathy with the writers. Although our contracts are often specific, and require us to keep working even if some group is on strike.
It's common for some of the better writers to become producers also, especially the more prolific ones, but lots don't.
But for every writer making six figures a year, there are a hundred more barely surviving. Which is fine, probably 75 of them aren't good enough to make it, but the 25 that are deserve a decent living.
Some of those are both writers and producers. David and DB are writers and producers and directors. They can continue to direct and produce during the strike, but not write. Some of them have stopped production on their shows in sympathy with the writers. Although our contracts are often specific, and require us to keep working even if some group is on strike.
It's common for some of the better writers to become producers also, especially the more prolific ones, but lots don't.
But for every writer making six figures a year, there are a hundred more barely surviving. Which is fine, probably 75 of them aren't good enough to make it, but the 25 that are deserve a decent living.
Are you a writer in the union?
The hundreds more barely surviving; are they then employed? If they are making so little, then what is their task? Do each writer add one sentence only?
That maybe for another thread in another forum though.
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