Too Much TV: Your TV Talking Points For Friday, July 21st, 2023

Sometimes you have to learn how to read the room

Here's everything you need to know about the world of television for Friday, July 21st, 2023.

SOMETIMES YOU HAVE TO LEARN TO READ THE ROOM
I've been pretty consistent in my contention that the biggest contributing factor to the simultaneous WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes is that the studios misjudged the deep animosity on the other side of the negotiations. I don't know that it's fair to say that the studio heads and negotiators don't comprehend the anger so many of their workers hold towards their business practices. But I don't think they understand how difficult the task of crafting a deal becomes when a large percentage of your so-called "partners" have personal stories to share which illustrate the often petty and random ways you've tried to screw them out of money.

That premise is shown in all of its glory in this "behind-the-negotiations" piece in Variety, which also manages to illustrate that trade's deep connections to sources on the studio side:

Drescher gave something of a 10 to 15 minute opening statement to the room that set off alarm bells on the management side. The veteran actor and entrepreneur spoke with passion and her trademark pointed humor as she detailed the struggles of SAG-AFTRA members to make a living amid the industry’s historic transition from linear TV to streaming.

Drescher was adamant that streaming had changed the business model so much that the contract would have to be rewritten top-to-bottom. For negotiators who are used to making minor adjustments to language that has accreted over decades, it was a shock. There were snickers about being “scolded” by the actor who became famous as the star of the 1990s CBS sitcom “The Nanny.”

Say what you will about Drescher and her negotiating approach. The fact that anyone on the studio side showed amusement or mild contempt by being "scolded" by a successful member of the union gives you a sense of where the studio negotiators are at in the start of this process. You are all just flighty creatives. Don't concern yourselves with this business stuff, which only we professionals can understand. When at least some of your negotiators react in that fashion, how do get a point where both sides are treated with respect?

At the end of the piece, this explanation of how the talks eventually broke down shares a common thread with the way they began. This apparent belief by some on the studio side that SAG-AFTRA negotiators were unrealistic when it comes to the way "things are done" in Hollywood:

But Lombardini took a final shot. She told the group that management had more to offer SAG-AFTRA if both sides would commit to continue negotiations without the union going on strike. According to multiple sources who witnessed the exchange, Lombardini asked the union negotiators to hold the strike action to allow the talks to proceed without the added pressure of a strike and the anger and emotion that it would unleash. Lombardini at one point, with some exasperation, asked the union representatives to “be civilized” about the disruption across the industry that would be caused by a work stoppage.

Crabtree-Ireland and others were incensed, interpreting Lombardini’s remark as her calling the SAG-AFTRA negotiators “uncivilized.” He and others were outraged at the suggestion that going on strike was somehow a low blow rather than federally protected legal right for organized labor. Time pressure and frayed nerves led some to raise their voices in the group’s final moments together in Sherman Oaks. Lombardini, according to multiple witnesses, recognized her verbal gaffe seconds later and sought to clarify that she meant to express her hope that negotiations would continue “in a civilized manner.” But by then, the SAG-AFTRA team was heading for the exit.

If you think I am over-reacting to the tone from the studio side, here is a description of the reaction of several of the CEOs Drescher reached out to directly as the talks between the two sides began to break down:

Drescher’s language at times felt disrespectful and “accusatory,” in the words of one participant. She raised some of the assertions that she voiced the following day at the epic news conference held at SAG-AFTRA headquarters.

Drescher’s recent exhortations of “shame on you” and “you’re on the wrong side of history” have raised hackles in the C-suites. Drescher told Variety last week that highly paid chief executives are “like land barons of a medieval time.” In the view of management, the heat of the union’s rhetoric about the evils of “corporate greed” are creating another high hurdle to clear with rank-and-file members when there are already plenty of issues on the table.

These comments are obviously from studio sources and I suppose the idea is to paint SAG-AFTRA negotiators as extremists and by doing so, the writers and actors will be incentivized to be more open to the studio offers. But as wrote earlier, I think this is a misread of the room. The SAG-AFTRA negotiators weren't freelancing in the negotiations and are bringing their own "disrespectful" biases into the room. They represent the point of view of a large percentage of the union. And the sooner the AMPTP negotiators and their CEO leaders come to terms with that, the quicker this will all be resolved.

"Bad Faith" is one of those squishy terms that is hard to define. But you know it when you see it. And for many of the rank-and-file of the WGA and SAG-AFTRA, they believe the studio negotiators are acting in bad faith and can't be trusted. That problem, as much as any specific contract terms, is the biggest challenge facing the AMPTP negotiators in the upcoming weeks.

ON THE OTHER HAND, ACTORS AND WRITERS HAVE THEIR VERSION OF MISUNDERTANDING THE ROOM
While I am much more aligned with the underlying arguments from the WGA and SAG-AFTRA side than the ones I've heard from the studio side, the striking union workers do hold to a couple of deeply felt beliefs that fundamentally misunderstand the factors that brought us here. And because they do, it makes negotiating for a fair deal a much more difficult task.

This piece from today's L.A. Times is being breathlessly shared by striking workers on social media today, and that's because it tells the well-worn (and mostly incorrect) explanation of how Hollywood's old business model collapsed. It was a combination of tech lord greed and Wall Street investors chasing what they thought would be the entertainment businesses equivalent of Uber. All aided by short-sighted industry executives who were too eager to fix what wasn't broken:

“What happens is Netflix becomes the Wall Street darling, and all these other companies,” like Amazon, Disney, Apple, HBO, Paramount and NBC, “race to adopt Netflix’s business model,” Conover says.

Herein lies the trouble. Amid this boom, which for a few years ushered in a gold rush for writers and talent, Netflix et al. adopted another key ingredient of Silicon Valley’s approach: secrecy. Data about shows’ performance and viewer habits were kept proprietary; we knew only what the streamers wanted us to know. That went for customers, performers, writers and for investors. Streaming is an inscrutable black box, about which so many stories might be told.

It’s a sticking point in the negotiations — actors and writers on streaming series want a better way to calculate the value of their work, given that the residuals they earn are so much lower than for network or cable shows. The studios have resisted. “The reason nobody really wants to open the books on this is because if Wall Street got a look,” one Hollywood insider told New York Magazine, “they’d have a collective stroke.”

There is this weird belief in Hollywood that the legacy television and movie business mostly collapsed because everyone began chasing Netflix's apparent success. But that streamer was a symptom of the industry's business model rot, not the primary causal effect. 

The linear TV business was continuing to weaken even before the rise of Netflix. And it's worth reminding everyone that the under-25 demo - the one most prized by advertisers - is spending more time on YouTube and TikTok than it is on any SVOD. 

Yes, there are fundamental problems in the business model and the way writers, actors and others are paid as well as treated. But Netflix and tech bros didn't get us here. Hollywood couldn't have stopped the erosion of its business model if it had ignored Netflix and streaming and kept everything as it was in 2005. 

Now it is interesting to wonder what the industry would have looked like if the studios had negotiated a deal with Netflix early on in the same way the music labels did with Spotify and its rivals. Offer access to licensed content in exchange for not launch a competing streamer while obtaining a slice of equity in the business. Imagine one streamer, carrying the bulk of the industry's catalog.

On the other hand, one reason that didn't happen then was the same reason we have so many competing streamers in 2023. The value of a direct-to-consumer streamer is as much about establishing a direct connection with your customer base as it is about turning a profit.

SPEAKING OF READER FEEDBACK
I've heard from a number of you about the nuances of residuals and while I'm still in the process of answering everyone, I want you to know how helpful you've been. Keep it coming. 

All of the notes were especially appreciated yesterday. It was a difficult day and one in which I felt I was increasingly shouting into the void. So having readers write me notes of encouragement and thanks helped more than you know.

On a happier note, I am also planning to do a couple of pieces next week on the animation side of the business, which is even more complicated and screwed up than the scripted live-action industry. So please reach out if you have some thoughts.

Which leads me to a related question: "Do you think the unscripted/reality TV business should be unionized?" Respond directly to this newsletter with your thoughts, add a comment below or email me at rick@allyourscreens.com

WHAT'S NEW TODAY FOR THIS WEEKEND:

FRIDAY, JULY 21ST, 2023:
* Almost Paradise Season Two Premiere (Freevee)
* A Lifelong Love (Hallmark Movies And Mysteries)
* Love During Lockup Season Premiere (WE tv)
* Making Modern With Brooke and Brice Season Premiere (Magnolia)
* Minx Season Two Premiere (Starz)
* Praise Petey Series Premiere (Freevee)
* Reptile Royalty Series Premiere (The Roku Channel)
* Sharksploitation (Shudder)
* Stephen Curry: Underrated (Apple TV+)
* They Cloned Tyrone (Netflix)
* Zombies: The Re-Animated Series (Disney+)

SATURDAY, JULY 22ND, 2023:
* The Established Home Season Two Premiere (Magnolia)

SUNDAY, JULY 23RD, 2023:
* A Mother's Intuition (TV One)
* Belly Of The Beast: Feeding Frenzy (Discovery)
* Bunk'd Season Premiere (Disney)
* Jaws Vs. The Meg (Discovery)
* Look Who's Stallking (Lifetime)
* Renovation Resort Showdown Series Premiere (HGTV)
* Serial Killer: Red Sea Feeding Frenzy (Discovery)
* Shark Week: Off The Hook (Discovery)
* Special Ops: Lioness Series Premiere (Paramount+)
* Teenage Euthanasia Season Two Premiere (Adult Swim)
* The Mega-Brands That Built America Series Premiere (History)
* Unsellable Houses Season Premiere (HGTV)

MONDAY, JULY 24TH, 2023:
* Children Ruin Everything Series Premiere (The CW)
* Dew Drop Diaries (Netflix)
* Futurama Season Eleven Premiere (Hulu)
* Son Of A Critch Series Premiere (The CW)
* The Golden Boy (HBO)
*Unknown: Cosmic Time Machine (Netflix)

Click Here to see the list of all of the upcoming premiere dates for the next few months.

SEE YOU MONDAY!

If you have any feedback, send it along to Rick@AllYourScreens.com and follow me on Twitter @aysrick.