Too Much TV: Your TV Talking Points For Monday, August 7th, 2023

I'm not saying that a 2% revenue share from streaming will NEVER happen.....but....

Here's everything you need to know about the world of television for Monday, August 7th, 2023. 

I'M NOT SAYING THAT A TWO PERCENT PIECE OF STREAMING REVENUE WILL *NEVER* HAPPEN....BUT.....
One of the challenges of writing about the issues the WGA and SAG-AFTRA are negotiating over with AMPTP is that a lot of people confuse what's right with what makes business sense and/or what is possible given the leverage available.

For instance, I would agree completely that Hollywood's actors, writers and other creatives deserve to be treated fairly by the studios. That doesn't just mean money - although more money can help you overlook a lot of other issues. It also means a range of other problems, many of which have come up during these strike negotiations.

And because there are so many contested items in the mix right now, both sides are going to have to give something to move forward.

One of those demands that I suspect will eventually go away when negotiations resume is the proposal from SAG-AFTRA that two percent of studio revenues are put into a pool for actors who participate in that specific project. 

I completely agree that actors need to make more money. That for many of them, being part of a streaming series - even in a regular role - pays the equivalent of gig work. Particularly when the contracts can hold the actor to a show for months before the production of a new season starts. All of it unpaid.

But despite all of that I don't see the scenario in which the studios agree to handing over some percentage of their revenue. The actors certainly deserve that kind of payout, but the streamers in particular are going to loathe to even discuss it.

That's not to say they won't consider some sort of "performance payments." As I noted a couple of weeks ago when I reported on an aborted plan at Netflix which would have offered up these payments, at least some streamers are aware they need to improve core payments and residuals. But there are limits:

There wouldn't be much of a change in transparency on viewing numbers and other internal metrics used in determining content value. But there would be a formula that would provide performance-based bonuses for projects that reached certain goalposts, including Netflix Top Ten Lists, Nielsen rankings and some other third-party data. It's not residuals, but it would at least provide some financial incentives for performance that would be a solid interim step. And it's notably a similar approach to the one reportedly proposed by SAG-AFTRA, which would pay performance-based residuals out of an agreed-upon pool of funds.

The members of AMPTP's resistance to the revenue share idea really has several components. But they all fall under the general umbrella of "this is not something that will end well for us."

From the studio perspective, while the "two percent" idea sounds easy enough, there are a lot of complications.

If you look at the sample interim agreement that some independent producers have agreed to in order to receive a SAG-AFTRA waiver to continue production, there are a lot of moving parts. Including increased residuals for original streaming projects that kick in 90 days after the premiere.

But the interim agreement also provides for a quarterly two percent "revenue contribution" as determined by Parrot Analytics, on top of any other payments that are due.

Now if you aren't familiar with the Parrot Analytics content valuation system, it involves taking a lot of different data points from everything from social media to pirating and determining the level of interest of a TV show or streaming movie. And by doing that, the company claims it can arrive at a value the content is worth to streamer.

Now I'm not going to argue whether or not that is a proper valuation for the content. But given that it's third party data which relies on primarily secondary sources, it’s no surprise the AMPTP members don't want to use the data as a jumping off point for determining what figure the two percent should be based on in terms of a minimum basic agreement with SAG-AFTRA.

Having spoken to several people on the studio side in recent days, they've also cited the more practical (for them) reason not to have that discussion. Say it's two percent for SAG-AFTRA. The WGA will demand perhaps 1.5%. And each time the two sides negotiate in the future, that percentage will be negotiated upwards. 

And then there is the reality that this agreement will be used by budding unions in other countries as a way to leverage their own residuals deal from streamers. Even if everyone agreed that Parrot data was the gold standard for content valuation, my understanding is that their data isn't as robust in many of the other international markets. So all of this has lots of unintended complications.

In the end, I think both sides will agree on increased payments and perhaps some framework of a "performance bonus" that allows those people who worked on a big hit to reap a little of that success.

But its not clear to me that it's possible to convince the studios to agree to the two percent, no matter how long the strike lasts. They are more likely to move substantially on some other major (and minor) items while continuing to insist that the revenue sharing proposal is off the table. And at some point, everyone will take their wins and walk away until next time.

FWIW, HERE ARE THE WINNERS FROM THIS YEAR'S TCA AWARDS

ICYMI ON ALLYOURSCREENS
Here is a rundown of a couple of the stories posted over the weekend and earlier today on AllYourScreens.com:
* Deadline's Perplexing Claim 'Health Care Demands' Could Extend Strike

* I reviewed season three of Only Murders In The Building, which premieres on Tuesday.

ODDS AND SODS
* The live-action remake of The Little Mermaid premieres Wednesday, September 6th on Disney+. On the same day, the streamer is premiering season two of the I Am Groot shorts series.

* Visual Effects (VFX) crews at Marvel Studios have filed for a unionization election with the National Labor Relations Board. This signals a major shift in the VFX industry, which has been largely non-union since the 70s.

* Does anybody know what's going on with Chris Hayes? He's been gone from his primetime MSNBC quite a bit over the past few weeks. I'm hoping its that he's just taking some family time and not something more serious. But I'm always mindful of the fact that despite his skills, the current management at MSNBC has not always appreciated his work. 

WHAT'S NEW TODAY AND TOMORROW:

MONDAY, AUGUST 7TH, 2023:
* Gabby's Dollhouse (Netflix)
* Inside the Producer's Studio With Kandy Muse (WOW Plus Presents)
* Jimbo Presents: It's My Special Show! Series Premiere (WOW Plus Presents)
* Meet Marry Murder (Lifetime)
* #TextMeWhenYouGetHome (Lifetime)
* Ugliest House In America Season Premiere (HGTV)

TUESDAY, AUGUST 8TH:
* Destination NBA: A G League Odyssey (Prime Video)
* Doubling Down With The Derricos Season Finale (TLC)
* Hard Knocks: Training Camp With The New York Jets Season Premiere (HBO)
* Never Seen Again (Paramount+)
* Only Murders In The Building Season Three Premiere (Hulu)
* Righteous Thieves (Fuse)
* The Seven Deadly Sins: Grudge Of Edinburgh Part 2 (Netflix)
* Zombieverse (Netflix)

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

SEE YOU TUESDAY!

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