Tag: writers strike

Netflix Is Reportedly Planning a Price Hike After the Ongoing Hollywood Actors’ Strike Ends

Netflix is reportedly planning to raise its subscription prices once the ongoing Hollywood actors’ strikes end. As per The Wall Street Journal, the streamer will issue a hike on its ad-free plans a few months before a global spread, starting with the US and Canada. The company hasn’t commented on the said increase, but going by the last instance, which was in January 2022, we can expect it to go up by $1 to $2 (about Rs. 83 to Rs. 166) for a monthly plan. Before that, Netflix also introduced its cheaper ad-supported plan, costing $6.99 (about Rs. 582), which is still unavailable in India.

While other international streaming platforms such as Max and Disney+ raised their prices to curb financial losses, Netflix instead chose to boost its subscription count by cracking down on password sharing among its customers. The method seems to have worked, considering the streamer reported a climb of 6 million new subscribers, as of July, taking the total to 238 million members. The WSJ report suggests that costs of major streaming platforms have shot up by 25 percent, as a means to make a profit and lead more price-conscious customers to their low-cost ad-supported plans. It’s not surprising for the company to try and match the price pools set by its competitors, with the leading one in the US being Disney+ at $13.99 (about Rs. 1,165). Raising the cost of ad-free tiers also makes the cheaper ad-supported plans look more appealing.

It’s unclear exactly when the new prices will be issued, but currently, the ad-free Standard tier costs $15.49 (about Rs. 1,289) per month in the US, while the Premium plan is set at $19.99 (about Rs. 1,664) monthly, allowing you to stream content at up to four screens at the same time.

Last week, the Writers’ Guild of America (WGA) finally ended its 148-day strike against major Hollywood studios, in an effort to earn fair paychecks and to fight back against unregulated use of AI in screenwriting. Among those studios were the aforementioned Netflix and other major streaming services, all of which will now be forced to share streaming data with the WGA — specifically, the hours streamed — so writers and actors can assess how well a movie or show performed and collect residuals on them. It’s similar to TV broadcasts, but the advent of online streaming made it so workers weren’t making any additional money beyond the initial payment. Meanwhile, the SAG-AFTRA (actors’ union) is still on strike and trying to negotiate a fair deal with the AMPTP (Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers).

In April, Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos claimed that the streamer was ‘better prepared than most‘ studios in the event that a strike went through. Keeping disruptions to the minimum was its large slate of content, thanks to its penchant for planning out releases long before they’re ever revealed to the public. It makes sense for Netflix to wait until the strikes end so they can raise their prices, given there’s not much promise of new content besides the ones they’ve already shown throughout their TUDUM events.

However, as actors and writers return to work, not only can they justify the price hike, but they will finally be able to promote the films and hold interviews like they used to. For the uninitiated, actors under the SAG-AFTRA union aren’t allowed to promote their films or shows nor work on them during the strike period, which has caused several major projects like Dune: Part 2 and Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse to get delayed.

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Emmy Awards 2023 Delayed to January Due to Hollywood Actors and Writers Strikes

Emmy Awards 2023 have been officially delayed to next year. After months of dialogue between the Television Academy and new broadcaster Fox, the 75th Primetime Emmy Awards will now be held on January 16 at 6:30am IST in India/ January 15 at 5pm PT in the US. This marks the first time in two decades that the Emmys are being postponed — the first being in 2001, after the September 11 attacks. This latest delay is owing to the ongoing actors’ and writers’ strikes in Hollywood, which have halted several major film and TV productions. Nominees were revealed back in July, with Succession leading the pack, and a host will be decided upon once the strikes end.

Without the actors/ nominees, the awards show would look rather empty, and with no writers pulling the strings in the background with a proper script or jokes, the show was headed with no vision. As per The Hollywood Reporter, there was a scenario in which the show would’ve been telecasted without writers, but the lack of star power caused the delay unavoidable. You see, members of SAG-AFTRA (Hollywood actors union) are not allowed to star in or promote any film or TV projects they’re in, in addition to accepting awards for struck work until the union meets a fair agreement with major studios. It’s also the reason why several big-budget movies — boasting starry cast lineups — are getting delayed.

The 2023 Emmys were originally slated for September and now see a nearly four-month delay, during which the studios hope the strikes will subside. However, the new date also places it in an already busy awards season. As usual, the telecast also includes the Creative Emmys, which rewards excellence in technical elements in television and some other minor acts — a two-night event scheduled for January 6 and January 7. However, the second night coincides with the Golden Globe 2024 event, which celebrates both movies and TV series, essentially dampening the achievements of the already underappreciated creative department. What I’m trying to say is that all eyes would be on the bigger awards show.

Not to mention, there’s also the 2024 Critics Choice Awards on January 14 (Jan 15 for India), which falls exactly a day before the newly-set date for the Primetime Emmy Awards. So, these are back-to-back awards shows, with the former featuring television alongside film categories. For now, the other award broadcasters aren’t confirmed to be shuffling dates around. As noted before, the Emmy nominees have already been decided and the final voting timeline for Academy members stays the same — August 17–28. Even SAG-AFTRA and the DGA (Directors Guild of America) have their award ceremonies set for the month of February, in the run-up to the Oscars season.

It’s not clear whether the writers’ and actors’ union will be able to reach a fair agreement by January since a Deadline report from July revealed the statement made by an unnamed executive. “The endgame is to allow things to drag on until union members start losing their apartments and losing their houses,” they said. Another person deemed it a ‘cruel but necessary evil.’

The 75th annual Emmys are set to stream live from the Peacock Theater, Los Angeles, on early Tuesday, January 16 at 6:30am IST/ January 15 at 5pm PT in the US. In India, it will be available to stream on Lionsgate Play.

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Oppenheimer Cast Walk Out of London Premiere in Solidarity With the Actors’ Strike

Oppenheimer’s cast walked out of its London premiere late on Thursday, in solidarity with the SAG-AFTRA (Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists) actors’ strike. While buzz for the new Christopher Nolan film was strong at Leicester Square, the possibility of a strike caused the crew to push the premiere event up by an hour, only the previous night. As the actors’ union was unable to come to an equitable deal with movie studios — for proper residual payments — the strike was called upon with a 98 percent vote approval margin, causing Oppenheimer’s cast to leave from the venue in order to adhere to the terms of the union.

“I think right now we are just sorting of… I hope everyone makes a fair deal and we are here to celebrate this movie,” star Emily Blunt told Deadline, during the Oppenheimer red carpet event. “And if they call it, we’ll be leaving together as cast in unity with everyone… We are gonna have to. We are gonna have to. We will see what happens. Right now it’s the joy to be together.” Co-star Matt Damon echoed her sentiments, adding that his and Ben Affleck’s independent studio, Artists Equity, just shut down production on an undisclosed film, waiting for things to resolve between SAG-AFTRA and the studios. SAG-AFTRA is a union representing about 160,000 film and TV actors and media professionals primarily in the United States, whose leadership claims that its deal with movie studios for appropriate pay is not fair. “It’s the difference between having healthcare and not for a lot of actors, and we gotta do what’s right by them,” Damon said.

The last time the entertainment industry faced a double strike was in 1960, with both writers and actors voicing their concerns for appropriate payments, arising from the dawn of television. At the time, they together won residuals for repeated TV reruns and broadcast for movies and shows, in addition to welfare. Residuals payments are helpful for artists when they are in between projects. Now, in 2023, with streaming services taking the lead, companies like Netflix and Disney+ don’t disclose viewing figures for their shows, essentially offering a flat rate, regardless of how much a program might surge in popularity. Making things worse is the debate about the use of AI in film production, like using apps such as ChatGPT to write full-blown movie scripts — directly affecting the jobs and livelihood of writers.

AMPTP, the organisation bargaining on behalf of major studios claimed in a statement that it presented SAG-AFTRA with a deal that promised ‘historic pay and residual increases’ alongside higher caps on pension and healthcare contributions, and even a ‘groundbreaking AI proposal.’ Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, SAG-AFTRA’s COO responded to the offer claiming that AMPTP had been devaluing the work of actors. As for the artificial intelligence proposal, it was revealed that production studios wanted to pay background performers for one day of work in exchange for the rights to their digital likeness for eternity, without compensation or further consent. The bizarre situation mirrors Black Mirror’s ‘Joan is Awful’ episode from season 6, where studios acquired rights to scan and use actors’ digital likenesses forever.

The strikes have caused movies and TV series productions to get delayed or halted until further notice when new bargaining agreements are met. However, a report from Variety suggests that filming on the Emmy-nominated House of the Dragon will continue normally in the UK. The HBO series’ cast is composed of primarily UK-based actors who do not work under America’s SAG-AFTRA contracts, but rather under the British acting union Equity, whose trade laws prevent them from striking in solidarity with international unions. Equity also put out a guide for its 47,000 members, stating that performers joining the strike will have no protection against dismissal or breaking the contract. It’s worth mentioning that the ongoing writers’ strike had no effect on House of the Dragon’s filming since scripts for season 2 were completed long before, and now creator Ryan J. Condal is strictly involved in a non-writing capacity.

Oppenheimer releases July 21 in theatres worldwide, while the second season of House of the Dragon is expected to release in 2024.

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Stranger Things Season 5 Production Halted Due to Hollywood Writers’ Strike

Production on the fifth and final season of Stranger Things has been delayed, owing to the ongoing Hollywood writers’ strike. In a tweet, co-creators Matt and Ross Duffer confirmed that they stand in solidarity with the strike and hope that a fair deal is reached soon. The rules set by the Writers Guild of America state that all writer-producers are barred from participating in any writing or creative-based duties on film and television productions during the strike. It’s also refreshing to see Netflix respecting the creators’ wishes and delaying filming until further notice — a huge undertaking, given how popular the Stranger Things IP is. Meanwhile, on Disney’s side of the fence, Andor will resume production on season 2 without its primary writer.

“Duffers here. Writing does not stop when filming begins. While we’re excited to start production with our amazing cast and crew, it is not possible during this strike,” the tweet reads. “We hope a fair deal is reached soon so we can all get back to work. Until then — over and out.” Back in November, the creators revealed the title for episode 1, ‘The Crawl,’ with the chapter being set primarily in Hawkins, charting the lead characters’ investigation of the parallel world — the realm where demons like the Demogrogon lived in.

Stranger Things 5 was originally planned to begin filming this month, as per actor Noah Schnapp, who was revealed to have a massive part in this season. It is also worth mentioning that the Duffer Brothers have struck an overall partnership with Netflix for multiple Stranger Things projects, including an animated series and a stage play.

As per Variety, Andor season 2 is among the few shows that will continue production amidst the ongoing strike, with executive producer Tony Gilroy not showing up on set or writing scripts. However, he will continue working on non-writing aspects such as picking a musical score and casting. Reports from last week confirmed that Amazon Studios was continuing production on The Lord of the Rings: the Rings of Power season 2 without its showrunners on set.

Despite 19 days of filming remaining on the LOTR spinoff show, the team feels a bit relaxed as showrunners J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay planned things in advance for a potential writers’ strike. Meanwhile, in the case of HBO’s House of the Dragon season 2, executive producer Ryan J. Condal is reportedly present on the UK set, albeit in a strictly non-writing capacity. Scripts for the season were completed long before.

Earlier this month, Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos confirmed that the streamer was better prepared than most studios, in case a writers’ strike did go through, which eventually did happen. The executive pointed at its large slate of upcoming movies and shows, noting that it would keep any disruptions from the strike to the minimum. Meanwhile, other studios had been stockpiling screenplays and greenlighting series renewals earlier than required.

Currently, there is no release window for Stranger Things season 5. Andor season 2, however, is aiming for an August 2024 release on Disney+ and Disney+ Hotstar.

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