WGA Protests Outlast 2007-2008 Writers’ Strike, Which Ended After 100 Days
NEW YORK (AP) — TV late-night comedy scribe Greg Iwinski, 38, was still only an aspiring writer when Hollywood writers held their landmark strike in 2007-2008.
But as he manned the picket lines Wednesday — the day the current strike hit its 100th day, matching the length of the previous one — he was keenly aware of all the history involved.
“I got a residual check yesterday for a show I worked on, because people went on strike in 1960, before I was even born,” he said. “And so knowing that we could be doing that for people 60 years from now is incredibly motivating.”
And yes, said Iwinski, who has written for “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver,” and other shows, 100 days is a long time — but he is prepared to strike as long as it takes.
“Today is our 100th day of striking and we’re striking for the same thing we were on Day One, which is a fair contract,” he said. “We have the same two pages of proposals and the studios have not yet responded to all those proposals … so I guess until that happens, we’ll still be out here.”
Wednesday’s milestone comes as the U.S. film and television industries remain paralyzed by dual strikes by its actors and screenwriters. There’s no foreseeable end — a negotiating session last week involving Hollywood studios and streamers and the striking writers ended with little progress. Television networks are a month away from starting a new fall season, and broadcasters have already put contingency plans in place for programming that excludes their most popular scripted series.
Hollywood’s actors began their strike July 14, creating the first dual strike since 1960. Issues at play for both unions include the use of artificial intelligence and residuals related to streaming.
The Writers Guild of America held special pickets marking the 100th day in both New York and Los Angeles. Outside the Netflix offices on Broadway in Manhattan, the scene had an upbeat feel. A steady stream of protesters — both writers and their actor allies in SAG-AFTRA — danced, pounded on drums and chanted slogans as they marched around the city block.
Befitting writers, signs were markedly creative: “This Barbie is striking!!!” “Not Kenough.” “The only free writing you deserve is this sign.” “Writers make people happy (and sad).” And the simple: “No wages, no pages.”
Nicole Conlan, a striking comedy writer for “The Daily Show,” said that despite being on strike since May 2, she’s been so busy organizing on the picket lines that “I woke up today, the 100th day, and it feels like we’ve just started.”
“We don’t want to be out of work,” said Conlan, 33, “but the mood is very high because we still have all this support after 100 days. Compared to previous strikes, it really feels like people understand what we’re doing and people still are really throwing their support behind us.”
“The things that we’re fighting for apply not just to the industry but to the entire economy,” Conlan said. “In every industry people can see Wall Street and tech finding a way to make careers into gig jobs — so even though we do a very weird kind of job, writing, it’s easy for the layperson to see our jobs becoming gig jobs, and to see how that applies to their job as a nurse, or as a flight attendant, or as a construction worker.”
Vicki Winters, a standup comic who was picketing alongside the writers, played the drums as her colleagues marched. “Corporate greed has got to go,” said Winters, 66. “They are taking advantage of the workers of the Screen Actors Guild, the Writers Guild, pretty much every worker that’s at the ground level … while billionaires, millionaires choose a number they pull out of the air, like ‘I’m going to pay myself $11 million,’ and meanwhile the guy downstairs is going to make $7.25 an hour.”
Lawsuit: Apple and Tetris Company Stole Plot for Film About Iconic Video Game from Author’s Book
Apple and The Tetris Company are facing a lawsuit filed by author Dan Ackerman, who accuses them of adapting his 2016 book The Tetris Effect: The Game That Hypnotized the World into a film without his permission. The lawsuit, which identifies 22 “similarities” between the book and the movie Tetris which released earlier this year, requests damages of six percent of the film’s $80 million production budget, equal to $4.8 million.
Business Insider reports that author Dan Ackerman has launched a lawsuit against Apple and The Tetris Company, accusing them of turning his 2016 book The Tetris Effect: The Game That Hypnotized the World into a film without his authorization. The complaint seeks $4.8 million in damages, or 6 percent of the film’s $80 million production costs.
Tim Cook at Golden Globes (Frazer Harrison /Getty)
According to the lawsuit, Ackerman’s book, which explores the cultural impact of the iconic video game, was used as the basis for the film Tetris. The author claims that the film utilizes “the same characters, plot, and underlying themes as his 2016 book.”
The lawsuit details 22 similarities between the book and the film, including a “narrative invention” where Tetris distributor Henk Rogers’ guide “turned out to be a KGB agent.” Other similarities include a conversation in the film that is said to be “lifted from Ackerman’s interview with the game’s creator, Alexey Pajitnov,” and a scene showing the deal where “Tetris was paired with Game Boy was ‘paraphrased’ from Ackerman’s retelling.”
The legal action also reveals that Ackerman’s representatives sent his book to The Tetris Company’s PR firm, which was then allegedly given to Tetris CEO Maya Rogers and used to create the film’s screenplay. In a further twist, the lawsuit mentions that Tetris sent Ackerman’s agent “a strongly worded Cease and Desist letter” threatening legal action while refusing to license the video game’s intellectual property.
The lawsuit emphasizes a similar focus in both the book and the film on “Cold War intrigue and placing an outsized role on the Russian government organization ELORG.”
As of now, Apple and The Tetris Company have not responded to requests for comment on the lawsuit.
Read more at Business Insider here.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan
Tragic Kingdom: Disney+ Loses 300,000 Domestic Subscribers as Prices Keep Climbing, Flops Pile Up
The Disney+ streaming service lost 300,000 subscribers in the United States and Canada in the most recent quarter — an ominous sign for the studio as it continues to pour billions of dollars into new streaming content that is flopping with viewers.
To make matters worse for its fans, the Walt Disney Company is hiking Disney+’s monthly subscription price to $13.99 from $10.99 — a 27 percent increase. Last year, the price rose to $10.99 from $7.99, which means Disney+ subscribers will see their monthly bill climb a total of 75 percent in less than two years.
The new price is set to take effect in October.
On Wednesday, the studio reported domestic Disney+ subscriptions fell by 300,000 for the fiscal third quarter, to 46 million subscribers. By comparison, Netflix boasts around 76 million domestic subscribers. Worldwide, Disney+ subscriptions declined 24 percent for the period, mostly due to the end of Disney’s deal with Hotstar in India.
The domestic subscriber decline signals rough waters ahead for Disney as U.S. numbers have been stagnating for the past few quarters, indicating that the domestic market has likely reached its peak less than three years after the platform launched in 2019.
Disney continues to spend billions of dollars on new streaming content that receives a tremendous amount of hype but often ends up flopping with viewers.
Recent flops include Willow, which was canceled after just one season and then removed completely from the platform. National Treasure: Edge of History, which was also nixed after one season.
The highly touted Marvel series Secret Invasion managed to draw just 994,000 U.S. households in its first five days of release, making it the second-lowest rated Marvel series after the feminist Ms. Marvel, which drew 775,000 households over a similar period.
Low-level viewer enthusiasm is emerging as a major problem for Disney+.
The streamer has been having a hard time getting subscribers to watch its original Marvel and Star Wars series, with a Nielsen study showed that not a single Marvel or Star Wars show cracked the top 15 most-watched streaming series for 2022.
The only Disney+ show that made the top 15 was The Simpsons.
Follow David Ng on Twitter @HeyItsDavidNg. Have a tip? Contact me at dng@breitbart.com
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