I forgot to say my intro, so here it is in writing instead: Don't forget to click the button that spells S-U-B-S-C-R-I-B-E SUBSCRIBE

I am a member of the IA. I support the writers as I sit st home, and all my projects are shutdown. I will support SAG if they strike. 2 years ago we almost struck, we had the support of the WGA, DGA, and SAG. I feel like we settled and got a horrible deal. Next year we will be negotiating again. I know we will be supported again if we decide to strike. 3% increase per year is not enough when inflation is much higher. We all deserve more.

WELCOME BACK, CYNTHIA. You're easily the most underrated video essayists in the game right now. Always super informative content with a unique perspective. 🤙🏽

This is exactly the kind of video on this I needed! I was quite out of the loop on the specifics surrounding the strike. And the whole paper thing for illustration purposes was SO HELPFUL! My brain needs stuff like this real bad. Thank you!

First time in 15 years? That's unbelievable

Thank you, Cynthia. Very informative! I’m not in your industry, unsuccessful (so far) independent software developer here. But I believe the WGA is fighting for a structure that will help your whole industry in the end, not just writers (and their agents). Dismissing success-based compensation and writer/production interaction is really not helping the industry. And the WGA is giving a great example to other industries. I really really hope that the WGA will succeed. Writing, making shows and movies, is all about human connection and human experience. And cutting the humans out of the success and putting corporate interests first is not helping this at all. Putting corporate interests first destroyed radio programming (broadcast or streamed), and arguably contributed a lot to the demise of record companies, musicians and music in general. (Yes, and there is internet file sharing and downloads. But offering Internet-based alternatives, ie. streaming, helps with this. People want the convenience, not necessarily the steal. Now it is more about the corporate interests that formed during this time and that unfortunately prevailed.) And corporate interests controlling shows and movies now, especially in streaming, has a similar effect on writing and show quality. I really hope that we will get through these dark ages as quickly as possible, and come out on the other end being better. And that writers don’t have to go all the way that music creatives and the music industry had to go through. I wholeheartedly support the WGA’s action. Make the good deals work again. (Edit: darn, that sentence has the wrong ring to it. But yeah, I guess you get what I mean. Not a writer here.) Creative people need to get the right kinds of working conditions and compensations for their hard creative work. And, of course, everyone involved should benefit adequately. Make it fair. This will also inform the tech companies how they need to change to make the industry really work. And how an end of the streaming wars could look like. Yeah, I am going all out here. But the WGA needs to focus on the issues that y’all identified. Only that makes any sense. And I believe even in the big picture it will make sense in the end.

As informative as always! Thank you, Cyhthia, for keep creating quality content!

Fantastic video, been outta the loop and now I'm back inside of the loop, nice!

This channel is criminally undersubscribed. Your content is amazing, spot on research and Your presentation and editing is really something that left nothing to be desire. As always a strike is not only a matter of "a few dollars more" but to guarantee dignity. This one - wich I hope gain traction and other professional unions support too - is just one facet of the challenges we all face, everyday, on the labor world. And that, every year, things gets more complicated for the labors - the weakest side of the rope. Hope you all get what you want and need, this tech giants get regulated and stop parasiting their workers and pay them acordingly AND that this one strike gives the people enough understanding about the ABSOLUTE NEED of unionizing and resist the efforts for making working relationships more and more precarious for workers.

Any sentence that starts with "AI will never be able to..." usually ends up being wrong.

I have to assume streamers have data similar to the retention graphs creators get here on KZfaq. There can be a debate about how those statistics translate into compensation, but it seems like they would be a viable place to start looking for information.

Excellent video! I appreciate video essays that give expansive views on topics I am unfamiliar with. Thank you!

Was interested to know more about this, thank you for the video!

It's a lack of Love problem..... The Universal Human Problem.

Im really obsessed with the music you use in your videos! It makes for such a comfortable viewing experience

Wow! This is impressive! I really understand what is going on right now, all the parties involved, and their agendas. Thank you for explaining this in such a detailed and informative way. You gained a new subscriber.

love the walk and talk bit and not cutting it

Thank you so much for breaking down the writers strike step by step. Nice to meet you!!

CYNTHIA this came up on my page bro im hella impressed w your production! I love it so much 🥺

Great video and explanation of the situation ! Thanks for the links ! It's kind of a continuation of uberisation, precarisation of workers in the service industry is a global phenomenon

Hey, Martin here from germany. First, a thx for your excellent, detailed view of the case. As an IT professional i have to say that collecting and share the information from a streaming platform is actually a lot easier then from conventional TV. I didnt know how the TV numbers in other countries work but in germany there are special boxes to a percentage of households that collect infos of the viewing behavior of the residents. In streaming everything is digital, every device u stream on is connectet to the internet to stream content. So the streaming company can if its IT isnt a complete mess, tell u exactly to the bit how many people on a second are watching a show in every country, town, even household (if its a paid account). So they cleary just not want to share this kind of information. They surely collect all the infos they can get their hands on. Just look at the last trys from netflix to block account sharing. They know exactly who ist watching at a time and then they also know what everyone is watching. Just my 2 c. Sorry for my english ;) i am old.

Very informative and entertaining! Thank you.

Great video… one thing to consider: many people writing for streaming shows are providing content that isn’t profitable on its own. Thus the amptp’s reluctance on certain terms like minimum staff numbers, guaranteed work weeks, etc.

Great work Cynthia!

We all live under the " golden rule " that rule is the one that has the gold makes the rules. In other words, you need to leverage the writers, and actors don't have any leverage. There are about 10 years behind. Writers and actors are under the impression that they are making art . In reality, they are just part of the add department of the networks. But streamers are not networks, and the actors and writers agreed to this like 10 years ago. Without add/ commercials, what is it really worth to add companies to Coca-Cola, Pepsi, and Budweiser? . The business model cuts them right off, but again, they agreed to this 10 years ago.

I was just passing through, but I deeply resonate with the ideas of social justice and modern economical models. Cynthia's virtuoso acting skills in conveying complex socio-economic situations truly amazed me. Without a doubt, after such a skillful enlightenment performance she's become one of the most notable KZfaqrs and creative speakers for me. Cynthia, please keep rocking with your incredible style and influence! Your comedic one-actor play adds such a refreshing touch to understanding these complex issues in a deep and emotional way and that truly makes the world a better! 抱拳了！

I appreciate the explanation on corporate hegemony, which is so often overlooked. Further, without writers asserting their voices and individual power the companies can and will steamroll over important cultural messages the writers are trying to express. It's quite popular for many companies to stand up for lgtbq+ rights and racial diversity but they have no requirement to do so. Their stories help define our culture; do we really want to leave that responsibility in the hands of corporations?

I really do wish your content makes it to nore people soon! Your video quality is top tier 👏

As a programmer I get the same money if my code makes a $100 or $100 000 000 for my client/employer and I feel more and more like that I shouldn't. I want us to get there so I guess I want to learn the way. How did the writers originally negotiate that they get a bonus on success? Is this something from old times where people where reasonable?

I've never been given residuals every time someone visits a web page I helped write or uses software I was involved in developing.

3 weeks into this strike. And just when I knew I had this thing all figured out., here comes our girl Cynthia to shed some light on just how much I wasn't aware of. This thing is big! Today is Aug 2nd, 2023, and it was just revealed that both sides agreed to come back to the negotiating table. Based on what you just shared with us, Cynthia, I can see the actors & writers rep on one side, but who will be on the otherside? Reps for major TV networks, Reps for cable channels, but who may be missing as they sit at home yawning? Reps for these BIG TECH STREAMING GIANTS.

That idea of a dark age of Hollywood sounds good to me on paper. The job that these writers have been doing these 15 years is one I do not wish to continue the way it is. That last statement is a good summary, because I do not want people that I believe are bad at their job to have a career on it, these includes producers too. The sad part is all the people that do amazing work that will get caught up in it. When I heard about the strike, I read the proposal and refusals and came up agreeing with the producers more. Opening a conversation about AI by wanting to ban it all does not give the impression that writers actually want to talk. And asking for transparency on streaming models is basically turning them into KZfaq, give people numbers and they will find a way to game them and quality suffers. On the topic of residuals though, I would love if everyone got them, not only writers. If success should be shared, it should be shared equally including all the behind the scenes staff, not just actors and writers. The people who bet more on a project are the ones taking the biggest gamble, and these are rarely writers, but I still would like a more fair distribution. I hope this ends well for everyone, but for me my priority is good art to be made, and Hollywood has consistently failed at it.

Soo beautiful, world-class videographe. Thank you for every video you share with us 🙏

your have so many jobs??😄 it's crazy cool! thank you for the video, i keep learning about new nuances each time i hear about this topic

Your new look is awesome! ❤

Well, this can be an important learning experience for people who scoffed at unionization and limiting the power of big tech companies. More likely it'll be a learning experience about how people will be 'looking after number one' and will betray others who are in a similarly shitty conditions for even minor concessions.

Your new hair looks very lovely!

Thanks for this. Happy this video is out. Some folks have reacted negative to the writers strike. Because of bad shows. They think it’s bad writers with the problem. Sure. But I don’t think good writers are often rewarded well enough to keep being good. Because Netflix, Apple, and Amazon have veto power and economic control over the rights of their writers. Before folks blame writers, and move towards apathy, they should think why companies are bad that shows end up being bad. It’s the payment structure. There’s no incentive to make good shows, except a structure of coercion.

Just awesome, and very informative...

Thanks for the video. Lots of good points. Maybe I'm a more pessimistic person but I think the writers may lose the battle. The problem is that content can be cheap. We outsourced manufacturing to China because they were cheaper than going local. With globalisation, there are other places that can keep producing content, until the local source gives in. You didn't mention Google in your list of companies. Isn't KZfaq a big player too? Is their monetisation policy better than the streaming companies? Will there be a stampede towards KZfaq if they can't get agreement with the traditional studios?

This is an incredible video

Great video... Greater HAIRSTYLE! I love it!

I really appreciated the color paper

This was an excellent video!

You really pull off the business look

Hollywood and Western entertainment is long dead to me, but interesting to watch. I'm k-drama+ some other east Asian, 90% are women writers, and it shows the difference. I would like to know more about that. Also k-writers have much more power, to choose the actors, directors . . . That's why it's best work IMHO

It's a losing battle to AI. Even myself: I'm currently programming an app that prints out 80,000++ words per minute, and I'm just a few good prompt engineering parts away from having it at full blast competency. (And I'm still on non-finely-tuned, last year's models.) "The Obsession Exchange" thrives at the crossing of the dark underworld, and the madness of the concrete jungle, renting nightmarish obsessions to its yuppie clients wishing to break free from their mundane existence. This sentence took me nearly a minute to write... just to summarize one of the complete story my app pumped out in less time than it took for this comment. (Want to try it out?)

I truly hope the actors strike alongside the writers for a long time because we need to make sure an actual fair deal for the writers and all actors/artists in general is reached. Thank you for making this vid Cynthia!

The Hollywood strikes and the other labor strikes going on are an example of why the Occupy Movement needs to be revived, especially since the major studios are connected with Wall Street. I also believe this is one of those topics that can bring back the discussion of campaign finance reform because the Hollywood bigwigs have the money to donate to campaigns and PACs to ensure the status quo.

Both sides seem pretty vague on the AI part. I know the writers have made some more specific comments, but it does seem like folks are still trying to figure out what the technology is actually capable of and how exactly they can use it. Also, there are still legal issues being worked out, so I can see why folks would be a bit ambiguous.

That's really cute how you did that transitioning from "residual payment" to "paycheck". Isn't it a bonus payment check above and beyond your contract payment for the piece of contract work you perform.

The residual issue is more complicated than it seems. In traditional TV, the more views a show got, the more advertiser money the network gets for airing that show. So residuals based on views is logical. With streaming, however, it is the exact opposite. A subscriber pays a flat fee so if that subscriber only watches one show, then that view is worth significantly more than the views of another subscriber who watches 200 hours a month. So the fact that a show is "popular" isn't necessarily related to how much money it brings the streaming company. Nobody is subscribing to Netflix to watch Nailed It, yet that show gets a huge number of views.

So what happened?? We’re missing an update video!

14:12 is the reason why this ends by the AMPTP breaking up.... Or apple and Amazon getting kicked out of it

This is tedious

Old media too expensive

11:44 Never say never. You make a very bold prediction and I don't think you have enough data to back it up.

Conan is on another level

The business women skit was spot on. They really will charge you for the privilege.

The GREATES EXISTENTIAL DANGER TO WRITERS IS AI and must be STOPPED. If WGA caves in, in very short time, writers will become extict. GREAT ANALYSIS. CONGRATS.

14:32 the major broadcasters are mostly owned by the big studios

AI deserve respect too. Its a creation, a product to serve and work for human.

I like 90香港movies like 王家衛. What is happening in there movie industry now? Curious because I don’t hear any movie like 花様年華

You're in tech and you're a writer??? I'm in college for UX and want to pursue writing as a career in the future as well. I find it fascinating you're able to do both.

The strong do what they want and the weak must suffer.

this protests are great for tech giants. they just have to sit it out

Well thank heaven we have Rachel Ziegler and the director of Blue Beetle to remind us what down to earth blue collar people you are and that we should be on your side. Yeah let me think about that. As someone with 20 years in Silicon Valley I'm not going to gaslight you AI is looking better and better everyday and that's the guto reality of the venture capital cycle

ur short hair is soo cool

Well frankly, Netflix produces so much trash, Id be happy to see some of these writers fired and new ones hired.

DGA did the other unions dirty. lol

what happened to you? your videos are very good

Honestly, residuals don't make sense. Otherwise, every worker should receive a (albeit small) percentage of what their work helped create, every time it's used. A programmer or a graphic designer would then get a paycheck every time an app he created for a company is used? One could argue that screenwriters are more of an artistic edeavour, but yeah, everyone can argue the same.

有个口误哈哈，hbo不是流媒体，(HBO)MAX是流媒体

You’re the main character in Kung Fu?

{20:05} - You are pretty much... "FORESHADOWING" The Future?!...

should every worker, in every industry get residuals for something they make? Should a teacher get residuals from every student they've taught if the student does well?

Wow. You're pretty

I love how you use the Jenna Ortega example, you should have also mentioned the writing was bad that Ortega refused to follow the script and changed Wednesday to match the character and not the writers desired fan fiction.. I don't support the writers.

I'm not sure I agree with the arguement for residual. for exmaple, I work in an agency as graphic designer, when the product is sold (meaning the client accepted the work) our contract ends and that's that. if the argue is, because the product (in this case, the show) is successful, then the contributers (writers or director or camera man) should get a cut from the airing per frequecy, I would ask if that also apply to buildings in which the architects and the builders should also have the residuals, because the buildings will not be successful without them? think about, let's say, amusement park, or cinema, or museums etc. I think in the writer strike case, it seems to me that, entertainment industry is not a profitable industy to begin with, the risk of lossing money is high, and it's labour intensive. I do not doubt the writers work hard for their craft but that doesn't imply they should be pay more. however, I may have some blind spots that i haven't consider, please enlight me.

trying to make capitalism fair, you really should do something real about that problem. root cause kind of change is needed.

The big money men of Hollywood finance all the show writers. A show goes down, the writers still get a paycheck but the studios get nothing more than a write off on their taxes. Anyone who knows taxes know write offs are not some big money maker for any business, they indicate a LOSS of capital. Not sure what writers make. Writers do not like to mention what the typical paycheck looks like. They making minimum wage? Are they bringing home 1,000's per week? A.I. is the future of film making. No sense fighting it, future movies will be designed with a keyboard populated by performers of the programmer's imagination. Movie making will become more democratic, not held hostage by the political and social whims of the Southern California set. A kid in Maine or a kid in Tokyo could bang out a blockbuster as good as anyone in Burbank can. The beauty of it all? Even a lowly writer could have a chance at being a greedy, money grubbing producer. All thanks to CGI/A.I.

is there a half thumbs up? lots of good points in the video but writers need to also look in their own eye a bit.

I doubt writers are that important anyway; many shows have been doing quite well while being awfully written, woke AF, and boring. ChatGPT can produce much better/interesting outcome than most of these guys

What have u done , u cut ur hair :(

And here we are after 5 loooong months 😭 btw, you look better in long hair.

AI will win. Deal with it.

I hope everyone is doing well. I would like to share the good news with everyone here. There is only one God. “Within the one Being that is God, there exists eternally three coequal and coeternal persons, namely, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.” God is the creator of everything and is Sovereign over everything. God has appointed his only Son to judge the living and the dead. We have all sinned and broken God’s law, such as lying, stealing, lusting, anger, and pride. God is Holy, Just, and Impartial. That is why when God judges he cannot let even one sin from anyone go unpunished and that punishment is eternal hell. We can’t work our way into heaven and our good deeds can’t save us from our sin. The bible says all our righteous acts are like filthy rags. We would perish if we died and faced God with our own righteousness. The Good news is that God is also Love and Merciful and sent his only Son to save his people from their sin. Jesus who is fully God and fully human, lived a perfect life and never sinned. He willingly went to the cross where the Father took the wrath that his people deserved and put it on Jesus. Jesus paid the price for their sin and died on the cross. He was buried and on the third day God raised him from the dead. God commands all people everywhere to repent of their sins and to put their trust in Jesus. Biblical repentance is a change of mind about Sin. It’s an attitude of the heart, genuinely turning from sin to God. Everyone who repents and puts their trust in Jesus, will have their sins credited to Jesus, and Jesus’s righteousness will be credited to them. Their sins will be forgiven, and they will be given eternal life. When it’s time to face God, he will welcome them into heaven because of Jesus’s perfect righteousness.

Karl Marx would approve this video. Workers all of countries, Unite!

imagine being really bad at your job and asking more money for it. these writers should have been fired years ago

the real issue is that these writers suck