Latest / Stuff Mom Never Told You / Monday Mini: What's Going on with the Entertainment Industry?

Transcript

Monday Mini: What's Going on with the Entertainment Industry? · Stuff Mom Never Told You

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Hey, this is Annie and Samantha and welcome to Steph.
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: I'll never told you protection of iHeartRadio. And today we
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: were talking about something that is very timely. And also
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: I'm about to go on vacation, so we're recording a
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: lot ahead of time, so by the time you hear this,
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: things could have changed a lot. So the day as
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: we're recording, this is July eighteenth, twenty twenty three, and
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: it's like normally we don't record our Monday minies this
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: early anyways, right, Yeah, but I wanted to talk about it.
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: We are talking about kind of what's going down in
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: Hollywood with the strikes, but also some awards announcements and stuff.
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: And I wanted to talk about this when the writers
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: strike first happened, but at the time I couldn't find anything.
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: There wasn't a lot of information out about it yet,
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: but now there is. Now there's a lot more. So
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: we're going to talk about both the writers' strike and
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: the actors' strike. So also you can see our past
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: episode that we did on women in unions and why
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: is a feminist issue? Why so many women are involved
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: in unions? But okay, so for the first time since
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: nineteen sixty, both the Writers Guild of America the WGA,
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: and the Screen Actors Guild and American Federation of Television
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: and Radio Artist were psych AFTRA are on strike at
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: the same time. And for a fun fact, Ronald Reagan
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: was president of SAG in nineteen sixty when this was happening.
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: I saw that. I'm like, why does that go against
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: everything I know about Reagan? Maybe because I don't think
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: of him as an actor anymore and just the one
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: of the worst presidents in the world. Yes, I know
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: that's an opinion, I must stick to it.
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: Yes, But also he was such a conservative, it doesn't
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: seem like he would be into unions.
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: I will say, I feel like the union and the
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: labels of unions changed since the old days. Like not
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: that it wasn't I guess liberal or like for thinking
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: at that point in time a more socialist, but it
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: was more like because it was the working class people
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: who were really into unions before it was all busted up,
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: and I feel like that was kind of was it
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: prout of that air for the whole big bad like
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: literally people were dying level of union busting.
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: Yeah, which is definitely a whole thing so look into
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: that if you haven't already. So as of this point,
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: the writers have been on strike four weeks since May second,
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: twenty twenty three. In case you're listening to this in
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: a different year, because I kept getting stuffed from two
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: thousand and eight, which I remember that strike very well.
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: Reality shows were birthed essentially.
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: Yes, I'm going to talk about that in a second,
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: but yes, so with things like streaming and AI, entertainment
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: is in a real place of flex and turmoil and
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: change right now. Oh and this has brought almost all
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: production to a halt. But there are things that are
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: non struck, I will say that, and you can look
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: up on those of their respective websites. What is nonstruck
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: which is voted on by the union or agreed to
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: upon by the union. So just be careful before you're like, oh,
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: you're breaking those strike. Some things are not struck. But
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: these strikes were overwhelmingly authorized by their members by like
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: ninety seven percent like around there, and both unions have
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: similar demands, many around tech and compensation. As I said,
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: I did want to include this quote from Box about
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: the SAG strike specifically to be clear, a strike doesn't
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: mean people can't act at all. It means they cannot
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: perform work for struck companies, which is to say members
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: of the AMPTP like Disney and Netflix, unless specific concessions
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: are made. They can't promote work for struck companies either. Yes,
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: their publicists are reportedly panicking. Major studios, for incidents, have
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: been dropping out of Comic con rather than have a
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: poor showing with a few actors who might cross the
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: picket line. You likely wouldn't see actors promoting new movies
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: like Barbie or Oppenheimer, or walking the red carpet at
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: film festivals. WGA members have already stayed away, and of
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: course they won't be on set. So I wanted to
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: talk about this, as I said right after the writers
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: went on strike, but I really struggle to find anything
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: that was like giving me details about how it specifically
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: impacts women or marginalized people, even though to me, to
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: us this is getting equal compensation. Fair compensation is an
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: intersectional feminist issue no matter what. But we do have
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: more info now, and I wanted to start with some
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: things because I have worked in I have worked in
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: acting and with writing as well, so I have some
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: personal experiences with this one thing I would say, a
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: lot of people have this miscon exception that actors and
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: writers to a lesser extent are rich or they get
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: paid a lot, which is not true. I have worked
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: on projects where I literally didn't get paid anything, which
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: was not a SAG. That's illegal if it was a
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: SAG project. But I have worked on projects that didn't
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: get anything, like literally anything. A lot of times they'll
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: promise you you'll get the footage for your real and you
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: never even get that. And because of the way streaming works,
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: the industry has just changed so much. So you used
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: to be able to if you've got a job on
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: a TV show, that meant like twenty twenty five episodes
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: that you were getting paid for, and so that was
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: a decent amount of time, whereas now it streaming, it's
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: like ten episodes. Sometimes it doesn't even like you put
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: in this work and it never airs, so you can't
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: put it on your your resume. But that means that
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: you like, there's a lot more time in between jobs,
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: so you're having to make a check last for a
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: very a long time, and you might not even get
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: it for months months, and sometimes you have to contact
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: the person and be like, hey, have you forgotten to
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: pay me? And they'll be like, oh yeah, like you're
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: the one responsible for making sure you're getting paid. This
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: is just like I'm speaking from the heart right now,
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: but I know I'm not the only one. And then
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: you had these comments coming from these big CEOs, one
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: of them from Disney's Bob Iiger, which reminded me of
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: the whole thing we talked about with Scarlett Johansson, where
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: Disney was like, shame on her for like it's a
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: pandemic and she's asking for money, how greedy? When it's like.
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: No, yeah, And actually I watched a video with them
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: like praising her, Like y'all want to forget that when
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: she did this, you were trying they were trying to
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: blame her as if she was a greedy money longer,
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: but as a truth of it all was knowing that
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: the way streaming works, people are getting less than since
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: for streaming and that they just it's all going pocketed
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: to the CEO who makes millions, if not billions, And
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: y'all want to play And now you see it now,
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: now you're hearing it from other people outside just Scarlett Johanson,
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: And now you've learned.
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: Okay, right right, But they did that too, where he
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: said I'm pretty sure Bob Iger was the one that said,
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: like it's a shame, like, yes, people are going to
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: suffer financially for this, like they're they're only putting people
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: through worse conditions, and like, hmm, really.
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: I think they also said that they love it.
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: This is they love.
• 7:37
  Speaker 2: This right well, they love food too, right well.
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: That frustrates me so much with industries like this where
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: it's so competitive, is that it's like you must be
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: so grateful to be there, like you're lucky to be here.
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: Anyone else will take your job. People do want to
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: be there, They love what they do. They want to
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: tell these stories, but they can't tell them if they
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: can't I have a place to live, if they can't
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: afford to feat themselves or their family. Which is a
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: big thing we're going to talk about in a second.
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: So here's a quote from Time, which is a quote
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: from the SAG after President fran Dresher. We are being
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: victimized by a very greedy entity. I am shocked by
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: the way people that we have been in business with
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: are treating us. I cannot believe it. Quite frankly, how
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: far apart we are on so many things. How they
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: plead poverty, that they're losing money left and right while
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: giving hundreds of millions of dollars to their CEOs. It
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: is disgusting. Shame on them. They stand on the wrong
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: side of history at this moment. And then here's a
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: quote from Box. Average pay for a top Hollywood executive
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: was twenty eight million dollars in twenty twenty one, a
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: hike of fifty three percent from twenty eighteen. Disney CEO
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: Bob Iger, who called the actors demands not realistic, on
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: TV on the morning the strike was called, recently signed
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: a contract to run the company through twenty twenty six.
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: It makes about twenty seven million dollars a year.
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: You had a thought, after the don't say gay stuff,
• 9:11
  Speaker 2: I think he would have learned to keep his mouth
• 9:13
  Speaker 2: shut at this You keep stepping in it, especially when
• 9:16
  Speaker 2: it comes to your employees. Shut up, man, what are
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: you doing? Right?
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: And it's just like so out of touch, So much
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: of it feels so out of touch and removed, like
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: he has no idea, what like people who don't make
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: millions of dollars.
• 9:32
  Speaker 2: Again, like he's gonna have to come back out where
• 9:34
  Speaker 2: like I was being insensitive, right, I think he's going
• 9:37
  Speaker 2: to affect you for real. I do have to ask,
• 9:39
  Speaker 2: did you know did you see the clip about from
• 9:42
  Speaker 2: The Nanny with friend Dresher, which she's she's somewhat problematic,
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: she's had a lot of issues, But did you see
• 9:47
  Speaker 2: that clip it? So there's a clip in The Nanny
• 9:52
  Speaker 2: where they are going to an event but the bus
• 9:56
  Speaker 2: boys and the servers were all on strike and she
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: comes out and you know her character. Have you ever
• 10:02
  Speaker 2: seen The Nanny now?
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: But I know what you're talking about. I know what
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: you're talking about.
• 10:06
  Speaker 2: Though I watched this. This is one part of my
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: children's programming with my parents. I didn't actually watch this,
• 10:11
  Speaker 2: but they come out and she's like, oh, no, I
• 10:13
  Speaker 2: can't go in there, and the and the rich dude
• 10:15
  Speaker 2: was like, oh, you're embarrassing me. We have to go in.
• 10:17
  Speaker 2: She's like, no, I made three rules and one of
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: them was that I would never cross the picket line.
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: And I was like, oh wow, So of course that's resurfaced,
• 10:24
  Speaker 2: and everybody's like saying, she's true to that because she
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: was one of the writers. Towards the end I believe
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: of the nanny mm hmm. So it well it felt
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: right on targets. I'm like, ah, look at her, I
• 10:36
  Speaker 2: look at her. Although technically I guess the SAG was
• 10:39
  Speaker 2: late to the game.
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: They already did. But you know, yeah, well a lot
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: of actors, like big name actors, are pressing like we
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: need to go on strike, we need to go and strike.
• 10:48
  Speaker 2: They were already at the picket line. I'm sure I'm
• 10:51
  Speaker 2: probably at me speaking, I'm guessing she was one of
• 10:53
  Speaker 2: the ones I was supporting w GAE to begin with.
• 10:57
  Speaker 2: But like, yeah, well I know Grena Garwig is a
• 11:01
  Speaker 2: big conversation right now because yes, she was a director,
• 11:03
  Speaker 2: but also she was a writer of it. So doing
• 11:06
  Speaker 2: all of the promotionals with people are like, was that
• 11:09
  Speaker 2: not scabbing?
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: M Yeah, it's complicated, especially because I know the director
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: is skilled. Is they've recently signed their contract, like there's one, Yes,
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: they're fine. But going back to that point you made
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: about the reality shows, so I knew, like even without
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: i'd heard rumors that TAG was gonna go on a strike,
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: and even without like getting the notice, I knew because
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: all of a sudden, I am still an actor in Georgia,
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: and george is a right to work state, which means
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: that you can't like not give someone a job if
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: they're not in a union. To get into SAG, you
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: have to have three SAG eligible projects, which can be
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: complicated in a right to work state. I only have two,
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: so I'm not even SAG eligible, which makes I mean,
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: you don't because so many people want to be an actor,
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: Like can't just be somebody who's like never acted, being
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: like right in here. But it is complicated in the
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: state like Georgia. I mean, it's competitive and complicated everywhere,
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: but in Georgia because it's the right work state. But
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: I knew the strike could happen because immediately I was
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: getting all these casting notices because I'm not on the union,
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: and also so many reality show notices, Like I had
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: to turn off my notifications.
• 12:25
  Speaker 2: It was ridiculous, really, so I was thinking, like, are
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: they going to bring them back? Reality shows which are
• 12:31
  Speaker 2: already in existence and probably gonna hit another all time highways.
• 12:36
  Speaker 2: Netflix has already jumped on board with that, but I
• 12:38
  Speaker 2: also wondered about, like, because Korean dramas and Asian dramas
• 12:41
  Speaker 2: are big. However, Netflix does have a contract with Studio Dragon,
• 12:46
  Speaker 2: which is one of the big studios in Korea. So
• 12:48
  Speaker 2: I wondered how that will affect because there was also
• 12:52
  Speaker 2: that conversation because on TikTok people are having a field
• 12:56
  Speaker 2: day on conversations of content creators and where they need
• 13:00
  Speaker 2: to stand and about scabbing and crossing the line, what
• 13:02
  Speaker 2: that looks like, and a lot of the content creators
• 13:05
  Speaker 2: want to be in the industry, and you're like, don't
• 13:06
  Speaker 2: do this because there's a strict rule and a notice
• 13:10
  Speaker 2: sent out by the president Fred Dresser, and then some
• 13:13
  Speaker 2: saying if you cross that line, you will never get
• 13:15
  Speaker 2: into SAG. Like that was very affirmative, like don't do this.
• 13:19
  Speaker 2: If you are someone who was non union and you
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: get contact by one of those companies that are struck
• 13:24
  Speaker 2: and you do it, you're gone. But all that to say, like,
• 13:28
  Speaker 2: there's all this conversation, and then there was an European woman,
• 13:32
  Speaker 2: I believe, I don't know where she was, but she
• 13:34
  Speaker 2: wasn't from the States, coming and promoting the Hunted mansion
• 13:40
  Speaker 2: and the carbo was empty, no one was there, so
• 13:43
  Speaker 2: I was very obvious this is during the strike. She
• 13:46
  Speaker 2: was bragging about being there, so excited.
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: And everybody's like, way to go, it's been three hours.
• 13:52
  Speaker 2: And you cross that line, and her trying to explain
• 13:53
  Speaker 2: but I'm not from the States, and they're like, yeah,
• 13:55
  Speaker 2: and you'll never work in the US now, Like if
• 13:57
  Speaker 2: you wanted to be a worker in the US with
• 14:00
  Speaker 2: prominent movies, you'll never be able to do so from
• 14:03
  Speaker 2: now on. I thought, wow, that is interesting. How does
• 14:05
  Speaker 2: that work internationally for things like this?
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: I believe SAG is international, especially in Europe. I thought
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: they were.
• 14:16
  Speaker 2: So it would cross over not just in the US,
• 14:18
  Speaker 2: Like would the strike happen in Europe because they have
• 14:20
  Speaker 2: different contracts?
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: Oh then yeah, that might be. That might be different.
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: And that's the thing that's like, you can go to
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: their website. They have FAQ's, they have like you can
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: email them if you have questions, because it can be
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: complicated in terms of what is struck and what is not.
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: They have a pretty clear, like one sheet you can
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: look at right now. But I don't know. I will say,
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: there's another thing that I saw that they were asking for,
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: which is less reliance on having to do self tapes,
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: which you've helped me with for auditions. So this is
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: basically where you either at your home or there's companies
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: that do it. You film your own audition, and the
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: problem with that is a lot of times you have
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: to pay for it, whether you go to a company
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: and they do it for you, or you do it
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: at home, because then you might need equipment or you
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: might need something. Because the joke is, and I don't
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: think it's a joke, but within two to three seconds,
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: the casting director's decided whether they're going to hire you
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: or not, especially if they don't know if you're not
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: a big time actor, so I it's like immediately your
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: sound quality is not good, then they just you're out.
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: So that's essentially having to pay to maybe have a
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: job you probably won't get. So that is one thing
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: that I noticed. I was like, oh, yeah, uh huh.
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: Here's a quote from Box. There's also one actor specific
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: demand that Guild wants to put limits on the use
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: of self tape auditions, where an actor performs a scene
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: on their own time and sends a video of it
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: to producers, which they call a massive, daily uncompensated burden
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: on the lives of performers. And it's true, you could
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: get a casting notice and it's due in an hour
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: and you have to pay for it, and it's like
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: that doesn't give you any time to prepare. It's just
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: not good. It's not good for everybody, and it'll sudden
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: like your whole day is around this, like I have
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: to do this now. If you don't turn in an audition,
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: you can get penalized for that as well. Another thing
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: residual checks very sad. There's a whole bar in La.
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: I don't know if it's still there, but it's like
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: they pay you. It's you come in with your residual
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: check and if it's like seven cents, which sometimes it is,
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: then they like they put that somehow involved in your drink.
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: They like take it off or something, or maybe you
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: get a free drink if it's under a certain price.
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: If anybody remembers let me know.
• 16:43
  Speaker 2: Surely be free. That's just me seven cents. Yeah, because
• 16:47
  Speaker 2: of the higher you get, they'll less you would get.
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: Right right now, I think it's a if it's under
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: a certain amount, it's a free drink and you show
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: your check. But yeah, it's like really really again, you
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: don't people think, especially with actors, because people think once
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: you make it as an actor, sure, but for most
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: working actors. There's a reason why the running like understanding
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: of them is that they have a job as a waiter. Also,
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: so your checks are also really inconsistent when they arrive,
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: so you can't plan around it.
• 17:19
  Speaker 2: Well, did you see the comment. I'm sure there's been
• 17:22
  Speaker 2: articles about The Orange the New Black actress who was
• 17:26
  Speaker 2: in more than like forty episodes maybe maybe around like
• 17:30
  Speaker 2: it was definitely like thirty or more episodes of all
• 17:32
  Speaker 2: the episodes, and this is kind of did launch streaming
• 17:36
  Speaker 2: like new The Oranges and the New Black really began
• 17:38
  Speaker 2: a whole thing. She made like seventy two cents in
• 17:43
  Speaker 2: one year for her entire war, Like it was like
• 17:46
  Speaker 2: what and she was she was in there constantly with
• 17:52
  Speaker 2: speaking lines and she still made that little yeah yeah.
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: So I think that's a big, really big misconception, especially
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: for things like that, where you know, we've talked about
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: this before, but when streaming was new, you didn't know
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: to ask, like, you didn't know how it looked like.
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: And that's who was getting the problem exactly. And as
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: I said earlier, because of streaming, making one check that
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: has to last you for maybe two years because you
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: don't know when you're going to get your next project,
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: because that's just how streaming works. And then as I
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: mentioned too, there's been a lot of discussion around the
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: impact on single parents, often who are women who can't
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: not have a steady income, like they just can't and
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: so that's forcing people out. Pregnancyed discrimination. Also, a lot
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: of people talked about like they felt like they didn't
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: get a job because they were pregnant. And as I said,
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: I would argue that securing fair conversation is at heart
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: an intersectional feminist issue. There are other things on top
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: of that that definitely elevate it. All of these conditions
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: are worse for women, for people of color, for queer people.
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: Here's a quote, women, women of color and LGBTQ plus
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: people have the least access to writing jobs, and the
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: financial procarity of the work could mean that they have
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: to leave the industry altogether. And here's another one. Up
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: until now, the share of underrepresented writers has been growing
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: in the industry. Women make up about forty five percent
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: of all TV series writers, people of color make up
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: about thirty seven percent, women of color twenty one percent,
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: and LGBTQ plus people are nearly twelve percent. According to
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: the Writers Guild of America's twenty twenty two Equity and
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: Inclusion Report, but there is still ample room for improvement.
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: Writers with disabilities are only about two percent of TV
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: series writers, and women and people of color are underrepresented
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: as a share of the population. According to the WGA,
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: the share of writers working at minimum pay is up
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: from thirty three percent a decade ago to nearly half today,
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: as the medium pay for writer producers has fallen by
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: twenty three percent when adjusted for inflation. Yeah, so it's
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: getting worse like that, there's more representation, but the pay
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: is worse, which is still There's also been a lot
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: to talk about many rooms. You've probably heard of this,
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: but this came up a lot with streaming. This is
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: where a bunch of people get in the small room
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: and try to work on a project that maybe you
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: will go nowhere, and so that's like your time wasted
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: and maybe it we'll go somewhere, but you'll never get
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: any credit for it. And this because of more women,
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: more people of color, more queer people, all of that
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: are in the industry, but because of these mini rooms,
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: they're not getting the same connections that they would, which
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: means you're just not going to get as far because
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: it is a big connection based industry. So that's been
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: churning up a lot of discussion around nepotism, generational wealth,
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: and it's just sort of a self fulfilling cycle and yeah,
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: that idea that you should be so grateful that you
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: even got this chance, or like stop complaining. Here's a
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: quote from Gene Wong, co chair of the WGA's Committee
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: of Women Writers. The studios have been profitable every year,
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: but writer wages have gone down every year, and the
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: pay for women and especially women of color, are still
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: the lowest. On top of that, making writing a sustainable
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: career is paramount for women who still face sexism and
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: agism the most as mothers and are still forced out
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: of the workplace, and that all impacts genuine representation the
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: stories that are getting told from WMCE. Lower level writers
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: also report resistance with respect to storytelling on controversial topics
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: like abortion, according to researchers at the University of California
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: at San Francisco. So that's what's going on with the strikes,
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: and I'm sure we'll have more to say. Well, update,
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: I didn't want to do a quick rundown on something
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: that happened at the Emmys, which will be rescheduled if
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: strikes are ongoing. They're already talking about rescheduling it, so
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: as you know, I was ect I did. The Last
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: of Us got twenty four Emmy nominations, but it caused
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: some conversation about the gendering of categories and the fact
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: that there's no non binary category because Bella Ramsey, who
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: plays Ellie and The Last of Us recently revealed their
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: gender fluid identity and expressed their hope for the Emmys
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: to be more exclusive with gender neutral nominations and categories,
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: and describe the process for submitting as uncomfortable. This is
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: not the first time someone spoken out about it. Some
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: non binary people opt out to be nominated at all
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: because of this. Here's someone's reaction on Twitter after the
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: nomination was announced Best Actress for an openly non binary
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: person who wore a binder of the entire filming ha
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: ha ha ha. Sick and showrunner Craig Mason told Variety quote,
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: on the one hand, the conversation about gender has transformed
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: dramatically and in a very progressive and positive way. On
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: the other, we have to practically make sure that by
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: moving away from gendered categories. We don't shortchange tradition overlooked folks,
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: and we know that in non gendered categories like directing
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: and writing, women have been historically underappreciated. I don't know
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: the answer, but I have every expectation that non binary
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: performers will soon be recognized in the respectful and appropriate
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: way they deserve. And so Kaleider had a whole article
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: about this. Here's a quote. Mason noted the fact that
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: the prizes without gender segregation, especially directing awards, are won
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: disproportionately by men. No woman won the Best Directing prize
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: in the oscars first eighty years, only three to one
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: in the fifteen years since. On the other hand, they said,
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: the Grammys did away with the gender distinction and Vocal
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: Awards over a decade ago, to so little fanfare it's
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: been all but forgotten. The TV Critics Association Awards have
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: always been genderless. The ANTV Movie Awards dropped at gendered
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: acting awards back in twenty seventeen. Two of the biggest
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: awards shows for independent films, the Spirit Awards and the
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: Gotham Awards, have both dropped their gendered categories in recent
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: years to find that women are more represented in these
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: categories than men. So there's a lot of proposed solutions
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: ways to do this better that Collider outlried. If you
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: want to look it up, it is really really interesting.
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: I will also say this goes back to what we were
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: talking about of you know this many percent of directing
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: awards are men. Then it's also a problem of who's
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: getting those directing jobs for what projects?
• 24:22
  Speaker 2: Anyway, And I wonder how much chest to do with money, Like,
• 24:25
  Speaker 2: because you to we've hard all the money that's being
• 24:28
  Speaker 2: spent to be in a category.
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: So yes, that is true. And here's another quote from
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: Collider that kind of relates to that. If award shows
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: one is to grant four discrete acting awards, they can
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: there's no reason these four must be gendered. Getting out
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: an award each year to a breakout actor is an
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: option the Spirit Awards implemented in their first gender free
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: acting year. That award went to Stephanie Zue for her
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: role in Everything, Everywhere, All at Once. Screen acting awards
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: can take a page from SAG and grant awards for
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: ensemble performances. Other solutions to a gender dilemma in awards
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: include expanding genre based awards beyond drama and comedy. Anything
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: dealing with genres can be sticky. See the White Load
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: is classified by the Emmys as a drama and The
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: Bear as a comedy, for example, and genre trends are fickle.
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: I often think this. Sometimes I'll see like awards and
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: it's in comedy, and I'm like, really.
• 25:20
  Speaker 2: I also think it's funny when it's comedy and a musical.
• 25:22
  Speaker 2: I'm like, right, yeah, it wasn't.
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: Nope, like in comedy musical. There was one where I
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: was like, I don't know about that.
• 25:30
  Speaker 2: I was like, wait, that was a full on like
• 25:34
  Speaker 2: Lala land. Yeah, that's a drama right, Like I'm like, how.
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: It is it? Okay? Cool? Yeah? No, I've long been
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: confused by that. So there has been movement about it,
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: and this has sparked conversation about it. So we'll see
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: what happens. But in the meantime, that's kind of our rap.
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: Oh no, I didn't mean to make myself lap on
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: what's going on. That was really intentional. I'm kind of embarrassed.
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: But if anyone I know, we have some people we
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: know we work with who are at the picket line
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: with their signs. If anyone is involved, please let us
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: know if you have any thoughts about it as well.
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: You can email us a Stepania mom Stuff at iHeartMedia
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: dot com. You can find us on Twitter at mom
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: Stuff podcast, or on Instagram and TikTok at Stuff I've
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: Never Told You. You can also check out our tea
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: public site. We have merchandise on there. You can pre
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: order our book and stuff You should read books dot
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: com or on Audible for the audio book. Thanks as
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: always to our super producer Christina, our executive producer Maya,
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: and our contributor Joey. Thank you and thanks to you
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: for listening. Stuff I've Never Told You is production of iHeartRadio.
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: For more podcasts on my heart Radio, you can check
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: out the art radio app Apple Podcasts wherever you listen
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: to your favorite shows.