Hollywood Writers Strike:
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1. Who is Currently Striking?
- Writers
- Actors
2. What is the Core Issues That They Want Resolved?
- Threat of AI, which can replace writers by producing scripts
- Low pay, with 87% of the SAG members earning less than $26,000 a year from SAG-related jobs
- Writers are not holding jobs for very long, as shows are being made in advance, with shorter and shorter seasons; almost gig-like
-Residuals from shows
3. How Would This Tie Into an Ownership (and Technology) Essay?
Conglomerates, being such large corporations, often with many subsidiary production companies, have much content which has been produced in advance. Thus, for the time being, they do not have to give in to the demands of the writers, which would ultimately cost more money. In addition to this, they are able to use AI to take over the jobs of these people, cutting out the need for wages and benefits at all. Thus, majority of these writers are at the mercy of these companies, and will struggle to find jobs. This could lead to more and more content being produced, as there are no labour restrictions for technology, but they will likely be lower-quality, as it is not human-generated, and as this technology is still in its early stages. If one of the Big 5, Disney for example, were to only use AI to generate content, their streaming service, Disney+, would no longer have to pay residuals to actors and writers, although this would make little difference as the prices for these are rather small and insignificant.