Recapping the WGA/SAG-AFTRA Strike from the Start in July, 2023

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Episode Transcript

(00:01):
Sir, I'm detecting a subspace message. I'll put it on speakers. Subspace
dare to wonder. Welcome to MarkWho forty twos universe. Here on Subspace
Radio Network. We have blasts fromthe past, not too long ago.
This actually aired in July, sowhat is it two two and a half

(00:24):
months ago. The reason we're doingthis is because we wanted to talk or
at least recap the WGA sag afterstrike that's still going on in Hollywood.
The Writers Guild and the Screen ActorsGuild are still striking this It started at
the beginning of July and that wereported on it, I think on July

(00:48):
twenty fourth, So we figured thatre airingness is important because it talks about
the strike and talks about the showsthat are not happening in the movies.
And if you think about it,this week should be the start of the
TV season. Well, some thingsare starting, but not really what they
wanted. So let's go. Hereis Marco forty twos universes look at the

(01:11):
w g A sag after strike fromthe start of July twenty three and Kevin
Sullivan one of the essays in ChickStage Time Lords and you're listening to MARKO
forty two. Welcome to MARKO fortytwos universe here on Subspace Radio Network.

(01:56):
And I'd like to put a shoutout to Florida geek Scene the key Cast
Radio Networks as well, because we'reon there as well. Okay, my
name is Mark bound Garden. Withme today are Dwardo. I'm Fryer.
Good news, good news. Idon't have to skip this episode because of
certain protests. I know what you'retalking about. We'll get to that in

(02:20):
a minute. Who else do wehave? Vicky Jacobski? Hi, Vicky?
Hey, Hey, so what's goingon? Ah? Same old,
same old. It's way too hotand there's way too much work on my
desk. Yeah, you know,we're doing another one of those Markus seventy
seven things this week. I heardpromise. I'll be awake for it.
That's good. Tell everyone what Marcusseventy seven is. Marcus seventy seven is

(02:45):
a wonderful congloberate of US and theseventy seven publications in the UK where we
get to chit chat with some amazingcomic book artists and writers and editors and
just have a good old time.Yeah, and you can find that at
YouTube dot com, slash at theseventy seven publications. Okay, we got

(03:09):
that self spotifying uh thing there?Who else? Who else? Do we
have? What? I don't knowwhat I thought this was a family show.
Rewind to Okay, where was it? I believe we were trying to

(03:29):
contribute talking about the what was it? Zion? And what's your name?
Zion? What can't you figure out? Okay? Oh, we're having too
much fun, too much. Wegotta have some fun. Yeah, it's
the only way to survive this world. Yes, yeah, I agree,

(03:50):
And you know there are some peoplethat are not having fun, that are
really uh trying to get something seriousdone. That's today's topic. We're talking
about the strike, the w gA and the s A G f A
F t r A strikes. SAG, Yes, Screen Actress Guild SAG SAG

(04:11):
SAG after. That's how we don'tsay by the words yeah, w g
A, it's okay, it's alittle it's a yeah, it's a little
w g A. It's a littlehard to say bug. Yeah. But
SAG SAG afterra is SAG after okay, which stands for the Screen Actress Guild

(04:35):
American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. Yeah, yes, good for you.
You can got something right. SoEd Ed is the closest person here
that ever got one. So let'slet Ed run the show. The card.
Ed, Yeah I did. Iworked as an extra in a lot

(04:55):
of TV and film when I wasliving in Florida, So I am.
I am somewhat knowledgeable, but basicallyyeah, almost. Well, first of
all, the WGA got the ballrolling. They're the ones that that started
striking first, and as of Augustthey will be on strike for three months.

(05:18):
SAG it was only recently that SAGalso, you know, they were
they were negotiating as well, andthey're also basically like, okay, we're
going on strike right now. Okay. The thing the thing about that,
the thing about that is it's there'sreally two things that are at the heart

(05:40):
of why both these and these arestriking. Thing one is residuals payments.
You know, that's the that's especiallybecause now in the era of streaming,

(06:00):
you know, this has you know, this has become a problem because you
know, you have street you know, you have streaming services and studios saying
oh we made this much on youknow, this particular show, you know,
or this particular film, and thewriters and actors are not really seeing
you know, they're not really seeingthat much. Uh. The other thing

(06:25):
is AI. There's a lot ofyou know, it's it's something that yeah,
you know, there's studios talking aboutusing AI and then basically you know,
saying hey, you know, wecan use this, we can have
this computer do this job. Thatthat is something I do want to touch
on first because it hits close tohome with what I was doing as a

(06:50):
you know, when I was actingdown in Florida, I did a lot
of extra work. I was onyou know, I did I did freaking
you know, I did burn Notice, I did movies, you know,
I did all this stuff and basicallywhat Okay, So one of the deals,
you know, one of one ofthe ideas that studios put out when

(07:13):
you know, during these negotiations wasthat you work as an you know,
you work as background talent on anything, and without your permission and without your
knowledge, they can scan you keepthe scan in a database and then use
it whenever. So, Mark,what's like, Mark, what's one of
your favorite TV shows right now?Right now, right now, Star Trek,

(07:40):
New Worlds, Strange, New World. Okay. Let's say you are
an extra strange New worlds. Okay, you go to work, they scan
your image and you know, youjust get paid for that one day,
right, But later on you seeyourself again in the background, not even
strange New world Right. You couldbe watching an episode of NCIS and then

(08:03):
all of a sudden you see yourselfin the you know, in the background,
and it's like, wait a minute, I never didn't CIS and I
haven't seen a dime of it,didn't Something like that happen with Misha Collins,
who was Castile on Supernatural and HarveyDent on Gotham Knights. He posted
that there was this commercial for somethingand in the background was him and he

(08:28):
had never done that commercial. Yeah, yeah, yeah he did. He
posted that on Twitter. You know, that's at the you know, and
actually that does you know. I'mgoing to use that as a segue,
because here's the thing, extras,Okay, anybody watching this was in the
industry. You know, if I'mmaking a full paw talking out of you

(08:52):
know, talking out of you know, telling tales out of school, I
apologize, But I think that inorder for the layman's to understand and why
this is so important, This needsto be said. When I was working
as an extra, the average Iwas making per day was one hundred dollars

(09:13):
and that's before taxes, before beforethe cut that goes to my agent.
After taxes an agent cut, theaverage would be around ninety. So that
should tell you something. You know, if you're working non union, you
are making you know, somewhere aroundone hundred bucks a day, which means
if you really want to earn,like, if you really want to earn

(09:37):
some serious money, you have toconstantly be working. You have to constantly
be looking, you know, youhave to constantly look for what's available.
Take stuff, because that's the thingyou're not gonna you know. The thing.
The thing. One of the thingswith the strike that needs to be
understood, especially when it comes toSAG AFTERRA, is that this is not

(09:58):
millionaires versus millionaires. This isn't millionaireactors you know who who party in LA
all the time seeking to get anotherextra million, versus the millionaire studio owners.
That's not it. It's a lotof actors, a lot of actors,
even people who aren't background, evenpeople that you would be surprised to

(10:22):
like to know you know, evenpeople that you'd be surprised about if they
do not earn that much. Somebodysaid in an article, you know,
we joke, we joke. They'rea bunch of actors that are Hey,
it's that guy. Yep. Yeah, here's the thing about that guy.
Actors do you know why they showup all over the place because they everything

(10:48):
they have to they have to youdon't they don't earn enough to be able
to do, you know, tobe able to do you know, to
do less. You know, thethe idea because I know that like for
example, you know there's tales abouthow George Clooney and his wife bought an
island off Italy. Yeah, he'sthe luck He's one of the few lucky

(11:09):
ones. There are very few actors, a very small percentage exactly exactly a
lot of actors. It's acting.Here's the thing. Acting and writing our
feast or famine type gig jobs.You always have to be writing. You
always have to be acting. Youknow, you have to work. There's

(11:31):
okay, there's a very something.You know, something that I've seen mentioned
in a couple of articles is there'san actress, Kimico Glenn. She was
on Orange is the New Black,And one of the stories that she has
brought out is that there were actorsworking on the show, which was supposed

(11:54):
to be making huge numbers and moneyfor Netflix. It was like the number
one show on Netflix, right.There were actors who had to take a
cab to the set. There wereactors who still had a second job.
Yes, yeah, yeah, okay, they still had a second job and

(12:18):
they're working on what is supposed tobe this hitch show yea, you know,
and they still had to work asecond job and the thing. And
you know, there was an actresswho was actually quoted as saying she spent
money to be on the show becauseshe had to fly out to you know,
two sets. You know. Theonly reason she didn't freak about that

(12:41):
is because she was, you know, she thought it was an honor to
be on the show. You know, it's not you know, as it's
not you know, this is notthe whole the whole idea of like AI,
you know, and using AI.It's frightening because it's like, this
is taking jobs away from people.This is taking you know, this is
taking work away from people who coulduse it. You know, the old

(13:03):
model back when I was acting,it was you made your money from residuals,
whether it was commercials or TV shows, and then it would play again,
and there were rules and there werethings in the contracts about that,
because you know, a typical actorin the late eighties early nineties might make
twenty thousand dollars a year if theyhad a couple of good commercials and they

(13:26):
were getting the residuals of the constantplay of those commercials. But you know,
the model from I'm sorry that wasa while ago now, guys,
doesn't work because there's so many differentmediums. You've got streaming, you've got
the AI threat, and you knowthe fact that you still weren't making much

(13:48):
money back then. Nowadays you wouldmake nothing with the new model and the
new reality. And it just it'sfrustrating looking at that because my job now,
I get paid for the work Ido, and I get paid for
over time, and I get paidfor anything, you know, I mean

(14:09):
that you actually get paid for it, and you get paid well sometimes depending
on the job. And with actors, it's so such a low base.
Yeah, And here's the thing.It's funny you bring up residuals because let's
talk about that for a second.I have a tweet by Denise Crosby m

(14:31):
tashare from tashi are from next hit. It's a tweet, and she showed
off the residual check she got froman appearance on the show Ray Donovan.
A grand total of residuals she gotfrom this one check. Take a guess,
Mark, take a guess how muchyou think she got on the residual

(14:52):
mhm h five cents? No,slightly higher? How much you think?
Slightly higher? Zion? How muchdo you think she got? Three dollars?
Look too high? I thought so, I knew? Okay, Vicky,
how much you think she got?Buck fifty? Still too high?

(15:15):
Twelve? Mark? Okay in thisparticular in this particular round of prices,
right, Mark got the closest withoutgoing Yes, the grand total, the
grand total four residuals for one episodeof Ray Donovan on Showtime twenty one and

(15:35):
oh, because my second choice wastwelve. I was still under you were
you would still be under you stillwhen you think about how big that show
was and is. It's still apopular streamed show, which means that her
episode has probably been been seen frequentlyenough that she probably earned more than twelve

(15:56):
cents, but yeah, yeah,one. And here's the thing, because
I'm thinking, like how much howmuch effort, how much effort goes into
printing that check and mailing that check, Probably more than what the check is
worth. It's in it, andit's insane. It's freaking insane that you

(16:18):
know, this is the residual youget. I mean, you know,
it's it just uh, it's likeit's like you laugh, you know,
I think, I think I didsee where somebody got I forget who it
was, but they did get likeI think double digits in residuals. And
it's like, wow, you lucky, You're really lucky, because you know,

(16:41):
it's like wow, man, youknow, and it tells you that
there's something broken because it used toget residual checks were because like to look
at something that's in heavy rotation syndication. I'm thinking about the various Star Treks,
the Original Mission, Impossible. God, there's so many shows, every

(17:03):
sitcom from the seventies, eighties,and nineties constant rotation on TV channels,
and so you would have actors whomay have retired, but they're still getting
a couple of thousand dollars every fewmonths. Or so from the residuals sometimes
more if they were in a lotof shows. If you were in every
freaking show in the seventies and there'sa few actors who were, you know,

(17:26):
you could be out a living.But oh yeahcuse, that's not the
model of how people watch TV anymore. That's not how people would see you
actually hit the nail right on thehead with That's the biggest problem and the
reason why both you know, bothactors and writers are striking right now,

(17:48):
yep, because you know, becauseit's like, here's the thing. You
have the model, but the modelhasn't evolved, right take into account streaming.
There was a writer or strike backin like two thousand and six,
two thousand and seven, Yeah,was the two thousand and eight or it
was in the two thousands. Iknow it was around around that time.
But it basically it you know,it shut down Hollywood for like, you

(18:14):
know, it snarled Hollywood for threemonths about what we're reaching now with the
writers strike itself. And it wasabout that. It was about the fact
that you know, the model isn'tevolving. You know, this was this
was now where you know, it'slike streaming wasn't the thing. It was
back in oh six, you know, back in the two thousands. But

(18:36):
you know, you were starting toget into you know, they're starting to
get into models that are very difficultto track. You know, we're talking
about tracking. You know, we'retalking about you know, it's one thing
to have a Nielsen house, youknow with the little box. Right.
Uh, you don't going to tellme that Netflix does not know every time

(18:56):
someone has dropped episode two three one, Orange is the New Black, They
know every single time that episode hasbeen watched. Yeah, yeah, no,
it's it's I mean, the theidea is that it's difficult better data
than we would have under the Nielsenbecause not just not just an umbrella kind

(19:17):
of thing, right yep, Andyou don't and you don't need to you
don't need to sign up your houseand get like a little box. Yes,
sorry question. Yeah, so weknow that that based off that we
based on what we were talking aboutthat the actors are are we getting paid
this amount of money? But wheredoes this lead lead the actors because I

(19:40):
mean the writers, because this doesn'tjust affect the actors, It all affects
the writers. Writers would also wehave to deal with yeah, but here's
yeah, but here's but there's adifferent ab into it. Like you can't
replace on a Schwartzenegger for example,right, but you could replace Dan the
person that wrote Terminator four and justsay okay, chat chat GBT, give

(20:07):
me Cominator four and it'll write it. Okay, do it again. I'll
do it again, do it again. There it is. We're stopping we're
stopping people from just getting rid ofwriters altogether, because first of all,
it's not as good. Yeah youknow I meant, but it won't be

(20:30):
a Terminator one for now, Yeah, exactly. Its infancy and that's why
we're having this battle because if wehad this battle like ten years from now,
there wouldn't be a battle because dudwell. But most people think AI
and AI writing is in its infancy. It's actually been around for years,
and it was only used at theuniversity level, so people were not aware

(20:53):
of it. It's been around fordecades. I remember when I got my
first degree, and that was morethan a few decades ago, and that
was a real thing, but itwas only a select number a few people
could have access to it. Thereality is is that AI has so far
over four decades not managed to writethings well. And I actually heard someone

(21:15):
describe it best. One day,we're gonna find out that every time they
do one of those AI requests andhave something right it, there's actually someone
on the other end and typing awaycuriously. Well, it's like it's like
it becomes you know, there's likea joke where like, you know,
I've seen it on on social media, like on Facebook and on Twitter,

(21:37):
where it's like, oh, Ifelt, you know, I asked this
computer to write a script for this, and it just comes off as this
like goblty book. Yeah, youknow, it's it just comes off as
this weird, nonsensical thing. Andit's like, you know, on the
one hand, it you know,this might be one of those things where
it's like careful how you laugh becauseyou know, you know there might be

(22:00):
stuff in there that can that youknow, it's not that goofy. But
also it's like this is what youknow. It's it's like when people say
the moon landing was fake, it'slike, have you looked at special effects
in the late sixties really looked.It's like it's like, you know,
the other thing is you know,and then that's the thing, you know,

(22:21):
I mean AI. You know,it's like it's not you know it,
We're not at Skynet taking over Hollywoodyet, but it's still something feel
like it is, and they're usingit against us. Yeah, and they're
trying to you know, and it'sall in the thing of you know,
just oh well, you know,if the writer's a gonna we'll just use
the say I. It's like,uh huh, you notice none of them

(22:45):
have yep. I notice. Wellit also kind of helps because and none
of them have ye yep. It'sactually I would love to have this can
say sho like five ten years fromnow, because like a AO, a
big difference all about what we weuh we just talked about about what Viki

(23:12):
brought up with with the years aboutAI. That's absolutely correct. But the
thing is that now we are technically, at least how I see it,
in a cultural boom right now,AI is the theme. Now everyone's eyes
are set on AI. For whateverreason it is. It may be,

(23:33):
now it is the thing. Andusually how that works is that it's like
how how computers worked. We havecomputers since the sixth season, and we've
had this climb and then we hadlike the super process are booming them boom.
Now we are just climbing out outout of the roof. So again
I we have to see how fastthe technology progresses. And I'm I'm just

(24:00):
glad we're having this battle now becausewho has to say, five five years
from now, it's not running becauseI am. I will give you an
example. Someone explained it Ai andit was pretty much you having monkeys,
right, and you keep telling themonkey to write Shakespeare, and you keep

(24:22):
reading the monkey all the way.I'm telling you get Shakespeare. So then
that's what's trying to say. Eventuallyyou're going to get the writer more.
Well, that's the less It's justone program and it may take like thirty
years, but eventually you will getthe writer. Guys, I gotta stop.
I gotta stop you here. Igotta stop you here because the monkey

(24:44):
and the control booths telling me thatwe have to take a break the window.
Yes. Yes, so we'll beright back with more of Mark Who
forty universe here on subspace radio atwork. Don't don't Mark after this,

(25:08):
uh stand by Houston Way are receivingsignals from subspace. You are listening to
Mark Who forty twos universe Welcome backto more of Mark Who forty twos universe
here on Subspace Radio Network. I'myour host Mark Baumgarden with me today or
EDWARDO. M. Fryar, VickyJakobowski and Zion Kiris, and we are

(25:32):
talking about this strike, the wg A sag after combo strike. I
just want to let you get it. He said it correctly, did it
exactly, He did it very well. The WGA strike started on Monday,
me first uh this year, twentytwenty three, sometime in the late afternoon,

(25:52):
early evening on the And here's thething, you know, you see,
it doesn't affect you know, maybeit doesn't act you. I think
everything here is affecting. You see. I get my news from Colbert and
The Daily Show. And on Mondaynight they had already recorded the shows before

(26:15):
the strike hit. So I'm watchingThe Daily Show and Dulta Sloan is getting
her first guest host appearance. Everyonethis season has been getting four shots.
She got one, and that's it, poor Dulcha. But so it's not
even us. It's suffering. Butyou know, I don't get they stopped

(26:36):
doing all the late night talk showsbecause people write those they're not just ad
lib. Now. I think duringthe last writers strike, Letterman started doing
some mad living and came backers.I don't know, I don't remember correctly,
but and also I remember that Lettermanpaid the writers their salaries during it.

(26:56):
Yeah, MED, CBS conrom theirsalaries. But yeah, but we
have the viewers. We're gonna missout on a lot of things or a
lot of things that are canceled.They can't film things like that, and
we're gonna let ed take it away. You know. One of the most
high profile things now that the actorsaren't strikes Deadpool three. Yeah it you
know, it was filming. Theyhad just announced, you know, they've

(27:18):
just shown a picture of Qugh Jackmanas Wolverine. They had just announced that
Jennifer Garner was going to be reprisingthe role of Electra and yeah she you
know, And now that that thingsshut down, a lot of stuff is
just shut down. I know thatI know that there are a couple of

(27:40):
shows that are still going that arenot they're not shut down. The thing
is, though, is it allhas to do with where the production is
based and what kind of talent they'reusing. For example, Doctor who is

(28:02):
not affected by the strike because that'sa British production. It is not you
know, the members are not.You know, sag After has nothing to
do with Doctor Who. Now,of course, you know, if an
actor is you know, if likean actor is sag aftro whether or not
they can go to Doctor Who,I don't know. So you know,

(28:26):
if you wanted like Susan Sarandon asthe as the Ronnie, I don't know
how that would work, you know, I don't know if that would work
or not. Also, House ofDragon, I believe still kept going even
after the writer's strike. I knowthat there's a couple of shows that decided
to just you know, a coupleof things that decided to keep going even
with the writer's strike. They're justnot gonna have a writer on set.

(28:49):
I know that Deadpool three had startedwhile the writers strike was going on,
and that what they did was itjust meant you know, because he's considered
a writer on the movie, RyanReynolds couldn't do as much improvisation as he
had in the past. Now,I want to say something what a lot

(29:11):
of people who are listening may notknow when you're making a television or a
movie, and you know, they'rethey're filming it. That doesn't mean the
writer's done. He has there's rewritesthere, so you have to stop the
production if there's a strike because thewriter is not gonna do anymore rewriting.
And you know, there's always athing And you're right, Ryan Reynolds the

(29:33):
ad libbing that because he's a writer, he's you know, yeah, it's
considered. Yeah, it's considered partof his job. So uh yeah,
they you know, he can't hecan't do it. Yeah, he can't
do it, which is you know, I mean, it's unfortunate because that's
one of the things that made Firstto Deadpool movies, so, you know,

(29:59):
so popular. But you know,it's this is where we're at,
you know, I mean, it'sI know, but yeah, I know
that a couple of things, theyare just going to do it without the
writer, which means it's just goingto have to be what's on the script.
And it's like, you know,that could be that could potentially be
a problem because then you know,you don't have you know, you don't

(30:22):
have the writer there. But youknow, it's like if they think,
if they think that's what they needto do, it's like, okay,
go for it, but don't youknow, don't be don't be shocked if
the product comes out not as good. I know, you know, I
know that. One of the thingsalso is that the you know, I

(30:45):
know that the right you know,the strike, as far as SAG is
concerned, it does affect what,you know, it has an effect beyond
just actors not acting. For example, you can't promote, you know,
you can't promote anything. So like, for example, we have okay,

(31:08):
great example, the movie Oppenheimer cameout this past weekend. At the premiere
itself, the premiere itself was goingon when the strike was announced. The
principal cast walked out in the middleof the premiere. It's like, well,

(31:29):
we're striking, we can't do this, and they walked out. So,
you know, like for example,November, we have the Captain Marvel's
sequel, The Marvel's coming out.If the strike is still going by that
time, the stars are not goingto be out there for it. Right.

(31:52):
Something that's going on right now aswe record this is Comic Con,
and you know, usually it's thisbig thing. You know, people come
to hall age and you have starscoming out and you know, all that
stuff that's not this year, youknow, before before Comic Con even was,

(32:14):
you know, before Comic Con evenstarted. Uh, you know,
in the weeks, you know,the weeks, and so you had major
studios who were like, like,for example, Marvel did not have a
hall Age presence this year, andthat was before the sac strike. Uh.
You know, there were other studiosthat pulled out and we're like,
yeah, no, we're not goingto do this, do this now.

(32:35):
And part of it is you don'thave a you know, you don't have
an actor there to be like,yeah, I love making this movie.
You can't wait for you guys tosee it. I was reading an article
that Warner Brothers is considering actually pushingback the date for Dune in Chapter two

(32:57):
the next year. Yeah. Wow, you need to average because you need
to promote that, you know.Yeah, yeah, well that's the thing.
Yeah, they're you know, they'reworry is that if things aren't solved
by the time the movie comes out, or even you know, or even
like beforehand, that they're not goingto have anything. You know, studios
right now. It's it's strange becauseit's like studios right now are scrambling because

(33:21):
it's like, Okay, how arewe going to you know, we have
some big seasons coming out, youknow, into the years. Usually when
all the is usually when all theOscar you know worthy stuff comes out,
you know, there's going to bea point where it's like they're not going
to have anything to to put out. I honestly think that Warner Brothers is

(33:44):
making a mistake thinking about pushing uhDune in chapter two back, because all
you're doing is you put all thiseffort into advertising it for a late twenty
three release and then pushing it backbecause oh, well, you know,
we want to be able to haveuh you know, we want to be
able to show stuff off. It'slike, okay, you're not winning any

(34:07):
fans that way. Somebody I wantto bring up because I'm very disappointed in
what they said, and especially likethe where and when they said it.
Just I think right when the strikewas starting, or just before Bob Iger,

(34:27):
CEO of Disney, he went onhe went on record and said,
I think that they're being ridiculed.You know, they're you know, they're
not thinking, you know, they'rethey're being what was it? What was
it exactly? He said? Whatwas the word unrealistic? Unrealistic? You
know, their demands are unrealistic.And it's like and then the other thing

(34:52):
is he said this during a gatheringof like you know, of like multimillion
dollars CEOs, you know, somethinglike this. You know, like I've
heard, you know, I've heardpeople derogatory really call it like a you
know, rich people's summer camp.And it's like it's like, first off,

(35:16):
I mean, first off, it'sjust it's it's it's a hot mess
because it's like, okay, numberone, you know, you're saying this
the people who we've already said,are you know, working, you know,
are basically working, you know,working hand to mouth, uh,
you know, having to work likeyou know, constantly to keep you know,

(35:38):
as my as my dad would say, keep the wolf at bay.
And you're saying they're unrealistic. Yeah, they're being unrealistic. You know.
The other thing is saying it whileyou're in this gathering, this you know,
this rich people gathering. I haveto ask It's like, iger,

(36:00):
are you thinking straight? Like rememberwas it I think it was Marie Antoinette
who said let them eat take andshe's talking about Parisians starving in the streets
while she's in Yeah, while she'sin Versailles. It's like, stop and
think. You know, I'm notsaying that people are gonna come with pitchforks

(36:23):
and torches to like, you know, to the Disney offices. But this
is basically you are being you know, if anybody can like send this message
to Bob Iger, you are beinglike Marie Antoinette right now. Yes,
you know, you are just basicallyyou're not reading the room. You know.

(36:44):
I don't know. Maybe there aresome people who agree with Eisner,
but I know a bunch of peoplewho are like, so, you know,
shut the plucking up, you know, like you don't you know that
when you when you think actors,when you think writers, everyone's thinking oh,

(37:04):
Hollywood, glamor well, the dayand day out drive and the life
of an They may love it,but it's still a job and you're still
doing what you want to do.You want to be able to work,
you want to be able to doyour job, and you want to be
paid. It's the same as whatwe've seen during the pandemic, when people

(37:30):
were like, you know what,I don't have to put up with crap
jobs anymore. I can go outand get a better job, and I
can find someone to pay me forit. And people were all up in
arms about that, and it's like, well, why shouldn't they just be
happy with what they're getting? Well, guess what we all want better.
We all want at least some sortof a minimum of where we can survive.

(37:55):
You know. I heard some crass, unnamed sources in unnamed studios making
comments about, well, once theystart losing their apartments, then then they'll
come back to us yep, andyou just yeah, no. And it's
also it's also like what kind ofdemon right shark are you? You know,

(38:19):
because it's like, oh, sobasically what you're saying is once they
start starving, you know, thenyou'll be like ha ha, then then
they'll have to come back. Yeah, And it's like, but isn't that
The whole reason we have unions isbecause the history of unions is around the
fact that there was absolutely nothing toprotect women, children, workers of all.

(38:45):
I mean, we could talk aboutthe Irradium girls who lost parts of
their faces and their lives while makingthe radio active watch dials because there was
nothing to protect them, the childrenwho died in cotton gins running around picking
up the spare pieces so that firesdidn't start. And then of course there

(39:10):
was the shirt factory disaster that Idon't even remember how many hundreds of people
died, because again there was nothingproject them. So since the nineteen thirties
there have been unions forming to tellpeople, hey, we just want to

(39:31):
do our jobs and live. Thatis the end result of why they were
formed, what they were there for, and most of the laws that we
now enjoy here in twenty twenty three, if there is a worker's right protection
on the books in your state,it is thanks to a union. And

(39:55):
the actors had to unionize, thewriters had to unionize. It was the
only way to get a collective voicebecause otherwise the studios could never have cared.
Oh yeah, no, definitely.I mean that's you know, it's
it's the time. I mean we'retalking about you know, we're you know,
we're talking about I remember there wasthe infamous incident with the Twilight Zone

(40:19):
movie, Yes, where you knowchildren, you know, children, two
children, and actor Vic Morrow yepdied and it's like there was even like,
you know, there was even youknow charge brought up, you know
I know that. Yeah, Yeah, there was a big trial. I
mean, okay, yeah, inthe end. But when came of it,

(40:42):
even though Landis did not get hegot nothing more than a hand slap,
to be honest, it changed theway that the industry did things.
They became more aware, they becamemore actor friendly because the way that scene

(41:02):
was done and the way that stuntwas performed would never happen now, which
is why we have fewer accidents.Now. We still have accidents. Things
still can go wrong, but theyare fewer now than they were just in
the eighties. Not to mention theforties, I mean the number of actors

(41:24):
and animals who were harmed in thethirties, forties, fifties, and not
to mention the twenties. It justwe now have laws on the books,
and we have rules in place thanksto groups such as you know, the
Writer's Guild and SAG after well also, I mean you know, we also
have rules about you know, kidson set. Yes, there has to

(41:49):
be tutoring on set. There hasto be a maximum number of hours they
can't and anyone who's been on aTV set or a film set, some
of these these shoots go hours uponhours and hours. Oh yeah, and
god, if you have to wearany sort of special makeup. I'm thinking
the Star Trek series. These storiesyou hear from Michael Dorn about how his

(42:15):
day would start until it would end. I was kind of like, you
might as well just sleep in thatmakeup chair. It might be easier.
Well, well that's what that's whatI've heard. I mean, you know,
you have stories of actors that,yeah, go in for makeup and
basically they go in early in themorning, so they'll just fall asleep all
the makeups being applied. But youknow, you know, not too many
people realize. I want to highlighta little bit the Jackie Coogan story.

(42:38):
So most people know him as UncleFester from the nineteen sixties Adam Family TV
series, but he was a childactor in many famous silent movies. Huge
made his mother and stepmother millions ofdollars in the nineteen twenties. They squandered
it all, left him with nothingand he had to sue couldn't get any

(43:08):
blood out of a turnip. Butafter that they started making laws that,
okay, children actors, a certainamount of their money has to go into
a trust fund for when they're anadult. And that's been strengthened. That
got strengthened during the seventies and eightieswhen you had TV shows like Different Strokes

(43:28):
and Facts of Life, where theystarted to strengthen some of those laws some
more because you had all these peopleand you know their parents were acting as
their managers. Lacauley Cochin is anotherone where his family squandered his millions and
it just and they got around itby acting as manager and agent and taking
their percentages and it just But wehave to put these protections in places.

(43:55):
It's not because people can't protect themselves. Although for kids, someone has to
be speaking for the kids. Butif you don't have somebody saying thou shalt
not do X, Y and Zbecause it puts your actors in harm's way,
or it's just not the right thingto do. If you don't have

(44:16):
that in writing, I'm sorry.The market will not bear. People in
corporations will not automatically do the rightthings. We have watched that over the
last one hundred and fifty years thatand things still come to light as recently
as this year where corporation made adecision because they thought they could get away
with it. And the studios areno different than that. And by the

(44:42):
way, a little something to highlight, you know, a studio thinking.
You know, this was something thatI found on Twitter. So Netflix,
okay, Netflix wanted to do aMasters of the Universe film. Okay,
they they put thirty million dollars intodevelopment. Wow, okay, recently they

(45:12):
decided to cancel doing the movie.They have the power. So here's no.
But here's the thing. Here's thething. Here's that that that's a
good one, zion, I seewhat you did there like that? So
yeah, Netflix is one of thosethat's like, you know, going well,

(45:32):
you know, it's it's you know, they're they're also you know,
doing an Iger and being like,you know, we really we really can't
be paying that much to our writersand actors. Yeah it's like yeah,
okay, you can't. You can't, all right, But here's the thought.
You know, here's just a thought. And please excuse me if I
sound you know, if I soundimpertinent. Maybe just just maybe, just

(45:58):
maybe, I mean, here's here'shere's an idea. Maybe you shouldn't sink,
uh, you know, thirty milliondollars into a movie, you know,
and then just be like change mymind, m you know, because
I don't know that thirty million couldprobably have been put to very good use.

(46:21):
Yes you think, Yeah, II want to ask a question because
this episode comes out in a veryparticular time of Barbenheimer. Yes, and
so since we are talking about strikesand such and the cast for Openheimer I
talked about walked out, what canone do to support the strike? Like

(46:45):
do we not watch Oppenheimer or what? What? What can the Irish person
do to support the strike? Perfect? First off, it's good that you
it's good that you bring that up. All right. First off, actors

(47:05):
have gone on record as saying donot cancel your streaming services, do not
boycott. Okay, there is noso like for example, Barbie and Oppenheimer
came out this weekend. Do youwant to see it? Go see it?
Okay, there is no there's noissues. Okay, it's not you're

(47:28):
not gonna you know, you're notgonna be like betraying you know, your
favorite actor or actress or writer bygoing to see the movie. Okay,
go see the movie. If youknow something you've really wanted to watch is
out on streaming, go to thestreaming service. Okay. You don't have

(47:50):
to cancel your Netflix, you don'thave to delete Disney Plus you know,
watch the stuff. One thing isfind ways to support you know, like
I think there's websites or you know, places where you know, if they're
trying to get you know, ifthey're trying to make sure that you know,

(48:10):
certain actors and you know, writersand stuff can support themselves. Like
if there's something, if there's likea go fund me or anything like that,
you know, where somebody's not workingand you know they're going to need
extra funds, donate if like youknow, if there's something, if there's
like a thing where you can donatewater or snacks or money to pay for
that for the ones who are onthe picket lines. Do that, you

(48:35):
know, if you're on social media, you know, share the stories of
actors who are talking about how littlethey make about you know, about what
they're you know what they're there's whatthis fight is for. You know,
share that, you know, showsolidarity. You know, but you don't
need to you know, you don'tneed to tell Warner Brothers or Paramount and

(48:59):
be like the other thing there isthere is a tiny ray of hope if
you do want to be able tosee fresh content. There is a loophole
in there is well, I don'twant to call it a loophole, but
there is there is something that allowsactors to act during the strike and that

(49:28):
and the thing is, if you'redoing an independent film, like independent studios,
they're okay, it's okay to workfor them, right, okay,
so you can act. So like, for example, let's say that we
had a studio Mark Who forty twostudios, and we were shooting we were

(49:49):
shooting a TV show. You know, we could ask Jerry Ryan to do
it and she'd be able to doit. M she doesn't have to go
sorry on strike, right you know. Now, if we were an independent
studio and we were working with Paramount, okay, that may be a problem.
But you know, I do knowthat some actors have been given the

(50:10):
go ahead to work on independent productions. There is a studio, it's not
one of the big ones, butthere is a studio that did negotiate with
sag Aftra and the you know,the the people in charge of sag Aftra

(50:31):
have given the go ahead to sayyou can work for movies and TV shows
from this studio. There's a studiocalled A twenty four. Yeah, yeah,
yeah, okay. They actually theyactually did sit down with sag Aftra
and they've agreed to their demands.Now I know you're thinking A twenty four.
Okay, yeah, that's that's thislittle rinky dinky studio. How is

(50:52):
that supposed to help me? Well, I will tell you, Okay,
A twenty four has actually done somecritically acclaimed and award winning movies. Which
movies, well, let's see.Well, first of all, the Academy
Award winning Moonlight, the Academy Awardwinning Everywhere, Everything All at Once,

(51:21):
and also the critically acclaimed and alsoaward winning The Whale. Three examples.
Three examples of critically acclaimed movies.And also if you need some weirdness,
if you need some horror, youknow, or something like that. They
also they also are responsible. Iknow one movie that is not critically acclaimed.

(51:43):
Its status is a cult classic.Maybe a little may not be definitive,
but twenty four was responsible for theKevin Smith film BUSK. You know,
Kevin's was also responsible for us havingto go on Subspace Radio. I

(52:07):
hate to say it. I don'tknow why, you know, because you
know, Jay is right next tome and he's he's smoking, and yeah,
anyway, I don't know what I'mtalking about we gotta go well explained
by your eyes have gone bloodshot.That's why. Please the mark Who forty
twos Universe podcast on all the Internetand interweb thingies, uh Flaria, geek

(52:31):
Scene, Keeycast Radio Network, ourwebsite, Marko forty two dot com,
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to this show and you can hearit there on behalf of myself, Mark
Brown Garden, Eduardo m. Friar, Vicky Chakobowski and Zayankarras. If you're
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(52:53):
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(53:15):
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(53:38):
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