WGA/SAG-AFTRA Strike

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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. I'm Catherin Sullivan,one of the essays in Chickstig Time Lords,
And you're listening to MARKO forty two. Welcome to Marcu forty twos universe

(00:50):
here on Subspace Radio Network. AndI'd like to put a shout out to
Florida Geek Scene and gee Cast RadioNetworks as well, because we're on there
as well. Okay, my nameis Mark bound Garden with me today are
DWARDO M. Fryer. Good news, Good news. I don't have to
skip this episode because of certain protests. I know what you're talking about.

(01:15):
We'll get to them in a minute. Who else do we have? Ricky
Jacob ASKI? Hi, Vicky?Hey, Hey, so what's going on?
Ah? Same old, same old. It's way too hot and there's
way too much work on my desk. Yeah, you know, we're doing
another one of those Mark Whose seventyseven things this week. I heard promise
I'll be awake for it. That'sgood. Tell everyone what Mark whose seventy

(01:38):
seven is Marcus seventy seven is awonderful Congloberate of US and the seventy seven
Publications in the UK where we getto chit chat with some amazing comic book
artists and writers and editors and justhave a good old time. Yeah,

(02:00):
and you can find that at YouTubedot com slash at the seventy seven Publications.
Okay, we got that self spotifyinguh thing there? Who else?
Who else do we have? What? I don't know what I thought this

(02:20):
was a family show? Rewind?Okay, where was it? I believe
we were trying to inte talking aboutwhat was that, Zion? And what's
your name? Zion? What can'tyou figure out? Okay, Oh,
we're having too much fun? Toomuch? We gotta have some fun.

(02:45):
Yeah, it's the only way tosurvive this world. Yes, yeah,
I agree. And you know thereare some people that are not having fun,
that are really uh trying to getsomething serious done. That's today's topic.
We're talking about the strike, thew g A and the s A

(03:06):
g f A f t r Astrikes SAG. Yes, Screen Actress Guild
SAGA SAG. After that's how wedon't say by the word Yeah, w
g A, it's okay, it'sa little it's a yeah, it's a
little w g A. It's alittle hard to say bug. Yeah.

(03:31):
But SAG SAG AFTERRA is SAG afterokay, which stands for the Screen Actress
Guild American Federation of Television and RadioArtists. Yeah, yes, good for
you. You can got something right. So Ed, Ed is the closest
person here that ever got one.So let's let Ed run the show the

(03:53):
card Ed, Yeah I did.I worked as an extra in a lot
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

(04:14):
striking first, and as of Augustthey will be on strike for three months.
SAG. It was only recently thatSAG also, you know, they
were they were negotiating as well,and they're also basically like, okay,
we're going on strike right now.Okay. The thing the thing about that,

(04:40):
the thing about that is it's there'sreally two things that are at the
heart of why both these and tiesare striking. Um. Thing one is
residuals aments. You know, that'sthe that's especially because now in the era

(05:03):
of streaming. You know, thishas you know, this has become a
problem because you know, you havestream you know, you have streaming services,
and studios saying, oh, wemade this much on you know,
this particular show you know, orthis particular film, and the writers and

(05:27):
actors are not really seeing you know, they're not really seeing that much.
Uh. The other thing is AI. There's a lot of you know,
it's it's something that yeah, youknow, there's studios talking about using AI
and then basically you know, saying, hey, you know we can use
this, we can have this computerdo this job. Um. That that

(05:50):
is something I do want to titchon first because it hits close to home
with what I was doing as ayou know, when I was acting down
in Florida, I did a lotof extra work I was on you know,
I did um, I did freakingyou know, I did burn notice,
I did movies. You know,I did all this stuff and basically

(06:15):
what Okay, So one of thedeals, you know, one of one
of the ideas that studios put outwhen you know, during these negotiations was
that you work as an you know, you work as background talent on anything
and without your permission and without yourknowledge, they can scan, you keep

(06:38):
the scan in a database and thenuse it whenever. So Mark, what's
like, Mark, what's one ofyour favorite TV shows? Right now?
Um? Right now, right now, Star Trek Worlds, Strange New World
Okay, let's say you are anextra Strange New Worlds. Okay, you

(06:58):
go to work, they scan yourimage and you know, you just get
paid for that one day, right, But later on you see yourself again
in the background, not even StrangeNew World. Right. You could be
watching an episode of NCIS and thenall of a sudden you see yourself in
the you know, in the background, and it's like, wait a minute,

(07:20):
I never didn't CIS and I haven'tseen a dime of it, didn't.
Something like that happen with Misha Collins, he who was Castil on Supernatural
and Harvey Dent on Gotham Nights.Um, he posted that there was this
commercial for something and in the backgroundwas him and he had never done that

(07:44):
commercial. Yeah, yeah, yeahhe did. He posted that on Twitter.
Um, you know that's at theyou know, and actually that does
Um you know, I'm going touse that as a segue because here's the
thing. Extras. Okay, anybodywatching this was in the industry. You
know, if I'm making a fullpow talking out of you know, talking

(08:07):
out of you know, telling talesout of school, I apologize. But
I think that in order for thelayman's to understand why this is so important,
this needs to be said. WhenI was working as an extra,
the average I was making per daywas one hundred dollars and that's before taxes,

(08:31):
before before the cut that goes tomy agent. After taxes, an
agent cut, the average would bearound ninety. So that should tell you
something. You know, if you'reworking non union, you are making you
know, somewhere around one hundred bucksa day, which means if you really
want to earn, like if youreally want to earn some serious money,

(08:54):
you have to constantly be working.You have to constantly be looking, you
know, you have to constantly lookfor what's available. Take stuff, because
that's the thing you're not gonna youknow, the thing. The thing one
of the things with the strike thatneeds to be understood, especially when it
comes to sag Aftra, is thatthis is not millionaires versus millionaires. This

(09:18):
isn't millionaire actors you know who whoparty in LA all the time. Seeking
to get another extra million versus themillionaire studio owners. That's not it.
It's a lot of actors, alot of actors, even people who aren't
background, even people that you wouldbe surprised to, like to know,

(09:41):
you know, even people that you'dbe surprised about if they do not earn
that much. Somebody said in anarticle, you know, we joke,
we joke. They're a bunch ofactors that are Hey, it's that guy.
Yep. Yeah, here's the thingabout that guy. Actors do you

(10:01):
know why they show up all overthe place because they everything they have to
they have to you don't they don'tearn enough to be able to do you
know, to be able to doyou know, to do less right,
you know, the the idea becauseI know that like for example, you

(10:22):
know, there's tales about how GeorgeClooney and his wife bought an island off
Italy. Yeah, he's the luckyhe's one of the few lucky ones.
There are very few actors to makethat kind of money a very small percentage
exactly exactly a lot of actors.It's acting. Here's the thing. Acting
and writing are feast or famine typegig jobs. Right, you always have

(10:48):
to be writing, you always haveto be acting. You know, you
have to work. There's okay,there's a very something. You know.
Something that I've seen Um mentioned ina couple of articles is there's an actress,
Kimico Glenn. She was on Orangeas the New Black, and one

(11:11):
of the stories that she has broughtout is that there were actors working on
the show which was supposed to bemaking huge numbers and money for Netflix.
It was like the number one showon Netflix. Right. There were actors
who had to take a cab tothe set. There were actors who still

(11:33):
had a second job. Yes,yea, yeah, okay, they still
had a second job and they're workingon what is supposed to be this hitch
show. Wow, you know,and they still had to work a second
job and the thing. And youknow, there was an actress who was

(11:54):
actually quoted as saying she spent moneyto be on the show because she to
fly out to you know, toset. You know, the only reason
she didn't freak about that is becauseshe was you know, she thought it
was an honor to be on theshow. You know, it's not you
know, as it's not you know, this is not the whole, the
whole idea of like AI, youknow, and using AI. It's frightening

(12:18):
because it's like, this is takingjobs away from people, this is taking
you know, this is taking workaway from people who could use it.
You know, the old 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 were things

(12:39):
in the contracts about that, becauseyou know, a typical actor in the
late eighties early nineties might make twentythousand dollars a year if they had a
couple of good commercials and they weregetting the residuals of the constant play of
those commercials. But you know,the model from I'm sorry that was a

(13:03):
while ago now, guys, doesn'twork because there's so many different mediums.
You've got streaming, you've got theAI threat, and you know the fact
that you still weren't making much moneyback then. Nowadays you would make nothing
with the new model and the newreality. And it just it's frustrating looking

(13:26):
at that because in my job now, I get paid for the work I
do, and I get paid forover time, and I get paid for
anything, you know, I meanthat you actually get paid for it,
and you get paid well sometimes dependingon the job and with actors. It's

(13:48):
so such a low base. Yeah. And here's the thing. It's funny
you bring up residuals because let's talkabout that for a second. I have
a tweet by Denise Crosby Tashare fromTashire from next year. It's a tweet
and she showed off the residual checkshe got from an appearance on the show

(14:11):
Ray Donovan. The grand total ofresiduals she got from this one check.
Take a guess, Mark, takea guess how much you thinks she got
on the residual Mm hmmm, uhfive cents? No, slightly higher?
How much you think? Slightly higher? Zion, how much do you think
she got? Three dollars? Looktoo high? I thought? So?

(14:41):
Okay? Vicky, how much youthinks she got? Buck fifty? Still
too high? Mark? Okay inthis particular in this particular round of prices,
right, Mark got the closest withoutgoing on the grand total. The
grand total for residuals for one episodeof Ray Donovan on Showtime twenty one and

(15:09):
oh because my second choice was twelve, I was still under you were you
would still be under. You wouldstill when you think about how big that
show was and is. It's stilla popular streamed show, which means that
her episode has probably been been seeingfrequently enough that she probably earned more than

(15:31):
twelve cents. But yeah, twentyone cents. Yeah one. And here's
the thing, because I'm thinking,like, how much how much effort,
how much effort goes into printing thatcheck and mailing that check, probably more
than what the check is worth.It's in it, and it's insane.
It's freaking insane that you know,this is the residual you get. I

(15:56):
mean, you know, it's justuh, it's like it's like you laugh,
you know, I think, Ithink I did see where somebody got
I forget who it was, butthey did get like I think double digits
in residuals. And it's like,wow, you're lucky. You're really lucky,

(16:17):
because you know, it's like wow, man, you know, and
it tells you that there's something brokenbecause it used to be residual checks were
because like to look at something that'sin heavy rotation syndication. I'm thinking about
the various star treks the original missionimpossibles. God, there's so many shows,

(16:41):
every sitcom from the seventies, eighties, and nineties constant rotation on TV
channels, and so you would haveactors who may have retired, but they're
still getting a couple of thousand dollarsevery few months or so from the residuals,
sometimes more if they were in alot of shows. If you were
in every freaking show in the seventies, and there's a few actors who worked,

(17:04):
you know, you could be outa living. But oh yeah,
that's not the model of how peoplewatch TV anymore. That's not how people
also see you actually hit the nailright on the head with That's the biggest
problem and the reason why both um, you know, both actors and writers

(17:27):
are striking right now. Yep,because you know, because it's like,
here's the thing. You have themodel, but the model hasn't evolved right
take into account streaming. There wasa writer strike back in like two thousand
and six, two thousand and seven, Yeah, was the two thousand and
eight or might it was in thetwo thousand I know it was around around

(17:48):
that time, but it basically it, you know, it shut down Hollywood
for like you know, it snarledHollywood for three months about what we're reaching
now with the writer's strike itself,and it was about that. It was
about the fact that, you know, the model isn't evolving. You know,

(18:10):
this was this was now where youknow, it's like streaming wasn't the
thing it was back in oh six, you know, back in the two
thousands. But you know, youwere starting to get into you know,
they're starting to get into models thatare very difficult to track. You know,
we're talking about tracking. You know, we're talking about you know,

(18:30):
it's one thing to have a Nielsenhouse, you know with the little box.
Right. Uh, you know you'regoing to tell me that Netflix does
not know every time someone has droppedepisode two three one from Orange is the
New Black, They know every singletime that episode has been watched. Yeah,
yeah, no, it's it's Imean, the the idea is that

(18:52):
it's difficult. It's better data thanwe would have un just some just an
umbrella kind of thing, right yep, and you don't and you don't need
to. You don't need to signup your house and get like a little
box. Yes, sorry, Yeah, so we know that that based off

(19:15):
that we based off what we wastalking about, that the that the actors
are are we getting paid this amountof money? But where does this lead
leave the actors because I mean thewriters, because this doesn't just affect the
actors. It all affects the writers, because writers would we have to deal
with Yeah, but here's yeah,but here's a but there's a different abb

(19:37):
into it. Like you can't replaceum on a sports Endegger for example,
right, but you could replace jaum the person that wrote Terminator four and
just say okay, chat chat ggbt um, give me Communer four and
it'll write it. Okay, doit again, ye, do it again,

(20:03):
do it again. There it is. We're stopping we're stopping people from
just getting rid of writers all together, because first of all, it's not
as good um yeah, you know, I mean it might be a Terminator
four, but it won't be aTerminator one for now, Yeah, exactly.
Its infancy and that's why we're havingthis battle because if we had this

(20:26):
battle like ten years from now,there wouldn't be a battle because well but
most people think ai AI writing isin its infancy. It's actually been around
for years and it was only usedat the university level, so people were
not aware of it. It's beenaround for decades. I remember when I
got my first degree, and thatwas more than a few decades ago,

(20:48):
and that was a real thing,but it was only a select number a
few people could have access to it. The reality is is that a I
has so far, over four decades, not managed to write things well.
And I actually heard someone describe itbest. One day, we're gonna find
out that every time they do oneof those AI requests and have something right

(21:12):
it, there's actually someone on theother end and typing away curiously. Well,
it's like it's like it becomes youknow, there's like a joke where
like, you know, I've seenit on on social media, like on
Facebook and on Twitter where it's like, oh, I fit, you know,
I asked this computer to write ascript for this, and it just

(21:33):
comes off as this like dobldegook.Yeah, you know it's it just comes
off as this weird, nonsensical thing, and it's like, you know,
on the one hand, it youknow, this might be one of those
things where it's like careful how youlaugh, because you know, you know
there might be stuff in there thatcan that you know, it's not that
goofy but also it's like this iswhat you know. It's it's like when

(21:57):
people say the moon len was fake, It's like have you looked at special
effects in the late sixties really looked, you know, It's like it's like,
you know, um, the otherthing is you know, and then
that's the thing, you know,I mean AI. You know, it's
like it's not you know it,we're not at sky Net taking over Hollywood

(22:22):
yet, but it's still feel likeit and they're using it against us.
Yeah, and they're trying to youknow, and it's all in the thing
of you know, just oh well, you know, if the writers are
gonna we'll just use this AI,it's like uh huh um you notice none
of them have yep. I notice. Well it also kind of helps because

(22:44):
and none of them have ye thenYe's Actually I would love to have this
con conversation like five ten years fromnow, because like AO a big prints
all about what um we we uhwe just talked about about what Viki we

(23:07):
brought up with with the years aboutit AI. That's absolutely correct. But
the thing is that now we aretechnically at least how I see it in
um cultural boom. Right now AIis the thing. Now everyone's eyes are
set on AI for whatever reason itmay be. Now it is the thing.

(23:32):
And usually how that works is thatit's like how how computers worked.
We had computer since the sixth season, and we've had this climb and then
we had like the super process arebooming the boom. Now we are just
climbing out out out of the roof. So again, I we have to

(23:52):
see how fast the technology progresses.And I'm I'm just glad that we're having
this battle now because again both tosay, five five years from now,
it's not running because I am.I will give you an example. Someone
explained it AI and it was prettymuch you having monkeys, right, and

(24:17):
you keep telling the monkey to writeShakespeare, and you keep reading the monkey
all the way. I'm told youget Shakespeare. So then that's what's trying
to say. Eventually you're going toget the writer. More so less it's
maybe just one program and it maytake like thirty years, but eventually you

(24:37):
will get the writer. Guys,I gotta stop. I gotta stop you
here. I gotta stop you herebecause the monkey and the control booths telling
me that we have to take abreak is yes, willing, Yes,
So we'll be right back with moreof Mark Who forty universe here on Subspace

(24:59):
Radio Network. Don't go Mark thisstand by Houston layer receiving signals from subspace.
You are listening to Mark Who fortytwo universe. Welcome back to more

(25:21):
of Mark Who forty twos universe hereon Subspace Radio Network. I'm your host,
Mark Baumgarden with me today EDWARDO.M. Fryar, Vicki Jakobowski and
Zion Kiris, and we are talkingabout this strike, the w GA SAG
after a combo strike. UM,I just want to let you get he
said it correctly, he did itvery well. The WGTA strike started on

(25:47):
Monday, me first uh this year, twenty twenty three, sometime in the
late afternoon, early evening on theAnd here's the thing, you know,
you see it doesn't affect you know, maybe it does and affect you.
I think everything here is affecting yousee. I get my news from Colbert
and The Daily Show. And onMonday night they had already recorded the shows

(26:14):
before the strike hit. So I'mwatching the Daily Show and Dulta Sloan is
getting her first guest host appearance.Everyone this 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.But you know, I don't get they

(26:36):
stopped doing all the late night talkshows because people write those, they're not
just ad lib Now. I thinkduring the 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 rememberthat Letterman paid the writers they're salaries during

(26:56):
it. Yeah, me, CBScon their salaries. But yeah, but
we're 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, you
know, it was filming. Theyhad just announced, you know, they've

(27:18):
just shown a picture of Hugh 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 thatthings shut down, a lot of stuff
is just shut down. I knowthat I know that there are a couple

(27:40):
of shows that are still going thatare not they're not shut down. The
thing is, though, is itall has to do with where the production
is based and what kind of talentthey're using. For example, Doctor Who

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

(28:26):
you know, if you wanted likeSusan Sarandons as the Ronnie, I don't
know how that would work, youknow, I don't know if that would
work or not. Also, Houseof Dragon, I believe still kept going
even after the writer's strike. Iknow that there's a couple of shows that
decided to just you know, acouple of things that decided to keep going
even with the writer's strike. They'rejust not gonna have a writer on set.

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

(29:11):
people who are listening may not know. When you're making a television or a
movie and you know, they're they'refilming it, that doesn't mean the writer's
done. He has there's rewrites there, So you have to stop to production
if there's a strike because the writeris not gonna do anymore rewriting. And
you know, there's always a thingand you're right, Ryan Reynolds the ad

(29:33):
libbing that because he's a writer,he's you know, yeah, it's considered
Yeah, it's considered part of hisjob. So uh yeah, they you
know he can't he can't do it. Yeah, he can't do it.
Um, which is you know,I mean it's unfortunate because that's one of
the things that made first two Deadpoolmovies, so, you know, so

(30:00):
popular, right, 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 they arejust going to do it without the writer,
which means it's just going to haveto be what's on the script.
And it's like you know that couldbe that could potentially be a problem because
then you know, you don't haveum, you know, you don't have

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

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

(31:07):
have UM, okay, great example, the movie Oppenheimer came out this past
weekend. At the premiere itself,the premiere itself was going on when the
strike was announced. This principal castwalked out in the middle of the premiere.
It's like, well, we're striking, we can't do this, and

(31:33):
they walked out. So, youknow, 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 going to be out
there for it. Right. Somethingthat's going on right now as we record

(31:56):
this is Comic Con, and youknow, usually it's this big thing.
You know, people come to hallAge and you have stars coming out and
you know all that stuff that's notthis year. You know, before before
Comic Con even was, you know, before Comic Coon even started. Uh,

(32:16):
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 thisyear, and that was before the sac
strike. Uh. You know,there were other studios that pulled out and
we're like, yeah, no,we're not gonna do this, do this
now. And part of it isyou don't have a you know, you

(32:38):
don't have an actor there to belike, yeah, I love making this
movie. You can't wait for youguys to see it. I was reading
an article that Warner Brothers is considering, um actually pushing back the date for
Dune in chapter two the next year. Yeah, you need to average because

(33:00):
you know, yeah, yeah,well that's the thing. Yeah, they're
you know, they're worry is thatif things aren't solved by the time the
movie comes out, or even youknow, or even like beforehand that they're
not going to have anything, youknow, studios right now. It's it's
strange because it's like studios right noware scrambling because it's like, okay,

(33:22):
how are we going to you know, we have some big seasons coming out,
you know, end of the yearsusually when all the is usually when
all the Oscar you know worthy stuffcomes out, you know, there's going
to be a point where it's likethey're not going to have anything to to
put out. Um. I honestlythink that Warner Brothers is making a mistake

(33:45):
thinking about pushing uh dude in chaptertwo back because all you're doing is you
put all this effort into advertising itfor a late twenty twenty three release and
then pushing it back because oh,well, you know, we want to
be able to have uh you know, we want to be able to show
stuff off. It's like, Okay, you're not winning any fans that way.

(34:07):
Somebody I want to bring up becauseI'm very disappointed in what they said,
and especially like the where and whenthey said it. Um just I
think right when the strike was startingor just before Bob Iger, CEO of

(34:28):
Disney. Yeah, he went onHe went on record and said, I
think that they're being ridicul you know, they're you know, they're not thinking,
you know, they're being what wasit, um, what was it
exactly? He said? What wasthe 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,something like this. You know, like
I've heard, you know, I'veheard people derogatorially 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, areyou know, working, you know,
are basically working, you know,working hand to mouth, uh, you
know, having to work like,you know, constantly to keep you know,

(35:39):
as my as my dad would say, keep the wolf at bay.
And you're saying they're unrealistic. Yeah, they're being unrealistic. Um. You
know, the other thing is sayingit while you're in this gathering this,
you know, this rich people gathering. I have to ask, It's like,

(35:59):
Iger, are you thinking straight?Like remember was it I think it
was Marie Antoinette who said let themeat take and she's talking about Parisians starving
in the streets while she's in Yeah, while she's in Versailles. It's like,

(36:20):
stop and think. You know,I'm not saying that people are gonna
come with pitchforks and torches to like, you know, to the Disney offices.
But this is basically you are beingyou know, if anybody can like
send this message to Bob Eiger,you are being like Marie Antoinette right now.
Yes, you know, you arejust basically you're not reading the room.

(36:43):
You know. I don't know.Maybe there are some people who agree
with Eisner, but I know abunch of people who are like, so,
you know, shut the plucking up, you know, like you don't
you know that when you think actors, when you think writers, everyone thinking

(37:04):
oh, Hollywood, glamour, well, the day and day out drive and
the life of an They may loveit, but it's still a job and
you're still doing what you want todo. You want to be able to
work, you want to be ableto do your job and you want to
be paid. It's the same aswhat we've seen during the pandemic, when

(37:30):
people were like, you know what, I don't have to put up with
crap jobs anymore. I can goout and 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 some unnamed studios
making comments about well, once theystart losing their apartments, then then they'll
come back to us, yep.And you just start yeah, no.
And it's also it's also like whatkind of demon right shark are you?

(38:19):
You know, because it's like,oh, so, basically what you're saying
is once they start starving, youknow, then you'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 wehave unions is because the history of unions
is around the fact that there wasabsolutely nothing to protect women, children,

(38:45):
workers of all. I mean,we could talk about the Irradium girls who
lost parts of their faces and theirlives while making the radio active watch dials
because there was nothing to protect them, the children who died in cotton gins
running around picking up the spare piecesso that fires didn't start. And then

(39:09):
of course there was the shirt factorydisaster that I don't even remember how many
hundreds of people died because again therewas nothing protect them. So since the
nineteen thirties there have been unions formingto tell people, hey, we just

(39:30):
want to do our jobs and live. That is the end result of why
they were formed, what they werethere for, and most of the laws
that we now enjoy here in twentytwenty three, if there is a worker's
right protection on the books in yourstate, it is thanks to a union.

(39:53):
And the actors had to unionize,the writers had to unionize. It
was the only way to get acollective voice, because 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're talking about you know,
we're you know, we're we're talkingabout I remember, Um, there was

(40:15):
the infamous incident with the Twilight Zonemovie. Yes, where you know children,
you know children, two children,and actor Vic Morrow yep died and
it's like there was even like youknow, there was even you know,
charges brought up. You know,I know that. Yeah, yeah,

(40:36):
there was a big trial. Imean okay, yeah in the end.
Um But when I came it,even though Landis did not get um um,
he got nothing more than a handslap, to be honest, it
changed the way that the industry didthings. They became more aware, they

(40:57):
became more um actor friendly because theway that scene was done and the way
that stunt was performed would never happennow, which is why we have fewer
accidents now. We still have accidents. Things still can go wrong, but

(41:17):
they are fewer now than they werejust in the eighties. Not to mention
the forties, I mean the numberof actors and animals who were harmed in
the thirties, forties, fifties,and not to mention the twenties. It
just we now have laws on thebooks, and we have rules in place
thanks to groups such as you know, the Writer's Guild and SAG after well

(41:43):
also, I mean, you know, we also have rules about you know,
kids on set. Yes, therehas to be tutoring on set,
there has to be a maximum numberof hours. They can't And anyone who's
been on a TV set or afilm set, some of these these shoots
go hours upon hours and hours.Oh yeah, and god if you have

(42:05):
to wear any sort of um specialmakeup. I'm thinking the Star Trek series.
These stories you hear from Michael Dornabout how his day would start until
it would end. I was kindof like, you might as well just
sleep in that makeup chair. Itmight be easier. Well, well that's
what that's what I've heard. Imean, you know, you have stories
of actors that, yeah, goin for makeup and basically they go in

(42:29):
early in the morning, so they'lljust fall asleep all the makeups being applied.
But you know, you know,not too many people realize. I
want to highlight a little bit theJackie Coogan story. So most people know
him as Uncle Fester from the nineteensixties Adam Family TV series, but he
was a child actor in um manyfamous silent movies. Huge made his mother

(42:52):
and stepmother millions of dollars in thenineteen twenties. They squandered it all,
left him with nothing and he hadto sue couldn't get any blood out of
a turnip. But after that theystarted making laws that, okay, children

(43:15):
actors, a certain amount of theirmoney has to go into a trust fund
for when they're an adult, andthat's been strengthened. That got strengthened during
the seventies and eighties when you hadTV shows like Different Strokes and Facts of
Life, where they started to strengthensome of those laws some more because you
had all these people and you knowtheir parents were acting as their managers.

(43:37):
McAuley Cochin is another one where hisfamily squandered his millions and it just and
they got around it by acting asmanager and agent and taking their percentages and
just. But we have to putthese protections in places. It's not because
people can't protect themselves. Although forkids, someone has to be speaking for

(44:00):
the kids. But if you don'thave somebody saying thou shalt not do X,
Y and Z because it puts youractors into harm's way, or it's
just not the right thing to do. If you don't have that in writing,
I'm sorry. The market will notbear people in corporations will not automatically

(44:23):
do the right things. We havewatched that over the last one hundred and
fifty years. That and things stillcome to light as recently as this year
where corporation made a decision because theythought they could get away with it and
the studios are no different than that. And by the way, a little

(44:43):
something to highlight, you know,a studio thinking. You know, this
was something that I found on Twitter. So Netflix, Okay, Netflix wanted
to do a Masters of the Universefilm. Okay, they they put thirty

(45:04):
million dollars into development. Wow,Okay, recently they decided to cancel doing
the movie. They have the power. So here's no. But here's the
thing. Here's the thing. Here'sthat that that's a good one, zion,
I see what you did there likethat. So yeah, Netflix is

(45:30):
one of those that's like, youknow, going, well, you know,
it's it's you know, they're theone they're also you know, doing
an Iger and being like, youknow, we really we really can't be
paying that much to our writers andactors. Yeah, it's like, yeah,
okay, you can't, you can't, all right, But here's the
thought, you know, here's justa thought, and please excuse me if

(45:52):
I sound you know, if Isound impertinent, maybe just just maybe just
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

(46:15):
I don't know that thirty million couldprobably have been put to very good use.
Yes, do you think? Yeah? I I want to ask the
question because this episode comes out ina very particular time of Barbenheimer. Yes.

(46:35):
And so since we are talking aboutstrikes and such and the cast for
Appenheimer I talked about walked out,what can one do to support the strike?
Like do we not watch Oppenheimer?Or what? What what can the
Irish person do to support the strike? Okay? First off, um,

(46:58):
it's good that it's good that youbring that up. All right. First
off, actors have gone on recordas saying do not cancel your streaming services,
do not boycott. Okay, thereis no So like, for example,
Barbie and Oppenheimer came out this weekend. Do you want to see it?

(47:21):
Go see it? Okay, thereis no there's no issues. Okay,
it's not you're not gonna you knowyou're not gonna be like betraying you
know, your favorite actor or actressor writer by going to see the movie.
Okay, go see the movie.If you know something you've really wanted

(47:42):
to watch is um is out onstreaming, go to the streaming service.
Okay. You don't have to cancelyour Netflix. You don't have to beleeve
Disney Plus, you know, watchthe stuff. One thing is just find
ways to support, you know,like um, I think there's websites or

(48:05):
you know, places where you know, if they're trying to get you know,
if they're trying to make sure thatyou know, certain actors and you
know, writers and stuff can supportthemselves. Like if there's something, if
there's like a go fund mee oranything like that, you know, where
somebody's not working and you know they'regoing to need extra funds, donate if
like, you know, if there'ssomething, if there's like a thing where

(48:25):
you can donate water or snacks ormoney to pay for that for the ones
who are on the picket lines.Do that, you know, um,
if you're on social media, youknow, share the stories of actors who
are talking about how little they makeabout you know, about what they're you
know what they're there's what this fightis for, you know, um share

(48:51):
that, you know, show solidarity, you know, but you don't need
to you know, you don't needto tell Warner Brothers or Paramount and be
like the other thing there is thereis a tiny ray of hope if you
do want to be able to seefresh content. There is a loophole in

(49:16):
there is well I don't want tocall it a loophole, but there is.
There is something that allows actors toact during the strike. And that
and the thing is, if you'redoing an independent film, like independent studios,

(49:37):
they're okay, it's okay to workfor them, right, okay,
so you can act. So likefor example, let's say that we had
a studio Mark forty two Studios andwe were shooting, we were shooting a
TV show. You know, wecould ask Jerry Ryan to do it and
she'd be able to do it.She doesn't have to go sorry on strike,

(49:59):
right you know. Now, ifwe were an independent studio and we
were working with Paramount, okay,that may be a problem. But you
know, I do know that someactors have been given the go ahead to
work on independent productions. There isa studio. It's not one of the
big ones, but there is astudio that did negotiate with sag Aftra and

(50:28):
the you know, the the peoplein charge of sag Aftra have given the
go ahead to say you can workfor movies and TV shows from this studio.
There's a studio called A twenty four. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
okay. They actually they actually didsit down with sag Aftra and they've agreed
to their demands. Now I knowyou're thinking A twenty four. Okay,

(50:51):
yeah, that's that's this little rinkydinky studio. How is that supposed to
help me? Well, I willtell you. Okay, A twenty four
has actually done some critically acclaimed andaward winning movies. Which movies, well,
let's see. Well, first ofall, the Academy Award winning Moonlight,

(51:15):
the Academy Award winning Everywhere Everything allat once, and also the critically
acclaimed and also award winning The Whale. Three examples. Three examples of critically
acclaimed movies. And also if youneed some weirdness, if you need some
horror, you know, or somethinglike that. They also they also are

(51:38):
responsible. I know one movie thatis not critically acclaimed, its status as
a cult classic. Maybe a littlemay not be definitive, but A twenty
four was responsible for the Kevin Smithfilm Usk. You know Kevin's is also

(52:04):
responsible for us having to go onSubspace Radio. I hate to say it.
I don't know why. You know, it's because you know, Jay
is right next to me and he'she's smoking and yeah, anyway, I
don't know what I'm talking about.We gotta go, explained by your eyes
have gone bloodshot. That's why.Please the mark Up forty twos Universe podcast

(52:28):
on all the Internet and interweb thingies, uh Florida Geek Scene, Keycash Radio
Network, our website, MARCU fortytwo dot com, all the podcast platforms
around the globe. Please listen tothat. There's more to this show and
you can hear it there on behalfof myself, Mark Brown, Garden,
Eduardo M. Friar, Vicky Chakobowskiand Zayonkiros. If you're leaving us from

(52:50):
the radio show and not sitking aroundso long, but please go to the
mark Up forty two Universe podcast andcontinue with the rest of the We'll have
more poop throwing monkeys. Yeah,thanks for listening to Marko forty two's Universe

(53:13):
featuring Mark bound Garden, Ifward,oh M Freyer, Kim Chakobowski, and
Zion Curos. This show was producedand directed by Mark bound Garden. If
you'd like to get in touch withus, go to our Facebook page or
email us at markup forty two sdot Universe at gmail dot com. Our

(53:34):
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(53:54):
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