"In the industry, some refer to this year's strike action as the 'Netflix strike.'" Some media have reported on the recent Hollywood strike.
This is partly because the strike affected many Netflix screenings such as "Stranger Things", "Cobra" and "Unstable". On the other hand, it was the core of the negotiations between the WGA (American Writers Guild) and the AMPTP (Alliance of American Film and Television Producers) before the strike, and it was the relationship between screenwriters and platforms that were transformed by streaming media such as Netflix.
Behind the "Netflix strike", the anger of the screenwriters is not simply directed at Netflix itself, but the production method of the series it has transformed is compressing the interest space of the screenwriter.
If there is a paradoxical aggregator, it is the "mini's room" system, which is currently widely used by streaming platforms, that is, 2-3 screenwriters form a small team.
Audiences who like American dramas know that many classic American dramas begin with a "pilot episode". American dramas in the TV era will first roughly determine the actors, screenwriters, and directors, and then shoot the first episode of the show and send it to the senior management of the TV station, and sometimes to film critics or media evaluation.
The TV station decides whether to buy it after watching it, and the film side modifies it based on the feedback. The cast of the role of "Dragon Mother" in "Game of Thrones" was changed after the pilot episode, and the person who thanked the ears in "The Big Bang Theory" was not the later "geek" in the pilot episode.
But streaming media changed the pilot episode to the first three episodes of the script for the sake of cost budget. In order to better judge the development potential of this IP, the platform will first set up a "mini screenwriting room" and try to write 2-3 versions of the first three episode scripts, leaving it to the platform to judge.
During the 8-10 weeks of the platform review, the screenwriter cannot do other work according to the contract, and even if the review is passed, these writers will not participate in the series, especially if the volume of the episode is less than 10 episodes - and most streaming episodes will not exceed this number of episodes.
As a result, the remuneration of screenwriters in the mini-screenwriting room decreases due to the reduction in the amount of work, which in turn divides part of the budget of the regular script writers, which in turn leads to a decrease in their salary. Over time, individual screenwriters get paid less and less. According to statistics, since 2018, screenwriters' inflation-adjusted compensation has fallen by 14%.
In this strike, WGA's clear demands are: a 5% to 6% increase in basic wages; The mini screenwriting room is abolished, and the regular screenwriter's room employs at least 6 people. And this is also the most difficult part of the strike to coordinate.
AMPTP finds it ridiculous to mandate 6 people and 10 weeks, "which is incompatible with the creative nature of our industry." AMPTP president Carol Lombardini even said in a report: "It's a blessing for screenwriters to have a short-term job. ”
A Netflix executive said in an interview with the media: "It's clear that the screenwriting room proposal is probably the hardest to solve. Even AI-related can be cleverly turned into something that both sides can endure for years. But [the proposal] would lead to a significant increase in costs. "
The cake, which was already shrinking, will have to be redistributed. The development of AI may lead to the expansion of the cake, but how long will it wait?
New media cannot solve old problems
The screenwriters' protests against Netflix have rarely appeared in relevant domestic reports before. More viewers are familiar with another narrative: Netflix only gives money, gives many, many money.
In 2019, Netflix's Korean costume zombie drama "Kingdom" became popular all over the world, and screenwriter Kim Eun-hee said in a live broadcast: "Netflix only gives money, not opinions." In addition, Netflix has offered two Game of Thrones writers a multi-year, $200 million film and television deal.
But from the information revealed by the screenwriters in this strike, this set of narratives belongs to only a few screenwriters at the top of the pyramid. Most screenwriters are exposed to streaming media that are not images of philanthropists who support creation.
"You can't make ends meet," said Lizardi, a writer who worked on the third season of "Bridgerton." "It's hard enough to get a job. You need two or three copies to survive. According to media reports, the minimum wage for screenwriters who are WGA members is $4,546 per week, and in the past 10 years, the number of screenwriters receiving the minimum wage in WGA has increased from 1/3 to half.
The mini-screenwriting room model affects the average water level in the screenwriting industry. The number of people and hours they work in the mini-screenwriter room have reduced the salary they receive, and coupled with the fact that streaming series are generally shorter than TV series, screenwriters do not earn half as much as TV series writers.
Interestingly, after data became more specific and accessible, the way streaming media distributed benefits was less transparent than in the days of TV stations. The viewership data of the TV station era is highly public, while the data of streaming platforms is almost all closed. Netflix shows the watch hours of its most popular shows on the top 10 pages, which is already more data than other streamers such as Amazon and Apple.
The black-box backstage data makes it difficult for screenwriters to know if they are getting paid enough, and the lack of data also reduces the bargaining power of creators when the show is popular.
Hwang Dong-hyuk, the writer and director of "Squid Game," said in a recent interview that the success of "Squid Game" did not bring him great wealth. "I'm not that rich... Netflix didn't give me a bonus. Netflix paid me under the original contract. According to Netflix's internal documents, "Squid Game" is estimated to bring nearly $900 million in value to the platform.
While the remuneration is reduced, what makes some screenwriters more painful is the impact of this model on the rising channel of the screenwriter's career.
George Martin, the original author of "Game of Thrones" and screenwriter of the screenplay, used his career path as an example to illustrate the harm this model does to screenwriters in his article supporting the Hollywood screenwriters' strike. Between 1985 and 1995, he participated in the production of several American dramas as a screenwriter, always observing the actors' performances on the set, and he was present during the entire production process from filming to post-editing, which laid the foundation for his later screenwriting career.
And the "mini screenwriter room" mode cuts off more career possibilities for screenwriters. The screenwriter of the "mini-screenwriting room" delivers the script, and after one or two rounds of revision, he gets paid, is sent home, and the work is over. Even if the episode they write is being filmed, they won't be asked to go to the set and may not even be allowed to talk to the actors.
"AMPPP's refusal to involve screenwriters in the production process — not as tourists, but as part of the job, paid accordingly — is not only wrong, but also extremely short-sighted. If the 2023 Story Editor can't get any production experience, where do studios think the 2033 series managers will come from? Martin Scorsese wrote.
"If we don't work hard now, there will be nothing to fight for in three years." Screenwriter Jacqmin, a member of the WGA, said: "I would use the word 'despair'. "In mid-April, when the WGA held its vote, a decisive 97.85% were in favor of a strike.
If you extend the timeline, you can more clearly see the impact of media iteration on the screenwriter's labor.
According to the Associated Press, WGA screenwriters have gone on strike more than any group in Hollywood since 1960, with a total of 6 strikes. Basically, every time, it is the problem of the distribution of benefits brought about by the change of new media. For example, the 1988 strike debated the distribution of proceeds from DVDs, and in 2007, streaming platforms were required to hire guild members if they had budgets.
Cycle over and over again, new media cannot solve old problems. The right to use and define new technologies is always in the hands of capital, and it naturally has a greater say in each benefit distribution. The name of new media, web 1.0 or web 2.0, itself has a natural progressive perspective, as everyone knows, the iteration of media may also bring about the regression of labor relations.
The screenwriter's labor is one of the parts of the series' vast and complex production chain, serving as the "soul" that sounds a little metaphysical at a time when scientific means are becoming more and more sophisticated. The screenwriter builds the skeleton of the entire product, how should this be priced? Always in debate.
The changes brought about by the streaming media platform experienced by WGA screenwriters have also been experienced by domestic drama screenwriters, and even more than that.
Sohu Entertainment once interviewed several screenwriters who had participated in platform projects in a report in 2021, one of which was Mu Mu, who summarized the current creative environment as follows: "The veteran screenwriter with ten years of qualifications wrote the outline and synopsis, handed it over to the screenwriter who entered the industry for two or three years to revise, and then subcontracted to people who entered the industry for one year, and then acted blindly by people who have not acted, and finally put in front of the audience a brainless drama." ”
When the series was ridiculed, the screenwriter was the one who sent the blade, and this year alone, the screenwriters of "Who Is He" and "Long Moon Ember Ming" have all faintly complained on Weibo that the plot is not what they wrote. After the series became popular, the screenwriter was the one who was ignored by the public opinion field. Let's just say that this year's two popular dramas, we all know that Gao Qiqiang in "Crazy" is Zhang Songwen, and "Long Season" is directed by Xin Shuang, so what are the screenwriters of the two dramas?
Reverse domestication
The mini-screenwriting room model, which only became popular in Hollywood over the years, was the norm in Bollywood in the 70s.
During this time, screenwriter writing usually took place in the filmmaker's home or office, often referred to as the gadda (mattress) room. It wasn't until the writer duo Salim Khan and Javed Akhtar became famous that they became the first Indian screenwriters to achieve star status and put their names on posters along with the protagonist.
Today, Hollywood screenwriters, who produce series for streaming, are moving closer to the Bollywood model of the '70s. The labor value of screenwriters is compressed by scale effects. The logic is consistent with the fact that in the second half of the last century, the United States moved factories to developing countries, using its demographic effect to compress production costs.
Perhaps one day, laborers in Yiwu, China, will not only be able to deliver small commodities to the world, but also produce skits for Netflix.
This reverse discipline occurs not only between regions, but also between old and new media. The "mini-screenwriting room" was first used by AMC, and is now being "carried forward" by Netflix, and is still being used by TV stations today before developing new dramas. At the expense of screenwriters, old and new media stand together in solidarity.
It's not hard to understand why AI has brought screenwriters even greater fear. Because AI may mean a more intense eradication of job opportunities (which has been repeatedly described in the media), and the reverse discipline of labor relations that has already occurred in the past.
This is also the reason for the AI mentioned in this screenwriters' strike. Among the WGA's many demands, are a ban on the use of AI to write literary materials; It is forbidden to use it as original material; It is forbidden to train AI using materials created by writers. After all, media giants such as Buzzfeed and Insider have used AI to produce content and laid off employees on a large scale this year.
Workers are always extremely sensitive to the iteration of production tools, and each iteration of production tools will bring about changes in labor-management relations. At the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, textile workers collectively went to smash steam engine factories, trying to express their own interests or encroachment, their own labor value or diluted panic and anger, and leave a bargaining chip for future labor-management bargaining.
And mastering technology and data, and acting as a platform for investors, of course, will not have such a strong attitude of resistance. iQiyi founder and CEO Gong Yu recently expressed his views on AI. He believes that AI is just a tool and should not be treated as a flood beast to rob human jobs and jobs. Instead, AI should be seen as a tool that helps human creativity unleash, mastered and used by humans.
However, how much of this data in the hands of the platform can be used by creators?
Whether it is overseas streaming media or domestic streaming media, the relevant internal data of a blockbuster drama is only known by the relevant person in charge of the platform and a few people on the film side, and there will be no change in the future, which will become tighter and tighter, just like the external data of the platform being shut down one by one.
However, there is no need to be pessimistic, the power of creation is infinite. After talking about the importance of technology, Gong Yu also said that in the field of high intelligence embodiment such as the film and television industry, human creativity is still irreplaceable.
In the current stage of discussion, the absolute denial and affirmation of technology is not desirable, but should think about how to make AI a technology that can benefit more practitioners, rather than simply becoming a confrontation and elimination with screenwriters.
In the past decade, many creators have tried to break through the logic of profit distribution and use the grammar of new media to make themselves the coordinator of a project: screenwriter, director, and occasionally starring actors. The writer and director of "Hyper" is a person, and he is the producer at the absolute heart of this project. "London Life" and "City Girl", which have won many Emmy Awards and Golden Globe Awards, are all one person whose screenwriter, director, and starring are all alone.
"Hyper"
Norway, which seems to be far from the core of the drama industry, a "SKAM" has been remade by seven European and American countries one after another. The writer, director and producer of the project are also two women. They are TV station workers, and since 2008, they have been exploring the interactive innovation of dramas in the media era, and the content that resonates with teenagers, which led to the fire of "SKAM".
This is the story that will only exist in the streaming media era, whether it is individualized in the plot or individualized in the way of creation. The characteristics of the above works are the confusion and overwhelm experienced by teenagers and youth associations in this era. Whether it is in the lines, plot, lens language, and the way the audience interacts, there are innovations. When they gain the right to speak in this way, they may also have the ability and opportunity to reach some huge IP and works that require fine industrialization.
In the end, technology is just technology, a medium of possibilities. If more attention is paid to the liberating power of technology—both for the content production itself and for the people who produce it—it will make technology more imaginative.
Even the screenwriters who describe themselves as "desperate" strikes are trying to figure out how to play tricks.
Some screenwriters organized a "blind date" activity at the scene of the strike on May 3. Members who want to find a date can bring streamers, pink to indicate interest in dating women, blue to indicate interest in dating men, and purple to indicate openness to everyone. "Isn't every story about love?" Some screenwriters told the interviewed media, and others said that it is an interesting idea to combine fighting for change with fighting for love.
The strike will end and the creation will never stop. As they put up a protest sign, it said, "We know how to end this story." ”