After the Hollywood Strike on 2023 that involve writers and actors things have change, some for the best others not so but still I think studios needed to be control with the use of AI on their content and salaries where also a topic at hand, I have always thought that when something happens that disrupts a system it opens the door for others to do the same, this is the case of the strike, it was the biggest dispute in the entertainment industry lasting almost six months creating an entire series of consequences, some that I would like to talk about, don't want this post to be an essay or entire resume, would be just too long.
- Decline on global box office, many productions were delayed and some new content coming from Asia going into streaming platforms.
- Awards season had to change when usually from November to February like Golden Globes, the Screen Actors Guild Awards, the Critics Choice Awards, the BAFTA Awards, and the Academy Awards, dates had to change for some of them.
- AI usage will increase in the upcoming productions, studios will squeeze its potential to the max.
- Labor movement in Hollywood, the writers and actors strike of 2023 opens the Pandora box for other groups to go on strike and demand what they want.
Content Void, Eager Audience
You can count me in, this is the first and probably most notice effect of the strike it comes in the form of content void, viewers waiting for that next season or movie they were expecting that was suppose to happen a year ago now postponed. On every situation of this magnitude there are opportunities too, we have seen how Netflix took the lead and started to include content in other languages specially from Asia, into their portfolio something that before 2022 was not a common practice, they did but at a lower range, so this opens the door for a wide variety of content including independent creators, presenting opportunities to attract a new audience.
Leaving viewers hanging is a huge downside for the industry as we have seen how some of this viewers, consumers now look into other type of entertainment like gaming, podcast and independent creators on platforms like YouTube, Twitch, Instagram, this are a lot of pair of eyes that are not so interested anymore on TV Series or going to the movies, because a lot of the productions are delayed, its like a mini pandemic effect for the industry.
To mention a few Movies delayed, some are not official release date:
- Mission Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part 2: from November 2023 to July 2024
- Gladiator 2: December 2023 to November 2024
- Ghostbusters: Afterlife 2 (Sequel): June 2024 to November 2024
- Bob Marley: One Love: October 2023 - February 2024
- Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse: April 2024 - Indefinitely
Besides Dead Pool 3, that's the most ever delayed movie in history, jk
TV Series Delayed: The Mandalorian, Yellowjackets, The Last of Us, Billions, Wonder Woman, some of the ones I'm personally expecting, there is the Daredevil series too but I'm not sure if ECHO is suppose to replace it or Netflix will ever come with one.
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Industry Structural Changes, Awards**
Lets start with the obvious for most who follow this movement, decline on shares and revenue, this impact every single part of the industry but as I mention there were those who took the lead to innovate, some of the company shares that suffer the most were the studios and other networks like Paramount, Disney, Netflix, Comcast with price drops all over the place even over 15%, in crypto that's not a big dip but for regulated markets it is, this had many weak hands shaking and others who saw blood on the streets decided to put more skin on the game.
AI usage was one of the hot topics around this strike, both the writers and studios reached a deal that put in place certain boundaries and rules of AI tools for the writing process, the AI tools this big studios develop I'm sure are nothing compared to the simple Chat assistant tools we normies have access too and they were probably abusing its usage, same goes for actors who had demands to stop studios from modifiying and recreating their faces, voice, performance and make it fair for all upcoming actors in the industry, imagine a studio with life time rights to your face or voice?, this entire topic had its own aftermath, the increase in value of humans, if you can't recreate them as much then this means now they are unique, this raise their current value, a shift in salaries happen on almost every role in the industry, workers are now aware of their value in the industry who not only demand fair salaries but also the protection for the work and rights.
Awards, not that it matters the most to viewers but I consider its part of the yearly show, its where your favorite series or movie gets public recognition, since there was dead space for the industry for almost six months during 2023 not only productions were delayed but also award ceremonies, this events had to even delay who they were going to nominate since probably had very few to choose from this affect the time they had to promote and marketing of the event creating an entire mess that is still unfolding as it has recently started when it was suppose to start November last year.
Effect over other Labor Movements
It look like at first it was just the writers but latter down the like when big faces start to step up like Bryan Cranston aka Mr. White, Keanu Reeves aka Mr. Neo, George Clooney, Matt Damon, Jessica Chastain and Barbie herself Margot Robbie came out publicly on TV and social media supporting the strike I thing that's when everything went to hell for studios, well not everything since they still had a firm grip over things that is one of the reasons why it took so long for an agreement.
There were other workers who provide support to the industry like hairdressers, camera operators, make up artist who had no other option to support the strike, they were loosing so much at the moment that them getting onboard will have an effect on speeding the process, it was not a slow sinking process for the industry anymore that could not be taken slightly anymore, this also brings awareness for workers around the industry for the future to stay together and unite against any other shift that can harm their work financially or copy right related.
After the strike seems like there is bright future and viewers are probably more excite than ever since 2024 promise to be a year full of content, this could be a double edge sword because the industry will have to promote more than ever this delayed content so it doesn't loose ground against the new content, you have backlog and the new stuff coming out.
The strike also exposed many things that viewers were not aware of, salaries, conditions, terms, rights against the streaming industry and big studios, the usage of AI, it was a big ethical and legal debate that expands far beyond the traditional demands from workers all because of the usage and abuse of AI in the industry.