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IATSE Strike Could Shut Down Hollywood -- Thoughts from a Guild Exec
🕑 Added 2024-02-22 15:08:24 +0000 UTCI received a message from a guild executive that I just can't keep to myself. Hollywood is in full freak-out mode as they wrangle with the possibility of another strike at the same time theater chains could start going under (and due to Hollywood's own bad decisions). Another strike would spell utter doom for the industry; thus the strikers would have all the leverage in the world.
For the sake of understanding what is on the horizon (and the trades are too afraid to report on lest they fan the flames), the IATSE is the guild of "everybody else". If you're not DGA, WGA, SAG-AFTRA... you're IATSE. So here's what a guild exec sent my way that I thought you would enjoy:
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Been thinking about the very real potential for the IATSE to take the town down again on Aug. 1, what it will do to the immediate schedules we're dealing with re, for one instance, Mando movie, but larger to the economy.
I am also thinking about how all the casual observers are saying that the Gina case and others like it won't fly because allegedly Cali judges/powers-that-be are in the pocket of the Industry because they are such major players, donors, and "kingmakers" politically and economically there.....so...put ALL THAT TOGETHER, and here is the ONLY way (and it is a musing, not a prediction, and a longshot one at that) I can see there NOT being an IA strike and, considering how wiley the IA folks CAN be when they get their act together, a potential eventuality AND the hard statements from IA having been designed just to do this:
WHAT IF....the Mayor of L.A., the City Council, Gavin and the Sacramento boys, and EVERYONE in power in Cali and to a lesser degree NY etc. etc. AND considering they are all Dems and will be looking at that August 1 date as not being too far away from November and Election day and the economy being a huge issue AND the whole industry and all the ancillary businesses who live off it having just been put through the wringer by the prior strikes....
Well, what if all those powers that be call a semi-secret meeting of the major studios and basically tell them "Look--you NEED to cut a deal, give them more than you want, give them whatever they will take to shut up, sit down, and stay at work because if you do not, our already lousy economy goes TOTALLY in the crapper, people who are just now beginning to semi-recover from the pain of the last strikes will be wiped out, AND any shred of a chance we have to elect Biden and Dems in every blue/movie state (GA is very much in play in this) will fly out the window and down to defeat and you know you guys are on OUR side on those elections so dammit, Bob and boys...CUT A DAMN DEAL!
And just swallow your pride if they then preen and posture to their members that talking tough got them what they wanted. It is the price we pay for economic survival, not to mention jobs creating tax revenue AND movie tickets AND streaming subscriptions AND buying the stuff your systems advertise and all of it goes down the rathole if you don't make a deal and FAST, and WELL before the deadline. OR ELSE."I can see that happening, can't you?
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What do you make of the timing of the strike and how it may intersect with political pressures / economic collapse of the movie industry? Comment and let me know!
Your pal,
Pro
Comments
Rover Boy
Just got finished Culture's video on this topic. Its almost like you guys coordinate this stuff. Hollywood is dying. What rises from the ashes is looking like a handful of tech companies owning a bunch of brands & IPs with streaming services. Traditional Hollywood including the studios (Disney, WB, Universal, Paramount, etc.), theaters, and physical media will be no more, merged together or vastly reduced. This is notwithstanding outside factors (government intervention, outside investors, etc.).
Robin P
It may be about time for the theaters to reach out to some smaller studios like the Daily Wire and ask if they have anything in their existing inventory that they would like to put on the big screen - the same movies they would not have looked twice at a few years ago. A strategic release of "Terror on the Prairie" could be interesting. Maybe work with Hallmark or GAC for a Christmas movie release that makes it to the big screen Thanksgiving weekend - even if the same movie is able to premiere on their channel closer to Christmas. People may joke about the perpetual repeating plots, but most of the time, the movies are better than a lot of what Hollywood is coming out with.
erik orozco
Unfortunately our local movie theater got bought out but who knows how long the new movie chain will stick around. I'm definitely feeling the effects of the last strike already
Kathleen Morrison
If they can get #DangItBob to listen then it would happen. But that man has as much pride as Gavin has hair gel. π«
Trevor Sumner
I just wish the potential strike could come before August. Speed up that process just incase the political parties were to do what is being suggested, theyβd be thrown a curve ball by it happening even sooner. Iβm a great believer in karma, and Hollywood has been in desperate need of a great deal of it. August might not be far off for California and the like, but for me, thatβs an eternity away, especially if they try to force the studios to make deals instead of the strike happening.
