Actors’ Strike Set To Impact Star Trek Production And Promotion, Including Summer Conventions

| July 15, 2023 | By: Anthony Pascale 213 comments so far

After extended negotiations failed to come up with a new agreement the SAG-AFTRA union of actors has called a strike against the Hollywood studios for work related to television and film. This is the first general actors strike in decades; the guild feels their members are facing an existential threat. According to the guild, the AMPTP (the group representing the studios, including Paramount Global) “has refused to acknowledge that enormous shifts in the industry and economy have had a detrimental impact on those who perform labor for the studios.”

The actors are joining the Hollywood writers, who went on strike in May. While they have some similar issues, the actors also have unique concerns over AI and likeness rights, pay minimums, and the costs of auditions. Since the WGA called for a strike in May, the AMPTP has not returned to the negotiating table, and there are reports the studios will not return to the table until the fall, hoping the writers will feel the financial pressure to cut a deal.

Picketing for the actors started on Friday as they joined the writers on the picket lines. Star Trek is already being represented, including Picard star Michelle Hurd who is also on the SAG negotiating committee. She can be seen below talking to Variety from the picket lines about why the actors are striking.

This double strike is historic. It’s the first time both SAG and the WGA have been on strike at the same time since 1960. It will have a big impact on the industry in terms of both productions and how previously filmed projects are promoted. While some specifics are still being sorted out, there are already immediate implications that will impact Star Trek.

No live-action Star Trek production any time soon

The most obvious impact of the double strike will be on the live-action production of Star Trek. Currently, there are three different upcoming Star Trek live-action projects yet to go into production: the third season of Strange New Worlds, the Section 31 streaming movie, and the first season of the new Starfleet Academy series. Before the strikes, Strange New Worlds season 3 was set to go into production this summer, the Section 31 movie was scheduled for the fall, and the Academy show was going to start filming in early 2024.

Writing for all these projects ceased in May, and production for Strange New Worlds season 3 was already confirmed to be delayed by the WGA strike. With the actors now striking as well, that eliminates even the possibility of any production based on available scripts, something that other film and television projects have been doing in the last couple of months. The SAG strike also disallows auditioning or even negotiating for parts, so no casting can be done for any of these projects . As the studios appear to be digging in against both striking unions, it seems like it may delay any production that was scheduled for this year, so it’s likely that none of these projects will arrive on Paramount+ any earlier than 2025.

The fifth (and final) season of Discovery has already finished production, including the additional footage shot in the spring to turn the season finale into a series finale. Paramount had already set early 2024 for the release and they can probably still meet that date; however, the SAG strike disallows actors from doing ADR (additional voice recording) so any dialogue that needs fixing can’t be done. As the SAG strike was a known risk, the producers may have already gotten as much ADR done as possible. Paramount+ could also move the release of the final season of Discovery to later in 2024 as this may be the only live-action Star Trek content for the year.

For now, all the actors are on strike, including Discovery’s Anthony Rapp, who walked the picket line with his new baby boy on Friday.

For Star Trek animation, it’s more complicated

Things can be a little more complicated when it comes to the animated series. For Lower Decks, both writing and voice work appears to be complete for season 4, set to arrive this summer, but it wouldn’t be surprising if Paramount+ pushed that date to later in the year just to spread out what Star Trek content they already have. Paramount has also ordered a fifth season of the animated comedy. Writing for that was allowed as animated shows fall under The Animation Guild (TAG) contract, which is still current. As for voice work, there are conflicting indications about whether SAG members can still work on animated shows, so it’s not clear when work on the fifth season can be completed. If the actors cannot provide voice work this year, it will be difficult for season five to arrive in 2024.

As for Star Trek: Prodigy, which also falls under the TAG contract, all indications are that all or most of the voice work for the second season has already been completed. Even though the show has been removed from Paramount+, the studio has confirmed work continues on season 2 as they shop both seasons to another outlet. The first half of season 2 was originally set to debut on Paramount+ this winter; its debut is obviously now in flux, but more tied to Paramount licensing the show to another streamer than the strikes.

Prodigy co-creators Dan and Kevin Hageman retweeted a fan who saw some irony when it comes to the show and the strike:

Extended strike could have Paramount rethinking Star Trek plans

The extended double strike could also result in changes to Paramount’s plans for the franchise. It may not be as simple as starting the clock again on planned productions due to the availability of the writers and the actors. Michelle Yeoh has been in especially high demand after her Oscar-winning performance in Everything Everywhere All at Once so they will have to work around her schedule for the Section 31 movie. Paramount may also take this time to rethink its Star Trek plans in general, although this won’t include developing any new projects as even discussing anything new with writers is disallowed by WGA strike rules. This would include the Star Trek: Legacy spinoff from Picard that many fans have been calling for.

The company could also scale back plans for the franchise, especially as the company faces pressure to cut costs from Wall Street. Just yesterday, Disney (a much healthier company) reacted to the same pressure by announcing a pullback on Marvel and Star Wars content.

Discovery actor Anthony Rapp had some thoughts on Hollywood CEOs which he share with Variety from the picket lines on Friday.

Bottom line: There will be less Star Trek television content in 2024 than originally planned, a scarcity which could possibly extend into early 2025. As for feature films, the Star Trek 4 project remains in development hell with bigger problems than the strikes, but this only ensures we won’t see the franchise back on the big screen for at least a couple more years, and probably longer.

No publicity allowed

In addition to working on new film and television projects, the SAG strike also disallows any promotion or publicity for previously completed film and television projects, including promotional events, panels, and more including interviews. [NOTE: TrekMovie’s Jess Bush interview published on Friday was conducted before the strike.] So don’t expect any more actor media interviews for the rest of season 2 of Strange New Worlds and possibly beyond. However, Paramount’s official aftershow The Ready Room with Wil Wheaton has been banking interviews in advance, so that show should continue through the rest of the season.

Actors are not even allowed to do promotions on social media. Shortly before the strike began at midnight on Thursday Strange New Worlds actress Melissa Navia sent out one last tweet promoting next week’s episode and how it has a personal connection to her.

Promotion ban impacting SDCC, STLV, and more

Another big impact will be felt at conventions, especially San Diego Comic-Con, which kicks off next week. Paramount has planned a Star Trek Universe panel for next Saturday, and even though some other studio panels were canceled on Friday, the Star Trek panel is still on the official schedule. It appears Paramount will still go ahead, but there obviously won’t be any WGA writers or SAG actors appearing. The schedule calls for the panel to focus on Strange New Worlds, Lower Decks, and Discovery. Even without any of the cast or writers, the studio executives, producers, and directors (not in SAG or WGA) could attend and the studio can certainly release new trailers and key art.

Of course, Star Trek actors from both the new shows as well as legacy shows are lined up to attend fan conventions all summer long, with the biggest one being the 57-Year Mission convention in Las Vegas set for the first weekend of August. Photo ops and autographs are still allowed under SAG rules, as they are considered personal appearances. However, panel appearances will likely be impacted by the strike. It is clear that actors for upcoming projects cannot promote them on a panel, however, that doesn’t preclude attending the convention and even potentially appearing on a panel, as long as certain topics are avoided. So far there have been no announced cancellations for the Las Vegas convention, but the situation is in flux, as noted by Anson Mount in this tweet from Friday.

While the rules for promoting upcoming releases are clear, this may also apply to previous work, including the legacy Star Trek show actors. This Friday tweet from Deep Space Nine actor Armin Shimerman indicates how the actors themselves are seeking clarification.

Creation Entertainment (who runs the annual Las Vegas convention) are also trying to work out the details, as can be seen from this Friday’s tweet regarding a Vampire Diaries convention they are running this weekend. They asked attendees to not ask performers questions regarding the Vampire Diaries franchise.

It’s also likely that the strikes will cut off any plans Paramount may may have had for a Star Trek Day celebration. In the last couple of years Paramount has celebrated the anniversary of the franchise in early September with a live streamed event in Los Angeles full of Star Trek celebrities. They have used this event as a promotional opportunity for the new shows as well as celebrating all of the Star Trek legacy shows and movies.

From Star Trek Day 2022

TrekMovie will continue to monitor events regarding the strikes and how they are impacting Star Trek productions, releases, and promotions.

Keep up with news about the Star Trek Universe at TrekMovie.com.

SHARE TWEET PIN SHARE

Related Articles

213 Comments
oldest
newest
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

As always, great reporting Anthony! I do hope this gets resolved in a mutually beneficial way soon. I heard a report that the average SAG member earns about $67,000 per year, so this isn’t a bunch of millionaire crybabies as I’m sure some people assume. Not all famous people are rich. I can appreciate their desire to ensure equitable compensation in a rapidly evolving industry. As it pertains to Star Trek, perhaps it is a good thing for the production teams to take a breath and evaluate what is working and what isn’t. It may lead to a better mix of content than what would have been offered had this “reset” not occurred.

The obvious compromise for both the actors and writers is to insist in full hard-ass mode on full protection from AI, but bend some on some of the compensation requests — some of which are just dumb, pie in the sky stuff, like artificially dictating the size of writing rooms with full paid staff. And on the residuals for streaming, both sides are going to have to come together and do something that can be assessed by an independent body for that type of compensation, and the studios need to agree to burying old shows away so that we can’t watch them.

It would also be nice to see some of the super-rich actors, who make more that Iger, for example, put some serious money into the strike funds to help the not well paid actors and writers, but that’s as likely as Iger stopping to feel sorry for himself for the oversaturation and lower quality of the last three years of Marvel…or as likely as hypocrite Fran Drescher getting a COVID vaccine shot to protect her colleagues and cancelling her Italy paid vacations.

Full protection from AI?!? Yeah, just like carriage drivers fending off automobiles… Forget it! The industry will fully go into AI mode, both on and off-screen. Full stop. It would have happened anyway, now it’s going to happen sooner…

I’m here for it only if it’s agimus. Otherwise go troll somewhere else.

That’s so short-sighted. In this country, at least, 70 percent of the economy is based on consumer spending and putting an entire sector of the labor force permanently out of work won’t really do anyone any good. When we take this sort of position, we’re not just saying workers can be displaced; we’re saying they should be displaced. All in the name of “enhancing shareholder value” – which only benefits a relative few.

And as usual these sort of strikes end up hurting people not directly connected the most. The crews reliant on the productions. Catering businesses, etc. They need the work, too.

The crews will be hurt the most by AI replacing entire casts and backgrounds. The tech is getting to be so complex that many in lighting departments are anticipating that they won’t be needed for anything simple within 5 to 10 years.

Not unless all physical shooting will cease to exist.

Eliminate the need for actors and that is certain to follow.

Honesty don’t see that happening for a VERY long time.

Humans are obsolete

No, it’s not short-sightedness on my part. It’s called the acceptance of progress. And it’s not only about “enhancing shareholder values”, that’s only the driving force, it’s about creating the good old holodeck! What is a holodeck if not an AI that has completely replaced both actors and writers? Only that in reality, this progress comes not as the product of enlightenment but capitalism…

Workers will be displaced in all sectors and that is a good thing. Why even bother working? That’s so 20th centiry… In the future you can work for fun or not at all… .That’s the future I’ve grown up in watching Star Trek and the sooner it becomes partial reality, the better…

You forget consumer preferences. I predict that consumers will largely rebel against TV and movies not made by people. People are already fuming about just some titles on a Marvel film that were done by AI, and look at the cache and popularity the big movies that use practical effects get versus CGI.

And consider this, there are still plenty of shopping malls around, and many are doing quite well, despite that they are not theoretically needed any more.

Besides, you need self-aware machines to get full AI, which is leaps and bounds beyond this hype/fake AI that is incorrectly being called AI now.

Modern AI isn’t close to being able to do what the holodeck does. We can get some creepy uncanny-valley people delivering unoriginal dialogue in near-expressionless voices, but I don’t think anyone wants that.

How are people supposed to acquire food, shelter, healthcare, etc. in your post-labor economy?

For such a system to work, the government would need to provide a lot of that. I somehow can’t see a proposal like that getting through congress any time soon.

You had to have your post written by AI because it makes no sense and in fact is quite offensive. Potentially thousands of people will lose their jobs but as long as you can live your Science-Fiction Nerd fantasy it doesn’t matter?

Why even bother working? Even someone with a basic understanding of human sciences (human, get it?) or emotional intelligence would never think that not working is something to aim for or even a plausible or desired future from where we are today.

Sorry to break it to you, but Star Trek is fiction not reality and is not our future. And no I would have no interest in having AI replace humans. It has its uses and yes this will grow in the future and where this is deemed an improvement it will be integrated in society, but I’m not going to enjoy works of art resulting from computation or 3D printing or high definition avatars exposing the human condition from scripts produced by natural language processing. Nor would I have a 6 year old explain the hardships of life to me. Are you getting the analogy?

Art issues from the unfathomable depths of the human soul. There will always be a difference between what a computer can generate and what an artist can and that difference is why art speaks to us.

We’ll said!

Agree with others — this trolling is not helpful.

Trolling? Please, I’m having a serious discussion about the future of work that’s radically going to change due to unstoppable progress. I just don’t believe in the long-term necessity of human workforce. The sooner we come to terms with that, the better. There are still jobs in other sectors that may not be replaced for a few decades…

Nah, we are not even close to the Technological Singularity.

Unless the Singularity is represented by my boot in Garth’s ass, then we’re WAY removed from that potentiality.

I do think I’m finally getting an idea of how trek fans are perceived by some general public folks, though, because Garth’s futurescape seems GR at his most looneytunesiest … but with less heart.

LOL, well said! Yeah, with near-zero hear, it all being about him.

The whole AI threat is pure fantasy. Chatgpt is a language model it can’t think and it’s not creative. Ask it to write you a story and it just regurgitates old story ideas. If writers are afraid of a glorified chat box, then they are pretty awful writers.

Yeah, Chatgpt is just a better web search that combines and summarizes information in a more easy to consume format.

It’s a time saver utility, not Hal-9000.

It’s not even that good at search. When in doubt it just makes stuff up out of thin air. I don’t even use it anymore.

I get a lot of good use out of it, but verification is absoltely necessary.

Quite true, especially your last sentence… A lot of them are, as demonstrated by the stinking garbage coming out of Hollywood in the last few years. Hopefully this will result in a very necessary culling to eliminate the incompetent writers and actors who insist on preaching their politics. We just want to be entertained, not indoctrinated.

This has nothing to do with politics. I don’t know what lunacy you’re going on about.

Then ignorance is bliss. Be happy.

For you maybe. I prefer to live in reality. I guess voted for that orange criminal.

Common sense lives on both sides of the aisle, just need to keep closer to the center. Your sense of deduction is deficient, so are your social skills… As far as the orange stable genius, I’m Canadian.

Now, from a coffee cup my wife once gifted to me: “I Would Challenge You To a Battle of Wits, But I See You Are Unarmed.”

Being Canadian won’t save you. The things I’ve seen Canadians do …………. BTW don’t be mad because my post made you think you found someone as clueless as you. Have a great day 🌈🌈🌈🏳️‍🌈

Sure, there’s crazy everywhere. Why would I be mad? Just a little tit-for-tat…

$67,000. Far more than teachers and first responders. But go on…

Considering most have to live in LA, you’re just wrong on this. The average teacher salary in SoCal is about that same amount ($65,000)and the average first responder salary is about $80,000.

Median might be a better metric, or a modified average, where the high earners or anyone without a minimum number of hours is excluded. I suspect that average is a lot lower, so I’d not be inclined to agree to anything that’s subsiding corporate profits on the back of large swaths of middle income earners.

In other words, you want numbers that better defend your completely one-sided view that labor is right on 100% of everything in this strike, because the real numbers aren’t convenient to supporting your completely one-sided view?

Lol, got it!

A 67K average isn’t much of a living wage these days. If that’s the average, there are plenty of people making a lot less, and barely getting by. Depending on the disparity between high earners and the rest, median is likely lower, it could be higher. The data is what itis.
Management is teetering on the edge of not bargaining in good faith. Some in management are openly talking about breaking the unions. So, Bob Iger and his eight figure salary, bitching that some perform who’s making a couple grand a month in residuals is being totally unreasonable for not agreeing to a cut strikes me as being on the wrong side of the argument.

median is likely lower, it could be higher.

That’s better — we are agreed then that we don’t know.

Meanwhile…
1 Dwayne Johnson $89.4 million
2 Chris Hemsworth $76.4 million
3 Robert Downey Jr. $66 million
4 Akshay Kumar $65 million

And they have The Nanny, who’s net worth is $30M, representing them.

SAG has 160,000 members. WGA a bit over 11,000. 99.99% of the membership will never, ever make the money your top four does. The top SAG earners are in support of those who’ll be leaning on their residuals management wants to take away. As long as we’re throwing around numbers that deflect from the actual labor issue:
The average pay of the top 12 studio CEO’s was 28.58 million (in 2022). It was a rough year, average CEO pay in 2021 was 87.36 million.
Dwayne Johnson is diversified rather nicely. Anice chunk of the number you shared is acutally from other business ventures, and RE and investment holdings.
Akshay Kumar makes most of his money from product endorsements. The guy is basically the Michael Jordan of Bollywood.
Meanwhile, the vast majority of the union membership, making 67K a year or less, picks up their industry paper and sees that management is getting pretty vocal about happily driving them into foreclosure, and breaking their union. Bob Bakish gets paid the same if he pulls off the miracle and saves Paramount, or drives it into bankruptcy. So there’s that.

I can’t believe I’m actually having to have this conversation…..

And the studios employee thousands of people who make normal and lower wages than they should get too…and most of them aren’t unionized in any way.

The point is, both sides have filthy rich elites, and both sides have many others who work in their company/union who they could flow more $$ down to if they wanted. Everyone loves the optics of the $30M/year Bob Iger to take potshots at, even though very few employees in that corporation are wealthy, but, oh, no, we can’t similar lame optics to look at the ultra-rich actors, because we like them!

BTW, many of those who work less than $67K are part-time, and those levels of part-time actors and writers have swelled to an unsustainable level. The labor pool is just way too large.

You can’t believe we’re having this conversion, because you don’t want to have this uncomfortable conversation. Your are a one-sided advocate. I am objective and see both sides.

I want iron-clad AI protections for SAG and WGA, but they must give-in on some on the economic issues given the labor pool is unsustainable, and given some of their asks (like artificially larger writers room with everyone at full salary) are not economically viable, not to mention that they don’t make creative sense.

…I also want fair residuals with viewership calculations done by a 3rd party.

Sorry Creation, but I just pulled the plug on my annual Vegas con trip. It’s obviously going to be a watered down event at best, and that heat wave there looks apocalyptic right now anyway.

I’m in Vegas now, it’s in the hundreds and teens. Hot, yeah, but not apocalyptic.

Wow, to me that’s well beyond, “don’t worry, it’s a dry heat.” :-)

Come on you wimp! 117 degrees is no big deal. Just go cool off in the Vulcan Forge afterwards.

“This isn’t the weather you’re looking for…move along”

Worlds got a fever to get rid of the human virus I guess.

The planet is good judge of character then.

Nah, neither of us would still be here man!

True!

These are indeed perilous times. But it’s good to see people support these actors and writers. The reality is we have waaaay more entertainment and content we know what to do with today. For all the complaints about Hollywood these days, it doesn’t stop us from watching it constantly and it only exist because of these people. They deserve more, period.

It will definitely suck we’re not going to get much Star Trek next year but with the lack of Picard and now sadly Prodigy (with 20 episodes of new content lost as well), that was already the case. It looks like we have SNW and LDS this summer and then a long break until Discovery final season gets here. And then that could literally be it for 2024 unless there is a break through in the next few months and everyone is saying don’t hold your breath.

And it could get even worse with P+ financial woes which will naturally get worse because people will start dropping their subscriptions once there is less new content like Star Trek on. These services are in a huge bind with all of this happening. But now the second golden age of Star Trek since the 90s may be ending faster than any of us wanted with all these issues piling up.

I’m not an expert on the entertainment industry, but it seems like there is just an over saturation of content, which has presumably increased the number of people working in the industry, perhaps more than can sustain the amount of revenue being generated. On top of those dynamics, the AI issue especially makes this a complicated mess for the industry to grapple with. I do hope the actors and writers can reach a solution that appropriately compensates them for their talents. I fear you may be correct about this second golden age of Star Trek coming to an end, but the first golden age was only one show at a time, except for a few seasons of VOY and DS9 overlapping. I would be happy if we could at least have that – with a real effort to make whatever we get as high quality from a writing perspective as possible.

No I’m not either and I grew up in L.A. Its been around me all my life. But that’s what it appears to be, on one hand you had these studios all throwing their money and time around the streaming services but because it’s a different dynamic than in the old days how money was distributed to the people who actually makes it and they are clearly losing out from it, so it all appears to be colliding together. Add to the fact none of these services are making any real money today it creates even worse problems. They tried short changing actors, producers and writers when they were already making tons of money, imagine how bad it is when they aren’t.

But none of these studios are broke either. They are still making money obviously, just not on the level as before. But they overestimated how successful these services would be and because not everyone wants to subscribe to all of them or all year long either. Ironically that’s exactly why we had five Trek shows on, because they thought that was the solution, just have a new Trek show on every week throughout the year and it will keep a certain number of subscribers but it’s probably not that simple or DIS and PRO would still be around to do that.

Reading my OP again, I don’t want to make it sound all gloom and doom of course. I don’t think Trek will be completely dead in a year or anything, it just may not be on the level we were getting literally just a year ago. Even if P+ falls, Trek will probably still go on, it will just be on other services and maybe just 2 or 3 shows. But I do feel trying to make it this dominant franchise on P+ is probably over because one property is not going to get them out of their woes. Ask Disney about that which Iger in a recent interview said they were going to cut back on Marvel and Star Wars shows on D+. I think they are all learning spending tons on your big IPs isn’t the answer if they are not getting any large new subscriptions out of it. ,

They have basically all saturated the market at this point.

Honestly the silver lining here might, MIGHT, just be the end of Secret Hideout running Trek when things resume. Either because it went on so long that the contract runs out or P+ implodes and the property moves somewhere else… Whatever the reason there is a chance Trek may end up in better hands in the long run. That is what I am hoping for. The fact that we will not have much SH Trek doesn’t bother me in the slightest.

Honestly, I feel the same. Some new show runners wouldn’t bother me in the least.

maybe Trek will go back to how it was in the 90s, a main tv show (SNW) with a 2nd coming in (Legacy) and an occasional movie (P+) .. and if we lucky maybe a theatrical for the 60th anniversary (kelvin meets prime, starring Pine and AI Shatner 9000 :)

In this digital world, demand for content is only going to grow. AI is in its infancy, and we’re already seeing abuses, so the industry is right in calling for controls on it.

“it doesn’t stop us from watching it constantly and it only exist because of these people.”

It is the other way round. These people only have a job because of us consumers and the studios. And now they feel the heat of shortly being replaced by AI, both on screen and off screen. That will happen anyway, so why wasting our life time with this strike? In ten years from now, no “writers” will be needed to flesh out some dialogue, no background actors will be needed at all. They should be happy to have a job for the time being, no matter how much they are paid. AI will get them and no one will pay them a dime then…

“They should be happy to have a job…no matter how much they are paid.” That kind of Ferengi attitude is exactly why they’re on strike in the first place.

Wow spoken like someone who doesn’t care about other people’s livlihoods. I don’t buy this at all. Yes, I don’t doubt AI will have more of an impact in the future but people still want real performances by real people. I don’t think that’s going to go completely away any time soon, especially when people complain movies use to much CGI and effects now. I don’t think everyone will be excited to have an all AI cast either.

But sure, it will have some impact of course and probably more on the writing end but I wouldn’t want writers completely replaced over it.

Agreed.

But that’s an issue that cannot be solved by higher wages for unnecessary jobs but by basic income.

And no, I don’t need “real performances”… I want the holodeck to become reality. What else is the holodeck but a giant AI that replaces both actors and writers?

That is called technological progress and that is what I hold dearest as a Trekkie, not the social utopia that supposedly comes along with it.

My dude. Someone still writes holoprograms.

It’s like he never saw “Author, Author” (which, in fairness, is one of like five good Voyager episodes.)

Sounds like a nightmare

Of course, who needs any kind of social order, utopia even less so, when we’re 8 million humans, social animals no less, trying to live together? Who needs reality? Much better to hide in a fake world so you don’t need to face reality right?

Your logic is deficient at so many levels I’m not even going to try. Technology is only useful in so far as it improves human existence, and further keeping people apart by having them hide in an imaginary world is not going to do it.

LMFAO

I don’t support them.

Michelle Hurd recorded a Cameo for me recently as I’ve been a fan of hers for years going back to the JLA pilot and The Glades. I asked her to share stories of the productions she’s been involved in and she couldn’t have been more wonderful, spending several minutes sharing stories and ending with an uplifting message. While it was thrilling to be able to be able to engage with her that way, it’s disturbing that she has to supplement her income this way because of corporate greed. A professional of her quality and others like her deserve a living wage and it’s time for the studios to recognize that!

Corporate greed? Most studios and streamers are fighting for mere survival at the moment. Tentpoles bomb by the dozen, streaming competition is insane, not even Disney makes a profit, let alone struggling companies like Paramount or WB… There is not a single dime left, only debts and more debts… Sorry, first a company needs to be profitable before it can improve on wages. Totally the wrong timing for ANY demands. Studios need to cut costs, not raise wages. If the flesh-and-blood employees aren’t willing to to work at even lower wages, then the AI will take over as of now.

I might buy that explanation, if the CEOs weren’t all making exorbitant amounts of money. Maybe they can cut their wages first?

 There is not a single dime left

Oh, there’s certainly some change in the couch cushions. Disney CEO Bob Iger just signed a contract extension upping his total compensation from $27mm/year to $31mm/year. Granted, it’s still less than he made before he left the job in 2021, but a raise is still a raise. And since this is a ST site, Paramount Global CEO Bob Bakish pulled in $32mm last year*.

*As usual for high-ranking executives, most of the “total compensation” takes the form of bonuses and other forms of payment, basically to avoid taxes. I don’t know about the extension Iger just signed, but in his original deal, his cash salary was only one million dollars, the remainder was in bonuses. When I was a corporate counsel, I used to have to negotiate these contracts, and it was kind of amazing how many ways you can come up with to funnel money to an executive. Among the ways I’ve witnessed: bonuses, stock options, stock grants, deferred compensation, “consulting” fees (paid to the executive’s spouse), club memberships, private school tuition, real estate purchases, car purchases, payments to the executive’s “charitable” foundation, the list goes on and on.

Top actors annual earnings last year below — way more that Iger and Bakish. And I expect given Cruise’s share to Top Gun Maverick, that he dwarfs these numbers.

1 Dwayne Johnson $89.4 million
2 Chris Hemsworth $76.4 million
3 Robert Downey Jr. $66 million
4 Akshay Kumar $65 million

But SAG isn’t mentioning these dude’s salaries, and union leader, anti-vaxer and all-around general hypocrite, Fran Drescher, perhaps one the worst actresses around in my opinion, has a net worth of $30M…LOL

Fran Drescher’s job as SAG president isn’t to look out for herself, or to justify her net worth that she’s spent decades building, it’s to look out for those she represents. That’s what she’s doing.

Like when, during the height of COVID, she was trying to force through SAG ant anti-vax rule that actors did not have to have follow the same vaccine rules everyone else (like almost all companies and unions in the industry) were following? And then how she embarrassingly got Overwhelmingly rejected by the SAG board and membership on that one?

Dude she has a history of looking out for herself and her own views. Case in point, she was on a junket it in Italy last weekend with a Kardashian when the talks broke down.

Sure in this case she’s in the right place to claim she’s looking up for her membership, So I will grant you that that all the lines up right now. But don’t fool yourself and thinking that she’s altruistic.

Their salaries are factored into the industry average. Do a bit more digging and you’ll discover that they represent a fraction of all actors currently working.

Sure, just like it’s an ultra small fraction of studio employees that make tens of millions…that’s my point. So you got like 15 or so of this filthy rich execs, and you got like perhaps triple that number of super wealthy actors…so I am trying to hold my laughter on the complaints from $30M net worth Fran Dreshcer, the head of SAG, complaining about Iger’s exec compensation.

Both sides have prima donnas who make way too much money and don’t share enough with their employees/supporting workers.

Their CEOs are still making tens of millions a year. How could there be no money if at everyone at the top are still making gobs more money a year than 90% of the country? You see the contradiction?

And your stance comes off mighty selfish, as if they are asking for some major concessions. They are only asking to be paid a living wage. If you can still spend $200 million on a movie, you can spend more on the writers and actors too.

There are very good reasons why a lot of these tentpoles are bombing. It’s really their own fault. And the actors & writers have helped it along, as well.

Yeah, bad movies are bad movies, and Marvel in particular, is just making the same shit over and over, but with lower quality writing and VFX.

Cruise and Nolan make good movies — just watch now as those movies, and possibly Barbie, roll in the $$ and save the summer movie season.

Agreed!

I don’t think Barbie is going to do business, either. The MI film might. I’m not a huge Cruise fan but his MI film might be this year’s Top Gun. BTW, I absolutely HATED Top Gun when it came out in ’86. The Maverick film, which I just saw a few weeks ago, was surprisingly way better. Oppenheimer looks good but it’s not really a tentpole.

Yeah, Barbie might be a truly original weird film that catches on, or it might suck…hard to say.

Agree on Top Gun and Cruise.

I think Oppenheimer will do in the $600M+ range worldwide — Nolan movies are in the own tentpole-like class.

Has your uncle not gotten his 8-figure golden parachute yet and that has got you antsy?
Cuz I don’t understand a single thing you’ve said in any of the posts in this thread as being anything other than shilling for TPTB — apparently just because they’re TPTB. Wise the Hell up and shut the hell up.

I stand to lose a significant percentage of my income — as in, all of my writing income — for the duration of this once current product is exhausted, but I’m a zillion percent behind the writers and actors on this, and actually feel very angry and ashamed that DGA smoked a peace pipe at the exact time they needed to show some balls.

Nah, I am doubling down and buying more Disney stock now that’s it’s a good value…Disney will be kicking ass a year after the strike is resolved (plus, I guarantee you, Iger is going to fix Marvel) — you can take that to the bank.

I believe your longterm assessment is spot on.

Sorry but that is not the case, that is what we’re told. CEO’s and shareholders are taking home tons of money. Also, when insiders admit they will intentionally hold out to bankrupt actors and writers (so that they lose their homes).

And remember, these producers are EXACTLY THE SAME FOLKS who take such glee in admitting that if they can’t bankrupt a VFX company through lowballing and piling on extra shots with no time extensions, then they aren’t doing there jobs right. Maybe that needs to be writ large … because the way the VFX industry has been splintered and suffering is probably a template these horrorshows are rolling out for everybody else now.

Now would be the perfect time for the VFX Industry to quickly unionize. It amazes me that I’m not hearing any news of this happening???

I’ve covered the VFX field for over three decades, and there are answers to things even more basic than this that just don’t get answered, and they all seem to be about economics, but not in any way that makes sense to me. The sudden rush to CGI in the 90s when the results were so inferior and the costs weren’t really being saved is a good example. The cost of VFX kept going higher and higher and yeah, you got more shots, but most of them looked lousy — where is the gain? Because you can do the work from anywhere in the world, it is much easier to farm this stuff out and keep going, so TPTB have leveraged that time and again.

The Visual Effects Society magazine, which I wrote for until I just had to give up because it was actually a losing proposition given how little they pay, spends a lot of each issue showing pictures of awards shows and such, and the articles seem to focus on industry trends, but they don’t seem to ever take the bull by the horns. Go check their website out, you can probably see what I mean.

Interesting.

An enormous issue a lot of lower level actors are facing is the reduction in episodes. In the past with 22 episode seasons there was enough work for the year. Now they are a measly 6 to 10 they have lost so much work. They have to go back into the rat race and try to audition for other shows to get a few episodes here and there and try to fit it altogether without clashes.

EXACTLY!

So what? Do you really believe this strike is going to change anything for them? That we get 22 eps again? That no AI will be used to replace walk-on roles? The studios will cut all ties to the guilds, implement AI replacements and start all over with some cheap employees from abroad. No one will earn anything more. This is suicide on the guilds’ part…

Cutting ties with the guilds would be suicide on the studios’ part.

Believing that AI will replace all writing and actors is ludicrous. AI is terrible at making stories that are about anything beyond the most boring platitudes. The uncanny valley will prevent AI’s ability to generate performances beyond the most stone faced.

AI may one day be able to replace writers, which I think is part of why they are striking. Even today, it can replace writers if the studios aren’t concerned about things like quality or creativity.

All in all, I would much prefer human writers, although AI can probably be utilized as a tool to help with the writing process.

So I guess you’re OK eliminating an entire class of labor, then? Will replacing actors with AI make movies better? No. The only reason to do so is for the studios to increase their margins.

I imagine that big name actors (or their estates, in the case dead stars like Marilyn Monroe) will be able to make a pretty penny licensing their image and likeness. But for people who scrape by in walk-on roles and bit parts, there will be no such windfall. And no more acting jobs, and that is not a good thing, it’s just not. And I’m saying this as a shareholder in some of these entities.

Yeah, I am all about eliminating the very need for labor. very single day I still have to get up I wish my job was replaced by an AI so that I can fully concentrate on my escapism. I’ve come a long way in financial independence but I’m not a frugalist yet…

Sucks to have your job then.

But no dude, you don’t get to impose that on the rest of us just because it suits your bizzaro worldview, financial position and life desires…lol

Until we also abolish capitalism, which obviously isn’t happening any time soon, we need to have jobs available for people. And those of us who find our jobs fulfilling, which I would imagine is the case for most actors, would rather work than do nothing all day.

Agreed, I’d be bored out of my mind if I didn’t have my job which I look forward to doing every day.

Not having to go to work is the only goal I have left in my life. I’m so close… but I don’t dare quitting, just in case the big one hits I keep my part-time job for the time being.

Be careful what you wish for.

Don’t worry, keep going like that and you won’t need to quit. You’ll be promptly fired.

You’re wrong. Capitalism, fully automated, exactly provides the means for that sort of lifestyle. The machines uphold productivity and anyone else gets the dividend. Capitalism provides for progress that socialism never could. There is no discrepancy here. On the contrary: the very reason in do not stand with the unions but with the corporates on this one is that “evil coroporate money” fills my bank account. I’m almost there, replacing my wages with dividends…

As long as we are a capitalist society, people need money to buy things. If all the workers are replaced by machines, these corporations aren’t going to be sharing the profits with regular people. I’d be all for replacing a lot of jobs with machines if we had a plan to make sure that the people currently working those jobs don’t suffer. I don’t think you can really replace the creative arts, like writing and acting, with machines though.

I’m sorry that you don’t like your job, but that’s no reason to lash out against the people who do.

I think this dude hates this job so much that he actually thinks the Technological Singularity is imminent and is going to give him a happy ending. I think that’s centuries away, if it ever happens. And I also think that if it did happen, it would not deliver to him the personal panacea that he thinks it would.

Yes. Because corporations are known for giving away their money to average people.

Is Garth Lorca actually Bruce Maddox? Sounds like he is intent on creating a slave group a la MEASURE OF A MAN.

Or Dr. Miles Dyson from The Terminator movies.

BIG difference between doing something when you know it is wrong vs. just being naive or stupid about it … ethically speaking, that is.

Half Bruce Maddox, half Liquidator Brunt.

I’ll buy off on that, so long as I don’t have to bear the brunt of his replies.

People like you are what give Trekkies a bad reputation. Your obsession with escaping reality to live in your own made-up world. How useful is that for society?

Poor you, having to deal with actual people and life’s responsibilities. How ever do you manage? Your mother must be proud.

Lol, that is so harsh. :-)

I know but this guy is going out of his way to be the perfect geek caricature. I held back, but post after post after post… somebody needs to set this guy straight! His goal in life is to stop working so he can concentrate on his escapism? Did he really say that? Or maybe he wants to be a magician and he’s talking about some Houdini magic tricks? Or maybe he figured out something I didn’t about being irresistible to women? I’m gonna drop it TM is going to ban me…

Hypothetically, a person with those views might be someone who has not gotten _ _ _ _ enough in real-life in enough and is hoping holodeck technology can rectify that? ;-))

Are you drunk?

Yeah the SAG President said this is one of the biggest issues, actors are no longer working as much because the industry is changing. In fact that’s a huge reason why so many actors from other countries come to work in Hollywood, not just because they can get paid more, be a bigger star, etc, but there is just more steady work. Most countries that has a thriving film and TV industry doesn’t make 20 episodes a year and keep making the same show for 10 years on top of it. So many British and Australian actors come to America because most TV shows are not just much lower pay but usually make around 8 episodes a year. Even if a show is really successful, most don’t last longer than 5 years. And it’s not that many movie and shows being produced in general so they come here.

Ironically that’s what is staring to happen in America. There are still more shows produced and all the networks are still there. But more and more work is going to streaming and unless you are at the top of the casting list, you probably can’t live off just doing that one show anymore.

Yeah, but there are a lot more shows overall.

That doesn’t help most individuals as the proportion of actors to number of episodes has grown substantially.

Actually it should help the small part actors because they should be able to go from show to show over the course of the year. The problem though is instead of that happening though many more “part time” actors have entered the field…and so you have a larger set of part time actors who are hoping the union can get them an agreement with more work and full pay and benefits, which is just not realistic.

Fewer shows have 13+ episode orders, but even in the heyday of broadcast there weren’t as many shows vying for audiences as there are now. So it’s also possible to argue that balances things out. Streamers also tend to offer more upfront to compensate for reduced residuals.

Regardless, so many actors and writers were already working second, third or even more jobs to get by, especially if they were not even hitting the minimums requires to provide healthcare benefits. So there’s a lot the strikes won’t fundamentally upend about how these people get by, it’s just that the industry is in such upheaval, they need to get ahead of a lot of issues to sustain any leverage.

Meanwhile the production companies can hold out for a good amount of time as well because the strikes have a silver lining: an excuse to realign their streaming services and stem the rampant spending, while looking more closely at overseas and non-scripted programming.

Anthony Rapp’s baby is adorable. He looks like he’s having the time of his life riding on his dad’s shoulders on the picket line,

That kid is pretty dang cute. And I’m usually immune to the appeal of babies!

In the past such news always bummed me out. But not so much this time. The overall quality of stuff coming out of Hollywood these days is thin. People have YouTube and tons of much better films and TV shows to look at out there already. I don’t think many are going to truly notice a change here.

YouTube is no replacement for TV and movies.

The amount of TV I watch these days compared to even 5 or 6 years ago is a fraction. There just isn’t that much interesting stuff out there. Some of it is on streaming services I refuse to buy. And even though I’d kinda like to see some of it I’m not missing it, either. If production shuts down I sure won’t miss anything.

Edgelord alert!

Enlighten me. Edgelord?

Whatever it means, that’s the kind of insult that makes you look worse than the person you’re trying to insult. Sounds like something a smart-ass Gen Z would say.

The term’s at least a decade old.

Then it sounds like it has less to do with there being nothing good on, and more that you just personally aren’t interested in watching it.

Not at all. Given the overall quality of what I have seen lately I don’t think there is that much that is very good at all. And the things I have a slight interest in seeing I doubt are worth paying extra for. So I won’t.

With the politisation of Hollywood content it has made a huge number of people indifferent to the industry. It doesn’t help when a lot of actors, writers and directors openly insult and mock groups of people.

Bruh. Hollywood was always like that.

Not true, in the 80s and 90s Hollywood was a broad church and appealed to most groups. It has increasingly become exclusionary.

I’m an Asian Jew man. Are you really trying to tell me that it wasn’t always like that. Because to me it sure never stopped then.

Really???????

I’m sitting here like lol did nobody else realized that even Trek in 90s did that shit. Did nobody else realize that the Ferengi were Jewish stereotypes and that was supposed to be funny or bad with no in between.

Not to mention the Space Guild in the George Lucas Star Wars prequels

Yeah the Trade Federation and the Toydarians too. Then there was Jar Jar Binks and the Gungans but at least there Mace Windu balanced them out.

My wife made that observation too. I never saw it that way. I just assumed they were 24th century capitalists.

Exclusionary to… conservatives? I can’t argue with that, but as has been pointed out here, Hollywood was always friendliest to liberal white men. Letting minorities and women in the club as junior members and occasionally letting them help white men tell their stories… that’s a very mixed legacy.

There’s a case to be made for how they are overcompensating now, but after so much time where minorities and women didn’t have enough seats at the table it’s worth sitting down and listening to what they have to say. Too many people are trying to frame increased opportunities for diverse voices only as taking something away from other people, and that’s not productive.

Yeah, it has always leaned that way but social media hasn’t helped the situation.

I assume you mean religious or conservative j*rk offs

The damn fools

I only have one statement to add… FUCKING BULLSHIT!!!!!!!!!

RIP Star Trek. Because of the penny pusher assholes in hollywood. Fuck all of you. If you want to censor my comment then go ahead.

I’m not sure Anthony Rapp know the meaning of the world ‘realistic’.

Agree with you, Emily.

There’s a missing negation in there somewhere.

Call me an old codger if you like, but with all this going on I think the necessity to own your own physical copies of your favorites has never been more important. Who knows where this is leading with regard to studios pulling content from streaming services. I have hundreds of discs, both movies and favorite series, at my disposal to watch whenever I want. My wife and I decided we could basically last out any strike with no troubles indefinitely. Seems fitting my Prodigy S1 dvd arrived this week. And I love reruns. Strike away, Hollywood! I do feel bad for the smaller businesses effected by this though, the fringe people, caterers, rank and file folks.

Agreed and I think that’s something that’s going to make this strike harder for the actors and writers. The studios seem like they need and want a break from making new content for a bit and there’s SO MUCH content available that people could watch for years. I don’t remember talking to anyone during the pandemic that said “I’ve run out of things to watch”..,

Live sports fans — for the early part of the pandemic

I’m talking about scripted content.

Would wrestling count?

Lol

Yeah, I mean physical media is something I’ve always gone out of my way to max out on, just because I don’t like the idea of some weirdo at the top of the food chain deciding to alter the content post-release, but here is an equally good reason. Recently I looked at pruning the collection a bit, especially with stuff that I only have on DVD that already streams in better versions, but decided against it, because who knows what the streaming situation will be like in the future?

Exactly.

This is why I still have discs of anything I wish to see more than once. I refuse to become reliant on streaming deals.

I own a digital version of DOWNWARD DOG because there is no physical version. I could never find either season of MANHATTAN for a decent price, ditto for the British spy series THE GAME, so I bought digital versions there as well, but everything else I own is dvd, blu or 4K (well, not counting LOOKING FOR MR GOODBAR and HARD CONTRACT, which I still own on VHS because there is nothing else physical for them yet.)

There are still one or two things I’d like to have on physical media but I cannot find. One I’d love to get a BD version of but still only seems to be DVD version out there.

I just this morning read that GOODBAR recently started streaming on Paramount Plus, but only in Ireland and the rest of the UK. Makes me feel like Moses looking at the promised land while realizing he can never live to reach it.

All this forgotten video talk has me thinking of DEADLY ENCOUNTER, a TV movie with Larry Hagman and Susan Anspaugh that has got the best aerial combat stuff ever, smoking BLUE THUNDER and AIRWOLF … basically CAPRICORN ONE plus in terms of visual excitement. I’ve actually talked to one of the aerial cameraman on that and you can believe he was flabbergasted I remembered it, but agreed about how well the footage turned out. I saw it once on TV decades back, but haunt ebay hoping to find a vhs copy for a decent price instead of the usual hundred bucks and up. probably time to recheck youtube for a decent-rez version …

The AMPTP are vile, horrible leeches. Even if the strike lasts for years, I still support it.

I don’t think that’s likely. The writers and actors need money, and the studios need writers and actors to produce content. One side or the other will have to give in before this goes on for years.

Both sides have prima donnas who make way too much money and don’t share enough with their employees/supporting workers. The SAG union leader is worth $30 million, built from just playing a caricature of herself over and over.

Bib Iger’s “acting performance” this week about how tough the studios have it I would argue was a better acting performance than anything I ever saw on The Nanny, lol

“Both sides”ing a labor dispute yet still coming out on the side of management is not that neat of a trick.

How can that be when I keep saying that I want full AI protections and I also want residuals calculated by and independent body.

I swear, some here are such one-sided, subjective advocates, that they get so worked up once someone challenges that group-think that they don’t even bother to read what that more objective person is say. I mean, these are arguably the two biggest issues that labor wants, so how am I on management’s side then? Just because I call out the acting elite ultra rich when Iger get’s hammered…like that’s not fair game?

Nope, I am objective, but those of you who are advocates are only bothering to read the parts of my post that challenge the group-think us against them, subjective BS. I mean, come on, look at every single one of Phil’s posts here — 100% behind everything labor does — and he claims that he’s the objective one in our discussions? LOL

You’re playing a comment shell game, offering a glimpse of support for the unions while shuffling around choice excerpts to denigrate them while agreeing with the larger demands of the studios and literally Bob Iger over the elected head of one of the guilds.

If “playing a comment shell game” means I am NOT drinking the groupthink Kool-Aid and NOT automatically taking 100% of the actors/writers side on this, then please collect some more shells for me at the beach because I’m playing the objectivity game with them shells.

This seems like an impossible situation as the streaming boom tanks at the same time everybody is demanding more. I suspect this won’t be resolved anytime soon and may end up accelerating changes in streaming consolidation and downsizing. What a mess they are in.

As for Star Trek, I do feel bad for SNW in particular, they’ve suffered delays from COVID and now striking. I’m sure they’ll get back to it eventually, but I imagine the show will see a shorter run. Star Trek is also about to run out of stuff in the can so Star Trek will suddenly find itself on a pretty lengthy hiatus. They chose a bad time to sit on their hands for so long, not making any Star Trek. I definitely plan to cancel my subscription to Paramount+ once we get to that point and take advantage of those long breaks.

#StarTrekPicard actor Michelle Hurd on the #SAGStrike: “All the TV shows you watch, you see someone like me: ‘Who’s that? What’s her name? I don’t know, but I’ve seen her in a bunch of stuff.’ We are the ones as well who aren’t able to make our rent.”

Michelle Hurd Net Worth: $3M

Really? OK, that’s not rich, but at the very least it is at the high end of upper middle class in SoCal. Perhaps she needs to move from that too expensive Beverley Hills apartment she can’t make rent on and get a comparable deluxe apartment in Westlake Village for half the rent?

I like your post.

Thanks!

I dislike your post. First off, getting her net worth from “celebrity
networth.com” is meaningless. I have a friend who has his own successful podcast who that site says is worth $1m, and I can promise you he has far less than a quarter of that in cash and assets.

Second, any stance that is anti union isn’t worth paying attention to. Most actors do not make enough money to live. Fans tend to focus on well known actors because they make “a lot” of money, but they focus on that because they’re disgruntled in their own lives and hate the idea that other people can, are, and are successful at fighting for a better one for themselves.

Don’t be jealous. Join a union..

A lot of people have a kind of knee-jerk unease with striking workers. It upsets their perception of the “natural” balance of power between labor and the owners of capital. It just seems wrong that workers can have any say in how a business is run, much less use their collective power to bring that business to a screeching halt.

Not me. I just happen to be objective and look at all sides, which unfortunately is a rarity in the media and public for the strikes. What a lot of people have this is a completely one-sided view of this, and refuse to think intelligently about the issues and potential negotiations to solve them.

You’re not being objective at all. You’re latching on to any factoid (accurate or not) and using it to denigrate the actual message coming out of labor. If she’s managed to put away 3MM, and it’s funding her retirement in her last thirty years, that’s a decidedly middle-class income she’ll be drawing off of that.

Who’s the person here who is undefeated in supporting every single thing on one side only of this?

I’ve covered what I am supporting and not supporting on both sides of this — that’s objectivity. You, by contrast, are an advocate – 100% taking one side on this – so you can’t claim to be objective thinker on this, and all of your posts continue to prove this out. You are subjective.

Also if you’ve got $3M net worth, rent in a really nice apartment should not be a issue in SoCal unless you think you need to be in like Hollywood, Beverly Hills or Brentwood. Thousand Oaks, Augora Hills, Pasedena — lot’s of great places to rent very nice apartments and houses for 1/2 or less the cost of Belair, etc.

You make a good in general terms for many actors, but Hurd is severely stretching it or living in a neighborhood way beyond her means if she’s having problems making rent. And those types of web site are very good in terms of public records collection and calculation for actors net worth, but less so for ancillary entertainment jobs like podcasts.

And I wasn’t talking about other actors. That’s a different conversation. I was responding to Hurd’s obviously exaggerated Tweet that she can’t make rent with her earnings.

Why do you think she’s only talking about herself in this comment?

Because she clearly said: ’ We are the ones…

Instead of: Many of my fellow workers

When anyone say’s “we,” it includes them, obviously.

Yes, and I accounted for that when I included “only”

LOL, that’s a trick comment then. I am focusing on what she said, not your quote…but, well done, anyway!

Easy to trick a fool. Hurd (who’s also SAG-AFTRA’s LA vice president) said this: “you know those actors when you go ‘oh there’s that guy from that show’, you don’t necessarily know their names… those actors are working class actors who are literally working paycheck to paycheck.”

That’s a different quote than what was stated in the tweet by Variety.

I was complementing you, but if you need to be asinine about it by putting in different quotes to falsely suggest I got it wrong, and then name-call me to boot, well that’s just weak. I expected more.

If higher-ups at Paramount had the courage, they could break with the AMPTP, make their own fair deals with the WGA and SAG-AFTRA, and get people back to work. Especially since they’re the studio that can least afford a prolonged work stoppage.

As for delaying Lower Decks season 4, I would think they would want it to premiere as close as possible to the SNW crossover. Pushing it to later in the year would rob them of that synergy/momentum. They were recording interviews pre-strike; Noel Wells posted photos on instagram a couple weeks ago saying she was recording stuff for the season 4 EPK, and Wil Wheaton posted a picture with Jerry O’Connell on the Ready Room set with the caption “workin’ with an old friend.”

I thinks it’s wishful thinking that the crossover ep is going to pull in more fans to Lower Decks. The audience who likes Trek’s version of the The Simpsons is already locked in. If anything, the crossover ep is going to reinforce to the more casual fan why they aren’t interested in juvenile, cartoon sitcom Trek.

…agree with this. Thinking a lot of SNW viewers will be like, ‘who are these people?’

Yep

Bust da union!

People like you went and joined the Dominion. How’d that work out?

The real Tiberius would have been a monstrous union-buster, so he’s just living down to the zero expectations of his monicker.

This just sux for everyone. I hope we can all come to a resolution soon.

If they cannot make new product, re-master the epic Voyager and DS9 two-parters in 4K as ‘movies of the week’.

It makes sense.

Now THAT is an interesting test-the-waters approach I’d never considered, and given how some of my fave DS9s fall into that category, I’d be all in for that approach. Could really fuel demand for more of the same, while limiting up-front investment.

Naah, too smart of an idea for them to move forward with.

It’d be like offering Ron Moore the reins on Trek back when all this was gearing up again, insted of the grotesquely wrongheaded KurtzFuller route that has given us Apocalypse Goldsman and similar horrors.

If you think mass audiences would tune in for a remastered trek episode from 1995, that they can already watch (even if not in HD) you’re sorely mistaken.

Look I want them remastered too, but it’s not cheap and I don’t think it would have the impact you imagine.

Also, Kohls down there thinking that Ron Moore running trek would have been a bigger hit than DSC and SNW and PIC already are is laughable.

Maybe he and other Trekkies would have liked it more, but that’s about it.

Seems that modern Trek is scoring big only by looking to the past. And that the Voyager doc is the biggest crowd funded film ever.

Ron Moore: nuBSG, OUTLANDER, FOR ALL MANKIND (and almost THE WILD WILD WEST)
(that’s just in this century, and leaving a lot of stuff out.)

Short of landing David Simon or David Milch, TPTB should have been crawling through miles of broken glass and fractured dilithium to get Moore onto Trek and give him a free hand.

And I don’t know what you mean by ‘hit’ when the studios themselves can’t seem to define what profitability consists of these days — at least while remaining consistent about it till the next mgmt turnover. If you can actually watch something the caliber of DSC and somehow enjoy it … well, we have no practical basis for discussion.

That’s right. Everything old is bad, everything new is good.

Anyone who isn’t 100% behind both these unions is out of their minds. Bootlickers gonna bootlick, though.

Maybe it’s a blessing that these strikes are putting a halt to terribly written Star Trek. We got our TNG reunion – let the rest die! Seriously.

I got arrested blockading a private airport in the Hamptons on Long Island this weekend with Abigail Disney, granddaughter of Walt. Bob Iger, current Disney CEO, had the gall to say that the writers are being greedy in their demands. Here they are, making on average 69k a year. Bob Iger’s salary pays him 74k a DAY. Frickin greedy bastards, all of them.

74k per day? Thank the great maker he doesn’t have a union on ‘his’ side, he’d be getting golden time if he ever had to work a weekend.

As Val Kilmer’s character said in TOMBSTONE, “Now I really hate him.”

And if you don’t like that, well Fran Drescher made $55K for every minute aired of that awful sitcom, The Nanny.

That’s okay, cuz Daniel Davis needed steady work, he wasn’t always getting gigs like RED OCTOBER’s Captain of the Enterprise and Moriarty.

Perhaps you should have asked Abigail to pitch in some of her $130M net worth to help the writers?

And I wonder which other airport exec airport near The Hamptons she fly her private jet into so that she could protest against the new exec airport? Because we all know she wasn’t flying on a WannaGetAway airfare on Southwest to get there. lol

Take this waste back to the Deadline comments section

Chill out — I like to make fun of rich hypocrites, and I wasn’t the one who randomly introduced her and exec airport protests for no reason.

I don’t introduce random stuff like that here, but if others do it’s fair game to comment on.

BTW, if you think she is trying to save the planet for us, do a web search for her mansion in forest near Bedford, NY. LOL

Here’s a link to a very succinct summing-up of Hollywood accounting, as practiced by TPTB, then now and always. https://www.cnn.com/2023/07/19/business/nightcap-hollywood-accounting-strike/index.html

Doesn’t EVEN get into the ‘rolling break’ but it doesn’t need to — the shiftiness is integral to the process.