Bob Iger Says Striking Writers and Actors Are Not Being “Realistic”
Hollywood has been ground to a standstill by the ongoing Writers Guild of America (WGA) strike and the looming likelihood that SAG-AFTRA will join them.
The WGA strike very well may be a defining moment in the streaming era, with writers looking to overhaul how they are compensated.
One of the biggest sticking points in the latest negotiations has revolved around residuals.
Residuals in the Streaming Era
Formally, when linear television was king, writers were given residual payments every time their show or movie was rerun. This meant, that they would continue to be compensated for the profits that their content was generating for studios.
With the advent of streaming, however, things have drastically changed. Writers’ contracts mostly revolve around reruns, meaning that writers only receive a small cut from their shows on streaming platforms.
As our very own David Mumpower put it:
“This is a sea-change negotiation. And if they get it wrong now, they’re going to have it wrong for decades.”
Streaming is Struggling
As major studios and creative talent continue their battle, Hollywood as a whole is facing an uncertain future. Streaming has yet to prove that it can be profitable for the entertainment industry and all major studios are feeling the crunch.
Even Disney, long held up as the gold standard of the entertainment industry, has recently laid off 7,000 workers and streamlined its direct-to-consumer business in an attempt to reach profitability.
Bob Iger Comments on Strikes
Today, in a wide-ranging interview on CNBC’s Squawk Box, Disney CEO Bob Iger blasted both the WGA and SAG-AFTRA for being unrealistic in their latest contract demands.
“It’s very disturbing to me. We’ve talked about disruptive forces on this business and all the challenges we’re facing, the recovery from COVID which is ongoing, it’s not completely back. This is the worst time in the world to add to that disruption,” Iger said.
“I understand any labor organization’s desire to work on behalf of its members to get the most compensation and be compensated fairly based on the value that they deliver. We managed, as an industry, to negotiate a very good deal with the directors guild that reflects the value that the directors contribute to this great business. We wanted to do the same thing with the writers. And we’d like to do the same thing with the actors. There’s a level of expectation that they have, that is just not realistic. And they are adding to the set of the challenges that this business is already facing that is, quite frankly, very disruptive.”
Like it or not, Bob Iger will certainly be instrumental in shaping the entertainment industry as it heads into the streaming era. The longtime Disney CEO just signed a new contract that will keep him on board through 2026.
While Iger said that he respected the right of the unions to “get as much as they possibly can in compensation for their people,” he also warned that they must “be realistic about the business environment, and what this business can deliver.”
“Huge Collateral Damage”
In the end, Bob Iger thinks that any strike which halts the production of new content will radically damage an industry that is already teetering on the brink.
“It will have a very, very damaging effect on the whole business, and unfortunately, there’s huge collateral damage in the industry to people who are supportive services, and I could go on and on. It will affect the economy of different regions, even, because of the sheer size of the business. It’s a shame, it is really a shame.”
Despite Bob Iger’s misgivings, the WGA will remain on strike and they will be joined by SAG-AFTRA today.
The actor’s guild has not been on strike in four decades, and the last time both unions were striking concurrently was in 1960.
The longevity of the strike and the results that come out of it will shape Hollywood for decades. What happens next, however, is anybody’s guess.
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