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Comment by nafix | Hacker News Reader

Seems like a great time to stage a strike if the corporate overlords are already under some level of duress. Also, what does being able to see the stage workers have anything to do with it?

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They could just be laid off under the present circumstances. If a tree falls in a forest and there's no one there to hear it, does it make a sound?

Edit, since HN is throttling my response to the bigman433 below: I absolutely agree with you. Much like music industry, to paraphrase Hunter S Thompson, movie industry is "a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs." It's just that now is not the best time to effect change there. Think of it from the standpoint of the owner: you have a venture which is barely making any money at the moment and is not projected to make a lot of it at any point in the next few years. And that venture is starting to cause you legal, PR, and labor problems on top of that. You'd get rid of it at the drop of a hat. Now, if you actually were making money hand over fist, and the flow of money suddenly stopped, that's a MUCH better leverage to make a deal. This presupposes, however, that they'd actually like to solve their problems, rather than just stay angry, which is how it often is. Problem solving is less profitable to the agitators than constant, simmering anger.

Doubtful. There's a notorious shortage of workers in every industry right now, the striking workers will be particularly hard to replace due to their timing, and their strike is probably going to be particularly effective because of that.

That would be suicide. Something like 90% of the workforce agreed on the strike. Imagine firing 60k people and having only a few thousand left. You'd sink immediately.

And backed by the Directors Guild, Actors Guild, Writers, and Teamsters, all of which would respect the picket line

If nobody can see people live, as you say, then surely the people making online streaming content are even more valuable right now.

One of the reasons this is all happening is because workers have continually been abused around streaming content. Studios are making more and more money while workers get shafted with ever worsening hours and pay. Studios are abusing definitions of work surrounding streaming shows/movies to drastically abuse hour and pay laws.

Every job in film is highly specialized, even down to construction. These are trades that are taught and passed down through years of on the job experience. It would take them years to replace every department.

We do it well, fast, and safe.

But what would happen if they decide to move countries over this? Hollywood and other movie and TV production is obviously a powerful tool to sway the public. I bet there are some other countries itching to have their own media production improve.

Eg the people putting money into these productions could take their money to China instead, no?

The strike does seem reasonable to me though.

It happens, but at the end of the day only America looks like America, and they want that look as much as patrons demand it.

Shows used to go to Canada until our tax breaks got better. Some things will always shoot here. Many projects are also tied to the whim or contract of the a big name star.

Once they get digital movies down pat, they'll likely eliminate all our jobs as fast as possible. Which is why we are slowly unionizing VFX workers!

> It happens, but at the end of the day only America looks like America, and they want that look as much as patrons demand it.

Lots of films set in Seattle are or were filmed in Vancouver, and you might not know it unless you live around Seattle.

Plus many shows only have interior shots, with maybe an occasional establishing shot. Worst case they might have to send someone to where the show is set to film the establishing shots, which is likely a one time thing. Everything else can be filmed anywhere.

A good example was "Frasier". I don't think it even had establishing shots, so all we saw was interiors [1]. Even those of us who lived in Seattle when it was on couldn't tell it was filmed in Vancouver.

[1] Except for one episode where they did have significant outdoor action set at various well known Seattle locations, which they did come to Seattle to shoot.

They can build a replica of any part of the world in not much time at all in a back lot in Burbank.

My home city of Edmonton recently stood in for Boston when the "The Last of Us" production came through last week.

Vancouver, Toronto and Calgary get quite a few more acting gigs playing various American cities in American productions than Edmonton does.

I've seen a few movies where they tried to pass off Vancouver as New York. No offense to Vancouver but who do they think they're fooling?

They (big studios and streaming companies) could just make a deal, because any alternative would be worse. With very few exceptions, name actors aren't going to cross the picket line. Squid Game was a success, but I don't think Netflix can get away with subtitled everything.

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