Is Anyone Working?

[tourtelot]

Being out of the loop so to speak, is anyone on the forum working right now?  I am curious about those 40 or so (?) "Independently Produced" projects that SAG/AFTRA and WGA have let continue on during the strike, along with IATSE notice that it was "legal" for members to not cross the picket lines.  How about in locales other that the USA?

 

What's up in the real world?  Inquiring minds want to know.

 

D.

[JesseF]

I've worked like 25 days this year... So yeah, some work, but not really.  Definitely the slowest year for me in my 12 years of sound work.  All good though, this industry is prone to boom/bust cycles, and 2021/2022 were big booms for me.  I'm hoping I can ride out this slow spell without too much damage to my finances.

[VASI]

Left Athens, Greece on the sixteenth of February for Stockholm, Sweden.

Doing mostly replacements, since I am new here. I can't complain, everything went smoothly and very well for a newcomer.

Now, industry seems pretty dead for me and everyone which I have spoke.

I hope soon will start again, because it's not a city than you can stay for long without income. Especially for me, where I start from 0.

[Constantin]

For me, strangely, this is going to be one of my best years. Here in Germany, a large streaming services has stopped all production, movies are being postponed and a sizable chunk of the Germany work force works for US productions and they have obviously pretty much stopped working, too - as far as I know. I am firmly wedged in the TV movie and series market, for whatever reason, and this has been very steady. Its fincances are stable (a lot of it publicly funded), so nothin‘s really changed here. I think overally the German market isn’t that much affected by the US strikes, except fro those who worked on US productions

2 hours ago, VASI said:

Left Athens, Greece on the sixteenth of February for Stockholm, Sweden.

Doing mostly replacements, since I am new here. I can't complain, everything went smoothly and very well for a newcomer.

Now, industry seems pretty dead for me and everyone which I have spoke.

I hope soon will start again, because it's not a city than you can stay for long without income. Especially for me, where I start from 0.

You are now the third or fourth person I‘ve heard of  from Greece who migrated to Sweden. Is this a coincidence or this a a particular reason? Are the languages related? Or is the swedish market in dire need of sound recordists or…?

[Johnny Karlsson]

15 minutes ago, Constantin said:

You are now the third or fourth person I‘ve heard of  from Greece who migrated to Sweden.<snip> Are the languages related? 

About as much related as the German and Japanese languages LOL

[Constantin]

3 minutes ago, Johnny Karlsson said:

About as much related as the German and Japanese languages LOL

Yeah, that what I guessed. 
although there is strange overlap between Japanese and German, when you are pronouncing… no, sorry, I was wrong. No overlap

[edward chick]

Not overly busy here in Michigan. I’m mostly network news and college /pro sports. Sports  networks are starting up for football season obviously. Corporate and commercial work is down. 

[Johnny Karlsson]

1 hour ago, Constantin said:

Yeah, that what I guessed. 
although there is strange overlap between Japanese and German, when you are pronouncing… no, sorry, I was wrong. No overlap

Haha! For reference - I studied German for 3 years while in school in Sweden, my wife is Japanese, and I have visited Greece 4 times (not for work). I also visited Germany once.

 

Back to the topic... I was lucky enough to keep afloat for the first half of the year. Then it abruptly stopped (worked a grand total of zero days in July). Picking up a few small things now. Hoping negotiations will get resolved, and the strikes will end soon!

[VASI]

On 8/21/2023 at 10:51 PM, Constantin said:

You are now the third or fourth person I‘ve heard of  from Greece who migrated to Sweden. Is this a coincidence or this a a particular reason? Are the languages related? Or is the swedish market in dire need of sound recordists or…?

 

The "problem" is that we are two Vasilis and both in production sound dept. Haha

[Constantin]

On 8/24/2023 at 10:29 PM, VASI said:

 

The "problem" is that we are two Vasilis and both in production sound dept. Haha

That could be a problem. Luckily we invented surnames like … I don’t know, thousands of years ago

 

But there is at least another guy I know who went to Sweden. Maybe it’s not as strange as it feels, but I know very few people from Greece and maybe 4 or 5 of them I know only through social media and they are all in production sound and they almost all migrated to Sweden

[tourtelot]

Well, I certainly now realize how chauvinistic my original post was.  Of course, I was relating this to the WGA and SAG/AFTRA labor strike in the USA.  Does this affect anyone in, let's say, Germany, Greece or Sweden.

 

D.

[Olle Sjostrom]

No not directly for us working there, it might even have the opposite effect if productions turn to our side of the pond for actors and crew, but not yet. We have other issues, like economy and major networks lying off huge numbers of people. 

[Michael Wynne]

Like LA & NY, the Atlanta market is at a stand still for TV & Film narrative work.  Local Unions are literally distributing food to help keep financially desperate members afloat.  IATSE members are loosing their homes, their health insurance and are under incredible mental and emotional pressure.  Some are quietly working through outside channels such as BET, Tyler Perry, reality TV and non studio affiliated indies on the interim but those percentages of mixers are very small. For most of us deeply embedded in the traditional channels, it’s a good time to do all that stuff you said you would do once you had some time off and then some.  Hoping this gets resolved soon!

[Mattias Larsen]

At this point I am happy that I am working in the German market. Ups and downs as allways, but quite a few good offers even tho I feel there are more uncertainties in the air.

 

On the other hand, my Swedish collegues seems to be out of work more than usual. Some large streaming services and tv channels are struggling economically are pausing or cutting portions of their productions.

[Johnny Karlsson]

1 minute ago, Mattias Larsen said:

Some large streaming services and tv channels are struggling economically are pausing or cutting portions of their productions.

Similar as here in the US. Those poor streaming service companies have to pay their CEOs billions of $, which means they are struggling to pay anyone to make new "content", which means they will probably have go out of business soon. So sad....

[The Documentary Sound Guy]

Much as I like a good villain, the reality is that streaming services have been spending far more than they've been making for quite some time now, and that would be true even if the CEOs were working for free.  The streamers have been competing to build their libraries and market share, but most of those war chests are empty now.  There's a shakeout coming, and that would be true even without the strike.

 

Our industry has always been boom and bust, and we've had a hell of a boom since 2015.  I'm not surprised there's some belt-tightening to be done.  I wish it wasn't so...

[Johnny Karlsson]

Yeah, I know. I just had to vent some built up sarcasm, haha!

 

But seriously - I am thinking about how all of this, including the strikes, affects not just us, but the overall economy... everywhere. In the news it looks it's the writers and the actors striking, but I wonder how many "normal" people understand that this means nobody else in any of the other crafts and departments are working. I mean, how many people  watch the credits after a movie - all of those hundreds of names scrolling by are ...... JOBS. Now when all of those jobs are not there, those people are not making money, which in turn means they are not spending money. A production is literally like a small town, with everything from food services to transportation, medics, police officers, housing and tons of other things that aren't directly obvious, but this type of stand-still must have some real ripple effects. One exec literally said on camera that they will ride this out until people start losing their homes. I'm pretty sure they will start losing subscribers, if they haven't already, because streaming services will be pretty low on the priority list when you are struggling to pay the rent/mortgage and put food on the table. Especially if there is nothing new to watch.

[Paul F]

1 hour ago, The Documentary Sound Guy said:

Much as I like a good villain, the reality is that streaming services have been spending far more than they've been making for quite some time now, and that would be true even if the CEOs were working for free.  The streamers have been competing to build their libraries and market share, but most of those war chests are empty now.  There's a shakeout coming, and that would be true even without the strike.

 

Our industry has always been boom and bust, and we've had a hell of a boom since 2015.  I'm not surprised there's some belt-tightening to be done.  I wish it wasn't so...

 

This is not to be ignored. For years the streaming industry has spent with abandon and the volume of production has increased several fold due to them. Now that the reckoning has come for financial reports, spending more money for writers and actors would seem from their perspective a non-starter. It could break some of them. Perhaps that is the reason for the 'we have to break them' attitude.

[Johnny Karlsson]

Right, but someone pointed out that 10% of one CEO's salary could pay for everything that all of the writers were asking for... Now if that is true or not, I can't verify.

[tourtelot]

"spending more money for writers and actors would seem from their perspective a non-starter. It could break some of them."

 

Sucks to be a billionaire, right?

 

D.

[Izen Ears]

They are entitled rich people who have been given permission to publicly disdain regular people, which I think is thanks to this horrible trend of "us vs. them" culture. I'm talking about these "culture wars" that are really "rich warring on the poor" wars.  It's nothing new, it's just more public.  I can picture scenes where executives say things like "well all these other industries are shitting on their workers, why don't we?"  
 

In a sane world, billionaires would not exist and normal 9-5 jobs could pay for a perfectly workable standard of living.   In a sane world, companies would be required to provide living wages at the expense of their profits.

 

By the way folks I'll say it again: unions are the only thing between serfdom and a decent life. The producers don't care about us unless the unions force them to. They will never see us as real people with bills and families.  I've seen this happen on an individual level when a formerly cool person moved up  the ranks and then became a total asshole. It's as if there is an unwritten producer rule that you must keep yourself separate from your workers and never be bothered to try to understand them.
 

There are other kinds of work, including A/V, ENG and live sound. They don't pay as much but it's much better than Uber or retail.  I am taking this time to Ebay hundreds of comics and graphic novels I've been wanting to get rid of.  In a few months I'll probably head out into the AV world.

 

One good thing I thought I have is that just like after the Covid lull, there will be a massive boom of work after these strikes. Possibly the largest boom the industry has ever seen, and we will all be getting those fat post-covid wages again.

[tourtelot]

I have hopes, maybe not realistic, that this strike will break the backs of the AMPTP.  Will it allow truly independent producers who appreciate the folks who build their product, talent and crew, pay them fairly, treat them respectfully, be decent human beings?  There are (I think) 200 or so movies being made where this is the case; allowed to shoot by both the WGA and SAG/AFTRA.  Could this be the future where the working people can muse about billionaires losing their houses?

 

I, for one, would be happy to see that happen and that the industry might ver back to being less of a gulag and a more enjoyable place to work.  I don't miss working in the gulag for certain.

[Paul F]

17 hours ago, Johnny Karlsson said:

Right, but someone pointed out that 10% of one CEO's salary could pay for everything that all of the writers were asking for... Now if that is true or not, I can't verify.

 

It would seem so, but that's not really the case. The disconnect is that the vast majority of a CEO's income is not salary. The money they get is stock or stock options. That's money that doesn't exist. It's like printing money. They print stock options. The stockholders end up paying for that in the form of diluted stock. So there is no actual money to spend and spread around.

 

The reality is their financial statements. When they look at the the losses they are currently experiencing, something has to be done. Reducing a CEOs stock options does nothing to help the situation. With them losing piles of money, the prospect of spending more on writers and actors makes their sphincters tighten up. Here's what it looks like:

 

Warners/Discovery - lost $217 million last quarter

Disney streaming - $1 billion lost last quarter

Peacock - $2.2billion lost in 2022

Paramount streaming - $511 million first quarter 2023

 

That is a financial sheet that doesn't work. Reducing executives compensation won't change that. Take Disney's Bob Iger. His paycheck is $1 million. The rest of the money  ($26 million) is stock. So cutting Iger's salary in half will only provide $500,000 on a loss of $4 billion (annually).

[Johnny Karlsson]

Yes, those are good points Paul.

 

Not sure where you are getting those numbers from, but it seems to be in direct contradiction to what I have seen:

 

"Revenue in the Video Streaming (SVoD) market is projected to reach US$39.25bn in 2023.
Revenue is expected to show an annual growth rate (CAGR 2023-2027) of 8.63%, resulting in a projected market volume of US$54.66bn by 2027."

Source: https://www.statista.com/outlook/dmo/digital-media/video-on-demand/video-streaming-svod/united-states

====

"Year    Streamers    % of all U.S. adults
2021    214.8 million    90%
2022    214.9 million    89%
2023    240.2 million    93%
With 93 percent adoption, streaming platforms now have more than double the base of traditional cable TV (which has dropped to 40 percent of American adults). No longer an emerging or complicated technology, more than 90 percent of every generation uses video streaming platforms."

Source: https://cordcutting.com/research/state-of-streaming-report/

====

"Nearly 9 in 10 U.S. households now use video streaming services, and Americans are projected to contribute just under $40 billion to video streaming revenue this year."

"Since Disney’s in-house streaming service launched in 2020, it’s already grown by more than 100 million subscribers."

Source: https://www.tvscientific.com/insight/streaming-services-statistics

====

"The US, as the largest SVOD market globally, will generate $39.2 billion in revenue this year, and continue growing by a CAGR of 8.6% between 2023-2027, resulting in a projected market volume of $54.6 billion."

 

"As the second-largest globally, the Chinese market will see an average growth rate of 10.1% in this period, with SVOD revenues rising from $19.4 billion to $28.5 billion. The UK follows, with almost $5.5 billion in revenue by 2027 and a four-year CAGR of 8.9%."

 

Source: https://www.broadbandtvnews.com/2023/06/06/research-streaming-revenue-to-hit-95-3bn-in-2023/

====

 

Then on the other hand... could this be what is calculated into the current quarterly losses?:

 

"The “streaming wars” between the media giants Netflix, Apple, Amazon, and Hulu have pushed the media industry’s content cash spending to record highs. Over the past five years, media companies splashed out close to $445 billion on video content in five years, all in a race to grow their viewership."

Source: https://www.broadbandtvnews.com/2023/06/06/research-streaming-revenue-to-hit-95-3bn-in-2023/
 

[Paul F]

1 hour ago, Johnny Karlsson said:

"The “streaming wars” between the media giants Netflix, Apple, Amazon, and Hulu have pushed the media industry’s content cash spending to record highs. Over the past five years, media companies splashed out close to $445 billion on video content in five years, all in a race to grow their viewership."

Source: https://www.broadbandtvnews.com/2023/06/06/research-streaming-revenue-to-hit-95-3bn-in-2023/
 

 

This is exactly the problem. The race to grow viewership and hopefully, put competitors out of business. It's a typical scenario of a new business that is trying to take over with a new model.

 

The streamers are approaching the day of reckoning. They can't keep posting losses. Something has to happen. Then the strikes come along and pile onto their problems. In their minds, with huge loses, spending more for writers and actors ..... well something is going to give.

 

The numbers you are quoting are revenue; the dollars that come in from subscriptions. But the problem is the profit, which doesn't exist. They are losing money.

 

They are spending more than what's coming in.  So while those billions in streaming revenue look impressive, they are spending a few billion more than that. It's not a viable business. They can't keep spending more than they are taking in. So here comes the strikes in which writers and actors are saying "We want more". The problem is that the subscription fees are not covering what the streamers are already spending.

 

To end the strikes, the companies will have to spend more money. That's not good for their financial health. They have to get back to profitability. So spending more on actors and writers just makes the situation worse. What will have to happen is that productions will have to be reduced. Lavish spending on stars and production value will have to be curtailed. Something has to give.