There’s a writer’s strike going on. You either knew that, or you didn’t know that. It officially began May 2nd (two days before Star Wars day), and it’s still happening right now. Outside of COVID, it is the biggest halt to American film production ever. I assume the writers want more money (because if you’re gonna strike you might as well try to get more money for it). Really though, the writers are specifically looking for agreements from the studios around limiting the use of AI so that the studios don't start buying scripts from robots instead of people. They are also seeking to change the payment system construct because they feel that the pay has not been adjusted accordingly to the increase in use of streaming services and the shift in how the distribution/money system works.
I don’t feel knowledgeable enough on this topic to say whether I think the strikes are justified or not. My gut says they are. And as a writer who wants to be in this union some day, I would like to say yes, of course writers should get paid more. I don’t know if that’s true, but I like the sound of it lol. And I understand the union wanting to limit the usage of AI in order to conserve jobs. AI can do some pretty insane things with words at this point, so It’s reasonable to assume studios would try to save money by leaning on it for scripts. I have a whole blog about writing and AI if ya wanna read it haha.
Anyways, as far as the streaming thing, I definitely understand the argument that payment structure should be different as streaming has changed the game… I have also seen convincing theories that imply that streaming services may not be seeing as many views as we think, and for pay to be adjusted based on them could lead to less pay for writers lol. Ironic.
All of this leads me to an interesting idea. How much should writers get paid? Should it be easy to make a living wage writing? Hard? Really hard? I don’t know. I want writers to get paid well. I am one lol, and I understand that it can be really hard to spend most of our time working a “normal” job then somehow mustering up the mental energy to write your best before falling asleep. I want to make money from writing, for sure. Also, though, is it possible that if writing is your main source of income it could make your art suffer a little?
The indie scene is really valuable, and part of that value comes because it is so hard to make money that you have to be passionate about making the thing you want to make. Why change your art to fit someone else’s mold when it's not gonna make money anyways? The temptation to let your vision suffer because of money goes away. And the world will benefit from art that is coming from people’s heart, not art coming from a robot that's built to make money.
Johnny Depp is quoted as saying “If the piece resonates with even just one person, this art has purpose.” Mainstream entertainment often resonates with a lot of people. Some of my favorite movies ever are mainstream. I love Star Wars and Pixar films. Mainstream art does not have to be inauthentic, although a lot of it seems to be lately. I’ve seen that happen a bit in some of the newer Star Wars and Pixar stuff, unfortunately. Some of it is still great though! Still some mainstream stuff can feel a little dead, because studios are trying to make something that the biggest group of people will like.
This is where indie can shine. When you are making something out of passion for the art, with little influence of making money, then the artist makes something specific to himself. Something that truly resonates with his own heart. And I think art can only resonate with someone as deeply as it resonates with the creator’s own heart. Think of it like your favorite meme. There’s some really popular memes that everyone knows and loves. But think past those. Think of that one meme that you get so much dopamine every time you see it because it is so specific to you. You can’t even send it to people because most just don’t get it. You send it to your best friend because even though it might not be funny to them, they will at least understand why it’s funny to you.
The power of that meme can be found in the lesser art forms like film, books, or music or whatever else. But it can only be found if the stuff that is made with as much specificity to the artist as said meme.
All of this talking, and I still don’t really know how much writers should get paid. I want to write things as authentic as possible. I want to be able to write things that will always be worth something to me, because even if I get lucky enough that they are valuable to others, at some point it will be obsolete to the world. I really like the idea of getting paid to primarily write things how I want to write them. But I don’t want to ever lose out on the real gift in writing, which is not money. And I don’t want to start writing things a certain way to make more money, rather than writing so it resonates with my soul and hopefully others.
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