This is the online version of our daily newsletter, The Morning Win. Subscribe to get irreverent and incisive sports stories, delivered to your mailbox every morning. Here’s Mike Sykes.
So this isn’t exactly a sports story, but it’s hard not to talk about the total and complete gridlock Hollywood is currently in these days.
Just in case you’ve been under a rock, here’s what’s going on: SAG-AFTRA, which is the union that represents most Hollywood actors, moved to go on strike for the first time in more than four decades after failing to reach a collective bargaining agreement with major studios.
That’s the latest, but there’s more. The WGA, which is the guild that represents a sizeable chunk of Hollywood’s writers, has also been on strike for more than 70 days, too. For the first time in six decades, both of these unions are on strike at the same time.
Hollywood’s biggest production companies, known as the Alliance of Motion Pictures and Television Producers, walked away from negotiations with both after failing to meet the union’s demands.
Both are negotiating for a number of things, which include increased pay following the rise of streaming and better working conditions. You can read more about their full demands here. At the center of it all, though, is artificial intelligence.
RELATED: The writer’s guild has gone on strike. Here’s what we know.
The rise of AI is a huge sticking point for both unions with both being concerned that the technology could eventually replace some of its workers. And they’re absolutely right to be worried — we’ve already seen instances of deep fakes being used to replace artists. AI screenwriting isn’t a thing just yet, but the ground is fertile for it to begin happening soon.
These are things these unions are pushing back against. And they should. We’re two seconds away from Black Mirror’s Joan is Awful episode actually being a thing. And, I don’t know about y’all, but that sounds pretty terrifying to me.
In the meantime, Hollywood is now in shambles. That show you were looking forward to for this fall? The production has stopped. Your favorite MCU movies coming in 2024 are going to be pushed off schedule. You won’t see your favorite actors out there promoting films or attending award shows. There won’t be any bubbly press interviews about these things.
Everything just stops. And, yeah, that certainly sucks for us.
But, in the end, it’ll be for the better if it produces a better environment for the creatives we love to consume to flourish. To make that happen, though, the bigwigs of Hollywood need to come back to the negotiating table.
That’s… not looking so great right now with folks like Disney CEO Bob Iger calling the unions “unrealistic” and saying that the strikes are “very disturbing to me.”
But, for the first time in 63 years, both the WGA and SAG are on strike at the same time. That’s unprecedented. It’s clear that Hollywood is broken. Something has got to give.
Let’s hope Iger and the rest of his crew figure that out sooner rather than later.
Quick Hits: Messi is just like us fr … Novak Djokovic’s loud grunts … and more
— Lionel Messi probably on his way to being a billionaire. That ain’t stopping him from shopping at Publix though. Charles Curtis has more.
— I’ve never seen someone lose a point in tennis for having too long of a grunt. Novak Djokovic just did. Caroline Darney has more.
— Keyonte George is absolutely destroying the NBA Summer League right now. Our Bryan Kalbrosky interviewed him before the NBA draft and you could tell this was coming.
— Richard Sherman might be next up for Skip Bayless, per our Cory Woodruff.
Enjoy the weekend.