An Apple TV+ Executive Talks Streaming, the Strike & Global Television

This Q&A shows how far removed execs are from the experience of actual human beings who write and create TV and film stories.

Rick Ellis hosts a website called AllYourScreens. Two weeks ago, he posted an interview he conducted with an Apple TV+ executive. Comments from this anonymous exec sparked a lot of feedback within the online screenwriting community. Here are some excerpts:

This isn’t a situation where streaming companies don’t appreciate the value of writing in the content ecosystem. We do. But we will pay the absolute minimum we can.

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I don’t mean to sound like a dick, but writers tend to be smart and love what they do. But they can also think they’re the center of the fucking universe. I know this strike is personal for them. I get it, I’d feel the same way. But this is all just numbers for the studios. What’s the least amount we can get away with paying for everything?

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But that contract also sets the bar for writers in other territories. Or encourages industries in some countries to unionize in order to make more money. It’s not so much the direct costs of the WGA deal. It’s all of the fallout costs across the company.

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As an industry, we can’t afford to burn through our future in order to save a bit of money now. But truthfully, thinking about the future doesn’t mesh all that well with the need to drive revenue and cut costs.

This is short-sighted, bottom line, greed infused stupidity at its finest. They “appreciate” writers … but only at a minimum fee. They understand how the strike can be “personal,” but it “just numbers.” Heaven forbid the WGA strike inspire other industries to unionize to make more money for its workers. That is so much “fallout.”

Worst of all, they acknowledge how short-sighted thinking can “burn through our future,” but that perspective “doesn’t mesh all that well” with the “need to drive revenue and cut costs.”

In all that chatter, there is a ridiculous lack of acknowledgement about the creativity required to write the movies and television series which “drive revenue.” The focus again and again and again is profits.

Which reinforces the point of the strike: While they can’t grasp the singular importance of creativity and writing ability, the suits can connect with economic pain.

The tragic thing is that pain is going to be felt sooner and more tangibly by rank and file workers than it will be by the companies and their execs.

Yet here we are in Week 8. How many more weeks until the suits begin to feel the pain?

The answer to that question is what will determine when the strike gets settled.

For the rest of the AllYourScreens interview, go here.

For the latest updates on the strike and news resources, go here.

An Apple TV+ Executive Talks Streaming, the Strike & Global Television was originally published in Go Into The Story on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.