It’s a rather peculiar time to be a creative in the film and television industry, to put it lightly; with the WGA writers’ strike still going strong over a month since it began, the entertainment business looks all but ready to enter a new paradigm for better or worse.
We’re hoping to hope itself that the inflated mistreatment of writers and actors alike is due to poor foresight regarding the many massive shifts seen in recent years (chief among them the emergence/dominance of streaming services), though the fact that everything has been allowed to go on as long as it has – whether it’s the devaluing of actors and writers or this strike – is nothing short of disheartening.
One thing is for sure; this won’t be something showbusiness will remain unchanged by, and for Scarlett Johansson, whose unnamed Marvel Cinematic Universe project – not unlike most all MCU films releasing in 2024 and beyond – had its production affected in light of the writers and potential actors strike, nothing could be more important right now.
In an interview with Variety, Johansson identified the strike as history simply waiting to happen, calling on all professional creatives to mount as much pressure as possible as the fight for greener pastures goes on.
“Whatever happens moving forward will forever change how revenue is determined. It’s a thing that has needed to happen for a long time, that we’ve been talking about for a long time, and it’s finally reached this breaking point. It’s important for all of us creatives to unite and support this massive shift so we can get over to the other side, which we will.”
These are scary times, to be sure; with the unholy rise of artificial intelligence coinciding with such a pivotal moment in entertainment, one has to wonder exactly what the future will hold for not only the hard-working creatives that are wholly responsible for the art we love, but for us viewers that remain subject to the illusion of choice.
That being said, from what we’ve seen from the bots so far, we can’t exactly say it’s the most intimidating thing in the world.
Published: Jun 14, 2023 03:59 am