What the Writers Strike Means for All of Us

The issues and circumstances that led to the current writers and actors strikes -- with corporations devaluing the creativity, expertise, and contribution of workers – mirrors what is going on in the larger labor market, whether you work as a traditional employee or self-employed. In this episode we talk about how this touches our solo PR world and what to do about it.

 

Transcript

Michelle Kane:

Thank you for joining us for this episode of That Solo Life, the podcast for PR pros and marketers who work for themselves, people like me, Michelle Kane, with VoiceMatters and my ever wonderful co-host, Karen Swim of Solo PR Pro. Hi Karen. How goes it today?

Karen Swim, APR:

Hello, Michelle. I'm doing good. How are you?

Michelle Kane:

Good, good. Rolling along. Can't believe we are looking at the end of July. It is wild. Ugh.

Karen Swim, APR:

Wild is a huge understatement. Yes, I am very much looking forward to getting on the other side of this and hopefully recapturing in August as a little bit of me time.

Michelle Kane:

I agree, and that's usually how it goes. I don't know why I am surprised that I'm feeling this way because just the way the work cycle goes, there are things happening, things going on, and why everyone's out and about, you know, hanging out on the beach and enjoying the boardwalk and things. And I'm just like, yeah, yeah, yeah. Later, later, later. And then by the time I'm there in August and September, they're all, back to school. I'm like, stinks to be you, <laugh>.

Karen Swim, APR:

Well, you know, it's interesting because in my industries that I work with, typically this is a quiet time. Everybody is on holiday, they're away. And summer is quiet and then it ramps up hard in September.  This year, you and I have joked and I said that I feel like my life is a grocery cart running, going downhill, and I'm chasing after it, and I just can't run fast enough or long enough to catch it. I just can’t. I've never been so far behind in stuff. There are people that have emailed me that I haven't answered. If you're listening today, sorry, it's not personal. It's just I can't catch up. And every day I go back and I do something that I'm neglected. Okay, that's one of the hundred things that's hanging out there, but yay <laugh>,

Michelle Kane:

It has been a little bit like that. Yeah. I think just the way certain projects have happened, there were a couple that I thought, oh my goodness, you know, when is this going to happen? And now it's like, Ugh, now what's happening?

Karen Swim, APR:

Now it's happening and now it's blinking on and on and on. That's another part of the story. It's like, can we just end this? Like, is this ever going to be over? Are we ever going to be done with this?

Michelle Kane:

Yeah, I know. I know. But then I also know that me personally, like, yes, I like summer, but I also like summer spaces <laugh> not during peak season. So I'm definitely a spring and fall summer girl, if that makes sense. Like catch me in May, catch me in September, then I'm ready to do Summer.

Karen Swim, APR:

<Laugh>. I'll tell you, I'll take summer whenever, however I can get it. It'll be nice to just have days where the weather is decent, it's not storming, and we can actually outside. I don’t know. That would be my ideal day.

Michelle Kane:

I think that is a big part of it, because where we both live, Canada keeps blowing smoke in our faces and that's an issue as well.

Karen Swim, APR:

Now we're stuck indoors. Any new TV shows?

Michelle Kane:

Yes. So actually our point, we did not just come here to moan about our to-do lists or the weather, but as I'm sure most, if not all, of our listeners know, there are a couple of strikes happening. Certainly the WGA, the writers have been on strike since May and now SAG/Aftra, the actors, have joined them in solidarity and they bring some very important points to the table about compensation and the value of their work so we're going to talk about that and also about how this affects some of us, because certainly a lot of comms pros work in the industry or even work in segments that intersect with the industry that a complete work stoppage is certainly affecting. But you know, the SAG/Aftra union is bringing to the fore the issue of it, basically, it's not the 2%. It's not Tom Cruise that's suffering, it's the working actors, the, I forget, what did they say? Is it 13% of their union qualifies for health insurance?

Karen Swim, APR:

Which I mean, so yeah. Let's frame this.

Michelle Kane:

Yeah.

Karen Swim, APR:

So even though these are unionized workers, I think the broader issues hit the entire labor market including people like us solos, because at the core of this is how do you value people and the creative and intellectual talent that they bring to the supply chain of their output. And there's such a huge disparity when you see - so writers have to earn $26,000 in order to qualify for healthcare. So just keep that in mind. $26,000, that seems like a very small number. So you have that, but then you have these heads of studios making 192 million. They definitely have healthcare and all of the benefits, and I'm not, this is not a rant against millionaires, but it is something that we're seeing play out across the spectrum. And when you throw automation into it, which is a part of their negotiations as well, they want to be protected from -  I would label it as the unethical and inhumane use of artificial intelligence because I'm a technology fan, I love innovation, but innovation is not a replacement for human beings. It's something that can help human beings to work more effectively. And yes, there are some jobs that will go away, but other jobs will be created. We've seen that over history. However, we PR people are also creative people. How many of us recently have had people believe that our work or expertise doesn't deserve, first of all, the amount of money that we charge, they don't see the value. And then how many of them are replacing the writing portion of our jobs? You're thinking that they can replace the writing portion with AI. So the writers are standing against this, but it's this mentality that scares me because you have things like the actors, one of the things that came up in the actors strike is that studios wanted extras to sign away the rights to their images for life forever in perpetuity.

Michelle Kane:

For $200. For $200. Yeah.

Karen Swim, APR:

And in many cases it's less than $200. So you have an extra that goes onto a set. And if you've never been an extra, it's a fascinating experience, particularly if you're trying to break into the industry. Yeah. If you want to break into the film industry being an extra yields, tremendous benefits, it's like, it's akin to internships where you get to be in this environment in which you want to work. You learn things, you learn about the different roles. You learn about how the set works for writers. This also is happening where you're taking away this environment of learning and development because with the writers, they have these things called mini rooms, which means that those writers are not even getting to interact with the rest of the show. So they're not getting to interact in a way that traditionally writers' rooms have happened. And so you're limiting their ability to see the whole picture and to learn and to grow professionally. And so,

Michelle Kane:

Yeah. And to do good work because if you have a room full of 12 writers of varying degrees of seniority, I mean that's where the good stuff happens. If you have your four core senior writers and oh, okay the others are going to come in on Thursday…

Karen Swim, APR:

Yeah. Well the mini rooms just happen within a bubble. They're not interacting with all of the people that the traditional writing rooms get to interact with. And you're not learning about the things, of how your content works on set. And so, again, this is not just about diminishing it, it is diminishing it, it's a value proposition, but it also is bumping up against fear and greed from a certain sector. And we're seeing that play across corporate America as well as people focus on dollars and cents, are they devaluing what humans bring to the table, the creativity and the intellect that we have to offer. And so, you know, I think that, that we all have to be aware of, yes, this is a union, whatever you think about unions, whatever you think about Hollywood. But these issues mirror what's going on in the larger labor market. And yeah, anything that happens in the labor market is going to affect every human being whether you work as a traditional employee or you're self-employed as we are.

Michelle Kane:

Yeah, it's true. It's true. And you know what? Those that are making these, what I would call shortsighted decisions, if they pull back and realize, okay, that might make your next couple of quarters really sing and look fantastic, but how's this going to work for you 10 years down the road, 20 years down the, down the road when people don't want your product because it's not any good? And you know, I'm sure the few at the top, they're like, well, I'll just hang out on my yacht and it'll be fine. But it's,

Karen Swim, APR:

Yeah,

Michelle Kane:

I don't know. I mean,

Karen Swim, APR:

Imagine, as a viewer you are watching a TV show and it was filmed in Hawaii and you see the extras and you know, two months later you see that same exact scene manipulated by AI and like five other things. Is that fair to viewers? I mean, I think that viewers, you're also diminishing the intelligence of the people who watch these things, who consume your content. We are not stupid. We notice those things. And you know what? Extras, even though I sort of hate that name of extras, because I think acting happens without words as well, I think that they're vital to creating and setting a mood and a tone. We look at all those things. We notice it, we appreciate the depth and breadth of the, the entire creative process. And it is meaningful. So to somehow chop that up and say, it doesn't matter, we can just AI our way into this or we can AI our script.

Michelle Kane:

Yeah.

Karen Swim, APR:

Because machines are not human beings. And they can crank out words, but they can't crank out nuances, emotions, and personal experiences. If you've ever read articles about how scripts came together, about how ideas came together, about how an actor was in the moment and created something that wasn't on script, AI cannot do that. Oftentimes people developed entire series based on personal experiences or they bring something to their life, or you're in the writer's room and somebody goes, Hey, how about this? And then that, that reality makes its way into the creative process. Can AI do that? No, because AI is not a living being who's interacting with other human beings and has that to bring to the table. So yes, it's helpful in circumstances.

Michelle Kane:

Right. Case in point. So, the new Indiana Jones movie. They used AI to create a younger version of Harrison Ford. However, it was still Harrison Ford, 80-year-old Harrison Ford doing the acting. They had the luxury of having a catalog of all of his reactions from all of his films that he had done with that same studio. So, I don’t know if you've seen him describe this, he said, they put the little dots all over his face and he still did the dialogue. But then they did the magic using him. So that's a great use of AI that came in really handy. It kept you in the story. What would not be cool is if they took that whole catalog of Harrison Ford and brought him back as Han Solo in a hundred years. And I guarantee he would probably haunt them. <Laugh>. Yeah. That's the last thing he would want. And honestly, it's just like you said, it's so cringy and unethical.

Karen Swim, APR:

Yeah. Imagine this, imagine that they did use this to create the next Indiana Jones movie and they paid him zero or they sent him a check for 4 cents. Because lots of actors and writers are receiving checks, residual checks for 4 cents. It costs more to mail the check than what you're receiving when you get something for 23 cents, 27 cents. Don't believe me. Go on social media. Follow the WGA strike hashtag and you'll get lots of information on the writers strike. So imagine as a public relations person, as communicators, we often write things. Can you imagine like somebody using you one time for something and then taking your work and profiting from it over and over and over and over and over again, rather than hiring you. Maybe they throw a bone your way and say, “Oh, we're going to send you 10 cents.” Because that's what they think it's worth.

Michelle Kane:

Yeah. I think recently Mandy Moore said that for a streamed episode of This Is Us, an incredibly popular, profitable show. Don't quote me on it. I mean, it was under a dime.

So that is literally what they're renegotiating. They just want to be paid fairly. And I get it, we're in capitalism. The CEOs are beholden to their shareholders. They're beholden to make their shareholders richer. You'll still get rich shareholders, you will still get rich. In fact, you might get richer if you fund these creatives in a way. Yeah. I mean, let's face it, I think Tom Cruise in the last two years, and he's not my favorite person but in the last two years, he has been leading the way to get people back into movie theaters to keep that business going. Why? Because he knows it's good for everybody. And if they can't realize this, that funding good, creative content is in their long-term best interest, then that's just really sad and unfortunate.

Karen Swim, APR:

Well, another unfortunate trend that we're seeing play out in the labor market, and you know, again, this hits our industry as well, is that this, this reluctance to present people with professional development opportunities and kind of easing out those entry level people. So we're seeing this with the many writers rooms and not giving people a chance to advance their career. We're seeing it with the actors and the background actors. We also are seeing this in corporate America where people new to the workforce are not receiving training on how to work. All of these things, this is the same issue, played out differently across various industries. We need people entering professions. The reality of our life right now is that there are more open jobs than there are people to fill them. The entire global workforce has aged. There's a map out there somewhere that shows how this aging population impacts the entire workforce.

We're getting older, the median age of US workers has risen. And so if we're not willing to train and we're not willing to give opportunities to people entering our professions, where does that leave us in the future? That's a little crazy. And it says to me, is this where we are right now? So we don't want to pay the people that have the experience. We want to take whatever we can from them. And then we want to, you know, use AI to like cover it up and do other things. But we also don't want to help people to do what we do. Like there's, there's a disconnect there. This is all going to come back and slap us.

Michelle Kane:

Bite us. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, and you know, at both ends of the spectrum, I think there's ageism at both ends of the spectrum. And what I'm seeing a lot is people applying for what they are told are full-time jobs and then once they're hired, they're only given part-time hours. Well, there goes their opportunity for health insurance, there goes their opportunity to make their living. I'm not saying it's all corporations, but some of the corporations who are bemoaning the fact that people don't want to work, well, they do want to work, they want to be able to provide for themselves. And I'm pretty sure even if you don't love your job, you still like the feeling of contributing to society even if you don't realize it. So if they're not provided the proper platform, like you say, with proper training, and that could be as simple as we know, Karen, everyone's talking about Gen Z, they don't know how to operate in an office. Well maybe, just maybe, you need to start a program to help that, to help nurture them, nurture their intelligence, you know, nurture the gifts that they bring to you. And if you say you're looking for full-time, hire them for full-time.

Karen Swim, APR:

The reality is I think that we need to, we as communicators also need to make sure that we're not playing into that narrative. And we don't allow companies to play that narrative because it's actually, it's erroneous. Gen Z, how do you learn to work unless people teach you to work, they don't teach you how to work in school. Education does not do that. No, education does not teach you how to live your life. Education does not teach you those subtle nuances about how to conduct meetings or how to participate in meetings or how to engage with your coworkers. Those are things that you learn on the job. And so I have seen a couple companies that are stepping up and coming up with training programs that are teaching these soft skills to younger workers. Unfortunately that's not being normalized. And it’s to all of our detriment that there's not this investment in the next generation of workers.

Because if we're not teaching them, how would they learn? They come up with their own rules that may not match what your expectations are. And then you get mad and you say, well, Gen Z's lazy. Well, they're really not. Maybe, maybe they're onto something. Maybe they're not willing because they live through the Covid years and they see how quickly our lives can shift. Maybe they're not willing to work 12 hours a day in an office. Is that being lazy or is that being smart? Maybe they've decided that, you know what? Work cannot be the number one thing in my life. It is a part of my life, but I also have this other life that I'm going to tend to. Is that being lazy or is that being balanced? So I think we're unfair to them as well. And, we hold some responsibility for that, which, you know, that whole generational thing is a topic that we'll delve into at some point on this podcast.

But today it's all about workers' rights and how this is shifting and how it really does impact us. And from a practical standpoint that everyone can find accessible. What happens when the content creators go away? Because fall TV now has officially already been disrupted. So enjoy those reality shows and reruns because that's all we're going to have for a while. And you know, if you don't have people making movies, promoting movies, entertainment is going to stink. And, and that's going to affect jobs. I mean, yeah. I have friends that work on moving construction sets. They build sets. There's no movie making happening right now. They're not working. What about the people who clean the costumes? What about the food caterers? They're not working either. What about all of these people who normally buy things that can't buy things because they are not working? This is everyone's issue. And I know sometimes people get caught up in numbers, like, actors make so much money. Yeah. They really don't.

Michelle Kane:

Oh, they don't. And I'm glad to see those that are out there stating that fact that yeah, we're the, we are the lucky few.

Karen Swim, APR:

Yeah.

Michelle Kane:

And you know, even with the AI stuff, if they're trying to pull this with us, what chance do those who aren't at this point in their careers, what chance do they have? There's definitely going to be a ripple effect. And you know, look, unions have done a lot of good, they're not perfect. But if you enjoy your five day work week, thank your union. If you enjoy weekends, thank your union. Someone's got to draw the line because if we did not have them drawing the line, trust, the rest of non-unionized corporate America would be far worse than it is.

Karen Swim, APR:

Yeah, and the math is Right. Whether those people are in the union or not, giving a voice to these issues that I think we all need to be aware of. And I think one of the key things for us as communicators is understanding and protecting our own intellectual property. And standing strong for the value that we deliver. Because I honestly do see this, this environment that we're in currently that is wholly focused on economics with a shortsighted view to the value of communicators. So you see companies that you know, and this happens in economic downturns. What are the first departments to go? Marketing and communication. And we know that's problematic. Companies don't care. They only care about how those numbers look right now and moving forward for the future. And they, I think that at some levels of the company, they realize the steps back that they will take, but it's a risk that they're willing to accept. But again, our profession is also being devalued and media is definitely going through dramatic shifts as well. And so I feel like these issues that apply to Hollywood writers also touch the journalists that we interact with.

Michelle Kane:

Yeah, absolutely. Well, we've given you a ton to chew on this week. So we hope you found this time valuable. And please, we want to hear your feedback. Visit us at soloprpro.com. Hit us up. If you found this of value to you, please share it around. We would love that too. We love spending this time with you. And so until next time, thanks for listening to That Solo Life.