this post was submitted on 05 Sep 2023
234 points (98.0% liked)

News

23287 readers
4185 users here now

Welcome to the News community!

Rules:

1. Be civil


Attack the argument, not the person. No racism/sexism/bigotry. Good faith argumentation only. This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban. Do not respond to rule-breaking content; report it and move on.


2. All posts should contain a source (url) that is as reliable and unbiased as possible and must only contain one link.


Obvious right or left wing sources will be removed at the mods discretion. We have an actively updated blocklist, which you can see here: https://lemmy.world/post/2246130 if you feel like any website is missing, contact the mods. Supporting links can be added in comments or posted seperately but not to the post body.


3. No bots, spam or self-promotion.


Only approved bots, which follow the guidelines for bots set by the instance, are allowed.


4. Post titles should be the same as the article used as source.


Posts which titles don’t match the source won’t be removed, but the autoMod will notify you, and if your title misrepresents the original article, the post will be deleted. If the site changed their headline, the bot might still contact you, just ignore it, we won’t delete your post.


5. Only recent news is allowed.


Posts must be news from the most recent 30 days.


6. All posts must be news articles.


No opinion pieces, Listicles, editorials or celebrity gossip is allowed. All posts will be judged on a case-by-case basis.


7. No duplicate posts.


If a source you used was already posted by someone else, the autoMod will leave a message. Please remove your post if the autoMod is correct. If the post that matches your post is very old, we refer you to rule 5.


8. Misinformation is prohibited.


Misinformation / propaganda is strictly prohibited. Any comment or post containing or linking to misinformation will be removed. If you feel that your post has been removed in error, credible sources must be provided.


9. No link shorteners.


The auto mod will contact you if a link shortener is detected, please delete your post if they are right.


10. Don't copy entire article in your post body


For copyright reasons, you are not allowed to copy an entire article into your post body. This is an instance wide rule, that is strictly enforced in this community.

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 

"The company now expects to exceed $1.7 billion in free cash flow for the third quarter of 2023, in part due to the strong performance of 'Barbie' as well as incremental impact from strike-related factors," the entertainment giant says in a regulatory filing.

top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] [email protected] 83 points 1 year ago (2 children)

What these articles never talk about is the demands that actors and writers are making, and how paltry that pay raise would be in comparison to these losses.

The studios are being pennywise and pound-foolish, and pissing off the most valuable part of their industry, the talent.

[–] [email protected] 50 points 1 year ago (2 children)

how paltry that pay raise would be in comparison to these losses.

It's just the people who are striking aren't just asking for a meager raise now.

There's also stuff about stopping AI before that Black Mirror episode about AI pumping out completed shows come true.

The studios don't want to agree to stopping that, because they want it to happen.

Which means the strikers are right, and should be striking.

pissing off the most valuable part of their industry, the talent.

A decade or two from now, it might be AI writers, AI actors, and making a whole movie happens on a computer that just spits out a finished product.

That is something studios would be willing to take a half a billion hit against. And if they didn't think it was coming, they would have caved by now.

The workers only have leverage if they strike before they can be replaced, and demand a future where humans are more involved than typing in a couple prompts.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I just hope AI plateaus before any of that cyberpunk shit happens.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago (5 children)

There's no reason to think it will.

Like, it's going to take decades, but it'll eventually get to the point where humans only involvement is focus grouping AI shows. Have a group of 20 people watch 20 pilots (or whole seasons) and rate them.

Winners move up in an elimination style bracket and the best get pushed out to subscribers. Or they could just say fuck it and upload everything. A single service could easily upload more than 24 hours of content a day.

The cyberpunk shit won't really start until companies start using those shows to try to change people's stances on shit. Instead of seeing ads to make us want to buy stuff, people will pay the streaming services to change how people think on topics. Like Big Oil paying for Fast and Furious 35 to be about how gas vehicles are still better than EVs. Or a main character having random social/political views that are constantly being mentioned.

It won't be as obvious as characters meeting at Starbucks and saying the name 27 times. But it would work on a lot of idiots.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago (3 children)

I still think people are vastly over-estimating how close we are to that kind of AI.

Reminds me of all the people who thought we were close to Ready Player One style VR back when VR was taking off a few years ago. And now VR stuff is clearly dying, the fad petering out with the technology only making relatively minor improvements from where it started (at least compared to what fiction portrays).

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Yes, exactly this. The LLMs have done an amazing job of faking AI and it's tricked a ton of people into believing that we're nearly there, but we're still a long way off from AI. Back in the 70s everyone thought AI was just around the corner as well, and while we're much closer today, we're still not close enough everyone should be worried about it. What everyone should be worried about though is the stupid executives buying all the snake oil and firing everyone before they realize they've been conned.

This isn't a battle against AI, it's a battle against dumb executives once again trying to figure out how to fuck their employees to make even more money for themselves.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I still think people are vastly over-estimating how close we are to that kind of AI

I mean, I said it would take a couple decades...

But the longer they waited to strike, the less leverage they have.

VR is completely different because your asking people to pay the price of a big screen for something only used while gaming. This doesn't require consumers to buy any special equipment.

If you want a gaming analogy, look at the cutscenes in new games like Baldurs Gate 3. It won't be long before AI eliminates the need for mocap. And at that point AI could write and generate a show all on its own

20 years is plenty of time for that

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

VR stuff is not dying. You're just in the Trough of Disillusionment of the Gartner hype cycle. Look at Steam Sales or Oculus Sales for their VR games. Look at the new headsets that continue to arrive to the market. The VR market might still be relatively small, but it's always improving and growing.

Edit lol no counter argument, just downvotes from kids who refuse to believe they might be wrong.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

VR headsets are still improving and still being sold, no disagreement there. But when I search for great VR games to play those lists look almost the same as when I got into VR several years ago. They're still recommending only games that came out years ago and that I've already played. At most they might recommend a new mod to turn a regular game into VR. Where is the content? I thought I'd one day upgrade from my HTC Vive, but I don't see the point if all I'm going to play are the games I've already played.

load more comments (4 replies)
[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (2 children)

We're gonna need more than hope to cease further AI progress.

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Less than a decade, I think. We won’t live to see the first completely generated movie star. We’ll live to see them become the default. We’ll live to see a time when live human acting is, in and of itself, a noteworthy occurrence.

AI isn’t even driving this forward. Square has been ringing this bell for more than a decade with its movies. AI is just making it cheap. And that fact alone is why it will continue, unabated and unhindered, come what may.

What the studios aren’t realizing is that it’s not just the end for human actors, it’s their end as well. If you can generate feature length films with effects and acting and sound, who the hell needs a major studio?

[–] [email protected] 59 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I bet doubling the pay for everyone striking would cost a lot less than 300-500M a year.

[–] [email protected] 36 points 1 year ago

It would. But that would set the precedent that unions have any power and studios didn't have all of the power. Studios aren't willing to cave because they're afraid they can't completely control their workers and siphon as many profits as possible.

[–] [email protected] 51 points 1 year ago (1 children)

So the owners would rather take a 500m loss than settle. Fuck them.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago

Daddy does not negotiate with slaves!

[–] [email protected] 44 points 1 year ago (3 children)

I think part of the problem here is the news media and how the stories are framed.

The headline should be that obstinate companies refuse to share the profits and meet reasonable union demands, which will cost them millions.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 year ago

Shows you whose side most of these news outlets are on. Once you see it, you can't unsee the rampant, egregious anti labor bias in the news, or actually anywhere. Many people in the US have been effectively trained to hate unions and those striking. It's just mind blowing to see how many people's knee jerk reaction is siding against strikers.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Can't rely on fake news on provide quality information. They are just daddy's lap dogs shilling to us.

Workers must get educated, learn to read between the lines and act tin their own self interest and the working class.. Anything less than that, slaves aint even trying to play the game.

Capital owners only speak language of profit so that's how worker must speak to these lEAdErS.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

These companies own the news media outlets.

[–] [email protected] 23 points 1 year ago

Good. That's the point, ya greedy shitheads.

Seriously, all the actors, writers, fx guys, directors, and so on should just form an employee owned studio at this point. Out of spite, if nothing else.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Good. If an industry won't compensate its workers properly, it should be burned to the ground, literally and metaphorically.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 year ago (1 children)

A lot of people worked very hard on the movie to make it happen, and it did well because it's a good movie made by good people, and it's wrong for WB to take the full credit for that. So, give the people what they deserve for their hard work, and the strike ends. Simple as that.

But, I'm realistic, and at this point it's clear that WB doesn't feel pressured enough to listen to reason yet. So, help us make them listen to reason, and keep supporting the strike in any way you can.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

I went and saw Barbie twice. I caught the show when my fiancée was out of town, then took her out to see it when she got back. The movie works on a lot of levels and I thought it was well done. Great writing, great cast.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

Why is the world topsy turvy? And why do we allow it?

[–] [email protected] 20 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Humans are good at compartmentalizing. The same father that shouts at a ref over a bad call in a tee ball game will happily support industries that will give his child cancer as long as he doesn't have to think too hard about it.

Profit is amoral. If we want a fair and just society, we must ignore profit motives and accept the cost of being civilized. The capitalist will demonize unions and taxes and regulation, because those things cost the capitalist profit. And the capitalist is right, those things are the enemy.

Unfortunately, the capitalist has also convinced everyone else that we're supposed to be on his side. The capitalist is not on our side.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Listen to meatbridge friends. Don’t turn away from the truth.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

there's an old saying : "buy real estate when there's blood on the street". consider this for a while.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

But what happens when banks won’t underwrite property insurance because of climate disasters?

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Complaining about nothing. Amazing.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Really updating us on progress report!

More work to be done here tho

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago

ohh no! not enough!

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Me having stock from before the merge: I'm Never Gonna Financially Recover from This

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

With new covid coming, this couldn't have happened at a better time. These fucks would never try home streaming again for their movies.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

Oh no they lost 25% of their income. How horrible. Im gonna cry while buying some barbie movie merch.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

Maybe y'all (Warner Bros) should do something about it.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

"Only" 1.7 billion for 3 months..

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Really? I thought Zaslav was all about getting rid of scripted programming to save money. I would think this would be his dream come true.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Are there any non-union production studios/companies out there? You'd think a strike like this would be a massive opportunity for studios and talent that otherwise wouldn't have access to theaters or be drowned out with all the other new releases.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

No but plenty of independent studios have already agreed to the terms the strike is ongoing over, and are able to continue production.

What do you say Adam?

load more comments
view more: next ›