The Oscars Are Over?
We discuss the potential impact of the ongoing writer's and actor's strikes on the upcoming Oscars. We speculate on the absence of certain elements if the strikes continue and address the declining viewership and potential financial loss for the Academy and ABC. We suggest that the strikes could present an opportunity for the Academy to address issues and make improvements. The Academy could face a $100 million loss and potential lawsuits if the broadcast is canceled. We also discuss the current strike and explores the possibility of holding the ceremony without WGA and SAG members.
Transcript
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Speaker:This is Film Center, your number one show for real entertainment industry news.
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Speaker:Now here are your anchors, Derek Johnson II and Nicholas Killian.
Speaker:Hello everyone, this is Film Center.
Speaker:My name is Nicholas Killian.
Speaker:I'm Derek Johnson.
Speaker:Ii.
Speaker:This is your number one place for Studio News.
Speaker:What are we talking about today, Derek?
Speaker:Today we are talking about how the Oscars can be affected by the
Speaker:current w G A and s a g strike.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:So I had an idea, right?
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:So we've already done shows on the W G A, right?
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:Strike and the SAG after strike.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:So I thought the only way forward was to think like, okay, well what would
Speaker:a Oscars look like without width?
Speaker:The W G A and SAG after strikes.
Speaker:So, you know they are, the actors make up the largest portion of the
Speaker:Academy of Motion Pictures, right?
Speaker:Arts and Sciences.
Speaker:Something that's quite interesting is that, so, you
Speaker:know it's planned to be March.
Speaker:10th of next year, 2024.
Speaker:Although all dates are current are always tentative.
Speaker:Right, right.
Speaker:However, if it's being planned for March of next year, the voting
Speaker:and stuff, it starts in November.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:So, you know, obviously if the strike goes that long, it's gonna be affected.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:And the thing is, is with the writers and the actors striking
Speaker:with the writers striking, I mean, there's no witty responses.
Speaker:There's no monologues, there's no, there's, there's no nothing.
Speaker:I mean, I mean, we might benefit from that.
Speaker:The Oscars not having giant monologues.
Speaker:I mean, let's be real here.
Speaker:The Oscars have tanking ratings.
Speaker:The last time they had good ratings, there had to be physical violence.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:Like, let's be real.
Speaker:Oscars are really not saying that, you know, Oscars are, are bad awards, but
Speaker:the awards show itself I mean they've been cutting who they show receiving
Speaker:award more and more every year.
Speaker:Right, right.
Speaker:They've been cutting who they show receiving awards outside of just the best
Speaker:actor, best director, that kind of stuff.
Speaker:And I think that it's a.
Speaker:You know, tail to the signs that a couple years ago there was the
Speaker:hashtag, Oscars are so white.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:So, and even beyond that, there are just people in general who just aren't
Speaker:into the Oscars like it used to be.
Speaker:Well, yeah.
Speaker:And.
Speaker:That.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And the thing is, is that I have a teacher who is a makeup artist,
Speaker:and he said they don't even show any of that portion of the Oscars.
Speaker:Right, right.
Speaker:Because the Oscars is already like three hours long.
Speaker:I.
Speaker:Right what they already show and cut down, it's already three hours long.
Speaker:And what's crazy is that they have all this stuff and they believe that.
Speaker:They think they need a monologue.
Speaker:I mean, it is an award show.
Speaker:So it just need to be entertaining, especially for the entertainment.
Speaker:You know, these are entertainment awards.
Speaker:So you think that these people know what they're doing, however, it's like, because
Speaker:it is still the nature of the show.
Speaker:You had to call out names.
Speaker:And you have to have people go up there and give those names and
Speaker:they have to give a speech about, you know, this, this, and that.
Speaker:There are many famous Oscar moments, right?
Speaker:You love me.
Speaker:You really, really love me.
Speaker:And then you know, famously, Marlon Brando giving up his spot to to talk to a Native
Speaker:American woman who was then booed by the Oscars crowd and then beat up backstage.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:That's, that's wild.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So.
Speaker:I mean, you would think if they have the best writers and actors
Speaker:that the Oscars every year would be an amazing performance.
Speaker:That's the crazy part.
Speaker:I don't think that people who put on the Oscars must be those same people, I guess.
Speaker:And even if they aren't, it's like you don't wanna ask those guys
Speaker:for a little help or something.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:I, I mean, why wouldn't, why wouldn't you use all of your assets
Speaker:to the best of their ability?
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:But q i, getting back on track here, sag.
Speaker:Is a huge, the members of SAG are a huge part of the Oscars they membership, right?
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:They have the largest membership they're having over having over.
Speaker:A thousand members be part of that 10,000 member group.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:The Academy of Motion pick charts, they have about just over 10,000 members.
Speaker:The SAG makes up most of it.
Speaker:So if they strike, you're gonna have some people who, a, aren't gonna
Speaker:vote and b might not even show up.
Speaker:Although it's like, if I'm in the SAC strike, can I receive
Speaker:an award from the academy?
Speaker:Like, am I even allowed to do that?
Speaker:You know, because they are having these interesting rules where, like I was at
Speaker:San Diego Comic-Con this recording is done on the 25th, excuse me, 26th of July.
Speaker:San Diego Comic-Con was this previous weekend.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:Film Center was there.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:And we.
Speaker:Saw and talked to different celebrities, right?
Speaker:They were just like, oh, we are here just supporting our fans.
Speaker:Like we, they could not reference any past movies they've been in, even
Speaker:though those movies are already greenlit and done by sag, they don't want any
Speaker:attention towards the producers or anything they might have done, right?
Speaker:So it's weird.
Speaker:Are they allowed to join it?
Speaker:Where's the line?
Speaker:And if they can't, then how does this affect voting?
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:And there's a surprising amount of films that are still going
Speaker:on that are on SAG waivers.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:But like I said, though, The cost of last year's sag.
Speaker:The cost of last year's Oscars in 2022, according to News Nation now was around
Speaker:$40 million to produce, given everything that includes, you know, the live show,
Speaker:red carpet everything like that, right?
Speaker:The Oscars generated a lot of revenue.
Speaker:For the Academy of Motion Picture and Scientists, which is reported to be around
Speaker:$137 million in total revenue related to activities in the fiscal year of 2022.
Speaker:This was increased by nearly $20 million from 2021, which the revenue
Speaker:was $117 million, and that was according to the Hollywood would,
Speaker:would the Hollywood Reporter.
Speaker:Okay, so.
Speaker:I mean, and then the city of Los Angeles is estimated to lose over $200 million in
Speaker:total projected revenue as according to tourism, hotels, restaurants, shopping.
Speaker:And this number is correlated.
Speaker:And.
Speaker:Backed by a C N N article from 2008 that estimated that the Oscars
Speaker:bring around $130 million in total tourism residue for the city.
Speaker:There's a lot of people who fly internationally mm-hmm.
Speaker:To be a part of the Oscars, to view the Oscars.
Speaker:So if people don't, so for people who don't know how the whole Oscars
Speaker:spiel goes In In modern times.
Speaker:In modern times, it used to be a little bit different.
Speaker:But in modern times, we now have people, certain people who vote for the Oscars and
Speaker:they go on campaigns, right campaigns to get people to vote for your consideration.
Speaker:For your consideration.
Speaker:That's why you see all those billboards.
Speaker:That's why you see all those ads Oh, for your consideration because
Speaker:they're trying to get votes for you to vote for them for best.
Speaker:It is also said that sometimes people just buy them.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:They know the specific voters.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:And some people will just purchase them.
Speaker:That has not been confirmed to be at any, it has not been confirmed that any one
Speaker:movie has done this, but it is a bit of a, a, a local rumor that is quite popular.
Speaker:But as far as the actual current calendar goes, so the general
Speaker:entry category submission deadline is Wednesday, November 15th.
Speaker:And once again, we were recording this in on July 20 26th.
Speaker:The Governor's Awards is that Saturday?
Speaker:Saturday, November 18th.
Speaker:Preliminary voting begins Thursday, December 18th.
Speaker:That voting, the preliminary voting then ends the 21st dec December.
Speaker:The Oscar's shortlist announcement is on Thursday, December 21st as
Speaker:well, the eligi eligibility period.
Speaker:And Sunday, the 31st of December, then the nomination voting begins.
Speaker:Okay?
Speaker:This is when all the, the stuff starts heating up, right?
Speaker:Because everything, all the categories are, have been finalized.
Speaker:Ja January 11th, Thursday is when the voting begins at
Speaker:9:00 AM It's very specific.
Speaker:By 5:00 PM on Tuesday, January 16th, the voting ends.
Speaker:For, for Oscars, the nomination ends, right?
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:They only have really five days to do this.
Speaker:Then the Oscars nomination nations announcement comes out on the 23rd Now.
Speaker:This seems like it's far away, but you can tell in January there are
Speaker:three big hits here already, right?
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:Beginning, voting, ending voting, and then nominations.
Speaker:Right?
Speaker:Basically happens in a couple weeks.
Speaker:The Oscar nominees luncheon happens on Monday, February 12th.
Speaker:For those who don't know, they do have an luncheon for those nominees, right?
Speaker:Final voting begins and it says final voting, as in everyone's
Speaker:voted for the nominations.
Speaker:Now who's going to win?
Speaker:Right, right.
Speaker:That is on Thursday, February 22nd, as of now, then the Scientific and Technical
Speaker:Awards will be on Friday, February 23rd.
Speaker:The finals of voting ends Tuesday February 27th and the sixth, 96th Oscar
Speaker:will be on Sunday, March 10th, 2024.
Speaker:This is according to variety.
Speaker:Now, one thing that I always think is very interesting is that they don't
Speaker:ever put the h p A awards on here which is basically a, a post award, right?
Speaker:But But this is according to variety.
Speaker:This is the current schedule.
Speaker:Well, also what they don't tell you is all this costs money to do.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:So, Oscar nomination voting is conducted online and the platform and validation
Speaker:costs around $400,000, which could be wasted if the ceremony is canceled.
Speaker:Right?
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:And those who don't know how some of this voting happens.
Speaker:So I myself used to vote for the Spirit Awards and other Oh, film awards as well.
Speaker:Usually how that happens is that they will either send you DVDs or links online.
Speaker:Links online are more popular in the modern day.
Speaker:But whether you see a D V D or links online, they have
Speaker:a watermark on it, right?
Speaker:So that way you can't cancel you know, you can't steal it or something like that.
Speaker:And it's usually in the, somewhere in the lower third.
Speaker:But it's for your consideration, right?
Speaker:When you're watching it online, it usually has like your username mm-hmm.
Speaker:On the watermark.
Speaker:When they send you the D V D, it just has, you know, for your consideration
Speaker:on the watermark or it'll say something.
Speaker:So then after you watched it or online or in person, then you go and
Speaker:make your vote these five days from that January 11th to January 16th.
Speaker:That is a lot of movies that you have to watch as someone who's done it
Speaker:himself and has done the voting process.
Speaker:It's actually a lot.
Speaker:So you're talking about tons of people who, to be fair, would
Speaker:love not to do a lot of work.
Speaker:Yeah, exactly.
Speaker:But the, the next thing that you have to think about is the
Speaker:potential broadcast loss in revenue.
Speaker:Right?
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:So Forbes is basically saying a B C could potentially lose $20 million
Speaker:in ad revenue for the Oscar's broadcast based on ratings drops
Speaker:from previous strike impacted awards.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:That's what's predicted and that's what's speculated and it seems to be
Speaker:reasonable as a Forbes article from 2020 reported that a B C charged $2.4
Speaker:million for a 32nd ad spot during.
Speaker:An Oscar's broadcast, assuming that there are about 50 minutes of ads during
Speaker:the three hour show, that would amount to $240 million in total ad revenue.
Speaker:A 10% drop in ratings, which could result in a 10% drop in ad revenue,
Speaker:which would be about $24 million.
Speaker:Right now, there are a lot of variety released.
Speaker:A article about people they predict will be Nominated or, or nominated favorites.
Speaker:I would you say I'm not gonna go through this whole list.
Speaker:If you want to see it, go to variety.com slash list slash
Speaker:2024 dash Oscar Predictions.
Speaker:There's film editing here.
Speaker:There's makeup, hair styling and stuff like that.
Speaker:The only one I will talk about is animated feature elemental.
Speaker:Pneumonia, spider-Man across the Spider Verse, the Super Mario Brothers movie.
Speaker:And Wish, the reason why I bring these up specifically is because
Speaker:they've come out more recently.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:And I honestly think that if they do get nominated, the people who worked
Speaker:on these movies are gonna be like, oh no, we don't accept, we don't.
Speaker:Care, we're not gonna be campaigning, right?
Speaker:We don't accept this nomination.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:So since they came out so recently, some of them during the time of the
Speaker:strike, they're not gonna campaign for it, and they don't get campaigned.
Speaker:If they don't campaign, they are not going to win.
Speaker:Obviously, I.
Speaker:Right, because for your consideration, campaigns are basically just
Speaker:money spending sprees for the Hollywood press to vote for them.
Speaker:Right?
Speaker:But somebody has to win.
Speaker:So I don't know.
Speaker:Will this mean that they'll, it'll be done on merit this time?
Speaker:I have no idea.
Speaker:Well, the crazy part is, is you would think that the Hollywood
Speaker:foreign press, it's like.
Speaker:It's like a protected list so that you can't individually bribe each
Speaker:member of the Hollywood foreign press, and you'd be surprised to know
Speaker:that that's exactly what happens.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:They target the members of the Hollywood Foreign Press and basically bribe them.
Speaker:That's where the four year consideration campaign comes from, which is literally
Speaker:just a legal way to give all the members of the Hollywood Foreign press
Speaker:whatever they want in exchange to vote for whatever project they have.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Exactly.
Speaker:It's, it's, it's it's a whole system.
Speaker:Surprise, surprise.
Speaker:After a hundred years.
Speaker:Surprise, surprise.
Speaker:But yeah, I, I mean, and you think about it like this, you have to not
Speaker:only think about the writers and actors, but you also have to have
Speaker:to think about like the stylists and the crew and everybody that mm-hmm.
Speaker:Is involved with this because they might be the pinnacle, but there's a whole
Speaker:support team that comes around them.
Speaker:And the stylist for the top nominees They earn between
Speaker:10,000 and $50,000 per client.
Speaker:With, with that being said, that would be completely eliminated
Speaker:with no writers and no actors.
Speaker:That means no one's, there is no hair to make up, right?
Speaker:'cause you're not gonna hire the actors without a script.
Speaker:And so with no script and no actor, there's no hiring the makeup artist.
Speaker:There's no hiring the rest of the crew at all.
Speaker:Right?
Speaker:And that's according to the LA magazine.
Speaker:And the thing after that is the academy's PR agency bills would be
Speaker:over $150,000 annually for the Oscar campaign monitoring and enforcement.
Speaker:Those fees would no longer be needed if this was, would be the case.
Speaker:Now, I think that this is a perfect time for people who see problems
Speaker:with certain ways the Academy is run.
Speaker:Not that.
Speaker:I, or this podcast is naming any specific issues of the academy.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:However, if someone inside the academy has some sort of grievances, like
Speaker:again, we said there was the hashtag, you know, Oscars are so white.
Speaker:The ratings have been dropping a lot and, and kind of flabby, which is, which
Speaker:is crazy because this is entertainment.
Speaker:Right?
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:Which is the biggest, it's supposed to be the biggest thing.
Speaker:It only seems to be when something crazy happens at these award
Speaker:shows that anyone even cares.
Speaker:Yeah, that, that, but that's the only way that things ever get any attention.
Speaker:Right?
Speaker:It's the only way anything really ever gets done is when
Speaker:it's shoved in your face.
Speaker:That's why I, you know, that's what I'm saying.
Speaker:I think the.
Speaker:I think a lot of people, if this strike continues on, like I said,
Speaker:all this stuff starts in November.
Speaker:We just listed the schedule.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:And a lot of people in industry know December and January are
Speaker:basically dead for production.
Speaker:There is no production happening during those times.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:People don't wanna work during then.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:High key.
Speaker:They don't wanna work mostly during November, either.
Speaker:You know, if, if you're doing a project in November, it might either
Speaker:be a re-shoot or like something on the tail end is happening.
Speaker:And by production, I mean I'm also including a little bit of
Speaker:pre-production here as well.
Speaker:Like, you're not about to go into, like you may, you're, you're, you're not
Speaker:about to start production in November.
Speaker:That's not happening.
Speaker:No, no.
Speaker:Nobody's going to do that.
Speaker:And then so I mean, we're sitting here talking about what the broadcast
Speaker:and all these other people's con.
Speaker:Could lose, but the academy could lose.
Speaker:It's estimated to be a hundred million dollars in advertising
Speaker:and sponsorship also, if the, if the broadcast is canceled, right.
Speaker:If that happens, I'm gonna try to jack out the price of the academy Museum entrance.
Speaker:And what we're not talking about is networks like A, B, C pay around a
Speaker:hundred million dollars for the rights to air the Oscar telecast because it's
Speaker:a, it is a show just like anything else.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:And the show that has ads, so of course they wanna show it right.
Speaker:What a B, C could potentially do if the strike lasts long enough,
Speaker:is they could sue the academy for damages if the show is canceled.
Speaker:'cause remember they've already, there's no contract already been signed.
Speaker:Yeah, the contract has already been signed, so that's what's
Speaker:speculated it seems to be accurate.
Speaker:Accurate as a variety.
Speaker:Article from 2016 reported that A b, C pays about $75 million a year
Speaker:to broadcast the Oscars until 2028.
Speaker:And the craziest part is if they, if they end up suing and there's bad
Speaker:blood there, any other network would load to come and try to sweep it.
Speaker:Right?
Speaker:Adjusting for inflation, that would be about $90 million a year.
Speaker:In 2023, however, it is unclear whether A, b, C has a contractual clause
Speaker:that allows them to sue the academy for damages if the show was canceled
Speaker:due to unforeseen circumstances like the W G A and SAG after striking.
Speaker:And the only people who know that is.
Speaker:That studios themselves, right?
Speaker:And then Oscar campaigns by movie studios.
Speaker:It's estimated cover over $300 million per award season.
Speaker:In marketing events and lobbying efforts, these investments would see little
Speaker:return, and that's what the estimated.
Speaker:Number is, and it seems critical as a Los Angeles time article from
Speaker:2019 cited a similar figure for Oscar campaign spending by studios.
Speaker:The article is noted that Oscar campaigns can boost box office performance, D V
Speaker:D sales streaming deals and prestige for films and their filmmakers.
Speaker:I mean, they're one of the, one of the greatest adver advertisements.
Speaker:I mean, 'cause if I see a movie.
Speaker:Oh, sorry.
Speaker:Take me out of it.
Speaker:If anyone sees a movie and it's just say it's some action for
Speaker:like The Star and Leon Neeson.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:They're like, all right, cool.
Speaker:Now Leon meets some like action movie, but you hear, oh, it's
Speaker:nominated for best picture.
Speaker:This movie must be good.
Speaker:Right, right.
Speaker:And the thing is, is without the Oscars, all these benefits
Speaker:would be diminished or lost.
Speaker:And I, I think another thing we're not talking about, and you and I
Speaker:both know this, is that the Oscars is just one big giant advertisement.
Speaker:Right?
Speaker:That's, that's what it is.
Speaker:Everything that those actors wear.
Speaker:On the red carpet is just an advertisement and it's borrowed for that night.
Speaker:There's a lot of, that's why the, I mean, this happens every time.
Speaker:They, you'll have some reporter stereotypically female usually who
Speaker:asks the question, oh, what are you wearing exactly, or Who are you wearing?
Speaker:They're not doing that because they care what they wear.
Speaker:They're doing that because it's like Gianni Versace, you know
Speaker:gave me this dress and Tiffany Diamonds gave me this necklace.
Speaker:They're not doing it because they care about what they're wearing.
Speaker:They're doing it because it's advertising the company for
Speaker:whatever it is that they're wearing.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:I mean, and then you have to think about the red carpet
Speaker:fashion houses they may lose.
Speaker:It's estimated that they're going to lose over $50 million worth of
Speaker:publicity, pl pubity and exposure.
Speaker:They bank from the Oscar attendees wearing their dresses and jewelry.
Speaker:I mean, it seems feasible as Business Insider article from 2019 reported that
Speaker:red carpet fashion generates millions of dollars in media value for brands.
Speaker:I mean, you know what's crazy?
Speaker:Is that like, what people don't understand is that I.
Speaker:The red carpets that you see on TV is a very minuscule amount of red
Speaker:carpets that happen in actuality.
Speaker:Most the red carpets most people are familiar with.
Speaker:That's not even half of 'em.
Speaker:There's tons of other red carpets that are exclusive events that
Speaker:happen just here in Los Angeles?
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:Or just in Atlanta, or just in Toronto, or you know, where they're were.
Speaker:These are places that a lot of film and entertainment industry people work, right?
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:So these red carpets are really more for them because if one rich person says they
Speaker:have it, they might convince another one.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:Well, and then also the thing is, is the number one thing that people
Speaker:realize whenever they come to Los Angeles, I'm sure you got it and
Speaker:understood it when, and so did I.
Speaker:When you move here, is that, where are the Oscars held?
Speaker:Right?
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:Hollywood Boulevard.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:It's literally just Boulevard.
Speaker:It's literally just Hollywood Boulevard and they just dress
Speaker:it up to be something else.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:They shut down the street.
Speaker:It's.
Speaker:Actually really crazy to watch the transformation.
Speaker:Right?
Speaker:And it takes about like two weeks.
Speaker:Oh, it's a huge, huge thing.
Speaker:I mean, you know, everything in Hollywood's fake, right?
Speaker:You know, and you sit there and the crazy part is, is the security is ridiculous.
Speaker:Top not security.
Speaker:You have celebrities.
Speaker:That Tom, like one year Tom Hanks went to the Oscars and
Speaker:he forgot his driver's license.
Speaker:Right?
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:And he was going through and they were like, Can I see your driver's license?
Speaker:And they were like, I'm Tom Hanks.
Speaker:Like, right.
Speaker:You know who I am.
Speaker:You know who I am.
Speaker:Right?
Speaker:But it's like, listen, I know who you are.
Speaker:We all know who you are, but we have to, it's, it's policy.
Speaker:It's the rules.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:I need a passport.
Speaker:Or your driver's license stating that you're Tom Hanks.
Speaker:I understand.
Speaker:How ridiculous is this?
Speaker:How ridiculous this is.
Speaker:But that's just the policy because, because we can't make an exception
Speaker:for you or else we'd have to make an exception for everybody.
Speaker:God imagine.
Speaker:Imagine going to the D M V one day off of work and you're just like
Speaker:sitting next to Tom Hanks who has to get his driver's license for nude.
Speaker:That's crazy because I mean, you couldn't send an assistant to do that.
Speaker:No.
Speaker:You had to go either physically or you can do some of those things online nowadays.
Speaker:I mean, I'm, I'm assuming they have some system where they don't
Speaker:make Tom Hanks walk into the D M V.
Speaker:I mean, they do it for the asks.
Speaker:They probably do do it for the D M V.
Speaker:It just.
Speaker:It's like a shut down.
Speaker:You shut down the D m V for the day or something.
Speaker:Like, I remember back in the day, like, Rihanna shut down the
Speaker:store so she could shop in peace.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:There's, there's famous cases of many celebrities are in that Michael Jackson
Speaker:buying an entire mall for a day.
Speaker:Just so, and having hired actors for pretend to be like regular people just so
Speaker:you can go around and feel normal again.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:Rent out a supermarket so that he could feel like he's
Speaker:just a regular person, just.
Speaker:Buying groceries even though everybody's paid actors.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And it's, it's, it's wild that those kinds of transformations have to
Speaker:happen for us to even have the Oscars.
Speaker:And I really think that, That is also another loss of revenue.
Speaker:There's a lot of small time people who get paid from the Oscars talking
Speaker:about waiters and chefs and security and the construction workers who
Speaker:do that, all this other stuff.
Speaker:I mean, potentially they have a higher chance of getting paid than the rest of
Speaker:these people are gonna lose their money.
Speaker:'cause the Oscars are gonna happen regardless of, of anything.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:Although they're gonna obviously try to wanna move it.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:And then you, you have to think of the UN unemployment.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:If the, if the strike continues to happen, unemployment could spike in
Speaker:Los Angeles, in the entertainment sector, and if long-term strikes halt
Speaker:film production and other industries, that's, that's what it's projected right.
Speaker:As a C N N article from 2008, estimated that the Writer's Guild of America strike.
Speaker:Caused a loss of over 37, 30 7,000 jobs in the entertainment industry and the related
Speaker:sectors and a similar larger impact could be expected from the strike involving
Speaker:more than 60,000 film and TV crew members.
Speaker:Right?
Speaker:So, you know, you have a, this huge loss of money.
Speaker:You have this huge loss of jobs and the.
Speaker:I mean the, the producers are still holding out.
Speaker:I mean, Al they think that this strike might, you know, not go as
Speaker:long as it will, but if actors like The Rock has supposedly donated
Speaker:Yeah, a whole bunch of money to sag.
Speaker:I.
Speaker:They haven't given a specific number yet, but apparently it's all they
Speaker:say is it's a seven figure donation.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:Some sort of seven figure donation to a sag to keep the strike going.
Speaker:I haven't heard of such a donation on the writer's side.
Speaker:I will say this, I don't think the writers make it up or chess
Speaker:is as big as the actors one.
Speaker:It's just not, but there are some people who could, you know, I mean, The
Speaker:W G A and SAG are very close on this.
Speaker:There's a possibility that they could share some funds.
Speaker:Right?
Speaker:Well, I mean, but the Rock makes like, what, a billion dollars a year?
Speaker:So Yeah.
Speaker:Something crazy.
Speaker:So, I mean, it's probably a, a drop in the bucket for him.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:But he's not, I don't think he's W g A Actually.
Speaker:He might be.
Speaker:I'm not actually sure.
Speaker:I don't, no, I think he's sag.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:But sometimes if you're big enough and you have like, A couple credits,
Speaker:they'll just give it to you, right?
Speaker:It's not right.
Speaker:If Dwayne the Rock Johnson wants to be in the wga, I'm sure that
Speaker:he can call up somebody and be within the WGA within like a month.
Speaker:Right, of course.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:So, you know but also at the same time, you could sit here
Speaker:and say, yeah, you know, it's a drop in the bucket for the rock.
Speaker:But then you could also say, well, where's your donation?
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:You know, if a seven figure amount is just a drop in the bucket for him, then where's
Speaker:the drop in the bucket for everybody else?
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:Not only that, I think it's.
Speaker:It was kind of interesting to see that, oh, this is a big deal.
Speaker:I'm like, oh, well then how are they, you know, is no one else doing this?
Speaker:Who really supports the, the strike?
Speaker:I have no idea.
Speaker:It, it seems a little odd.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:Like, like it, it seems a little odd.
Speaker:It seems like he's trying to get brownie points for the future.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Good brownie points.
Speaker:So I heard a surprising statistic is that the statues that are made for the
Speaker:Oscars are valued at over $300,000.
Speaker:Well, they do, they do they $300,000.
Speaker:Really?
Speaker:That's crazy.
Speaker:I've, I've held one of those things before.
Speaker:Is it, is it manufactured at, at somewhere near that value?
Speaker:No, not at all.
Speaker:So people are saying that the funds would be wasted given that happening, but.
Speaker:I'm actually, that's not true.
Speaker:As a parade article from 2023 reported that each gold plated
Speaker:Oscar stat costs around $400 and weighs eight and a half pounds.
Speaker:So assuming that there are 200, that is surprisingly cheap for the Oscars, right?
Speaker:Surpri, it's supposed to be like a gold statue I'm supposed
Speaker:to get, and it only cause.
Speaker:It only costs $400 a regular necklace costs.
Speaker:There are regular necklaces.
Speaker:There are shades out there that cost more than that.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:I think Raybans cost more than that.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:But so if, say you figure 200 nominees, I mean, that's like
Speaker:$80,000 worth of statues.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:Even if the war, however, even if the awards were not giving
Speaker:out at the ceremony, they could still be delivered to the winners.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:You know, pay for shipping by, by other means, but, They might be
Speaker:worth to other people total $300,000.
Speaker:So how long do you think that these, like, okay, so let's say
Speaker:the strike is still going on.
Speaker:They're obviously going to boycott the Oscars.
Speaker:If the W G A and SAG members aren't gonna be attending, right?
Speaker:Do you think they're gonna just run it anyway?
Speaker:Let's say apocalyptic situation, the all the big time actors like Tom Cruise and
Speaker:the Rock, and just a whole bunch of other.
Speaker:Big actors just start donating money to the to sag and Quentin Tarantino
Speaker:and Aaron Sorkin start donating a whole bunch of money to the W G A and they're
Speaker:able to last the winter, quote unquote.
Speaker:And they start running into like, I mean, once you hit January and you guys
Speaker:aren't doing what you're supposed to do, I mean you heard earlier, right?
Speaker:Those, it happens in January.
Speaker:All this like important nominations, right?
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:So what happens, what does it look like when they're not there in January?
Speaker:Are they gonna do a rush, you think, to try to get done?
Speaker:Do they're gonna try to push it back to the summer because that's not gonna work.
Speaker:'cause people are gonna be trying to work during that.
Speaker:They're not really going to be focusing on Oscars and stuff like that.
Speaker:We've already seen that the studios are heartless, right?
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:We've already seen that.
Speaker:They are like, we're going to starve you out.
Speaker:Right?
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:What I think is going to happen is going to happen the way of the WWE e.
Speaker:So if you noticed during the pandemic, the WWE still had events, right?
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:But they had, it was almost like you could, it was like Zoom or you, there'd be
Speaker:like statues there or something like that.
Speaker:So you think they would do something online for the Oscars?
Speaker:Something that's, that's online.
Speaker:Well, the whole thing, but the thing was, is the wrestlers were playing to nobody.
Speaker:They were, they were playing to nobody.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So you think they might do the award ceremony to nobody?
Speaker:They would, they could possibly do the awards show to basically nobody
Speaker:still have it on a reduced size.
Speaker:Hmm, and then send out the statues or send out the awards via that.
Speaker:I think that they're going to try and save as much money as
Speaker:they, 'cause they want the money.
Speaker:We've already talked about how much money is, is made through this.
Speaker:It's hundreds of millions of dollars.
Speaker:Right, right.
Speaker:So I don't think they're going to pass that up, especially now with the strikes.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:Because they're losing so much now.
Speaker:They're losing so much now.
Speaker:We've already talked at, we've talked at length.
Speaker:And it's gonna be crazy for them to say, oh, we're gonna give it to
Speaker:this person who's actively striking against us and, and doesn't like us.
Speaker:It's going to be very interesting to see like, are they going to do the
Speaker:people that are actually deserving of the category or are they going to
Speaker:like, well this person is striking against us, so we're not gonna do that.
Speaker:But then.
Speaker:Everybody's striking against you, so Right.
Speaker:Who are you going to nominate?
Speaker:Just the editors.
Speaker:Just, just, just the editors and, and air makeup.
Speaker:You know what would be crazy if they did?
Speaker:The Stuntmen finally getting an Oscar that, right.
Speaker:A new category.
Speaker:You have, you have Izi, which is basically all of the support
Speaker:staff of the entertainment industry, key grips and all that.
Speaker:What if, what if they did an Oscar and they spend it to.
Speaker:The fact that's like all these greedy actors and writers we're
Speaker:going to put on a support Oscars.
Speaker:That's a great play.
Speaker:What if they do that?
Speaker:They would do something like that.
Speaker:They would do something like that They like, and it's actually genius,
Speaker:like for them to say, oh, because these guys are being greedy and dumb.
Speaker:We're gonna start in light on people who really need it.
Speaker:'cause the crazy part is if I'm a key, I've been a key grip on
Speaker:some feature feelings before.
Speaker:If I was a key grip and I learned that I'm getting an Oscar for being a key grip.
Speaker:Bro, I'm gonna show up.
Speaker:The II is not striking.
Speaker:No, II is not striking.
Speaker:I, I'm gonna show up for that Oscar.
Speaker:I ain't gonna lie.
Speaker:For key gripping, are you serious?
Speaker:I'm gonna do it.
Speaker:I even know how, I don't even know how they would measure
Speaker:that, but that would be crazy.
Speaker:That would be a genius move though, even though, but the crazy part is,
Speaker:is people would know what the studios are doing, but the marketing would
Speaker:be, and the way they would angle it, that would be a, they'd be heroes.
Speaker:That'd be a genius move.
Speaker:See Rows people would view them as, oh, I guess they're not that bad.
Speaker:Because the Shang and the greatest part part is that you think
Speaker:there's a lot of actors and writers and there is in the academy.
Speaker:But compared to the amount of actors and writers who are working on that
Speaker:level in WJ and SAG, and the amount of people in Izi, it's not even close.
Speaker:We're talking about like for every one ACT actor, there's probably
Speaker:like 500 Izi members, right?
Speaker:And then for every one writer there's probably like I, even
Speaker:larger numbers, it's like 700.
Speaker:800, ie.
Speaker:May, probably larger than that.
Speaker:Probably larger than that.
Speaker:'cause on a feature film you have really one writer, or maybe just
Speaker:even if, let's say it's a, a group of some, a couple writers, let's
Speaker:say like 10 writers on a script.
Speaker:Okay, well, in IE.
Speaker:When they're in production, you have hundreds of people sometimes.
Speaker:Alright, well, and here's the thing, is this, right?
Speaker:So.
Speaker:When I was talking with my teacher about ventilating and getting into I oi, right?
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:He was telling me that it's around, at the time it was like
Speaker:3000 or $3,500 to get into sag.
Speaker:Right?
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:But to get into I OI was like 6,500.
Speaker:So it was double the price of SAG because.
Speaker:Izi gets you way more work than SAG does.
Speaker:Way more.
Speaker:Way more work.
Speaker:Way more work, right.
Speaker:So, I mean, it would be something that's pretty incredible.
Speaker:But yeah, those are our predictions for if the Oscars continues to,
Speaker:for those predictions for the Oscars, if the producers keep
Speaker:doing what they're doing right.
Speaker:And the strike continues.
Speaker:But anyway this has been Film Center.
Speaker:I'm Nicholas Killian.
Speaker:I'm Derek Johnson.
Speaker:And we will see you next time.
Speaker:See you next time on Film Center.
Speaker:This has been Film Center on Comic-Con Radio.
Speaker:You can follow the show at Film Center News on all major social media platforms.
Speaker:Tune in next Wednesday for a fresh update.
Speaker:Until next time, this has been film Center.
Speaker:Good morning, good afternoon, and good evening.
Speaker:Signing out from another amazing episode of our ComicCon radio.
Speaker:Tune in for your deli shows of ComicCon Radio.
Speaker:Go to comiccon-radio.com.
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