The Hollywood actors and writers strikes spotlight many of the difficulties that businesses and workers both face in the post-COVID economy and from the challenges of the growing gig economy and artificial intelligence.
In this system, working-class actors and writers — talent who are not the big stars or show creators — generally worked steadier, earned more and enjoyed a better employment environment.. Falling prices for high-quality, big-screen TVs challenged movie theaters, and the number of tickets sold declined. Nowadays , releases with mega stars, high action, complex visual effects and a lot of noise — franchises like Indiana Jones and comic-book superheroes — still have theater screen appeal. Yet for ordinary drama and comedy, it takes a more compelling story to get Americans away from their couches into the theaters.
With more Americans opting out of cable and relying on streaming, the film and television industry’s problems have worsened. The big studios and other entrepreneurs have rushed into streaming, and the lake is overfished. Netflix NFLX, +0.38%, owing to its first-mover advantage, earns a profit, but Walt Disney DIS, +0.05%, Comcast CMCSA, -1.04% and Paramount lost a combined $8.4 billion in 2022.
That is, unless some innovation comes along that dramatically raises productivity. Enter stage right: artificial intelligence. As Netflix and Amazon.com AMZN demonstrated by becoming producers of original content and streaming services, the industry’s entry barriers are not high. If the Screen Actors Guild and Writers Guild of America win overly strict limits on the use of AI by major studios and incumbent streaming services, new independent producers and services will emerge that employ actors and writers and offer more flexibility.