Hollywood actors’ strike, canaries in the mine?

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in amuuurica, vast swaths lack affordable high-speed internet or any internet at all. that is much of 'muuurica away from the big cities, due to our piss-poor long-neglected infrastructure. so for the bulk of us country bumpkins, streaming is just a dreaming.

DVD sales are a tiny fraction of what they once were. It's quite true. If new DVD sales were anywhere near where they used to be writers wouldn't be on strike seeking compensation based on streaming statistics instead of DVD residuals.

its also because those companies have a local monopoly so there is no incentive to improve their services. a lot of areas only have 1 or 2 providers to chose

Just to clarify my position on this situation: True union solidarity is showing respect and support for the striking actors and writers while simultaneously believing that everything produced by the Hollywood studios is total crap.

I have no love for the studio executives, because if they truly appreciated creativity, there would be no AI/CGI threat to the actors and writers.

It's not their job to appreciate creativity. It's to make money. I can see why they'd want to use automation.

Agreed. Walmart provides self-checkout, and certain consumers choose self-checkout over a real life cashier. This decreases the amount of money they must pay to do business. A computer doesn't need medical insurance, never calls in sick, never claims workman's comp. For an industry that prides itself on being light years beyond us average citizens, I am amazed that they thought they'd somehow be immune to advances in technology or cost saving cuts.

I agree.  However, I do not believe that they will apply the money they have saved toward greater creativity.

First, the self-checkout computers DO "call in sick" with error codes that are supposed to help the technician make repairs.  I used to be on call to service more than 50 such stations when the techs could not handle it, so I know exactly what goes wrong with them, and how often the customers get ripped off.

Second, those cashier/bagger jobs may be an entire family's bread-and-butter.  By going through their lines, I am helping to support the cash-for-labor economy, especially when I hand back my change and say "keep it".

Third, as much as I appreciate Capitalism, I also appreciate seeing people work for their wages instead of collecting hand-outs from the government.

ANYWAY . . . it is not the actors or writers that lack creative talent, it is the higher-ups that are so risk-adverse that they would rather put out remakes, prequels, and sequels of what has succeeded in the past than take a chance on something new.  The first Avatar movie was a big risk, but the studios took a chance because James Cameron was the director.  The second Avatar movie was kinda meh, but it seems to be a safe bet that the studios will try for at least one or two more in the series, with each sequel being even more meh than the previous.