Hannover House Inc (HHSE)

[Nikodemos]

Writers Strike Hits Four-Month Mark as Resolve on Both Sides Hardens, Complicating the Return to Negotiations

The writers strike reached the four-month mark on Saturday, and as Hot Labor Summer moves to autumn, there is still no sign that it will be over any time soon.

The Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers have not talked in two weeks. Both maintain that the ball is in the other’s court.

Far from resolving the strike, the parties face a delicate challenge of finding their way back into the negotiating room. The WGA is open to talking, but has let the AMPTP make the first move. The AMPTP could invite the writers back — as it did on Aug. 1 — but it has nothing new to offer.

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“Obviously we’re not backing down,” said one writer. “They’re going to have to come up with something.”


On the studio side, there is continuing frustration that the writers have not made bigger concessions. The AMPTP made proposals on Aug. 11 in several areas that it had previously refused to discuss, including a second step for original screenplays, access to viewership data, and a showrunner option to hire at least two writers per show. In its Aug. 15 response, the WGA came down slightly on some numbers, but largely held to its original positions. The management side believes a further move on its part would amount to little more than “negotiating against ourselves.”

“The Writers Guild isn’t giving the studios much of an opportunity to find a solution,” said one studio-side labor veteran. “It’s one thing to say, ‘OK, let’s find a way to get this done.’ But it takes two to tango.”

In the absence of talks, both sides have nurtured hopes that the other side would break ranks under the pressure, which thus far have not panned out.

Some writers have expressed a certain restlessness, especially as Labor Day has arrived with little hope of salvaging scripted series for the 2023-24 network television season. WGA members have not received an update from the union for more than a week, leaving many with little sense of where things stand in the negotiations.

Yet the WGA membership has remained far more united than in the 2007-08 strike, when the level of solidarity was weakening by the time the strike ended on its 100th day.

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There have been rumors about dissident factions of showrunners this time around, but no revolts have emerged to date. One reason may have to do with the WGA’s recent experience of taking on the industry’s largest talent agencies to reform the decades-old practice of agencies receiving packing fees from studios for helping clients assemble TV series and movies. In the midst of that two-year effort, in 2019, hundreds of dissenting writers signed an open letter urging WGA leadership to settle the dispute. But that only served to deepen tensions in the guild without altering the course of the campaign. The WGA prevailed and imposed a new conflict of interest code on talent agents.


Likewise, there has been no sign that any of the studios or streamers will break away from the AMPTP and make a separate agreement with the writers. Despite much speculation about fissures between the tech upstarts (Netflix, Amazon, Apple) and Hollywood’s old-guard (Warner Bros. Discovery, Comcast, Paramount Global and Sony Pictures Entertainment), sources on the management side say there’s been disagreements on strategy and tactics but not on the larger goal. If anything, one person with direct knowledge of the situation says, the bashing of CEOs and studios on picket lines and in social media amid the dual WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes has only drawn the industry’s executive leaders closer amid crisis.

In its last communication to members, the WGA acknowledged that the AMPTP had made “progress,” while also saying that the most recent offer was “not yet good enough.” The “yet” suggested that further work could improve it — but so far that hasn’t happened.


“The CEOs are paralyzed,” the writer said. “They didn’t expect us to be so powerful. Now they don’t know what to do.”

https://variety.com/2023/biz/news/writers-strike-wga-four-months-amptp-1235711029/






The WGA strike is set to outlast any previous; & establish a NEW RECORD:






Which bodes well for those, like HHSE who have content:
[] "Cowboys of Cannabis"
[] 'Wildfire'
[] 'Wildfire Videos'
[] Last Days of Belle Starr, Meltdown & other HHSE titles benefit from non-AMPTP status.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3455542/mediaviewer/rm392508929/?ref_=tt_md_1

Meaning,
[] HHSE can apply to the Unions for a WAIVER & either continue filming (in the case of 'Belle Starr') or begin filming.
[] I'm sure there are plenty of artists who would rather be working, even if on a period piece micro-independent film; & using their skills vs stagnating!
[] Eric seems to have been in films recently with quite a few of them

https://twitter.com/EricHhse/status/1696553170191659398








I have written extensively on why I thought The STRIKE would go through Christmas.

Here's a quick summary:
[] 71yr AntiTrust Law
[] Governing AMPTP-Studios
[] Gets flipped during Covid (2020, I believe)
[] Allowing Studios to NOW OWN theaters & theater chains
[] And they became incentivized to recoup, recover &/or reclaim the 30-40% of ticket sales,
[] They'd NORMALLY have to share with the theater owners &/or distributors


So my thesis was:
[] The AMPTP Studios, Streamers & Execs
[] Starve out the unions through the fiscally-intensive Holidays
[] And AFTER the longest strike in History,
[] Unpaid mortgages, broken finances, family fractures, etc...
[] The UNIONS would be pressured to come around
[] & be far more willing to accept an INFERIOR deal


But also, by doing so:
[] The AMPTP studios build MASSIVE CASH RESERVES
[] from money coming in & NO PRODUCTION FUNDS going out
[] WHICH HAS ALREADY BEEN WITNESSED & REPORTED

[] And as the strikes continue...
[] The CONTENT available for theaters & theater chains WOULD DROP PRECIPITOUSLY
[] Thereby threatening the viability of theaters & theater chains
[] So the ADDED INCENTIVE for the LONG STRIKE (for the AMPTP members)
[] Was so that AMPTP members could BUY OUT already depressed COMMERCIAL Real Estate
[] And the artificially depressed, or FURTHER DEPRESSED: Theaters, Theater business(es), & Theater chains as well
[] With ALL THAT CASH they have built-up from production monies that have NOT gone out...

[] ALONG with their underlying real estate assets
[] They'd acquire far more cheaply than they otherwise could
[] And weren't allowed to do so: BEFORE the 71-yo ANTI Trust LAW changed!
https://www.thewrap.com/federal-judge-approves-termination-of-71-year-old-rules-barring-studio-ownership-of-movie-theaters/

[] And the AMPTP members go back to Wall St, Financiers, etc..
[] HAVING NOT ONLY WON,
[] & gotten everybody back to work (perhaps more cheaply)
[] But also with APPRECIATING REAL ESTATE assets
[] they bought at SIGNIFICANT DISCOUNT
[] And ARMED with the 30-40% MORE REVENUES
[] They can tout to prove their strategy effective
[] Which they'll RECOUP
[] from having bought the theater-businesses with all that cash!

[] They extend the vertical,
[] And start cranking-back up the machine! To greater, control of the product chain, & add a competitive advantage in the industry to fend & ward off upstarts.
[] OR CHARGE them higher prices for their films, in THEIR theaters! I've said it before; there is NO significant DOWNSIDE for the AMPTP if I'm right about this being their ultimate strategy -- & if it isn't: It should have been!

It was FOR THESE REASONS,
I had speculated that THESE Union Strikes were going to be lengthier than THOSE in the past, listed below:

The current strikes are EXPECTED to outlast any that have preceded it (imho, as I've said months ago)! Christmas 2023 to Q1 2024 possibly!


I must admit: I was however, surprised that the AMPTP had begun negotiating with Labor as early as they have. I thought they'd wait AT LEAST until October & said so in many posts!




The longer the strike PERSISTS the BETTER for HHSE. Not only because completed content will be scarce, but because there will also be INCREASED DEMAND for cable & other entities (Charter - Disney already fighting if folks aren't aware; & Disney, ABC, ESPN, etc., have been DROPPED from the cable provider) to feed their customers will all manner of content!


Eric waiting on the STRIKE to deliver this content was BRILLIANT. It appears as though he waited out the creditors, to some extent, while also negotiated returns & terms that are likely HIGHER than what either "Cowboys of Cannabis" or "Wildfire" would have gotten without the WGA STRIKE being over 122 days now!


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023_Writers_Guild_of_America_strike




And there are rumors a THIRD (Video Gaming Voice Actors) STRIKE may be in the works! The LAST TIME these guys went on strike THEIRS lasted nearly A YEAR: From 2016-2017.





JUST THE FACTS PLEASE!!



CONGRATS to long-term shareholders...if ever a bunch earned or deserved!




$HHSE



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