ICYMI: Leadership Abyss
Catch up on our recent best
Two days ago, the United Auto Workers went on strike at three major auto plants. The union has about 150,000 members under contract. The result? Wall-to-wall news coverage and a sense of fierce urgency among both Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer and President Joe Biden, who has called himself “the most pro-union president in history.”
His remarks from the White House on Friday:
I’d like to say a few words about the contract negotiations between the United Auto Workers and the Big 3 auto companies.
You know, I’ve been in touch with both parties over — since this began over the last few weeks….Unions raise workers’ wages, they said — incomes — increase homeownership; increase retirement savings; increase access to critical benefits, like sick leave and childcare; and reduce inequality — all of which strengthen our economy for all workers…
I do appreciate that the parties have been working around the clock. I’ve — and when I first called them at the very first day of the negotiation, I said, “Please stay at the table as long as you can to try to work this out”…
But I believe they should go further to ensure record corporate profits mean record contracts for the UAW.
The auto industry accounts for 3 percent of America’s GDP. Hollywood accounts for 3.2 percent. But outside of platitudes, no politicians — local or national — seem to be coming to help get this industry, nearing its fifth month of a shutdown, back to work (an industry that supports 2.4 million jobs and pays out $186 billion in total wages, according to the Motion Picture Association). Just this morning, the White House announced it was sending a team to Detroit this week to help resolve the strike. But here... crickets continue.
It’s reflective of the leadership gap — both politically and endemically — that informed many of our stories and podcasts this week.
First up: Peter Kiefer’s story about how, in an information void, a strange tale of a would-be meeting between showrunners Kenya Barris, Noah Hawley and WGA leadership was able to spiral — while revealing the hidden hand of the big agencies as tensions simmer between their clients and them:
Friend or Foe? Agents, WGA and the Barris/Hawley Rumor Debacle
Meanwhile, Richard dove into the leadership paralysis keeping workers suffering, quoting Bob Iger from his own book, Ride of a Lifetime:
Decisiveness. All decisions, no matter how difficult, can be made on a timely basis. Indecisiveness is both wasteful and destructive to morale.
Elaine Low broke the news Friday night of Apple joining the deal suspensions spreading throughout town:
A year ago, our big five-part series about the American Viewer from Entertainment Strategy Guy was a huge hit. This week, he revisted new data, essential to everyone in this town as development (hopefully) gets up and running soon:
☀️The Wakeup
🎧 Podcasts
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Sean McNulty’s interview with CNBC’s Alex Sherman about his epic story of Bob Iger and Bob Chapek’s succession story-gone-wrong revealed something that didn’t make it into his story — that one of the possible reasons Iger stepped down in 2019 was due to scrutiny around his compensation:
Listen here: Apple | Spotify | Google Podcasts
Transcript here
Listen here: Apple | Spotify | Google Podcasts
MARTINI SHOT
Transcript here
Listen here: Apple | Spotify | Google Podcasts
🪧Strikegeist
👓 The Optionist
IP Picks🔎: Would You Option the New Musk Bio? Rights, it turns out, are available for the Walter Isaacson-authored tome. Plus, an alien in rural America, a Mare of Easttown-style mystery and a feel-good story about an autistic underdog athlete
Congratulations, WGA (and SAG). You have just assured yourselves that the scheduled meeting between the WGA and corporate CEOs either does Not take place, or that the agreement between both parties does not happen. And all that took place was cyber bullying. Is that not what you say on Twitter/X? Bullying works, with a smile on your face emoji. Have you not noticed that the targets of this recent cyber bullying are women? Specifically Black women and, with respect to Drew Barrymore, someone who certain people want to break? People who are anxious to take down Sir Steven Spielberg? No need for me to elaborate, but if you know, you know. And of course, these people are attempting to cyber bully Bill Maher; yet that never works and rightly so.
This cyber bullying will continue and does not end your strikes. If anything, it prolongs the strikes. And it will increase the likelihood of Drew Barrymore's show, the Talk, Jennifer Hudson's show and The View to end outright. This will also not change the course of the Walt Disney Company divesting their ownership of ABC and other terrestrial networks to someone like Byron Allen while at the same time gaining 100% ownership of Hulu and enough money to purchase Candle Media or, more likely, sell their assets to Apple. The Disney-Apple partnership will form into one corporation; interestingly this would not happen if Disney had kept Sky and not Comcast buying Sky. Furthermore, this action will not stop the cancellation of the Emmys and other award shows; the probability of the cancellation of the Oscars, nor the eventual termination of the deals that are already in suspended status. This also means that there is indeed a growing Anti-Semitism in this industry. Again, if you know, you know.
And now, the WGA and SAG strikes are not all important. The UAW strikes are more important, as expected. Sadly, hot labor summer has resulted in a conservative and Donald Trump inspired backlash. The recent aggregate polls and individual polls suggest that Pres. Joe Biden will lose the popular vote to Donald Trump next year. Even this November, we will see a Republican net gain in governors with Democrats in Louisiana effectively throwing the election to the leading Republican Jeff Landry.
I hate saying this, but we may have to conclude that we Democrats can win next year, but only if Pres. Biden is not running. Otherwise, we may need to mentally prepare for a Trump reelection next year. And if that happens, the entertainment industry that we have come to know, and love will be gone. I am already hearing talks from these Republican acolytes of nationalizing film and tv and internet; and instituting a new Hays Code. If not turning Hollywood into an outright propaganda machine for the socially right wing. Do not think it will never happen, because it certainly will if we allow Donald Trump to return. The corporations and those in the entertainment industry who are Jewish understand this. One needs only to look at a past political movement that was fiscally liberal yet socially conservative to see what happened.
To our unionized brothers and sisters: the Trump movement and the new nationalists are your enemy. Not the studios, not the corporations, not fellow Democratic and independent politicians, not AI, not IATSE, not Bill Maher, not the DGA, and not the Black, Female and Jewish communities. None of these people or communities I have mentioned now and recently turned into the next Emil Jannings. Once more, if you know, you know. End this labor dispute ASAP; accept the deals the corporations will make for the WGA, which will assuredly be better just by having walked off the job initially. But settle this and go after the real enemies of industry and the intellectual world: the new nationalists and reactionary conservative movements who are currently leading the polls. A movement which has already gotten hold of quite a select few people. But we hope to get those brainwashed back to sanity. It will need to take Hollywood to stop punching itself in the face for that to happen. Which is something I have not seen recently. Prove yourselves wrong and me wrong.
Best Wishes,
Robert Kelly