This
weekend on a podcast with fellow comedian Jim Gaffigan, the iconoclastic Bill
Maher was asked his opinion on the strike in Hollywood, focusing on the WGA.
Maher, to say the least, never shies from saying what he thinks and he didn’t
this time:
“What I
find questionable about the philosophy of the strike (is) it seems to be they
have really morphed a long way from the 2007 strike where they kind of believe
that your owed a living as a writer, and you’re not…This is show business. This
is the make-or-miss league… I feel for my writers…I’m one of my writers. But
there’s a big other side to it. And a lot of other people are being hurt besides
them – a lot of people who don’t make as much money as them in this bipartisan
world where you’re just in one camp for the other, there’s no in between.
You’re either for the strike like they’re f—Ing Che Guevara out there…like this
is Cesar Chavez’s lettuce picking strike, or you’re with Trump. There’s no difference.”
I can
already hear all of Bill Maher’s usual enemies – the progressives who never
agree with him, those in Hollywood who say he doesn’t represent them, the young
saying that he’s just a privileged Boomer and that his anti-woke attitudes
towards America and Hollywood negate anything he has. This is the traditional
reactionary attitude and in this case, it’s fundamentally ridiculous. Because
Maher is an industry veteran. He has been working in Hollywood for more
than thirty five years, which is longer than some of the members have been
alive. He has known what it takes to make it and how much of it is based on luck.
He is both a member of the WGA and SAG-AFTRA so he’s entitled to his opinion on
these issues. And he did make it through the 2007 strike so he should be entitled
to his opinion on that. Even if I did
not agree with ninety-five percent of his statement (a personal record on his
part in regards to me) the fact is he’s telling truths that the strikers do
need to hear. And now that the WGA
strike is the longest in history and we still don’t seem to be close to an ending,
I think it’s time for the writers and actors to get a message.
Bill’s
right. You’re not Che Guevara and Cesar Chavez. And I think you need to get a
very clear picture on where your work ranks in the great scheme of things. I’m
going to speak in terms of purely television but this applies to all of you.
First,
you are not owed a living as a writer or an actor. You’re really not. Hundreds of thousands of you to try to break
it into showbusiness every year. The combined membership of your guilds is a
quarter of a million. The city of Boston has more than two and half
times as many people than are working for your entire group. That’s the definition
of elitists. Hell, when it comes to Hollywood and the rest of the country, you
are the one percent. Stop pretending that you’re just like autoworkers or fast
food employees because you have a union card.
You do know
how lucky you are. I mean, every time one of your members accept an award you
mention at least two or three times in thirty seconds. You realized the dreams
that ninety-nine point nine percent of us never will. You grabbed the brass ring.
Is America supposed to feel sympathy for you because now it isn’t as shiny as
you thought it was? Many people went back home after trying and failing at what
you’re making a living at it. I realize you might consider it scraps but there
are millions of people living below the poverty line who would consider your ‘residuals’
manna from heaven. Forgive us for not feeling sympathy when one of you says
that the strike is you bad you have to sell of one of your houses.
I get it.
A lot of you are not making your fair share. To be clear, your unfair share
would probably more than pay the rent of the people who work two jobs in order
to support their family. I don’t have a
job and am not getting paid for the writing I do for this column so I guess I’m
not capable of understanding why a staff writer for The Bear is upset
they’re not getting residuals. Of course I have to look for a job every day and
know how bad the pickings are. But I
guess it would beneath someone who thinks they should be getting their fair
share every time someone watches an episode of House of the Dragon they
were an extra in to do something menial like you know work as a medical
receptionist.
But I do
get it: this strike isn’t just for you, it’s for everybody. The California
Treasurer issued a report last week urging a settlement to the strike saying
that the stoppage had cost the state of California alone $12 billion since it
began. I have little doubt you saw this report and cheered it as a victory for
your side.
May I
remind you of a few things. You are aware that any one of these corporations
could take a hit of $12 billion in a year and keep going. You know that because
you want more of it. That $12 billion came at the cost of thousands of smaller
jobs that would have been the part of movies and TV series - the production designers, the gaffers, the
assistants, the messengers, the caterers, the hairdressers, the makeup artists
= you know all the little people you give lip service to in the middle of your
long speeches but apparently had no problem depriving of income, even though
far many of them need the money more than you do. The corporations won’t suffer
not paying them. The people will as will the companies that rely on this money
to keep going. But hey, it made the studios look bad, so what’s a few billion
dollars between friends?
And of
course some of you are bitching that the studios are being petty and vindictive
by cancelling shows that they have already renewed. To be clear, they have to make up their money
somewhere and there are no writers to write their scripts or actors to perform
on them, but sure this is all on the evil corporations. You’re on the side of
the working man.
And this
is where I fundamentally have to get to the heart of what your strike is. Now I
need to make this very clear. I love a lot of what you do. I have made my
living singing the praises of many of your shows. I do appreciate the causes
you are fighting for and I do understand the need to make money at your job.
The
thing is, I am also very aware that in the grand scheme of things how much
actors and writers get paid for their work streaming on Hulu is trivial. I don’t
mean to you guys; I mean to everybody else.
I speak as someone who wants you to get your fair share of the pot,
but I guarantee you most Americans do not give a damn. What you consider your
life’s work they gobble up in a day. They only care about it when it is absent.
And on a
purely personal note, if the corporations chose to cancel so many of your dream
projects, all the work you’ve poured your heart and soul in to, you know what I
have to say: Good! Because, and I’m
not alone on this, there are far too many television shows to watch right
now. There are at least 500 series that
were submitted for Emmy consideration for the 2022-2023 season. By my count
that’s at least 400 too many for a civilized person to watch.
You argue
this is about economics? Fine. You understand supply and demand? At this point
the television world is choked by a supply that this are absolutely no demand
for. You want to say streaming created
this mess? You were fine taking their money to create projects no one ever
asked for and in some case, almost no one may have watched. America needs many
things – a functional government, a working educational system, clean renewable
energy. What is does not need is another set of Yellowstone or Game
of Thrones spinoffs. And yet somehow that’s what we keep getting.
In fact,
I was saving this for another article but I’m kind of glad to decided to
go on strike and force the Emmys to be postponed until January. Now I have the
time to get caught up the enormous backlog of series that you and your colleagues
continuously foist upon us. I’ve already
managed to completely watch Welcome to Chippendale’s and Jury Duty because
of this delay. I’ve already started watching Bad Sisters, which I would
never have bothered to even try without
the strike. I’ll be able to finish Andor and Daisy Jones and The Six without
the pressure of a deadline. I can watch the current seasons of Only Murders in the Building and The
Crown with no pressure to rush through it by the end of the month. So my
life has been made easier when you decided to shut Hollywood down.
And I
imagine most people haven’t even noticed yet. They might notice when the fall
season starts and CBS is airing Yellowstone instead of new episodes of So
Help Me Todd, but then most people don’t watch network television
anyway. That’s one of the reasons the
industry is struggling but yes, the corporations are worth billions so they’re
really not, right?
But of course
I’m just another corporate stooge and all of you people walking the picket
lines in Hollywood are the real heroes.
Because in a country with a divided government, a broken political system, and
all the other problems that you good liberal people say are horrors, your struggles
to earn a living producing the TV shows that people either channel chase
through or movies that people don’t go to are the exact same ones that those
who try to unionize at Amazon are. You know, this is usually the point in my
articles where I try to argue for empathy and compassion for everybody, but in
this case and at this particular point I’m having a lot of trouble finding
some. And those of you who read my column regularly know what I means for me to
say the next statement: I’m will Bill Maher on this one.
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