The actor strike is a major inflection point for our social system. Not because actors and writers are so important to society (I think they are but that is another argument). It is because they have a chance to break away from an archaic top down system where studios and streaming services make exorbitant profits at the expense of the workers. The opportunity is on the other side of the technological coin that is causing the strike. The writers and the actors are striking because the studio executives want to be able to use technology to steal not only their work but their actual physical being. Just one example, they want to be able to use secondary/background actors after they have photographed them once forever in future productions for free. This goes way beyond copyright, it is bodyright. But here is the thing: the advances in technologies have also made it possible to do very advanced production for really little money. I have a very close friend who is a professional musician. The type of production she was able to do using a laptop, working with a sound engineer also working at home, was extraordinary. They claimed the work was better than in a studio because they were not rushing to save on studio time. The same I believe is true in making films. The technology is now cheap enough and mobile enough that you no longer need studio support to make a really good movie.
And individuals don’t listen to music or watch films because of who released it. Most listen to music because who is playing and go to films because who is in it — and to a lesser extent who is directing or wrote it. Even special effects. I remember hearing stories about how the CGI people who created dragons in Game of Thrones were being cheated by the show runners. It was mostly talent and time and not really expensive equipment that created those dragons. Same with the games for all your gamers — I hope they go out on strike at well. Why not form cooperatives — a cooperative streaming service. It could start with David Simon, Shonda Rhimes, Stephen Spielberg, some of the really well known directors and show runners. People would plunk down 10 dollars a month to have it streaming into their homes.
I asked my musician friend about this and she said yeah, but it makes too much sense. There are too many large egos in the arts. And the truth is the second this became a threat the studios would fold and the actors and writers would go back to work for them because they have to eat. But the talent creates the product, and even if it was only a threat that worked, it would change the narrative.