I call myself a recovering Bill Maher fan and I can add this to the long, growing list of shit about why I can’t stand him anymore:
Bill Maher criticized the Writers Guild of America’s strike amid stalled negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.
“They’re asking for a lot of things that are, like, kooky,” Maher, 67, said on the Monday, September 4, episode of Jim Gaffigan‘s “Club Random” podcast. “What I find objectionable about the philosophy of the strike [is] it seems to be, they have really morphed a long way from 2007’s strike, where they kind of believe that you’re owed a living as a writer, and you’re not. This is show business. This is the make-or-miss league.”
Both the WGA and SAG-AFTRA have a variety of demands for the AMPTP (which represents Disney, Amazon, Netflix, Paramount, Sony and Warner Bros. Discovery), including setting parameters around the use of artificial intelligence and residuals from streaming platforms.
He thinks the writers don’t have leverage and that they are going to lose:
Maher also emphasized that when it comes to the entire entertainment industry ecosystem, it’s not just about the scribes. A significant number of other parties are impacted by the industry work stoppage, which is further compounded by the SAG-AFTRA strike; the actors guild began picketing July 14.
“I feel for my writers. I love my writers. I’m one of my writers. But there’s a big other side to it,” he said. “And a lot of people are being hurt besides them — a lot of people who don’t make as much money as them in this bipartisan world we have where you’re just in one camp or the other, there’s no in between.”
He continued: “You’re either for the strike like they’re f*cking Che Guevara out there, you know, like, this is Cesar Chavez’s lettuce picking strike — or you’re with Trump. There’s no difference — there’s only two camps. And it’s much more complicated than that.”
Maher also opined that the strike’s timing is off.
“They’re striking against the streamers, who are looking for a get-out-of-jail card for how much they overspend,” he said. “They have tons of stuff in stock, so they have no reason to wanna settle this strike. They struck at just the wrong time; they have no leverage.”
No, Bill, it looks like the studios and networks are the losers here for failing to cut a deal:
Warner Bros. Discovery has lowered its 2023 adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) forecast to $10.5 billion to $11.0 billion, a hit of $300 million to $500 million, “predominantly due to the impact of the strikes,” compared with the previously targeted low end of the $11.0 billion to $11.5 billion range.
In a regulatory filing Tuesday, the company — led by CEO David Zaslav, who has been very engaged in negotiating with Hollywood unions to end the work stoppage — didn’t detail when it expects the strikes could end, but updated its guidance that had previously assumed they would be resolved by early September, as management had mentioned during its second-quarter earnings conference call.
“Uncertainty in the studio segment has increased with the dual strikes,” WBD CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels had said back then. “This may have implications for the timing and performance of the remainder of the film slate, as well as our ability to produce and deliver content. And while we are hoping for a fast resolution, our modeling assumes a return-to-work date in early September. Should the strikes run through the end of the year, I would expect several hundred million dollars of incremental upside to our free cash flow guidance and some incremental downside for adjusted EBITDA.”
In its Tuesday filing updating its expectations for the full year, the company said, “While WBD is hopeful that these strikes will be resolved soon, it cannot predict when the strikes will ultimately end. With both guilds still on strike today, the company now assumes the financial impact to WBD of these strikes will persist through the end of 2023.”
And they continue to be huge losers on all fronts:
Every attempt the AMPTP has made to control the negotiations or the public narrative has backfired. After the Writers Guild of America went on strike in May, “tough” talking from anonymous executives about how they were in it to win it even if it meant writers losing their homes only served to strengthen the writers’ unity.
And help set a fire under the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, which went on strike in July.
Yet, despite polls indicating that a clear majority of Americans support the striking guilds, the AMPTP has portrayed the studios as the injured parties: We thought we could make TV without advertising, which obviously we couldn’t, but it’s not our fault.
Last week, in an obvious attempt to divide Writers Guild of America members, and potentially violate labor law, the AMPTP made public its most recently rejected contract proposal.
As if that would prove how hard they were trying to deal with those “unreasonable” writers.
That too backfired, so quickly and clearly that the studios scrambled to hire a new PR firm.
You know what would be the best PR right now? Ending the strikes.
And if Bill Maher really did care about his writers, why isn’t he joining his fellow late night talk show hosts in helping raise money to pay them?
Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel, Seth Meyers, and John Oliver are launching a limited podcast series about their experiences navigating the writers and actors strike.
The group, who were some of the first to down tools when the WGA called its strike in early May, are launching Strike Force Five on Spotify.
The proceeds from the show, which launches on August 30 and is sponsored by Mint Mobile and Diageo, will go to out-of-work late-night staff from their shows.
It is the latest venture by the hosts of The Late Show, The Tonight Show, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Late Night and Last Week Tonight to help those affected by the strikes. The group have regularly provided treats, including ice cream and lunches, to those on the picket lines and many of them were paying out of pocket for their staffs that have been unable to work for the last four months.
The series will run for at least 12 weeks with all hosts participating in each episode and rotating who leads the conversation.
I for one have been enjoying their Podcast and I strongly recommend you give it a listen:
You can also donate to the Entertainment Fund to help below-the-line crew people as well.