Like all industrial strikes, Hollywood screenwriters want to fight for more revenue and rights, but strikes are only means, not ends.

Once there is a strike, it means that a large number of union screenwriters will be unemployed for a considerable period of time and have no source of income.

Therefore, after the producers' union broke the union alliance by dividing and disintegrating, the screenwriters' union also attacked everywhere, wanting to fight for more rights and interests for itself in a similar way.

Even animation studios were lobbied by them.

"Some time ago, a vice president of the Writers Guild approached Pixar Studios. ”

Standing in front of the premiere theater, John Lasseter looked at the huge poster of the mouse not far away and said to Ronan, "I hope the screenwriters at Pixar Studios will be part of the upcoming strike." ”

This is the North American premiere of "Ratatouille", and due to the recent trend, the premiere is somewhat deserted, especially with the small number of guests.

Ronan asked, "What do you guys think?"

John Lasseter replied: "The employees of Pixar Studios do not currently have members of the Writers Guild, and since we have enjoyed the rights of the Writers Guild, we naturally have no obligation to defend the Writers Guild. ”

He then asked, "Is this strike inevitable?"

The time has entered November, what should be negotiated should be compromised, the producers alliance has done it, but the conditions of the two sides are still so far away from heaven and earth, Ronan knows this very well, and said directly: "This screenwriters' strike is inevitable." ”

John Lasseter asked again: "The script work of Pixar Studios has been completed ahead of schedule under your advice, and it will basically not be impacted. “

"It's business as usual, and we're not going to be affected too much," Ronan said. ”

Under his control, Relativity Entertainment is fully prepared, and the projects that are being carried out and will be promoted next year are all finalized.

Moreover, the foreign purchase scripts not produced by Relativity Entertainment were authorized when the contract was signed, and in the absence of the screenwriter, Relativity Entertainment had the right to change the script.

This is also a common situation, and after the film company buys the copyright of the script, it often makes a lot of changes.

The most typical, "Superman Hancock for All" starring Will Smith and Charlize Theron, was originally a romance screenplay, and was later changed into a sci-fi action movie by Sony Columbia.

Jessica Felton, who entered the theater VIP room and was chatting with Ed Cammel's wife, walked over.

"I've heard them say it's been just a few days?" asked Jessica Felton.

Ronan nodded lightly: "Although the screenwriters' union has not yet given the final notice, there is a high probability that the strike will be officially launched next Monday." ”

Jessica Felton is, after all, a pure producer, and although she verbally rejected the lobbying of the writers' union, she was somewhat sympathetic to screenwriters, after all, sympathy for the weak is a universal situation.

She whispered, "The two sides can't give in to each other. ”

Ronan shook his head slowly but firmly: "Everything else can basically be agreed, but DVD and new media revenue ...... The differences are too great. The Screenwriters' Guild also knew that 15 percent was absolutely impossible, and it was a rampant bargain, and they reduced it to 5 percent in the negotiations that broke down, but this is still unacceptable to us. ”

Take "Transformers" as an example, the DVD is currently a bestseller around the world, with a total of two signed screenwriters, and according to the new requirements of the Writers Guild, these two screenwriters can already get a share of nearly $5 million.

This does not account for new media revenues such as online VOD.

How is this possible with the prevailing state of Hollywood and the film and television industry?

Jessica Filton asked curiously, "The league's bottom line ......" and she then realized that the question was inappropriate: "When I didn't ask." ”

Ronan didn't answer, in fact, the top executives of these large and medium-sized companies had already had a tacit understanding to keep the share ratio required by the screenwriters' union as low as possible to less than 1.5 percent, and to limit the producer's income.

It is only natural that negotiations break down.

It is unlikely that the Producers' Union will make much concessions, because during the 20-year period of the Grand Framework Agreement, it will also have to coordinate and negotiate with various trade unions every three years, and make certain adjustments according to the specific conditions of the previous three years.

These unions, which are not mascots, are really too troublesome for the management.

The management did not want to make concessions, and the labor believed that they should get more, and even thought that the importance was higher than that of the actors, and the huge differences could not be reconciled.

In Ronan's view, the strike is not entirely a bad thing, and it may make some people in the Writers Guild more sober and clear-headed.

It is impossible to ignore the fact that the average income of the screenwriters' union is very high, because there are many well-known screenwriters who are paid a lot of money, but most of them do not have a high income, coupled with the general overdraft consumption habits of Americans, once the strike lasts for a long time, the first thing that cannot hold on is definitely not the major Hollywood companies.

At that time, the Writers Guild may face a bottom-up backlash and have to consider the conditions of the Producers' Alliance.

The producers' alliance dared to put forward such conditions, so that the negotiations between the two sides broke down, and watched the screenwriters' union launch a strike, of course, there is a certain amount of confidence.

As for the actors' union and the directors' union, they will definitely support the screenwriters' union mentally and verbally, how to make money or how to make money physically.

Of course, it is not excluded that some directors and actors will really stand with the screenwriters' union.

After all, this is Hollywood, the largest concentration of liberals in the United States.

But Ronan has prepared in advance, and Relativity Entertainment's film and series projects will not be affected too much.

Jessica Felton didn't ask Ronan about the Writers Guild again and dragged him into the theater.

Pixar Studios is the third animated feature film to officially enter North American theaters after becoming a subsidiary of Relativity Entertainment.

Even the most insignificant little person has the power to dream of it, even if he is just a mouse living in the gutter.

The film breaks people's habitual thinking, and uses the mouse Millet as the central character of the film, hoping to end the life of picking up garbage for food, and become the head chef of a top restaurant in Paris, making the most delicious dishes with his own hands.

From toys that have life (Toy Story), to monsters that are scared by a little girl who roams their world (Monster Electric), and then turn into a little fish lost in the sea (Finding Nemo), to a superhero who wants to live a normal life (The Incredibles), and a young, energetic race car that runs wild on Route 66 (Cars).

Pixar, which represents the world's top animation technology, consistently presents one unique story after another full of emotion and visual stimulation.

The technology displayed by Pixar Studios is still at the level of openness for this industry.

The complexity of "Ratatouille" is no longer comparable to "Toy Story" more than a decade ago.

At that time, most of the toys were all kinds of regular shapes, and the material was just plastic, and the various foods in "Ratatouille" itself already had a variety of soft and hard materials with different textures, and it was self-evident that it was difficult to use computer animation to make these things feel like they could be eaten.

The reputation of this film is very good, but the subject matter and theme are somewhat cold, and the market response is not much better than the previous animated feature films.

Three days after its opening weekend in North America, "Ratatouille" grossed $51.17 million in 4,211 theaters.

This is also the worst box office opening among the animated feature films produced by Pixar Studios since entering the New World.

Art is always elegant and belongs to a small number of people.

After the success of many animated feature films, Pixar Studios was inevitably a little artistic in the criticism touted, even if it has always adhered to the original idea, but in the process of creation, it has been somewhat influenced by high art.

Nowadays, there is an undeniable point in the entire world film market, once the pursuit of elegant film art, it will always gradually move away from the market.

In some ways, that's not a bad thing, and Pixar Studios will look at its own problems.

The abilities and minds of this group of hangers should not be underestimated.

On the same day that the box office data for the first week of "Ratatouille" in North America were released, a general strike that swept through Hollywood occurred.

In order to counter the Producers' Union, the two major writers' unions in the United States called on members to strike at the same time, and on November 5, nearly 12,000 screenwriters gathered in the Hollywood area to begin a strike march along the Walk of Fame and Hollywood Avenue.

This massive strike march immediately attracted the attention of the whole United States.

The last collective strike of the Writers Guild was in 1988, lasted 22 weeks, and brought more than $500 million in losses to the entire industry, and this strike will inevitably bring even more pain, because the entertainment industry has now grown into a giant beast, according to the statistics of many Wall Street agencies, the entertainment industry can account for about 10% of the US economy, including the peripheral chain.

From the perspective of the overall strategy of the future, Hollywood manufacturers, with the six major companies as the main body, will not compromise easily.

A number of film and television dramas inevitably became temporary victims.

On the day the strike began, all talk shows had to stop immediately because there were no screenwriters.

In the days that followed, some film and television projects that lacked adequate preparation had to be suspended.

"Twenty-Four Hours" announced that it would be canceled this season, becoming the first unlucky TV series, and "Angels and Demons", the sequel to "The Da Vinci Code" invested by Tom Hanks, became the first unlucky movie because the script could not be completed on time.

Then, the screenwriters of "007: Quantum of Solace" launched the crew, and the project was temporarily suspended, joining the ranks.

DreamWorks was also affected, and Spielberg and Peter Jackson's major show, The Adventures of Tintin, was put on hold......

Even so, the Producers' League has shown a tough attitude.

Because of the intervention and matchmaking between the Washington authorities and the labor associations, the Producers' Union did not budge even when it returned to the negotiating table, and the strike continued.

The continuous strike did not affect Relativity Entertainment too much, and "Thor" was released as planned.