America: My Time

Chapter 595 The Screenwriters' Strike

Chapter 585 The Screenwriters' Strike
With the continuous expansion of trade and the accelerated development of enterprises, the pressure on Australian shipping is increasing. Those guys in Japan are being urged to deliver ships in order to alleviate the current pressure. As trade continues to develop, John also has more ideas in mind.

After communicating with the Consul General, John's trip was scheduled for the summer. The reason was that the situation in Hollywood was escalating, with no possibility of reconciliation between the two sides. The Donkey's shadow was already emerging behind this. Anything could happen in an election year, and it was not impossible for the Donkey to give up and cause some trouble for the Elephant.

Now that the stock market crash has gradually subsided, those financial tycoons have stopped suppressing Donald. They have to give him a chance, otherwise pushing Donald too hard won't be good for them. Besides, the troubles in Hollywood don't really concern them, so they can wait and see. If they can drag Phoenix Media and Legendary Entertainment down with them, that would be even better.

John knew what those old guys were thinking, and he also understood what Donkey was thinking. He didn't want to be the first to suffer in this matter. He wouldn't be the one to be affected, but other Hollywood giants and television stations would be affected. At least Legendary Entertainment and Phoenix Media had made full preparations and could activate countermeasures at any time if necessary.

"Honey, can you be serious? Am I really that unattractive?"

Faced with Linda Evangelista's complaints, John took a deep breath. He had indeed been daydreaming, distracted by the allure of a beautiful woman. These past few days, the donkey had been acting like a madman, eyeing him again, which was causing John considerable distress. His lifestyle was too extravagant; even going to a restaurant for a nice meal drew criticism, and some animal rights activists were causing trouble. John refused to believe that no one was behind this.

But knowing this was useless; those guys were determined to annoy him. John couldn't do anything about it, since arguing with them would only be a waste of his time and energy. But ignoring them wouldn't stop them from being as disgusting as flies. John knew why: the TV station's propaganda about elephants was too much, which had enraged them.

“Honey, how about I find you some more fun!” Seeing that John was still a bit depressed, the beautiful Linda Evangelista said with a smile, her face glowing with an alluring charm.

John glanced at the stunning Linda Evangelista and said irritably, "Absolutely not! I don't want anything to do with your girlfriends. Their lives are a complete mess. You'd better stay away from them!"

"It's a complete mess?" Linda Evangelista quickly understood what John meant. The modeling world was indeed too chaotic. Her close friends were not as lucky as her; their private lives were indeed very messy.

"Hmph, I want to find Christy Turlington, but I know she's one of yours too. Do you want us to come with you? She's in California, while Cindy is in New York. Even if you wanted to find her, you couldn't right now!" In Linda Evangelista's eyes, Cindy Crawford was a greater threat than Christy Turlington.

"Alright, why are we bringing up Christie Turlington and Cindy Crawford again? You'd better be honest. Speaking of which, why aren't you working? Cindy Crawford has work in New York. Why are you and Christie Turlington resting? Isn't Fashion Week your busiest time?" At this moment, John remembered that it was March. Although Fashion Week had just ended, models didn't have time to rest!
“We’re not as hardworking as Cindy, busy shooting so many fashion magazines and doing so many advertising campaigns. We don’t have that many ads to run around for,” Linda Evangelista complained. Compared to Cindy Crawford, her fame was still somewhat lacking. After all, Cindy Crawford was American and more easily accepted by Americans. As for Christy Turlington, she debuted later and therefore couldn’t compare to her.

"Ahem, let's not talk about this. You two should sort things out yourselves. Don't come to me!" John had no desire to get involved in these women's squabbles, nor did he have the mood to concern himself with such trivial matters.

Seeing John's reaction, Linda Evangelista wisely changed the subject. She wasn't stupid; she knew that such things couldn't be made too obvious, or she would only look foolish.

"The screenwriters in Hollywood have gone on strike. Are you worried about this, big boss? I heard that Legendary Entertainment and Phoenix TV aren't affected much, and not many editors are involved!" Linda Evangelista does know a bit about Hollywood. She knows that Legendary Entertainment and Phoenix TV haven't been greatly affected by the strike. Unlike other Hollywood giants and television stations, they haven't suffered heavy blows. Overall, they are still under control, which is what shocked many Hollywood giants the most.

"This isn't just a question of whether it will have an impact; if those guys continue like this, it will affect the entire industry. It's not just the editors who will suffer, but also many more people working in Hollywood and television. I don't know how long these guys intend to keep causing trouble. If they continue like this, it's fine if they themselves suffer, but they shouldn't ruin other people's livelihoods."

The current editors' strike not only affects major Hollywood giants and television stations, but also many industry professionals, from actors to backstage staff. Moreover, John believes that the strike has completely lost its original meaning, and the Writers Guild's actions are now more of a threat.

These guys keep complaining about how low screenwriters' salaries are, but that's only relative. To be honest, screenwriting is still a high-paying profession across the United States. These guys just want to get more pay without taking on more responsibility. That's the crux of the conflict between screenwriters and Hollywood moguls and television stations.

From the perspective of the screenwriters, or rather the screenwriters' guild, producers and bosses are making too much money. They need to share more profits; in short, it's about competition. They only see the profitable movies and TV series, ignoring the box office flops and losses. If you don't do your job well and are always watching others make so much money, eyeing their wallets, that's really going too far. And now, in an election year, with the donkey pulling strings behind the scenes, trying to teach the elephant a lesson, the strike has escalated and spiraled out of control.

Although John is also an editor, he does not support these guys' actions. Moreover, Legendary Entertainment and Phoenix Media are cracking down on this bad trend and do not talk to the writers' guild at all. Most importantly, the writers of these two companies are almost all independent guilds and do not support the strike, at least not in action.

Both media groups have signed contracts that prohibit you from receiving the highest salary in the industry while disrupting the company's operations. If you participate in such activities, you will be punished by the company. You can request leave to participate in strikes and demonstrations, but you cannot strike directly without the company's consent. The contract is not just for show.

"Honey, will your Hollywood bigwigs agree to their demands?"

"How is that possible? Do you think we're fools? Don't even mention a mere editors' strike, even an actors' strike wouldn't work. Legendary Entertainment and Phoenix Media prefer the big-budget era, and their attitude is very clear: you reap what you sow, and you get rewards only when you make money. You've done everything perfectly, so how dare you ask the company for such compensation! Not every project in the company is guaranteed to make money; there's a possibility of losing money. And for the entire industry, there are more projects that lose money than those that make money. If your script is good, the company makes money and gets a share of the profits. But if it flops, you don't want to take responsibility. Is there such a good thing in the world?" John said with a look of disdain. Those guys from the Writers Guild think they can snatch profits from the pockets of Hollywood giants and media giants? They're dreaming. The more those donkeys jump around in the background, the more they will be suppressed by the media giants. They won't give them any kind looks, they won't give them any opportunities to promote themselves, they'll only keep smearing them.

However, the more these media giants suppress and smear the donkey, the more they will provoke the donkey's anger, causing the matter to escalate and become uncontrollable. Therefore, in John's view, this matter will only get bigger and bigger and more intense.

“No, if I knew my script could make money, why would I sell it to those Hollywood giants? Wouldn’t it be more profitable to direct it myself?” Linda Evangelista expressed her thoughts, which were also those of all screenwriters.

If those guys knew their scripts would definitely make money, make a lot of money, why would they be so foolish as to sell them to Hollywood giants? Every Hollywood giant has a huge script library. They don't lack scripts; they only lack good scripts, scripts that make money. If every script can make money, then what's the point of producers? What's the point of directors? Wouldn't it be better for the screenwriters to direct and invest in their own projects?
To put it bluntly, those guys are just envious of the profits from those blockbuster movies and want to get more benefits for themselves. These guys have no bottom line at all; they're a bunch of greedy bastards!

(End of this chapter)