Economic boycotts work! We saw it with Disney when the Jimmy Kimmel thing happened. You should absolutely protest with your wallet. That's the only language they understand.
Your essays are so connected with the fabric of human life it’s palpable through the phone. The depth in which you article anger professionally while raging aggressively at what’s going wrong is unique. One day we’ll look back at this era and find your words as a snapshot of the times and historians will say a few stood against the giants, and this piece will find resurgence.
As for Ted, and this merger, if it must happen I vote for paramount to win. Maybe then they’ll be a chance. I see now the future depicted in Wall-E is a certainty and it’ll be made by Netflix.
Omg Ivan, this is the most encouraging comment I could have received after my short break 😭😭😭😭 Thank you so much!!! I think this whole ordeal has infuriated me so much, I had pent up frustration/anger that just needed to be let out.
Let's keep fighting the good fight and hope that something good comes out of it...but till then...it's all wrath and fury. Appreciate you so much. It's great to be back with you all!
To many Netflix is their default tv option, it’s the must have streamer next to Disney+, this whole thing is creating reputational damage within the industry but i don’t know that’s its even on the radar of the average American. The Kimmel stuff broke containment since he’s been around forever and is a known quantity and it came after the Colbert stuff and people generally feeling uneasy about political censorship. Also it’s so weird they want to buy a movie studio when they seem generally disinterested in movies as medium given how they treat their own Netflix originals and how hard it is to find the movies they do distribute to on that platform.
I do think you’re onto something re: AI and WB’s IP.
A big, resounding YES! to everything you said. I rest easy knowing that I'm playing my part in helping to keep traditional cinema alive by going as often as I can, which has been weekly this year, and discussing film at length on here with likeminded individuals. Thank you for fighting the good fight and giving us a voice.
Go go go Sophie, thank you!!!! With you 110%! We all need to speak up like Sophie and do something. What would happen if we all just cancelled our Netflix subscriptions? What message would that send? Could I live without seeing the rest of Stranger Things, in order to possibly save cinema? Would enough folks really do it? Would it matter? Hmm?
Thank you for section #6. I tried pointing this out to people once the sale was announced, and further tried to emphasize it when the Disney/OpenAI deal was announced, and people looked at me like I'm crazy.
I have friends that work in AI and they made this point to me before any of this was made public. The future these "leaders" envision isn't one where people create, it's where they consume (there's that word) and reconstruct with themselves as the characters. Why continue to invest in originals when you can give them access to 100 years of creativity to share with their friends in 10 second chunks on their socials?
Personally (beyond all the artistic/human problems this creates), I think it's shortsighted to base a whole model on this. It will get old quickly as people recognize it for the gimmick it is. Sure it'll be fun for a few minutes, but what happens when they've exhausted the library because they don't even understand what connects them to the content in the first place?
I have hope for a brighter future; a better future than this portends. It's going to take us being active in shaping what that future becomes.
Sensational piece Sophie, yet ultimately depressing. I hadn't even considered the acquisition for AI data training. Truly end times stuff. Keep fighting the good fight
Too many great quotes to quote here, and your AI insight is fire. Why is Warners being sold at all?? David Zaslav and the shareholders need to make a quick buck? It's extractive capitalism in action, and the question where all this reporting should start, yet I hardly ever see it asked.
Yeah I think Zazlav has been such an embarrassing joke to the company. He's multipled his salary but also multiplied the company's debt since he became CEO, he really has been a disaster. So at this point I think it's the economics of 1) making even more money and 2) WB needs a lifeline
Bad for WB, but great for Zaz. An absolute magic trick to do that bad of a job and walk away with that kind of payout. He'll make even more once Paramount backs out of the studio bid (but not before increasing the price NF has to pay and inflict some more pain on them) and then buys out the other side of the business that Zaz will still control so they can get CNN, which is all they really want.
Yes, yes, yes, a thousand times yes to all this. Netflix cannot be allowed to buy Warner Brothers. Anyone but Netflix. Even Paramount. But ideally, Warner Brothers should not be up for sale at all.
Hell yeah, and then some! Thank you for this Sophie. There is no question this possible consolidation is illegal -- but as we are living in our corrupt times, that won't stop it. It might make good business (however you interpret that term) sense for both, but it 100% will make it worse for everything that is great about being alive. The key thing -- which you capture so well -- is whatever that Ted says now: CAN NOT BE TRUSTED. Any plan put forward, any promise given, the first thing we have to remember: THAT IS A LIE.
They don't care. You got to support the new crop of filmmakers springing up who are making their own thing. We are going to start touring with our movies, like the way bands do.
WHOA AND HOLY FUCK!!! You just dropped the mic so hard it blew a hole in the floor. I don't know why it hadn't occurred to me that Ted was buying up the core history of film just so that A.I.-generated Superman could use Daffy Duck as a rectal suppository in Oz.
That said: in an era of historic overreach -- where we're witnessing Trump's power-mad cankled sprint toward the tar pits in horror, even as it's doomed to fail -- I'm wondering if this isn't just another mad gamble that won't pay off for Ted in the way that he hopes.
Because the antidote to this may be that PEOPLE DON'T WANT IT, and rise up in droves to build a world where we aren't just quivering in the shells of our homes. Coming back to theaters that, as you've suggested before, become centers of reemerging community. Where we remember that we actually need each other. Where connection, not alienation, is key.
Either that, or we're just screwed, and THE MATRIX winds up being a documentary we've all been cast in, as dripping faceless meatbags in an endless series of tubes. Consumered into oblivion. I GUESS WE'LL FIND OUT!
Either way, and once again, thank you for your brilliance. You are my favorite writer on the subject of film, and what it means, and why it matters. What you do is important AND fun. And it don't get any better than that. So PLEASE DON'T STOP!!!
Economic boycotts work! We saw it with Disney when the Jimmy Kimmel thing happened. You should absolutely protest with your wallet. That's the only language they understand.
I’m at a loss for words.
Your essays are so connected with the fabric of human life it’s palpable through the phone. The depth in which you article anger professionally while raging aggressively at what’s going wrong is unique. One day we’ll look back at this era and find your words as a snapshot of the times and historians will say a few stood against the giants, and this piece will find resurgence.
As for Ted, and this merger, if it must happen I vote for paramount to win. Maybe then they’ll be a chance. I see now the future depicted in Wall-E is a certainty and it’ll be made by Netflix.
Welcome back Sophie!
Omg Ivan, this is the most encouraging comment I could have received after my short break 😭😭😭😭 Thank you so much!!! I think this whole ordeal has infuriated me so much, I had pent up frustration/anger that just needed to be let out.
Let's keep fighting the good fight and hope that something good comes out of it...but till then...it's all wrath and fury. Appreciate you so much. It's great to be back with you all!
Fantastic Sophie.
You hit bullseyes every single time: the deflection, the gaslighting, stone walling, the narrative puppeteering every single
point was important.
Thank you so much!!
To many Netflix is their default tv option, it’s the must have streamer next to Disney+, this whole thing is creating reputational damage within the industry but i don’t know that’s its even on the radar of the average American. The Kimmel stuff broke containment since he’s been around forever and is a known quantity and it came after the Colbert stuff and people generally feeling uneasy about political censorship. Also it’s so weird they want to buy a movie studio when they seem generally disinterested in movies as medium given how they treat their own Netflix originals and how hard it is to find the movies they do distribute to on that platform.
I do think you’re onto something re: AI and WB’s IP.
Agreed!!
A big, resounding YES! to everything you said. I rest easy knowing that I'm playing my part in helping to keep traditional cinema alive by going as often as I can, which has been weekly this year, and discussing film at length on here with likeminded individuals. Thank you for fighting the good fight and giving us a voice.
That's so good, Dylan!! Thank YOU
Go go go Sophie, thank you!!!! With you 110%! We all need to speak up like Sophie and do something. What would happen if we all just cancelled our Netflix subscriptions? What message would that send? Could I live without seeing the rest of Stranger Things, in order to possibly save cinema? Would enough folks really do it? Would it matter? Hmm?
Thank you for section #6. I tried pointing this out to people once the sale was announced, and further tried to emphasize it when the Disney/OpenAI deal was announced, and people looked at me like I'm crazy.
I have friends that work in AI and they made this point to me before any of this was made public. The future these "leaders" envision isn't one where people create, it's where they consume (there's that word) and reconstruct with themselves as the characters. Why continue to invest in originals when you can give them access to 100 years of creativity to share with their friends in 10 second chunks on their socials?
Personally (beyond all the artistic/human problems this creates), I think it's shortsighted to base a whole model on this. It will get old quickly as people recognize it for the gimmick it is. Sure it'll be fun for a few minutes, but what happens when they've exhausted the library because they don't even understand what connects them to the content in the first place?
I have hope for a brighter future; a better future than this portends. It's going to take us being active in shaping what that future becomes.
If only he actually did read this - These vultures have no shame, and I foresee the absolute worst happening with this netflix warner bros deal.
Sensational piece Sophie, yet ultimately depressing. I hadn't even considered the acquisition for AI data training. Truly end times stuff. Keep fighting the good fight
Too many great quotes to quote here, and your AI insight is fire. Why is Warners being sold at all?? David Zaslav and the shareholders need to make a quick buck? It's extractive capitalism in action, and the question where all this reporting should start, yet I hardly ever see it asked.
Yeah I think Zazlav has been such an embarrassing joke to the company. He's multipled his salary but also multiplied the company's debt since he became CEO, he really has been a disaster. So at this point I think it's the economics of 1) making even more money and 2) WB needs a lifeline
Bad for WB, but great for Zaz. An absolute magic trick to do that bad of a job and walk away with that kind of payout. He'll make even more once Paramount backs out of the studio bid (but not before increasing the price NF has to pay and inflict some more pain on them) and then buys out the other side of the business that Zaz will still control so they can get CNN, which is all they really want.
Phenomenal!
❤️
Yes, yes, yes, a thousand times yes to all this. Netflix cannot be allowed to buy Warner Brothers. Anyone but Netflix. Even Paramount. But ideally, Warner Brothers should not be up for sale at all.
Feeling passionate about this too 😭
Hell yeah, and then some! Thank you for this Sophie. There is no question this possible consolidation is illegal -- but as we are living in our corrupt times, that won't stop it. It might make good business (however you interpret that term) sense for both, but it 100% will make it worse for everything that is great about being alive. The key thing -- which you capture so well -- is whatever that Ted says now: CAN NOT BE TRUSTED. Any plan put forward, any promise given, the first thing we have to remember: THAT IS A LIE.
“Beloved franchises like Casablanca”??? What??
Oh Tom I thought you'd heard of Casablanca: A Revenge Story 🤣🤣🤣
Honestly how long before Ted & co announce “Paris: A Casablanca Prequel”?
They don't care. You got to support the new crop of filmmakers springing up who are making their own thing. We are going to start touring with our movies, like the way bands do.
Dear Sophie --
WHOA AND HOLY FUCK!!! You just dropped the mic so hard it blew a hole in the floor. I don't know why it hadn't occurred to me that Ted was buying up the core history of film just so that A.I.-generated Superman could use Daffy Duck as a rectal suppository in Oz.
That said: in an era of historic overreach -- where we're witnessing Trump's power-mad cankled sprint toward the tar pits in horror, even as it's doomed to fail -- I'm wondering if this isn't just another mad gamble that won't pay off for Ted in the way that he hopes.
Because the antidote to this may be that PEOPLE DON'T WANT IT, and rise up in droves to build a world where we aren't just quivering in the shells of our homes. Coming back to theaters that, as you've suggested before, become centers of reemerging community. Where we remember that we actually need each other. Where connection, not alienation, is key.
Either that, or we're just screwed, and THE MATRIX winds up being a documentary we've all been cast in, as dripping faceless meatbags in an endless series of tubes. Consumered into oblivion. I GUESS WE'LL FIND OUT!
Either way, and once again, thank you for your brilliance. You are my favorite writer on the subject of film, and what it means, and why it matters. What you do is important AND fun. And it don't get any better than that. So PLEASE DON'T STOP!!!
Yer most appreciative pal in the trenches,
Skipp