Streaming started around the early 1990s– the concept of movie streaming in 1998— and went into full swing in the early 2000s with streaming services we know today (Netflix 2007, Amazon Prime 2011, fuboTV 2015.) 

I grew up with Netflix, watching things like Yugioh, Naruto, or whatever kids show I could find. After Covid hit, it became especially popular to rent a service. (That’s how I convinced my parents to get Disney+ on top of paying the $11 monthly fee with my sister.) 

Of the students who participated in an Instagram survey, 96 out of 104 students claim to have had a streaming service at least once in their life. According to Forbes, 78% of US households subscribe to at least one streaming service, Netflix dominating all services with 231 million subscribers. 

For the past six years, entertainment profits have been reaching around $30 billion with spending around $19 billion on programming for streaming. The budgets for content have increased by 50% over the past decade. Despite all of their profits, subscribers, and budget, the average writer’s income has dropped by 4%.

Right now, to live a comfortable life in the United States (2023), you need to earn an average of around $68,000 dollars a year. Both writers and actors are making below those means. According to Glass door and Ziprecruiter, book writers and Hollywood script writers earn around $40,000 annually. As of actors, Ziprecruiter says they annually make even less with $26,000.

Unless you’re popular, you would struggle to make a living with only that one job. Although now, even popular actors have been paid less in residuals due to the lessening in reruns played on live television, like ‘The Office.’ 

Now, the agreement is that the minimums will have a “5%-4%-3.5% increase in minimums,” meaning that starting this year until the next MBA (three years) writers will have a guaranteed increase in base pay per year. 

Writers working for streaming services will have high-budget subscription on demand (HBSVOD) residual, almost half of that being based on foreign subscriber counts. This and other streaming details in the MOA mean: the more subscribers the more money, the longer the episodes worked on gives more money, popularity brings more money and a bonus, so on and so forth.

Artificial intelligence was also on the table of concerns for both writers and actors. 

Taking AP Literature taught by Steffanie Alter, she explained that while Chat GTP has passed other APs, the only APs that Chat GTP has not passed was AP Language and Literature. Although that can change. AI can still learn.

A “Black Mirror” episode, “Joan is Awful,” tells the story of every actor’s worst nightmare. The episode’s protagonist, Joan, has her life turned upside down as she realizes her life is mysteriously turned into a Netflix series. Spoiler alert– it turns out that AI wrote the fictional series “Joan is Awful” based off of Joan and used AI models of famous actors to play her. 

The worst part is thatー while not as extreme as “Black Mirror”ー actors, writers, and artists face this problem right now; the problem of their work being taken as reference without compensation or credit. There are AI generated voices of famous singers like Taylor Swift, Chat GTP that can produce essays in perfect MLA format, as well as AI art generators, which Disney used for their opening of “Secret Invasion.” 

“A world without art is not a world I want to live in, and I believe artists deserve to be paid,” Jennifer Blessington said, English III teacher and author. “I think the rise of AI and other technologies has prompted this moment, and it would behoove us to think seriously about how we compensate those who make art that touches us, teaches us, and moves us.”

In the Memorandum of Agreement: training AI is prohibited, a writer can elect to use AI as long as the company consents and follows policies, a company cannot require to use AI software when writing, and AI is not a writer under the new MBA.