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[ianspideythompson]

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas y'all! As many have pointed out, it doesn't really feel like Christmas this year, and "Christmas Wrapping" by The Waitresses (one of my favorite Christmas songs, an absolute classic) sums up the feeling of this year's holiday season.

I talked about this on Twitter over the weekend but I think the reason this Christmas (and really every Christmas since the pandemic) hasn't really hit because of how bad and hectic this decade has been so far. It's been so crazy that by the time Christmas rolls around, no one has the energy for it. We all just want the year to be over.

Regardless of the feeling this year, it hasn't stopped me from still trying to get into the spirit. I've spent the weekend flipping between the Cartoon Network Christmas livestream on YouTube and Nick's 90s Channel on Pluto TV, mixed it up a little this year by watching Christmas movies and specials I either haven't seen or don't typically watch every year while drinking hot chocolate and eating Christmas cookies, and have had "Soul Holiday" by Sounds of Blackness and The Maine's "...And A Happy New Year" on repeat.

If you're not feeling the Holiday spirit this year or the holidays are typically not a great time of year for you, that's OK. Just know you're not alone and that you've made it to another year. Try to find whatever it is that makes you happy on this day to put you at ease. Easier said than done of course, but it's worth a shot. Keep holding on.

Merry Christmas y'all. Much love to you and your loved ones!

[ianspideythompson]

Big day for some of my friends in music! First up, the homies in glimmers have a new acoustic rendition of their track "Jaded" featuring Tay Jardine of We Are The In Crowd! Next up, the homie Ally's music project Drive-In dropped a new single "S4th and Wythe"! Do me a solid and support these amazing musicians today!

[ianspideythompson]

Facts lol. I'll have treatments, character maps, and lore written down somewhere, but the full story? Not so much lol.

it's a lot of stuff...

[ianspideythompson]

Here's my Spotify Wrapped for this year! Still haven't gotten around to updating the music library on my old phone that I've since turned into an iPod (still mad that microSD slots are being phased out of phones. Some BS). Next year for sure lol. But Wrapped is always a fun thing to look forward to every year. Let me know what y'all think!

[ianspideythompson]

Happy Halloween!

Do The Trick or Treat!

[ianspideythompson]

"24, staring at your face like it's the front of the door...".

24 trips around the sun today. Blessed to see another year. Thanks for all the birthday wishes y'all. Excited to continue learning, growing, and seeing what 24 has in store for me (aside from continuing to learn how to adult lol).

And while you still here, go wish the twin @asmallzz a happy birthday. She 25 today. And have some fun on Leif Erickson Day. Hinga dinga durgen!

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[ianspideythompson]

Wedding Mode Activated

📸: @csal_shorti

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[ianspideythompson]

The Jump to Streaming - Was It Worth It?

I’ve been watching and covering the streaming wars for a few years now, and looking at the current state of it, along with the pandemic and the ongoing WGA and SAG-AFTRA strike exposing how broken the industry is, it’s left me thinking this: was the jump and transition to streaming worth in the end? Because at this point, it sucks for everyone involved: the studios, the creatives, and the consumers.

Studios who decided to hop in the game and compete with Netflix by creating their own streaming services have found out that streaming isn’t profitable (or at the very least, it’s nowhere near as profitable as the box office, physical media, VOD, and linear TV) because the revenue generated is almost entirely based on subscriptions. Putting out a show or a movie on a streaming service is practically putting it out for free since those individual titles aren’t generating profit as they would on the aforementioned release avenues. Streamers just have to hope that the release of a show or film on their platform drives enough sign-ups to break even and generate profit. And as a result, studios lose millions, if not billions on their services.

The creatives (specifically the writers and actors striking right now) behind shows and movies made for streamers are getting little to no residuals from them. Writer Kyra Jones shared that the first residual check she got from writing on the ABC show Queens was $12,000. The first residual check she got from writing on the Hulu show Woke was $4. Writer Cody Ziglar’s episode of She-Hulk netted him just $396 in residuals, despite the episode (the one where Daredevil returns) being one the most watched episodes of one of the most watched series on Disney+. Kimiko Glenn, who played Soso on Orange Is the New Black, mentioned that many of the actors on the show still worked second jobs because they weren’t being paid enough to sustain themselves. For shows licensed to streamers, it’s essentially the same. Gilmore Girls, which ran on The WB in the 2000s, has been one of the most popular shows on Netflix since they started streaming it. Sean Gunn, who played Kirk Gleason on the show, said in an interview that he’s seen almost no money from licensing fee Netflix pays Warner Bros. to stream the show. 

And for the consumer, the convenience of it has been diluted. In the early days of streaming, it was just Netflix and Hulu, and between the two services, they had pretty much everything you’d need to drop cable. Now there are too many streaming services, and with all the price hikes that occurred in the last few years, just subscribing to a few of the major ones costs the same, if not more, than cable at this point. Not to mention streamers have made it so that we can’t get attached to any original they produce. A streamer puts out a show that’s not an instant hit that you, me, and everyone we know watched, it gets prematurely canceled (Hey remember when Netflix use to save canceled shows? Oh how the tables have turned). And thanks to a certain studio introducing this precedent, prematurely canceled streaming shows now get yanked off the service, written off in taxes, thrown into the abyss, and then banished to the Shadow Realm. And since streaming media rarely get physical releases, they’re to stay in the Shadow Realm, never to be seen again.

As much as it doesn’t feel like it is now, and I think it’s safe to say it’s done more harm than good at this point, streaming is still ultimately the future. There’s no turning back from it unless every service goes under and shuts down. And even if that were to happen, I’m not sure if those who cut the cord are going to want to buy a new one. And as a strong proponent for physical media, nothing would make me happier than to see everyone start buying DVDs and Blu-Rays again and video stores making a comeback - but that’s likely not going to happen either. 

I don’t know what the future holds for streaming. Truth be told, I don’t think it will ever be as profitable as physical media, VOD, or linear TV.  But that isn’t going to stop from studios from trying to make streaming as profitable as the days of physical media, VOD, and linear TV. I won’t pretend to have the answers here, but it ain’t hard to tell that the current streaming model is unsustainable. Trying to cut costs by replacing writers and actors with AI won’t make streaming more profitable. Continuing to prematurely cancel new shows when they’re not instant smash hits and not giving them the chance to find an audience as well as having streaming services full of one-season shows won’t make it more profitable either. 

Streaming may still be the future, but it clearly shouldn’t be relied upon as the primary means of media distribution. Perhaps studios should let films sit on VOD and physical media for longer than they currently do before dropping them on a streaming service. I remember growing up, a new film wouldn’t make it to TV until several months to a year later. And speaking of TV, linear TV may be dying, but it’s a slow death and for the studios who still have broadcast channels, it’s still a way to reach people and get sign-ups. In November of last year, Disney aired the first two episodes of Andor across ABC, FX, and Freeform. Earlier this year, they did this again by airing the pilot episode of The Mandalorian across the networks. And this fall they’re about to do it again with Ms. Marvel (although this is likely more as a result of the fact that they’ll be nothing on TV this fall). 

But do you know what could ultimately help? By paying the actors and writers the residuals they deserve, not automating their jobs away, and giving them opportunities and tools to create more new and exciting films and shows, and in the case of television, not prematurely canceling them when they’re not hits straight off the bat and allow them to find audiences.

What do y’all think? Let me know and keep supporting the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strike. Solidarity forever.

[ianspideythompson]

Creatives on Strike (WGA + SAG-AFTRA)

Now that SAG-AFTRA is officially joining the WGA on the picket lines, many of your favorite shows and films you're looking forward to that were already facing major delays will now face even longer delays.

Don't blame the writers or the actors. Blame the studios for refusing to compensate them fairly. I've spoken a bit about what studios are trying to do to the profession of screenwriting in my last post about the WGA strike, but I'll be focusing on acting in this one. 

It's easy to see the headlines about actors striking and go "Why are the actors striking? What the hell are they complaining about? They're all millionaires. They don't need more money!". And if SAG-AFTRA was an exclusive cool kid's club with only A-Listers amongst their ranks, maybe there's a point there. But it's not and there isn't.

There are countless working actors in SAG-AFTRA either making an honest living or living paycheck to paycheck like so many in the country are right now. Over the past few years, I've gotten to know and work with some incredibly talented actors, and even dabble in some acting myself. It's not easy work and they deserve to be fully compensated for it, whether their famous or not. And the working actors just trying to make a living like everyone else deserves it the most.

While writers are the backbone of film and television, creating worlds and characters through treatments and scripts, actors help tell those stories by bringing those characters to life through their performances. With no script or actors, you got nothing.

While I'm not a member of either guild, as an aspiring writer who does some acting every now and then, I stand with both 100%. Writers and Actors deserve to be properly compensated for their work. 

Please show your support for the WGA and SAG-AFTRA on strike! 

Solidarity forever.

Read more about the SAG-AFTRA strike here: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/sag-aftra-strike-what-know-actors-writers-wga-rcna94075

[ianspideythompson]

Me with all the new comics I got this month lol.

my cartoon for yesterday’s @guardian books

[ianspideythompson]

Sat down with my friend Maggie Schneider of glimmers last month! We talk about the band's origins, growth, new music, touring, and their recent expansion to Twitch. Glad to finally sit down and talk! Give it a read above!

[ianspideythompson]

Update + glimmers Interview

*Obi-Wan voice* Hello there!

It's been a minute. I know posted earlier this month, but that was my first update to this page since November. Outside of Twitter and posting Instagram stories, I'm pretty terrible at maintaining my social media presence despite being on it everyday. I was actually posting pretty regularly on my other account @astoldbycolin for a while, but then work, Twitter becoming a car crash you can't look away from, and other things got in the way and I pretty much forgot to come back on here. But I'm gonna try to change that!

Biggest update I have right now is last month I did an interview with my friend Maggie Schneider of glimmers for All Punked Up! We talk about the band's origins, growth, new music, touring, and their recent expansion to Twitch. Give it a read below!

https://allpunkedup.com/glimmers-talk-new-music-growth-touring-and-twitch-exclusive-interview/

[ianspideythompson]

May The Fourth Be With You!

[ianspideythompson]

The WGA Strike

With the WGA strike officially in motion, a lot of your favorite shows and films you're looking forward to will likely face delays.

Don't blame the writers, blame the studios for not paying them fair living wages, trying to turn the profession of screenwriting into pure freelance work, and not agreeing to regulate AI but merely offering to "study it", among other things. 

Writers are the backbone of film and television. As an aspiring writer myself who's written and worked on a few small-scale projects, nothing really moves forward until a script is completed (and even when it's finished, it's still subject to changes. A script can continue to "live" throughout a production). Without a script, the project ain't shit. 

While I’m not a member of the guild, as an aspiring writer, I stand with them 100%. Writers deserve to be compensated fairly for their work and not have their jobs potentially automated away by AI (ChatGPT will never write a script as good as an actual human can).

Please show your support for WGA members on strike! Solidarity forever.

Learn more about the strike here: https://deadline.com/feature/hollywood-writers-strike-wga-explained-1235341146/

[ianspideythompson]

Today is #ElectionDay! No matter where you’re voting, knowing when and where you can access the polls is 𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭.

Use and share this handy list of polling place hours and encourage friends to lookup their polling place at weall.vote/pollingplace.

[ianspideythompson]

Another Post About The Importance of Voting

I know y’all are TIRED of hearing this but if you haven’t already, PLEASE go out and vote today. This midterm isn’t like the others. There’s a LOT on the line here. American democracy is on life support. In many states, basic human rights are on the ballot. If you don't want to be represented by a bunch of clout-chasing psychopaths hellbent on ending democracy as we know it and them restricting the lives and actions of minorities and women across the country, do your part and cast a ballot. Otherwise the groundwork for an authoritarian dictatorship will be laid for 2025. YOU have the power. Politicians work for us. We don’t work for them. So PLEASE, if you are registered to vote and haven’t already, PLEASE do so. If you live in a state that has same day registration, register and vote! Let’s save democracy and make some change!

[ianspideythompson]

Happy Halloween everyone! Do the trick or treat!