Writers are on strike. Good thing I'm not a writer.

How else would you learn about Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3? Don't answer that.

May 04, 2023

“I’m Dale…

But You Have To Call Me Dragon.”

So there’s a writer’s strike in Hollywood. But Latham, aren’t you somewhat “in Hollywood” and kind of a writer? Why are YOU writing? Thanks for the full-throated support there, but not really (anymore) and not that kind. It’s the writers of TV shows, movies and “new media” (←whatever the hell that means). Basically the people that write all the stuff you watch threw up their middle fingers 🖕🏼 at the people who pay 💸 for the stuff you watch. It’s a big deal. For the entertainment business. Not quite for regular folk… yet, unless you’re a devotee to the late-night shows which have suspended new shows.

But because my world is a cross-section of tech and media, my entire “feed” of news at the moment is basically a glut of AI stuff and now the writers strike.

*PAUSE*

I’m sick of hearing, typing or seeing the letters A and I. So for this edition, every time I’d use the first and ninth letters of the alphabet in concert, I’m going to type “Tiddlywinks” instead. Cool? Cool.

*UNPAUSE*

But coincidentally, they’re not unrelated. Because one of the deal hang-ups for the Writers Guild of America (WGA) is to hold off on allowing studios to use Tiddlywinks to generate new script ideas1. Studios have been like yeeaaaah we should probably keep talking about this, and the writers are like yeeeaaaah how about we just wait three years. They’re like a couple bickering about whether to get married or not on that Netflix reality show The Ultimatum - of which you might see a lot more of if this thing goes on for a while. Because “reality” shows don’t have writers. They just have producers who “suggest” lines to the cast. 😉

I was fairly new at Paramount when the last writers strike happened in 2007 so I didn’t really understand the effects at the time, but apparently the shit quality of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen was blamed on the strike, which makes sense. Wait a minute, no it doesn’t, all of the Transformers are bad. 🙃 Anyway, point is, this will have some consequences. It’s really not great for anyone, but clearly both sides have dug into their positions. I don’t want to dive into the details too much, as again, it’s not quite a big deal for people outside the industry at the moment, but it’s still interesting. There are things outside the Tiddlywinks issue that are probably the more immediate problem (basically writers wanting to get paaaaaid), but in the long term Tiddlywinks may end up being “the thing.”

Take this video below that’s been making the rounds recently for example. While it’s it’s obviously not a written piece, it’s an entire trailer created by Tiddlywinks that seems very real-like, if not totally real. One can make the connection on why people might be worried about Tiddlywinks effect on scripts / creative concepts.

“Adrien Brody” 🫠

It’s impressive. And how long would it have taken without Tiddlywinks? And how many people?

If you’ve been reading recently, you know I “wrote” a “script” using the Tiddlywinks tool ChatGPT a few months ago. It was terrible, but also, technically a script in its format. This week I tooled around with having Tiddlywinks write an overview for the new Guardians of the Galaxy movie. It was also fairly rote and not all that factual, but after some prodding and direction to use this newsletter’s tone of voice, it did come up with some funny stuff. Well, stuff I think is funny at least. The first paragraph…

Buckle up, asshats, because the Guardians of the Galaxy are back in another epic space adventure! Director James Gunn and a killer cast, including Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Vin Diesel, and Bradley Cooper, are set to take us on a journey that's gonna be more explosive than Rocket after a night of spicy tacos.

I mean, I don’t know where the hell it got the “spicy tacos” thing, but it’s still funny. Also, “asshats.” Lol.

So yeah, Tiddlywinks definitely be Tiddlywinking,2 and one can see why any creative person is nervous about what it means for their work. And why a creative producer would be excited. I tend to be on the optimistic side of things and think technology is generally an overall boon. It's a much (much) larger discussion than there is patience for here, but one thing it might (correction: will) do is open up opportunities for people with ideas who didn't have the resources before. And yes, the more people who can fulfill their creative endeavors, may mean more things from the asshats (lol) of the world that are harmful or hurtful - we are dealing with humans here, the full range.

But then when you get into union contracts and the like, I imagine you have to be very specific and thoughtful about the future, because who the hell knows what the world is gonna be like in three years?

Well, maybe Tiddlywinks does.

NEWSY BITS 👾

Amazon’s Prime Video Launches ‘Dialogue Boost’ Feature for Original Series and Films - [because we’ve talked about how dialogue has become “a thing” and thus subtitles have too - Amazon apparently is aware as well] - Variety

EXTRA CREDIT MOVIE(S) 📝

There are two romantic comedies this week with “love” in the title. One of them looks decent, the other does not. One is British, the other is American. Take a guess which is which.

Love Again - the American one. Watch Priyanka Chopra Jones and Sam Heughan (from Outlander) get caught up in a romantic sorta dead person texting “thing.” Just watch the trailer, or don’t, it’s a standard looking romantic comedy. One for which the reviews are nowhere to be found. You know what means (hint: it’s not a good thing). Playing in Theaters Friday

What’s Love Got to Do With It? - I’m gonna take a wild guess and saaaaay “a lot,” in this story of two friends, one who is getting setup in an arranged marriage and the other makes a documentary about it only to… This one has reviews and they’re actually pretty good. They say it’s as predictable as a British person apologizing for literally anything, but that it’s a rom-com and thus you already knew the ending before you said yes so all that matters is that it still gets there in a pleasant way, with pleasant enough leads. Playing in Limited Theaters Friday

I don’t know if you can claim causation here (read: you can’t), but since the Guardians movies came out, there have been an obscene amount of internet videos (mostly TikToks) that feature raccoons as either pets or in very close proximity to humans3. Like, didn’t people used to be kinda scared or least wary of the adorable little thieves with opposable thumbs? But I guess when you have two movies that are seen by tens of millions of people which feature a character as endearing (and endearingly surly) as Rocket Raccoon, I kinda get it. I may not endorse it, but I get it4.

What may be even weirder than people suspending disbelief that their pet raccoons won’t rip their faces off (I kid, they probably won’t. …probably.) is that audiences bought into an upright walking, PG-13 sailor-mouth-talking, gun-toting, disgruntled and disfigured little Procyonidae5 as one of the saviors of the galaxy. Sure it seems normal noooow, but add in the fact there’s a talking tree… thing on the team who only knows three words?6 And yeah, it probably initially seemed like a bit of a stretch to most people. But that’s why Marvel was so damn smart to hire James Gunn, the writer / director of the series who wasn’t very well known before he directed the first one, outside of the devout fans of his awesome but oddball movies (see: Slither, Super). But Gunn’s ability to mix irreverence and the stories of people who feel like “others” and make their stories feel like our stories, is exactly what the Guardians characters needed.

Clearly. Cuz it worked! The movies were huge successes and the movies and characters are among the most beloved in the MCU. Ugh, right, “the MCU,” even mentioning it now drags in this massive weight of expectations, bias and need for story recollection. Obviously the Guardians are a part of the MCU, pivotal even. But they’re also very separate, as they’ve always been a bit off, off-world and definitely off-kilter. So while I’m sure you’re into the Guardians movies if you’re into the MCU, it is possible to be into the Guardians without being into the MCU - I think more than most MCU franchises.

Can you tell I have an affinity for them? Am I that god damn obvious? I am. I know I am. But come on, they’re obviously funny - which is partly why they broke-out so well, as the rest of Marvel movies had become a bit self-serious by 2014 - but they’re just so damn easy to root (lol) for. Their whole “thing” is that they’re broken individuals who help each other become a little less broken by becoming a chosen family. And I started this overview by talking about Rocket because he may be the most broken of them all. It’s why Gunn has said in interviews leading up to the release that…

"Rocket is the secret protagonist of the Guardians of the Galaxy, and has always been the centre of it for me, and this is really fulfilling that. The reason I came back, and decided to do this movie, was because I really felt like Rocket's story needed to be told – and it was left hanging after Vol 2."

In fact, he even thought about making the whole movie about Rocket.

“I mean, there was a time when I talked to those guys [Marvel Studios] about just doing the Rocket story, like the third movie would actually just be Rocket. Then we decided to do it as a Guardians movie with the Rocket story inside of that.”

Point of that is you can expect to learn a lot more about why Rocket is ill-tempered as fuck. But be fore-warned, it might be a bit more brutal in some aspects than you were expecting - namely the (CGI, but still) animal experimentation parts. And while I (mostly) trust James Gunn implicitly7 - I thought the Suicide Squad “redo” was great - my love for the first two movies definitely made me nervous to hear what critics might have to say. And while obviously whatever reviews were wouldn’t necessarily change my opinion, I just didn't want another Thor: Ragnarok to Thor: Love & Thunder quality drop off... 😬 Luckily that doesn’t seem to be the case. And I’m glad, because Gunn clearly loves these characters to death. Literally. Cuz (read it real slow like—>) pEE-pull, gun, diiiiiiiiiiiiiiie, to-night. I’m not sure who, and wouldn’t say if I did, but expect some mortality reality.

And if you haven’t seen the trailers or TV spots, Disney marketing has used this impending doom with force. Because Hollywood studios love nothing more than THE FINAL CHAPTER (is it really ever though?). It gives the movie “stakes” - a word uttered (lol) so often in marketing meetings that by the end of them every carnivore in the room is salivating onto their laptops. But while Disney is concerned about the end because they hope it’ll make them more money, you should just be concerned that some of the more lovable superheros are saying their final goodbye.

👋 😢

PSST hey, hey you. Don’t remember the stories from the first two well enough? Don’t sweat it, Marvel did a smart thing and made refresher videos for each character. They’re like 5-7 minute pieces that follow each Guardian through the series. Watch ‘em all, watch a few, or watch none. But they’re there if you want.

Out: Thursday

Where: Theaters

2 hrs 30 mins | PG-13 | 🍅: 80%

Watch the Trailer

I’m just excited we got a second Dune movie. How shitty would it have been if they didn’t make Part Two. Pretty shitty, that’s how shitty. 🚽

Dune: Part Two - it’s the second one.
Wish - the next Disney dealio.
Gran Turismo - every gamers dream turned into a movie.
Next Goal Wins - Taika Waititi went and made a “small” little movie about the true story of the American Samoa soccer team which is considered “the worst in the world.”
The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes - when you can’t go forward, go backward? It’s what all the big franchises are doing these days, see: Transformers, Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Game of Thrones…
Transformers: Rise of the Beasts - see above. And this is the second trailer.
Maggie Moore(s) - John Slattery (white haired boss from Mad Men) directed a movie, and got a lot of his friends to star in it.