Title redacted in support of WGA ~ Fairness, Picket Line Humor, Franchises - (A·B·C·D) Podcast Ep 18

Does the thought of a Hollywood without writers give you the creeps? This episode is sure to keep you on your toes as my co-host Omar Najam and I take a critical look at the ongoing Writer's Guild of America strike. We'll tackle the tough issues - from the stark reality of managing a creative career in Hollywood, to the pressure studio heads are under. You'll gain deep insights into the implications of the strike on creatives and the talent pool for studios. But it's not all serious - we've infused some fun into the mix with our game of ‘World’s Worst.’ Trust us, imagining life without WGA writers has never been this amusing!

We'll not only explore the grueling battleground of the strike - we'll also traverse the exciting terrain of reimagining classic movies. Fantasize with us about rebooting 'The Guild' and other beloved franchises. A bit of levity doesn't hurt, right? Plus, we've got some chatter about navigating cultural identities and how streaming platforms are proving to be a blessing for this creative community. We promise to keep it lighthearted, with a hint of social awareness.

Wrapping up the episode, we'll shift gears and spotlight 'Game On To End Lupus', an organization that is close to our hearts. Unapologetically, we urge you to chip in and make a difference. And because we love hearing your feedback, we'll dedicate a segment to address any criticisms and ideas you may have for us. We're not just talking - we're listening too. So sit back, tune in, and let the conversations flow!

Transcript

Speaker 1 0:03

Hello, wow, huge.

Speaker 2 0:13

Can't believe you guys packed this podcast studio. Thank you so much for you know, getting in your cars, braving traffic and then appearing. Yes, Wow, What an audience Sunday evening like this.

Speaker 1 0:25

Thank you so much. You're amazing, incredible. Thank you everyone. Let me introduce your co-host really quickly. Wow, heat. Let me pull up the joke here. Oh, the writer's room that I hire actually to write the intro jokes is on strike, so this is Sandeep Parikh.

Speaker 2 0:49

So of course we wrote the same joke, did you?

Speaker 3 0:53

Of course.

Speaker 2 0:56

Ladies and gentlemen, our host, who I typically introduce with a written joke, but I am on strike So I cannot. Omar Najam, oh my gosh. For those of you unfamiliar, i am co-host Omar's host because he's the reigning champion of our podcast.

Speaker 1 1:20

Congratulations. Yeah, because we had no challenge last week.

Speaker 2 1:23

Yeah, so you're keeping the streak going by default 1993, baby. So I do it.

Speaker 1 1:30

Our show ABCD. American born Cheney Dacys is a podcast within a live stream, within our lives as two American born Dacys. It's a pod ducking. This is for anyone out there who, like us, is navigating our cultural identities and just wants to chat it out.

Speaker 2 1:45

Mm, hmm, mm, hmm. That's right, we are live right now. Hello to everybody, in the live stream On tap for today, we got three parts here. We're doing the chakra check in, which is going to be about the WGA strike. What's that? What's that all about? Has anybody heard about that? I mean, actually, i'm like genuinely does it? has it Like I've heard about, because it's my entire social feed is all the strike, but I'm like I'm wondering if people not entertainment actually have. So we wanted to, of course, talk about the strike, because that's very much relevant in our lives right now And I think that there's some huge things going on. So we're going to get, we're going to delve into that. And then, secondly, we're going to play a little fun game of world's worst Mm. Hmm, where we are going to show you what life without writers would look like, and so we're going to play or I'm going to play world's worst studio execs.

Speaker 3 2:40

So if there were no?

Speaker 2 2:40

writers, we are going to just be taking your pitches in chat, or we're going to start to be taking your suggestions in chat, and then we, as the world's worst studio executives, have to make a pitch on our version of a reboot of your beloved franchise or existing IP. So that's what we're going to do for the second second, and then we're going to end it up as we always do with Desi of the week.

Speaker 1 3:02

Yes, this week, instead of mentioning our sponsors, we're dedicating that time to raising awareness about the fight against Lupus And would love for you to contribute to game on to end Lupus and organization working with the Lupus Foundation. Sandy has some facts about Lupus to share with us.

Speaker 2 3:20

Yeah. So Lupus not so great. If you're unfamiliar, lupus is a chronic, long term disease that can cause inflammation and pain and literally any part of your body. It's an autoimmune disease, which means that your immune system you know, the system that you fight infections attacks your healthy tissue instead, so it just like literally turns on it itself. The symptoms can be super severe, highly unpredictable, cause debilitating pain, to like anything skin, kidneys, heart, lungs. It's really terrible.

Speaker 2 3:53

A lot of our friends are afflicted. A lot of our streaming friends are afflicted with this, in large part because you know like streaming is the one thing that they can still do. that's creative, you know, as a creative outlet. It's been this amazing thing for this community to find each other. So some of our favorite streamers it but D L bell, coco Confessions and more have put together this incredible campaign called game on to end Lupus, where they have over, i think, 125 streamers streaming to raise money, and so we are doing that with this live stream, which is also then going to be, of course, a podcast that lives on. So you can if you're just hearing this on the podcast, you should. you can still donate, even though we're going to be taking sort of live donations while we do this show as well.

Speaker 1 4:42

Yes, yes, absolutely. So please head over to lupusorg to make a donation at any amount, or hit up the link in our show notes.

Speaker 3 4:50

Also, we have, as the show is live, some live reactions going on, and we have one of those that actually came in right before we started going live from the top of the.

Speaker 2 4:57

Okay, oh snap, so for the podcast listeners.

Speaker 3 5:00

This is the first they're hearing what they were doing this. So when people are the live donation, donate $25 or more, they can name somebody that said, even though I have to genuinely compliment.

Speaker 1 5:08

Yes.

Speaker 3 5:09

And the redeemed this time is a celebrity crush, pastor present. you feel need to justify So whoever that is to you, you need to genuinely compliment them. This is rough. You need to justify.

Speaker 2 5:19

This is from Dodeca Tuplet, a celebrity crush. Sorry, i need that again. Okay, celebrity crush.

Speaker 3 5:26

Celebrity crush pastor present that you feel you need to justify. That's who you're complimenting.

Speaker 2 5:30

That I need to justify why I have a crush on this celebrity.

Speaker 3 5:35

I that's. that's as much as I've got in the redeemed, so it's up to you how you want to interpret that view on there.

Speaker 2 5:42

Let's. I mean, i don't know why I have to justify any of them, because I think They're happy had a crush on a celebrity that you shouldn't. But I shouldn't have a crush on.

Speaker 1 5:54

Jake Jalen.

Speaker 2 5:55

Hall. No, sorry, that's a reference for a show You got.

Speaker 1 6:03

I'll say I'll throw out. I'll throw this out. Anthony Stewart head right now is a villain in the show Ted Lasso and seems like a real piece of dirt. But any Buffy fans know that Giles had original like daddy energy. Especially at the end of season five, when it's like she's not a killer, not like us.

Speaker 2 6:28

I always forget he's from he's Giles from Buffy. Every time I remember that I'm, i'm, i'm the same amount of shocked and surprised, i'm like oh yeah. He's playing such a good, he's doing such a good job as a villain on that show Wow. Yeah.

Speaker 3 6:49

Omar wait, is your compliment that he once had daddy energy? Is that your genuine compliment?

Speaker 1 6:54

I like he continues to, i suppose, but like, yeah, but like he, for me, i think was like the first person to display daddy energy.

Speaker 2 7:07

Ok, Yeah, ok, and the best, don't say it, i'll say it.

Speaker 2 7:16

I guess I'd like to apologize to Alyssa Milano for the amount that I crushed on her throughout my entire life Like, i guess, when I was eight on, through everything she's ever done. I feel like it's too much. Mm, hmm, i feel like it's overwhelming for any one person to be crushed on that much So. And then as she's gotten like outspoken about politics and stuff like that, and I feel like you know, in a way that is always on the right side of history from my perspective, that, yeah, i think that she's a brave, beautiful soul And and and I'm sorry for the amount of times I've thought about you, Thank you.

Speaker 3 8:08

That's the same for anyone.

Speaker 1 8:10

Yeah, incredible OK.

Writers' Guild of America Strike Importance

Speaker 2 8:11

Great, great. So we did So. yes, for those of you that are live, you can donate in any amount. Of course, any amount will take any, any amount, but if you do $25 or over, you can drop a name or I guess now just a concept in chat to do a genuine for, and it could be as painful as possible.

Speaker 2 8:29

For example, in the pre show we had to compliment Jake Gyllenhaal's portrayal as the Prince of Persia, which that was. That was tough, i mean, we settled on how hot he is, i guess, and how, how cut he was basically, but you know so which was our method.

Speaker 1 8:48

I guess I looked it up 29.

Speaker 2 8:53

That's absurd. Yeah, well, tough, well tough. All right, let's, should we get into this show?

Speaker 1 8:59

Let's do it. Why don't we head into the Chakra check in? Yeah, all right. So currently, at the time of recording this episode, the Writers Guild of America is striking. That's right. The Writers Guild is a is is a national strike, and us here in Los Angeles are hitting the picket lines outside of the studios. Real quick, let me. Let me throw this first question over to you, sandy Why is this important to you?

Speaker 2 9:36

I mean, look, i think it's incredibly difficult to sustain a creative career Yeah, in Hollywood it is whether you're a writer, an actor, a director, to actually make a living in any capacity, in any of those capacities, is incredibly challenging. However, i think that the industry should want there to be a strong and healthy middle class of these creatives in order to have a pool to draw from when they are creating their shows. It's, i think, that they, that the studios, are fighting their own interests in, in the sense that they're making it more and more difficult by weaseling and trying to find every which way, from Sunday to not pay creatives and to go to the lowest bidder or essentially get people working for free as much as possible. What they're doing is sort of destroying this talent pool and forcing all of these creatives, like really experienced folks, to take other jobs and not be available for them to work. So to me, this is important because, like listen, i've been on both sides of the equation. I've been a producer, i've been a showrunner, i have been on the side where I've had to hire writers and and directors and actors And, of course, be hired as them as well. And I'll just say that when you're in that spot as a producer or showrunner and you need to cast tomorrow or you need to.

Speaker 2 11:43

We formed a, a, a WGA interactive writers room in two weeks. How are we able to do that? How are we able to get five writers together to write an interactive series which is, by the way, a format that was like we were making up together on the fly, like, find that talent that quickly to put together and trust that that talent was going to be able to get a good show is because we have a bunch of writers in this town that could focus on being great writers right, because they have enough income that they don't have to split out and take other full time jobs or whatever else would make it impossible for them to become good enough writers to be available to effectively take meetings and audition for this spot. And so, like right now with the WGA is saying is guys, these terms are existing terms are making it impossible for people to have careers as writers. They'll just be day players And that's not. That's not tenable. Yeah, what are we going to do instead? We all want to have families, or maybe not everybody, but whatever. For the most part, people want to have families and have more than just themselves to support, right? So, like you know, they need to have a steady stream of income And you know for them to be looking for every, every kind of loophole to cut that income, as forced as to this spot or where we, where we got to join together, band together and say absolutely not, like we won't take these terms as is, because it will not allow us to have this, this collective middle class of writers.

Speaker 2 13:25

This is, this is not. I just want to be clear. This is not for the upper echelon writers that have already made their nut writing eight seasons of Buffy or whatever, like you know. Or this is for the next generation of writers, to make sure that there is still an industry here. So that's why I think it's important. How about you? I mean, is there anything that I that I like? What's hitting you, because you're in the room quite a bit.

Speaker 1 13:54

Yeah, yeah, i'm a full transparency. I'm not in WGA, i'm an IOTC. I work support staff. Some are writers assistant And, in the general scope of knowing how hard writers work, it is wild. It's in the same way that when they're like Oh, you are a teacher, you teach a class of 20 students. Okay, now it's 40. Like we're not going to change, like we're going to probably even deduct your pay or the general budget and we're going to double what we expect of you. It is wild to me on just a functional level. It feels like a lot of these studio heads. If they were captains of a ship, they would be like Hey, i want you to start pulling wood from the hull for us to burn for heat.

Speaker 1 14:42

And then when the ship starts to sink, which we're seeing industry wide, they're like Why, Why is the ship sinking? I don't understand. We're taking in water. Who's fault is that? The person who's pulling the planks?

Speaker 2 14:53

Wait, wait, wait. We need another fast and furious Yeah.

Speaker 1 14:55

Quick And it is. I don't think it's going to save us. I think the thing that's really tough, that we're starting to kind of like pull away from that. I'm starting to like see and maybe it's just my own experience online but that people at the top or rich people have to be very smart has been sort of the ongoing narrative And I do feel like, especially with everything going on with like the Warner Brothers Discovery merger and stuff like that, people are starting to see like maybe they're not.

Speaker 2 15:27

And it is on intelligence going on there. Yeah, you know, maybe there's more What if we just get rid of?

Speaker 3 15:32

our product Yeah.

Speaker 1 15:34

Yeah, it is a race to see who can gut the most of the moving train and then abandon it before it crashes. So to me, on a wider scale of things you know, especially as someone not in WGA television effectively raised me, i feel like when you have good television, that's an ongoing basis. I love movies. I love cinema. that's where I live. but television you check in once a week with your friends. it's a discussion, you get to explore ideas and experiences and I felt like I had already gotten a pretty good head start on adult life before I was 18 because of Grey's Anatomy or whatever. I got to watch these conversations happen. I got to run these thought experiments. I think it's important. I think writing is important. I think screenwriting and television writing is crucial for our current functioning society and to gut that, I think, is going to have huge social repercussions.

Speaker 2 16:36

And, by the way, i feel like I hear a lot of people saying well, everybody's shifting to unscripted now, and so they're going to say all these studios and stuff are like hello, sunshine internally is like, oh, we've got to figure out how to make sure that 80% of our stuff is going to be unscripted going forward. We can keep selling stuff Like, by the way, if we're being real, unscripted doesn't exist.

Speaker 1 16:58

That's not a real thing.

Speaker 2 17:00

Yes, unscripted is scripted. There are writers that they are writing outlines, they are pitching the lines, they're pitching jokes for these unscripted actors to say Reality show has writers.

WGA Membership and Fair Treatment

Speaker 2 17:14

Yes, they have writers, that's right. So it is just again, it's another loophole that it can be exploited to turn more of a profit and sort of suppress the working class. I mean, that's really what it comes down to is exploit the working class and get around guild rules And listen, i get it. It's a game in the sense that that's what negotiations kind of are. It's like posturing and forcing people to pull levers and show their leverage and play their cards and all this stuff. But unfortunately it's a game that is like dramatically affecting people's lives and the ability to earn a living wage and putting their livelihoods at risk. So it's a game at the highest levels, but the reality of it is it's a fight that we have to as writers And, i think, as an act.

Speaker 2 18:18

I was sad long before I was WGA. I was only WGA in this past, right before the pandemics when I joined the WGA, and then I haven't really had much of a WGA job since then, but I still pay my dues and I'm a proud member of it And I'm like I know the time will come. I'll be very thankful that I have a WGA membership. I mean that time is, i think, right now you know where people are banding together and saying, look, i think Adam Conover he's like such a spokesperson for this And he said it great, he's the guy that did Adam Ruins Everything And he was just talking about look, this is, i think people across the country and every industry is feeling the pinch.

Speaker 2 19:03

Right Is feeling like the world is shit right now and the world is fucked up. And I'm sorry I'm going to do a total bastardization of paraphrasing of what he said, but effectively that, like you know, look, everyone's feeling this And you know there are some people out there that also feel like well, why should I support writers over, say, you know, coal miners or anybody else that's working class, that's having difficulty, and it's like listen, this is our, this is what we care about, this is the product that we love to create for you television film And this is our opportunity to band together and push the boulder up a little bit as best we can to fight those that are in power that are, by the way, making huge profits, right, like some of the biggest massive profits and always looking for ways to short change the workers that sort of lead them to the profits.

Speaker 2 20:01

So this is just like we're not saying we're better than any other guild out there or better than any other working class person out there, but like this is our ability to hopefully affect some positive change for the working class in the industry that we're in. So we're going to do it. And you're seeing in other picket lines is there's an incredible energy. You know there are lines around the clock. They're doing like 24-hour lines in some places now And the teamsters have come out and said look, that they're not going to cross the picket line So they will not drive a truck, obviously through people, but they're going to not drive into the picket line.

Speaker 3 20:45

That's just the part of the strike. They were going to stop running people over for the duration of the strike.

Speaker 1 20:49

Thank you, teamsters. Really, don't cross the picket line with a truck.

Speaker 2 20:53

We're happy to park and not bring in the supplies needed for production, because so as long as there's a picket line out there, they are not going to drive into a Disney lot right now. So if you're listening to this, i think that's pretty amazing. If you're in WGA and you can get out there and pick it like let's go, your physical presence actually does matter.

Speaker 3 21:16

Speaking of amazing people, zal the Eager has donated to our charity drive for Linda Dupas at the $25 level, with a redemption on there, ok here we go So the compliment request here is to compliment Omar's mom, Mama Najam, as the funniest person.

Speaker 2 21:32

Mama Najam.

Speaker 1 21:33

She's going to love this, Oh yeah.

Speaker 2 21:37

Oh.

Speaker 1 21:37

I have to do this. Oh no, well it's compliment Omar's mom.

Speaker 3 21:41

You both could have to do it.

Speaker 2 21:42

Yeah, i was going to say that. I did already say that she's a better host than I am and funnier than the both of us combined, so I don't know how much more I can say than that. I will say that she strikes me. Ok, i'll just say this, and then I can't wait for what Omar's compliment is. But I love I have not heard much from people in her generation like Indian Americans or Indian immigrants in her generation that are creatives, that are artists.

Speaker 2 22:11

Right, yeah, that is not something that an artist first Not like. Oh, i dabble in painting in between rounds at the hospital or whatever Like she's like. So that was. I was really inspired by hearing about her art. So there, that's my compliment.

Speaker 1 22:37

That's a good compliment. I'll give my mom this compliment. She will talk to anyone. She for Gift of gab. Gift of gab for someone who lived through Maggithatris, england, in America's America. The fact that in any state, anywhere where I'm just like let's just leave, let's get through this, my mom Hummercent will be like hey, what's with that flag? you've got there or whatever, and we'll chat with anyone without a second of hesitation. It is a confidence that I could only aspire to.

Speaker 2 23:15

Yeah, amazing. We love momage-ne-jam, So that was a good. thank you so much for your contribution to go tell as well, that was awesome. Yeah, so I don't know, jumping back in and then I think we'll close out this segment. Mm-hmm, you know, we have this question of what should be the end result for both sides.

Speaker 1 23:37

Yeah.

Speaker 2 23:38

You know, do you have a take on what you're hoping to come out of this?

Speaker 1 23:42

Oh yeah, there has been a sustainable model of paying writers, yeah, so just go to that. This isn't a thing of we need to revolutionize. It's literally like they move the goal post into the ocean and they're like why aren't you all playing soccer? Just move the goal post back and match rising costs. And, if I could add one more thing on top of that, learn how to run a business Like. I know a lot of the CEOs are just like we're going to chase whatever disruption happens. And then you get a quibi. Ok, really quick, just to highlight this, did you know that quibi wasn't supposed to have that tilting feature Like? that was a late stage addition. So after they filmed the shows, editors had to go in and it wasn't filmed to be that way.

Speaker 1 24:31

For those who are aware of quibi For too young or a couple months old? yeah.

Speaker 2 24:35

Yeah, for two months old Quibi, was this endeavor to create short form content for mobile first, but at a huge production level? So imagine Game of Thrones, but in short bursts at six minutes on your phone, delivered on your phone. That was like the and Jeffrey Katzenberg, you know, raised $2 billion or whatever it was.

Speaker 2 24:56

And that the whole ship sank super fast coming out of the pandemic. So that's what you're talking about, yeah, yeah, so they had this feature right where you could tilt the phone, and so it would be like you know, you could watch this stuff in landscape and then suddenly you can tilt it and it would be in 16 by or like yeah, what do you call nine by 16?

Speaker 1 25:13

Yeah.

Speaker 2 25:14

Vertical, and like you could do that sort of in a way that would be story motivated potentially, and like oh, yeah, You know.

Speaker 1 25:23

So the folks, like the folks who are raising billions of dollars, they can find like billions of dollars for something like that And then be like, well, actually we don't have the money to pay the people who are creative and have the experience and have the insight to actually come up with stuff.

Speaker 2 25:41

We can't. We can't pay a writer to come on set.

Speaker 1 25:44

We can't be ready to come on set.

Speaker 2 25:45

A writer should be an intern on set is basically what they're trying to say. There's like like if you bring a writer on set, then you know they can come on as a for exposure for exposure, yeah for credit copy and food.

Speaker 3 25:58

Put this on your stomach.

Speaker 2 26:00

And go fit, yeah, but it's like ridiculous. And I wrote, i tweeted this and I was like because, like people were tweeting threads of like why writers should be allowed or should be have like required time, that they are allowed to come on set and be paid for that, and you know, people had really great threads about why. My point was just like you know why a writer should, should be allowed on set a thread, and my only thread was because they wrote the fucking show. Yeah.

Speaker 2 26:28

Don't want the person that generated the thing from their brain. And I get that like listen, i understand as a showrunner in the past that, like, there are a lot of people that contribute to the foundational elements of what a show is. And, you know, a writer can come along and have a fully outlined thing from a, from a showrunner, and have to So it's not completely from their imagination, but a lot of it is. Yeah, a good chunk of it is enough that you probably want them on Like, if you can afford to have them on, if they like they don't have another writing job, but they are, you know, first positioned to over like you want the writer on set? Yeah, that that is your hope. And so to give them the the opportunity to be paid to be on set, i think would be a very wise thing to do if you want a better product. But yeah, again, these are like the little things that that I think that were that they're squabbling over or making a big fuss about. And from the AMTP, tmp side, it's like oh well, they want a minimum number of writers and different shows have different qualification, you know, different needs And, yes, that is true, but at the same time, again, we're trying to build a stable working class for a pool of writers that that you could then, you know, grab talent from when you need it.

Speaker 2 27:45

So, in order to do that, we have to do things like this minimum number of writers to make sure that there's enough folks that are employed long enough to again sustain their lives and family. So, yeah, someone in chat is, you know, livable wages and no AI. I'm not a big no AI person. I think AI is happening And I think we're going to have to figure out how to reconcile with that. I don't think that there's a world in which we can just blanket say no AI. I think that we have to say let's we have, let's come up with AI rules that benefit, you know, again, a stable working class of creatives, i think that's.

Speaker 1 28:20

That's right. Have that be a tool that supports the people instead of replaces the people.

Speaker 2 28:25

Correct.

Speaker 1 28:26

Also, there's no way execs will know how to use anything technology related. It's literally possible. There's no way.

Speaker 2 28:33

No, it's like, if they're not creative to write the episode, they're not going to be creative enough to, like, write clever prompts to get to the end. I don't think. I mean, i am I who knows. I can be proven wrong, but I have a feeling that you need creative people in all facets, right, yeah, even prompt engineering requires creativity to to tell the AI, to lead the AI to a place that is, you know, going to be useful or interesting. So I don't know, but yeah, i think AI has to be on the docket and it can't be what the again the producers are saying right now which is like we'll just talk about it once a year, i think is what they're offering. Yeah, and like WJ is like no, no, no, we need to make sure that you cannot create an AI script and that you have to be attributed to a writer and that you have to have a writer.

Speaker 1 29:21

you know a WJ writer, come on board and and And that's become like the most Hollywood, like the podcast ever. But essentially like a big fear of that too is they'll have writers come on to do really basic pay work, like unsustainable pay work, And then the fear is like, or one of the many fears is, and then they would feed that into a program and the program would take credit and get the credit And then you wouldn't have to pay the writers based off of this stuff. It's not even like what can I do, It's just like how can we find ways to not give people credit?

Speaker 3 29:58

They pay the writers for the work, that they pay the writers for an outline. And then you feed the outline to chat GPT and say, hey, fill it. Here's the prompt. Give me a one page and then boom, yes, chat GPT with the script.

Speaker 2 30:08

Right, it's or it's advice first, where it's like oh, we generated the concept, see, like the created by credit is is like a often fought for and sought after credit. Right, like, yeah, and the way to get I learned so much in this last project of how you get a created by credit you have to either Write the pilot Or have generated. You have to write. So that is the first part. You can't just, like you know, have come up with the idea in your head And then if, like, you need to put words to a page in order to to be eligible, to say that you created by And so you have to get, there's like a certain amount of things that you have.

Speaker 2 30:46

You either have to be credited as a writer on the pilot or a story by credit, i think also might count. So, like, you need to have like sort of what do you call like their, their, you know, predecessor credits that you need to get before you can get the created by credit essentially. And so the fear would be like, oh, this studio, exact, just like, jammed out a bunch of ideas on chapter Gbt, it spit out the concept that they want to use. Now that's created by quote, unquote, ai, and then you know, so oh, i've you know, this first draft is essentially given to another writer and you can just pay them a real, you know a script fee or rewrite fee and you don't have to give them all the sort of other benefits of getting a created by or an EP credit on the on the project. So, yeah, that's, you know, that's stuff that we got to look out for, right, because it's going to obviously cut into people's wallets pretty heavily in like, in short, i suppose like, in terms of what chakra?

Speaker 1 31:46

I feel like it's all of them. It is my like. Grounded stability is gone. My confidence.

Speaker 2 31:54

Yeah, i was going to go with me. Yeah, thanks for bringing it back to the segment.

Speaker 1 32:00

My heart is hurt for my friends affected all the way to, like you know, the crown chakra and the third eye of just like where's his heading? Where's this going? I do feel like it is an entire throat.

Speaker 2 32:10

Got to use that throat chakra, yes, waces out there.

Picket Line Support With Humor

Speaker 1 32:12

The expression of it. And also let's look at I mean, we're talking a lot about the negative, let's talk about the positive. The 97 percent right Was the. It was like over 97 percent of the WJ voted to strike, to authorize the strike. When you look at pictures, so many signs are hilarious. People are hanging out getting lunch. I read a thing about how an animation writer bought a bunch of live action writers lunch after they came back from the picket lines. The amount of support of creatives is something we can point to. It's really hard to control the stuff at the top because they're just wild and out there crushing entire established networks and then getting a Christmas bonus. But in terms of our folks, people are being so supportive and so wonderful and looking out for each other And that's great. And I'm completely unsurprised That storytellers who write stories by heroes are trying to do the same thing.

Speaker 2 33:05

Yeah, it is a cool thing Energetically that's happening And you can see there's a lot of bonding happening on the picket lines. Just a couple quick of my favorite picket picket signs that I've seen out there. This is from Christopher Derrick at unauthorized CBD, if you want to follow him on Twitter. We're asking for less than one Fox News settlement. Amazing, amazing. Jenny Yang, very funny comedian and old friend of mine, give up just one yacht, just one. Pretty fun. Let's see. Carol is the new Karen, that's really good.

Speaker 2 33:57

Carol Lumberdini. Maybe it's time. Maybe it's time that Karen gets a, you know maybe Karen's going to break. Maybe Karen's going to break. Carol's here to take over.

Speaker 1 34:06

Carol's up.

Speaker 2 34:07

Yeah, yeah, and this one's just real Rent is too high, not our wages. Yeah, from Caroline Renard.

Speaker 1 34:16

That is so true.

Speaker 2 34:17

Yep, yeah, you got any that you. Let's see, i'm just kind of like skimming now some other ones. I don't know if you remember that popped out.

Speaker 1 34:31

Um.

Speaker 2 34:31

I feel like if you had a good one, that's not what this was. Yeah, I know what away. Let's see if I can find it.

Speaker 1 34:38

I will compile a bunch of my favorites. I'm trying to figure out what mine is going to be tomorrow.

Speaker 2 34:44

Yeah, i know Right, it's been my biggest struggle.

Speaker 1 34:47

I'm nervous, like I got to live up because your ear amongst like the best of the best, so it's like you really got to come in with a strong pitch.

Speaker 2 34:56

Yeah, so yeah, if he was one of the writers on Wizards Cool Dropout, which is our, which was our WJ project project, and so I always love seeing his gigantic muscles on on his thing. Let's see if I can find it. I think you just he had a good one. Damn it, i can't find it. All right, whatever, we'll talk about it later.

Speaker 3 35:19

Check GBT has one for you.

Speaker 2 35:21

This is it, this is it.

Speaker 3 35:22

It's.

Speaker 2 35:23

I guess I'm just a sucker for basketball puns. Iverson is the only AI I mess with. So I enjoyed that one. Very funny Anyway.

Speaker 3 35:34

JBT is suggesting that you put attention or pencils are down And we can't think of anything. We need to put in this picket sign and tell our demands are at. Wow, all right, that's what you're going to get for you.

Speaker 2 35:43

Classic, the classic.

Speaker 3 35:45

I can't think of the classic Yeah, I can't Yep Plank sign Yeah.

Speaker 2 35:49

Insert funny joke here.

Speaker 3 35:50

I don't think you have to be in the guild.

Speaker 2 35:54

Yeah, yeah, i don't think so.

Speaker 1 35:57

I love that we're dunking on our introductions we did for each other at the top of the episode.

Speaker 2 36:06

Oh, missy C Towel in in chat. I like the one mentioning you know it's bad when a bunch of writers are willing to go outside.

Speaker 3 36:16

I will say.

Speaker 1 36:17

I will say Zaslaw did have the argument where it was like writers will go back to work because they love writing and there was one sign This is jokes on you. We hate writing.

Speaker 2 36:28

Amazing Chat. She BT Doesn't have childhood trauma.

Speaker 1 36:31

That's very good. That's very very good, Amazing.

World's Worst Studio Executives

Speaker 2 36:35

That's Taylor Berger 60 at Taylor Berger 69 if you want to follow her, So yeah great great, really funny stuff. Probably the best writing happening right now is happening on those picket signs. I love it All right. So, why don't we, why don't we jump into our next segment? Let's do it World's worst. This is going to be a brand new brand new segment.

Speaker 2 37:01

I can give it a go. So there's, there's an improv game called World's Worst. We're going to do World's Worst Studio Executives, yeah, who now have to be writers, because, let's, let's play this out Where writers go on strike forever And now all the studio executives have to come up with their own stuff. And so we are going to do our versions of the World's Worst and the executives, omar, i will be playing studio executives. I don't know, we'll maybe come up with characters. I don't know how we're going to do it really. But so, chat, your job is to just throw out shows, films, you know, ip, existing IP or franchises that you want our terrible versions of studio executives to pitch on, and we're going to give you a little taste, a little taste of what life would be like without WGA writers. So, delvin, i want you to take over and go ahead and hit us with our first one.

Speaker 3 38:04

I'm going to start off from check because we've got a good one, buffy.

Speaker 2 38:09

Oh, great, yeah, Great, all right, yeah, hey, um, tim Sheamus in here. Uh, you know, i've been my dad, of course, worked at Paramount, so now I'm working at Paramount. That's kind of pretty much how that worked, and I got some good. Uh, oh man, love Buffy, so good, um, so I'm thinking, all right, vampires are old news. Nobody cares about vampires anymore. It's like been there, done that. Right, we need a new creature of the night. So here's what I'm thinking Owls, i just flocks of owls, uh, and they're just terrorizing um, sunnyvale, sunnydale, sunnies, whatever, whatever, Who can't? nobody cares They, you know, fans don't care about specifics, so we're not going to honor it. Yeah, even I didn't get a shout out. I actually want to set the whole thing uh in. Um, we're going to set the whole thing in middle America, uh, in Sioux City, iowa, because that's the only demographic that we care about anyway. So owls are attacking Sioux City and, um, you know, uh, we're going to recast Buffy as a man, and so we're just going to do it.

Speaker 2 39:29

Yeah, we're just going to do it Like. it's like I think we're tired of seeing all these female protagonists being awesome, right, like, let's get back to what we were good at. Let's go back to the old days And, uh, let's just uh, you know, let's get. uh, i'm thinking, um, i'm thinking, uh, the carrot top needs a resurrection. So carrot tops, going to play Buffy owls in Sioux City, iowa.

Speaker 1 39:58

Okay, okay, hello everyone. Uh, mr Sapphire here. Mr Sapphire, thank you very much, we'll do. I'm working on the doctorate. I'm trying to buy a wing at USC to see if they'll give me one. Okay, uh, you know, uh uh. Vampires are done. Vampires are over with.

Speaker 1 40:20

Uh but what I'm looking for is, uh. What I'm looking for is uh to make, to have my money, make money, and the way we do that is product placements. Yeah, so, um, instead of vampires, these are just bad to do kids and the and the Buffy's of the world, uh, of which there are a couple, so we can sell sort of different uh dolls and target Uh what they do is when they fight them, uh, with these like name brand baseball bats. Cause, um Suicide Squad did really well. It was nominated for an Oscar for best costumes.

Speaker 1 40:54

We're kind of going for that. Uh, we're going to have, like the, these branded baseball bats And when you hit uh one of these good for nothings with a baseball bat, they turn into Mountain Dew or whatever competing soda company is interested. Uh, then these kids bottled that delicious uh, so Mountain Dew or competing uh soda company, and when they imbibe it they just have a real good time, a real good sexy time at a dance club called uh, the bronze. Or, if the soda company would like to buy that, maybe it's called the Pepsi. Uh, I don't know Great.

Speaker 2 41:25

I love it Sold. Uh, I think we got that one. That was great So what's next Yeah, nailed it, all right. Next one on the list is Forrest Gump.

Speaker 1 41:34

Okay, okay.

Speaker 2 41:40

All right, okay, forrest Gump, the remake of Forrest Gump.

Speaker 3 41:48

I think. I think you can do sequels with us too. If you think a sequel is the better way for the bat exact to go rather than a reboot, I think that's something. Yeah Yeah, You're the studio exact. We can't tell you. you're wrong.

Speaker 2 41:59

All right, okay, okay. So Forrest Gump. You know how? the whole thing about Forrest Gump is that he goes back in time, like we see that he's like oh man, he doesn't go back in time. Wait, actually it's Forrest Gump, but he goes back in time. Here we are.

Speaker 1 42:19

I had a saving private Ryan intro. That happened for me, where I was just like what is?

Speaker 3 42:24

happening.

Speaker 2 42:27

It's Gump throughout history, but I'm talking. We go way back prehistoric. Gump has to go to cave man. He's got to go to dinosaur times and save the first mammal from that that goes from the ocean to to to the sea, and that mammal is going to be played. It's going to be voiced by by Wesley Snipes.

Speaker 1 42:52

Okay, okay, gump. Mr Sapphire, here again. Look, we're looking for product placement tie ins. So Forrest Gump is played by Orion Gosling. We're going to get a sexy young Orion Gosling, hot, sexy young Forrest Gump.

Speaker 1 43:14

Ryan Gosling walking around the United States of America, stopping at every Countham, every Starbucks here in these continental United States of America, and every Starbucks will have one particular barista, played by the talented and affordable Kristen Wiig, and and that's sort of what we've got. Act one, first couple Starbucks. Act two the rest of the Starbucks. Act three something about his mom, i guess and then the Starbucks, and then we'll have, you know, a cup tie in where you can see if it'll be a list of every Starbucks in the United States of America and you can check off as you go through. you fill up your coffee and they give you a little check mark. So that's my pitch.

Speaker 3 44:01

You know, earlier.

Speaker 2 44:02

You know it was out earlier, but it's totally back in vampires. Forrest Gump fights vampires. Just saying just for, if we want to do like a sequel, all right, moving on.

Speaker 3 44:15

All right, That's next one, And I have to remind you you're doing worlds worst, not worlds best, because I know you have some opinions about rebutting remaking this. The Simpsons.

Speaker 2 44:25

Hmm, the Simpsons. All right, here's the thing about the prolific, everlasting, incredible, iconic Simpsons It's missing, it's missing, it's missing some stuff. I think it needs a a dark, gritty reboot.

Speaker 1 44:56

Yes.

Speaker 2 44:57

So I think we need to. We need to get Daniel Craig on the line. He's going to play Homer, obviously, right. And so this is, like you know, springfield is like fucked up right now. You know, like Springfield is is one of those, you know, tough, tough on its luck, working class towns, factories shutting down, and it needs one hero, and that hero is Daniel Craig playing Homer.

Speaker 2 45:26

And when he finally, you know he gets, he gets jumped at the beginning of the of the movie. Right, he gets jumped and he gets beaten up. And then you know, but he's, he was on his way to the nuclear facility or whatever, and he's got like some nuclear secrets on him. And so he like he opens up this briefcase while he's being beat up. He could just barely get to it. And then he grabs this, this, like glowing orb, and everybody's like what is that thing? He stands up and he goes though, but he says it like in a gritty way, dough drops and explodes And it's like that. You know it's seen in Breaking Bad, yes, you know we're going to copy that.

Speaker 2 46:19

Exactly And and he's going to destroy all of his enemies. And that's just where it starts. But he also like mutilates half himself And he's like part nuclear as well.

Speaker 1 46:31

Part nuclear Yeah.

Speaker 2 46:32

Yeah, yeah, he's like he's, he's. Oh yeah, he's got an hour and 25 minutes to live. It's sort of crank, but he's got superpowers. He's got nuclear superpowers, but he's got an hour and 25 minutes to live and he's got to save the town. Simpsons, that's what I got. So, Hey, what are you going to get? Top that.

Speaker 1 47:00

Mr Sapphire, here I want to. I want to rebrand a little bit. I think the Simpsons is a little old. So here's what I'm thinking You keep a father character, you keep a wife character, you keep a son character, you keep a daughter character, the baby. I think you make it a little boy. That's like an evil boy. Have a dog that talks And then it's a really worrying about a pot or any sort of like a darsus. By the end of the episode we can have little bits. So you have the little boy, you just go. Have the little boy, bart go, like you know, the principal, seymour Skinner, says like hands off Bart, and Bart goes. That reminds me of my butterfinger thing And then we flash over to their hands off my butterfinger and we every flash away. It's a product placement, absolutely.

Speaker 1 47:51

My shorts And then we flash over to what shorts, that little QR code on screen, you can scan the hains and you could get the hains underpants that are eat my shorts, and everything is sorted just like a commercial. And you won't know the difference between the commercial break in the episode itself, that we just re-release the old episodes but we just pitch down the voices so the actors don't realize and we don't need them.

Speaker 2 48:11

Mrs Sapphire, I know I'm competing against you, but that is brilliant. The problem with commercial people are fast forwarding to commercials because they don't. they can tell the difference between a commercial and if you make it all bleed into each other so that the whole thing is just a freaking commercial.

Speaker 1 48:27

Then everybody's making baby. Homer wakes up, homer goes to the Nuclear Parks facility And Homer says to Marge Simpson, sponsored by Nest T, goodbye, nest T nuclear facility.

Speaker 2 48:42

Goodbye, Marge Com nuclear.

Speaker 1 48:47

The crypto nuclear facility. Goodbye, marge, my wife. and then you know, he trips over something and goes, oh gosh. And then he goes to the nuclear facility. We cut back the house. Homer walks outside and goes Marge, i got you something. It's a car with a big bow on top And people go. but isn't it work? Well, we cut to commercial when you didn't realize. So I think that's a way to go with.

Speaker 2 49:09

Yeah, you have to cut to commercial when they're not, at the least, expecting it In between scenes, meaning throughout the entire show. All right, next pitch. I think we solved Simpsons.

Speaker 3 49:19

All right, this is from the ticket to play with you on that one. Although, as far as I know, this isn't over yet, so maybe we're just going to see what happens without writers, but from the ticket to play succession.

Speaker 2 49:30

Oh yeah, yeah, for sure That needs, that needs some work.

Speaker 1 49:34

I don't like how they portray us in that show. It's inaccurate. We're making fun of us It's like people who are just chasing the bottom dollar.

Speaker 2 49:44

We're going to one party, yeah, where he says I love you to his family. I never said that to my family. No, i would never say that part.

Speaker 1 49:52

I don't, i haven't seen my family.

Speaker 3 49:57

So are you canceling succession? That is that what you reboot pitches? You're both like no it's, just it's offensive to my people as a studio exec.

Speaker 1 50:04

I would say, I would say take out a lot of the curse words that alienates a lot of Middle America. Take out a lot of the business that kind of alienates Middle America.

Speaker 2 50:14

I say, oh, if I may if I may, i love it Take out the curse words. It's a kid show. That's what I'm thinking. It's a kid's competition. I think it's like Nick Jr.

Speaker 1 50:27

Exactly Young, and they're competing, yeah, for the rest of their lives.

Speaker 2 50:31

Yeah, they're competing to win. Did you snooze, See?

Speaker 1 50:35

yeah, exactly. Did you see that one documentary about everybody who has to play red light, green light, and if they lose they die? Do you remember that documentary on Netflix? I love that.

Speaker 2 50:46

Let's do that.

Speaker 1 50:47

That's what I'm thinking Lock them in contractually in perpetuity, and then they play their games, and then whoever is the strongest gets Fox.

Speaker 2 50:57

News Get the other ones, get killed, and this is perfect because there's all these orphans, right? Mm, hmm, and what are they doing?

Speaker 1 51:06

What are they doing?

Speaker 2 51:07

It's a problem, so we're going to remake the documentary Squid games. Yeah, that's the name of it, My sister whatever Asian country it was from, i don't know, they're all the same to me frankly. And we're going to remake that documentary, but put it for kids, and they're competing over who gets to take over Fox News. There it is, so we got done. I love it. Let's go.

Speaker 1 51:30

That's locked and loaded And I want to be clear No woke stuff in this version of succession. I think succession is too woke and it really is pushing it.

Speaker 2 51:41

And I think I think the NRA would be really interested in a branded content Kind of play with this.

Speaker 1 51:47

I forgot the product placement.

Speaker 2 51:49

Product placement would be great. Let's just lean right into that.

Speaker 1 51:52

And maybe Kool-Aid. Yeah, we can see if we can mix and match those.

Rebooting Movie Franchises and Pitching Ideas

Speaker 2 51:57

I'm proud of this. I think that there's a lot of potential here. All right, what's next? What next problem to solve?

Speaker 3 52:05

All right. The next one we need to reboot to see before is Ferris Bueller's Day Off.

Speaker 1 52:09

Yeah, obviously No, don't take a day off. He's got to work.

Speaker 2 52:12

He's got to work. I'm talking, lazy, are you kidding me? Lazy, fuck What is he?

Speaker 1 52:18

doing. Mrs Sapphire, I've never taken a day off of work my entire life. What's my job It's appearing to be superior to other people.

Speaker 2 52:27

And I don't ever stop that. I've been doing that since.

Speaker 1 52:32

I was six. Since I was six years old, out of the womb I stay.

Speaker 2 52:36

I wanted to study.

Speaker 1 52:37

I wanted to come out prepared and fully grown. Listen Ferris Bueller has to go to work.

Speaker 2 52:44

Yeah, that's what it is, Ferris Bueller's. Yeah, that's right, it's like one of those. What was those Ernie's? what were those movies? Ernest? Ernest goes to prison or whatever. Yeah, so we're going to do, we're going to franchise them like that. So it's Ferris Bueller, except that he does it's Ferris Bueller meets dirty jobs And so he just goes to different workplaces. Again, this is going to be unscripted because we don't need writers.

Speaker 1 53:09

Yeah, unscripted for middle America.

Speaker 2 53:11

That's right.

Speaker 1 53:11

Yeah, and I think he's going to learn a thing or two from the econ class. I do. I personally think trickle down works. I've seen it work. I've gotten rich.

Speaker 2 53:23

A lot more shower scenes. The people that see him in the shower.

Speaker 1 53:28

Yes.

Speaker 2 53:29

Make sure it's just rife with those.

Speaker 1 53:31

And maybe because they make money. Maybe Ryan Reynolds could come every so often and maybe he breaks the fourth wall instead.

Speaker 2 53:37

Yeah, and he sells his whatever money app or whatever they sell in there, oh yeah. He goes the whole thing is an NFT. That's all good, You could buy the, you could buy the show.

Speaker 1 53:47

It's a show, by the way. You could buy the show as an NFT in Utah As an NFT, that's right Yeah.

Speaker 2 53:54

And then we'll have NFT shirts for merchandise. That's good. You can wear the show. The crypto show, the crypto show. You can wear it.

Speaker 1 54:04

Yeah, i think he's on the next It plays on your shirt. Like an LED sort of situation. Yeah, so next.

Speaker 2 54:12

Let's do a mad blitz Five real quick, one line.

Speaker 3 54:16

Your quickest, quickest, hottest. Take Okay, First back to the future.

Speaker 2 54:21

All right, this one's easy. Yeah, this is super easy. It's this one stars. This one stars Omar's mom. This one stars Delvin and Omar's mom. People love them. So this is this is what happens. All right, delvin, real quick, it's gotta be fast. Delvin in the future goes back in time, inseminates Omar's mom, turns out Omar's mom. Omar is Delvin is Omar's son.

Speaker 3 54:48

Yeah, it makes so much sense.

Speaker 1 54:53

Again, happy birthday to my father, thank you.

Speaker 3 54:55

Omar, but it's actually in January.

Speaker 1 55:05

My pitch no, the 80s are over. No 80s, no 80s. Nobody likes the 80s. Same thing, no 80s, all right, next up the godfather.

Speaker 3 55:17

Oh, godfather, okay.

Speaker 1 55:18

Yeah, yeah, for sure. I'm going to need some products in this. Maybe a trade or Joe's godfather, yeah Yeah.

Speaker 2 55:30

Yeah, you know who's underrepresented. Instead of Italians, it should be Mormons. And that's a good idea. The whole thing, because Mormons are so rich, you guys, the whole thing is just a recruitment video for Mormons.

Speaker 1 55:47

A recruitment video?

Speaker 2 55:48

Yeah, that's right, that's it.

Speaker 1 55:51

That's what I got. That's what I got. That's what I got. Is this for Middle America?

Speaker 2 55:54

Next, keep them coming All right Next on the list is the Shawshank Redemption Okay.

Speaker 1 56:04

I say, put it on the beach.

Speaker 2 56:08

As you know, i'm pro prison industrial complex. Yeah, i think again it's reality show and we just wrongfully imprison people And you know, if you're truly not guilty then you'll. It's an elimination thing and you'll make it out in the end. But you know most people are guilty.

Speaker 1 56:27

You know what show I love? scared straight. It's my two favorite types of people.

Speaker 2 56:31

Yeah.

Speaker 1 56:31

Okay, what's the next one we're going for?

Speaker 3 56:34

Next on the list. please be careful, gentlemen You are being broadcast live.

Speaker 2 56:41

Oh, come on.

Speaker 1 56:46

I will say Steven Spielberg didn't take a cent for making that movie And I think that we should start that industry wide. No one makes money but the studio. That's brilliant.

Speaker 2 57:04

Yeah, i think you just take the original film and you know, you just put it on Broadway. Just put that bad boy on Broadway and let's turn it into a musical.

Speaker 1 57:18

Theater is a really big thing. It's like a new thing that I heard about.

Speaker 2 57:22

A live experience, and so yeah, that's all I'm saying is.

Speaker 1 57:26

I just heard about musicals for the first time. I think it's interesting. I think there's a lot that could be done there, because jingles are a big thing.

Speaker 2 57:35

And you still do it all in black and white. Yeah, live.

Speaker 3 57:38

Yeah, last one we got our list before we go to the polls is Silence of the Lambs.

Speaker 1 57:44

Oh, no, no, no, put it, make the Lambs talk.

Speaker 2 57:50

Chris Pratt animated Pixar Lambs talking. Chris Pratt is the voice.

Speaker 1 57:55

I tell the joy.

Speaker 2 57:58

I mean say no more right.

Speaker 1 57:59

Keegan-Michael Key Yeah, the Mario movie made a lot of money. Just do that Like yeah, same animation style, yep.

Speaker 2 58:08

Still about serial killers.

Speaker 1 58:10

Yeah, kids animation. Oh, that's big because of podcasts.

Speaker 2 58:14

Yeah, Yeah, yeah, yeah, Yeah, yeah yeah yeah, Yeah, yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 58:18

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, For sure Dexter. And then maybe yeah, I think I love it Maybe we sell a Clarice cereal.

Speaker 2 58:23

Yeah, and like you know, the knife comes to life. Like the knife that they stab with is like the fun, wacky sidekick Oh.

Speaker 1 58:30

Like we're made by Robin Williams. We have enough old recordings. Yeah, i'm Robin Williams.

Speaker 2 58:35

Yeah, i'm Robin Williams, so every time you play the movie it's something different because it's generated in that moment.

Speaker 1 58:42

Oh, maybe you get to choose your own ending. Maybe to VR headset you get to choose your own ending. That's it Okay Again, mrs Sapphire.

Speaker 2 58:51

All right. All right chat.

Speaker 3 58:53

The poll is up to vote on who is the worst studio exec?

Speaker 2 58:57

I'm at a poll, so people will have a chance to get in All right, so while they're doing that, we have a fun little, a fun little game, and then we're going to race to the DC of the week. So listen, all the people are talking about AI and we thought it would be pretty silly if we got in there and did the AI. Let's do a chat. What is chat? GPT's version of a guild reboot.

Speaker 1 59:26

Yeah.

Speaker 2 59:26

So, for those unfamiliar, the guild show created by Felicia Day and starred me It was actually during the time of the first writer strike Started. Just me, just only me, and I think Felicia was in it too, or whatever, yeah.

Speaker 1 59:46

A little up and coming talent known as Jeff Lewis, yeah.

Speaker 2 59:50

Yeah And yeah, and then whatever. Robin and Amy and Ted, blah blah, blah, blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah. So let's go into the next part. We'll wait. We're going to see how chatgbt reboots this. While we're waiting for, just because we're waiting for these votes to come in, just because we thought that would be silly and fun, here's the prompt I will say Write an outline, Mm, hmm, for a reboot, reboot or reboot or remake A reboot, A reboot of the of. I was, just just in case it doesn't know, felicia days Internet sensation.

Speaker 1 1:00:38

Oh, the guild, the guild.

Rebooting "The Guild" and Casting Choices

Speaker 2 1:00:41

I just feel like the guild might be a generic enough search term that a beer won't know what. That is OK, so here we go. Sure, here's an outline for a reboot of Felicia days Internet series The guild. Introduction Brief overview of the guild and its original run, explanation and need for a reboot Introducing a new casting crew. How fucking dare you?

Speaker 1 1:01:07

AI is literally replacing you in this Wait. this is.

Speaker 2 1:01:11

This isn't even like. No, I want like plot and stuff. This is like What's it saying.

Speaker 1 1:01:15

What's it saying?

Speaker 2 1:01:15

OK, all right, It's an intro. Ok, to setting in premise, updating the setting to reflect the modern gaming landscape, the new premise of the show, including the main characters and their motivations, all right. So what is the new premise? What is the new premise? What is the new premise of the show? Why are we doing this reboot?

Speaker 3 1:01:37

By the way, folks, this is the tone that that Sunday takes. Anytime you're talking to a computer, This is just chat. Tpt Always how he talks to it, or one of his writers.

Speaker 2 1:01:48

The new premise of the rebooted the Guild show can be updated to reflect the modern gaming landscape. The show can follow a group of gamers who are members of an online gaming community and explore the relationships they have with each other, both in game and real life. That's just the existing show. The reboot can also focus on the impact that gaming has on the players personal lives and the challenges they face while we while balancing their gaming with real life responsibilities. Again, just the show.

Speaker 1 1:02:11

What No, this is great because this is. This is exactly how reboots are pitched when they go in and they're just like we're going to do Buffy, but it's a reboot. The realistic version is she slays vampires. In the previous one, yeah, she slayed vampires, but in this one it's going to be new vampires, also memes, and that's like a pitch.

Speaker 2 1:02:35

What is the plot of the reboot That's?

Speaker 1 1:02:37

what I'm going to ask. Ok, here we go, here we go. Let's get to the meat and potatoes.

Speaker 2 1:02:43

No, it's just repeating the same stuff. It's not being specific. How about this? Who, who?

Speaker 1 1:02:51

would you cast the?

Speaker 2 1:02:52

new cast of the Guild. As an A-Long, this is giving me Oh, here we go, OK, great. It's saying you know, I don't have personal opinions or biases How I suggest some talented actors who could potentially play the new cast of the Guild.

Speaker 1 1:03:09

Here we go, here we go OK.

Speaker 2 1:03:11

Brie Larson, i guess in you know this would probably be in Felicia's role. John Boyega, i guess that's me.

Speaker 1 1:03:22

Yeah, yeah, orvin's.

Speaker 2 1:03:24

Orvin's Aquafina. So that's, i guess, amy, millie Bobby Brown, that's Vince.

Speaker 3 1:03:33

That's the new Vince. baby, That's new Vince.

Speaker 2 1:03:35

She's young And Noah Centenio I don't know who that is.

Speaker 1 1:03:41

OK.

Speaker 2 1:03:42

Centenio. I don't know. I don't know who Noah Centenio is, but maybe that's the new Jeff Lewis.

Speaker 1 1:03:47

All right, all right.

Speaker 2 1:03:49

I guess I should know who that is. If you know in chat, All right. What is the inciting incident? Oh, did the?

Speaker 3 1:04:02

Oh, the poll is long closed, but if this, this is good stuff, it goes along Okay no, it's insinua, by the way, was in the black Adam film.

Speaker 2 1:04:12

Okay, great. Okay, i haven't seen that film in the reputed the guild series. The inciting incident could be a major event that threatens the online gaming community that the characters are a part of. For example, the exciting incident could be the announcement that the game is going to be going to be shut down, leaving the characters in their community and disarray All. You mean season six of the guild. This could create a sense of urgency and bring the characters to work towards a common goal to save the game in their community. I'm going to say that's already season six of the guild. Please come up with something original and brilliant.

Speaker 3 1:04:51

So I asked him to give you a summer, the plot written by a very typical studio exec, rather than just chat to his own opinion like if a student exec is like a give me what I would think of to be more of that.

Speaker 2 1:05:03

Okay, yeah go. What do I say?

Speaker 3 1:05:05

in this. In this reboot of the guild, the story follows a group of stereotypical gamers who meet online and form a guild to compete in a virtual world.

Speaker 2 1:05:11

Okay, that's new.

Speaker 3 1:05:12

So it's still the same thing. However, the characters are poorly developed and lack depth, relying on overused tropes and stereotypes. Okay, the guild leader is an arrogant and sexist man who constantly bullies his female teammates, including the timid and socially awkward healer, the seductive but shallow rogue and the bumbling and clueless mage. The group's primary goal is to win the game's ultimate prize a legendary weapon but they often get sidetracked by petty arguments and personal drama.

Speaker 3 1:05:40

Okay that's a fresh take. There's a fresh take in there, but it's still the same Same basis, No it was not misogyny.

Speaker 2 1:05:48

Yeah, I do ask the studio exec. That really is the problem with the guild.

Speaker 3 1:05:51

It's really not Amazing.

Speaker 1 1:05:53

As the story progresses, the sojournist would really confuse Reddit.

Speaker 3 1:05:56

Let me tell you. The guild becomes embroiled in a conspiracy to take over the game service by a rival guild, led by a power-hungry player who is willing to do anything to win. That's just Wil Wheaton's character. That's not new. Even when I told you to do a bad reboot, it's still just ripping off the guild.

Speaker 2 1:06:12

What's it? What's it So? okay, what's an unexpected twist that happens mid-season in the reboot? One unexpected twist that could happen mid-season in the rebooted the guild series is the reveal that one of the characters, who has been a trusted member of the group, is actually working with an affairious organization behind the new game. The twist could be revealed through a series of clues that the characters gradually piece together. For example, they might discover that the character has been absent during critical moments, or that they seem to have an unusual amount of knowledge about the organization's activities. The truth comes to light. The characters must confront their former ally and deal with the fallout of their betrayal. This could create a lot of tension within the group and force them to re-evaluate their trust in each other. Oh, you mean in season three of the guild, when Aiden Tinkabala goes to the accident of an ackee? Is that what you mean, chat GBG.

Speaker 1 1:07:03

Oh yes, yes.

Speaker 3 1:07:06

We've also had another redemption, a $25 redemption. That's just come in, okay, okay awesome. So you need to genuinely compliment the studio execs you just portrayed. So I think this should be each of you complimenting the other studio exec.

Speaker 2 1:07:23

Oh, my gosh, genuinely compliment. Oh, so Sapphire was buying a ring of USC so that he can get some sort of honorary degree?

Speaker 1 1:07:34

Yeah.

Speaker 2 1:07:36

I guess I will say to you Sapphire Mm, hmm. Even though I'm not sure, your motivations are very pure that you are giving to an educational institution a grant of money that may benefit other children and, you know, the next generation in some capacity, even though I'm sure you'll put your bust, you know, in placard and gold and at every, in every window.

Speaker 1 1:08:06

And the building requires admission.

Speaker 2 1:08:08

I want to be clear that he gets caught off. I'm sure, yeah, that's so gross, i guess that's kind of good. Okay, go ahead.

Speaker 1 1:08:20

And I got to say Tim for being such a schlock. Exec was one of the most creative voices I've ever heard in that position, because I've never heard someone at the top say vampires are over. What I've always heard are vampires are now in every year, every year. Every year The new thing is vampire.

Speaker 2 1:08:48

I think vampires are over, until my boss tells me they're not over.

Speaker 1 1:08:53

Just got handed a piece of paper with the word Renfield on it, and I've decided that vampires are now in All right.

Speaker 3 1:09:02

So the poll came back. By the way, chat is a bunch of hooligans because they've tied the chat. They've tied it.

Speaker 2 1:09:08

Oh, come on.

Speaker 3 1:09:11

Come on, you are both the worst And nobody is host next week.

Speaker 1 1:09:17

Oh dream, that's really good. Actually, i approve it, we're both co hosts.

Speaker 2 1:09:22

Oh, 8 bit D was in chat. We got to give some shout out to say but D one of the sort of founders of the movement of go tell. So I know she's doing nonstop stuff. So the fact that she even dropped in at all, we're very honored to have your presence, thank you. Thanks for dropping in All right. Well, look, that's been world's worst. We ended in a tie which feels shitty, which I think is the correct emotion to be feeling when doing really? worst writers which our studio execs.

Speaker 1 1:09:55

But this week I'm still the host, which allows me to transition to our next segment, by myself and on my own. It's time for Dacey of the week. And the Dacey of the week this week is the mahabi That's right, so on is a Mumbai based Indian television TV writer who has worked on a ton of shows, is a script consultant and also is the general secretary of India screenwriters association, and there's a very specific reason as to why we're shouting out some on this week.

Speaker 2 1:10:31

Take it away, sondi he's expressed support for the WGA strike and asked its members to down to also, i guess, help out. So the SWA the country's major industry guild for writers, with more than 57,000 members, emailed this membership on Thursday night to explain the WGA's reasons for calling the strike and to state that the association stands in complete solidarity with our 11,500 sisters and brothers of the WGA. That's super cool.

Speaker 1 1:11:02

Yes, yes, and India is also facing a huge issue when it comes to writing. The SWA is currently in the process of drafting a minimum basic contract for its members and initiating negotiations, which is tough because India doesn't have sort of an industry wide producers body or like studio body that they can have negotiations with. So this is an uphill battle, but we are sending our support in an email to members. The SWA said the challenges faced by Indian writers are even more acute grossly unfair contracts, no credit guarantee, undignified low fees, especially for new writers, one sided termination clauses, impossible indemnity demands and no buyback clauses, amongst others. And as we don't have to tell you all who watch the show and enjoy the show, india's film economy is gigantic. There are people making, you know, tons and tons of cash and there are the people who create these stories, who tell these stories, who are not being compensated. So, zaman, thank you, you are the daisy of the week.

Speaker 1 1:12:04

Yes, and that's the show. Yeah, that's the show. As always, you can see our lovely faces and all these wonderful good goops and reboots of our beloved franchises on the VOD, and there are other ways you can hang out with us, which you can find out in the show notes. Please rate and comment, because that really, really helps us out on your podcast absorption portal of choice. Comment, suggestions and feedback can be sent to ABCD podcast show at gmailcom or hit us up in the discord. And yeah, i'll let you take this one, sandy.

Speaker 2 1:12:41

Yeah, and look, we're doing this podcast in honor of raising awareness about the fight against lupus. right, we would love for you to contribute to game on to end lupus and organization working with the lupus foundation. You know there's a lot of things to dislike about lupus and why it's such a challenging and debilitating disease. There's no single test to diagnose lupus. On average, it takes nearly six years for people with lupus to be diagnosed. So they suffer from this for years and years, not knowing what all these things you know these things are happening to their body And it's often takes them up to six years before they noticed their first lupus symptoms. It's a widespread disease. Awareness of the disease lags way behind other illnesses.

Speaker 2 1:13:23

63% of Americans surveyed have never heard of lupus or know little or nothing about this disease and its symptoms beyond the name, and an estimated 1.5 million Americans alone have lupus. So listen, obviously this cause, i think, is just, and we would love for you, if you are listening on the podcast even well past our live drive here, to jump over and contribute Head over to lupusorg to make a donation to any amount And the link should be in our show notes.

Speaker 2 1:13:59

That's right And, as we said to everybody that is listening live, for every hundred dollars that we reach, we are going to be doing giveaways of game keys, so that's always fun And just to throw out there. If you are listening, not live, join us live Sundays at 7 30, because we always do fun stuff like this.

Speaker 1 1:14:19

Yes.

Speaker 2 1:14:20

And, as always, it is time to end our show with a ballad of love to our Patreons. Here we go, shout out level and sure deep is being a dick.

Speaker 3 1:14:39

What he does.

Speaker 2 1:14:41

It's like come on, dude, trying to ruin the show at the end. All right, so this list got a little longer. It's got a little longer, which is pretty awesome, so thank you to everybody that came in new. And then here we go. The last people I'd like to thank are the Patreons who put money into our bank, which include Joshua Ryan Talby, m Carlo, who's at Benjamin low, hunter B Brown, miranda Hollinger, vaden, like along, christina Romero, otaku, danny Raylin Fox, selena B Nervous, rex, sarah H grassy, santa Cruz to Deca cut template. And the thing about this last guy is that he's got a gorgeous face The sexiest man in Ohio and his real name is the real Brandon Pace. I had to do a couplet for the last person because they donated at a very high level hit the God level.

After Show Criticisms and Game Night

Speaker 2 1:15:35

So oh he does have a gorgeous face. He is the sexiest man in Ohio and that is the real Brandon Pace. So thank you so much for joining. If your life, stick around for after show, where we're going to, you know, take your criticisms, just bear it to our right, in front of our faces. You're just going to tell us what, how much you wanted Omar's mom to be on the show instead of us, and then we're also going to come up with this episode's title Yep And then play it. We're going to keep hanging out and play a game of Jack box so that we can support this charity.

Speaker 1 1:16:04

Yes.

Speaker 3 1:16:06

Absolutely These credits. Here we go, All right folks.

Speaker 1 1:16:09

To wrap it up, the show is produced by D Like him. Now The show's technical director and sound designer is Del Neville. The show's executive producers are Sandeep Parikh and Anon Shah. This is edited by Sean meager and music by Herschel Sosodia, jessica Singh and Malik Zavary. This has been an effing funny production. On behalf of our co-host, sandy Parikh I've been your host, i'm your Chuckers, be a line and mothered in chutney.