Ron Perlmania ärsyttänyt anonyymin studiopampun kommenttihan kuului Deadlinessa 11.7.23: “The endgame is to allow things to drag on until union members start losing their apartments and losing their houses.”
Ron Perlman tosiaan väitti tietävänsä, kuka oli sanonut niin pahasti, mutta monista vaihtoehdoista Disneyn Bob Iger ei silti välttämättä ole Perlmanin suututtaneen kommentin takana. Se huhu lienee saanut alkunsa, koska Igerilta lipsahti kotva sitten lausahdus lakkoon menijöiden epärealistisista odotuksista, ja siihen myös SAG-AFTRAn Fran Drescher tarttui lakkopuheessaan. Los Angeles Timesiä (13.7.23) lainatakseni:
[Iger] said their actions come at the “worst time” as studios struggle to adapt to the disruption of the media landscape, including the transition to streaming video, the decline of traditional TV and an uncertain economic climate.
“It’s very disturbing to me,” Iger said. “We’ve talked about disruptive forces on this business and all the challenges that we’re facing and the recovery from COVID — which is ongoing, it’s not completely back. This is the worst time in the world to add to that disruption.”
Without providing specifics, Iger said the expectations of the writers and actors are “just not realistic” and that their job actions are “adding to a set of challenges that this business is already facing that is quite frankly very disruptive and dangerous.”
Siihen Perlmania ärsyttäneeseen anonyymiin kommenttiin yhtyi useampia nimettömiä johtohahmoja. Mutta sävyltään se sopisi ehkä Igeria paremmin esim. Foxin Lachlan Murdochille, jonka ajatuksista kirjoitettiin seuraavaan tapaan jo toukokuussa Deadlinessa:
On a call with financial analysts this morning after the company’s latest quarterly earnings, [Fox CEO Lachlan Murdoch] said: “On the writers’ strike, I think for us we are well positioned, and we think that with our strategic priorities and strategy in sports, but also in news, these are two areas that are not effected by the writers’ strike and the audience wil pivot when watchig television to those categories.”
He noted that the Fox Network only programs two hours of entertainment a night that’s a mixture of both scripted and unscripted content, “so we feel very well positioned there not to be effected by the writers’ strike really at all.” There will be “some scheduling changes with some of the scripted content, but not something that will have a significant financial impact on us.”