I’m Talking About Crying Again But In a Good Way!, Obama’s Netflix Special #2, an Update on Hollywood Strikes
Double trouble for Hollywood, knowledge workers, and quitting antidepressants
The Latest in Employment News
Hollywood’s on strike, make it a double?
I wrote about the Writers Guild of America (WGA) strike. Movie and TV writers kicked off their strike on May 1st after contract negotiations with studio executives, represented by the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), fell through. They couldn't reach an agreement about the use of AI in the writers’ room, residuals for streaming shows, and a lot more.
As of today, June 15th, they’re still on strike. I try to support them the only ways I can, by blogging about their movement and tooting my (annoyingly weak) car horn when I drive past their picket lines in front of Paramount Studios and Netflix in Hollywood.
But they might have more muscle on the way. SAG-AFTRA, the Screen Actors Guild - American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, has authorized a strike if an agreement can’t be reached with AMPTP by the time their existing contract ends on June 30th.
SAG-AFTRA is a big union with 160,000 film and TV actors, journalists, radio personalities, recording artists, singers, voice actors, stunt people, and others. They have many of the same demands as WGA and, as of today, there’s a good chance they’ll join the WGA on the picket line.
A third union, the Directors Guild of America (DGA), also authorized a strike but seems to have settled their contract negotiations with AMPTP ahead of time. They secured a 12.5% wage increase over 3 years, 76% more residuals from international syndication, an agreement that AI won’t replace their work, and a ban on live ammunition on set (following the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchinson on the set of Alec Baldwin’s movie, Rust.)
This could be a problem for the WGA. According to Variety, studio execs can use the DGA deal to move forward with pattern bargaining, in which they simply hold out on negotiations with WGA and SAG-AFTRA until they agree to the same general terms of the DGA contract. This is actually how the 2007/8 WGA strike ended.
But movie and TV writers have the public on their side with both unions securing strike authorizations with 98% approval and consistently high social media support. Viewers want their favorite content creators to succeed and continue creating groundbreaking entertainment! So the strike isn’t ending any time soon without concessions from AMPTP.
Food for Thought
Working: What We Do All Day #2
Last time on Human Worker, I reviewed the first 2 episodes of Working: What We Do All Day, a mini-series narrated and starring Barack Obama. The former president met with service workers and middle class Americans to talk about their lives, how (or if) they make enough money to survive, and the opportunities they want in their future.
The remaining 2 episodes give us a glimpse into the lives of knowledge workers and corporate bosses. Each episode follows 3 people but I’m going to focus on 1 from each episode in this newsletter. That being said, the episode 3 interviews with Kenny, a lobbyist in Mississippi trying to help at-home care companies secure more Medicaid funding, is very enlightening. Please watch it to learn more about inequities in Mississippi politics.
Knowledge workers and finding meaning
Just like last time, I’m not going to summarize the show for you. I do want to add some personal color to the episode on knowledge workers since that is, essentially, where I fit into the economy.
I have spent my entire career as a knowledge worker. Even though I was a history major at UC Berkeley, I ended up working in software technology in San Francisco. My skills were mostly centered around interacting with people–sales, customer support, and project management. As Obama points out, these are skills that are hard for AI to take over, at least for now.
But I didn’t learn how to be a builder. I’m not a developer or software engineer. After a year of work, I couldn’t point to something I created. Even when I hit my sales targets, a new quarter started and I was back at zero.
Today, I’m a writer. It definitely makes a difference in my overall wellbeing to have a finished product I can point to at the end of the day. I hope that I’m making a difference, even just a small one, with Human Worker.
I bring this up because Obama focuses on “dream jobs” in episode 3. When you have desirable skills, you have opportunities. You aren’t worried about survival anymore. You have time to ask yourself, what’s next? What am I contributing to the world? He dives into the idea of finding meaning in our work:
“Meaning is a new idea when it comes to work. My generation was the first to look for it but we understood that we need to grind it out first before finding meaning. My daughters’ generation wants meaning from the start.”
The tech industry is always pushing the idea of dream jobs. Work at Google, it’s your dream job. Work at Salesforce, find your dream job here. It definitely requires you to drink the Kool-Aid along the way (or the champagne as we liked to say at Salesforce when I worked there).
But after over a decade working in tech companies, I was spinning my wheels. My work didn’t really matter. I wasn’t making the world a safer, healthier, or more fair place. I was just upselling customers and renewing annual contracts.
In episode 3, we meet Karthik, a senior software engineer who works at a self driving truck company called Aurora. He definitely found meaning in his work because he believed that he was contributing to a safer future for those on the road.
He also understands that he’s in a position of privilege. He has so many opportunities. He travels to a new country every year with his family on vacation. We even join him as he jumps out of a plane in the episode. But he’s also aware that his self value and identity are wrapped up in his job and the approval of others.
He left Aurora during the series to pursue a new opportunity at a smaller company that, he felt, could also bring him meaning. This is the American dream. But for the majority of Americans, especially the ones we met in episodes 1 and 2, it’s only a dream.
The bosses
In episode 4, we meet 3 CEOs. The founder of Aurora, the self driving car company, the CEO of a Mississippi at-home care, and the Chairman of Tata Group Mumbai, the owner of the Pierre Hotel in NYC.
I’m going to focus on Chandra from Tata Group but, again, I recommend watching the episode to get to know the owner of the at-home care company, Jeanette. She pays herself less than $40K a year and still can’t pay her home care workers what they deserve. It’s heartbreaking.
Tata Group is an Indian giant. They build hospitals and cars. They own tea fields and real estate. They are everywhere in India. Chandra is introduced as the ultimate boss at the New York City hotel, The Pierre. We start off by seeing him in meetings talking about efficiency, resiliency, and other corporate buzzwords. We meet his wife and they talk about chia seeds and healthy greens in their diet.
When he sits down with Obama, he changes his focus to what his company can do for the Indian people. He’s insistent that Tata wants to raise 300 million Indians out of poverty and to uphold the concepts of community and democracy. He believes that technology is critical to leveling the economic playing field. But he can’t forget, he still needs to deliver value to shareholders.
Obama asks him about his rise through Tata, starting as a programmer, and how he accomplished this. Chandra answers that he was successful because of the opportunities available to him.
“When I meet people who are successful, and they believe it's because they are better than others, I don't trust them,” says Obama approvingly. I don’t know if I trust Chandra. Of course, I see just one slim view of who he is. He’s quite polished–which you’d expect from a leader of one of the most powerful companies in India.
But he does make some very good points. He says we have a big problem with political polarization and if we don’t address the lack of opportunities for all workers, we’re headed for a long term disaster. Obama agrees, saying:
“People feeling disconnected from the certainties of an old life and not seeing a path to a firm ground in the future. One of the ways that we rebuild a sense of community that makes a democracy work is if people feel they have the dignity of purpose.”
Are we headed for disaster?
Our society doesn’t seem to care about the dignity of our invisible workers. The ones who keep our cities clean, the people that prepare our food in factories, the ones who care for our elderly. Without a culture of respect for the work we all do, can democracy really flourish?
We’ve also created a celebrity CEO culture. We heap praise on billionaires that raise profits for the benefit of shareholders (including small investors like you and I) by underpaying workers and even putting them in dangerous and unhealthy work environments.
It’s an “I'm going to get mine” mindset. If we can’t pivot our values to focus on raising up everyone so they can flourish, not just survive, then Chandra may be right. We’re headed for disaster.
The Lighter Side of Working
I’m quitting antidepressants!
I’ve been on antidepressants for well over a decade; I’ve used anxiety medication for over 4 years. This year I made a big decision. I’m weaning off these drugs entirely. I just don’t need them anymore. Why, you might ask?
First off and to be clear, it wouldn’t be possible without a lot of personal development, therapy, and reframing my mindset about myself and my place in the world around me. But the real reason that I don't need antidepressants anymore…is that I quit working full time for someone else. The day I quit is when things started to change.
I was always on edge in my full time roles. Office politics, having a few managers that used a little bit of fear to get results, threats of layoffs, missed sales targets, and wildly unrealistic expectations were killing my mental health. One wrong move and my career could be on the line. At least, it felt that way. I was constantly anxious.
Here’s the thing, I am not any less stressed today. Self employment is scary and exhilarating. It’s hard and rewarding…mostly hard. But I control my future. I control my reputation. I treat customers the way I want to be treated. My soul feels safer and I have more meaning in my work.
Cue the waterworks
The main drawback of quitting antidepressants? I have a hair trigger for tearing up right now. It’s actually very annoying. Someone is sad in a commercial, I get misty eyed. Someone is celebrating on a tv show, same thing.
I saw the Mario movie a little while ago and when Mario and Luigi said, “nothing can hurt us as long as we’re together”...yup, I teared up a little. It was just so nice! Brotherly love! I started laughing at the ridiculousness of my reaction.
I know I’ll balance out eventually. Until then, I might cry because of something someone says on the radio. Or when I see puppies. But it’s worth it. I don’t need antidepressants and anxiety medicine anymore.