friday cool/dumb shit v7

writers, writing, and where we'd be without it + them

A LOT of dumb shit happened this week that I want to ignore for the day because FRIYAY. Am I the only one who thinks FRIYAY is mildly annoying?

I penned (lol as if I use pens anymore) something about the writer’s strike yesterday after listening to a very moving podcast and then consuming some excellent tv this week. And because it’s timely, I decided to change up the listicle this week to accommodate myself. I am SO accommodating!

Because of the theme, this will be the first ever pay-walled newsletter. I’ll give you a teaser because this is America and we love a teaser, and then you gotta pay if you want to see the rest, mmk? Annual subscriptions are 20% off, so ya welcome, bish.

it’s not a listicle!

The writer’s strike has been going on now for I’m not entirely sure how long - I think 19 days today. I haven’t been following too closely nor do I know the details of what the writers are asking for - more money, obviously, but idk look it up. 

The thing I HAVE been doing is watching LOTS of great television. You know who makes great television possible? WRITERS. We see every year at the Oscars and Emmy’s and etc. awards shows that tv and movie production takes a TON of people, and it’s one of the great examples of all the tiny jobs done by a tiny army of people that come together to make a fantastic piece of art possible. Or at least, a piece of art. Level of fantasticism tbd by consumers and The Academy (gotta say it with a hoity toity accent or it doesn’t work).

What I’ve been noticing in the past 2 weeks of my show consumption is that the spoken words are so good, the dialogue is moving, the sequencing and emotion in the story so profound and resonant. And WRITERS make that happen. Directors bring the vision together, the actors bring the facial expressions and physical manifestation of the written script, the casting directors choose the perfect face of the fictional characters. Actors get all the notoriety because they’re all idk more beautiful than average or something. But it all starts with the writing. NONE of it is possible without writers.

We’re moving quickly towards more and more AI in our lives. Some of it is really cool, useful, helpful, contributing to the betterment of society, even! But as with any technological advance, the bad comes with the good. And the bad to me seems a bit unfathomable at the moment. 

One thing that is obvious though, is that AI will be a cheap and fast way to replace some of our most talented artists who product the entertainment and beauty that we consume. Sure you’re vegging on the sofa binging Netflix garbage and this is a thing we say about time we are spending in an unproductive manner. But someone WROTE that show that you’re so engrossed in! Someone made that shit up! From nothing! They are probably thrilled you’re consuming it, even if you think of it as a not-great way to spend time. I continue to be more and more impressed and like, eyes wide open, I guess, to how much talent there is out there, in these dumb little binge-able shows that we’re all so obsessed with. Some may call them time wasters, but they’re also ART.