Creative workers are the backbone of a massive global industry.
They’re regularly exploited, abused, and discarded. They operate without a safety net. The last 20-years we’ve seen their major revenue streams gutted by greedy media giants and ruthless global expansion. Unions attacked, royalty destroyed, publishing gutted, rights stripped away, wages stagnant.
C-19 has absolutely decimated creative workers. It’s impossible to get unemployment, loans, or any kind of stimulus. We’re on our own with our meager savings. Some of us don’t even have that and are standing on bread lines.
I’ve watched this deteriorate for twenty years. It’s reached a killing ground for creative careers. It’s always the same. In return for the opportunity to use your creativity you’re expected to inhale massive hours of crunch time for low wage returns. And mostly we put up with it. The great game. The killer show. The big stage. Recognition. Like you can eat a gold statue.
So please, don’t dismiss unions as unreasonable. Don’t ignore royalty streams for the talent that toils for you. Don’t flee to the corners of the earth where you get something done for a quarter of the price.
We built a century of protections for creative workers. It worked. It created a massive industry of talent. Respect it.