Are you mad about your favorite series on streamers being removed like Close Enough or Infinity Train? I get it. Those series, however unlikely when you note the fact that neither was ranked as the most popular series as of 2021 among all streamers, were quality outputs from creators JG Quintel and Owen Dennis. Here’s a few things that streamers are just now realizing when it comes to the type of content that is suitable for a streaming service:
1)TV-Y7 Content Does NOT Sell
TV-Y7 content doesn’t sell on streamers, especially if it’s made in America. TV-G content does OK, but only if there’s enough of a subscriber base to help buoy the content. That’s why Netflix kinda doesn’t care if UK’s Moonbug Entertainment streams Cocomelon on both Youtube and Netflix, really having that franchise on the streamer is a matter of convenience which is why it does well. Moreover, the series has a billion dollar merch arm and is largely made in other countries, though Moonbug does use LA producers, just because, there are so many of them and they have enough cash to pay for the output. Why is this? Well, TV-G content is largely put on by parents of children as a fun activity to keep kids occupied while Mommy and Daddy do anything else. As an uncle to a now four-year-old, I can’t tell you how many temper tantrums have subsided JUST by feverishly finding the little one’s tablet and putting on whatever the hell is most convenient as fast as you can. On the other hand, TV-Y7 content is usually only popular on social channels, the problem with that, kids at this age are starting to make choices and given that most social channels require you to be age 13 to sign up, there’s no way for that particular age group really can find out about that content. When kids turn 13, and become teenagers, they will never/very rarely see ads targeting them for content being geared towards TV-Y7 because when you buy ads on social channels, you only have so much budgeted allotted to the target audience you’re SUPPOSED to get, let alone a whole ‘nother demographic. And let me tell you, TV marketing budgets for animation are already slim.
2) Quarter-hour series make no sense on streamers.
The reason why we have quarter-hour television is largely due to Adult Swim single-handedly making the format popular. Close Enough and Infinity Train both were quarter-hour series meant for a Cartoon Network that has a built-in audience that was already tailored to this watching lifestyle. Recall, Close Enough had a nightmare of a time in just getting premiered that we have documented a thousand times over. The format, other than for some sort of anthology series, does not suit well for streaming services. Quibi’s failed attempt at doing just this exact business model should have been a warning.
3) Animation Unions have exhibited cult-ish behaviors towards streaming networks.
I’m not a union guy, but I’m also not an anti-union guy if that makes any sense. I’m of a mindset that unions are an outdated way to get what you want, and if I were part of a union, I’d hate to do more work than the person next to me, and I get paid the same amount of money. I’d like to think that my skill-set, my time, and my perceived value to a company are the reasons why I get a check…not because some union representative who doesn’t even know me or my financial situation is able to negotiate on my behalf what THEY think is a fair wage. By the way, what does a “fair wage” even mean? Does anybody have the number on that? Does everyone for TAG or SAG or whatever have the EXACT same costs and bills to pay?
The problem is even when you ask these questions, you are perceived as anti-union. But, here’s the deal. Streaming networks are run by businesses that need to turn a profit. I can tell you, as a person who owns a web company, having overhead that includes server fees(these guys are fucking assholes), employees, and costs to create content, it’s NOT fun having to do this in an unprofitable manner. These streamers have to pay for costs that are even far exceeding mine, IT departments, anti-piracy prevention, acquisition of content, it’s expensive. So, I can understand when someone comes along and says, “only keep the stuff that is making me money”. At the end of the day, union fees are a cost, and if those costs are rising, what’s a way to get rid of those costs?
Successful businesses aren’t charities, that’s what people like Adam Conover don’t understand because he’s never run a business in his life. There’s also this perception that unions like TAG and WGA should be almost a preferred source for talent by streamers, and will often lament the fact that streamers will try and find indie developers of content and other professionals who are just looking to break in as TV writers or animators or voice actors. Union-affiliated producers want companies to pay for a union-brand, not necessarily by skill-set or talent. Case and point, look at this ridiculous thread by BoJack Horseman’s Raphael Bob-Waksberg:
I want to underline this point: The network would rather lose me as a producer (the producer with the most actual experience in animation) than pay the show’s writers a fair wage. If I couldn’t get it done, what hope does a first-time showrunner have?
— Raphael Bob-Waksberg (@RaphaelBW) August 3, 2022
Hey Raph, you’re not special, that’s what the network is saying when they don’t pick up your series. Thousands of pitches are rejected on a daily basis, and networks could definitely go out and get producers that have just as good if not better pitches than you that can be made more affordably. The fact that you wanted to include a WGA-affiliated team and therefore that caused your show to not get picked up, is a moot point. Again it’s the streamer’s prerogative to be profitable, if you are a producer bringing a potentially unprofitable pitch to the table, you’re doing it wrong.
But note Raph’s “the streamer is anti-union” bit here. First of all, we don’t even know if this story is true and can very well be hearsay and very much in line with former roommate’s Adam Conover’s “mergers are bad” mentality. The irony is, Conover became famous as a result of a non-union/ultimately unprofitable CollegeHumor channel. With Raph’s take, Adam would never have gotten a break to get on TV to begin with. A streamer, or any network for that matter, shouldn’t be picking up shows on whether or not a union is affiliated, they should be picking up unique content that offers something of creative viability. Clearly Raph’s pitch didn’t.
Likewise, Infinity Train creator Owen Daniel posted a rather long newsletter detailing his discontent with HBO MAX’s recent cancel decisions. That said, Owen seemed more annoyed about the fact that the royalties won’t be funding his healthcare anymore than whether or not his show will survive. That said, look, a streamer doesn’t have to keep your show on it’s real estate that it’s paying for. If nobody is watching the show, I can see why the streamer would want to remove it.
Also, let’s talk about the healthcare and pay thing for a minute here in America. Let’s say tomorrow, Joe Biden executive orders universal basic income and medicare for all on a federal level, does that remove the need to be unionized? Because, now everybody gets healthcare regardless of where they work, AND, I’m getting cash to help buoy my financial situation. Something to think about.
4) The tech is catching up to Hollywood, and that’s scary for established producers of animation.
Right now, with Ai, i can produce voice over, images (the precursor of animation), and even scripts. With Zoom, networks and streamers no longer HAVE to take content from just the very expensive Beverly Hills, and instead open the doors to international productions, independent producers, and voice acting studios that can literally just be closets at home. The tech is here to change this industry, and the TAGS and WGAs of the world feature a number of producers that are afraid for their professional lives. This is why Hollywood producers are very anti web3 (i.e. XR/Crypto-productions), not because there’s a perceived climate adverse reaction (if that were true, Adam Conover would not have been so anti-Musk for a number of years), but because Hollywood is always the last to catch up to any major technical advances. We’ve seen this with the death of retailers like Tower Records, and Hollywood music’s slow reaction to music streaming that is really just now getting profitable again.
5) I DO have one request for the networks and streamers.
Give back the IP’s I don’t care if you are a TV network or a streamer, if you aren’t doing anything with an intellectual property and have no plans to, that company should legally revert the rights back to it’s creator and allow that creator to shop that project elsewhere. It’s a concept that DOES work. Tuca & Bertie got a second life on Adult Swim. Futurama is getting a second life on Hulu. Manifest is getting a second life on Netflix. A producer like Olan Rogers should absolutely get the right to finish his Final Space quest elsewhere if WarnerMedia doesn’t want it anymore. If you are a streamer and you remove that content from TV and streaming and, in Final Space’s case, e-tailers, the rights for that series should potentially go somewhere else with no restrictions.