原文標(biāo)題：
Hollywood
Lights, camera, industrial action
Making movies and television is not all it’s cracked up to be
好萊塢
燈光、攝像機(jī)、工業(yè)行動(dòng)
制作電影和電視并沒有想象中那么容易

Hollywood’s writers go on strike
好萊塢編劇們大罷工

Editor’s note (May 2nd 2023): On May 1st the Writers Guild of America chose to go ahead with the strike after late talks with American film studios broke down.
編者注（2023年5月2日）：5月1日，與美國(guó)電影公司的后期談判破裂后，美國(guó)編劇工會(huì)選擇繼續(xù)罷工。

[Paragraph 1]

ONE HUNDRED years ago, the hills above Los Angeles got a facelift.A giant sign was erected to advertise a new property development. Its 13 letters, each 43 feet tall, spelled “HOLLYWOODLAND” (“l(fā)and” was later dropped).

100年前，洛杉磯上方的山丘煥然一新。豎了一個(gè)巨大的標(biāo)志來宣傳新的房地產(chǎn)開發(fā)項(xiàng)目。它的有13 個(gè)字母拼寫為“HOLLYWOODLAND”（“LAND”后來被清除），每個(gè)字母高 43 英尺。

The modern movie business was forming at around the same time, as Warner Brothers consolidated power and Walt Disney left Kansas City for Los Angeles.

現(xiàn)代電影業(yè)大約也在同一時(shí)間形成，華納兄弟公司鞏固了權(quán)力，沃爾特.迪斯尼離開堪薩斯城前往洛杉磯。

Yet instead of celebrating its centenary, Hollywood faces upheaval: screenwriters are striking for the first time in 15 years.

然而，好萊塢非但沒有慶祝其百年誕辰，反而面臨劇變：編劇們 15 年來首次罷工。

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Every three years the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, the trade group for the studios, negotiates a new contract with the Writers Guild of America (WGA), the writers’ union.
電影和電視制片人聯(lián)盟（電影公司的貿(mào)易團(tuán)體）每3年就會(huì)與美國(guó)編劇工會(huì)談判簽一次新合同。

This year talks soured as studios and writers grappled with how streaming has upended their business models and working conditions.
今年，由于電影公司和編劇們?cè)谡務(wù)摿髅襟w如何顛覆他們的商業(yè)模式和工作條件時(shí)，雙方談判不太順利。

The WGA voted to strike if negotiations failed. On May 2nd, hours after their contract expired, they downed pens.
如果談判失敗，編劇工會(huì)將投票決定罷工。5月2日，在合同到期數(shù)小時(shí)后，編劇們放下了手中的筆。

Writers wearing matching blue T-shirts and carrying signs with snarky messages (“My pronouns are pay/me”) picketed in front of studios across LA and in New York City.
他們穿著藍(lán)色T恤，手上舉著尖刻的標(biāo)語（"我要漲薪"），在洛杉磯和紐約市的電影公司前游行示威。

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Writers’ complaints boil down to two issues. First is the amount of work on offer.
編劇們的不滿可歸結(jié)為2個(gè)問題。首先是工作量問題。

There were nearly 600 original scripted television shows in 2022, more than ever before. But in the age of streaming, more content does not necessarily mean more work.
2022年有近600部原創(chuàng)劇本電視節(jié)目，比以往任何時(shí)候都多。但在流媒體時(shí)代，更多的內(nèi)容并不一定意味著更多的工作。

Many writers’ rooms—where scribes try to wrangle ideas into scripts—last for fewer weeks and employ fewer writers than in the past.
許多編劇室（編劇討論并將創(chuàng)意轉(zhuǎn)為劇本的地方）的工作時(shí)間比過去少，雇傭的編劇也比過去少。

Inspiring particular ire are “mini rooms”, where a few writers map out several episodes before a show even gets the green light.
令人特別憤怒的是“迷你房間”，幾個(gè)編劇在節(jié)目獲得批準(zhǔn)之前就已經(jīng)在房間里規(guī)劃好了數(shù)集。

“I do think it’s a cost-cutting measure,” says Sean Collins-Smith, a writer on NBC’s cop drama “Chicago PD”.
NBC警匪劇《芝加哥警署》的編劇肖恩.科林斯.史密斯說："我認(rèn)為這是一種削減成本的措施。"

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The second problem lies with “residuals”—what a writer gets paid each time an episode or film they worked on is rebroadcast.
第二個(gè)問題是 "剩余報(bào)酬"--編劇每次在他們參與的劇集或電影被重播時(shí)得到的報(bào)酬。

In the Netflix era, films and TV shows can be rebroadcast on demand.
在網(wǎng)飛時(shí)代，影視劇可以按需重播。

Writers argue that the industry has not yet found a way to equitably adjust their payment system to account for this huge change.
編劇們認(rèn)為，影視行業(yè)尚未找到一種方法來公平調(diào)整其支付系統(tǒng)，以應(yīng)對(duì)這一巨大變化。

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A writers’ strike is felt across Hollywood. When shows stop production, camera people, costume designers and others are also out of work. Late-night talk shows are the first to go dark.
整個(gè)好萊塢都受到編劇罷工的影響。當(dāng)節(jié)目停止制作時(shí)，攝像師、服裝設(shè)計(jì)師和其他人員也會(huì)失業(yè)。深夜脫口秀節(jié)目首先停播。

The Milken Institute, a think-tank in Santa Monica, reckons the previous strike in 2007 and 2008 cost California’s economy $2.1bn.
位于圣莫尼卡的智囊團(tuán)“米爾肯研究所”估計(jì)，2007年和2008年的罷工給加州造成了 21 億美元的經(jīng)濟(jì)損失。

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Striking screenwriters may inspire less sympathy than factory workers who down tools, or even the cash-strapped graduate students who went on strike across California last year.
比起那些放下工具的工廠工人，甚至是與去年在加州各地罷工的手頭拮據(jù)的研究生相比，罷工的編劇可能不太會(huì)引起人們的同情。

“There’s a notion out there of the spoiled, entitled, glitz-and-glam lifestyle of Hollywood writers,” admits Mr Collins-Smith. But “I know people who, when they got out of their last room, immediately started driving for Uber.”
柯林斯.史密斯承認(rèn)：“有一種觀念認(rèn)為好萊塢編劇過著被寵壞的、自命不凡的、浮華的生活。但是，我認(rèn)識(shí)一些人，當(dāng)他們離開編劇室時(shí)，立即開始跑優(yōu)步?！?br>
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Los Angeles is the fourth-most-expensive city in the world, according to an annual cost-of-living survey from EIU, The Economist’s sister company.
根據(jù)經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)人的姐妹公司“經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)人智庫(kù)”的年度生活成本調(diào)查，洛杉磯是世界上第4大生活成本最高的城市。

“You come to LA for the land of opportunity,” says Jake Lawler, a 24-year-old writer who moonlights as a stuntman to make ends meet. “But the peace-of-mind tax is way higher than anywhere else in the country.”
24歲的編劇杰克.勞勒兼職做特技演員以維持生計(jì)，他說："你來洛杉磯是為了尋找機(jī)會(huì)，但這里的安心稅收比國(guó)內(nèi)任何地方都要高得多"。

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For studios, the question is whether the film industry can make money.
對(duì)于電影公司來說，問題的關(guān)鍵是電影業(yè)是否能賺錢。

Before covid-19 shuttered cinemas, theatrical releases accounted for about 45% of a studio’s revenues for a big-budget film, according to FTI Consulting.
根據(jù)FTI咨詢公司的數(shù)據(jù)，在疫情關(guān)閉電影院之前，影院票房約占制片廠大制作電影收入的 45%。

Americans are again going to the movies, but not in pre-pandemic numbers.
美國(guó)人又開始去看電影了，但沒有疫情前的人多。

The streamers are also hunting for profits. Netflix laid off hundreds of workers in 2022 after it lost subscribers for the first time since 2011, and the firm recently said it would restructure its film department to focus on fewer, better flicks.
流媒體公司也在尋找利潤(rùn)。自2011年以來首次用戶數(shù)量下降后，網(wǎng)飛在2022年解雇了數(shù)百名員工，該公司最近表示，它將重組其電影部門，專注于少而美的電影。

“There’s going to be a precipitous drop in investments in movies in general, because it’s just hard to make a profit,” warns Howard Suber, who taught film at the University of California, Los Angeles for 45 years.
在加州大學(xué)洛杉磯分校教了45年電影的霍華德.蘇伯警告說：“總體而言，電影方面的投資將會(huì)急劇下降，因?yàn)樗茈y盈利?！?br>
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In some ways, the writers’ strike and the business-model woes are what Hollywood is accustomed to.
在某些方面，編劇們罷工和商業(yè)模式困境是好萊塢習(xí)以為常的事情。

“Every five to ten years there’s some kind of crisis, going back to the introduction of sound,” says Mr Suber with a chuckle.
蘇伯笑著說："每隔五到十年就會(huì)出現(xiàn)某種危機(jī)，這一現(xiàn)象甚至可以追溯到引入電影聲音的時(shí)代?！?br>
Hollywood is celebrating its century the only way it knows how: chaotically.
好萊塢在慶祝它的百年歷史，唯一的方式就是混亂地慶祝。

（恭喜讀完，本篇英語詞匯量797左右）
原文出自：2023年5月6日《The Economist》United States版塊

精讀筆記來源于：自由英語之路

本文翻譯整理: Irene

本文編輯校對(duì): Irene
僅供個(gè)人英語學(xué)習(xí)交流使用。

【補(bǔ)充資料】（來自于網(wǎng)絡(luò)）
電影和電視制片商聯(lián)盟（Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers，簡(jiǎn)稱AMPTP）是一個(gè)貿(mào)易組織，代表主要的電影和電視制片商與娛樂業(yè)工會(huì)進(jìn)行談判。該組織于1982年由電影制片商協(xié)會(huì)和電視制片商協(xié)會(huì)合并而成。集體談判主要是工資、勞動(dòng)條件、版稅以及醫(yī)療保險(xiǎn)福利等問題進(jìn)行。此外，該組織還倡導(dǎo)親業(yè)界的立法，并在知識(shí)產(chǎn)權(quán)保護(hù)和為電影和電視制作提供稅收優(yōu)惠等方面代表其成員進(jìn)行游說。

美國(guó)編劇工會(huì)（The Writers Guild of America，縮寫為WGA）是一個(gè)代表美國(guó)電影、電視、廣播和新媒體編劇的工會(huì)。該工會(huì)成立于1933年，旨在保護(hù)編劇的權(quán)益和利益。WGA負(fù)責(zé)與制片商進(jìn)行集體談判，以確保編劇們獲得合理的收入和權(quán)益，例如版稅、獎(jiǎng)金、退休金、保險(xiǎn)等。該工會(huì)還通過行業(yè)研究和統(tǒng)計(jì)數(shù)據(jù)來支持編劇們的利益，同時(shí)還鼓勵(lì)和促進(jìn)創(chuàng)作自由和藝術(shù)創(chuàng)新。在歷史上，WGA曾多次組織編劇罷工，以爭(zhēng)取更好的工作條件和收入。這些罷工期間，許多電影和電視制作項(xiàng)目遭到延遲或取消。盡管如此，WGA仍然是一個(gè)強(qiáng)大的工會(huì)，它為成員爭(zhēng)取權(quán)益和保護(hù)編劇創(chuàng)意自由做出了巨大貢獻(xiàn)。

剩余報(bào)酬Residuals，是指電影、電視節(jié)目或其他媒體作品的創(chuàng)作者在制作公司以及其他收入來源獲得的經(jīng)濟(jì)補(bǔ)償。這些補(bǔ)償通常是為了支付劇本編寫人員、導(dǎo)演、演員和其他創(chuàng)作人員在作品播出后的再次使用權(quán)。通常，residuals的數(shù)額是基于作品的利潤(rùn)進(jìn)行計(jì)算的。例如，如果一部電影賺了100萬美元的凈利潤(rùn)，那么編劇可能會(huì)從制片方拿到0.3%-1.5%的residuals。這些數(shù)字通常需要通過談判和協(xié)議來確定，并且與不同類型的創(chuàng)作人員有所不同。

【重點(diǎn)句子】（3個(gè)）
Yet instead of celebrating its centenary, Hollywood faces upheaval: screenwriters are striking for the first time in 15 years.
然而，好萊塢非但沒有慶祝其百年誕辰，反而面臨劇變：編劇們 15 年來首次罷工。

The second problem lies with “residuals”—what a writer gets paid each time an episode or film they worked on is rebroadcast.
第二個(gè)問題是 "剩余報(bào)酬"--編劇每次在他們參與的劇集或電影被重播時(shí)得到的報(bào)酬。

Striking screenwriters may inspire less sympathy than factory workers who down tools, or even the cash-strapped graduate students who went on strike across California last year.
比起那些放下工具的工廠工人，甚至是與去年在加州各地罷工的手頭拮據(jù)的研究生相比，罷工的編劇可能不太會(huì)引起人們的同情。