Thread by @jonrog1

1/ The mad thing is, we wouldn’t even be in the WGA/ATA situation if the agencies had been 10% less greedy and 10% smarter. Just a few less stories where writers were TOLD by the agent all the wanted was the package, using outside voice instead of inside voice.

2/ just a few less “our overhead is SO HIGH” speeches delivered RIGHT AFTER buying a new brand new building, less IPO and “strategic partnership” chatter.

3/ of the agencies had said “we’ll change it so we only get packaging if the majority of the salaries booked is for our clients” or any other reasonable metric, this would’ve collapsed in a week.

But this is the arc of capitalism — a cluster of smart people aggregate information and power and work really efficiently until they hit critical mass and transform into a big dumb simple-minded Corporation. Like a smart little caterpillar turning into a lumbering hippo-butterfly

5/5 In the end the Agencies forgot (or never learned) one of my favorite quotes for the 21st Century, by the Emperor Tiberius:

“It is the duty of a good shepherd to shear his sheep, not to skin them.”