The news that Netflix missed its 2023 second-quarter revenue goals may seem even less relevant to the average working man or woman than a Kardashian’s love life, or for that matter, the Hollywood writers’ and actors’ union strike (WAG and SAG-AFTRA). However, a deeper dive into the matter reveals how the pop culture complex’s continuous disrespect of conservative and traditional values has become the proverbial turning worm and a genuine opportunity for conservatives to regain a portion of the entertainment marketplace most commonly considered forever lost.

First, a look at the current fix in which we find Netflix.

Netflix has been looking for new ways to make money as streaming competition intensifies and it nears market saturation in the United States. The company launched a cheaper tier with advertising last November, and started asking password borrowers to pay in a widespread crackdown that rolled out in May.

The company said it expected revenue growth to accelerate in the second half of the year, adding it aimed to continue to create compelling shows and movies, improve monetization, boost its video game business and make users’ experience better.

The question writes itself as to how Netflix plans to drum up business via “compelling shows and movies” when it is near market saturation, meaning there are precious few new subscribers available regardless of what it throws on the screen. Also, with the writers and actors without whom there are no new shows or movies created — compelling or otherwise — presently on strike, from whence will this new film and TV entertainment come? Unless AI and CGI can kick it up a notch to make new shows and movies out of thin air, there is no product for the pipeline.

It is worth noting that AI and its cousin CGI are critical elements in the current strike. Justine Bateman, most famous for her role as “Mallory” in the 1980s situation comedy “Family Ties” which starred Michael J. Fox, has from her perspective as one who has remained active in the business, albeit behind the camera, spoken directly to the threat of AI replacing human creativity in the entertainment industry.

As a WGA writer, a Directors Guild of America (DGA) director, a former Screen Actors’ Guild (SAG) board member, former SAG negotiating committee member, and coder who holds a UCLA degree in computer science and digital media management, I knew this signaled that they were not only thinking about using AI to displace us, but that they had already begun.

AI stands for Artificial Intelligence, but I refer to it as “Automatic Imitation.” In short, AI is an algorithm that is fed a wealth of information and given a task, and it then delivers the result based on the information it’s been fed. There are more complexities, but that is the basic design and function of AI. And it is being used in the Arts for greed, trained on all our past work.

Snark aside about how it seems the overwhelming majority of content today might as well be AI-generated, as so much of it is rehash and recycled remakes, Bateman’s point is well taken. The primary content creators, i.e. studios, would dearly love nothing more than to pump out maximum profit … er, product at minimal cost to themselves. Doing so by spitting everything out of a machine? So much the better.

It bears mention that in the modern left’s outstanding tradition of eating itself, some on the wrong side of the aisle are railing against the present system and its lopsided profits distribution with the major studios reaping the lion’s share of revenue. Even with the content near-universally slanted in their favor.

It’s difficult to understand how exactly Netflix and its ilk hoped to make money. The only reason television (or most media) exists is because of advertising. There may be subscription fees, but it’s ads that pay the bills. Sure, when Netflix began gobbling up shows from network libraries and offering consumers a world of television at their fingertips with no distracting ads, it seemed like the Eighth Wonder of the Modern World. But when “House of Cards” announced Netflix’s entrance into the business of original scripted television — well, that’s when things got sticky. Streamers want the kind of content that will draw audiences away from those cable bundles, but, as it turns out, they don’t want to pay for it.

What seemed like a boon for writers and actors — so many new series! — was soon revealed as a con. Yes, there was more television being made than ever before, but it was being made in a way that made the professional lives of writers and actors — even those on wildly successful series — more precarious, not less.

No one, aside from the streamers themselves, knows what makes a successful series on streaming. Which is very convenient if you want to avoid paying any sort of residual.

What a shock … liberals are stiffing fellow liberals. And no, strident newspaper columns will not lead to viewers canceling subscriptions as a means of standing with content creators.

The streaming video and film/television industry is in the same scenario as the music industry. The three major record labels are flush with cash from streaming services, while the artists receive a pittance if that much. The streaming services themselves are in a race of doom, heading toward insolvency as they cannot afford to continue operating while attempting to pay out the monies owed, which is a vastly higher sum than revenue brought in from subscriptions and advertisements.

Combine the above with the open disdain major content creators demonstrate toward conservatives and traditional values. Even as they are hemorrhaging red ink, the major studios will not stop insulting vast swaths of their potential audience. They cannot help themselves. They are so addicted to their ideology and utterly convinced of their righteousness that they dismiss the cratering revenue numbers and believe all is well. It isn’t. At least for them.

This is where the opportunity for conservatives and holders of traditional values enters the frame.

Twice this year, we have seen major box office action from films that regular studios would, and in at least one case did, active run from. “Jesus Revolution” was a hit. “Sound of Freedom” is a hit. You would think cash registers running ragged from heavy use would be a sign to even the most progressive studio that since there is good money generated by making films those darn conservatives like, let’s throw them a bone or two. But no. Why go that route when you can have a Hispanic Snow White and seven magical oddballs of every color and sex available just as long as you don’t dare call them dwarfs?

As Jason Aldean has noted in that song everyone is talking about, small-town people take care of their own. So do conservatives. So do Christians. Now is the perfect time for conservatives and believers to crank up the creative process, bypassing the major studios and streaming services. Unlike allegedly conservative politicians who still seek to curry the media’s favor, genuine conservative artists and Christians — especially the latter — know the world hates their guts and always will. So let the world be. Make your own films, shows, and music. Never settle for anything less than top-drawer quality. Create your own streaming channels and distribution networks. Consumers, spend your money on people who don’t belittle you.

How long the strike against Hollywood businesses will last has yet to be determined. That duly noted, whether it ends in a day or goes on for months, now is the time to strike against those who openly despise us by supporting the creative people within our ranks. We can do this for ourselves with a smile as we look at the world and gently remind them how we, the supposed backward rubes of society, make genuine art for which no AI need apply.