Ken Cole here. We are in front of the Fox Studios and with me is John Hurwitz, one of the co-creators of Cobra Kai.
It's an honor to be here. And John, so I know a lot of fans are wondering what's going on, like
what is the strike? You know, why are writers striking right now? And what would you say to fans?
First of all, I would say to fans, thank you for your love and support of Cobra Kai.
We love this show as much as you do. We're eager to get back to it. And season six is going to be
amazing. We hate to have to have a little break from it right now. It's not just
about us, it's about the industry as a whole. You know, as the times have changed
in the in the last 20 years or more, you know, when there's new video and there
were DVDs, there was, you know, the studio said to figure out how they're
continuing to pay people for their work. With streaming, it's a whole elevated way
where you know you have a show you put your you know a whole team of people
works really really hard on it for a long time. It used to be that you make
money up front you make some money you know down the road as well as it's as
it's re-aired every time you would see a rerun of a sitcom on television a writer
would get paid actors would get paid people in the industry who put their
blood sweat and tears into the project they would all get paid over and over
again when it would go on DVD they would get paid everybody was making money as the studios
made money what's going on right now which is then the problem is with the with uh with
streaming in particular a show's on there and they have a very low level uh model in
which people uh creators writers, reformers act everybody uh has a limit to how much they
can make while the streamers themselves are making constant money, constant subscribers,
constant people watching the show. So a show like Cobra Kai, which you guys have made a giant hit,
the studios are making money forever on it. But the rest of us who've worked really hard on it
end up kind of high and dry in the long run. And it's not about looking for more money than
you would typically get in the past. It's really just making the business be similar to how it was
in the past, where if you're contributing something that's making people money, then you see the money
as well. So that's one element of it. But that's just one of the major issues that are being talked
about in the writer's strike. Beyond that, there's concerns about AI, for example. That's something
that you've probably heard about. And AI is coming, there's no secret with that. But people
at the studios are looking for any way to pay people less and to have greater
ownership of things. So there's talk of internally at a studio they have come up
with an idea and they have AI do the early drafts of stuff so that the studio
owns the property, there's no creator involved, and then they hire one or two
writers to come in and sort of polish up work that you know that the machine is
doing. And you know we don't have our heads in the sand, we recognize that
that there's constant progress in society and technology, but you're not
making a show like Cobra Kai with AI. You need a group of writers in a room, you
need people who are creating it, and then you need people who are a group of
writers working with each other to add that complexity that people fall in love
with. The fresh storylines, the more sophisticated elements of the story that
keep people coming back, those are things that are a lot harder for a machine to do.
So that's one of the elements that we're fighting for, to keep the job of a screenwriter there.
So when my children, if they want to be screenwriters in the future, or anyone's children, that
it's still an opportunity.
It's still something that isn't just a limited job for limited people.
Oh, we got here.
Oh, wow.
Come on in here.
One second.
Hello.
Hi.
How's it going?
Hi.
You may recognize Alicia from the show.
She's much friendlier in person than Kim Dae-un is.
(laughing)
I don't know if you've met Ken Cole.
- Haven't yet.
Wonderful to meet you.
Yes, amazing performance, amazing.
- It's Bastian Beavs-Uddenby.
- I'm the husband.
- But he's also an amazing actor
and a big supporter of everything we're doing.
And it's not just about WGA, it's about Stack.
- Really is about, you know,
really supporting our sister unions.
It's always unbelievably important for all our unions
and without the rights of we wouldn't do anything.
The word is the most important.
Then comes the actors.
Then the directors.
(laughing)
- The directors, where are the directors?
- It's not an art action.
I'm with you, I'm with you.
But yeah, so this is, Ken does a lot of content
for the Copacab community.
- Yes, yes.
Oh, it's my pleasure. It's amazing to cover such an amazing show.
Yeah.
Go John!
[laughs]
Josh, big hurry man!
[laughs]
Yes.
Awesome, bro. I'll let you guys continue there.
Thank you! Thanks for saying hi. Bye.
So, John, let me ask you. A lot of fans, you know, they see the show, they love the show.
They see the amazing performances. They see the amazing stunt sequences.
But what is it that a writer does for a show like Cobra Kai?
Okay, so this is a really good question because, you know, I keep up with the fandom a little bit
and I know that there was concern about like their filming and people were excited that they're
filming still without us there. And the truth of the matter is, not only are we creating the show
in the writer's room and working with our writers in the writer's room, but every single day in
production all day long we're working on on improving what's on the page
collaborating there's the magic that happens on set when it's not just the
writers and the directors and the actors everyone on the team is swimming in the
same direction we're all collaborating it's our our custom designer Frank
Helmer comes and he's like I got this great idea for a t-shirt that has this
on it and we as the writers are contributing and again tweaking a lot
you know the words on one of Dimitri's shirts or something like that or we're
on set every time we're filming a scene there will be a rehearsal at first and
pretty much every single scene that we've ever done on the show we'll watch
a rehearsal we'll be there we'll come up with an extra line we'll be like you
know what that line isn't working right let's adjust the line a little bit
sometimes some improv happens there and we're making adjustments to the script
every single day we're usually collaborating with our actors who are coming up with questions
and things like that and saying, "Hey, maybe we do a little something here. I'm feeling
this. What's the intent here? Can I say this?" Or, "I want this to be clear," and then we
come up with something and we're constantly issuing new drafts of the scripts throughout
production. Now that's not to say I'm not trying to scare everybody. Episode one, which
is filmed in season six, is going to be great. It's going to be fine. It's an episode that
We all, we put a lot of focus into, we were there prepping with Joel who was directing for us.
We prepped with the department heads because all that was right before the strike.
They filmed without us, it was a tough thing, all the actors on set, it was tough for them, it was tough for Joel.
Worst case scenario, we watched the episode and we're trying to piece it together in the editing room and we're missing something.
We'll pick things up. We'll fix it anything that's not working. We'll be able to fix in the long run
But that that worked for one episode
Why we were thrilled for them to shut down after that was because if you keep making more and more episodes
And you don't have writers on set then you're in a situation where?
There's more problems that could go on and then suddenly it's like I don't need one day of reshooting or additional photography
Now I need three now I need six now that and that's a lot of money that goes into this into the productions
Budget and then we come out on the other side of this they're gonna be like, okay
You have your budget and now we're in a situation where they've lost a bunch of money
And now we have to spend a lot more money on this and that which makes the show worse in the long run
Because if we're spending money on reshoots that we're not spending money on other things that would make the show better
So a writer's job is not just in the writers room. It's not just the scripts
It's every single decision that gets made on the show for Hayden Josh and I as the showrunners. We're making
Hundreds of decisions a day and there are and there are things that when they were filming that first episode
We were not making those decisions and he would speak to you know
When they finished filming we were speaking to Joel and it's like it was tough for him or speaking to the actors
it was tough for them because there were times where they would typically come to us and
These are all people who worked on the show for a while and we trust them and we know that they made the best decision
than I could, but it's no substitute for the collaboration
of writers and the entire team on a television series.
- Wow, wonderful.
Well, so we know we're on pause right now
with the season six.
What would you say to fans right now,
as far as there being a delay when it's actually released
and then also how worth it it will be
for that wait to happen?
- Well, first of all,
we don't know where the delay is gonna be yet.
That's something that we'll find out
when the strike is over.
None of us wanna be strike.
Let's be very clear, as fun as this is,
we get to see a lot of our friends walking by.
We got a pretzel truck today, you know,
and there's a camaraderie that you enjoy here,
but that's all, we're all like, you know,
using this as a distraction from our sorrows
'cause right now we're not doing what we love doing.
What we live for is making the show
and making the content that we do.
None of us wanna be here, but it's worth it because,
it's worth it for us and worth it for the fans
because not only will it lead to better content
on Cobra Kai going forward as the writers all get back,
but greater content motivated writers
who are able to earn a living.
Like if you're not able to earn a living,
then you're not gonna have as many people writing good content.
You're not gonna have as many people who could pursue these jobs going forward.
- Right. - So, you know, it's about the livelihood of the people who are commuting
and contributing to the work that you love.
Now, it will be worth the wait.
When we are finished, we've been already working in the writer's room.
We've planned our season in the broad strokes.
We have several outlines.
We have several scripts.
We have lots planned and our brains never turn off.
We're always thinking about where things are gonna go
on the other side of it.
And as soon as we're done with the strike,
we'll get back at it.
And it's gonna have a motivated, excited,
unified group of people who feel like
they're putting in the work and being appreciated
for the work that they're doing.
- That's absolutely amazing.
And I can't wait.
I know I can't wait.
And I wanna thank you so much for answering these questions.
And I know it means a lot to all the fans
and I know a lot of we're with you.
We know how good the show is.
We know how important it is to have amazing content.
And so thank you for talking with us.
- It's my pleasure and thank you for being here.
No mercy.
- No mercy.
(upbeat music)