Exploit or Be Exploited

In the creative economy, it is more profitable to be a dead creator than a living working writer. Or that is the lesson learned from the lawsuit the Michael Crichton estate filed against The Pitt. Crichton, who earned a quarter of a billion dollars for his contribution to the NBC show ER -- his contribution being a film script that was later adapted by someone else into a network pilot -- while the actual writers, actors, and crew made considerably less. Jessa and Nico talk about the writers who filed suit against AI, why Basquiat is in his most prolific era yet (37 years after his death), and the curse of the Frida Kahlo Barbie doll. Shownotes and references: http://theculturewedeserve.substack.com