On the one hand, I agree with you in principle. The problem is, for better or worse, movies are a business

I was very conflicted during the strike in Hollywood. I do appreciate everything the guilds had to go through and I understand their struggle. The problem is, the public tends to view everything as entertainment - something to be consumed. And as much as I agree with you that films and TV are an art, they are also a business. No one on a film or TV set is working for free. It doesn't help matters that there are so many businesses around Hollywood to make us forget that it is a business and actually art. And I hate to tell you this, but the actors in particular are compliant in this. In 2019 Scarlet Johansen did publicity tours for Avengers:Endgame, Jojo Rabbit and Marriage Story. She treated all three films as if they were equivalent. The lie that all actors tell themselves - and sadly too many directors - is that from the moment they start working in Hollywood, they tell all of us that they are not employees in the traditional sense. They are artists and everything they create or do is art. And critics have forgotten that it is a business first and everything else second.

I hate to tell you this I real do - but since its founding cinema has always been a commodity. Movies do not get made for nothing and they aren't made solely for amateur enjoyment. They've allways been a for profit enterprise. My fellow critics have done a great job convincing people otherwise - they may even believe it themselves - but it's a business. And the thing is, you artists can't have it both ways. You can't claim its an art form when you're doing PR tours for projects and a job when you don't think you're getting paid adequately.

You want to know what it would take to respect filmmakers. Every interview a director or writer must tell us how much they got back to their film. We need to know what the stars of films are getting paid. And your final statement is wrong: film can be both a domestic comfort to be effortlessly consumed AND a work of art to be inspired by. It just depends from what perspective you take.