by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"
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ENTERTAINMENT AND CULTURE NEWS:
MOVIES - From Deadline: Oscar-winning legend, Michael Caine, is retiring again. He says that his upcoming film, "The Great Escaper," is his final film before retiring.
MOVIES/TRAILERS - From Deadline: Saban Films has released a trailer for Amber Heard's first film since 2021. Entitled "In the Fire," the film is set in late 19th century Columbia and finds a New York doctor (played by Heard) taking on misogyny, small-town superstition, and maybe the Devil.
TECH - From Variety: Indian actor Anil Kapoor ("Slumdog Millionaire) has won a landmark judgement against artificial intelligence (AI). He had filed a suit in the Delhi High Court through his lawyer Ameet Naik for protection of his personality rights including his name, image, likeness, voice and other attributes of his personality against any misuse including on digital media. The suit also provided various instances of misuse of his attributes.
TELEVISION - From Deadline: AMC has renewed its crime drama, "Dark Winds," for a third season, just a few weeks after the second season concluded. The third season is scheduled to arrive in early 2025, instead of Summer 2024, likely because of the ongoing strikes.
ANIMATION - From Deadline: FXX's animated series, "Archer," which is now in its 14th and final season, will also air on the cable network, FX. Customers of the Spectrum cable service had lost access to FXX.
BOX OFFICE - From BoxOfficePro: The winner of the 9/15 to 917/2023 weekend box office is Warner Bros.'s "The Nun II" with an estimated take of 14.7 million dollars.
TELEVISION - From Deadline: HBO has cancelled the acclaimed series, "Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty," after two seasons.
TIFF - From Deadline: Director Cord Jefferson's film, "American Fiction," has won "The People's Choice" award at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival. The film, starring Jeffrey Wright, is a satire of the American publishing industry its treatment of serious works by Black authors.
MUSIC/FILM - From RollingStone: Oscar-winning director Martin Scorsese offers a tribute to his friend and collaborator, Robbie Robertson, the Canadian singer-songwriter, musician, and recording artist who died this past August (2023).
AI - From Deadline: English actor, comedian, and writer, Stephen Fry, says that he has discovered that a historical documentary is using an AI version of his voice as the film's narrator - without his permission.
STREAMING - From Deadline: Peacock has released a trailer for "John Carpenter's Suburban Screams." John Carpenter, the director of "Halloween" and "The Fog," returns to the director’s chair for the first time in 13 years with this six-episode unscripted horror anthology series. It premieres Friday, October 13, on Peacock and is an exploration of true tales of terror that took place in seemingly perfect American hometowns.
OBITS:
From Deadline: Television director and producer, Stan Harris, has died at the age of 92, Monday, September 18, 2023. Harris was known for directing and producing live and recorded television specials for recording artists such as David Bowie, Bob Dylan, and Dolly Parton, to name a few. His TV episodes and events for Jack Benny, Milton Berle, George Burns, and the Smother Brothers, to name a few. He received three Primetime Emmy Award nominations for his work.
From Deadline: American television and soap opera actor, Billy Miller, has died at the age of 43, Friday, September 15, 2023. He was best known for his roles on the ABC soap, "General Hospital" and CBS' "The Young and the Restless." Miller had received six Daytime Emmy Award nominations and won three of them.
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WRITERS/ACTORS STRIKE:
From Deadline: A meeting between leading television showrunners, including Kenya Barris and Noah Hawley, and WGA leadership has been cancelled.
From Deadline: The actors’ strike is now in its 63rd day. Now, SAG-AFTRA leaders are ramping up their rhetoric against the studio heads, accusing them in the latest issue of the "SAG-AFTRA Magazine" of “behaving like petty tyrants,” “would-be feudal lords” and “land barons in feudal times.”
From Deadline: Sony Pictures Entertainment CEO Tony Vinciquerra says that Hollywood unions need to embrace AI.
From Deadline: The AMPTP says that the Writers Guild's claims that their is division in the ranks of the studios about the strike are false.
From Deadline: The WGA (Writers Guild of America) told its members Friday (Sept. 8th) that despite the united front the streamers and studios (via the AMPTP) have shown in public during the guild’s 130-day strike, several of the legacy companies privately have expressed “both the desire and willingness to negotiate an agreement that adequately addresses writers’ issues.”
From Deadline: Warner Bros. Discovery boss David Zaslav says the industry must focus and fight to resolve the writers and actors strikes.
From Deadline: The writers of MTV’s "Ridiculousness" are coming closer to being unionized. The show’s writing team, which was behind over 230 episodes last year, has been going through the process to unionize over the last few months, hoping to join the WGA.
From THR: As talks with the Writers Guild of America stall, the studio trade association, AMPTP, has retained D.C.-based firm, The Levinson Group, to pursue a fresh messaging strategy.
From Deadline: Regarding the Hollywood writers strike, the AMPTP (representing the studios) released the details of a proposed labor agreement that it made to the WGA (the Writers Guild) on August 11th.
From Deadline: A pair of former production assistants-turned-assistant directors have created a nonprofit in hopes of providing financial aid to PAs (production assistants) who’ve been put out of work due to the strike.
From Deadline: Writers Guild (WGA) and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) will resume strike talks today, Fri., Aug. 11th.
From Deadline: Meeting for the first time in more than three months, the Writers Guild and the AMPTP on Friday failed to reach an agreement to resume contract negotiations. The Writers Strike will go on indefinitely.
From Deadline: Hollywood’s superstars are answering the call from the SAG-AFTRA Foundation, donating $1 million or more each to help their fellow performers during the ongoing actors and writers strikes. Among the big donors are Leonardo DiCaprio, Meryl Streep, Oprah Winfrey, and Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively.
From Deadline: If you are interested, here is a list of the film and TV productions SAG-AFTRA has granted waivers to continue filming.
From Variety: International superstar, Dwayne Johnson, makes a seven-figure contribution to the "SAG-AFTRA Foundation Relief Fund." Foundation president, actor Courtney B. Vance, says the amount will remain confidential.
From Variety: Why haven't A-list stars joined the SAG-AFTRA picket line?, asks "Variety."
From Deadline: Author George R.R. Martin, whose works were the basis for HBO's "Game of Thrones," says the strikes will be long and bitter.
From THR: Production works at Warner Bros. Animation (66) and at Cartoon Network (22) have gone public with their attempt to unionize via The Animation Guild.
From Variety: Halted film productions due to the writers and actors strikes are costing each Hollywood studio at least 600,000 dollars per week.
From Variety: Said at a strike meeting: “Without a transformative change in SAG-AFTRA’s current contract with the AMPTP, the acting profession will no longer be an option for future generations of performers, and actors already working in the industry will need to pursue other careers in order to survive.”
From Deadline: If you are a "social media influencer" who is NOT a member of SAG-AFTRA, you can be barred from future membership for promoting a film or television series during the actors' strike.
From Variety: The SAG/AFTRA strike begins in New York and Los Angeles. Hollywood actors began striking today, Fri., July 14th.
From Deadline: The site has the video of the powerful strike speech given by SAG-AFTRA president, Fran Drescher, the actress best known for CBS' former sitcom, "The Nanny."
From Deadline: Concerning the Hollywood writers strike (via the WGA), the Hollywood Studios (as represented by the AMPTP) is to let the writers go broke before resuming talks deep into the Fall.
From Deadline: SAG-AFTRA is already preparing strike picket signs in case the actors' strike begins next week.
From Deadline: WGA is picketing the New York City filming location of the 12th series of FX's "American Horror Story" (entitled "Delicate") after series co-creator Ryan Murphy threaten litigation against an east coast strike captain.
From THR: TV super-producer, Ryan Murphy, in a letter from his attorney to the leadership of the Writers Guild of America, threatened litigation against Warren Leight, an East Coast strike captain and Strike Rules Compliance Committee member who has subsequently forfeited those positions.
From Deadline: The Hollywood studios via the AMPTP has given Canadian actors a new contract, including a 5 percent raise.
From Deadline: Writers Strike puts the spotlight back on the challenge from writers for animation productions to be covered by the WGA.
From THR: Studios won't give writers better pay, and now, are laying off janitors.
From Deadline: The Directors Guild of America (DGA) has reached a tentative new three-year deal with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP). So what does the Writers Guild (WGA), currently on strike and negotiating with the AMPTP, think of that deal.
From Deadline: Netflix shareholders declined to support the 2023 pay packages of top executives during a non-binding vote at the company’s annual shareholder meeting on Thursday. The vote won't prevent these execs from getting their loot (an total of $166 million), but this is a rare public rebuke. The Writers Guild of America (WGA) has urged shareholders to vote "No" because the pay was "inappropriate" at this time.
From Deadline: Warner Bros Discovery chief David Zaslav gave the commencement address at Boston University. There he was met with jeers and also chants of "pay your writers" from picketers and from some in the audience.
From Deadline: President Joe Biden speaks on the Writers Guild of America strike.
From Deadline: Retaliation! The studios have starting informing writer-producers who have "overall" and "first-look" deals that such deals are being suspended.
From Deadline: Retaliation! Prolific HBO creator, David Simon, who is best known for "The Wire," is one of the many writers who have had their overall deals suspended the studios due to the WGA strike. Simon has been with HBO for 25 years.
From Deadline: The Writers Guild of America (WGA) is on strike.
From Deadline: Disney, HBO/HBO Max, and CBS have sent letters to showrunners (the TV equivalent of film directors) instructing them to return to work, inspite of the writer's strike.
From Deadline: The WGA's chief negotiator, Ellen Stutzman, talks about the state of the writers' strike, including the lack of engagement on the part of the strike's other party, AMPTP.
From Deadline: What went wrong between the WGA and AMPTP? What could they not agree on that led to a strike?
From Deadline: The site explains the WGA strike: the issues, the stakes, movies and TV shows affected, and how long it might last.
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