🎬 Hollywood's Mutual Suicide Pact

Hollywood’s ‘Mutual Suicide Pact’
The Side Effects of SAG & WGA Strikes

As the industry feels the strain of the dual strike, the major studios are being urged to return to the bargaining table. WGA negotiating committee co-chair Chris Keyser said that major studios are in “what increasingly seems like a mutual-suicide pact,” reminding the studios that they are negotiating, not at war with writers and actors. The only way to put an end to all this? Come back to the negotiating table and address the mistreatment of writers and actors.

Streamers Weigh Shelving Completed Series

The big question for streaming executives right now: air or shelve their content? 🤔 Some fully shot but undated series might be moved to early 2024, or they could be benched until the strike is completely resolved. Why? They have no stars to promote their shows.

Netflix is reportedly considering holding back as many as five undated shows, while other platforms like FX, Apple TV+, Showtime, and Paramount+ are sitting on several completed seasons, deliberating what to do... But the need for a steady supply of fresh content is key to keeping their audiences happy. Holding shows for too long could negatively affect their success, as we saw during the pandemic. Pressure’s on for the streamers.

The Paradox of Cash Piles & Strikes

Surprisingly, the ongoing actors and writers strikes are boosting cash flow and profit margins (or reducing losses) in the short term for major studios and streamers. 📈 With everything shut down, companies are holding onto cash that would have been spent on productions.

So, how are they going to spend that extra dough? 💵

• Studios might simply save it to fund rapid production resumption post-strike.

• They might invest in non-strike affected content, like reality shows or international productions.

• Alternatively, they could return the money to shareholders via dividends or stock buybacks, or use it for potential mergers and acquisitions.

While this extra cash seem beneficial short term by boosting their financial reserves, the long-term effects could be damaging, leading to a serious shortage of new scripted content.

For major players, the balance is going to be challenging. Studios want immediate financial gains, but they must also ensure long-term sustainability. These strikes might lead to an overall reduction in content spending, possibly ending the 'peak content' era.

PR Firms Feel the Squeeze

While major studios are saving money, PR firms are facing tough times. Actors going on "hiatus" from their publicists due to the strikes have hit midsize PR agencies hard, with revenue down 80%. Proprietors are hoping to survive without laying off employees until September or October.

Publicists have spoken out about the collateral damage of the strike on their businesses and employees. Large PR firms are also feeling the impact, and a Zoom meeting with SAG-AFTRA's chief of communications/marketing has been arranged to address the situation.

DEVELOPMENT NOTES

• SAG grants more waivers, adding to list of projects that will be allowed to continue production amid strike under its interim agreements program. (See the list of projects 👉here👈)

• 'Scream’ star Neve Campbell joins 'Swan Song' TIFF-bound documentary as Executive Producer. (more)

• Toronto Film Festival unveils their full 2023 lineup. (more)

• Robert Blair is set to leave Warner Bros. Discovery after 25 years. (more)

• Strand Releasing acquires North American distribution rights for Anthony Chen's 'The Breaking Ice'. (more)

• The Just For Laughs Comedy Festival reveals new lineup. (more)

• Snoop Dogg cancels anniversary Hollywood Bowl show due to SAG and WGA strikes. (more)

• Kevin Spacey cleared of sexual assault charges. (more)

• Time released a list of their top 100 movies of the past 10 decades. (more)

• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem Sequel and Paramount+ Series in the Works. (more)

RELEASE RADAR

What to watch this weekend? 👀

THEATRICAL 🎥

• Sympathy for the Devil: After being forced to drive a mysterious passenger at gunpoint, a man finds himself in a high-stakes game of cat and mouse where it becomes clear that not everything is as it seems. Starring Nicolas Cage and Joel Kinnaman. 🔫

• Disney’s Haunted Mansion: A single mom named Gabbie hires a tour guide, a psychic, a priest and a historian to help exorcise her newly bought mansion after discovering it is inhabited by ghosts. Starring LaKeith Stanfield, Owen Wilson, Jamie Lee Curtis and more. 👻

• The Baker: An elderly baker must do everything he can to protect his granddaughter from gangsters. Starring Ron Perlman, Harvey Keitel, and Elias Koteas. 👨🏻‍🍳

STREAMING 📺

• Special Ops: Lioness: (Paramount+) A young Marine is recruited by the CIA to befriend the daughter of a terrorist group in order to bring down the organization from within.

• Happiness for Beginners: (Netflix) Helen signs up for a wilderness survival course, a year after getting divorced. She discovers through this experience that sometimes, you have to get really lost in order to find yourself. Starring Ellie Kemper and Luke Grimes. 🌲

• Paradise: (Netflix) In the not-too-distant future, a method of transferring years of your life from one person to another has changed the world forever and turned biotech start-up AEON into a billion-dollar pharmaceutical company. 🤖

• The Lady of Silence: (Netflix) In early-2000s Mexico City, nearly 50 elderly women were strangled in their own homes in Mexico City, triggering the hunt for — and capture — of a most unlikely suspect. 😱

• After the Bite: (MAX) A documentary about a community reeling from a fatal shark attack is forced to confront dramatic changes to its environment and its way of life. 🦈

• How to Become a Cult Leader: (Netflix) Disguised as a guidebook for capturing a devoted cult following, this docuseries takes a tongue-in-cheek look at the rise of six famed flock leaders. 🗣️

• The Beanie Bubble: (Apple TV+) Why did the world suddenly treat stuffed animals like gold? Starring Zach Galifianakis, Elizabeth Banks, Sarah Snook. 🧸

• UNKNOWN: Cosmic Time Machine: (Netflix) With unique access behind-the-scenes to NASA’s ambitious mission to launch the James Webb Space Telescope, we follow a team of engineers and scientists as they take the next giant leap in our quest to understand the universe. 🔭

  

ROLL THE TRAILERS