🎬 Writers Demand a Rewrite ✍🏼

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Whether you're a seasoned subscriber or a new arrival, we're thrilled to have you here. Twice a week, on Mondays and Thursdays, we'll deliver the most important industry scoops directly to your inbox.

🎞 Here’s what’s on the reel today:

• Closeup: Strike Update

• ‘Barbie’ Overtakes ‘Dark Knight’

• Disney’s Multimillion Dollar Lawsuit

• New SAG Contract Terms

• TikTok’s Movie Reviewers

• Last Looks 👀: Bite-sized scoops on developing stories/projects

• Release Radar: What to watch this weekend

• Video Village 📀

• Martini Shot 🍸

But first, it’s Thursday, so let’s take a look at what people were watching this week… 👀

MOST STREAMED THIS WEEK

Writers Demand a Rewrite
🪧The Latest in the Dual Strike 🪧

If you were hoping for a swift end to the WGA (Writers Guild of America) strike, I've got some not-so-great news. The 108-day strike seems far from over after the WGA responded to the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers’s (AMPTP) latest counter-proposal.

According to Bloomberg, the AMPTP has allegedly made concessions on a few points of contention, though most of this has been kept hush-hush, per WGA’s announcement last week:

• Humans vs. AI: The AMPTP has agreed to ensure that humans remain credited on screenplays rather than AI.

• Streaming data: The AMPTP has agreed to pull back the curtain on streaming data, allowing writers to gauge the popularity of their programs.

• Staffing minimums: The WGA continues to hold its proposal for a minimum staff size for TV writers, though it has offered to lower the minimum by one writer. This comes in response to the AMPTP’s offer to give showrunners the power to set the staff size, while also factoring in the production’s budget.

• Residual increase: The AMPTP’s offer included a more-than-20% increase in residual payments for shows that appear on networks other than the original one they were created for.

•  Base pay hikes: Studios are offering a 5% hike in base pay for the first year, up from the original 4% offer. Writers, however, are asking for a 6% raise in the first year of the contract.

Variety reports that Chris Keyser, the co-chair of WGA’s negotiating committee, said back in June that the guild “will not give up on any one of [these] principles,” and “without any one of them the whole thing falls apart.” 😬

TLDR: Negotiations between WGA and the AMPTP are ongoing, but let's just say they're not sending each other love letters just yet.

SAG Tweaks Interim Agreement Rules

Meanwhile, SAG-AFTRA is making some changes to its strike strategy. After some friendly chats with the WGA, SAG is putting the brakes on offering interim agreements to projects covered by a WGA contract and produced in the U.S.

The new policy aims to support the WGA's strike strategy while maintaining SAG’s approach to negotiations. It's like a team huddle in the middle of the big game!

These agreements, which have been used to keep production rolling on indie projects by agreeing to things like an 11% wage increase and revenue sharing for streaming casts, have been secured by over 200 productions.

Productions who’ve already got one of these agreements don’t have to worry; SAG won't take them back. But they're going to keep a close eye on the process to make sure only independent productions snag these deals in the future. 👀

🎉 'Barbie' Overtakes 'The Dark Knight' as Warner Bros.' Top Domestic Hit 🎥 Greta Gerwig's "Barbie," starring Margot Robbie, has officially danced past "The Dark Knight" with a domestic take of $537.5 million, becoming Warner Bros.' highest-grossing domestic release ever! But that's not all; it's on track to beat "The Super Mario Bros. Movie" and might even become the top worldwide release of 2023. 💃 "Barbie" has been number one at the box office for four weekends straight, and it smashed records for the biggest debut by a female-directed film. Margot Robbie, the star behind Barbie, is set to make a cool $50 million, and the director, Gerwig, is in for some sweet bonuses too. 🤑 So, hats off to "Barbie" for rocking the big screen this summer!

Disney and 20th Century Studios Face Multi-Million Lawsuit 💼 Disney's in some hot legal water again! TSG Entertainment Finance has filed a lawsuit against Disney and 20th Century Studios, accusing them of using sneaky Hollywood accounting tricks to short them hundreds of millions of bucks. 😲 The issue revolves around investments in films like 'Avatar: The Way of Water' and others. TSG says they're owed over $40 million and believes the total could be in the hundreds of millions! 😱 TSG's attorney, John Berlinski, accuses Disney of manipulating distribution to boost share prices, and calls this a "chilling example" of studios cheating profit participants. There were even some secret side deals, a bunch of accusations of mismanagement, and changes to distribution windows that didn't sit well with TSG. 📉 Now, they've had to take an advance, affecting their share of profits. Disney's yet to comment, but this looks like a big Hollywood drama unfolding in the courtroom! 🏛️

Fall Film Festivals Face New SAG-AFTRA Contract Terms, Affecting Indie Film Deals 📽️ SAG is shaking things up. Distributors wanting to snag star-studded indie films must agree to the union's new contract terms, including a slice of streaming revenue for actors. 🎬💸 This has some folks seriously nervous, especially the big-spending streamers like Netflix, Amazon, and Apple. They're worried this will scare buyers away from these films. For example, Michael Mann’s “Ferrari” got a special agreement allowing stars Adam Driver and Penelope Cruz to attend Venice, but Netflix & Co. would have to commit to a contract they're fighting against. 😬 One anonymous rep even said, "half the buyers will be off the table this fall." Talk about a plot twist!

TikTok’s Movie Reviewers: Influencers, Not Critics 🍿On TikTok's MovieTok community, film lovers like Maddi Koch are reaching millions with short, engaging video reviews, earning them big bucks and even Hollywood partnerships 🎥. While traditional film critics render judgments and analyze films in detail, these young influencers focus on connection, entertainment, and personal taste. Some creators earn up to $30,000 for promoting films and studios, blurring the lines between reviewing and advertising. Though the platform's impact on ticket sales isn’t crystal clear, studios cite MovieTok campaigns as contributing to strong box-office performances 🎟️. While the creators avoid labeling themselves as critics, they have established an ad hoc code of ethics, being transparent with viewers about sponsorships and paid posts. As the face of film criticism evolves, these TikTok influencers are on a mission to keep their audience entertained and informed without the snobbery sometimes associated with traditional film criticism 🍿.

• Warrior Nun is returning as a film trilogy. (more)

• FX’s ‘American Horror Stories’ will return on Hulu with a 4 episode series on October 26th. (more)

• Vertical acquires the North American rights to drama ‘Miranda's Victim,’ starring Abigail Breslin, and sets October 6th release. (more)

• RLJE acquires the North American rights to action triller ‘Muzzle,’ starring Aaron Eckhardt and sets September 29th release. (more)

• “Barbie” is banned in Algerian cinemas for corrupting morals. (more)

• Lucasfilm is shutting operations in Singapore, according to parent company Disney. (more)

• Saoirse Ronan and Paul Mescal pic ‘Foe’ gets October 6th release from Amazon. (more)

• Mindy Kaling and Dev Patel board the doc To Kill A Tiger as executive producers. (more)

• A24’s Nicolas Cage comedy ‘Dream Scenario’ to open Toronto Film Festival’s Platform section next month. (more)

• Tron: Ares, which was supposed to begin production this week, is delayed amid strikes. (more)

• First image from 'Finest Kind' starring Jenna Ortega, Ben Foster and Tommy Lee Jones (see here 👀)

• New Poster for Ridley Scott's 'Napoleon' (see here👀)

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What to watch this weekend? 👀

THEATRICAL 🎥

• Blue Beetle: An alien scarab chooses a college graduate to be its symbiotic host, bestowing the teenager with extraordinary and unpredictable powers.

• Strays: An abandoned dog teams up with other strays to get revenge on his former owner.

STREAMING 📺

• Depp v. Heard: (Netflix) This doc examines the infamous defamation case that captured the world’s attention as the first Trial by TikTok.

• The Monkey King: (Netflix) A Monkey and his magical fighting Stick battle demons, dragons, gods and the greatest adversary of all - Monkey's ego.

• Miguel Wants to Fight: (Hulu)A coming of age comedy about a 17-year-old in who asks his three best friends to help him get in his first fight ever before he moves to a new city.