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☆ Digital doubles, fake trailers: AI worries Hollywood actors before labor talks
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-01 | by ( Lisa Richwine | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

AI already has divided studios and striking film and television writers, who want assurances that the emerging technology will not be used to generate scripts. SAG-AFTRA wants to ensure its members can control use of their "digital doubles" and ensure studios pay the actual actors appropriately, said Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, the union's chief negotiator. A representative for the AMPTP had no comment on its position on use of AI with actors. In negotiations with the Writers Guild of America (WGA), the AMPTP proposed discussing the topic once a year, which the Guild viewed as an attempt to avoid the issue. You're never going to see anything like that if we're all using AI."

Persons: Julia Louis, Dreyfus, Christine, Wes Anderson, Harry Potter, Bill Murray, Scarlett Johansson, AFTRA, Duncan Crabtree, Crabtree, Tom Cruise, Keanu Reeves, Reeves, Leland Morrill, we're, Morrill, Justine Bateman, Indiana Jones, Harrison Ford, Walt Disney, Ford, Stephen Colbert, James Earl Jones, Darth Vader, Carrie Fisher, AFTRA's Crabtree, Bateman, " Bateman, Lisa Richwine, Jorge Ramos, Dawn Chmielewski, Mary Milliken, David Gregorio Our Organizations: Warner Bros ., Screen, Writers Guild America, YouTube, SAG, Microsoft Corp, Walt Disney Co's, Lucasfilm, Disney, Alliance, Television Producers, Netflix Inc, Writers Guild of America, WGA, Thomson Locations: Burbank , California, ANGELES, Hollywood, Ireland, ., Los Angeles

☆ Hollywood actors' union asks members to authorize possible strike
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( Lisa Richwine | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LOS ANGELES, May 18 (Reuters) - The board of Hollywood's actors union asked members on Thursday to give negotiators the power to call a strike, a move that would add new pressure to major studios already facing a writers' strike. The SAG-AFTRA actors union set a June 5 deadline for its 160,000 members to cast ballots in a strike authorization vote. If approved, the measure would allow union leaders to call a work stoppage if they cannot reach a new contract agreement with major Hollywood studios. The writers' strike has disrupted production of late-night shows and some TV series, but some filming is continuing. A strike by actors would lead to a broader shutdown across the industry.

This year, advertisers and ad agencies may well use the strike as a bargaining tool, said Erin Firneno, vice president of business intelligence for researcher Advertiser Perceptions. The writers’ strike, which has entered its third week, is also injecting a new element of uncertainty for ad buyers, at a time when television viewership is declining and the possibility of recession looms. While the TV networks have long contended with splintered viewership amid the rise of social media and streaming, the writers' strike puts content production at risk, said Rishad Tobaccowala, a former executive at advertising and public relations giant Publicis Groupe and advisor on business transformation. Last year, NBC’s upfront presentation emphasized star power as the network returned to a live event after a COVID-19-imposed hiatus. Ahead of the upfront presentations, media executives sought to reassure investors about the strike’s impact.

☆ Striking Hollywood Writers Disrupt TV’s Major Ad Event
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( John Koblin | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Other major media companies — including Fox, Disney and Warner Bros. Still, media executives have been anxiously awaiting the fallout from the prospect of hundreds of writers assembling on picket lines. Negotiations between the major Hollywood studios and the Writers Guild of America, the union that represents the writers, broke down on May 1, and 11,500 writers for television and film immediately went on strike. But the writers are not just demonstrating outside the major studios. They have gone far afield as well, setting up pickets outside productions in Maplewood, N.J., Chicago and Philadelphia.

☆ Drew Barrymore steps down from hosting MTV Movie & TV Awards in support of writers’ strike
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( Alli Rosenbloom | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —Drew Barrymore is standing in solidarity with striking members of the Writers Guild of America by stepping down as the host of the MTV Movie & TV Awards that is scheduled to air on Sunday. “I have listened to the writers, and in order to truly respect them, I will pivot from hosting the MTV Movie & TV Awards live in solidarity with the strike,” Barrymore said on Thursday in a statement shared with CNN. A source close to the MTV Movie & TV Awards confirmed to CNN that Barrymore will return to host the 2024 edition of the show. The MTV Movie & TV Awards is the latest television event to be affected by the strike. The MTV Movie & TV Awards is still currently scheduled to air live on MTV on Sunday at 8pm in the viewer’s time zone.

☆ What the Hollywood writers' strike could mean for your favorite TV shows, from 'Abbot Elementary' to 'Saturday Night Live'
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-02 | by ( Sindhu Sundar | Lucia Moses | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Topical shows relying on actively scripted material, including late night, will be the most immediately affected. The strike — which was authorized by nearly 98% of Writers Guild of America members who voted last month — will most immediately impact shows that rely on active writers' rooms working on current material, including "Saturday Night Live" and late night shows. The moment may be an opportunity for reality TV producers as well as non-union productions. Some celebrities on shows likely to be impacted have addressed the possibility of the impending strike on the late night circuit. Davidson acknowledged a writer's strike might mean his "SNL" episode doesn't happen as planned and said he gained a new perspective working on the production as a prospective host.

☆ Saudi money is flowing to US media and entertainment, from Live Nation to LIV Golf, 5 years after Jamal Khashoggi's murder: 'The ice has thawed'
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-03 | by ( Claire Atkinson | Lucia Moses | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +20 min

Sovereign funds and other entities in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the UAE are pouring millions into US media and entertainment. Insider identified some key people connecting Middle East investors with American companies. Saudi Arabia is trying to pitch itself to the world as a cultural and economic reformer and spur tourism. Vince McMahon's WWE has a long-term partnership with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, with a major live WWE event there slated for May. Vince McMahon's WWE was one of the first US companies to create unique events in Saudi Arabia.

☆ Saudi money is pouring into Hollywood and media, 5 years after the murder of Jamal Khashoggi. Here's who's cashing in and how.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-15 | by ( Claire Atkinson | Lucia Moses | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +13 min

Sovereign funds and other entities in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the UAE are pouring millions into US media and entertainment. Saudi Arabia is trying to pitch itself to the world as a cultural and economic reformer and spur tourism. Even those media players that are comfortable with invetment from the Middle East may not find funds flowing, one Hollywood veteran said. A major live WWE event in Saudi Arabia is slated for May. Of the growing ties between US entertainment and media and Middle East investors, this person added, "Presumably media organizations got into this to help society make better decisions."

☆ Studio A24 captures Oscar spotlight with big wins for best picture, acting
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-13 | by ( Dawn Chmielewski | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

LOS ANGELES, March 13 (Reuters) - Independent studio A24 was the big winner at Sunday's Academy Awards, taking nine awards out of its 18 nominations, including best picture and all four acting prizes. The studio's "Everything Everywhere All at Once" won seven Oscars, the most of the evening, including best picture. However, Brendan Fraser took the best actor prize for A24's "The Whale," which also won for best makeup and hairstyling. Not since the heyday of Miramax in the 1990s has an independent studio garnered such attention, talent and box office success, entertainment industry insiders say. EVERYTHING EVERYWHEREThe first film A24 produced and financed, together with Brad Pitt’s Plan B Entertainment, was “Moonlight,” which won the Oscar for best picture in 2017.

☆ Champagne carpet and crisis team ready for Oscars celebration on Sunday
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-12 | by ( Lisa Richwine | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

In case of an unexpected twist, a crisis response team will be on hand at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. Several of 2022's biggest hits at the multiplex landed in the best picture race, from "Top Gun" and "Everything Everywhere" to "Elvis" and "Avatar: The Way of Water." To change up the look, organizers swapped out the traditional red carpet for the first time since 1961, opting instead for a champagne color. "Everything Everywhere All at Once," an offbeat story about a Chinese-American laundromat owner struggling to finish her taxes, comes in as the favorite to win best picture. The dimension-hopping kung fu adventure has swept the major Hollywood awards in the weeks leading up to the Oscars.

☆ ‘Everything Everywhere All at Once’ studio A24 captures Oscar spotlight
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-10 | by ( Dawn Chmielewski | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

LOS ANGELES, March 10 (Reuters) - A24, the independent studio behind such films as “Everything Everywhere All at Once” and "The Whale," is poised to dominate this year’s Academy Awards, eclipsing Hollywood’s established studios and awards-hungry streamers that are spending millions on Oscar campaigns. Not since the heyday of Miramax in the 1990s has an independent studio garnered such attention, talent and box office success, entertainment industry insiders say. EVERYTHING EVERYWHEREThe first film A24 produced and financed, together with Brad Pitt’s Plan B Entertainment, was “Moonlight,” which won the Oscar for best picture in 2017. The studio has garnered 53 Oscar nominations in less than a decade, including best picture nods for “Lady Bird, “Minari” and “Room.”A24's film slate has grown at the pace of its cash flow - starting with three movies in 2016 to 15 in 2022. This year, it’s on track to produce about 15 films for theatrical release, eight documentaries and 10 television shows.

☆ Why Hollywood's tech evangelists are bullish on NFTs and Web3 storytelling, even after the FTX scandal tarnished blockchain's rep
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-31 | by ( Elaine Low | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Amid the FTX scandal and declining NFT sales, Web3 chatter has grown quieter in Hollywood. But proponents of NFTs and Web3 storytelling are betting on the tech's entertainment potential. Hollywood's evangelists of Web3 — the decentralized, blockchain-based future of the web that includes crypto and NFTs — were out in full force. She has worked to distance the creative and storytelling potential of NFTs and other blockchain-based technologies from the cowboy rep of the digital currency world. "I'm excited about moving Web3, blockchain technologies past sort of the hype cycle that we've seen with digital collectibles and NFTs," Greg Reed, Universal Pictures' VP of technology partnerships, told Variety.

☆ I lasted as a Hollywood assistant for less than a year. Being a constant target for terrible behavior simply wasn't worth $15 an hour.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-12 | by ( Eboni Boykin-Patterson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

In 2019, I was an assistant at a major Hollywood talent agency, ICM, for eight months. I'd pretty much always wanted to work in the entertainment industry as a screenwriter — I wanted to tell diverse stories. We all had the same plan: Do a year or two, make some connections, and then leave to one of the coveted creative jobs that only former Hollywood agent assistants have access to. This Hollywood assistant lifestyle just isn't conducive to any of that. If you work in Hollywood and would like to share your story, email Eboni Boykin-Patterson at eboykinpatterson@insider.com.

☆ Golden Globes audience shrinks from last show in 2021
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-11 | by ( Lisa Richwine | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

In 2021, 6.9 million people tuned in to the Hollywood awards show. NBC's viewership figures for Tuesday night's ceremony do not include people who watched on Comcast's Peacock streaming service. All of Hollywood's major awards shows have seen their TV ratings sink in recent years, along with most viewership on traditional television. Back in January 2020, the Globes attracted 18.3 million TV viewers. While TV viewership declined, the network said Golden Globes content on E!

☆ 1 in 5 studio films included an LGBTQ character in 2021, GLAAD report finds
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( Jo Yurcaba | Jo Yurcaba Is A Reporter For Nbc Out. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +6 min

Sixteen of the 77 films released by those studios (20.8%) featured 28 LGBTQ characters, the report found. That percentage is down slightly from 2020, during which 10 of the 44 theatrical releases (23%) featured 20 LGBTQ characters, according to the report. Of the 16 films that included LGBTQ characters in 2021, 11 films (69%) included gay male characters, four (25%) included lesbian characters and two (13%) included bisexual characters, according to the report. For the second year in a row, GLAAD found that there were zero LGBTQ characters with disabilities or LGBTQ characters living with HIV represented in the year’s films. The majority of the 28 characters, 17, received fewer than five minutes, and six of those characters received less than a minute of screen time.

☆ Comedian Jerrod Carmichael to host Golden Globes
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-08 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] Jerrod Carmichael arrives for world premiere of Transfomers, The Last Night, at a cinema in central London, Britain, June 18, 2017. REUTERS/Hannah McKayDec 8 (Reuters) - U.S. comedian and actor Jerrod Carmichael will host the Golden Globes in January when the annual awards ceremony will be broadcast to audiences once again, organisers said on Thursday. read moreCarmichael, who in September won an Emmy Award for his show "Jerrod Carmichael: Rothaniel", follows in the footsteps of Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, Ricky Gervais, Seth Meyers and Jimmy Fallon as host. “Jerrod is the special kind of talent this show calls for to kick off the awards season.”The Jan. 10 ceremony will be the 80th edition of the Globes. It admitted 103 new voters from 62 countries outside of the United States, bringing the total voters to 200.

☆ Biden condemns antisemitism as Ye praises Hitler days after dinner with Trump, white nationalist Fuentes
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-02 | by ( Emma Kinery | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

President Joe Biden denounced antisemitism and took a veiled jab at Donald Trump days after the former president dined with rapper Ye, who has made a string of recent antisemitic comments, and white nationalist Nick Fuentes. Trump, the presumptive frontrunner for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination, had dinner last week with Ye and Fuentes at his Mar-a-Lago club, sparking widespread condemnation. "I love Jewish people, but I also love Nazis," Ye told Jones on the show, also praising what he considered Hitler's contributions to society. Trump has not yet condemned the men he had dinner with at Mar-a-Lago, and he claimed not to know who the white nationalist Fuentes was. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., told Politico he hopes Trump will condemn Fuentes "because I know [Trump's] not an antisemite.

☆ Photos: See How NASA Trains Its Astronauts to Go to the Moon
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-24 | by ( Paola Rosa-Aquino | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

Since 1959, more than 350 people have become NASA astronauts. Since NASA announced its first class of astronauts in 1959, more than 350 people have become astronauts. An astronaut nurse takes a blood sample from NASA astronaut John Glenn in 1961. NASAEarly on, NASA used a large machine called a human centrifuge to test gravitational stress on astronauts training to go to the moon for the first time. As more humans ventured into space, NASA began to understand the mental burden of space travel.

Cinemas stocks got a boost Wednesday after a report said Amazon plans to spend $1 billion a year on theatrical film releases. The tech company plans to make between 12 and 15 movies for movie theaters each year, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter. A smaller number of films will be produced in 2023 as Amazon builds up its output, the report said. Amazon has deepened its investments in original content over the years through its Prime Video streaming unit, as well as its movie and television studios. Earlier this year, the e-retailer bolstered its media ambitions when it acquired legendary movie maker MGM Studios for $8.45 billion.

☆ James Cameron almost didn’t choose Leonardo DiCaprio or Kate Winslet to star in ‘Titanic’
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-22 | by ( Dan Heching | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —James Cameron is sharing some surprising details from the making of his blockbuster hit “Titanic,” which celebrates 25 years of being released next month. In a new video interview with GQ, the iconic director revealed that he almost didn’t end up casting Leonardo DiCaprio or Kate Winslet – his two romantic leads whose careers as major Hollywood movie stars were cemented by the landmark Oscar-winning film. “He came in, he thought it was another meeting to meet Kate,” Cameron described. Cameron remembered how the actor “lit up” and “became Jack,” creating electric chemistry with Winslet later seen plainly in the film itself. “Titanic” sailed into theaters on December 19, 1997 and eventually went on to win 11 Academy Awards, including best director for Cameron.

☆ Actor Michael J. Fox accepts honorary Oscar for Parkinson's advocacy
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-20 | by ( Lisa Richwine | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/5] Actor Michael J. Fox accepts the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award at the 13th Governors Awards in Los Angeles, California, U.S., November 19, 2022. REUTERS/Mario AnzuoniLOS ANGELES, Nov 19 (Reuters) - Actor Michael J. He later curtailed his acting career and founded the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research to help fund the search for a cure in 2000.

☆ Talent agency CAA drops Ye, as film studio MRC ditches documentary because of his antisemitic remarks
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-24 | by ( Jessica Golden | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Kanye West attends the Givenchy Womenswear Spring/Summer 2023 show as part of Paris Fashion Week on October 02, 2022 in Paris, France. Major Hollywood talent agency CAA on Monday dropped Ye, also known as Kanye West, as the rapper and business mogul faces intensifying criticism over his recent antisemitic remarks. The film studio MRC also said it was dropping a documentary about the artist. The moves come as athletic apparel maker Adidas faces growing calls to end its relationship with Ye. At least three legal organizations have written letters to the German company to cut ties with Ye due to his recent antisemitic comments.

☆ How Bryan Lourd became one of the most powerful people in the history of Hollywood
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-25 | by ( Alex Sherman | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +18 min

Lourd, 61, isn't a household name, but he wields a stunning amount of influence in Hollywood. Lourd's Hollywood clients aren't just A-listers, they're A+-listers: Brad Pitt. An old-fashioned talent agent who loves discussing old movies and doesn't mind pointing out the flaws in his own clients' work, Lourd has become arguably the most powerful person in Hollywood. "He's one of the most powerful people in the history of Hollywood," said Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos. But Lourd's clients are such bankable stars that it's equally important for Hollywood executives to be friendly with him as it is beneficial for Lourd and CAA.

Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterA person holds a camera next to the Golden Globe statue before the 79th Annual Golden Globe Awards nominations announcement in Beverly Hills, California, U.S., December 13, 2021. REUTERS/Mario AnzuoniLOS ANGELES, Sept 20 (Reuters) - NBC will resume its broadcast of the Golden Globe awards for film and television in January 2023, the network said in a statement on Tuesday. According to NBC, the total Golden Globe Awards voting body is now 52% female and 51.5% racially and ethnically diverse, with members that are 19.5% Latino, 12% Asian, 10% Black and 10% Middle Eastern. NBC said it had made a one-time commitment to air the Globes in 2023. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterReporting by Lisa Richwine, Editing by Rosalba O'BrienOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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