Showbiz Sandbox 469: Hollywood Unions Set For Fight Over Streaming Residual Payments
November 17, 2019
As television networks turn from linear broadcast methods to consumer streaming platforms a brewing battle over residual payments has the potential to spark a dual union strike in the middle of next year. Jonathan Handel, an entertainment attorney and a contributing editor at The Hollywood Reporter, joins us to discuss how the lack of data coming from streaming giants could lead to a standoff between major guilds and producers.
Indeed, in mid-2020 the master contacts between the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers and the Directors Guild of America, The Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA are set to expire. By now negotiations on new contracts would be well underway. Instead talks have stalled as unions try to revise the formulas used by streamers to make residual payments to their members. Given the timing, it’s a perfect storm for a potential massive industry work-stoppage.
Meanwhile, the Broadway musical “Tootsie” is closing long before it recoups its production costs. Michael Riedel of the New York Post has a host of reasons for why this critic’s darling didn’t click, however only one of them makes sense; the show’s music wasn’t all that great.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including how Amazon has followed Netflix in deciding not to publish box office figures for its films, George Lucas revises the original “Star Wars” once again and Taylor Swift gets into a public spat with her former record label.
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‘Ford v Ferrari’ Races to #1 While ‘Joker’ Becomes First R-Rated Film to Ever Top $1 Billion Globally
https://www.boxofficemojo.com/article/ed4017095684/
‘Ford V Ferrari’ Revs Up $52M+ Worldwide Bow; No China Halo For ‘Charlie’s Angels’
https://deadline.com/2019/11/ford-v-ferrari-charlies-angels-maleficent-joker-terminator-dark-fate-china-global-international-box-office-1202788204/
‘Tootsie’ Was a Broadway Flop Because Theater Is Fickle
https://nypost.com/2019/11/14/tootsie-was-a-broadway-flop-because-theater-is-fickle-insiders/
Tootsie Is A Drag
http://popsurfing.blogspot.com/2019/04/theater-tootsie-is-drag.html
Amazon Studios Won’t Report Box Office Grosses for Some of Its Films
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/amazon-studios-wont-report-box-office-grosses-some-films-1254271
Sweden Rejects Chinese Criticism of Press Freedom Prize
https://apnews.com/299a5fca538e4b88a1ce284eb1f36571
TV Ratings: Multiplatform Data Shows Big Shift in Viewing Habits
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/multi-platform-ratings-data-shows-big-shift-viewing-habits-1254608
A Load of ‘MacClunkey’: Will George Lucas’s Star Wars Tinkering Never End?
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/nov/13/macclunkey-george-lucas-star-wars-disney-plus-greedo
Taylor Swift Slams Scott Borchetta and Scooter Braun for “Exercising Tyrannical Control” Over Her AMA Performance
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/taylor-swift-slams-scott-borchetta-scooter-braun-exercising-tyrannical-control-her-ama-performance-1254979
American Music Awards Walk Back Statement Over Taylor Swift Songs
https://variety.com/2019/music/news/taylor-swift-amas-big-machine-dick-clark-productions-reach-agreement-1203408043/
Clive Owen To Play Bill Clinton In ‘Impeachment: American Crime Story’ On FX
https://deadline.com/2019/11/clive-owen-cast-bill-clinton-impeachment-american-crime-story-fx-sarah-paulson-monica-lewinsky-1202787207/
Mo’Nique Sues Netflix for Discrimination Over $500K Stand-Up Special Offer
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/comedian-monique-sues-netflix-discrimination-500k-standup-special-offer-1254804
Oscars: Lynette Howell Taylor, Stephanie Allain to Produce Academy Awards
https://variety.com/2019/film/awards/oscars-lynette-howell-taylor-stephanie-allain-academy-awards-1203406875/
The Latin Grammys Put Reggaeton’s Progress on Life Support
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-latin/reggaeton-latin-grammys-progress-bad-bunny-j-balvin-912872/
Viacom’s Paramount Returns to Full-Year Profit After Three Years of Losses
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/viacoms-paramount-returns-full-year-profit-1254435
Warnings on Some Disney Content: it’s dated and racist
https://variety.com/2019/film/news/disney-plus-outdated-cultural-depictions-dumbo-1203403518/
Disney Plus Warns Users Older Movies Have ‘Outdated Cultural Depictions’
https://variety.com/2019/digital/news/disney-says-disney-plus-has-over-10-million-signups-1203403515/
Hollywood Writers Fired Their Agents. Now Agencies Are Sidelining Writers in New Deals
https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/business/story/2019-11-14/despite-the-wgas-objections-talent-agencies-continue-to-package-tv-shows
Abrams Artists Agency Signs WGA’s Code Of Conduct, Marking Fourth ATA Member To Break Ranks
https://deadline.com/2019/11/abrams-artists-agency-writers-guild-code-of-conduct-signs-1202785501/
Streaming TV’s Ratings “Black Box” Could Lead to Hollywood Guild War
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/streaming-tvs-ratings-black-box-could-lead-hollywood-guild-war-1254321
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