Showbiz Sandbox 632: Pickets Down – Hollywood Writers Strike A Tentative Deal
September 26, 2023
The Writer’s Guild of America reached a tentative agreement on a new contract with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) potentially ending its strike after 146 days. Entertainment attorney Jonathan Handel wrote the book on Hollywood strikes, literally, and is a contributing writer at Puck where he covers labor issues. He fills us in on what is known about the deal the WGA negotiated and when striking actors may follow suit.
Handel also helps us understand why some big name authors and comedians are suing OpenAI for copyright infringement after discovering the company used their work to train their artificial intelligence platform, ChatGPT.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including how HBO is adding sports to its streaming service, Amazon will add advertisements to Prime Video and Ruper Murdoch announces his retirement from Fox and News Corp.
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Showbiz Sandbox 631: Telluride and Toronto Film Festivals Kick Off Unusual Awards Season
September 20, 2023
Every annual awards season has its own strange rhythm and unexpected twists. But with both actors and writers on strike, unable to promote certain movies, surely this year’s awards season will be the strangest of all. At the heart of the madness is Anne Thompson, the Editor-at-Large of Indiewire. The awards season expert is back from both the Telluride and Toronto International Film Festival and she fills us in on which movies managed to drum up some buzz during the fall festival circuit.
Meanwhile, the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes roll on without any contract negotiations taking place. Drew Barrymore and Bill Mahr both got into hot water with the guilds by trying to start up production of their talk shows without writers. They quickly reversed course.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including Dua Lipa’s book club, music sales hit a new record and why the founder of Rolling Stone magazine was booted out of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
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Showbiz Sandbox 629: Disney vs. Charter Feud Could Finally Unbundle Cable
September 5, 2023
Carriage disputes between cable companies and media companies are nothing new. They happen regularly around big events like the Super Bowl, FIFA World Cup or the Oscars. However this time Charter Communications, the second largest cable operator in the United States, has pulled all of Disney’s 19 networks from its service, refusing to pay the higher licensing fees, arguing that the bundled pay television business model no longer works. Settling the disagreement could significantly alter the future of the television landscape.
Meanwhile, Taylor Swift has conquered the album charts and football stadiums and now she’s going to conquer movie theaters. And with summer box office hitting $4 billion, Swift’s concert film comes at the perfect time, at least for those in North America.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including the Hollywood Reporter gets another editor-in-chief, more details about Kevin Costner’s departure from “Yellowstone” and Michael Mann brings his “Ferrari” to the Venice Film Festival.
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Showbiz Sandbox 622: Actors and Writers Agree That AI Ain’t So Smart
July 11, 2023
The Writers Guild of America members have been on strike for over two months now and might soon be joined by the Screen Actors Guild. When it comes to artificial intelligence however both guilds agree; when their members’ work is used to train AI, actors and writers should be paid. Some writers are now taking matters into their own hands and filing lawsuits against companies for training their A.I. models using their work without permission.
Meanwhile, we’ve known how big music streamers have become on a global level, but now the National Music Publishers Association announced it has cracked the code on figuring out how many subscribers each major service has in the United States.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including how a movie that Disney dumped five years ago beat out Indy 5 at the weekend box office, NBCUniversal promotes some senior executives and Elton John finally wraps up his farewell tour after earning $900 million.
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Showbiz Sandbox 605: The Future For This Year’s Sundance Movies
January 31, 2023
This year’s Sundance Film Festival came to a close over the weekend marking the first time the event has been held in-person since 2020 due to the pandemic. This year’s Sundance was considered light on acquisitions, raising the perennial debate over the viability of the festival’s official selection whether it be theatrically or on streaming. Will anyone ever see the films that won awards at Sundance, and if so where?
Speaking of awards, there were very few surprises in this year’s Oscar nominations. The diverse mix of nominees and titles vying for Hollywood’s top honor includes both commercial hits and small movies few have seen. This is certainly a year where the film that wins Best Picture may come down to the Academy’s preferential balloting system.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including a changing of the guard at Netflix, a price hike for Amazon Music and Justin Bieber sells the publishing rights to his music.
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Showbiz Sandbox 602: Avatar Sequel Makes A Splash at the Box Office
December 20, 2022
Filmmaker James Cameron delivered his long-awaited sequel to “Avatar,” the highest grossing movie of all-time and it delivered the blue Christmas movie theaters were hoping for. “Avatar: The Way of Water” is getting mostly glowing reviews for its visuals, less so for its story, and opened to huge admissions figures around the world. Whether it will surpass the success of the original film is questionable, but it should reign over the box office through the end of January.
Meanwhile, it turns out Warner Bros. Discovery wasn’t done making post-merger cuts. The media conglomerate increased the write-down of its existing content, pulling shows off of HBO Max and upending the DC Universe in the process.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including the latest entrants to the National Film Registry, an update on Bad Bunny’s Ticketmaster fiasco and an early prediction for the 2023 global box office total.
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Showbiz Sandbox 600: The Return of Bob Iger at Disney
November 29, 2022
We were just as surprised as everyone else to hear that The Walt Disney Company was firing their CEO Bob Chapek and replacing him with their longtime former head, Bob Iger. Iger is returning to a markedly different media company than the one he left less than a year ago and his second stint as CEO will be measured by how he sets up Disney to survive into the future. Finding the right successor will be one of his top priorities.
Meanwhile, we try to unravel how Ticketmaster fumbled the sale of tickets to Taylor Swift’s upcoming concert tour. The company is claiming verified fans were unable to get tickets due to unprecedented demand and automated ticket-buying bots. The incident caused such a stir it even attracted the attention of politicians eager to hold hearings about it.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including why a big book publishing merger is called off, Amazon gets serious about film distribution and Agatha Christie’s “Mousetrap” heads to Broadway.
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Showbiz Sandbox 599: The Grammy Awards Have A Timing Problem
November 18, 2022
The nominees for the 65th Annual Grammy Awards were announced this week and as expected Beyoncé, Kendrick Lamar, Adele and Harry Styles will all be competing for top awards. Yet some of the year’s biggest albums weren’t even eligible to be nominated because they were released after September. This is a continuous problem for the Grammys, since their deadline is always before the busy holiday season when many artists release albums.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including why how Netflix is eyeing live sporting events, workers are headed for a strike at publisher Harper Collins and the “Black Panther” sequel opens to big box office.
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Showbiz Sandbox 598: Streaming Growth Goes International
November 9, 2022
It’s no secret that streaming services have been affecting every part of the entertainment business in one way or another, from movies and television to music sales and book publishing. After the latest round of earnings announcements from major media conglomerates a few realities become clear; producing original content for direct-to-consumer streaming offerings is costing a fortune and any significant subscriber growth is going to come from overseas territories.
Meanwhile, Taylor Swift’s latest album, “Midnights” might be topping the sales and Billboard charts, however it won’t be eligible for a Grammy in 2023 because it was released after September 30th of this year. The same goes for Bruce Springsteen, Charlie Puth, Gorillaz, Red Hot Chili Peppers, 1975, Carly Rae Jepsen, Arctic Monkeys and Smashing Pumpkins. On the other hand, Silk Sonic have decided not to have their debut album compete for an Album of the Year Grammy.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including why K-Pop phenoms BTS are headed to the army, how the performing rights organization BMI is becoming a for-profit entity and embattled actor Kevin Spacey is found not liable in a sex abuse lawsuit.
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Showbiz Sandbox 564: Film Critics Start Selecting the Best Movies of 2021
December 7, 2021
It’s that time of year when Film Critics Start Selecting the Best Movies of 2021 for newspapers, magazines and websites begin naming their favorite movie releases. The National Board of Review named its favorite film of the 2021, then proceeded to name 32 more in various categories. The New York Film Critics were tougher however, naming five top films in categories like nonfiction, debut film, animated feature and foreign language. We discuss where any awards season favorites are beginning to stand out.
Thankfully, movie theatres around the world are mostly open, allowing audiences to catch up with some of the critics top picks. However, a new COVID variant named after what would appear to be a character out of a Transformers movie, is temporarily shuttering cinemas in various parts of the world such as China and Russia.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including why CNN fired the host of its highest rated news program, the Grammys clarify who can be nominated as a songwriter and the reason Middle Eastern countries won’t show Steven Spielberg’s take on “West Side Story.”
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