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New Projects - Hulu vs Disney - TV Talk - State of Theatre

By Abigail Hardin, August 16, 2022

Happy Tuesday, UTD!

It's official, there are four weeks before the unofficial start to the Fall work season. It never fails, mid-August comes around and while I still enjoy the blazing heat and Summer sun, I also feel the anticipation of productivity and cool air. Maybe it's a holdover from the "back-to-school" advertising of my childhood (there is nothing like a brand new composition notebook 📓 and a fresh set of gelly roll pens ✒️😉), but I still get excited at this time of year for the prospect of a fresh start.

I encourage you to look at your own career through the back-to-school lens. Use these next four weeks to do your homework, refresh your marketing tools, and get ready for a busy Fall season. We'll be talking about this and more at our free workshop next week. This will be a great opportunity to get energized and focus your mind. We hope you can join us!

• August 24, 2022 @ 3:00 PM EST — BOOKING FALL FILM/TV WORK with Actors Connection

Create a great week! 🤓📚🎒👩🏻‍💻

Hulu vs. Disney+

The Future of Streaming at the House of Mouse

Disney has long been positioning itself for success in the streaming market, thanks in large part to its two main streaming workhorses: Hulu and Disney+. In recent years, the growth at Hulu has begun to slow, as the market continues to become saturated and more networks take the reins of their legacy projects back to their own streaming services. With the recent announcement that NBCUniversal would drop its next-day new episode arrangement with Hulu in favor of Peacock, Disney's older streaming child may be on the outs with its parent company.

Disney has already made it clear that it wants to spend more time developing plans and future-proofing Disney+, and with the deal for a controlling stake in Hulu set for review in early 2024, it's very possible that ownership may fall solely to Disney, Comcast, or neither. And with Disney recently lowering its subscriber growth expectations for Disney+ for the next few years, it's very possible Hulu's days inside the House of Mouse are numbered.

What are the subscriber counts at the various streaming houses these days, anyway? Netflix is still on top - no surprises there - but Disney+ is starting to give the company a run for its money. Check out the full list here!

Awards & Festivals

Golden Globes May Return, HCA & TCA Announce Winners

The award season landscape continues to shape up this week, with the surprising news that NBC may bring back the Golden Globes in 2023, after the fall of the maligned Hollywood Foreign Press Association took the award showdown with it. The reason for the award show's return? Undoubtedly varied, though it seems to be no surprise that one of the biggest factors driving the Globes back is its ratings number - the 2019 show was the highest rated non-sports telecast of the year. NBC has yet to formally confirm the show's return, but several high-profile sources are pointing to a yes - stay tuned for more!

Deadline held its highly anticipated Contenders TV showcase earlier this month, which brought together dozens of Emmy candidates to discuss their process for creating this year's biggest shows, and how they see the 2022 Emmys shaking out. If you missed the event - have no fear! Deadline also launched a streaming site to catalog this year's panels, so all the Emmy goodness is now online for your viewing pleasure 📺

We also received a few rounds of winners from this year's Hollywood and Television Critics Associations Awards shows:

• THE WHITE LOTUS, SEVERANCE, Lead 2nd Annual HCA TV Awards - Full List
• 2022 TCA Awards: Full List of Winners

The New York Film Festival unveiled the slate for its 2022 event last week, which will feature 32 films from 18 countries for the festival's two-week stretch in October. Several titles have already received top marks at Cannes, Sundance, and Berlin, lining up what is sure to be an exciting group of new films set to hit NYC this fall! 🎬

Industry Reactions to Abortion Bans Continue

SAG-AFTRA's Health Plan will cover lodging and travel reimbursement for any members seeking abortion services while living in states with anti-abortion protocols. Plan trustees voting unanimously to accept the measure, saying that the move will continue to provide members "safe abortion services regardless of where they live or work."

While Lionsgate announced that it would embrace the abortion safety protocols outlined in the letters signed by nearly 1,000 industry creatives to studio heads in the last several weeks, the overwhelming majority of studios have done next to nothing to acknowledge and take action on the missives calling for access to abortion services by Hollywood's major studios. Netflix, NBCUniversal, and Disney were among the many companies to issue paltry corporate statements of "thanks for sharing your concerns" in response to the letters from late July, prompting outrage from many signatories that the companies that they write and produce for had little to say over this growing health crisis. Step it up, studio heads!

Organizers in theaters across the country are stepping up to make their voices heard as well. American Theatre Magazine spoke to several theatre makers - WHAT THE CONSTITUTION MEANS TO ME writer/performer Heidi Schreck, composer Abigail Bengson, a group from Austin, TX that gathered to read a new work - the wish: a manual for a last-ditch effort to save abortion in the united states through theater. All share the one simple throughline: the time to act is now, and theatre can be one of the many vehicles to get us to where we need to go.

TV Talk

Late Night Landscape; Netflix & SAG-AFTRA Strike Deal

A buyout of beleaguered ratings house Nielsen may be on the horizon, as execs with the company confirmed that its largest shareholder is turning to private equity firms to enter its next stage. The terms of the deal would sit around $10 billion for the company to be acquired by the group of investors, which led share prices to soar last week among hopes that the once golden-standard rating company would once again see signs of life further down the road.

The late night talk show landscape is currently undergoing its most recent paradigm shift, as the cancellation of FULL FRONT WITH SAMANTHA BEE, along with the exit of James Corden and potentially Stephen Colbert have left many wondering where the format is heading. With many viewing turning increasingly towards online/digital entertainment for news and comedy, the late night format is being faced with the necessity to pivot or sink - though how it may get there is anyone's guess. "Everyone wants [a host] that already has followers but that's [tough], like getting people to go from YouTube to linear," one studio exec said, pointing to the difficult task of replacing the likes of James Corden, while staying appealing to younger viewers.

As we first mentioned last week, Netflix and SAG-AFTRA have officially struck a deal on the newest iteration of their three-year agreement to keep union members on the company's projects, with the national board overwhelmingly approving the measure at their meeting last week. Chiefly among the new provisions of the agreement is a "conflict-free window" that will allow actors to appear on other shows without gaining prior approval from Netflix. Perhaps the days of exclusivity deals truly are coming to an end 👀

The State of the Theater

Theatre in 2022 has been somewhat of a jigsaw puzzle for just about everyone involved: how can we get every piece laid out and put together - the cast, crew, venue, audiences - without everything scattering around and falling apart? For many, the love of theatre has butted up against the very real economic and pandemic-driven challenges that are continuing to plague most industries; artistic directors and other stalwart industry professionals have given up the ghost seemingly in droves over the last few years - for many different reasons, to be fair - but it begs the question of where theatre is headed, and how we can use this moment to enact real change in the systems that have been held in place for so very long.

Some of the challenges that theaters are facing extend far beyond the realm of what can be controlled at an operational level. Summer stages in the last few years have had to deal with scorching temperatures, wildfires, flooding, and just about anything else that climate change-fueled Mother Nature can throw at it, and, by all accounts, it doesn't seem that things are getting better anytime soon.

The outlook seems bleak to be sure. Abiding by our collective adage - "the show must go on!" - can only get us so far in a time of such monumental change. The people of the theatre are adaptable, that much we've always known. One of Broadway's newest additions, THE KITE RUNNER, has instituted a new mask policy that will feature performances on Friday evenings for audiences who are not yet comfortable being maskless in a crowd - an attractive option that producers hope will further incentivize people to come back to the theatre on the night best suited for their mask preferences.

It's undoubtedly a long road ahead for the next phase of theatre in America and across the globe. Broadway's fall slate is filled with over a dozen exciting titles, not to mention the hundreds of regional productions that will take place around the country as the leaves begin to change. How the chips will fall is anyone's guess - but I have good faith that a new era is certainly on the horizon.

As we're sure you've probably seen on social media, there was quite an, erm.... industrious (read: illegal) remounting of HAMILTON in recent weeks, courtesy of a church in Texas. The production was complete with changed songs and dialogue, mainly refocusing the attention on Christian themes and references to Jesus. Lin-Manuel Miranda responded to the videos a few days later, saying it was now time for the "lawyers to do their work." Sigh!

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

The sophomore season of the Creative Corridor program is set to expand opportunities for a new group of writers of color from both the U.S. and the U.K., opening up the chance for 14 scribes to get their work viewed by some of the biggest studios in the industry. Underwritten by Sony Pictures Television, the program is hosted by the Independent Film Trust, which continues to seek ways to increase diversity in writer's rooms across the globe. 90% of last year's participants saw interest in their work from major industry players - will you be next? Applications are now open!

A new survey of over 350 film and TV workers in the UK found that the industry has a major confidence issue in how racism claims are being dealt with in the country. 61% of minorities interviewed reported experiencing some form of racism while on the job, while only 4% felt that their claims were "dealt with effectively". "It is now the job of industry leaders to listen to our demands and formulate a racism reporting body," Head of surveyor Bectu Philippa Childs said. "It is not too late to tackle racism in broadcasting, and we will maintain pressure until we see real progress."

On-screen representation for Native American talent has slowly but surely been increasing over the last several years, and series like AMC's DARK WINDS are taking incredible steps to ensure that these projects are not only featuring Native American actors but crew and creatives behind the camera as well. Writer Billy Luther spoke with Variety about his desire to get the storytelling of his community right, while still understanding the uphill battle that Native creators face: "It's a lot of weight to carry as writers in the room with something so new to an audience. There are only a few Native TV shows out there so I know we're all under a microscope." Luther also expressed hope for how the work will shape future projects on the screen: "I hope that these shows inspire young artists to pursue work in the industry - we need more Native showrunners, writers, actors, camera and crew on sets. It makes a huge difference."

It's a sentiment mirrored by RUTHERFORD FALLS star Michael Greyeyes, who shared on a podcast last week with Deadline that the needle has definitely shifted on indigenous representation in his 30+ years in the business, but we've only just begun to see the trickle of Native American talent turn into a stream of work for audiences to view. With the Academy recently issuing a long-overdue apology to Sacheen Littlefeather for her blacklisted status from the industry following her 1973 Oscars appearance, in which she declined Marlon Brando's award for THE GODFATHER on his behalf, we can only hope that the industry is finally waking up to the dearth of acknowledgment and opportunities for Native American creatives.

Actors on Acting

Diego Luna, Christina Ricci, Julia Lester & More

A growing outcry among industry members throughout the country is calling on Hollywood to stop forcing countless actors to adopt standard American accents, as more and more step forward with stories of white-washing and xenophobic instances that led them to question whether or not their accents would keep them from being hired. The decision to keep Ana de Armas' accent as Marilyn Monroe sparked ire from prospective viewers of the upcoming film BLONDE, although Monroe's official estate expressed excitement for the project's release. The court of public opinion is rowdy and unrelenting, and it's something that Hollywood execs must work to curb in the way that they cast their shows and movies. "It wasn't a decision to keep my accent. If they hire me, I come with this," ROGUE ONE and ANDOR star Diego Luna said of retaining his accent for the projects. "But when they cast me, they're clearly sending a message that they're trying to represent a similar world to the one we experience, where people talk differently and have rich cultural and language diversity."

Variety laid out their much-anticipated 2022 Impact Report this past week, detailing a handful of Hollywood's rising stars that we'd all be wise to keep an eye on. From RESERVATION DOGS to the FRESH PRINCE reboot, these up-and-coming actors are the future of our industry - and it's sure looking bright ☀️

This interview with Amanda Seyfried really struck me this week - the DROPOUT and MAMMA MIA star got candid about her audition process for the WICKED movie, saying that she was "devastated" when the role eventually went to Ariana Grande, noting that her disappointment "wasn't for any other reason than I really felt like it was right." Seyfried spoke about the audition schedule for the two-part film, which occurred in tandem with shooting "the hardest role of [her] life" as Elizabeth Holmes in Hulu's THE DROPOUT, and how the experience, while heartbreaking, made her even more confident for the next role that comes along. It happens to everyone - all that matters is how you pick yourself back up and keep your eyes on what's ahead!

The folks on the other side of the table in audition rooms have just as many (and oftentimes, many more) insider tips and tricks as actors on how a project's journey came to be, and Variety chatted with several casting professional from this year's list of Emmy nominated series on what led to some of the most memorable moments of this year's small screen offerings. ABBOTT ELEMENTARY casting director Wendy O'Brien spoke about newcomer Janelle James, and how her performance immediately jumped off the screen. "I got her self tape and it was just one of those moments, which there's not tons of, where I thought, 'if she doesn't get this role, I don't know what I'm doing as a casting director," O'Brien said. "It was so obvious." Exciting proof that opportunities for everyone are out there - you just gotta go for it!

Christina Ricci's latest role as the cunning, twisted Misty Quigley in YELLOWJACKETS was a turning point for the actress: after being told early on in her career that TV wasn't for her, Ricci worked through a host of guest stars and other spots on series that never gathered much steam. These days, her work on YELLOWJACKETS is bringing her more joy and challenging work than she ever expected. While she doesn't feel that she has much in common with Misty, she doesn't see that as a negative. "I don't believe that today's audience needs to relate to the story and to be fascinated by the story," she told Variety. "As women we've had to relate to men, these male stories about maleness that I haven't related to but somehow, I was able to figure it out."

Switching from screen to stage, NYT caught up with one of Broadway's newest stars - INTO THE WOODS' Julia Lester, the newest actor to dawn the cape of Little Red in the 2022 revival, has been basking in her debut on the Great White Way at only 22. “There is a lot of pressure on actors to live through other people's eyes," Lester said. "Learning to live unapologetically and as myself has been really important for me." The limelight is not new to Lester - she recently completed work on the third season of HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL: THE MUSICAL: THE SERIES, and has no plans to stop shining her light anytime soon. "You're being given the opportunity to do what you were put on this earth to do," she told NYC, "which is to perform."