New Projects Casting - Awards Season - New AEA Contract - Broadway Closures
By Abigail Hardin, December 15, 2022
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Happy December, UTD!
We've got a mid-week industry insight email this go around. Sometimes there is nothing left to do but go with the flow and not try to control situations that are simply out of your control. Am I right? 🤷♀️
We had a blast meeting so many of you at our Up-To-Date Actor Holiday Party earlier in the week! It was wonderful to celebrate LIVE with our UTDA artist community at the legendary Sardis in NYC on Tuesday. Truly a breath of fresh air after all the Zoom meetings we've been doing over the last few years. It was magical! And, I have to say, everyone looked even more fabulous in person! 😉
We are blessed to be a part of all of your artistic journeys! As a UTD Actor, you have and continue to do the work that is the foundation for the successful performance career that you are manifesting. 2023 will be a breakout year for all of us!
Lastly, I'll leave you with a quote that I stumbled upon on a stroll earlier in the week. The Richard Wright haiku was printed on the side of a building that I've walked past a million times but never actually seen. "Leaving its nest, The sparrow sinks a second, Then opens its wings." The quote resonated with me as a perfect end-of-the-year mantra. A reminder that even if it feels like you are moving forward towards your goal, you are still on the path towards your greater success.
There is already a lot of news building up for next week, so I'm looking forward to our usual Tuesday email delivery. The industry is snowballing towards the end of the year. It's that last mad dash before the holidays. Buckle up, and be merry and bright!
Create a great rest of the week! ☮️
Awards Season Waking Up
2023 Golden Globe Nominees
We got our first taste of some of this year's high-profile nominees on the Golden Globes slate released yesterday. EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE and THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN lead the pack of film nominees, with ABBOTT ELEMENTARY garnering the most nods in the TV categories - a perfect follow-up to its placement on AFI's Best TV Shows of 2022 list. Overall, the Globes' competition field is one of the more diverse in recent memory, but the lack of strong Black narratives in the Best Picture category still leaves a lot to be desired from the HFPA. Many popular shows from the past year saw scattered nominations, with some high-budget projects like THE RINGS OF POWER being left out of the running completely.
Critics Choice, Black List
As the holiday season approaches and the industry grinds to a halt, it's the perfect time to start building up your watchlists for those long winter nights ahead 🏆 That's not to say that we're not already in the spirit of the season - along with the Golden Globes announcement yesterday, the fifth annual Critics Choice Celebration of Black Cinema and Television took place earlier this month, and ballots were due last Friday for the January Critics Choice Awards.
And of course, we need to talk about the 2022 Hollywood Black List - this year's most popular, yet-unproduced screenplays was released yesterday, showcasing the work of 80 writers looking to get their work into the hands of producers and companies ready to give their projects a shot. "However unacknowledged, the life blood of this industry has always been great stories well-told, and that begins with great writers writing," Franklin Leonard, founder of the Black List, said.
Road to the Oscars
The call to eliminate gendered categories at the major award shows continues to grow, but seemingly only the smaller events have made good on these plans up until now. Both the Independent Spirit Awards and the Gotham Awards dropped their actor/actress delineations, though the reception of this decision has been mixed at best. Meanwhile, Oscar buzz has already begun predicting who may find themselves on the ballot this year, and according to Indiewire, it seems like the best way to score a nomination in recent years is to have been in the running previously, or to be recognized by the SAG Awards preceding the Oscars..... Chicken or the egg, I suppose!
New AEA Contract
Pay Raises, Incresed Time Off, Commitment to Diversity
The Broadway League and Actors' Equity (AEA) have officially reached a new collective bargaining agreement, months after the two groups began negotiations on a new contract that will govern Broadway and other productions in the US. While the deal is still pending a final vote by union members, the update is a welcome sign to industry folks on both sides hoping to keep union members employed and protected over the next few years. The agreement includes pay raises, increased time off, and a commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Broadway Closures
Community Reacts to KPOP, AIN'T NO MO' Cancellations
New York Times critic Jesse Green came under fire last week for his negative review of KPOP on Broadway, in which Green made several racist comments and overall out-of-touch observations about the productions. The producers of the show have since released a statement condemning the review and demanding that Green issue an apology, though no such actions have been taken by the NYT staffer as of now. "The starting place for Green's review was that if you don't understand Korean or you're not already a fan of the KPOP genre, then this show is not for you," cast member John Yi wrote in an Instagram post. "KPOP is as much for English speaking theatregoers as much as an Italian opera is at the Met." The show announced it will see an early closure on December 18th.
AIN'T NO MO' also announced its plans to close this Sunday, marking only 18 performances on Broadway, even through a positive review cycle in its early days. "I vowed to do everything I could to bring Jordan's riveting play written in his distinct voice and perspective to Broadway," lead producer Lee Daniels said in a statement. "I couldn't be more proud of our magnificent cast and crew. This is not the end." The team received a boost from Will and Jada Pinkett Smith last week, when the duo vowed to buy out a performance of the production ahead of its closure. "We just getting this battle started y'all, let's GOOO!! We gonna keep fighting till it Ain't No Mo! #saveaintnomo," writer Jordan E. Cooper wrote on Instagram. If you're in NYC this week, this show is absolutely a must-see!
Political Updates
Respect for Marriage Act Passed, PAPTA Seeks Support
We saw several exciting developments on the political landscape this past week, as Congress officially passed the Respect for Marriage Act, and President Biden signed the bill into law on Tuesday. Statements from the DGA and IATSE flowed in in support of the legislation, which will codify same-sex and interracial marriages into federal law.
Members of these unions, as well as Actors' Equity, SAG-AFTRA, and more also penned a letter to the House Ways and Means Committee last week, asking representatives to revisit the Performing Artist Tax Parity Act (PATPA) ahead of the Republican takeover of the House after the first of the year. The PATPA would reinstate Reagan-era tax breaks for middle-class artists, allowing them to deduct a higher amount of expenses on their tax returns. And we have the opportunity to shift the needle as well - contact your representative and ask them to inquire about the PATPA!
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
Tara Emad, Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Jeremy Pope Speak on Changes in Industry
Egyptian actress and model Tara Emad can't wait to see what's next for her rapidly rising career. "I seek to be that representation that I've always wanted to witness," Emad said of the lack of Egyptian women in Hollywood, hoping to build on the recent success of her appearance in SUITS, as well as her appointment as ambassador for Chanel. "Now, being able to work on big campaigns and work with huge brands, it's that dream that is really pushing me forward. And I feel I can offer representation for the other girls, and it makes so much difference."
Priyanka Chopra Jonas shared an encouraging look into her time on CITADEL, her latest project with Amazon Prime, noting that for the first time in her career, she will be paid the same salary as her male co-star. "I've done 60-something movies, I think, but I've never got paid the same amount as my male co-actor," she said. "I would get paid about 10% of my male co-actor." The needle is moving, slowly but surely!
Jeremy Pope opened up about his time working with director Elegance Bratton on THE INSPECTION, a coming-of-age story following the story of Ellis French and his time in the Marines. "This role allowed me to pull from my own experiences that were heavy and dark," Pope told Variety. "Just growing up as a Black queer individual whose dad was a pastor and a bodybuilder, I was always centered in rooms that felt hyper-masculine." While the two-time Tony nominee said he had to take time away from the role in order to recover from the mental and emotional demands of shooting, he couldn't be more thankful for the chance to bring the story to life. "Growing up, I have never seen a Black gay movie star... It has been a journey getting to a place of loving and comforting myself in that truth and knowing that I am born this way and that there is freedom in loving this side of me."
Industry Intel
LEADERSHIP UPDATE: Nik Whitcomb has been named the new artistic director at Oregon's Bag&Baggage Productions, leaving his post at the Black Theatre Coalition and succeeding former AD Cassie Greer. Congrats Nik!
For those following the merger between HBO Max and Discovery+, we got a glimpse into the future of the conjoined platform last week, as a letter from Warner Bros Discovery's lawyers pointed to "Max" as the frontrunner for the new service. While details remain few and far between and discussions remain on going, signs are pointing to the newest resident of the streaming landscape will be, simply, Max 📺
Actors on Acting
Raven-Symoné, Jenna Ortega
"Kids are the smartest people I know." Ain't that the truth! Raven-Symoné, LeVar Burton, and others were honored at the inaugural Family Entertainment Awards last week, showcasing the best of the best in family-focused content and programming. Raven-Symoné also shared some details about the upcoming reboot for her early 2000s Disney show THAT'S SO RAVEN, which will grapple with racially-centered topics and other social issues for audiences of all ages. "The family space and the kids' space is worthy of bold, thought-provoking content," she said. "They can handle it."
I'm sure we've all seen that dance from the new WEDNESDAY Netflix series 💃🏻 apparently, Jenna Ortega was battling COVID while filming the now-viral sequence, raising red flags as to the safety protocols on set. "I felt like I'd been hit by a car and that a little goblin had been let loose in my throat and was scratching the walls of my esophagus" Ortega told NME. "They were giving me medicine between takes because we were waiting on the positive result." Talk about the show must go on, but maybe those COVID protocols should be revisited?