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New Projects Casting - SAG-AFTRA Audition Pay - Booking Film/TV/Theatre Workshop - Up & Coming Creatives

By Abigail Hardin, October 04, 2022

Happy October, UTD!

We experienced a technical glitch last week so, this week's email is extra jam packed!

Need a little jolt to your Fall productivity? Join and Annie and me at our next free workshop, HOW TO FIND FILM/TV/THEATRE PROJECTS THAT ARE RIGHT FOR YOU - October 18th @ 3:00 PM ET. At this workshop we will be deep diving into the 5 major steps to booking more Film, TV, and Theatre work:

1. Define Your Type and Uniqueness.
2. Research Your Current Market.
3. Create Your Project List.
4. Do Your Marketing Tools Support Your Castable Type?
5. Submission Note to Casting Directors

As always there will be a Q&A and a great opportunity to ask any questions pertaining to the topic or how to best use The Up-To-Date Actor. Registration is required. We hope you can join us!

Create a great week! ☮️

Spooky Season Begins 👻

Ghosts, spirits, things that go bump in the night.... and a whole lot of content is here for fall 2022! The busy season is in full swing, with hundreds of series and shows auditioning and filming throughout the country, while some of our favorite Halloween picks are streaming all month long 🎃 So much to get excited about!

Has anyone seen the new Hocus Pocus 2 yet? I've been saving it for a particularly spooky evening, but this week might be the time to do it. And apparently, there could be some Broadway plans in the works? Don't tease us like this! 🧙‍♀️

Speaking of stage selections - American Theatre Magazine brought back their lists of the Top 10 Most-Produced Plays and Playwrights for the upcoming season, sitting down with Lynn Nottage and Lauren Gunderson to chat about some of their most highly-lauded works. These are definitely two must-read playwrights - check out their pages on UTD Actor for a full list of their works!

Awards & Festivals

Golden Globes Returning, Sundance and Rome Reveal More Festival Details

The Golden Globes will officially return to primetime this winter, after the restructuring Hollywood Foreign Press Association struck a one-year deal with NBC and Peacock to host the ceremony on January 10th. HFPA president Helen Hoehne pointed to the show's history of celebrating a wide range of media that she believes will get people re-engaged for the 2023 campaign: "We're thinking of ways to reinvent ourselves, to make the show more exciting. We're bringing on an exciting host and will make it a fun party. But I can't tell you who that host is yet." The group is hard at work revitalizing the show for audiences, including splitting the supporting actor and actress categories into miniseries, series, and TV movie. Excited to see what other surprises await!

January will also play host to 2023 Sundance Film Festival, which has already announced plans to continue its hybrid virtual and in-person events, after the success of the one-two punch offering in the last few years. Attendees 18-25 will be able to attend the festival with a discounted $200 Youth Pass, with organizers also bringing back the Locals Package for residents of Salt Lake City, enabling them to attend up to 10 screenings throughout the city. Feeling particularly inclined to get in on the Sundance action this year? Preliminary passes and packages go on sale on October 17! 🎥

Jet-setting to the other side of the globe, the Rome Film Festival will kick off on October 13th, having just announced its main slate that will include 130 titles across the 10-day event. Organizers were quick to note that while the offerings should not be compared to those of Venice or Cannes, it is "a pluralist, international festival, which is also a party for Rome." The new management of the event is hopeful that the filmmakers being showcased at this year's ceremony may find themselves the stars of the TIFF, Cannes, and more in the future.

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

Representation Numbers Examined

Following up on last month's USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative report that Muslim actors make up only 1% of series leads in Hollywood, speaker and activist Malala Yousafzai continued to speak out against the disparity at this year's star-studded Power of Women event from Variety. "I know that the executives have passed on dozens of quality, equally amazing projects because they thought that the characters or their creators were too young, too Brown, too foreign, too poor," she said. "Sometimes it feels like they're saying we just don't belong here." Malala recently began promoting her production company, Extracurricular, after securing a multi-year deal with Apple TV+ last year.

A new initiative from the Inevitable Foundation is set to promote the careers of disabled screenwriters, in an effort to improve representation numbers for disabled creatives in Hollywood. The Elevate Collective will provide $5,000 grants for writers to pursue professional opportunities, upgrade their in-home writing facilities, IP acquisition, and more. The Foundation is also set to partner with Caring Across Generations and Humanitas to provide grants for development services and access to virtual events over the next year.

After seven seasons, OWN network mainstay QUEEN SUGAR has been making history with its decision to hire only female directors to take the helm - 42, to be exact! Creator Ava DuVernay has much to be proud of since first launching the series in 2016, with dozens of the series' directors going on to receive their DGA membership, securing representation and catapulting their careers after working on the series. "[T]his is something we all did together," DuVernay told Variety. "I feel like we really won."

Rating Information Lacking, Disney Descendent Takes Aim at Execs

Summer 2020 brought about dozens of high-flying statements from studios, networks, and production companies the world over saying that they were pledging a new era of commitment to uplifting diverse voices in film, TV, and theatre. Two years later, the industry seems to be at an interesting crossroads of representation: Promises have been made, creative funds have been established, but where is the actual work that so many execs pledged to pursue? Issa Rae is left looking for answers. "Post–George Floyd, I got so many emails from people who were well-intentioned but were like, ‘Hey, I want to do better. Can you tell me some of the people you've worked with who you recommend?' And I was like, ‘Bitch, go find them like I did! I found them! Do the work! Watch their shorts!'" Rae went on to call out the gatekeeping of ratings information that many creators are trying to navigate in keeping their shows afloat: "There's a lot of confusion about how well creators are doing across the board, so that's why you get creators surprised that their shows got canceled or their shows are getting pulled off the air, because they don't have the information."

Abigail Disney is no stranger to taking her namesake company to task for its practices and financial dealings. In recent years, she has called out CEO Bob Iger's "insane" salary and even directed a documentary that chronicles the struggles that Disney employees have affording the essentials, while company execs live high off the hog. Now, Walt's great-niece is requesting the receipts proving the company has indeed paused political donations in Florida, months after the state's aggressive anti-LGBTQIA+ agenda came to light, with Disney on the books for donations toward candidates that support the legislation. "I think in the last three consecutive years, there have been shareholder proposals around Disney being transparent about their political contributions," Disney said. "And in every case, management has recommended against voting for that. Why? Why are they averse to any transparency on their political contributions?"

More Articles:

• ‘Grendel' Star Abubakr Ali Responds To Netflix Series Cancellation
• CNBC's Julia Boorstin Examines Female Leadership in Business in Book

Up & Coming Creatives

The Black List, AMPAS Announce New Recipients

The Black List's 2022 Feature Lab has announced this year's participants, rounding out the months-long selection process to find the six finalists that will take part in the popular program. The cadre of writers will workshop one project with the help of several industry professionals, culminating in an in-person presentation in Los Angeles. The Black List team also selected the program's first Musical Film fellow, who will team up with musical scribes around the world to develop a project as well 🎶

A group of young filmmakers got in on the Oscar buzz this past week in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' student awards, granting them eligibility in the upcoming 2022 Oscars ceremony in the Documentary Short, Live Action Short or Animation Short Film categories. Nearly 1,800 submissions came in from 614 institutions around the world, with only 14 junior creators receiving honors at this year's ceremony.

Unions

SAG-AFTRA will begin pushing for audition pay under specific circumstances for its members, a provision that has been outlined in union contracts since 1937, though rarely pursued by members and representatives. Pay will be sought out from the following audition situations:

1. If an actor is required to memorize their lines prior to the audition
2. When an actor is involved in a studio "test" audition, as these sessions typically involve hair, make-up, and memorization
3. "When a performer is owed pay for waiting time in excess of one hour as provided in the applicable schedule"

Victory Gardens Lay-Offs, SAG-AFTRA Disaster Fund Activated

In the aftermath of the devastation from Hurricane Fiona in Puerto Rico, SAG-AFTRA activated its emergency program last month, established to provide funds for members impacted by unexpected crises. Anyone interested in donating to the Disaster Relief Fund can visit SAG-AFTRA's website to learn more!

After a failed attempt to unionize with IATSE last week, the entire staff of Chicago's Victory Gardens Theater was laid off by the board of directors, leaving just the members of the board responsible for the theater's operations. The terminated employees took to GoFundMe for financial support, noting on their page that the funds will be used during the transition period between "mourning the loss of an institution [they] fought tooth and nail for" and acquiring new jobs. Playwright Erika Dickerson-Despenza has since pulled the rights to CULLUD WATTAH, saying that she was put off by "the white supremacist capitalist patriarchal values espoused by the board of directors at Victory Gardens Theater."

Streaming Wars

Dick Wolf Empire Shines, Netflix Unveils New Projects

The battle rages on between linear and streaming evermore these days, and it's looking like the titles best-suited for combat against the likes of digital platforms probably belong somewhere in the house of Dick Wolf's TV empire. Aside from Monday Night Football, the top three most-viewed programs during fall Premiere Week were FBI, CHICAGO FIRE, and CHICAGO MED, followed by LAW & ORDER: SVU and ORGANIZED CRIME. Then again, the weirdly-comforting familiarity of these shows doesn't come as such a surprise... Knowing Elliot and Olivia will (almost) always catch the bad guy? Sometimes you just need that consistency in your life 🤷‍♀️

Netflix had a mammoth content drop at their Tudum Event this past weekend, with trailers and first looks at everything from YOU to BRIDERTON to bloopers for STRANGER THINGS. It's a feast for the cinematic eyes - enjoy! 📺

Indie Features Finding Their Place in Digital World

Long thought to be either a help or hindrance to indie features, filmmakers are still trying to make sense of where the artform stands with respect to theatrical releases vs streaming deals. Last week's Zurich Summit provided a ton of insight into how execs and financiers currently feel about getting indie projects off the ground - and the news is bleak at best. "[V]ery few companies can actually thread those teeny, weeny little needles" of getting the right amount of capital to launch an indie these days, producer Christine Vachon said. It's clear that when it comes to streaming, the majority of platforms are only interested in purchasing the title outright, leaving the creators wanting for the project that they often pour their blood, sweat, and tears into, for little or no money at all. And with the world of theatricals releases continuing to change by the season, it's becoming increasingly difficult to sell films with lesser-known casts and creators to companies that are very much concerned with their own bottom line 💰

More Articles:

• In Streaming, Original Films And Series Aren't The Only Draws

NYC Theatre

TDF Veterans Fund Launching, Beowulf Boritt Reading

The Theater Development Fund has announced that 12 shows running in New York will take part in the company's Veterans Theatregoing Program for the 2022-2023 season. The initiative makes tickets available to veterans and their families interested in attending the group of shows, as a part of TDF's ongoing commitment to making theatre accessible for all. The shows that are currently set to take part in the program include ALADDIN, HARRY POTTER AND THE CURSED CHILD, 1776, and more!

Calling all lovers of theatrical set design! Tony-winner Beowulf Boritt is offering a reading of his new book, Transforming Space Over Time: Set Design and Visual Storytelling with Broadway's Legendary Directors, at our beloved Drama Book Shop this fall. Boritt has worked with some of the best in the business: Hal Prince, Jerry Zaks, and Stephen Sodheim, just to name a few. The reading, set to take place on October 11th, will be followed by a talkback panel with Susan Stroman and James Lapine. We'll see you there! 📚

Political Updates

Committee on Arts and Humanities Restarts, CA Venues Promised Aid

President Biden officially reinstated the President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities last week, reigniting a years-dormant executive office that includes chairs for the National Endowment of the Arts and of the Humanities. The main purpose of the committee will be to advise on federal support of arts across the country and provide insight and services to advance the US' cultural sector in the year ahead. We're back!

California non-profits got a boost last week as Governor Gavin Newsom signed Senate Bill 1116 into law, paving the way for the establishment of the Performing Arts Equitable Payroll Fund in the state. Under the legislation, small non-profit entertainment venues will be eligible to receive grants to offset payroll costs, further shoring up economic conditions for businesses impacted by COVID closures. "Without community arts organizations, many of our small and disadvantaged communities may not have access to the arts," Newsom said.

Abortion Protections Still Sought, TV Gun Violence Examined

The pressure continues to build for major studios to enact tangible safety protocols for employees in states that have implemented abortion bans in post-Roe America, as the coalition of showrunners and directors responsible for the July letters to execs took out a full-page ad in Variety, thanking studio representatives for meeting with the group. "This is not the last you will hear from us," the ad reads, promising to continue to hold the companies accountable for initial promises made in meetings over the last month.

USC Annenberg Norman Lear Center's Media Impact Project recently dove into depictions of gun violence in scripted TV dramas, finding that while some gun safety measures have the potential to positively impact viewers, "heavy-handed" narratives surrounding gun owners can potentially further isolate them, rather than opening up fruitful conversations. The report went on to describe the discrepancy between white and black victims of gun violence, finding that while the majority of victims on TV are white, "Young Black men are 20 times more likely to be killed by a gun than young white men."