Get Ready for 2021 - Discount Ending Soon - Netflix Expansion - Int'l Theatre Resumes

By Abigail Hardin, December 01, 2020

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Happy December UTD!

While this Thanksgiving was no doubt unconventional for many, I hope you enjoyed the holiday weekend and were able to spend time with family and friends, even if only virtually. It's no secret, 2020 has been a rough year, but still, there are many reasons to be thankful. I for one am thankful for my health and the health of my friends and family. I'm thankful for you and this growing community. The Up-To-Date Actor has been a motivating force for me through these months, I hope these emails and our services have been, and continue to be, a positive source of inspiration for you. The staff at Variety made a list of the film & TV moments they are thankful for in 2020.

One semblance of normalcy was the fact that the industry shut down a bit over the Thanksgiving Holiday and weekend, as you can see from fewer articles and projects announced this past week. Look for things to pick back up in a mad dash in the few weeks between now and mid-December.

💸 Don't miss our pre-holiday sale which is running through Sunday, December 6th. The holidays are a great time to do your research; form your targeted list of people, projects, and companies to meet; define the world in which you are usually cast; revise your marketing tools; and create a clear area of focus for the next year. Look for the industry to reboot in early January and make sure you are ready to make the most of it. The Up-To-Date Actor can help you create a clear game plan for success in 2021!

Mark your calendars! Our next free workshop is December 9th at 2:00 PM EST with Ripley-Grier Studios. Workshop topic: Year-End Wrap-Up & Preparation Strategies for 2021 Success! No registration is required, but space is limited. Hope you can make it!

Now, let's talk news!

COVID

Film

With coronavirus cases surging in Los Angeles, FilmLA is urging filmmakers to strictly observe guidelines established by the County's Department of Public Health, and through the end of the year "to voluntarily limit and/or avoid activities likely to invite a negative community response," Examples of "high-impact activities" that should be avoided include "any activity requiring Community Filming Surveys, activity that affects customer access to retail businesses, significant prep, strike or filming on secular and religious holidays, and requests that involve extended street parking, overnight filming, street closures, or aircraft use."

Theatre

While Broadway is shuttered until at least June of 2021, and regional theatre is piecemealing itself back together, many are looking to international theatre for ways in which to safely resume operations. Legendary composer Andrew Lloyd Webber, who has been a vocal advocate for opening theatres in London, on Broadway, and across the world, is "very optimistic" that a vaccine could mark the return of theatre.

"It clearly does depend a great deal on the vaccine but there have been a number of measures, a load of measures that have been applied in say Korea, and in, in Japan, for example, which have mitigated the effects of the virus enormously."

In early July, while most theaters in the U.S. remained shuttered, director Sammi Cannold traveled to South Korea and found musicals operating at full capacity. She spent two-and-a-half months in the country observing the world tour of PHANTOM OF THE OPERA and the South Korean tour of CATS, and then flew to London to look at reopening efforts there. Cannold was able to travel to these countries as part of a project that involves studying those two theater communities, as well as Broadway, during the pandemic. While she acknowledges the complexities in how each community is dealing with the pandemic — for example, South Korea had the advantage of a relatively low number of COVID-19 cases and an efficient government response — Cannold says that she feels the information coming out of South Korea can help theatermakers across the world as they continue their work on reopening solutions. Read more on this fascinating first hand look at how some countries are getting it right and are able to keep theatre doors open.

Add Australia to the list of countries trying to move forward. The Australian premiere of Disney's Frozen, which was previously set to begin performances in Sydney in July, now begins performance in December, and when it does, will play bigger audiences than previously allowed. The NSW Health Minister has granted the musical permission to play to 85% capacity at the Capitol Theatre. Until this point, shows have only been allowed 50% capacity for a maximum of 1,000 people at seated events.

Here are more articles to check out on Theatre & COVID

Movie Theatres

With the ongoing plight of movie theatres, there is a little glimmer of financial light for cinema workers who have been unemployed during the pandemic. The Pioneers Assistance Fund's Covid-19 relief effort has helped more than 8,000 movie theater workers with nearly $3 million in grants during the pandemic. The overwhelming majority of financial assistance disbursed by the fund is going to ticket-takers, concession workers, projectionists, and ushers who work, or formerly worked, at movie theaters across the country — from small, family-owned theaters to the major chains. Todd Vradenburg, the foundation's executive director, noted that Phase One of the program distributed some $2 million in $300 stipends to furloughed theater workers early on in the pandemic to help with their basic household needs until they started receiving unemployment benefits.

IndieWire's box office analyst Tom Brueggemann on Sunday reported bad-to-worse news for theaters as 600 more closed, and the dearth of new product persists. This past weekend alone, grosses won't exceed a staggering $7 million. But not all insiders are cynical about the situation, and that includes independent film producer, marketer, and distributor Ira Deutchman. The Columbia film professor recently joined MSNBC to share his views on how theaters can evolve once a looming COVID-19 vaccine becomes available. Read more and watch the interview.

Streaming

As Hollywood continues to restructure and redefine their business model, it's no surprise all major companies are making a bold switch to streaming. This shift comes at the same time as massive layoffs for these industry giants. The art of driving consumers to sign up for a monthly content service is different from opening a popcorn movie on a busy summer weekend. And so, the industry is seeing massive layoffs as they shift to a new model. Read more on how each individual company is restructuring and what the risk and implications are for the future of how we consume content.

Netflix has confirmed THE QUEEN'S GAMBIT is its biggest scripted limited series in history, launching to a record-breaking 62 million households over its first 28 days of release, the streamer claims. If you haven't watched it yet, I highly recommend checking it out!!

Netflix is expanding its footprint in New Mexico, announcing that it is expanding ABQ Studios and pledging an additional $1 billion in production spending there. The investment, per a release from the streaming giant, will create about 1,000 production jobs in New Mexico over the next decade as well as 1,467 construction jobs to complete the expansion. Calling Netflix an "incredible partner," New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham praised the streamer in a statement for "pushing the boundaries of innovation and expansion while providing fulfilling work opportunities for so many New Mexicans." Netflix has already moved production of several of its Atlanta based shows (including STRANGER THINGS) to its existing studio in Albuquerque, NM.

Regional Theatre

Detroit Public Theatre (DPT) has named Dominique Morisseau as its executive artistic producer. As a member of the leadership team, Morisseau will work with founding producing artistic directors Courtney Burkett, Sarah Clare Corporandy, and Sarah Winkler to lead the company. Morisseau has been involved with DPT since the company's earliest planning stages, as an advisor, collaborator, and founding board member. The theatre has produced four of her plays—DETROIT '67, SKELETON CREW, PIPELINE, PARADISE BLUE—in five seasons.

Diversity & Inclusion

ABC and its new drama BIG SKY are being called out by multiple tribal nations and Indigenous leaders for an "incomplete depiction of violence against women and girls." Following a letter last week addressed to ABC Entertainment president Karey Burke and series creator David E. Kelley, among others, the Great Plains Tribal Chairmen's Association and the Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs (UBCIC) have now added their voices to the chorus of criticisms. The series, based on the 2013 novel The Highway by C.J. Box, is set in Montana and centers around abductions that occur at truck stops. The Indigenous groups are accusing the show of "at best, cultural insensitivity, and at worst, appropriation" due to being set in an area with a disproportionately high rate of Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women & Girls (MMIWG), yet not having any tribal representation in the show.

Andy Samberg recently spoke to Variety's Awards Circuit podcast about his film PALM SPRINGS. During the interview, Samberg had a strong message for the Academy voters who have an issue with the Academy's new diversity and inclusion standards set to take effect in 2024. Samberg says "the parameters if you look at them closely…you can have the 'whitest' cast in the history of cinema and still very easily meet them by just doing a few key roles behind the camera. People who have problems with it can fuck off." Listen to the full interview for more.

ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK star and LGBTQ+ advocate Laverne Cox took to Instagram on Saturday to share that she and her friend were the victims of a transphobic attack that has left her "in shock." In an IGTV video, Cox detailed the incident that occurred when she went for a socially-distanced walk with a friend in Los Angeles' Griffith Park. Cox was shaken by the incident, saying that it reminded her just how unsafe the world can be. According to the National Center for Transgender Equality, in 2020 alone, 28 transgender people have been killed, surpassing the total for last year. "It's not safe in the world. And I don't like to think about that a lot, but it's the truth," Cox said. "It's the truth and it's not safe if you're a trans person. Obviously, I know this well. It's just really sad."

Like all theatres around the world, Geva Theatre Center in Rochester, N.Y., has radically shifted the way we conceive of and produce theatre. Their first programming of the 2020-2021 season is Recognition Radio: An Audio Play Festival Celebrating Black Voices (available for listening now through mid-December). This new festival has been an ongoing test of Geva's commitment to anti-racism after a 47-year history of upholding a system of white supremacy. For the first time, three Black dramaturgs were hired in addition to existing dramaturg Francisca Da Silveira. Read more for a discussion with these four dramaturgs on Blackness, Discernment, and Self-Preservation and their hopes for the field.

Writer-director David E. Talbert recently discussed his new Netflix film, JINGLE JANGLE: A CHRISTMAS JOURNEY, explaining his inspiration for the mega-musical. Talbert, who started his career as a playwright, grew up on popular musical fantasy films like the original WILLY WONKA & THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY and CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG, which he said is one of his all-time favorite movies. But he didn't have much luck passing his appreciation down to his young son, Elias. Talbert remembered, with humor, showing his four-year-old the Dick Van Dyke-starrer for the first time in 2017. "I sat with him and I'm singing the songs and everything, and he just wasn't into it at all, and asked if he could go play with his LEGOs," said Talbert. "As he walked away, I looked at him, I looked at the screen, and I realized, he doesn't see himself in the film. But this was my childhood, because there were no other options for diversity of representation on the screen at the time. He has Black Panther and Miles Morales on his wall. So that's when I thought, it's time to do it, because if my son is experiencing this, how many sons and daughters of color, around the world want to see themselves represented as well?" Be sure to check out this fantastic new addition to the Christmas canon.