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New Projects Casting - IATSE Ratifies Contract - Disney VS Netflix - Arts Welcome International Tourists

By Abigail Hardin, November 16, 2021

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I know I'm a broken record but, where does time go?! I can't believe it is already the middle of November đŸ˜± With the holidays fast approaching, I find myself grasping for time. Normally, I view the Holiday season as a time to just try to keep up and finish any outstanding projects, but this year I feel it more than ever.

On a personal note, many of you know that 2021 was an insane year for me. In addition to having a baby, my husband and I experienced water damaged in our apartment and have been displaced for the better part of the last six months. Well, I am thrilled to say that we are finally moving home! 🏡 So... this year, more than ever, I feel that a huge episode is coming to completion.

As I've mentioned in these intros, we at Up-To-Date have been working at creating better habits and holding ourselves accountable. Creating clear goals has helped me stay focused through these chaotic last few months. I encourage you as well to use these last 45 days and set a few clear, attainable, goals for the new year.

To help you do that, we will be hosting our last workshop of the year on December 13th. The workshop is free but space is limited and registration is required. Mark your calendars and hope to see you there!

Create a great week!

Despite a Rift, IATSE Ratifies Contract

The embattled IATSE contract landscape continued to log discord this past week as an increasing number of members around Hollywood voiced their displeasure with the agreements, and threatened to vote down the measure over the weekend. One growing point of contention has been the messaging from IATSE President Matthew Loeb, who took to the union's website to plead with members to "review the information on the new agreement and vote in favor of its ratification."

Many members feel that Loeb's overt enthusiasm for the new plan flies directly in the face of the cohort of individuals who do not believe the new contract does enough to address their concerns. "The messaging we’re receiving... has been so polarized and enthusiastic in recommending a 'Yes' vote that it has come off as condescending and disrespectful of the rank-and-file membership," member Brandy Tannahill said. The vote actually deliberated on two contracts - the Basic Agreement, which operates 13 of Hollywood's local groups, and the Area Standard Agreement, covering 23 locals outside of LA.

Opponents of the current contract also pointed to the tragic loss of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of RUST as proof that stricter on-set protocols may have prevented the events leading up to her death. Local 600, the International Cinematographers Guild, has been pushing members to vote "Yes" on the new contract, urging them to then look ahead to the 2024 union elections to enact change among leadership. "Making decisions that impact not just your future but the future of thousands of members and their families is a huge responsibility," Local 600 president John Lindley and national ED Rebecca Rhine wrote to members. "Elect candidates who are willing to work hard, have a stake in, and will fight for what matters to working members."

UPDATE: Yesterday, IATSE members voted to ratify the new Film & TV contracts with the AMPTP. Under the electoral college system the union uses for such ratification vote the much closer that usual vote was 359 (56%) to 282 (44%), out of 641 total delegate votes from the the grand total of 36 local unions national wide that were eligible.

Industry Intel

As we head into the depths of winter and the whisperings of awards season begin to trickle down through the critics ether, some are advocating for the Television Academy to consider revising its eligibility period for the Primetime Emmys to come more into view with the remainder of the winter TV awards that utilize a calendar rather than broadcast TV framework. While the current setup does allow for the winter award programs to receive their own time in the spotlight away from the Emmys, the effect of creating essentially two TV awards seasons - winter and Emmys - still leaves something to be desired for diehard critics of the small screen.

Acclaimed Hollywood cinematographer and filmmaker Joan Churchill received the DOC NYC's Lifetime Achievement Award at the organization's documentary film festival last week, the largest of its kind in the country. "With her, the camera is a character," artistic collaborator and husband Alan Barker pointed out. "It's a part of the action, and she relates to the people she’s filming while she’s filming." Churchill's long career spans over 50 years of film production, working on titles the Oscar-nominated LAST DAYS IN VIETNAM and BIGGIE & TUPAC.

Want to stay on top of some of Hollywood's names to watch? Check out Variety's New Leaders in Hollywood for 2021!

Emilio Estevez broke his silence about his exit from season two of the MIGHTY DUCKS reboot, noting that a combination of "creative differences" and disputes over his contract led to producers at Disney not picking up his option for the second installment of GAME CHANGERS. Revealing that he had contracted COVID right at the beginning of the pandemic last March and subsequently endured months of Long Haul Syndrome, Estevez was clear that rumors swirling about him being anti-vax are not true, instead stating that he was "anti-bully" and did not see eye-to-eye with production on some COVID safety protocols being discussed for the second season.

Washington, D.C.'s storied Mosaic Theater Company of D.C. has named Reginald L. Douglas its new artistic director, wrapping up a months-long search nationwide. "Together we will produce plays and programs, made for and with our community, that ignite thoughtful conversation, center artists and audiences of all backgrounds and neighborhoods, and value empathy, collaboration, and joy as vital to our success," Douglas said in a statement.

The film industry may have an old friend making a comeback to the bundled viewing market: Moviepass, the defunct subscription service that soared to titanic heights in 2018 for its $9.95/month price tag to watch a movie a day in theaters, was purchased out of bankruptcy by former CEO Stacy Spikes last week. While details for a potential revival of the service remain minimal, Spikes vowed that the mistakes that led to the company's closure in 2019 would not be repeated.

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Streaming Wars: Disney+ Day Sets Slate, Netflix Claims Top Market Share

All the pomp and circumstance that Disney could muster was on hand for the company's Disney+ Day last week, celebrating the streaming platform's second birthday with a slew of announcements about upcoming films and series from across the Disney catalog. Truthfully, the content itself made for a bit of a muted affair, as many of the presented titles had either already been announced, or received little in the way of substantive first looks. Personally, I was holding out for just a little glimpse at the upcoming OBI-WAN KENOBI series with Ewan McGregor, but the company only dropped a quick behind-the-scenes glimpse at what we can expect at next year's premiere.

Check out the full breakdown of releases and announcements from Disney+ Day here 🐭

During the company's earnings call earlier in the week, Disney CEO Bob Chapek revealed that the company had only added an additional 2.1 million subscribers since the last call in August, saying the effects of the pandemic on production are still being felt in its content schedule. In addition to its dozens of new projects that received previews during Disney+ Day, Chapek also shared that the streamer is hoping to bolster its international and preschool content in the upcoming year to keep up with its competitors. And rightfully so - Netflix snagged the top market valuation on the same day that Disney was sharing a peek at its upcoming slate, capitalizing on Disney's 7% drop in share price and landing above Disney's $290 billion market cap at an impressive $302.4 billion.

The House of Mouse may also not be done with exploring a theatrical day-and-date release model for some of its upcoming films, a move that Chapek believes will lend flexibility to the company's theatrical release strategy and account for the return of family films receiving theater-only releases. "While COVID will be in the rearview mirror, God willing, I think change in consumer behavior will be more permanent,” Chapek said. “We’re watching very, very carefully different types of movies to see how the different components of the demographics of that market come back." The company plans to continue investing in production sites across the country, a move that earned the laud of California Governor Gavin Newsom in a conference praising companies like Disney, Hulu, and Peacock that have stuck around the Golden State through the pandemic.

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RUST Producers Sued for Negligence

Gaffer Serge Svetnoy is taking the producing team of RUST to task for general negligence during the production process, filing a complaint against producer and star Alec Baldwin, embattled armorer Hannah Gutierrez Reed, first AD David Halls and more. The statement addresses the questions that many in Hollywood have been asking for weeks: "[T]here was no reason for a live bullet to be placed in that .45 Colt revolver to be present anywhere on the Rust set, and the presence of a bullet in a revolver posed a lethal threat to everyone in its vicinity." The legal team for Gutierrez-Reed quickly responded, saying that the armorer is "being framed" for the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and the current proceedings are "sabotage" against her and her work on the production.

The Arts Welcome Back International Travelers

With the news that vaccinated international travelers will officially be allowed to return to the US for the first time since early 2020, the arts scene across New York City is eagerly awaiting visitors from across the globe to populate theaters, museums, and restaurants once more. "We reopened in August 2020, but have been missing one critical thing — you, our international visitors," a full-page ad in the New York Times read yesterday, the newest campaign from the Metropolitan Museum of Art to welcome folks from around the world back to its halls.

And Broadway, Film, and TV are all right in step. Producers from the UK have been flooding pitch meetings in the US over the past week, while officials from The Broadway League announced that vaccinated international travelers who have received any "mix-and-match" combo of FDA or WHO-approved jabs will be permitted in all 41 Broadway houses. The League also announced that the current vaccine mandate will be tentatively extended through February 28th, 2022, at which point the protocols will once again be revisited.

Visitors taking the train in NYC will also be greeted by a new ad campaign, echoing the 1977 "The Only Sure Way to Make It to Broadway" posters that featured a handful of the biggest acts on Broadway at the time. The 2021 version features Danny Berstein (MOULIN ROUGE), Jordan Fisher (DEAR EVAN HANSEN), Rob McClure (MRS. DOUBTFIRE), and more.

With the League's reversal on keeping a lid on Broadway grosses this season, the most recent numbers for shows through October and early November continue to look promising. Shows played at 81.5% capacity in the first week of November, with an overall attendance of 83.9% capacity since the official reopening in August. Broadway is back, baby 🎭

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

The Black TV & Film Collective has joined forces with The Parity Project in an effort to combine their resources and provide a new level of support for the Black filmmaking community. Moving forward as The Black TV & Film Collective, the group will continue to focus on creating networking and workshop opportunities for Black film and TV creatives, with the goal of addressing the systemic racism present throughout Hollywood today. "We are operating at the forefront of leveraging digital technologies to train, connect and empower Black creatives from around the globe, with the intention of removing as many barriers as possible that have historically kept us out," BTFC co-founder Hurriyah Muhammad said.

GREY'S ANATOMY welcomed its first non-binary cast member last week as E. R. Fightmaster came onboard as Dr. Kai Bartley, the newest addition to the show's 18th season. "It is an honor. It’s really exciting for me," Fightmaster told Variety. "Being able to become some kind of representation for non-binary people — of course, I don’t represent every shade of non-binary, but I represent mine — and being able to be that on screen, for whoever needs it, is really, really rewarding." GREY'S has a long history of diversity in its ranks, which Fightmaster says has made their transition into Grey Sloan Hospital that much more seamless. "[The writers]have been very well-versed in writing full characters, full people that have their diversity, but are also human beings.... it showed me that the writers were going to be able to treat this character with the amount of respect I could possibly hope for."

Applications are now being accepted for the next round of scholarships from Broadway Advocacy Coalition's Cody Renard Richard Scholarship Program. Chosen participants will receive an all-expenses-paid trip to NYC for mentoring this year, along with a $5,000 scholarship and sessions focused on mentorship, social advocacy, and community building. Submissions are being accepted through December 5th!

What to Watch & Read