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New Projects - New Netflix Studio - Regional Theatre Auditions - IATSE Strike Still Possible?

By Abigail Hardin, November 02, 2021

I can't believe that it is already the second of November - truly, where has the time gone?! As I mentioned last week, we at the Up-To-Date Actor have been holding weekly meetings to hold ourselves accountable in our daily work and to create a mastermind of creativity. Each week we read another chapter in Lead the Field by Earl Nightingale. I cannot stress how this book has provided us with a laser focus that has trickled over into every-day-life. I mention this because I think everyone could benefit from picking up a copy.

One thing that has come from our weekly work - we want to hear from you how we can be more of service to you. We also want to better communicate how you can use the Up-To-Date Actor to further your career and make the "business" component easier.

So, we will be hosting a weekly 30-min Q&A on Instagram Live. Sean Gregory will be there to answer your questions on the Up-To-Date Actor. We also want to know what stumbling blocks you experience in moving your career to the next level and any ideas of what could help. We might already offer a feature to solve a problem, and if not we'd want to know what we can do to help. Make sure you are following @uptodatetheatricals and tune in next Monday 11/08 @ 7 PM ET on IG Live.

Lastly, we are committed to building new features and refining our existing ones. But we don't want our hard work to fall on deaf ears. So, look for new feature announcements in these emails each month and announced on social media.

More exciting news to come, but for now have a great week, and hope you can join us on IG Live next Monday!

New Feature

Throughout the week we add regional theatre auditions. Active members receive notifications of these auditions the day after they are input. Now, active members can see a list of all of the producing theatre companies in this email under the Currently Casting section. This extra bit of reporting is another way we seek to be transparent and make it easier for you to find information that you might have missed earlier in the week.

To view specific audition information, search for the theatre company on the Up-To-Date Actor and click on the flashing AUDITIONING and bell icon. A box will pop-up with all of the important audition information.

Happy Auditioning!

Domestic & International Production

Netflix is throwing its hat in the ring on a bidding war for New Jersey's former Fort Monmouth military base. Closed in 2011, the defunct site is accepting proposals from interested parties from entertainment companies and other buyers, with NJ Governor Phil Murphy hoping to court one of Hollywood's major players in the wake of bills being passed in Georgia and Texas that may spur productions to relocate. After the official opening of its newest production facility in Bushwick, Brooklyn, Netflix hopes to bring another "state-of-the-art production facility" to the Garden State in the years ahead.

Hong Kong's government oversight continues to broaden with the passage of a new film censorship law, aimed at cracking down on anti-China language and programming. Under the new directive, the country's Chief Secretary will now be able to revoke a film's license if he feels that it conflicts with interests of national security for China. The move is the latest in a long string of measures aimed at tamping down Democratic ideologies in the country, with documentarian Kiwi Chow noting the new law would "worsen self-censorship and fuel fear among filmmakers."

The global box office saw a massive boost from IMAX sales last quarter, enjoying a $142 million sales hike in what the company is calling "a significant turning point in the global box office." Blockbuster titles like DUNE, BLACK WIDOW, and SHANG CHI AND THE LEGEND OF THE TEN RINGS led the charge for the Q3 boom, helping IMAX lower its net loss from $47.2 million all the way to $8.4 million.

RUST Shockwaves Continue

The industry is still trying to make sense of the tragic accident on the set of the Alec Baldwin-led RUST that took the life of award-winning director of photography Halyna Hutchins. With the Santa Fe Sheriff's Office still combing through evidence and entertaining further search warrants of the film set, investigators are now focusing on how live ammunition rounds were introduced on set in the first place. Armorer Hannah Gutierrez, speaking through her legal team, maintains that she has "no idea where the live rounds came from," saying that the safety of the RUST set was compromised when they were introduced.

The industry reaction continues to be swift and far-reaching. Several high-profile productions, including ABC's THE ROOKIE and Amazon's THE BOYS banned real firearms from their sets almost immediately, ushering in a much larger discussion surrounding the need for them on sets at all. And at the governmental level, officials have made it clear that Hollywood's granted reaction time will be minimal. Los Angeles City Councilman Paul Koretz has already introduced legislation that would ban live guns and ammunition on sets, echoing a similar sentiment from CA state senator Dave Cortese and New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham. "If the industry doesn’t come forward with very specific accountable safeguards, they should expect that we will," Grisham said at a news conference last week.

Scores of VFX artists in the industry have made it known that technology has progressed past the need for real gunfire to make scenes work. "Doing just a muzzle flash, it’s nothing," said one VFX artist. "It's minutes of work per shot — maybe a tiny glow, maybe a tiny bit of interactive light." And with the right on-camera modifications from the actor, the end result would "absolutely mimic" that of a real gun discharge during filming.

What has become a common thread in the aftermath of the RUST shooting has been the startling lack of structure on many sets involving firearms. "There can be a vibe of, like, 'Well, I'm assuming they know what they're doing,'" AMERICAN HORROR STORY's Leslie Grossman said. "On sets, there’s this general idea that 'somebody' — and I'm using quotes when I say 'somebody' — is in charge, and many times, nobody's in charge."

More Articles:

• Fatal RUST Shooting A Sad Epitaph For The Decline And Fall Of The Indie
• What’s Next With Proposed Law Following Shooting On Alec Baldwin Set

IATSE Approaching New Contract

With a full strike off the table, for the time being, IATSE officials are now being taken to task by a growing percentage of their base for not going far enough in their demands for better wages and working conditions over the last few months. "Our members feel disappointed that our leaders started negotiations with low demands and didn’t take advantage of the membership's strong backing to dramatically change our work landscape," member Chris Walters said, pointing to his Change.org petition calling for other workers to vote no on the new deal's ratification. Walters is confident in voting down the contract, saying that he is "absolutely certain" the union will be able to eclipse the 51% threshold for no votes to officially veto the proposal.

Negotiation officials, meanwhile, are doing all they can to urge members to accept the new provisions as they are. "We continue to believe that not only did we reach the best agreement possible after these many months of negotiations culminating in a resounding strike authorization vote that was the turning point in us achieving what we set out to do, but also that the solidarity among the locals was inspiring and astounding and the linchpin to our success," IATSE president Matthew Loeb and other union leaders wrote. While it is no secret that the deal is bare bones at best, Loeb and Co believe it to still be "the best agreement possible" at this current juncture for the organization, calling on members to vote in the upcoming ratification and reaffirming their commitment to continue fighting for better union rights across the board.

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

TV

CBS will play host to a new venture from writers Alex Kurtzman and Jenny Lumet aimed at diversifying voices behind the scenes. 25 Stories will focus on mapping out career paths for scribes from underrepresented communities across the writing landscape, offering opportunities on both cable and streaming projects. "I knew I wanted to bring prestige television by writers of color to the marketplace, and I began to think about how to create a space where marginalized voices are centered," Lumet said. "I thought a lot about scale: intimate stories, family stories, positive stories. I wanted people to emerge from their experience with 25 Stories with the tools to start their own companies. Ultimately, a space that will launch creators."

The first guide from the Association of National Advertisers #WriteHerRight has launched this past week, focusing on the authentic portrayal of Latina characters in content across the airwaves. "Latina Characters: Authentic Representation and Storytelling Guide" was announced at ANA's 2021 Multicultural Marketing and Diversity Conference, seeking to give Latinas a strong, illuminated presence in media moving forward. There is no singular Latina story — there are infinite stories," executive advisor for SeeHer Dr. Knatokie Ford said. "So, we should endeavor to paint more vivid pictures of Latinas to illustrate the fullness of who they are, where they have been, and even where they hope to be."

The sophomore run of the Tony award-winning Broadway Advocacy Coalition's Artivism Fellowship will focus on justice through abolition, seeking to lift narratives from BIPOC artists that blend policy, engagement, and storytelling. The four-month fellowship culminates in a digital presentation from the eight selected fellows, highlighting their work in the use of storytelling to break down barriers of systemic racism in the US.

Theatre

With Broadway's return has come a renewed commitment to the pledges that so many theatremakers made during the events of the Black Lives Matter movement in the summer of 2020. The responses on Broadway have been numerous: BOOK OF MORMON creators Matt Stone and Robert Lopez met with cast members to discuss revisions to the script that called into question whether or not the show's satirical nature was doing more harm than good. THE LION KING and ALADDIN teams changed out wordings in several songs with racial undertones, while HAMILTON creative grappled with the show's portrayal of Thomas Jefferson as an abolitionist rather than a slave owner. Changes are being made to the current structure, that much is true. But the important work of empowering underrepresented voices and artistry on the Broadway stage still has a long way to go.

Playwright Lionelle Hamanaka's newest work - COVID CRIME - is calling out the rampant anti-Asian hate that permeated the country at the height of the pandemic in 2020. Hamanaka's point is salient: Asian Americans endured horrific treatment during some of the most difficult days the world has ever seen, and the treatment is not something new. "My parents were in the concentration camps, and of course that caused a great deal of hardship for our family," Hamanaka said during the reading of her play last weekend. "[T]hat leaves a scar on your mind." The playwright has created a series of plays surrounding the events of COVID, with COVID CRIMES focusing specifically on the rise in anti-Asian violence in the country.

New York State will officially begin offering a new tax credit to productions that agree to "qualified diversity and arts job training programs." New York City Musical and Theatrical Production Tax Credit will apply to classes from organizations like The Theatre Leadership Project and the Black Theatre Coalition, designed to spur on the return to in-person events in the city. "TTLP looks forward to working with Broadway productions to actualize our efforts towards a more diverse and equitable field that will strengthen our industry for years to come," TTLP Program Manager Leah Harris said.

More Articles:

• How to Be an Antiracist Theatremaker
• Lucille Lortel Awards Will Switch to Gender-Neutral Categories for Performers

Industry Intel

A new partnership between Variety and Twitter will track the top 10 most tweeted-about shows each week, a first in digital rankings that execs believe will help fuel organic viewership for programs in the months ahead. The Variety Trending TV charts will feature a heat map for which shows are being discussed across the country, along with tracking day-to-day top show metrics and which are performing best organically on the platform. "[T]hrough our partnership with Variety, we are going to be able to use all of that conversation data to create a modern day watch list of the most talked about shows," head of U.S. entertainment and news partnerships at Twitter Sarah Rosen said.

Situation Interactive Partnered with the NYC Mayor's Office last week to host an exciting look at the current Broadway job market for college students and recent grads. "Becoming Broadway: An Introduction to a Career in Theatre" featured dozens of panelists from all walks of the Broadway life - tech, merchandising, producing, talent agencies, and more - to discuss the best ways to get yourself in front of your next potential job match. "Whether you’re interested in design, technology, business, fashion, fitness, music, marketing or, yes, performance—Broadway needs your unique passion and talents," Situation president Damian Bazadona said.

President Biden's Build Back Better bill is getting a boost from SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher. "Who are we if not a nation that offers a helping hand to our fellow Americans in need? Build Back Better will greatly improve the lives of so many. Healthcare is always a priority, and this bill will expand access and reduce premiums," the head of the union said. "We are proud to support this important bill."

Film and TV casting maven Meghan Rafferty is set to host an exciting new workshop at Bay Street Theater in NYC, focusing on nailing your self-tape setup in this age of virtual auditions and creating the best submission to catch the eyes of casting professionals. Sign up today!

More Articles:

• October Sees Pandemic Record At Domestic Box Office With ‘Venom 2’, Bond
• Site-Specific The Woman in Black Returns to McKittrick Hotel Beginning October 21
• WME’s Sylvie Rabineau, Jill Holwager Gillett On Hollywood’s Literary Boom

Updates from Broadway

Repertory plays IS THIS A ROOM and DANA H. announced they will be closing ahead of their original January 22nd, 2022 closing date, citing "a challenging landscape for live performance." The pair of shows, currently running back-to-back at the Lyceum, ran Off-Broadway at the Vineyard Theatre prior to the COVID shutdown.

The Broadway League is easing up on its decision to hide weekly show grosses for all current productions, announcing last week that they would begin reporting "a composite of the grosses, the capacity for the week, the grosses for the week, and the number of performances accomplished for the week." League president Charlotte St. Martin said the decision came after "an increased demand for how Broadway is doing," and shared that the 2021-2022 season has enjoyed a $105M gross in sales since beginning on August 4th.

Broadway is back, that much is certain, though the theatregoing landscape has undergone a fair deal of transformation in the age of COVID. Vaccine checks, security checks, ticket checks.... the pre-show ritual has slowly begun to rival that of a trans-Atlantic flight, but the results have been promising: "Thankfully, so far so good," IATSE Local 30 rep Carol Bokun said. While no official numbers have been released, theater owners insist that the number of patrons having to be turned away without proper COVID protocol has been small, citing the community's desire to get back to the theatre and keep safety as the number 1 priority 🎭

Looking to plan your next trip to the Great White Way? Here are all of the shows waiting for you to pay them a visit 😍