New Projects - Production Updates - COVID Testing - Streaming Wars
By Abigail Hardin, November 23, 2021
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Happy Thanksgiving Week, UTD!
I hope that you have a lovely weekend planned with Friends and Family. The news cycle already started to wind down this week in anticipation of the holiday. We'll be taking the week off from our weekly email next week. Active members will still receive daily notifications and we'll be back with a vengeance the following Tuesday, December 7th.
Also, if you haven't already signed up for our Free Workshop on December 13th @ 3 PM ET. We'll be talking about how to book Film & TV and get ready for the 2022 Pilot Season. We will also answer questions on using the Up-To-Date Actor and how you can better use all of the vast information and features available. Hope you can make it!
Have a Happy Thanksgiving!
Production Updates: Toronto Film & TV Receives Boost, COVID Testing Costs Highlighted
Any producing company looking to launch a new film or TV project should plan to add about 5% to its production budget for COVID protocols, as a new study from the California Film Commission sought to quantify the financial burden that COVID testing and safety measures brought to productions in the state. Larger budget projects had to flex up to 6.5% of their budgets for COVID compliance, while small shoots and TV shows landed closer to 4.25%, all accounting for testing services, safety officers, set transportation, and medical workers.
Touring companies and Broadway productions continue to revise their COVID protocols to reflect the transmission rates in the area, with experts recommending tours test their members at least two times per week for medium- and high-risk areas. Broadway productions are following suit, as NYC remains a high-risk environment and some companies are testing upwards of six times per week to head off any potential outbreaks within the casts. ALADDIN and CHICKEN & BISCUITS have so far been the only two Broadway companies to shut down production after COVID breakthrough cases were reported to the public.
Toronto will be adding a shiny new production studio in its Port Lands district courtesy of LA-based Hackman Capital Partners, set to feature 8 new state-of-the-art sound stages, as well as office and workshop space. The $250 million price tag is the largest investment in Toronto's film and TV industry in over 20 years, joining Hackman's impressive portfolio of spaces in Culver City, Astoria, and the Bronx.
Streaming News: Paramount+ On The Rise, Netflix Reveals Top 10 Data
ViacomCBS's relative streaming newbie Paramount+ had its "most successful week ever" last week, posting a high of one million new subscribers, even though the company has yet to reveal specific numbers for the service itself. ViacomCBS announced that their total streaming community was floating around 47 million earlier in November, but that figure also included viewership from Showtime, BET+, and Noggin.
The announcement from ViacomCBS came just a day after Netflix announced it would begin releasing detailed metrics of its top 10 programs in the US and abroad, in response to many in the industry arguing that the company was cherry-picking data to bolster its numbers. Top10.Netflix.com will serve as the official home for the lists of film and TV shows receiving the most aggregate number of viewership hours, a departure from the company's previous system of ranking shows based on which programs received at least 2 minutes of viewership. Critics are still wary of the repackaged data, saying that the seemingly promising move towards increased transparency still only promotes the company's most popular titles and sweeps its original content flops under the rug 👀
Industry Intel
RUST script supervisor Mamie Mitchell filed the second in what may become several lawsuits against the producing team for the embattled indie film, calling out star Alec Baldwin for his negligence in handling the gun that killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins. "Mr. Baldwin chose to play Russian Roulette with a loaded gun without checking it and without having the armorer do so," the filing read, while also naming armorer Hannah Gutierrez Reed, first AD David Halls and other team members as complicit in the events leading up to Hutchins' death. The Santa Fe Sheriff's Department remains in contact with cast and crew members for its investigation of the film shoot, as the industry calls for stricter on-set firearms protections continues to grow.
The winter awards season is already beginning to ramp up as Variety has announced their yearly Contenders event will resume in-person in New York on December 4th. Reserving the Museum of the Moving Image in Queens for their day-long coverage of this year's hottest films, the entertainment group will welcome dozens of studios, creatives and actors to discuss their projects and share their favorite movies of the year so far. Registration is now open!
Crews are currently working to spruce up the iconic Hollywood sign, in anticipation for the attraction's 100th birthday in 2023. The Hollywood Sign Trust completed the first phase of the restoration earlier this month, which uncovered some of the support structure for the original sign built in 1923 that initially served as an ad campaign for the "Hollywoodland" housing development. Who knew! 🏡
HARRY POTTER fans, rejoice! Members of the original cast have reunited for HARRY POTTER 20TH ANNIVERSARY: RETURN TO HOGWARTS, celebrating the anniversary of the series' first film and set to stream New Year's Day on HBO Max. The special will feature exclusive behind-the-scenes footage and commentary from over a dozen cast members, including Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint. An exclusive first look at the new doc will air this Sunday as a part of the HARRY POTTER: HOGWARTS TOURNAMENT OF HOUSES game show on TBS and Cartoon Network 🧙♀️
LISTEN: Longtime friend of the UTD family Gina Femia sat down with American Theatre Magazine's Brian James Polak to discuss her life as a playwright, which has included stints at Playwrights Horizons, MCC, Playwrights' Center, and more. We encourage you to take some time to listen to this lovely interview with Gina to hear about her process and where her career is headed. Congrats Gina! 🧡
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
The Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment (CAPE) has revealed its third annual group of writers selected for its CAPE List, in partnership with The Black List. The 10 scripts featured a lead character of Asian and/or Pacific Island heritage, "as well as authentic, accurate, and inclusive Asian and Pacific Islander representation that if removed, would significantly alter or affect the story." The stories are now set to be read by studio execs from companies like A-Major Media and Annapurna, with the option for the writers to meet with an exec from each of the sponsoring organizations.
Time's Up continues to navigate rough waters as the organization announced it would be laying off the majority of its 25 staff members, along with overseeing the resignation of the current interim CEO. The group continues to restructure its approach after a turbulent fall muddled with scandal after news broke of the former CEO's involvement with the Andrew Cuomo sexual harassment investigation. An initial set of interviews with dozens of individuals connected with Times Up found that many believe the group has lost focus on its original mission, engaging too deeply at times with certain political affiliations and ignoring the bigger-picture equality and racial justice work that it had initially pursued.
Oscar-winner Eddie Redmayne discussed his involvement with the 2015 movie THE DANISH GIRL, in which Redmayne portrayed Lili Elbe, one of the first individuals to undergo sex reassignment surgery. "I wouldn’t take it on now. I made that film with the best intentions, but I think it was a mistake," Redmayne said in a recent interview, going on to note that we must continue to push for authenticity in casting stories that have little or no track record of being told on the big screen yet.
Canadian-led SeriesFest will spearhead a new initiative aimed at increasing representation within its own ranks at future programs and festivals. Inclusion Initiative: From Start to Screen will support executives and creators applying to the organization's events throughout the year, offering them access to workshops, pitch sessions, panel discussions, and more, all with the aim of increasing the diversity of their year-round programs. "[W[e believe that we will not only reach closer to these goals by creating opportunities to help shepherd the next generation of content creators and executives into the festival but also influence much needed changes within the industry," co-founders Randi Kleiner and Kaily Smith Westbrook said.
RUTHERFORD FALLS showrunner Sierra Teller Ornelas has been loving the success that the show's freshman run on Peacock has been enjoying at large, but more specifically the positive response it has received from the Native American community. A through-line for the show has always been the importance of showing off the ornate artistry of Native craftspeople in the jewelry that many of the characters wear, featuring work from dozens of creators that have been spurring a flood of support from Native viewers on social media. "When RUTHERFORD FALLS, streaming now on Peacock, was picked up to series I knew this was a chance for my two loves, Native artistry and television, to finally meet on the same level," Ornelas wrote for Variety.
APPLY NOW: DreamWorks Theatricals and Music Theatre International (MTI) are now accepting submissions for their Emerging Writers Program, which will team up diverse groups of lyricists, composers, and writers to develop new DreamWorks material to be distributed by MTI. Applications due December 22nd!
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