Starting the New Year - New Features - Upcoming Events - Safety Protocols - Theatrical Releases
By Abigail Hardin, January 05, 2021
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Happy New Year, UTD!
I hope you had a wonderful holiday and were able to unplug a bit. I don't know about you, but I was feeling burnt out before the holidays, I just didn't want to do anything. I've been trying to be still, listen to my body, and look inside over the past two weeks. Going into the New Year I'm trying to get to the root of my disconnect with certain aspects of my day-to-day, such as, things that come up that might annoy me or trigger me in some way. Why do they elicit that response? What is at the root and what are steps I can take to either change the situation or change the way I innately react. It's only day five, but I can feel a very subtle change.
Personally, I am incredibly excited about 2021. First off, after 2020 it can only get better 🤞 In so many ways 2020 was the great disrupter, but as the dust settles, the question remains, what will rise from the ashes? Our industry has permanently changed, but it's not all terrible:
- There is greater access to free and affordable information via online content and social media platforms
- Self-taped auditions broaden the gateway for more audition opportunities and the ability to audition from anywhere
- Original content by anyone and everyone is being sought after to fill the content void
On a personal level, COVID forced Annie and I (like everyone) to embrace online workshops and coaching, subsequently allowing us to reach new people in numbers that we never would have achieved solely relying on in-person workshops. For this, I am greatly thankful.
I look forward to building upon the foundation that was laid last year and working with a laser focus on building an even better service out of The Up-To-Date Actor. Here are a few of the many features we will be rolling out in the coming weeks and months:
- Easy to read format for bi-coastal and multi-office companies
- Submission tracker (keep track of your industry correspondences and set follow up reminders)
- Record additional contact info for industry staff already in UTD's database
- More personalized audition reports and statistics
As always if you have any feedback or suggestions for new features, please don't hesitate to reach out via email.
Lastly, we are going to be creating more exclusive content on our Instagram page, including news briefings, career advice, interviews with agents & casting directors, tips, and more. Follow @uptodatetheatricals so you don't miss any of these exciting new posts and stories.
As we move forward in 2021 you will notice more of our weekly emails will be written by our Social Media & Content Associate Sean Gregory. Sean has been writing these emails bi-weekly with me over the past 6-months and will be taking on more of the weekly industry overview updates. This is to help speed along product development, but I will still be overseeing all of our content, available, and responding via email.
I hope you are as excited for 2021 as I am! If we put in the work, I have a good feeling that we can manifest a great year!
Upcoming Workshops
Do you need a jolt to get 2021 off and running? We have several upcoming FREE workshops to help you focus your energy and time. As always, a discount code will be provided for attendees who are new to the Up-To-Date Actor and do not have a prior account. We hope you can join us at one of these workshops and jump start a great new year!
- January 11th, 2021 @ 3:00 PM EST — PILOT SEASON with Actors Connection
- January 20th, 2021 @ 3:00 PM EST — TAX TIME SEMINAR with Actors Connection
- January 23rd, 2021 @ 4:00 PM EST — PRODUCTION UPDATE & HOW TO CREATIVELY STAY IN THE GAME with Acting & Voice Studios
Streaming VS Cinema
The legal battle and fallout over Warner Brothers' decision to move most of their blockbuster titles to a combined streaming and theatrical release continues surrounding DUNE. Legendary Entertainment, one of the production companies for the Timothy Chalamet led film, is challenging the Hollywood studio. Considering the production company financed 75% of the budget for this film and 75% for other WarnerBros. 2021 blockbuster, GODZILLA VS. KONG, they actually might stand a chance.
Why do we continue to talk about this ongoing battle over the release of DUNE? In many ways, this fight is a litmus test for Hollywood post-COVID. We all know streaming services are booming while traditional models such as movie theatres and cable TV are to some degree struggling. How will the ways we consume content be effected in the long run? At a time when movie theatres are begging cornerstone studios to commit to theatrical releases later in the year, decisions such as Warner Brothers' are greatly impacting the future of content that will be produced.
However, not everyone is abandoning ship. SONY Pictures is seeing "a bit of boom" in interest from filmmakers who want to work with the company because it prioritizes theatrical releases over streaming. "After the Warner Bros announcement, it's been a bit of a boom for us because it's made dating our movies next year somewhat easier," said chairman and CEO Tony Vinciquerra. "But the real benefit has been the number of incoming calls from talent, creators, actors, and directors to us saying, 'We want to be doing business with you because we know you’re a theatrical distributor and producer.' That has worked very well for us."
Save Our Stages Act
$600 stimulus checks have begun to reach the public, but it's looking like that might be all we're getting. Luckily, the Save Our Stages act was included in the final bill which allocated $15 billion in relief funds for live venues (music, stage, museums, and other performing arts centers, and movie theatres). We heard a lot about this early on from the Broadway League and Regional Theatres, but not as much has been included on how the bill will greatly impact movie theatres as well, especially independent ones. The National Association of Theater Owners (NATO), fought long and hard to get movie theatres included in the bill. Of the $15 billion, $5 billion is earmarked for cinemas. The top three chains, AMC, Regal, and Cinemark, are precluded from receiving funds for various different reasons. The hope is that receiving these kinds of funds will encourage studios to reinstate more theater-first release strategies as the pandemic fades.
The COVID Effect
The final curtain has come down on Upright Citizens Brigade’s Sunset Boulevard theater. The comedy troupe says the venue has been sold as the group has "been unable to make mortgage payments during this extended shutdown." News about the UCB Theatre comes eight months after the troupe founded by Amy Poehler, Matt Walsh and others closed its New York venue. The group said on social media, however, that it is "still working to maintain it's Franklin [Avenue] space and look forward to being legally allowed to gather again." UCB notes that digital classes will continue.
TV
SAG-AFTRA and the Producers Guild are joining advertisers in recommending that on-set commercial production be temporarily shuttered in Southern California because of surging coronavirus outbreaks in the region. The major studios and streamers, meanwhile, are already on production hiatus in Southern California until mid-January. The guilds are being joined in their call for a suspension of commercial shoots by the Joint Policy Committee of the Association of National Advertisers and the American Association of Advertising Agencies.
Yesterday, Netflix became the most recent major company to announce a shutdown of production in Los Angeles. The company had been slated to start filming this week but will now push back start dates until at least mid-January. Other studios that have extended the production hiatuses of their LA series or have a delayed January start of production include CBS Studios, Warner Bros. TV, Universal TV, Sony Pictures TV, Lionsgate TV, and Disney TV Studios’ ABC Signature and 20th Television. To do so, producers had been reviewing the logistics involved, including talent availability and whether cast and crew would be paid for the additional idle days.
Many uncertainties remain in the aftermath of COVID. Creator/showrunner Mike Schur spoke with Rob Lowe on the actor’s podcast, Literally, about the unknown new normal post-COVID.
Theatre
Dr. Anthony Fauci recently talked with The Wall Street Journal, where he revealed that he has hope that live theater and sporting events could return to some normalcy by early-Fall.
"If we, by the time we get to April, put on a very very strong vaccine administration effort and do it through April, May, June, and July, by the time we get to the end of the summer and into the fall, we could have enough of a-blanket or umbrella or whatever you want to call it-protection in the community that we might begin to start approaching some sort of normality," he said.Fauci said that it is "quite possible" that we could see normalcy by October, with the World Series having fans in the stands, "but it is going to be up to us," he said. "If we only wind up getting 50% of the people vaccinated, we're not going to get to that point very quickly."
That is wonderful news! So, how exactly do 41 theatres and productions open at the same time? The answer, they don't. Several big producers and executives sat down for an interview on what Broadway's re-opening might look like.
After months of development, Actors Equity has published four new worksheets detailing Covid-19 safety guidelines for live productions. In consultation with Dr. David Michaels, former head of OSHA, Equity's safety team has created detailed instructions arranged according to the four types of productions commonly seen currently: outdoor with an audience, outdoor without an audience, indoor with an audience and indoor without an audience. These guidelines provide the entry point for working with Equity to ensure a safe workplace, offering clear guidance on key aspects of production, from ventilation to testing, while also streamlining the preproduction process for producers.
Diversity / Inclusion
A bold proposal by the Nasdaq stock exchange last month may give U.S. corporate boards the biggest nudge yet to seat diverse directors. A move which is increasingly seen as key to both good business and social justice as investors across industries focus more on melding the two. For decades, 57-year-old white men (on average), often without term limits presided over "male, pale and stale" boards. That’s been changing. Boards have slowly opened to women. A social justice awakening last summer promises more opportunity for minorities. And the global pandemic may have cracked the idea of boards wide open, forcing companies in entertainment and elsewhere to rethink businesses and seek directors with a diversity of age, thought and experience. Movement on boards will be a big thing to watch for in 2021.
Film
The Celluloid Ceiling, a report that has tracked women’s employment in film for the last 23 years, says female directors reached an all-time high in 2020. For the second consecutive year, the percentages of women directing top grossing films increased, reaching historic highs, the latest report claims, while the overall percentages of women working in key behind-the-scenes roles remained relatively stable in 2020. Women comprised 16% of directors working on the top 100 grossing films in 2020, up from 12% in 2019 and 4% in 2018. Women accounted for 18% of directors on the top 250 films, up from 13% in 2019 and 8% in 2018. In 2020, the majority of films (67%) employed 0 to 4 women in the roles considered. 24% of films employed 5 to 9 women, and 9% employed 10 or more women.  In contrast, 5% of films employed 0 to 4 men in the roles considered, 24% employed 5 to 9 men, and the remaining majority (71%) employed 10 or more men. Read more on the full report.
On that note, check out this op-ed from TV director Rachel Feldman: Women Directors Deserve An Equal Playing Field.
Emma Thompson is criticizing what is commonplace in Hollywood — older male actors paired on-screen with women half their age. "It’s completely acceptable for George Clooney – who is delightful – to have someone who is 40 years younger than him or 30 years younger than him," she said on the podcast CultureBlast. "If I have someone playing opposite me in a romantic way, they have to exhume someone, because I’m 61 now. Do you see what I mean? It’s completely and utterly unbalanced."
Theatre
Michael J. Bobbitt, the artistic director of New Repertory Theatre in Watertown, Mass, recently wrote an op-ed on racism and how many of the art's new programs to diversify ultimately do not solve the fundamental problem, inherent racist policies.
If you had a mold problem, would you paint over it and expect it to go away? And yet isn’t this sort of what we do at our theatres when trying to eradicate racism? [...] Racist policies must be thrown out. Glue, tape, and bandages won’t fix this; sometimes trash needs to be tossed. As with the mold I mentioned earlier, you have to pull down the drywall or plaster, figure out where the mold is coming from, fix that, kill the mold, then repair and paint the wall. If you are not ready to let go of racist, marginalizing policies, practices, and procedures, be transparent and accept that you are perpetuating white supremacy with those decisions.Read more on Bobbitt's ideas on current proposals and what needs to be done to dismantle systemic racism in the theatre and throughout our lives.
A Lesson in Acting & Story
Sacha Baron Cohen, breakout star Maria Bakalova, and director Jason Woliner discuss in detail the preparation that went into filming the now infamous Rudy Giuliani scene in BORAT 2. I highly encourage you to read the second half of the article (after the picture of Bakalova) for some very interesting insight on Bakalova's acting prep and how to create/finesse a story arc.
What to Read
Film
Patty Jenkins Nearly Quit WONDER WOMAN 1984 Over Salary Dispute
Patty Jenkins: WarnerBros Forced WONDER WOMAN Ending That Critics Hate
Sacha Baron Cohen Reveals How Jeanise Jones Spent $100,000 Donation
Scorsese Struggling to Recapture IRISHMAN Spark for FLOWER MOON
Jared Leto on How His THE LITTLE THINGS Character Is Like The Joker
TV
Steven Yeun on MINARI, THE WALKING DEAD, and His Eclectic Career
BRIDGERTON EPs on Regency-Era Romance, Revealing Lady Whistledown
BRIDGERTON Costumes: Ellen Mirojnick Costume Designer for Netflix
Theatre
Broadway Remembers: In Memoriam Video Honors Stars Lost This Year
Glimmers of Light: The Theatre Moments That Gave Us Comfort Amid a Chaotic 2020