Small Screen: HBO Launches Max, California Productions Seek Force Majeure
Eva Larue - Amanda Edwards
Broadcast: Game of Thrones’ Indira Varma will join the new series of the BBC’s Doctor Who. Varma, who appeared as Suzie Costello in spinoff Torchwood, will play the “mysterious new role” of the Duchess. She has recently appeared in Obsession, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Present Laughter, for which she won an Olivier. Doctor Who is entering its 60th year following The Doctor, an extraterrestrial Time Lord with a human appearance who travels in a time-traveling Tardis.
BBC Studios Kids & Family’s Phoenix Rise has been sold to Australian broadcaster ABC. The deal comes on the heels of Phoenix’s premiere on BBC iPlayer in March and is part of a larger swath of international broadcast deals for Toronto-based Sinking Ship Entertainment. The company sold Seasons one and two of Dino Dan to Canadian channel TFO, and Belgian broadcaster RTBF snagged the company’s Odd Squad and The Unlisted. Dino Dana also launched on the Chinese streaming platform YouKu last year. Phoenix Rise follows six outcast teens who go to school in the Midlands.
Totally Spies! is making a return to Cartoon Network next year. A seventh season of the early-2000s hit will run 26 22-minute episodes on the Cartoon Network in the US, Max in EMEA, Gulli in France, and Discovery Kids LatAm in Latin America. Banijay Kids & Family CEO Di Sabatino said of the return,
“With strong female leads and an aesthetic that has inspired a generation, Totally Spies! is an iconic show with a hugely passionate global fanbase, eager to join the agents on their latest adventures. The new series stays true to all the key elements that make the show so popular, but has been lovingly updated for a new audience, reflecting the modern challenges faced by both high schoolers and spies alike.”
Totally Spies! premiered on ABC in 2001 and was picked up by Cartoon Network shortly thereafter. It ran for six seasons and even led to a feature film. Totally’s return is following a pattern: Warner Bros. Discovery has been leaning into reboots and returns of popular franchises in recent years. It will continue on this path with the release of 40 new series and seasons following next month’s launch of an HBO Max-Discovery+ hybrid.
Rapper LL Cool J will join NCIS: Hawai’i for its third season. LL, who first appeared on NCIS in 2009, led NCIS: Los Angeles for 14 seasons, and reprised his role of Sam Hanna on Hawai’i during its second season, will join Season 3 as a recurring guest star. Of his return, executive producers Matt Bosack, Jan Nash, and Christopher Silber said,
“All of us at NCIS: Hawai’i have been huge fans of LL Cool J for years and couldn’t be more thrilled or honored to be adding his spectacular talent to our ohana for season three.”
Star Venessa Lachey is excited to join LL on the season, saying,
“One of the most beautiful things about working on NCIS: Hawai’i is the show’s ability to bring the franchise together. We have had so much fun spreading the aloha to NCIS and NCIS: LA with the triple crossover. Now, we have the amazing opportunity to bring Sam Hanna to Hawai’i to help the island solve some cases and maybe have a few laughs in the process. Welcome to the ohana, Todd! It’s going to be a fun ride!”
CSI: Miami’s Eva LaRue is adapting her experience of being stalked into a series of television projects. In partnership with Toronto’s Forté Entertainment, LaRue will develop the My Nightmare Stalker project, which will include a scripted series, a docuseries, and a spin-off program. Along with her daughter Kaya Callahan and other family members, La Rue was stalked by James David Rogers for over a decade. Rogers threatened Eva and Kaya for 12 years, sending letters and voicemail messages to the pair starting when Kaya was five years old. Rogers was caught using forensic genetic genealogy, which uses DNA databases to match people. LaRue’s was the second case to be solved using the new technology. Last year, Rogers was sentenced to three years in prison. LaRue says she is “excited” to be working with Forté, which acquired the rights to the story.
“I’m excited to be working with the talented team at Forté to bring my story to the screen, while also bringing crucial public awareness around better protection for both women and men from stalking and intimate partner violence.”
Forté’s Andrea Gabourie says,
“What Eva and her daughter went through is unimaginable, and we are humbled to share their astonishing story with audiences worldwide. Not only was this ripped-from-the-headlines case recently adjudicated, but stalking continues to impact millions of victims each year, making this story undeniably timely.”
Streaming: Apple TV+ has released the trailer for Hijack, a thriller executive produced by and starring SAG Award winner and Emmy nominee Idris Elba and NAACP Image Award winner Archie Panjabi. The series follows London-bound flight KA29, hijacked during its seven-hour course from Dubai. As authorities on the ground race to find answers, 200 passengers struggle for survival. Sam Nelson (Elba), a corporate negotiator, uses his skills in an attempt to save the lives of the passengers and crew.
As of last week, HBO Max has become simply Max. But the change has left audiences curious. Not only does removing the “HBO” from its name divorce the streamer from the pull of a well-known brand, but the “@Max” designation on multiple social media sites has already been claimed by other entities, causing confusion and a lack of continuity. The company, however, points to two broader reasons for the switch. First, the change signals a broader catalog of offerings. From its inception, HBO Max had more content than HBO, and this holds true after the name change. Warner Bros included a wealth of nonfiction programming from Discovery, totalling more than 35,000 hours of content, more than double what even HBO Max offered. While HBO Max has a “male skew” in audience and a focus on scripted programming, Discovery+ has a “female skew” and unscripted focus. The new name is supposedly a reflection of the joining of these worlds rather than an extension of HBO. Second, executives felt that the name change would make the streamer more “family friendly.” WBD head of streaming JB Perrette said that the HBO name is associated with “edgy” and “adult” programming among consumers, and the new service wants to expand into children’s entertainment without that reputation. Perrette noted that executives did “heavily debate” the name change, looking extensively into other alternatives. Max, says Perrette, was “short, tight,” and “universal.”
“Yes, the risk was ultimately that it’s sort of maybe less ownable because it’s a common word. But the flip side is that also made it very approachable and very easy. And when frankly, we found ourselves talking about the service, the shorthand was always ‘Max.’ We never said even ‘HBO’; we would just say, ‘It’s on Max.”
Max launched in the US on May 23 to minor technical issues but little in the way of other hiccups.
Adult Swim Canada has released an exclusive preview of its animated series Psi Cops. The series follows ghost hunters and their investigations into the paranormal, extraterrestrial, and demonic. Chris Nielsen and Bart Batchelor star as savvy detectives Kydd and Felixx, work at a no-frills secret agency in a shabby office complex, embarking on a new adventure each week. Along with their “rag-tag group of ‘experts’” and their boss, Chief Beef, the two detectives fumble and blunder through their assignments, guided by passion and true belief. The series premieres June 4th on Adult Swim, and will stream on STACKTV. For a limited time, viewers can also watch the first two episodes for free on the Global TV app.
After subscriber numbers plummeted early in 2023, Disney has announced its plans to cut significant amounts of content from its streaming services beginning May 26. After losing four million subscribers early in 2023, Disney CEO Bob Iger and CFO Christine McCarthy plan to remove dozens of projects, including Willow, Big Shot, Turner & Hooch, The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers, Just Beyond, Diary of a Future President, The Mysterious Benedict Society and The World According to Jeff Goldblum, Hulu’s Y: The Last Man, Dollface, The Hot Zone, Maggie, Pistol, and Little Demon. Some suspect that the slimming down of Disney’s offerings is part of preparation for the upcoming merge of Disney+ and Hulu. McCarthy said the cuts “align with the strategic changes in our approach to content curation.” The paring down will certainly help reduce overhead costs related to storage and royalties, and Disney hopes it will soften the blow of its recent subscriber loss.
Paramount Global is launching Paramount + With Showtime in the US on June 27. The streamer will mean the end of Showtime as a standalone brand, and will be Paramount’s most premium streaming product without advertisements. The plan will cost users $11.99 per month, which, though up from $9.99/month, is still less than its rival Max. The Paramount+ Essential Plan, which does not include Showtime, will increase from $4.99 to $5.99 per month. Paramount has stated its goal with the new streaming service to be,
“[To] “deliver a distinguished premium service with hit originals across linear and streaming – the first to truly integrate streaming and linear content this way.”
The company will retire the Showtime app completely in its unification between the platforms, which it hopes will make the plan more competitive in the increasingly saturated streaming market. In an announcement, president and CEO of Paramount Streaming Tom Ryan said,
“This summer, Paramount+ will officially become the streaming home for Showtime, further advancing our lead in being the total household service. By integrating the Showtime premium and critically acclaimed portfolio with the service’s already broad and popular slate, all at a competitive price, we will solidify Paramount+ as a cornerstone in streaming.”
The voice cast of Netflix’s animated series Skull Island has been announced to include Nicholas Cantu, Darren Barnet, and Benjamin Bratt. Mae Whitman and Betty Gilpin will also voice characters on the series, which will debut on June 22. Skull Island will follow a group of explorers shipwrecked in the South Pacific as they face frightening monsters including King Kong. Cantu will voice Charlie, the protagonist; Barnet will voice Mike; Bratt will voice Cap; Whitman will voice Annie; and Gilpin will voice Irene. The series is created, written, and executive produced by Brian Duffield. Jacob Robinson, Brad Graeber, Jen Chambers and Thomas Tull also executive produce. It comes after the 2017 film Kong: Skull Island, which brought the fearsome gorilla back into popular consciousness. Legendary Television is also working on Netflix’s Tomb Raider, which picks up where the eponymous video game trilogy left off, and previously partnered with Warner Bros. on Godzilla vs. Kong.
Netflix has officially notified its subscribers that the crackdown on password sharing has begun. In an effort to reduce revenue lost by password-sharing – multiple users logging in to one account instead of paying for separate subscriptions – Netflix has launched “paid sharing” in Canada, New Zealand, Portugal, Spain, and now the US. The change comes on the heels of the streamer’s launch last fall of an ad-supported subscription tier. Taken together, the efforts are projected to save Netflix billions in revenue in the next several years. More than half of Netflix’s user base reports having shared their password, and Bank of America analyst Jessica Reif Ehrlich believes that the “broader crackdown on password sharing will be an accelerant to Netflix’s ad-supported tier.” In an email to subscribers, company defines password-sharing as giving a user’s credentials to another user outside of “the people [they] live with – [their] household.” Those who use the two most expensive subscription tiers can add additional users for $7.99 per month on an ad-free plan; the $15.49/month Standard tier allows one additional user, while the $19.99/month Premium tier allows for two. The $6.99/month ad-supported plan does not allow additional paying subscribers. Thus far, Netflix has reported 5 million active monthly users of the ad-supported tier, which is notable considering it was launched only six months ago. Netflix Co-CEO Ted Sarandos said at a Wall Street conference las December that the response to password sharing has been similar to that of a price increase. He said,
“Consumers aren’t going to love it right out of the gate, but we need to show them why they should see value.”
Amazon Prime has ordered spy thriller Butterfly, starring Daniel Dae Kim, to series. Kim will also executive produce the series, which has been given a six episode order. Butterfly has been in development since February, but production won’t commence until the resolution of the WGA strike. The series is based on an eponymous graphic novel by Arash Amel, Marguerite Bennet, Antonio Fuso, and Stefano Simeone, originally released in 2015. The series’ logline reads:
“David Jung [Kim is] an enigmatic, highly unpredictable former US intelligence operative living in South Korea whose life is blown to pieces when the consequences of an impossible decision from his past come back to haunt him, and he finds himself pursued by Rebecca, a deadly, sociopathic young agent assigned to kill him.”
Ken Woodruff and Steph Cha are co-creators and executive producers on the show. Kim will executive produce with John Cheng under their 3AD production company, which currently has a first-look TV deal with Amazon. Since founding 3AD in 2015, Kim has become increasingly involved in producing, putting his name on ABC’s The Good Doctor, in which he also starred, and producing the feature documentary Bad Axe.
As HBO’s new streaming service Max generates social media buzz, other streamers are looking to join the conversation. NBCU’s social media manager took to Twitter to joke about the service dropping the first half of its name, tweeting that their service, Peacock, would not be doing the same.
NBCU’s Peacock gets its name from the company’s logo, which resembles the feathers of a male peafowl bird. Unfortunately for Max, Peacock’s lighthearted dig was not the worst of the responses to its launch. Many users reported grievances over the transition, which some found to be clunky and glitchy.
Gerald Castillo
Industry: Storied stage, film, and television actor Gerald Castillo died on May 4 at age 90. Castillo, who was most known for his role as Major Slater on Saved By the Bell, also appeared in General Hospital, Hill Street Blues, M*A*S*H, and Dallas. Born in Chicago in 1932, Castillo studied acting and stage direction at the Goodman Theater and performed alongside Sherman Hemsley, Rita Moreno, Jessica Tandy, James Broderick and Jeanne Crain. He appeared in such feature films as Delta Force II, Kinjite, Death Wish IV, State of Emergency, Through Naked Eyes, and Above Suspicion, and worked as a stage director at theaters across Los Angeles and Ventura counties. In 2012, Castillo retired from acting and moved to Houston, Texas. Castillo is predeceased by his only child, Lisa Palmere, and survived by his wife Danya Quinn-Castillo, his grandchildren Brian and Stephanie Palmere, and his brother Bernie Castillo.
Warner Bros. Discovery CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels sees a preeminent revenue source in advertising on HBO Max as it rebrands. Wiedenfels said at a J.P. Morgan media conference,
“HBO is such an amazing and such a powerful brand and has never been exposed to advertising. The view of the market is coming around, and I think advertising is accepted today as … a form of monetization for . . . premium content. . . . It’s nothing we push right now, because of where the market is. But we are in the very early innings when it comes to advertising.”
Max, which combines HBO Max and Discovery+ into one platform, has so far experienced a smooth launch. Wiedenfels says he was “surprised” by the number of subscribers the platform garnered, even on its premium tier, in its inaugural week. Though some users reported glitches in the new app, Wiedenfels says the app is faster and better than its predecessor.
“The technical session metrics are already better on day one better than the prior product. And no accidents, which is the most important point for an endeavor like that. It’s day one. So far, so good. We’re very pleased with how that’s gone. I have more confidence in our ability to profitably grow subscribers and drive down churn than I had 12 months ago. . . . It’s the nature of the content. That’s why we wanted to combine the two portfolios … We will be able to tell you in a few months how that is working.”
Max has three tiers, ad light, ad free, and ultimate ad free. Some subscribers to the former HBO Max will automatically have their apps updated to Max, while others will have to download a new app and log in. The Max app combines HBO and HBO Max originals, Warner Bros. films, DC universe content, Harry Potter and kids’ content, as well as Discovery’s food, home, reality, and lifestyle programming from HGTV, Food Network, Discovery Channel, ID, and TLC.
Of all the memorable characters created by Shonda Rhimes, the screenwriter and producer revealed recently that Scandal’s Olivia Pope is one she wants to revive. Rhimes called Pope, played by Kerry Washington for seven seasons from 2012 until 2018, “very interesting.” Pope was a Washington, D.C. “fixer” on the series, loosely based on real-life lawyer Judy Smith, who represented Monica Lewinsky during the Clinton trial. The character of Olivia Pope also appeared on a crossover episode of How to Get Away with Murder, another Shondaland show. Of her process creating characters, Rhimes said,
“I think I’m pretty famous for being a person who says I don’t pay attention to fans. I don’t mean that in a bad way; I mean, the only way I know how to tell a story is to sort of be its keeper, and I therefore can’t take in all the outside influences from people’s reactions to the story. It doesn’t help me in figuring out a way to be creative in my job.”
Sony Pictures Television has pre-sold Twisted Metal, The Winter King, and Ten Pound Poms to international buyers ahead of the LA Screenings. Twisted Metal, starring The Falcon & The Winter Soldier’s Anthony Mackie and Brooklyn Nine Nine’s Stephanie Beatriz, was snapped up by SonyLIV in India, TVNZ in New Zealand, Stan in Australia, BeIN in the Middle East, WBD in Central and Eastern Europe, and Showmax in sub-Saharan Africa. It premieres on Peacock on June 27. The Winter King, starring Ellie James and Eddie Marsan, also sold to SonyLIV, BeIN, and Stan, with MGM+ and ITVX as co-commissioners. Ten Pound Poms, which launched in the UK and Australia in May, went to SonyLiv, TVNZ, and OCS in France. Executive VP of Distribution & Networks at SPT Mike Wald said of the acquisitions,
“At a time when everyone is looking for content that stands apart, clients acknowledge there is nothing else out there like Twisted Metal, and we are seeing a clear void in the market for a sweeping epic drama like The Winter King. We are looking forward to announcing more sales on those series imminently and to provide our clients an early look at some of the other projects in the pipeline.”
The acquisition of 64 Tegna broadcast stations by Standard General may create the largest minority-owned and woman-led broadcast company in US history. The transaction would provide an $8.6 billion investment in local media while supporting Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and Biden administration diversity targets. Though it passed review by the Department of Justice, the transaction has been set aside by the chair of the FCC, laying untouched for well over a year. This is a record for the Commission, which usually processes compliant TV license transfers within 182 days. In an unusual move, the FCC’s Media Bureau referred the transaction to its administrative law judge on issues with station staffing and retransmission fees, despite all parties having solved the issues in previous agreements. The full commission has noted in past transactions that issues of station staffing levels and retransmission fees for pay TV providers are outside of the FCC’s purview. Some believe that the FCC’s action points to its desire for donor Byron Allen to clinch the deal over entrepreneur Soo Kim – putting the deal into regulatory limbo as the May 22 deadline expires could be a way to kill it without the need for a vote. Meanwhile, GOP commissioners Carr and Simington have called for the vote to go forward. Citing anger over a lack of equity and progress on diversity targets, co-sponsor of The Broadcast Varied Ownership Incentives for Community Expanded Services Act (Broadcast VOICES Act) Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) threatened to stymie the reconfirmation of FCC member Geoffrey Starks in the absence of a vote. If Starks were to be denied reconfirmation, the FCC would be left with two Republicans and one Democrat, leading the social justice groups Asian Americans Advancing Justice, National Action Network, National Urban League and UnidosUS to urge a vote. The groups did not request or endorse a specific outcome, requesting only that the process be carried out. In this case, the FCC has an unprecedented amount of information to work with, as well as the power to execute the process of license transfer. Many argue that a vote on the Standard General-Tegna deal would bolster what trust has been lost in the ordeal.
President Joe Biden has nominated telecom attorney Anna Gomez to the Federal Communications Commission in his second attempt to fill an empty seat on the five-member panel. This nomination comes two months after the President’s previous nominee Gigi Sohn withdrew from consideration after fighting for confirmation since 2021. Sohn had been through many hearings to quell concerns from both sides of the aisle, but eventually threw in the towel as the process dragged on. Gomez currently serves as a senior advisor for international information and communications policy in the State Department’s Bureau of Cyberspace and Digital Policy, and previously served as deputy administrator for the National Telecommunications and Information Administration. She has worked for the FCC in various positions for the past 12 years, and came from the private sector as a partner at the Wiley Rein law firm. Early in her career, Gomez served as VP for federal and state government affairs at Sprint Nextel. She joined the State Department in 2023. Of Gomez’s appointment, FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel said in a statement,
“[Gomez] brings with her a wealth of telecommunications experience, a substantial record of public service, and a history of working to ensure the U.S. stays on the cutting edge of keeping us all connected.”
Gomez is also revered in the telecom industry, whose various executives have expressed trust in her abilities and excitement for her nomination. President and CEO of USTelecom Jonathan Spalter praised Gomez’s abilities, saying,
“I have come to know Anna over the years in her roles as an advocate in the public and private sectors, and if confirmed, I look forward to working with her and a full five-member FCC on our shared objective to connect everyone everywhere to the power and promise of broadband.”
Biden has also re-nominated two existing commissioners, Democrat Geoffrey Starks and Republican Brandan Carr, whose nominations hinge on a pending Senate vote. The FCC has been in a 2-2 deadlock for the duration of Biden’s presidency, leaving hot-button issues like net neutrality off the bargaining table. Only actions with the ability to gain support of at least one Republican have been able to advance. In 2021, an executive order pressing the FCC to restore net neutrality rules repealed under the Trump administration was unsuccessful, and the issue remains both contentious and unresolved.
The Impact Network, a Black-founded faith-based network, has signed with Paradigm Talent Agency for representation. The agency will represent the network in all areas, including licensing, distribution, original content packaging, and strategic talent services & affiliations. The Impact Network was founded in 2010 by husband and wife duo Bishop Wayne T. Jackson and Dr. Beverly Y. Jackson, and focuses on “Black-driven programming” with a positive message. Under EVP Royal W. Jackson, the network is expanding beyond faith-based content to include licensed, scripted, and unscripted African-American centered family-friendly programming. Royal says of the partnership,
“Impact’s partnership with Paradigm is another key to opening doors for more diverse opportunities for the black community in Hollywood, both on and off the screen, with a focus on elevating Impact’s growth as storytellers.”
Wayne adds,
“We are excited to have Paradigm as a strategic partner to help strengthen Impact’s brand, as we look to serve audiences in even greater ways.”
Paradigm’s Andrew Ruf is excited about the partnership, praising the content that Impact has put out thus far.
“The Impact platform that Bishop Jackson and his team have built with the ability to reach over 70% of U.S. homes is incredibly impressive, and Royal Jackson’s creative vision for the network as a destination for family-friendly content for the black community is both valuable and timely. We are excited to help Impact bring that vision to life, and as always, deliver diverse, impactful, and bold voices into the mainstream cultural conversation.”
The Impact network can be found in more than 70% of US households via cable and satellite on Comcast-Xfinity, Frontier, Cox, Time Warner, Spectrum, Charter, Spectrum, ATT-U-verse, Verizon, Fios, Altice, DirecTV, DISH, and soon through digital platforms. Royal W. Jackson is a storied media entrepreneur who has worked on campaigns for Ford, Yahoo, Levi’s, Motorola, Kraft, Time Warner, and Feeding America. As a producer and creator, Jackson has received an ADDY Award for his work on the Feeding America: Ad Council Public Awareness Campaign, and has received a media grant from the Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan-Chan Zuckerberg Initiative with the National Association of Black Journalists for his COVID In Color initiative.
Kids’ entertainment producer Kenn Viselman, who worked on Teletubbies and Moonzy, has partnered with India’s Toonz Media to launch itsy bitsy Animation. The partnership hopes to release a new animated family project each year, starting with this year’s Li’l Pet Hospital. Viselman says,
“It has been a dream of mine to have a home for my work and thanks to the inspiring and glorious team at Toonz that dream is now a reality. Because of its origins, I am delighted Li’l Pet Hospital is the first project for this collaboration. Few people know that I was scheduled to be on one of the planes during 9[-]11 and was miraculously rescheduled on to another flight. For weeks after, I experienced a pendulum of emotions going from complete joy to total sadness and everything in between and channeled those deeply personal feelings into Li’l Pet Hospital. Over the years the LPH stories of empathy and compassion have sold hundreds of thousands of books and plush and I am now, with the help and strength of Toonz, finally ready to share these lovely, fun & funny, animated stories with the world.”
MeteoHeroes, ICEE, Atlanta Children’s Film Festival and other brands will also jump on Viselman’s new online “entertainment emporium” itsy bitsy World of Wonders at itsybitsyWOW.com, where at least 10% of every purchase is donated to charity.
Marlene Clark, most known for her role as Janet on NBC’s Sanford & Son in the 1970s and as Ganja Meda in 1973’s Ganja & Hess, has died. Clark’s Sanford costar Demond Wilson announced her passing on Twitter, giving her age as 73, though some sources say she was 85. Clark was raised in Harlem, New York City, and worked as a model before moving to acting. She appeared in For Love of Ivy alongside Sidney Poitier in 1960, and Putney Swope in 1969. After appearing in The Landlord in 1970, Clark reunited with the film’s screenwriter Bill Gunn on the 1973 horror flick Ganja & Hess to critical acclaim. Her last credit was The Baron in 1977.
Director of Disney+’s Obi-Wan Kenobi Deborah Chow has big shoes to fill. The series pays direct homage to the original George Lucas canon, whereas most recent spinoffs, like The Mandalorian, have relied on the lore established by Dave Filoni’s animated series. Chow began Obi-Wan hoping to pick up where Lucas left off in 2005 with Episode III: Revenge of the Sith: continuing the story of Obi-Wan, Anakin, Leia, and Luke. Before Chow stepped on, the series was originally conceived as a film. Now, Chow is directing every episode of what developed into a limited series. She calls the process “intense,” as filming took place during the height of the pandemic, before vaccines were available to the public. Parts of the show originally intended to be shot in London were instead filmed by The Mandalorian soundstages in LA. Due to the pandemic, Chow conducted all pre-production preparation from Canada, and didn’t meet much of her team in person until principal filming began. She says,
“Anything with background was always stressful because we had little Leia (Vivien Lyra Blair) running around. [But,] we didn’t get shut down.”
Though Obi-Wan has ended, Chow hints that the wealth of lore prior to New Hope could brith more material for the franchise.
“There’s 10 more years before New Hope, so never say never.”
Wrtiers guild of America
Strike Watch: Of the 46 projects currently in the California film incentives program, half have submitted “force majeure” requests to extend their start-date requirements due to the WGA strike. The California Film Commission administers the tax credits program, which is authorized in a state statute defining force majeure as:
“[A]n event or series of events, which are not under the control of the qualified tax-payer, including death, disability, disfigurement or breach by the motion picture director or principal cast member, an act of God, including, but not limited to, fire, flood, earthquake, storm, hurricane or other natural disaster, labor disruption, terrorist activities or government sanction.”
The commission’s website currently notes, “Due to the WGA strike, this allocation period may be delayed until the strike is resolved.” The allocation period would usually begin next month for recurring and relocating TV series. Though the 23 projects that have requested extensions are in various stages of production and pre-production, they all seek to extend the 180-day start-date requirement, which mandates that principal photography begin within 180 days of the receipt of a Credit Allocation Letter. This excludes projects with a qualified expenditure budget of $100 million or more, which have 240 days to begin filming. Regardless of budget, projects must finish production within 30 months. Should a force majeure be deemed valid, the CFC will stop counting the days towards timeline requirements until productions can resume. Production companies’ seeking force majeure harkens back to the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, when most projects eligible for tax credits requested extensions. On March 27, 2020, the film commission put out a production alert establishing the pandemic as a force majeure event. According to the alert,
“This enabled productions to apply and receive waivers for all the time-sensitive parameters in the tax credit program, thus alleviating the fear that projects would lose their reservation of tax credits if they could not begin or finish their projects as per program requirements.”
The WGA strike has been in effect since May 2.