Small Screen: WGA Releases Pattern of Demands, Disney+ Teases ‘American Born Chinese’
Anthony anderson - Mark Gunter
Broadcast: Yvette Nicole Brown will appear on General Hospital’s tribute episode to late actor Sonya Eddy, who played Epiphany on the soap. Brown, a longtime friend of Eddy’s, previously played Lois on The Young and the Restless.
A year after the end of hit series Black-ish, its star Anthony Anderson will star in another comedy for ABC. Public Defenders will follow four new public defenders who navigate everything from a convoluted court system to a jammed copy machine while building bonds both within and outside of the courtroom. Anderson will play the defenders’ boss Marshall, who tasks himself with transforming the newbies into “cutthroat defense attorneys” with tough love and a deep sense of protection. Anderson will also executive produce the series alongside Eddie Quintana, Randall Einhorn, and Liz Astrof.
Dennis Jackson (Wapos Bay) and his son, Eric Jackson of Paxolotl Media Inc., have teamed up with Zoot Pictures on CHUMS, a children’s animated series premiering in 2024. The first season of nine thirty-minute episodes is currently in production. CHUMS will follow an eaglet named Ira and her friends as they explore their home of Turtle Island and teach young viewers about the environment and Indigenous culture. In an effort to preserve Indigenous languages and dialects, CHUMS will be produced in English, Cree, and Ojibwe, and features an all-Indigenous creative team and cast. Eric Jackson says of working on the groundbreaking series,
“Beyond the entertaining and educational aspects of CHUMS, it’s really exciting to be working alongside my dad. . . . Creating an entirely new animation studio in the Prairies with my dad and my kids makes this a pretty unique thing for all of us. Not just now, but for the future if they follow in our footsteps to continue creating Indigenous stories.”
The Half of It’s Leah Lewis has been cast as a series regular in CBS’ new drama pilot Matlock alongside The Baker and the Beauty’s David Del Rio. Matlock is a spinoff of the eponymous 1986 series starring Andy Griffith, and will follow Madeline Matlock (Kathy Bates) as a storied lawyer who uses her experience and brilliance to win cases and expose corruption. Lewis will play junior associate Sarah, a people-pleaser who is eager to get a career jump-start. Sarah is described as ambitious and dedicated, and is upset when she’s assigned to work with Matty, seeing it as a step down in the firm. Lewis was a 2018 graduate of the CBS Diversity Showcase, and is known for her breakout role in Netflix’s The Half of It. Lewis also stars in Pixar’s upcoming Elemental and Paramount’s The Tiger’s Apprentice.
Vauhini Vara’s lauded novel The Immortal King Rao, will be adapted for TV. The rights have been acquired by independent studio Wiip (Mare of Easttown, Dickinson), with playwright Madhurt Shekar adapting and executive producing. The Immortal Rao tells the story of an Indian tech CEO who becomes the most accomplished in the world. Set in the near future, the novel’s world is run by the Board of Corporations, who gives King’s daughter Athena access to his memories when he dies. Vara will executive produce The Immortal King Rao along with Shekar. No release date is forthcoming.
Streaming: Another Shondaland series has added four new recurring cast members, including Loot and Los Frikis’ E.L. Losada. The Residence, a mystery series for Netflix, sports a logline of “132 rooms. 157 suspects. One dead body. One wildly eccentric detective (Aduba). One disastrous State Dinner. The Residence is a screwball whodunnit set in the upstairs, downstairs, and backstairs of the White House, among the eclectic staff of the world’s most famous mansion.” Losada is cast to play St. Pierre, an energy healer. Other new cast members include Matt Oberg (Veep, Superstore), Ryan Farrel (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, The Deuce), and Alexandra Siegel (Bosch, American Auto). Uzo Aduba will star.
Disney+ released a new teaser for American Born Chinese, a multi-part streaming saga that will bridge multiverses and feature a star-studded cast. Starring Michelle Yeoh, Yeo Yann Yann, Ben Wang, Jim Liu, Chin Han, Daniel Wu, Ke Huy Quan, Stephanie Hsu, and Poppy Liu, among others, American Born Chinese follows teen Jin (Wang), who meets foreign exchange student Wei-Chen (Jim Liu). When Wei-Chen’s true identity is revealed, it triggers a battle between gods of Chinese mythology and places the fate of the world into question. Yeoh will play Guanyin, Wei-Chen’s “unassuming auntie” whose true identity is that of the Buddhist bodhisattva of compassion. Quan plays 90’s sitcom star Freddie Wong, and Hsu plays the Goddess of Stones Shiji Niangniang, who works at a jewelry store with her magical dog. James Hong, though absent from the teaser, will play the Jade Emperor. Destin Daniel Cretton (Shang-Chi) will direct and executive produce along with Charles and Kelvin Yu.
Regé-Jean Page, Morgan Freeman, and Kevin Willmott have partnered with Paramount to develop an eight-part series about boxing legend Muhammad Ali. Excellence: 8 Fights will be written by Willmott (BlaKkKlansman, Da 5 Bloods) and is based on Ali: A Life, a comprehensive biography written by Jonathan Eig. Freeman and Page will executive produce along with Willmott, Lory McCreary of Revelations Entertainment, and Emily Brown. Eig, CBS Studios, and UCP are producers. The show’s official description reads,
“Excellence: 8 Fights will chronicle eight distinct and defining moments in the iconic life of Muhammad Ali. Each episode will be framed by one fight from Ali’s life, but the essence of the episode, what it’s really about, is the internal fight – the drama outside the ring – where we will explore the struggle going on in the heart and mind of one of the most consequential and controversial figures of the 20th century.”
Playwright David E. Tabert has sold the comedy Overtime to ABC. The series is executive produced by Warren Littlefield (The Handmaid’s Tale, Fargo) and, pending negotiations, Courtney Lilly (Black-ish, Grown-ish). Overtime will tell the story of a renowned NBA star who retires and shifts his focus to fatherhood and looking inward. Talbert is also writing Netflix’s first musical, Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey, and a musical anthology series for Disney+, Twas’ The Night. Talbert will executive produce both projects with his wife and business partner, Lyn Sisson-Talbert, through their production company Golden Alchemy Entertainment.
Marsha Stephanie Blake (When They See Us), Gabrielle Graham (Twenties), and John Ortiz (Promised Land) have been cast in Netflix’s upcoming series The Madness. The series will follow media pundit Muncie Daniels, played by Colman Domingo, who must prove his innocence after coming across a murder in the woods. Blake will play the mother of Muncie’s teenage son, Graham will play Muncie’s daughter Kallie, and Ortiz will play FBI agent Franco Quinones. Blake was nominated for Emmy and Critics Choice awards for her portrayal of Linda McCray in Ava Duvernay’s When They See Us. Ortiz appeared as Joe Sandoval in ABC’s drama series Promised Land, as well as playing alongside Halle Berry in The Mothership. Graham starred in BET’s Twenties and 2020 film Possessor, screened at Sundance Film Festival. The Madness is directed and executive produced by Clement Virgo (Dahmer, The Get Down, The Wire, Empire).
Peacock has renewed Days of Our Lives for two additional seasons, which will keep the series airing through its 60th anniversary. Peacock has noted that the series has been consistently in the top 10 since its move from its original broadcast home on NBC in September of 2022. DOOL features a diverse cast including POC contract actors Camila Banus (Gabi Hernandez), Raven Bowens (Chanel Dupree), Jackée Harry (Paulina Price), and James Reynolds (Abe Carver). Also, recurring POC cast members Elia Cantu (Jade Hunter), George DelHoyo (Orpheus), Marla Gibbs (Olivia Price), Victoria Grace (Wendy Shin), Remington Hoffman (Lin Shin), Tina Huang (Melinda Trask), Cameron Johnson (Theo Carver), and Aketra Sevillian (Talia Hunter). Look for DOOL to continue to produce 250 episodes a year on the streamer.
Vinny Basra
Industry: Following his series The Best Man: The Final Chapters on Peacock, Malcolm D. Lee has extended his deal with Universal Television, who owns Peacock. Lee will continue to write, develop, and produce content for Universal platforms under his production company Blackmaled Productions. The Best Man was Peacock’s biggest series debut to date, and was nominated for a GLAAD Media Award and seven NAACP Image Awards (three of which it won). Lee is also behind 2021’s Space Jam: A New Legacy with LeBron James. Of his deal, Lee says:
“The team at UTV has been incredibly supportive as I’ve been navigating my way through the television landscape. Continuing our flourishing partnership made sense on so many levels. I’m gratified to know Blackmaled will keep building our robust slate at a place I can call home.”
Media buying agency GroupM has pledged to use 5% of all spending on outlets owned by or focused on Black, Latino, AAPI, and/or LGBTQ+ Americans. The move is part of GroupM’s Media Inclusion Initiative, and accompanies the hiring of Cynthis Morgan Jenkins to head supplier diversity to “develop and nurture relationships with diverse-owned media and content partners.” CEO Kirk McDonald said of the move,
“As the largest media investment company in the world, we have a responsibility to accelerate growth through the next era of media. That means making our industry more inclusive and equitable for all publishers[,] [a]s well as sharing brands’ products and services with audiences that are representative of the changing face of America in service of growing their businesses.”
Imax has named Reddit COO Jen Wong as one of its new directors along with entertainment executive Gail Berman. Wong, who has been COO of Reddit since 2018, has previously served as COO and president of Digital at Time Inc., chief business officer at Popsugar, and senior vice president of Lifestyle at AOL. Last year, Wong was awarded the number one spot on Fast Company’s Queer 50 list. Of Imax, Wong says, “[it is] a unique company that sits at the heart of technology and entertainment. It’s a household brand with global recognition, beloved by many.”
Comcast President Mike Cavanaugh has announced that Comcast is “happy” to sell its stake in Hulu to Disney. While the company will consider other options, Cavanaugh says any of those options must top the 4-year-old agreement to sell to Disney in 2024. Disney’s CEO Bob Iger has recently alluded to the Hulu deal taking a backseat, as Disney’s bottom line suffers and the company prioritizes cost-cutting. Under the deal, however, Comcast can force Disney to buy the stake outlined in their 2019 deal. Cavanaugh says that “if there is something different that comes along, we [will] consider things. But we won’t do something unless it is better[.] Everything is on the table right now.” The agreement as it currently stands gives Hulu a guaranteed minimum valuation of $27.5 billion, making Comcast’s one-third stake worth at least $9 billion.
Industry heavyweights Tyler Perry and Byron Allen are independently interested in BET Media. As Paramount Global looks to sell a majority stake in the asset, both Allen and Perry are in line for a deal. Perry has a storied history with BET, a strong relationship with its CEO Scott Mills, and a relationship with Paramount Global CEO Bob Bakish. Perry is already a partner with Paramount on their streamer, and supplies the lion’s share of scripted content on both BET and their streamer, BET+. For his part, Allen is an industry heavyweight with his own media company, Entertainment Studios, and a storied career as a producer, media mogul, and philanthropist. With BET’s iconic status in the Black media space, the network could field interest from other Black celebrities, creators, and minority-owned industry stalwarts. BET Media includes BET+, BET Studios, and VH1.
Group Black has bid $400 million to acquire struggling Vice Media. Group Black, whose aim is to invest in and guide Black-owned media firms, has been looking into the acquisition for months. The past few years have been rocky for Vice, whose industry stardom has run its course and now owes millions to vendors and has yet to see the $30 million it is owed from Antenna. Vice Media CEO Nancy Dubuc stepped down in February as the company, once a player to watch, began to suffer. Group Black, co-founded in 2021 by Travis Montaque, Richelieu Dennis, and Bonin Bough, sees the rehabilitation of Vice Media (including Vice.com, Refinery29, and Motherboard) as an opportunity to spotlight more diverse creators in high-profile media spaces, as well as to add another Black-owned media company to the landscape.
Group Black has also shown interest in acquiring BET Media Group. Group Black, teaming up with CVC Capital Partners, thus joins Tyler Perry and Byron Allen in line for the iconic company. Talks between BET, Allen, Perry, and Group Black are all in early stages, and the possibility remains that Paramount will decline to sell ownership of BET Media Group.
Hair Love producer and founder of Lion Forge Carl Reed has launched a new animation studio. Composition Media will produce content centered around underrepresented communities, kicking off its launch with several films and series already in the works. The studio, based in St. Louis, will launch with two completed animated features: Bad Grandmas, a 2D adult comedy, and Sky & Luna, one of an eight-picture slate with PoC Studios. Composition’s first television production will adapt board game Catapult Feud for TV. Composition is one of several breakout animation studios in the city of St. Louis, where a budding animation scene is taking hold. In addition to launching the new studio, Reed’s St. Louis-based company Lion Forge is seeking to raise $50 million to expand its staff and acquisitions.
As the media consumption landscape evolves, questions about the definition of “FAST” channels have perplexed consumers. Alan Wolk, creator of the term, views the growing popularity of the FAST model with apprehension, saying there is a “propensity for misunderstanding” among consumers. In an informative article on the topic, Wolk defines FAST channels primarily by what they are not: “To start off,” he writes, “let me define what a FAST channel is not, and that is the equivalent of a cable TV outlet like AMC or The Food Network.” FAST, an acronym for free ad-supported television, is similar to cable, but differs in several key areas. First, there are no MVPD’s, or companies that pay carriage fees to carry a singular national feed. Rather, “aggregator apps,” FAST services that collect content from several sources for distribution, offer curated linear channels as well as on-demand libraries. Wolk writes that there are three “flavors” of aggregator app. First, there are FASTs owned by large media companies, like Paramount’s Pluto TV, Fox’s Tubi, Comcast’s Xumo, and NBCU’s Peacock. These FASTs are able to pull from unique content from their parent company, leaving them unrestrained by a single manufacturer. Next, there are FASTs owned by the OEM’s, Amazon’s Freevee, LG Channels, Roku, Samsung TV Plus, and Vizio WatchFree+. These FASTs benefit from being the “centerpiece” of a device’s UI, making them the first thing a user sees. Lastly, there are independent apps such as Crackle and Plex. These independent applications answer to nobody, allowing them to be more experimental.
Alongside aggregator apps are single source apps, which only carry content from a single source. Single source apps also have both linear and on-demand programming, and often have deals with aggregators to distribute their content as part of a linear channel, on-demand library, or both. Both aggregators and single-source apps increasingly rely on curation to make a name for their platform and build brand loyalty – for example, Wolk writes, the sci-fi offerings on Pluto TV will be different from those on Roku, even if they pull from the same sources. While cable networks rarely overlap geographically, FASTs are competing in a large market, both geographically and in terms of number of consumers. Curation sets them apart from each other and presents consumers with a wealth of options.
As FASTs have helped create a “renaissance” for linear channels, big subscription services are picking up on the model’s popularity. Discovery Plus, Paramount Plus, and Peacock already have their own linear channels, and other services are likely to follow in an attempt to increase viewership for their content. Wolk points out that as linear channels become a feature of both SVOD and FASTs, the need for the term “FAST channel” may eventually fade. “At which point,” he says, “the need to explain that FAST channels do not, in fact, operate in the same manner as cable TV channels goes away, along with the need for articles like this one. Problem solved.”
Production studio Electric Robin is restructuring its senior ranks. The studio has named Simply Raymond Blanc producer Vinny Basra as head of TV, and Chris Jones as creative director. Basra will help lead Electric Robin towards its goal of expanding longform original content, extending the company’s original IP. MDs Ross Brandon and Kevin Batchelor said of Basra, “Vinny approaches his work with a point of view that enhances our way of making programmes.”
Disney has promoted HR executive Sonia Coleman to Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer. Coleman steps into the position on April 8th. Coleman will succeed Paul Richardson, who held the position for over 15 years, and will report to CEO Bob Iger. She will lead Disney’s HR strategy, global talent acquisition, leadership development, diversity and inclusion, organizational design, cultural development, employee education and development, compensation and benefits, and global security, along with HR operations across the board. Coleman herself has been with Disney for over 15 years, where she previously served as VP, Human Resources, Disney Consumer Products for eight years. Of her new role, Coleman said:
“It is truly an honor to be named to this role, and I am grateful for the confidence that [CEO] Bob [Iger] has placed in me. Disney is unrivaled because of the talent, dedication, and enthusiasm of our cast members and employees. They are the key to our success, and I look forward to being their greatest champion…as we move forward through the important company-wide transformation underway that will truly empower the people behind the magic of Disney.”
Michelle Strong, senior VP of distribution at A+E, is speaking about her remarkable ascent to single-handedly leading the team responsible for distribution and revenue growth for A&E, History, and Lifetime. In a recent interview, she credits both an inspirational professor and industry stalwart BET for sparking her passion for the media space, saying,
“[BET] was really the first time that I saw people that consistently looked like me, that enjoyed the same things in life that I enjoyed.I not only wanted to work in television, but I absolutely wanted to work at BET. And so, going to college I majored in communications, with that goal always in the back of my head. It felt so lofty to me. I didn’t know a kid like me could actually do anything like that.”
In college, Strong initially pursued an on-air role, but pivoted to a behind the scenes role at the encouragement of a professor. After graduating with a degree in communications, Strong secured a sales position at Comcast, where she developed a working relationship with a sales principal at BET. Eventually, the contact informed Strong of a job opening there, and, to hear Strong tell it, “I stepped in the door and did exactly what I told her I would do. I showcased my passion, I showcased my work ethic and I got a job.”
Strong discovered that she felt most at home behind the camera, and it wasn’t long before she was promoted to VP of affiliate sales at BET. She went on to become Senior Director at ESPN Media Networks, where she stayed until joining A+E Networks as vice president of national accounts. In 2014, Strong was promoted to A+E’s senior vice president, distribution, national accounts, where she was responsible for long-term distribution and revenue growth. A+E President of distribution David Zagin says Strong has been a “dedicated leader” who is “highly respected” among her colleagues and peers. Executive VP of distribution Jane Rice even calls Strong “Wonder Woman,” who embodies the superhero’s values of truth, justice and equality. During her time at A+E, Strong founded the A+E Multicultural Advisory Committee, which guides the company in multicultural content development and inclusivity of representation.
Strong is both a leader and a team player, a delegator and a diligent worker. “I want [my team] to know I’m in it with them and they can come to me for guidance and feedback and advice,” she says. Having worked up the ranks herself, she says, gives her an appreciation for the work of those she manages. Above all, however, Strong underscores the importance of being both a mentor and an advocate for her team:
“I wish I knew then all the wonderful things I know now about perseverance[,] not listening to people that crush your dreams, and how you should keep going on with that passion. If there are opportunities, whether it be internal opportunities or within the business, [and] I think it would be good for [my team] to broaden their careers, I really try to push them forward in those areas and be a champion for them when they’re not in the room.”
Writers Guide of america
Strike Watch: In the ongoing negotiations saga, Writers Guild of America members have voted 5,553-90 to approve a Pattern of Demands for the upcoming contract negotiations, set to begin March 20. The current contract between the WGA and the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers expires on May 1. The Pattern of Demands, required by the guild constitution, list broad-strokes goals for negotiations and are informed by member surveys and industry research.
The complete Pattern of Demands is as follows:
Compensation and Residuals:
Increased minimum compensation significantly to address the devaluation of writing in all areas of television, new media and features.
Standardized compensation and residual terms for features whether released theatrically or on streaming.
Address the abuses of mini-rooms.
Ensure appropriate television series writing compensation throughout entire process of preproduction, production and post production.
Expand span protections to cover all television writers.
Apply MBA minimums to comedy variety programs made for new media.
Increased residuals for under compensated reuse markets.
Restrict uncompensated use of excerpts.
Pension Plan and Health Fund:
Increase contributions to pension plan and health fund.
Professional Standards and Protection in the Employment of Writers:
For feature contracts in which compensation falls below a specified threshold, require weekly payment of compensation and a minimum of two steps.
Strengthen regulation of options and exclusivity in television writer employment contracts.
Regulate use of material produced using artificial intelligence or similar technologies.
Enact measures to combat discrimination and harassment and to promote pay equity
Revise and expand all arbitrator lists.
According to the Guild, the “broad goal” of the committee is to “build on the gains achieved in past contracts, and to ensure that writers receive their fair share of the proceeds generated by the content they create” in the face of changing methods of media consumption. “If history has taught nothing else, it has shown that with each new technological advancement within the industry, the real risk is that writers, and other talent, will not receive equitable compensation for the reuse of their work,” the WGA says.
The WGA and AMPTP have also exchanged proposals as they prepare for bargaining in the upcoming weeks. The proposals are unlikely to be released, but comprise a more detailed write-up of the pattern of demands released publicly. Both sides will analyze each other’s proposals in preparation for negotiations, and the WGA is expected to come out with reports which emphasize the stagnation of writer wages in recent years.