Small Screens: SAG-AFTRA On Strike; Anjali Sud Takes Over As Tubi CEO
Rishi Nair - Karwai Tang
Broadcast: Rishi Nair (Hollyoaks/Count Abdulla), is joining Masterpiece/ITV crime drama Grantchester as the charismatic new vicar, Alphy Kotteram. Nair joins as lead actor Tom Brittney announces the upcoming ninth season will be his last as Reverend Will Davenport, whom he has played since 2019. Adapted from the Grantchester Mysteries novels by James Runcie, the series, per its logline, “follows Detective Geordie Keating (Robson Green) and the motorcycle-riding vicar Will (Brittney) as they investigate murders in the Cambridgeshire village.” Nair commented in a statement,
“I’m absolutely thrilled to be joining Grantchester. The welcome and support I’ve received from everyone has been overwhelming. The success of the show and the reason we are here for a ninth season is a testament to all the people that have previously worked on it. I’m really excited to get started and cannot wait for the Grantchester fans to meet Alphy and to see all that’s in store for him.”
The ninth season will be executive produced for Kudos (which is part of Banijay UK) by Emma Kingsman-Lloyd, writer and series creator Daisy Coulam, Robson Green, and Tom Brittany. Grantchester is a Co-Production of Kudos and Masterpiece for ITV and can be seen on Masterpiece on PBS in the U.S. and ITV1 and ITVX in the U.K. The eighth season premiered Sunday, July 9.
The CW announced on July 12th that it would be pushing All American, its only homegrown series originally set for fall, to midseason. Renewed for a sixth season in January and originally slated to air at 8 p.m. ET/PT Monday nights, All American joins the acquired drama 61st Street, the I am documentary film franchise, and the abbreviated fourth season of Walker in being held for midseason. While the announcement comes amidst a wave of consequences of the ongoing writers’ strike (ABC, for example, has delayed all its primetime scripted series), the CW has built a buffer zone of foreign acquisitions and unscripted series that will still debut on time. Season 3 of the dating show Fboy Island (which the CW recently saved from being canceled at Max) will premiere on time in October, along with other unscripted series Penn and Teller: Fool Us, Masters of Illusion, and World’s Funniest Animals, as well as Whose Line Is It Anyway in November. European acquired eco thriller The Swarm will have its series premiere in September, in addition to other foreign acquisitions Sullivan’s Crossing (which received an early Season 2 renewal last month), The Spencer Sisters and Everyone Else Burns in October.
Geraldine Viswanathan - Robert Smith
Cable: What We Do In the Shadows returned to FX for its fifth season on July 13, when the first two episodes of the season aired. The Emmy Award-winning mockumentary comedy follows a group of vampires living together in Staten Island and stars Kayvan Novak, Natasia Demetriou, Matt Berry, and Mark Proksch, as well as Harvey Guillén as the vampires’ familiar/abused assistant. TBS’s comedy Miracle Workers, which features the same cast in different storylines each season, also returned with a third, apocalypse iteration, titled End Times. Starring Geraldine Viswanathan, Daniel Radcliffe, and Steve Buscemi, the series returned on July 10th.
LaKeith Stanfield - Arturo Holmes
Streaming: LaKeith Stanfield’s drama series The Changeling has been officially set to premiere Friday, September 8 on Apple TV+. Based on the eponymous novel by Victor LaValle (who also executive produces), the series is described as
“...a fairytale for grown-ups. A horror story, a parenthood fable and a perilous odyssey through a New York City you didn’t know existed.”
Stanfield will executive produce and star, and is joined by stars Clark Backo, Adina Porter, Samuel T. Herring, Alexis Louder, Jared Abrahamson and special guest star Malcolm Barrett. Showrunner and executive producer Kelly Marcel adapted the novel and will write for the series, with the pilot directed by Melina Matsoukas. The series is produced by Apple Studios and Annapurna. You can see the first three episodes of The Changeling on September 8, followed by single episodes released weekly through October 13.
Peacock’s new series, Twisted Metal, based on the video game series of the same name and starring Anthony Mackie, is premiering July 27 (with Peacock just dropping a couple new trailers — one “clean” and one without bleeps for the profanities). Mackie’s character, John Doe, explains in the latest trailer,
“Twenty years ago, the world fell to shit. Cities put up walls to protect themselves and threw the criminals out to fight over what was left.”
The rest follows as John is hired to pick up and deliver a package to New San Francisco, takes on a passenger who hitches a ride at gunpoint (played by Stephanie Beatriz), and comes up against various psychopaths. Thomas Haden Church also stars, with Richard Cabral, Mike Mitchell, Tahj Vaughans and Lou Beatty Jr. in guest roles. Michael Jonathan Smith (Cobra Kai) is the showrunner and writer. Executive producers include Smith, Mackie, and Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick (Deadpool), on whose original idea the show is based. Sony Pictures Television, PlayStation Productions and Universal Television produce. Peacock also notes that work on the show was completed in March, before writers (or actors) went on strike against studios and streamers.
jane Wu
Industry: “Is Social Media Legislation Too Broad? An Empirical Analysis,” a policy paper recently released by the nonpartisan Phoenix Center for Advanced Legal & Economic Policy Studies, argues that streaming services do not threaten children’s mental health, discouraging legislators from blocking them in the Kids Online Safety Act. Citing research on television viewing, report author George S. Ford argues streaming is essentially the new TV and presents programming that is curated by a broad coalition of professionals; this, Ford asserts, is significantly different from the user-generated content that includes “the disturbing and dangerous variety which is the focus of regulatory efforts.” The report further asserts that while studies have found computer usage to correlate with worse mental health in children, moderate video consumption may actually be associated with better teen mental health. However, the debate is far from over as questions around online gaming arise and as organizations such as the Parents Television Media Council maintain that television and streaming have a negative impact on teen and child mental health.
Comcast and Charter Communications (which owns Spectrum TV) are developing a new streaming platform in a joint venture. Comcast will put up the retail business of its XClass TVs and its Xumo streaming service as well as license its Flex streaming platform, while Charter will put up $900 million, doled out over multiple years. Tom Rutledge, chairman and CEO of Charter, described the new project, saying,
“Our new venture will bring a full-featured operating platform, new devices, and smart TVs with a robust app store providing a more streamlined and aggregated experience for the customer. As the video landscape continues to evolve, this venture will increase retail consumer options, compete at scale with established national platforms, and join our existing lineup of options for the Spectrum TV App available on most customer-owned streaming devices.”
The joint venture will support a variety of branded 4K streaming devices and smart TVs and will allow app developers, streamers, retailers, operators, and hardware manufacturers to more easily reach customers in markets across the country.
Sasha Colby, winner of RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 15, has signed with CAA for representation. Colby made history as the first Native Hawaiian and trans contestant to win the Drag Race after competing against such talents as Anetra, Luxx Noir London, and Mistress Isabelle Brooks. Starting her career by performing in pageants in her twenties, Colby has been working as a drag queen for the last twenty years in addition to being an actress, dancer, trans advocate, and activist. In addition to winning RuPaul’s Drag Race, Colby was also crowned Miss Continental in 2012, the most prestigious title in the drag community. Goloka Bolte, casting director for Drag Race, described Colby as a queen who “embodies strength, authenticity and vulnerability.” Colby continues to be represented and managed by Full Scope PR.
U.K. broadcaster ITV has announced it is no longer actively exploring the acquisition of London-based TV producer All3Media. While ITV stated an interest in All3Media in June, it made no concrete plans and has now said it “continues to monitor” a potential acquisition and weigh it against “strict financial criteria.” Behind such shows as Fleabag, Call the Midwife, and The Tourist (starring Jamie Dornan), All3Media is being sold by owners Liberty Global and Warner Bros. Discovery, with JP Morgan overseeing a potentially £1 billion ($1.2 billion) deal. All3Media was formed in 2003, acquired by Liberty Global and Discovery in 2014 for £550 million ($686 million), and, currently led by CEO Jane Turton, has grown from 20 labels to 50 across six countries and three continents, including the U.S., U.K., and New Zealand. Liberty Global also has a 9.9% stake in ITV, which is currently valued at £280 million and, per the annual results declared in March, upped total group revenue 7% to £4.3 billion ($5.3 billion).
Variety is teaming up with Nickelodeon to honor 10 Animators to Watch. Along with honoring the directors of Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse and celebrating the upcoming release of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem (coming August 2), Variety has released a list of young animators making their mark. The list includes Olufikayo Ziki Adeola, writer-director of Disney+’s upcoming Afrocentric, sci-fi series “Iwájú” and co-founder of Kugali Media. Adeola says the collaboration between Kugali and Disney on Iwájú has been better than he could have imagined, and that he hopes
“...this is the beginning of a new wave of African-inspired stories that the world can enjoy.”
The next honoree on the list, Jeron Braxton, uses a unique blend of art and tech, with a distinctive style that brings to mind hallucinatory worlds and early-2000s video game aesthetics. His work can be seen in everything from Sundance (his first short film, Glucose, won the jury prize for animated short in 2018) to HBO’s Random Acts of Flyness to music videos for the Weeknd. Braxton is now working on an animated sci-fi horror film, Slime, inspired by anime and games like Mirror's Edge, channeled through “the Black American perspective.” He also looks excitedly toward the possibilities of 3D printing in sculpture and AI-assisted animation. Fernandez Casas also blends the old with the new, reinventing iconic characters such as Mario and Peach in The Super Mario Bros. Movie and designing new ones for Universal-Illumination’s upcoming “Migration” and Netflix’s “Klaus. He does his research (watching documentaries about ducks for “Migration”) and looks to past works (studying Yōichi Kotabe’s original drawings of Mario), but he has not let go of his passion for drawing original characters and is working toward his dream of bringing an original project to life. Michael Yates, with animating partner Carrie Hobson, is looking straight toward the new as co-creator of Pixar’s first long-form TV series, Win or Lose (streaming on Disney+ in December). The series,
“...tells the interconnected stories of eight different characters preparing for a championship softball game.”
Taking inspiration from his work as a story artist on Toy Story 4, Yates says he is excited to tell an ensemble story in a way “that can’t quite be done in a feature.” He says he hopes “everyone finds at least one character that they really relate to and connect with.” Jane Wu takes her inspiration from her own experiences with dual identity, feeling at once a product of her culture as a child in Taiwan (a fan of anime and martial arts films) as well as an outsider as a tomboy who hated all things feminine and as an immigrant in Los Angeles when she was 9 years old, not knowing a word of English. She takes all these sides of herself into her role as producer and supervising director for the upcoming Netflix series Blue Eye Samurai. The series follows a “mixed-raced female sword master who must live in disguise” per its logline. Before this role, Wu has taught fashion, co-owned a comic book store, and has worked on live action projects such as Game of Thrones as well as animated projects like Mulan. Rising through the ranks in a male-dominated industry – being told, for example, “you draw pretty good for a girl” – Wu also loves mentoring and doing career talks for girls and young women. These animators and more will be honored during an in-person cocktail party and award ceremony in Los Angeles on July 18.
Lionsgate is the top contender to acquire the Hasbro-owned indie studio Entertainment One. Lionsgate (whose vice chair Michael Burns is also on the Hasbro board) has recently been bidding against fellow indie studio Legendary, as well as distributor GoDigital Media Group and former eOne CEO Darren Throop, who has been launching efforts to raise financing. Fremantle and CVC Capital Partners were also in the race early on. Hasbro is selling all of eOne’s scripted and unscripted TV production assets (except the Family Brands division which includes staples like Peppa Pig and PJ Masks), all film production and related global distribution, a content library of over 6,500 titles, and Hasbro’s interest in eOne’s Canadian film and TV business. The sale of eOne’s film and TV assets comes as Hasbro cuts all but its core business. The company cut 15% of its global workforce this year (about 1,000 positions), with eOne also losing president of film Nick Meyer as well as 20% of its staff in a round of layoffs. Lionstate is likewise slimming down as it separates its film and TV studio from Starz. Mergers and acquisitions have been slowing down all over Hollywood amid economic troubles and the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. The sale process for eOne (which Hasbro bought in 2019 for $4 billion) was projected to wrap by June 30 according to Hasbro CEO Chris Cocks, but is still ongoing.
Anjali Sud is succeeding founder Farhad Massoudi as CEO of Fox’s streaming service Tubi. Sud has previously been at Time Warner and Amazon as well as being CEO of Vimeo, which she grew to 300 million users. Sun joins Tubi at a hot time, as well. The streaming serving, acquired by Fox in 2022 (and for which Fox recently established the Tubi Media Group, headed by Paul Cheesbrough, to whom Sud will report), is one of the top ad-supported services in the world, with a 1.3% share of viewing in May, according to Nielsen. Fox also reported in May that Tubi revenues were up 31% in the company’s fiscal third quarter. Sud seems excited to continue this growth, saying,
“We are witnessing a seismic shift in where and how content will be consumed… The future of streaming TV is free… Tubi is doing things differently in a space that is being imminently disrupted, and that is my kind of opportunity.”
Integrated Media Company, a New York-based equity firm, is set to buy the animation software company Toon Boom from Nelvana, a Canadian cartoon company owned by Corus Entertainment. Corus, which bought a 50% stake in Toon Boom in 2004 and acquired the other half in 2012, is now selling it off for CAN$147.5 million (US$111 million) in order to free up capital and pay down debt. Though a major buyer of Hollywood series which has recently expanded from its core linear TV broadcasting business to premium content on online platforms (it helped usher Paramount’s FAST channel, Pluto, into the Canadian market), Corus, like other Canadian TV networks, faces dramatically lower ad revenues than before the pandemic, the threat of recession, and rising programming costs. But Corus’s loss may be a win for IMC (which invests in media companies for TPG); Toon Boom’s software is used by Disney Television Animation, Amazon, Fox Television Animation, Nelvana and Toei Animation (Netflix's Klaus, for example, was created using Toon Boom software). ICM’s acquisition of Toon Boom is expected to close by the end of 2023.
SAG-AFTRA
Strike Watch: As of July 13th, the actors’ union SAG-AFTRA is on strike for the first time since 1980. After the union’s contract expired at midnight on the 12th (after being extended from June 30th), the SAG-AFTRA national board met the morning of the 13th and voted unanimously to approve a strike recommendation forwarded by the negotiating committee. With the writers’ union already on strike, this marks the second time in history both unions have been on a concurrent work stoppage – the last time was in 1960 when Ronald Regan was SAG-AFTRA president. Back then, they were dealing with the dawn of television, fare compensation for film broadcasts and reruns, and pensions; today it’s ensuring career-sustaining pay and not being replaced in the face of streaming and AI. Said SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher at the official press conference announcing the strike,
“We are being victimized by a very greedy enterprise. At some point you have to say ‘No, we’re not going to take this anymore. You people are crazy. What are you doing? Why are you doing this?”
The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represents the studios in negotiations with SAG-AFTRA, countered that it offered the actors’ union historic pay increases and pension and health contributions, as well as audition and digital likeness protections. Streaming companies are also playing a part in the standoff by refusing to share streaming viewership data and pay creators more for high-performing shows. In any case, until everyone can get on the same page, all production under the SAG-AFTRA TV and film contract will immediately halt in the U.S. and around the world, as well as any promotional work for completed projects.
SAG-AFTRA has officially released a “Strike Notice and Order’ telling members to “cease rendering all services and performing all work” covered by the TV/Theatrical Contracts. The rules outlined in the notice prohibit on camera, voice, audition, scanning, wardrobe, and promotional work (and more). It also dictates members must not cross picket lines, must tell agents and representatives to stop negotiating with studios, streamers, and networks on their behalf for covered services, and must inform the union of all strike-breaking activity. Members may be able to work on projects produced by non-AMPTP (Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers) production companies under certain circumstances outlined on the union’s strike website. The actors’ guild notes, however, that any member that goes against the orders “shall be subject to discipline consistent with the SAG-AFTRA Constitution and the SAG-AFTRA Membership Rules.” The strike notice, FAQs, and more information can be found on sagaftrastrike.org.
On July 13, Equity, the British acting union, issued a joint statement with SAG-AFTRA saying it would “stand in unwavering solidarity” with its striking counterpart union. However, due to the UK’s anti-trade union laws, Equity – which represents 47,000 members including actors, singers, designers, directors, and more – added that,
“SAG-AFTRA members currently working under an Equity UK collective bargaining agreement should continue to report to work.”
This decision has no small impact, either, as more and more British performers land work in the U.S. and more and more major American productions are shooting in the U.K. HBO series House of the Dragon and Industry, for example, are under the Equity agreement; while projects such as these can technically continue, it is unknown if any, or how many, of them will.
The Writers Guild of Canada is saying their domestic industry is “dying” after revealing that the aggregate earnings of its Canadian citizen members have dropped by almost 22% over the past five years (adjusted for inflation). WGC president Alex Levine attributes the decline to the boom of foreign service productions which, while shot and crewed in Canada, are still creatively driven from elsewhere and cut out Canadian screenwriters. Levine argues,
“These series aren’t Canadian, they aren’t written by Canadians, and they don’t have an authorial Canadian voice. We need to make sure Canadian shows get produced too. We can’t just be a branch production plant for Hollywood.”
The Guild, which represents 2,500 English-language Canadian screenwriters, presented its findings in a submission to the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission as part of the CRTC’s consultations for a new regulatory framework. The WGC’s earnings decline also mirrors that of the striking WGA, which says that over the last decade, median weekly writer-producer pay has declined by 23% (adjusting for inflation); however, the WGA attributes the drop to contracts that don’t account for changing business models, particularly with streaming. While it is left to be seen if governmental regulating bodies rectify the situation in Canada, The WGC has said it will “support the WGA during its strike to the fullest extent possible.”
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass called for “fair and equitable contracts” in a statement on the SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes. Bass has generally avoided explicitly taking a side – simply calling for both sides to come to the table in a previous statement, as opposed to politicians such as Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) or Rep. Katie Porter (D-CA), both of whom are running for U.S. Senate and have personally walked the picket lines. She has more matched Governor Gavin Newsom in tone, pledging to work to ensure a resolution (Bass did, in fact, help mediate a resolution to the three-day Los Angeles Unified School district strike in March); Newsom also said his office would intervene in the WGA strike if called to by both sides, but has otherwise refrained from public comment. However, Bass’s latest statement more strongly makes the case for writer and actor compensation. She said,
“In all industries — education, hospitality, goods delivery or entertainment — Angelenos deserve fair contracts. Whether you’re a writer who has been on strike for more than 72 days or an actor who has been on strike for 72 hours, wages and health benefits to afford housing, food and the basic necessities to survive should be a minimum requirement in discussions… This is a historic inflection point for our city as our entertainment industry experiences economic pressure and business uncertainty. A fair and equitable solution must be reached.”
SAG-AFTRA has put out a detailed FAQ for members and non-members alike which covers journalism, influencing, cosplaying, and more. It explains what SAG-AFTRA members can still do, including appearing on reality shows, game shows, commercials, video game work, talk shows, and things of that nature. Critics and journalists can also still write about movies and TV, though actors cannot talk to them about their projects, even if the interview is set up through a personal publicist and not a studio. Influencers who are not part of the union are not bound by strike rules, though if any do (or want to in the future) work under the SAG-AFTRA Influencer Agreement, they cannot promote struck work – either for pay or “organically” – unless they already have a contract to do so (in which case the union advises them to fulfill those obligations). Independent producers (as long as they are truly independent from studios) may get waivers called “interim agreements” to continue making their projects in which they would also agree to adhere to whatever deal the AMPTP ultimately makes with the union. For fans worried about cosplaying, there are no advisories against this unless they are a SAG-AFTRA member, in which case they shouldn’t cosplay in a way that promotes struck work. While inadvertently breaking strike rules such as these will probably only get you some kind of warning, the union has the power to enforce strike rules, with penalties including “censure, reprimand, fine, suspension, and/or expulsion,” or being unable to join the union in the future if you are not yet a member. On the flip side, if you are looking to help, you can post on social media, donate to the Entertainment Community Fund (which supports out-of-work crew members), or show up at picket lines and rallies. The full FAQ, a list of picket locations, and more information can be found on safaftrastrike.org.
