Hollywood is at a crossroads and the 160,000 actors that make up SAG-AFTRA are seemingly in the driver’s seat.
There are dozens of rumors flying around on the picket lines and Beverly Hills lunch spots. There’s talk that SAG isn’t as close to a deal as that video by Fran Drescher and Duncan Crabtree-Ireland suggested, and some are also saying that the DGA has been trying to encourage SAG-AFTRA leadership to take a deal, rather than strike.
The other big talking point is if the actors do join the writers on the picket line, which top executive or executives will step up to find a compromise? During previous strikes, breaking the deadlock has required a Lew Wasserman (in 1960 and 1981) or, in the case of the 2007-08 shutdown, a group including Peter Chernin, Bob Iger, Barry Meyer, Michael Lynton and Les Moonves, to help strike a deal.
“In the past there’s always been some luminary from Hollywood that would [step up],” said one source. This year, "I haven’t heard of anyone.”
One thing is clear: If SAG-AFTRA calls a strike, either at midnight PT on Friday or sometime next week, there will be huge ramifications for the entertainment industry. >>>Possibilities & Scenarios |
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In The Pink - Warner Bros.’ comedic feature take on Barbie starring Margot Robbie in the title role and Ryan Gosling as Ken cruised onto tracking today. Hot would be a modest way of describing the box office outlook here. While Warners is conservatively saying $60M, tracking shows that Barbie is bigger than last month’s The Little Mermaid in pulling in general audiences and young women under 25. A weekend of $80M minimum is what we’re hearing, and that, too, is a tamped-down expectation because Barbie on paper has all the glitz for a potential $100M start. >>>'Oppenheimer' Tracking
Kinky History - From ancient Egypt to the 1970s, Britain’s Got Talent judge Amanda Holden is heading on a journey to explore the wild history of sex via a Sky docu-drama. Holden and TV historian Dan Jones are fronting Sex: A Bonkers History for the Sky History channel and will also lead the dramatic elements of the exploration of how sexual behaviors through the ages have shaped civilizations. >>>Racy Commission
Turning Point - That jibe Cate Blanchett made about awards shows being akin to horse races lost her the Best Actress Oscar. So says Joey Berlin, CEO of the Critics Choice Awards. Blanchett uttered a stream of vitriol during her acceptance speech when she collected the Critics Choice Award for Best Actress back in January for her performance in Focus Features’ Tár. >>>Breaking Baz |
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The sci-fi thriller series Silo has wrapped its first season on Apple TV+, where it debuted as the No. 1 drama in the streamer's history. And boy, do we have questions. Ahead of the season finale, Deadline was granted an all-too-brief interview with Ferguson, who addressed the show’s arrival during the pandemic and what it was like to constantly run up and down those stairs. >>> Smashing Silos |
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Exclusive
Just a day after announcing Black, White, & Blue as his first film under a four-picture deal with Amazon inked back in November, Tyler Perry has named Divorce in the Black as his second. Starring in the pic, which Perry will direct and produce from his script, are Meagan Good (Harlem), Cory Hardrict (All American: Homecoming), Joseph Lee Anderson (Young Rock), Taylor Polidore (Snowfall), Shannon Wallace (City on a Hill), Richard Lawson (For Colored Girls) and Debbi Morgan (Power Book II: Ghost).
Exclusive
Ryan Murphy’s Monster anthology series has found its Erik and Lyle Menendez. Deadline understands that the second season of the Netflix anthology series, a follow-up to The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, has cast Cooper Koch and Nicholas Alexander Chavez in the roles. We hear that Koch will play Erik while Alexander Chavez will play Lyle.
Kevin Bacon is fronting another television series. The City on a Hill star is to lead genre action series The Bondsman for Amazon’s Prime Video. The show, which scored a straight-to-series order, comes from creator Grainger David, whose short film The Chair screened in competition for the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival, and Blumhouse Television.
Exclusive
Emmy-winner Lynn Whitfield is set for a key recurring role on the upcoming sixth season of Showtime’s The Chi, from 20th Television. Created and executive produced by Lena Waithe and her Hillman Grad banner and executive produced by Common, The Chi is a coming-of-age story centering on a group of residents on the South Side of Chicago. Whitfield will play Alicia, an intimidating, old-money matriarch who will spare no expense to get what she wants. |
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BY THE NUMBERS
30 - The approximate number of new NBCU FAST channels launching on Amazon Freevee and Xumo Play |
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More News
💔 Yellowjackets star Melanie Lynskey shared her thoughts online about friend Julian Sands, who was found dead in the Southern California mountains earlier this week. Lynskey wrote about first meeting Sands while working on the 2002 movie Rose Red. She admitted, as a big fan of Sands in the Oscar-nominated film, A Room with a View, to being a bit star-struck. “I was so nervous I could barely speak to you,” she wrote. “When I did finally tell you what the movie/you meant to me, I was struck by your humility, your lack of ego, the absence of any grandstanding.”
✂️ Showtime has scrapped a number of greenlit originals including the series remake of Gattaca from Homeland co-creators Howard Gordon and Alex Gansa and Seasoned, a comedy starring real-life husband and wife Mandy Patinkin and Kathryn Grody. It is also not moving forward with two development projects – Sweetness and Split – as well as several others.
⚖ A Texas grand jury declined to indict rapper Travis Scott in relation to the November 2021 AstroWorld concert in Houston. Ten people died and hundreds were injured from a crushing stampede at the show. Scott was on stage when the surge happened, joined by Drake. “He never encouraged people to do anything that resulted in other people being hurt,” Scott’s lawyer told the Associated Press, calling the decision “a great relief.”
🏛️ The prosecution and defense has started detailing arguments in the Kevin Spacey trial in London. Prosecutor Christine Agnew described the American Beauty star as a "sexual bully" and detailed testimony from four complainants. Responding, Spacey's lawyer said the jury had heard "deliberately exaggerated" testimony.
🤞 Cast options on ABC’s Home Economics have been extended beyond the June 30 deadline, possibly indicating that renewal prospects are good for the comedy series. There has been no decision on a renewal yet, however, sources tell Deadline. Home Economics and The Rookie: Feds are the two ABC series that remain in limbo. |
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Obituaries
🕯 Oscar- and Tony-winning actor Alan Arkin has died at the age of 89. The news was announced this morning by his sons Adam, Matthew, and Anthony, who gave a joint statement on behalf of the family to People magazine. 🕯 Marvin Kitman, a television critic for 35 years with Newsday and a prominent author best remembered for his book-length audit of George Washington’s Revolutionary War expense account, died at the Actors Fund Home in Englewood, N.J. He was 93 and died from cancer, according to his son, Jamie Kitman. 🕯 Hollywood & Media Deaths In 2023: Photo Gallery & Obituaries |
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On the Radar
Fri - SAG & DGA contracts expire; Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny opens; Essence Festival of Culture begins
Mon - Wimbledon gets under way
Tue - Independence Day |
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Hello, Dolly - Writers and their supporters held a 9-to-5 themed demonstration at Netflix headquarters in Los Angeles yesterday. The picket featured appearances by 9-to-5 stars Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin, as well as a slew of Dolly Parton drag queens. |
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