ICYMI: Pit in a Town's Stomach
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It was a plot too absurd for even the industry’s striking writers to conjure. This week, as entertainment CEOs landed on Gulfstreams and Bombardiers at the Allen & Co. Sun Valley retreat (a.k.a. billionaire summer camp), negotiations between their studios and an industry’s increasingly desperate actors were falling apart. And with just 24 hours to defuse the proverbial bomb, the Feds, called in too late, failed. In the middle of the night — kaboom. Negotiations collapsed. A strike was coming.
The next morning, the industry’s most celebrated CEO, fresh off a two-year contract extension worth tens of millions, took to CNBC — and stumbled. Instead of delivering words of comfort and confidence, Bob Iger scolded a town’s writers and actors. (And made panic-inducing comments that tv “may not be core” to Disney’s business.) Hours later, at a SAG-AFTRA press conference announcing the strike, an anguished Fran Drescher did not mince words. The next day, even more pointed, she called Iger’s remarks “repugnant,” and that “if I were Disney, I would lock him behind doors.”
To quote The Nanny, oy vey!
Our stories and podcasts this week reflected the urgency at hand as a dual strike — and a seeming Nero-fiddling indifference from a town’s leaders — paralyze an industry. (And please remember to join the more than 5,000 Hollywood insiders already subscribed to our FREE daily Strikegeist newsletter).
Rushfield: Impeach the Poobahs
Well, geniuses, you've done it again. If the goal here is to set some kind of leadership record for the most trainwrecks, meltdowns and catastrophes on one generation's watch, then we're on a good track. Or perhaps they are conducting a science experiment to show how lack of leadership can actually become a quantifiable negative force, like a black hole, sucking all matter — in this case, the entertainment industry — into its doom.
Confessions of a Business Affairs Exec
A well-known senior business affairs exec's (anonymous) column had the town talking: "In this chaotic moment of upheaval and frustration...people are desperate to understand how we got into this mess and how we get out of it. Understanding the role of business affairs in our ongoing industry-wide soap opera can teach us some valuable lessons..."
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Iger, Ire, Actors: Apocalypse Now
Listen now (44 min) | With raw anger on both sides, the implications of a work stoppage at the same time as business fundamentals continue to erode present a once-in-a-generation event. “What if L.A. becomes Detroit [with] autos… There could be a moment when what was one of the core industries is fully eroded,” says Janice Min, who joins Elaine Low and Sean McNulty to break down...
Transcript here.
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Rushfield: Genius Summit at Sun Valley
One question that I'd be really curious to hear the moguls' thoughts on, but I'm guessing probably won't be asked, is… "Why the hell should anyone on Earth want to hear a word you have to say on anything when you've wrecked the greatest cultural industry in history and have nothing to say about how to get out of the mess you've created?!"
🪧 Strikegeist
Find reporter Elaine Low out on the pickets as she writes her daily coverage this week. Also, please contact her at Elaine@theankler.com.
SAG-AFTRA Ready to Strike Until 2024, Says Fran Drescher Day 1 of the actors strike brought wrath and enthusiasm to the pickets
'The Jig is Up': Emotions High as Actors Strike at Midnight Hours after Bob Iger's remarks, Fran Drescher fumed: 'We are being victimized by a very greedy entity'
☀️ 5 Days of The Wakeup
Sean McNulty sure knows how to time a trip to L.A.! (See if you can spot him at brunch in Studio City in a few hours…)
🎧 This Week in Podcasts
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The Miserable Multitasking Multiverse
Listen now (12 min) | With the annual Allen & Co. conference underway in Sun Valley, Rob Long today imagines our showbiz moguls staring at the stars, wondering how it all went so wrong. Rob’s sage advice for them? Think about Dwight Eisenhower as the showrunner of World War II, and follow the story of a French nobleman meeting his newborn triplets for the first time.
Transcript here
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A CNN Star's Big Side Hustle
Listen now (38 min) | This week I’m rejoined by CNN anchor Jake Tapper, on the show to discuss his new novel 'All the Demons Are Here'...
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🔎 The Optionist
IP Picks: The Race to Row the Atlantic Solo A plucky widower takes on some scammers, a woman thinks her best friend's hubby might be a murderer and a college hazing scandal