☀️ Iger calls Unions Unrealistic as SAG (likely) to Shutdown Town
Iger talks Strike & more on CNBC / LIONSGATE submits separation plan / WB & DC set new Comms leads
Mornin! This is Sean McNulty (connect with me on LinkedIn here if ya like), and here’s the Hollywood + Media news to know on THURSDAY July 13, 2023.
Where “the AMPTP’s responses to the union’s most important proposals have been insulting and disrespectful of our massive contributions to this industry,” according to SAG-AFTRA Prez Fran Drescher, in a statement declaring that deal negotiation talks are over.
Official vote to go on strike happens this morning, with a press conference at 12noon to follow.
Elaine has ya covered in full here at the Strikegeist newsletter, again totally free to read and subscribe to, from The Ankler.
BUT HEY: HOLLYWOOD does love a good theme - Oppenheimer being the last movie premiere to happen couldn’t be a finer choice on many levels (UNI moved the London premiere up to start at 8:45am today, LA Time)
EARLY RISER: Iger did CNBC’s Squawk Box this morning, taking a break from the Sun Valley breakfast buffet 🍳 (I hear Zuck and Elon have started a morning cow-milking competition 🐮), and… well here ya go on the impending SAG-AFTRA strike:
“It’s very disturbing to me. We’ve talked about disruptive forces on this business and all the challenges we’re facing, the recovery from COVID which is ongoing, it’s not completely back. This is the worst time in the world to add to that disruption.”
“There’s a level of expectation that they have, that is just not realistic.”
“It will have a very, very damaging affect on the whole business, and unfortunately, there’s huge collateral damage in the industry to people who are supportive services, and I could go on and on …. It’s a shame, it is really a shame.”
Gotta say Bob - all the HOLLYWOOD top executive pay raises and bonuses over the last year kinda say otherwise about the state of the business…
More from Iger on the cable business, ESPN and more down in The Media Biz section here today - along with some bigger picture context for what Iger has actually signed on to do here.
OH SPEAKING OF: Shane Smith is reportedly still getting paid $8 Million a year (at least), per the terms of his exit deal which extends through 2024 according to NY Mag’s Intelligencer. Yeah that makes sense. The top 17 execs at the company brought home $10.6 Million in 2022.
AND: The FTC has put in a formal appeal of the MICROSOFT-ACTIVISION decision. #LastDitchEffort
THEN: The VENICE Film Fest has announced the jury to go with leader Damien Chazelle, including Jane Campion, Martin McDonagh & Laura Poitras.
ALSO: In case you missed the… 33+ email alerts from one certain publication alone yesterday, here are the 2023 EMMY Nominations.
My condolences to the roughly 575 TV series from the past year that didn’t make the cut. What? Yes of course everyone who voted watched them all… 🤫.
📽 THE SILVER SCREEN
