Transcript: What the Heck is 'Undeniable' TV?
Agents and streamers have a buzzword that has everyone confused as pitching a show, post-strike, only gets harder
Sean McNulty (00:05):
Welcome to The Ankler Podcast. This is Sean McNulty from The Wakeup newsletter here at the Ankler on the afternoon of Thursday, December 7th, here in New York City where we have a little spattering of snowflakes, Elaine. How about that?
Elaine Low (00:17):
Ooh, snowflakes. I don't know what that is out here in LA.
Sean McNulty (00:21):
Are you familiar with... I should have prefaced that by defining what it is, first, set the stage.
Elaine Low (00:25):
Yeah. Well, I'll be going back to Chicago soon. There'll be lots of snowflakes there.
Sean McNulty (00:28):
You'll be... Yeah, don't worry about that. I kind of feel like I should be a Peter Kiefer-approved comfy scarf with some hot chocolate instead of the workout clothes.
Elaine Low (00:36):
Little flannel, a little beanie.
Sean McNulty (00:37):
Yeah, just I'm not setting the mood here with my workout clothes, so we'll see how that goes.
(00:42)
Anyway, that's Elaine Low, of course, and we also have Richard Rushfield in Los Angeles, and we have the host of the Martini Shot podcast, Rob Long, joining today. Rob, are you also enjoying the wintry scenery here in New York?
Rob Long (00:52):
Yeah, I'm just walking to this place to do this recording, and do my little work today and I felt like I was in a Hallmark movie.
Sean McNulty (00:58):
Yeah, a little bit. It was like, yeah.
Rob Long (01:00):
"I'm in a big city. I don't have time for emotion, and then here I am. I'm on a podcast. I don't have time for this."
(01:06)
And then of course, I'm going to be visit by three ghosts later on, it was good.
Sean McNulty (01:10):
Oh, is that it? I thought you'd be moving to the countryside and finding romance, one of the two.
Rob Long (01:13):
Either way, it's still a cup of hot cocoa
Sean McNulty (01:16):
Exactly. It writes itself. Rob's going to be joining us to give a TV writer's perspective on Norman Lear and also share some perspectives out there and TV writing land. Then, Richard, someone named Janice Min is going to join us. The mythological, Janice Min, the CEO, of course, here at The Ankler, she's going to join us to share a conversation she had with Melissa DeRosa, who was New York governor Andrew Cuomo's right hand of chief of staff during the COVID epidemic here in New York State for some perspectives on the presidential race.
(01:42)
But first, a couple of housekeeping items. There are two new things to look out for here at The Ankler. The first is a new weekly newsletter called Prestige Junkie, which I think landed today in people's inboxes, but if not, they'll be coming shortly.
(01:53)
And on Saturday, that would be December 9th. The Ankler's new Art and Crafts podcast, will debut was programmed by Delphine Figueras and Alex Beatty of Industry Insiders.
(02:03)
And the idea behind Art and Crafts is to take you behind the scenes and examine the careers and contributions of the talented artisans who create and craft the movies and TV series that we love. And the first episode kicks off with a great lineup featuring Oscar-nominated production designer Jeannine Oppewall in conversation with costume designer Ellen Mirojnick, and production designer Ruth de Jong, about their work on Oppenheimer.
(02:26)
You can head to theankler.com to check that out, and of course, follow The Ankler on the socials at The Ankler for more information on both. All right, Elaine, we have a SAG deal officially stamped. Do you get a signed copy from Fran and Duncan, or how does this work?
Elaine Low (02:40):
I'm waiting for my plaque here. The 78 percent approval rating on a 38 percent voter turnout, which after 118 days, the turnout of 160,000 members was about 38 percent, which is actually much higher than it's been in past years.
Richard Rushfield (02:57):
Are there any numbers on what number of that 150,000 membership never knew they were on strike?
Elaine Low (03:08):
That's a fine question.
Sean McNulty (03:08):
That's a poll you can put out in The Ankler there, Richard. Yeah, exactly. But yeah, the Writer's Guild was 99 percent, I think -
Elaine Low (03:16):
99 percent ratification vote. Only 90 members voted no on that. It was something like over 8,400 members who had voted yes on that one.
(03:24)
So, by a landslide, not so much on the SAG side. There was a lot of vocal dissent on the AI front, and you could see it happening on social, but it was interesting to see how that was going to translate to a vote, 78 percent solid vote, but not as overwhelming as 99 percent. And again, after how many months of being on strike... And for comparison in 2020, the SAG vote was about 75 percent with about 25 percent voter turnout. Similarly in 2017 as well.
(03:54)
So definitely a higher approval rate, higher turnout than past cycles. But when you compare it to the WGA vote, it's reflective of their vote of confidence in leadership.