☀️ WME/CAA, SAG/AMPTP Cap Week of Despair
NBCU begins new SUITS development / SAG 'shock' at AMPTP / MIRAMAX buys Halloween TV rights
Mornin! This is Sean McNulty (connect here on LINKED-IN if ya like) and here’s the Hollywood + Media news to know on FRIDAY Oct. 13, 2023.
Where… Boo! Ah come on ya’ll, it’s Friday the 13th! In October! Eh I gave it a shot. 👻
But be as loud as ya like at the theater this weekend folks (again, good luck to anyone trying to watch The Creator in an adjacent theater), as most if not all theaters are abandoning ‘turn of your phone please’ messaging… and some like the MARCUS Theater chain have shot special videos to encourage it.
So, enjoy whatever showing you got into through Sunday - TSwift mandated that theaters not show the movie Mon - Wed each week as part of the deal. Sorry Seniors Tuesday.
AND AT THIS POINT: I think the NFL is missing out on its own 💰 cut of The Eras Tour receipts this weekend for all the free promo, no? (Congrats to Kelce & the CHIEFS on a rather… well, lackluster 19-8 win over the hapless BRONCOS).
PLUS: MICROSOFT got final approval from U.K. regulators on its ACTIVISION deal, so consider that one done and done (with some small caveats per the approval, like forfeiting cloud-streaming rights for Call of Duty and other ACTIVISION games in most int’l territories).
THEN: U.S. Online Gambling took in $7.6 billion in 2022 revenue (after bets were paid out etc). Remember that’s Revenue, not Profit, and across all Gambling services, but that is roughly equal to the total U.S. Box Office receipts in 2022 (granted, 2023 is about +25% higher through the end of summer).
ALSO: All of those big headline generating Aaron Rodgers’ regular appearances on The Pat McAfee Show weren’t just your typical recurring guest bookings:
Pat has paid over $1 million to Aaron Rogers for doing his show, according to the NY Post.
There’s a little more context here from The Athletic to the “guest paying” practice overall here.
OH: NETFLIX will open a series of ‘NETFLIX House’ locations in various cities come 2025. They’ll feature a mix of retail, dining and live experiences, that will change based on NETFLIX programming. No word on any locations just yet, but HULU - keep that Bear food truck on standby for deployment across the street 🧐.
AND: The Academy Museum Gala event tomorrow has been suspended due to the Israeli war with Hamas.
SAG-AFTRA picketing also has been suspended today due to “potential safety concerns.” Hamas has urged supporters to stage demonstrations of support today globally.
WAKEUP BOX OFFICE POLL RESULTS:
Yeah this says it all here really. Gotta love that 6% putting it all on the line though.
🪧 STRIKE FORCE
SAG-AFTRA leadership is saying it was very much surprised by AMPTP calling off negotiations:
Duncan Crabtree-Ireland: “It wasn’t until later in the evening, I started getting calls from CEOs and Carol Lombardini that they decided to cancel our scheduled session for today (Thurs.) and that they weren’t planning to return to the table.”
Fran Drescher was on Today this morning, saying the message of talks suspension by the AMPTP “really came as a shock.”
She also said SAG was asking for 57 cents per Streaming service subscriber, per year, to distribute to members.
Assuming that’s global… it would be about $134 million for NETFLIX, and obviously far smaller for most others (i.e. about $55 million for WBD, assuming DISCO+ is included here).
Ted Sarandos of course categorized the SAG ask as a “levy on subscribers,” and called the AMPTP-estimated cost of $800 million a year “bridge too far” in his Bloomberg conference appearance yesterday morning.
If Fran’s 57 cents number is accurate (and if it refers to global subs), it’s very hard to see how that number gets anywhere near $800 million a year… and is probably much closer to the $350 million-ish that SAG was suggesting the cost would be.
IN THIS EDITION
A look at the gut check that awaits artists who walk in Taylor’s concert movie wake.
Why is dealmaking so quiet with one strike over? Some thoughts from my conversations around town this week.
It’s really a pick’em as to which scenario you’d like to believe for SAG / AMPTP going forward - why I take the side of the business case, and more.
📺 THE TV SET
