September 8, 2023 • 38 mins
In this episode of Pop Culture Weekly, Kyle is joined once again by Dominic Patten, senior editor for Deadline Hollywood. It's about to get real with a deep-dive into the Hollywood strike. They're dissecting the ongoing turmoil, the recent studio proposal, the Writer's Guild's reaction, and the potential implications that could shake the very foundation of the industry. Trust us, this is a conversation you don't want to miss, as they shine a light on the strategy and posturing of both sides in a bid to give you an insider's perspective.
As the world grapples with the pandemic, Kyle and Dom are not ignoring the elephant in the room. They look at how the coronavirus has sent reverberations through the entertainment industry, marked by the dwindling of linear TV and the surge of streaming services. They ponder over possible solutions to this predicament, discuss the pandemic's effects on movie releases, and question the future of the cinema experience. Plus, they tackle the exciting prospect of Apple's new VR range, its potential to promote upcoming films, and how it could revolutionize cinema.
They wrap up with a compelling discussion about the changing viewing habits and what it means for the world of entertainment. Analyzing the success of original films versus franchises, and the impact of labor strife, they cover all corners of the industry. They explore how this dynamic industry can weather the storm and continue to thrive amidst uncertainty. There's plenty to unpack here, so tune in for a truly enlightening episode.
Get the very latest, 24/7 breaking news from Deadline.com
Kyle McMahon's Death, Grief & Other Sh*t We Don't Discuss is now streaming: https://www.deathandgrief.show/Chapter-One-The-Diagnosis-AKA-WTF/
---------------
Get all the Pop Culture Weekly podcast info you could want including extra content, uncut interviews, photos, videos & transcripts at: https://podcast.popcultureweekly.com
Watch celebrity interviews at: https://www.facebook.com/realkylemcmahon/videos
or Kyle McMahon YouTube at: https://www.youtube.com/officialkylemcmahon
Read the latest at http://www.PopCultureWeekly.com
Follow Kyle on:
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/kmacmusic
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/realkylemcmahon
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Website: http://www.kylemcmahon.me
Pop Culture Weekly twitter: http://www.twitter.com/popculturepodca
As the world grapples with the pandemic, Kyle and Dom are not ignoring the elephant in the room. They look at how the coronavirus has sent reverberations through the entertainment industry, marked by the dwindling of linear TV and the surge of streaming services. They ponder over possible solutions to this predicament, discuss the pandemic's effects on movie releases, and question the future of the cinema experience. Plus, they tackle the exciting prospect of Apple's new VR range, its potential to promote upcoming films, and how it could revolutionize cinema.
They wrap up with a compelling discussion about the changing viewing habits and what it means for the world of entertainment. Analyzing the success of original films versus franchises, and the impact of labor strife, they cover all corners of the industry. They explore how this dynamic industry can weather the storm and continue to thrive amidst uncertainty. There's plenty to unpack here, so tune in for a truly enlightening episode.
Get the very latest, 24/7 breaking news from Deadline.com
Kyle McMahon's Death, Grief & Other Sh*t We Don't Discuss is now streaming: https://www.deathandgrief.show/Chapter-One-The-Diagnosis-AKA-WTF/
---------------
Get all the Pop Culture Weekly podcast info you could want including extra content, uncut interviews, photos, videos & transcripts at: https://podcast.popcultureweekly.com
Watch celebrity interviews at: https://www.facebook.com/realkylemcmahon/videos
or Kyle McMahon YouTube at: https://www.youtube.com/officialkylemcmahon
Read the latest at http://www.PopCultureWeekly.com
Follow Kyle on:
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/kmacmusic
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/realkylemcmahon
Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/kmacmusic
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/officialkylemcmahon
Website: http://www.kylemcmahon.me
Pop Culture Weekly twitter: http://www.twitter.com/popculturepodca
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
In this episode of pop Culture Weekly, I'm joined by Deadline dot Com Senior
editor Don Patton. We talk allabout the strike, I look at summer
season, and what we can lookforward to this fall in the movies,
Let's go. Welcome to pop CultureWeekly with Kyle McMahon from my Heart Radio,
your pop culture news, views,reviews, and celebrity interviews on all
(00:22):
the movies, TV, music,and pop culture you crave weekly. Here's
Kyle McMahon nan nan nan nant,Hello, and welcome to pop Culture Weekly
with Kyle McMahon. I of courseam Kyle McMahon, and thank you for
joining me. I can't thank youenough. Every week you tune in and
(00:43):
hit me up and tell me whatyou think and tell me what you're seeing
and what you're loving, what you'renot loving, what you're listening to,
and I just love it all.You guys are awesome and you make this
show what it is, and you'realso sharing it. You know, you're
sharing your favorite episodes on social andall, and I can't thank you enough
for that because that makes us continueto grow. Also, your Apple podcast
(01:08):
reviews do huge things for us,So thank you for doing that. If
you've done that and if you haven'tyet consider it, you know, given
on us review and I might justfeature your review right here on the show.
Today. I'm excited because I'm talkingto once again Dominic Patton. Dom
is senior editor with Deadline Hollywood,which you know, Deadline dot Com is
(01:32):
such a huge resource for me andalways has been. I go to Deadline
dot Com multiple times a day becausethey have a full staff that is incredibly
on top of everything that's breaking inHollywood, so you know, movies,
TV music, they are covering itwith in depth reporting. I love Deadline
(01:57):
and so I'm decited to talk todom today about the strike now, going
you know into it's what fourth startedin May's May, June, July,
August, fifth month of the strike, and you know where things stand as
they are now when we can expectthe artists and creatives to you know,
(02:20):
get what they're do and what happensif if they don't come to an agreement,
all that stuff. We're going tocover it all with Dom. I'm
also going to ask him about,you know, twenty twenty three, the
summer movie season was pretty incredible withBarbie and Oppenheimer. Of course, the
big Barbenheimer double feature people were doing, which I loved and did myself.
(02:43):
And what dom is looking forward tothis fall. You know, I'm a
big horror fan, and so there'ssome horror movies I'm looking forward to as
well as some other titles. Sowe talk all about that. Let's get
right into my conversation with Dominic Pattonfrom Deadline dot Com. I am here
with Dominic Patton, senior editor forDeadline Hollywood. Welcome back. Thanks for
(03:07):
speaking with me down Oh always apleasure, my man, me as well.
So first of all, as Italk about all the time, I'm
at Deadline dot com for breaking newsmultiple times a day. Obviously, right
now, the big news is thestrike. What is the status of that
as of this recording. I mean, it's kind of all blown up again,
(03:31):
Kyle. I mean, you know, you had the studios finally reached
out to the Writers Guild, whoare the predominant union in this the Actor's
Guild SAGAFRO on strike two. Butthey reached out to them not long after,
and I mean literally a matter ofhours after my colleague Peter White and
I wrote a story about some backchanneling that was happening between them all.
(03:53):
There had been no talks over onehundred and one days, so they had
eclipsed the nineteen. The two thousandand seven two was an eight strike which
went on for a hundred taste andthey said, let's talk. You know,
is that quote from the Bible?Come, let us reads them together.
Turned out wasn't a lot going onthere, a lot of talks,
not really a schedule. It waskind of like a day here. They
(04:15):
hear that studios made a proposal onAugust eleven, and they thought it was
an unprecedented proposal, and they wereaddressing all the things that the guild wanted,
residuals metrics, in terms of transparencyon streamers AI writer's rooms. The
whole deal didn't seem to go overso well. Writers Guild respond a little
(04:41):
bit attention. So on Monday,August twenty one, the studios and streamers
reached out to the Writers Guild andsaid, we would like to meet with
you personally now, we'd like tohave a talk. And they really seemed
to imply, according to what wehear, that they wanted to make it
like enough is enough, let's dothis. We're done, like we're to
(05:02):
hunt over one hundred and ten daysnow, writers Gil went to the meeting.
Meeting turned out to some of thebiggest dealmakers in Hollywood like Ted Srrandos,
Warner Brothers, Discovery boss David Zaslov, Universal boss Donna Langley, and
Disney boss Bob Iger, to namea few who were in the room at
this off site meeting. They werenot so good at reading the room,
(05:26):
it seems. According to the WGA, they were given a lecture about how
they should be so thankful for whatthey're being offered and come on, guys,
just go with it and take it. And the WJA said, well,
hold on, why you're offering usor what you offered us as almost
two weeks ago reads good at thetop line or when you get into the
(05:46):
details. They referred to a lotof loopholes and limitations and stuff like that,
and that's issues that we need todeal with. And these issues need
to be dealt with in a comprehensiveway. We're not going to pick them
off as you guys tend to liketo do in your negotiations. And supposedly
the studios were adasted that the writersdidn't immediately accept what they were offered and
(06:06):
feel so thankful and we're shocked.And so last on August twenty second,
literally less than half an hour afterthe meeting was concluded, So around eight
o'clock at night, the AMPTP,who represents the studios and streamers in these
negotiations, sent out a press releasewith saying, oh my god, look
(06:30):
at this great thing we gave tothem on August eleventh, and it's all
full of this great stop and amazingand this is incredible. Now, these
two sides are supposed to have amedia blackout. Obviously at Deadline dot com
we have sources on both sides andwe're talking to a lot of people,
so we know a lot about's goingon. But officially they have a media
blackout. Clearly they did not havea media blackout in August twenty second.
So this thing comes out, andagain top line looks really good. We're
(06:54):
gonna give them all this money,We're gonna do all this stop controls,
over all sorts of things, moretransparency than ever these confidential memos. But
then you go down into the fineprint, and oddly enough, the AMPTP
included an appendix which had all thisfine print, and when you started reading
it, a lot of these dealslook kind of shaky, defining well,
(07:15):
yes you can do this, butwho is doing this? What now constitutes
a showrunner? All this sort ofstuff in there. I'm telling you guys
all this stuff because here's here's thepunchline. About four hours later, the
WGA responded and they basically called BSand said this was not a negotiation.
(07:35):
This meeting was an attempt to makeus cave. To quote them, They
kind of followed up on stuff thatwe have reported earlier that you know the
the the strategy of the MPTP isthis divide and conquer, hope to turn
them against each other and make thewriters, some of the writers force their
leadership to take a deal just toget a deal. Obviously, a lot
(07:56):
of people are hurting economically, bothin the industry and all around it Lay
County. You know, the guywho provides the red plastic cups for catering,
he's not providing them because there's nothingto cater now, the dry cleaners,
the guy who provides lumber for theset designers and production designers, that's
not happening. So we're seeing amulti billion dollar blast radius here. And
the writers are simply saying at thispoint you're not bargaining with us. You
(08:20):
just want to jam us up,and we're not going to do that.
So it's gonna be really interesting tosee where this goes next. Now,
you have to always know there arethree things that are always true about Hollywood
labor negotiations, which I've been coveringfor about twelve years. In any negotiation,
one, nobody gets everything they want. Two, Eventually there is a
(08:46):
deal at the end of the somewhere, somehow in my mediator might come in,
it might be for us, itmight be this, someone might finally
figure out a mechanism, but there'salways a deal. And the third thing
is there's a reason they call thisshow business and not show friends, and
that a lot of these people whoare adversaries now, both internally and between
the parties or the unions and thestudios, will obviously be working together in
(09:09):
the future at one point. ButI do think that this has become an
inflection point now. And I thinkif there was any notion that there was
going to be some sort of quickagreement, and look, I'll add a
fourth one to this list, everybody'sposturing at some point. I don't think
that's going to happen. I thinkI think the AMPTP really really strategically misread
(09:33):
the situation and in releasing that Augusteleventh proposal, have put themselves in a
position where probably the most strident andmilitant union in Hollywood, the Writer's Guild,
has become even more strident and militantin the past seventy two hours or
so. Wow. So you know, we're at the point we're almost at
(09:54):
four months now. Are we gettingto the point where this is going to
start a I mean, obviously itwas always going to affect production and has
it's stopped, But are we gettingto a point where as consumers we're going
to see huge gaps in the pipelineor less content now that we're getting to
you know, we're really getting inan extended period here. Well, I
(10:20):
mean I think what you're is theregoing to be dead air on network television?
No? Is there going to bedrama on network television, not a
lot of original drama. You know, ABC will be replaying Miss Marvel,
which they debuted on Disney Plus.That's also partially to promote the Marvels movie,
which is coming out in November,and that's an important thing Let's remember
(10:41):
it's not just the WJA on stright now, it's also the Actors Union
sag AFRO. So not only doyou have nothing being created anew, but
you don't have anyone promoting anything.So when you have a movie like Blue
Beetle, which is a groundbreaking movieand especially in terms of Latino representation and
what have you, with some bignames in it, George Lopez and many
(11:01):
others, none of those people wentout and promoted that movie. So Warner
Brothers are left with a multimillion dollarmovie that isn't looking like it's going to
recoup anything soon. It's opening weekendwas certainly underwhelming, to put it mildly,
a few, you know, evenFran Dresser, the head of sag
AFRA, said that she now believesthat the studios and streamers desire for an
(11:22):
extra twelve days in the negotiation withthe Actors Union was just so they could
promote things like Oppenheimer and Barbie Wowsome degree, the Latest Mission impossible.
So when you look at what's goingto be on your screen and what would
be the fall season starting in abouta month, you're gonna have stuff on
your screen. A lot of it'sunscripted, You're gonna see a lot of
(11:43):
I would say, Chess moves soMiss Marvel on ABC. Yellow Stone,
which has been on paramount and obviouslyon the streaming and very very successful,
is now to have its first seasonon CBS. Lots of moves around like
that. New stuff which usually wouldhave been several episodes in the can by
now going into a fall season,which usually would have started with production and
(12:03):
writing happening in April. May clearlythat didn't happen. With the w G
going on strike, that's not goingto happen. I think we're getting to
the point where you might not evenbe able to really resurrect a mid season
slate of dramatic scripted originals, solike seeing Bluebloods come back in January or
stuff like that. The saving graceperhaps for linear TV, ABC, NBC,
(12:30):
CBS falls one have you is sports, specifically the NFL, which still
is alive and kicking pardon the pun, Otherwise it's gonna be thin gruel,
I would say, for the mostpart. Now it's a little different with
the streamers. They have stuff inthe pipeline and they're not really they're not
(12:50):
really held to a standard in termsof the advertising expectations and what have you.
Though all of them do have anad tier now, but still even
they are gonna see the pipeline isgoing to start dwindling to some degree.
Netflix have obviously been in the forefront, doing a vast amount of international purchases.
You know, we joke if youhad a show that was being in
(13:11):
Spain three years ago, everyone inAmerica is going to see the first two
seasons of it on Netflix next year. But I feel like whatever is attracting
people still to linear TV that contracts, so to speak, has borderline been
breached. And I don't really know. I mean, the NFL is always
(13:31):
the great powerhouse and it has beenfor years. As we've seen linear ratings
decline, I don't know if you'regonna be able to get people back.
Yeah. Yeah, I was readinga piece recently that said, for the
first time ever, there was morestreaming hours last month than linear television watching
(13:52):
hours, which you know, forme was kind of that's like a larn
in my head, like, uh, oh, you know, it's finally
happened, and it's only going toI would assume, continue to go that
way. And as you said,with the NFL kind of being, you
know, the only saving grace inthe fall for linear television. If if
(14:16):
things aren't put together for mid season, I think it's going to be a
even bigger drop, you know.I mean, you look now, you
might see, you might see.Advantages also emerged because, as that famous
expression of former White House Chief ofStaff Rama Manuel, never let a good
crisis go to way, you know, and c has things like the Walking
Dead Darryl Dixon spin off with NormanRitas, which could attract a lot of
(14:41):
a lot of heat. Now,I don't think it'll get back to the
numbers of Walking Head, Dead Headand his hey day, but it's certainly,
you know, that is all doneand in the can Norman will obviously
not be promoting that. He can'tpromote that as a member of SAGABER,
but that has possibilities and that,you know. But if you start looking
a network, a lot of NFLat, a lot of sports, and
(15:05):
a lot of unscripted, you know, a lot of unscripted again, Apple
TV is going to have season threeof the Morning Show with Jennifer Anderson and
Reese Witherspoon. That might attract attentionto it, but you know, this
is streaming. The streaming works ona different a different it works on a
different timeline altogether, it's very hardto see. If you see something like
(15:26):
season twelve of American Horror Story debutingon FFX in September twentieth, I believe
it's very hard to see, like, among all that jumble, how are
you're going to attract viewers? Andremember, part of what viewership is about
is this mysterious cauldron of appointment viewingand kind of flow. So you know,
you turn on the TV to watchsomething at eight thirty that you love
(15:48):
Abbott Elementary and you kind of hangwith it for the rest of the night,
and the networks depend on that tosome extent. That's very, very
hard to see. Do I thinkthings like the Continental, the John Wick
prequel of sort that Peacock is gonnahave on September twenty second, Again,
it's done. They can't really noactors to promote it, which is gonna
make it harder. But it's stillthere and it's something out there. But
(16:11):
again, that's streaming. Streaming hasthat advantage for now that is going.
That is going to fade as well. You just can't keep this thing going
endlessly, and no matter how manyCelebrity Jeopardies or celebrity Wheel of Fortunes,
Survivor, Amazing Rays, Massing,etcetera, etcetera, Bachelor, Golden Bachelor,
et cetera, et cetera. Eventuallysomeone's gonna want to see an old,
(16:32):
an old fashioned procedural and they're notfinding it on TV. They're going
to go to the streamers. Andagain, regardless of how this all plays
out, if they solved this thisweek, it's still gonna take at least
two months for shows to show upon television. It's gonna hit into whatever
scheduling and planning, which is actuallya massive deal. And you know,
(16:52):
there's kind of the kind of secretunderbellue of all this. So you getting
to watch the shows that you ofChicago, p D, f D,
whatever it is, our blue Bloodsor whatever it is you want to watch,
that's not even gonna happen anyway.So you're kind of planning. It's
like you're planning for a vacation ifthe weather doesn't go badly, and you
know, X factors galore and that. So I don't know, I mean,
(17:17):
I don't know. I mean,I think it's a little different when
you get to the big screen.But you know, some of those are
hard to tell. You know,the Aquaman sequel, Aquaman in the Lost
Kingdom, coming out from Warner Brothers, been moved a bunch of times.
Right now, it's for December twentieth. But you know they're looking at those
blue beetle numbers. Yeah, they'rethey're like, we if we don't have
(17:37):
Jason out there in my moment,if we're gonna have Jason out there pushing
this or Amber heard or anything,what are we gonna get. We're gonna
hope, We're gonna hope people aregonna want to show up again. A
little bit of a different thing that'shappening with things like for instance, Joaquim
Phoenix and Vanessa Kirby in Napoleon,which is gonna end up on Apple eventually.
Or you've got the new Martin ScorseseLeonardo DiCaprio movie Killers of the Flower
(18:02):
and Moon. Sorry, actually thatthat one is Apple, which is gonna
be in screens and then show upon Apple. So you know, big
screen has a little bit of wiggleroom because of the new realities. Yeah,
but again, no Leo to promoteit. Yep. I guess in
this case, Martin Scorsese is hisown brand, so you can work on
that one. But it's very hardto get people into things when the things
(18:26):
that attract them, the shiny babblesof celebrity, are no longer part of
the equation. Yeah, it's it'squite fascinating and makes at least on my
end for creative trying to get creativeon ways to keep a celebrity interview show
with no celebrity interviews. So that'sbeen fun. But uh, you know,
(18:47):
one thing that I think is interestingis that through all this U this
summer looks like it the movie seasoncould end up being a four billion dollars
season, which would uh take usback to pre pandemic times, which I
think tells us the power of moviegoing that I think there was a lot
(19:08):
of especially during and immediately after thepandemic, there was a lot of kind
of people I feel like scare talking. You know, it's a it's never
going back to that and uh,this is the new reality and that sort
of thing. And I think Barbie, especially in Oppenheimer and Super Mario Brothers
to an extent, have all shownthat people will still go and and so
(19:30):
I think that's kind of come atan interesting time in all of these negotiations,
as as you know, those numbersare showing that people will will generally,
you know, still go to thetheater if they see a reason too.
Now, of course, those areboth in my opinion, I don't
(19:51):
want to say Flash in the Pans, they're incredibly I Oppenheimer's one of my
top ten favorite films, and Barbiewas amazing. However, you know,
those are kind of of lightning anda bottle sort of thing. But I
think that's I think that I thinkyou're phrasing is actually really on. Flash
did not do so well with myfriends after all, the Ezra Miller's scandals
after basically like a film that isis a cameo fest. And I'm not
(20:15):
gonna give any spoilers, but ifyou've ever seen anyone who's ever been associated
with a DC hero movie, youmight be seeing them in this movie.
And it's no spoiler to say.The amazing Michael Keaton, the first of
the the the the contemporary big screenBatman's shows up. In fact, almost
every Batman shows up except Christian Baleand Valcomer. You know, I think,
(20:38):
uh, Shazam sequel, Yeah,so much. You know, I
think that there there were a lotof these that kind of flamed out.
And so I think, at thesame time as what you're saying, you're
the last Fast and the Furious moviedid okay? All right again, incredibly
big name, heavy, cop heavy. I'm wondering if amidst all all this,
(21:00):
with the strikes and the changes inour viewership, and let's admit,
as you said earlier, streaming hasbecome the predominant medium, and it has,
and whether or not you want toargue if it ruins our collective experience,
or you want to be honest withyourself and say, hey, studio
executive, I don't know about you, but the last time I was in
a movie theater, there were threeguys like on their phone the whole time.
There was popcorn on the bottom ofmy shoe. I couldn't hear the
(21:22):
thing half the time. You knowwhatever, There's some realities, and you
actually think that's a whole other argumentthat needs had about the future of cinema,
Like why aren't the cinemas cathedrals ofart as opposed to like, you
know, seemingly closets and shopping malls. You know, I think that you
might see something interesting happen with TheEqualizer three, which of course has the
(21:44):
amazing Denzel Washington in it, whois a multi generational star. And you
know, you just have to seea picture of Denzel smiling and you're you're
pretty much going to be promoted intothat movie. But I think that all
these changing habits are occurring. Onething when you look at movies, at
least you know, and this isa pithy analysis of it, but franchises
(22:06):
are failing. Brother, Yeah,they really are Barians of the Galaxy three
Bowing three and it didn't made it. It made it. But like if
you really look at what made itthis summer, and you know, if
you want to call Barbie a flashin the pan or Oppenheimer lightning in a
bottle, but these were original things. You know, what Greta gerd would
did with with with Barbie, whatChristopher Nolan did with Oppenheimer. You can
(22:26):
have legitimate discussions about the values ofthat, the pros and cons, but
you are talking about a form ofartistry. I feel like we might come
out of this with a very differentlandscape for the big screen as well.
And it might be one that isnot so superhero friendly anymore. Yeah,
yeah, I find that, youknow, what you're saying extremely interesting,
(22:48):
Barbie. You know, n Oppenheimerare such original besides, you know,
besides the fact that they are firstmeaning it's not a franchise per se.
They are extremely original films from youknow, the cinematography, I mean,
everything about them is amazing. AndI hope that Hollywood does take notice to
(23:12):
that because I hear all the timefrom listeners and readers and stuff that you
know, they're getting fatigue. AndI know people have been saying about superhero
fatigue forever, but but it's Ifeel like what they're really saying is it's
they want more original stuff. Theywant more creative stuff. They don't want
(23:33):
cookie cutter stuff all the time.And I hope that that I hope,
you know, executives take note ofthat because it has been a very interesting
time this summer with what's worked andwhat has it. But I mean,
here part of the question is,though, can they You know, Hollywood
is built on many things, butstability and longevity are one of them.
(23:56):
To make a film is a threeyear process, often at best, and
that's the fast tracking right, Soyou've got this stuff. I mean,
The Flash is a great example.Ezra Miller was involved in so many scandals
that by any other definition it wasa career killer. Yeah, but he
is literally often twice no spoiler meant. But you know the film has been
(24:18):
out for a bit, so youknow, often twice in every scene of
the movie. So at a twohundred plus million dollars budget, what are
you gonna do? Like, thisisn't Kevin Spacey in playing John Paul Getty,
you know, pull him out andbring Christopher Plummer in. Right,
This is Ezra Miller is the Flash. The movie is called The Flash.
He's in it all the time.So you're kind of you're kind of stuck.
(24:42):
You gotta go with it, likeyou can't pivot fast enough to change
this. So I think that that'salso part of it is there's still gonna
be at least another year of thisodd, uncomfortable and perhaps unprecedented friction in
terms of what's actually getting people intheaters. You know, the Last Mission
Impossible did not save cinema like theway the Top Gun sequel did with Tom
(25:06):
Cruise. Ever before, to seehow something like Napoleon or Killer Moon does,
which are if you use the criteriathat we're talking about, you know
they are original. I mean,I know there's been other movies about Napoleon
and what have you, but let'sbe honestly. I mean this is basically,
you know, this is eighteenth centuryGladiator. You know, even with
(25:26):
one of those same actors from Gladiator, so you know he's playing, he's
playing to his strengths. But wherethe original content whether or not you know
you're interested in the Emperor Napoleon ornot. But will that work? Or
was Oppenheimer like well that just Oppenheimerwas the counter programming to Barbie. There
was this great symmetry where you saw, you know, Greta Gerwig and Margot
(25:48):
Robbie holding up Oppenheimer tickets as well, like people are kind of like,
just get the cinemas open, getpeople in. Is that going to continue?
I mean, Napoleon and Killer Moonare are both Apple properties. Ultimately,
how does Apple promote that? Andalso then to a certain degree,
how much does Apple really care?Yes, they want an oscar for Coda.
(26:10):
Yes, they have a pretty muscularstreaming service with some really great shows,
some of which everybody knows. TedLasso some of which people forget about,
like for all Man time, butnow ay where they make their box
buddy, Yeah, you know,I people like, you know, if
you buy a new Apple phone,you get Apple TV for like I know,
a year for free or something likethat. Like they're about products,
(26:32):
you know, And they're now movingobviously into into a VR range that might
leave Facebook slash Meta in the dust. So that's a whole new landscape.
And then you got to consider thatwith all these talks and all these negotiations.
One thing that was very interesting abouttwo thousand and seven two thousand and
eight, the writers and feels likeancient times if you think about it.
But if you remember back then,you could go onto iTunes and download a
(26:56):
movie. It took like five hoursto do it, or five days.
We could download a TV show,right, I remember once downloading I don't
people remember it Studio sixty on theSunset strip. Oh yeah, yeah,
after West Wing And I was inEurope with family in the summer of two
thousand and eight, and so beforeI left New York too, that I
downloaded like most of that season ofthat why I bought it and downloaded of
(27:18):
Apple right again, I left mycomputer, went away for a day,
came back. It was there.So but in two thousand seven, two
thousand and eight, the Writer's Guild, one of their major sticking points was
this notion of what's all that goingto turn into? Like, clearly,
it's not gonna stop with someone buyinga show for four ninety nine. There's
more to this. And of coursethe more to this was Netflix and then
(27:40):
Amazon and then everybody else with streamingand streaming. But coming where you're at,
so I wonder with a lot oftalk about AI and how that is
planting seeds for another revolution, whichit may or may not. It's always
hard to tell with new technologies.But the other element of this is what
about things like virtual reality and themetaverse and what have you? Like,
(28:02):
are you let's say, the cinemaspick up on what we're putting down,
they say, you know what,Donnic and Kyla, Right, we gotta
fix these up. We gotta havegrown ups in there, not teenagers who
don't care. We got to makesure these are beautiful places. The food's
got to improve, the quality ofimprove. We got to make sure no
one's on their phone, watch outfor acts of violence. Blah blah,
blah blah blah. Right, theydo all that, and then you and
(28:22):
I get these little lie sets anda headphone we put on and we just
experienced Star Wars for real in theback of a tie Fighter in our own
living room. Yeah, you know, yeah, And suddenly all those extubuters
are like, we can't give thisstuff away. Yeah. Yeah, It's
a very very interesting time. Andactually thinking about the future, not as
(28:45):
far as that, but the fall. What do we have to look forward
to to the fall? I know, I'm looking forward to some of the
horror films that are coming out,and American Horror Stories, you mean,
like I mean like Saw X.I'm looking forward to the Nun too.
I'm a huge Conjuring Universe fan.I love any horror and of course I'm
(29:07):
looking forward to the new installment ofAmerican Horror Story, which see how that
turns out, and and uh,the both of the Apple Films movie.
Yes, yes, that those I'mexcited about that. What do what do
people have? You know? Whatare we What are the big things you're
you're thinking is going to hit thisthis fall? Well, I'll start on
(29:30):
the big screen. I'll move tothe small big screen. Killers of the
Flower Moon, Indo DiCaprio, Robertde Niro, Monin Scorsese, Holy Trinity
of American Cinema. I would sayThe Exorcist Believer because I love the Exorcist
movie. Yeah, Ordinary Angels withthat Hillary Swink, I think it is
going to be very interesting. Remember, Killers of the Flower Moon will be
(29:52):
in theaters and then it will beon Apple. Napoleon from Ridley Scott with
Joaquin Phoenix and Vanessa Kirby. Reallylooking forward to that. Never really understood
why people are into Napoleon, butalways understand why people are into Ridley Scott.
And that again is also gonna bein theaters. It's gonna be on
a small screen. I think thenew Ava da Verne film based on the
Isabella Wilkinson movie cast doesn't have adate yet, doesn't have a distributor,
(30:15):
debuting at the Venice Film Festival.But Ava is always an interesting, groundbreaking
filmmaker. This is her first returnto the big screen in several years,
having moved mamily into the television.I mean winning shows like When They See
Us, So that should be veryinteresting to see. Sofia Coppla's Priscilla,
I mean, I know we gotElvis last year. But I gotta tell
you, I think the Priscilla's storyslightly they also based on tragic current events
(30:37):
in her life and her family's life, could be the more interesting one.
I think that, as I saidbefore Equalizer three, because it's Denzel dude.
Absolutely, I think those are somereally really interesting ones, interesting to
see. You know, we talka lot at Deadline, especially our box
office maestro Anthony dallas Sandro, aboutyou know, where is the tipping point
(31:00):
that the labor strife could bring.For instance, if the Dunes sequel is
moved, if Aquaman and the LostKingdom are moved again, that's gonna show.
Okay, this is a write offthis year, you know. So
I think things like that are reallyout there. So those are ones I'm
really looking to. There. There'sa new version of The Color Purple obviously
well you know, coming out onChristmas, musical version hopefully. I think
(31:22):
those are good. You know,we talked a little bit about some stuff.
I'm I'm a big Walking Dead fan, so I'm into Walking Dead,
Darryl Dixon. I'm basically like,what took you so long? I'm also
into We Don't you know when itcomes out? The one The Machine and
Rick Rimes want a mini series thatis gonna be Yeah, yeah, is
that this fall? I think so. I think I think that one's also
(31:47):
or maybe early next year. Butyou know, again, these are also
movable feasts. Yeah, American horrorstory always interests me, you know,
even if it's even if it's justa hate watch. Yes, I think
I think those are those Some ofthose are fun. I think. You
know, there's gonna be a newseason of Top Boy on Netflix, season
three, which is the final season, so I'm into that. So there's
The Boys spin off gen V,which is coming I believe at the end
(32:12):
of September on Amazon. You know, I love the Boys. I just
think they're amazing. So let's seewhere that goes. So I think there's
a lot of stuff out there.The question is is you know, is
it you know there's another yet anotherone of the Power franchises coming out,
Power Force. The question is,like anything in this era, and we're
still in the era of PETTV.But if it doesn't seem like it right
(32:34):
now, it's finding all this yeah, you know. Yeah, recently we
had the third and final season ofReservation Dogs, which isn't quite over yet,
but almost. Reservation Dogs one ofthose acclaimed shows around, though snubbed
endlessly at the Emmy's. But amidstall this, with the labor strife,
with the industry shifts and change andstuff like that, it felt like,
unfortunately, this incredibly original show gotoverlooked because we're just trying to all figure
(32:59):
out where this goes. Yeah,you know, I like to use my
uncle Steve and my Auntie Rose,who are in their eighties now. I
often use them as a barometer becausethey don't know anything. They maybe they
know who Ted Serrando's is, butthey don't really know any of these guys
are right. They know some guyruns Disney, but they don't know who
these people are we talked about allthe time. But for them, there's
some real stuff at real shows theylove, like Blue Blood's right, and
(33:21):
when to them when that's not on, when when their man Tom Saleck is
not coming back. That feels likea disruption to them, and not the
type of disruption that corporate types loveto brag about. So then you find
yourself, I think, in asituation and this is the greatest unknown of
all of this. At what pointdo you lose people. Yea, at
what point does TV or cinema becomea CD? And you're just like,
(33:46):
I don't do CDs, dude,They're not even good coasters anymore. I
got Spotify, I got Amazon,I got Apple Music, I got five
hundred million songs in my phone.Why would I buy a CD? Yeah?
You know, someone go go withsound quality and you're like, I
listen to it on my adphones.Dude, it's compressed. I don't care,
you know, Like, if that'swhat you're worried about, you clearly
(34:07):
have never heard of the entire historyof radio, you know. So it's
it's the Chinese have that expression,you know, I hope you live in
interesting times. But interesting times doesn'talways mean interesting in the good way.
Yeah, it also means interesting inthe unsteady way. And I think that
(34:27):
that's where we're at here. Whetheror not these technologies end up being used
for what they think they're going tobe used for, etcetera, etcetera,
I don't know. But what Ido know is that there are a lot
of storm clouds from the strikes,to the change in technology to AI to
viewing habits, to the monetization becausepeople aren't making the money they want to.
I mean, now, the streamersare so expensive. I did some
(34:47):
maths recently. They've all hyped theirprices so much. If you have the
majority of the streamers now it's likeyou're paying for cabling. It's like a
lot one hundred bucks, right,So what's funny You're like, why don't
Hey, this is like we gotcord cutting and we're gonna have We're gonna
have broadband cutting soon. People arejust gonna like, look, I want
my Netflix and my Disney for mykid, and that's it. I'm done.
(35:08):
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Andthat that's actually another episode I want
to talk to you about in thefuture is how much you know, when
do we cut it off? Becauseof how much everything's going up? Thank
you so much for speaking with me. I as always, and as I
say this all the time, I'mchecking deadline dot com multiple times a day
(35:31):
because it's breaking news twenty four hoursa day, seven days a week.
When do you rest? I sleepwhen I'm dead? There you go a
dominic Patton, Thank you so much. And of course, uh Deadline is
the destination for everything that is goingon in uh in you know, entertainment
(35:53):
Hollywood, behind the scenes, infront of the scenes, everything. It
is the one stop destination and Ican't thank you enough for speaking with me.
Thank you my friend Dom Patton.Love having him on the show always.
I mean, he is just awealth of knowledge. That's why he
is senior editor Deadline Hollywood Deadline dotCom. Once again, Thanks to Tom
(36:17):
for joining me, Thank you forlistening. Get like I said, look
pop culture weekly. You know,I am one person and I do the
content myself. You know, I'mlucky enough to have people that help me
get it out there and all thatstuff. But I'm a one man show
in that regard, and so there'sno way I can cover even a fraction
(36:39):
of the stuff that a Deadline does. And that's why they are my go
to source. I love Deadline,always have. I use them, like
I said, throughout the day,multiple times a day to see what is
going on, because they're breaking thenews of you know, pop culture,
what's going on in Hollywood. Sodead dot com. Thank you. Thank
(37:00):
you to Dom once again. We'llhave him on again, of course,
and I thank you for hanging outwith me once again. Please, if
you enjoy this episode, share it, hit me up. Let me know
what you think. What do youthink about the strike? Let's talk on
social I'm at KMAC music on Twitterand Instagram and threads. I'm at Kyle
(37:24):
mc I'm you know, Kyle McMahonor real Kyle McMahon everywhere else, So
hit me up. Let's discuss allof your favorite pop culture all right,
I love you, see you nextweek. We all thank you for listening
to pop Culture Weekly. Here allthe latest at pop culture weekly dot com.
(37:52):
When you got a hundred voices singing, who could hear Lessie Whistle Blue?
And the world will know, andthe world will learn, and the
world will wonder how we made thetables turn
In this episode of pop Culture Weekly, I'm joined by Deadline dot Com Senior
editor Don Patton. We talk allabout the strike, I look at summer
season, and what we can lookforward to this fall in the movies,
Let's go. Welcome to pop CultureWeekly with Kyle McMahon from my Heart Radio,
your pop culture news, views,reviews, and celebrity interviews on all
(00:22):
the movies, TV, music,and pop culture you crave weekly. Here's
Kyle McMahon nan nan nan nant,Hello, and welcome to pop Culture Weekly
with Kyle McMahon. I of courseam Kyle McMahon, and thank you for
joining me. I can't thank youenough. Every week you tune in and
(00:43):
hit me up and tell me whatyou think and tell me what you're seeing
and what you're loving, what you'renot loving, what you're listening to,
and I just love it all.You guys are awesome and you make this
show what it is, and you'realso sharing it. You know, you're
sharing your favorite episodes on social andall, and I can't thank you enough
for that because that makes us continueto grow. Also, your Apple podcast
(01:08):
reviews do huge things for us,So thank you for doing that. If
you've done that and if you haven'tyet consider it, you know, given
on us review and I might justfeature your review right here on the show.
Today. I'm excited because I'm talkingto once again Dominic Patton. Dom
is senior editor with Deadline Hollywood,which you know, Deadline dot Com is
(01:32):
such a huge resource for me andalways has been. I go to Deadline
dot Com multiple times a day becausethey have a full staff that is incredibly
on top of everything that's breaking inHollywood, so you know, movies,
TV music, they are covering itwith in depth reporting. I love Deadline
(01:57):
and so I'm decited to talk todom today about the strike now, going
you know into it's what fourth startedin May's May, June, July,
August, fifth month of the strike, and you know where things stand as
they are now when we can expectthe artists and creatives to you know,
(02:20):
get what they're do and what happensif if they don't come to an agreement,
all that stuff. We're going tocover it all with Dom. I'm
also going to ask him about,you know, twenty twenty three, the
summer movie season was pretty incredible withBarbie and Oppenheimer. Of course, the
big Barbenheimer double feature people were doing, which I loved and did myself.
(02:43):
And what dom is looking forward tothis fall. You know, I'm a
big horror fan, and so there'ssome horror movies I'm looking forward to as
well as some other titles. Sowe talk all about that. Let's get
right into my conversation with Dominic Pattonfrom Deadline dot Com. I am here
with Dominic Patton, senior editor forDeadline Hollywood. Welcome back. Thanks for
(03:07):
speaking with me down Oh always apleasure, my man, me as well.
So first of all, as Italk about all the time, I'm
at Deadline dot com for breaking newsmultiple times a day. Obviously, right
now, the big news is thestrike. What is the status of that
as of this recording. I mean, it's kind of all blown up again,
(03:31):
Kyle. I mean, you know, you had the studios finally reached
out to the Writers Guild, whoare the predominant union in this the Actor's
Guild SAGAFRO on strike two. Butthey reached out to them not long after,
and I mean literally a matter ofhours after my colleague Peter White and
I wrote a story about some backchanneling that was happening between them all.
(03:53):
There had been no talks over onehundred and one days, so they had
eclipsed the nineteen. The two thousandand seven two was an eight strike which
went on for a hundred taste andthey said, let's talk. You know,
is that quote from the Bible?Come, let us reads them together.
Turned out wasn't a lot going onthere, a lot of talks,
not really a schedule. It waskind of like a day here. They
(04:15):
hear that studios made a proposal onAugust eleven, and they thought it was
an unprecedented proposal, and they wereaddressing all the things that the guild wanted,
residuals metrics, in terms of transparencyon streamers AI writer's rooms. The
whole deal didn't seem to go overso well. Writers Guild respond a little
(04:41):
bit attention. So on Monday,August twenty one, the studios and streamers
reached out to the Writers Guild andsaid, we would like to meet with
you personally now, we'd like tohave a talk. And they really seemed
to imply, according to what wehear, that they wanted to make it
like enough is enough, let's dothis. We're done, like we're to
(05:02):
hunt over one hundred and ten daysnow, writers Gil went to the meeting.
Meeting turned out to some of thebiggest dealmakers in Hollywood like Ted Srrandos,
Warner Brothers, Discovery boss David Zaslov, Universal boss Donna Langley, and
Disney boss Bob Iger, to namea few who were in the room at
this off site meeting. They werenot so good at reading the room,
(05:26):
it seems. According to the WGA, they were given a lecture about how
they should be so thankful for whatthey're being offered and come on, guys,
just go with it and take it. And the WJA said, well,
hold on, why you're offering usor what you offered us as almost
two weeks ago reads good at thetop line or when you get into the
(05:46):
details. They referred to a lotof loopholes and limitations and stuff like that,
and that's issues that we need todeal with. And these issues need
to be dealt with in a comprehensiveway. We're not going to pick them
off as you guys tend to liketo do in your negotiations. And supposedly
the studios were adasted that the writersdidn't immediately accept what they were offered and
(06:06):
feel so thankful and we're shocked.And so last on August twenty second,
literally less than half an hour afterthe meeting was concluded, So around eight
o'clock at night, the AMPTP,who represents the studios and streamers in these
negotiations, sent out a press releasewith saying, oh my god, look
(06:30):
at this great thing we gave tothem on August eleventh, and it's all
full of this great stop and amazingand this is incredible. Now, these
two sides are supposed to have amedia blackout. Obviously at Deadline dot com
we have sources on both sides andwe're talking to a lot of people,
so we know a lot about's goingon. But officially they have a media
blackout. Clearly they did not havea media blackout in August twenty second.
So this thing comes out, andagain top line looks really good. We're
(06:54):
gonna give them all this money,We're gonna do all this stop controls,
over all sorts of things, moretransparency than ever these confidential memos. But
then you go down into the fineprint, and oddly enough, the AMPTP
included an appendix which had all thisfine print, and when you started reading
it, a lot of these dealslook kind of shaky, defining well,
(07:15):
yes you can do this, butwho is doing this? What now constitutes
a showrunner? All this sort ofstuff in there. I'm telling you guys
all this stuff because here's here's thepunchline. About four hours later, the
WGA responded and they basically called BSand said this was not a negotiation.
(07:35):
This meeting was an attempt to makeus cave. To quote them, They
kind of followed up on stuff thatwe have reported earlier that you know the
the the strategy of the MPTP isthis divide and conquer, hope to turn
them against each other and make thewriters, some of the writers force their
leadership to take a deal just toget a deal. Obviously, a lot
(07:56):
of people are hurting economically, bothin the industry and all around it Lay
County. You know, the guywho provides the red plastic cups for catering,
he's not providing them because there's nothingto cater now, the dry cleaners,
the guy who provides lumber for theset designers and production designers, that's
not happening. So we're seeing amulti billion dollar blast radius here. And
the writers are simply saying at thispoint you're not bargaining with us. You
(08:20):
just want to jam us up,and we're not going to do that.
So it's gonna be really interesting tosee where this goes next. Now,
you have to always know there arethree things that are always true about Hollywood
labor negotiations, which I've been coveringfor about twelve years. In any negotiation,
one, nobody gets everything they want. Two, Eventually there is a
(08:46):
deal at the end of the somewhere, somehow in my mediator might come in,
it might be for us, itmight be this, someone might finally
figure out a mechanism, but there'salways a deal. And the third thing
is there's a reason they call thisshow business and not show friends, and
that a lot of these people whoare adversaries now, both internally and between
the parties or the unions and thestudios, will obviously be working together in
(09:09):
the future at one point. ButI do think that this has become an
inflection point now. And I thinkif there was any notion that there was
going to be some sort of quickagreement, and look, I'll add a
fourth one to this list, everybody'sposturing at some point. I don't think
that's going to happen. I thinkI think the AMPTP really really strategically misread
(09:33):
the situation and in releasing that Augusteleventh proposal, have put themselves in a
position where probably the most strident andmilitant union in Hollywood, the Writer's Guild,
has become even more strident and militantin the past seventy two hours or
so. Wow. So you know, we're at the point we're almost at
(09:54):
four months now. Are we gettingto the point where this is going to
start a I mean, obviously itwas always going to affect production and has
it's stopped, But are we gettingto a point where as consumers we're going
to see huge gaps in the pipelineor less content now that we're getting to
you know, we're really getting inan extended period here. Well, I
(10:20):
mean I think what you're is theregoing to be dead air on network television?
No? Is there going to bedrama on network television, not a
lot of original drama. You know, ABC will be replaying Miss Marvel,
which they debuted on Disney Plus.That's also partially to promote the Marvels movie,
which is coming out in November,and that's an important thing Let's remember
(10:41):
it's not just the WJA on stright now, it's also the Actors Union
sag AFRO. So not only doyou have nothing being created anew, but
you don't have anyone promoting anything.So when you have a movie like Blue
Beetle, which is a groundbreaking movieand especially in terms of Latino representation and
what have you, with some bignames in it, George Lopez and many
(11:01):
others, none of those people wentout and promoted that movie. So Warner
Brothers are left with a multimillion dollarmovie that isn't looking like it's going to
recoup anything soon. It's opening weekendwas certainly underwhelming, to put it mildly,
a few, you know, evenFran Dresser, the head of sag
AFRA, said that she now believesthat the studios and streamers desire for an
(11:22):
extra twelve days in the negotiation withthe Actors Union was just so they could
promote things like Oppenheimer and Barbie Wowsome degree, the Latest Mission impossible.
So when you look at what's goingto be on your screen and what would
be the fall season starting in abouta month, you're gonna have stuff on
your screen. A lot of it'sunscripted, You're gonna see a lot of
(11:43):
I would say, Chess moves soMiss Marvel on ABC. Yellow Stone,
which has been on paramount and obviouslyon the streaming and very very successful,
is now to have its first seasonon CBS. Lots of moves around like
that. New stuff which usually wouldhave been several episodes in the can by
now going into a fall season,which usually would have started with production and
(12:03):
writing happening in April. May clearlythat didn't happen. With the w G
going on strike, that's not goingto happen. I think we're getting to
the point where you might not evenbe able to really resurrect a mid season
slate of dramatic scripted originals, solike seeing Bluebloods come back in January or
stuff like that. The saving graceperhaps for linear TV, ABC, NBC,
(12:30):
CBS falls one have you is sports, specifically the NFL, which still
is alive and kicking pardon the pun, Otherwise it's gonna be thin gruel,
I would say, for the mostpart. Now it's a little different with
the streamers. They have stuff inthe pipeline and they're not really they're not
(12:50):
really held to a standard in termsof the advertising expectations and what have you.
Though all of them do have anad tier now, but still even
they are gonna see the pipeline isgoing to start dwindling to some degree.
Netflix have obviously been in the forefront, doing a vast amount of international purchases.
You know, we joke if youhad a show that was being in
(13:11):
Spain three years ago, everyone inAmerica is going to see the first two
seasons of it on Netflix next year. But I feel like whatever is attracting
people still to linear TV that contracts, so to speak, has borderline been
breached. And I don't really know. I mean, the NFL is always
(13:31):
the great powerhouse and it has beenfor years. As we've seen linear ratings
decline, I don't know if you'regonna be able to get people back.
Yeah. Yeah, I was readinga piece recently that said, for the
first time ever, there was morestreaming hours last month than linear television watching
(13:52):
hours, which you know, forme was kind of that's like a larn
in my head, like, uh, oh, you know, it's finally
happened, and it's only going toI would assume, continue to go that
way. And as you said,with the NFL kind of being, you
know, the only saving grace inthe fall for linear television. If if
(14:16):
things aren't put together for mid season, I think it's going to be a
even bigger drop, you know.I mean, you look now, you
might see, you might see.Advantages also emerged because, as that famous
expression of former White House Chief ofStaff Rama Manuel, never let a good
crisis go to way, you know, and c has things like the Walking
Dead Darryl Dixon spin off with NormanRitas, which could attract a lot of
(14:41):
a lot of heat. Now,I don't think it'll get back to the
numbers of Walking Head, Dead Headand his hey day, but it's certainly,
you know, that is all doneand in the can Norman will obviously
not be promoting that. He can'tpromote that as a member of SAGABER,
but that has possibilities and that,you know. But if you start looking
a network, a lot of NFLat, a lot of sports, and
(15:05):
a lot of unscripted, you know, a lot of unscripted again, Apple
TV is going to have season threeof the Morning Show with Jennifer Anderson and
Reese Witherspoon. That might attract attentionto it, but you know, this
is streaming. The streaming works ona different a different it works on a
different timeline altogether, it's very hardto see. If you see something like
(15:26):
season twelve of American Horror Story debutingon FFX in September twentieth, I believe
it's very hard to see, like, among all that jumble, how are
you're going to attract viewers? Andremember, part of what viewership is about
is this mysterious cauldron of appointment viewingand kind of flow. So you know,
you turn on the TV to watchsomething at eight thirty that you love
(15:48):
Abbott Elementary and you kind of hangwith it for the rest of the night,
and the networks depend on that tosome extent. That's very, very
hard to see. Do I thinkthings like the Continental, the John Wick
prequel of sort that Peacock is gonnahave on September twenty second, Again,
it's done. They can't really noactors to promote it, which is gonna
make it harder. But it's stillthere and it's something out there. But
(16:11):
again, that's streaming. Streaming hasthat advantage for now that is going.
That is going to fade as well. You just can't keep this thing going
endlessly, and no matter how manyCelebrity Jeopardies or celebrity Wheel of Fortunes,
Survivor, Amazing Rays, Massing,etcetera, etcetera, Bachelor, Golden Bachelor,
et cetera, et cetera. Eventuallysomeone's gonna want to see an old,
(16:32):
an old fashioned procedural and they're notfinding it on TV. They're going
to go to the streamers. Andagain, regardless of how this all plays
out, if they solved this thisweek, it's still gonna take at least
two months for shows to show upon television. It's gonna hit into whatever
scheduling and planning, which is actuallya massive deal. And you know,
(16:52):
there's kind of the kind of secretunderbellue of all this. So you getting
to watch the shows that you ofChicago, p D, f D,
whatever it is, our blue Bloodsor whatever it is you want to watch,
that's not even gonna happen anyway.So you're kind of planning. It's
like you're planning for a vacation ifthe weather doesn't go badly, and you
know, X factors galore and that. So I don't know, I mean,
(17:17):
I don't know. I mean,I think it's a little different when
you get to the big screen.But you know, some of those are
hard to tell. You know,the Aquaman sequel, Aquaman in the Lost
Kingdom, coming out from Warner Brothers, been moved a bunch of times.
Right now, it's for December twentieth. But you know they're looking at those
blue beetle numbers. Yeah, they'rethey're like, we if we don't have
(17:37):
Jason out there in my moment,if we're gonna have Jason out there pushing
this or Amber heard or anything,what are we gonna get. We're gonna
hope, We're gonna hope people aregonna want to show up again. A
little bit of a different thing that'shappening with things like for instance, Joaquim
Phoenix and Vanessa Kirby in Napoleon,which is gonna end up on Apple eventually.
Or you've got the new Martin ScorseseLeonardo DiCaprio movie Killers of the Flower
(18:02):
and Moon. Sorry, actually thatthat one is Apple, which is gonna
be in screens and then show upon Apple. So you know, big
screen has a little bit of wiggleroom because of the new realities. Yeah,
but again, no Leo to promoteit. Yep. I guess in
this case, Martin Scorsese is hisown brand, so you can work on
that one. But it's very hardto get people into things when the things
(18:26):
that attract them, the shiny babblesof celebrity, are no longer part of
the equation. Yeah, it's it'squite fascinating and makes at least on my
end for creative trying to get creativeon ways to keep a celebrity interview show
with no celebrity interviews. So that'sbeen fun. But uh, you know,
(18:47):
one thing that I think is interestingis that through all this U this
summer looks like it the movie seasoncould end up being a four billion dollars
season, which would uh take usback to pre pandemic times, which I
think tells us the power of moviegoing that I think there was a lot
(19:08):
of especially during and immediately after thepandemic, there was a lot of kind
of people I feel like scare talking. You know, it's a it's never
going back to that and uh,this is the new reality and that sort
of thing. And I think Barbie, especially in Oppenheimer and Super Mario Brothers
to an extent, have all shownthat people will still go and and so
(19:30):
I think that's kind of come atan interesting time in all of these negotiations,
as as you know, those numbersare showing that people will will generally,
you know, still go to thetheater if they see a reason too.
Now, of course, those areboth in my opinion, I don't
(19:51):
want to say Flash in the Pans, they're incredibly I Oppenheimer's one of my
top ten favorite films, and Barbiewas amazing. However, you know,
those are kind of of lightning anda bottle sort of thing. But I
think that's I think that I thinkyou're phrasing is actually really on. Flash
did not do so well with myfriends after all, the Ezra Miller's scandals
after basically like a film that isis a cameo fest. And I'm not
(20:15):
gonna give any spoilers, but ifyou've ever seen anyone who's ever been associated
with a DC hero movie, youmight be seeing them in this movie.
And it's no spoiler to say.The amazing Michael Keaton, the first of
the the the the contemporary big screenBatman's shows up. In fact, almost
every Batman shows up except Christian Baleand Valcomer. You know, I think,
(20:38):
uh, Shazam sequel, Yeah,so much. You know, I
think that there there were a lotof these that kind of flamed out.
And so I think, at thesame time as what you're saying, you're
the last Fast and the Furious moviedid okay? All right again, incredibly
big name, heavy, cop heavy. I'm wondering if amidst all all this,
(21:00):
with the strikes and the changes inour viewership, and let's admit,
as you said earlier, streaming hasbecome the predominant medium, and it has,
and whether or not you want toargue if it ruins our collective experience,
or you want to be honest withyourself and say, hey, studio
executive, I don't know about you, but the last time I was in
a movie theater, there were threeguys like on their phone the whole time.
There was popcorn on the bottom ofmy shoe. I couldn't hear the
(21:22):
thing half the time. You knowwhatever, There's some realities, and you
actually think that's a whole other argumentthat needs had about the future of cinema,
Like why aren't the cinemas cathedrals ofart as opposed to like, you
know, seemingly closets and shopping malls. You know, I think that you
might see something interesting happen with TheEqualizer three, which of course has the
(21:44):
amazing Denzel Washington in it, whois a multi generational star. And you
know, you just have to seea picture of Denzel smiling and you're you're
pretty much going to be promoted intothat movie. But I think that all
these changing habits are occurring. Onething when you look at movies, at
least you know, and this isa pithy analysis of it, but franchises
(22:06):
are failing. Brother, Yeah,they really are Barians of the Galaxy three
Bowing three and it didn't made it. It made it. But like if
you really look at what made itthis summer, and you know, if
you want to call Barbie a flashin the pan or Oppenheimer lightning in a
bottle, but these were original things. You know, what Greta gerd would
did with with with Barbie, whatChristopher Nolan did with Oppenheimer. You can
(22:26):
have legitimate discussions about the values ofthat, the pros and cons, but
you are talking about a form ofartistry. I feel like we might come
out of this with a very differentlandscape for the big screen as well.
And it might be one that isnot so superhero friendly anymore. Yeah,
yeah, I find that, youknow, what you're saying extremely interesting,
(22:48):
Barbie. You know, n Oppenheimerare such original besides, you know,
besides the fact that they are firstmeaning it's not a franchise per se.
They are extremely original films from youknow, the cinematography, I mean,
everything about them is amazing. AndI hope that Hollywood does take notice to
(23:12):
that because I hear all the timefrom listeners and readers and stuff that you
know, they're getting fatigue. AndI know people have been saying about superhero
fatigue forever, but but it's Ifeel like what they're really saying is it's
they want more original stuff. Theywant more creative stuff. They don't want
(23:33):
cookie cutter stuff all the time.And I hope that that I hope,
you know, executives take note ofthat because it has been a very interesting
time this summer with what's worked andwhat has it. But I mean,
here part of the question is,though, can they You know, Hollywood
is built on many things, butstability and longevity are one of them.
(23:56):
To make a film is a threeyear process, often at best, and
that's the fast tracking right, Soyou've got this stuff. I mean,
The Flash is a great example.Ezra Miller was involved in so many scandals
that by any other definition it wasa career killer. Yeah, but he
is literally often twice no spoiler meant. But you know the film has been
(24:18):
out for a bit, so youknow, often twice in every scene of
the movie. So at a twohundred plus million dollars budget, what are
you gonna do? Like, thisisn't Kevin Spacey in playing John Paul Getty,
you know, pull him out andbring Christopher Plummer in. Right,
This is Ezra Miller is the Flash. The movie is called The Flash.
He's in it all the time.So you're kind of you're kind of stuck.
(24:42):
You gotta go with it, likeyou can't pivot fast enough to change
this. So I think that that'salso part of it is there's still gonna
be at least another year of thisodd, uncomfortable and perhaps unprecedented friction in
terms of what's actually getting people intheaters. You know, the Last Mission
Impossible did not save cinema like theway the Top Gun sequel did with Tom
(25:06):
Cruise. Ever before, to seehow something like Napoleon or Killer Moon does,
which are if you use the criteriathat we're talking about, you know
they are original. I mean,I know there's been other movies about Napoleon
and what have you, but let'sbe honestly. I mean this is basically,
you know, this is eighteenth centuryGladiator. You know, even with
(25:26):
one of those same actors from Gladiator, so you know he's playing, he's
playing to his strengths. But wherethe original content whether or not you know
you're interested in the Emperor Napoleon ornot. But will that work? Or
was Oppenheimer like well that just Oppenheimerwas the counter programming to Barbie. There
was this great symmetry where you saw, you know, Greta Gerwig and Margot
(25:48):
Robbie holding up Oppenheimer tickets as well, like people are kind of like,
just get the cinemas open, getpeople in. Is that going to continue?
I mean, Napoleon and Killer Moonare are both Apple properties. Ultimately,
how does Apple promote that? Andalso then to a certain degree,
how much does Apple really care?Yes, they want an oscar for Coda.
(26:10):
Yes, they have a pretty muscularstreaming service with some really great shows,
some of which everybody knows. TedLasso some of which people forget about,
like for all Man time, butnow ay where they make their box
buddy, Yeah, you know,I people like, you know, if
you buy a new Apple phone,you get Apple TV for like I know,
a year for free or something likethat. Like they're about products,
(26:32):
you know, And they're now movingobviously into into a VR range that might
leave Facebook slash Meta in the dust. So that's a whole new landscape.
And then you got to consider thatwith all these talks and all these negotiations.
One thing that was very interesting abouttwo thousand and seven two thousand and
eight, the writers and feels likeancient times if you think about it.
But if you remember back then,you could go onto iTunes and download a
(26:56):
movie. It took like five hoursto do it, or five days.
We could download a TV show,right, I remember once downloading I don't
people remember it Studio sixty on theSunset strip. Oh yeah, yeah,
after West Wing And I was inEurope with family in the summer of two
thousand and eight, and so beforeI left New York too, that I
downloaded like most of that season ofthat why I bought it and downloaded of
(27:18):
Apple right again, I left mycomputer, went away for a day,
came back. It was there.So but in two thousand seven, two
thousand and eight, the Writer's Guild, one of their major sticking points was
this notion of what's all that goingto turn into? Like, clearly,
it's not gonna stop with someone buyinga show for four ninety nine. There's
more to this. And of coursethe more to this was Netflix and then
(27:40):
Amazon and then everybody else with streamingand streaming. But coming where you're at,
so I wonder with a lot oftalk about AI and how that is
planting seeds for another revolution, whichit may or may not. It's always
hard to tell with new technologies.But the other element of this is what
about things like virtual reality and themetaverse and what have you? Like,
(28:02):
are you let's say, the cinemaspick up on what we're putting down,
they say, you know what,Donnic and Kyla, Right, we gotta
fix these up. We gotta havegrown ups in there, not teenagers who
don't care. We got to makesure these are beautiful places. The food's
got to improve, the quality ofimprove. We got to make sure no
one's on their phone, watch outfor acts of violence. Blah blah,
blah blah blah. Right, theydo all that, and then you and
(28:22):
I get these little lie sets anda headphone we put on and we just
experienced Star Wars for real in theback of a tie Fighter in our own
living room. Yeah, you know, yeah, And suddenly all those extubuters
are like, we can't give thisstuff away. Yeah. Yeah, It's
a very very interesting time. Andactually thinking about the future, not as
(28:45):
far as that, but the fall. What do we have to look forward
to to the fall? I know, I'm looking forward to some of the
horror films that are coming out,and American Horror Stories, you mean,
like I mean like Saw X.I'm looking forward to the Nun too.
I'm a huge Conjuring Universe fan.I love any horror and of course I'm
(29:07):
looking forward to the new installment ofAmerican Horror Story, which see how that
turns out, and and uh,the both of the Apple Films movie.
Yes, yes, that those I'mexcited about that. What do what do
people have? You know? Whatare we What are the big things you're
you're thinking is going to hit thisthis fall? Well, I'll start on
(29:30):
the big screen. I'll move tothe small big screen. Killers of the
Flower Moon, Indo DiCaprio, Robertde Niro, Monin Scorsese, Holy Trinity
of American Cinema. I would sayThe Exorcist Believer because I love the Exorcist
movie. Yeah, Ordinary Angels withthat Hillary Swink, I think it is
going to be very interesting. Remember, Killers of the Flower Moon will be
(29:52):
in theaters and then it will beon Apple. Napoleon from Ridley Scott with
Joaquin Phoenix and Vanessa Kirby. Reallylooking forward to that. Never really understood
why people are into Napoleon, butalways understand why people are into Ridley Scott.
And that again is also gonna bein theaters. It's gonna be on
a small screen. I think thenew Ava da Verne film based on the
Isabella Wilkinson movie cast doesn't have adate yet, doesn't have a distributor,
(30:15):
debuting at the Venice Film Festival.But Ava is always an interesting, groundbreaking
filmmaker. This is her first returnto the big screen in several years,
having moved mamily into the television.I mean winning shows like When They See
Us, So that should be veryinteresting to see. Sofia Coppla's Priscilla,
I mean, I know we gotElvis last year. But I gotta tell
you, I think the Priscilla's storyslightly they also based on tragic current events
(30:37):
in her life and her family's life, could be the more interesting one.
I think that, as I saidbefore Equalizer three, because it's Denzel dude.
Absolutely, I think those are somereally really interesting ones, interesting to
see. You know, we talka lot at Deadline, especially our box
office maestro Anthony dallas Sandro, aboutyou know, where is the tipping point
(31:00):
that the labor strife could bring.For instance, if the Dunes sequel is
moved, if Aquaman and the LostKingdom are moved again, that's gonna show.
Okay, this is a write offthis year, you know. So
I think things like that are reallyout there. So those are ones I'm
really looking to. There. There'sa new version of The Color Purple obviously
well you know, coming out onChristmas, musical version hopefully. I think
(31:22):
those are good. You know,we talked a little bit about some stuff.
I'm I'm a big Walking Dead fan, so I'm into Walking Dead,
Darryl Dixon. I'm basically like,what took you so long? I'm also
into We Don't you know when itcomes out? The one The Machine and
Rick Rimes want a mini series thatis gonna be Yeah, yeah, is
that this fall? I think so. I think I think that one's also
(31:47):
or maybe early next year. Butyou know, again, these are also
movable feasts. Yeah, American horrorstory always interests me, you know,
even if it's even if it's justa hate watch. Yes, I think
I think those are those Some ofthose are fun. I think. You
know, there's gonna be a newseason of Top Boy on Netflix, season
three, which is the final season, so I'm into that. So there's
The Boys spin off gen V,which is coming I believe at the end
(32:12):
of September on Amazon. You know, I love the Boys. I just
think they're amazing. So let's seewhere that goes. So I think there's
a lot of stuff out there.The question is is you know, is
it you know there's another yet anotherone of the Power franchises coming out,
Power Force. The question is,like anything in this era, and we're
still in the era of PETTV.But if it doesn't seem like it right
(32:34):
now, it's finding all this yeah, you know. Yeah, recently we
had the third and final season ofReservation Dogs, which isn't quite over yet,
but almost. Reservation Dogs one ofthose acclaimed shows around, though snubbed
endlessly at the Emmy's. But amidstall this, with the labor strife,
with the industry shifts and change andstuff like that, it felt like,
unfortunately, this incredibly original show gotoverlooked because we're just trying to all figure
(32:59):
out where this goes. Yeah,you know, I like to use my
uncle Steve and my Auntie Rose,who are in their eighties now. I
often use them as a barometer becausethey don't know anything. They maybe they
know who Ted Serrando's is, butthey don't really know any of these guys
are right. They know some guyruns Disney, but they don't know who
these people are we talked about allthe time. But for them, there's
some real stuff at real shows theylove, like Blue Blood's right, and
(33:21):
when to them when that's not on, when when their man Tom Saleck is
not coming back. That feels likea disruption to them, and not the
type of disruption that corporate types loveto brag about. So then you find
yourself, I think, in asituation and this is the greatest unknown of
all of this. At what pointdo you lose people. Yea, at
what point does TV or cinema becomea CD? And you're just like,
(33:46):
I don't do CDs, dude,They're not even good coasters anymore. I
got Spotify, I got Amazon,I got Apple Music, I got five
hundred million songs in my phone.Why would I buy a CD? Yeah?
You know, someone go go withsound quality and you're like, I
listen to it on my adphones.Dude, it's compressed. I don't care,
you know, Like, if that'swhat you're worried about, you clearly
(34:07):
have never heard of the entire historyof radio, you know. So it's
it's the Chinese have that expression,you know, I hope you live in
interesting times. But interesting times doesn'talways mean interesting in the good way.
Yeah, it also means interesting inthe unsteady way. And I think that
(34:27):
that's where we're at here. Whetheror not these technologies end up being used
for what they think they're going tobe used for, etcetera, etcetera,
I don't know. But what Ido know is that there are a lot
of storm clouds from the strikes,to the change in technology to AI to
viewing habits, to the monetization becausepeople aren't making the money they want to.
I mean, now, the streamersare so expensive. I did some
(34:47):
maths recently. They've all hyped theirprices so much. If you have the
majority of the streamers now it's likeyou're paying for cabling. It's like a
lot one hundred bucks, right,So what's funny You're like, why don't
Hey, this is like we gotcord cutting and we're gonna have We're gonna
have broadband cutting soon. People arejust gonna like, look, I want
my Netflix and my Disney for mykid, and that's it. I'm done.
(35:08):
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Andthat that's actually another episode I want
to talk to you about in thefuture is how much you know, when
do we cut it off? Becauseof how much everything's going up? Thank
you so much for speaking with me. I as always, and as I
say this all the time, I'mchecking deadline dot com multiple times a day
(35:31):
because it's breaking news twenty four hoursa day, seven days a week.
When do you rest? I sleepwhen I'm dead? There you go a
dominic Patton, Thank you so much. And of course, uh Deadline is
the destination for everything that is goingon in uh in you know, entertainment
(35:53):
Hollywood, behind the scenes, infront of the scenes, everything. It
is the one stop destination and Ican't thank you enough for speaking with me.
Thank you my friend Dom Patton.Love having him on the show always.
I mean, he is just awealth of knowledge. That's why he
is senior editor Deadline Hollywood Deadline dotCom. Once again, Thanks to Tom
(36:17):
for joining me, Thank you forlistening. Get like I said, look
pop culture weekly. You know,I am one person and I do the
content myself. You know, I'mlucky enough to have people that help me
get it out there and all thatstuff. But I'm a one man show
in that regard, and so there'sno way I can cover even a fraction
(36:39):
of the stuff that a Deadline does. And that's why they are my go
to source. I love Deadline,always have. I use them, like
I said, throughout the day,multiple times a day to see what is
going on, because they're breaking thenews of you know, pop culture,
what's going on in Hollywood. Sodead dot com. Thank you. Thank
(37:00):
you to Dom once again. We'llhave him on again, of course,
and I thank you for hanging outwith me once again. Please, if
you enjoy this episode, share it, hit me up. Let me know
what you think. What do youthink about the strike? Let's talk on
social I'm at KMAC music on Twitterand Instagram and threads. I'm at Kyle
(37:24):
mc I'm you know, Kyle McMahonor real Kyle McMahon everywhere else, So
hit me up. Let's discuss allof your favorite pop culture all right,
I love you, see you nextweek. We all thank you for listening
to pop Culture Weekly. Here allthe latest at pop culture weekly dot com.
(37:52):
When you got a hundred voices singing, who could hear Lessie Whistle Blue?
And the world will know, andthe world will learn, and the
world will wonder how we made thetables turn
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