A family lost their home in the Eaton fire and a lot of their business in the Sunset fire at the same time - now a small grant is helping them recover; LA has been crowned the nation's top "judicial hellhole"; How a big, looming Hollywood merger could affect all of us who stream content.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
This is Michael Monks Reports on Michael Monks from KFI News.
When those wildfires broke out last January, we all saw
that destruction in the Eton and the Palisades fires, but
those weren't the only fires. One local family lost their
home and Alta Dina due to the Eaton fire and
saw serious damage to their business because of another. Limelight
(00:29):
Liquors co owner Marina Schneider joins us to talk about
that experience. Marina, thank you so much for taking some
time to talk with KFI.
Speaker 3 (00:36):
Thank you too.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
This is a rare occasion to get to talk to
someone who suffered losses in multiple fires. Back in January.
You lost a home because of the Eton fire and
then the fire and Runyon Canyon around the same time.
It was officially called the Sunset fire. That also damaged
your business. Situation, just a terrible, terrible situation. Why don't
(01:00):
we start with your personal life and what happened to
your home in Alta Dina. Take us back to those
terrible days in January and the experience you had.
Speaker 3 (01:12):
So yeah, starting from my home in Alta Diina, we
came from work around six o'clock PM and the energy
was out, and we were prepared because the wins were
so high, like the wins were about one hundred miles
per hour, so we've been warned that we have to
(01:35):
we might have to evacuate. And about seven o'clock it
was no warning yet, but we've been expecting the warning.
But around seven o'clock we look out of the wind
row and we saw the whole Iton Canyon was on
(01:56):
a fire in front of us, and it was really
shocking because, like I said, people didn't get the evocation
order yet, so we could not believe our eyes. It
was about maybe two minutes by car, so with the
winds about one hundred miles per hour, it could reach
(02:19):
our house in minutes.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
You were seeing this before you received any notifications that
you should leave?
Speaker 3 (02:27):
Yes, before that seems rather shocked. Yes, it was shocking
because we did not pack our things, and we did
not we could not take anything. We just had to
open a door and run out, jump in our cars,
and our daughter was with us at that time, and
(02:52):
we just took our computer and passports. We did not
even have time to take anything at all.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
Where did you go?
Speaker 3 (03:01):
So we drove like nowhere. We had like nowhere to go.
We don't have like we don't have another property or anything,
and we don't have a family here, but we have
a few friends and it happened. Then we are just
driving somewhere far away from the fire, and our friend
(03:22):
the calling cars and he said, I saw it on
a news Would you want to come to my house
and stay over? And we said, of course yes, So
we drove to his house and in it was in
the Studio city area, and we stay overnight. And next day,
(03:45):
like I said, the fire happened in Ranian Canyon, Kenyan,
which is close to our store and close to the
house where we were staying.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
This is the Hollywood Hills.
Speaker 3 (03:59):
Yes, yes, this one. So our friends started to park
and they were planning to evacuate, and we had to
go somewhere else.
Speaker 2 (04:12):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (04:13):
But eventually our friends did not have to evacuate and
they stayed in the house.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
I think it's hard for folks to remember, because we
do talk a lot about the devastation from the Eaten
fire and the Palisades fire because of the aftermath that
we can still very much see, unfortunately, but when you
go back to those that week in January, there were
a lot of fires and a lot of people were
sent running for their lives or at least for their
(04:43):
safety because of what was happening all across southern California.
Now you had to do it twice back to back.
You had to leave your own home, You took shelter
with a friend, and then they had to leave. What
were you feeling in that moment?
Speaker 3 (04:58):
It was a auto devastation because it was a feeling
that there is nowhere.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
To go as all of these fires are raging across
southern California. You probably don't know what happened to your house,
yet what were you thinking about those physical things that
you possessed.
Speaker 3 (05:23):
It was devastating because I'm the only person who is
alive from I mean, my sister passed away. So all
the valuables from my mother, my parents, and my grandparents
I had in this house, all the family dishes and
(05:44):
photographs and some like gold items like for example, there's
some achievements of my grandparents and I. You know, it's
all burned, So I lost the history of my family.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
So as you're making your way trying to find a
place to just gather yourself, protect yourself all of these
fires popping up around the region. You own a business,
you and your husband Alexander. You have owned Limelight Liquors
for a couple of decades now and it's close to Hollywood,
(06:21):
and this has suffered as well. What can you tell
us about the situation with your business.
Speaker 3 (06:28):
Yes, next day after the fire, when we've been staying
with our friends, we found out that there is a
Ranian pinion fire by the store, and we called our
employees because they've been working, and we said, close the
store right now, don't even like risk your life, just
(06:50):
close it down and go home. And we've been so
worried that they would get home on time because the
fire was spreading very quickly to Hollywood Boulevard from the
Ranian Canyon. And then, like I said, it was so
much pollution and air. We had to open a store
(07:12):
next day for the people who didn't ever couate, because
still some of the people needed us and we probably work. Yeah,
we experienced the future loss loss in sales, and we've
been very worried about our community because they had to
stay in those apartments where the air was black. The
(07:37):
pollution was unimaginable, and we stayed. We decided not to
leave and stay with them and serve them as much
as we can, and the pollution continue for a month.
It was really hard to breathe. And also for people
(07:59):
who live around, not only for us.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
It's been almost a year since all of this devastation.
What is life like for you now.
Speaker 3 (08:09):
We actually we are arranging a place for now, the
apartment in the studios. We are lucky that we had
insurance in a house, so our insurance is helping us
to pay the rent. And after all this devastation, we
(08:33):
thought like we would never go back to our tagina,
but eventually we decided we will rebuild because people started
to rebuild and they still have a little hope for
the future, and we are trying to do that right now.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
Marina Schneider co owner with her husband Alexander Schneider of
Limelight Liquor business that was damaged in the fire and
run in Canyon back in January, and residents of a
home in Alta, Dina that was destroyed by the Eton fire,
working to rebuild both their personal lives and their professional lives.
I do appreciate the time you gave us, Marina. I
(09:16):
know your story is not entirely unique because of how
many of our neighbors lost things as well. But it
is a double dose of devastation that you went through
with the home and the business, and that's much rarer
in this situation. But it sounds like you're on the
mend and moving towards the future, and we do appreciate
you taking the time to talk about all of that.
Speaker 3 (09:35):
Thank you so much for quillan.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
Limelight Liquors has received a five thousand dollars grant from
DoorDash to help restock inventory, cover rent and payroll, and
manage other bills. Up next, why LA has been called
the biggest judicial hellhole in America. This is Michael Monk's Reports.
Speaker 1 (09:52):
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
This is Michael Monk's reports. Michael Monks from KFI News.
LA has been named the top judicial hellhole in America.
In a new report from the American Tort Reform Foundation,
Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse executive director Victor Gomez joins us now.
Victor Gomez, thanks so much for taking some time for KFI.
Speaker 4 (10:18):
A leisure to be with you.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
You know, there are a lot of people who live
in Los Angeles and maybe regular listeners of KFI who
would have no problem calling Los Angeles a hellhole. Unfortunately
for a variety of reasons. But that's what your organization
has done. You've called it the nation's worst judicial hellhole.
How did this ranking come about?
Speaker 4 (10:38):
Yeah, well, look, annually every year we try to put focus,
obviously through the American Tort Reform Association, on judicial areas. Generally,
states that have you know, a court system like judicial
system that seems to drag on, they don't seem to
(10:59):
be you know, driving the issues that matter to folks
in those respective areas. But you know, I'll tell you
right now, Michael, Generally our focus has been all over
the state. California has always been at the very top,
maybe not number one, but last year we were ranked
i think number five, year before number three as a state.
(11:20):
But this year, you know, uniquely, Los Angeles has probably
elevated their game, not necessarily in a good way.
Speaker 3 (11:28):
Right.
Speaker 4 (11:29):
So, in La County things are looking really, really tough
when it comes to you know, lawsuit abuse in these
extraordinary cases that are have these massive payouts. Right, So
I think this year having La ranked number one was
kind of shocking to me, to be completely honest with you,
(11:49):
I am happy that the Dodgers are number one. They're
World Series champions, and that's absolutely fantastic. But here we
go again putting focus on La where it probably shouldn't be.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
Yeah, we've got the best whether we've got the best
baseball team, but we are lagging behind on a lot
of other key and important areas. Not the least of
wishes this, and we put a lot of focus on
significant judicial awards related to governments. We know that the
City of Los Angeles has had its budget completely decimated
by the number of outrageous settlements. Whether they're fair or not,
(12:22):
you know, that's not for us to say, but the
city is constantly losing massive judgments. And then the county
itself just this year four point eight billion dollar settlement
for sex abuse cases going back decades. The La County
DA says there may be rampant fraud in those cases.
And this is what you're talking about. You may not
(12:43):
be singling out governments, you're talking about private sector awards here,
but some of these may have hints of fraud in them.
What makes this area so ripe for that kind of behavior?
Speaker 4 (12:55):
Well, really, it's actually the leaders that create that climate, right,
that litigious climate where it creates really an opportunity for
members of the public consumers to sue for these astronomical
amounts of dollars. You just illustrated some in local government.
Let's not forget we all pay for that right. And
(13:17):
that's another reason why we're putting so much focus on
this is because there has been, certainly over the last
couple of years, with inflation and such a lot of
discussions about the quality of life and being able to survive.
You know, the creating an affordable or affordability in California
has never been an easy thing. It's things like this
(13:40):
that only add to that focus of oh, my gosh,
yes there was a billion dollar nuclear payout for the
talk case.
Speaker 1 (13:49):
There was.
Speaker 4 (13:50):
You know, there's been some significant payouts that have been
having been paid out by insurance companies. Let's not forget.
You know, it's not the insurance company that's really cutting
that check, Michael. At the end of the day, it's
the consumer that's cutting that check. Because when was the
last time you look at your insurance, your insurance premium,
(14:11):
whether it's homeowners insurance, automotive insurance, whatever it may be
and say, oh my gosh, they give me a discount
this year. No, that's not the case. Insurance costs continuing
to go up, and in many cases it's actually these
verdicts where the insurance companies are having to say, hey,
we got to get this money from somewhere, we don't
have it. We're going to take them from existing consumers.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
Our guest is Victor Gomez, Executive director, Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse.
You've broken this down into what your organization calls the
tort tax, and it looks like LA residents pay the
most for that statewide. According to your analysis, Californians paid
the fifth highest tort tax in the country, about two
(14:53):
four hundred and fifty eight dollars each year, more than
are almost ten thousand dollars for a family of four.
But you don't just point out LA and the state
San Francisco, Oakland, Berkeley, those areas more than forty six
hundred dollars annual tourt tax and Riverside San Bernardino, Ontario,
those areas they're toward tax three hundred ninety six dollars
(15:13):
per resident. You mentioned one case, the talk case, a
jury awarded a family one billion dollars. There was a
woman who died from asbestost linked talk. Why was that
case outrageous in your view?
Speaker 4 (15:30):
Well, you know, look that that everybody and you know,
we started this conversation, Michael addressing the you know the
importance of being able to come to terms on something
that went wrong where it shouldn't you know, it shouldn't
have been it shouldn't have gone wrong. And now this
individual is looking for a payout to help them either
(15:54):
continue life, surviving, you know, moving forward with as much
as they could with life. We're not arguing the merits
or the need of these cases. What we're concerned about
is the astronomical payouts because I mean, really, when you're
getting a payout of a billion dollars, you're talking about
being able to purchase a sports franchise, right, I mean
(16:15):
you had even earlier this year, you had that fifty
million dollar verdict and Starbucks hot tea case, right that
actually resembled something that I remember as a kid. It
was a McDonald's hot coffee case from like thirty years ago.
But you know, this individual will sive fifty million dollars
for drinking hot coffee or having hot hot coffee spill
(16:36):
on their lap? You know what is the reasonable amount?
These are the kinds of discussions that our state leaders
need to have so we could put reasonable caps on
some of these things, because if they don't, if you
continue to see these nuclear verdicts of approaching a billion
dollars or in this case the tall case, hitting a
(16:56):
billion dollars again, we're all going to pay for it.
Speaker 2 (17:00):
When you talk about state lawmakers being asked to figure
out what the maximum should be, how are those conversations going.
Are lawmakers taking this seriously that this is something that
needs to be addressed.
Speaker 4 (17:13):
Well, look, I'd love to be able to come to you,
Michael and say, hey, the state legislature is working on this,
the governor's on top of it, the attorney general is
on top of it. That's not the case. That's not
the case at all. And what we're actually seeing is
doubling down by trial attorneys or the trial lobby up
(17:34):
and Sacramento. They are cutting checks left and right, spending
tens of millions of dollars on political contributions to the governor,
to the attorney general, to the state legislature. Your local
assembly member or senator is probably likely taking money from
the trial bar pack right, they're taking money from them,
and unfortunately, because they are spending so much money, they
(17:58):
have a ton of influence. They like a litigious environment.
But I mean, come on, the trial lawyers poured more
than two hundred and seventy five million dollars and more
than one point two million ads around Ala County alone
in the last eighteen months, a clear sign of how
lucrative LA's broken court system really has become. So you know,
(18:23):
where there's money, there's power, and the trial bar knows this.
We're not making a ton of progress. That's why we
need to have these conversations like we're having now, Michael,
where folks are learning about the issues. One issue they
hear about a lot is Ada lawsuit abuse. Right, these
eighty eight cases where in many cases they are dried
by lawsuits. That's an issue that I actually see some sunlight.
(18:45):
I'm actually seeing some light on that. We have a
bill in Sacramento where we may be able to address
the issue. But again, the heavy spending by the trial
bar and the trial attorneys and advertising and such is
really having an impact on having a reasonable cure for
this issue.
Speaker 2 (19:01):
Victor Gomez is the executive director of Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse. Victor,
thanks so much for joining us here on KFI in
the nation's worst judicial hellhole, La California. Thanks for your time, Victor.
We do appreciate it, appreciate the opportunity.
Speaker 4 (19:17):
Thank you very much.
Speaker 2 (19:19):
Another Hollywood merger is in the works and it's getting
testy and could reshape the entire industry right here in
Los Angeles. That's next on Michael Monks Reports. You're listening
to KFI AM six forty on demand. This is Michael
Monks Reports on Michael Monks from KFI News. Netflix wants
Warner Brothers, Paramount wants Warner Brothers. The President is involved.
(19:43):
What does this mean for Hollywood and the entertainment industry
in Los Angeles. Heather Brooker from KFI News is with
us to talk about this more. Heather, thanks for coming in.
Happy to be here, as Alas, this is a big deal.
This isn't just a couple of studios getting together stuff
that we've been seeing a lot in recent years. But
this has multiple major players getting up in each other's
(20:06):
faces because the stakes are very high. Just as an overview,
what's going on here?
Speaker 4 (20:12):
All right?
Speaker 5 (20:12):
So Paramount has made a one hundred and eight billion
dollar hostile bid for all of Warner Brothers. Wow, this
is proving to be very complicated issue. There's I don't
even know if they're going to have all of this
worked out in the year or so timeline that the
they initially thought this was going to be in because
(20:33):
Netflix initially made a bid for eighty three billion dollars.
So who's going to end up with Warner Brothers? This
is a massive ip they Warner Brothers has an incredibly
storied history. I mean, we're talking about Superman, all of
the DC you know, legacies there like there any part
(20:55):
of the industry has at some point been touched by
either Warner Brothers Pictures or Warner Brothers Television. So the
big battle brewing right now is going to be who
is going to ultimately be in control of that. Is
it going to be a streamer? Is it going to
be these multi billionaire media mogules.
Speaker 2 (21:11):
It's interesting because Netflix is still the relatively new player.
It's obviously a major player in Hollywood, but as far
as all these brands were throwing around, they're the newest
Paramount is a legacy brand. Warner Brothers is a Hollywood
legacy brand. These guys have been around for ages. What
do Paramount and Netflix see in Warner Brothers. I know
(21:32):
it's not exactly the same thing.
Speaker 5 (21:34):
Well, I think that you mean in terms of like
why they want to buy it exactly. I think Paramount
probably just sees it as a great business deal. I mean,
you are going to be owning so much of Hollywood's
one history, as you said, but also those ips, those
intellectual properties that they can continue to reap the benefits
of for years and years to come. I think also
(21:57):
there is you know, if we want to touch on
the political aspect of it, the owners of Paramount skuy
Dance are you know, the Ellisons are known to be
friends with the president, and the President has said he
wants to dismantle CNN, or not dismantled CNN, rather sell
it off to a new owner so that it has
a different I guess in his perspective, would then have
a different take on the news if they had some
(22:19):
new owners. So there may be some politically driven motives.
I can't imagine dropping one hundred and eight billion dollars
as a favor to a friend for somebody, So we
don't really know what the motives are for the Ellisons
for doing this and wanting to buy it, other than
just they see a good investment.
Speaker 2 (22:38):
The President has said this Netflix proposal to take over
Warner Brothers could quote be a problem, and he says
that he will be involved in that decision about granting
regulatory approval. Mean, this deal is so massive that it
would have to get past regulators. And so, I mean
this is not just in LA. This is going to
be in DC.
Speaker 5 (22:57):
Yeah, this is going to be something they're watching in
DC very closely.
Speaker 2 (23:00):
Because whoever is.
Speaker 5 (23:02):
Going to be the ultimate winner in this, you know
battle here is going to own a massive mead portion
of the media. And I don't mean just movies and television.
I mean like your CNNs, like your TNT, c SPAN,
you know all of those. Well, maybe not c SPAN.
I think I saw something where c Span was like, hey,
(23:22):
we're for sale if you want to buy us.
Speaker 2 (23:23):
I don't know. It's a great channel. It's a great channel.
Speaker 5 (23:26):
Do you watch thesepan?
Speaker 2 (23:27):
Why do I feel like you would watch these Span? Well,
anytime there's like an important vote, you'll watch c SPAN.
It's it's it's uninterrupted. You don't get the Dufices offering
the commentary. It's how I like to take in the
council meetings when I'm not at city Hall. It's like,
just give me the YouTube stream I can. I can
make my own judgments.
Speaker 5 (23:44):
And like cut your own sound and all that stuff.
I enjoy listening to those with you because it is
the council meetings, if people don't know, are very entertaining.
Speaker 2 (23:51):
The great show and I mean we're the Hollywood capital
of the world because this is where Hollywood is. But
the best show is always at La City Hall. But
this is going to have a ripple effects throughout the industry,
and this is an industry town. In fact, it's so
serious that Burbank City Councilman Constantine Anthony has asked the
City of Burbank to go into litigation. They want to
(24:13):
prevent the acquisition of Warner Brothers Studios. They say that
the intent of any litigation that the city could file
would be about preserving jobs. Look, we're in Burbank. iHeart
LA is in Burbank. We are right across the street
from Warner brother Studios. You know, Disney's just down the hall.
That he notes in his news release that Burbank is
(24:33):
the media capital of the world, and you can't drive
three blocks around here without seeing all of the famous
names of Hollywood studios and channels and all of that,
including us KFI. So the city Council will vote on
this issue on December sixteenth, and that's how serious it's
going to get here. What's at stake.
Speaker 5 (24:54):
Locally, I mean, initially, you know, your gut instinct when
you look at something like this is jobs. Whenever you
have a major corporation that is absorbing another corporation, and
especially one as large as Warner Brothers, there's going to
be crossover. There's going to be jobs that will be eliminated.
And in a town with an industry that has already
(25:15):
been through so much in the last five years with layoffs, cutbacks, everything,
people moving out of LA to other states. So the
word strikes all of those things, the fires from earlier
this year. You know, the industry has been hit really hard.
And then when you're looking at somebody absorbing another company
(25:35):
like this, there's one hundred percent going to be lapped.
So jobs is for sure on the table there for concern.
The other big concern is going to be the loss
of creativity. There's a concern that you're going to start
seeing even more homogenized, homogenized content coming out and a
loss of creativity. You know, in a town where you
(25:59):
know people are saying, we don't want AI, we want
less AI, we want less basic and boring scripts, we
want more interesting stories, we want more creativity. When you
have a big merger like this, you run the risk
of losing those smaller stories, those smaller voices, those niche
types of projects from film and television and you know, digital,
(26:22):
because they'll just go away. What with the big companies,
they want to make money, that's their bottom line.
Speaker 2 (26:27):
And what about for us consumers. I mean, there are
a lot of channels here. It's not just Warner Brothers Studios.
You know that, for example, they own HBO. Yeah, and
HBO has gone through a lot of changes, so just branding,
I mean, it's it's like gone back to HBO. I
think after being HBO Max, it was HBO Go and
then it was just Max Max for a while. Very
very strange. But there are a lot of moving parts
(26:48):
here for those of us who interact with these companies
without even maybe realizing who owns the channels that we like,
what are they saying we can expect.
Speaker 5 (26:56):
Well, you know, Warner Brothers has had somewhat of an
identity crisis. That's many arms you know, of content over
the last few years, and that is a lot of
that is due to the leadership. You know, it all
falls on the shoulders of the leadership of David Zaslov
over there. What is he doing? What is he doing
with this company? You know, and it looks like he's
going to offload it And for us consumers, we're probably
(27:18):
going to see higher prices at some point. Once whoever
wins here, whether it's Netflix, whether it's Paramount, We're ultimately
everything trickles down to the consumer.
Speaker 2 (27:29):
This is just really getting started. We'll be anxious to
see what happens at that Burbank City Council meeting next week,
for sure. Look, the industry is also feeling a little
weird about a move that Disney has taken towards artificial intelligence.
We're going to talk about that next The Golden Globes
nominations are out, and while I know people may not
care that much about wish movies are nominated, we'll touch
(27:49):
on that. But there's some new categories at the Golden
Globes that are are very strange, and I'm going to
ask Heather about why there are these categories now, including
best Podcast and what to expect when this ceremony takes place.
We'll continue with Michael Monks Reports next.
Speaker 1 (28:06):
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2 (28:14):
This is Michael Monk's Reports on Michael Monks from KFI News.
We've been talking with my colleague Garrett Kfi hea their brooker.
She's always got her eye on the entertainment industry, not
just the show's coming out, but also the business itself
and its impact on Southern California. And I recalled during
the Writers and the Actors strikes from a couple of
years ago that artificial intelligence was a significant component of that.
(28:37):
What can AI do? What will actors or writers allow
AI to do? There's a lot of compromising on this,
it seems studios we're looking at AI as a very
significant tool. I mean, you could replace actors, you could
put replace news writers, but there were a lot of
assurance they could certainly replace you. You can't even afford
the Netflix without the commercials, now, that's true. I am
(28:59):
on KF by Salary All right, But that was a
point of contention and there were some compromises that were reached,
and the unions, the Writers' Union and the Actors' Union
both felt like they had some assurances here. But Disney
has made an announcement about a significant investment in AI. Yeah, this,
what does that mean?
Speaker 5 (29:18):
This was a big surprise when it came out this
week because for so long this has been, as you said,
a bone of contention between the creative industries and the
unions and the studios. But Disney announced that they are
making a one billion dollar investment in open Ai and
they have a three year licensing deal with Sora. If
(29:38):
you're not familiar with Sora, it is an open AI
video creation folk you know, image creation software, and this
will allow users of Sora to generate content featuring Disney characters.
Speaker 1 (29:52):
So if you want to make.
Speaker 5 (29:53):
Your own short film with Mickey Mouse, maybe you can.
If you want to star alongside the Andalorian in your
own AI version of the show, you can. In theory,
that is what that is what is being proposed here,
and this will be available starting in twenty twenty six.
It is already like within you know, hours of this announcement,
(30:18):
the Writers Guild the SAG after everybody was like, whoa, whoa, whoa,
what are you doing? There's almost nothing they can do
to stop this train. It has left the station. Disney
can do whatever they want with their characters and their
IP and there is nothing, it seems so far, nothing
can be done to stop that.
Speaker 2 (30:38):
So theoretically Donald Duck could be our six o'clock news Anca.
Speaker 1 (30:41):
Yeah, why not.
Speaker 5 (30:43):
I mean, it's you know, I don't know yet at
this point, if there are any limitations, like you know,
you could be talking about some pornographic things like Disney.
I don't know what limitations they're putting on this. I'm
sure I would hope that there would be some kind
of guardrails in play so that people can't take these
beloved care like imagine snow White in some kind of
(31:04):
like pornographic whatever.
Speaker 2 (31:06):
Well, that's where everybody's that's where I mean, that's exactly
what when you put this tool in the hands of
the average guide, that's where they're going right to porn
knock it off.
Speaker 5 (31:16):
But yeah, but that's that's it exactly. So i'd be
curious to know, once more details come out about this,
what the guardrails are, what can be used, and if
the Writers Guild and if these unions have any say
or able to stop this from happening, because you're essentially
using actors voices and faces and images and you know,
these characters. So I don't know, it's it's a really
(31:38):
wild thing that Disney is doing.
Speaker 2 (31:40):
Here something else to watch, I mean, I guess someday
the all of the awards ceremonies could feature fake performers.
They feature movies that were created by just a simple
command one you know what they might call a log
line in the industry, just a quick description of the
movie and say a I create this for me.
Speaker 5 (31:57):
And that is what they're doing in like The Comer.
Speaker 2 (32:00):
Right now, well, there will be real awards handed out
to real people and real productions. For now, it is
getting to be that time of the year. The Oscar
nominations will come out next month with the Golden Globes
nominations came out this week, and one I realize, I
don't know if it's because I'm old, yes and out
of touch, or yeah, I'm both, That's what I think.
I think it's both because I look at some of
(32:21):
these nominees. Obviously, these are well known people. You don't
you don't get to have a role in a movie
or a show like this. But there's there's so many platforms.
I can't he can't keep up. Yeah, I don't know
who I mean. I really don't know what any of
these movies are. I don't know what these TV shows are.
But what really caught my eye and what I wanted
(32:42):
to talk to you about is there's a couple of categories.
One I think has been around before, and it's like
box office achievement. Is this given to all of these
nominees or do they announce nominees and then there's an
actual vote by judges to say, wish movie did the
best that the box office? What is this category?
Speaker 5 (33:01):
Okay, so too, Before we dive into that, you have
to understand, first of all, we were not nominated. I'm
so sorry to tell you.
Speaker 2 (33:07):
That's wait till we get our hands on that Disney IP.
Speaker 5 (33:10):
We'll submit this. One thing that people don't realize is
in order to be considered for any of these awards
Golden Globes, Oscars, Emmys, any of the big award shows,
you have to submit for it. So your team or
or your studio will submit your work or submit the
show or film you're on to be nominated. So when
you're looking at something like Cinematic and Box Office Achievement,
(33:33):
all these studios for Avatar, F one, K Pop, Demon
Hunter's Mission Impossible, all of these studios submitted this for
this category, and then there is an Academy you know,
vetting process and voters and they narrow it down to
the nominees based on you know, whatever criteria they have,
(33:54):
and then the nominees then go to the Academy voters
to vote on. So for the Cinematic Box offic Achievement,
these are the ones that the Academy thought were the
best nominees, who did the best at the box office
and best represented cinematic and box office achievement, meaning they
made a lot of money.
Speaker 2 (34:11):
It's basically a way a lot of the blockbuster movies
have never really been darlings.
Speaker 5 (34:15):
At awards season now, but.
Speaker 2 (34:17):
This is a way that now those movies can get
some attention. Yeah, and now some of the now sometimes
there are blockbusters that also sweep awards season. But we're
talking about like Mission Impossible. The final reckoning is in this.
You don't see a lot of Oscar consideration outside of
maybe Special Effects and those sorts, Wicked, those Utopia, two Sinners,
(34:39):
K Pop, Demon Hunters, F One, Avatar, Fire and ash
or the nominees, and Cinematic and Box Office Achievement. There's
also a couple of other categories, Best Performance in Stand
Up Comedy.
Speaker 5 (34:49):
Yes, I'm excited for this one. This is I don't
think this is the first year for this one. I
think we may have seen this category before. I need
to double check that. But Bill Maher is on there,
Brett Goldstein, who is very funny, Kevin Hart, Kumal Nanjianni,
Ricky Gervais, and Sarah Silverman. So, you know, comedians being
(35:11):
recognized for comedy because these are their stand up specials.
I mean, I don't know about what you guys watch,
if you're watching AI Puppies or what, but we watch
a lot of stand.
Speaker 2 (35:19):
Up comedy specials. Well you know it's these award shows
tend to turn to comedians as their host, either late
night comedians or the touring comedians. So it is interesting
that they've now been given a category and then this
one Best Podcast. Yes, now, look, we're an audio company.
I'm excited to see this platform elevated to the prestige
(35:39):
of the Golden Globe. Absolutely, it just seems I don't
know what to make of it. I mean, the podcasts
are a part of culture in a way they that
audio really has never been before. Yeah, and so we've
got Armchair Expert with Dack's Shepherd call her Daddy Good
hang with Amy Poehler the Mel Robbins podcast. I get
a lot of her clips in my TikTok. She's one
(36:01):
of those positive thinkers that I like. SmartLess and up
First from NPR are all nominated in Best Podcasts. How
does this come about?
Speaker 5 (36:08):
So this is really interesting because podcasts, as you said,
have become a medium that is taking over, Like my
entire feed and algorithm is feeding me video podcast They
are the new talk shows, but they're talk shows that
you can care Oh sorry, okay, not you.
Speaker 2 (36:28):
This is also a podcast that you can get on
the iHeartRadio app. Yes, make sure you get that in there.
Speaker 5 (36:32):
They are the new talk shows that you can get
in your pocket, at your fingertips, you know. And the
success of these podcasts in particular, this is the first
year I want to point out that there is a
Best Podcast category for the Golden Globes. Next year at
the Emmys will be their first year.
Speaker 2 (36:49):
To have a podcast. Yes, well, we'll look forward to
it too, and see wish categories come next year, and
I know you'll be here to tell us about a
Heather Brooker. Thanks so much for being with us.
Speaker 1 (36:58):
Thank you, Michael Monks KFI A M six forty on
demand
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
This is Michael Monks Reports on Michael Monks from KFI News.
When those wildfires broke out last January, we all saw
that destruction in the Eton and the Palisades fires, but
those weren't the only fires. One local family lost their
home and Alta Dina due to the Eaton fire and
saw serious damage to their business because of another. Limelight
(00:29):
Liquors co owner Marina Schneider joins us to talk about
that experience. Marina, thank you so much for taking some
time to talk with KFI.
Speaker 3 (00:36):
Thank you too.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
This is a rare occasion to get to talk to
someone who suffered losses in multiple fires. Back in January.
You lost a home because of the Eton fire and
then the fire and Runyon Canyon around the same time.
It was officially called the Sunset fire. That also damaged
your business. Situation, just a terrible, terrible situation. Why don't
(01:00):
we start with your personal life and what happened to
your home in Alta Dina. Take us back to those
terrible days in January and the experience you had.
Speaker 3 (01:12):
So yeah, starting from my home in Alta Diina, we
came from work around six o'clock PM and the energy
was out, and we were prepared because the wins were
so high, like the wins were about one hundred miles
per hour, so we've been warned that we have to
(01:35):
we might have to evacuate. And about seven o'clock it
was no warning yet, but we've been expecting the warning.
But around seven o'clock we look out of the wind
row and we saw the whole Iton Canyon was on
(01:56):
a fire in front of us, and it was really
shocking because, like I said, people didn't get the evocation
order yet, so we could not believe our eyes. It
was about maybe two minutes by car, so with the
winds about one hundred miles per hour, it could reach
(02:19):
our house in minutes.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
You were seeing this before you received any notifications that
you should leave?
Speaker 3 (02:27):
Yes, before that seems rather shocked. Yes, it was shocking
because we did not pack our things, and we did
not we could not take anything. We just had to
open a door and run out, jump in our cars,
and our daughter was with us at that time, and
(02:52):
we just took our computer and passports. We did not
even have time to take anything at all.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
Where did you go?
Speaker 3 (03:01):
So we drove like nowhere. We had like nowhere to go.
We don't have like we don't have another property or anything,
and we don't have a family here, but we have
a few friends and it happened. Then we are just
driving somewhere far away from the fire, and our friend
(03:22):
the calling cars and he said, I saw it on
a news Would you want to come to my house
and stay over? And we said, of course yes, So
we drove to his house and in it was in
the Studio city area, and we stay overnight. And next day,
(03:45):
like I said, the fire happened in Ranian Canyon, Kenyan,
which is close to our store and close to the
house where we were staying.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
This is the Hollywood Hills.
Speaker 3 (03:59):
Yes, yes, this one. So our friends started to park
and they were planning to evacuate, and we had to
go somewhere else.
Speaker 2 (04:12):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (04:13):
But eventually our friends did not have to evacuate and
they stayed in the house.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
I think it's hard for folks to remember, because we
do talk a lot about the devastation from the Eaten
fire and the Palisades fire because of the aftermath that
we can still very much see, unfortunately, but when you
go back to those that week in January, there were
a lot of fires and a lot of people were
sent running for their lives or at least for their
(04:43):
safety because of what was happening all across southern California.
Now you had to do it twice back to back.
You had to leave your own home, You took shelter
with a friend, and then they had to leave. What
were you feeling in that moment?
Speaker 3 (04:58):
It was a auto devastation because it was a feeling
that there is nowhere.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
To go as all of these fires are raging across
southern California. You probably don't know what happened to your house,
yet what were you thinking about those physical things that
you possessed.
Speaker 3 (05:23):
It was devastating because I'm the only person who is
alive from I mean, my sister passed away. So all
the valuables from my mother, my parents, and my grandparents
I had in this house, all the family dishes and
(05:44):
photographs and some like gold items like for example, there's
some achievements of my grandparents and I. You know, it's
all burned, So I lost the history of my family.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
So as you're making your way trying to find a
place to just gather yourself, protect yourself all of these
fires popping up around the region. You own a business,
you and your husband Alexander. You have owned Limelight Liquors
for a couple of decades now and it's close to Hollywood,
(06:21):
and this has suffered as well. What can you tell
us about the situation with your business.
Speaker 3 (06:28):
Yes, next day after the fire, when we've been staying
with our friends, we found out that there is a
Ranian pinion fire by the store, and we called our
employees because they've been working, and we said, close the
store right now, don't even like risk your life, just
(06:50):
close it down and go home. And we've been so
worried that they would get home on time because the
fire was spreading very quickly to Hollywood Boulevard from the
Ranian Canyon. And then, like I said, it was so
much pollution and air. We had to open a store
(07:12):
next day for the people who didn't ever couate, because
still some of the people needed us and we probably work. Yeah,
we experienced the future loss loss in sales, and we've
been very worried about our community because they had to
stay in those apartments where the air was black. The
(07:37):
pollution was unimaginable, and we stayed. We decided not to
leave and stay with them and serve them as much
as we can, and the pollution continue for a month.
It was really hard to breathe. And also for people
(07:59):
who live around, not only for us.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
It's been almost a year since all of this devastation.
What is life like for you now.
Speaker 3 (08:09):
We actually we are arranging a place for now, the
apartment in the studios. We are lucky that we had
insurance in a house, so our insurance is helping us
to pay the rent. And after all this devastation, we
(08:33):
thought like we would never go back to our tagina,
but eventually we decided we will rebuild because people started
to rebuild and they still have a little hope for
the future, and we are trying to do that right now.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
Marina Schneider co owner with her husband Alexander Schneider of
Limelight Liquor business that was damaged in the fire and
run in Canyon back in January, and residents of a
home in Alta, Dina that was destroyed by the Eton fire,
working to rebuild both their personal lives and their professional lives.
I do appreciate the time you gave us, Marina. I
(09:16):
know your story is not entirely unique because of how
many of our neighbors lost things as well. But it
is a double dose of devastation that you went through
with the home and the business, and that's much rarer
in this situation. But it sounds like you're on the
mend and moving towards the future, and we do appreciate
you taking the time to talk about all of that.
Speaker 3 (09:35):
Thank you so much for quillan.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
Limelight Liquors has received a five thousand dollars grant from
DoorDash to help restock inventory, cover rent and payroll, and
manage other bills. Up next, why LA has been called
the biggest judicial hellhole in America. This is Michael Monk's Reports.
Speaker 1 (09:52):
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
This is Michael Monk's reports. Michael Monks from KFI News.
LA has been named the top judicial hellhole in America.
In a new report from the American Tort Reform Foundation,
Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse executive director Victor Gomez joins us now.
Victor Gomez, thanks so much for taking some time for KFI.
Speaker 4 (10:18):
A leisure to be with you.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
You know, there are a lot of people who live
in Los Angeles and maybe regular listeners of KFI who
would have no problem calling Los Angeles a hellhole. Unfortunately
for a variety of reasons. But that's what your organization
has done. You've called it the nation's worst judicial hellhole.
How did this ranking come about?
Speaker 4 (10:38):
Yeah, well, look, annually every year we try to put focus,
obviously through the American Tort Reform Association, on judicial areas. Generally,
states that have you know, a court system like judicial
system that seems to drag on, they don't seem to
(10:59):
be you know, driving the issues that matter to folks
in those respective areas. But you know, I'll tell you
right now, Michael, Generally our focus has been all over
the state. California has always been at the very top,
maybe not number one, but last year we were ranked
i think number five, year before number three as a state.
(11:20):
But this year, you know, uniquely, Los Angeles has probably
elevated their game, not necessarily in a good way.
Speaker 3 (11:28):
Right.
Speaker 4 (11:29):
So, in La County things are looking really, really tough
when it comes to you know, lawsuit abuse in these
extraordinary cases that are have these massive payouts. Right, So
I think this year having La ranked number one was
kind of shocking to me, to be completely honest with you,
(11:49):
I am happy that the Dodgers are number one. They're
World Series champions, and that's absolutely fantastic. But here we
go again putting focus on La where it probably shouldn't be.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
Yeah, we've got the best whether we've got the best
baseball team, but we are lagging behind on a lot
of other key and important areas. Not the least of
wishes this, and we put a lot of focus on
significant judicial awards related to governments. We know that the
City of Los Angeles has had its budget completely decimated
by the number of outrageous settlements. Whether they're fair or not,
(12:22):
you know, that's not for us to say, but the
city is constantly losing massive judgments. And then the county
itself just this year four point eight billion dollar settlement
for sex abuse cases going back decades. The La County
DA says there may be rampant fraud in those cases.
And this is what you're talking about. You may not
(12:43):
be singling out governments, you're talking about private sector awards here,
but some of these may have hints of fraud in them.
What makes this area so ripe for that kind of behavior?
Speaker 4 (12:55):
Well, really, it's actually the leaders that create that climate, right,
that litigious climate where it creates really an opportunity for
members of the public consumers to sue for these astronomical
amounts of dollars. You just illustrated some in local government.
Let's not forget we all pay for that right. And
(13:17):
that's another reason why we're putting so much focus on
this is because there has been, certainly over the last
couple of years, with inflation and such a lot of
discussions about the quality of life and being able to survive.
You know, the creating an affordable or affordability in California
has never been an easy thing. It's things like this
(13:40):
that only add to that focus of oh, my gosh,
yes there was a billion dollar nuclear payout for the
talk case.
Speaker 1 (13:49):
There was.
Speaker 4 (13:50):
You know, there's been some significant payouts that have been
having been paid out by insurance companies. Let's not forget.
You know, it's not the insurance company that's really cutting
that check, Michael. At the end of the day, it's
the consumer that's cutting that check. Because when was the
last time you look at your insurance, your insurance premium,
(14:11):
whether it's homeowners insurance, automotive insurance, whatever it may be
and say, oh my gosh, they give me a discount
this year. No, that's not the case. Insurance costs continuing
to go up, and in many cases it's actually these
verdicts where the insurance companies are having to say, hey,
we got to get this money from somewhere, we don't
have it. We're going to take them from existing consumers.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
Our guest is Victor Gomez, Executive director, Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse.
You've broken this down into what your organization calls the
tort tax, and it looks like LA residents pay the
most for that statewide. According to your analysis, Californians paid
the fifth highest tort tax in the country, about two
(14:53):
four hundred and fifty eight dollars each year, more than
are almost ten thousand dollars for a family of four.
But you don't just point out LA and the state
San Francisco, Oakland, Berkeley, those areas more than forty six
hundred dollars annual tourt tax and Riverside San Bernardino, Ontario,
those areas they're toward tax three hundred ninety six dollars
(15:13):
per resident. You mentioned one case, the talk case, a
jury awarded a family one billion dollars. There was a
woman who died from asbestost linked talk. Why was that
case outrageous in your view?
Speaker 4 (15:30):
Well, you know, look that that everybody and you know,
we started this conversation, Michael addressing the you know the
importance of being able to come to terms on something
that went wrong where it shouldn't you know, it shouldn't
have been it shouldn't have gone wrong. And now this
individual is looking for a payout to help them either
(15:54):
continue life, surviving, you know, moving forward with as much
as they could with life. We're not arguing the merits
or the need of these cases. What we're concerned about
is the astronomical payouts because I mean, really, when you're
getting a payout of a billion dollars, you're talking about
being able to purchase a sports franchise, right, I mean
(16:15):
you had even earlier this year, you had that fifty
million dollar verdict and Starbucks hot tea case, right that
actually resembled something that I remember as a kid. It
was a McDonald's hot coffee case from like thirty years ago.
But you know, this individual will sive fifty million dollars
for drinking hot coffee or having hot hot coffee spill
(16:36):
on their lap? You know what is the reasonable amount?
These are the kinds of discussions that our state leaders
need to have so we could put reasonable caps on
some of these things, because if they don't, if you
continue to see these nuclear verdicts of approaching a billion
dollars or in this case the tall case, hitting a
(16:56):
billion dollars again, we're all going to pay for it.
Speaker 2 (17:00):
When you talk about state lawmakers being asked to figure
out what the maximum should be, how are those conversations going.
Are lawmakers taking this seriously that this is something that
needs to be addressed.
Speaker 4 (17:13):
Well, look, I'd love to be able to come to you,
Michael and say, hey, the state legislature is working on this,
the governor's on top of it, the attorney general is
on top of it. That's not the case. That's not
the case at all. And what we're actually seeing is
doubling down by trial attorneys or the trial lobby up
(17:34):
and Sacramento. They are cutting checks left and right, spending
tens of millions of dollars on political contributions to the governor,
to the attorney general, to the state legislature. Your local
assembly member or senator is probably likely taking money from
the trial bar pack right, they're taking money from them,
and unfortunately, because they are spending so much money, they
(17:58):
have a ton of influence. They like a litigious environment.
But I mean, come on, the trial lawyers poured more
than two hundred and seventy five million dollars and more
than one point two million ads around Ala County alone
in the last eighteen months, a clear sign of how
lucrative LA's broken court system really has become. So you know,
(18:23):
where there's money, there's power, and the trial bar knows this.
We're not making a ton of progress. That's why we
need to have these conversations like we're having now, Michael,
where folks are learning about the issues. One issue they
hear about a lot is Ada lawsuit abuse. Right, these
eighty eight cases where in many cases they are dried
by lawsuits. That's an issue that I actually see some sunlight.
(18:45):
I'm actually seeing some light on that. We have a
bill in Sacramento where we may be able to address
the issue. But again, the heavy spending by the trial
bar and the trial attorneys and advertising and such is
really having an impact on having a reasonable cure for
this issue.
Speaker 2 (19:01):
Victor Gomez is the executive director of Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse. Victor,
thanks so much for joining us here on KFI in
the nation's worst judicial hellhole, La California. Thanks for your time, Victor.
We do appreciate it, appreciate the opportunity.
Speaker 4 (19:17):
Thank you very much.
Speaker 2 (19:19):
Another Hollywood merger is in the works and it's getting
testy and could reshape the entire industry right here in
Los Angeles. That's next on Michael Monks Reports. You're listening
to KFI AM six forty on demand. This is Michael
Monks Reports on Michael Monks from KFI News. Netflix wants
Warner Brothers, Paramount wants Warner Brothers. The President is involved.
(19:43):
What does this mean for Hollywood and the entertainment industry
in Los Angeles. Heather Brooker from KFI News is with
us to talk about this more. Heather, thanks for coming in.
Happy to be here, as Alas, this is a big deal.
This isn't just a couple of studios getting together stuff
that we've been seeing a lot in recent years. But
this has multiple major players getting up in each other's
(20:06):
faces because the stakes are very high. Just as an overview,
what's going on here?
Speaker 4 (20:12):
All right?
Speaker 5 (20:12):
So Paramount has made a one hundred and eight billion
dollar hostile bid for all of Warner Brothers. Wow, this
is proving to be very complicated issue. There's I don't
even know if they're going to have all of this
worked out in the year or so timeline that the
they initially thought this was going to be in because
(20:33):
Netflix initially made a bid for eighty three billion dollars.
So who's going to end up with Warner Brothers? This
is a massive ip they Warner Brothers has an incredibly
storied history. I mean, we're talking about Superman, all of
the DC you know, legacies there like there any part
(20:55):
of the industry has at some point been touched by
either Warner Brothers Pictures or Warner Brothers Television. So the
big battle brewing right now is going to be who
is going to ultimately be in control of that. Is
it going to be a streamer? Is it going to
be these multi billionaire media mogules.
Speaker 2 (21:11):
It's interesting because Netflix is still the relatively new player.
It's obviously a major player in Hollywood, but as far
as all these brands were throwing around, they're the newest
Paramount is a legacy brand. Warner Brothers is a Hollywood
legacy brand. These guys have been around for ages. What
do Paramount and Netflix see in Warner Brothers. I know
(21:32):
it's not exactly the same thing.
Speaker 5 (21:34):
Well, I think that you mean in terms of like
why they want to buy it exactly. I think Paramount
probably just sees it as a great business deal. I mean,
you are going to be owning so much of Hollywood's
one history, as you said, but also those ips, those
intellectual properties that they can continue to reap the benefits
of for years and years to come. I think also
(21:57):
there is you know, if we want to touch on
the political aspect of it, the owners of Paramount skuy
Dance are you know, the Ellisons are known to be
friends with the president, and the President has said he
wants to dismantle CNN, or not dismantled CNN, rather sell
it off to a new owner so that it has
a different I guess in his perspective, would then have
a different take on the news if they had some
(22:19):
new owners. So there may be some politically driven motives.
I can't imagine dropping one hundred and eight billion dollars
as a favor to a friend for somebody, So we
don't really know what the motives are for the Ellisons
for doing this and wanting to buy it, other than
just they see a good investment.
Speaker 2 (22:38):
The President has said this Netflix proposal to take over
Warner Brothers could quote be a problem, and he says
that he will be involved in that decision about granting
regulatory approval. Mean, this deal is so massive that it
would have to get past regulators. And so, I mean
this is not just in LA. This is going to
be in DC.
Speaker 5 (22:57):
Yeah, this is going to be something they're watching in
DC very closely.
Speaker 2 (23:00):
Because whoever is.
Speaker 5 (23:02):
Going to be the ultimate winner in this, you know
battle here is going to own a massive mead portion
of the media. And I don't mean just movies and television.
I mean like your CNNs, like your TNT, c SPAN,
you know all of those. Well, maybe not c SPAN.
I think I saw something where c Span was like, hey,
(23:22):
we're for sale if you want to buy us.
Speaker 2 (23:23):
I don't know. It's a great channel. It's a great channel.
Speaker 5 (23:26):
Do you watch thesepan?
Speaker 2 (23:27):
Why do I feel like you would watch these Span? Well,
anytime there's like an important vote, you'll watch c SPAN.
It's it's it's uninterrupted. You don't get the Dufices offering
the commentary. It's how I like to take in the
council meetings when I'm not at city Hall. It's like,
just give me the YouTube stream I can. I can
make my own judgments.
Speaker 5 (23:44):
And like cut your own sound and all that stuff.
I enjoy listening to those with you because it is
the council meetings, if people don't know, are very entertaining.
Speaker 2 (23:51):
The great show and I mean we're the Hollywood capital
of the world because this is where Hollywood is. But
the best show is always at La City Hall. But
this is going to have a ripple effects throughout the industry,
and this is an industry town. In fact, it's so
serious that Burbank City Councilman Constantine Anthony has asked the
City of Burbank to go into litigation. They want to
(24:13):
prevent the acquisition of Warner Brothers Studios. They say that
the intent of any litigation that the city could file
would be about preserving jobs. Look, we're in Burbank. iHeart
LA is in Burbank. We are right across the street
from Warner brother Studios. You know, Disney's just down the hall.
That he notes in his news release that Burbank is
(24:33):
the media capital of the world, and you can't drive
three blocks around here without seeing all of the famous
names of Hollywood studios and channels and all of that,
including us KFI. So the city Council will vote on
this issue on December sixteenth, and that's how serious it's
going to get here. What's at stake.
Speaker 5 (24:54):
Locally, I mean, initially, you know, your gut instinct when
you look at something like this is jobs. Whenever you
have a major corporation that is absorbing another corporation, and
especially one as large as Warner Brothers, there's going to
be crossover. There's going to be jobs that will be eliminated.
And in a town with an industry that has already
(25:15):
been through so much in the last five years with layoffs, cutbacks, everything,
people moving out of LA to other states. So the
word strikes all of those things, the fires from earlier
this year. You know, the industry has been hit really hard.
And then when you're looking at somebody absorbing another company
(25:35):
like this, there's one hundred percent going to be lapped.
So jobs is for sure on the table there for concern.
The other big concern is going to be the loss
of creativity. There's a concern that you're going to start
seeing even more homogenized, homogenized content coming out and a
loss of creativity. You know, in a town where you
(25:59):
know people are saying, we don't want AI, we want
less AI, we want less basic and boring scripts, we
want more interesting stories, we want more creativity. When you
have a big merger like this, you run the risk
of losing those smaller stories, those smaller voices, those niche
types of projects from film and television and you know, digital,
(26:22):
because they'll just go away. What with the big companies,
they want to make money, that's their bottom line.
Speaker 2 (26:27):
And what about for us consumers. I mean, there are
a lot of channels here. It's not just Warner Brothers Studios.
You know that, for example, they own HBO. Yeah, and
HBO has gone through a lot of changes, so just branding,
I mean, it's it's like gone back to HBO. I
think after being HBO Max, it was HBO Go and
then it was just Max Max for a while. Very
very strange. But there are a lot of moving parts
(26:48):
here for those of us who interact with these companies
without even maybe realizing who owns the channels that we like,
what are they saying we can expect.
Speaker 5 (26:56):
Well, you know, Warner Brothers has had somewhat of an
identity crisis. That's many arms you know, of content over
the last few years, and that is a lot of
that is due to the leadership. You know, it all
falls on the shoulders of the leadership of David Zaslov
over there. What is he doing? What is he doing
with this company? You know, and it looks like he's
going to offload it And for us consumers, we're probably
(27:18):
going to see higher prices at some point. Once whoever
wins here, whether it's Netflix, whether it's Paramount, We're ultimately
everything trickles down to the consumer.
Speaker 2 (27:29):
This is just really getting started. We'll be anxious to
see what happens at that Burbank City Council meeting next week,
for sure. Look, the industry is also feeling a little
weird about a move that Disney has taken towards artificial intelligence.
We're going to talk about that next The Golden Globes
nominations are out, and while I know people may not
care that much about wish movies are nominated, we'll touch
(27:49):
on that. But there's some new categories at the Golden
Globes that are are very strange, and I'm going to
ask Heather about why there are these categories now, including
best Podcast and what to expect when this ceremony takes place.
We'll continue with Michael Monks Reports next.
Speaker 1 (28:06):
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2 (28:14):
This is Michael Monk's Reports on Michael Monks from KFI News.
We've been talking with my colleague Garrett Kfi hea their brooker.
She's always got her eye on the entertainment industry, not
just the show's coming out, but also the business itself
and its impact on Southern California. And I recalled during
the Writers and the Actors strikes from a couple of
years ago that artificial intelligence was a significant component of that.
(28:37):
What can AI do? What will actors or writers allow
AI to do? There's a lot of compromising on this,
it seems studios we're looking at AI as a very
significant tool. I mean, you could replace actors, you could
put replace news writers, but there were a lot of
assurance they could certainly replace you. You can't even afford
the Netflix without the commercials, now, that's true. I am
(28:59):
on KF by Salary All right, But that was a
point of contention and there were some compromises that were reached,
and the unions, the Writers' Union and the Actors' Union
both felt like they had some assurances here. But Disney
has made an announcement about a significant investment in AI. Yeah, this,
what does that mean?
Speaker 5 (29:18):
This was a big surprise when it came out this
week because for so long this has been, as you said,
a bone of contention between the creative industries and the
unions and the studios. But Disney announced that they are
making a one billion dollar investment in open Ai and
they have a three year licensing deal with Sora. If
(29:38):
you're not familiar with Sora, it is an open AI
video creation folk you know, image creation software, and this
will allow users of Sora to generate content featuring Disney characters.
Speaker 1 (29:52):
So if you want to make.
Speaker 5 (29:53):
Your own short film with Mickey Mouse, maybe you can.
If you want to star alongside the Andalorian in your
own AI version of the show, you can. In theory,
that is what that is what is being proposed here,
and this will be available starting in twenty twenty six.
It is already like within you know, hours of this announcement,
(30:18):
the Writers Guild the SAG after everybody was like, whoa, whoa, whoa,
what are you doing? There's almost nothing they can do
to stop this train. It has left the station. Disney
can do whatever they want with their characters and their
IP and there is nothing, it seems so far, nothing
can be done to stop that.
Speaker 2 (30:38):
So theoretically Donald Duck could be our six o'clock news Anca.
Speaker 1 (30:41):
Yeah, why not.
Speaker 5 (30:43):
I mean, it's you know, I don't know yet at
this point, if there are any limitations, like you know,
you could be talking about some pornographic things like Disney.
I don't know what limitations they're putting on this. I'm
sure I would hope that there would be some kind
of guardrails in play so that people can't take these
beloved care like imagine snow White in some kind of
(31:04):
like pornographic whatever.
Speaker 2 (31:06):
Well, that's where everybody's that's where I mean, that's exactly
what when you put this tool in the hands of
the average guide, that's where they're going right to porn
knock it off.
Speaker 5 (31:16):
But yeah, but that's that's it exactly. So i'd be
curious to know, once more details come out about this,
what the guardrails are, what can be used, and if
the Writers Guild and if these unions have any say
or able to stop this from happening, because you're essentially
using actors voices and faces and images and you know,
these characters. So I don't know, it's it's a really
(31:38):
wild thing that Disney is doing.
Speaker 2 (31:40):
Here something else to watch, I mean, I guess someday
the all of the awards ceremonies could feature fake performers.
They feature movies that were created by just a simple
command one you know what they might call a log
line in the industry, just a quick description of the
movie and say a I create this for me.
Speaker 5 (31:57):
And that is what they're doing in like The Comer.
Speaker 2 (32:00):
Right now, well, there will be real awards handed out
to real people and real productions. For now, it is
getting to be that time of the year. The Oscar
nominations will come out next month with the Golden Globes
nominations came out this week, and one I realize, I
don't know if it's because I'm old, yes and out
of touch, or yeah, I'm both, That's what I think.
I think it's both because I look at some of
(32:21):
these nominees. Obviously, these are well known people. You don't
you don't get to have a role in a movie
or a show like this. But there's there's so many platforms.
I can't he can't keep up. Yeah, I don't know
who I mean. I really don't know what any of
these movies are. I don't know what these TV shows are.
But what really caught my eye and what I wanted
(32:42):
to talk to you about is there's a couple of categories.
One I think has been around before, and it's like
box office achievement. Is this given to all of these
nominees or do they announce nominees and then there's an
actual vote by judges to say, wish movie did the
best that the box office? What is this category?
Speaker 5 (33:01):
Okay, so too, Before we dive into that, you have
to understand, first of all, we were not nominated. I'm
so sorry to tell you.
Speaker 2 (33:07):
That's wait till we get our hands on that Disney IP.
Speaker 5 (33:10):
We'll submit this. One thing that people don't realize is
in order to be considered for any of these awards
Golden Globes, Oscars, Emmys, any of the big award shows,
you have to submit for it. So your team or
or your studio will submit your work or submit the
show or film you're on to be nominated. So when
you're looking at something like Cinematic and Box Office Achievement,
(33:33):
all these studios for Avatar, F one, K Pop, Demon
Hunter's Mission Impossible, all of these studios submitted this for
this category, and then there is an Academy you know,
vetting process and voters and they narrow it down to
the nominees based on you know, whatever criteria they have,
(33:54):
and then the nominees then go to the Academy voters
to vote on. So for the Cinematic Box offic Achievement,
these are the ones that the Academy thought were the
best nominees, who did the best at the box office
and best represented cinematic and box office achievement, meaning they
made a lot of money.
Speaker 2 (34:11):
It's basically a way a lot of the blockbuster movies
have never really been darlings.
Speaker 5 (34:15):
At awards season now, but.
Speaker 2 (34:17):
This is a way that now those movies can get
some attention. Yeah, and now some of the now sometimes
there are blockbusters that also sweep awards season. But we're
talking about like Mission Impossible. The final reckoning is in this.
You don't see a lot of Oscar consideration outside of
maybe Special Effects and those sorts, Wicked, those Utopia, two Sinners,
(34:39):
K Pop, Demon Hunters, F One, Avatar, Fire and ash
or the nominees, and Cinematic and Box Office Achievement. There's
also a couple of other categories, Best Performance in Stand
Up Comedy.
Speaker 5 (34:49):
Yes, I'm excited for this one. This is I don't
think this is the first year for this one. I
think we may have seen this category before. I need
to double check that. But Bill Maher is on there,
Brett Goldstein, who is very funny, Kevin Hart, Kumal Nanjianni,
Ricky Gervais, and Sarah Silverman. So, you know, comedians being
(35:11):
recognized for comedy because these are their stand up specials.
I mean, I don't know about what you guys watch,
if you're watching AI Puppies or what, but we watch
a lot of stand.
Speaker 2 (35:19):
Up comedy specials. Well you know it's these award shows
tend to turn to comedians as their host, either late
night comedians or the touring comedians. So it is interesting
that they've now been given a category and then this
one Best Podcast. Yes, now, look, we're an audio company.
I'm excited to see this platform elevated to the prestige
(35:39):
of the Golden Globe. Absolutely, it just seems I don't
know what to make of it. I mean, the podcasts
are a part of culture in a way they that
audio really has never been before. Yeah, and so we've
got Armchair Expert with Dack's Shepherd call her Daddy Good
hang with Amy Poehler the Mel Robbins podcast. I get
a lot of her clips in my TikTok. She's one
(36:01):
of those positive thinkers that I like. SmartLess and up
First from NPR are all nominated in Best Podcasts. How
does this come about?
Speaker 5 (36:08):
So this is really interesting because podcasts, as you said,
have become a medium that is taking over, Like my
entire feed and algorithm is feeding me video podcast They
are the new talk shows, but they're talk shows that
you can care Oh sorry, okay, not you.
Speaker 2 (36:28):
This is also a podcast that you can get on
the iHeartRadio app. Yes, make sure you get that in there.
Speaker 5 (36:32):
They are the new talk shows that you can get
in your pocket, at your fingertips, you know. And the
success of these podcasts in particular, this is the first
year I want to point out that there is a
Best Podcast category for the Golden Globes. Next year at
the Emmys will be their first year.
Speaker 2 (36:49):
To have a podcast. Yes, well, we'll look forward to
it too, and see wish categories come next year, and
I know you'll be here to tell us about a
Heather Brooker. Thanks so much for being with us.
Speaker 1 (36:58):
Thank you, Michael Monks KFI A M six forty on
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