January 16, 2025 • 33 mins
Hollywood can't seem to get a break as it enters the New Year with a massive wildfire that is sweeping through Los Angeles. How has this affected film and television productions and potentially the industry's future?
(recorded on January 11, 2025)
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Discussion Links Below:
- 04:45 ~ Netflix Tells Writers To Dumb Down Shows - https://www.pcmag.com/news/netflix-is-telling-writers-to-dumb-down-shows-since-viewers-are-on-their
- 09:52 ~ Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery, and Fox Pull Venu Sports Release - https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/venu-sports-dead-streaming-service-pulled-before-launch-1236106145/
- 13:42 ~ Anime Piracy Website Tops Disney+ In Monthly Viewers - https://screenrant.com/anime-piracy-disney-plus-hianime-controversy-factoid/
- 22:49 ~ MAIN TOPIC
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Okay, have any of you seen Nosferatu yet?
(00:02):
No.
Um, the synopsis is just basically about
a toxic ex-boyfriend with whom Lily Rose Depp,
dated a long time ago in her youth,
comes back to f*** with her new relationship
and her husband Thomas
and won't stop until she gives it up one more time.
And so like all the memes are coming out like...
(00:23):
Because she also talks to him
or he talks to her like telepathically, you know,
like f*** for mine, like possessing and s***.
And it's basically like text messages of just like,
he's saying like,
You will only think of me from here.
And it's just like,
What would you do if I was there?
How many donuts can you stack on it?
(00:44):
Hahaha!
Essentially, yeah, the whole thing.
Alright.
Here we go. We are ready.
Alright.
Alright.
We are going to start in...
down to five, four, three, two...
(01:11):
What's up everybody?
This is the Red Band Podcast,
your source for all film and TV related news and topics.
I am your host, Anthony King,
and of course with me tonight is my co-host,
Adrian G. Fuentes.
And you know him, sitting as usual in our control room
is our technical director, Mike Card.
Happy New Year's everyone.
(01:32):
Happy New Year's everyone, man.
2025 is here.
It's the new year, new time, new beginnings, man.
Oh, yes.
And what a year to start off with,
with these freaking LA wildfires, man.
Everything's just burning.
Everything's just burning down to the ground.
I mean, this could be technically a good omen.
I don't know if we want to see that.
(01:53):
Because the last time...
No, let's be honest.
We have been asking for like a hard Hollywood reset,
but come on, we weren't talking about this.
No, no, no.
I'm not saying that.
I'm not hoping for this in a way, shape, or form.
But I'm just saying like the last time we had like
at least like a good solid year,
like, oh, you know, it's a good year.
We're starting the decade, right?
We got a complete shutdown.
(02:14):
Yeah, that's true.
So we start off shit, maybe.
I mean, damn.
Maybe.
When I said I wanted Hollywood to burn down to the ground,
I wasn't being literal.
Just meant to like, let's start over.
Let's just start over, you know, financially, new plans,
new CEOs, you know, not burn the whole bitch down physically with fire.
(02:35):
What's that video, Adrian, that you found of just like...
It's an AI video of just...
Oh, it's an AI video?
Yeah, it's an AI video.
I looked into it, I was like, oh damn.
Wait for what video?
It was the one with the fire behind the Hollywood sign.
Oh, okay, that one.
Yeah, no.
We've looked, the Hollywood sign is actually fine.
I was hoping it was going to burn down because come on, fuck.
That shit needs to be burned down and renovated.
(02:58):
Let's be honest, though.
It would just be an LED sign if we did.
It still would have been better.
Have we seen the Hollywood sign, how terrible condition it's in?
Yes.
I mean, like overall, it would be great to like restore it or tear it down
and just like make it, you know, better.
No, no, they need to tear down and rebuild it.
Not just hot glue it together every time.
(03:19):
I mean, at this point, it's a national landmark.
Yeah, but all they do is make a trip to Home Depot, get a few sheets,
hammer it in, all right, we're good.
That's true.
It's like being put together with like paper, like glue and paper tape.
Like paper mache.
Yeah, paper mache, like clips and shit like that.
Construction paper and just, yeah, I feel you, it's cosmetic.
Yeah.
It's cosmetic.
It's barely holding together.
(03:40):
But if we were to actually tear it down and put something new,
it would be an LED sign.
And then it would be like Hollywood brought to you by
and then show all the fucking advertising.
I'm just saying like we could spend the money.
You know how we have that opening with the 20th century Fox sign,
you know, choo choo, choo choo, the spotlights and all that shit.
Step up your game, man.
(04:01):
Let's get the Hollywood sign looking like that.
That would involve effort.
I'll throw my hat in as well as bring back the old Hollywood land sign.
Oh, OK.
Why not bring that one back?
I see you.
Yeah, it would land.
Yeah.
What was the reason that it was shortened down Hollywood?
I think the sign just fell down.
And they were like, oh, fuck it.
(04:21):
You know, actually looks kind of good.
It looks better.
We're just Hollywood now.
You know, it just rolls off the tongue.
Hollywood.
Yeah, you know, it's just it's less drag on the vowels.
You know, it's nice.
But yes, our main topic tonight, of course, is going to be covering over
the L.A. wildfires and what's going on with that whole situation.
But first, of course, we got our smaller film news topic.
(04:42):
So let's just jump right into that.
Let's do it.
All right.
First, what we have here, Netflix is telling its writers to dumb down
its shows since its viewers are on their phones.
So basically what Netflix executives have apparently been telling
its writers is they need to specifically have their characters
announce what they're doing and when they're doing it,
(05:03):
because what they are claiming is a lot of people are actually watching
their shows.
They're either, you know, cooking, cleaning, reading a book, doing something else.
But they're just listening to shows in the background.
So they want to dumb down the content even further so they can understand.
It's basically they're trying to treat it like an audiobook.
You see what I'm saying?
(05:24):
That's dumb.
Yeah, I hate that because I gauge how good a show is by how often I look at my phone.
Yeah.
And there's only been like a handful of shows or movies where I like I don't
even pick my phone at all.
The most times like a quick glance and back down, but it sucks.
I'm like the entire time just like if it's not a good show, you're not paying attention.
No.
Yeah.
But still to the idea like where they're going to have to like I got to get this cup
(05:48):
right now and take a drink.
It's like they're all explaining.
What if it was like a dramatic moment where it's just like damn it, Jesse.
I told you never talk to him again.
I'm walking out the room in a huff.
So actors have to basically express their stage lines.
Yes.
On script, their script stage lines.
(06:08):
They actually have to say they're going to do that one scene from a black
man.
But yeah.
Oh my God.
Find that clip.
Yeah.
Yes, the stage directions, right?
Yeah.
(06:32):
Excuse me, brothers.
Military search started.
Oh, well, then.
So you want to be sneaky brothers.
Maybe you are undercover pig.
Or maybe you just a federal hitman.
I was you cats would already be dead.
Let me speak to the man in charge.
(06:54):
Sarcastically, I'm in charge.
That's what we're going to get.
That's basically what we're going to get.
Watch that movie again.
So sarcastically, I was reading the whole script.
(07:19):
That's basically what they're going to have.
That's what actors are basically going to have to do.
Yeah, like it's even even James Mangold, director of Logan.
You know, he's the other stuff.
Director of Logan, but he went on kind of like, I don't want
to say a tyrant, tyrant.
Is that what the word?
Yeah, a tyrant, tyrant.
Yeah, but he basically talked about how like in a quote,
(07:43):
he said constantly catering the lowest common denominator
keeps us stunted from any actual social growth and saying
if a show is written to be half watched, I will be full
turning it off.
Yeah, yeah.
And it makes sense because it's like, why are you so afraid
of creating also an artistic piece and afraid to have a
(08:03):
scene without dialogue and just focus on what you're seeing?
And we already have content for you to really not pay attention
to is reality TV.
Pretty much.
Yeah, that's TV.
That's always back, you know, or old sitcoms.
Yeah.
Yeah.
At this point, we are we are one step away from actually
having Subway Surfer play next to the screen.
(08:23):
Yeah, on the screen or next to the side of whatever show
or movie you're watching.
I wouldn't be surprised if it would be in a movie theater.
I wouldn't be surprised either.
And be like, now I could finally watch.
Like, no, you just fucking brain rot.
But yes, that's apparently where things are moving forward
with Netflix and of course streaming writing content.
We got to dumb it down for the audience because of course,
(08:45):
they're not just going to sit down and watch the show.
They got to do more than things.
I understand.
Okay, that concept.
Understand if you're doing it for for for teen shows
or kid shows, because I mean, obviously you've seen that
like your nephew or anything else.
Yeah.
Handled by three devices at once.
Yeah.
You know, and able to keep pay attention to all three
at the exact same time.
(09:05):
So for that, I get it.
But for adults, don't do that.
I mean, like what's called a secret level.
Yeah.
Had no dialogue, almost no dialogue.
Yeah.
And it kept people.
Engaged.
Engaged into that.
Yeah, so it was great at this point.
But we also can't blame Netflix for this because the reason
they have to make this is because.
(09:25):
Attention span has really lowered.
Yes.
People's attention span has not improved whatsoever in the last.
It's gotten worse in the last couple of years.
So they got to create content that can match people's attention span.
Yeah.
So let's be honest.
It's your guys fault.
Let's let's be real, you know.
You guys are getting dumber.
(09:48):
Says Mike instead of microphone.
Yeah.
All right.
But what we have here for our next topic, Disney, Warner Brothers,
Discovery and Fox pulled the plug on Venue Sports.
That's right.
Venue Sports has been canceled.
It's no longer happening.
This was a trip.
This was a trip because man, we were talking about this for a couple of episodes.
(10:08):
This was going to change how sports was going to be streamed and redistributed
or amongst like different platforms.
But apparently the that was it.
It was to be or was it fooby?
It was fooby.
Fubu.
Oh, sorry.
Fubu is the one who first initiated that lawsuit and sounds like now they're really backing off now.
No, I'm not surprised.
(10:28):
Honestly, I'm not.
I don't think it's so much them backing off.
It's that them getting involved.
Fubu is getting involved.
They sign.
So what was signed was a deal with Hulu and Fubu.
Which is Hulu is Disney owned.
Is Disney owned to join together into this business venture to host sports.
So it's just so what it sounds like is it's not really a full cancellation of venue sports.
(10:53):
It's now reworking itself to include Fubo TV because here here in the article from Variety right here,
it even says that the decision surfaces after Disney agreed to take a stake in the Fubu streaming service
and fold its Hulu live TV service into it and quote from them after a careful consideration.
(11:15):
We have collectively agreed to discontinue the venue sport joint venture and not launch the streaming service.
They also said in an ever-changing marketplace,
we determined that it was best to meet the evolving demands of sports fans by focusing on existing products and distribution channels.
We are proud of the work that we have done on we have been done on venue to date and grateful to the venue staff
(11:38):
whom we will support through the transition period.
So wait, but does Warner Brothers and Fox have any stake in Hulu because it sounds like they just cut out those two people and signed the deal with Fubo.
Hmm.
That's a good question.
But it does say as well that Fubu agreed to end its antitrust case against the venue.
Yeah, yeah.
Because that means Fubu would put a case against them.
(12:01):
But what about Warner Brothers and Fox?
Are they still included in this deal or were they just pushed to the side and now it's just a Disney who owns mostly Hulu along with Fubo.
Here's another part of it saying that Disney actually agreed to buy 70% stake in the company of Fubu.
Hmm.
And which will sell both of its own namesake services as well as the live TV product currently available via Disney Hulu.
(12:25):
So Disney is absorbing Fubu.
Okay.
So it's pretty much pulling like the thing.
But still doesn't say like exactly what's going to happen with Warner Brothers and Fox with this deal though.
I think this is just another way for them to.
Because that just sounds like Disney is going to get more sports content.
That's a good point.
(12:45):
Yeah.
Yeah.
It sounds like they're just trying to avoid.
The lawsuit of course.
The antitrust lawsuit for having a monopoly because this would absolutely.
No, it would have.
It definitely would have created a massive monopoly within sports streaming.
Absolutely.
Yeah.
So that's why I said I'm not surprised that they decided to just cut it because I think they realized as well, you know behind the scenes like if we went through with this.
(13:07):
They would be they'll be screwed completely.
Yeah.
I miss watching sports on cable.
Those days are gone.
My friend.
Those days are gone.
I miss when you were just like, hey, yo, it's on Channel 12.
Got it.
Yeah.
Now I've like, where's the game playing?
I don't let me look it up.
It's only on Hulu.
Okay.
Let's watch.
Yeah.
What services?
What's it going on?
Oh damn.
(13:27):
It's on Hulu live.
Damn it.
Ah shit.
All right.
Just do it.
Just do it with your email.
We'll get a free like we'll get a free trial run.
I already used my email.
Yeah, that shit all over again.
Who's got a new email?
And then you got to create a new email.
Mm hmm.
All right.
So our last bit of film news before we hit our main topic, this is actually a pretty big one.
We have anime piracy going off the rails to the point that we have one site that's having more traffic than Disney Plus.
(13:58):
Oh, not only Disney Plus.
They're having more than Disney Plus, Peacock, NBC streaming platform and GitHub.
Mm hmm.
Or GitHub.
Whatever.
GitHub.
GitHub.
Yeah.
They're having more than them combined.
This is monthly by the way.
That's insane how massively anime piracy has been skyrocketing.
(14:20):
And it doesn't sound like they're going to do anything with these websites.
I mean, from what I've read so far, there really isn't anything they can do because so long,
especially if in the US, they can keep going so long as they just change the name of their website.
Yeah, because that is a constant thing you have like here with HiAnime.2.
It used to be.co.com.org.
(14:42):
You see like it kept rotating its IP because I mean, that's I mean, it's end tag because that's all you can really do at the end of the day.
You can just change that out, have that up and it's still going to take a while for your ISP to figure that out and shut it down.
Yeah.
So to put that into context, just last November, a record of over 330 million viewers were seen that month on this website.
(15:07):
And how many subscribers does like Disney Plus have?
Definitely not that many.
I want to say what 20 million.
I think that was the last time we saw.
No, they got up.
I think there are like around 80 million when it went last went up, but still nowhere near those numbers.
Does that even beat, does that even beat out Netflix numbers?
331 million?
(15:27):
It's got to because I think Netflix is in the 200 millions.
Disney has 158.6 million subscribers.
Yeah.
And then what would you say Netflix?
Netflix subscribers.
283 million.
That even beat out Netflix, man.
Dude, that's massive numbers.
That's huge numbers for piracy, man.
(15:49):
Yeah, and the thing is, is that with all these animation studios that are that are complaining for transparency,
because they want to know where everyone's heading over for these websites.
So they're pressuring Google from Toei, Viz Media, Funimation, which is currently Crunchyroll.
They wanted complete visibility on where everyone was going.
(16:11):
Right.
And what sites people are watching their products on.
And they filed over 11 billion takedown requests to Google last year for their for their products to be taken down off illegal websites.
And of course, Google is not going to do anything about that.
There's nothing they can do.
(16:32):
So far, Japan has been able to work with Korea and Brazil in terms of taking down these illegal websites and even using a way to try and implement AI to monitor these websites
so they can be flagged more quickly and be taken down more quickly.
I'm sorry.
Have better security protections on your website.
Then we have like last year where both Netflix and Crunchyroll had a massive data breach.
(16:56):
Yes, where a shit ton of their shows were early release.
It was Dan to Dan Terminator zero.
Like a whole bunch of content was early early release on sites like and high anime.
And that was that I think that was that November, wasn't it?
Yeah, yeah.
So there you go.
And the rising and the rising support for these illegal sites from fans are growing to the point to where it's becoming alarming to all these studios.
(17:21):
We're coming back into a day of like the age of piracy.
It's coming back all over again.
Yeah, because again, it's the idea of you don't want to pay for, you know, for for subscribers for different for different services and just to watch one or two shows.
And that's it.
Yeah. So rather than trying to break up your content over multiple streaming services to try and get the most amount of your money, fans are tired of it.
(17:45):
And they're going to go to a place where it's illegal.
And didn't we discuss that how like now movie studios are aware that people are recording their movies in and it's like when it came to Deadpool and Wolverine, the studio understood it couldn't stop that.
We weren't we were seeing a lot of clips of that movie on YouTube, even on Tiktok and on Tiktok.
Everything is torius for that.
They just couldn't stop it.
(18:06):
Yeah. And we're getting into the age where like no one cares anymore.
Yeah. And that's what happens when all your shit becomes, at least from my understanding is that if you have something that's more and more expensive and you limit it to certain demographics of fans, the other demographics of fans that you're not selling it to or pricing out are going to find illegal ways to get that product.
(18:29):
Now, do you think because this is happening really like intensity with like anime?
Do you think this is going to transition over to like standard American television shows, movies and stuff where you can see like a higher rate of piracy increasing?
Because what it sounds like is a lot of the anime doesn't have as much protections as we have with like TV shows to keep the content from being stolen.
(18:50):
I think has to do with the actual words coming from which is Japan.
So they have a completely different system.
But piracy is up on from our end as well.
But we will start pretty sure we'll start seeing more of those like the I want to see Netflix shows, but maybe like like Hulu and you know, well, because I think not a lot of people do care on that regard because like the highest rate of piracy, I usually saw it like high popular shows.
(19:15):
Like when Game of Thrones was out and in its peak, I saw piracy of that show skyrocket.
That made sense because it's an HBO show.
Yeah, those that's what I'm saying that everything other than Netflix, I see piracy on because everyone unfortunately, everyone has Netflix.
Yeah.
So there's no reason to have a piracy for that streaming service.
Like I'm not seeing anybody try and pirate the rookie.
(19:36):
Yeah, that's true.
Like no one's like damn, I really wanted to watch rookie season four.
That's true.
They don't have like high popular hitting shows like that.
But like Apple, you know, Apple Peacock, wherever the other ones, you know, like damn, I've only had the Ted Lasso on DVD, you know, yeah, like I'm not seeing that.
(19:56):
No, it makes sense. We're pirating, you know, we were pirating the fun animations, the high dive and stuff like that.
But so crunch your roll.
Yeah, but it makes sense being that the anime, the shift of anime need or what's the thinking of another word?
Demand demand that the shift for anime demand was so tremendous this past four years going into 2025 to the point to where it's like.
(20:22):
Yeah, like fans want it now.
Yeah, they're not going to wait.
They don't want to wait anymore.
Yes.
And as well as like I had or I have country roll, but as well as other shows are not on there and it's something like maybe because, you know, you also have other shows are on other either streaming services or they're not available for streaming.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So you got to, you know, people like screw it.
(20:42):
I was just part of the entire thing.
That's very true.
That's absolutely true.
But damn, yeah, I do see piracy going even further than this and gaining way out of control until like the federal government's gonna have to do something about it.
It's going to get to that point.
We're going to go back to the theaters and then we're going to see those commercials again.
You wouldn't steal.
(21:04):
You wouldn't steal money from your mom's purse.
So why would you steal a movie?
No, the other one's called a you wouldn't download a car.
You wouldn't download.
You're going to start seeing those ad campaigns again.
Those campaigns are going to come back.
I guarantee you.
(21:25):
I don't think so.
I think we're way past those things now.
I think I think unfortunately the way I don't think Hollywood has that pull no more.
We're just like where they ask the government.
It's more like they asked.
See, I don't think that's a Hollywood thing.
I think it'll be a government thing implementing their own content into Hollywood.
We're like, hey, you got to place these ads we made.
(21:48):
You know, I don't know.
We'll see what happens.
But I mean, if there's suddenly overnight a shift of like, hey, guys, we own almost all the content out there.
Let's just make it all cheaper and just like subsidize all of our stuff.
You know, we don't have to merge everything.
Let's make it like 399 and then unlimited access.
(22:10):
No ads.
Let's go.
Let's do that.
Yeah, that's going to take another Luigi.
Yes, exactly.
That's going to take like four Luigi.
And a Mario.
And maybe, maybe like a Wario.
Wario is like domestic terrorism.
Yeah.
But yeah, it would have to have that type of shift for them to be like, you know what?
Maybe what we're doing isn't working.
(22:31):
Let's step back.
But no, it's going to be like, let's double down and make shit more illegal.
All right.
Well, we're going to take a quick break from our sponsor.
And when we get back, we're uncovering our main topic, which is the LA wildfire.
So stay tuned.
We'll be right back with you guys.
And we are back.
(22:53):
Covering over our main topic tonight, we have the LA wildfires.
Holy shit.
It is pretty crazy out there going on right now.
Like I said, every year in the last couple of years, January, the first month,
always have to pop something off.
And it happens to be this.
And this year, of course, happened to be Hollywood and LA literally burning down.
(23:15):
Yeah, over one hundred and seventy nine thousand people being told to evacuate
with even the Pacific Coast Highway.
It's like, well, how many different fires you have?
The Sunset Fires, the Hollywood Hill fires, the Palisades fires.
Like it's like five or six different fires happening all at once.
Having Pacific Palisades, Malibu, Pasadena.
(23:38):
I think what the West Hills West Hills fire and now the Hollywood Hills.
Each one of them over what, a thousand acres?
Yeah, I know that there was a I don't know if that's one hundred percent true,
but somebody was arrested in one of the fires.
Really? In one.
Yeah. It's the suspect of arson.
And then another one for I think for like West Hills or something.
(23:59):
So two different people or something.
I don't know if that's because 100 percent what suspects what I was hearing
with the Palisades fires apparently started with someone actually having a bonfire
in the backyard during the high wind season.
You know how we get the Santa Ana winds and everything.
That's what I was hearing with the Palisades fire, how that happened.
I heard I mean the same thing, but it was a fire pit.
(24:19):
Fire pit. Yeah, yeah. Same thing.
But yeah, high winds, which it wouldn't surprise me.
But people, I mean, come on, people don't surprise me.
Got over five thousand structures, homes burned down to the ground.
Entire neighborhoods.
Like the amount of it's unprecedented how quickly this fire
moved to the point to where it burned down as many neighborhoods as it did.
(24:43):
I mean, have you seen the building structures in L.A.?
Yeah, they are pretty compact.
They're compact. They're built together.
I mean, what L.A. has that role with any buildings like before 86, 83.
They don't need to be up to code all the way, like stuff like that.
And a lot of those in that area was built during the 50s.
So you got to remember, like some of the houses aren't built
(25:05):
how they are now to withstand fire, damage, rain, all that stuff.
We have a lot of old buildings in L.A.
It's crazy how many condos we're going to get now.
I mean, what a coincidence, right?
Like, damn, I'm not going to fall into that whole conspiracy.
I'm not going to fall into that one because I have to hear that every single time about
(25:25):
any fires like, no, the government's behind this government.
The liberals are controlling the weather.
But it's pretty crazy, though, how this all came about
and how fast these move these fire spread.
And now all of Hollywood, all of L.A. is just locked down shut.
They even have in like curfew laws going out right now.
Yeah, like fiance's younger brother, he goes to college out there.
(25:47):
He had to well, they weren't told to leave, but classes were canceled.
Yeah, obviously. And they were saying, hey, we recommend that you go home.
Like if you live out of the area, we recommend you go home.
Because it's just like the ash and smoke everywhere.
Yeah. So it's just it's nuts.
How many how many people have been evacuated?
How many people have been affected by it and how Hollywood is being affected by it?
(26:09):
Now, Hollywood, Hollywood has not beginning to break these last couple of years.
Went ever since the strikes, really ever since COVID, COVID.
Yeah, COVID is just four years constantly, constantly downhill for them.
And it's always something upsetting to production.
Yeah. Now, do you think these fires are going to actually reach studios, though?
No, I don't think it might reach to be.
(26:32):
It's that it's not that close to Culver City, which is Culver City has a lot of independent studios there.
Yeah. It's just you're going to get a lot of.
I don't know, like it's I don't think it affects you.
It's just right now the air quality itself is affecting filming.
Got it. Yeah. But as for like, well, affect like an actual direct studio,
(26:52):
maybe one or two of them.
But even then, we're talking about independent studios.
Yeah. You know, probably the own studios.
Now we're talking about like Warner Brothers or Universal,
because I think Universal is like still like 10 miles away from the.
Because this has been affecting some actors homes.
Yes. And celebrities homes, which I do feel bad because have you seen social media lately
with like James Wood coming out crying while he lost his home and valuables and stuff and people are just
(27:18):
just tearing this guy apart.
Yeah, it's it's affected a lot of people.
And with this mixed with the Santa Ana wins, I mean, LA is just.
Yes. And as well as another thing that people actually don't even are not even thinking about right now.
Obviously, you know, it's a tragedy, but there is a lot of events coming up to LA.
Major events coming up. Yes.
(27:38):
How this is going to affect it. We don't know just yet.
You know, you have the Los Angeles sale Grand Prix, which is in March of this year.
The U.S. Women's National Team versus Brazil, which is soccer in SoFi in April.
But in two years, we have FIFA, FIFA, man.
(27:58):
We have the NBA All-Star, the 20 on 2026, the Olympics, the Olympics, Super Bowl on the 27.
We have a lot in LA.
For the next decade, we have a lot of events coming up.
So this really has set us back.
It could set us back financially.
Obviously, landmarks, because people are coming to LA to see when they come to the events,
(28:19):
they're going to want to go see landmarks.
They want to go see Santa Monica, California, California, California.
No, Santa Monica Pier. They want to go to the Hollywood Hills.
They want to go. It's going to be like at Disneyland.
You just see fences up where the burns are and just coming soon.
Yeah, I mean, shoot. They're just going to block it off.
Watch, they're just going to block off the areas that got burned and just pretty everything else.
So essentially, the after this, essentially they have one year to get everything going.
(28:45):
Gotcha. That's what they have to do.
They have they have they have one year to start repairing because in two years,
all the major events are coming in.
I mean, at least you got studios like Disney and Paramount donating to LA to for fire relief to at least help with some of the reconstruction.
That's actually one thing that we'll say that's that's good so far that a lot of other companies are stepping forward to help with the relief.
(29:06):
They're helping out with, you know, with, you know, they're donating right now.
All these companies got a lot of money.
You can at least pay some back into the state that you reside in to help out.
You got food vendors that are also assisting and just feeding the workers like the fire department and the wildfire fire.
You know, everybody in first responders.
So, I mean, if anything, this has kind of become like a joint effort in the L.A. area of just like,
(29:31):
we'll see if this actually brings together people in L.A. or not.
Do you actually think so? You know, actually, no, there was an actor in one.
God damn it. I got to look him up. I got to look him up right fucking now.
He's he's one of the he's one of the actors in I think it's like three men and a baby.
And hold on. Let me see. Oh, the guy from police academy.
(29:53):
The this guy, Steve Guttberg. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
This dude. Have you seen what he was doing? No.
This dude, because like he was actually in the thick of it, he was telling news people was like,
hey, if there's anybody in here that like that, like left their cars because people were leaving in a panic.
So they've left their cars on the freeway and on the roads and shit like that.
Like if you're leaving your car, leave your keys so we can move them out of the way for like fire trucks and stuff like that.
(30:16):
So he was out there moving cars, clearing the roads out of the way
so that we fire trucks and first responders can get through to the fire.
Yeah. So my damn fucking ghost, Steve.
Oh, getting the thick of that shit help out. Fuck it up.
Yeah. But do you how far extensive before we leave?
(30:37):
How far extensive do you think these fires are going to take a toll on the city?
They're going to take a massive toll on financially, you know, because L.A. is a tourist.
I mean, that's our thing. That's yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Everything we do is for tourists and it is going to set it back.
But hopefully, you know, when it comes to rebuilding, you know, fixing things back up,
(31:00):
it can actually move by, move fast and settle.
And we might get we might get two years of, you know, L.A. pride.
Right. I know some of that. Yeah. This is this is our version of Boston.
Yeah. This is our Boston. Yeah.
We're going to get to actually we'll get maybe three years
because the whole event's coming up.
But Netflix is just going to have a field day with the documentary series
(31:21):
that they're about to release. Can't burn down our pride.
L.A. strong. Yeah.
That's so fucking terrible.
All right. We want to thank everyone for listening to this week's episode.
I'm curious on the thoughts on tonight's topic.
How you feel about the L.A. wildfires going out of control?
You can leave a comment below for watching this on the Red Band Podcast
(31:43):
YouTube channel for listeners to discuss episode topics
and various other film related news.
We put out episodes every Wednesday for audio listeners and Fridays
for those who like to watch our videos for audio listeners.
You can find the Red Band Podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts,
IHAR Radio and Samsung Podcasts.
And of course, I'll say again, you can watch our video format
on our Red Band Podcast channel on YouTube.
(32:04):
And before we fully close out Mike Castle's last end notes for you guys.
Yes, all the different ways you can be able to listen to us,
including watching these episodes live as they're recorded on YouTube
at YouTube dot com forward slash the Red Band Podcast.
Look for the screaming microphone.
Our audios usually come out every Wednesday around 5 a.m.
videos Friday around the same time 5 a.m.
(32:24):
And of course, all the ways you can listen to us,
like if you're on the road or at the gym or even if you're just driving in your car somewhere.
Look for the Red Band Podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Samsung Podcasts and IHAR Radio.
And of course, we still have our Patreon account for those who wish to donate or subscribe to us.
We'd really appreciate it because more subscribers equals more content.
We enjoy doing these for you guys and we'd really appreciate it.
(32:46):
And that's all I got.
I'm getting better and better at that.
Oh, yeah.
All right, guys, you heard it from Mike.
Please like, subscribe and we'll see you next time.
Later taters.
Okay, have any of you seen Nosferatu yet?
(00:02):
No.
Um, the synopsis is just basically about
a toxic ex-boyfriend with whom Lily Rose Depp,
dated a long time ago in her youth,
comes back to f*** with her new relationship
and her husband Thomas
and won't stop until she gives it up one more time.
And so like all the memes are coming out like...
(00:23):
Because she also talks to him
or he talks to her like telepathically, you know,
like f*** for mine, like possessing and s***.
And it's basically like text messages of just like,
he's saying like,
You will only think of me from here.
And it's just like,
What would you do if I was there?
How many donuts can you stack on it?
(00:44):
Hahaha!
Essentially, yeah, the whole thing.
Alright.
Here we go. We are ready.
Alright.
Alright.
We are going to start in...
down to five, four, three, two...
(01:11):
What's up everybody?
This is the Red Band Podcast,
your source for all film and TV related news and topics.
I am your host, Anthony King,
and of course with me tonight is my co-host,
Adrian G. Fuentes.
And you know him, sitting as usual in our control room
is our technical director, Mike Card.
Happy New Year's everyone.
(01:32):
Happy New Year's everyone, man.
2025 is here.
It's the new year, new time, new beginnings, man.
Oh, yes.
And what a year to start off with,
with these freaking LA wildfires, man.
Everything's just burning.
Everything's just burning down to the ground.
I mean, this could be technically a good omen.
I don't know if we want to see that.
(01:53):
Because the last time...
No, let's be honest.
We have been asking for like a hard Hollywood reset,
but come on, we weren't talking about this.
No, no, no.
I'm not saying that.
I'm not hoping for this in a way, shape, or form.
But I'm just saying like the last time we had like
at least like a good solid year,
like, oh, you know, it's a good year.
We're starting the decade, right?
We got a complete shutdown.
(02:14):
Yeah, that's true.
So we start off shit, maybe.
I mean, damn.
Maybe.
When I said I wanted Hollywood to burn down to the ground,
I wasn't being literal.
Just meant to like, let's start over.
Let's just start over, you know, financially, new plans,
new CEOs, you know, not burn the whole bitch down physically with fire.
(02:35):
What's that video, Adrian, that you found of just like...
It's an AI video of just...
Oh, it's an AI video?
Yeah, it's an AI video.
I looked into it, I was like, oh damn.
Wait for what video?
It was the one with the fire behind the Hollywood sign.
Oh, okay, that one.
Yeah, no.
We've looked, the Hollywood sign is actually fine.
I was hoping it was going to burn down because come on, fuck.
That shit needs to be burned down and renovated.
(02:58):
Let's be honest, though.
It would just be an LED sign if we did.
It still would have been better.
Have we seen the Hollywood sign, how terrible condition it's in?
Yes.
I mean, like overall, it would be great to like restore it or tear it down
and just like make it, you know, better.
No, no, they need to tear down and rebuild it.
Not just hot glue it together every time.
(03:19):
I mean, at this point, it's a national landmark.
Yeah, but all they do is make a trip to Home Depot, get a few sheets,
hammer it in, all right, we're good.
That's true.
It's like being put together with like paper, like glue and paper tape.
Like paper mache.
Yeah, paper mache, like clips and shit like that.
Construction paper and just, yeah, I feel you, it's cosmetic.
Yeah.
It's cosmetic.
It's barely holding together.
(03:40):
But if we were to actually tear it down and put something new,
it would be an LED sign.
And then it would be like Hollywood brought to you by
and then show all the fucking advertising.
I'm just saying like we could spend the money.
You know how we have that opening with the 20th century Fox sign,
you know, choo choo, choo choo, the spotlights and all that shit.
Step up your game, man.
(04:01):
Let's get the Hollywood sign looking like that.
That would involve effort.
I'll throw my hat in as well as bring back the old Hollywood land sign.
Oh, OK.
Why not bring that one back?
I see you.
Yeah, it would land.
Yeah.
What was the reason that it was shortened down Hollywood?
I think the sign just fell down.
And they were like, oh, fuck it.
(04:21):
You know, actually looks kind of good.
It looks better.
We're just Hollywood now.
You know, it just rolls off the tongue.
Hollywood.
Yeah, you know, it's just it's less drag on the vowels.
You know, it's nice.
But yes, our main topic tonight, of course, is going to be covering over
the L.A. wildfires and what's going on with that whole situation.
But first, of course, we got our smaller film news topic.
(04:42):
So let's just jump right into that.
Let's do it.
All right.
First, what we have here, Netflix is telling its writers to dumb down
its shows since its viewers are on their phones.
So basically what Netflix executives have apparently been telling
its writers is they need to specifically have their characters
announce what they're doing and when they're doing it,
(05:03):
because what they are claiming is a lot of people are actually watching
their shows.
They're either, you know, cooking, cleaning, reading a book, doing something else.
But they're just listening to shows in the background.
So they want to dumb down the content even further so they can understand.
It's basically they're trying to treat it like an audiobook.
You see what I'm saying?
(05:24):
That's dumb.
Yeah, I hate that because I gauge how good a show is by how often I look at my phone.
Yeah.
And there's only been like a handful of shows or movies where I like I don't
even pick my phone at all.
The most times like a quick glance and back down, but it sucks.
I'm like the entire time just like if it's not a good show, you're not paying attention.
No.
Yeah.
But still to the idea like where they're going to have to like I got to get this cup
(05:48):
right now and take a drink.
It's like they're all explaining.
What if it was like a dramatic moment where it's just like damn it, Jesse.
I told you never talk to him again.
I'm walking out the room in a huff.
So actors have to basically express their stage lines.
Yes.
On script, their script stage lines.
(06:08):
They actually have to say they're going to do that one scene from a black
man.
But yeah.
Oh my God.
Find that clip.
Yeah.
Yes, the stage directions, right?
Yeah.
(06:32):
Excuse me, brothers.
Military search started.
Oh, well, then.
So you want to be sneaky brothers.
Maybe you are undercover pig.
Or maybe you just a federal hitman.
I was you cats would already be dead.
Let me speak to the man in charge.
(06:54):
Sarcastically, I'm in charge.
That's what we're going to get.
That's basically what we're going to get.
Watch that movie again.
So sarcastically, I was reading the whole script.
(07:19):
That's basically what they're going to have.
That's what actors are basically going to have to do.
Yeah, like it's even even James Mangold, director of Logan.
You know, he's the other stuff.
Director of Logan, but he went on kind of like, I don't want
to say a tyrant, tyrant.
Is that what the word?
Yeah, a tyrant, tyrant.
Yeah, but he basically talked about how like in a quote,
(07:43):
he said constantly catering the lowest common denominator
keeps us stunted from any actual social growth and saying
if a show is written to be half watched, I will be full
turning it off.
Yeah, yeah.
And it makes sense because it's like, why are you so afraid
of creating also an artistic piece and afraid to have a
(08:03):
scene without dialogue and just focus on what you're seeing?
And we already have content for you to really not pay attention
to is reality TV.
Pretty much.
Yeah, that's TV.
That's always back, you know, or old sitcoms.
Yeah.
Yeah.
At this point, we are we are one step away from actually
having Subway Surfer play next to the screen.
(08:23):
Yeah, on the screen or next to the side of whatever show
or movie you're watching.
I wouldn't be surprised if it would be in a movie theater.
I wouldn't be surprised either.
And be like, now I could finally watch.
Like, no, you just fucking brain rot.
But yes, that's apparently where things are moving forward
with Netflix and of course streaming writing content.
We got to dumb it down for the audience because of course,
(08:45):
they're not just going to sit down and watch the show.
They got to do more than things.
I understand.
Okay, that concept.
Understand if you're doing it for for for teen shows
or kid shows, because I mean, obviously you've seen that
like your nephew or anything else.
Yeah.
Handled by three devices at once.
Yeah.
You know, and able to keep pay attention to all three
at the exact same time.
(09:05):
So for that, I get it.
But for adults, don't do that.
I mean, like what's called a secret level.
Yeah.
Had no dialogue, almost no dialogue.
Yeah.
And it kept people.
Engaged.
Engaged into that.
Yeah, so it was great at this point.
But we also can't blame Netflix for this because the reason
they have to make this is because.
(09:25):
Attention span has really lowered.
Yes.
People's attention span has not improved whatsoever in the last.
It's gotten worse in the last couple of years.
So they got to create content that can match people's attention span.
Yeah.
So let's be honest.
It's your guys fault.
Let's let's be real, you know.
You guys are getting dumber.
(09:48):
Says Mike instead of microphone.
Yeah.
All right.
But what we have here for our next topic, Disney, Warner Brothers,
Discovery and Fox pulled the plug on Venue Sports.
That's right.
Venue Sports has been canceled.
It's no longer happening.
This was a trip.
This was a trip because man, we were talking about this for a couple of episodes.
(10:08):
This was going to change how sports was going to be streamed and redistributed
or amongst like different platforms.
But apparently the that was it.
It was to be or was it fooby?
It was fooby.
Fubu.
Oh, sorry.
Fubu is the one who first initiated that lawsuit and sounds like now they're really backing off now.
No, I'm not surprised.
(10:28):
Honestly, I'm not.
I don't think it's so much them backing off.
It's that them getting involved.
Fubu is getting involved.
They sign.
So what was signed was a deal with Hulu and Fubu.
Which is Hulu is Disney owned.
Is Disney owned to join together into this business venture to host sports.
So it's just so what it sounds like is it's not really a full cancellation of venue sports.
(10:53):
It's now reworking itself to include Fubo TV because here here in the article from Variety right here,
it even says that the decision surfaces after Disney agreed to take a stake in the Fubu streaming service
and fold its Hulu live TV service into it and quote from them after a careful consideration.
(11:15):
We have collectively agreed to discontinue the venue sport joint venture and not launch the streaming service.
They also said in an ever-changing marketplace,
we determined that it was best to meet the evolving demands of sports fans by focusing on existing products and distribution channels.
We are proud of the work that we have done on we have been done on venue to date and grateful to the venue staff
(11:38):
whom we will support through the transition period.
So wait, but does Warner Brothers and Fox have any stake in Hulu because it sounds like they just cut out those two people and signed the deal with Fubo.
Hmm.
That's a good question.
But it does say as well that Fubu agreed to end its antitrust case against the venue.
Yeah, yeah.
Because that means Fubu would put a case against them.
(12:01):
But what about Warner Brothers and Fox?
Are they still included in this deal or were they just pushed to the side and now it's just a Disney who owns mostly Hulu along with Fubo.
Here's another part of it saying that Disney actually agreed to buy 70% stake in the company of Fubu.
Hmm.
And which will sell both of its own namesake services as well as the live TV product currently available via Disney Hulu.
(12:25):
So Disney is absorbing Fubu.
Okay.
So it's pretty much pulling like the thing.
But still doesn't say like exactly what's going to happen with Warner Brothers and Fox with this deal though.
I think this is just another way for them to.
Because that just sounds like Disney is going to get more sports content.
That's a good point.
(12:45):
Yeah.
Yeah.
It sounds like they're just trying to avoid.
The lawsuit of course.
The antitrust lawsuit for having a monopoly because this would absolutely.
No, it would have.
It definitely would have created a massive monopoly within sports streaming.
Absolutely.
Yeah.
So that's why I said I'm not surprised that they decided to just cut it because I think they realized as well, you know behind the scenes like if we went through with this.
(13:07):
They would be they'll be screwed completely.
Yeah.
I miss watching sports on cable.
Those days are gone.
My friend.
Those days are gone.
I miss when you were just like, hey, yo, it's on Channel 12.
Got it.
Yeah.
Now I've like, where's the game playing?
I don't let me look it up.
It's only on Hulu.
Okay.
Let's watch.
Yeah.
What services?
What's it going on?
Oh damn.
(13:27):
It's on Hulu live.
Damn it.
Ah shit.
All right.
Just do it.
Just do it with your email.
We'll get a free like we'll get a free trial run.
I already used my email.
Yeah, that shit all over again.
Who's got a new email?
And then you got to create a new email.
Mm hmm.
All right.
So our last bit of film news before we hit our main topic, this is actually a pretty big one.
We have anime piracy going off the rails to the point that we have one site that's having more traffic than Disney Plus.
(13:58):
Oh, not only Disney Plus.
They're having more than Disney Plus, Peacock, NBC streaming platform and GitHub.
Mm hmm.
Or GitHub.
Whatever.
GitHub.
GitHub.
Yeah.
They're having more than them combined.
This is monthly by the way.
That's insane how massively anime piracy has been skyrocketing.
(14:20):
And it doesn't sound like they're going to do anything with these websites.
I mean, from what I've read so far, there really isn't anything they can do because so long,
especially if in the US, they can keep going so long as they just change the name of their website.
Yeah, because that is a constant thing you have like here with HiAnime.2.
It used to be.co.com.org.
(14:42):
You see like it kept rotating its IP because I mean, that's I mean, it's end tag because that's all you can really do at the end of the day.
You can just change that out, have that up and it's still going to take a while for your ISP to figure that out and shut it down.
Yeah.
So to put that into context, just last November, a record of over 330 million viewers were seen that month on this website.
(15:07):
And how many subscribers does like Disney Plus have?
Definitely not that many.
I want to say what 20 million.
I think that was the last time we saw.
No, they got up.
I think there are like around 80 million when it went last went up, but still nowhere near those numbers.
Does that even beat, does that even beat out Netflix numbers?
331 million?
(15:27):
It's got to because I think Netflix is in the 200 millions.
Disney has 158.6 million subscribers.
Yeah.
And then what would you say Netflix?
Netflix subscribers.
283 million.
That even beat out Netflix, man.
Dude, that's massive numbers.
That's huge numbers for piracy, man.
(15:49):
Yeah, and the thing is, is that with all these animation studios that are that are complaining for transparency,
because they want to know where everyone's heading over for these websites.
So they're pressuring Google from Toei, Viz Media, Funimation, which is currently Crunchyroll.
They wanted complete visibility on where everyone was going.
(16:11):
Right.
And what sites people are watching their products on.
And they filed over 11 billion takedown requests to Google last year for their for their products to be taken down off illegal websites.
And of course, Google is not going to do anything about that.
There's nothing they can do.
(16:32):
So far, Japan has been able to work with Korea and Brazil in terms of taking down these illegal websites and even using a way to try and implement AI to monitor these websites
so they can be flagged more quickly and be taken down more quickly.
I'm sorry.
Have better security protections on your website.
Then we have like last year where both Netflix and Crunchyroll had a massive data breach.
(16:56):
Yes, where a shit ton of their shows were early release.
It was Dan to Dan Terminator zero.
Like a whole bunch of content was early early release on sites like and high anime.
And that was that I think that was that November, wasn't it?
Yeah, yeah.
So there you go.
And the rising and the rising support for these illegal sites from fans are growing to the point to where it's becoming alarming to all these studios.
(17:21):
We're coming back into a day of like the age of piracy.
It's coming back all over again.
Yeah, because again, it's the idea of you don't want to pay for, you know, for for subscribers for different for different services and just to watch one or two shows.
And that's it.
Yeah. So rather than trying to break up your content over multiple streaming services to try and get the most amount of your money, fans are tired of it.
(17:45):
And they're going to go to a place where it's illegal.
And didn't we discuss that how like now movie studios are aware that people are recording their movies in and it's like when it came to Deadpool and Wolverine, the studio understood it couldn't stop that.
We weren't we were seeing a lot of clips of that movie on YouTube, even on Tiktok and on Tiktok.
Everything is torius for that.
They just couldn't stop it.
(18:06):
Yeah. And we're getting into the age where like no one cares anymore.
Yeah. And that's what happens when all your shit becomes, at least from my understanding is that if you have something that's more and more expensive and you limit it to certain demographics of fans, the other demographics of fans that you're not selling it to or pricing out are going to find illegal ways to get that product.
(18:29):
Now, do you think because this is happening really like intensity with like anime?
Do you think this is going to transition over to like standard American television shows, movies and stuff where you can see like a higher rate of piracy increasing?
Because what it sounds like is a lot of the anime doesn't have as much protections as we have with like TV shows to keep the content from being stolen.
(18:50):
I think has to do with the actual words coming from which is Japan.
So they have a completely different system.
But piracy is up on from our end as well.
But we will start pretty sure we'll start seeing more of those like the I want to see Netflix shows, but maybe like like Hulu and you know, well, because I think not a lot of people do care on that regard because like the highest rate of piracy, I usually saw it like high popular shows.
(19:15):
Like when Game of Thrones was out and in its peak, I saw piracy of that show skyrocket.
That made sense because it's an HBO show.
Yeah, those that's what I'm saying that everything other than Netflix, I see piracy on because everyone unfortunately, everyone has Netflix.
Yeah.
So there's no reason to have a piracy for that streaming service.
Like I'm not seeing anybody try and pirate the rookie.
(19:36):
Yeah, that's true.
Like no one's like damn, I really wanted to watch rookie season four.
That's true.
They don't have like high popular hitting shows like that.
But like Apple, you know, Apple Peacock, wherever the other ones, you know, like damn, I've only had the Ted Lasso on DVD, you know, yeah, like I'm not seeing that.
(19:56):
No, it makes sense. We're pirating, you know, we were pirating the fun animations, the high dive and stuff like that.
But so crunch your roll.
Yeah, but it makes sense being that the anime, the shift of anime need or what's the thinking of another word?
Demand demand that the shift for anime demand was so tremendous this past four years going into 2025 to the point to where it's like.
(20:22):
Yeah, like fans want it now.
Yeah, they're not going to wait.
They don't want to wait anymore.
Yes.
And as well as like I had or I have country roll, but as well as other shows are not on there and it's something like maybe because, you know, you also have other shows are on other either streaming services or they're not available for streaming.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So you got to, you know, people like screw it.
(20:42):
I was just part of the entire thing.
That's very true.
That's absolutely true.
But damn, yeah, I do see piracy going even further than this and gaining way out of control until like the federal government's gonna have to do something about it.
It's going to get to that point.
We're going to go back to the theaters and then we're going to see those commercials again.
You wouldn't steal.
(21:04):
You wouldn't steal money from your mom's purse.
So why would you steal a movie?
No, the other one's called a you wouldn't download a car.
You wouldn't download.
You're going to start seeing those ad campaigns again.
Those campaigns are going to come back.
I guarantee you.
(21:25):
I don't think so.
I think we're way past those things now.
I think I think unfortunately the way I don't think Hollywood has that pull no more.
We're just like where they ask the government.
It's more like they asked.
See, I don't think that's a Hollywood thing.
I think it'll be a government thing implementing their own content into Hollywood.
We're like, hey, you got to place these ads we made.
(21:48):
You know, I don't know.
We'll see what happens.
But I mean, if there's suddenly overnight a shift of like, hey, guys, we own almost all the content out there.
Let's just make it all cheaper and just like subsidize all of our stuff.
You know, we don't have to merge everything.
Let's make it like 399 and then unlimited access.
(22:10):
No ads.
Let's go.
Let's do that.
Yeah, that's going to take another Luigi.
Yes, exactly.
That's going to take like four Luigi.
And a Mario.
And maybe, maybe like a Wario.
Wario is like domestic terrorism.
Yeah.
But yeah, it would have to have that type of shift for them to be like, you know what?
Maybe what we're doing isn't working.
(22:31):
Let's step back.
But no, it's going to be like, let's double down and make shit more illegal.
All right.
Well, we're going to take a quick break from our sponsor.
And when we get back, we're uncovering our main topic, which is the LA wildfire.
So stay tuned.
We'll be right back with you guys.
And we are back.
(22:53):
Covering over our main topic tonight, we have the LA wildfires.
Holy shit.
It is pretty crazy out there going on right now.
Like I said, every year in the last couple of years, January, the first month,
always have to pop something off.
And it happens to be this.
And this year, of course, happened to be Hollywood and LA literally burning down.
(23:15):
Yeah, over one hundred and seventy nine thousand people being told to evacuate
with even the Pacific Coast Highway.
It's like, well, how many different fires you have?
The Sunset Fires, the Hollywood Hill fires, the Palisades fires.
Like it's like five or six different fires happening all at once.
Having Pacific Palisades, Malibu, Pasadena.
(23:38):
I think what the West Hills West Hills fire and now the Hollywood Hills.
Each one of them over what, a thousand acres?
Yeah, I know that there was a I don't know if that's one hundred percent true,
but somebody was arrested in one of the fires.
Really? In one.
Yeah. It's the suspect of arson.
And then another one for I think for like West Hills or something.
(23:59):
So two different people or something.
I don't know if that's because 100 percent what suspects what I was hearing
with the Palisades fires apparently started with someone actually having a bonfire
in the backyard during the high wind season.
You know how we get the Santa Ana winds and everything.
That's what I was hearing with the Palisades fire, how that happened.
I heard I mean the same thing, but it was a fire pit.
(24:19):
Fire pit. Yeah, yeah. Same thing.
But yeah, high winds, which it wouldn't surprise me.
But people, I mean, come on, people don't surprise me.
Got over five thousand structures, homes burned down to the ground.
Entire neighborhoods.
Like the amount of it's unprecedented how quickly this fire
moved to the point to where it burned down as many neighborhoods as it did.
(24:43):
I mean, have you seen the building structures in L.A.?
Yeah, they are pretty compact.
They're compact. They're built together.
I mean, what L.A. has that role with any buildings like before 86, 83.
They don't need to be up to code all the way, like stuff like that.
And a lot of those in that area was built during the 50s.
So you got to remember, like some of the houses aren't built
(25:05):
how they are now to withstand fire, damage, rain, all that stuff.
We have a lot of old buildings in L.A.
It's crazy how many condos we're going to get now.
I mean, what a coincidence, right?
Like, damn, I'm not going to fall into that whole conspiracy.
I'm not going to fall into that one because I have to hear that every single time about
(25:25):
any fires like, no, the government's behind this government.
The liberals are controlling the weather.
But it's pretty crazy, though, how this all came about
and how fast these move these fire spread.
And now all of Hollywood, all of L.A. is just locked down shut.
They even have in like curfew laws going out right now.
Yeah, like fiance's younger brother, he goes to college out there.
(25:47):
He had to well, they weren't told to leave, but classes were canceled.
Yeah, obviously. And they were saying, hey, we recommend that you go home.
Like if you live out of the area, we recommend you go home.
Because it's just like the ash and smoke everywhere.
Yeah. So it's just it's nuts.
How many how many people have been evacuated?
How many people have been affected by it and how Hollywood is being affected by it?
(26:09):
Now, Hollywood, Hollywood has not beginning to break these last couple of years.
Went ever since the strikes, really ever since COVID, COVID.
Yeah, COVID is just four years constantly, constantly downhill for them.
And it's always something upsetting to production.
Yeah. Now, do you think these fires are going to actually reach studios, though?
No, I don't think it might reach to be.
(26:32):
It's that it's not that close to Culver City, which is Culver City has a lot of independent studios there.
Yeah. It's just you're going to get a lot of.
I don't know, like it's I don't think it affects you.
It's just right now the air quality itself is affecting filming.
Got it. Yeah. But as for like, well, affect like an actual direct studio,
(26:52):
maybe one or two of them.
But even then, we're talking about independent studios.
Yeah. You know, probably the own studios.
Now we're talking about like Warner Brothers or Universal,
because I think Universal is like still like 10 miles away from the.
Because this has been affecting some actors homes.
Yes. And celebrities homes, which I do feel bad because have you seen social media lately
with like James Wood coming out crying while he lost his home and valuables and stuff and people are just
(27:18):
just tearing this guy apart.
Yeah, it's it's affected a lot of people.
And with this mixed with the Santa Ana wins, I mean, LA is just.
Yes. And as well as another thing that people actually don't even are not even thinking about right now.
Obviously, you know, it's a tragedy, but there is a lot of events coming up to LA.
Major events coming up. Yes.
(27:38):
How this is going to affect it. We don't know just yet.
You know, you have the Los Angeles sale Grand Prix, which is in March of this year.
The U.S. Women's National Team versus Brazil, which is soccer in SoFi in April.
But in two years, we have FIFA, FIFA, man.
(27:58):
We have the NBA All-Star, the 20 on 2026, the Olympics, the Olympics, Super Bowl on the 27.
We have a lot in LA.
For the next decade, we have a lot of events coming up.
So this really has set us back.
It could set us back financially.
Obviously, landmarks, because people are coming to LA to see when they come to the events,
(28:19):
they're going to want to go see landmarks.
They want to go see Santa Monica, California, California, California.
No, Santa Monica Pier. They want to go to the Hollywood Hills.
They want to go. It's going to be like at Disneyland.
You just see fences up where the burns are and just coming soon.
Yeah, I mean, shoot. They're just going to block it off.
Watch, they're just going to block off the areas that got burned and just pretty everything else.
So essentially, the after this, essentially they have one year to get everything going.
(28:45):
Gotcha. That's what they have to do.
They have they have they have one year to start repairing because in two years,
all the major events are coming in.
I mean, at least you got studios like Disney and Paramount donating to LA to for fire relief to at least help with some of the reconstruction.
That's actually one thing that we'll say that's that's good so far that a lot of other companies are stepping forward to help with the relief.
(29:06):
They're helping out with, you know, with, you know, they're donating right now.
All these companies got a lot of money.
You can at least pay some back into the state that you reside in to help out.
You got food vendors that are also assisting and just feeding the workers like the fire department and the wildfire fire.
You know, everybody in first responders.
So, I mean, if anything, this has kind of become like a joint effort in the L.A. area of just like,
(29:31):
we'll see if this actually brings together people in L.A. or not.
Do you actually think so? You know, actually, no, there was an actor in one.
God damn it. I got to look him up. I got to look him up right fucking now.
He's he's one of the he's one of the actors in I think it's like three men and a baby.
And hold on. Let me see. Oh, the guy from police academy.
(29:53):
The this guy, Steve Guttberg. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
This dude. Have you seen what he was doing? No.
This dude, because like he was actually in the thick of it, he was telling news people was like,
hey, if there's anybody in here that like that, like left their cars because people were leaving in a panic.
So they've left their cars on the freeway and on the roads and shit like that.
Like if you're leaving your car, leave your keys so we can move them out of the way for like fire trucks and stuff like that.
(30:16):
So he was out there moving cars, clearing the roads out of the way
so that we fire trucks and first responders can get through to the fire.
Yeah. So my damn fucking ghost, Steve.
Oh, getting the thick of that shit help out. Fuck it up.
Yeah. But do you how far extensive before we leave?
(30:37):
How far extensive do you think these fires are going to take a toll on the city?
They're going to take a massive toll on financially, you know, because L.A. is a tourist.
I mean, that's our thing. That's yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Everything we do is for tourists and it is going to set it back.
But hopefully, you know, when it comes to rebuilding, you know, fixing things back up,
(31:00):
it can actually move by, move fast and settle.
And we might get we might get two years of, you know, L.A. pride.
Right. I know some of that. Yeah. This is this is our version of Boston.
Yeah. This is our Boston. Yeah.
We're going to get to actually we'll get maybe three years
because the whole event's coming up.
But Netflix is just going to have a field day with the documentary series
(31:21):
that they're about to release. Can't burn down our pride.
L.A. strong. Yeah.
That's so fucking terrible.
All right. We want to thank everyone for listening to this week's episode.
I'm curious on the thoughts on tonight's topic.
How you feel about the L.A. wildfires going out of control?
You can leave a comment below for watching this on the Red Band Podcast
(31:43):
YouTube channel for listeners to discuss episode topics
and various other film related news.
We put out episodes every Wednesday for audio listeners and Fridays
for those who like to watch our videos for audio listeners.
You can find the Red Band Podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts,
IHAR Radio and Samsung Podcasts.
And of course, I'll say again, you can watch our video format
on our Red Band Podcast channel on YouTube.
(32:04):
And before we fully close out Mike Castle's last end notes for you guys.
Yes, all the different ways you can be able to listen to us,
including watching these episodes live as they're recorded on YouTube
at YouTube dot com forward slash the Red Band Podcast.
Look for the screaming microphone.
Our audios usually come out every Wednesday around 5 a.m.
videos Friday around the same time 5 a.m.
(32:24):
And of course, all the ways you can listen to us,
like if you're on the road or at the gym or even if you're just driving in your car somewhere.
Look for the Red Band Podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Samsung Podcasts and IHAR Radio.
And of course, we still have our Patreon account for those who wish to donate or subscribe to us.
We'd really appreciate it because more subscribers equals more content.
We enjoy doing these for you guys and we'd really appreciate it.
(32:46):
And that's all I got.
I'm getting better and better at that.
Oh, yeah.
All right, guys, you heard it from Mike.
Please like, subscribe and we'll see you next time.
Later taters.
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