Random Thoughts

Rusty wrote:Fear not Abe. Both movies were remade in in the past 8 years, because Hollywood.

WyldeMan wrote:Speaking of Delory Lindo, here's Delroy Lindo holding a Variety paper from 1995's Get Shorty with a headline predicting a November 2023 Variety headline..

WyldeMan wrote:Speaking of Delroy Lindo, here's Delroy Lindo holding a Variety paper from 1995's Get Shorty with a headline predicting a November 2023 Variety headline..

That's actually pretty funny! We'll see if this comes true.

A joint investigation by UK media outlets the Sunday Times, the Times, and Channel 4 Dispatches said Russell Brand has been accused of rape, sexual assault, and emotional abuse during a seven-year period.

The reports emerged after the 48-year-old actor had already issued a video Friday night to deny what he called “very serious criminal allegations.”

He insisted his relationships had always been consensual.

“The relationships that I had were absolutely always consensual,” Brand said. “I was always transparent about that then, almost too transparent. And I’m being transparent about it now.”

He claimed that this openness was being “metastasized into something criminal” and suggested that it was a “serious and concerted agenda” to silence him.

Brand has in recent years reinvented himself as a counter-culture guru, who questions mainstream media reporting and endorses conspiracy theories.

“It’s been clear to me, or at least it feels to me, like there’s a serious and concerted agenda to control these kind of spaces and these kind of voices,” he continued.

“I don’t mind them using my books and my stand-up to talk about my promiscuous consensual conduct in the past. What I seriously refute are these very, very serious criminal allegations.”

Brand claimed that he was aware of witnesses whose evidence “directly contradicts the narrative that these two mainstream media outlets are trying to construct.”

According to the reports, Brand entered into a relationship with a 16-year-old schoolgirl.

In another instance, he was accused by a woman of raping her in his Los Angeles home.

A third woman said Brand sexually assaulted her while she worked with him in Los Angeles

The reports said several others had accused Brand of physical and emotional abuse, sexual harassment and bullying.

Most of the women wanted to remain anonymous. A documentary will be released today on Channel Four’s Dispatches series.

Russell Brand has been dropped by his agent Tavistock Wood amid accusations he raped and sexually abused four women at the height of his fame.

Tavistock Wood, backed by United Talent Agency-owned Curtis Brown, terminated all dealings with Brand this week after being presented with allegations of misconduct by The Times of London and Sunday Times newspapers. Deadline reported earlier on Saturday that Brand’s profile had vanished from Tavistock Wood’s website. Brand vehemently denies wrongdoing.

Tavistock Wood, which also represents Lily James and Dominic West, took action against Brand three years after being informed of allegations he had a relationship with a 16-year-old who accused him of sexual assault. Brand was 31 at the time.

The woman, who was given the pseudonym Alice by the Times, told the newspapers that she contacted Tavistock Wood co-founder Angharad Wood in 2020 and informed the agent of her experience. Alice said she wanted an apology, but she did not receive one.

Instead, the woman said she received an “aggressive” message from a lawyer representing Brand, who implied that she was seeking compensation for her alleged experience. Alice said the response was “insulting” and invalidated her experience.

In a statement, Tavistock Wood told Deadline: “Russell Brand categorically and vehemently denied the allegation made in 2020, but we now believe we were horribly misled by him. TW has terminated all professional ties to Brand.”

Deadline has contacted Brand’s publicist and attorney for comment. He preemptively refuted the allegations in the Times newspapers in a social media video, in which he said his relationships were “always consensual.” He added that the report, which has been supported by investigative work by Channel 4, was a “serious and concerted agenda” by the “mainstream media” to silence him.

Alice and a family member described Brand’s behavior as “grooming.” She was above the age of legal consent in the UK, but said Brand referred to her as “the child” and sent a car to her school to take her out of lessons and to his home.

Alice alleged that Brand sexually assaulted her by forcing his penis down her throat. She said she had to “punch him really hard in the stomach” to get him off.

She was one of four women who have alleged sexual assaults between 2006 and 2013, while he was a presenter for BBC Radio 2, Channel 4, and later a Hollywood actor.

UltimateMarvel wrote:I've always liked Russell and thought he was funny. I also like how he interviews people or does his podcasts. He has a real talent in the way he communicates.

Whether he's guilty or innocent, we're going to have to wait and see I guess. When it comes to these things and the recent 70's cast, you can never assume anything.

Rusty wrote:Allegations against Russell Brand do not surprise me in the slightest. Surprised it took this long to be honest.

At the height of his 15 minutes he spent some time in Australia and if a woman recognised him on the street he would simply walk up, grab them and start making out with them.

That doesn't mean he's a rapist, but it doesn't leave a lot of room for communication to consent.

Rusty wrote:Allegations against Russell Brand do not surprise me in the slightest. Surprised it took this long to be honest.

At the height of his 15 minutes he spent some time in Australia and if a woman recognised him on the street he would simply walk up, grab them and start making out with them.

That doesn't mean he's a rapist, but it doesn't leave a lot of room for communication to consent.

WyldeMan wrote:I only knew him from Sarah Marshall but I never liked him, he was so gangly and creepy looking I avoided everything he did after.

He was performing a sold out show while the documentary was airing and fans even brought signs of support for him. Those are the people who write fan letters to convicts. 

This wasn't one girl making sudden blind allegations on twitter, it a 90 minute documentary that has been four years in the works that aired on the same day the London Times released a scathing expose into the allegations.

WyldeMan wrote:Do you think it's normal for a 30 year old man to send a car over to a high school to pick up his 16 year girlfriend? That tells me EVERYTHING I need to know about that shit bag.

UltimateMarvel wrote:Damn! Curious to see what he's going to say about this one.

WyldeMan wrote:Well he said he thinks every relationship he's ever had has been consensual so.....not exactly denying it.

I'm expecting him to also say something along the lines of "weeeew sixteen is de legal age of consent in de UK so I did nuffin wrooong." Or however he'd say it in his poncey cadence.

WyldeMan wrote:Jonathan Majors PR team is now probably staging scenes like in a movie to make him look like a good guy to women again. Or it was a totally legit scenario where he's just a real good dude who just happened to be nearby and was lured to the scene by the sight of other people standing around filming from multiple angles. But sure, it's probably legit.

TMZ

UltimateMarvel wrote:

WyldeMan wrote:Well he said he thinks every relationship he's ever had has been consensual so.....not exactly denying it.

I'm expecting him to also say something along the lines of "weeeew sixteen is de legal age of consent in de UK so I did nuffin wrooong." Or however he'd say it in his poncey cadence.

I could actually hear his voice reading that. lol

UltimateMarvel wrote:The girls were going at it pretty hard. It has to be legit. TMZ says he's got a court case on Friday so the timing is suspicious. I'm going to choose to believe it's real and that good things happen.

Ashton Kutcher Resigns as Board Chair of Anti-Child-Sex-Abuse Organization
Over Danny Masterson Support Letter

Ashton Kutcher has stepped down as the chairman of Thorn, the organization he co-founded to combat child sexual abuse, after the actor and his wife, Mila Kunis, drew criticism for writing letters to a judge seeking leniency in the sentencing of their “That ’70s Show” co-star Danny Masterson, who was recently sentenced to 30 years to life in prison for rape.

The couple’s support of Masterson started a firestorm that prompted them to respond in a video posted to Instagram last weekend. Kutcher announced he had resigned from Thorn in a letter to its board dated Thursday and shared on the organization’s website.

“I have determined the responsible thing for me to do is resign as chairman of the board, effectively immediately,” Kutcher wrote. “I cannot allow my error in judgment to distract from our efforts and the children we serve.”

In May, Masterson, 47, was found guilty in a Los Angeles court of raping two women in the early 2000s, at the height of his career. A judge sentenced him to the maximum penalty, 30 years to life, last week. He will be eligible for parole in 20 years, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.

“Victims of sexual abuse have been historically silenced, and the character statement I submitted is yet another painful instance of questioning victims who are brave enough to share their experiences,” Kutcher wrote in his letter to Thorn. “This is precisely what we have all worked to reverse over the last decade.”

Thorn is a nonprofit co-founded in 2009 by Kutcher and the actress Demi Moore. The organization has developed technology to help identify victims of child sex abuse online, according to its website.

The representatives for Kutcher and Kunis could not be reached on Friday evening, and a request for comment to Thorn was not immediately returned.

“We would not be the Thorn that we are today without Ashton’s contributions,” the organization said in a statement posted to its website. “He has played a significant role in the impact we have made, and we are grateful for his participation over the last 15 years.”

The public outcry against Kutcher and Kunis began last week after their letters to the judge in Masterson’s case, Charlaine F. Olmedo of Los Angeles Superior Court, were published on Substack by journalists who had covered the trial.

The letters detailed the couple’s relationship with Masterson.

Kutcher, 45, Kunis, 40, and Masterson, 47, were longtime co-stars on the hit sitcom “That ’70s Show,” which aired for eight seasons from 1998 to 2006.

In a letter dated July 27, Kutcher told the judge that he did not believe Masterson “is an ongoing harm to society,” and called the prospect of Masterson’s daughter being raised without her father a “tertiary injustice in and of itself.”

Kunis vouched in her own letter to the judge for Masterson’s character and the “tremendous positive influence he has had on me and the people around him.”

In a video posted to Instagram on Saturday the couple explained that Masterson’s family had asked them to write the letters “to represent the person that we knew for 25 years so that the judge could take that into full consideration relative to the sentencing.”

“They were intended for the judge to read,” Kutcher said in the video. “And not to undermine the testimony of the victims or retraumatize them in any way.”

In the letters, Masterson was described as an “exceptional older brother figure” by Kunis and as “among few people that I would trust to be alone with my son and daughter” by Kutcher.

In his resignation letter, Kutcher apologized to victims of sexual violence and members of Thorn “who I hurt by what I did.”

EXCLUSIVE: Russell Brand’s last major television job in the UK ended with him being dropped after he was repeatedly accused of being a “sexual predator” during the recording of the show.

Brand was booked as a judge on Comedy Central’s Roast Battle in 2018, but only lasted a single season on the series after he himself was roasted on-camera over allegations he had sexually assaulted women. He strongly denies criminal wrongdoing.

Three sources close to the Fulwell 73 production said Roast Battle judge Katherine Ryan turned the heat on Brand a number of times during filming. Her allegations did not make the final edit.

The confrontations reveal how speculation about Brand was circulating in the comedy and TV worlds, but he continued to be employed on primetime series. The show appears to be something of a turning point, however, given Brand virtually vanished from UK television screens after 2018, except for an appearance on The Great Celebrity Bake Off.

Deadline can reveal details of Brand’s spell on Roast Battle for the first time after The Times, Sunday Times, and Channel 4 reported allegations that the comedian sexually assaulted four women at the height of his fame. Brand vehemently denies the claims and has said all of his relationships were consensual.

Ryan has previously spoken about her experience on Roast Battle, but has not named Brand or the show she was working on. In an appearance on BBC series Louis Theroux Interviews... last year, Ryan revealed that she confronted her unnamed co-star: “I – in front of loads of people, in the format of the show – said to this person’s face that they are a predator.”

Deadline has confirmed with multiple sources that she was referring to Brand and Roast Battle. Ryan told Theroux that she did not name her colleague because it was a “litigious minefield” and she had not personally been assaulted by Brand.

One person familiar with the matter said Brand was “absolutely furious” at being targeted by Ryan. This person said other comedians may have also called out Brand, though this has not been confirmed by those who worked on the show. Two other sources said he demanded that producers protect him from being roasted by his fellow comedians.

The industry insiders said Fulwell 73 grew uncomfortable with the rumors swirling around Brand and his reluctance to be roasted gave the company an opportunity to drop him.

“Contract negotiations were made as tricky as possible, is the best way to put it,” said a source familiar with talks with Brand over Season 2. “In the end, it came down to the fact that it seemed like Russell didn’t have a good sense of humor. He didn’t feel he was fair game.”

Based on the U.S. show Jeff Ross Presents Roast Battle, Comedy Central’s Roast Battle format is predicated on comedians making jokes at each other’s expense, and judges Brand, Ryan, and Jimmy Carr were also considered to be fair game. Brand was replaced by Jonathan Ross for Roast Battle‘s second season.

Brand has not responded to Deadline’s request for comment. A representative for Ryan declined to comment. Fulwell 73 did not have a comment at the time of publication.

Paramount said: “We are aware of the very serious allegations raised in the investigation by The Sunday Times, The Times and Dispatches. Russell Brand was a presenter on MTV at periods between 2000-2012 and was a panellist on Comedy Central UK’s Roast Battle in 2017.

“We are not currently aware of any reports of misconduct having been raised with MTV or Comedy Central, but if any are brought forward they will be investigated. The welfare of all those working on, or contributing to, our shows is our highest priority and today we have robust duty of care procedures in place on all programmes produced for us including confidential whistleblowing lines.”

Roast Battle was Brand’s last significant recurring role on a UK show. He did appear on Channel 4’s The Great Celebrity Bake Off in 2019, but other bookings have been rare despite his regular appearances on comedy and chat shows on British TV earlier in his career.

Brand has reinvented himself as a self-styled counter-culture guru, questioning the narratives of the mainstream media on social media platforms. He has said that the criminal allegations against him are part of a coordinated effort to silence him, though there is little evidence to suggest this will happen.

Brand received a standing ovation at a gig in London on the day the allegations were first reported. He has received supportive messages from figures including Elon Musk who owns X (formerly Twitter), where Brand has 11.2M followers.

His preemptive denial video has been viewed 65M times on X. Channel 4’s Russell Brand: In Plain Sight: Dispatches was watched by 1.8M people in the UK on Saturday night, which will be one of Dispatches‘ biggest audiences in years.

Tim Ballard, the real-life founder and onetime CEO of Operation Underground Railroad who is portrayed by Jim Caviezel in the indie hit Sound of Freedom, was the subject of sexual misconduct allegations and a related investigation involving seven women, according to a story published by Vice.

Operation Underground Railroad is an organization, founded in 2013, whose mission is to combat child sex trafficking.

In a statement to Vice, the organization reportedly confirmed that Ballard “resigned from O.U.R. on June 22, 2023,” and that “he has permanently separated from O.U.R.”

Further, said the statement, “O.U.R. is dedicated to combatting sexual abuse, and does not tolerate sexual harassment or discrimination by anyone in its organization.”  

The group stated it “retained an independent law firm to conduct a comprehensive investigation of all relevant allegations,” but would make no further comment “to preserve the integrity of its investigation and to protect the privacy of all persons involved.”

As of mid-August, the anti-child trafficking movie had passed $174 million at the box office, due largely in part to a support from right-wing groups and 6,678 grassroots supporters who invested in the project. By mid-August, it had made more than the domestic box office of Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny ($172.9M) and Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One ($160.8M).

Ballard’s connection to the film is unclear. While he inspired it, he is not credited as a writer or producer. He did, however, attend red-carpet events for the film in late June and August.

Deadline has reached out to Angel Studios, which was behind the film, for comment and will add one if received.

WyldeMan wrote:"Oi, you can't call me a Predet-uur to me face! You can't say true fings to me face! Where do you fink you iz luv, this is called "Comedy Central Roast Baaatle" not the "Pick on the Innocent Never Did Nothing Not Consensual to Nobody Russell Brand Roast"! You can't pick on me! I'm outta here!!!"

UltimateMarvel wrote:Past couple of weeks have been crazy!

WyldeMan wrote:"Oi, you can't call me a Predet-uur to me face! You can't say true fings to me face! Where do you fink you iz luv, this is called "Comedy Central Roast Baaatle" not the "Pick on the Innocent Never Did Nothing Not Consensual to Nobody Russell Brand Roast"! You can't pick on me! I'm outta here!!!"

That is very spot on! Did he actually say that or is that you?

UPDATED: The fallout from the bombshell misconduct accusations against Russell Brand continue. His 2009 comedy special, Russell Brand In New York, has been taken off Paramount+, sources confirmed to Deadline.

The removal has happened in the last 24 hours, as NBC News reported that the special was still available on the platform as of Tuesday morning.

It follows Channel 4 and BBC earlier this week removing TV and audio shows featuring Brand, the comedian YouTube videos losing their monetization ability, his live tour being put on hold and new probes into his behavior being launched.

This is all in response to the Channel 4, The Times, and The Sunday Times investigation, in which Brand was accused of rape and sexual abuse by multiple women between 2006 and 2013. The removed New York special was taped during that period. Brand has denied the allegations.

Netflix declined comment on the fate of the Russell Brand Re:Birth comedy special, a Netflix original which debuted in 2018. Netflix in the past has refused to remove content, including comedy specials, over backlash, and I hear that will likely be the case again this time.

WyldeMan wrote:In today's modern ultra woke cancel culture society the accusation if far more important than the facts, so does who said it first even matter? The important part is that people will believe it and that is really what matters most.

UltimateMarvel wrote:

WyldeMan wrote:In today's modern ultra woke cancel culture society the accusation if far more important than the facts, so does who said it first even matter? The important part is that people will believe it and that is really what matters most.

Apparently. As we can see in this recent article.

UPDATE, 6:36 PM: Negotiators for the WGA and the AMPTP plus top studio CEOs are continuing their talks tonight on a deal to end nearly five months of strikes.

Moving into over 8 hours of direct deliberations so far today, , the parties, which include Netflix’s Ted Sarandos, Universal’s Donna Langley, Warner Bros Discovery’s David Zaslav and Disney’s Bob Iger, took a brief break Thursday before returning to bargaining.

Similar in kind to how events played out in the final hours of the 2017 talks, no indication right now if the two sides are cramming to get a tentative deal done, or riding the progress sources say they have made this week. An anticipated 6 PM update from the guild and the AMPTP has come and passed.

PREVIOUSLY, 5:50 PM: A second day of direct negotiations between the Writers Guild and studio CEOs has concluded this evening.

While no deal is at hand at present, the parties have had significant and detailed talks this week, we hear. They are drilling down into the fine print in the hopes of reaching a new three-year contract within hours or days.

However, with the situation fluid and chatter around town of a deal, it is unclear at the moment if the scribes and studios will be meeting again. A new get-together could come tomorrow or on Tuesday, after the Yom Kippur holiday — we will update with more information as we get it. As it stands, a new meeting has not been set as the parties go over details and data coming out of the recent negotiations.

The writers have been on strike for 143 days, so far.

Once again, as Deadline exclusively reported Wednesday, Netflix’s Ted Sarandos, Disney’s Bob Iger, Universal’s Donna Langley and Warner Bros Discovery’s David Zaslav were in the room with WGA and AMPTP chief Carol Lombardini to try to seal a deal.

Meeting at the AMPTP’s Sherman Oaks offices, the nitty-gritty discussions Thursday centered primarily on the proposals put forth by the studios Wednesday and the guild’s response. With the issue of writer rooms staffing mandates among the sticking points, the CEO Gang of Four sat across the table from the union’s negotiating committee led by Ellen Stutzman, David Goodman and Chris Keyser.

Additionally, to move matters along in what generally were cordial exchanges, there were sidebars between the individual CEOs and WGA brass throughout Thursday, as was the case on September 20.

“These are complex negotiations,” a source close to this latest round of talks said of a potential deal. “You want to move with determination, make sure everything’s buttoned up. That takes time.”

Citing how hard both sides are “working” on breaking the impasse that has gripped Hollywood labor relations since the WGA went out on strike on May 2 and the first round of new talks last month went nowhere, another well-positioned source said that where the players are right now “does sound like progress.”

Today began with some recriminations about a CNBC missive late last night that asserted a deal was coming today or “without deal tomorrow strike likely continues through year end,” as cable host David Faber tweeted. Reminiscent of past sharp salvos against the guild and its members from the C-suites, the blast radius from the report this morning saw Iger being accused of pushing the story – an accusation the Mouse House boss denied.

The principals on both sides also received calls from Gavin Newsom today. Taking no official role in the talks yet, the California governor continued his policy of “checking in,” as an insider termed it.

The WGA had no comment when contacted by Deadline about today’s talks.

Today is the 143rd day of the WGA strike and the 70th day that SAG-AFTRA have been out on the picket lines. If and when the scribes reach a deal with the studios and streamers, the 160,000-strong Fran Drescher-led actors union still would have to reach its own deal before Hollywood throttles up again.

Whenever a deal is reached, writers’ reps are expecting roughly another two weeks before the agreement would be ratified by the guild. As AMPTP then would move to nail down a new contract with SAG-AFTRA thereafter, questions remain on how quickly television writers rooms could return, and how soon producers could submit specs.

Nellie Andreeva contributed to this report.

UltimateMarvel wrote:That sounds like a whole lotta nothin! I'm gonna give this until middle of October.

Rusty wrote:All of those trailers looks good.

UltimateMarvel wrote:Agreed. The first 3 were already on my list but now I'm adding Butcher's Crossing too. Like I said before, Nice Cage is back baby!

UPDATED with WGA-AMPTP joint statement: The Writers Guild has reached a tentative agreement with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers to end its strike after nearly five months. The parties finalized the framework of the deal Sunday when they were able to untangle their stalemate over AI and writing room staffing levels.

“The WGA and AMPTPT have reached a tentative agreement,” the WGA and the AMPTP said in a joint statement this evening.

“We have reached a tentative agreement on a new 2023 MBA, which is to say an agreement in principle on all deal points, subject to drafting final contract language,” the WGA told its members in a release, which came just after sunset and the start of the Yom Kippur holiday that many had seen deadline to wrap up deal after five days of long negotiations.

Details of the WGA’s tentative agreement haven’t been released, but will be revealed by the guild in advance of the membership ratification votes.

Next steps in process will see the Ellen Stutzman-led WGA negotiating committee vote on “whether to recommend the agreement and send it on to the WGAW Board and WGAE Council for approval” in votes tentatively scheduled for Tuesday, the guild said tonight.

Pending those votes, the WGA told its members that it is still on strike, but that all picketing is hereby suspended.

Read the guild’s full statement to its members below.

Virtual discussions began mid-afternoon between negotiating committees for the WGA and the AMPTP. Along with the fine tuning on issues like AI and staffing one element of some continuing dispute today was around back-to-work schedules and protocols.

The studios also inquired if, once a tentative agreement is ratified by the scribes, if the writers would pick up their pens and hit their keyboards again very soon afterwards. The guild, from what we understand, had made the request that their members not return to work until SAG-AFTRA also had a new agreement with the AMPTP, reflective of the WGA’s feeling of solidarity between the two unions that has characterized their first mutual strike since 1960.

In tonight’s announcement, WGA told members that they could be able to return to work during the ratification vote if the board votes to authorize said vote to end the strike.

It will take a few days for the strike to be officially over as the WGA West and WGA East proceed with their ratification process. During the WGA’s last strike in 2007-08, a tentative agreement was reached on the 96th day and it wasn’t over until the 100th.

The first shows to shut down when the current WGA strike began on May 2 – late-night comedy shows and daytime talk shows – will be able to return to air almost immediately because SAG-AFTRA’s ongoing strike doesn’t include them as struck productions. Films and scripted TV shows that didn’t sign Interim Agreements with SAG-AFTRA will remain dark until that strike is settled as well.

All attention will now turn to ratifying the WGA deal and getting SAG-AFTRA and the AMPTP back to the bargaining table to work out a deal to end the actors’ strike, which has now been going on for 73 days.

Hollywood and the entertainment industry can breathe just a little easier, but economists estimated that the dual WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes have cost California’s economy some $5 billion.

Here’s the WGA’s message to members tonight:

DEAR MEMBERS,

We have reached a tentative agreement on a new 2023 MBA, which is to say an agreement in principle on all deal points, subject to drafting final contract language.

What we have won in this contract – most particularly, everything we have gained since May 2nd – is due to the willingness of this membership to exercise its power, to demonstrate its solidarity, to walk side-by-side, to endure the pain and uncertainty of the past 146 days. It is the leverage generated by your strike, in concert with the extraordinary support of our union siblings, that finally brought the companies back to the table to make a deal.

We can say, with great pride, that this deal is exceptional – with meaningful gains and protections for writers in every sector of the membership.

What remains now is for our staff to make sure everything we have agreed to is codified in final contract language. And though we are eager to share the details of what has been achieved with you, we cannot do that until the last “i” is dotted. To do so would complicate our ability to finish the job. So, as you have been patient with us before, we ask you to be patient again – one last time.

Once the Memorandum of Agreement with the AMPTP is complete, the Negotiating Committee will vote on whether to recommend the agreement and send it on to the WGAW Board and WGAE Council for approval. The Board and Council will then vote on whether to authorize a contract ratification vote by the membership.

If that authorization is approved, the Board and Council would also vote on whether to lift the restraining order and end the strike at a certain date and time (to be determined) pending ratification. This would allow writers to return to work during the ratification vote, but would not affect the membership’s right to make a final determination on contract approval.

Immediately after those leadership votes, which are tentatively scheduled for Tuesday if the language is settled, we will provide a comprehensive summary of the deal points and the Memorandum of Agreement. We will also convene meetings where members will have the opportunity to learn more about and assess the deal before voting on ratification.

To be clear, no one is to return to work until specifically authorized to by the Guild. We are still on strike until then. But we are, as of today, suspending WGA picketing. Instead, if you are able, we encourage you to join the SAG-AFTRA picket lines this week.

Finally, we appreciated your patience as you waited for news from us — and had to fend off rumors — during the last few days of the negotiation. Please wait for further information from the Guild. We will have more to share with you in the coming days, as we finalize the contract language and go through our unions’ processes.  

As always, thank you for your support. You will hear from us again very soon.

UltimateMarvel wrote:Finally! I'm glad it's over. They probably didn't meet all their demands but hopefully they will get most of what they asked for.

Starz is canceling four of its series, Variety has learned exclusively. Specifically, “Heels,” “Run the World,” and “Blindspotting” will not get new seasons at the cable network, while “The Venery of Samantha Bird” Season 1 is being scrapped without airing.

“Heels,” “Run the World,” and “Blindspotting” all recently aired their second season at Starz, while “The Venery of Samantha Bird” was in production on its first season. Production was shut down, however, at the onset of the WGA strike. It was reported at the time that only two episodes of the first season were left to shoot.

“The Venery of Samantha Bird” was to star Katherine Langford as the title character. Per the official logline, “Samantha, while visiting family in New England, reconnects with her childhood sweetheart and falls headlong into a seemingly perfect storybook romance. But the couple’s picture-perfect love story isn’t as sweet as it seems on the surface.”

“Heels” followed the professional wrestlers of the Duffy Wrestling League, a small independent promotion in Georgia. Jack Spade (Stephen Amell) inherited the league from his father and now struggles to keep it afloat while also trying to take it to the next level.

The series also starred Alexander Ludwig, Chris Bauer, Mary McCormack, Kelli Berglund, Allen Maldonado, Trey Tucker, Robby Ramos, Alice Barrett Mitchell, Roxton Garcia, David James Elliott, Joel Murray, and CM Punk. Mike O’Malley, who was also the series showrunner, starred in the role of Charlie Gully, a rival promoter.

Michael Waldron created the series and served as executive producer. Along with O’Malley and Waldron, Christopher Donnelly, Pete Segal, Patrick Walmsley, and Julie Yorn served as executive producers. Lionsgate Television was the studio.

“Run the World” followed a group of friends living in Harlem as they navigate life, careers, and relationships. Amber Stevens West, Bresha Webb, and Corbin Reid led the series’ cast, which also included Stephen Bishop, Tosin Morohunfola, Erika Alexander, Nick Sagar, Jay Walker, and Tonya Pinkins.

Leigh Davenport created the series and executive produced. Rachelle Williams-BenAry joined as showrunner and executive producer in Season 2. Yvette Lee Bowser also executive produced. Lionsgate TV was the studio.

“Blindspotting” was a followup to the film of the same name. Jasmine Cephas Jones reprised her role from the film, starring in the series as Ashley. Ashley is striving for a middle class life in Oakland until Miles (Rafael Casal), her partner of 12 years and father of their son, is locked up unexpectedly.

Benjamin Earl Turner, Atticus Woodward, Jaylen Barron, Candace Nicholas-Lippman, and Helen Hunt also starred in the series. Rafael Casal appeared in a recurring role as Miles. Casal and Daveed Diggs wrote, produced, and starred in the film.

Casal and Diggs wrote the series and served as executive producers. Casal also served as showrunner. Jess Wu Calder and Keith Calder of Snoot Entertainment served executive producers on the series, along with Emily Gerson Saines, Ken Lee, and Tim Palen of Barnyard. Seith Mann also served as an executive producer and director on the first two episodes of the series. Lionsgate TV is the studio.

Source: Variety

UltimateMarvel wrote:Damn! Looks like they're getting started with the chops already. Amell's facial expression in that pic is perfect. lol

 After almost five months, the Writers Guild’s strike will be officially over at 12:01 am PT Wednesday.

“Today, your Negotiating Committee, the WGAW Board and WGAE Council all voted unanimously to recommend the agreement,” the guild said today of tentative agreement worked out with the studios and streamers on Sunday. “It will now go to both Guilds’ memberships for a ratification vote. Eligible voters will receive ballot and materials for the vote which will take place from October 2nd to October 9th.”

“The term of the agreement is September 25, 2023 through May 1, 2026,” the WGA asserted in their note to members Tuesday. According to the guild, writers can return to work while the ratification process plays out.

Delivering on issues that many scribe saw as core to their profession, the deal contains big leaps in AI guardrails, residuals and data transparency for writers — leaps that could be transplanted into the upcoming negotiations between the AMPTP and SAG-AFTRA, which could start in the next week.

“The Guild negotiated a new residual based on viewership,” they told members. “Made-for HBSVOD series and films that are viewed by 20% or more of the service’s domestic subscribers in the first 90 days of release, or in the first 90 days in any subsequent exhibition year, get a bonus equal to 50% of the fixed domestic and foreign residual, with views calculated as hours streamed domestically of the season or film divided by runtime. For instance, projects written under the new MBA on the largest streaming services would receive a bonus of $9,031 for a half-hour episode, $16,415 for a one-hour episode, or $40,500 for a streaming feature over $30 million in budget. This bonus structure will take effect for projects released on or after January 1, 2024.”

“The Companies agree to provide the Guild, subject to a confidentiality agreement, the total number of hours streamed, both domestically and internationally, of self-produced high budget streaming programs (e.g., a Netflix original series),” they added. “The Guild may share information with the membership in aggregated form.” Read the full note sent to WGA members, with links to the agreement and a summary, below.

According to the guild, scribes can return to work while the ratification process plays out.

If, on the off chance that members reject the tentative agreement that was worked out on Sunday, the strike will start back up again. At 148 days, the strike will be just a few days short of being the guild’s longest ever — the strike of 1988 lasted 153 days.

In terms of minimum salaries, the WGA got the same pay raises that the Directors Guild got without striking. In June, the DGA got annual pay raises of 5%-4%-3.5% over the life of the contract.  That’s 13% compounded over three years. The DGA also got an additional 0.5% to fund a new parental leave benefit. The WGA won paid parental leave in 2020.

The WGA also got 5%-4%-3.5%, but notes in its summary of the Memorandum of Agreement that “Some minimums and rates increase less, mostly by 3% each year, while a few rates increase only once or do not increase over the contract. These exceptions are the result of patterns established in the industry.”

Going into the negotiations, the WGA had asked for 6%-5%-5% pay increases, which is 16.87% compounded over three years. According to the WGA, the AMPTP’s offer just before the strike began was only 4%-3%-2%, which is 9.26% compounded over three years.

In August 11, the AMPTP raised its offer to what the DGA got, which is what the WGA has now gotten.

The WGA, however, made a huge gain in its demands for minimum staffing and duration of employment in TV writers’ rooms. Previously, there had been no minimum staffing, but come December 1, development rooms (aka pre-greenlight rooms) and regular writers’ rooms for television and HBSVOD series will have requirements regarding the minimum number of writers who must be hired and the duration of their employment.

According to the guild’s summary, “These new provisions go into effect for seasons where the first episode is written after December 1, 2023 assuming ratification in October.

“Development rooms: Once three writers are convened before a series order, at least three writer-producers (including the showrunner) are guaranteed 10 consecutive weeks of employment.

“Development rooms where writers are guaranteed 20 weeks of work or more are treated as post-greenlight rooms. For these rooms on first season shows, the minimum staff size required will be 3 writer-producers (including the showrunner). For these rooms in the second or subsequent season of a show the required minimum number of writers is determined by the anticipated episode order.”

For post-greenlight rooms, a formula has been worked out for minimum staffing that depends on the number of episodes ordered, unless a single writer is engaged to write all episodes.

The minimum staff must also be guaranteed at least 20 weeks or the entire duration of the post-greenlight room, whichever is shorter. If there was a development room, the two writer-producers who worked in the development room must be hired for the writers’ room. Weeks worked in the development room can be credited against the guaranteed weeks in the writers’ room, but development room compensation cannot be credited.

For writers in production on single-camera series made for HBSVOD and Pay TV that are exclusively filmed in the US and Canada, two writer-producers must be employed for the lesser of 20 weeks of production or the duration of production along with the showrunner. The two writer positions can be used for more than two writers provided that the total weeks worked by the additional writers adds up to the minimum required number for each position.

Many observers opined that the guild would never get minimum staffing written into its contract.

Artificial Intelligence was another key strike issue, and here, too, the WGA made significant gains.

Under the terms of the agreement, “AI can’t write or rewrite literary material, and AI-generated material will not be considered source material” under the contract, meaning that AI-generated material can’t be used to undermine a writer’s credit or separated rights.

The summary notes that “A writer can choose to use AI when performing writing services, if the company consents and provided that the writer follows applicable company policies, but the company can’t require the writer to use AI software (e.g., ChatGPT) when performing writing services.”

The Company must also disclose to the writer if any materials given to the writer have been generated by AI or incorporate AI-generated material, and the WGA says that it “reserves the right to assert that exploitation of writers’ material to train AI is prohibited by MBA or other law.”

Writing teams will also see increased pension and health contributions as if they were a single writer. Long been a goal of the guild, its initial proposal was rejected by the AMPTP before the strike, but has now been achieved.

Under the new deal, each writer on a writing team employed for a script will receive pension and health contributions up to the relevant cap as though they were a single writer, rather than splitting the applicable cap. In addition, when a writing team is employed on a series, the contribution for each writer on the team will be made on the full weekly minimum instead of one-half of the weekly minimum.

The deal was reached just before sundown on September 24 with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.

Soon afterwards, the guild’s Negotiating Committee told members that “this deal is exceptional – with meaningful gains and protections for writers in every sector of the membership.” Key strike issues included wages, streaming residuals, protections against the abuse of Artificial Intelligence, and minimum staffing and duration of employment in TV writers’ rooms.

“What we have won in this contract,” the Negotiating Committee continued, “is due to the willingness of this membership to exercise its power, to demonstrate its solidarity, to walk side-by-side, to endure the pain and uncertainty” that came with the strike. “It is the leverage generated by your strike, in concert with the extraordinary support of our union siblings, that finally brought the companies back to the table to make a deal.”

Prior to the Board and Council votes, the guild and the AMPTP put the final touches on their Memorandum of Agreement, which details all the deal points. After that, the WGA Negotiating Committee voted to recommend it to the Board and Council for their approval. As part of the process, the Board and Council also voted to lift what the guild calls a “restraining order” to end the strike at a certain date and time, to be determined, pending ratification. This would allow writers to return to work during the ratification vote but would not affect the membership’s right to make a final determination on contract approval.

UltimateMarvel wrote:He deserves better than that dumb show. He lost a fine woman. Curious to see who he ends up with. Joe doesn't have to go hunting, the ladies will come to him.

UPDATED, 12:14 PM: A Clark County grand jury handed down a murder indictment today against the man arrested earlier in connection with the killing of Tupac Shakur. Duane “Keefe D” Davis is accused of gunning down the storied rapper on the Las Vegas Strip in 1996. District Judge Jerry Wiese ordered Davis, 60, a reputed gang member, held without bail.

In court, Chief Deputy District Attorney Marc DiGiacomo announced the charge of murder with a deadly weapon with the intent to promote, further or assist a criminal gang. He referred to Davis as the “on-ground, on-sight commander” and “shot caller” in a revenge plot against Shakur, Death Row Records founder Suge Knight and the label.

PREVIOUSLY, 10:17 AM: Police in Las Vegas have arrested a man in connection with the 1996 killing of fabled rapper Tupac Shakur, according to the Associated Press.

Citing two officials with firsthand knowledge of the case, the news org said Duane “Keefe D” Davis, who long has been tied to the Shakur shooting, was taken into custody early today.

The arrest comes two months after Vegas police served a search warrant in nearby Henderson, Nevada, looking for items “concerning the murder of Tupac Shakur.”

Davis has admitted in interviews and in his 2019 memoir Compton Street Legend that he was in the Cadillac where the gunfire erupted in the drive-by shooting. Shakur was 25 when he was gunned down near the Las Vegas Strip. The musician was struck by two rounds in the chest, one in the arm and one in the thigh while sitting in a vehicle on the night of the Mike Tyson-Bruce Seldon fight. He died at a hospital six days later.

The events of that evening and questions surrounding the unsolved case have been the subject of numerous film and TV explorations, including U.S.A.’s 2018 series Unsolved: The Murders of Tupac and Biggie Smalls, the 2017 doc Who Shot Biggie and Tupac?, the 2017 biopic All Eyez on Me from Summit, Morgan Creek, Program Pictures and Codeblack Films, Nick Broomfield’s 2002 feature-length documentary Biggie & Tupac, FX’s Emmy-nominated series Dear Mama: The Saga of Afeni and Tupac Shakur, which premiered earlier this year, the Oscar-nominated film Tupac: Resurrection and many more.

Recording as 2Pac, Shakur produced five No. 1 albums in a pioneering and influential career. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2017.