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Unlike last year's broader work stoppage, the current dispute boils down to A.I. protections for voice actors |
About 500 people walked the picket line on Thursday at Warner Bros. studio lot in Burbank in support of SAG-AFTRA‘s strike against the major video game companies.
While primarily actors walked back and forth across Gate 5 — the closest to WB Games Inc., the subsection of the company that is being struck — there was also fervent support from the WGA and IATSE. It was a scene reminiscent of last year, when SAG-AFTRA walked the line on the other side of the lot.
And just like last year, artificial intelligence is at the forefront of the conversation — which is not lost on SAG-AFTRA National Executive Director Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, who told Deadline he was “disappointed and…frankly, a little bit angry.” >>>"Likeness" A Sticking Point |
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Deadline Exclusives & Originals |
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Rise Of The Machines - MindRiot Entertainment, the transatlantic production outfit co-founded by Justin MacGregor and Jonathan Keasey, is launching a slate of what they have described as “AI-ready animation films” under the banner Hum-AI-ne ©ontent. Egger and his collaborators hosted a showcase at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. >>>8 Projects
More Viewers Crossing The Pond - New research provided to Deadline is shining a spotlight on how American viewers have flocked to UK streaming content since the strikes. Viewing to British shows and movies on Netflix and Prime Video in the States skyrocketed by 40% between Q2 2023 and Q1 of this year, representing an additional 400 million hours watched, according to Digital i research shared exclusively with Deadline. The Q1 2024 figure was the highest since Digital-i started counting three years ago. At the same time, viewing to all content on these platforms rose by the smaller figure of 9%. >>> List Of Top Brit Titles
NBCU Olympics Tour - Deadline got a look behind the scenes of NBCU's operation in Paris. It revealed that staffers are leaning into the Olympics location, embracing the relative freedom of the city after the locked-down Tokyo and Beijing editions. >>>View Of Eiffel Tower
Huw-mongous Crisis - It's the scandal gripping Britain after Huw Edwards, a news anchor at the peak of his powers just last year, has pleaded guilty to being in possession of child pornography. The BBC wants to claw back some of his pay, but Deadline reports that the corporation has double standards when it comes to dealing with presenters under criminal investigation. >>>Freelancers Don't Get Paid
Fashion Fable - Director and actress Joan Chen has purchased the life rights of Dr. Qin Huilan and Wei-Lai. Huilan, a retired doctor, bonded with her son Wei-Lai over high fashion when he encouraged her to begin posting photos in his outfits on social media. >>>A Style Icon Is Born |
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DEADLINE SUMMER FRIDAY GUIDE |
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| WHERE ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY PLAYERS MEET, EAT CELEBRATE AND RELAX |
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The Amalfi Coast region is the stuff of screen legend, most famously portrayed in Anthony Minghella's lush The Talented Mr. Ripley, more recently in Steven Zaillian's Ripley and, classically, in Jean-Luc Godard's Contempt.
Arrival: Book a private speedboat transfer from Naples directly to your favorite seaside village. Or take a helicopter with I Am Unico. They will deliver you to Positano — or the landing pad of your private yacht — in minutes.
Summer Lunch: A must stop is the legendary Lo Scolglio da Tommaso in the seaside village of Marina del Cantone.
Cocktails: Catch the sunset at Franco’s Bar in Positano. They don’t take reservations, but you can cut to the front of the line if you’re staying at the just-remodeled landmark, Le Sirenuse.
Day Trip: Ask your captain to take you Ischia and visit the thermal springs and “healing waters” of Baia di Sorgeto.
Nonna’s Cucina: Book a cooking class experience in Positano at La Tagliata. Explore the farm grounds, pick fresh eggs from the chicken coop, vegetables from the garden and enjoy a lively culinary experience with music and dancing.
Step It Up: Get up early and walk off that pizza with a sublime four-hour hike on the aptly-named Path of the Gods located high above the coastal towns of Positano and Praiano.
Romantic Dinner: Zass at the Il San Pietro Hotel is a Michelin-starred restaurant that serves a slice of pizza as an amuse bouche. |
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Cocktail-Hour Trivia
Q: Carroll O’Connor, who died in 2001, would have turned 100 years old today, August 2, 2024. He is one of only two male actors in television history to have won the Emmy for his leading role in both a comedy series and a drama series. Who is the other one? For the answer – and bonus trivia – click here. |
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SUMMER READS: PICK OF THE WEEK |
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| Set in Amalfi-adjacent Naples, Elena Ferrante's My Brilliant Friend isn't light reading, but it was crowned the best book of the 21st Century by the New York Times' critics earlier this year. The novel takes place in a poor but vibrant neighborhood and tells the story of two friends whose competitiveness, according to the New York Times, "expands as propulsively as the early universe, encompassing ideas about art and politics, class and gender, philosophy and fate." My Brilliant Friend is the first of Ferrante's four "Neapolitan Novels," which provide the basis for HBO's Peabody-nominated series of the same name. The fourth and final season premiered in June. Too heavy? Try Patricia Highsmith's The Talented Mr. Ripley for a more propulsive mystery set in a fictionalized version of the Amalfi Coast's Positano. |
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Freshly Emmy-nominated for her guest star turn in Season 2 of The Bear, Oscar-winner Jamie Lee Curtis dropped into the Deadline studio on a break from shooting Freaky Friday 2.
On the podcast, she reminisced about making the first Freaky Friday 21 years ago with a then-15-year-old Lindsay Lohan, and teased a little of what might happen in the sequel, admitting her role has evolved somewhat.
Curtis also talked about The Bear and her character Donna Berzatto, the alcoholic and unstable mother to the restauranteur siblings at the center of the show. >>>Listen |
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QUOTABLE
"The people in charge don’t want to get fired more so than they’re looking to do something great" - Vince Vaughn on why Hollywood is in love with IP-based projects | |
Exclusive
NBC's Chicago Fire has cast KaDee Strickland (Private Practice, Cruel Summer) for a recurring role in Season 13. She will portray Monica Pascal, the estranged wife of the new Fire Chief, Dom Pascal (Dermot Mulroney).
Exclusive
Holt McCallany (The Iron Claw) has been tapped to star in the new Netflix family drama series The Waterfront, written and executive produced by Kevin Williamson.
Exclusive
Academy Award winner Ariana DeBose (West Side Story), Emmy winners Rachel Brosnahan (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel) and Peter Dinklage (Game of Thrones), Oscar nominee LaKeith Stanfield ( Judas and the Black Messiah), Chris Messina (Argo), Ted Levine (The Silence of the Lambs), Danny Huston (The Constant Gardener), Matthew Jacobs (Bar America), Rhys Coiro (Entourage) and Stephen Dorff (Blade) have joined Academy Award winners Al Pacino and Jessica Chastain in Bernard Rose’s Lear Rex, a film adaptation of Shakespeare’s King Lear.
Exclusive
Courtney Thorne-Smith (Melrose Place) and Stella Gregg (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D) are set to lead the new Lifetime Original Movie He Slid Into Her DMs.
Changes are starting to happen at Saturday Night Live ahead of its upcoming 50th season. Punkie Johnson has left the show after four seasons.
In Brief - Patrick J. Adams joinst Yellowstone contemporary spinoff series... Johnny Sequoyah cast in Paramount Pictures horror feature Primate... Adam Driver to star in Off Broadway production of Kenneth Lonergan’s Hold on to Me Darling... John Magaro joins The Agency. |
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More News
⛓️💥 The Wall Street Journal‘s Evan Gershkovich and two other Americans held by Russia landed on U.S. soil late on Thursday night, greeted by President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. After hugging Harris and then Biden, Gershkovich gave a big bear hug to his mother, Ella Milman. Also arriving was Alsu Kurmasheva and Paul Whelan, two other Americans who were part of a complex prisoner swap with Russia.
🗳️ Kamala Harris‘ presidential campaign and the Democratic National Committee raised $310 million in July, a record amount and more than double what her rival Donald Trump and the Republican party collected.
✊ The Hollywood Basic Crafts have sealed a deal with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, ratifying their new three-year contracts with the studios by overwhelming margins.
💰 Disney Advertising reported a record level of upfront commitments, with particular strength in sports and streaming, as 2024-25 posted a 5% year-over-year gain in revenue and volume.
💪 As Los Angeles prepares for the Olympic handover during the August 11 Closing Ceremony in Paris, plans are afoot for Tom Cruise to make a major appearance. The stunt-savvy Mission: Impossible star will be dropping in — literally — in a skydiving sequence when the Olympic flag is handed over the 2028 host city.
📖 Universal Pictures has won the rights to Britney Spears’ No. 1 New York Times Bestseller The Woman in Me, a project which Wicked filmmaker Jon M. Chu is attached to develop to direct.
✍️ Ramy Youssef has signed a first-look deal with Netflix in which he will develop and create serialized projects through his production company Cairo Cowboy. |
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On the Radar
Fri - AMC Entertainment earnings
Sun - House of the Dragon S2 finale
Tue - Fox earnings; Deauville FF begins
Wed - Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery earnings |
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Comeback Kid - After stepping away from gymnastics at the last Summer Olympics, Simone Biles capped an epic comeback when she clinched her second women’s individual all-around gold medal in Paris, becoming only the third woman to win the all-around gold twice. She also broke a 120-year-old record to become the only U.S. gymnast to win six Olympic gold medals. |
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