July 11, 2024
When I wrote the last newsletter, “Time for a New Job,” I didn’t know I might have been talking about Biden, not just those of us in the film world. Ouch. This isn’t a political newsletter, so I’ll get away from the election itself soon, so bear with me for a second, but trigger warning - this does concern politics, so delete now if you can't handle more of that.
The most shocking thing about the debate wasn’t Biden’s poor performance, but the fact that it took that shitshow to wake up the entire Democratic establishment, the donor base, the commentariat, and 90% of my social feed to the reality that everyone else has known for quite a long time – that Joe can’t win, and we’re f-d unless we come up with an alternate candidate. Debate me on this all you want, and a few of my hardiest friends keep insisting the election is up for grabs – they are delusional – but 74% or greater of the American electorate has made up its mind, and we only have to think about swing state voters anyways (same dismal stats or worse).
What’s been scary to me all of this time – I’ve been saying Trump would win this time for several years now, and called 2016 months in advance as well, for the record – is how those of us in film/media and the arts have buried our head in the sand, and have not only been counting on a Biden win, but have zero plans for what we do if/when he loses.
Guess what? The Republicans have a big plan, for everything, and while I’ve heard rumors of counter-plans from the Left, I’ve not seen much of anything when it comes to arts and culture – and that includes film and media. The right wing’s “Project25” (and other think tank ideas) focus on dismantling government, but it also includes dismantling support for the arts, getting rid of not just ITVS and POV, but all of PBS, and attacking anyone in the media not sufficiently right wing enough. We could literally wake up next year and find proposals to eliminate all of the following – CPB and all of PBS; the NEA; the NEH; probably even the IMLS; any program promoting DEI policies; any cultural funding that is part of any other agency (such as arts programs at the State Department); and a broad attack on the authority of the FTC and the FCC, as the Right dismantles the governing roles of nearly every federal agency, specious lawsuits against journalists and filmmakers who go against their values, and more self-censorship from media companies than we've already witnessed, closing down any film/media that is remotely serious.
I go to festivals and conferences, and up until a couple of weeks ago, my friends there were barely concerned about the election, and were still hoping we could get more funding for cultural programs, and hoped for more regulation of monopolistic media, etc. People would tell me we need more government support for the arts, for film, for PBS, and everything else, but the reality is we have very little chance of gaining ground here, and a much better chance of losing the few things we have in place. Not that we have much advocacy for what we need right now, mind you, but we are going to need it to preserve any semblance of what we already have, and our advocacy needs to begin now, and focus on saving what we have, and then on a vision for extending it into what we need.
Sure, there’s a chance we’ll get an alternate Democratic candidate, or maybe I’m wrong and Biden will somehow survive, but these threats aren’t going anywhere – these attacks have been happening during this administration (by others). Ted Cruz and his allies are attacking public media like never before. In fact, the only reason you aren’t hearing more begging for help from the leaders of public media, the NEA, etc. is because they’re under the gun and scared of being subpoenaed already. DeSantis already cut the entire arts budget in Florida, and that’s just a taste of what’s to come elsewhere.
We need a plan. We need advocacy for the world we already have in place, and then for the future we want to see. Everyone needs to stop thinking the film world will somehow correct course on its own, give up hopes that brands and billionaires will somehow save us and other pipe dreams, and start focusing on real activism and advocacy. I’ve been invited to multiple fest and conference panels on “the future of entertainment,” “brands and film,” “new funding strategies,” and so forth, but I’ve not been invited to – or even seen – one about how we’re going to save ITVS, PBS, the NEA and advocate for the field we need. So perhaps we’ll just get the one we deserve, instead.
June 27th was a wake up call. Alarm bells. Yes, our democracy is at stake in this election (that's a free link to Thomas Edsall in the NYT, which I suggest you read). But my concern in this newsletter is focused on film/media and the arts more broadly – and that’s where I hope we start to see some action, and soon. I do have hopes that others received the same wake-up call during the debate and will get active asap – in fact, I received an invite to a new group focused on the bigger “capital D, Democracy” issues just yesterday. But we also need a more focused, collaborative effort in the arts. A friend of mine was emailing me about this earlier this week, and said I need to write about it in the newsletter, to light some spark, so that’s what I’m doing here. I’m not sure it will help, but now you have it. That said, the last thing this movement needs is another old white man’s leadership – ahem – but I’ll happily join any coalition that forms… just let me know where to sign up and how to spread the word.
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Film
Streaming Giants’ Big International Push: In the first quarter of 2024, Netflix and Amazon ordered more originals globally than in the U.S., and accounted for 53% of all global SVOD commissions. “The market saturation in North America, the growing cost of production, and the lingering impact of the Hollywood strikes have pushed Netflix and Amazon to increase investment in international productions to stimulate subscriber growth (Mariana Enriquez Denton Bustinza, senior researcher at Ampere Analysis).” While Netflix focuses on dominating European and Asia Pacific markets (note: low-cost documentaries accounted for 30% of Netflix’s commissions in Western Europe in Q1 of 2024) Amazon upped its game in India, where they ordered a record 37 new titles (that’s more than the previous 6 quarters combined). Head to Scott Roxborough’s article for The Hollywood Reporter to learn more about the strategic differences between the two streaming rivals as they move to counter domestic subscriber stagnation. (GSH)
More Trouble at Chicken Soup: We last covered the mess that is Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment in late 2023 when filmmakers sued digital indie film distributor 1091 Pictures (owned by Chicken Soup) for failing to pay them for their work. Last week, Chicken Soup for the Soul sank deeper and filed for bankruptcy, endangering the many branches it owns, including America’s beloved DVD pickup/dropoff company, Redbox. As detailed in Janko Roettgers’s piece for The Verge, Redbox defaulted on loans, had its cars repossessed, and missed payroll for employees. Chicken Soup for the Soul, in turn, owes money to major retailers (Walgreens, Walmart…etc) and Hollywood studios (Universal, Sony, Lionsgate, Warner Bros). What now? $970 million in debt, Chicken Soup enlisted Bart M. Schwartz as its new CEO , presumably to pick up the pieces. Schwartz has not held any significant experience in media or entertainment. Let’s hope they (and DVDs) can recover from this. (GSH) And... apparently not... they switched to full Chapter 7, liquidation, yesterday. Deadline has that news. (BN)
And at Hot Docs: This just in as the newsletter is being finalized, but Hot Docs President Marie Nelson has resigned, as reported by Addie Morfoot in Variety. This is not unexpected, as Hot Docs has been having major issues for quite some time, as explained in the article. My understanding is that while (as the article hints), there were some issues with Nelson's not relocating to Toronto and some management issues there and artistically, the issues were much bigger and pre-date her tenure. My personal take - I've never seen org trouble like this that doesn't begin and end at the board level. Regardless, this is shaping up to be a potential big loss for the doc community, and my hope is that new leadership can be found to resurrect what has been one of our more important documentary institutions. (BN)
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Branded Content
CAA To (re-) Start Pumping Out Branded Film & TV: It’s no surprise that after the incredible success of Mattel and Warner Bros.’ “Barbie” movie, consumer brands are looking to convert their IP (products, characters, stories…etc) into entertainment to be enjoyed by wide audiences. Enter the Creative Artists Agency (CAA), which recently announced they were building out a new department called Media & Entertainment Partnerships that creates partnerships between brands, media companies, and star talent to produce film and TV. CAA’s new dept. is led by Marvel, NBA, & Disney marketing veteran Libby Bush. The Media & Entertainment Partnerships’ roster of brands looking to get in with Hollywood include Legoland Parks, The London Eye, Madame Tussauds, and Sea Life Aquarium, among others. The Hollywood Reporter’s Etan Vlessing has the news. (GSH) My question- since CAA had a brand leader in the past, who left and is doing great things, and they've had other staff doing this for years... how is this new, or more than a stab at sucking in more money? (BN)
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Miscellany:
Teens Turn To AI For Mental Health Support: The relationship between teen mental health and social media is extremely complicated. As we’ve written before, the research does not support the claim (at least yet) that social media is to blame for the mental health crisis we’re seeing in teenagers. Well, it’s about to get a lot more complicated as more teens are turning to AI to seek mental health support. As the Mercury News article points out that “For many teenagers, digital tools… or AI, have become a go-to option for emotional support. As they learn to navigate and cope in a world where mental health care demands are high, AI is an easy and inexpensive choice.” Admittedly, the concept of teens (or anyone else) feeling like they need to turn to AI for emotional and mental support is terrifying, but Mike Masnick for TechDirt notes that for many teens, AI feels like the better option: Some cite using AI to gain blunt, accurate info rather than getting sugar-coated messages from peers or superiors, others explain AI feels like a safe, stigma-free place to talk about mental health, and most feel like they’re in control of the conversation when they use AI. Masnick concludes, “Any real solution should involve making mental health professionals more accessible to teens… But absent that, it’s understandable why they might turn to other types of tools. So, hopefully, there’s going to be a lot more research on how helpful (or unhelpful!) those tools actually are, or at least how to properly integrate them into a larger, more comprehensive, approach to improving mental health.” Check out his article for more on the conversation surrounding social media and AI on teen mental health. (GSH)
Curation by Swimming: There's a great new show in NYC, at the Flag Art Foundation - a group show inspired by The Swimmer, the John Cheever short story (which inspired the film). It's a curated show, with only six new works among the 30 or so pieces on display. But as an avid swimmer, this is the perfect summer show for me, and given how hot it's been almost everywhere, I would assume it's a chill escape for almost anyone. Here's the NYT review from Walker Mimms, and here's the Flag Art Foundation site. (BN)
GSH = Articles written by Sub-Genre's Gabriel Schillinger-Hyman, not Brian Newman (BN)
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