Theater Reopenings Delayed; Remembering Carl Reiner; Entertainment Biz Lobbies For New Pandemic Relief

What's news: The major movie theater chains push back reopening plans, remembering Carl Reiner, SAG-AFTRA board signs off on studio deal, Netflix commits $100 million to supporting Black communities, the entertainment business lobbies for Congress for fresh pandemic relief, agents will be able to vote for Oscars, ABC picks its pilots, behind Steve Bing's sudden, tragic end. Plus: Sundance reveals pandemic plans, and WarnerMedia puts CNN Center on the market. --Alex Weprin What's news: The major movie theater chains push back reopening plans, remembering Carl Reiner, SAG-AFTRA board signs off on studio deal, Netflix commits $100 million to supporting Black communities, the entertainment business lobbies for Congress for fresh pandemic relief, agents will be able to vote for Oscars, ABC picks its pilots, behind Steve Bing's sudden, tragic end. Plus: Sundance reveals pandemic plans, and WarnerMedia puts CNN Center on the market. --Alex Weprin [The Hollywood Reporter]( [The Hollywood Reporter]( Today In Entertainment JUNE 30, 2020 What's news: The major movie theater chains push back reopening plans, remembering Carl Reiner, SAG-AFTRA board signs off on studio deal, Netflix commits $100 million to supporting Black communities, the entertainment business lobbies for Congress for fresh pandemic relief, agents will be able to vote for Oscars, ABC picks its pilots, behind Steve Bing's sudden, tragic end. Plus: Sundance reveals pandemic plans, and WarnerMedia puts CNN Center on the market. --Alex Weprin What's news: The major movie theater chains push back reopening plans, remembering Carl Reiner, SAG-AFTRA board signs off on studio deal, Netflix commits $100 million to supporting Black communities, the entertainment business lobbies for Congress for fresh pandemic relief, agents will be able to vote for Oscars, ABC picks its pilots, behind Steve Bing's sudden, tragic end. Plus: Sundance reveals pandemic plans, and WarnerMedia puts CNN Center on the market. --Alex Weprin [Theater Reopenings Delayed Once More] Theater Reopenings Delayed Once More ►AMC Theatres postpones reopening to end of July amid spike in COVID-19 cases. The announcement was expected after July tentpoles Mulan (Disney) and Tenet (Warner Bros.) decided late last week to relocate their openings from July to August.Throughout last week, it has became clear to Hollywood that cinemas won't be able to reopen en masse in mid-July as planned. AMC had planned to open the majority of its locations, or 450 theaters, on July 15, followed by the remaining 150 locations by on July 24. Now, AMC will open its first 450 cinemas on July 30, followed by the rest in early July. [The story](. +Cineworld followed suit: The second-largest exhibitor in the world and the owner of Regal in the U.S. — has pushed its grand U.S. and U.K. reopening dates to the end of July. In the U.K. the change pushes back the reopening from July 10 to July 31. [More](. +As for Cinemark: The company said it will start reopening most of its circuit on July 24, with additional theaters also relaunching in the following weeks amid the coronavirus pandemic. [More](. +Sony's Broken Hearts Gallery delays release to early August. The rom-com, from Stage 6 Films, is positioning itself to be the first new title from a major Hollywood studio to unfurl in theaters once cinemas are able to reopen after going dark in March due to the pandemic. [More](. +Cineplex reports $178.4 million first quarter loss amid pandemic. After Regal owner Cineworld called off its planned $2.1 billion takeover, Cineplex said it will stagger the reopening of its Canadian circuit after theatrical delays for Mulan and Tenet. [More](. +L.A. mayor calls for "hard pause" on businesses, including movie theaters, reopening. Eric Garcetti also noted that Fourth of July fireworks would be prohibited in the city in 2020 due to spikes in coronavirus cases and hospitalizations. [More](. ►SAG-AFTRA board approves TV/theatrical agreement. The vote was 67.61 percent in favor and 32.39 percent opposed, reflecting political strains in the union. The three-year agreement, which came after six weeks of bargaining, now goes to the membership for ratification, which is expected. If ratified, the new agreement will be retroactive to July 1. --“This deal represents the needs and interests of our members as they shared them with us during our national Wages and Working Condition meetings held across the country,” said union president Gabrielle Carteris. “We achieved a 26% increase in streaming residuals. In addition, a terrific wage package and an outsized increase in SAG-AFTRA Health Plan contributions. I am confident that this future-focused agreement is the strong foundation we need to evolve with the significant changes in our industry and our employers’ business models.” [The story](. ►Netflix to shift cash to banks supporting Black communities. The company says that it will shift 2 percent of its cash holdings — initially up to $100 million — towards banks and organizations that directly support Black communities. --Netflix CFO Spence Neumann in a statement obtained by THR said redirecting the cash would help end the "capital isolation" those communities faced and the multi-generational racial wealth gap directly impacting many Black families. "Moving some of Netflix’s cash deposits into Black-focused institutions and organizations in the U.S. can put more capital to work for the people and businesses in these communities and narrow the gap," Neumann wrote. [The story](. Theater Reopenings Delayed Once More ►AMC Theatres postpones reopening to end of July amid spike in COVID-19 cases. The announcement was expected after July tentpoles Mulan (Disney) and Tenet (Warner Bros.) decided late last week to relocate their openings from July to August.Throughout last week, it has became clear to Hollywood that cinemas won't be able to reopen en masse in mid-July as planned. AMC had planned to open the majority of its locations, or 450 theaters, on July 15, followed by the remaining 150 locations by on July 24. Now, AMC will open its first 450 cinemas on July 30, followed by the rest in early July. [The story](. +Cineworld followed suit: The second-largest exhibitor in the world and the owner of Regal in the U.S. — has pushed its grand U.S. and U.K. reopening dates to the end of July. In the U.K. the change pushes back the reopening from July 10 to July 31. [More](. +As for Cinemark: The company said it will start reopening most of its circuit on July 24, with additional theaters also relaunching in the following weeks amid the coronavirus pandemic. [More](. +Sony's Broken Hearts Gallery delays release to early August. The rom-com, from Stage 6 Films, is positioning itself to be the first new title from a major Hollywood studio to unfurl in theaters once cinemas are able to reopen after going dark in March due to the pandemic. [More](. +Cineplex reports $178.4 million first quarter loss amid pandemic. After Regal owner Cineworld called off its planned $2.1 billion takeover, Cineplex said it will stagger the reopening of its Canadian circuit after theatrical delays for Mulan and Tenet. [More](. +L.A. mayor calls for "hard pause" on businesses, including movie theaters, reopening. Eric Garcetti also noted that Fourth of July fireworks would be prohibited in the city in 2020 due to spikes in coronavirus cases and hospitalizations. [More](. ►SAG-AFTRA board approves TV/theatrical agreement. The vote was 67.61 percent in favor and 32.39 percent opposed, reflecting political strains in the union. The three-year agreement, which came after six weeks of bargaining, now goes to the membership for ratification, which is expected. If ratified, the new agreement will be retroactive to July 1. --“This deal represents the needs and interests of our members as they shared them with us during our national Wages and Working Condition meetings held across the country,” said union president Gabrielle Carteris. “We achieved a 26% increase in streaming residuals. In addition, a terrific wage package and an outsized increase in SAG-AFTRA Health Plan contributions. I am confident that this future-focused agreement is the strong foundation we need to evolve with the significant changes in our industry and our employers’ business models.” [The story](. ►Netflix to shift cash to banks supporting Black communities. The company says that it will shift 2 percent of its cash holdings — initially up to $100 million — towards banks and organizations that directly support Black communities. --Netflix CFO Spence Neumann in a statement obtained by THR said redirecting the cash would help end the "capital isolation" those communities faced and the multi-generational racial wealth gap directly impacting many Black families. "Moving some of Netflix’s cash deposits into Black-focused institutions and organizations in the U.S. can put more capital to work for the people and businesses in these communities and narrow the gap," Neumann wrote. [The story](. [Entertainment Biz Lobbies Congress For Fresh COVID Relief] Entertainment Biz Lobbies Congress For Fresh COVID Relief ►Entertainment industry pushes for new COVID-19 relief package. A letter to Congress on Monday from the Motion Picture Association, SAG-AFTRA and other groups calls for hiring incentives, changes to the tax code and a new federal insurance program, Eriq Gardner reports. --"These policies would help jumpstart domestic film and television production, encourage hiring and ameliorate the higher costs that must be undertaken to protect our industry’s workforce," states the letter signed by the leaders of the Motion Picture Association, the Directors Guild of America, the Independent Film & Television Alliance, the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees and SAG-AFTRA. [The story](. Film Academy grants agents right to vote for Oscars. Agents, who had long been classified as associate members without voting privileges, have prevailed in their decades-long quest to become full-fledged members, Scott Feinberg writes. --One reason why the Academy may have chosen this moment to expand its membership to include agents: its desire to further increase the number of women and people of color who are members as part of its recently-announced Academy Aperture 2025 initiative. [The story.]( ►Behind Steve Bing’s sudden, tragic end. Confidantes of the Hollywood financier, who died by suicide on June 22, reflect on the real estate heir’s complicated life to Kim Masters: “His friends ranged from the White House to the poor house." --“There will be some women who come forward who will say crazy sh*t,” predicts Anthony Pellicano, the former private eye and fixer who spent years in prison for crimes including wiretapping and racketeering. Pellicano says he did work “for and with” Bing but won’t go into specifics. “The problem when somebody is dead and can’t speak for themselves,” he continues, “is there are all kinds of stories.” [The story](. ►Sundance's pandemic plans. Newly-installed Sundance Film Festival director Tabitha Jackson is pushing ahead with her event's 2021 edition, but is weighing physical and digital options for the festival amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Organizers are expecting January's edition to take place live in Utah and other indie cinemas around the country, with a virtual component as well. [The story](. +NATPE is changing its plans too: Television trade group NATPE on Monday unveiled a new online marketplace, NAPTE Virtual, that will launch alongside its industry events this year. The virtual market is pitched as a one-stop shop for television producers, sellers and platforms, online and off. [More](. Entertainment Biz Lobbies Congress For Fresh COVID Relief ►Entertainment industry pushes for new COVID-19 relief package. A letter to Congress on Monday from the Motion Picture Association, SAG-AFTRA and other groups calls for hiring incentives, changes to the tax code and a new federal insurance program, Eriq Gardner reports. --"These policies would help jumpstart domestic film and television production, encourage hiring and ameliorate the higher costs that must be undertaken to protect our industry’s workforce," states the letter signed by the leaders of the Motion Picture Association, the Directors Guild of America, the Independent Film & Television Alliance, the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees and SAG-AFTRA. [The story](. Film Academy grants agents right to vote for Oscars. Agents, who had long been classified as associate members without voting privileges, have prevailed in their decades-long quest to become full-fledged members, Scott Feinberg writes. --One reason why the Academy may have chosen this moment to expand its membership to include agents: its desire to further increase the number of women and people of color who are members as part of its recently-announced Academy Aperture 2025 initiative. [The story.]( ►Behind Steve Bing’s sudden, tragic end. Confidantes of the Hollywood financier, who died by suicide on June 22, reflect on the real estate heir’s complicated life to Kim Masters: “His friends ranged from the White House to the poor house." --“There will be some women who come forward who will say crazy sh*t,” predicts Anthony Pellicano, the former private eye and fixer who spent years in prison for crimes including wiretapping and racketeering. Pellicano says he did work “for and with” Bing but won’t go into specifics. “The problem when somebody is dead and can’t speak for themselves,” he continues, “is there are all kinds of stories.” [The story](. ►Sundance's pandemic plans. Newly-installed Sundance Film Festival director Tabitha Jackson is pushing ahead with her event's 2021 edition, but is weighing physical and digital options for the festival amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Organizers are expecting January's edition to take place live in Utah and other indie cinemas around the country, with a virtual component as well. [The story](. +NATPE is changing its plans too: Television trade group NATPE on Monday unveiled a new online marketplace, NAPTE Virtual, that will launch alongside its industry events this year. The virtual market is pitched as a one-stop shop for television producers, sellers and platforms, online and off. [More](. [Carl Reiner, 1922-2020] Carl Reiner, 1922-2020 ►Obituary: Carl Reiner, the quintessential straight man for Sid Caesar and Mel Brooks who based the beloved sitcom The Dick Van Dyke Show on his own life and jump-started Steve Martin’s big-screen career, has died. He was 98. The influential writer, director, actor, author and 12-time Emmy Award winner died Monday at his home in Beverly Hills, surrounded by family. --Born in the Bronx, Reiner came to prominence in the 1950s as a performer and writer on Caesar’s legendary live variety programs Your Show of Shows and Caesar’s Hour, the wacky live primetime variety shows that also served as career springboards for Brooks, Woody Allen, Larry Gelbart, Neil Simon, Howard Morris, Imogene Coca and others. From those writers rooms, he and Brooks began a lifelong friendship, and the two birthed one of the great two-man comedy routines of all time, The 2000 Year Old Man. The off-the-wall shtick yielded five comedy albums, TV appearances with Ed Sullivan and Steve Allen, a 1975 animated television special and a Grammy Award. [The obituary](. ►ABC passes on Thirtysomething update as pilot fates revealed. The Disney-owned network on Monday passed on three pilots, while revealing plans to film five in the near future. Additionally, three more will roll to the network's "second cycle" while another trio will remain in contention for a later time. --Passed over at ABC are two of the network's most buzzy dramas — the Thirtysomething sequel and Greg Berlanti-produced brides of Dracula drama The Brides — as well as Jason Lee comedy Valley Trash. All three were co-productions with outside studios serving as the lead producers. [Here's what will go into production](. +Debris, starring Jonathan Tucker, ordered to series at NBC. Debris marks NBC's first series to be picked up from its 2020 pilot crop. The show, from Fringe's J.H. Wyman, was also the network's first drama to be ordered to pilot and has quietly been a network favorite since. [More](. +Colin Kaepernick's life to become Netflix series from Ava DuVernay. The athlete and activist is teaming with DuVernay for Colin in Black & White, a scripted limited drama that has been picked up straight to series at the streaming giant. The six-episode series will examine Kaepernick's adolescent life, focusing on his high school years and the acts and experiences that led him to become the activist he is today. Kaepernick will appear as himself as the narrator of the series, which will cast an actor to play the younger version of the star quarterback. [More](. +Nick Cannon to produce, star in Celebrity Call Center unscripted series at E!. The cabler also picks up a comedic celebrity profile series and is developing a makeover show hosted by Nene Leakes and Brad Goreski. [More](. ►WarnerMedia puts Atlanta’s CNN Center on the market. "This move in no way should suggest that WarnerMedia is less committed to Atlanta," WarnerMedia's CFO wrote in a memo. "Following the sale of the CNN Center, we plan to centralize most of our employees on the Techwood campus [named after CNN and Turner founder Ted Turner, and the original home of CNN]. This process will take several years, so we don’t expect any immediate changes for employees working at the CNN Center." [The story](. In other business news... ►U.S. buys debt from Hollywood giants as pandemic credit facility ramps up. The Federal Reserve’s Secondary Market Corporate Credit Facility is designed to provide liquidity to the corporate debt market, with the central bank set to purchase billions of dollars worth of investment-grade debt from companies on the secondary market over the coming months. It has already bought debt from AT&T, Comcast and Fox, and is set to buy bonds issued by Disney, ViacomCBS and others in coming weeks. [The story](. +Comcast's Sky deal "remains a mystery," analyst estimates $36 billion in "value destruction." MoffettNathanson analyst Craig Moffett in a Monday report said he is still not convinced of the mega-deal's financial and strategic value to the U.S. cable and entertainment conglomerate. [More](. +Cirque Du Soleil files for bankruptcy protection amid pandemic. A consortium of existing investors and debt holders are preparing a bid to repurchase the company and inject $300 million to help restart its global business. [More](. Reviews... ►David Rooney reviews Disney+'s Hamilton, writing that The change of plans [from theatrical release] to a Disney+ premiere, however, has taken on richer, more significant meaning in our current moment of turmoil and anxiety. It provides some much-needed catharsis at a time of renewed hunger for people of color to feel seen, represented, their dignity and rights respected and their intrinsic contribution to American life acknowledged — not viewed with the hostile gaze so often directed at otherness." [The review](. ►Frank Scheck reviews The Outpost, writing "the principal strength of The Outpost is its immersive quality, transporting viewers into the middle of the chaotic action, that will inevitably lose some impact on small screens." [The review](. ►Inkoo Kang reviews the Starz drama P-Valley, writing that the show "is the kind of series so variously accomplished you don't know what to praise first." [The review](. ►Daniel Fienberg reviews Netflix's Unsolved Mysteries, writing that "this new incarnation has almost none of what made the original memorable, substituting generic cases and limited style in stories (episodes run less than an hour) that are too dull for a miniseries and too meekly investigated for a newsmagazine." [The review](. Revolving door: Vice Studios [has tapped]( veteran producer Jannat Gargi to fill the newly created role of vp, head of documentaries in the U.S... Just months after joining the company, Heavy Metal [has promoted]( comics industry veteran Joseph Illidge to the position of executive editor... Former BWR publicists Cindy Guagenti, Paulette Kam, Gary Mantoosh, Christina Papadopoulos, Lisa Perkins, Jamie Skinner and Alex Spieller [are launching]( a bicoastal agency called The Initiative Group... ►TV ratings: CBS' first-ever simulcast of the BET Awards didn't bring in a huge audience, but it's likely to help the telecast match or beat last year's audience. ABC's game shows, meanwhile, snagged the top spot among adults 18-49 on Sunday. [The numbers](. Obituaries: [Linda Cristal](, the Golden Globe-winning actress who portrayed Victoria Cannon, the wife of Leif Erickson's character, on the 1967-71 NBC Western The High Chaparral, has died. She was 89... [Maximilian B. Bryer](, who directed episodes of the soap operas As the World Turns and The Edge of Night, died June 16 at his home in Las Vegas, his family announced. He was 98... In other news... --The shutdown on Broadway [has been extended]( again — until at least early January. --The Junos, Canada's national music awards, [were handed out]( on Monday, with Alessia Cara among the top winners with three trophies, including for best album of the year. -- The 2020 MTV Video Music Awards [will still go ahead]( despite the coronavirus pandemic. An MTV spokesperson confirmed on Monday that the show will take place Aug. 30 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. --ViacomCBS and TV station giant Sinclair Broadcast Group [unveiled a multi-year renewal]( of CBS network affiliations for eight Sinclair stations. --Arclight Films [has inked]( a North American deal with Grindstone Entertainment for the release of its Let It Snow horror thriller. --Women in Film, Los Angeles and The Black List have [set the participants](of the ​2020 Feature Lab and Residency. The program is a joint effort between WIF and The Black List that provides mentorship and opportunities to seven screenwriters over the course of a year. --Freeform has [set the cast]( for its remotely shot, coronavirus-inspired limited series Love in the Time of Corona. --Twitch, the popular video game streaming website, on Monday announced that President Donald Trump's Team Trump campaign account [has been temporarily suspended]( for "hateful conduct." --India [has banned]( video-sharing social network TikTok and messaging platform WeChat along with 57 other Chinese developed apps over national security and privacy concerns, as tensions between the two countries continue to rise. What else we're reading... --"Indie movies get a chance to star at drive-ins" [[WSJ](] --"Is this the end for Shane Dawson and Jeffree Star?" [[NY Times](] --"Studio notes on your com-com screenplay" [[The New Yorker](] --"Kerry Washington wants you to ask yourself: What is your hero’s journey?" [[LA Times](] --"CNN’s Van Jones secretly helped craft the weak Trump police reform he praised on TV" [[The Daily Beast](] Today's birthdays: Mike Tyson, 54, Michael Phelps, 35, Lizzy Caplan, 38, longtime WMA agent turned USC head of industry relations Larry Auerbach, 91, Nancy Dussault, 84. Carl Reiner, 1922-2020 ►Obituary: Carl Reiner, the quintessential straight man for Sid Caesar and Mel Brooks who based the beloved sitcom The Dick Van Dyke Show on his own life and jump-started Steve Martin’s big-screen career, has died. He was 98. The influential writer, director, actor, author and 12-time Emmy Award winner died Monday at his home in Beverly Hills, surrounded by family. --Born in the Bronx, Reiner came to prominence in the 1950s as a performer and writer on Caesar’s legendary live variety programs Your Show of Shows and Caesar’s Hour, the wacky live primetime variety shows that also served as career springboards for Brooks, Woody Allen, Larry Gelbart, Neil Simon, Howard Morris, Imogene Coca and others. From those writers rooms, he and Brooks began a lifelong friendship, and the two birthed one of the great two-man comedy routines of all time, The 2000 Year Old Man. The off-the-wall shtick yielded five comedy albums, TV appearances with Ed Sullivan and Steve Allen, a 1975 animated television special and a Grammy Award. [The obituary](. ►ABC passes on Thirtysomething update as pilot fates revealed. The Disney-owned network on Monday passed on three pilots, while revealing plans to film five in the near future. Additionally, three more will roll to the network's "second cycle" while another trio will remain in contention for a later time. --Passed over at ABC are two of the network's most buzzy dramas — the Thirtysomething sequel and Greg Berlanti-produced brides of Dracula drama The Brides — as well as Jason Lee comedy Valley Trash. All three were co-productions with outside studios serving as the lead producers. [Here's what will go into production](. +Debris, starring Jonathan Tucker, ordered to series at NBC. Debris marks NBC's first series to be picked up from its 2020 pilot crop. The show, from Fringe's J.H. Wyman, was also the network's first drama to be ordered to pilot and has quietly been a network favorite since. [More](. +Colin Kaepernick's life to become Netflix series from Ava DuVernay. The athlete and activist is teaming with DuVernay for Colin in Black & White, a scripted limited drama that has been picked up straight to series at the streaming giant. The six-episode series will examine Kaepernick's adolescent life, focusing on his high school years and the acts and experiences that led him to become the activist he is today. Kaepernick will appear as himself as the narrator of the series, which will cast an actor to play the younger version of the star quarterback. [More](. +Nick Cannon to produce, star in Celebrity Call Center unscripted series at E!. The cabler also picks up a comedic celebrity profile series and is developing a makeover show hosted by Nene Leakes and Brad Goreski. [More](. ►WarnerMedia puts Atlanta’s CNN Center on the market. "This move in no way should suggest that WarnerMedia is less committed to Atlanta," WarnerMedia's CFO wrote in a memo. "Following the sale of the CNN Center, we plan to centralize most of our employees on the Techwood campus [named after CNN and Turner founder Ted Turner, and the original home of CNN]. This process will take several years, so we don’t expect any immediate changes for employees working at the CNN Center." [The story](. In other business news... ►U.S. buys debt from Hollywood giants as pandemic credit facility ramps up. The Federal Reserve’s Secondary Market Corporate Credit Facility is designed to provide liquidity to the corporate debt market, with the central bank set to purchase billions of dollars worth of investment-grade debt from companies on the secondary market over the coming months. It has already bought debt from AT&T, Comcast and Fox, and is set to buy bonds issued by Disney, ViacomCBS and others in coming weeks. [The story](. +Comcast's Sky deal "remains a mystery," analyst estimates $36 billion in "value destruction." MoffettNathanson analyst Craig Moffett in a Monday report said he is still not convinced of the mega-deal's financial and strategic value to the U.S. cable and entertainment conglomerate. [More](. +Cirque Du Soleil files for bankruptcy protection amid pandemic. A consortium of existing investors and debt holders are preparing a bid to repurchase the company and inject $300 million to help restart its global business. [More](. Reviews... ►David Rooney reviews Disney+'s Hamilton, writing that The change of plans [from theatrical release] to a Disney+ premiere, however, has taken on richer, more significant meaning in our current moment of turmoil and anxiety. It provides some much-needed catharsis at a time of renewed hunger for people of color to feel seen, represented, their dignity and rights respected and their intrinsic contribution to American life acknowledged — not viewed with the hostile gaze so often directed at otherness." [The review](. ►Frank Scheck reviews The Outpost, writing "the principal strength of The Outpost is its immersive quality, transporting viewers into the middle of the chaotic action, that will inevitably lose some impact on small screens." [The review](. ►Inkoo Kang reviews the Starz drama P-Valley, writing that the show "is the kind of series so variously accomplished you don't know what to praise first." [The review](. ►Daniel Fienberg reviews Netflix's Unsolved Mysteries, writing that "this new incarnation has almost none of what made the original memorable, substituting generic cases and limited style in stories (episodes run less than an hour) that are too dull for a miniseries and too meekly investigated for a newsmagazine." [The review](. Revolving door: Vice Studios [has tapped]( veteran producer Jannat Gargi to fill the newly created role of vp, head of documentaries in the U.S... Just months after joining the company, Heavy Metal [has promoted]( comics industry veteran Joseph Illidge to the position of executive editor... Former BWR publicists Cindy Guagenti, Paulette Kam, Gary Mantoosh, Christina Papadopoulos, Lisa Perkins, Jamie Skinner and Alex Spieller [are launching]( a bicoastal agency called The Initiative Group... ►TV ratings: CBS' first-ever simulcast of the BET Awards didn't bring in a huge audience, but it's likely to help the telecast match or beat last year's audience. ABC's game shows, meanwhile, snagged the top spot among adults 18-49 on Sunday. [The numbers](. Obituaries: [Linda Cristal](, the Golden Globe-winning actress who portrayed Victoria Cannon, the wife of Leif Erickson's character, on the 1967-71 NBC Western The High Chaparral, has died. She was 89... [Maximilian B. Bryer](, who directed episodes of the soap operas As the World Turns and The Edge of Night, died June 16 at his home in Las Vegas, his family announced. He was 98... In other news... --The shutdown on Broadway [has been extended]( again — until at least early January. --The Junos, Canada's national music awards, [were handed out]( on Monday, with Alessia Cara among the top winners with three trophies, including for best album of the year. -- The 2020 MTV Video Music Awards [will still go ahead]( despite the coronavirus pandemic. An MTV spokesperson confirmed on Monday that the show will take place Aug. 30 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. --ViacomCBS and TV station giant Sinclair Broadcast Group [unveiled a multi-year renewal]( of CBS network affiliations for eight Sinclair stations. --Arclight Films [has inked]( a North American deal with Grindstone Entertainment for the release of its Let It Snow horror thriller. --Women in Film, Los Angeles and The Black List have [set the participants](of the ​2020 Feature Lab and Residency. The program is a joint effort between WIF and The Black List that provides mentorship and opportunities to seven screenwriters over the course of a year. --Freeform has [set the cast]( for its remotely shot, coronavirus-inspired limited series Love in the Time of Corona. --Twitch, the popular video game streaming website, on Monday announced that President Donald Trump's Team Trump campaign account [has been temporarily suspended]( for "hateful conduct." --India [has banned]( video-sharing social network TikTok and messaging platform WeChat along with 57 other Chinese developed apps over national security and privacy concerns, as tensions between the two countries continue to rise. What else we're reading... --"Indie movies get a chance to star at drive-ins" [[WSJ](] --"Is this the end for Shane Dawson and Jeffree Star?" [[NY Times](] --"Studio notes on your com-com screenplay" [[The New Yorker](] --"Kerry Washington wants you to ask yourself: What is your hero’s journey?" [[LA Times](] --"CNN’s Van Jones secretly helped craft the weak Trump police reform he praised on TV" [[The Daily Beast](] Today's birthdays: Mike Tyson, 54, Michael Phelps, 35, Lizzy Caplan, 38, longtime WMA agent turned USC head of industry relations Larry Auerbach, 91, Nancy Dussault, 84. [Image] [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [Instagram]( [LinkedIn]( Is this e-mail not displaying correctly? [View it in your browser.]( ©2020 The Hollywood Reporter. 5700 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90036 All rights reserved. JUNE 30, 2020 [UNSUBSCRIBE]( [MANAGE PREFERENCES]( [PRIVACY POLICY]( [TERMS OF USE](