WGA Suggests Studios Split From AMPTP; What's Next After Writer Pacts Suspended; Inside Disney-Comcast Plan for Hulu; 'Daryl Dixon' Review

[View on web]( [New reader? Subscribe]( September 09, 2023 What's news: Fran Drescher is re-elected as SAG-AFTRA president. Quentin Tarantino's final movie nabs hefty tax credits in California. Ryan Murphy and Greg Berlanti make six-figure commitments to support their companies' teams amid the strikes. THR critics review top TIFF titles including Dumb Money and The Dead Don't Hurt. — [Ryan Gajewski]( Do you have THR's next big story? Confidentially share tips with us at [tips@thr.com](. Writers Guild Suggests Studios Break Off From AMPTP ►"There is no requirement that the companies negotiate through the AMPTP." In its latest strike-era update to members, the WGA is suggesting that studio member companies of the AMPTP break off from the organization and negotiate individual deals with the union. As negotiations appear to remain at a standstill, the WGA's negotiating committee told members that behind-the-scenes conversations with individual legacy studio executives amid the strike have shown a "desire and willingness to negotiate an agreement that adequately addresses writers' issues." [The story.]( —"Warner Bros. just gave everyone else cover." Following Warner Bros.' suspension of writer-producer pacts including Greg Berlanti, Mindy Kaling and J.J. Abrams — now joined by Donald Glover as well as Lisa Joy and Jonah Nolan at Amazon — THR's [Lacey Rose]( and [Lesley Goldberg]( report that insiders predict most remaining deals will be paused. However, few see signs of the force majeure bloodbath that occurred during the last strike. [The story.]( —"I am honored to serve my union as president for another term." In an election cycle that took place amid a historic strike, Fran Drescher has been re-elected SAG-AFTRA president. Meanwhile, Joely Fisher was re-elected the union's secretary-treasurer. [The story.]( —Masterson received high-profile character references. The judge overseeing Danny Masterson's criminal case handed the actor the maximum allowable sentence, resisting calls from nearly 50 of his family, friends and colleagues to allow him to serve his prison term concurrently rather than consecutively. Ashton Kutcher, Mila Kunis, Kurtwood Smith, Debra Rupp and David Trainer — all of whom worked alongside Masterson in That '70s Show — wrote to the court as character references urging the judge to offer leniency in letters dated between July and August, after he was convicted in May. [The story.]( What If Disney Can't Agree With Comcast on a Price Tag for Hulu ►How much is Hulu worth, exactly? Hulu's value is the key sticking point between Comcast, led by Brian Roberts, and The Walt Disney Co., led by Bob Iger, as the two companies inch closer to a window where one side or the other can force Disney to buy out Comcast's 33 percent stake in the streaming service. We know there's a floor value of $27.5 billion, but executives at Comcast think that's conservative. A securities filing on Friday lays out the process by which the companies will determine a value for Hulu. [The story.]( —"Many of our coworkers have barely caught their financial breath." Greg Berlanti is stepping up to offer financial relief to support staff and below-the-line workers by committing $500,000 for a strike relief fund that will benefit those who have worked on his company's projects. News of Berlanti’s donations comes on the heels of a similar $500,000 strike relief fund created by Ryan Murphy to support those who have worked on his company’s shows. [The story.]( —🙏 Hoping for a blessed weekend 🙏 Warner Bros.' New Line movie division should have no trouble scaring off the competition and winning this weekend's box office contest. THR's [Pamela McClintock]( reports that The Nun II — which officially kicks off the fall season after a busy summer — is hoping to open to $30 million domestically or more after earning $3.1 million in Thursday previews. [The report.]( —"The messaging got off on the wrong foot with these interim agreements." THR's [Mia Galuppo]( talks to actor Peter Facinelli — who is currently doing press for his latest feature, On Fire, which has an interim agreement — and SAG-AFTRA chief negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland about the agreements and the confusion surrounding them. [The interview.]( Tarantino's Final Film Nabs $20M in California Tax Credits ►"There is nothing like shooting in my hometown." California's film office said that the state's Film & TV tax credit program will welcome a trio of feature films, including Quentin Tarantino's The Movie Critic, as well as a roster of 13 independent films. (No studio is currently attached to The Movie Critic yet.) Netflix ($20 million) is the only major studio nabbing credits in this allotment for an untitled film. [The story.]( —"The least these companies can do is provide a refund." The Disney-Spectrum carriage dispute has hit the state houses in New York and North Carolina. On Friday, New York Governor Kathy Hochul urged Charter Spectrum and The Walt Disney Co. to "resolve this dispute as soon as possible," and authorized New York's Department of Public Service to secure refunds for the state's 1.5 million or so TV customers impacted by the impasse. [The story.]( —"I wanted to know exactly what it was like to be there." THR's [Alex Ritman]( interviews director J.A. Bayona about his real-life disaster thriller Society of the Snow, which closes out the Venice Film Festival. Bayona discusses how he managed to convince the survivors that he was going to handle their story sensitively and how it feels to have helped launch the career of Tom Holland. [The interview.]( TV Review: 'Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon' ►"Comforting and familiar." THR chief TV critic [Daniel Fienberg]( reviews AMC's The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon. The Norman Reedus-led series focuses on the title character making friends with a mysterious nun and a messianic child. [The review.]( —"Offers a distinctly modern feminist take." THR critic Frank Scheck reviews Viggo Mortensen's The Dead Don't Hurt, premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival. Mortensen and Vicky Krieps star as a couple making a life in a remote Nevada town. [The review.]( —"Proves entertaining enough." Frank Scheck also reviews Craig Gillespie's Dumb Money, which debuted at TIFF. Paul Dano and Pete Davidson star in the comedy about unconventional investors who game the stock market. [The review.]( —"Two riveting leads who hold nothing back." THR chief film critic [David Rooney]( reviews Michel Franco's Memory, premiering in competition at the Venice Film Festival. Jessica Chastain and Peter Sarsgaard star in the Brooklyn-set drama. [The review.]( This Week's Must Reads ►On the cover. Under Roger Goodell's tenure as commissioner of the NFL, the league has asserted itself as the dominant force in live TV. Of the top 100 most watched TV broadcasts in 2022, 88 were NFL games, including 23 of the top 25, per Nielsen. THR's [Alex Weprin]( writes that to the tune of $110 billion, the NFL has shrewdly leveraged the fact that media — whether NBC, CBS, Fox and ESPN or Amazon and YouTube — needs its product more than it needs them. [The cover story.]( —Numbers game. Striking writers and actors are pressing a few common issues as they seek better contracts from the studios and streamers. One big one: Both unions want more transparency about how many people are watching streaming series and movies and, along with that, a bigger share of streaming revenue via residuals or success-based metrics. THR's [Rick Porter]( writes that the lack of viewership numbers used to feel like freedom, but as streaming evolves to look more like traditional television, creators want to peek behind the curtain. [The analysis.]( —"Isn't that what we all want for everything these days, from democracy on down? Can't we just go back to being a little better?" THR's Patrick Brzeski spoke to Richard Linklater about his new film, the comedy thriller Hit Man that screened out of competition in Venice. Linklater also shared his views on the state of indie filmmaking in the era of streamers and algorithms, and his answers are well worth reading (though rather bleak). [The interview.]( —"We're talking to people who are living in their cars, in some cases with their families." A record number of Hollywood workers are facing evictions and seeking rent assistance amid the dual strikes, according to Motion Picture & Television Fund president and CEO Bob Beitcher. THR's [Kirsten Chuba]( writes that actors, writers and crewmembers are being hit by both the work stoppage and an end to COVID tenant protections. [The story.]( —Predictions in 10 categories. THR's awards expert Scott Feinberg offers his first read of the 2024 Oscar race, post-Telluride and pre-Toronto. [The forecast.]( In other news... —Jenna Davis, Jack Griffo and Rio Mangini are [starring in indie horror thriller Stay at Home]( —Guillermo del Toro [talks artificial intelligence during TIFF address]( "I'm worried about natural stupidity" —SAG-AFTRA's Duncan Crabtree-Ireland sees [no early end to dual strikes]( —Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe director [on her seven-year journey with the film]( "The most pure, personal experience of my life" —[Events of the week]( NYFW, Soho House Awards and more What else we're reading... —Martin Short is a comedic genius, but if for some inexplicable reason you disagree, feel free to give a click to Dan Kois' much-debated piece criticizing the star as "annoying" [[Slate]( —Roxana Hadadi and Jason P. Frank write that Project Runway is falling out of fashion [[Vulture]( —According to Helen Holmes, Olivia Rodrigo's new album is "tepid and hollow" [[Daily Beast]( —Ben Child asks whether Fantastic Four can save Marvel and DC from superhero movie malaise [[Guardian]( —James Poniewozik assesses that streaming isn't as brutal on new shows as network TV was, despite the appearance to the contrary [[NYT]( Today... …in 2016, Warner Bros. unveiled Clint Eastwood's fact-based Sully, starring Tom Hanks. [The original review.]( Today's birthdays: Adam Sandler (57), Michelle Williams (43), Hugh Grant (63), Kelsey Asbille (32), Zoe Kazan (40), Eric Stonestreet (52), Constance Marie (58), Bonnie Aarons (63), Julie Gonzalo (42), Goran Visnjic (51), Charles Esten (58), Akshay Kumar (56), Nikki Deloach (44), Julia Sawalha (55), Angela Cartwright (71), Michael Bublé (48) Do you have THR's next big story? Confidentially share tips with us at [tips@thr.com](mailto:tips@thr.com?subject=). 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