Innholdsfortegnelse for Wednesday, August 26, 2020 i The Hollywood Reporter

Aclearer picture is emerging of pandemic-driven entertainment spending as consumer dollars shift from shuttered live venues and movie theaters to stay-at-home buys. While such streaming services as Netflix and Hulu have been major beneficiaries — Netflix alone added 10 million subscribers globally during its latest quarter, which ended June 30 — individual sales and digital rentals of film and TV titles made notable gains year-over-year, an Aug. 19 report from trade association the Digital Entertainment Group finds. Electronic sell-through, a category that includes digital purchases, spiked 32 percent from $1.2 billion in the first half of 2019 to $1.6 billion in 2020. Subscription streaming spending grew 37 percent, from $7.47 billion in the first half of 2019 to $10.26 billion this year. And VOD, which includes digital rentals, grew 33…

In a normal year, the NBA and NHL would be in the midst of their off-seasons. But with both leagues having sat out four months because of the pandemic, they’re rushing to make up for lost time. From Aug. 3 to Aug. 17, the NBA had 33 national TV broadcasts on ESPN, TNT and Turner-operated NBA TV. The NHL had an unheard-of 54 games on NBC Sports in that time. Major League Baseball also is sprinting through a 60-game regular season with ESPN and Fox Sports, while NASCAR (Fox Sports, NBC) and golf’s PGA Tour (primarily on CBS and NBC’s Golf Channel) have been back longer. But the sudden flood of games on TV hasn’t necessarily translated to big ratings. Primetime numbers for the NBA, NHL and MLB have been…

Thirteen years ago, I had an idea of filming a highly educated person discussing a history story while highly intoxicated. Afterward, we’d reenact the drunken tale, lipsyncing the modern phrases and swears, word for word. A Drunk History Channel. I teamed up with Jeremy Konner, and the journey began. Thirteen years later, the show that came out of that idea has been canceled — but with 17 Emmy nominations and six seasons of television. “Frustrated passion” is the phrase I use to describe what type of comedy should be coming from the storytellers on the show. They’re so excited to tell you this story. But, due to their alcohol intake, they’re having some problems articulating their passion. People wonder how I could sit there during the interviews and deal with…

How to Direct a Democratic National Convention From the Den There was no shortage of watercooler-worthy moments in the first virtual DNC, which featured nearly 300 speakers, among them moderators Eva Longoria, Tracee Ellis Ross, Kerry Washington and Julia Louis-Dreyfus. But the image that went viral after the four-night event was the one posted by Jan Friedlander Svendsen showing fiance Glenn Weiss barefoot in their Brentwood family room, directing the entire convention remotely. Svendsen, Charity Network’s chief creative officer, says she helped the Emmy-winning director (who proposed to her onstage during the 2018 awards show) by acting as PA, craft services and post-show cleanup. “There was a sense of the magnitude and importance of the messaging going out,” she says. The biggest wild card? The potential of a power outage…

In February, back before the pandemic upended life and George Floyd’s death ignited a national referendum on racism, advertising executive Steve Stoute traveled to Los Angeles for the type of whirlwind visit that had long ago become routine. Stoute’s day started at Staples Center with an emotional memorial for his friend Kobe Bryant, whom he once signed to a record deal. Then he was off to a meeting at Disney, the fruits of which wouldn’t be revealed until late August, when the entertainment giant announced a strategic partnership with Stoute’s marketing firm, Translation. By late afternoon — when I met Stoute at the Waldorf Astoria Beverly Hills — he was huddled on the hotel’s restaurant patio with a group that included LeBron James, his producing partner on the 2018 documentary…

This is our first thing back from the pandemic,” says actor Matt Bomer (star of Netflix’s upcoming The Boys in the Band) of his new unisex eyewear capsule collection with actress Ashley Benson (Pretty Little Liars). Their collaboration is the latest from Benson’s Privé Revaux brand, which also has backers including Jamie Foxx and Hailee Steinfeld. Styles, including bluelight blocker options, run $39.95. “It feels very timeless and Old Hollywood. We love anything vintage” says Benson. Adds Bomer, “The inspiration is everyone from iconic film stars like Paul Newman and Brad Pitt to Grace Jones and my mom.” It’s just one of a rash of celebrity eyewear-line offerings out right now. Dan Levy, whose show Schitt’s Creek is nominated for 15 Emmys this year, launched his unisex eyewear brand D.L.…

On March 13, the day the United States morphed into something barely recognizable, Kate Winslet was on a set in Philadelphia shooting HBO’s limited series Mare of Easttown. With just 21 days to go on a grueling 116-day shoot, the production shuttered, and she hopped on a flight back to her home in the London countryside, where she has been riding out the COVID-19 pandemic for the past five months. “I think it’s the unknown element of this virus — we just don’t know how it’s going to affect any given individual — I think that was what’s so terrifying,” she explains. “I’m a very practical, straightforward person, and if I have to respond to an emergency, I just go into that zone.” Perhaps it was only fitting that the…

“Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure is neither excellent nor adventurous,” began The Hollywood Reporter’s pan of a film being “dumped into theaters nationwide” on Feb. 17, 1989. So much for that: The teen stoner comedy was a cult hit out of the gate, turning Keanu Reeves, then 24, into a movie star and launching a global franchise that produced two sequels — the latest, Bill & Ted Face the Music, arrives on demand and in theaters Aug. 28 — and a Hanna-Barbera animated show. Bill & Ted began as a spec script dreamed up by writers Chris Matheson and Ed Solomon (see page 46), college buddies who used to play the characters in a stand-up routine. The movie’s premise always followed the time-hopping adventures of two dim-bulbed Valley boys (actually…

On a sunny day in April 2019, photographer Jack Schroeder and model Britni Sumida took a shiny white Volvo S60 out into the Southern California desert for a test shoot amid a superbloom of bright orange poppies. He took about a thousand images and posted a handful to Instagram, tagging Volvo and capturing the automaker’s attention. The company posted a comment asking to share the photos and encouraging him to respond with the hashtag #YesVolvoUSA to accept. Schroeder instead emailed Volvo, offering to negotiate a license, and sent a link to his online portfolio. He didn’t receive a reply. Six months later, Volvo posted an Instagram story featuring a collection of Schroeder’s photos that linked to a site where users could buy the vehicle. Now the auto giant and the…

Transcendent Kingdom (KNOPF, SEPT. 1) BY Yaa Gyasi AGENCY WME The follow-up to the Ghanaian author’s Homegoing follows a Ph.D. candidate studying depression and addiction, prompted by her brother’s death from a heroin overdose. Like the drama Still Alice, the story combines neurological and personal themes. Thin Girls (HARPERCOLLINS, JUNE 30) BY Diana Clarke AGENCY UTA Like the Netflix feature To the Bone, this novel examines battles with eating disorders, telling its story through twin sisters, one of whom is in rehab for anorexia as the other joins a cult diet group led by a social media influencer.…

NeueHouse, the private Hollywood social club and co-working/events space, is converting its Studio A — which since 2015 has hosted Netflix Emmy parties and HBO premieres — to a soundstage, returning it the purpose for which it was created. The Sunset Boulevard building was once the home of Columbia broadcasting, radio and records, and is where I Love Lucy once shot, Bob Dylan and Janis Joplin recorded and James Dean worked as an usher. NeueHouse is bringing “it back to its original intent under a controlled and safe environment,” says chief brand officer Jon Goss, after the pandemic-fueled loss of in-person industry events. The studio — which hosted a live-streamed virtual premiere for the documentary Invisible Portraits in June — is now open for filming, as the staff works with…

Ellen DeGeneres’ Twitter profile picture looks like a lot of other COVID-era ones. The illustrated image features the talk show host, her signature blond crop and piercing blue eyes on display, wearing a mask. But the written message across the pandemic-friendly face covering that once was considered her mantra is likely now to elicit derision and eye rolls: “Be kind to one another.” DeGeneres, who built her talk show career on being “nice,” is facing a crisis that once would have seemed unfathomable: accusations that she fostered a “toxic” environment on the set of her toprated eponymous talk show. A July BuzzFeed investigation — which detailed claims of intimidation, racism and sexism levied by current and former employees of The Ellen Show — was the most damaging in a series…

Why does the fashion workroom provide such rich fodder for cinematic storytellers? “Fashion touches everyone, but we still look at an atelier as a place that’s both glamorous and a bit mysterious. It’s really fun to pull back that curtain,” says P. David Ebersole, who, with Todd Hughes, co-directed House of Cardin. It chronicles the life of Italian designer Pierre Cardin, now 98, known for dressing everyone from The Beatles to Dionne Warwick and for his pioneering push to license his name. Out theatrically Aug. 28, House of Cardin is among a trio of new fashion docs. Martin Margiela: In His Own Words, directed by Reiner Holzemer and centering on the camera-averse Belgian designer, is just out from Oscilloscope, while Salvatore: Shoemaker of Dreams, about Italian legend Salvatore Ferragamo, will…

On an oppressively hot August afternoon, Ed Solomon has found a cool, quiet spot in the basement laundry room of his girlfriend’s Manhattan brownstone. Although COVID-19 has prompted many with means to flee the city, New York has been home for the wildly successful but relatively anonymous screenwriter for the past four years, and he’s content to ride out the pandemic here, where he has a network of film and TV friends, including frequent collaborator Steven Soderbergh. Solomon is slightly self-deprecating when pressed to discuss his work. “I’m not a super confident writer, but I have faith,” he says. “Every new script I start, it’s as if I’m learning how to write for the first time. Confidence makes you stop questioning. And I think once you stop questioning, that begins…

On Aug. 23, CAA co-chairmen Bryan Lourd and Kevin Huvane, along with president Richard Lovett, convened a hastily assembled all-hands Zoom call with at least one priority in mind: damage control. That day, four top CAA agents — Jack Whigham and Dave Bugliari, both co-heads of motion picture talent, and Michael Cooper and Mick Sullivan — informed the trio they were exiting immediately for a new venture. “They were blindsided,” one source tells THR. The CAA agents weren’t alone. Several more high-powered reps — a web of friends and former colleagues including UTA’s Susie Fox, Mackenzie Roussos, Lucinda Moorhead and recent partner Chelsea McKinnies, along with WME’s Rich Cook — have jumped to the new, not-yet-titled management firm backed by former CAA agent Peter Micelli, who recently led strategy at…

Even as Hollywood aims to make onscreen and behind the-scenes gains in representation, there’s a consistent gender gap among those reviewing films. A study released Aug. 19 — which looks at 4,000 film reviews by 380 people from January through March of this year at broadcast, online and print outlets — finds that male reviewers comprised 65 percent of critics and females accounted for 35 percent. Some 73 percent of male critics and 70 percent of female critics were identified as white, with only 18 percent of male critics and 23 percent of female critics listed as people of color. The research, conducted annually by San Diego State University’s Martha Lauzen, also looked at aggregator Rotten Tomatoes’ Top Critics section. About 40 percent of top critics were female, while 60…

Tenet is the most eagerly anticipated film to be released theatrically since the coronavirus pandemic began. That’s partly because, in some places, it will be the only film released theatrically since the virus arrived. As befits a blockbuster about nothing less than people trying to save the world from “something worse” than Armageddon, there is a lot riding on Tenet succeeding with its own set of missions. Mission one: Get released in the first place so it can start recouping what must have been a massive production budget. Next: Save theaters and exhibition chains on the brink of bankruptcy. In fact, while it’s at it, the film may need to save the very future of venue-based cinema, those gathering places for “collective human engagement,” to quote writer-director Christopher Nolan’s Washington…

ONE NIGHT IN MIAMI Set in 1964, Regina King’s directorial debut, adapted from Kemp Powers’ play, offers a fictionalized account of a pivotal meeting between four Black American icons: Muhammad Ali (then Cassius Clay), Malcolm X, Sam Cooke and Jim Brown. RUN HIDE FIGHT Kyle Rankin (The Witch Files) directs Isabel May as 17-year-old Zoe Hull, who has to fight for her life — while trying to save her classmates — when a group of live-streaming shooters storm their school. MAINSTREAM After Palo Alto, her 2013 directorial debut, Gia Coppola returns to the subject of struggling youth with a cautionary tale of three outsiders — played by Maya Hawke, Nat Wolff and Andrew Garfield — who get caught up in the world of social media celebrity. THE DUKE The true-life…