During the final months of 2015 and first half of 2016, Netflix made a bold move by hiring Tara Flynn and Marcos Waltenberg, two employees who were both working at the executive level for Fox at the time. Both executive employees were in the middle of two-year contracts with Fox, and the contracts gave the…
If you’re following the motion picture and television industry drama surrounding Netflix and its adopted practice of theatrically releasing potential award-winning feature films within a short release window—too short for many theater owners and creative contributors–then you know that Scott Stuber has recently been sharing his thoughts publicly with the industry trade press and other…
Exhibition Windows and Artist Compensation The entry of streaming companies into the production of their own original feature-length motion pictures has resulted in big changes for the entire film and media industry sector. For Netflix and similar streaming giants, the impact is so revolutionary that it’s taking center stage for the time being, and pushing…
Variety recently published a story highlighting an oftentimes confusing, expensive, and damaging issue that can impact any film production if tax credits and accounting issues aren’t properly managed: tax credit fraud. In this specific case, a whistleblower drew attention to alleged misuse of tax credits on the Warner Brothers film “Sully”, starring Tom Hanks and…
The world of filmmaking and film production is loaded with longstanding myths, many of them holdovers from the earliest days of the industry. Some of the most stubborn beliefs revolve around a single question: What does it take to grab the attention and interest you need to procure a wide theatrical release? Most producers will…
In the midst of the ongoing battle between the Writer’s Guild of America and various talent agencies, day-to-day WGA business continues, including elections for Guild president. This September, David Goodman soundly defeated Phyllis Nagy in a contest that inspired record turnout. In addition to his re-election to a two-year term, the results were positive for…
As of last Friday, Sony Pictures and Marvel Studios have released an important and much-anticipated announcement: For now, Spider-Man will continue to live out his adventures inside the Marvel Universe. Which means the two companies have worked out the recent impasse that nearly drove them apart. It also means that Marvel Studios, headed by Kevin…
Sony Pictures currently owns the motion picture rights to the Spider-Man character, originally a Marvel Comics creation, and the last two movies featuring Spider-Man have been the result of a partnership between Sony Pictures and Disney-owned Marvel Entertainment. By every metric, both of those Spider-Man films have been highly successful. Sony-Disney Partnership Ends But after…
On June 19th, via a 16-minute video posted to the WGA’s website, the Guild president announced an official end to the negotiation process between the WGA and the association of talent agencies that represent its writer members, the ATA. (Here’s the video if you haven’t seen it.) Earlier this spring, talks became tense and an…
A round of newly released information seems to be keeping writer-agent tensions in the spotlight, and possibly fanning the flames of the ongoing dispute between the WGA and major talent agencies. As of late May, the Writers Guild of America amended its lawsuit against four agencies (WME, CAA, UTA and ICM) to add allegations of…