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Speaker 1: Welcome to Daily Variety, your daily dose of news and

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Speaker 1: analysis for entertainment industry insiders. It's Wednesday, August sixth, twenty

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Speaker 1: twenty five. I'm your host, Cynthia Littleton. I am co

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Speaker 1: editor in chief of Variety alongside Ramin Setuda. I'm in

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Speaker 1: LA He's in New York, and Variety has reporters around

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Speaker 1: the world covering the business of entertainment. In today's episode,

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Speaker 1: we'll talk with Ramin Setuda about our annual Power of

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Speaker 1: Young Hollywood issue and what it takes for rising stars

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Speaker 1: to make the cut. Then we'll hear from Gene Modis,

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Speaker 1: Variety's senior media reporter. He'll talk about what is shaping

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Speaker 1: up as the priority to do list for leaders of

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Speaker 1: the Writers Guild of America. Believe it or not, a

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Speaker 1: new round of AMPTP contract talks are just around the corner.

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Speaker 1: Before we get to that, here are a few headlines

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Speaker 1: just in this morning that you need to know. August

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Speaker 1: twenty first is the launch date for the ESPN standalone

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Speaker 1: streaming app. WrestleMania and other WWE live events are moving

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Speaker 1: to the ESPN app next year, after most recently being

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Speaker 1: on Peacock. No subscriber numbers for you. Disney is co

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Speaker 1: signing with Netflix on the idea of not releasing quarterly

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Speaker 1: subscriber numbers for its streaming platforms anymore. We'll still get updates,

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Speaker 1: just not quarterly. And finally, all roads lead through Disney Plus.

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Speaker 1: Hulu will be formally integrated into the Disney Plus app.

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Speaker 1: That means you won't have to back out of Disney

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Speaker 1: Plus to launch Hulu anymore. This is a big deal

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Speaker 1: because every streamer in studio is trying to offer viewers

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Speaker 1: seamless movement within their walled gardens of content. Our analysis

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Speaker 1: of Disney's fiscal third quarter and much more can be

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Speaker 1: found on Variety dot com. Right now, there was some

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Speaker 1: softness in the numbers that spooked Wall Street. Disney shares

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Speaker 1: were down this morning in the first few hours of trading.

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Speaker 1: Now we turn to conversations with Friday journalists about news

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Speaker 1: and trends in show business today. I'm so happy to

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Speaker 1: have my friend and my partner in journalism remain Stitute

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Speaker 1: of Righty co editor in chief join me. Ramen gives

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Speaker 1: us the lowdown on how we pull together every year

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Speaker 1: our Young Hollywood issue. This year, singer Tyler and actor

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Speaker 1: Sam Navola and Finn Wolfhart join a proud list of

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Speaker 1: folks that we have spotlighted as rockets to watch. Ramin Setuda,

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Speaker 1: my co editor in chief for three years, Thanks for

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Speaker 1: joining me today.

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Speaker 2: Hi, Cynthia. Yes, we celebrated our three year anniversary of

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Speaker 2: running Brady together on August first. It's very, very exciting

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Speaker 2: for me to be on the podcast and to talk

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Speaker 2: about our Young Hollywood issue, which is out on newsstands

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Speaker 2: this week.

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Speaker 1: It's one of our biggest of the year, it's one

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Speaker 1: of our glossiest of the year. And remain one hundred

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Speaker 1: percent this is your baby, tell me the origin story

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Speaker 1: of power of Young Hollywood.

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Speaker 2: It's a chance for our editors at for I to

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Speaker 2: celebrate the future of Hollywood. So every other week of

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Speaker 2: the year, we're obviously covering all the big business stories

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Speaker 2: in the industry and what is happening and moguls in

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Speaker 2: the industry and the decision makers in the industry, and

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Speaker 2: this is the issue that looks forward to the people

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Speaker 2: in the entertainment industry who will be running Hollywood in

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Speaker 2: the future, and some of them already are. Some of

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Speaker 2: them have many empires and are producing art and work

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Speaker 2: that are reaching millions and millions of fans. Like our

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Speaker 2: three cover stars, we have Tayla on the cover, written

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Speaker 2: in a profile by Tanya Garcia, one of our music reporters.

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Speaker 2: We have Sam Novola from The White Lotus in a

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Speaker 2: really wonderful profile by Ethan Chanfield where they went to

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Speaker 2: an East Village restaurant and had a very long, engaging conversation.

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Speaker 2: And then we have Finn Wolfhard in a long form

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Speaker 2: profile by Tachiana Siegel that started actually in Sundance earlier

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Speaker 2: this year. Tatiana has been working on this profile for

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Speaker 2: the last eight months and he talks about Stranger Things

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Speaker 2: ending and the final scene in Stranger Things. I think

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Speaker 2: there's going to be a lot of interest in this story.

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Speaker 1: Just to use this year's class as an example, Tyla

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Speaker 1: has been on our radar for more than a year,

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Speaker 1: long before she was wearing sand at the met Ball

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Speaker 1: Finn Wolfhard. One stat that stuck with me from Tatiana's

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Speaker 1: profile is that inside of a couple of years, at

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Speaker 1: the age of twenty two, he has made seventeen won

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Speaker 1: seven features in his downtime from five seasons of Stranger Things.

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Speaker 2: Dam Navola talks about at the age of twenty one.

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Speaker 2: He has a production company and he wants to make

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Speaker 2: his own movies, which I found to be very impressive

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Speaker 2: because when I was twenty one, I wasn't thinking about that.

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Speaker 2: But some of our previous power of young Hollywood alumnis

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Speaker 2: include Zendeia was on the cover, Sean Mendes was on

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Speaker 2: the cover. We had Maluma, we had Magan the Stallion.

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Speaker 2: And it's been really exciting seeing the careers of some

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Speaker 2: of our cover stars evolve and watching them get even

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Speaker 2: bigger and bigger since we've profiled them.

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Speaker 1: Listeners, I just want to stress that the selection of

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Speaker 1: this is something that you work on all year. What

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Speaker 1: makes somebody stand out to you? There is that intangible something?

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Speaker 1: Can you try to define it? For us?

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Speaker 2: We spend a lot of time discussing who should be

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Speaker 2: on the carver of this issue. We do a lot

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Speaker 2: of editorial meetings, people brainstorm, people pitch for this issue.

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Speaker 2: In particular, I always ask a lot of our reporters

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Speaker 2: who are in their twenties two weigh in and to

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Speaker 2: tell me who they think represents the future of Hollywood

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Speaker 2: and who they think is cool. And often they'll come

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Speaker 2: up with names, and sometimes I'm not as familiar with

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Speaker 2: some of the names that they pitch, but they always

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Speaker 2: have really good ideas and really good suggestions for this issue.

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Speaker 2: In addition to our three cover stars, we also have

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Speaker 2: our Impact List, so we look at the actors who

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Speaker 2: are really making a difference, the producers that are really

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Speaker 2: making difference, the artists that are really making a difference.

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Speaker 2: And for the first time, we have our New Leaders

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Speaker 2: List in this issue, so we have forty one executives

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Speaker 2: under the age of forty who are making big change

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Speaker 2: in big strides in Hollywood. And then we have our

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Speaker 2: ten assistants to watch. So this issue is full of

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Speaker 2: names that you should know. Maybe you're not familiar with

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Speaker 2: every single name in this week's issue, but you will

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Speaker 2: be for sure in the months and years to come.

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Speaker 1: And the New Leaders is also a very competitive process.

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Speaker 1: We've had incredible people come through that and it really

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Speaker 1: is something that we all take very seriously, we talk about,

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Speaker 1: we argue about sometimes. Again, I cannot believe the number

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Speaker 1: of career opportunities and avenues. Everybody is the Finn wolf

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Speaker 1: Hard model of doing so much at such a young age.

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Speaker 2: I think what's really changed that for this generation is

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Speaker 2: the way in which they can express their artistic point

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Speaker 2: of view and their work on social media. Tyla released

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Speaker 2: Water online and then became a huge phenomenon. And now

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Speaker 2: she's released her first album and was at Coachella and

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Speaker 2: she was at Paris Fashion Week, and so she's obviously

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Speaker 2: become huge, but without the access to being able to

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Speaker 2: release her music online it used to be the avenues

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Speaker 2: were very limited, and so now you can have a

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Speaker 2: lot of our artists talk about the way in which

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Speaker 2: they're doing their art on social media or posting their

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Speaker 2: work on Instagram or YouTube and getting people excited about

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Speaker 2: their work and getting deals through those means. So it's

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Speaker 2: interesting to see the way in which the talent and

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Speaker 2: our issue they've come up and their pathway to success

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Speaker 2: is very, very different and very than it used to be.

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Speaker 1: And it's very interesting too if you read the profiles,

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Speaker 1: each of them talk about their relationship with social media,

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Speaker 1: their relationship with fans, and of course no two people

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Speaker 1: come to it at the same way, so it really

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Speaker 1: is a fascinating glimpse. It's a fantastic issue. It really

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Speaker 1: is like watch this space and look at these names,

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Speaker 1: because in ten years time they're going to be running

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Speaker 1: the business. Not surprisingly, Power of Young Hollywood is one

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Speaker 1: of our most banging parties of the year. What are

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Speaker 1: you looking forward to at this year's event on Thursday

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Speaker 1: in La.

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Speaker 2: I really really love this party. It is a great

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Speaker 2: networking opportunity and it's a great chance for everyone on

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Speaker 2: our lists to meet in person. And I just have

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Speaker 2: so much great memories of the years in which we've

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Speaker 2: done this party and the way in which we've brought

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Speaker 2: everyone in the industry together to celebrate the future of Hollywood,

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Speaker 2: and the Red Carpet is always really really fun. Angela

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Speaker 2: Jackson will be hosting our Red Carpeate live show and

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Speaker 2: encourage everyone to check that out.

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Speaker 1: I remember very well last year Sabrina Carpenter was one

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Speaker 1: of our honorees and she was just ascendant at that moment.

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Speaker 1: It's a cliche, folks, but there is something about star power.

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Speaker 1: There is something about that indefinable it and Sabrina Carpenter

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Speaker 1: had as she walked into our event and just watching

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Speaker 1: how she could command the room and turn heads.

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Speaker 3: Thank you so much. I want to thank Variety, and

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Speaker 3: I want to thank Ramin, and I want to thank

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Speaker 3: my mom and my dad for getting me to earth,

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Speaker 3: and I want to thank my team for how hard

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Speaker 3: they work and myself for how hard I work.

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Speaker 1: Ramin, thank you for all that you've done to keep

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Speaker 1: us on the razor's edge of the cutting edge.

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Speaker 2: Appreciate it, thank you, thank you very much.

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Speaker 1: Next up, Gene Madison, I put our heads together to

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Speaker 1: read some tea leaves related to the Writers Guild of America.

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Speaker 1: The WGA West is preparing to elect a new president

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Speaker 1: next month, and believe it or not, it's almost time

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Speaker 1: for AMPTP contract talks again. There's not much suspense around

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Speaker 1: the WGA election. Gene explains why. Gene maddis Thanks for

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Speaker 1: joining me, Happy to do it well. Gene, the story

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Speaker 1: you filed this week, it was literally a matter of time,

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Speaker 1: just as sture as the leaves turn in the fall

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Speaker 1: in the east, there as the calendar starts to needge

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Speaker 1: towards twenty twenty six, hard to believe the guild contract

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Speaker 1: talks are coming up next year. You wisely went out

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Speaker 1: and shook the trees and talked to people about how

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Speaker 1: are people feeling. Jeane, tell us what's going on with

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Speaker 1: the WGA West election for president and officers in some

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Speaker 1: board seats. That will be held in September.

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Speaker 4: Sure, the current president, Meredith Steam is termed out. She

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Speaker 4: served two terms and you can't serve three in a row,

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Speaker 4: so she is termed out. The incumbent Vice president, Michelle mulroney,

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Speaker 4: is the only candidate for president, so she will be

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Speaker 4: the president of the guild once the election is concluded.

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Speaker 1: Right there, though, the fact that Michelle is running unopposed,

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Speaker 1: does that indicate that this is a fairly rare moment

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Speaker 1: of harmony, that there's no competing vision of what the

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Speaker 1: guild needs to do in the coming contract in the

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Speaker 1: coming years.

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Speaker 4: It is interesting all these different guilds have different cultures,

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Speaker 4: and for instance, Iotzi Matt Loeb was just re elected

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Speaker 4: president by acclamation. They didn't even take a vote, and

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Speaker 4: he will have that job until he dies or until

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Speaker 4: he decides he wants to do something else, because that's

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Speaker 4: just how that work work. But in the WGA, they

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Speaker 4: do take the elections quite seriously and they do have

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Speaker 4: a sort of pro competition policy. We really would like

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Speaker 4: to see at least two candidates in these races, and

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Speaker 4: they have a committee whose job is to go out

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Speaker 4: and find candidates. If they don't have enough people volunteering

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Speaker 4: to do it this year is unusual, and that they

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Speaker 4: only have one candidate for president, and it's Michelle mulroney,

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Speaker 4: but the other candidates, the other contest, they do have

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Speaker 4: multiple candidates for.

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Speaker 1: One of the big issues that people are going to

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Speaker 1: be talking about is that there has been such a

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Speaker 1: sharp drop in employment and you have data in your

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Speaker 1: story to show it. Can you talk about that dynamic

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Speaker 1: and how you think that's going to play out in

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Speaker 1: this election and when the contract talks next year.

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Speaker 4: One of the candidates put it in his statement, there's

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Speaker 4: three issues, and its jobs, jobs, jobs. The peak of

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Speaker 4: PEAKTV in twenty twenty two is the almost seven thousand

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Speaker 4: paid writing jobs in the TV in film, and now

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Speaker 4: it's down to fifty two hundred, and that's only in

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Speaker 4: two years, and that is as low as it's been

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Speaker 4: since twenty thirteen. So there was just a massive build

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Speaker 4: up over ten years and it's all evaporated in the

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Speaker 4: last two years. And so that is just the overriding

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Speaker 4: factor in everything. Just a huge issue. It's not news.

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Speaker 4: We've known for a couple of years that the industry

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Speaker 4: was struggling in a serious way, but it's just obviously

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Speaker 4: reconfirmed by the WGA data and by just what people

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Speaker 4: are saying and feeling and talking about.

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Speaker 1: We rode the boom and now we are absolutely feeling

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Speaker 1: the bust. It's also coming amid this seismic generational shift

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Speaker 1: in the way people consume entertainment. For people that are

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Speaker 1: in the business of writing long form movies and TV show,

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Speaker 1: all of this has to give them some pause in

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Speaker 1: terms of long term future. One response to the changing landscape,

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Speaker 1: mulroney and others are talking about a need to generate

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Speaker 1: an organizing campaign around YouTubers, which that is a new

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Speaker 1: frontier for the WJA West. The WJA East, of course,

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Speaker 1: has spent a lot of time in the last ten

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Speaker 1: years organizing digital writers and that has, you know, not

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Speaker 1: without some storm and draw within that union that has

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Speaker 1: formerly been old school television writers, film writers, TV newswriters,

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Speaker 1: some sports writers. Let's talk specifically what they want to

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Speaker 1: do in terms of a YouTube organizing drive.

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Speaker 4: It was surprising how many folks brought this up in

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Speaker 4: their candidate statements, that that was a focus that they

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Speaker 4: need to go look at YouTube and start talking about

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Speaker 4: organizing YouTube. And you would look at YouTube and not

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Speaker 4: instantly think there's a whole bunch of TV writers here

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Speaker 4: waiting to be organized, like that's just not a format,

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Speaker 4: doesn't really look like that. But the argument is actually

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Speaker 4: a lot of this stuff is written, and more and

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Speaker 4: more of it is more and more professional. Traditionally, the

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Speaker 4: concern would be, these people are not making that much

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Speaker 4: money compared to a TV writer, compared to a film writer.

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Speaker 1: Even five years ago, the economic basis for a YouTube show,

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Speaker 1: there would be no world in which you could have

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Speaker 1: a union contract with residuals. The money just wasn't there.

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Speaker 1: But we have seen and we report on it, you know,

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Speaker 1: almost daily, and writing brand deals brand money coming directly

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Speaker 1: into content is changing that game, right.

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Speaker 4: But still, if you're like a writer for Mister Beast,

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Speaker 4: like you're not making what a TV writer is making.

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Speaker 1: You don't have a thick contract that says this is

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Speaker 1: the minimum before I write five words. You definitely don't

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Speaker 1: have that.

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Speaker 4: So I think that would be historically a concern, but

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Speaker 4: not currently a concern. I think people are really focused

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Speaker 4: on that as if this is what television is going

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Speaker 4: to be. If Netflix thinks YouTube is its number one competitor,

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Speaker 4: then you know we're organized at Netflix, but we're not

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Speaker 4: organized at YouTube and we need to be so I

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Speaker 4: think that's something that bears a lot of attention going forward.

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Speaker 1: It raises sort of a socratic question. Are all YouTubers creators?

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Speaker 1: Are all creators writers? Where's the line in the YouTuber

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Speaker 1: between the writer and the performer? And does it even

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Speaker 1: matter in this day and age?

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Speaker 4: This came up a decade ago where trying to organize

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Speaker 4: reality TV writers, what is the line do you have

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Speaker 4: to figure out in this complicated production process? What of

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Speaker 4: that is writing and that because that's the part that

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Speaker 4: they can represent.

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Speaker 1: And we know that there's nothing touchy at all about

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Speaker 1: the question of where the writing and the directing and

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Speaker 1: the producing stops. Jean, Let's talk a little bit more

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Speaker 1: about the health plan. It's very clear from the statements

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Speaker 1: that members that are engaged know that there is a

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Speaker 1: need for some serious books and an influx. And that's

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Speaker 1: going to mean that, you know, the guild is going

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Speaker 1: to have to go to the companies and say, Okay,

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Speaker 1: how much are you going to kick in? And that

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Speaker 1: inevitably is going to change some of the dynamic of

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Speaker 1: the negotiation. What's going on here this time?

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Speaker 4: Yeah, and I think what's interesting is usually when you're

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Speaker 4: talking about the health and pension plan, that's something you

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Speaker 4: hear coming from the employer side. The employer is the

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Speaker 4: one saying, well, we'd like to give you more of

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Speaker 4: a raise, but look at your health plan. It's really struggling.

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Speaker 4: We're going to have to put a lot of money

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Speaker 4: into the health plan. But for the union to say

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Speaker 4: we really need to focus on shoring up our health plan,

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Speaker 4: to me, it sounds like expectation setting from the leadership

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Speaker 4: to the members.

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Speaker 1: Well, Gene, plenty of stuff to watch here as we

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Speaker 1: get into the fall. Thank you as always for tracking

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Speaker 1: it all for us.

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Speaker 4: YEP, happy to do it.

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Speaker 1: As we close out today's episode, here are a few

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Speaker 1: things we're watching for Warner Brothers. Discovery releases its second

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Speaker 1: quarter earnings before the bell Thursday morning. We'll be up

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Speaker 1: early with all the news. The Stand Up to Cancer

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Speaker 1: TV special will be back on August fifteenth. Once again,

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Speaker 1: it will run on more than thirty channels across the

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Speaker 1: TV dial starting at eight pm. This year's performers include

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Speaker 1: Jelly Roll, The Jonas Brothers, and Gavin de Grau, And

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Speaker 1: of course Thursday will be a momentous day in Hollywood.

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Speaker 1: Skydance Media is set to take the keys of Paramount

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Speaker 1: Global as the eight billion dollar transaction formally closes. We'll

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Speaker 1: have a special Paramount themed episode of Daily Variety for

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Speaker 1: you tomorrow, looking at the company's path, fast, present, and

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Speaker 1: future before we go. Congrats to Nikki Kazakos, she's been

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Speaker 1: promoted to VP of Global Corporate Communications for Mattel. She

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Speaker 1: worked at Netflix, NBC Universal, and Discovery before joining the

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Speaker 1: toymaker in twenty twenty one. Thanks for listening. This episode

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Speaker 1: was written and reported by me Cynthia Littleton, with contributions

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Speaker 1: from Ramine Setuta and Gene Mattis. It was edited by

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Speaker 1: Aaron Greenwald stix Nick's hick Picks. Please leave us a

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Speaker 1: review at the podcast platform of your choice, and please

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Speaker 1: tune in tomorrow for another episode of Daily Variety