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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 Friday, October twenty fourth,

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

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

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Speaker 1: in La. He's in New York, and Variety has reporters

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Speaker 1: around the world covering the business of entertainment. Today's episode

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Speaker 1: is a bonus Friday episode for Daily Variety. It's been

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Speaker 1: a super busy week and we had too much good

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Speaker 1: material to hold back. We'll talk with Variety reporter Salome

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Speaker 1: Heilu about her cover story profile on Rachel Senate, the

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Speaker 1: multi hyphenate behind HBO's new comedy I Love La. We'll

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Speaker 1: have a just for Variety red carpet rundown with Mark Malkin.

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Speaker 1: Sarah Michelle Geller is talking about the Buffy the Vampire

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Speaker 1: Slayer reboot, and we'll hear from reporter Gianna Levy, who

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Speaker 1: explains the enduring appeal of one of her favorite reality shows,

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Speaker 1: Netflix's Love Is Blind. Before we get to that, here

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Speaker 1: are a few headlines just in this morning that you

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Speaker 1: need to know. Warner Brothers, Warner Brothers, Warner Brothers. I'm

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Speaker 1: in Silicon Valley today taking part in the Pailey Center

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Speaker 1: for Media's annual International Media Council event. It's a heady

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Speaker 1: environment of business and creative leaders, and all anyone can

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Speaker 1: talk about is the fate of Warner Brothers and HBO.

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Speaker 1: Can David Zaslov really command as much as thirty dollars

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Speaker 1: a share for the company unless your name is Ellison.

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Speaker 1: Nobody knows much of anything at this point, but there

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Speaker 1: is a consensus among the CEO set that this auction

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Speaker 1: process won't be quick. It's likely to drag on through

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Speaker 1: the holidays and into next year. Meanwhile, the Writer's Guild

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Speaker 1: of America has weighed in with the warning about a

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Speaker 1: Warner Brother's sale, and the writers don't mince words. The

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Speaker 1: Guild predicts consolidation with Paramount or another major studio will

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Speaker 1: be quote a disaster end quote for writers. The WGA

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Speaker 1: vows to try to fight to block any such sale.

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Speaker 1: All of these stories and so much more can be

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Speaker 1: found on Variety dot com. Right now, now we turn

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Speaker 1: to conversations with Variety journalists about news and trends in

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Speaker 1: show business. So Lomehilu, a Variety reporter focusing on TV

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Speaker 1: and film, explains how Rachel Senate has emerged as the

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Speaker 1: salty and saucy voice of her twenty somethingter generation. Here's

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Speaker 1: a sample of Rachel's rapid fire conversational style from Variety's

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Speaker 1: cover story video. She explains the essential bicoastal tension for

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Speaker 1: gen Z that lies at the heart of I Love LA.

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Speaker 2: Basically like when I moved to LA, I sort of

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Speaker 2: had this whole crisis of like, wait are my friends

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Speaker 2: saying New York are saying in LA? And like I

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Speaker 2: think I'm someone who I've worked to become more independent

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Speaker 2: in my decisions and like be able to be like

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Speaker 2: I'm here other people are doing their own thing.

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Speaker 1: It's okay.

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Speaker 2: I really struggled with that still so little, but like,

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Speaker 2: I think I had this whole moment where I was

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Speaker 2: like to my friend group, like, guys, where are we living?

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Speaker 2: Who is marrying the person that they're with right now?

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Speaker 2: When are we having babies? Can everyone let me know?

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Speaker 2: Like I just got so scared to be alone. And

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Speaker 2: of course I'll always love New York.

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Speaker 1: Salome Hilu, thank you for joining me, Hi, Cynthia, you

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Speaker 1: are one of our terrific writers, and you really excel

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Speaker 1: at profiles and it is so perfectly you that you

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Speaker 1: would have a fantastic look at an artist of the moment,

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Speaker 1: Rachel Senate. You have helped me pronounce her name properly.

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Speaker 1: Thank you for that. She has a new show coming

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Speaker 1: up on HBO called I Love La. So my first

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Speaker 1: question for you, Salome is how did Rachel Senate come

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Speaker 1: on your radar?

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Speaker 3: Well, first, thank you for the kind words.

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Speaker 4: I've been aware of Rachel's work for a little more

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Speaker 4: than five years now. The show is so based in LA,

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Speaker 4: and our conversation was all about her journey between LA

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Speaker 4: and New York, because, as you know, I just moved

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Speaker 4: from LA to New York. But my journey with her

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Speaker 4: started in Austin when I was in college at UT

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Speaker 4: I had plans to attend South By Southwestern twenty twenty,

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Speaker 4: which was of course one of the first big events

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Speaker 4: to get canceled and signal to the world that the

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Speaker 4: pandemic was real. Shiva Baby, this movie that she starred

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Speaker 4: in and made with Ella Seligman as director, was the

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Speaker 4: movie I was most excited to see that the fight

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Speaker 4: all that year and I do.

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Speaker 1: I have to point out that Austin is in fact

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Speaker 1: your hometown, so there's a hometown theme here.

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Speaker 5: Yes.

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Speaker 3: So I finally got to watch the movie, and I

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Speaker 3: watched it on my laptop in bed while quarantinang Men.

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Speaker 3: Absolutely loved it and I started following her on social

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Speaker 3: media during that time as well, which was how she

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Speaker 3: really first started getting an audience. And her following on

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Speaker 3: social media was a big part of why should The

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Speaker 3: Baby manage to get so much industry attention despite being

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Speaker 3: this micro budget movie made by a bunch of young

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Speaker 3: people without a major studio attached to it. It was

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Speaker 3: really a sensation in a time when it was kind

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Speaker 3: of impossible.

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Speaker 4: To make an indie movie a sensation.

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Speaker 1: Am I right in thinking that she has evolved into

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Speaker 1: truly a tourists. She's a writer and she's a shaper

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Speaker 1: of the show. I love La definitely.

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Speaker 3: She is the creator, She's the star. She makes her

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Speaker 3: directorial debut with the season one finale, executive producers as

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Speaker 3: well and service as co showrunner with Emma Barry the showrunner.

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Speaker 3: Aspect of her role on the show I think is

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Speaker 3: most impressive. She led the writer's room with Emma Barry

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Speaker 3: now Parkens back to Lena Dunham co show running Girls

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Speaker 3: when she was in her mid twenties, just a little

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Speaker 3: bit younger than Ben Rachel is now.

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Speaker 6: Right.

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Speaker 1: I'm looking forward to seeing the full series, and I

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Speaker 1: appreciate that it is not putting a gloss. This is

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Speaker 1: not like palm trees and movie stars. It is La

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Speaker 1: of twenty twenty five going into twenty twenty six, which

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Speaker 1: is a difficult place. I don't want to steal all

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Speaker 1: the stuff in your story, but I'm curious what in

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Speaker 1: talking with her, what kind of perspective did you get

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Speaker 1: from her in terms of her experience living in LA,

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Speaker 1: the cultural, the socioeconomic, political cross currents that LA reflects.

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Speaker 3: It really is a show about transplants.

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Speaker 1: So I related quite heavily to that.

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Speaker 3: She pulls a bit from her own life in that

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Speaker 3: it follows a group of late twenty some things who

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Speaker 3: went to college together in New York, then moved to

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Speaker 3: LA to make it and enter entertainment careers. So in

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Speaker 3: my conversation with her, we talked a lot about her

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Speaker 3: experience as an East Coast native who's now lived in

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Speaker 3: LA for about five years and how difficult that was

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Speaker 3: for her. She also moved to LA in twenty twenty

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Speaker 3: at the height of the pandemic, and so no, it

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Speaker 3: was a hard time for everybody. So a lot of

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Speaker 3: what she spoke about was that all of the internal

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Speaker 3: turmoil she was feeling, and about the world sucking and

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Speaker 3: life being hard. She was kind of placing on LA

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Speaker 3: and telling herself that, oh, maybe if I moved back

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Speaker 3: to New York, all my problems will be solved, and

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Speaker 3: then realizing that you just have to grow up and

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Speaker 3: push through the heart things.

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Speaker 1: I also noticed that the photos listeners go to Variety

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Speaker 1: dot com, you won't be able to miss it. She's playful,

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Speaker 1: a bit provocative, playing with her own sexuality.

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Speaker 4: She's very intentional about her image. Every Rachel Senate shoot

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Speaker 4: is always interesting, though I think Varieties is the best.

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Speaker 3: You know, there's a lot of that when you look

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Speaker 3: through the media that she's done, and we taught about

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Speaker 3: that in our conversation. She had this experience of constantly

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Speaker 3: going viral online and building a platform on social media,

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Speaker 3: especially on Twitter, that preceded her career.

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Speaker 4: And that was what she leveraged to get meetings with

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Speaker 4: executives and to get stand up gigs and to really

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Speaker 4: establish herself before she had real inroads to the industry,

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Speaker 4: and you know, a way to do that online and

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Speaker 4: to get that attention is my playing with your sexuality.

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Speaker 3: And so we talked a bit about this push and pull.

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Speaker 3: She felt of having fun with that and being true

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Speaker 3: to herself with.

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Speaker 4: That, but then also feeling that people were projecting onto

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Speaker 4: her or thinking that they knew her more deeply than

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Speaker 4: they did. And so eventually she got off social media

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Speaker 4: and that really.

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Speaker 3: Helped soothe those feelings. She's been for the last several

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Speaker 3: years been putting all of these thoughts that are conflicting

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Speaker 3: and exciting about the sexuality the young woman in particular

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Speaker 3: into the work. You see it and Shi a baby,

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Speaker 3: you see it in bottoms and you really see it.

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Speaker 1: And I love La so other than I love La,

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Speaker 1: which I'm sure she would love to see picked up

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Speaker 1: for a season two. Is there anything else that we

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Speaker 1: should watch out for? She has a lot in the works. Actually,

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Speaker 1: she said that a lot of her.

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Speaker 3: Process of growing up is like realizing you can't say

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Speaker 3: yes to every opportunity. So she's the co creator, along

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Speaker 3: with shitz Creek star Dan Leeby, of Big Mistakes, which

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Speaker 3: is a show that's coming to Netflix, I believe next year.

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Speaker 3: So she co created that and co wrote the pilot

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Speaker 3: with Dan Levy, but didn't get to be in the

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Speaker 3: writer's room and didn't star in it because she had

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Speaker 3: so much else going on. She also co wrote a

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Speaker 3: biopic of Heidi Flice and was supposed to play Flies,

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Speaker 3: but couldn't do it because of I Love La, and

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Speaker 3: so Abert Plaza is now playing that role.

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Speaker 1: Thank you for shining a light on a talent that

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Speaker 1: I'm pretty sure we're going to be writing a lot

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Speaker 1: in the pages of Variety in the coming years. Thanks

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Speaker 1: for having me. And now here's Mark Malcolm with the

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Speaker 1: Just for Variety Red Carpet rundown.

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Speaker 6: Thanks Cynthia. Christmas came early in Hollywood on Tuesday night,

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Speaker 6: when Nieman Marcus hosted It's twenty twenty five Fantasy Gifts

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Speaker 6: Party at Barmarmont, I caught up with Sarah Michelle Geller

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Speaker 6: on the red carpet to talk about the Hulu reboo

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Speaker 6: of Buffiva Vampire Slayer. Geller played the title character on

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Speaker 6: the original series for seven seasons before the show ended

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Speaker 6: in two thousand and three, and she told me she

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Speaker 6: never thought she'd reprise the role.

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Speaker 1: This is why you never say never.

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Speaker 5: And I'm sure I said never many times and I've

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Speaker 5: learned my lesson because I'm sure someday you're going to

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Speaker 5: go back and find all the time. As I said today,

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Speaker 5: over whenever I'm too old, I'll be Buffy.

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Speaker 1: With the Walker.

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Speaker 6: SMG recently wrapped work on the reboots pilot. Ryan Kira

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Speaker 6: Armstrong stars as a new Slayer, with Geller appearing in

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Speaker 6: a recurring role as Buffy. Geller said it was director

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Speaker 6: and executive producer Chloe Joao who convinced her to sign on.

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Speaker 6: She also said you don't necessarily have to watch the

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Speaker 6: original series to understand the reboot.

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Speaker 3: Well, there will always be Easter eggs.

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Speaker 5: Because there was Easter eggs the original, they'll be Easter

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Speaker 5: eggs in this one. But we also want to introduce

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Speaker 5: it to a whole new people that maybe haven't seen

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Speaker 5: in the show.

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Speaker 6: To watch and read more of my chat with Geller,

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Speaker 6: check out my column Jes for Variety at Variety dot com.

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Speaker 1: Now, we turned to a conversation with reporter Gianna Levy,

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Speaker 1: looking for just the right super fan of Love is

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Speaker 1: Blind to explain the appeal of this particular dating show,

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Speaker 1: and after hearing her talk about the events of the

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Speaker 1: season nine finale, I knew in Gianna I'd found the

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Speaker 1: right person. Deanna Levy, thanks so much for joining me.

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Speaker 7: Thank you for having me.

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Speaker 1: Let me start by asking you, what is it about

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Speaker 1: Love is Blind? And this concept that you think is

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Speaker 1: so addictive.

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Speaker 7: I think the concept of it just trying to answer

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Speaker 7: the basic question that people have been asking from the

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Speaker 7: dawna time, is love truely blind? So to have this

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Speaker 7: show where it actually tests that theory on a question

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Speaker 7: that people have been trying to figure out since forever,

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Speaker 7: I think that is really the captivating part that really

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Speaker 7: pulls people in, especially with the first phase of it

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Speaker 7: starting off with people in the pods who can't see

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Speaker 7: each other and are strictly talking to each other through

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Speaker 7: a wall and getting to know each other there in

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Speaker 7: that way. That is what brings us viewers and fans

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Speaker 7: back for every single season, and what really keeps us

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Speaker 7: there is the stories that we hear from the contestants

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Speaker 7: as they open up to each other.

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Speaker 1: Do you remember how you first heard of it?

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Speaker 7: I've always been a fan of reality TV. Oh Love

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Speaker 7: is bline is probably the first dating show that I

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Speaker 7: ever watched. I'm used to watch in the Real House Lives.

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Speaker 7: The concept of love is blind. It just really interested

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Speaker 7: me because I myself have asked the question is love blind?

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Speaker 7: I wondered that, and so I'm like, Okay, I see

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Speaker 7: other people test it out and see if I can get.

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Speaker 1: By question answered. For the uninitiated, talk us through. You

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Speaker 1: start out with a group of people, men and women,

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Speaker 1: and they live in different pods, and then gradually they

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Speaker 1: get to a point where they pair off, but they

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Speaker 1: still don't see each other until quite a long time.

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Speaker 7: It starts off they're separated. The men and women are separated,

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Speaker 7: and they start off with pie. We see them just

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Speaker 7: dating each other. We see people visit the same person

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Speaker 7: more than once, and that kind of just gives us

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Speaker 7: a hint that maybe they are the most compatible right now,

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Speaker 7: or they have some type of chemistry in the moment.

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Speaker 7: And so while they're in the pots, they're asking those questions,

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Speaker 7: those getting to know each other questions, and so that

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Speaker 7: really it starts there, and it leads into the point

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Speaker 7: where a couple decides that they want to commit to

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Speaker 7: each other, and we start to see engagements and so

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Speaker 7: once people start proposing to each other. That's when we

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Speaker 7: get the big reveal and they're able to see what

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Speaker 7: each other finally looks like. And that's always the best

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Speaker 7: part because you could see right then and there is

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Speaker 7: love truly blind based off their reactions.

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Speaker 1: And I just want to say, love is Blind comes

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Speaker 1: from a company called Kinetic Content that is run by

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Speaker 1: one Chris Colin, somebody I knew many years ago in

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Speaker 1: a different incarnation when he was a UTA agents selling

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Speaker 1: reality shows and at some point he went on to

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Speaker 1: produce them himself.

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Speaker 7: So after the big revealed, then they have like a

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Speaker 7: group trip and so that's when they're finally able to

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Speaker 7: get someone on one time in person, and you get

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Speaker 7: to see like how the dynamics are and how they

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Speaker 7: interact with each other. It's also the first time where

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Speaker 7: all the engaged couple see each other for the first time,

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Speaker 7: like all together in a group setting, which is always

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Speaker 7: interesting and that's where a lot of drama happens because

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Speaker 7: some of them might have dated each other. So it's

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Speaker 7: always interesting to see that part with some close quarters there.

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Speaker 7: And would you say the people that are around these couples,

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Speaker 7: are there people going are you crazy? You're gonna get married?

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Speaker 1: Or are the people basically kind of supportive of the

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Speaker 1: experiment of it all.

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Speaker 7: I would say it's a mixture of both for sure.

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Speaker 7: I've seen both reactions. People that are like, oh my gosh,

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Speaker 7: I can't believe that you're actually going to do with this.

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Speaker 7: I support you in whatever you decide.

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Speaker 1: To do as you move into the finale, what are

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Speaker 1: the key things that you're watching for?

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Speaker 7: Is this couple actually ready for a commitment like this,

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Speaker 7: Because yes, it's a show, but once the camera's cut off,

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Speaker 7: that's your real life. It's already a real life. But

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Speaker 7: once we're not watching anymore, you have to deal with that.

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Speaker 7: So I'm really trying to see if people are actually

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Speaker 7: committed to the experiment and the journey that they're about

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Speaker 7: to embark on once the cameras stopped rowling.

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Speaker 1: Have you followed the fate of couples if they actually

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Speaker 1: did get hitched or got unhitched pretty quick.

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Speaker 7: It's not a lot of couples who have stayed together

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Speaker 7: since the show, But there is one couple who I

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Speaker 7: love and endore so much. They were in season one

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Speaker 7: of Love is Blind and they actually just had a baby,

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Speaker 7: their first child together, Lauren and Cameron. They're in season

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Speaker 7: one of Love is Blind, and they really have been

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Speaker 7: such a solid example of the experiment actually working the

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Speaker 7: way that they've been able to build a family since then,

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Speaker 7: they're my favorite couple.

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Speaker 1: Gianna, you told me that something that has never happened

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Speaker 1: before happened at the end of this season. This was

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Speaker 1: season nine, Is that right?

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Speaker 7: Yes, So, just when you think the show can't surprise

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Speaker 7: you anymore, this is the first time in the show's

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Speaker 7: history where no couples got married, which is surprising and

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Speaker 7: definitely unexpected, but honestly probably for the best to give

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Speaker 7: it this cast month. Thing I have noticed I now

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Speaker 7: crossed open to the international versions of Love is Blind,

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Speaker 7: and honestly I enjoy the international versions better than Love

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Speaker 7: is Blind. The American version. I really enjoy Love is

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Speaker 7: Blind UK. That's the only one that I've watched right now.

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Speaker 7: But I have friends who have recommended Love is Blind

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Speaker 7: friends and they said they really loved it. So I

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Speaker 7: just found it interesting that a lot of people are

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Speaker 7: talking more about the international versions, at least between me

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Speaker 7: and my friends, and just watching the UK version, I'm like, Wow,

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Speaker 7: this is a better view and experience like. It has

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Speaker 7: its drama, of course, but I find myself rooting for

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Speaker 7: more couples on there than I have in the recent

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Speaker 7: years of the American version.

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Speaker 1: Gianna, thanks so much, Thank you. There's pretty much one

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Speaker 1: thing that all A Variety is watching out for next

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Speaker 1: week other than news on Warner Brothers. It's almost Power

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Speaker 1: of Women time. Variety will host its annual celebration of

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Speaker 1: entertainment industry, women power and philanthropy on the evening of

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Speaker 1: October twenty ninth in Beverly Hills. You won't be able

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Speaker 1: to miss all of the Power of Women content and

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Speaker 1: live coverage of the event on Variety dot com. Our

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Speaker 1: honorees this year are Jamie Lee Curtis, Kate Hudson, Nicole Scherzinger,

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Speaker 1: Sidney Sweeney, and Wanda Sykes, plus several dozen accomplished industry

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Speaker 1: leaders who made our impact lists this year. Before we go,

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Speaker 1: I'm sending out an early Happy Birthday greeting to my sister,

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Speaker 1: Leslie Lyttleton. She took me to see The Clash in

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Speaker 1: nineteen eighty two. What more could a little sister ask?

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Speaker 1: Love you less? Thanks for listening. This episode was written

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Speaker 1: and reported by me Hey Cynthia Littleton, with contributions from

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Speaker 1: Salome Heilu, Mark Malkin, and Gianna Levy sticks Nick's hick picks.

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Speaker 1: Please leave us a review with the podcast platform of

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Speaker 1: your choice, and please tune in Monday for another episode

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Speaker 1: of Daily Variety