WEBVTT - Daily Variety – Box Office Monday: ‘Weapons’ Flexes in Week 2; Lowdown on Upfront Ad Sales; Truth Seekers Highlights With Jake Tapper, Ronny Chieng, Amber Ruffin and Roy Wood Jr. 0:00:00.320 --> 0:00:03.080 Well, I think, as Amber so eloquently said at her 0:00:03.080 --> 0:00:11.760 White House Correspondence Dinner performance earlier this year. Oh wait, 0:00:11.760 --> 0:00:17.360 they didn't have any known been Collin Jones. 0:00:17.360 --> 0:00:17.720 My bad. 0:00:27.720 --> 0:00:30.319 Welcome to Daily Variety, your daily dose of news and 0:00:30.360 --> 0:00:35.160 analysis for entertainment industry insiders. It's Monday, August eighteenth, twenty 0:00:35.200 --> 0:00:38.120 twenty five. I'm your host, Cynthia Littleton. I am co 0:00:38.280 --> 0:00:41.800 editor in chief of Variety alongside Ramin Setuda. I'm in 0:00:41.960 --> 0:00:45.400 La He's in New York, and Variety has reporters around 0:00:45.440 --> 0:00:49.199 the world covering the business of entertainment. In today's episode, 0:00:49.200 --> 0:00:52.400 we'll talk numbers, we'll get our Monday box office lowdown 0:00:52.440 --> 0:00:55.960 from Rebecca Rubin, and we'll talk through the final upfront 0:00:56.000 --> 0:00:59.200 ad sales figures as tracked by our own Brian Steinberg. 0:01:00.000 --> 0:01:02.320 One will shift to a discussion of the truth Seekers 0:01:02.360 --> 0:01:06.080 event hosted August fifteenth by Variety in Rolling Stone in 0:01:06.160 --> 0:01:09.840 New York. It was a pack day devoted to documentary 0:01:09.840 --> 0:01:13.880 and unscripted content. You'll hear clips from sessions with Ronnie 0:01:13.959 --> 0:01:18.160 Chang and Bur Ruffin, Roywood Junior, Jake Tapper, and Moore. 0:01:18.800 --> 0:01:20.880 But before we get to that, here are a few 0:01:20.959 --> 0:01:23.800 headlines just in this morning that you need to know. 0:01:25.080 --> 0:01:29.080 MSNBC will soon be MS now that will stand for 0:01:29.680 --> 0:01:33.840 my source for news, opinion and the world. The News 0:01:33.840 --> 0:01:36.679 Cabler will change its name and give up all NBC 0:01:36.880 --> 0:01:41.080 and Peacock related iconography as part of its upcoming split 0:01:41.120 --> 0:01:42.400 from NBC Universal. 0:01:43.080 --> 0:01:43.839 Some of us. 0:01:43.720 --> 0:01:46.200 Remember the hazy days of the mid nineties when the 0:01:46.480 --> 0:01:51.200 MS stood for Microsoft. The Santiago International Film Festival is 0:01:51.320 --> 0:01:55.160 underway in Chile, lots of headlines and discussions of business 0:01:55.200 --> 0:01:59.320 in Latin America. It's a lively event, and Variety's longtime 0:01:59.360 --> 0:02:02.360 correspond Anne Marie de la Fuente is down there as 0:02:02.400 --> 0:02:07.120 we publish three digital daily editions. Rip to actor Terence 0:02:07.160 --> 0:02:11.520 stamp He died August seventeenth, at age eighty seven. He 0:02:11.639 --> 0:02:14.760 was so good in so many movies. Priscilla, Queen of 0:02:14.840 --> 0:02:17.760 the Desert is one of my faves. All of these 0:02:17.800 --> 0:02:20.560 stories and more can be found on Variety dot com. 0:02:20.639 --> 0:02:26.600 Right now. Now it's time for conversations with Variety journalists 0:02:26.600 --> 0:02:29.839 about news and trends and showbiz. If it's Monday, We're 0:02:29.880 --> 0:02:33.920 talking Box Office with Rebecca Rubin, Variety's Boss of the BOH. 0:02:34.680 --> 0:02:37.440 Week two of Weapons and the opening of Nobody Too 0:02:37.520 --> 0:02:41.680 were the big stories. Rebecca Rubin, thanks for joining me as. 0:02:41.560 --> 0:02:43.240 Ever, thanks for having me. 0:02:44.000 --> 0:02:47.520 As we speak on a very hot August Sunday afternoon 0:02:47.560 --> 0:02:50.920 here in Los Angeles. How is the temperature at the 0:02:50.919 --> 0:02:51.760 box office? 0:02:52.320 --> 0:02:55.200 It was definitely a slower weekend as we head into 0:02:55.280 --> 0:02:58.800 the dog days of summer. August is known to be 0:02:58.919 --> 0:03:02.680 a quieter period at the box office, and best case 0:03:02.720 --> 0:03:05.680 there is the sleeper hitter too, and that's definitely been 0:03:05.720 --> 0:03:09.280 what is shaping up right now. As Weapons, the rated 0:03:09.320 --> 0:03:13.600 horror movie had another really great weekend at the box office. 0:03:13.720 --> 0:03:16.679 It was number one with twenty five million and its 0:03:16.720 --> 0:03:20.160 second weekend of release, and it's pretty significant because those 0:03:20.160 --> 0:03:23.560 ticket sales are down just forty three percent from its debut, 0:03:24.040 --> 0:03:27.760 and horror is known for really dropping like a rock 0:03:27.840 --> 0:03:30.600 at the box office, and so this is a really 0:03:30.800 --> 0:03:34.640 great hold and it's definitely attributed to the great reviews, 0:03:34.680 --> 0:03:37.280 but also really just the electric word of mouth. People 0:03:37.320 --> 0:03:40.040 are going to see this movie, having a really great 0:03:40.120 --> 0:03:42.920 time in the theater and then telling their friends about it. 0:03:43.480 --> 0:03:45.720 Again, not a whole lot of action, although I was 0:03:45.760 --> 0:03:50.640 happy for Bob Odenkirk Nobody Too, got really strong reviews. 0:03:50.760 --> 0:03:54.280 People were saying, this is the action comedy of our times. 0:03:55.320 --> 0:03:59.040 It didn't end up doing that notable of business. It 0:03:59.160 --> 0:04:02.680 opened with nine point two million dollars and that was 0:04:02.800 --> 0:04:07.160 enough to land in third place. It cost twenty five million, 0:04:07.280 --> 0:04:09.760 so it didn't need to make a ton to be 0:04:09.840 --> 0:04:13.800 successful in its theastrical run. But those ticket sales aren't 0:04:13.800 --> 0:04:16.719 that much stronger than the first Nobody, which came out 0:04:16.760 --> 0:04:20.560 in twenty twenty one and opened to six point eight million. 0:04:20.880 --> 0:04:23.040 But the difference there is that was at a time 0:04:23.080 --> 0:04:27.280 when movie theaters were just starting to reopen after the pandemic, 0:04:27.440 --> 0:04:30.599 and they were still playing to limited capacities. So the 0:04:30.680 --> 0:04:33.559 landscape was looking a lot different than it is now. 0:04:34.040 --> 0:04:38.560 And so I don't think that Universal, which distributed the film, 0:04:38.640 --> 0:04:42.039 was expecting a huge blockbuster result. But you have to 0:04:42.040 --> 0:04:45.240 imagine if movie theaters are playing at full strength, they 0:04:45.320 --> 0:04:49.440 probably were helping for maybe a fifteen to twenty million 0:04:49.480 --> 0:04:52.480 dollar opening weekend as opposed to a nine million dollar. 0:04:52.440 --> 0:04:56.440 Debut Rebecca, Are there any other box office milestones that 0:04:56.480 --> 0:05:01.400 you're looking at, either the overall box officer for individual titles. 0:05:01.120 --> 0:05:03.680 Well, just to look at films that have been playing 0:05:03.680 --> 0:05:06.240 in theaters for a bit. Something that's kind of fun 0:05:06.400 --> 0:05:10.200 is Superman and F One are both just as stone's 0:05:10.240 --> 0:05:13.960 throw from crossing six hundred million. It'll be interesting to 0:05:13.960 --> 0:05:16.600 see which one ends up crossing the finish line first. 0:05:16.760 --> 0:05:20.520 But no matter the order, these are pretty impressive milestones 0:05:20.560 --> 0:05:25.040 for two films that didn't necessarily enter theears as guaranteed hits, 0:05:25.160 --> 0:05:28.800 but ended up really sticking around during the summer season. 0:05:29.560 --> 0:05:30.440 They had legs. 0:05:30.760 --> 0:05:35.000 Yes, this might be the last bigger weekend for a 0:05:35.120 --> 0:05:38.240 period of time, because there's definitely going to be a 0:05:38.520 --> 0:05:42.000 late summer early fall slowdown before some of the big 0:05:42.240 --> 0:05:45.440 blockbuster films start to pick up again, and so hopefully 0:05:45.480 --> 0:05:47.880 there will be other sleeper hits. 0:05:48.520 --> 0:05:54.760 Thank you, Rebecca, Thank you. Now we'll hear from Brian Steinberg, 0:05:54.839 --> 0:05:58.239 senior TV editor, on his report about the curtain coming 0:05:58.279 --> 0:06:02.440 down on this year's upfront at sales process. Everybody wants 0:06:02.480 --> 0:06:06.680 to know the big round number. Brian's got it. Brian Steinberg, 0:06:06.960 --> 0:06:09.960 thank you for putting your calculator down and joining me 0:06:10.040 --> 0:06:12.280 here for a conversation about upfront sales. 0:06:12.600 --> 0:06:14.920 Glad to be here. As usual, this has. 0:06:14.800 --> 0:06:19.440 Been a long upfront sales process, but a couple of 0:06:19.520 --> 0:06:23.920 days ago you filed your Okay, it's pretty much over headlines. 0:06:24.720 --> 0:06:26.000 What was it that told you? 0:06:26.480 --> 0:06:26.880 Okay? 0:06:27.000 --> 0:06:30.240 I can comfortably report a round number for this year. 0:06:30.640 --> 0:06:32.920 It's had a big quarter of earnings from our various 0:06:32.960 --> 0:06:37.080 media companies Comcast, Warner, et cetera. And they've all mentioned 0:06:37.120 --> 0:06:39.960 the upfront in some capacity. That tells me they've largely 0:06:39.960 --> 0:06:42.960 wrapped up the negotiations with the big buying agencies and 0:06:42.960 --> 0:06:45.200 they're big sponsors. And on top of that, what we 0:06:45.240 --> 0:06:47.760 get using in August is a report from a public 0:06:47.800 --> 0:06:51.000 called Media Dynamics. They tracked the nitty gritty of the upfront, 0:06:51.000 --> 0:06:54.120 who spent what and where, and they coculated with their summation. 0:06:54.880 --> 0:06:58.480 Okay, Brian, what's the round number estimate for twenty twenty five? 0:06:58.480 --> 0:07:01.000 Because this isn't yet money in the bank, these are 0:07:01.040 --> 0:07:05.239 advanced commitments. What's the estimate for the US market? 0:07:05.680 --> 0:07:09.120 We believe thirty one billion dollars for this year's upfront 0:07:09.120 --> 0:07:12.960 market at streaming, cable and broadcast. That's up about five 0:07:13.000 --> 0:07:15.880 percent from twenty nine point five billion last year. So 0:07:16.120 --> 0:07:19.760 TV and video still attractive. The flip side, Cynthia, is 0:07:19.800 --> 0:07:24.720 that primetime TV once the most expensive, most lucrative TV 0:07:24.840 --> 0:07:27.320 you could buy from if you're an advertiser, is continue 0:07:27.360 --> 0:07:30.400 to lose money. People are pulling dollars from primetime television 0:07:30.680 --> 0:07:31.840 and put it into streaming. 0:07:32.600 --> 0:07:35.120 Let me go back to that thirty one billion, so 0:07:35.400 --> 0:07:37.880 we know about nine billion of that is broadcast TV, 0:07:38.000 --> 0:07:39.640 so you can look at that two ways, like it's 0:07:39.920 --> 0:07:43.520 broadcast TV. These handful of channels are still almost a 0:07:43.600 --> 0:07:47.640 third of the tape. That's impressive, but the numbers are 0:07:47.680 --> 0:07:52.000 obviously going in the wrong direction. So let's talk about streaming, 0:07:52.040 --> 0:07:54.800 which is the new big driver. What had the most 0:07:54.840 --> 0:08:00.000 traction in terms of category advertiser? What drove streaming sale 0:08:00.240 --> 0:08:00.920 this time around? 0:08:01.320 --> 0:08:03.679 What we understand is going on at lat fast channels. 0:08:03.680 --> 0:08:06.320 Those are free ads apportan channels you might see on 0:08:06.400 --> 0:08:09.800 Amazon Prime or various places. Everyone's launching one on Both 0:08:09.800 --> 0:08:12.560 wore be going more attractive because they're not down on 0:08:12.560 --> 0:08:15.200 a paywall. They're easy to access. Some of the rates 0:08:15.200 --> 0:08:17.160 for streaming can you even come down? With Netflix and 0:08:17.200 --> 0:08:20.880 Amazon entering the market more heavily, there is more supply. 0:08:21.400 --> 0:08:23.880 That means that the rates are coming down. They can't 0:08:23.960 --> 0:08:26.640 charge as much for each one. Plus the move of 0:08:26.680 --> 0:08:28.320 a lot more sports to streaming. 0:08:29.160 --> 0:08:31.760 I ask you this every time we talk about this. 0:08:32.240 --> 0:08:34.400 I still struggle to wrap my head around a world 0:08:34.440 --> 0:08:38.680 where there is just infinite inventory. With these fast channels, 0:08:39.400 --> 0:08:43.960 there is so much more inventory. Unlike you know, NBC 0:08:44.120 --> 0:08:46.960 runs something from eight to nine, Come hell or high water, 0:08:47.000 --> 0:08:49.760 they've got those spots to fill. On a fast channel, 0:08:49.800 --> 0:08:53.400 you have inventory if somebody clicks play. If they don't 0:08:53.400 --> 0:08:56.960 click play, you don't have that inventory. Ad sales always 0:08:57.040 --> 0:09:00.560 used to be about scarcity. Now there's scarcity for hits, 0:09:00.880 --> 0:09:04.120 but there is so much inventory. How has that changed 0:09:04.600 --> 0:09:07.560 this upfront process and just add sales in general. 0:09:07.920 --> 0:09:11.559 Well, I think streaming inventory. You're seeing the rates come 0:09:11.600 --> 0:09:14.080 down more supply, there's not much of the premium attached 0:09:14.120 --> 0:09:15.840 to it. It was up at a certain level, now 0:09:15.840 --> 0:09:17.600 it's come down quite a bit in the last two years. 0:09:17.920 --> 0:09:22.400 Advertisers still want programming or content that reaches a lot 0:09:22.440 --> 0:09:27.800 of people at once. Was why sports on Netflix and 0:09:27.880 --> 0:09:29.880 Amazon are becoming more of interest. 0:09:30.280 --> 0:09:32.440 Another thing I wanted to ask you, Brian. You do 0:09:32.640 --> 0:09:36.319 cite the number crunched by Media Dynamics, and we appreciate 0:09:36.400 --> 0:09:39.600 their data support. But when you first joined Variety, you 0:09:39.679 --> 0:09:42.240 used to do your own calculations, and the fact that 0:09:42.280 --> 0:09:44.680 you don't, I think is illustrative of the world that 0:09:44.720 --> 0:09:48.520 we're in. What changed where you could no longer with 0:09:48.640 --> 0:09:51.880 confidence do your own calculations. 0:09:51.520 --> 0:09:55.720 Tracking up front, you see about tracking prime time across 0:09:55.760 --> 0:09:59.000 four or five six broadcast networks, that was their most 0:09:59.040 --> 0:10:02.720 lucrative time. You've you apples to apples. CBS's Prime Time 0:10:02.840 --> 0:10:05.520 was valued at this, CW's Prime Hi was valued at that. 0:10:05.960 --> 0:10:08.800 But in the last several years again prime time at 0:10:08.800 --> 0:10:11.640 any time, there's more kinds of other inventory being sold 0:10:11.640 --> 0:10:14.160 out about different digital types. I U see you my 0:10:14.320 --> 0:10:16.559 mom back in the envelope SOTI people will give you 0:10:16.600 --> 0:10:19.080 a high slinder no sign. I feel as now an 0:10:19.080 --> 0:10:20.960 admat of value anymore. So I've can't stopped doing my 0:10:20.960 --> 0:10:23.120 own math sadly well. 0:10:23.280 --> 0:10:25.960 Part of being a good reporter is knowing what you 0:10:26.040 --> 0:10:30.400 don't know. Credibility matters. Brian, thank you for joining us. 0:10:30.520 --> 0:10:32.440 We'll hear from you later in the week because you're 0:10:32.600 --> 0:10:35.600 gonna go with ten to big ESPN presentation on their 0:10:35.920 --> 0:10:38.880 standalone launch plans, and you will bring us back a 0:10:38.880 --> 0:10:44.440 full report. Looking forward to it, me too. And now 0:10:44.440 --> 0:10:48.600 we turn to truth seekers. Tatiana Siegel, Variety's executive editor 0:10:48.640 --> 0:10:51.319 of Film and Media, guides us through the full day 0:10:51.360 --> 0:10:54.240 event in New York that was packed with movers and shakers. 0:10:54.760 --> 0:10:57.480 The big topics were Trump's assault on the news media, 0:10:57.720 --> 0:11:00.600 the Sixty Minutes lawsuit, and the demid of The Late 0:11:00.640 --> 0:11:04.360 Show with Stephen Colbert next year. Tatiana sets the scene 0:11:04.400 --> 0:11:06.880 for us and will weave in some clips from some 0:11:06.920 --> 0:11:10.560 of the great conversations, including her sit down with Daily 0:11:10.600 --> 0:11:15.720 Show correspondent Ronnie Chang. Tatiana put the question straight to Ronnie. 0:11:16.000 --> 0:11:19.320 Is late night TV endangered? Here's his answer. 0:11:19.840 --> 0:11:22.080 From a macro point of view. Is it weird that 0:11:22.720 --> 0:11:25.880 American satire is under attack? Yes, it is weird. Of 0:11:25.920 --> 0:11:28.720 all the countries in the world, I think America is 0:11:28.800 --> 0:11:33.000 uniquely suited to have political satire, Like if we America 0:11:33.080 --> 0:11:37.040 has the most money and entertainment, the most talented comedy 0:11:37.040 --> 0:11:42.920 writers and performers, and the craziest politics, and, by the way, 0:11:42.960 --> 0:11:45.320 the most freedom of speech in the world. I know 0:11:45.360 --> 0:11:47.720 you guys want to boom me for that, but I've 0:11:47.760 --> 0:11:50.040 lived in places where we can't tell the president to 0:11:50.080 --> 0:11:52.560 fuck off, I believe or not. There's other countries where 0:11:52.559 --> 0:11:56.680 you can't say that. So the fact that we have 0:11:56.800 --> 0:12:00.000 all four of these things in America, like if America 0:12:00.400 --> 0:12:04.280 can do a daily political satire show that no one. 0:12:04.120 --> 0:12:07.960 Can Tatiana Siegel, thank you so much for joining me. 0:12:08.480 --> 0:12:09.400 Always a pleasure. 0:12:10.160 --> 0:12:12.440 You had a long day last week at the truth 0:12:12.520 --> 0:12:16.640 Seekers event that Variety hosts with Rolling Stone every year 0:12:17.080 --> 0:12:20.760 in August. It's a gathering of anybody who's everybody in 0:12:20.840 --> 0:12:26.679 the documentary unscripted news community, and it's absolutely become one 0:12:26.720 --> 0:12:29.959 of our favorite events. Set the scene for us, tell 0:12:30.040 --> 0:12:32.040 us what was the mood of the vibe at True 0:12:32.040 --> 0:12:32.840 Seekers this year? 0:12:33.920 --> 0:12:37.440 It was quite something in the sense that all of 0:12:37.480 --> 0:12:42.320 these people were booked months ago, and when you saw 0:12:42.360 --> 0:12:46.480 these panelists come, it was as though they were booked yesterday, 0:12:46.520 --> 0:12:49.480 because every one of them was so timely and could 0:12:49.480 --> 0:12:52.400 speak to some issue in the news that was so timely. 0:12:52.960 --> 0:12:57.199 So my panel was with The Daily Show senior correspondent 0:12:57.480 --> 0:13:01.880 Randi Chang, and it was an interesting time to be 0:13:01.920 --> 0:13:05.520 talking to him, given that Colbert was just bounced from 0:13:05.520 --> 0:13:12.000 CBS and all of these sort of questions about is 0:13:12.120 --> 0:13:16.640 comedy the last bastion for truth telling and is it 0:13:16.720 --> 0:13:20.839 under fire because of President Trump. So I found our 0:13:20.880 --> 0:13:24.200 conversation to be great, and the audience, which was like 0:13:24.320 --> 0:13:28.080 a really packed room of people who were very engaged, 0:13:28.480 --> 0:13:30.040 seem to love every minute of it. 0:13:30.880 --> 0:13:33.040 I'd want to shout out Susanne Alt, who is our 0:13:33.160 --> 0:13:36.920 fantastic head of editorial programming for our live events. She 0:13:37.000 --> 0:13:39.680 has her finger on the pulse. We were excited to 0:13:39.720 --> 0:13:43.800 have Ronnie join us. It's not sensationalistic to say, is 0:13:43.840 --> 0:13:46.200 the era of late night TV as you and I 0:13:46.240 --> 0:13:47.880 grew up with it is that over. 0:13:49.080 --> 0:13:53.600 So he's in a unique situation in that he works 0:13:53.640 --> 0:13:56.640 for the same parent company that Stephen Colbert does. 0:13:56.760 --> 0:14:01.520 So right, Comedy Central is partner Amount Sky Dance Now. 0:14:02.120 --> 0:14:06.640 But he did talk about how it's incredibly problematic that 0:14:06.920 --> 0:14:12.320 any politician is even referencing South Park or any of 0:14:12.360 --> 0:14:15.560 these comed like they should be worried about more important things. 0:14:15.800 --> 0:14:19.200 One of the other highlights of the day was Ramin Setuta, 0:14:19.320 --> 0:14:23.200 our colleague, Variety's Coeice sat down with CNN's Jake Tapper. 0:14:23.760 --> 0:14:25.920 That was early in the day. I think to accommodate 0:14:26.120 --> 0:14:29.840 Tapper's reporting schedule, that must have been a lively way 0:14:29.880 --> 0:14:30.680 to get started. 0:14:31.440 --> 0:14:37.160 Yes, Jake was heading off to Anchorage, Alaska for the 0:14:37.320 --> 0:14:38.480 Trump Putin Summit. 0:14:39.000 --> 0:14:41.800 You moderated the presidential debate that changed in American history. 0:14:41.840 --> 0:14:45.080 Can you take us back to last summer and what 0:14:45.120 --> 0:14:45.440 it was like? 0:14:45.680 --> 0:14:47.200 This where I'm going to take it. You guys want 0:14:47.240 --> 0:14:48.600 to hear what it was like to be there in 0:14:48.600 --> 0:14:51.400 the debate room that night. It was, it was, It 0:14:51.440 --> 0:14:53.600 was I saw what you saw, except it was fifteen 0:14:53.600 --> 0:14:56.280 feet in front of me, and it was shocking. And 0:14:57.880 --> 0:15:02.440 I thought, oh my god, it's much worse than I thought. 0:15:03.040 --> 0:15:08.320 And yes, President Trump, then former and future President Trump. 0:15:08.320 --> 0:15:11.080 But Donald Trump was there doing what Donald Trump does. 0:15:11.360 --> 0:15:14.160 A lot of bluster, a lot of eyes, lots of stuff, 0:15:14.160 --> 0:15:18.720 although given what was going on to his left, he 0:15:18.800 --> 0:15:21.920 was fairly restrained about what was going on to his left. 0:15:22.160 --> 0:15:24.240 I'm not saying he deserves credit for it him, just saying, like, 0:15:24.360 --> 0:15:27.520 in terms of his savviness, when your enemy is blowing 0:15:27.560 --> 0:15:30.680 himself up, get out of the way. I mean, it 0:15:30.720 --> 0:15:32.800 was shocking, and I do think to this day the 0:15:32.840 --> 0:15:36.080 Democratic Party needs to reckon with the fact that because 0:15:36.120 --> 0:15:40.640 they were so convinced that Donald Trump was an existential 0:15:40.680 --> 0:15:46.360 threat to the country and that Joe Biden had convinced 0:15:46.400 --> 0:15:48.120 the party that he was it. He was the only 0:15:48.160 --> 0:15:50.840 one that could beat him. The party was going along 0:15:50.880 --> 0:15:54.800 with somebody who was not capable of certainly not capable 0:15:54.800 --> 0:15:56.480 of being president for another four years. 0:15:57.280 --> 0:16:00.200 Let me ask you about the crowd in general our 0:16:00.280 --> 0:16:02.360 fifth year. I remember the first year we did it. 0:16:02.680 --> 0:16:04.760 On that day, we all kind of held our breath 0:16:04.760 --> 0:16:07.520 because we weren't entirely sure we were going to fill 0:16:08.160 --> 0:16:11.040 a room in New York City in mid August. From 0:16:11.240 --> 0:16:15.200 year one, it was packed, literally sorrow and people could 0:16:15.280 --> 0:16:18.600 not be more excited to be together in the documentary community. 0:16:18.760 --> 0:16:20.600 That's one of the things I love about our events 0:16:20.680 --> 0:16:24.880 is that we bring together these discrete communities that really 0:16:24.960 --> 0:16:27.440 love to be together. Did you get that vibe this time? 0:16:28.160 --> 0:16:30.920 Yes, there was clearly a lot of people trying to 0:16:30.920 --> 0:16:32.640 get in early and get better seats. 0:16:33.200 --> 0:16:33.720 I love it. 0:16:34.200 --> 0:16:36.240 Thank you for setting the scene. I'm going to cueue 0:16:36.320 --> 0:16:38.600 up a few other clips from some of the panels, 0:16:39.160 --> 0:16:41.520 and now here's a clip from the State of the 0:16:41.560 --> 0:16:46.040 Documentary Business session, moderated by my colleague Brent Lane. The 0:16:46.120 --> 0:16:49.240 conversation focused on the loss of federal funding under the 0:16:49.280 --> 0:16:53.600 Trump administration. We'll hear first from Carrie Lazano, President and 0:16:53.680 --> 0:16:58.600 CEO of ITVS. She explains what ITVS is in terms 0:16:58.640 --> 0:17:02.200 that illuminate where we are. After Carrie, we hear from 0:17:02.280 --> 0:17:06.600 Dan O'Mara, executive VP of Nonfiction for indie distributor Neon, 0:17:07.240 --> 0:17:11.600 and then from Carol Martzeko Fenster, CEO and President of 0:17:11.800 --> 0:17:12.720 abram Arama. 0:17:13.320 --> 0:17:17.520 This is going to seem totally inconceivable right now, but 0:17:17.640 --> 0:17:20.360 in the late eighties we were a piece of legislation 0:17:20.760 --> 0:17:24.240 that Congress passed that said the Corporation for Public Broadcasting 0:17:24.760 --> 0:17:29.399 must start an independent television service. Thus the name that 0:17:29.520 --> 0:17:35.040 works entirely with independence, so that we can provide innovation, diversity, 0:17:36.080 --> 0:17:39.399 and underserved storytelling to the American public. And that's what 0:17:39.440 --> 0:17:41.800 we've been doing for thirty five years. 0:17:42.480 --> 0:17:46.560 Making money is not easy, and it usually starts with 0:17:46.600 --> 0:17:48.440 an audience. So one of the things that we always 0:17:48.480 --> 0:17:50.480 tell filmmakers when they come to it, the first question 0:17:50.520 --> 0:17:53.640 that we ask do you have an audience or do 0:17:53.720 --> 0:17:57.240 you have support organizations? Because that is going to be 0:17:57.280 --> 0:17:59.520 the key to getting people to come out to the theater. 0:18:00.400 --> 0:18:05.560 Counterintuitively, documentaries, you know, have been the victim of their 0:18:05.560 --> 0:18:08.600 own success in the sense that they proliferated so much 0:18:09.000 --> 0:18:14.040 they became ubiquitous. They're being watched now more by more people, 0:18:14.640 --> 0:18:18.920 more widely than ever before. And yet you know that 0:18:19.000 --> 0:18:22.600 created an you know, ah, there was a there was 0:18:22.640 --> 0:18:24.679 a moment where they were rare, and there was a 0:18:24.680 --> 0:18:27.520 moment where there was a greater demand for them. And 0:18:27.560 --> 0:18:31.760 now these streaming services have realized that these individual films 0:18:31.760 --> 0:18:35.600 are not valuable to them the way that they once were. 0:18:36.640 --> 0:18:39.159 And we'll close with some quips and some hard truth 0:18:39.520 --> 0:18:42.919 from Amber Ruffin and Roy Wood, Junior, host of the 0:18:42.960 --> 0:18:46.160 CNN series Have I Got News for You? The two 0:18:46.280 --> 0:18:48.880 did not hold back on the chill in the culture 0:18:48.920 --> 0:18:52.280 with Trump's attacks on comedians and the club that he 0:18:52.400 --> 0:18:57.399 has wielded against anything related to DEI that was Roy Wood, 0:18:57.440 --> 0:18:59.840 you heard in the cold open making the point that 0:19:00.040 --> 0:19:03.160 Ruffin's gig as the comic for the White House Correspondence 0:19:03.240 --> 0:19:06.280 Association Dinner was yanked earlier this year. 0:19:06.920 --> 0:19:09.280 You can come on our show and literally try to 0:19:09.359 --> 0:19:11.720 joke about anything, and if you can make it funny, great, 0:19:11.800 --> 0:19:13.919 If not, we're going to roast your ass to your face. 0:19:15.280 --> 0:19:18.399 So I think maintaining that balance, I think our version 0:19:18.440 --> 0:19:20.760 of the show has a different sense of responsibility to 0:19:20.840 --> 0:19:23.600 the American voter than our British predecessor. 0:19:23.680 --> 0:19:27.400 So well, I'm sorry that I was so shocked by Target, 0:19:29.160 --> 0:19:33.680 but it did break my little heart. I'm not going there, 0:19:33.720 --> 0:19:34.560 but I want to. 0:19:36.119 --> 0:19:36.960 I'm never going back. 0:19:37.000 --> 0:19:38.560 I'm never going to get to go in there again. 0:19:38.680 --> 0:19:41.359 What boycott has given you the most withdrawals? Like, of 0:19:41.560 --> 0:19:44.320 all of all the stuff black people have had, the 0:19:44.359 --> 0:19:45.200 boycott over. 0:19:45.080 --> 0:19:48.480 The decades, didn't care about Chick fil A, never well 0:19:48.520 --> 0:19:52.800 that was black thing, or that a gay thing. But 0:19:52.880 --> 0:19:56.200 I will it has to be Target because Target's right 0:19:56.240 --> 0:20:00.960 there is Christmas I need lights or the bottom of 0:20:00.960 --> 0:20:04.200 the tree because my one hundred foot ran out. It 0:20:04.320 --> 0:20:07.080 is right there, but I can't go there. I have 0:20:07.119 --> 0:20:10.120 to go to Walgreens and get fifty foot and it's 0:20:10.160 --> 0:20:14.120 a yellow gold, not the gold Golds. And I gotta 0:20:14.160 --> 0:20:17.440 have a bitch tree for all of Christmas because Target 0:20:17.520 --> 0:20:18.920 can't get their shit together. 0:20:22.200 --> 0:20:24.840 As we close out today's episode, here are a few 0:20:24.880 --> 0:20:28.560 things we're watching for. As we discussed with Brian Steinberg, 0:20:28.560 --> 0:20:30.639 it's going to be a big week for ESPN with 0:20:30.720 --> 0:20:34.119 the August twenty first launch of their streaming app. Looking 0:20:34.160 --> 0:20:36.720 forward to learning more about their plans at the preview 0:20:36.720 --> 0:20:40.040 event later this week. Here's good news for Chip and 0:20:40.119 --> 0:20:43.760 Joe fans. The latest edition of Magnolia Table at the 0:20:43.840 --> 0:20:48.480 Farm abowt September seventh, on Magnolia Network. Whatever you do, 0:20:48.480 --> 0:20:51.960 don't skip Alison Herman's review of the new adult swim 0:20:52.040 --> 0:20:56.359 series Women Wearing Shoulder Pads. It's a great read. Before 0:20:56.400 --> 0:20:59.880 we go. Congrats to Jessica Easton and Dante Smith, who 0:21:00.119 --> 0:21:03.760 been promoted to senior VPS for Capital Music Group. The 0:21:03.840 --> 0:21:06.359 pair will work with Justin Grant to lead the group's 0:21:06.480 --> 0:21:10.480 urban marketing department. Thanks for listening. This episode was written 0:21:10.520 --> 0:21:14.560 and reported by me Cynthia Littleton, with contributions from Rebecca Rubin, 0:21:14.640 --> 0:21:18.200 Brian Steinberg, and Tatiana Siegel. It was edited by Aaron 0:21:18.240 --> 0:21:22.720 Greenwald sticks Nick's hick picks. Please leave us a review 0:21:22.760 --> 0:21:25.400 at the podcast platform of your choice, and please tune 0:21:25.440 --> 0:21:29.840 in tomorrow for another episode of Daily Variety. 0:21:35.000 --> 0:21:38.000 Well, I will say this proudly underneath the paramount plus banner, 0:21:38.040 --> 0:21:41.520 which is that loss. It was bullshit against sixty minutes. 0:21:44.320 --> 0:21:47.280 It's editing is something that is done all the time.