Today In Entertainment JUNE 06, 2020
What's news: California sets a date to restart TV and film production, WGA West cites progress and problems in inclusion report, TV cop shows pulled amid protests, Roger Goodell apologizes, Paramount releases Selma for free, late night producers eye an end to lockdowns. Plus: Season two of Disney+'s The Mandalorian will be released on time, and Fox News pushes back a return to the office. --Alex Weprin California Is One Week From Production Resuming ►California Gov. Gavin Newsom says that TV and film production can restart June 12. On Friday the governor explained how Hollywood will reopen after months of lockdown due to the novel coronavirus pandemic. Quote: "To reduce the risk of COVID-19 transmission, productions, cast, crew and other industry workers should abide by safety protocols agreed by labor and management, which may be further enhanced by county public health officers," the statement said. "Back office staff and management should adhere to Office Workspace guidelines published by the California Department of Public Health and the California Department of Industrial Relations, to reduce the risk of COVID-19 transmission." Here's the story. ►Film Academy board to gather with new inclusion efforts in focus. The organization's 54-person board of governors will convene via Zoom on Thursday, Scott Feinberg reports. This will probably be the final gathering of the board in its current composition, since 17 board seats came up for reevaluation in elections that began on Monday and ran through Friday afternoon. The story. ►Discrimination against minority TV writers "remains pervasive," WGA West study says. "Women and people of color could achieve parity in TV employment within the next two years," the guild's inclusion report also reported as gains in employment and screen credits are made. More. TV Cop Shows Pulled ►Live PD, Cops episodes pulled at A&E, Paramount Network. The cable nets have moved upcoming episodes in the wake of nationwide protests against police violence. Scheduled episodes of Live PD, A&E's most popular show, will not air as planned on Friday and Saturday. Repeats of spinoff Live Rescue, which follows fire departments and rescue squads, will run in their place. Cops, meanwhile, was slated to begin its 33rd season on Paramount Network on Monday but is not currently on the ViacomCBS-owned network's schedule. The story. +NFL was wrong to not listen to players fighting for racial equality, commissioner says. The statement came one day after 2018 NFL MVP Patrick Mahomes and several of his peers released a video demanding the league condemn racism. "We, the National Football League, condemn racism and the systematic oppression of black people," Goodell said. "We, the National Football League, admit we were wrong for not listening to NFL players earlier and encourage all to speak out and peacefully protest. We, the National Football League, believe Black Lives Matter." The story. ►Paramount makes Selma free to rent through June on digital platforms. The project joins other films tackling racial issues that have been made available at no cost for those looking to educate themselves in the wake of George Floyd's death. Warner Bros. made wrongful conviction drama Just Mercy, starring Jamie Foxx and Michael B. Jordan, free to rent for this month, while Netflix has made DuVernay's Oscar-nominated doc The 13th, which takes a look at the country's prison industrial complex, free for viewing on the streamer's YouTube channel. The story. +Paramount's parent company ViacomCBS also made a pledge of its own: CEO Bob Bakish announced that the company would be donating $5 million to organizations including the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, Equal Justice Initiative, Amnesty International, National Bail Out, The Bail Project, Community Coalition and others in a company-wide email about recent events on Friday. More. Paul Walker's manager is suing the late actor's loan out company over unpaid commissions from The Fast and the Furious franchise and other projects. Matt Luber and his Luber Roklin Entertainment on Friday filed a complaint in LA County Superior Court against Vagrant Inc., Walker's loan out company. The story. +Appeals court: White House's suspension of press pass violates due process. On Friday, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a lower court's injunction by finding that Playboy correspondent Brian Karem was likely to succeed on the claim that his due process rights were violated. Karem filed suit after White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham notified him of repercussions for breaching standards of decorum at a "Social Media Summit" last July where President Trump convened conservative bloggers and social media celebrities. The story. Late Night Eyes An End to Lockdowns ►Voice, Late Late Show EPs yearn for an end to remote production: "It's not sustainable." Speaking at the virtual ATX TV Festival, Audrey Morrissey and Rob Crabbe also say they'd rather tape without audiences than with socially distanced ones. The story. +Disney+'s The Mandalorian will return for season two on time. "We were lucky enough to have finished photography before the lock down," executive producer Jon Favreau said during a virtual panel for the ATX Television Festival moderated by Vanity Fair's Anthony Breznican. "Thanks to how technology-forward Lucasfilm and ILM are, we have been able to do all of our visual effects and editing and postproduction remotely through systems that had been set up by those companies for us." More. ►Jason Sudeikis to host remotely shot comedy competition at TBS. The WarnerMedia-owned outlet has greenlit seven episodes of Tournament of Laughs, which will feature 32 comics going head to head for bragging rights as a comedy champion. --Each week, the comics will film, produce and star in their own videos, ranging from stand-up sets to song parodies and whatever else they can dream up. Viewers will vote on the winner of each matchup until the final, when a panel of comedy experts will crown the winner. More. ►Fox News postpones return to office again amid pandemic. Fox News Channel is not coming back to the office on June 15, as parent company Fox Corp had originally targeted. Instead, the network is extending its remote work timeline "through at least the end of July," Fox Corp H.R. head Kevin Lord said in a Friday morning memo that was obtained by THR's Jeremy Barr. Lord cited "the well-being of our workforce as a guide" for making the extension decision. The story. ►AMC Theatres possible bankruptcy "too close to call," analyst says. "We believe AMC has the wherewithal to remain a going concern," until October, Imperial Capital analyst David Miller said in an investors note as he raised the exhibitor's stock price target. Miller also questioned if AMC's fight with Universal Pictures over the studio shifting Trolls World Tour to premium VOD amid the COVID-19 crisis will impact whether MGM's No Time to Die release in December plays on its international screens. The story. ►TV Long View: The 2019-20 season from top to bottom. The chasm between the highest- and lowest-rated shows point out how NFL games are almost a category unto themselves on network TV, Rick Porter reports. The column. ►TV ratings: The finale of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire carried ABC to its third straight Thursday win among adults 18-49 in primetime, and its second consecutive week topping total viewers on the night. The game show is currently at a same-day season high in total viewers. The numbers. In other news... --In a seismic shift for the comic book industry, DC has cut ties with Diamond Comic Distributors. --Protest backlash and the failings of a superhero culture. We gorge on stories of heroes in masks, yet we still don't understand justice, writes THR contributor Richard Newby. --13 Reasons Why cast reveal what they'll miss most about the Netflix drama. --Wanda Sykes explained why white people need to participate in the Black Lives Matter movement during Thursday's episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live! What else we're reading... --"The complex debate over Silicon Valley’s embrace of content moderation" [NY Times] --"Dear White People, This Is America see surge during protests" [Bloomberg] --"Ready or not, here comes the NBA" [The Ringer] --“Like hearing the old Meghan”: How Meghan Markle decided to finally speak out about George Floyd" [Vanity Fair] Today's birthdays: Sandra Bernhard, 65, Steve Vai, 60, Bjorn Borg, 64, Paul Giamatti, 53, Robert Englund, 73.
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