Happy Star Wars day everybody and may the fourth be with you! You’re in luck, because celebrations include brand-new launches on Disney+ today. But first, we need to talk about Hulu providing an amazing opportunity to people who made the Latinx TV List, YouTube’s digital film festival, and The Oscars® adapting to 2020 with some major rule changes that may put Netflix in line for its first Best Picture.
LATINX WRITERS GET A BOOST FROM HULU AND THE BLACK LIST
Hulu is putting their money where their press release is by offering blind script deals to two of the ten writers selected for The Black List’s Latinx TV List. The list, which has already closed for submissions, puts a spotlight on Latinx writers who have written a script starring a Latinx character that was uploaded to The Black List’s website. Hulu will take general meetings with all ten writers, or teams of writers, who are featured on the 2020 list and then select two to receive blind deals for a new pilot script. It’s also noted that this isn’t a requirement for the writers. If any writer is not taken with Hulu or impressed with the contract, they are under no obligation to sign. Networks and studios love to talk publicly about how inclusive they are without taking meaningful steps to be inclusive. Remember the “Show Your Writers’ Room Challenge” where every show sent out a photo of their mostly white writers surrounded by a diverse group of assistants and interns. It’s nice to see a buyer actually take meaningful steps instead of just talking about it, because even if nothing comes from the projects, it’s still giving two new writers a paid job and a foot in the door.
YOUTUBE UNVEILS THE ‘WE ARE ONE’ FESTIVAL
If you’ve been missing film festivals, you’re definitely not alone. When the industry came to a standstill last month, a lot of filmmakers were left in the lurch without a place to showcase their films. YouTube has found a solution by bringing together 20 film festivals under one roof for We Are One: A Global Film Festival, which will showcase a selection of movies from the 20 festivals to an international audience—completely free of charge. From May 29th until June 7th, everybody is welcome to visit YouTube and watch a curated catalogue of free shorts, documentaries, feature length films, and panel discussions that would’ve originally screened at Cannes, Berlin, Sundance, TIFF, Tribeca and Venice, among others. South By Southwest will not take part because it already partnered with Amazon for its own digital film festival. YouTube will use We Are One as a way to raise awareness and solicit donations for the World Health Organization. Filmmakers around the world were devastated to discover their material would not be screened at these prestigious film festivals, something that could be a career-changing moment for many of them. One of the biggest benefits to attending a festival is the ability to network with agents, executives and other filmmakers, so nobody has to worry about these at-home film festivals replacing the real thing. While it won’t change the industry, We Are One does provide an opportunity for filmmakers to showcase their work to an audience who might not have had the opportunity otherwise to be introduced to new and worldwide talent.
THE OSCARS UNVEIL SOME MAJOR RULE CHANGES
The industry is hopeful that cinemas will open in time for Christopher Nolan’s Tenet on July 17th, the first major studio movie to remain on the schedule. And while it looks like things will open up regardless of how well the country is doing, the Academy Awards is being cautious and altering their eligibility requirements for the rest of the year. In 2020, movies that debut on streaming services or VOD will be eligible for award consideration as long as the movie is uploaded to the Academy’s own streaming service and the distributor can prove that a theatrical release was originally intended. I’m not sure how distributors will be able to prove that, especially for movies that were going to be released in the later months of the year, but I don’t produce award winning movies. The news is incredibly helpful for Netflix, who can now submit almost any of their dozens of movies without having to release them in a Los Angeles theater first. With buzzy movies from filmmakers like David Fincher, Ron Howard, George Clooney, Andrew Dominik, Ryan Murphy and Spike Lee, Netflix is in a good position for next year’s awards if studios decide to push their own contenders to the next year. The Academy made an important note that if regular screenings return, this rule will no longer apply. Other rules that changed include both sound categories being combined into one and all members being able to vote in the eliminating rounds of the International Feature nomination process.
HBO MAX GETS A BIG-TICKET FILM WITH SETH ROGEN’S PICKLE MOVIE
With theatrical income drying up, studios have been trying to find ways to supplement those lost dollars. Thankfully they’re sitting on a bunch of valuable movies they can’t release into theaters, which gives them two options: Either release to VOD and hope to get some rental income from families stuck at home like Universal did with Trolls: World Tour, or sell the movie to the highest bidder. Sony opted for the latter approach with Man Seeking Woman creator Simon Rich’s An American Pickle, which stars Seth Rogen as a turn-of-the-century pickler who falls into a vat and is preserved until the modern day. Kind of like a Jewish Encino Man. WarnerMedia has purchased the rights to the movie to launch on its upcoming HBO Max streaming platform, hoping to give the streaming service some publicity the way Amazon did by buying My Spy from STX and Netflix did by buying The Lovebirds from Paramount. Completed films are going to be in high demand until production can restart and the industry can get back to normal, but only time will tell if more studios put their films up for auction as a way to make some money during these trying times.
MAY THE FOURTH BE WITH YOU!
Today is Star Wars Day! And Disney is not going to let you celebrate alone in self-isolation. Disney+ has added a slew of new material to the service today in honor of the self-proclaimed holiday, including the series finale of Star Wars: Clone Wars, the final film in the Skywalker trilogy, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker and a brand new docu-series detailing how The Mandalorian was created. The new additions join the abundance of Star Wars television shows and movies already available on the service. So, if you’re feeling down and want a pick-me-up, you can head over to the streamer and relive the Darth Vader father reveal, the big pod-race, lightsaber duels of varying intensity, and the 2019 meme-machine Baby Yoda. You cannot, however, enjoy the Star Wars Holiday Special. Disney’s purchase of LucasFilm has done nothing to reverse the ban that George Lucas put on that 1970’s musical television event.