News Briefs

Sit at the back of the movie theater, and it's possible to see the appeal of ScreenX, the latest attempt to drag film lovers off the sofa and away from Netflix.

Instead of one screen, there are three - one at the front, and two on the sides - to add to the immersive experience you can't get from the home TV.

First adopted in South Korea in 2012, the system is being launched in the U.K. and theater chain Cineworld plans to add over 100 new screens to the worldwide count of 151.

The technology is the latest attempt by cinema operators to attract film viewers amid the growing popularity of online subscription services like Netflix and Amazon Prime. They've ranged from 3D screens launched almost a decade ago to ultra-high resolution IMAX projectors and 4DX - which features moving chairs and real-life special effects like snow falling on the audience.

The focus on innovation has helped in the past. Since 3D was popularized at big cinema theaters in 2009 with the release of films like James Cameron's "Avatar," revenue has grown. Global box office revenue has increased by $14.4 billion in the past decade to $40.6 billion, according Motion Picture Association of America.

But that growth seems to be fading and movie theaters are being overtaken by internet video. Revenue from internet video like Netflix is forecast to be the fastest growing part of the entertainment and media industry through 2021, according to consultancy PwC. Its estimated annual growth of 6 percent compares with a projected annual drop in cinema of 1.2 percent.

It's unclear whether this latest innovation will help or stand out.

Cineworld says the idea is "it makes you feel like you're sitting in the action."

Robert Mitchell, a film journalist for Variety magazine, notes that was the point of 3D in the first place.

"In 2009, when films like 'Ice Age' and 'Avatar' were coming out, it was the great new thing," he says. "That lasted for a couple of years until people started to realize that some films were being made that didn't really use the enhancements well. And it started to put people off going."

Love it or hate it, the number of cinemas that offer these new types of experiences grows globally every year.

"We're really confident that by offering customers as much choice as possible that it's going to bring people into the cinemas," says Kelly Drew, an operations director at Cineworld.

SAG-AFTRA and the SAG-AFTRA Foundation are jointly working together to bring workplace sexual harassment counseling services for members of the union. Now available, the services are administered by trained counselors at The Actors Fund, a national human services organization for entertainment, media and performing arts professionals.

The confidential, supportive services for SAG-AFTRA members impacted by workplace sexual harassment include assessment, crisis and short-term supportive counseling, education on individual rights and legal avenues, referrals to related resources and when needed, referrals for other clinical services. This service is open to all SAG-AFTRA members and is available nationally by phone, as well as in person at The Actors Fund’s offices in Los Angeles, New York City and Chicago.

“SAG-AFTRA is proud to introduce this important service to our members. While our existing Safer Set hotline assures workplace safety issues are addressed, it has become imperative that we make available counseling to our members who have or are experiencing workplace harassment,” said SAG-AFTRA president Gabrielle Carteris. “We are grateful to partner with the SAG-AFTRA Foundation as well as The Actors Fund and their team of professional counselors to meet this need. In addition to enhancing the union’s capacity to process workplace harassment reports in recent months, being able to offer counseling to our members is one more step in our ongoing efforts to address the sexual harassment epidemic in our industry.”

SAG-AFTRA Foundation president JoBeth Williams stated, “For more than 30 years, the SAG-AFTRA Foundation has been providing a vital safety net to SAG-AFTRA professionals who have fallen on hard times, been impacted by natural disasters, or been hit with unexpected illness or injury. This past year has been a reckoning for sexual harassment abuses in our industry. Our three organizations have come together to ensure that workplaces and working environments in this industry will be safe and secure. No SAG-AFTRA performer should ever feel alone or without recourse when it comes to sexual harassment or assault. We want all SAG-AFTRA professionals to know that they are not alone in this business.” .

Added The Actors Fund COO Barbara Davis, “Throughout our history, The Actors Fund has always responded quickly to the needs of our community. In the past year, the #MeToo and Time’s Up movements have brought issues of sexual harassment and assault to the forefront of the performing arts and entertainment industry. We’re proud to partner with SAG-AFTRA and the SAG-AFTRA Foundation to provide counseling services to people who have been subjected to sexual harassment or assault, and we will continue our outreach so that everyone in our industry knows that these services are available to them.”

To access services over the phone or in person, SAG-AFTRA members can contact The Actors Fund regional office nearest them in Los Angeles, (323) 933-9244, ext. 455; New York City (212) 221-7300, ext. 119; or Chicago (312) 372-0989.

Terry Crews said it's "the summer of freedom" for him and others who have gone public with accounts of alleged molestation.

"We can now tell our truth" and not see our lives upended, the former NFL player and actor said Wednesday. He called it "just the beginning of change."

The entertainment industry and beyond will be safer, including for "my wife, for my son and for my daughter," he said.

Crews made his remarks during a panel promoting NBC's sitcom "Brooklyn Nine-Nine." Support from his cast mates made him feel secure enough to "tell my truth and still go to work," he said, also crediting the example of women in the MeToo movement.

He alleged last year that Hollywood agent Adam Venit groped him at a party, and that top executives at William Morris Endeavor failed to discipline Venit. Prosecutors declined to file charges against Venit over the incident, citing the statute of limitations. Crews has filed a civil lawsuit.

Venit, via his attorneys, has denied all of Crews' allegations, saying in court documents that his actions toward Crews were not sexual, and Crews suffered no harm of any kind.

The actor testified earlier this year before a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on the Sexual Assault Survivor Bill of Rights.

Harassment and abuse allegations against Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein have led to numerous women coming forward with allegations of harassment and abuse against powerful men, with Crews among the few men who have added their names to the list of those claiming abuse.
 

Eleven producers representing 10 projects in TV, film, documentary and web series have completed the Producers Guild of America’s (PGA) 14TH annual Power of Diversity Master Workshop. The eight-week workshop, led by PGA Diversity chairs Julie Janata and Sasheen R. Artis, teaches master classes on pitching, premise development, film finance, line producing, demystifying the writers’ room, agents and managers, packaging, and multi-platform content delivery through VR/AR/MR/360, headlined by some of the top producers in the industry. 

This year’s speakers included: recent PGA presidents Gary Lucchesi and Lori McCreary, producers Dwight Williams, Anne Marie Gillen, Ian Bryce, former TV network executive Tom Nunan, TV showrunner Erica Shelton Kodish, XR producer John Canning, content and acquisitions executive Angela Northington and current PGA president Lucy Fisher.

“The PGA’s outstanding producer training workshop has been spearheading inclusivity through new projects and producers for 14 years, while providing powerful new voices with the essential skills to make themselves heard throughout the industry and around the world,” said Fisher. “I couldn’t be more impressed by the quality of the selection of producers and the projects they are crafting. Their commitment is inspiring, and I was very happy to be part of the workshop’s joyful finale.” 

The Power of Diversity Master Workshop participants also worked with 20 PGA member mentors for the duration of the workshop to prepare their projects for the marketplace. The Class of 2018 is:

• Rashaan Dozier-Escalante with the TV series “McKenna’s Callings,” a female-driven actioner set in the CIA in 1978 – the dawn of modern day terrorism.
• Morenike Joela Evans with the mother-daughter TV comedy “F.A.B. (Forty and Broke)” set in Washington D.C.
• Georgina Gonzalez with the feature documentary, “Soul Mirror,” an in-depth look at the challenges of immigration and disability through the eyes of Larry, a Mexican immigrant who suffers from hypertrichosis, a condition that causes his entire face and body to be covered by hair.
• Páll Grímsson with the adventure feature “Afterlands,” based on Steven Heighton’s acclaimed novel, as ethnic and nationalist conflicts doom the 1871 USS Polaris expedition to the North Pole.
• Michael Jenson with the family feature “Up River,” as four young friends from South Central go on a quest to the tony neighborhood of Los Feliz along the Los Angeles River.
• Sylvia L. Jones with the Chicago-based TV series “Shepherd,” which follows the police department’s Chief of Communications, Jillian Shepherd, as she navigates career, family and corruption within the city.
• Lisa Leeman with the be four-part docu-series, “American Veda” on the influence and backlash against Yoga and Hinduism in America.
• John Lowe with the TV comedy “Black Men Waiting,” following the lives and loves of Black gay men in Silicon Valley.
• Jazmen Darnell Brown & Rashad Mubarak with the digital short-form hip hop series “BLOOM,” following Darnel, a misfit teen who goes to extreme lengths to swap out his geek cred for street cred at his Atlanta high school.
• Camille Tucker with the TV comedy “Sorority Sistaz,” exploring identity and sisterhood at a fictional university in the South.

“We’re so proud of our graduates, primed to launch their projects, and proud of the Producers Guild’s long-standing commitment to inclusion,” read a statement from Master Workshop co-chairs Janata and Artis, “After so many years, there’s now a groundswell of diverse voices spreading throughout our media. Audiences are eager to embrace stories that reflect their own experience, so we’re convinced industry leaders will be just as eager to embrace these producers.”

PGA Workshop participants have gone on to produce top television shows and major films, including LaToya Morgan (two-time NAACP Image Award-nominee for “Turn: Washington’s Spies,” “Into the Badlands”), Aaron Rahsaan Thomas (“S.W.A.T.”, “Sleepy Hollow,” “CSI: NY,” “Southland”), Ben Lobato (“Ice,” “Queen of the South,” “Justified”), Hollie Overton (“Shadowhunters,” “The Client List”) and Sarah DiLeo (“Bless Me, Ultima”).

The Power of Diversity Master Workshop accepts participants from around the world and is open to members and non-members of the PGA. The Workshop is free. Applications for next year’s program will be available February 2019. For more information, click here.