Steve Pond's Blog, page 2006
January 21, 2020
Recording Academy Lawyer Joel Katz Denies Deborah Dugan’s Sexual Harassment Accusation
Joel Katz, the general counsel for the Recording Academy, denied Deborah Dugan’s accusation that he sexually harassed her in a private meeting last year.
Dugan accused Katz of making suggestive comments about her appearance and attempting to flirt with and kiss her during a dinner in May 2019. The accusations were outlined as part of a formal complaint she and her lawyers filed to the EEOC on Tuesday.
“Ms. Dugan’s allegations of harassment and her description of a dinner at the steakhouse in the Ritz Carlton, Laguna Niguel are false, and Mr. Katz categorically and emphatically denies her version of that evening,” Katz’s attorney Howard Weitzman said in a statement obtained by TheWrap.
Also Read: Grammy Drama: 7 Most Explosive Accusations by Ousted Recording Academy CEO Deborah Dugan
“This dinner meeting was 2½ months before Ms. Dugan started her job,” he continued. “Mr. Katz believed they had a productive and professional meeting in a restaurant where a number of members of the Board of Trustees of the Academy, and others, were dining. Ms. Dugan’s claims are made, for the first time, seven months after this dinner took place,” Weitzman continued. “Mr. Katz will cooperate in any and all investigations or lawsuits by telling the absolute and whole truth. Hopefully Ms. Dugan will do the same.”
In a letter Dugan sent to HR that was included as part of her complaint, Dugan said that Katz made advances toward her at a dinner last May, just after she was appointed as CEO (but before officially starting).
“Over the course of the evening, Mr. Katz explained to me that he was very very rich and had many houses, one in Bermuda and other locations. And he reminded me that he had a private plane and informed me that he was lonely and had no one to spend time with. He suggested that spending time together, traveling to his many homes could be something nice for us to share. He talked about his marriage that had failed. I listened politely but made it clear I was not interested in his advances,” she wrote. “At the conclusion of dinner, he leaned forward, lips pursed, as to kiss me. I quickly turned and made my way out of the restaurant.”
Also Read: Former Recording Academy Chief Neil Portnow Accused of Raping Female Recording Artist
Last week, Dugan was placed on administrative leave by the Academy’s executive committee, just days before the 2020 Grammys that take place this coming Sunday.
Interim boss Harvey Mason Jr. revealed in a letter that was sent to membership on Monday that Dugan was being investigated following accusations of misconduct made by a staff member. Mason Jr. said Dugan was accused of creating a “toxic and intolerable” and “abusive and bullying” environment toward her staff.
Then in a complaint filed by her lawyers Douglas Wigdor and Michael Willemin on Tuesday, Dugan accused the Recording Academy of voting irregularities, financial mismanagement and other conflicts of interest involving the Academy’s board members. A separate investigation into Dugan’s claims was then launched.
Read Dugan’s full EEOC complaint here.
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Colbert Breaks Down How He Thinks Mitch McConnell Is Fixing Trump’s Impeachment Trial (Video)
Like many of you, Stephen Colbert isn’t too happy about the way Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is handling the Donald Trump impeachment, and on Tuesday’s episode of “The Late Show,” the late-night host broke down some of his least favorite bits.
Colbert kicked things off in his opening monologue by noting that the impeachment of Trump “is a pivotal day in this history of the Republic. Soon we will find out if breaking the law is illegal.” But, Colbert continued, “so far I don’t like the odds.”
Colbert then explained how on Tuesday, the Senate debated “the rules proposed by Senate Majority Leader and ‘Scrotum of the Opera,’ Mitch McConnell,” which among other things doesn’t guarantee any witnesses will be called. “So, no evidence, no witnesses, just 100 old people stuck in a room together. This isn’t a trial, it’s the 4:00 dinner rush at Denny’s, or a matinee in Branson, Missouri,” Colbert joked.
Also Read: Trump's Senate Impeachment Trial Starts Today: What to Expect
But even if witnesses are called, Colbert noted, McConnell “has a built-in fail-safe” thanks to a provision that could make it so witnesses never testify publicly.
“The American people deserve a fair and transparent process,” Colbert said, impersonating McConnell. “Now place the testimony hood over the witness’ head, drag him into the fact dungeon, and uh, beat him with the truth hose.”
Colbert also noted that according to a CNN poll, 69% of respondents think the trial should definitely include public testimony from witnesses.
“That’s a 2/3 majority,” he said. “But then again, if we did what the majority wants, Hillary would be president and we’d have Mallomars all year round.”
Also Read: 'Timon of Athens' Theater Review: The Bard's Misanthrope Reimagined for the Trump Era
Watch the whole thing below:
TONIGHT: Is crime illegal? America is about to find out because it's day one of Trump's impeachment trial! #LSSC pic.twitter.com/hpcT6z0usF
— The Late Show (@colbertlateshow) January 22, 2020
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‘This Is Us': Sterling K Brown on Randall’s Terrifying Week and How Jack Fed His Bottled-Up Anxiety
(Warning: This post contains spoilers for Tuesday’s episode of “This Is Us,”)
Randall Pearson went through one of the most horrifying experiences of his life on tonight’s episode of “This Is Us,” the first part of the NBC drama’s three-episode trilogy, “A Hell of a Week.” This hour focused on Randall’s (Sterling K. Brown) hell, which came in the form of a knife-wielding home intruder he encountered the moment he returned from his trip to California to be with his mother, Rebecca (Mandy Moore), as she underwent testing for her recent memory problems.
And this home intrusion that occurred while Beth (Susan Kelechi Watson) and the girls were upstairs asleep was Randall’s worst nightmare, which led to some actual nightmares throughout the episode, and tied back to previous bouts of anxiety Randall has experienced ever since he was a child.
“I think that as a man, nothing would terrify me more than not being able to keep my family safe, my wife and my children,” Brown told TheWrap. “And the idea that someone invaded my bedroom, was in the presence of my wife while she was asleep and that anything — he had a knife, like, anything could have happened — then I would say if I can’t protect those people, then who am I? What good am I in this world if I can’t keep my wife and children safe? And I think Randall feels that to the nth degree. And it’s interesting when we were shooting the dreams we shot a lot of different iterations of how they could go, some more intense than others. And I think the ones we ultimately ended up using were somewhere in the middle.”
Also Read: 'This Is Us': Sterling K Brown on Why Randall and Kevin Are Estranged in That Flash-Forward
Brown says that the episode “really highlights that Randall Pearson is someone that throughout life has lived with a baseline level of fear that he’s constantly trying to keep at bay,” something he’s been “fairly successful at keeping it at bay” until this point when he realizes he might actually need more help than talking to his wife and brother Kevin (Justin Hartley) and running can give him.
“Randall’s got a lot on his mind right now with his mother’s recent diagnosis and what that means for her future and then he comes home and his sanctuary, his safe space, has been invaded,” Brown said. “And we have a series of times in which Randall is doing quite well, everything is happy-go-lucky, we’re doing alright at work, the move to Philadelphia is fairly successful, the wife and I, we’re getting along, yay. Then, all of a sudden, a few things throw all of that into chaos. And when things get out of whack for Randall, it takes him a while to put the pieces back together. It takes him a little bit longer than the average human being. He lives with anxiety, he manages his anxiety with physical exercise and, for the most part, that puts him back in a place of calm, where he’s able to move forward with his day-to-day. We’re going to see over the course of the season that that might not be the case anymore. Whether or not he chooses to find outside help is something that will be a struggle throughout the course of the season.”
Seeking professional help is something Randall avoided all his life, not “necessarily” because of the color of his skin — and “absolutely” because of who his late father, Jack (Milo Ventimiglia), both intentionally and unintentionally taught him to be.
Also Read: Sophia Bush, Pamela Adlon Join 'This Is Us' Season 4
“He and Darnell (Omar Epps) have the conversation about how for men of a certain color, it can be seen as an indication of weakness, something that you don’t necessarily do, talking about our problems. But that’s what therapy is, right? Talking about your problems,” he continued. “And Randall being African American, but being socialized in a very unique way — raised by Jack and Rebecca — doesn’t necessarily carry the stigma of being Black with regards to why he does not want to do therapy, but he does have the primary male figure in his life is Jack Pearson. And if anybody plays stuff close to the vest, it is he. I mean, Jack basically denied a whole section of his life to his family and said that’s the way I know how to move forward.”
Brown says the moment when the episode flashes back to a preschool-age Randall being asked by Jack to be good and go to bed, because Kevin and Kate are too much to handle and Jack and Rebecca need him to keep it together, is a key one that leads to how Randall bottles up anxiety throughout the rest of his life.
“I think his dad saying that combined with what he later sees his siblings do, Randall is like, ‘Somebody’s gotta keep it together, let it be me.’ And I think he does it in honor of his dad, he wants to honor his dad by being this person — he wants to be his dad.”
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Things come to a head near the end of the episode when Randall beats up a man he comes across while running, who is trying to steal a woman’s purse.
” I think the show in this particular episode does a good job of highlighting the fact this person just lives with this fear,” Brown said. “And then ultimately, when he saw that woman being attacked, being mugged, I think more than wanting to be of service, yes– but also wanting to eradicate himself of the fear that is always inside of him was probably the greatest motivating factor and just beating that man until he couldn’t move anymore. So I think that act was probably a moment for him that ultimately made him get on the phone to call his brother and be like, I think I need you.”
Will this lead Randall to finally go to therapy as Darnell suggested? “This Is Us” co-showrunners Isaac Aptaker and Elizabeth Berger aren’t ready to answer that question just yet.
“I think it’s clear that Randall is someone that has found different ways to kind of cope with his anxiety and keep it brimming just below the surface — but what we’re seeing in this episode is that you can only do that for so long before there’s something of an explosion,” Berger told reporters during a conference call Tuesday. “So whether it be confiding in Kevin, in Beth, taking these long runs, at a certain point you’re gonna come up against something that none of those mechanisms are enough and you’re going to have to dig a little deeper and I think it’s clear that we’re reaching that point with Randall.”
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Aptaker added: “Much earlier in the year, Beth suggested that Randall really begin to deal with his mental health struggles in a professional setting. And Randall is still resistant to it, for whatever reason he has this block. So I think the bigger question of the season is, when is Randall going to realize that talking to his wife, talking to his brother, white-knuckling this is not a long term solution and he really needs to seek professional help.”
The next episode in the three-parter “A Hell of a Week” focuses on Kevin, who we now know has spent the last few days in Pittsburgh for the funeral of his ex-wife Sophie’s mother.
“We’re going to follow him to Pittsburgh and see why he decided to go to Sophie’s mother’s funeral if he has any interaction with Sophie, what it’s like for Kevin to be back in his old stomping grounds,” Aptaker said. “So we’ll follow Kevin through the same time span that Randall’s episode just covered, roughly a week, and we’ll see what Kevin was up to and how his story intersects with Randall’s in these couple points where they call each other.”
Brown says the final episode in the trilogy will see the Big 3 — Kevin, Randall and their sister Kate (Chrissy Metz) — come together to catch up and finally find out what they’ve each been struggling with. But fans know, based on that flashforward at Thanksgiving, that the bonding won’t last long, as something will cause a rift between Randall and Kevin that causes them to be estranged by their 40th birthday in a few months.
“It’s definitely something that’s coming up in the near future run of episodes because by their 40th birthday, by the start of our next season, they’ve had this falling out and they’re not on speaking terms,” Aptaker said.
Berger added: “Something big is coming in the next run of episodes in our season that will tear these two apart.”
Fans will have to wait a while to find out what that “something” is, as “This Is Us” will be taking a few weeks off and return with a new episode, “A Hell of a Week: Part Two,” on Tuesday, Feb. 11 at 9/8c on NBC.
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Actress and Activist Jessica Barth Urges ‘Kindness in the Press’ for Harvey Weinstein Trial Witnesses
Actress Jessica Barth, co-founder of Voices in Action, says the women who will testify against Harvey Weinstein in his criminal trial should be seen as heroes, and treated with “kindness” by the media.
“What they’re doing is heroic,” Barth told TheWrap. “They really are changing our culture, no matter what the outcome is.”
At least six women, including actress Annabella Sciorra and former Weinstein production assistant Mimi Haleyi, are expected to testify in the coming weeks. While the trial hinges on the accounts of Haleyi and a still-unnamed woman, testimony from other witnesses like Sciorra are likely to help the prosecution make the case that Weinstein engaged in predatory sexual assault.
Also Read: Harvey Weinstein Trial: What the Opening Statements Will Say About Each Side's Case
But when these witnesses testify on the stand, they will face rigorous cross-examination from Weinstein’s defense team, which has said it will use evidence to prove that the relationships were consensual. Barth, who co-founded Voices in Action in 2019 and has accused Weinstein of sexual misconduct, said it was important to also keep in mind what these women may be experiencing on the stand as their credibility is being questioned.
“It’s easy to read these stories in the headlines and then … get desensitized to it, but these women are having to relive their trauma,” Barth said. “They’re going to have to take the stand and face him and see him — see the person that actually assaulted and raped them and tell their story. That in itself is the most courageous thing that I can even think of.”
“They deserve kindness in the press, they deserve kindness in the courtroom, and I hope they get it,” she added. “They have my utmost respect.”
Also Read: A Harvey Weinstein Accuser Speaks Out: Why Aren't Silence Breakers Getting Hired? (Guest Blog)
Opening statements begin on Wednesday morning. Weinstein has pleaded not guilty to five felony counts, including for predatory sexual assault and first- and third-degree rape.
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How ‘Bad Boys for Life’ Directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah Successfully Revived a 17-Year-Old Franchise
“Bad Boys for Life,” the third installment in the late ’90s, early 2000s-era action/comedy franchise, exploded back on the scene over the long Martin Luther King day holiday weekend. In reviving the nearly 25-year-old franchise, Sony Pictures racked up $73 million at the domestic box office in the film’s debut.
And with a $90 million production budget, “Bad Boys for Life” succeeded where many recent reboots, revivals and sequels have missed the mark — including several at Sony.
“Bad Boys for Life” brought back the dynamic duo of Will Smith (Mike Lowery) and Martin Lawrence (Marcus Burnett), a big reason why the film worked. But leading the show this time out wasn’t Michael Bay, who helmed the first two films; Sony placed the daunting task in the hands of relative Hollywood newcomers Bilall Fallah and Adil El Arbi.
Also Read: 3 Reasons Why 'Bad Boys for Life' Blew Up the Box Office
“It has a huge fan base so you don’t want to disappoint anybody, but also its an older franchise so you gotta make it fresh. There was a gigantic pressure on our shoulders, even though we had a smaller weight in terms of our budget compared to the second movie,” the duo told TheWrap.
The pressure was likely magnified by the studio’s recent failed franchise reboots “Charlie’s Angels” ($18 million) and “Men in Black: International” ($80 million), as well as a host of underwhelming or poorly performing sequels and reboots across Hollywood — “Terminator: Dark Fate” and “Hellboy,” for example.
For the most part, however, Sony carved out a good 2019 at the box office, and “Bad Boys for Life” manages to pick up right were the studio left off.
Also Read: Is a 'Bad Boys 4' Ever Going to Happen?
“Bad Boys for Life” far and away has the best Rotten Tomatoes score of the franchise, a rarity for third installments, with a 76% critical rating and an “A” Cinemascore. Fallah and El Arbi did it by paying homage to the films they grew up with, while focusing on the core of the story and the franchise: Friendship.
“The challenge was that the first and second movies were stylistically so much different from each other, so we had to see and say ‘what do we follow?'” Fallah and El Arbi said. “That’s why we did like a hybrid version of both movies. We wanted to pay homage to both and that was a tricky thing to do. But the friendship is at the center, they ride and die together. That is a connection everybody can share and it’s really the core.
“We grew up with these movies. We related so much to the characters; just that friendship. We feel like we are the bad boys of cinema,” they continued. “When we were film students it was always a joke like ‘hey if no one else is going to make another ‘Bad Boys’ we will make it one day.’ And eventually that actually happened.”
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‘A Soldier’s Play’ Broadway Review: Blair Underwood and David Alan Grier Stand and Salute
Charles Fuller’s 1981 drama “A Soldier’s Play” was a revelation in its day, a stage whodunit set in a Louisiana Army base in 1944 where a sharp-tongued African American sergeant is found murdered. The Pulitzer Prize winner spawned a host of soon-to-be-famous stars, including Denzel Washington, Samuel L. Jackson and Adolph Caesar — who earned an Oscar nomination for Norman Jewison’s 1984 film adaptation that also featured a young actor named David Alan Grier as a private from the rural South.
Grier returns in the first Broadway production of “A Soldier’s Play,” which opened Tuesday at Roundabout’s American Airlines Theatre — this time as the fearsome, foul-mouthed Sgt. Vernon Waters, who commands his all-black troops as if their every move was a reflection on the future of the race. It’s a searing performance from an actor best known for his work in comedies like “In Living Color” and “The Carmichael Show.”
And he’s well-matched by Blair Underwood as the Howard Law School graduate captain who’s dispatched to investigate the murder — and who soon learns that this wasn’t the work of the locals. And that even the white troops who are none too pleased by the presence of black soldiers — or to get beaten bad by them on the baseball field — may not be the culprits he’s quick to suspect.
Also Read: 'Timon of Athens' Theater Review: The Bard's Misanthrope Reimagined for the Trump Era
The ensemble shows a real camaraderie, with standouts like J. Alphonse Nicholson as a guitar-playing bumpkin who takes Waters’ criticisms to heart, and Nnamdi Asomugha as a private who dares to stand up to his commanding officer. The weakest link is Jerry O’Connell, as a well-meaning but obstructionist white West Point grad who serves as Davenport’s chief foil and never seems fully comfortable in the role.
For the most part, Fuller’s play holds up as a taut, well-written mystery that intercuts between Capt. Davenport’s investigation and flashbacks to Waters’ haranguing of his charges, many of them recently arrived from the Negro Baseball League. But there’s a certain stiltedness to the genre, and some of the novelty of procedurals has worn thin since the onslaught of “Law & Order” and other shows of its ilk.
Kenny Leon confidently directs the action with crisp military precision, though he might have dispensed with having Underwood open the second act by walking on stage while buttoning his shirt. (The sight of the 55-year-old hearthrob flashing his well-toned chest proved too much for one preview audience to avoid whooping and catcalls.)
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Grammy Drama: 7 Most Explosive Accusations by Ousted Recording Academy CEO Deborah Dugan
Deborah Dugan, the former CEO of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences ousted last week after less than a year, sent a detailed email to human resources outlining many instances of what she called corruption and misconduct at the organization that hands out the Grammy Awards.
The email — dated December 22, 2019 — touched off a series of events that led to Dugan’s departure from the organization and served as the basis for an EEOC discrimination complaint she filed on Tuesday. Here is a breakdown of the seven most damning allegations made by Dugan.
1. Dugan says her predecessor, former Recording Academy CEO Neil Portnow, had been accused of rape
Not long after she was hired last spring, Dugan said she learned “that a foreign recording artist (and member of the Academy) had accused Mr. Portnow of raping her following a performance that she gave at Carnegie Hall.”
Portnow could not be immediately reached for comment.
Dugan, who replaced Portnow last May to become the first woman to lead the Recording Academy, did not name the artist or offer many details about when the alleged incident might have occurred. In her complaint, Dugan said that she learned of the accusation last May while attending a three-day meeting of the Academy’s Board at the Ritz Carlton, Laguna Niguel after taking the job.
Also Read: Former Recording Academy Chief Neil Portnow Accused of Raping Female Recording Artist
2. She was asked to give former CEO Neil Portnow a $750,000 consulting fee
Despite the rape accusation against Portnow, Dugan said she was asked to hire the former CEO as a consultant after his contract had not been renewed by the Academy (the “official” reason for his depature) with a $750,000 consulting fee. She refused.
3. Dugan says she was sexually harassed by the Academy’s general counsel, Joel Katz, during a dinner in May 2019
Dugan said that Katz made advances toward her at a dinner last May, just after she was appointed as CEO (but before officially starting). “Over the course of the evening, Mr. Katz explained to me that he was very very rich and had many houses, one in Bermuda and other locations. And he reminded me that he had a private plane and informed me that he was lonely and had no one to spend time with. He suggested that spending time together, traveling to his many homes could be something nice for us to share. He talked about his marriage that had failed. I listened politely but made it clear I was not interested in his advances,” she wrote. “At the conclusion of dinner, he leaned forward, lips pursed, as to kiss me. I quickly turned and made my way out of the restaurant.” (Katz was not available for comment.)
4. The Academy was overpaying for legal work
Dugan expressed her belief that the legal fees charged by Katz, as well as other legal bills the Academy accrued, “seemed exorbitant.” She said she made it clear to the Executive Committee that addressing these high fees was a priority for her but during a November board meeting, “I was abruptly asked to leave an Executive Committee meeting.” And she said the Executive Committee subsequently “voted to raise legal fees.”
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5. Board members were paying themselves for jobs they did not need to be doing
“I have also discovered that board members have approved payments to themselves in the amount of hundreds of thousands of dollars to oversee aspects of the Academy and Grammy events that do not need their oversight,” Dugan wrote. “For example, an Executive Committee member receives $100,000 for Grammy services provided by an outside production company.”
6. The Grammy nomination review process was tainted
Dugan expressed concerns about “irregularities and conflicts” in the Grammy nomination review process. In her EEOC complaint, she expounded on the topic and said Academy Board members try to “push forward artists with whom they have relationships” and “manipulates the nominations process to ensure that certain songs or albums are nominated when the producer of the Grammys (Ken Ehrlich) wants a particular song performed during the show.”
7. The Recording Academy is a “boys club” with many outstanding lawsuits
Dugan concluded her email by saying, “In my efforts to successfully resolve the many outstanding lawsuits facing the Academy that I inherited, one of the claimants characterized her experience of our organization’s leadership as ‘…it’s a boy’s club and they put their financial interest above the mission…’ At the time, I didn’t want to believe it, but now after 5 months of being exposed to the behavior and circumstances outlined here, I have come to suspect she is right.”
In response to Dugan’s EEOC claim filed on Tuesday, the Recording Academy said it had “launched independent investigations to review both Ms. Dugan’s potential misconduct and her subsequent allegations. Both of these investigations remain ongoing.”
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Why ‘Bad Boys for Life’ Had No Crossover With ‘Bad Boys’-Spinoff ‘LA’s Finest’
(Warning: Light spoilers for “Bad Boys for Life” below)
It looks like we’ll have to wait for “Bad Boys 4” for the Bad Boys Cinematic Universe to come to fruition.
“Bad Boys for Life,” the long-awaited third film the Will Smith-Martin Lawrence action franchise, hit theaters this weekend. One of the characters from the previous film, Gabrielle Union’s Sydney “Syd” Burnett, doesn’t appear.
Normally, a supporting character not returning for the follow-up film wouldn’t be a big deal — and it certainly wasn’t for film-goers, as the movie brought in $68 million over the 4-day holiday weekend. But with Union starring on “L.A.’s Finest,” a spinoff of the franchise that airs on Spectrum Originals, was there an opportunity missed on giving the series a nice publicity bump ahead of its second season later this year?
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For those that don’t recall, Syd is the kid sister of Lawrence’s Marcus Burnett who was also romantically involved with Smith’s Mike Lowrey. However, aside from a brief mention of her former relationship with Lowrey in “Bad Boys for Life,” Syd is not involved in the film’s storyline. Those involved with the film and the TV show told TheWrap that, while there was interest in bringing in Union and her co-star Jessica Alba, it just wasn’t going to work out logistically.
“There were talks, because Jerry Bruckheimer and Doug Belgrad, who produce the movie, also produce ‘LA’s Finest.’ It honestly was logistics,” Katherine Pope, head of originals for Spectrum Originals, said. “When we picked up ‘L.A.’s Finest,’ ‘Bad Boys’ was already, I think, it was days away from shooting. So it was all so last minute and we tried to make it work and just logistically we couldn’t.”
For their part, the film’s directors Bilall Fallah and Adil El Arbi said that there was no way to work in Syd into the story without it feeling bloated. “There was some talk about it, but the thing is, at the end of the day the story was so tight basically that there was no real room for it [that storyline], the duo said. “We probably would have ended up having to cut it, and we didn’t want to do that. So, eventually we just decided to focus on the main story.”
“L.A’s Finest” sees Syd transfer from Miami, where “Bad Boys” is set, to Los Angeles to join the LAPD, where she teams with Alba’s Nancy McKenna. When we asked Pope if Season 2 of “L.A.’s Finest” would at least try to include some kind of tie-in with “Bad Boys for Life,” she said that logistical separation makes it difficult. “It’s easier for when Will and Martin are talking, to talk about Martin’s sister, than it is for Gabrielle to talk to some person who hasn’t met her brother about him.”
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But, with reports of a fourth film being planned in the “Bad Boys” franchise, with Chris Bremmer attached to write a script, Pope is holding out hope for that elusive crossover. Fallah and Adil El Arbi, told TheWrap that they’ve talked about doing a fourth film: “At this point it’s more of if the audience wants it, we are more than ready to make a fourth one, and I think there is still a story to tell,”
“We are all, I think Doug and Jerry and that whole crowd, we all are like, ‘Oh it will happen,'” Pope said. “We’ll have more time to plan.”
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Netflix Q4 Earnings: Will Disney+ Slow March Toward 160 Million Subscribers?
Have new streaming competitors slowed down Netflix?
That’s the main guidepost analysts and investors will be watching for on Tuesday afternoon, when the streaming heavyweight shares its fourth-quarter results. Both Disney+ and Apple TV+ launched during Netflix’s Q4. Their arrival comes after a number of media companies gave Netflix years to build its streaming lead, with Netflix entering Q4 with more than 158 million global customers. Now, as 2020 continues to unfold, Netflix will soon be fighting several other new services, including NBCU’s Peacock, HBO Max, and Quibi for viewers’ attention.
That’s a matter for later, though. Netflix has typically enjoyed strong Q4 subscriber growth in the past, thanks in large part to releasing its big-budget movies and trademark shows during the holiday season. This most recent quarter was no different, with critically-acclaimed films like “The Irishman,” “Marriage Story” and Eddie Murphy’s “Dolemite Is My Name” hitting Netflix, coupled with the return of fan-favorite shows like “The Crown” and “You.”
Can Netflix continue to extend its streaming lead while its rivals work to find their footing? We’ll find out more on Tuesday. Here’s what three analysts will be watching for when Netflix reports:
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A Disney-Sized Dent?
As usual with Netflix, subscriber count tends to be the primary focus each earnings call. Analysts will be especially focused on this all-important metric on Tuesday, as they look to see if any Netflix subscribers ditched their service at the same time Disney+ hit the market.
“The big question regarding Netflix’s upcoming earnings call is certainly centered around the impact that Disney+ has on Netflix’s domestic subscriber count [and] growth,” Parks Associates analyst Brandon Riney told TheWrap. “There is large industry concern that Disney’s service will rob some of Netflix’s subscribers.”
If that were to happen, it would obviously be a gut punch for Netflix. Its stock price often rises or falls based on whether it tops analyst subscriber estimates, and we’ve recently seen what happens when it unexpectedly loses subscribers. Netflix, for the first time ever, lost domestic subscribers, during Q2 2019, with the company blaming the subscriber exodus on recent price hikes. Its share price dropped 10% immediately after. Netflix’s stock has since rebounded, trading at about $340 per share heading into earnings, but an underwhelming quarter when it comes to subscriber growth could once again push its shares down. With Disney+ continuing to rollout abroad, a dent in Netflix’s international subscribers isn’t likely, but another quarter of poor domestic growth would spook Wall Street.
Riney said this is an unlikely event, at least when it comes to Q4. He said Disney+, because of its mountain of family-friendly content, “better stands to supplement” Netflix than completely pull subscribers away. Pointing to Parks Associates research, Riney said Netflix is fairly entrenched as a must-have streaming service for Americans; 50% of all U.S. streaming households have multiple streaming subscriptions he said, and of those households, 81% use Netflix plus another service like Amazon Prime Video or Hulu.
“While there may be a small number of Netflix subscribers that cancel due to their sole desire for Disney content being moved exclusively to Disney+, Netflix is poised to combat any of those losses with its own content,” Riney added.
Goldman Sachs analyst Heath Terry is also bullish on Netflix, writing in a note to clients this week he anticipates the company added 9.7 million new customers during Q4 — a figure that would narrowly top Netflix’s company-record of 9.6 million new subscribers set during the first quarter of last year.
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Keep an Eye on Debt
Netflix is swimming in debt. The company’s total liabilities, including long-term debt, was more than $24 billion according to its last quarterly report. To this point, investors haven’t cared much, as long as the company keeps growing.
To add to its massive content offering, Netflix has spent far more than its competitors on shows and movies, with about $15 billion earmarked for content in 2019. Terry, in his note to clients, said Netflix’s spending likely didn’t slow down as 2019 came to a close, as the company looks to continue adding shows to appeal to customers outside the U.S.
“We believe Netflix substantially accelerated cash content spending in [Q4], similar to [Q4 2018], which should continue to drive incremental subscriber growth given the high correlation between content and subscriber additions,” Terry said. “For reference, we expect [Q4] cash content spend growth to accelerate to 33% [year-over-year] vs. 18% on average in the first three quarters as the company continues to expand its global content offering as it faces more significant competition.”
Expect Netflix’s debt to grow as its content spending rises, but don’t anticipate investors knocking the stock unless it comes with lukewarm subscriber growth. Terry placed a $450 per share price target on Netflix by the end of the year.
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Where Are New Subscribers Coming From?
International growth is increasingly important for Netflix. It’s inching towards a saturation point in the U.S., with more than 60 million domestic accounts entering Q4; add in Canada and its at about 67 million subscribers.
To get investors to focus more on global growth moving forward, Netflix last month shared for the first time ever a look at its performance in several international markets. Here’s a look at the subscriber count in its three non-U.S. markets:
• Europe, Middle East, and Africa
• (EMEA): 47.4 million
• Latin America (LATAM): 29.4 millionAsia-Pacific (APAC): 14.5 million
Netflix is expected to share an update on these figures on Tuesday. Stifel analyst Scott Devitt, in a note to clients this week, said he sees plenty of room for growth.
“We view the opportunity as particularly compelling in the EMEA and APAC regions, where Netflix’s penetration stands at 19% and 11% [of the market], respectively, below the current 55% level in the U.S. and Canada… and 39% in LATAM,” Devitt said.
courtesy of Stifel
To pull in more subscribers outside the U.S., Netflix has started to produce more original series aimed at these markets. Last year, Netflix had 368 non-English language original series dedicated to these three markets — up nearly 40% from the year prior.
CEO Reed Hastings — who has said in the past he could see Netflix’s next 100 million subscribers “coming from India” — is clearly focused on expanding Netflix’s worldwide footprint. We should get a better look at how that plan is going on Tuesday.
Trey Williams contributed to this report.
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January 20, 2020
David Lynch Interrogates a Monkey in Netflix Short Film on His 74th Birthday
David Lynch released a short film on his 74th birthday titled “What Did Jack Do?” In the Netflix short, the master of the surreal interrogates a talking monkey that may have committed murder.
The 17-minute short “What Did Jack Do?” — which Lynch wrote, directed and edited — was posted to the streamer without advance notice on Monday, and you can watch it now. It’s a goofy take on an old fashioned film noir, shot all in black and white, with Lynch himself playing a detective who grills a monkey wearing a raincoat, suit and tie.
It’s a riot from the first moment and is even funnier once the monkey named Jack opens its mouth to defend itself, a human’s lips crudely superimposed onto the monkey’s face as it speaks in a robotic tone of voice. He may know something about a chicken named Toototabon that it turns out … well, you’ll just have to watch to find out.
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“Are you calling me a liar,” Lynch says to the monkey. “I know why the chicken crossed the road.”
Lynch developed the film through his company Absurda. It’s his first project since a 2018 short film called “Ant Head” and the revival of his groundbreaking TV drama “Twin Peaks” that aired on Showtime in 2017. His last feature film was 2006’s “Inland Empire.”
Check out “What Did Jack Do?” via Netflix.
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