#Ted sarandos

[thedialoguedilemma]

Netflix announces that they are raising their subscription prices.

Netflix with ads will now cost $7.99 which is a $1 increase.

Netflix Premium (no ads) will now cost $24.99 which is a $2 increase.

This comes after the CEO of Netflix Ted Sarandos met with Donald Trump last month.

We’re already preparing to start seeing the effects of higher costs rising under the Trump Administration

[jbaileyfansite]

JONATHAN BAILEY At the Golden Globes Netflix After Party with Andrew Scott, Jelani Alladin, Noah J. Ricketts and Ted Sarandos (January 7, 2024) | 📸: Emma McIntyre/Michael Kovac/Charley Gallay

[theiconicmeghanmarkle]

New footage of Meghan Markle at Renaissance Day 3 in LA

I spy Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos, Kris Jenner & Jeff Bezos

[savethegrishaverse]

The CEO of Netflix, Ted Sarandos, gets the spotlight! What miracles may Ted Sarandos perform for you? 📚✨ Come prepared with your best tweets, questions, comments, gifs, memes, and more. Let's make some noise! 🗣️

#SaveShadowAndBone and #SixOfCrowsSpinoff TWEETING PARTY 1/3 at 12PM and 8PM EST! Come check it out here!

Remember to:

Only use three hashtags.

Enjoy and be engaging with your tweets! Keep sharing! Timezones under read more.

If you cannot attend, you can always schedule tweets ahead of time on desktop in order to help out still!

ALL TIMEZONES: Friday, Jan 5: 9am PST 10am MST 11am CST 12pm EST 2pm -03 5pm GMT 6pm CET 8pm MSK 9pm +04 10:30pm IST

Saturday, Jan 6: 1am CST 2am JST 4am AEST 6am NZST

[davidaugust]

So the AMPTP companies are all now permanently shutting down right? I mean the CEOs, Zaslav, Donna, Ted and Bob said it was their “last, best and final offer,” so I guess there’s gonna be no film and TV business, right? Or are these four CEO chuckleheads lying sacks of waste and they must now confess that SAG-AFTRA in fact decides what is last, final and best?

The shareholders ought to throw the CEOs out head first, every one of them.

#ActorsStrike #SAGAFTRAstrike #SAGAFTRAstrong #UnionStrong #union #u1

[thebsideofthings]

"The scavenge for short-term gains from people like Zaslav, Bob Iger, and Ted Sarandos is craven and so hungrily capitalistic that it’d be impressive if it weren’t so destructive. The money they’re earning through tax write-offs and corner-cutting will not balance out the inevitable financial losses that will follow when filmmakers refuse to work with them, audiences reject their slop, and everyone goes back to binge-watching The Office again. That might be the point of it all, of course. How often have we seen big money acquisitions give way to the slow decimation of what made those places so special in the first place, all because infinite growth is impossible yet demanded?"

- "Hollywood is Run by Cultural Vandals" by Kayleigh Donaldson in Pajiba

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

New Rule: The Cojones Awards - Real Time with Bill Maher

New Rule: Great news about a new award show. Listen to this. About a year and a half ago, I was asked to moderate a discussion at the home of a very prominent Hollywood producer. And the attendees that night was a who's who of A-listers and stars. If a bomb went off in that room, there'd be nothing on TV next year but, well, let's just say it would be a great year for Kevin Sorbo. I can't say exactly who was there, but if there really is a Jewish space laser, these guys have the codes.

Anyway the subject we all wanted to talk about that night was cancel culture. It's funny. If this was 10 years ago, this group would have been talking about censorship from the right. Back then it was the Jerry Falwells and Pat Robertsons, the Bill Bennetts and Rush Limbaughs who kept us up at night. I mean besides the cocaine. The book banners and boycotters then were Republicans, like the ones that got me fired after 9-11.

But that's in the past now. And by the past, I mean Florida. And of course not just Florida, today's Republicans have shown that when it comes to canceling they're still more than capable. They canceled Colin Kaepernick for taking a knee, Liz Cheney for defying Trump, Kathy Griffin for performance art. Just last week the redneck royalty of the music world threw a hissy fit because they think Anheuser-Busch is turning their beer gay.

But there's no getting around the fact that what was on the mind of the Liberals that night in Brentwood, or wherever we may have been, was that the most powerful witch hunters now were coming from Twitter, the Ivy League and the progressive left. JK Rowling used to be a villain to the right because she wrote books about witchcraft. Now she's a villain to the left because she has the crazy belief that there's more to being a woman than pronouns and lipstick.

So, that was the point of the evening: how do we take a stand against cancel culture? And I suggested since we were mostly all in show business that we start an award show to honor the brave people who have fought back. Well, I got to tell you, the idea was met with great enthusiasm by everyone, and in short order different people were suggesting the ways that their varied talents could be put to use. And then of course, being Hollywood, nothing happened.

But it's still a good idea. So I'm gonna do it, right here, right now. And not only that, we're gonna do it every year. Ladies and gentlemen, you know the Emmys, you know the Grammys, you know the Tonys, now say hello to the Cojones.

Thank you and welcome to the Cojones. I'm your Master of Ceremonies, and if you're triggered by the word "master" you're in the wrong room. Tonight we present these solid brass balls to the individuals and organizations who others have tried to silence and who answered, "that's not a rule, fuck you."

Our first award goes to the president of my alma mater, Cornell University: Martha Pollock. This month students there demanded trigger warnings before all the lectures in case any of the adult subjects you specifically went to college to learn about came up. And Martha said, "yeah, no, we're not doing that." She didn't cave in or hire a new Dean of Sensitivity. She just said, "no college is for introducing you to new ideas, not for kissing your ass and making you feel wonderful and always right." You're thinking of brunch with your parents. I'm just amazed at how this generation can simultaneously be too sensitive for anything distasteful, and somehow also so into eating ass. So, Cornell, I present you with these balls. I sure could have used them when I was there.

Our next award goes to the place where many Cornell grads will be working next year: Trader Joe's. Trader Joe's, who for years have been selling a line of ethnically themed products trading on the name Joe. For example, they have Trader José's beer. So of course one teenager on Twitter heard the word "José" and said it was racist, and then there was a petition, and then Trader Joe's management did the right thing. They burnt down all their stores and killed themselves. No, they didn't. They said "fuck off you oversensitive little shits, get a life and a sense of humor," and released this statement: "We disagree that any of these labels are racist and we do not make decisions based on petitions." You see how easy it is? So, to the home of the 19 cent banana, here have some nuts.

This next Cojone goes to a man who's dear to my heart for standing up for stand-up. When dozens of Netflix employees walked out over Dave Chappelle's reckless decision to perform comedy on his comedy special, CEO Ted Sarandos could have pulled the special and replaced it with more episodes of "Who Wants to Watch Koreans Get Killed?" But instead he reminded his Netflix employees that comedy exists to push boundaries, and told them, "If you'd find it hard to support our content breath, Netflix may not be the best place for you." So for making the phrase "don't let the door hit you in the ass" never sound better, this is for you Ted.

And you know, when movie lovers get together these days, one phrase that comes up a lot and always makes me sad, "is yeah, you couldn't make that one today." Top of that list is the great "Tropic Thunder" which these scolds have been after for years. But in February, Ben Stiller tweeted, "I make no apologies for Tropic Thunder. It's always been a controversial movie since when we opened. Proud of it and the work everyone did on it." See, people? It's not that hard. He said it and he still got a commercial.

And the lesson is, if you stand up to the mob for just a day or two, their shallow, impatient, immature, smartphone-driven gerbil minds will forget about it and go on to the next nothing-burger, and you? You still will have your Cojones.

==

It takes cojones to speak "truth to power." Which tells you where the power really resides.

--

P.S. I thought he was embellishing the Trader Joe's story, but no, it was literally one triggered teenager.

This language is textbook Postcolonial Theory, not the language of a teenage kid. It's the language of a parishioner reciting the sacred scriptures. (Or perhaps an activist parent feeding them lines.)

[chirpsythismorning]

Ted Sarandos tries so hard to be like-able and relatable more than any other studio executive I've ever seen.

Like, look at this dude?

Don't you just want to punch him in the face?

And it gets worse...

He might look friendly and charismatic amongst these familiar faces, but at the end of the day, Ted is just another studio executive who is willing to cut costs wherever he can, in what he sees as loose ends capable of saving Netflix millions, but actually does in fact result in devastating repercussions for real people.

And yet still, I question his plan for all of this, as Ted is behind the company that has changed the way entertainment is consumed in the first place, with their company flourishing as a direct result of the 07-08 writer's strike. At first it was slow, but then it was full speed ahead, with Netflix starting a trend of streaming that upended the entire entertainment industry, essentially forcing everyone to follow suit. This has then brought us to a point where the conditions and compensation for workers do not at all match what is expected of them, because it is all based on an expired business model that no longer applies.

And yet, Ted has chosen the route as a CEO to create this friendly mask of familiarity amongst his talent and in the business as a whole, in a way that makes you want to trust him.

When new productions are coming out, he's in attendance making small talk and gushing in interviews about how important it is to tell all these stories, making it clear he's trying to convey that morality and this idea of doing the right thing, is important to him presumably.

But how can he call himself 'a union man', from 'a union family' and push this moral agenda, if he's going to continue to play one of the biggest roles in this strike, with the ability to solve it swiftly by just meeting the guilds demands, all the while tearing down that moral image entirely in the process by refusing to do so?

Because the thing is, this image of morality is him using human emotions that he knows make people fall in love with movies and TV in the first place. He knows that a lot of the support comes from people who give a fuck about human lives and people being treated fairly, especially now in 2023.

So, why in the hell would he expect the people he is presenting this morality to, as a cornerstone of their mission (manipulation tactic to distract from the true goal: exponential growth of profits...), to just sit by and be okay with the writers and actors and anyone and everyone on these movies/shows sets, to feel like they are being taken advantage of and abused because of his working conditions???

In the scenario Ted wins and the writers lose, Ted STILL loses, because this facade is now overshadowed by resentful workforce and an audience that is going to have a hard time getting behind trusting this company long term, eventually leading to their downfall.

You think people want to watch a show where we know the working conditions were awful, with them being on the cusp of changing that, only to be fucked over and have to go right back to those conditions?

The strike is a double edged sword at this point, but there's no denying these executives (esp charismatic Ted) would be much better off taking the -0.3 annual costs and calling it a day.

I guess it doesn't really matter though, because to Ted and all these other executives, the bottom line for investors will always be short term growth. They care about right now, not the future. If they can keep up the act that everything is going swell and convince their investors (and competitors) that profits went up this quarter and are projected to continue going up in the next one, they're doing their job. Even if that means burning to a crisp later on, so be it. It'll most likely be someone else's problem by then anyways...

Regardless, I look forward to seeing Ted succumbing to his inevitable fate of meeting the guilds demands, all while he himself has spent years building up and fostering this friendly image, encouraging this idea that morality is important to the end goal. Who would have thought Ted?? That your facade would contribute to backfiring in a strike for workers rights, supported heavily by the very public your company has spent the last decade providing content to, that supports that very same message?

[ninadaily]

noahschnapp :

"Toronto for the day"

[skull-pun]

Meanwhile, at the Legion of Doom...

[goodblacknews]

Philanthropist Jacqueline Avant Honored with Opening of Children and Family Center in Her Name

Activist and former U.S. Ambassador to the Bahamas Nicole Avant on Friday helped open the Jacqueline Avant Children and Family Center at the MLK Medical Campus in the Watts-Willowbrook community of Los Angeles, CA in memory of her mother. “My family and I are thrilled and honored to celebrate the unveiling of the Jacqueline Avant Children and Family Center,” Nicole Avant said. “For over 50 years,…

[courseyoulovemeyoudontknowme]

The Kissing Booth (2018, Vince Marcello)

19/11/2023

The Kissing Booth is a 2018 film directed by Vince Marcello, based on the novel of the same name by Beth Reekles. The film stars actors Joey King, Jacob Elordi, Joel Courtney and Molly Ringwald.

The Kissing Booth was released on Netflix on May 11, 2018. Despite receiving largely negative reviews from critics, who considered the plot and themes to be stereotypical and misogynistic, the film was called a commercial success by Netflix thanks to the great spectator consumption.

In June 2014, Vince Marcello was hired to write the film adaptation of Beth Reekles' young adult novel, The Kissing Booth, originally published on Wattpad. In November 2016, Netflix's purchase of the rights to the film was announced, with Marcello directing the script. In January 2017, Joey King and Molly Ringwald signed to star in the film.

Filming took place in Los Angeles, California and Cape Town, South Africa between January and April 2017.

The film was released on May 11, 2018 on Netflix. Calling the film a huge success for the service, CCO Ted Sarandos called the film "one of the most watched films in the country and perhaps the world."

On the website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 18% based on 11 reviews, an average rating of 4.12/10, and a critic consensus that reads "The Kissing Booth uses every rom-com cliché in its book with little care to achieve real feeling."

IndieWire's Kate Erland gave the film a grade of "D", adding that "Unfortunately, the high school rom-com is a sexist, regressive look at relationships that highlights the genre's worst impulses." Ani Bundel of NBCNews criticized the film's "problematic stereotyping of masculinity and relationships" and lack of original ideas.

Ted Sarandos, CCO of Netflix affirmed the film's success as a "very popular original film" for the streaming service. Factors that have been cited as reasons for The Kissing Booth's success among audiences include the popularity of the original novel on Wattpad, the relative lack of original romantic comedies on the platform, and the publicity of actors King and Elordi's off-screen relationship during the production of the film.

There is a quote from the film The Sound of Music (1965) and from Braveheart (1995).

The protagonist gets drunk at a party for teenagers and starts dancing suggestively on a table like in the film 10 Things I Hate About You (1999).

The declaration of love speech at the ball is an homage to the film Notting Hill (1999).

The film Black Swan (2010) is also mentioned.

In the prom scene, during "Memory Lane", the song Don't You (Forget About Me) by Simple Minds is heard in the background. The song was written for the film Breakfast Club (1985) and appears in both the beginning and the end. Furthermore, among the protagonists of Breakfast Club appears Molly Ringwald who in the 1985 film plays Claire Standish, while in the 2018 film she plays Sara Flynn, Noah and Lee's mother.

The sequel, titled The Kissing Booth 2, was released on July 24, 2020 on Netflix.

[theiconicmeghanmarkle]

Seeing Jeff Bezos, Kris Jenner, Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos, and Meghan in one photo was not on today's bingo card.

The woman sitting next to Meghan is Nichole Sarandos, wife of Ted Sarandos.

[keitrinkomfloukru]

I don’t care how cool it sounds, Netflix, I’m not going to let myself care. It hurts too much.

[davidaugust]

“We didn't just come toward you, we came all the way to you,” Netflix’s co-CEO Ted Sarandos? Did you though? Or are you trying to paper over the harm you did to everyone including yourself?

Quote source: https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2023/11/hollywoods-dual-strike-is-over-and-the-studios-lost/675951/

#ActorsStrike #SAGAFTRAStrike #SAGAFTRAstrong #WritersStrike #WGAstrike #WGAstrong #UnionStrong #u1

[dukeofriven]

I'll be honest I know I'm supposed to be outraged here but in the absence of hard numbers I have no reason to agree with premise that he's lying. He didn't say 'we've never cancelled good shows' or 'critical darlings' or 'shows that did gangbusters among gay people on Tumblr,' he said successful, which in his dronish corporate soullessness probably just means 'consistently gets X million viewers in Y amount of time for less than Z dollars an episode' where X is likely a value that is higher than just gay people on Tumblr and Y is a few weeks and then Z is not Stranger Things money how did we not reign that in. If people think I'm harping on that point it's because I remember when Sense8 was cancelled and Tumblr collectively lost its shit because it was so popular and everyone they knew watched it. But by 'so popular' they meant 'with internet reviewers they liked on the AvClub' and by 'everyone they knew watched it' they meant the surprisingly niche and insular demographic that is their Tumblr dash. Let me put it in perspective: the most-watch television program in American the last few years has been Yellowstone, a television program that never once grabbed Tumblr's attention—and you know this because if you search the tag its at least even-odds that people making are as many Tumblr posts about Yellowstone-the-Park rather than the TV show. If you use Tumblr, and especially stay on your own curated dash, as a metric, stastically 'nobody's watching Yellowstone.' But they did. In the millions. It did gang busters. But Tumblr had no reaction to it—largely because, for it to do big numbers of the kind streamers want, it was a show that was straight, kinda reactionary, and the Tumblr collective doesn't have a parasocial obsession with Kevin Costner (and why should they it's not 1998 any more). Yellowstone gets big numbers, critical Tumblr darlings usually don't. Shirley Lumpbuckin of Milwaukee and her gals pals got together to drink plonk and watch The Bachelor, not Sense8. Chuck Brodude and his coveted 18-24 demographic broskis watched Game of Thrones, not Galavant. This year Sanjay "I'm not going to make a name joke here" Kaur ditched Disney+ the moment they stopped airing cricket and didn't give a shit about... let me google if there was any queer content in the new Willow... yeah, he wasn't watching Willow. The Dark Crystal: Implied Puppet Orgasm did very well among people who wanted sequels to cult-hit commercial failures from the late-80s and/or people fascinated by high-quality puppetry and it turns out that's far less people than you might think. Especially at 10 million USD an episode when Sense8 was considered too expensive at 9 million. Queer Eye, for the curious, comes in at a comparative shoestring of 300 grand an episode, padded with a tonne of sponsorship and donated products. It may have pulled in a fraction of the viewers for all we know, but it did so at on thirty-third of the price: and that is the only thing Netflix care about. Netflix is ruthless and entirely mercenary: if our gay asses got Stranger Things numbers for Sad Tender Gay Historical People Being Sad And Tenderly Gay In History: The Series, it would run for a decade and give you every Funko-Pop under the sun. But our gay asses are a smaller and far less influential demographic then our dash might lead us to believe. Netflix doesn't cancel successful shows by its own metric of pure viewer numbers. It cancels critical darlings, it cancels underrated gems, it cruelly cancels genuine art without batting an eye. Bur successful? No. Sarandos is not lying. You just don't share his scummy worldview.

THE AUDACITY OF THEM TO SAY THIS, FUCK NETFLIX FR