Showbiz Sandbox 469: Hollywood Unions Set For Fight Over Streaming Residual Payments

Summary: As television networks turn from linear broadcast methods to consumer streaming platforms a brewing battle over residual payments has the potential to spark a dual union strike in the middle of next year. Jonathan Handel, an entertainment attorney and a contributing editor at The Hollywood Reporter, joins us to discuss how the lack of data coming from streaming giants could lead to a standoff between major guilds and producers.<br> Indeed, in mid-2020 the master contacts between the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers and the Directors Guild of America, The Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA are set to expire. By now negotiations on new contracts would be well underway. Instead talks have stalled as unions try to revise the formulas used by streamers to make residual payments to their members. Given the timing, it’s a perfect storm for a potential massive industry work-stoppage.<br> Meanwhile, the Broadway musical “Tootsie” is closing long before it recoups its production costs. Michael Riedel of the New York Post has a host of reasons for why this critic’s darling didn’t click, however only one of them makes sense; the show’s music wasn’t all that great.<br> Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including how Amazon has followed Netflix in deciding not to publish box office figures for its films, George Lucas revises the original “Star Wars” once again and Taylor Swift gets into a public spat with her former record label.<br> <br> ‘Ford v Ferrari’ Races to #1 While ‘Joker’ Becomes First R-Rated Film to Ever Top $1 Billion Globally<br> <a href="https://www.boxofficemojo.com/article/ed4017095684/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://www.boxofficemojo.com/article/ed4017095684/</a><br> ‘Ford V Ferrari’ Revs Up $52M+ Worldwide Bow; No China Halo For ‘Charlie’s Angels’<br> <a href="https://deadline.com/2019/11/ford-v-ferrari-charlies-angels-maleficent-joker-terminator-dark-fate-china-global-international-box-office-1202788204/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://deadline.com/2019/11/ford-v-ferrari-charlies-angels-maleficent-joker-terminator-dark-fate-china-global-international-box-office-1202788204/</a><br> ‘Tootsie’ Was a Broadway Flop Because Theater Is Fickle<br> <a href="https://nypost.com/2019/11/14/tootsie-was-a-broadway-flop-because-theater-is-fickle-insiders/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://nypost.com/2019/11/14/tootsie-was-a-broadway-flop-because-theater-is-fickle-insiders/</a><br> Tootsie Is A Drag<br> <a href="http://popsurfing.blogspot.com/2019/04/theater-tootsie-is-drag.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">http://popsurfing.blogspot.com/2019/04/theater-tootsie-is-drag.html</a><br> Amazon Studios Won’t Report Box Office Grosses for Some of Its Films<br> <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/amazon-studios-wont-report-box-office-grosses-some-films-1254271" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/amazon-studios-wont-report-box-office-grosses-some-films-1254271</a><br> Sweden Rejects Chinese Criticism of Press Freedom Prize<br> <a href="https://apnews.com/299a5fca538e4b88a1ce284eb1f36571" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://apnews.com/299a5fca538e4b88a1ce284eb1f36571</a><br> TV Ratings: Multiplatform Data Shows Big Shift in Viewing Habits<br> <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/multi-platform-ratings-data-shows-big-shift-viewing-habits-1254608" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/multi-platform-ratings-data-shows-big-shift-viewing-habits-1254608</a><br> A Load of ‘MacClunkey’: Will George Lucas’s Star Wars Tinkering Never End?<br> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/nov/13/macclunkey-george-lucas-star-wars-disney-plus-greedo" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/nov/13/macclunkey-george-lucas-star-wars-disney-plus-greedo</a><br> Taylor Swift Slams Scott Borchetta and Scooter Braun...