VFX Artists At Marvel Studios Vote To Unionize

This is Day 113 of the WGA strike and Day 40 of the SAG-AFTRA strike. 

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor New York City is the latest government entity to prohibit the use of TikTok — the popular video entertainment app owned by China’s ByteDance — on devices owned by the city. The NYC Cyber Command, a division of the city’s Office of Technology & Innovation, said city workers must stop using TikTok effective immediately after the online security team determined that the app “posed a security threat to the city’s technical networks.” “While social media is great at connecting New Yorkers with one another and the city, we have to ensure we are always using these platforms in a secure manner,” a rep for the New York City mayor’s office said in a statement to the Verge, which first reported the ban.

APPOINTMENTSManagement firm Various Artists has appointed Emily Thorpe-Jones as Head Of Brands & Corporate. She previously worked in the magazines business, most recently at Hearst UK, as well as presenting music shows for Hoxton FM and London Live.

Universal Studios Hollywood announced its complete 2023 Halloween Horror Nights line up this morning, reanimating an Evil Dead Rise-themed scare and offering frightening haunted houses dubbed Monstruos: The Monsters of Latin America and Holidayz in Hell. The event will also include Terror Tram…The Exterminatorz. Details on each below.

With “Mics up!” as their rallying cry, fiction podcasters walked a Writers Guild picket line Tuesday outside Amazon’s offices in New York City to spotlight their efforts to unionize. 

EXCLUSIVE: Carolina Miranda, the Mexican actress currently starring in the hit Netflix series Fake Profile, has signed with Artist International Group for management.

Despite the wall-to-wall coverage of Hurricane Katrina, there wasn’t a lot of archival footage of some of the more devastating moments that producers wanted to depict in Five Days of Memorial — like when the roof came off the Superdome and the 9th Ward flooding. So VFX Supervisor Eric Durst (Snowpiercer, Perry Mason) said his team went back “forensically” to research those moments before depicting them in the Apple TV limited series.

Despite the wall-to-wall coverage of Hurricane Katrina, there wasn’t a lot of archival footage of some of the more devastating moments that producers wanted to depict in Five Days of Memorial — like when the roof came off the Superdome and the 9th Ward flooding. So VFX Supervisor Eric Durst (Snowpiercer, Perry Mason) said his team went back “forensically” to research those moments before depicting them in the Apple TV limited series.

Andrea Iervolino, the Italian producer behind Michael Mann’s forthcoming Ferrari, today announced his investment of around 50 million euros, or $55M U.S., in The Tuscany Film Studios, a top-flight production facility soon to be active in central Italy.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Italian producer Andrea Iervolino, whose credits include Michael Mann’s “Ferrari,” “Waiting for the Barbarians” and “Tell It Like a Woman,” has invested around 50 million euros ($55 million) in the construction of Tuscany Film Studios, a technologically advanced studio with the largest virtual set in Italy, and a 360 studio for live-action productions. The production facility, which is being built just outside Florence, will also host a movie theater and luxury hotel with the aim of attracting premium international productions to Italy.

Amidst the circus and chaos that has become his brand, Donald Trump has arrived in court today in Washington D.C. to face criminal charges over attempts to overturn the 2020 election. The 45th President of the United States is now in custody to be arraigned.

Union leaders told striking Hollywood writers Tuesday night that they plan to meet with representatives for studios to discuss restarting negotiations after the first official communication between the two sides since the strike began three months ago.

EXCLUSIVE: Former Legendary Television President and Starz CEO Chris Albrecht, and Jane the Virgin executive producer Jorge Granier have formed Rubicon Global Media, a firm designed to aggregate leading intellectual property from Latin America and Spain, transforming it into content with worldwide appeal. The company will also produce story-driven content for Latin American audiences. 

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music The American Association of Independent Music (A2IM) has announced its new A2IM Artist Pro program, which includes access to health insurance and multiple other benefits. The program, with annual membership dues of $99, provides access to the A2IM Benefits Store, which includes health insurance programs and an array of a la carte insurance options, including dental, vision, personal items protection, renters and home insurance, legal services, pet insurance and much more, according to the announcement.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Warner Bros. Japan released a statement on the country’s official “Barbie” Twitter account criticizing the studio’s U.S. branch for feeding into the “Barbenheimer” craze on social media.

SAG-AFTRA responded to Sarah Silverman’s criticism over the union allowing certain projects to film amid its strike with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) over labor disputes.

Warner Bros. Japan has issued a statement in which it criticizes what it describes as “extremely regrettable” Barbenheimer tweets shared from the official Barbie Twitter account in the U.S. 

Veteran filmmaker Oliver Stone has voiced his regret for voting for President Joe Biden, saying he fears the US leader may take America into World War 3.

Thania Garcia Travis Scott’s long-awaited “Utopia” album has arrived, and out of all 19 songs on the set, only a small handful saw the Houston-born rapper flying solo. In total, “Utopia” features over 18 artists — and that’s not including the indomitable list of producers and songwriters that offered their hand on the album.

Angel Studios is launching its unexpected summer hit Sound of Freedom in a bunch of international markets after it made $127M during its first three weeks in U.S. theaters.