👋 Welcome to The Mail Cart. This is Warner, founder of AvA. Connect with me here.
📰 A bill that would cap ticket reselling prices in California stumbled. We drop our first ‘Film Industry Friday’ report. All of the major book publishers enter into a lawsuit, and more.
🎉 In NYC?? Our friends at Ghost Rocket are celebrating their 15th anniversary on Wednesday August 19th with an exclusive industry party featuring live music from breakthrough artists and an open bar. Come connect with fellow industry friends & the creative community! RSVP HERE
Go close your laptop, touch some grass, and grab a drink on Ghost Rocket
💼 Looking for open Entertainment jobs? Scroll to the bottom of this newsletter.
Plus Our Job Board now has 240+ early career Entertainment roles as well.
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There is no better way to distract yourself from mid-year reviews, then catching up on last season of The Traitors.
And don’t miss the new season of Traitors: New Blood Sept. 17 only on Peacock!
⭐ A bill in California that was introduced to cap resale ticket prices failed to make it out of the Senate
Unsurprisingly, StubHub put $3.4 million worth of lobbying against it. We may have lost this battle for fair ticket pricing, but that doesn’t mean we can’t win the war.
⭐ Twitch is now automatically opting streamers into having their content used to train Amazon’s AI models
Creators have to manually opt out, and Twitch’s CPO gave a pretty insane reason for not making it opt-in: “If it was opt-in, nobody would opt in.” At least they said the quiet part out loud. How about we read the room my guy..
⭐ The Paramount-Warner Bros. merger fight is splitting Hollywood’s unions
DGA and IATSE want a settlement or faster trial, arguing the uncertainty is already killing jobs. IATSE hours are down nearly 36% from 2022, while DGA employment is reportedly down 40%.
The WGA is taking the opposite approach, suing to block the deal over fears that shrinking five major studio buyers to four means fewer jobs and worse leverage long term. The divide: crew unions are worried about losing jobs now. Writers are worried about losing buyers later.
Handy guide for what the hell those abbreviations mean:
DGA = Directors Guild of America (directors, assistant directors, unit production managers and other directing-team roles.
IATSE = International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (the massive crew union covering people like grips, gaffers, camera crews, costume designers and other below-the-line workers.
WGA = Writers Guild of America (film and TV writers)
SAG-AFTRA = Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (actors, performers, broadcasters and other on-camera/voice talent)
Teamsters = the union representing a lot of drivers, location professionals, casting directors and other production workers in Hollywood.
⭐ All of the major book publishers have joined in a lawsuit seeking to protect 9 books that were banned in Iowa school libraries
"Our goal is simple: to ensure all students have access to the books they need to learn, grow, and understand the world around them."
⭐ The NBA is expanding the number of regular season games aired live on TV to 90, an increase of 14% compared to last year
⭐ Introducing the Film Industry Friday report
The Summer box office hit $4 billion for only the 2nd time since the pandemic (Re: Barbenheimer)
‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ became the fastest film to reach $700 million domestically, and notably is only 1 of 7 films to ever do so
Ted Lasso Season 4 debuted with 296.6 million Minutes Watched in 2 days, making it Apple TV’s biggest launch ever
5 pieces of career advice I’m requiring you to take to heart:
🧠 Bran Flakezz (Creator): “Anyone with an easy journey often hits a wall really hard because they’ve never made a big mistake before.”
🧠 Connor Hines (Creator of Love Story): “When something invariably falls through, even emotionally you have to be able to pivot quickly and throw yourself into the other projects.”
🧠 Oren John (The Internet’s Creative Director): “You have to be willing to put yourself out there. I’m thankful every day I did.”
🧠 Serena Kamlani (TV Staff Writer): “You can’t control luck, but you can control how many places you put yourself into.”
🧠 Aaron Folbe (Curry Barker’s Manager): “If you have that gut feeling, you have to go with it. You have to have good taste, but you just have to follow it.”
Saturday Night Live parted ways with their Music Booker Brian Siedlecki who has been with the company for 30 years. Fun fact: he first started as an intern. You never know what will happen if you just get your foot in the door!
Walt Disney Studios uplifted one of their own, Melissa Stone, to become their new Senior VP of Publicity. She has spent 14 years across both Disney and Fox, and most recently was the VP of Publicity at Disney.
Big Shot Pictures appointed Adam Rosenberg as the company’s new Head of Film. In the past he has served as the Co-President of Production at MGM, including an Executive Producer credit on ‘Creed III’
UTA has signed Marina (formerly of Marina and the Diamonds) to a full 360 deal, and this comes right after she released her first ever independent album under a label she created with BMG.
Our new job board features 240+ early career roles in Entertainment, including:
💼 Music Touring - CAA - Apply Here
💼 Social Media - Dairy Boy - Apply Here
💼 Music Royalties - Netflix - Apply Here
🎒Intern - Arson Theory - Apply Here
💼 Executive Assistant - Condé Nast - Apply Here
💼 Creator Partnerships - WME - Apply Here
💼 Live Entertainment - Versant - Apply Here
💼 Social Media - BMI - Apply Here
💼 Content - Universal Music - Apply Here
💼 Executive Assistant - Paramount - Apply Here
💼 Marketing - Live Nation - Apply Here
💼 Catalog - Downtown Music - Apply Here
💼 Project Manager - Disney - Apply Here
💼 Marketing - WME - Apply Here
💼 Analyst - Warner Music - Apply Here
🎒 Social Marketing Intern - Sony Pictures - Apply Here
🎒 Community & Special Events - NBCUniversal - Apply Here
🎒 Accounting Intern - AEG - Apply Here
👋 See you back here on Monday
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The Mail Cart is written by Warner Bailey and edited by Riley Furey and Dominik Sansevere.
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