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"content": "\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003ca href=\"#episode-transcript\">\u003cem>View the full episode transcript.\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In 2020, movie theaters were on their last legs. Lockdowns and years of declining interest had forced historic cinemas to shutter, including an LA icon, the Cinerama Dome. But recently a new generation of cinema-lovers has been using social media to revitalize the culture of in person movie-watching. Internet culture reporter Candice Lim explores the rise of the Gen Z cinephile movement, and heads to Hollywood to meet the young filmmaker and activist who is fighting to bring the Cinerama Dome back from the dead.\u003cbr>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Guests: \u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"candicelim.substack.com\">Candice Lim\u003c/a>, internet culture reporter\u003c/li>\n\n\n\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://x.com/SaveYourCinema\">Ben Steinberg\u003c/a>, filmmaker, actor, and founder of Save Your Cinema\u003c/li>\n\n\n\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.11amsaturday.com/\">Ezgi Eren\u003c/a>, founder of \u003cem>11am Saturda\u003c/em>y\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u003cstrong>Further Reading/Listening:\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://hearinla.substack.com/p/ben-the-man-who-saved-the-cinerama\">Ben, the Man who Saved the Cinerama Dome\u003c/a> — \u003cem>Hear in LA Substack\u003c/em>\u003c/li>\n\n\n\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/hollywood-cinerama-dome-benjamin-steinberg-chris-forman-1236556697/\">An Activist Spent Years Pushing for Hollywood’s Cinerama Dome to Reopen. Why Did He Just Stop?\u003c/a> — Gary Baum, \u003cem>The Hollywood Reporter\u003c/em> \u003c/li>\n\n\n\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.indiewire.com/news/breaking-news/cinerama-dome-advocates-public-pressure-owners-reopen-1235193534/\">Cinerama Dome Advocates Take Rare Chance to Put Public Pressure on Owners to Reopen\u003c/a> — Brian Welk, \u003cem>IndieWire\u003c/em>\u003c/li>\n\n\n\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.indiewire.com/features/podcast/how-ben-steinberg-saved-cinerama-dome-1235209487/\">How 26-Year-Old Ben Steinberg Saved the Cinerama Dome\u003c/a> — Ryan Lattanzio & Anne Thompson, \u003cem>IndieWire\u003c/em>\u003c/li>\n\n\n\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://variety.com/2025/film/news/save-cinerama-dome-campaign-reopening-uncertain-1236363487/\">Supporters Rally to Save the Cinerama Dome as Future of Hollywood Theater Complex Remains Uncertain\u003c/a> — Pat Saperstein & Jazz Tangcay, \u003cem>Variety\u003c/em>\u003c/li>\n\n\n\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.reddit.com/r/LosAngeles/comments/1v3lcq2/in_praise_of_ben_steinberg_the_hero_who_stood_up/\">In praise of Ben Steinberg, the hero who stood up and demanded the Cinerama Dome not be just one more derelict, abandoned Hollywood landmark\u003c/a> — \u003cem>Reddit\u003c/em>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Want to give us feedback on the show? Shoot us an email at \u003ca href=\"mailto:CloseAllTabs@KQED.org\">CloseAllTabs@KQED.org\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Follow us on \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/closealltabspod/\">Instagram\u003c/a> and\u003ca href=\"https://www.tiktok.com/@closealltabs\">\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.tiktok.com/@closealltabs\">TikTok\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 id=\"episode-transcript\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">Episode Transcript\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cem>\u003cem>This is a computer-generated transcript. While our team has reviewed it, there may be errors.\u003c/em>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Morgan Sung:\u003c/strong> Hi Tabby Cats! Do you have an internet trend, tech subculture or online oddity you’ve been wondering about? Well, now you can ask Close All Tabs to investigate. Go to kqed dot org slash Close All Tabs to submit your question. Okay, let’s get to the show. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For a while, movie theaters had been on a downward spiral. Even the biggest names in Hollywood lamented their demise. Back in 2014, Quentin Tarantino warned of the death of cinema — thanks to the shift from analog filmmaking to digital formats. A few years later, NATO, not that one, but actually the National Alliance of Theater Owners, recorded the lowest theater attendance in over two decades, as tickets got more expensive than ever. In 2019, New York Times film critic A.O. Scott questioned whether streaming would kill cinema, which is actually what Cillian Murphy’s character, a video store owner, predicted in the 2007 romcom, \u003cem>Watching the Detectives\u003c/em>. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cem>[Begin clip of \u003c/em>Watching the Detectives\u003cem>]\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So Neil, what are you gonna do when this place goes tits up? \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Well, I don’t think that’s gonna happen for a few years, you know, not until people can get any movie they want beamed directly into their TV set and I’m dead meat. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cem>[End clip of \u003c/em>Watching the Detectives\u003cem>]\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Morgan Sung:\u003c/strong> And then, a year after that New York Times story came out, the pandemic hit. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>[Clip of Inside Edition story from YouTube]:\u003c/strong> Box office sales at movie theaters over the weekend plummeted to a 20-year low. Ticket sales were even worse than in the immediate aftermath of 9/11. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>[Clip of WPRI story from YouTube]:\u003c/strong> Leadership at Cinemas 8 taking to social media saying the pandemic has made it economically impossible to reopen. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Morgan Sung:\u003c/strong> The pandemic shut down cinemas around the world with no real safety net and some theaters never opened up again. Hollywood had poured millions and millions of dollars into blockbusters that couldn’t make it to the big screen. Instead, at the height of lockdown, they skipped theaters and went straight to streaming for viewers to watch from the safety of their homes. I’m talking cinematic masterpieces like \u003cem>Dune\u003c/em>… being watched on an iPad. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But today, movie theater chains like AMC, Regal, and Alamo Drafthouse have bounced back. The movie-going experience is now a gamified, thriving subculture that reveres in-person community. The AMC A-list subscription used to be for nerds, and now it’s the ultimate cinephile flex. A viral Letterboxd review is a status symbol. Film podcasts treat going to the movies like it’s a sport. So, how did we get here? \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Today we’re diving into the internet’s mission to save cinema and how an iconic Hollywood landmark almost fell to ruin — until a very online Gen Z filmmaker rallied to the public to save it. Get ready. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This is Close All Tabs. I’m Morgan Sung, tech journalist and your chronically online friend here to open as many browser tabs as it takes to help you understand how the digital world affects our real lives. Let’s get into it. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For today’s deep dive, I’m handing the keyboard over to my friend, Candice Lim. If she sounds familiar, it’s because you’ve definitely heard her on Close All Tabs before. She’s also an internet culture reporter, a film and TV critic, and one of my favorite people to follow on Letterboxd. Candice only converted to the Church of Cinema after the release of \u003cem>Challengers\u003c/em>, the horny tennis love triangle extravaganza starring Zendaya, which Candice saw in theaters five times. And she’s not the only one trying to save the art of movie going. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Okay. Take it away, Candice. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> Thanks Morgan. In the words of Nicole Kidman… \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>[Clip of Nicole Kidman for AMC from YouTube]:\u003c/strong> We come to this place for magic. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> So let’s open a new tab: the Savior of the Cinerama Dome. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I wanna take us to Sunset Boulevard on a recent Saturday morning in Los Angeles. I’m standing in front of this big, white dome made out of 316 interlocking concrete panels. It’s the Cinerama Dome. It’s hard to miss next to a Veggie Grill and a gym, but for something so big in the dead center of Hollywood, this theater complex feels… dead. The lights that once lit the night sky have been off for years. And the building itself is in a state of disrepair. But, it wasn’t always that way. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ben Steinberg:\u003c/strong> I liked coming here to see \u003cem>2001: A Space Odyssey\u003c/em> in 2014. That was my first time seeing a movie with an intermission, and with over 800 or 1,000 people in the audience. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> This is Ben Steinberg. He’s a cinephile. First off, how many movies have you seen this year? \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ben Steinberg:\u003c/strong> Oh, uh, probably over 50 maybe? \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> I can tell you it’s 113. It was on Letterboxd. I checked it out. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ben Steinberg:\u003c/strong> Oh, wow. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> He’s a former child actor. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ben Steinberg:\u003c/strong> When I was like 13 or 14, I got to do the TV show, \u003cem>Brooklyn Nine-Nine\u003c/em>, for a few seasons. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>[Clip of Brooklyn Nine-Nine from IMDb]:\u003c/strong> But it’s my bar mitzvah. We were going to grind. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> And, he’s an activist. In fact, when it comes to the movie theater revival movement, he’s kind of the activist. For the last five years, Ben has been running a Twitter account called Save Your Cinema. He got started in 2021, when Angeleno’s received a heartbreaking announcement about the very iconic building we are standing right in front of. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>[Clip of Fox 11 Los Angeles story from YouTube]:\u003c/strong> And we begin with breaking news, and it is very sad news for movie lovers. Pacific Theaters announcing its ArcLight and Pacific Theaters will not reopen after shutting down last year because of the pandemic. This includes the iconic Cinerama Dome in Hollywood on Sunset Boulevard. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> The Dome had been closed in 2020 due to COVID, just like nearly every other theater. Ownership kept promising it would reopen, but it never did, and cinephiles like Ben began to get nervous. To Ben, that announcement in March of 2021 was the nail in the coffin. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ben Steinberg:\u003c/strong> And then after that, they made no further like, press releases or responded to emails. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> To understand the importance of this, I need to tell you a bit about the Cinerama Dome and what it means to the city of LA and film history. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Dome was opened back in 1963, and it’s the first and only concrete, geodesic dome in the world. For decades, it was known as the place to watch the latest blockbuster, and the first film they ever screened was \u003cem>It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World\u003c/em>, a Stanley Kramer-directed comedy starring Buster Keaton. Then, it became this marquee place to hold premieres, similar to Grauman’s Chinese Theatre — and The Dome made it fun. They turned into a green ogre for \u003cem>Shrek 2\u003c/em>. They became the moon for the 2018 Neil Armstrong biopic, \u003cem>First Man\u003c/em>. A lot of working filmmakers can remember the most formative movie they’ve watched at The Dome with hopes that one day their film would premiere there too. And beyond the iconic look and blockbuster screenings, this particular theater is important to the history of film as a medium. It’s all about the way movies are shot. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ben Steinberg:\u003c/strong> There’s like two different versions of Cinerama. There’s the original three-strip Cinerama, which uses literally three lenses, like three cameras together. And then later on, they did the 70mm Cinerama, which is \u003cem>2001: A Space Odyssey\u003c/em>. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> Without getting too technical, the image 70-millimeter film creates is huge — several times bigger than traditional 35-millimeter. It had to be projected onto a screen that’s large enough to accommodate it. That’s where The Dome comes in. I would describe watching a movie at The Dome as if you were inside The Sphere in Las Vegas. The magnitude of this format, what some call “the great-grandmother of IMAX,” feels magical, especially in the age of vertical video scrolling. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Imagine watching something like Christopher Nolan’s \u003cem>Interstellar\u003c/em> at The Dome. It makes you feel like you’re actually on the moon — and you are experiencing this with strangers, all of whom came to this place at this time to share this moment with you. Also, the popcorn is really good. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ben Steinberg:\u003c/strong> They have like this really good chef-driven like popcorn. They had like the- the last one they had was Mexican street popcorn. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> Okay, back to the announcement about The Dome’s permanent closure. So, you have this piece of cinema history, an architectural feat, an iconic industry landmark, closing for good. A lot of people were gutted, including and especially Ben. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ben Steinberg:\u003c/strong> From what I was told through a few different sources was that they just didn’t believe in the theatrical exhibition box office, like they didn’t think they could make enough money, and like they’re obviously very business-oriented. So, I was just under the assumption that they didn’t believe in like the theatrical exhibition box office for the future of it. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> And every good movie needs a hero, right? Well, for this story, and for a very online group of movie lovers, that hero was Ben. Immediately after the Cinerama Dome’s owners announced it wouldn’t reopen, Ben jumped into action. And even though he might sound mild-mannered, let me tell you: Ben is fearless. And you have to remember the context. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It was 2021. We were coming out of lockdown. Theater attendance was returning at a crawl. And if there was one barrier Ben felt he needed to break through — it was the doors of The Dome. So, he got his keyboard warriors together and created a petition called Save the Cinerama Dome. And this petition was trying to get the attention of the owners of The Dome, the Decurion Corporation. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ben Steinberg:\u003c/strong> It was addressed to the CEO of the Decurion Corporation, so I was hoping to at least get a response from him. Then it quickly got 30,000 signatures, but we never got any response. They didn’t even acknowledge it. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> Ben was frustrated, because as far as he could tell, there wasn’t a good reason for The Dome’s permanent closure. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ben Steinberg:\u003c/strong> Company that owns it, they never went bankrupt, the parent company, they just decided to shut down the theater. So, just the whole like situation was very mysterious, like they have no website and no phone line, and then I started to look at their other properties that they own, and they own some other historic cinemas that have been abandoned for around 25 years… So I kind of got paranoid that they were planning that for The Dome. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> It’s true. Let’s get into some backstory. Okay, so the Decurion Corporation is owned by the Formans, a billionaire family that owned two major movie chains in California: the Pacific Theater, which started all the way back in 1946, and ArcLight Cinemas, which operated The Dome as well as other beloved LA theaters. But both chains were permanently closed down in 2021, and The Dome, with its peeling walls and overgrown vines, definitely looks like it’s been closed for five years. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ben Steinberg:\u003c/strong> I was documenting just like the deterioration of it, which was crazy, just seeing like stuff falling off just because it’s been abandoned for so long. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> Ben got tired of seeing this beloved theater stand idly by — wasting away as what some have called, “a tax write-off.” He got this crazy idea. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ben Steinberg:\u003c/strong> Well, I’ve had the idea for like three years, but I knew that once I did it, it could be like the end of the Save the Cinerama Dome campaign. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> He basically wanted to project a Page Six headline-style photo of the Decurion executives onto The Dome. Once he got the idea, he started a GoFundMe, which raised more than $2,000, and those dollars went toward hiring a projectionist, a security guard, and a little rehearsal… A few days before the stunt. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ben Steinberg:\u003c/strong> I got a professional projection engineer to do it. It just said, “Reopen The Dome,” and then just the images of the CEO and the vice president of development. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> He actually pulled it off on a busy Friday night when the sun went down and the projection went up. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ben Steinberg:\u003c/strong> I was right between the two big trees and the lampposts, in front of the Los Angeles Film School, but on the sidewalk. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> Do you notice people stopping and staring at it? \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ben Steinberg:\u003c/strong> Yeah, we got a lot of attention like, everyone was looking at the projection and like people in their cars were like, throwing their thumbs up and like, applauding me. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> But according to Ben, the reason his stunt even went viral is because of the cops. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ben Steinberg:\u003c/strong> Lasted for like two or three hours and then the police came — the police specifically said the owners like don’t want me to get arrested or citated, they just want me to know they consider it a form of escalation and harassment, but I think it was definitely like the Streisand effect. I think it’s a blessing in disguise that they called the police, because I think if they didn’t it wouldn’t have gone as viral. So, I think it definitely drew attention on them. I just wanted to remind them that like, they owned the Cinerama Dome and the public wanted it to reopen. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> So even though the cops said they were not going to arrest Ben, after two hours, he felt like it was time to go home. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ben Steinberg:\u003c/strong> After I posted about it, it went viral and I knew that was going to kick some things in motion. And then like, the next day I saw that the executives for the company started viewing my LinkedIn profile. So that was definitely a good sign. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> So Ben finally got the attention of The Dome’s owners. They were checking out his LinkedIn — then came a public hearing where The Dome’s representative was going to be there. So Ben got a second idea, to flood the zone with his supporters. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ben Steinberg:\u003c/strong> She was asked specifically about the Save the Cinerama Dome campaign and like my projection, and she responded saying that the ownership took notice of it and the extreme public interest in wanting The Dome to reopen. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> But it was very, We Here For You, from \u003cem>Succession\u003c/em>, because it’s one thing to say we’re noticing interest versus acting on that interest. So Ben decided to give them a self-proclaimed deadline, August 20th, and they had to either announce they were reopening The Dome or find someone to lease the theater. He wasn’t sure if they were going to actually meet that deadline, but for some reason, he felt closer and closer to a victory. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ezgi Eren:\u003c/strong> I think the ArcLight needed someone like him who just wouldn’t back down and wouldn’t take no for an answer. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> Ezgi Eren is the founder of 11am Saturday, a Substack newsletter she calls a movie restoration project. She interviewed Ben for her Substack back in 2024 before the stunt happened. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ezgi Eren:\u003c/strong> And, you know, he just projected an image onto a building. Like he didn’t break the law. I mean, I don’t know if he technically broke the law, but he didn’t harm anyone. So, if that’s what it took to get the owners to act, that’s good to know. The fact that he raised that awareness in them is amazing. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> And after years of back and forth, online petitions, and filmmakers like Edgar Wright, Benny Safdie, and Sean Baker showing support, for the first time in a long time, it looked like moviegoers just might have the chance to see The Dome’s silver screen light up once again. Ben is one of the many people trying to keep movie theaters alive — but his efforts are just the most visible piece… of a movie subculture that has come roaring back after cinemas were pronounced dead only a few years ago. And the driving force behind it? Gen Z. We’ll get into that after the break. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Welcome back. Let’s open a new tab: is the Gen Z Cinephile Movement real? \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I’ll put myself on blast, because I’m technically in Gen Z, and I am watching an average of three to five movies per week. But, I wasn’t always this way. I actually used to hate movies. I was more of a TV kid. But in 2024, a movie came out that changed how I valued the movie going experience. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>[Clip of Challengers from YouTube]:\u003c/strong> Don’t you want to meet Tashi Duncan? You don’t get it, man. You’ve never seen her in person. She’s in another league. You mean her game? No, I mean she’s the hottest woman I’ve ever seen. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>Challengers\u003c/em>, directed by Luca Guadagnino, stars Zendaya, Mike Faist, and Josh O’Connor as three tennis players who sometimes play tennis, but also make out. What got me was the score by the Nine Inch Nails guys. It was electric, and propulsive, and it felt like being in the club — and after many clubless years during the pandemic, I needed that. From that point forward, I became a Letterboxd-er, an AMC A-List member, and a proud solo moviegoer. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ezgi Eren:\u003c/strong> I looked around and I didn’t really know many people who still went to the movies, shockingly. It was a couple years ago. And I just felt like the whole experience is dying. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> Ezgi Eren, again, founder of 11am Saturday, the movie Substack. While Ezgi admits she is a millennial, she is in a lot of Gen Z majority spaces, and she believes Gen Z is the key to getting butts back into those fuzzy little seats. She says they’re looking to reconnect with real people… And real experiences. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ezgi Eren:\u003c/strong> I think it’s the kind of oversaturation of the internet, the influx of content that people are subjected to every day, and the need to kind of get off the internet and go more into real life spaces again. I see it in like book clubs. I see it in like dinner parties. I think it’s the same reason for people going back to the movie theaters as well. Yeah, it’s great. I love it. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> And it’s not just the movies themselves that are attracting these Gen Z attendees. It’s about what’s happening outside of the theater, online, that’s pushing people to keep going back for more. It’s a digitally fueled cultural shift. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For example, let’s talk about Letterboxd, which is a movie logging app that’s akin to the Goodreads of cinema. It can frankly be a little performative. You start by rating a movie out of five stars. Then you can write a review. Some people take it seriously. Others become trolls. But it’s so communal that your favorite filmmakers and film heads — this is Martin Scorsese, Charli XCX, even Jack Harlow — are logging the same movies you are watching. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Then, you have things like the Criterion Closet. You may have heard of the Criterion Collection. They have a YouTube video series called Closet Picks, where prominent film lovers like Francis Ford Coppola, Paul Giamatti, and game designer Hideo Kojima pick their favorite highbrow DVDs off library-looking shelves. It’s a smash hit. But the reason why Gen Z congregates around these film-themed internet platforms is because they are actively curating their tastes — using accessible platforms almost as an educational way to upgrade their cinema game. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Because at the end of the day, when you log a movie or post a review, it’s your green light at the of the dock, a bid for connection. It’s a way to attract like-minded people with similar taste. Because that’s what COVID ripped away from a lot of Gen Z people: organic connection in public spaces. And Letterboxd… is considered a public space. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ezgi Eren:\u003c/strong> Letterboxd and like The Criterion and studios that make movies more catered to Gen Z, like I think those are all kind of partially responsible as well, but it’s almost like they are riding a great wave. I think it was going to happen regardless. But then of course, it does matter that Letterboxd, gameified it. It does matter that theaters are engaging more with their audiences on social media. It has become almost like… a brand — you want to associate yourself with a specific theater more now. I think it’s a combination of all those things. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> Fandango, the movie ticket website, did a study this year, saying that Gen Z, who are about 14 to 29 years old right now, is the most active movie-going generation, seeing about seven movies per year. I’ve also seen headlines about Gen Z being the loneliest generation right now. Is there a connection? Here’s Ben again. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ben Steinberg:\u003c/strong> I can’t think of like any other third spaces. Like I know AMC Theaters has like a lot of like meetups and like fan clubs where people will just go every week as a group to AMC. So, I think that’s a big thing, I mean like at least for me personally, if I’m doing something social, I’d rather like go to a movie than something else. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> Ezgi says that even though the intersection of chronically online Gen Z-ers and cinephiles is probably pretty small, it’s a subgroup with growing influence. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ezgi Eren:\u003c/strong> I will say like they’re not big enough to kind of maybe like influence a whole performance of a movie. Like I don’t think everyone who saw \u003cem>Obsession\u003c/em> and made it such a success is- does fit in that category. But I do think they have a big influence on marketing campaigns now for sure. I mean, you see it in like press tours, you see it and how, even like, studios with lower budgets, like they’re doing everything to kind of keep up with the content-ification of movies. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> Mm-hmm. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ezgi Eren:\u003c/strong> And like creating like an online experience to try to like get these people to see the movies. So I think their influence is growing for sure and then like after \u003cem>Obsession\u003c/em> and \u003cem>Backrooms\u003c/em> they’re only going to be stronger. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> Have you ever been influenced by maybe like, a Letterboxd or even a film podcast or something you saw on social media that made you like, I don’t know, wanna go see a movie or made you more excited about something coming up? \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ezgi Eren:\u003c/strong> Oh my God, so all the time — all the time. Sometimes it’ll be just like one tweet that I’ll take to heart and go see something. Because I still, I think that’s also the power of these websites is that you can’t really manufacture real interest, right? Like, people don’t spend their hard earned money on things that suck. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> And even though you’re listening to three people who love going to the movies, there are things about theater culture that still suck. You need good movies and good moviegoing experiences to capitalize on this wave of interest and keep people coming back. But there’s the perennial problem of bad theater etiquette. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ezgi Eren:\u003c/strong> You will come across people either on their phone taking pictures of the screen or just talking to their friends or just being like unruly in general. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> Then there’s the fierce competition of booking movie tickets. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ezgi Eren:\u003c/strong> The event-izing of the ticket process is very annoying and- and I say that as someone who managed to get tickets to \u003cem>Dune\u003c/em>. It’s still not a good process and it could almost turn into like a deterrent for people. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> But the big one, the thing that Ben cares most about, is the fact that it’s not always guaranteed that our favorite movie theaters will be there tomorrow. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ben Steinberg:\u003c/strong> The Regency Theaters Calabasas — it actually literally just got demolished like six months ago and then also the Regancy Theaters in Agoura Hills, which also got demolished just a few months ago, and then also the AMC Promenade 16 which is now demolished. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> It seems like movie going and the sport of it is being threatened left and right, but… by who? \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Let’s open a new tab: who’s the big bad of the movie theater revival movement? \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So, if Ben is our unlikely hero, the face of Gen Z’s push for cinema revival, then who are they up against? Who’s the Joker to Ben’s Batman? When I asked, Ben was hesitant to call anyone out by name, even though he did project the heads of the Decurion Corporation onto a dome. Ezgi was a little more direct. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I’m curious, who do you think are kind of… the enemies or gatekeepers of movie theater preservation. Is it like Netflix? Is it studios? Is it a third thing? Is it billionaires, you know? \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ezgi Eren:\u003c/strong> As for billionaires, I mean… How much time do we have? \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> I wanted to talk about one story that I would say was maybe the most controversial last year, which was Netflix threatening or about to acquire Warner Brothers. Could you maybe explain why that acquisition freaked people out and why were people worried? Why were you worried? \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ezgi Eren:\u003c/strong> Yes, Netflix tried to purchase Warner Brothers — and Netflix, as we know, is a primarily direct-to-streaming service. Now, typically, their window of showing a movie in a theater is super, super short, so if you don’t see it in theaters in that period, you can only watch it on Netflix. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So, obviously, that’s terrible news for a studio like Warner Brothers who… put out like some of our favorite movies that we want to experience in theaters. Especially, you know, they had such a good year with \u003cem>One Battle After Another\u003c/em>. They have \u003cem>Dune\u003c/em> coming out. People just don’t want those to be contained to a television screen. So that was the panic. And I believe they’re still panic there because they are now being sold to Paramount, but we’ll see, we’ll how that goes. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> At the time of this taping, Paramount has officially completed their acquisition of Warner Brothers, and they have now become one giant conglomerate named Skydance. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Speaking of like acquisitions, I mean, this summer Letterboxd apparently is also possibly going up for sale. A lot of people have put their hats into the ring, but Netflix is one of them. Are you worried at all about Letterboxd, for example, possibly being acquired? \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ezgi Eren:\u003c/strong> I’m very worried about that, yes. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> Yeah. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ezgi Eren:\u003c/strong> And it seems inevitable. I just don’t know who can buy it that wouldn’t ruin it, you know? It’s not a perfect app right now, but it still feels very much like, belonging to the people… that the idea of like any major corporation owning it, it’s so easy to change it in a way that kind of ruins the movie culture, which is already kind of fragile. That’s not even like getting to the fact that they will probably sell all that data and use it to train AI and all that. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> So now we’re identifying a few big bads in the water, who are threatening two separate issues. We have people like the Forman family and their Decurion Corporation who are responsible for closing physical spaces to watch movies. Then, you have media giants, like Netflix, prioritizing streaming over theatrical releases and threatening the actual content that goes into those physical spaces. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But, on at least one of those fronts, there’s good news if you’re a movie lover. Because Ben’s projection stunt, the public hearing, the Twitter updates from Save Your Cinema — it all worked. On July 22nd, two months after he lit up the dome with images of the Decurion top brass, Ben woke up to some great news. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>[Clip of KTLA 5 story from YouTube]:\u003c/strong> One of Hollywood’s most iconic theaters could be making a comeback. Deadline broke the news that Sony Entertainment could be planning to resurrect the world-famous Cinerama Dome and ArcLight Hollywood Cinema. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> So, finally, after five years, The Dome is saved, and Angeleno’s cannot be happier. Alamo Drafthouse, which is owned by Sony Pictures, will reopen the theater in 2028. And per a Sony Pictures spokesperson, renovations have already started — from the marquee lights coming back on, to The Dome’s first power washing in years. So the question isn’t so much, will the Cinerama Dome be saved? But instead, will people go back? If Gen Z has anything to say about it, the answer is certainly. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ben Steinberg:\u003c/strong> I kind of feel like if I just didn’t do any of this, The Dome would kind of just still be sitting closed with them telling people it’s gonna reopen next year, like they always did. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> And Ben isn’t done being a local hero. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ben Steinberg:\u003c/strong> I raised attention about the Laemmle Theaters in North Hollywood, and luckily they got that theater saved from being demolished and turned into apartments. And then, also saving the Laemmle Theaters in Pasadena and getting Landmark to take over the lease, we did a petition for that, and then I’ve just been sharing other people’s campaigns and now like it’s gone international, so I’m trying to save the, I think it’s pronounced Pallas Cinema in Greece. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> Do you see yourself as the Spider-Man of movie theaters where it’s like you’re chilling until someone calls you and is like, “Hi, we need to open a theater,” and you’re just like that guy. How do you feel about being almost the person they send the Batman signal for? \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ben Steinberg:\u003c/strong> I think it’s amazing. It’s definitely very cool that they reach out to me and hopefully I can like be even more involved with other theaters or like one specific theater company. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> Even if you’re not a chronically online Gen Z cinephile trying to post an opening weekend review on Letterboxd, going to the movies is still a classic American luxury. It’s the thing you do with your cousins from out of town. It’s what some people do on Christmas when they have nowhere else to go. And sometimes, you just wanna come to this place for magic. So yes, for a few of us, movie theaters are still worth the investment. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ezgi Eren:\u003c/strong> I went to see Spider-Man and — kind of accidentally on day one, I wasn’t planning on it. And I feel like everyone was dressed up in some variation of like red and blue. And I was like, “Wait, I forgot that people used to do this.” Like, I forgot that this was a thing, because it’s been so long. And you know what? Like, that was also such a respectful audience that had great theater etiquette because people actually cared about seeing the movies. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> And Ezgi’s right. One of my favorite memories of 2026 was seeing \u003cem>The Odyssey\u003c/em> at the Universal CityWalk AMC in IMAX on 70 millimeter at 2 a.m. And yes, it did screw up my sleep schedule for about five weeks, but I should be getting it back on track just in time to see \u003cem>Dune: Part Three\u003c/em> on opening weekend in IMAX on 70-millimeter, also, at 2 a.m. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For Close All Tabs, I’m Candice Lim. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Morgan Sung:\u003c/strong> Thanks again to Candice for taking us on that deep dive. If you’re dying to open more tabs about Ben, the Cinerama Dome, and his quest to save LA’s movie theaters, we’ll have some links in the episode description. You can also find more of Candice’s work there. And stick around after the credits for some bonus content. That’s it for this week. I have a movie to catch, so let’s close all these tabs. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Close All Tabs is a production of KQED Studios and is hosted by me, Morgan Sung. This episode was reported by Candice Lim. It was produced by Maya Cueva and edited by Chris Egusa, who also composed our theme song and credits music. The Close All Tabs team also includes Chris Hambrick and audio engineer Brendan Willard. Our intern is Lauren Yoon. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Additional music by APM. Audience engagement support from Maha Sanad. Jen Chien is executive director of podcasts, and Ethan Toven-Lindsey is our Editor-in-Chief. Some members of the KQED podcast team are represented by the Screen Actors Guild, American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, San Francisco Northern California Local. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This episode’s keyboard sounds were submitted by Alex Tran and recorded on his white Epomaker Hi75 keyboard with Fogruaden red samurai keycaps and gateron milky yellow pro v2 switches. Thanks for listening. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ezgi Eren:\u003c/strong> I was gonna say now imagine if there’s a cafe that’s also a theater and you can just spend the whole day there. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> You’ve been stomping this ground for a little bit and I- honestly you need to pull a Ben Steinberg. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ezgi Eren:\u003c/strong> I know. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> Save your stump town mama, like I would sign that petition… I really would because you’re right which is that like I’m going to the Nordstrom E bar And then I’m going to Americana. Let’s combine forces. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ezgi Eren:\u003c/strong> Let’s figure this out. Like let’s — Community Goods inside an AMC. Imagine the lines. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> Oh my God. \u003c/p>\n",
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"Ben, the Man who Saved the Cinerama Dome — Hear in LA Substack",
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"Cinerama Dome Advocates Take Rare Chance to Put Public Pressure on Owners to Reopen — Brian Welk, IndieWire",
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"\n\u003cp>Follow us on \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/closealltabspod/\">Instagram\u003c/a> and\u003ca href=\"https://www.tiktok.com/@closealltabs\">\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.tiktok.com/@closealltabs\">TikTok\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Morgan Sung:\u003c/strong> Hi Tabby Cats! Do you have an internet trend, tech subculture or online oddity you’ve been wondering about? Well, now you can ask Close All Tabs to investigate. Go to kqed dot org slash Close All Tabs to submit your question. Okay, let’s get to the show. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Morgan Sung:\u003c/strong> Hi Tabby Cats! Do you have an internet trend, tech subculture or online oddity you’ve been wondering about? Well, now you can ask Close All Tabs to investigate. Go to kqed dot org slash Close All Tabs to submit your question. Okay, let’s get to the show. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>For a while, movie theaters had been on a downward spiral. Even the biggest names in Hollywood lamented their demise. Back in 2014, Quentin Tarantino warned of the death of cinema — thanks to the shift from analog filmmaking to digital formats. A few years later, NATO, not that one, but actually the National Alliance of Theater Owners, recorded the lowest theater attendance in over two decades, as tickets got more expensive than ever. In 2019, New York Times film critic A.O. Scott questioned whether streaming would kill cinema, which is actually what Cillian Murphy’s character, a video store owner, predicted in the 2007 romcom, \u003cem>Watching the Detectives\u003c/em>. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>For a while, movie theaters had been on a downward spiral. Even the biggest names in Hollywood lamented their demise. Back in 2014, Quentin Tarantino warned of the death of cinema — thanks to the shift from analog filmmaking to digital formats. A few years later, NATO, not that one, but actually the National Alliance of Theater Owners, recorded the lowest theater attendance in over two decades, as tickets got more expensive than ever. In 2019, New York Times film critic A.O. Scott questioned whether streaming would kill cinema, which is actually what Cillian Murphy’s character, a video store owner, predicted in the 2007 romcom, \u003cem>Watching the Detectives\u003c/em>. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>So Neil, what are you gonna do when this place goes tits up? \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Well, I don’t think that’s gonna happen for a few years, you know, not until people can get any movie they want beamed directly into their TV set and I’m dead meat. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Well, I don’t think that’s gonna happen for a few years, you know, not until people can get any movie they want beamed directly into their TV set and I’m dead meat. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Morgan Sung:\u003c/strong> And then, a year after that New York Times story came out, the pandemic hit. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>[Clip of Inside Edition story from YouTube]:\u003c/strong> Box office sales at movie theaters over the weekend plummeted to a 20-year low. Ticket sales were even worse than in the immediate aftermath of 9/11. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Morgan Sung:\u003c/strong> The pandemic shut down cinemas around the world with no real safety net and some theaters never opened up again. Hollywood had poured millions and millions of dollars into blockbusters that couldn’t make it to the big screen. Instead, at the height of lockdown, they skipped theaters and went straight to streaming for viewers to watch from the safety of their homes. I’m talking cinematic masterpieces like \u003cem>Dune\u003c/em>… being watched on an iPad. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Morgan Sung:\u003c/strong> The pandemic shut down cinemas around the world with no real safety net and some theaters never opened up again. Hollywood had poured millions and millions of dollars into blockbusters that couldn’t make it to the big screen. Instead, at the height of lockdown, they skipped theaters and went straight to streaming for viewers to watch from the safety of their homes. I’m talking cinematic masterpieces like \u003cem>Dune\u003c/em>… being watched on an iPad. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>But today, movie theater chains like AMC, Regal, and Alamo Drafthouse have bounced back. The movie-going experience is now a gamified, thriving subculture that reveres in-person community. The AMC A-list subscription used to be for nerds, and now it’s the ultimate cinephile flex. A viral Letterboxd review is a status symbol. Film podcasts treat going to the movies like it’s a sport. So, how did we get here? \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>But today, movie theater chains like AMC, Regal, and Alamo Drafthouse have bounced back. The movie-going experience is now a gamified, thriving subculture that reveres in-person community. The AMC A-list subscription used to be for nerds, and now it’s the ultimate cinephile flex. A viral Letterboxd review is a status symbol. Film podcasts treat going to the movies like it’s a sport. So, how did we get here? \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Today we’re diving into the internet’s mission to save cinema and how an iconic Hollywood landmark almost fell to ruin — until a very online Gen Z filmmaker rallied to the public to save it. Get ready. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Today we’re diving into the internet’s mission to save cinema and how an iconic Hollywood landmark almost fell to ruin — until a very online Gen Z filmmaker rallied to the public to save it. Get ready. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>This is Close All Tabs. I’m Morgan Sung, tech journalist and your chronically online friend here to open as many browser tabs as it takes to help you understand how the digital world affects our real lives. Let’s get into it. \u003c/p>\n",
"innerContent": [
"\n\u003cp>This is Close All Tabs. I’m Morgan Sung, tech journalist and your chronically online friend here to open as many browser tabs as it takes to help you understand how the digital world affects our real lives. Let’s get into it. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>For today’s deep dive, I’m handing the keyboard over to my friend, Candice Lim. If she sounds familiar, it’s because you’ve definitely heard her on Close All Tabs before. She’s also an internet culture reporter, a film and TV critic, and one of my favorite people to follow on Letterboxd. Candice only converted to the Church of Cinema after the release of \u003cem>Challengers\u003c/em>, the horny tennis love triangle extravaganza starring Zendaya, which Candice saw in theaters five times. And she’s not the only one trying to save the art of movie going. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>For today’s deep dive, I’m handing the keyboard over to my friend, Candice Lim. If she sounds familiar, it’s because you’ve definitely heard her on Close All Tabs before. She’s also an internet culture reporter, a film and TV critic, and one of my favorite people to follow on Letterboxd. Candice only converted to the Church of Cinema after the release of \u003cem>Challengers\u003c/em>, the horny tennis love triangle extravaganza starring Zendaya, which Candice saw in theaters five times. And she’s not the only one trying to save the art of movie going. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Okay. Take it away, Candice. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Okay. Take it away, Candice. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> Thanks Morgan. In the words of Nicole Kidman… \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> Thanks Morgan. In the words of Nicole Kidman… \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>[Clip of Nicole Kidman for AMC from YouTube]:\u003c/strong> We come to this place for magic. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>[Clip of Nicole Kidman for AMC from YouTube]:\u003c/strong> We come to this place for magic. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> So let’s open a new tab: the Savior of the Cinerama Dome. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> So let’s open a new tab: the Savior of the Cinerama Dome. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>I wanna take us to Sunset Boulevard on a recent Saturday morning in Los Angeles. I’m standing in front of this big, white dome made out of 316 interlocking concrete panels. It’s the Cinerama Dome. It’s hard to miss next to a Veggie Grill and a gym, but for something so big in the dead center of Hollywood, this theater complex feels… dead. The lights that once lit the night sky have been off for years. And the building itself is in a state of disrepair. But, it wasn’t always that way. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>I wanna take us to Sunset Boulevard on a recent Saturday morning in Los Angeles. I’m standing in front of this big, white dome made out of 316 interlocking concrete panels. It’s the Cinerama Dome. It’s hard to miss next to a Veggie Grill and a gym, but for something so big in the dead center of Hollywood, this theater complex feels… dead. The lights that once lit the night sky have been off for years. And the building itself is in a state of disrepair. But, it wasn’t always that way. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ben Steinberg:\u003c/strong> I liked coming here to see \u003cem>2001: A Space Odyssey\u003c/em> in 2014. That was my first time seeing a movie with an intermission, and with over 800 or 1,000 people in the audience. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ben Steinberg:\u003c/strong> I liked coming here to see \u003cem>2001: A Space Odyssey\u003c/em> in 2014. That was my first time seeing a movie with an intermission, and with over 800 or 1,000 people in the audience. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> This is Ben Steinberg. He’s a cinephile. First off, how many movies have you seen this year? \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> This is Ben Steinberg. He’s a cinephile. First off, how many movies have you seen this year? \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ben Steinberg:\u003c/strong> Oh, uh, probably over 50 maybe? \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ben Steinberg:\u003c/strong> Oh, uh, probably over 50 maybe? \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> I can tell you it’s 113. It was on Letterboxd. I checked it out. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> I can tell you it’s 113. It was on Letterboxd. I checked it out. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ben Steinberg:\u003c/strong> Oh, wow. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ben Steinberg:\u003c/strong> Oh, wow. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> He’s a former child actor. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> He’s a former child actor. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ben Steinberg:\u003c/strong> When I was like 13 or 14, I got to do the TV show, \u003cem>Brooklyn Nine-Nine\u003c/em>, for a few seasons. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ben Steinberg:\u003c/strong> When I was like 13 or 14, I got to do the TV show, \u003cem>Brooklyn Nine-Nine\u003c/em>, for a few seasons. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>[Clip of Brooklyn Nine-Nine from IMDb]:\u003c/strong> But it’s my bar mitzvah. We were going to grind. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>[Clip of Brooklyn Nine-Nine from IMDb]:\u003c/strong> But it’s my bar mitzvah. We were going to grind. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> And, he’s an activist. In fact, when it comes to the movie theater revival movement, he’s kind of the activist. For the last five years, Ben has been running a Twitter account called Save Your Cinema. He got started in 2021, when Angeleno’s received a heartbreaking announcement about the very iconic building we are standing right in front of. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> And, he’s an activist. In fact, when it comes to the movie theater revival movement, he’s kind of the activist. For the last five years, Ben has been running a Twitter account called Save Your Cinema. He got started in 2021, when Angeleno’s received a heartbreaking announcement about the very iconic building we are standing right in front of. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>[Clip of Fox 11 Los Angeles story from YouTube]:\u003c/strong> And we begin with breaking news, and it is very sad news for movie lovers. Pacific Theaters announcing its ArcLight and Pacific Theaters will not reopen after shutting down last year because of the pandemic. This includes the iconic Cinerama Dome in Hollywood on Sunset Boulevard. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>[Clip of Fox 11 Los Angeles story from YouTube]:\u003c/strong> And we begin with breaking news, and it is very sad news for movie lovers. Pacific Theaters announcing its ArcLight and Pacific Theaters will not reopen after shutting down last year because of the pandemic. This includes the iconic Cinerama Dome in Hollywood on Sunset Boulevard. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> The Dome had been closed in 2020 due to COVID, just like nearly every other theater. Ownership kept promising it would reopen, but it never did, and cinephiles like Ben began to get nervous. To Ben, that announcement in March of 2021 was the nail in the coffin. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> The Dome had been closed in 2020 due to COVID, just like nearly every other theater. Ownership kept promising it would reopen, but it never did, and cinephiles like Ben began to get nervous. To Ben, that announcement in March of 2021 was the nail in the coffin. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ben Steinberg:\u003c/strong> And then after that, they made no further like, press releases or responded to emails. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ben Steinberg:\u003c/strong> And then after that, they made no further like, press releases or responded to emails. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> To understand the importance of this, I need to tell you a bit about the Cinerama Dome and what it means to the city of LA and film history. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> To understand the importance of this, I need to tell you a bit about the Cinerama Dome and what it means to the city of LA and film history. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The Dome was opened back in 1963, and it’s the first and only concrete, geodesic dome in the world. For decades, it was known as the place to watch the latest blockbuster, and the first film they ever screened was \u003cem>It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World\u003c/em>, a Stanley Kramer-directed comedy starring Buster Keaton. Then, it became this marquee place to hold premieres, similar to Grauman’s Chinese Theatre — and The Dome made it fun. They turned into a green ogre for \u003cem>Shrek 2\u003c/em>. They became the moon for the 2018 Neil Armstrong biopic, \u003cem>First Man\u003c/em>. A lot of working filmmakers can remember the most formative movie they’ve watched at The Dome with hopes that one day their film would premiere there too. And beyond the iconic look and blockbuster screenings, this particular theater is important to the history of film as a medium. It’s all about the way movies are shot. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>The Dome was opened back in 1963, and it’s the first and only concrete, geodesic dome in the world. For decades, it was known as the place to watch the latest blockbuster, and the first film they ever screened was \u003cem>It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World\u003c/em>, a Stanley Kramer-directed comedy starring Buster Keaton. Then, it became this marquee place to hold premieres, similar to Grauman’s Chinese Theatre — and The Dome made it fun. They turned into a green ogre for \u003cem>Shrek 2\u003c/em>. They became the moon for the 2018 Neil Armstrong biopic, \u003cem>First Man\u003c/em>. A lot of working filmmakers can remember the most formative movie they’ve watched at The Dome with hopes that one day their film would premiere there too. And beyond the iconic look and blockbuster screenings, this particular theater is important to the history of film as a medium. It’s all about the way movies are shot. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ben Steinberg:\u003c/strong> There’s like two different versions of Cinerama. There’s the original three-strip Cinerama, which uses literally three lenses, like three cameras together. And then later on, they did the 70mm Cinerama, which is \u003cem>2001: A Space Odyssey\u003c/em>. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ben Steinberg:\u003c/strong> There’s like two different versions of Cinerama. There’s the original three-strip Cinerama, which uses literally three lenses, like three cameras together. And then later on, they did the 70mm Cinerama, which is \u003cem>2001: A Space Odyssey\u003c/em>. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> Without getting too technical, the image 70-millimeter film creates is huge — several times bigger than traditional 35-millimeter. It had to be projected onto a screen that’s large enough to accommodate it. That’s where The Dome comes in. I would describe watching a movie at The Dome as if you were inside The Sphere in Las Vegas. The magnitude of this format, what some call “the great-grandmother of IMAX,” feels magical, especially in the age of vertical video scrolling. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> Without getting too technical, the image 70-millimeter film creates is huge — several times bigger than traditional 35-millimeter. It had to be projected onto a screen that’s large enough to accommodate it. That’s where The Dome comes in. I would describe watching a movie at The Dome as if you were inside The Sphere in Las Vegas. The magnitude of this format, what some call “the great-grandmother of IMAX,” feels magical, especially in the age of vertical video scrolling. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Imagine watching something like Christopher Nolan’s \u003cem>Interstellar\u003c/em> at The Dome. It makes you feel like you’re actually on the moon — and you are experiencing this with strangers, all of whom came to this place at this time to share this moment with you. Also, the popcorn is really good. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Imagine watching something like Christopher Nolan’s \u003cem>Interstellar\u003c/em> at The Dome. It makes you feel like you’re actually on the moon — and you are experiencing this with strangers, all of whom came to this place at this time to share this moment with you. Also, the popcorn is really good. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ben Steinberg:\u003c/strong> They have like this really good chef-driven like popcorn. They had like the- the last one they had was Mexican street popcorn. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ben Steinberg:\u003c/strong> They have like this really good chef-driven like popcorn. They had like the- the last one they had was Mexican street popcorn. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> Okay, back to the announcement about The Dome’s permanent closure. So, you have this piece of cinema history, an architectural feat, an iconic industry landmark, closing for good. A lot of people were gutted, including and especially Ben. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> Okay, back to the announcement about The Dome’s permanent closure. So, you have this piece of cinema history, an architectural feat, an iconic industry landmark, closing for good. A lot of people were gutted, including and especially Ben. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ben Steinberg:\u003c/strong> From what I was told through a few different sources was that they just didn’t believe in the theatrical exhibition box office, like they didn’t think they could make enough money, and like they’re obviously very business-oriented. So, I was just under the assumption that they didn’t believe in like the theatrical exhibition box office for the future of it. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ben Steinberg:\u003c/strong> From what I was told through a few different sources was that they just didn’t believe in the theatrical exhibition box office, like they didn’t think they could make enough money, and like they’re obviously very business-oriented. So, I was just under the assumption that they didn’t believe in like the theatrical exhibition box office for the future of it. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> And every good movie needs a hero, right? Well, for this story, and for a very online group of movie lovers, that hero was Ben. Immediately after the Cinerama Dome’s owners announced it wouldn’t reopen, Ben jumped into action. And even though he might sound mild-mannered, let me tell you: Ben is fearless. And you have to remember the context. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> And every good movie needs a hero, right? Well, for this story, and for a very online group of movie lovers, that hero was Ben. Immediately after the Cinerama Dome’s owners announced it wouldn’t reopen, Ben jumped into action. And even though he might sound mild-mannered, let me tell you: Ben is fearless. And you have to remember the context. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>It was 2021. We were coming out of lockdown. Theater attendance was returning at a crawl. And if there was one barrier Ben felt he needed to break through — it was the doors of The Dome. So, he got his keyboard warriors together and created a petition called Save the Cinerama Dome. And this petition was trying to get the attention of the owners of The Dome, the Decurion Corporation. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>It was 2021. We were coming out of lockdown. Theater attendance was returning at a crawl. And if there was one barrier Ben felt he needed to break through — it was the doors of The Dome. So, he got his keyboard warriors together and created a petition called Save the Cinerama Dome. And this petition was trying to get the attention of the owners of The Dome, the Decurion Corporation. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ben Steinberg:\u003c/strong> It was addressed to the CEO of the Decurion Corporation, so I was hoping to at least get a response from him. Then it quickly got 30,000 signatures, but we never got any response. They didn’t even acknowledge it. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ben Steinberg:\u003c/strong> It was addressed to the CEO of the Decurion Corporation, so I was hoping to at least get a response from him. Then it quickly got 30,000 signatures, but we never got any response. They didn’t even acknowledge it. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> Ben was frustrated, because as far as he could tell, there wasn’t a good reason for The Dome’s permanent closure. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> Ben was frustrated, because as far as he could tell, there wasn’t a good reason for The Dome’s permanent closure. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ben Steinberg:\u003c/strong> Company that owns it, they never went bankrupt, the parent company, they just decided to shut down the theater. So, just the whole like situation was very mysterious, like they have no website and no phone line, and then I started to look at their other properties that they own, and they own some other historic cinemas that have been abandoned for around 25 years… So I kind of got paranoid that they were planning that for The Dome. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ben Steinberg:\u003c/strong> Company that owns it, they never went bankrupt, the parent company, they just decided to shut down the theater. So, just the whole like situation was very mysterious, like they have no website and no phone line, and then I started to look at their other properties that they own, and they own some other historic cinemas that have been abandoned for around 25 years… So I kind of got paranoid that they were planning that for The Dome. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> It’s true. Let’s get into some backstory. Okay, so the Decurion Corporation is owned by the Formans, a billionaire family that owned two major movie chains in California: the Pacific Theater, which started all the way back in 1946, and ArcLight Cinemas, which operated The Dome as well as other beloved LA theaters. But both chains were permanently closed down in 2021, and The Dome, with its peeling walls and overgrown vines, definitely looks like it’s been closed for five years. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> It’s true. Let’s get into some backstory. Okay, so the Decurion Corporation is owned by the Formans, a billionaire family that owned two major movie chains in California: the Pacific Theater, which started all the way back in 1946, and ArcLight Cinemas, which operated The Dome as well as other beloved LA theaters. But both chains were permanently closed down in 2021, and The Dome, with its peeling walls and overgrown vines, definitely looks like it’s been closed for five years. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ben Steinberg:\u003c/strong> I was documenting just like the deterioration of it, which was crazy, just seeing like stuff falling off just because it’s been abandoned for so long. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ben Steinberg:\u003c/strong> I was documenting just like the deterioration of it, which was crazy, just seeing like stuff falling off just because it’s been abandoned for so long. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> Ben got tired of seeing this beloved theater stand idly by — wasting away as what some have called, “a tax write-off.” He got this crazy idea. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> Ben got tired of seeing this beloved theater stand idly by — wasting away as what some have called, “a tax write-off.” He got this crazy idea. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ben Steinberg:\u003c/strong> Well, I’ve had the idea for like three years, but I knew that once I did it, it could be like the end of the Save the Cinerama Dome campaign. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ben Steinberg:\u003c/strong> Well, I’ve had the idea for like three years, but I knew that once I did it, it could be like the end of the Save the Cinerama Dome campaign. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> He basically wanted to project a Page Six headline-style photo of the Decurion executives onto The Dome. Once he got the idea, he started a GoFundMe, which raised more than $2,000, and those dollars went toward hiring a projectionist, a security guard, and a little rehearsal… A few days before the stunt. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> He basically wanted to project a Page Six headline-style photo of the Decurion executives onto The Dome. Once he got the idea, he started a GoFundMe, which raised more than $2,000, and those dollars went toward hiring a projectionist, a security guard, and a little rehearsal… A few days before the stunt. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ben Steinberg:\u003c/strong> I got a professional projection engineer to do it. It just said, “Reopen The Dome,” and then just the images of the CEO and the vice president of development. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ben Steinberg:\u003c/strong> I got a professional projection engineer to do it. It just said, “Reopen The Dome,” and then just the images of the CEO and the vice president of development. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> He actually pulled it off on a busy Friday night when the sun went down and the projection went up. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> He actually pulled it off on a busy Friday night when the sun went down and the projection went up. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ben Steinberg:\u003c/strong> I was right between the two big trees and the lampposts, in front of the Los Angeles Film School, but on the sidewalk. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ben Steinberg:\u003c/strong> I was right between the two big trees and the lampposts, in front of the Los Angeles Film School, but on the sidewalk. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> Do you notice people stopping and staring at it? \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ben Steinberg:\u003c/strong> Yeah, we got a lot of attention like, everyone was looking at the projection and like people in their cars were like, throwing their thumbs up and like, applauding me. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ben Steinberg:\u003c/strong> Yeah, we got a lot of attention like, everyone was looking at the projection and like people in their cars were like, throwing their thumbs up and like, applauding me. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> But according to Ben, the reason his stunt even went viral is because of the cops. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> But according to Ben, the reason his stunt even went viral is because of the cops. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ben Steinberg:\u003c/strong> Lasted for like two or three hours and then the police came — the police specifically said the owners like don’t want me to get arrested or citated, they just want me to know they consider it a form of escalation and harassment, but I think it was definitely like the Streisand effect. I think it’s a blessing in disguise that they called the police, because I think if they didn’t it wouldn’t have gone as viral. So, I think it definitely drew attention on them. I just wanted to remind them that like, they owned the Cinerama Dome and the public wanted it to reopen. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ben Steinberg:\u003c/strong> Lasted for like two or three hours and then the police came — the police specifically said the owners like don’t want me to get arrested or citated, they just want me to know they consider it a form of escalation and harassment, but I think it was definitely like the Streisand effect. I think it’s a blessing in disguise that they called the police, because I think if they didn’t it wouldn’t have gone as viral. So, I think it definitely drew attention on them. I just wanted to remind them that like, they owned the Cinerama Dome and the public wanted it to reopen. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> So even though the cops said they were not going to arrest Ben, after two hours, he felt like it was time to go home. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> So even though the cops said they were not going to arrest Ben, after two hours, he felt like it was time to go home. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ben Steinberg:\u003c/strong> After I posted about it, it went viral and I knew that was going to kick some things in motion. And then like, the next day I saw that the executives for the company started viewing my LinkedIn profile. So that was definitely a good sign. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ben Steinberg:\u003c/strong> After I posted about it, it went viral and I knew that was going to kick some things in motion. And then like, the next day I saw that the executives for the company started viewing my LinkedIn profile. So that was definitely a good sign. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> So Ben finally got the attention of The Dome’s owners. They were checking out his LinkedIn — then came a public hearing where The Dome’s representative was going to be there. So Ben got a second idea, to flood the zone with his supporters. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> So Ben finally got the attention of The Dome’s owners. They were checking out his LinkedIn — then came a public hearing where The Dome’s representative was going to be there. So Ben got a second idea, to flood the zone with his supporters. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ben Steinberg:\u003c/strong> She was asked specifically about the Save the Cinerama Dome campaign and like my projection, and she responded saying that the ownership took notice of it and the extreme public interest in wanting The Dome to reopen. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ben Steinberg:\u003c/strong> She was asked specifically about the Save the Cinerama Dome campaign and like my projection, and she responded saying that the ownership took notice of it and the extreme public interest in wanting The Dome to reopen. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> But it was very, We Here For You, from \u003cem>Succession\u003c/em>, because it’s one thing to say we’re noticing interest versus acting on that interest. So Ben decided to give them a self-proclaimed deadline, August 20th, and they had to either announce they were reopening The Dome or find someone to lease the theater. He wasn’t sure if they were going to actually meet that deadline, but for some reason, he felt closer and closer to a victory. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> But it was very, We Here For You, from \u003cem>Succession\u003c/em>, because it’s one thing to say we’re noticing interest versus acting on that interest. So Ben decided to give them a self-proclaimed deadline, August 20th, and they had to either announce they were reopening The Dome or find someone to lease the theater. He wasn’t sure if they were going to actually meet that deadline, but for some reason, he felt closer and closer to a victory. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ezgi Eren:\u003c/strong> I think the ArcLight needed someone like him who just wouldn’t back down and wouldn’t take no for an answer. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ezgi Eren:\u003c/strong> I think the ArcLight needed someone like him who just wouldn’t back down and wouldn’t take no for an answer. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> Ezgi Eren is the founder of 11am Saturday, a Substack newsletter she calls a movie restoration project. She interviewed Ben for her Substack back in 2024 before the stunt happened. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> Ezgi Eren is the founder of 11am Saturday, a Substack newsletter she calls a movie restoration project. She interviewed Ben for her Substack back in 2024 before the stunt happened. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ezgi Eren:\u003c/strong> And, you know, he just projected an image onto a building. Like he didn’t break the law. I mean, I don’t know if he technically broke the law, but he didn’t harm anyone. So, if that’s what it took to get the owners to act, that’s good to know. The fact that he raised that awareness in them is amazing. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ezgi Eren:\u003c/strong> And, you know, he just projected an image onto a building. Like he didn’t break the law. I mean, I don’t know if he technically broke the law, but he didn’t harm anyone. So, if that’s what it took to get the owners to act, that’s good to know. The fact that he raised that awareness in them is amazing. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> And after years of back and forth, online petitions, and filmmakers like Edgar Wright, Benny Safdie, and Sean Baker showing support, for the first time in a long time, it looked like moviegoers just might have the chance to see The Dome’s silver screen light up once again. Ben is one of the many people trying to keep movie theaters alive — but his efforts are just the most visible piece… of a movie subculture that has come roaring back after cinemas were pronounced dead only a few years ago. And the driving force behind it? Gen Z. We’ll get into that after the break. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> And after years of back and forth, online petitions, and filmmakers like Edgar Wright, Benny Safdie, and Sean Baker showing support, for the first time in a long time, it looked like moviegoers just might have the chance to see The Dome’s silver screen light up once again. Ben is one of the many people trying to keep movie theaters alive — but his efforts are just the most visible piece… of a movie subculture that has come roaring back after cinemas were pronounced dead only a few years ago. And the driving force behind it? Gen Z. We’ll get into that after the break. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Welcome back. Let’s open a new tab: is the Gen Z Cinephile Movement real? \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Welcome back. Let’s open a new tab: is the Gen Z Cinephile Movement real? \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>I’ll put myself on blast, because I’m technically in Gen Z, and I am watching an average of three to five movies per week. But, I wasn’t always this way. I actually used to hate movies. I was more of a TV kid. But in 2024, a movie came out that changed how I valued the movie going experience. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>I’ll put myself on blast, because I’m technically in Gen Z, and I am watching an average of three to five movies per week. But, I wasn’t always this way. I actually used to hate movies. I was more of a TV kid. But in 2024, a movie came out that changed how I valued the movie going experience. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>[Clip of Challengers from YouTube]:\u003c/strong> Don’t you want to meet Tashi Duncan? You don’t get it, man. You’ve never seen her in person. She’s in another league. You mean her game? No, I mean she’s the hottest woman I’ve ever seen. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>[Clip of Challengers from YouTube]:\u003c/strong> Don’t you want to meet Tashi Duncan? You don’t get it, man. You’ve never seen her in person. She’s in another league. You mean her game? No, I mean she’s the hottest woman I’ve ever seen. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>Challengers\u003c/em>, directed by Luca Guadagnino, stars Zendaya, Mike Faist, and Josh O’Connor as three tennis players who sometimes play tennis, but also make out. What got me was the score by the Nine Inch Nails guys. It was electric, and propulsive, and it felt like being in the club — and after many clubless years during the pandemic, I needed that. From that point forward, I became a Letterboxd-er, an AMC A-List member, and a proud solo moviegoer. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>Challengers\u003c/em>, directed by Luca Guadagnino, stars Zendaya, Mike Faist, and Josh O’Connor as three tennis players who sometimes play tennis, but also make out. What got me was the score by the Nine Inch Nails guys. It was electric, and propulsive, and it felt like being in the club — and after many clubless years during the pandemic, I needed that. From that point forward, I became a Letterboxd-er, an AMC A-List member, and a proud solo moviegoer. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ezgi Eren:\u003c/strong> I looked around and I didn’t really know many people who still went to the movies, shockingly. It was a couple years ago. And I just felt like the whole experience is dying. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ezgi Eren:\u003c/strong> I looked around and I didn’t really know many people who still went to the movies, shockingly. It was a couple years ago. And I just felt like the whole experience is dying. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> Ezgi Eren, again, founder of 11am Saturday, the movie Substack. While Ezgi admits she is a millennial, she is in a lot of Gen Z majority spaces, and she believes Gen Z is the key to getting butts back into those fuzzy little seats. She says they’re looking to reconnect with real people… And real experiences. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> Ezgi Eren, again, founder of 11am Saturday, the movie Substack. While Ezgi admits she is a millennial, she is in a lot of Gen Z majority spaces, and she believes Gen Z is the key to getting butts back into those fuzzy little seats. She says they’re looking to reconnect with real people… And real experiences. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ezgi Eren:\u003c/strong> I think it’s the kind of oversaturation of the internet, the influx of content that people are subjected to every day, and the need to kind of get off the internet and go more into real life spaces again. I see it in like book clubs. I see it in like dinner parties. I think it’s the same reason for people going back to the movie theaters as well. Yeah, it’s great. I love it. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ezgi Eren:\u003c/strong> I think it’s the kind of oversaturation of the internet, the influx of content that people are subjected to every day, and the need to kind of get off the internet and go more into real life spaces again. I see it in like book clubs. I see it in like dinner parties. I think it’s the same reason for people going back to the movie theaters as well. Yeah, it’s great. I love it. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> And it’s not just the movies themselves that are attracting these Gen Z attendees. It’s about what’s happening outside of the theater, online, that’s pushing people to keep going back for more. It’s a digitally fueled cultural shift. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> And it’s not just the movies themselves that are attracting these Gen Z attendees. It’s about what’s happening outside of the theater, online, that’s pushing people to keep going back for more. It’s a digitally fueled cultural shift. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>For example, let’s talk about Letterboxd, which is a movie logging app that’s akin to the Goodreads of cinema. It can frankly be a little performative. You start by rating a movie out of five stars. Then you can write a review. Some people take it seriously. Others become trolls. But it’s so communal that your favorite filmmakers and film heads — this is Martin Scorsese, Charli XCX, even Jack Harlow — are logging the same movies you are watching. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>For example, let’s talk about Letterboxd, which is a movie logging app that’s akin to the Goodreads of cinema. It can frankly be a little performative. You start by rating a movie out of five stars. Then you can write a review. Some people take it seriously. Others become trolls. But it’s so communal that your favorite filmmakers and film heads — this is Martin Scorsese, Charli XCX, even Jack Harlow — are logging the same movies you are watching. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Then, you have things like the Criterion Closet. You may have heard of the Criterion Collection. They have a YouTube video series called Closet Picks, where prominent film lovers like Francis Ford Coppola, Paul Giamatti, and game designer Hideo Kojima pick their favorite highbrow DVDs off library-looking shelves. It’s a smash hit. But the reason why Gen Z congregates around these film-themed internet platforms is because they are actively curating their tastes — using accessible platforms almost as an educational way to upgrade their cinema game. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Then, you have things like the Criterion Closet. You may have heard of the Criterion Collection. They have a YouTube video series called Closet Picks, where prominent film lovers like Francis Ford Coppola, Paul Giamatti, and game designer Hideo Kojima pick their favorite highbrow DVDs off library-looking shelves. It’s a smash hit. But the reason why Gen Z congregates around these film-themed internet platforms is because they are actively curating their tastes — using accessible platforms almost as an educational way to upgrade their cinema game. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Because at the end of the day, when you log a movie or post a review, it’s your green light at the of the dock, a bid for connection. It’s a way to attract like-minded people with similar taste. Because that’s what COVID ripped away from a lot of Gen Z people: organic connection in public spaces. And Letterboxd… is considered a public space. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Because at the end of the day, when you log a movie or post a review, it’s your green light at the of the dock, a bid for connection. It’s a way to attract like-minded people with similar taste. Because that’s what COVID ripped away from a lot of Gen Z people: organic connection in public spaces. And Letterboxd… is considered a public space. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ezgi Eren:\u003c/strong> Letterboxd and like The Criterion and studios that make movies more catered to Gen Z, like I think those are all kind of partially responsible as well, but it’s almost like they are riding a great wave. I think it was going to happen regardless. But then of course, it does matter that Letterboxd, gameified it. It does matter that theaters are engaging more with their audiences on social media. It has become almost like… a brand — you want to associate yourself with a specific theater more now. I think it’s a combination of all those things. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ezgi Eren:\u003c/strong> Letterboxd and like The Criterion and studios that make movies more catered to Gen Z, like I think those are all kind of partially responsible as well, but it’s almost like they are riding a great wave. I think it was going to happen regardless. But then of course, it does matter that Letterboxd, gameified it. It does matter that theaters are engaging more with their audiences on social media. It has become almost like… a brand — you want to associate yourself with a specific theater more now. I think it’s a combination of all those things. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> Fandango, the movie ticket website, did a study this year, saying that Gen Z, who are about 14 to 29 years old right now, is the most active movie-going generation, seeing about seven movies per year. I’ve also seen headlines about Gen Z being the loneliest generation right now. Is there a connection? Here’s Ben again. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> Fandango, the movie ticket website, did a study this year, saying that Gen Z, who are about 14 to 29 years old right now, is the most active movie-going generation, seeing about seven movies per year. I’ve also seen headlines about Gen Z being the loneliest generation right now. Is there a connection? Here’s Ben again. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ben Steinberg:\u003c/strong> I can’t think of like any other third spaces. Like I know AMC Theaters has like a lot of like meetups and like fan clubs where people will just go every week as a group to AMC. So, I think that’s a big thing, I mean like at least for me personally, if I’m doing something social, I’d rather like go to a movie than something else. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ben Steinberg:\u003c/strong> I can’t think of like any other third spaces. Like I know AMC Theaters has like a lot of like meetups and like fan clubs where people will just go every week as a group to AMC. So, I think that’s a big thing, I mean like at least for me personally, if I’m doing something social, I’d rather like go to a movie than something else. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> Ezgi says that even though the intersection of chronically online Gen Z-ers and cinephiles is probably pretty small, it’s a subgroup with growing influence. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> Ezgi says that even though the intersection of chronically online Gen Z-ers and cinephiles is probably pretty small, it’s a subgroup with growing influence. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ezgi Eren:\u003c/strong> I will say like they’re not big enough to kind of maybe like influence a whole performance of a movie. Like I don’t think everyone who saw \u003cem>Obsession\u003c/em> and made it such a success is- does fit in that category. But I do think they have a big influence on marketing campaigns now for sure. I mean, you see it in like press tours, you see it and how, even like, studios with lower budgets, like they’re doing everything to kind of keep up with the content-ification of movies. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ezgi Eren:\u003c/strong> I will say like they’re not big enough to kind of maybe like influence a whole performance of a movie. Like I don’t think everyone who saw \u003cem>Obsession\u003c/em> and made it such a success is- does fit in that category. But I do think they have a big influence on marketing campaigns now for sure. I mean, you see it in like press tours, you see it and how, even like, studios with lower budgets, like they’re doing everything to kind of keep up with the content-ification of movies. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> Mm-hmm. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ezgi Eren:\u003c/strong> And like creating like an online experience to try to like get these people to see the movies. So I think their influence is growing for sure and then like after \u003cem>Obsession\u003c/em> and \u003cem>Backrooms\u003c/em> they’re only going to be stronger. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ezgi Eren:\u003c/strong> And like creating like an online experience to try to like get these people to see the movies. So I think their influence is growing for sure and then like after \u003cem>Obsession\u003c/em> and \u003cem>Backrooms\u003c/em> they’re only going to be stronger. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> Have you ever been influenced by maybe like, a Letterboxd or even a film podcast or something you saw on social media that made you like, I don’t know, wanna go see a movie or made you more excited about something coming up? \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> Have you ever been influenced by maybe like, a Letterboxd or even a film podcast or something you saw on social media that made you like, I don’t know, wanna go see a movie or made you more excited about something coming up? \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ezgi Eren:\u003c/strong> Oh my God, so all the time — all the time. Sometimes it’ll be just like one tweet that I’ll take to heart and go see something. Because I still, I think that’s also the power of these websites is that you can’t really manufacture real interest, right? Like, people don’t spend their hard earned money on things that suck. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ezgi Eren:\u003c/strong> Oh my God, so all the time — all the time. Sometimes it’ll be just like one tweet that I’ll take to heart and go see something. Because I still, I think that’s also the power of these websites is that you can’t really manufacture real interest, right? Like, people don’t spend their hard earned money on things that suck. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> And even though you’re listening to three people who love going to the movies, there are things about theater culture that still suck. You need good movies and good moviegoing experiences to capitalize on this wave of interest and keep people coming back. But there’s the perennial problem of bad theater etiquette. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> And even though you’re listening to three people who love going to the movies, there are things about theater culture that still suck. You need good movies and good moviegoing experiences to capitalize on this wave of interest and keep people coming back. But there’s the perennial problem of bad theater etiquette. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ezgi Eren:\u003c/strong> You will come across people either on their phone taking pictures of the screen or just talking to their friends or just being like unruly in general. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ezgi Eren:\u003c/strong> You will come across people either on their phone taking pictures of the screen or just talking to their friends or just being like unruly in general. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> Then there’s the fierce competition of booking movie tickets. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> Then there’s the fierce competition of booking movie tickets. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ezgi Eren:\u003c/strong> The event-izing of the ticket process is very annoying and- and I say that as someone who managed to get tickets to \u003cem>Dune\u003c/em>. It’s still not a good process and it could almost turn into like a deterrent for people. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ezgi Eren:\u003c/strong> The event-izing of the ticket process is very annoying and- and I say that as someone who managed to get tickets to \u003cem>Dune\u003c/em>. It’s still not a good process and it could almost turn into like a deterrent for people. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> But the big one, the thing that Ben cares most about, is the fact that it’s not always guaranteed that our favorite movie theaters will be there tomorrow. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> But the big one, the thing that Ben cares most about, is the fact that it’s not always guaranteed that our favorite movie theaters will be there tomorrow. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ben Steinberg:\u003c/strong> The Regency Theaters Calabasas — it actually literally just got demolished like six months ago and then also the Regancy Theaters in Agoura Hills, which also got demolished just a few months ago, and then also the AMC Promenade 16 which is now demolished. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ben Steinberg:\u003c/strong> The Regency Theaters Calabasas — it actually literally just got demolished like six months ago and then also the Regancy Theaters in Agoura Hills, which also got demolished just a few months ago, and then also the AMC Promenade 16 which is now demolished. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> It seems like movie going and the sport of it is being threatened left and right, but… by who? \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> It seems like movie going and the sport of it is being threatened left and right, but… by who? \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Let’s open a new tab: who’s the big bad of the movie theater revival movement? \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Let’s open a new tab: who’s the big bad of the movie theater revival movement? \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>So, if Ben is our unlikely hero, the face of Gen Z’s push for cinema revival, then who are they up against? Who’s the Joker to Ben’s Batman? When I asked, Ben was hesitant to call anyone out by name, even though he did project the heads of the Decurion Corporation onto a dome. Ezgi was a little more direct. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>So, if Ben is our unlikely hero, the face of Gen Z’s push for cinema revival, then who are they up against? Who’s the Joker to Ben’s Batman? When I asked, Ben was hesitant to call anyone out by name, even though he did project the heads of the Decurion Corporation onto a dome. Ezgi was a little more direct. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>I’m curious, who do you think are kind of… the enemies or gatekeepers of movie theater preservation. Is it like Netflix? Is it studios? Is it a third thing? Is it billionaires, you know? \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>I’m curious, who do you think are kind of… the enemies or gatekeepers of movie theater preservation. Is it like Netflix? Is it studios? Is it a third thing? Is it billionaires, you know? \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ezgi Eren:\u003c/strong> As for billionaires, I mean… How much time do we have? \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ezgi Eren:\u003c/strong> As for billionaires, I mean… How much time do we have? \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> I wanted to talk about one story that I would say was maybe the most controversial last year, which was Netflix threatening or about to acquire Warner Brothers. Could you maybe explain why that acquisition freaked people out and why were people worried? Why were you worried? \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> I wanted to talk about one story that I would say was maybe the most controversial last year, which was Netflix threatening or about to acquire Warner Brothers. Could you maybe explain why that acquisition freaked people out and why were people worried? Why were you worried? \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ezgi Eren:\u003c/strong> Yes, Netflix tried to purchase Warner Brothers — and Netflix, as we know, is a primarily direct-to-streaming service. Now, typically, their window of showing a movie in a theater is super, super short, so if you don’t see it in theaters in that period, you can only watch it on Netflix. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ezgi Eren:\u003c/strong> Yes, Netflix tried to purchase Warner Brothers — and Netflix, as we know, is a primarily direct-to-streaming service. Now, typically, their window of showing a movie in a theater is super, super short, so if you don’t see it in theaters in that period, you can only watch it on Netflix. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>So, obviously, that’s terrible news for a studio like Warner Brothers who… put out like some of our favorite movies that we want to experience in theaters. Especially, you know, they had such a good year with \u003cem>One Battle After Another\u003c/em>. They have \u003cem>Dune\u003c/em> coming out. People just don’t want those to be contained to a television screen. So that was the panic. And I believe they’re still panic there because they are now being sold to Paramount, but we’ll see, we’ll how that goes. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>So, obviously, that’s terrible news for a studio like Warner Brothers who… put out like some of our favorite movies that we want to experience in theaters. Especially, you know, they had such a good year with \u003cem>One Battle After Another\u003c/em>. They have \u003cem>Dune\u003c/em> coming out. People just don’t want those to be contained to a television screen. So that was the panic. And I believe they’re still panic there because they are now being sold to Paramount, but we’ll see, we’ll how that goes. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> At the time of this taping, Paramount has officially completed their acquisition of Warner Brothers, and they have now become one giant conglomerate named Skydance. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> At the time of this taping, Paramount has officially completed their acquisition of Warner Brothers, and they have now become one giant conglomerate named Skydance. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Speaking of like acquisitions, I mean, this summer Letterboxd apparently is also possibly going up for sale. A lot of people have put their hats into the ring, but Netflix is one of them. Are you worried at all about Letterboxd, for example, possibly being acquired? \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Speaking of like acquisitions, I mean, this summer Letterboxd apparently is also possibly going up for sale. A lot of people have put their hats into the ring, but Netflix is one of them. Are you worried at all about Letterboxd, for example, possibly being acquired? \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ezgi Eren:\u003c/strong> I’m very worried about that, yes. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ezgi Eren:\u003c/strong> I’m very worried about that, yes. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> Yeah. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> Yeah. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ezgi Eren:\u003c/strong> And it seems inevitable. I just don’t know who can buy it that wouldn’t ruin it, you know? It’s not a perfect app right now, but it still feels very much like, belonging to the people… that the idea of like any major corporation owning it, it’s so easy to change it in a way that kind of ruins the movie culture, which is already kind of fragile. That’s not even like getting to the fact that they will probably sell all that data and use it to train AI and all that. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ezgi Eren:\u003c/strong> And it seems inevitable. I just don’t know who can buy it that wouldn’t ruin it, you know? It’s not a perfect app right now, but it still feels very much like, belonging to the people… that the idea of like any major corporation owning it, it’s so easy to change it in a way that kind of ruins the movie culture, which is already kind of fragile. That’s not even like getting to the fact that they will probably sell all that data and use it to train AI and all that. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> So now we’re identifying a few big bads in the water, who are threatening two separate issues. We have people like the Forman family and their Decurion Corporation who are responsible for closing physical spaces to watch movies. Then, you have media giants, like Netflix, prioritizing streaming over theatrical releases and threatening the actual content that goes into those physical spaces. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> So now we’re identifying a few big bads in the water, who are threatening two separate issues. We have people like the Forman family and their Decurion Corporation who are responsible for closing physical spaces to watch movies. Then, you have media giants, like Netflix, prioritizing streaming over theatrical releases and threatening the actual content that goes into those physical spaces. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>But, on at least one of those fronts, there’s good news if you’re a movie lover. Because Ben’s projection stunt, the public hearing, the Twitter updates from Save Your Cinema — it all worked. On July 22nd, two months after he lit up the dome with images of the Decurion top brass, Ben woke up to some great news. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>But, on at least one of those fronts, there’s good news if you’re a movie lover. Because Ben’s projection stunt, the public hearing, the Twitter updates from Save Your Cinema — it all worked. On July 22nd, two months after he lit up the dome with images of the Decurion top brass, Ben woke up to some great news. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>[Clip of KTLA 5 story from YouTube]:\u003c/strong> One of Hollywood’s most iconic theaters could be making a comeback. Deadline broke the news that Sony Entertainment could be planning to resurrect the world-famous Cinerama Dome and ArcLight Hollywood Cinema. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>[Clip of KTLA 5 story from YouTube]:\u003c/strong> One of Hollywood’s most iconic theaters could be making a comeback. Deadline broke the news that Sony Entertainment could be planning to resurrect the world-famous Cinerama Dome and ArcLight Hollywood Cinema. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> So, finally, after five years, The Dome is saved, and Angeleno’s cannot be happier. Alamo Drafthouse, which is owned by Sony Pictures, will reopen the theater in 2028. And per a Sony Pictures spokesperson, renovations have already started — from the marquee lights coming back on, to The Dome’s first power washing in years. So the question isn’t so much, will the Cinerama Dome be saved? But instead, will people go back? If Gen Z has anything to say about it, the answer is certainly. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> So, finally, after five years, The Dome is saved, and Angeleno’s cannot be happier. Alamo Drafthouse, which is owned by Sony Pictures, will reopen the theater in 2028. And per a Sony Pictures spokesperson, renovations have already started — from the marquee lights coming back on, to The Dome’s first power washing in years. So the question isn’t so much, will the Cinerama Dome be saved? But instead, will people go back? If Gen Z has anything to say about it, the answer is certainly. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ben Steinberg:\u003c/strong> I kind of feel like if I just didn’t do any of this, The Dome would kind of just still be sitting closed with them telling people it’s gonna reopen next year, like they always did. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ben Steinberg:\u003c/strong> I kind of feel like if I just didn’t do any of this, The Dome would kind of just still be sitting closed with them telling people it’s gonna reopen next year, like they always did. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> And Ben isn’t done being a local hero. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> And Ben isn’t done being a local hero. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ben Steinberg:\u003c/strong> I raised attention about the Laemmle Theaters in North Hollywood, and luckily they got that theater saved from being demolished and turned into apartments. And then, also saving the Laemmle Theaters in Pasadena and getting Landmark to take over the lease, we did a petition for that, and then I’ve just been sharing other people’s campaigns and now like it’s gone international, so I’m trying to save the, I think it’s pronounced Pallas Cinema in Greece. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ben Steinberg:\u003c/strong> I raised attention about the Laemmle Theaters in North Hollywood, and luckily they got that theater saved from being demolished and turned into apartments. And then, also saving the Laemmle Theaters in Pasadena and getting Landmark to take over the lease, we did a petition for that, and then I’ve just been sharing other people’s campaigns and now like it’s gone international, so I’m trying to save the, I think it’s pronounced Pallas Cinema in Greece. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> Do you see yourself as the Spider-Man of movie theaters where it’s like you’re chilling until someone calls you and is like, “Hi, we need to open a theater,” and you’re just like that guy. How do you feel about being almost the person they send the Batman signal for? \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> Do you see yourself as the Spider-Man of movie theaters where it’s like you’re chilling until someone calls you and is like, “Hi, we need to open a theater,” and you’re just like that guy. How do you feel about being almost the person they send the Batman signal for? \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ben Steinberg:\u003c/strong> I think it’s amazing. It’s definitely very cool that they reach out to me and hopefully I can like be even more involved with other theaters or like one specific theater company. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ben Steinberg:\u003c/strong> I think it’s amazing. It’s definitely very cool that they reach out to me and hopefully I can like be even more involved with other theaters or like one specific theater company. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> Even if you’re not a chronically online Gen Z cinephile trying to post an opening weekend review on Letterboxd, going to the movies is still a classic American luxury. It’s the thing you do with your cousins from out of town. It’s what some people do on Christmas when they have nowhere else to go. And sometimes, you just wanna come to this place for magic. So yes, for a few of us, movie theaters are still worth the investment. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ezgi Eren:\u003c/strong> I went to see Spider-Man and — kind of accidentally on day one, I wasn’t planning on it. And I feel like everyone was dressed up in some variation of like red and blue. And I was like, “Wait, I forgot that people used to do this.” Like, I forgot that this was a thing, because it’s been so long. And you know what? Like, that was also such a respectful audience that had great theater etiquette because people actually cared about seeing the movies. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ezgi Eren:\u003c/strong> I went to see Spider-Man and — kind of accidentally on day one, I wasn’t planning on it. And I feel like everyone was dressed up in some variation of like red and blue. And I was like, “Wait, I forgot that people used to do this.” Like, I forgot that this was a thing, because it’s been so long. And you know what? Like, that was also such a respectful audience that had great theater etiquette because people actually cared about seeing the movies. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> And Ezgi’s right. One of my favorite memories of 2026 was seeing \u003cem>The Odyssey\u003c/em> at the Universal CityWalk AMC in IMAX on 70 millimeter at 2 a.m. And yes, it did screw up my sleep schedule for about five weeks, but I should be getting it back on track just in time to see \u003cem>Dune: Part Three\u003c/em> on opening weekend in IMAX on 70-millimeter, also, at 2 a.m. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> And Ezgi’s right. One of my favorite memories of 2026 was seeing \u003cem>The Odyssey\u003c/em> at the Universal CityWalk AMC in IMAX on 70 millimeter at 2 a.m. And yes, it did screw up my sleep schedule for about five weeks, but I should be getting it back on track just in time to see \u003cem>Dune: Part Three\u003c/em> on opening weekend in IMAX on 70-millimeter, also, at 2 a.m. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Morgan Sung:\u003c/strong> Thanks again to Candice for taking us on that deep dive. If you’re dying to open more tabs about Ben, the Cinerama Dome, and his quest to save LA’s movie theaters, we’ll have some links in the episode description. You can also find more of Candice’s work there. And stick around after the credits for some bonus content. That’s it for this week. I have a movie to catch, so let’s close all these tabs. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Morgan Sung:\u003c/strong> Thanks again to Candice for taking us on that deep dive. If you’re dying to open more tabs about Ben, the Cinerama Dome, and his quest to save LA’s movie theaters, we’ll have some links in the episode description. You can also find more of Candice’s work there. And stick around after the credits for some bonus content. That’s it for this week. I have a movie to catch, so let’s close all these tabs. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Close All Tabs is a production of KQED Studios and is hosted by me, Morgan Sung. This episode was reported by Candice Lim. It was produced by Maya Cueva and edited by Chris Egusa, who also composed our theme song and credits music. The Close All Tabs team also includes Chris Hambrick and audio engineer Brendan Willard. Our intern is Lauren Yoon. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Close All Tabs is a production of KQED Studios and is hosted by me, Morgan Sung. This episode was reported by Candice Lim. It was produced by Maya Cueva and edited by Chris Egusa, who also composed our theme song and credits music. The Close All Tabs team also includes Chris Hambrick and audio engineer Brendan Willard. Our intern is Lauren Yoon. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Additional music by APM. Audience engagement support from Maha Sanad. Jen Chien is executive director of podcasts, and Ethan Toven-Lindsey is our Editor-in-Chief. Some members of the KQED podcast team are represented by the Screen Actors Guild, American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, San Francisco Northern California Local. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Additional music by APM. Audience engagement support from Maha Sanad. Jen Chien is executive director of podcasts, and Ethan Toven-Lindsey is our Editor-in-Chief. Some members of the KQED podcast team are represented by the Screen Actors Guild, American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, San Francisco Northern California Local. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>This episode’s keyboard sounds were submitted by Alex Tran and recorded on his white Epomaker Hi75 keyboard with Fogruaden red samurai keycaps and gateron milky yellow pro v2 switches. Thanks for listening. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>This episode’s keyboard sounds were submitted by Alex Tran and recorded on his white Epomaker Hi75 keyboard with Fogruaden red samurai keycaps and gateron milky yellow pro v2 switches. Thanks for listening. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ezgi Eren:\u003c/strong> I was gonna say now imagine if there’s a cafe that’s also a theater and you can just spend the whole day there. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ezgi Eren:\u003c/strong> I was gonna say now imagine if there’s a cafe that’s also a theater and you can just spend the whole day there. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> You’ve been stomping this ground for a little bit and I- honestly you need to pull a Ben Steinberg. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> You’ve been stomping this ground for a little bit and I- honestly you need to pull a Ben Steinberg. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ezgi Eren:\u003c/strong> I know. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> Save your stump town mama, like I would sign that petition… I really would because you’re right which is that like I’m going to the Nordstrom E bar And then I’m going to Americana. Let’s combine forces. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> Save your stump town mama, like I would sign that petition… I really would because you’re right which is that like I’m going to the Nordstrom E bar And then I’m going to Americana. Let’s combine forces. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ezgi Eren:\u003c/strong> Let’s figure this out. Like let’s — Community Goods inside an AMC. Imagine the lines. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ezgi Eren:\u003c/strong> Let’s figure this out. Like let’s — Community Goods inside an AMC. Imagine the lines. \u003c/p>\n"
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003ca href=\"#episode-transcript\">\u003cem>View the full episode transcript.\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In 2020, movie theaters were on their last legs. Lockdowns and years of declining interest had forced historic cinemas to shutter, including an LA icon, the Cinerama Dome. But recently a new generation of cinema-lovers has been using social media to revitalize the culture of in person movie-watching. Internet culture reporter Candice Lim explores the rise of the Gen Z cinephile movement, and heads to Hollywood to meet the young filmmaker and activist who is fighting to bring the Cinerama Dome back from the dead.\u003cbr>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Guests: \u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"candicelim.substack.com\">Candice Lim\u003c/a>, internet culture reporter\u003c/li>\n\n\n\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://x.com/SaveYourCinema\">Ben Steinberg\u003c/a>, filmmaker, actor, and founder of Save Your Cinema\u003c/li>\n\n\n\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.11amsaturday.com/\">Ezgi Eren\u003c/a>, founder of \u003cem>11am Saturda\u003c/em>y\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u003cstrong>Further Reading/Listening:\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://hearinla.substack.com/p/ben-the-man-who-saved-the-cinerama\">Ben, the Man who Saved the Cinerama Dome\u003c/a> — \u003cem>Hear in LA Substack\u003c/em>\u003c/li>\n\n\n\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/hollywood-cinerama-dome-benjamin-steinberg-chris-forman-1236556697/\">An Activist Spent Years Pushing for Hollywood’s Cinerama Dome to Reopen. Why Did He Just Stop?\u003c/a> — Gary Baum, \u003cem>The Hollywood Reporter\u003c/em> \u003c/li>\n\n\n\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.indiewire.com/news/breaking-news/cinerama-dome-advocates-public-pressure-owners-reopen-1235193534/\">Cinerama Dome Advocates Take Rare Chance to Put Public Pressure on Owners to Reopen\u003c/a> — Brian Welk, \u003cem>IndieWire\u003c/em>\u003c/li>\n\n\n\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.indiewire.com/features/podcast/how-ben-steinberg-saved-cinerama-dome-1235209487/\">How 26-Year-Old Ben Steinberg Saved the Cinerama Dome\u003c/a> — Ryan Lattanzio & Anne Thompson, \u003cem>IndieWire\u003c/em>\u003c/li>\n\n\n\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://variety.com/2025/film/news/save-cinerama-dome-campaign-reopening-uncertain-1236363487/\">Supporters Rally to Save the Cinerama Dome as Future of Hollywood Theater Complex Remains Uncertain\u003c/a> — Pat Saperstein & Jazz Tangcay, \u003cem>Variety\u003c/em>\u003c/li>\n\n\n\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.reddit.com/r/LosAngeles/comments/1v3lcq2/in_praise_of_ben_steinberg_the_hero_who_stood_up/\">In praise of Ben Steinberg, the hero who stood up and demanded the Cinerama Dome not be just one more derelict, abandoned Hollywood landmark\u003c/a> — \u003cem>Reddit\u003c/em>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Want to give us feedback on the show? Shoot us an email at \u003ca href=\"mailto:CloseAllTabs@KQED.org\">CloseAllTabs@KQED.org\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Follow us on \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/closealltabspod/\">Instagram\u003c/a> and\u003ca href=\"https://www.tiktok.com/@closealltabs\">\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.tiktok.com/@closealltabs\">TikTok\u003c/a>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-content post-body\">\u003ch2 id=\"episode-transcript\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">Episode Transcript\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cem>\u003cem>This is a computer-generated transcript. While our team has reviewed it, there may be errors.\u003c/em>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Morgan Sung:\u003c/strong> Hi Tabby Cats! Do you have an internet trend, tech subculture or online oddity you’ve been wondering about? Well, now you can ask Close All Tabs to investigate. Go to kqed dot org slash Close All Tabs to submit your question. Okay, let’s get to the show. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For a while, movie theaters had been on a downward spiral. Even the biggest names in Hollywood lamented their demise. Back in 2014, Quentin Tarantino warned of the death of cinema — thanks to the shift from analog filmmaking to digital formats. A few years later, NATO, not that one, but actually the National Alliance of Theater Owners, recorded the lowest theater attendance in over two decades, as tickets got more expensive than ever. In 2019, New York Times film critic A.O. Scott questioned whether streaming would kill cinema, which is actually what Cillian Murphy’s character, a video store owner, predicted in the 2007 romcom, \u003cem>Watching the Detectives\u003c/em>. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cem>[Begin clip of \u003c/em>Watching the Detectives\u003cem>]\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So Neil, what are you gonna do when this place goes tits up? \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Well, I don’t think that’s gonna happen for a few years, you know, not until people can get any movie they want beamed directly into their TV set and I’m dead meat. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cem>[End clip of \u003c/em>Watching the Detectives\u003cem>]\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Morgan Sung:\u003c/strong> And then, a year after that New York Times story came out, the pandemic hit. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>[Clip of Inside Edition story from YouTube]:\u003c/strong> Box office sales at movie theaters over the weekend plummeted to a 20-year low. Ticket sales were even worse than in the immediate aftermath of 9/11. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>[Clip of WPRI story from YouTube]:\u003c/strong> Leadership at Cinemas 8 taking to social media saying the pandemic has made it economically impossible to reopen. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Morgan Sung:\u003c/strong> The pandemic shut down cinemas around the world with no real safety net and some theaters never opened up again. Hollywood had poured millions and millions of dollars into blockbusters that couldn’t make it to the big screen. Instead, at the height of lockdown, they skipped theaters and went straight to streaming for viewers to watch from the safety of their homes. I’m talking cinematic masterpieces like \u003cem>Dune\u003c/em>… being watched on an iPad. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But today, movie theater chains like AMC, Regal, and Alamo Drafthouse have bounced back. The movie-going experience is now a gamified, thriving subculture that reveres in-person community. The AMC A-list subscription used to be for nerds, and now it’s the ultimate cinephile flex. A viral Letterboxd review is a status symbol. Film podcasts treat going to the movies like it’s a sport. So, how did we get here? \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Today we’re diving into the internet’s mission to save cinema and how an iconic Hollywood landmark almost fell to ruin — until a very online Gen Z filmmaker rallied to the public to save it. Get ready. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This is Close All Tabs. I’m Morgan Sung, tech journalist and your chronically online friend here to open as many browser tabs as it takes to help you understand how the digital world affects our real lives. Let’s get into it. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For today’s deep dive, I’m handing the keyboard over to my friend, Candice Lim. If she sounds familiar, it’s because you’ve definitely heard her on Close All Tabs before. She’s also an internet culture reporter, a film and TV critic, and one of my favorite people to follow on Letterboxd. Candice only converted to the Church of Cinema after the release of \u003cem>Challengers\u003c/em>, the horny tennis love triangle extravaganza starring Zendaya, which Candice saw in theaters five times. And she’s not the only one trying to save the art of movie going. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Okay. Take it away, Candice. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> Thanks Morgan. In the words of Nicole Kidman… \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>[Clip of Nicole Kidman for AMC from YouTube]:\u003c/strong> We come to this place for magic. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> So let’s open a new tab: the Savior of the Cinerama Dome. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I wanna take us to Sunset Boulevard on a recent Saturday morning in Los Angeles. I’m standing in front of this big, white dome made out of 316 interlocking concrete panels. It’s the Cinerama Dome. It’s hard to miss next to a Veggie Grill and a gym, but for something so big in the dead center of Hollywood, this theater complex feels… dead. The lights that once lit the night sky have been off for years. And the building itself is in a state of disrepair. But, it wasn’t always that way. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ben Steinberg:\u003c/strong> I liked coming here to see \u003cem>2001: A Space Odyssey\u003c/em> in 2014. That was my first time seeing a movie with an intermission, and with over 800 or 1,000 people in the audience. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> This is Ben Steinberg. He’s a cinephile. First off, how many movies have you seen this year? \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ben Steinberg:\u003c/strong> Oh, uh, probably over 50 maybe? \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> I can tell you it’s 113. It was on Letterboxd. I checked it out. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ben Steinberg:\u003c/strong> Oh, wow. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> He’s a former child actor. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ben Steinberg:\u003c/strong> When I was like 13 or 14, I got to do the TV show, \u003cem>Brooklyn Nine-Nine\u003c/em>, for a few seasons. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>[Clip of Brooklyn Nine-Nine from IMDb]:\u003c/strong> But it’s my bar mitzvah. We were going to grind. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> And, he’s an activist. In fact, when it comes to the movie theater revival movement, he’s kind of the activist. For the last five years, Ben has been running a Twitter account called Save Your Cinema. He got started in 2021, when Angeleno’s received a heartbreaking announcement about the very iconic building we are standing right in front of. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>[Clip of Fox 11 Los Angeles story from YouTube]:\u003c/strong> And we begin with breaking news, and it is very sad news for movie lovers. Pacific Theaters announcing its ArcLight and Pacific Theaters will not reopen after shutting down last year because of the pandemic. This includes the iconic Cinerama Dome in Hollywood on Sunset Boulevard. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> The Dome had been closed in 2020 due to COVID, just like nearly every other theater. Ownership kept promising it would reopen, but it never did, and cinephiles like Ben began to get nervous. To Ben, that announcement in March of 2021 was the nail in the coffin. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ben Steinberg:\u003c/strong> And then after that, they made no further like, press releases or responded to emails. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> To understand the importance of this, I need to tell you a bit about the Cinerama Dome and what it means to the city of LA and film history. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Dome was opened back in 1963, and it’s the first and only concrete, geodesic dome in the world. For decades, it was known as the place to watch the latest blockbuster, and the first film they ever screened was \u003cem>It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World\u003c/em>, a Stanley Kramer-directed comedy starring Buster Keaton. Then, it became this marquee place to hold premieres, similar to Grauman’s Chinese Theatre — and The Dome made it fun. They turned into a green ogre for \u003cem>Shrek 2\u003c/em>. They became the moon for the 2018 Neil Armstrong biopic, \u003cem>First Man\u003c/em>. A lot of working filmmakers can remember the most formative movie they’ve watched at The Dome with hopes that one day their film would premiere there too. And beyond the iconic look and blockbuster screenings, this particular theater is important to the history of film as a medium. It’s all about the way movies are shot. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ben Steinberg:\u003c/strong> There’s like two different versions of Cinerama. There’s the original three-strip Cinerama, which uses literally three lenses, like three cameras together. And then later on, they did the 70mm Cinerama, which is \u003cem>2001: A Space Odyssey\u003c/em>. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> Without getting too technical, the image 70-millimeter film creates is huge — several times bigger than traditional 35-millimeter. It had to be projected onto a screen that’s large enough to accommodate it. That’s where The Dome comes in. I would describe watching a movie at The Dome as if you were inside The Sphere in Las Vegas. The magnitude of this format, what some call “the great-grandmother of IMAX,” feels magical, especially in the age of vertical video scrolling. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Imagine watching something like Christopher Nolan’s \u003cem>Interstellar\u003c/em> at The Dome. It makes you feel like you’re actually on the moon — and you are experiencing this with strangers, all of whom came to this place at this time to share this moment with you. Also, the popcorn is really good. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ben Steinberg:\u003c/strong> They have like this really good chef-driven like popcorn. They had like the- the last one they had was Mexican street popcorn. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> Okay, back to the announcement about The Dome’s permanent closure. So, you have this piece of cinema history, an architectural feat, an iconic industry landmark, closing for good. A lot of people were gutted, including and especially Ben. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ben Steinberg:\u003c/strong> From what I was told through a few different sources was that they just didn’t believe in the theatrical exhibition box office, like they didn’t think they could make enough money, and like they’re obviously very business-oriented. So, I was just under the assumption that they didn’t believe in like the theatrical exhibition box office for the future of it. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> And every good movie needs a hero, right? Well, for this story, and for a very online group of movie lovers, that hero was Ben. Immediately after the Cinerama Dome’s owners announced it wouldn’t reopen, Ben jumped into action. And even though he might sound mild-mannered, let me tell you: Ben is fearless. And you have to remember the context. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It was 2021. We were coming out of lockdown. Theater attendance was returning at a crawl. And if there was one barrier Ben felt he needed to break through — it was the doors of The Dome. So, he got his keyboard warriors together and created a petition called Save the Cinerama Dome. And this petition was trying to get the attention of the owners of The Dome, the Decurion Corporation. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ben Steinberg:\u003c/strong> It was addressed to the CEO of the Decurion Corporation, so I was hoping to at least get a response from him. Then it quickly got 30,000 signatures, but we never got any response. They didn’t even acknowledge it. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> Ben was frustrated, because as far as he could tell, there wasn’t a good reason for The Dome’s permanent closure. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ben Steinberg:\u003c/strong> Company that owns it, they never went bankrupt, the parent company, they just decided to shut down the theater. So, just the whole like situation was very mysterious, like they have no website and no phone line, and then I started to look at their other properties that they own, and they own some other historic cinemas that have been abandoned for around 25 years… So I kind of got paranoid that they were planning that for The Dome. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> It’s true. Let’s get into some backstory. Okay, so the Decurion Corporation is owned by the Formans, a billionaire family that owned two major movie chains in California: the Pacific Theater, which started all the way back in 1946, and ArcLight Cinemas, which operated The Dome as well as other beloved LA theaters. But both chains were permanently closed down in 2021, and The Dome, with its peeling walls and overgrown vines, definitely looks like it’s been closed for five years. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ben Steinberg:\u003c/strong> I was documenting just like the deterioration of it, which was crazy, just seeing like stuff falling off just because it’s been abandoned for so long. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> Ben got tired of seeing this beloved theater stand idly by — wasting away as what some have called, “a tax write-off.” He got this crazy idea. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ben Steinberg:\u003c/strong> Well, I’ve had the idea for like three years, but I knew that once I did it, it could be like the end of the Save the Cinerama Dome campaign. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> He basically wanted to project a Page Six headline-style photo of the Decurion executives onto The Dome. Once he got the idea, he started a GoFundMe, which raised more than $2,000, and those dollars went toward hiring a projectionist, a security guard, and a little rehearsal… A few days before the stunt. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ben Steinberg:\u003c/strong> I got a professional projection engineer to do it. It just said, “Reopen The Dome,” and then just the images of the CEO and the vice president of development. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> He actually pulled it off on a busy Friday night when the sun went down and the projection went up. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ben Steinberg:\u003c/strong> I was right between the two big trees and the lampposts, in front of the Los Angeles Film School, but on the sidewalk. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> Do you notice people stopping and staring at it? \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ben Steinberg:\u003c/strong> Yeah, we got a lot of attention like, everyone was looking at the projection and like people in their cars were like, throwing their thumbs up and like, applauding me. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> But according to Ben, the reason his stunt even went viral is because of the cops. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ben Steinberg:\u003c/strong> Lasted for like two or three hours and then the police came — the police specifically said the owners like don’t want me to get arrested or citated, they just want me to know they consider it a form of escalation and harassment, but I think it was definitely like the Streisand effect. I think it’s a blessing in disguise that they called the police, because I think if they didn’t it wouldn’t have gone as viral. So, I think it definitely drew attention on them. I just wanted to remind them that like, they owned the Cinerama Dome and the public wanted it to reopen. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> So even though the cops said they were not going to arrest Ben, after two hours, he felt like it was time to go home. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ben Steinberg:\u003c/strong> After I posted about it, it went viral and I knew that was going to kick some things in motion. And then like, the next day I saw that the executives for the company started viewing my LinkedIn profile. So that was definitely a good sign. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> So Ben finally got the attention of The Dome’s owners. They were checking out his LinkedIn — then came a public hearing where The Dome’s representative was going to be there. So Ben got a second idea, to flood the zone with his supporters. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ben Steinberg:\u003c/strong> She was asked specifically about the Save the Cinerama Dome campaign and like my projection, and she responded saying that the ownership took notice of it and the extreme public interest in wanting The Dome to reopen. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> But it was very, We Here For You, from \u003cem>Succession\u003c/em>, because it’s one thing to say we’re noticing interest versus acting on that interest. So Ben decided to give them a self-proclaimed deadline, August 20th, and they had to either announce they were reopening The Dome or find someone to lease the theater. He wasn’t sure if they were going to actually meet that deadline, but for some reason, he felt closer and closer to a victory. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ezgi Eren:\u003c/strong> I think the ArcLight needed someone like him who just wouldn’t back down and wouldn’t take no for an answer. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> Ezgi Eren is the founder of 11am Saturday, a Substack newsletter she calls a movie restoration project. She interviewed Ben for her Substack back in 2024 before the stunt happened. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ezgi Eren:\u003c/strong> And, you know, he just projected an image onto a building. Like he didn’t break the law. I mean, I don’t know if he technically broke the law, but he didn’t harm anyone. So, if that’s what it took to get the owners to act, that’s good to know. The fact that he raised that awareness in them is amazing. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> And after years of back and forth, online petitions, and filmmakers like Edgar Wright, Benny Safdie, and Sean Baker showing support, for the first time in a long time, it looked like moviegoers just might have the chance to see The Dome’s silver screen light up once again. Ben is one of the many people trying to keep movie theaters alive — but his efforts are just the most visible piece… of a movie subculture that has come roaring back after cinemas were pronounced dead only a few years ago. And the driving force behind it? Gen Z. We’ll get into that after the break. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Welcome back. Let’s open a new tab: is the Gen Z Cinephile Movement real? \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I’ll put myself on blast, because I’m technically in Gen Z, and I am watching an average of three to five movies per week. But, I wasn’t always this way. I actually used to hate movies. I was more of a TV kid. But in 2024, a movie came out that changed how I valued the movie going experience. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>[Clip of Challengers from YouTube]:\u003c/strong> Don’t you want to meet Tashi Duncan? You don’t get it, man. You’ve never seen her in person. She’s in another league. You mean her game? No, I mean she’s the hottest woman I’ve ever seen. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>Challengers\u003c/em>, directed by Luca Guadagnino, stars Zendaya, Mike Faist, and Josh O’Connor as three tennis players who sometimes play tennis, but also make out. What got me was the score by the Nine Inch Nails guys. It was electric, and propulsive, and it felt like being in the club — and after many clubless years during the pandemic, I needed that. From that point forward, I became a Letterboxd-er, an AMC A-List member, and a proud solo moviegoer. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ezgi Eren:\u003c/strong> I looked around and I didn’t really know many people who still went to the movies, shockingly. It was a couple years ago. And I just felt like the whole experience is dying. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> Ezgi Eren, again, founder of 11am Saturday, the movie Substack. While Ezgi admits she is a millennial, she is in a lot of Gen Z majority spaces, and she believes Gen Z is the key to getting butts back into those fuzzy little seats. She says they’re looking to reconnect with real people… And real experiences. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ezgi Eren:\u003c/strong> I think it’s the kind of oversaturation of the internet, the influx of content that people are subjected to every day, and the need to kind of get off the internet and go more into real life spaces again. I see it in like book clubs. I see it in like dinner parties. I think it’s the same reason for people going back to the movie theaters as well. Yeah, it’s great. I love it. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> And it’s not just the movies themselves that are attracting these Gen Z attendees. It’s about what’s happening outside of the theater, online, that’s pushing people to keep going back for more. It’s a digitally fueled cultural shift. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For example, let’s talk about Letterboxd, which is a movie logging app that’s akin to the Goodreads of cinema. It can frankly be a little performative. You start by rating a movie out of five stars. Then you can write a review. Some people take it seriously. Others become trolls. But it’s so communal that your favorite filmmakers and film heads — this is Martin Scorsese, Charli XCX, even Jack Harlow — are logging the same movies you are watching. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Then, you have things like the Criterion Closet. You may have heard of the Criterion Collection. They have a YouTube video series called Closet Picks, where prominent film lovers like Francis Ford Coppola, Paul Giamatti, and game designer Hideo Kojima pick their favorite highbrow DVDs off library-looking shelves. It’s a smash hit. But the reason why Gen Z congregates around these film-themed internet platforms is because they are actively curating their tastes — using accessible platforms almost as an educational way to upgrade their cinema game. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Because at the end of the day, when you log a movie or post a review, it’s your green light at the of the dock, a bid for connection. It’s a way to attract like-minded people with similar taste. Because that’s what COVID ripped away from a lot of Gen Z people: organic connection in public spaces. And Letterboxd… is considered a public space. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ezgi Eren:\u003c/strong> Letterboxd and like The Criterion and studios that make movies more catered to Gen Z, like I think those are all kind of partially responsible as well, but it’s almost like they are riding a great wave. I think it was going to happen regardless. But then of course, it does matter that Letterboxd, gameified it. It does matter that theaters are engaging more with their audiences on social media. It has become almost like… a brand — you want to associate yourself with a specific theater more now. I think it’s a combination of all those things. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> Fandango, the movie ticket website, did a study this year, saying that Gen Z, who are about 14 to 29 years old right now, is the most active movie-going generation, seeing about seven movies per year. I’ve also seen headlines about Gen Z being the loneliest generation right now. Is there a connection? Here’s Ben again. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ben Steinberg:\u003c/strong> I can’t think of like any other third spaces. Like I know AMC Theaters has like a lot of like meetups and like fan clubs where people will just go every week as a group to AMC. So, I think that’s a big thing, I mean like at least for me personally, if I’m doing something social, I’d rather like go to a movie than something else. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> Ezgi says that even though the intersection of chronically online Gen Z-ers and cinephiles is probably pretty small, it’s a subgroup with growing influence. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ezgi Eren:\u003c/strong> I will say like they’re not big enough to kind of maybe like influence a whole performance of a movie. Like I don’t think everyone who saw \u003cem>Obsession\u003c/em> and made it such a success is- does fit in that category. But I do think they have a big influence on marketing campaigns now for sure. I mean, you see it in like press tours, you see it and how, even like, studios with lower budgets, like they’re doing everything to kind of keep up with the content-ification of movies. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> Mm-hmm. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ezgi Eren:\u003c/strong> And like creating like an online experience to try to like get these people to see the movies. So I think their influence is growing for sure and then like after \u003cem>Obsession\u003c/em> and \u003cem>Backrooms\u003c/em> they’re only going to be stronger. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> Have you ever been influenced by maybe like, a Letterboxd or even a film podcast or something you saw on social media that made you like, I don’t know, wanna go see a movie or made you more excited about something coming up? \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ezgi Eren:\u003c/strong> Oh my God, so all the time — all the time. Sometimes it’ll be just like one tweet that I’ll take to heart and go see something. Because I still, I think that’s also the power of these websites is that you can’t really manufacture real interest, right? Like, people don’t spend their hard earned money on things that suck. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> And even though you’re listening to three people who love going to the movies, there are things about theater culture that still suck. You need good movies and good moviegoing experiences to capitalize on this wave of interest and keep people coming back. But there’s the perennial problem of bad theater etiquette. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ezgi Eren:\u003c/strong> You will come across people either on their phone taking pictures of the screen or just talking to their friends or just being like unruly in general. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> Then there’s the fierce competition of booking movie tickets. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ezgi Eren:\u003c/strong> The event-izing of the ticket process is very annoying and- and I say that as someone who managed to get tickets to \u003cem>Dune\u003c/em>. It’s still not a good process and it could almost turn into like a deterrent for people. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> But the big one, the thing that Ben cares most about, is the fact that it’s not always guaranteed that our favorite movie theaters will be there tomorrow. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ben Steinberg:\u003c/strong> The Regency Theaters Calabasas — it actually literally just got demolished like six months ago and then also the Regancy Theaters in Agoura Hills, which also got demolished just a few months ago, and then also the AMC Promenade 16 which is now demolished. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> It seems like movie going and the sport of it is being threatened left and right, but… by who? \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Let’s open a new tab: who’s the big bad of the movie theater revival movement? \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So, if Ben is our unlikely hero, the face of Gen Z’s push for cinema revival, then who are they up against? Who’s the Joker to Ben’s Batman? When I asked, Ben was hesitant to call anyone out by name, even though he did project the heads of the Decurion Corporation onto a dome. Ezgi was a little more direct. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I’m curious, who do you think are kind of… the enemies or gatekeepers of movie theater preservation. Is it like Netflix? Is it studios? Is it a third thing? Is it billionaires, you know? \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ezgi Eren:\u003c/strong> As for billionaires, I mean… How much time do we have? \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> I wanted to talk about one story that I would say was maybe the most controversial last year, which was Netflix threatening or about to acquire Warner Brothers. Could you maybe explain why that acquisition freaked people out and why were people worried? Why were you worried? \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ezgi Eren:\u003c/strong> Yes, Netflix tried to purchase Warner Brothers — and Netflix, as we know, is a primarily direct-to-streaming service. Now, typically, their window of showing a movie in a theater is super, super short, so if you don’t see it in theaters in that period, you can only watch it on Netflix. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So, obviously, that’s terrible news for a studio like Warner Brothers who… put out like some of our favorite movies that we want to experience in theaters. Especially, you know, they had such a good year with \u003cem>One Battle After Another\u003c/em>. They have \u003cem>Dune\u003c/em> coming out. People just don’t want those to be contained to a television screen. So that was the panic. And I believe they’re still panic there because they are now being sold to Paramount, but we’ll see, we’ll how that goes. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> At the time of this taping, Paramount has officially completed their acquisition of Warner Brothers, and they have now become one giant conglomerate named Skydance. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Speaking of like acquisitions, I mean, this summer Letterboxd apparently is also possibly going up for sale. A lot of people have put their hats into the ring, but Netflix is one of them. Are you worried at all about Letterboxd, for example, possibly being acquired? \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ezgi Eren:\u003c/strong> I’m very worried about that, yes. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> Yeah. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ezgi Eren:\u003c/strong> And it seems inevitable. I just don’t know who can buy it that wouldn’t ruin it, you know? It’s not a perfect app right now, but it still feels very much like, belonging to the people… that the idea of like any major corporation owning it, it’s so easy to change it in a way that kind of ruins the movie culture, which is already kind of fragile. That’s not even like getting to the fact that they will probably sell all that data and use it to train AI and all that. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> So now we’re identifying a few big bads in the water, who are threatening two separate issues. We have people like the Forman family and their Decurion Corporation who are responsible for closing physical spaces to watch movies. Then, you have media giants, like Netflix, prioritizing streaming over theatrical releases and threatening the actual content that goes into those physical spaces. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But, on at least one of those fronts, there’s good news if you’re a movie lover. Because Ben’s projection stunt, the public hearing, the Twitter updates from Save Your Cinema — it all worked. On July 22nd, two months after he lit up the dome with images of the Decurion top brass, Ben woke up to some great news. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>[Clip of KTLA 5 story from YouTube]:\u003c/strong> One of Hollywood’s most iconic theaters could be making a comeback. Deadline broke the news that Sony Entertainment could be planning to resurrect the world-famous Cinerama Dome and ArcLight Hollywood Cinema. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> So, finally, after five years, The Dome is saved, and Angeleno’s cannot be happier. Alamo Drafthouse, which is owned by Sony Pictures, will reopen the theater in 2028. And per a Sony Pictures spokesperson, renovations have already started — from the marquee lights coming back on, to The Dome’s first power washing in years. So the question isn’t so much, will the Cinerama Dome be saved? But instead, will people go back? If Gen Z has anything to say about it, the answer is certainly. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ben Steinberg:\u003c/strong> I kind of feel like if I just didn’t do any of this, The Dome would kind of just still be sitting closed with them telling people it’s gonna reopen next year, like they always did. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> And Ben isn’t done being a local hero. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ben Steinberg:\u003c/strong> I raised attention about the Laemmle Theaters in North Hollywood, and luckily they got that theater saved from being demolished and turned into apartments. And then, also saving the Laemmle Theaters in Pasadena and getting Landmark to take over the lease, we did a petition for that, and then I’ve just been sharing other people’s campaigns and now like it’s gone international, so I’m trying to save the, I think it’s pronounced Pallas Cinema in Greece. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> Do you see yourself as the Spider-Man of movie theaters where it’s like you’re chilling until someone calls you and is like, “Hi, we need to open a theater,” and you’re just like that guy. How do you feel about being almost the person they send the Batman signal for? \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ben Steinberg:\u003c/strong> I think it’s amazing. It’s definitely very cool that they reach out to me and hopefully I can like be even more involved with other theaters or like one specific theater company. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> Even if you’re not a chronically online Gen Z cinephile trying to post an opening weekend review on Letterboxd, going to the movies is still a classic American luxury. It’s the thing you do with your cousins from out of town. It’s what some people do on Christmas when they have nowhere else to go. And sometimes, you just wanna come to this place for magic. So yes, for a few of us, movie theaters are still worth the investment. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ezgi Eren:\u003c/strong> I went to see Spider-Man and — kind of accidentally on day one, I wasn’t planning on it. And I feel like everyone was dressed up in some variation of like red and blue. And I was like, “Wait, I forgot that people used to do this.” Like, I forgot that this was a thing, because it’s been so long. And you know what? Like, that was also such a respectful audience that had great theater etiquette because people actually cared about seeing the movies. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> And Ezgi’s right. One of my favorite memories of 2026 was seeing \u003cem>The Odyssey\u003c/em> at the Universal CityWalk AMC in IMAX on 70 millimeter at 2 a.m. And yes, it did screw up my sleep schedule for about five weeks, but I should be getting it back on track just in time to see \u003cem>Dune: Part Three\u003c/em> on opening weekend in IMAX on 70-millimeter, also, at 2 a.m. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For Close All Tabs, I’m Candice Lim. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Morgan Sung:\u003c/strong> Thanks again to Candice for taking us on that deep dive. If you’re dying to open more tabs about Ben, the Cinerama Dome, and his quest to save LA’s movie theaters, we’ll have some links in the episode description. You can also find more of Candice’s work there. And stick around after the credits for some bonus content. That’s it for this week. I have a movie to catch, so let’s close all these tabs. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Close All Tabs is a production of KQED Studios and is hosted by me, Morgan Sung. This episode was reported by Candice Lim. It was produced by Maya Cueva and edited by Chris Egusa, who also composed our theme song and credits music. The Close All Tabs team also includes Chris Hambrick and audio engineer Brendan Willard. Our intern is Lauren Yoon. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Additional music by APM. Audience engagement support from Maha Sanad. Jen Chien is executive director of podcasts, and Ethan Toven-Lindsey is our Editor-in-Chief. Some members of the KQED podcast team are represented by the Screen Actors Guild, American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, San Francisco Northern California Local. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This episode’s keyboard sounds were submitted by Alex Tran and recorded on his white Epomaker Hi75 keyboard with Fogruaden red samurai keycaps and gateron milky yellow pro v2 switches. Thanks for listening. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ezgi Eren:\u003c/strong> I was gonna say now imagine if there’s a cafe that’s also a theater and you can just spend the whole day there. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> You’ve been stomping this ground for a little bit and I- honestly you need to pull a Ben Steinberg. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ezgi Eren:\u003c/strong> I know. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> Save your stump town mama, like I would sign that petition… I really would because you’re right which is that like I’m going to the Nordstrom E bar And then I’m going to Americana. Let’s combine forces. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ezgi Eren:\u003c/strong> Let’s figure this out. Like let’s — Community Goods inside an AMC. Imagine the lines. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Candice Lim:\u003c/strong> Oh my God. \u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>"
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"slug": "states-settle-lawsuit-over-paramount-warner-merger-clearing-key-hurdle-for-81-billion-deal",
"title": "States Settle Lawsuit Over Paramount-Warner Merger, Clearing Key Hurdle for $81 Billion Deal",
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"headTitle": "States Settle Lawsuit Over Paramount-Warner Merger, Clearing Key Hurdle for $81 Billion Deal | KQED",
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"content": "\n\u003cp>Twelve states and Hollywood writers \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12091887/us-judge-says-paramount-and-warner-bros-must-temporarily-pause-merger\">challenging Paramount’s buyout\u003c/a> of Warner Bros. Discovery agreed to settle their lawsuits on Monday, effectively paving the way for the $81 billion mega merger to cross the finish line, with some new commitments from the company. The blockbuster deal \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/warner-discovery-paramount-skydance-cbs-cnn-26252771aa58c8b6b2243809bad13e77\">will still bring together\u003c/a> two of Hollywood’s oldest studios, key TV networks like CBS and CNN and streaming platforms HBO Max and Paramount+, as well as decades-old libraries with titles ranging from “Harry Potter” to “Top Gun.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>But among terms of Monday’s agreement announced by California Attorney General Rob Bonta — who led the states’ case — Paramount pledged to increase film production in the U.S., commit millions of dollars to a fund aimed at supporting workers who are displaced by the merger and establish monitoring of editorial independence of the company’s news operations.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The settlement still needs a final sign-off by a judge. Bonta said Monday’s agreement was about “protecting people’s careers, the lives they’ve built here in California, the livelihoods their families rely on” — but he maintained it was not a vote in support of the merger.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/260717-FILMMAKER-RALLY-MD-01-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12091614\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/260717-FILMMAKER-RALLY-MD-01-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/260717-FILMMAKER-RALLY-MD-01-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/260717-FILMMAKER-RALLY-MD-01-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Filmmaker and comedian W. Kamau Bell speaks at a rally calling for immediate action to stop the proposed $110 billion Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery merger, in front of the federal courthouse in Oakland on July 17, 2026. (Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“I don’t think these two companies should merge,” Bonta said in a Monday press conference. “But that’s not something that we are focused on with our resolution here.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Paramount CEO David Ellison welcomed the settlement, which he said marked “complete clearance for this merger.” He added that “bringing Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery together will build that stronger Hollywood, creating expanded opportunity for our people and even more great entertainment for audiences around the world.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The coalition of states — including entertainment heavyweights like California and New York — sued to block the merger in July, alleging a Paramount-Warner combo would “extinguish competition” and lead to fewer choices for consumers, particularly movie theatergoers and cable customers across the U.S.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The Writers Guild of America also filed suit, and both challenges were headed toward a full antitrust trial set to kick off in March. The WGA separately confirmed Monday that it settled its case, too.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“We continue to believe the merger will cause damage to writers and the industry at large,” the guild said in a statement. “Now that the Attorneys General have settled with Paramount, however, as a nonprofit, the WGA must contend with the reality of forging ahead alone, with no backing from government enforcers, with a complex antitrust lawsuit that would cost millions of dollars to pursue through trial.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The union added that Paramount had agreed to prohibit writer layoffs at CBS News for five years and to pay $17.5 million to WGA’s health fund, along with attorneys’ fees from the litigation.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Paramount previously agreed to \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/warner-bros-paramount-skydance-0f4ed7b4627b2d0ac8c1f1626689bf5d\">delay its transaction well into next year\u003c/a> so the challenges could make their way through court. It then \u003ca href=\"https://ir.paramount.com/news-releases/news-release-details/paramount-skydance-satisfies-all-regulatory-conditions-under\">quickly called\u003c/a> for a settlement — arguing that it had satisfied all regulatory clearances worldwide (including from \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/paramount-warner-regulation-antitrust-994c277d12297b8a7507fcb78004f679\">the Trump administration’s Justice Department\u003c/a> ), saying that the states’ lawsuit, in particular, was its “final obstacle.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>As reports of the states reaching a settlement with Paramount emerged Monday, critics decried the deal — while warning of what further consolidation could mean in an industry \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/warner-discovery-paramount-skydance-cbs-cnn-26252771aa58c8b6b2243809bad13e77\">already controlled\u003c/a> by just a few major players.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Today, billionaires have yet again bribed, censored, and bullied their way to the top,” Alvaro Bedoya, senior adviser at the American Economic Liberties Project and a former commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission, said in a statement. “Layoffs will follow. People from L.A. to Atlanta will lose their jobs, small businesses will lose their contracts, your cable bill and movie ticket will be even more expensive.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cem>AP Writers Sophie Austin in Sacramento contributed. Sisak reported from New York.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The Writers Guild of America also filed suit, and both challenges were headed toward a full antitrust trial set to kick off in March. The WGA separately confirmed Monday that it settled its case, too.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>The Writers Guild of America also filed suit, and both challenges were headed toward a full antitrust trial set to kick off in March. The WGA separately confirmed Monday that it settled its case, too.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“We continue to believe the merger will cause damage to writers and the industry at large,” the guild said in a statement. “Now that the Attorneys General have settled with Paramount, however, as a nonprofit, the WGA must contend with the reality of forging ahead alone, with no backing from government enforcers, with a complex antitrust lawsuit that would cost millions of dollars to pursue through trial.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The union added that Paramount had agreed to prohibit writer layoffs at CBS News for five years and to pay $17.5 million to WGA’s health fund, along with attorneys’ fees from the litigation.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Paramount previously agreed to \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/warner-bros-paramount-skydance-0f4ed7b4627b2d0ac8c1f1626689bf5d\">delay its transaction well into next year\u003c/a> so the challenges could make their way through court. It then \u003ca href=\"https://ir.paramount.com/news-releases/news-release-details/paramount-skydance-satisfies-all-regulatory-conditions-under\">quickly called\u003c/a> for a settlement — arguing that it had satisfied all regulatory clearances worldwide (including from \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/paramount-warner-regulation-antitrust-994c277d12297b8a7507fcb78004f679\">the Trump administration’s Justice Department\u003c/a> ), saying that the states’ lawsuit, in particular, was its “final obstacle.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Paramount previously agreed to \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/warner-bros-paramount-skydance-0f4ed7b4627b2d0ac8c1f1626689bf5d\">delay its transaction well into next year\u003c/a> so the challenges could make their way through court. It then \u003ca href=\"https://ir.paramount.com/news-releases/news-release-details/paramount-skydance-satisfies-all-regulatory-conditions-under\">quickly called\u003c/a> for a settlement — arguing that it had satisfied all regulatory clearances worldwide (including from \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/paramount-warner-regulation-antitrust-994c277d12297b8a7507fcb78004f679\">the Trump administration’s Justice Department\u003c/a> ), saying that the states’ lawsuit, in particular, was its “final obstacle.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>As reports of the states reaching a settlement with Paramount emerged Monday, critics decried the deal — while warning of what further consolidation could mean in an industry \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/warner-discovery-paramount-skydance-cbs-cnn-26252771aa58c8b6b2243809bad13e77\">already controlled\u003c/a> by just a few major players.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“Today, billionaires have yet again bribed, censored, and bullied their way to the top,” Alvaro Bedoya, senior adviser at the American Economic Liberties Project and a former commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission, said in a statement. “Layoffs will follow. People from L.A. to Atlanta will lose their jobs, small businesses will lose their contracts, your cable bill and movie ticket will be even more expensive.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“Today, billionaires have yet again bribed, censored, and bullied their way to the top,” Alvaro Bedoya, senior adviser at the American Economic Liberties Project and a former commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission, said in a statement. “Layoffs will follow. People from L.A. to Atlanta will lose their jobs, small businesses will lose their contracts, your cable bill and movie ticket will be even more expensive.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cem>AP Writers Sophie Austin in Sacramento contributed. Sisak reported from New York.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Twelve states and Hollywood writers challenging Paramount’s buyout of Warner Bros. Discovery have agreed to settle their lawsuits against the mega merger.",
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"title": "States Settle Lawsuit Over Paramount-Warner Merger, Clearing Key Hurdle for $81 Billion Deal | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp>Twelve states and Hollywood writers \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12091887/us-judge-says-paramount-and-warner-bros-must-temporarily-pause-merger\">challenging Paramount’s buyout\u003c/a> of Warner Bros. Discovery agreed to settle their lawsuits on Monday, effectively paving the way for the $81 billion mega merger to cross the finish line, with some new commitments from the company. The blockbuster deal \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/warner-discovery-paramount-skydance-cbs-cnn-26252771aa58c8b6b2243809bad13e77\">will still bring together\u003c/a> two of Hollywood’s oldest studios, key TV networks like CBS and CNN and streaming platforms HBO Max and Paramount+, as well as decades-old libraries with titles ranging from “Harry Potter” to “Top Gun.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>But among terms of Monday’s agreement announced by California Attorney General Rob Bonta — who led the states’ case — Paramount pledged to increase film production in the U.S., commit millions of dollars to a fund aimed at supporting workers who are displaced by the merger and establish monitoring of editorial independence of the company’s news operations.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The settlement still needs a final sign-off by a judge. Bonta said Monday’s agreement was about “protecting people’s careers, the lives they’ve built here in California, the livelihoods their families rely on” — but he maintained it was not a vote in support of the merger.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/260717-FILMMAKER-RALLY-MD-01-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12091614\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/260717-FILMMAKER-RALLY-MD-01-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/260717-FILMMAKER-RALLY-MD-01-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/260717-FILMMAKER-RALLY-MD-01-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Filmmaker and comedian W. Kamau Bell speaks at a rally calling for immediate action to stop the proposed $110 billion Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery merger, in front of the federal courthouse in Oakland on July 17, 2026. (Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“I don’t think these two companies should merge,” Bonta said in a Monday press conference. “But that’s not something that we are focused on with our resolution here.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Paramount CEO David Ellison welcomed the settlement, which he said marked “complete clearance for this merger.” He added that “bringing Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery together will build that stronger Hollywood, creating expanded opportunity for our people and even more great entertainment for audiences around the world.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The coalition of states — including entertainment heavyweights like California and New York — sued to block the merger in July, alleging a Paramount-Warner combo would “extinguish competition” and lead to fewer choices for consumers, particularly movie theatergoers and cable customers across the U.S.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The Writers Guild of America also filed suit, and both challenges were headed toward a full antitrust trial set to kick off in March. The WGA separately confirmed Monday that it settled its case, too.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“We continue to believe the merger will cause damage to writers and the industry at large,” the guild said in a statement. “Now that the Attorneys General have settled with Paramount, however, as a nonprofit, the WGA must contend with the reality of forging ahead alone, with no backing from government enforcers, with a complex antitrust lawsuit that would cost millions of dollars to pursue through trial.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The union added that Paramount had agreed to prohibit writer layoffs at CBS News for five years and to pay $17.5 million to WGA’s health fund, along with attorneys’ fees from the litigation.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Paramount previously agreed to \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/warner-bros-paramount-skydance-0f4ed7b4627b2d0ac8c1f1626689bf5d\">delay its transaction well into next year\u003c/a> so the challenges could make their way through court. It then \u003ca href=\"https://ir.paramount.com/news-releases/news-release-details/paramount-skydance-satisfies-all-regulatory-conditions-under\">quickly called\u003c/a> for a settlement — arguing that it had satisfied all regulatory clearances worldwide (including from \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/paramount-warner-regulation-antitrust-994c277d12297b8a7507fcb78004f679\">the Trump administration’s Justice Department\u003c/a> ), saying that the states’ lawsuit, in particular, was its “final obstacle.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>As reports of the states reaching a settlement with Paramount emerged Monday, critics decried the deal — while warning of what further consolidation could mean in an industry \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/warner-discovery-paramount-skydance-cbs-cnn-26252771aa58c8b6b2243809bad13e77\">already controlled\u003c/a> by just a few major players.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Today, billionaires have yet again bribed, censored, and bullied their way to the top,” Alvaro Bedoya, senior adviser at the American Economic Liberties Project and a former commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission, said in a statement. “Layoffs will follow. People from L.A. to Atlanta will lose their jobs, small businesses will lose their contracts, your cable bill and movie ticket will be even more expensive.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cem>AP Writers Sophie Austin in Sacramento contributed. Sisak reported from New York.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "US Judge Says Paramount and Warner Bros. Must Temporarily Pause Merger",
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"content": "\u003cp>A federal judge in Oakland \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12091592/an-oakland-judge-will-soon-rule-on-one-of-the-largest-media-mergers-in-hollywood-history\">has temporarily halted\u003c/a> a major merger between Paramount and Warner Brothers, as she considers a lawsuit from California that alleges the deal violates antitrust laws.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>U.S. Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín granted a temporary restraining order requested by \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/forum/2010101914425/why-california-wants-to-block-the-paramount-warner-bros-merger\">California Attorney General Rob Bonta\u003c/a> and nearly a dozen other states’ attorneys general to pause Paramount Skydance’s $111 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“This is a critical first win in our case to ensure this megamerger never sees the light of day,” Bonta said in a statement. “With our lawsuit, we’re fighting for a free and fair market and a thriving film and television industry that serves creatives and audiences alike. We have a full tank of gas, the law on our side, and look forward to continuing to make our case.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The court order will remain in place while a judge decides whether or not to grant a preliminary injunction, which would delay the transaction throughout litigation. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RobBontaTrumpGetty.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12058864\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RobBontaTrumpGetty.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RobBontaTrumpGetty-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RobBontaTrumpGetty-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">California Attorney General Rob Bonta is briefed by members of his Civil Rights Enforcement Section on litigation challenging the Trump administration at his offices in downtown Los Angeles, California, on March 11, 2025. (Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>If successful, the deal would be the largest merger in Hollywood history — consolidating major film studios, television networks and streaming services. The attorneys general argue that the move violates Section 7 of the Clayton Act, which makes mergers that may substantially lessen competition or create a monopoly illegal. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While the Department of Justice has concluded an investigation into the deal and determined that it does not create a threat to competition, critics have been skeptical of President Donald Trump’s proximity to the Ellison family, which controls Paramount. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, who is the father of Paramount CEO David Ellison and the deal’s primary financial backer, is a close ally of Trump. In the acquisition, Paramount would gain control over CNN, which Trump has repeatedly criticized as “fake news” when it’s been critical of his administration.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The top litigators in Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon and Washington are also party to the suit. While it’s not uncommon for states to challenge mergers, it is rare to do so when federal antitrust agencies do not challenge the transaction, according to UC Davis law professor Menesh Patel. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“What at least is happening in this administration [is] there are certain deals that might be expected to be challenged based on the sort of initial competitive landscape,” Patel said. “This may be an instance where the executive has sort of interjected their views into what the DOJ might be doing, but whether or not that’s the case, the federal agencies have not acted, the states have.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The states alleged that the merger would reduce competition in multiple markets, including wide-release film distribution, anticipated top-grossing film distribution and licensing basic cable television channels. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“History tells the tale of what happens when a few people have great power over markets that are central to Americans’ lives: fewer opportunities for more people, worse products and services for all people,” Bonta said.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Paramount has distributed major classic movies, like \u003cem>Titanic\u003c/em> and the \u003cem>Top Gun\u003c/em> franchise, while Warner Brothers distributed \u003cem>Barbie\u003c/em> and franchises like \u003cem>Harry Potter\u003c/em> and \u003cem>Batman\u003c/em>. They also have a massive rights deal with major sporting markets like March Madness.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The states argue that the merger would increase the companies’ combined market share to 27%, and increase its Herfindahl-Hirschman Index, a metric used to measure market concentration and competition, by nearly 360 points. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Mergers that create a firm with a combined market share of 30% are “presumed likely to violate antitrust law,” and mergers that increase HHI by more than 200 points are “presumed to be likely to enhance market power.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Martínez-Olguín wrote in her decision that “the plaintiff states thus make a strong showing that the Transaction will substantially lessen competition.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Patel said that while the ruling issued Monday does stop forward progress on the deal for two weeks, whether or not the judge decides to issue a preliminary injunction, which assesses both their argument and Paramount’s rebuttal, will give a better indication of the likely outcome of the suit. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s the one that’s going to decide what happens to the deal,” Patel said.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“This is a critical first win in our case to ensure this megamerger never sees the light of day,” Bonta said in a statement. “With our lawsuit, we’re fighting for a free and fair market and a thriving film and television industry that serves creatives and audiences alike. We have a full tank of gas, the law on our side, and look forward to continuing to make our case.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RobBontaTrumpGetty.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12058864\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RobBontaTrumpGetty.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RobBontaTrumpGetty-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RobBontaTrumpGetty-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">California Attorney General Rob Bonta is briefed by members of his Civil Rights Enforcement Section on litigation challenging the Trump administration at his offices in downtown Los Angeles, California, on March 11, 2025. \u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>If successful, the deal would be the largest merger in Hollywood history — consolidating major film studios, television networks and streaming services. The attorneys general argue that the move violates Section 7 of the Clayton Act, which makes mergers that may substantially lessen competition or create a monopoly illegal. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>While the Department of Justice has concluded an investigation into the deal and determined that it does not create a threat to competition, critics have been skeptical of President Donald Trump’s proximity to the Ellison family, which controls Paramount. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, who is the father of Paramount CEO David Ellison and the deal’s primary financial backer, is a close ally of Trump. In the acquisition, Paramount would gain control over CNN, which Trump has repeatedly criticized as “fake news” when it’s been critical of his administration.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The top litigators in Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon and Washington are also party to the suit. While it’s not uncommon for states to challenge mergers, it is rare to do so when federal antitrust agencies do not challenge the transaction, according to UC Davis law professor Menesh Patel. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“What at least is happening in this administration [is] there are certain deals that might be expected to be challenged based on the sort of initial competitive landscape,” Patel said. “This may be an instance where the executive has sort of interjected their views into what the DOJ might be doing, but whether or not that’s the case, the federal agencies have not acted, the states have.” \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The states alleged that the merger would reduce competition in multiple markets, including wide-release film distribution, anticipated top-grossing film distribution and licensing basic cable television channels. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“History tells the tale of what happens when a few people have great power over markets that are central to Americans’ lives: fewer opportunities for more people, worse products and services for all people,” Bonta said.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Paramount has distributed major classic movies, like \u003cem>Titanic\u003c/em> and the \u003cem>Top Gun\u003c/em> franchise, while Warner Brothers distributed \u003cem>Barbie\u003c/em> and franchises like \u003cem>Harry Potter\u003c/em> and \u003cem>Batman\u003c/em>. They also have a massive rights deal with major sporting markets like March Madness.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The states argue that the merger would increase the companies’ combined market share to 27%, and increase its Herfindahl-Hirschman Index, a metric used to measure market concentration and competition, by nearly 360 points. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>The states argue that the merger would increase the companies’ combined market share to 27%, and increase its Herfindahl-Hirschman Index, a metric used to measure market concentration and competition, by nearly 360 points. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Mergers that create a firm with a combined market share of 30% are “presumed likely to violate antitrust law,” and mergers that increase HHI by more than 200 points are “presumed to be likely to enhance market power.” \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Martínez-Olguín wrote in her decision that “the plaintiff states thus make a strong showing that the Transaction will substantially lessen competition.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Patel said that while the ruling issued Monday does stop forward progress on the deal for two weeks, whether or not the judge decides to issue a preliminary injunction, which assesses both their argument and Paramount’s rebuttal, will give a better indication of the likely outcome of the suit. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Patel said that while the ruling issued Monday does stop forward progress on the deal for two weeks, whether or not the judge decides to issue a preliminary injunction, which assesses both their argument and Paramount’s rebuttal, will give a better indication of the likely outcome of the suit. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“That’s the one that’s going to decide what happens to the deal,” Patel said.\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "The judge granted California’s request and allowed the states more time to argue their case against the deal between media giants in court. ",
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"title": "US Judge Says Paramount and Warner Bros. Must Temporarily Pause Merger | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>A federal judge in Oakland \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12091592/an-oakland-judge-will-soon-rule-on-one-of-the-largest-media-mergers-in-hollywood-history\">has temporarily halted\u003c/a> a major merger between Paramount and Warner Brothers, as she considers a lawsuit from California that alleges the deal violates antitrust laws.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>U.S. Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín granted a temporary restraining order requested by \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/forum/2010101914425/why-california-wants-to-block-the-paramount-warner-bros-merger\">California Attorney General Rob Bonta\u003c/a> and nearly a dozen other states’ attorneys general to pause Paramount Skydance’s $111 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“This is a critical first win in our case to ensure this megamerger never sees the light of day,” Bonta said in a statement. “With our lawsuit, we’re fighting for a free and fair market and a thriving film and television industry that serves creatives and audiences alike. We have a full tank of gas, the law on our side, and look forward to continuing to make our case.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The court order will remain in place while a judge decides whether or not to grant a preliminary injunction, which would delay the transaction throughout litigation. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RobBontaTrumpGetty.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12058864\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RobBontaTrumpGetty.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RobBontaTrumpGetty-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RobBontaTrumpGetty-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">California Attorney General Rob Bonta is briefed by members of his Civil Rights Enforcement Section on litigation challenging the Trump administration at his offices in downtown Los Angeles, California, on March 11, 2025. (Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>If successful, the deal would be the largest merger in Hollywood history — consolidating major film studios, television networks and streaming services. The attorneys general argue that the move violates Section 7 of the Clayton Act, which makes mergers that may substantially lessen competition or create a monopoly illegal. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While the Department of Justice has concluded an investigation into the deal and determined that it does not create a threat to competition, critics have been skeptical of President Donald Trump’s proximity to the Ellison family, which controls Paramount. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, who is the father of Paramount CEO David Ellison and the deal’s primary financial backer, is a close ally of Trump. In the acquisition, Paramount would gain control over CNN, which Trump has repeatedly criticized as “fake news” when it’s been critical of his administration.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The top litigators in Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon and Washington are also party to the suit. While it’s not uncommon for states to challenge mergers, it is rare to do so when federal antitrust agencies do not challenge the transaction, according to UC Davis law professor Menesh Patel. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“What at least is happening in this administration [is] there are certain deals that might be expected to be challenged based on the sort of initial competitive landscape,” Patel said. “This may be an instance where the executive has sort of interjected their views into what the DOJ might be doing, but whether or not that’s the case, the federal agencies have not acted, the states have.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The states alleged that the merger would reduce competition in multiple markets, including wide-release film distribution, anticipated top-grossing film distribution and licensing basic cable television channels. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“History tells the tale of what happens when a few people have great power over markets that are central to Americans’ lives: fewer opportunities for more people, worse products and services for all people,” Bonta said.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Paramount has distributed major classic movies, like \u003cem>Titanic\u003c/em> and the \u003cem>Top Gun\u003c/em> franchise, while Warner Brothers distributed \u003cem>Barbie\u003c/em> and franchises like \u003cem>Harry Potter\u003c/em> and \u003cem>Batman\u003c/em>. They also have a massive rights deal with major sporting markets like March Madness.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The states argue that the merger would increase the companies’ combined market share to 27%, and increase its Herfindahl-Hirschman Index, a metric used to measure market concentration and competition, by nearly 360 points. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Mergers that create a firm with a combined market share of 30% are “presumed likely to violate antitrust law,” and mergers that increase HHI by more than 200 points are “presumed to be likely to enhance market power.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Martínez-Olguín wrote in her decision that “the plaintiff states thus make a strong showing that the Transaction will substantially lessen competition.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Patel said that while the ruling issued Monday does stop forward progress on the deal for two weeks, whether or not the judge decides to issue a preliminary injunction, which assesses both their argument and Paramount’s rebuttal, will give a better indication of the likely outcome of the suit. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s the one that’s going to decide what happens to the deal,” Patel said.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "a-los-angeles-woman-was-lost-an-ambitious-mental-health-program-gave-her-a-sense-of-purpose",
"title": "A Los Angeles Woman Was Lost. An Ambitious Mental Health Program Gave Her a Sense of Purpose",
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"headTitle": "A Los Angeles Woman Was Lost. An Ambitious Mental Health Program Gave Her a Sense of Purpose | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>When Mignon Poon strode into the small clubhouse kitchen \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/los-angeles-county\">in Hollywood\u003c/a> on a morning in late November, a lunch recipe waited on the table: for barbecued chicken, mac and cheese and collard greens.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She pulled on a pair of hygienic gloves and, with Motown vibes wafting from a Bluetooth speaker, got to work with two fellow members of the clubhouse, called \u003ca href=\"https://www.fountainhouse.org/services/hollywood\">Fountain House Hollywood\u003c/a>, chatting and singing along as they cooked.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For Poon, 66, this easy camaraderie was nearly unimaginable just three years ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She’d spent decades living with severe, untreated mental illness, bouncing from the streets to homeless shelters. To quiet her mind, she self-medicated with alcohol and, sometimes, hard drugs. It all led to countless nights spent sleeping on the hard ground.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This place right here saved me,” Poon, whose caramel eyes shine with playful mischief, said at the clubhouse, a bustling collective that operates out of a repurposed Sunset Boulevard office space. “Besides get up and start drinking, I get dressed and come here. It gives me something to look forward to.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12076577\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/20260309_MIGNON_13-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12076577\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/20260309_MIGNON_13-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/20260309_MIGNON_13-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/20260309_MIGNON_13-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/20260309_MIGNON_13-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mignon Annette Poon is pictured at Fountain House Hollywood, also known as “the clubhouse” in Los Angeles, on March 9, 2026. \u003ccite>(Alisha Jucevic/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The private, nonprofit clubhouse is open to anyone diagnosed with a serious mental illness who lives, works or receives mental health treatment in Hollywood. The Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health doesn’t run it. In fact, there are no clinicians on staff.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>County mental health leaders partnered with a \u003ca href=\"https://www.fountainhouse.org/about\">storied New York-based nonprofit\u003c/a> to bring the clubhouse to Los Angeles, so their clients could participate. It’s part of an ambitious multilayered pilot project — which seeks to collaborate with community organizations to build an ecosystem of care that goes well beyond conventional clinical treatment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fountain House Hollywood is just one piece of that project to remake mental health care in the neighborhood, which officials termed “\u003ca href=\"https://www.hollywood4wrd.org/hollywood-2-0\">Hollywood 2.0.\u003c/a>”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hollywood 2.0 architects say intensive intervention by clinical teams, who deliver treatment on the streets and in shelters, is a must for people like Poon, who’ve survived unhoused and untreated for years, often with \u003ca href=\"http://www.samhsa.gov/substance-use/treatment/co-occurring-disorders\">co-occurring addictions\u003c/a>. So is safe and stable housing. But true recovery, they maintain, requires more: a sense of agency, purpose, belonging and joy, in community.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Poon, one of Hollywood 2.0’s earliest clients, is thriving. And when it comes to that sense of belonging, she and her care team agree: the clubhouse has been key.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those who choose to join come on weekdays, set the agenda and commit to one of two work assignments to keep the place running. Poon picked the hospitality team, which does all the shopping, meal planning, cooking and serving.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We respect each other,” she said of her peers. “It’s a family. It’s a community. It’s love.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>A core trauma \u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Poon is an elegant dresser who favors rose-tinted glasses that lend her an air of celebrity. She grew up in Albany, Georgia, three hours south of Atlanta. Her mom was born to a Black mother and white father; Her dad was Seminole Indian. “That made me international flavors,” she said, smiling.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Her mother earned four college degrees, but was often absent, Poon said, and alcoholism haunted the family for generations. At age 17, Poon ran away from home with a man she described as a pimp and a dope dealer.[aside postID=news_12075065 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/260116-NewsomLuriePresser-32-BL_qed.jpg'] “I didn’t know what sex trafficking meant,” she said. “No one talked about it back then.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He put her on a plane to San Francisco, where she peddled her body and his drugs. In time, she was jailed for selling drugs to an undercover cop. She got out, had a brief relationship, got pregnant, then moved to Los Angeles and was jailed again.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I wanted my daughter,” Poon said softly, “so I had her.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At 20 years old, Poon gave birth on May 8, 1980, just before Mother’s Day, in the jail ward of the county hospital. Her little girl, who she named Sabrina, was premature and drug addicted, and went straight to an incubator. Soon after, Poon lost her child to the foster care system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This is a trauma, Poon said she revisits every Mother’s Day, every Christmas — practically every day. A few years after her daughter was taken from her, she said she called the county to try to get her back.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They said, ‘Oh, she’s been adopted,’” Poon said. “That screwed me up. I was depressed and didn’t even know I was depressed. Didn’t take no medication.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She didn’t know it, but in addition to depression, she was experiencing cycles of mania and psychosis. Early each morning, as years turned to decades, she’d start drinking. She’d argue with shelter roommates and neighbors, she said, disputes she called “misunderstandings.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12076576\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/20260309_MIGNON_07-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12076576\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/20260309_MIGNON_07-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/20260309_MIGNON_07-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/20260309_MIGNON_07-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/20260309_MIGNON_07-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mignon Annette Poon leads a morning meeting with the hospitality team at Fountain House Hollywood, also known as “the clubhouse” in Los Angeles, on March 9, 2026. \u003ccite>(Alisha Jucevic/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“I would get places and lose them,” said Poon. “I was homeless.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Her eldest sister, Rosemary Swan, 69, kept track of Poon’s journey whenever she could: a decade or more in Washington D.C., a long stint on the streets of Atlanta, and through Poon’s travels in the Midwest.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“For a long time she was like a \u003ca href=\"https://www.nami.org/blog/understanding-dual-diagnosis/\">dual-diagnosis\u003c/a> case,” said Swan, who noted that mental illness, like alcoholism, also runs in the family. “It just went unmanaged.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Every time she spoke to her younger sister, that core trauma came up: the loss of her daughter. So, Swan tried to help Poon find Sabrina.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“For over 25 years, she worried me about it,” Swan said. “I kept telling her, I’m trying, I’m trying. It hurt me that I couldn’t find the child. It’s probably why she went back to California. She never gave up.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>A reunion\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In 2016, Poon returned to the streets of Los Angeles. Then, in 2018, while staying at a shelter in South Los Angeles, she picked up her cell phone and went down a rabbit hole.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She knew her daughter’s first name and birthdate. A Google search yielded gold, because Sabrina Bradley — her adoptive father’s last name — had a booming \u003ca href=\"https://www.skinbysabrina.com/?srsltid=AfmBOorTkD-tr6DmSKh_JklKwcdqZpILJyuVhp4J6FhOfmwPo95nQJS5\">skin care business\u003c/a> and big \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/sabrinatoday/\">online presence\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12080804\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/MignonSabrinaReuniteOct2018-scaled.jpeg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12080804\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/MignonSabrinaReuniteOct2018-scaled.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"2560\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/MignonSabrinaReuniteOct2018-scaled.jpeg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/MignonSabrinaReuniteOct2018-2000x2667.jpeg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/MignonSabrinaReuniteOct2018-160x213.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/MignonSabrinaReuniteOct2018-1152x1536.jpeg 1152w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/MignonSabrinaReuniteOct2018-1536x2048.jpeg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sabrina Bradley and her birth mother, Mignon Poon, embrace after reuniting in October 2018. Today, with Poon in recovery, they’re bonding. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Sabrina Bradley)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>As a child, Bradley said, she’d tell her dad, “The angels are around me, my mom is near me. And everyone would be, like, ‘there she goes in her fantasy world.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By age 29, while living in Portland, she made a vow.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I told myself, I’m going to move [back] to Los Angeles, and I’m going to do two things,” said Bradley, now 45. “Find my mother and create a name for myself in the beauty business.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She achieved her second goal, and on a Sunday in 2018, was praying on the first.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I said God, if you’re real, just give me a sign, just show me that my mom is near me,” Bradley recalled. “I won’t ask for anything else. But if you’re real, please show me. Please show me.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That evening, after a schedule packed with clients, her phone rang. The woman on the line asked for “Sabrina, the esthetician.” Bradley assumed she wanted to book a facial. “No,’ the caller responded. “My name’s Mignon Poon. I’m your mom.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bradley went straight to the shelter and brought Poon into her home. But her mother was still using drugs, Bradley said, and her mental illness remained untreated. Police showed up at the house more than once when Poon was having what appeared to be a manic episode, banging on the doors of random neighbors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They’d been together for just three weeks. Then, Bradley put her mom in a cab, and communications between them went dark.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Me and her had a misunderstanding,” said Poon. “I had to go back to the shelter.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As Poon returned to her old life, something was happening in LA County mental health offices and nonprofit community meeting spaces. The project that would come to be known as Hollywood 2.0 was taking shape.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>The right to a whole life\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The seed was planted more than a dozen years ago. The Hollywood neighborhood was benefiting from a burst of investment — hotels, housing and retail. But homelessness was also on the rise. \u003ca href=\"https://www.heartforwardla.org/our-staff\">Kerry Morrison\u003c/a>, who then ran Hollywood’s business improvement district, said she came face to face daily with people “that stayed for months if not years in the same alley or the same bus bench.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Morrison was not a mental health expert, but she was a community leader. She had helped pull together a \u003ca href=\"https://www.hollywood4wrd.org/about\">coalition \u003c/a>of Hollywood homeless service providers and nonprofits, and in 2013, they identified the people outside “most likely to die unless we intervened.” All were living with serious mental illness.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12076575\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/20260309_MIGNON_05-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12076575\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/20260309_MIGNON_05-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/20260309_MIGNON_05-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/20260309_MIGNON_05-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/20260309_MIGNON_05-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The meditation room and library at Fountain House Hollywood, also known as “the clubhouse” in Los Angeles, on March 9, 2026. \u003ccite>(Alisha Jucevic/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In 2015, she applied for a fellowship to study one question: “Why is it so hard to help people with serious mental illness move from the streets into a safe place, and who is doing it better?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Her research took her all the way to \u003ca href=\"https://mindsitenews.org/2021/09/29/the-old-asylum-is-gone-today-a-mental-health-system-serves-all/\">Trieste\u003c/a>, Italy, a port city on the Adriatic coast. Trieste had emptied its psychiatric hospital system decades earlier, just like \u003ca href=\"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/7356002/\">California did\u003c/a> starting in the late 1960s. But Trieste shifted instead towards something more holistic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rather than the U.S. top-down approach of “experts” dictating treatment, Morrison said, she witnessed respectful collaboration in Trieste.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They talk more about life plans and life aspirations than diagnoses or symptoms,” she said, “and when you operate with that kind of cultural predisposition, all the edges get softened, trust begins to emerge.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Social collectives provide paid jobs and community connections to those living with serious mental illness. The hospital’s small psychiatric ward was unlocked, not even full, and Morrison saw no one living on the streets with untreated psychosis. The community clinics, where staff and clients share meals, she said, felt “incredibly warm and open and free. You can come anytime to talk to anyone, without an appointment.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12076574\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/20260309_MIGNON_03-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12076574\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/20260309_MIGNON_03-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/20260309_MIGNON_03-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/20260309_MIGNON_03-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/20260309_MIGNON_03-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mignon Annette Poon shows off the small store area at Fountain House Hollywood, also known as “the clubhouse” in Los Angeles, on March 9, 2026. \u003ccite>(Alisha Jucevic/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Morrison said she wept as her first visit came to an end.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t know what to do with this,” she told her guide. “I run a business improvement district. No one is ever gonna believe me that you guys are so kind and compassionate.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She was wrong. She cold-called Jonathan Sherin, the then-head of the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health, and he went all in. In 2017, he and Morrison traveled back to Italy for \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gnYydKZzIGM\">a tour and a conference \u003c/a>focused on the importance of nurturing aspirations, relationships and personal fulfillment in those living with mental illness. Joining them was a small group of Los Angeles County leaders, mental health advocates, law enforcement representatives and a judge.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Everybody was gobsmacked,” Morrison said. “And that’s how it started.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The region served by Trieste’s mental health system is home to fewer than 300,000 people, compared to Los Angeles County’s population of nearly 10 million. Italy has socialized medicine. The U.S. does not. And here, with a crisis on the streets, so many public health officials stress that \u003ca href=\"https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00127-020-01849-1\">getting people inside \u003c/a>is paramount.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The small group of travelers knew they had to adapt their approach to those realities, and for a true community solution, they had to concentrate the effort. They settled on Hollywood.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2022, the California Mental Health Oversight and Accountability Commission awarded the county a \u003ca href=\"https://file.lacounty.gov/SDSInter/bos/supdocs/6e2457e0-2310-4564-a15a-e1c249bbbee2.pdf\">grant of nearly $117 million \u003c/a>for a five-year pilot. The goal: to seed a new culture of recovery in the community.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>A crossroads\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>That summer, another “misunderstanding.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Poon was arrested for assaulting a drinking buddy, an elderly neighbor at an East Los Angeles apartment building where she’d finally found herself a place. She was facing felony charges and possible state prison time. From jail, she called Swan, who tapped her life savings to get her sister out on bond.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But once Mignon walked free, she refused contact with the family, Swan said, so she wrote the public defender.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Drug testing, mental health treatment, anything but prison,” she pleaded in a letter, and she begged him to get her sister a diagnosis. “She [has] been needing one for about fifty years, if not sixty,” she said. “I told him!”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, Poon was back on \u003ca href=\"https://homeless.lacounty.gov/skid-row-2/\">Skid Row\u003c/a>. She was feeling the weight of her age, so she made a choice to head to Hollywood, where neighborhood homeless outreach teams regularly “wake you up and ask you, ‘Why you not housed?’” she said. “Then you explain your situation, and they try to help you get into a shelter.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This was her big break. Poon landed at a Hollywood women’s shelter where staff reached out to the Los Angeles County Mental Health Department on her behalf — just as they were layering key pieces of the Hollywood 2.0 pilot into place.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s when I got my social worker, therapist and my psychiatrist,” said Poon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Today, as two of her Hollywood 2.0 clinicians put it, Poon’s inner spirit shines through. Dr. Jonathan Gomez, her first psychiatrist under the program, and Eleanor Bray, her current social worker, described her as charismatic, sweet, welcoming and warm, with a dose of sass and a sense of humor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But when Gomez first visited Poon in August of 2023 at the shelter, she struck him as “one of the most symptomatically-distressed people I’ve seen.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Poon believed the neighbor she’d assaulted was part of a conspiracy to electronically monitor her and had implanted a device in her foot, he said. She was so focused on this violation that she could hardly finish a sentence.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was like, yeah, let’s look at your foot,” he said. “Let’s also talk about how much of this comes and goes with your sleep pattern and with the substance use.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Poon has a diagnosis now: schizoaffective disorder, bipolar type. Mania from bipolar disorder can cause psychosis. Poon’s diagnosis is schizoaffective because she sometimes experiences psychosis when she\u003cem> isn’t\u003c/em> manic. But what matters more than that diagnostic label is alleviating distress.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12076579\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/20260309_MIGNON_22-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12076579\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/20260309_MIGNON_22-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/20260309_MIGNON_22-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/20260309_MIGNON_22-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/20260309_MIGNON_22-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Program director McKenzie Dowdle, left, helps Mignon Annette Poon prepare lunch for members and staff in the kitchen at Fountain House Hollywood, also known as “the clubhouse” in Los Angeles, on March 9, 2026. \u003ccite>(Alisha Jucevic/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The Hollywood 2.0 approach had him visiting her at the shelter once a week. It allowed them to work together to fine-tune her medication regimen.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think they help me stay focused, stay positive, stay uplifted,” Poon said of the meds, “helping my thoughts to be clear.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Soon, Poon was ready to move to transitional housing. But she was feeling paranoid about her shelter roommate, Gomez said, and told him she might head back to the streets. With his input, her care team got her into \u003ca href=\"https://homeless.lacounty.gov/news/help-at-a-hollywood-hotel/\">The Mark Twain Hotel\u003c/a>, which had just been repurposed as Hollywood 2.0 transitional housing with intensive onsite support — and single rooms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was there, more than two and a half years ago, that Poon took her last sip of alcohol. Five months later, to her sister’s delight, a judge granted her mental health diversion. If she stayed on course, the felony charges against her would be dismissed. And in September 2024, Mignon’s team helped her move into her very own subsidized apartment.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>“Community will heal us all”\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Getting a client medicated, sober and permanently housed is often considered the pinnacle of success. But after years in survival mode, said Bray, Poon’s social worker, finding oneself alone without all the support of transitional housing programs “can be quite shocking.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Fountain House Hollywood clubhouse had opened its doors on Sunset Boulevard in July of 2024, joining more than 300 others \u003ca href=\"https://clubhouse-intl.org/\">worldwide\u003c/a> that hew to the same philosophy: empowering members to take ownership of their own recovery.[aside postID=news_12074674 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/012326_SINGINGHEALTH_GH_011-KQED.jpg'] When Poon moved into her own apartment two months later, Bray encouraged her to check it out, and said it’s been “monumental in her recovery.” There, she said, Poon is making friends, collaborating on a common purpose, learning to follow recipes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Her thoughts still return to memories of that conspiracy to electronically monitor her. In the lexicon of psychiatry, that’s known as a \u003ca href=\"https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/9599-delusional-disorder\">fixed delusion\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To Poon, it’s truth. But she said her medication appears to be helping. Meanwhile, she is embracing the coping mechanisms that she and Bray have worked on together: distraction from the inner life with a focus on the here and now.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Something like cooking is very grounding,” Bray said. “You’re very out of your head, you’re very in your body. Plus the aspect of community, I mean, I think community is really the thing that will heal us all.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Final pieces\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>So far, Hollywood 2.0 has moved more than 700 people off the streets, helping to slash the neighborhood’s homelessness by \u003ca href=\"https://www.rand.org/news/press/2025/07/number-of-unhoused-residents-drops-across-three-la.html\">nearly half\u003c/a> in 2024 alone.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12076580\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/20260309_MIGNON_23-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12076580\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/20260309_MIGNON_23-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/20260309_MIGNON_23-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/20260309_MIGNON_23-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/20260309_MIGNON_23-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Program director McKenzie Dowdle, left, chats with Mignon Annette Poon as they prepare lunch for members and staff in the kitchen at Fountain House Hollywood, also known as “the clubhouse” in Los Angeles, on March 9, 2026. \u003ccite>(Alisha Jucevic/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>There’s job counseling, and a new welcoming clinic for clients well enough to get there on their own. Poon will soon join them. An urgent care drop-in and peer-respite center is scheduled to open later this year, so those in crisis can be stabilized without the trauma of hospitalization.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And this fall, at more than 170 members and counting, Fountain House Hollywood will move to a much larger space.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A final step is now taking shape: persuading Hollywood businesses and residents \u003ca href=\"https://www.hollywood4wrd.org/hollywood-2-0/volunteer\">to take part\u003c/a>, by donating, hiring participants or committing to spend quality time with them by volunteering, leading classes and more.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s such a big, big change we’re looking to achieve,” said Morrison, “and that’s why I keep calling it a generational change. This is just the beginning of something.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>A calm life\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12081244\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 731px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/SabrinaMignonOriginalPhoto.jpeg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12081244\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/SabrinaMignonOriginalPhoto.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"731\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/SabrinaMignonOriginalPhoto.jpeg 731w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/SabrinaMignonOriginalPhoto-160x280.jpeg 160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 731px) 100vw, 731px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sabrina Bradley and her birth mother, Mignon Poon, attended the clubhouse’s 2024 Thanksgiving celebration. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Sabrina Bradley)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Last month, Poon returned to criminal court for the last time, for dismissal of her charges. Her life is calm, she said, anchored by the clubhouse — and a budding relationship with her daughter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Poon reached out to her daughter again once she was treated and sober.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“She likes strawberry milkshakes, so I would take her to Mel’s Diner,” Bradley said of her mother.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Together, they’ve taken two road trips to Las Vegas and are discovering common passions: butterflies, the colors pink — “girly stuff,” Bradley said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Her bathroom and my bathroom are like the same, you know, beauty products all over the place, hair products all over the place.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We still bonding,” said Poon. “We still working on our relationship.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state grant for the Hollywood 2.0 pilot program runs out next year. And MediCal, which has helped fund the program, is \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12051681/local-health-providers-prepare-for-medi-cal-cuts\">threatened by big federal cuts\u003c/a>. But Los Angeles County mental health leaders said they’ll find ways to keep the successful parts of the project going.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Already, they have plans to open clubhouses in six more neighborhoods. Each, they said, could become a hub for community-based healing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This reporting was supported in part by California Humanities, the California Health Care Foundation and the California Endowment. It’s part of \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"http://novemberinmysoul.com\">\u003cem>November In My Soul\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem>, a narrative podcast co-created by Lee Romney and former public defender Jenny Johnson that is slated for release in 2027\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>When Mignon Poon strode into the small clubhouse kitchen \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/los-angeles-county\">in Hollywood\u003c/a> on a morning in late November, a lunch recipe waited on the table: for barbecued chicken, mac and cheese and collard greens.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She pulled on a pair of hygienic gloves and, with Motown vibes wafting from a Bluetooth speaker, got to work with two fellow members of the clubhouse, called \u003ca href=\"https://www.fountainhouse.org/services/hollywood\">Fountain House Hollywood\u003c/a>, chatting and singing along as they cooked.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For Poon, 66, this easy camaraderie was nearly unimaginable just three years ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She’d spent decades living with severe, untreated mental illness, bouncing from the streets to homeless shelters. To quiet her mind, she self-medicated with alcohol and, sometimes, hard drugs. It all led to countless nights spent sleeping on the hard ground.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This place right here saved me,” Poon, whose caramel eyes shine with playful mischief, said at the clubhouse, a bustling collective that operates out of a repurposed Sunset Boulevard office space. “Besides get up and start drinking, I get dressed and come here. It gives me something to look forward to.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12076577\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/20260309_MIGNON_13-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12076577\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/20260309_MIGNON_13-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/20260309_MIGNON_13-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/20260309_MIGNON_13-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/20260309_MIGNON_13-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mignon Annette Poon is pictured at Fountain House Hollywood, also known as “the clubhouse” in Los Angeles, on March 9, 2026. \u003ccite>(Alisha Jucevic/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The private, nonprofit clubhouse is open to anyone diagnosed with a serious mental illness who lives, works or receives mental health treatment in Hollywood. The Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health doesn’t run it. In fact, there are no clinicians on staff.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>County mental health leaders partnered with a \u003ca href=\"https://www.fountainhouse.org/about\">storied New York-based nonprofit\u003c/a> to bring the clubhouse to Los Angeles, so their clients could participate. It’s part of an ambitious multilayered pilot project — which seeks to collaborate with community organizations to build an ecosystem of care that goes well beyond conventional clinical treatment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fountain House Hollywood is just one piece of that project to remake mental health care in the neighborhood, which officials termed “\u003ca href=\"https://www.hollywood4wrd.org/hollywood-2-0\">Hollywood 2.0.\u003c/a>”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hollywood 2.0 architects say intensive intervention by clinical teams, who deliver treatment on the streets and in shelters, is a must for people like Poon, who’ve survived unhoused and untreated for years, often with \u003ca href=\"http://www.samhsa.gov/substance-use/treatment/co-occurring-disorders\">co-occurring addictions\u003c/a>. So is safe and stable housing. But true recovery, they maintain, requires more: a sense of agency, purpose, belonging and joy, in community.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Poon, one of Hollywood 2.0’s earliest clients, is thriving. And when it comes to that sense of belonging, she and her care team agree: the clubhouse has been key.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those who choose to join come on weekdays, set the agenda and commit to one of two work assignments to keep the place running. Poon picked the hospitality team, which does all the shopping, meal planning, cooking and serving.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We respect each other,” she said of her peers. “It’s a family. It’s a community. It’s love.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>A core trauma \u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Poon is an elegant dresser who favors rose-tinted glasses that lend her an air of celebrity. She grew up in Albany, Georgia, three hours south of Atlanta. Her mom was born to a Black mother and white father; Her dad was Seminole Indian. “That made me international flavors,” she said, smiling.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Her mother earned four college degrees, but was often absent, Poon said, and alcoholism haunted the family for generations. At age 17, Poon ran away from home with a man she described as a pimp and a dope dealer.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp> “I didn’t know what sex trafficking meant,” she said. “No one talked about it back then.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He put her on a plane to San Francisco, where she peddled her body and his drugs. In time, she was jailed for selling drugs to an undercover cop. She got out, had a brief relationship, got pregnant, then moved to Los Angeles and was jailed again.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I wanted my daughter,” Poon said softly, “so I had her.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At 20 years old, Poon gave birth on May 8, 1980, just before Mother’s Day, in the jail ward of the county hospital. Her little girl, who she named Sabrina, was premature and drug addicted, and went straight to an incubator. Soon after, Poon lost her child to the foster care system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This is a trauma, Poon said she revisits every Mother’s Day, every Christmas — practically every day. A few years after her daughter was taken from her, she said she called the county to try to get her back.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They said, ‘Oh, she’s been adopted,’” Poon said. “That screwed me up. I was depressed and didn’t even know I was depressed. Didn’t take no medication.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She didn’t know it, but in addition to depression, she was experiencing cycles of mania and psychosis. Early each morning, as years turned to decades, she’d start drinking. She’d argue with shelter roommates and neighbors, she said, disputes she called “misunderstandings.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12076576\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/20260309_MIGNON_07-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12076576\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/20260309_MIGNON_07-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/20260309_MIGNON_07-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/20260309_MIGNON_07-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/20260309_MIGNON_07-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mignon Annette Poon leads a morning meeting with the hospitality team at Fountain House Hollywood, also known as “the clubhouse” in Los Angeles, on March 9, 2026. \u003ccite>(Alisha Jucevic/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“I would get places and lose them,” said Poon. “I was homeless.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Her eldest sister, Rosemary Swan, 69, kept track of Poon’s journey whenever she could: a decade or more in Washington D.C., a long stint on the streets of Atlanta, and through Poon’s travels in the Midwest.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“For a long time she was like a \u003ca href=\"https://www.nami.org/blog/understanding-dual-diagnosis/\">dual-diagnosis\u003c/a> case,” said Swan, who noted that mental illness, like alcoholism, also runs in the family. “It just went unmanaged.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Every time she spoke to her younger sister, that core trauma came up: the loss of her daughter. So, Swan tried to help Poon find Sabrina.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“For over 25 years, she worried me about it,” Swan said. “I kept telling her, I’m trying, I’m trying. It hurt me that I couldn’t find the child. It’s probably why she went back to California. She never gave up.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>A reunion\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In 2016, Poon returned to the streets of Los Angeles. Then, in 2018, while staying at a shelter in South Los Angeles, she picked up her cell phone and went down a rabbit hole.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She knew her daughter’s first name and birthdate. A Google search yielded gold, because Sabrina Bradley — her adoptive father’s last name — had a booming \u003ca href=\"https://www.skinbysabrina.com/?srsltid=AfmBOorTkD-tr6DmSKh_JklKwcdqZpILJyuVhp4J6FhOfmwPo95nQJS5\">skin care business\u003c/a> and big \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/sabrinatoday/\">online presence\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12080804\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/MignonSabrinaReuniteOct2018-scaled.jpeg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12080804\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/MignonSabrinaReuniteOct2018-scaled.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"2560\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/MignonSabrinaReuniteOct2018-scaled.jpeg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/MignonSabrinaReuniteOct2018-2000x2667.jpeg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/MignonSabrinaReuniteOct2018-160x213.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/MignonSabrinaReuniteOct2018-1152x1536.jpeg 1152w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/MignonSabrinaReuniteOct2018-1536x2048.jpeg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sabrina Bradley and her birth mother, Mignon Poon, embrace after reuniting in October 2018. Today, with Poon in recovery, they’re bonding. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Sabrina Bradley)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>As a child, Bradley said, she’d tell her dad, “The angels are around me, my mom is near me. And everyone would be, like, ‘there she goes in her fantasy world.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By age 29, while living in Portland, she made a vow.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I told myself, I’m going to move [back] to Los Angeles, and I’m going to do two things,” said Bradley, now 45. “Find my mother and create a name for myself in the beauty business.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She achieved her second goal, and on a Sunday in 2018, was praying on the first.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I said God, if you’re real, just give me a sign, just show me that my mom is near me,” Bradley recalled. “I won’t ask for anything else. But if you’re real, please show me. Please show me.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That evening, after a schedule packed with clients, her phone rang. The woman on the line asked for “Sabrina, the esthetician.” Bradley assumed she wanted to book a facial. “No,’ the caller responded. “My name’s Mignon Poon. I’m your mom.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bradley went straight to the shelter and brought Poon into her home. But her mother was still using drugs, Bradley said, and her mental illness remained untreated. Police showed up at the house more than once when Poon was having what appeared to be a manic episode, banging on the doors of random neighbors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They’d been together for just three weeks. Then, Bradley put her mom in a cab, and communications between them went dark.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Me and her had a misunderstanding,” said Poon. “I had to go back to the shelter.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As Poon returned to her old life, something was happening in LA County mental health offices and nonprofit community meeting spaces. The project that would come to be known as Hollywood 2.0 was taking shape.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>The right to a whole life\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The seed was planted more than a dozen years ago. The Hollywood neighborhood was benefiting from a burst of investment — hotels, housing and retail. But homelessness was also on the rise. \u003ca href=\"https://www.heartforwardla.org/our-staff\">Kerry Morrison\u003c/a>, who then ran Hollywood’s business improvement district, said she came face to face daily with people “that stayed for months if not years in the same alley or the same bus bench.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Morrison was not a mental health expert, but she was a community leader. She had helped pull together a \u003ca href=\"https://www.hollywood4wrd.org/about\">coalition \u003c/a>of Hollywood homeless service providers and nonprofits, and in 2013, they identified the people outside “most likely to die unless we intervened.” All were living with serious mental illness.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12076575\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/20260309_MIGNON_05-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12076575\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/20260309_MIGNON_05-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/20260309_MIGNON_05-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/20260309_MIGNON_05-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/20260309_MIGNON_05-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The meditation room and library at Fountain House Hollywood, also known as “the clubhouse” in Los Angeles, on March 9, 2026. \u003ccite>(Alisha Jucevic/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In 2015, she applied for a fellowship to study one question: “Why is it so hard to help people with serious mental illness move from the streets into a safe place, and who is doing it better?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Her research took her all the way to \u003ca href=\"https://mindsitenews.org/2021/09/29/the-old-asylum-is-gone-today-a-mental-health-system-serves-all/\">Trieste\u003c/a>, Italy, a port city on the Adriatic coast. Trieste had emptied its psychiatric hospital system decades earlier, just like \u003ca href=\"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/7356002/\">California did\u003c/a> starting in the late 1960s. But Trieste shifted instead towards something more holistic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rather than the U.S. top-down approach of “experts” dictating treatment, Morrison said, she witnessed respectful collaboration in Trieste.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They talk more about life plans and life aspirations than diagnoses or symptoms,” she said, “and when you operate with that kind of cultural predisposition, all the edges get softened, trust begins to emerge.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Social collectives provide paid jobs and community connections to those living with serious mental illness. The hospital’s small psychiatric ward was unlocked, not even full, and Morrison saw no one living on the streets with untreated psychosis. The community clinics, where staff and clients share meals, she said, felt “incredibly warm and open and free. You can come anytime to talk to anyone, without an appointment.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12076574\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/20260309_MIGNON_03-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12076574\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/20260309_MIGNON_03-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/20260309_MIGNON_03-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/20260309_MIGNON_03-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/20260309_MIGNON_03-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mignon Annette Poon shows off the small store area at Fountain House Hollywood, also known as “the clubhouse” in Los Angeles, on March 9, 2026. \u003ccite>(Alisha Jucevic/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Morrison said she wept as her first visit came to an end.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t know what to do with this,” she told her guide. “I run a business improvement district. No one is ever gonna believe me that you guys are so kind and compassionate.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She was wrong. She cold-called Jonathan Sherin, the then-head of the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health, and he went all in. In 2017, he and Morrison traveled back to Italy for \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gnYydKZzIGM\">a tour and a conference \u003c/a>focused on the importance of nurturing aspirations, relationships and personal fulfillment in those living with mental illness. Joining them was a small group of Los Angeles County leaders, mental health advocates, law enforcement representatives and a judge.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Everybody was gobsmacked,” Morrison said. “And that’s how it started.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The region served by Trieste’s mental health system is home to fewer than 300,000 people, compared to Los Angeles County’s population of nearly 10 million. Italy has socialized medicine. The U.S. does not. And here, with a crisis on the streets, so many public health officials stress that \u003ca href=\"https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00127-020-01849-1\">getting people inside \u003c/a>is paramount.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The small group of travelers knew they had to adapt their approach to those realities, and for a true community solution, they had to concentrate the effort. They settled on Hollywood.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2022, the California Mental Health Oversight and Accountability Commission awarded the county a \u003ca href=\"https://file.lacounty.gov/SDSInter/bos/supdocs/6e2457e0-2310-4564-a15a-e1c249bbbee2.pdf\">grant of nearly $117 million \u003c/a>for a five-year pilot. The goal: to seed a new culture of recovery in the community.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>A crossroads\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>That summer, another “misunderstanding.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Poon was arrested for assaulting a drinking buddy, an elderly neighbor at an East Los Angeles apartment building where she’d finally found herself a place. She was facing felony charges and possible state prison time. From jail, she called Swan, who tapped her life savings to get her sister out on bond.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But once Mignon walked free, she refused contact with the family, Swan said, so she wrote the public defender.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Drug testing, mental health treatment, anything but prison,” she pleaded in a letter, and she begged him to get her sister a diagnosis. “She [has] been needing one for about fifty years, if not sixty,” she said. “I told him!”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, Poon was back on \u003ca href=\"https://homeless.lacounty.gov/skid-row-2/\">Skid Row\u003c/a>. She was feeling the weight of her age, so she made a choice to head to Hollywood, where neighborhood homeless outreach teams regularly “wake you up and ask you, ‘Why you not housed?’” she said. “Then you explain your situation, and they try to help you get into a shelter.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This was her big break. Poon landed at a Hollywood women’s shelter where staff reached out to the Los Angeles County Mental Health Department on her behalf — just as they were layering key pieces of the Hollywood 2.0 pilot into place.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s when I got my social worker, therapist and my psychiatrist,” said Poon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Today, as two of her Hollywood 2.0 clinicians put it, Poon’s inner spirit shines through. Dr. Jonathan Gomez, her first psychiatrist under the program, and Eleanor Bray, her current social worker, described her as charismatic, sweet, welcoming and warm, with a dose of sass and a sense of humor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But when Gomez first visited Poon in August of 2023 at the shelter, she struck him as “one of the most symptomatically-distressed people I’ve seen.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Poon believed the neighbor she’d assaulted was part of a conspiracy to electronically monitor her and had implanted a device in her foot, he said. She was so focused on this violation that she could hardly finish a sentence.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was like, yeah, let’s look at your foot,” he said. “Let’s also talk about how much of this comes and goes with your sleep pattern and with the substance use.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Poon has a diagnosis now: schizoaffective disorder, bipolar type. Mania from bipolar disorder can cause psychosis. Poon’s diagnosis is schizoaffective because she sometimes experiences psychosis when she\u003cem> isn’t\u003c/em> manic. But what matters more than that diagnostic label is alleviating distress.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12076579\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/20260309_MIGNON_22-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12076579\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/20260309_MIGNON_22-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/20260309_MIGNON_22-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/20260309_MIGNON_22-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/20260309_MIGNON_22-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Program director McKenzie Dowdle, left, helps Mignon Annette Poon prepare lunch for members and staff in the kitchen at Fountain House Hollywood, also known as “the clubhouse” in Los Angeles, on March 9, 2026. \u003ccite>(Alisha Jucevic/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The Hollywood 2.0 approach had him visiting her at the shelter once a week. It allowed them to work together to fine-tune her medication regimen.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think they help me stay focused, stay positive, stay uplifted,” Poon said of the meds, “helping my thoughts to be clear.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Soon, Poon was ready to move to transitional housing. But she was feeling paranoid about her shelter roommate, Gomez said, and told him she might head back to the streets. With his input, her care team got her into \u003ca href=\"https://homeless.lacounty.gov/news/help-at-a-hollywood-hotel/\">The Mark Twain Hotel\u003c/a>, which had just been repurposed as Hollywood 2.0 transitional housing with intensive onsite support — and single rooms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was there, more than two and a half years ago, that Poon took her last sip of alcohol. Five months later, to her sister’s delight, a judge granted her mental health diversion. If she stayed on course, the felony charges against her would be dismissed. And in September 2024, Mignon’s team helped her move into her very own subsidized apartment.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>“Community will heal us all”\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Getting a client medicated, sober and permanently housed is often considered the pinnacle of success. But after years in survival mode, said Bray, Poon’s social worker, finding oneself alone without all the support of transitional housing programs “can be quite shocking.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Fountain House Hollywood clubhouse had opened its doors on Sunset Boulevard in July of 2024, joining more than 300 others \u003ca href=\"https://clubhouse-intl.org/\">worldwide\u003c/a> that hew to the same philosophy: empowering members to take ownership of their own recovery.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp> When Poon moved into her own apartment two months later, Bray encouraged her to check it out, and said it’s been “monumental in her recovery.” There, she said, Poon is making friends, collaborating on a common purpose, learning to follow recipes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Her thoughts still return to memories of that conspiracy to electronically monitor her. In the lexicon of psychiatry, that’s known as a \u003ca href=\"https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/9599-delusional-disorder\">fixed delusion\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To Poon, it’s truth. But she said her medication appears to be helping. Meanwhile, she is embracing the coping mechanisms that she and Bray have worked on together: distraction from the inner life with a focus on the here and now.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Something like cooking is very grounding,” Bray said. “You’re very out of your head, you’re very in your body. Plus the aspect of community, I mean, I think community is really the thing that will heal us all.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Final pieces\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>So far, Hollywood 2.0 has moved more than 700 people off the streets, helping to slash the neighborhood’s homelessness by \u003ca href=\"https://www.rand.org/news/press/2025/07/number-of-unhoused-residents-drops-across-three-la.html\">nearly half\u003c/a> in 2024 alone.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12076580\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/20260309_MIGNON_23-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12076580\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/20260309_MIGNON_23-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/20260309_MIGNON_23-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/20260309_MIGNON_23-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/20260309_MIGNON_23-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Program director McKenzie Dowdle, left, chats with Mignon Annette Poon as they prepare lunch for members and staff in the kitchen at Fountain House Hollywood, also known as “the clubhouse” in Los Angeles, on March 9, 2026. \u003ccite>(Alisha Jucevic/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>There’s job counseling, and a new welcoming clinic for clients well enough to get there on their own. Poon will soon join them. An urgent care drop-in and peer-respite center is scheduled to open later this year, so those in crisis can be stabilized without the trauma of hospitalization.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And this fall, at more than 170 members and counting, Fountain House Hollywood will move to a much larger space.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A final step is now taking shape: persuading Hollywood businesses and residents \u003ca href=\"https://www.hollywood4wrd.org/hollywood-2-0/volunteer\">to take part\u003c/a>, by donating, hiring participants or committing to spend quality time with them by volunteering, leading classes and more.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s such a big, big change we’re looking to achieve,” said Morrison, “and that’s why I keep calling it a generational change. This is just the beginning of something.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>A calm life\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12081244\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 731px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/SabrinaMignonOriginalPhoto.jpeg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12081244\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/SabrinaMignonOriginalPhoto.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"731\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/SabrinaMignonOriginalPhoto.jpeg 731w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/SabrinaMignonOriginalPhoto-160x280.jpeg 160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 731px) 100vw, 731px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sabrina Bradley and her birth mother, Mignon Poon, attended the clubhouse’s 2024 Thanksgiving celebration. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Sabrina Bradley)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Last month, Poon returned to criminal court for the last time, for dismissal of her charges. Her life is calm, she said, anchored by the clubhouse — and a budding relationship with her daughter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Poon reached out to her daughter again once she was treated and sober.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“She likes strawberry milkshakes, so I would take her to Mel’s Diner,” Bradley said of her mother.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Together, they’ve taken two road trips to Las Vegas and are discovering common passions: butterflies, the colors pink — “girly stuff,” Bradley said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Her bathroom and my bathroom are like the same, you know, beauty products all over the place, hair products all over the place.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We still bonding,” said Poon. “We still working on our relationship.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state grant for the Hollywood 2.0 pilot program runs out next year. And MediCal, which has helped fund the program, is \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12051681/local-health-providers-prepare-for-medi-cal-cuts\">threatened by big federal cuts\u003c/a>. But Los Angeles County mental health leaders said they’ll find ways to keep the successful parts of the project going.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Already, they have plans to open clubhouses in six more neighborhoods. Each, they said, could become a hub for community-based healing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This reporting was supported in part by California Humanities, the California Health Care Foundation and the California Endowment. It’s part of \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"http://novemberinmysoul.com\">\u003cem>November In My Soul\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem>, a narrative podcast co-created by Lee Romney and former public defender Jenny Johnson that is slated for release in 2027\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"slug": "nine-missing-following-avalanche-in-nevada-county",
"title": "Nine Missing Following Avalanche in Nevada County",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cb>Here are the morning’s top stories on Wednesday, February 18, 2026\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Search and rescue crews are looking for nine backcountry skiers after \u003ca href=\"https://www.capradio.org/articles/2026/02/17/six-skiers-rescued-after-nevada-county-avalanche-search-continues-for-nine-others-missing/\">an avalanche near Castle Peak in the Sierra Nevada\u003c/a> Tuesday morning. Six people were safely rescued. Two of them were transported to the hospital for treatment.\u003c/span>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The city of Los Angeles is looking to ban the construction and operation of some private detention centers. This comes amid reports that warehouses across the country are being eyed as potential detention centers, by President Trump and federal immigration officials. \u003c/span>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Work is slow in Hollywood right now. But at least one new type of production is hiring. They are bingeable shows made to be watched on your phone. And they’re called vertical micro dramas.\u003c/span>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003ch2 class=\"page-title\">\u003ca href=\"https://www.capradio.org/articles/2026/02/17/six-skiers-rescued-after-nevada-county-avalanche-search-continues-for-nine-others-missing/\">\u003cstrong>Search continues for nine skiers missing after Nevada County avalanche\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The Nevada County Sheriff’s Office says six backcountry skiers who survived an avalanche Tuesday have been rescued.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Officials said it took search and rescue teams several hours to reach the survivors and transport them to safety due to extreme weather conditions. The six skiers suffered varying injuries, and two were transported to a hospital for treatment. The survivors had been told to shelter in place at the avalanche site as they were awaiting rescue.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The sheriff’s office said the search for the remaining nine skiers who were caught in the avalanche is ongoing, pending weather conditions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Blackbird Mountain Guides, an outdoor activities company located in Truckee, \u003ca href=\"https://blackbirdguides.com/pages/live-incident-updates\">released a statement Tuesday afternoon\u003c/a> saying its guides and clients were involved in the incident, and that it is coordinating with the Nevada County Sheriff’s Office. The company said the 16 people had been staying at the Frog Lake huts in the Castle Peak area since Feb. 15. “The group was in the process of returning to the trailhead at the conclusion of a three-day trip when the incident occurred,” the statement read.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.sierraavalanchecenter.org/\">Sierra Avalanche Center\u003c/a>, which provides forecasts and information for backcountry travel in the region, issued a warning for the greater Lake Tahoe area, including Castle Peak, hours before the avalanche occurred. Lead forecaster Brandon Schwartz said the area had received two to three feet of snow in the preceding 48 hours, falling at a rate of two to four inches per hour. He said weak layers in the existing snowpack from a dry spell in January and February are adding to the dangers.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2 class=\"ArticlePage-headline\">\u003ca href=\"https://laist.com/news/politics/la-zoning-law-ban-some-private-detention-centers-contracting-with-ice\">\u003cstrong>LA revives zoning law that could ban some private detention centers from contracting with ICE\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The L.A. City Council has taken a step toward reactivating a zoning code that could prohibit the construction and operation of private detention centers for unaccompanied children.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The ordinance is meant to prevent private facilities from contracting with federal law enforcement agencies like ICE, according to Councilmember Tim McOsker, who introduced the motion last Wednesday. The zoning ordinance was first introduced in 2019 in response to President Donald Trump’s immigration policies during his first term. The file was drafted in 2021, but was never officially adopted, and therefore it expired in 2024.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The City Council\u003cb> \u003c/b>last week\u003cb> \u003c/b>voted to revive the file and update the drafted zoning code in response to immigration raids. “The concern, of course, was the worry that profiteers, private entities working with the federal government, were creating detention centers across the country,” McOsker said during the council meeting. “Those were creating human rights violations and poor living conditions, disease, death and harms that were unconstitutional to residents of the United States.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Department of Homeland Security \u003ca class=\"Link\" href=\"https://www.dhs.gov/news/2025/12/11/more-10000-illegal-aliens-arrested-sanctuary-los-angeles-dhs-launched-operations\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-cms-ai=\"0\">\u003cu>reported\u003c/u>\u003c/a> it has detained more than 10,000 people in Los Angeles since raids started in June. The raids have mostly upended immigrant, working-class communities and negatively hit the local economy, according to a recent \u003ca class=\"Link\" href=\"https://laist.com/news/politics/la-county-identifies-zip-codes-hit-hardest-by-ice\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-cms-ai=\"0\">\u003cu>L.A. County report\u003c/u>\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In response to the raids, the city has limited power, but McOsker said it has authority over land use and he’s asking the city to consider wielding that power. “Do we want to prohibit private detention centers in every zone in the city of Los Angeles?” McOsker said. He added that L.A. has an opportunity now to update its zoning laws to regulate private detention centers. McOsker said he doesn’t know of any proposed private detention centers in L.A., but that the facilities have been reported in at least eight states.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kcrw.com/stories/hollywood-production-booms-vertically\">\u003cstrong>Hollywood production booms — vertically\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Work is painfully slow in Hollywood right now, but not for vertical microdramas — bingeable, campy shows made to be watched on your phone in episodes that cycle past in 90 seconds or less.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Verticals generated \u003ca class=\"rich-text-hyperlink\" href=\"https://www.owlandco.com/insights/the-short-report-ep-1-the-long-view-on-short-form\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cu>$1.3 billion in the US in 2025\u003c/u>\u003c/a>, according to the streaming consultant Owl and Co., as millions of people watched shows like \u003ca class=\"rich-text-hyperlink\" href=\"https://www.imdb.com/title/tt35180688/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003ci>\u003cu>Fake Married to my Billionaire CEO\u003c/u>\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci>,\u003c/i> \u003ca class=\"rich-text-hyperlink\" href=\"https://www.imdb.com/title/tt38573297/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003ci>\u003cu>Watch Out I’m a Lady Boss\u003c/u>\u003c/i>\u003c/a>, and \u003ca class=\"rich-text-hyperlink\" href=\"https://www.imdb.com/title/tt39375734/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003ci>\u003cu>Kissing The Wrong Brother\u003c/u>\u003c/i>\u003c/a>. Revenue comes from advertising and the fees people pay to watch the shows. Now, studios like \u003ca class=\"rich-text-hyperlink\" href=\"https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/fox-entertainment-invests-in-holywater-ai-microdramas-1236396802/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cu>Fox\u003c/u>\u003c/a> and \u003ca class=\"rich-text-hyperlink\" href=\"https://variety.com/2026/tv/news/disney-embraces-microcontent-short-form-streaming-1236625030/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cu>Disney\u003c/u>\u003c/a> are investing in the medium.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The success of verticals, and their appeal to a mostly female audience, has echoes in the history of cinema, says cinematographer Michael Pessah, who teaches at the American Film Institute. “One hundred and ten years ago, when cinema was still sort of working out what its language was, you had these serialized melodramas that, maybe not coincidentally, really spoke to the female audience of the time,” says Pessah. “These were some of the first really, really successful narrative films.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pessah says today’s verticals remind him of music videos in the 1980s and ‘90s, which launched the careers of filmmakers like Spike Jonze. “Music videos were a place for innovative voices, and people with ambitious and new ways of seeing the world,” he says. “It became this hotbed of experimentation and a second film school for so many filmmakers.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Today verticals appeal to production companies because of the price tag: most cost between $150,000 and $200,000 dollars per show (one show can have 60 to 90 episodes). That’s because they are shot on simple sets, quickly (but not on phones – on real cameras), and most of the work is non-union.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kylie Karson, co-founder and VP of development and production with \u003ca class=\"rich-text-hyperlink\" href=\"https://www.cheratv.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cu>Chera TV\u003c/u>\u003c/a>, a new Encino-based production company and streaming platform that makes verticals, moved to LA in 2022 to act. She started working in verticals full-time in 2024. She describes the company as a creator-led artistic space that pays workers fairly and prioritizes set safety. “There needs to be people in charge that actually care about the people making these projects,” says Karson.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She founded Chera TV with fellow actor Candace Mizga, who has acted in over 30 verticals in the last two years. It’s how she got her break in Hollywood right out of acting school at NYU. “My main goal was never to be famous or to be huge. It was always just to be a full-time working actor,” says Mizga. “So for that to happen, it changed my entire life.” The women wanted to start their own company after experiencing systemic problems in verticals. They complain about a lack of diversity in casting, and productions that don’t hire intimacy coordinators or stunt coordinators.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "The Sierra Avalanche Center issued a warning for the greater Lake Tahoe area hours before the avalanche.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cb>Here are the morning’s top stories on Wednesday, February 18, 2026\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Search and rescue crews are looking for nine backcountry skiers after \u003ca href=\"https://www.capradio.org/articles/2026/02/17/six-skiers-rescued-after-nevada-county-avalanche-search-continues-for-nine-others-missing/\">an avalanche near Castle Peak in the Sierra Nevada\u003c/a> Tuesday morning. Six people were safely rescued. Two of them were transported to the hospital for treatment.\u003c/span>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The city of Los Angeles is looking to ban the construction and operation of some private detention centers. This comes amid reports that warehouses across the country are being eyed as potential detention centers, by President Trump and federal immigration officials. \u003c/span>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Work is slow in Hollywood right now. But at least one new type of production is hiring. They are bingeable shows made to be watched on your phone. And they’re called vertical micro dramas.\u003c/span>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003ch2 class=\"page-title\">\u003ca href=\"https://www.capradio.org/articles/2026/02/17/six-skiers-rescued-after-nevada-county-avalanche-search-continues-for-nine-others-missing/\">\u003cstrong>Search continues for nine skiers missing after Nevada County avalanche\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The Nevada County Sheriff’s Office says six backcountry skiers who survived an avalanche Tuesday have been rescued.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Officials said it took search and rescue teams several hours to reach the survivors and transport them to safety due to extreme weather conditions. The six skiers suffered varying injuries, and two were transported to a hospital for treatment. The survivors had been told to shelter in place at the avalanche site as they were awaiting rescue.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The sheriff’s office said the search for the remaining nine skiers who were caught in the avalanche is ongoing, pending weather conditions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Blackbird Mountain Guides, an outdoor activities company located in Truckee, \u003ca href=\"https://blackbirdguides.com/pages/live-incident-updates\">released a statement Tuesday afternoon\u003c/a> saying its guides and clients were involved in the incident, and that it is coordinating with the Nevada County Sheriff’s Office. The company said the 16 people had been staying at the Frog Lake huts in the Castle Peak area since Feb. 15. “The group was in the process of returning to the trailhead at the conclusion of a three-day trip when the incident occurred,” the statement read.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.sierraavalanchecenter.org/\">Sierra Avalanche Center\u003c/a>, which provides forecasts and information for backcountry travel in the region, issued a warning for the greater Lake Tahoe area, including Castle Peak, hours before the avalanche occurred. Lead forecaster Brandon Schwartz said the area had received two to three feet of snow in the preceding 48 hours, falling at a rate of two to four inches per hour. He said weak layers in the existing snowpack from a dry spell in January and February are adding to the dangers.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2 class=\"ArticlePage-headline\">\u003ca href=\"https://laist.com/news/politics/la-zoning-law-ban-some-private-detention-centers-contracting-with-ice\">\u003cstrong>LA revives zoning law that could ban some private detention centers from contracting with ICE\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The L.A. City Council has taken a step toward reactivating a zoning code that could prohibit the construction and operation of private detention centers for unaccompanied children.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The ordinance is meant to prevent private facilities from contracting with federal law enforcement agencies like ICE, according to Councilmember Tim McOsker, who introduced the motion last Wednesday. The zoning ordinance was first introduced in 2019 in response to President Donald Trump’s immigration policies during his first term. The file was drafted in 2021, but was never officially adopted, and therefore it expired in 2024.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The City Council\u003cb> \u003c/b>last week\u003cb> \u003c/b>voted to revive the file and update the drafted zoning code in response to immigration raids. “The concern, of course, was the worry that profiteers, private entities working with the federal government, were creating detention centers across the country,” McOsker said during the council meeting. “Those were creating human rights violations and poor living conditions, disease, death and harms that were unconstitutional to residents of the United States.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Department of Homeland Security \u003ca class=\"Link\" href=\"https://www.dhs.gov/news/2025/12/11/more-10000-illegal-aliens-arrested-sanctuary-los-angeles-dhs-launched-operations\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-cms-ai=\"0\">\u003cu>reported\u003c/u>\u003c/a> it has detained more than 10,000 people in Los Angeles since raids started in June. The raids have mostly upended immigrant, working-class communities and negatively hit the local economy, according to a recent \u003ca class=\"Link\" href=\"https://laist.com/news/politics/la-county-identifies-zip-codes-hit-hardest-by-ice\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-cms-ai=\"0\">\u003cu>L.A. County report\u003c/u>\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In response to the raids, the city has limited power, but McOsker said it has authority over land use and he’s asking the city to consider wielding that power. “Do we want to prohibit private detention centers in every zone in the city of Los Angeles?” McOsker said. He added that L.A. has an opportunity now to update its zoning laws to regulate private detention centers. McOsker said he doesn’t know of any proposed private detention centers in L.A., but that the facilities have been reported in at least eight states.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kcrw.com/stories/hollywood-production-booms-vertically\">\u003cstrong>Hollywood production booms — vertically\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Work is painfully slow in Hollywood right now, but not for vertical microdramas — bingeable, campy shows made to be watched on your phone in episodes that cycle past in 90 seconds or less.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Verticals generated \u003ca class=\"rich-text-hyperlink\" href=\"https://www.owlandco.com/insights/the-short-report-ep-1-the-long-view-on-short-form\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cu>$1.3 billion in the US in 2025\u003c/u>\u003c/a>, according to the streaming consultant Owl and Co., as millions of people watched shows like \u003ca class=\"rich-text-hyperlink\" href=\"https://www.imdb.com/title/tt35180688/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003ci>\u003cu>Fake Married to my Billionaire CEO\u003c/u>\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci>,\u003c/i> \u003ca class=\"rich-text-hyperlink\" href=\"https://www.imdb.com/title/tt38573297/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003ci>\u003cu>Watch Out I’m a Lady Boss\u003c/u>\u003c/i>\u003c/a>, and \u003ca class=\"rich-text-hyperlink\" href=\"https://www.imdb.com/title/tt39375734/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003ci>\u003cu>Kissing The Wrong Brother\u003c/u>\u003c/i>\u003c/a>. Revenue comes from advertising and the fees people pay to watch the shows. Now, studios like \u003ca class=\"rich-text-hyperlink\" href=\"https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/fox-entertainment-invests-in-holywater-ai-microdramas-1236396802/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cu>Fox\u003c/u>\u003c/a> and \u003ca class=\"rich-text-hyperlink\" href=\"https://variety.com/2026/tv/news/disney-embraces-microcontent-short-form-streaming-1236625030/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cu>Disney\u003c/u>\u003c/a> are investing in the medium.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The success of verticals, and their appeal to a mostly female audience, has echoes in the history of cinema, says cinematographer Michael Pessah, who teaches at the American Film Institute. “One hundred and ten years ago, when cinema was still sort of working out what its language was, you had these serialized melodramas that, maybe not coincidentally, really spoke to the female audience of the time,” says Pessah. “These were some of the first really, really successful narrative films.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pessah says today’s verticals remind him of music videos in the 1980s and ‘90s, which launched the careers of filmmakers like Spike Jonze. “Music videos were a place for innovative voices, and people with ambitious and new ways of seeing the world,” he says. “It became this hotbed of experimentation and a second film school for so many filmmakers.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Today verticals appeal to production companies because of the price tag: most cost between $150,000 and $200,000 dollars per show (one show can have 60 to 90 episodes). That’s because they are shot on simple sets, quickly (but not on phones – on real cameras), and most of the work is non-union.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kylie Karson, co-founder and VP of development and production with \u003ca class=\"rich-text-hyperlink\" href=\"https://www.cheratv.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cu>Chera TV\u003c/u>\u003c/a>, a new Encino-based production company and streaming platform that makes verticals, moved to LA in 2022 to act. She started working in verticals full-time in 2024. She describes the company as a creator-led artistic space that pays workers fairly and prioritizes set safety. “There needs to be people in charge that actually care about the people making these projects,” says Karson.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She founded Chera TV with fellow actor Candace Mizga, who has acted in over 30 verticals in the last two years. It’s how she got her break in Hollywood right out of acting school at NYU. “My main goal was never to be famous or to be huge. It was always just to be a full-time working actor,” says Mizga. “So for that to happen, it changed my entire life.” The women wanted to start their own company after experiencing systemic problems in verticals. They complain about a lack of diversity in casting, and productions that don’t hire intimacy coordinators or stunt coordinators.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "faced-with-budget-woes-gavin-newsom-wants-more-tax-credits-for-hollywood",
"title": "Faced With Budget Woes, Gavin Newsom Wants More Tax Credits for Hollywood",
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"headTitle": "Faced With Budget Woes, Gavin Newsom Wants More Tax Credits for Hollywood | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003c!-- Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ -->\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story was originally published by \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/\">CalMatters\u003c/a>. \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/subscribe-to-calmatters/\">Sign up\u003c/a> for their newsletters.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Staring down a $12 billion budget deficit, Gov. Gavin Newsom \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/politics/2025/05/california-budget-revision-may-2025/\">proposed steep cuts\u003c/a> to California’s health care services and public universities — all while promising more dollars to Hollywood.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Newsom on Wednesday doubled down on \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/bills/ca_202520260ab1138\">his proposal to expand\u003c/a> the state’s investment in film and television tax credits, \u003ca href=\"https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/3502#:~:text=California%20Adopted%20First%20Film%20Tax,credits%20under%20this%20new%20program.\">incentives created\u003c/a> by then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2009 to boost California’s marquee industry. If passed, the state would allocate up to $750 million each year to film production, up from the current $330 million.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite saying that any funding request from Los Angeles unrelated to disaster recovery would be a “non-starter,” Newsom deemed the tax credit expansion essential to reviving an ailing industry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s on life support,” he told reporters. “We need to step things up, and this is all part and parcel of economic recovery, economic growth.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Newsom’s plan would also increase the amount each qualified applicant can receive, extend the credit to live action and animated series and devote more money toward independent films.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But his proposal has drawn criticism from both Democrats and Republicans who argue the state should prioritize essential programs in a tight budget year. Assembly Republican Leader James Gallagher of Chico called Newsom’s proposal “tone-deaf.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m not sure the rest of California will be OK with their senior programs, their disability programs, their education programs being cut in order to prop up a regional industry,” said \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/legislators/corey-jackson-165443\">Assemblymember Corey Jackson\u003c/a>, a Moreno Valley Democrat.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=news_12039465 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250323-DEM-TOWN-HALLS-MD-13-KQED-1-1020x680.jpg']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some lawmakers warned that other states could respond with even more aggressive incentives, creating a “race to the bottom.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It seems eminently predictable that we will be back next year with a proposal that says: ‘We’ve fallen behind again. I don’t know what happened. And now we need to do more,’” said Sen. \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/legislators/christopher-cabaldon-5699\">Christopher Cabaldon\u003c/a>, a Napa Democrat, in March.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite those concerns, the proposal has advanced in the state Legislature with little resistance. Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel, a Los Angeles Democrat who chairs the powerful budget committee, told CalMatters that anyone seeking large funding increases this year “should stop wasting people’s time” because there isn’t enough money.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Newsom’s proposal is different, Gabriel said, because it would expand a longstanding, tested program that would also help offset the impact of the L.A. wildfires.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For Newsom, a lame-duck governor with presidential ambitions, expanding the tax credits could please the wealthy Hollywood donors who could propel his campaign.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the handout can easily be portrayed as a tax break for the rich.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The ads kind of make themselves,” said Kim Nalder, a political science professor at California State University, Sacramento. “It’s been effective in previous years to … use (Hollywood) as an example of unserious, privileged waste.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Saving Hollywood\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Hollywood has suffered. A “quadruple-whammy” of the COVID-19 pandemic that shut down productions, a \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/actors-strike-contract-a7a529acaf6b5b38aac93722db54c193\">Hollywood writers strike\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/politics/capitol/2025/01/la-fires-california-legislature-bills/\">deadly wildfires\u003c/a> and growing production incentives from other states that lured movies out of California have decreased its nationwide share in film industry employment from 54% in 2010 to 46% in 2023, according to the bill analysis. Film production levels in Los Angeles also saw a \u003ca href=\"https://filmla.com/la-on-location-filming-falls-in-first-quarter/\">sharp drop-off\u003c/a> in recent years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The industry is also struggling to compete globally, so much so that even President Donald Trump has weighed in, ordering a \u003ca href=\"https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/trump-announces-100-tariff-movies-produced-outside-us-2025-05-04/\">100% tariff on overseas productions\u003c/a>, though he has given no details. In response, Newsom has offered to work with Trump to \u003ca href=\"https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/may/06/newsom-trump-movie-tariffs\">develop a $7.5 billion federal tax credit\u003c/a>.[aside postID=news_12040025 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/GavinNewsom2025AP2-1020x680.jpg']“I applaud President Trump for recognizing that we are losing a lot of films to foreign countries, and I hope he steps up,” Newsom said Wednesday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The proposed state film tax credit expansion has united motion picture studios and entertainment industry workers, but it is the unions that have been leading the fight.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The groups backing the plan have poured at least $8.4 million into lawmakers’ coffers since 2015, including nearly $6.5 million from the \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/organizations/-2947#financials\">California State Council of Laborers\u003c/a> alone, according to an analysis of CalMatters’ Digital Democracy database. Walt Disney, a top supporter, has given nearly $750,000 to lawmakers since 2015.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dozens of unionized workers have filled legislative hearing rooms and spilled into the hallways as they testify in support.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are the thousands of artisans whose names whip by in the credit roll at the end of the movie. Not those that appear in huge letters and fade slowly at the beginning of the movie. We don’t go to the award shows. We work the award shows,” \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/hearings/258945?t=896&f=9cdd49a18e32c5cbd74ef45e6426401c\">said Renata Ray\u003c/a>, representing a chapter of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nalder said that is a smart political move since labor unions hold so much political sway with Democratic lawmakers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And the tax credit expansion “touches both the struggling workers as well as international mega-stars,” said Thad Kousser, a political science professor at University of California-San Diego.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, the funding could backfire on Newsom as he eyes a potential White House run in 2028.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You’ve got to think about policies’ effect on your core supporters … but also the average voters in places like Iowa, New Hampshire, who may not see someone who’s helping bail out Hollywood as someone taking the nation in the direction they want to see,” Kousser said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Do film tax credits work?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>California’s film tax credit was created \u003ca href=\"https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/3502#Economic_Effects:~:text=California%20Adopted%20First,this%20new%20program.\">in response to other states’ incentives\u003c/a>. As of last year, \u003ca href=\"https://www.ncsl.org/fiscal/state-film-and-television-incentive-programs\">37 states\u003c/a> had similar incentives. California’s program is often compared to the unlimited tax credit in Georgia, a frequent destination for film production, and New York’s incentives, which were raised last week, from $700 million to \u003ca href=\"https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/new-york-aims-large-scale-producers-indie-projects-film-subsidy-boost-1236212240/\">$800 million a year\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But California’s program is unique: It is the only state to \u003ca href=\"https://film.ca.gov/tax-credit/jobs-ratio-ranking/\">award credits based on the likelihood\u003c/a> of a project creating jobs and boosting the economy. It is also one of the few states to prohibit using the tax credits to pay “above-the-line” crews, such as directors, actors or writers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The nonpartisan \u003ca href=\"https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5000\">Legislative Analyst’s Office said\u003c/a> there is “good evidence that tax credits increase production activity” and it could increase the size of the state’s film industry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That is partly because some studios choose to film elsewhere when they are denied tax incentives. Between 2011 and 2013, roughly two thirds of the applicants who did not receive tax credits in California shot out of state, \u003ca href=\"https://lao.ca.gov/reports/2016/3502/First-Film-Tax-Credit-Prog-092916.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">according to a 2016 report\u003c/a> by the legislative analyst. And between 2020 and 2023, almost 60% of applicants who were denied the tax credits produced out of state, according to \u003ca href=\"https://cdn.film.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Progress-Report-2023.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">a 2023 report by the California Film Commission\u003c/a>, which administers the credits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But would the tax credit boost the state’s broader economy? Research is mixed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/08912424211000127\">A study of California’s first film tax credit program\u003c/a>, which used a lottery system to award credits, found major studios that received the incentives spent and hired more in California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Supporters of the California proposal, such as Assembly Democratic Caucus Chair Rick Zbur, a Los Angeles lawmaker who introduced the legislation — argue that the program “pays for itself.” They \u003ca href=\"https://laedc.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/LAEDC-Report_CA-Film-TV-Tax-Credit-Program-2.0_FINAL_2022.03.14.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">frequently cite a 2023 analysis\u003c/a> by the nonprofit Los Angeles Economic Development Corporation which concluded that for every dollar the state spent on the tax credits, state and local governments collected $1.07 in tax revenue. It also said each dollar invested led to $24.40 in economic activity and $8.60 in increased wages.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Every show that shoots in California supports hundreds of jobs. It pumps money into local economies from lumber yards to restaurants, from car rentals to dry cleaners,” said Ed Lammi, a former Sony Pictures Television executive, \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/commentary/2025/05/hollywood-industry-job-tax-credit/\">in an opinion piece citing the research\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The study was prepared for the Motion Picture Association, one of the legislation’s top supporters. The association has given lawmakers $168,000 since 2015, \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/financials?giver%5B%5D=oid--8112\">Digital Democracy data shows\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But while some studies show some evidence that filmmakers are drawn to states with better incentives, the legislative analyst’s office and most researchers have concluded that \u003ca href=\"https://www.tax.ny.gov/pdf/research/economic-impact-of-tax-incentive-programs.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">states almost always lose money\u003c/a> on \u003ca href=\"https://www.audits.ga.gov/ReportSearch/download/30438?_gl=1*fcit89*_ga*MTYxMTU0MTYxNy4xNzQwNDE0MTE3*_ga_8Z4RV13R5J*MTc0MzUzMTAxOS40LjAuMTc0MzUzMTAxOS4wLjAuMA..*_ga_65FL79Y113*MTc0MzUzMTAxOS40LjAuMTc0MzUzMTAxOS42MC4wLjA\">such programs\u003c/a>, and that the credits have little to no effect on a state’s \u003ca href=\"https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0275074016651958\">economic growth\u003c/a> or its \u003ca href=\"https://www.nber.org/papers/w25963\">job market\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Michael Thom, a professor at the University of Southern California, wrote to \u003ca href=\"https://srev.senate.ca.gov/system/files/2025-03/testimony-prof-michael-thom.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">lawmakers in March\u003c/a> that his research showed the programs generally failed to create jobs or increase wages. “Simply put, California cannot afford the existing incentive, much less a substantial expansion to it,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mike Gatto, a Los Angeles Democrat who authored the first expansion of the film tax credit program in 2014, said he is skeptical about subsidizing the film industry without addressing the root causes of its problems.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It is doubtful that the amount of money that the state gives to this industry proves to be something that we get back,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This article was \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/politics/2025/05/california-film-tax-credit-gavin-newsom-hollywood/\">originally published on CalMatters\u003c/a> and was republished under the \u003ca href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/\">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives\u003c/a> license.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Gov. Gavin Newsom’s latest budget proposal lays out deep cuts to public universities and health care. It also seeks to more than double the tax credits for Hollywood studios — an expansion moving smoothly through the state Legislature.",
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"title": "Faced With Budget Woes, Gavin Newsom Wants More Tax Credits for Hollywood | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003c!-- Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ -->\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story was originally published by \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/\">CalMatters\u003c/a>. \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/subscribe-to-calmatters/\">Sign up\u003c/a> for their newsletters.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Staring down a $12 billion budget deficit, Gov. Gavin Newsom \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/politics/2025/05/california-budget-revision-may-2025/\">proposed steep cuts\u003c/a> to California’s health care services and public universities — all while promising more dollars to Hollywood.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Newsom on Wednesday doubled down on \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/bills/ca_202520260ab1138\">his proposal to expand\u003c/a> the state’s investment in film and television tax credits, \u003ca href=\"https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/3502#:~:text=California%20Adopted%20First%20Film%20Tax,credits%20under%20this%20new%20program.\">incentives created\u003c/a> by then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2009 to boost California’s marquee industry. If passed, the state would allocate up to $750 million each year to film production, up from the current $330 million.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite saying that any funding request from Los Angeles unrelated to disaster recovery would be a “non-starter,” Newsom deemed the tax credit expansion essential to reviving an ailing industry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s on life support,” he told reporters. “We need to step things up, and this is all part and parcel of economic recovery, economic growth.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Newsom’s plan would also increase the amount each qualified applicant can receive, extend the credit to live action and animated series and devote more money toward independent films.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But his proposal has drawn criticism from both Democrats and Republicans who argue the state should prioritize essential programs in a tight budget year. Assembly Republican Leader James Gallagher of Chico called Newsom’s proposal “tone-deaf.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m not sure the rest of California will be OK with their senior programs, their disability programs, their education programs being cut in order to prop up a regional industry,” said \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/legislators/corey-jackson-165443\">Assemblymember Corey Jackson\u003c/a>, a Moreno Valley Democrat.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some lawmakers warned that other states could respond with even more aggressive incentives, creating a “race to the bottom.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It seems eminently predictable that we will be back next year with a proposal that says: ‘We’ve fallen behind again. I don’t know what happened. And now we need to do more,’” said Sen. \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/legislators/christopher-cabaldon-5699\">Christopher Cabaldon\u003c/a>, a Napa Democrat, in March.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite those concerns, the proposal has advanced in the state Legislature with little resistance. Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel, a Los Angeles Democrat who chairs the powerful budget committee, told CalMatters that anyone seeking large funding increases this year “should stop wasting people’s time” because there isn’t enough money.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Newsom’s proposal is different, Gabriel said, because it would expand a longstanding, tested program that would also help offset the impact of the L.A. wildfires.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For Newsom, a lame-duck governor with presidential ambitions, expanding the tax credits could please the wealthy Hollywood donors who could propel his campaign.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the handout can easily be portrayed as a tax break for the rich.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The ads kind of make themselves,” said Kim Nalder, a political science professor at California State University, Sacramento. “It’s been effective in previous years to … use (Hollywood) as an example of unserious, privileged waste.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Saving Hollywood\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Hollywood has suffered. A “quadruple-whammy” of the COVID-19 pandemic that shut down productions, a \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/actors-strike-contract-a7a529acaf6b5b38aac93722db54c193\">Hollywood writers strike\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/politics/capitol/2025/01/la-fires-california-legislature-bills/\">deadly wildfires\u003c/a> and growing production incentives from other states that lured movies out of California have decreased its nationwide share in film industry employment from 54% in 2010 to 46% in 2023, according to the bill analysis. Film production levels in Los Angeles also saw a \u003ca href=\"https://filmla.com/la-on-location-filming-falls-in-first-quarter/\">sharp drop-off\u003c/a> in recent years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The industry is also struggling to compete globally, so much so that even President Donald Trump has weighed in, ordering a \u003ca href=\"https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/trump-announces-100-tariff-movies-produced-outside-us-2025-05-04/\">100% tariff on overseas productions\u003c/a>, though he has given no details. In response, Newsom has offered to work with Trump to \u003ca href=\"https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/may/06/newsom-trump-movie-tariffs\">develop a $7.5 billion federal tax credit\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“I applaud President Trump for recognizing that we are losing a lot of films to foreign countries, and I hope he steps up,” Newsom said Wednesday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The proposed state film tax credit expansion has united motion picture studios and entertainment industry workers, but it is the unions that have been leading the fight.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The groups backing the plan have poured at least $8.4 million into lawmakers’ coffers since 2015, including nearly $6.5 million from the \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/organizations/-2947#financials\">California State Council of Laborers\u003c/a> alone, according to an analysis of CalMatters’ Digital Democracy database. Walt Disney, a top supporter, has given nearly $750,000 to lawmakers since 2015.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dozens of unionized workers have filled legislative hearing rooms and spilled into the hallways as they testify in support.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are the thousands of artisans whose names whip by in the credit roll at the end of the movie. Not those that appear in huge letters and fade slowly at the beginning of the movie. We don’t go to the award shows. We work the award shows,” \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/hearings/258945?t=896&f=9cdd49a18e32c5cbd74ef45e6426401c\">said Renata Ray\u003c/a>, representing a chapter of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nalder said that is a smart political move since labor unions hold so much political sway with Democratic lawmakers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And the tax credit expansion “touches both the struggling workers as well as international mega-stars,” said Thad Kousser, a political science professor at University of California-San Diego.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, the funding could backfire on Newsom as he eyes a potential White House run in 2028.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You’ve got to think about policies’ effect on your core supporters … but also the average voters in places like Iowa, New Hampshire, who may not see someone who’s helping bail out Hollywood as someone taking the nation in the direction they want to see,” Kousser said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Do film tax credits work?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>California’s film tax credit was created \u003ca href=\"https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/3502#Economic_Effects:~:text=California%20Adopted%20First,this%20new%20program.\">in response to other states’ incentives\u003c/a>. As of last year, \u003ca href=\"https://www.ncsl.org/fiscal/state-film-and-television-incentive-programs\">37 states\u003c/a> had similar incentives. California’s program is often compared to the unlimited tax credit in Georgia, a frequent destination for film production, and New York’s incentives, which were raised last week, from $700 million to \u003ca href=\"https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/new-york-aims-large-scale-producers-indie-projects-film-subsidy-boost-1236212240/\">$800 million a year\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But California’s program is unique: It is the only state to \u003ca href=\"https://film.ca.gov/tax-credit/jobs-ratio-ranking/\">award credits based on the likelihood\u003c/a> of a project creating jobs and boosting the economy. It is also one of the few states to prohibit using the tax credits to pay “above-the-line” crews, such as directors, actors or writers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The nonpartisan \u003ca href=\"https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5000\">Legislative Analyst’s Office said\u003c/a> there is “good evidence that tax credits increase production activity” and it could increase the size of the state’s film industry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That is partly because some studios choose to film elsewhere when they are denied tax incentives. Between 2011 and 2013, roughly two thirds of the applicants who did not receive tax credits in California shot out of state, \u003ca href=\"https://lao.ca.gov/reports/2016/3502/First-Film-Tax-Credit-Prog-092916.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">according to a 2016 report\u003c/a> by the legislative analyst. And between 2020 and 2023, almost 60% of applicants who were denied the tax credits produced out of state, according to \u003ca href=\"https://cdn.film.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Progress-Report-2023.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">a 2023 report by the California Film Commission\u003c/a>, which administers the credits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But would the tax credit boost the state’s broader economy? Research is mixed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/08912424211000127\">A study of California’s first film tax credit program\u003c/a>, which used a lottery system to award credits, found major studios that received the incentives spent and hired more in California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Supporters of the California proposal, such as Assembly Democratic Caucus Chair Rick Zbur, a Los Angeles lawmaker who introduced the legislation — argue that the program “pays for itself.” They \u003ca href=\"https://laedc.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/LAEDC-Report_CA-Film-TV-Tax-Credit-Program-2.0_FINAL_2022.03.14.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">frequently cite a 2023 analysis\u003c/a> by the nonprofit Los Angeles Economic Development Corporation which concluded that for every dollar the state spent on the tax credits, state and local governments collected $1.07 in tax revenue. It also said each dollar invested led to $24.40 in economic activity and $8.60 in increased wages.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Every show that shoots in California supports hundreds of jobs. It pumps money into local economies from lumber yards to restaurants, from car rentals to dry cleaners,” said Ed Lammi, a former Sony Pictures Television executive, \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/commentary/2025/05/hollywood-industry-job-tax-credit/\">in an opinion piece citing the research\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The study was prepared for the Motion Picture Association, one of the legislation’s top supporters. The association has given lawmakers $168,000 since 2015, \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/financials?giver%5B%5D=oid--8112\">Digital Democracy data shows\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But while some studies show some evidence that filmmakers are drawn to states with better incentives, the legislative analyst’s office and most researchers have concluded that \u003ca href=\"https://www.tax.ny.gov/pdf/research/economic-impact-of-tax-incentive-programs.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">states almost always lose money\u003c/a> on \u003ca href=\"https://www.audits.ga.gov/ReportSearch/download/30438?_gl=1*fcit89*_ga*MTYxMTU0MTYxNy4xNzQwNDE0MTE3*_ga_8Z4RV13R5J*MTc0MzUzMTAxOS40LjAuMTc0MzUzMTAxOS4wLjAuMA..*_ga_65FL79Y113*MTc0MzUzMTAxOS40LjAuMTc0MzUzMTAxOS42MC4wLjA\">such programs\u003c/a>, and that the credits have little to no effect on a state’s \u003ca href=\"https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0275074016651958\">economic growth\u003c/a> or its \u003ca href=\"https://www.nber.org/papers/w25963\">job market\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Michael Thom, a professor at the University of Southern California, wrote to \u003ca href=\"https://srev.senate.ca.gov/system/files/2025-03/testimony-prof-michael-thom.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">lawmakers in March\u003c/a> that his research showed the programs generally failed to create jobs or increase wages. “Simply put, California cannot afford the existing incentive, much less a substantial expansion to it,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mike Gatto, a Los Angeles Democrat who authored the first expansion of the film tax credit program in 2014, said he is skeptical about subsidizing the film industry without addressing the root causes of its problems.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It is doubtful that the amount of money that the state gives to this industry proves to be something that we get back,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This article was \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/politics/2025/05/california-film-tax-credit-gavin-newsom-hollywood/\">originally published on CalMatters\u003c/a> and was republished under the \u003ca href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/\">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives\u003c/a> license.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cb>Here are the morning’s top stories on Monday, March 3, 2025…\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">On Sunday night, Hollywood had its biggest night of the year with \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2025/03/03/nx-s1-5307159/oscars-winners-2025-anora-sean-baker-mikey-madison-zoe-saldana\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">the Academy Awards ceremony.\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> But here’s a plot twist. None of the ten films that were up for the best picture Oscar were shot in Hollywood or the greater L.A. area. It’s just the latest example of how much film and television production now occurs outside of Los Angeles, costing local jobs and raising questions about the very future of Hollywood.\u003c/span>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">On Saturday, people gathered at national parks across the country \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kvcrnews.org/local-news/2025-03-01/hundreds-gather-at-joshua-tree-national-park-to-protest-federal-cuts\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">to protest \u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">the firing of 1,000 National Park employees. Some 90 miles east of Los Angeles at Joshua Tree National Park, hundreds joined the movement. \u003c/span>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Declaring \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2025/03/01/with-growing-fire-risk-governor-newsom-proclaims-state-of-emergency-to-fast-track-critical-wildfire-prevention-projects-statewide/\">a state of emergency\u003c/a>, Gavin Governor Newsom has suspended two landmark state laws – the California Environmental Quality Act and the California Coastal Act.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Can Tax Credits Help Keep TV/Film Production In California?\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Film and television production has long been a staple of Hollywood. But the state’s production \u003ca href=\"https://www.capradio.org/articles/2025/02/24/newsom-wants-to-more-than-double-californias-film-industry-tax-credit-would-it-pay-for-itself/\">has been in decline\u003c/a> since the 2000s. That’s why last year, Governor Gavin Newsom \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2024/10/27/governor-newsom-proposes-historic-expansion-of-film-tv-tax-credit-program/\">proposed a major expansion\u003c/a> of the state’s tv and film tax credit program. It would expand California’s Film & Television Tax Credit Program to $750 million annually, up from the current $330 million annual allocation. This proposed expansion would position California as the top state for capped film incentive programs, surpassing other states like New York.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“California is the entertainment capital of the world, rooted in decades of creativity, innovation, and unparalleled talent. Expanding this program will help keep production here at home, generate thousands of good-paying jobs, and strengthen the vital link between our communities and the state’s iconic film and TV industry,” Newsom said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The tax credit program, first introduced in 2009, is designed to cut production costs and keep film and TV jobs in California. But is it working? Take the new NBC Peacock drama “Suits L.A.” The show was originally set to film out of state. Then, after receiving $12 million in California tax credits, it moved production to Los Angeles. In return, the show is expected to generate $25 million in wages and create more than 2,600 jobs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But other states and countries are also trying to lure big productions. And it’s still unclear if these tax credits make a dent in wider economic growth. A \u003ca href=\"https://lao.ca.gov/reports/2025/5000/Film-Tax-Credit-022825.pdf\">recent report released\u003c/a> by the non-partisan Legislative Analyst’s Office expressed doubts, finding that tax credits are “rarely effective at creating broader economic development.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2 class=\"ArtP-headline\">\u003ca href=\"https://www.kvcrnews.org/local-news/2025-03-01/hundreds-gather-at-joshua-tree-national-park-to-protest-federal-cuts\">\u003cstrong>Hundreds Gather At Joshua Tree National Park To Protest Federal Cuts\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>On Saturday, people gathered at national parks all over the country to protest \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2025/02/26/nx-s1-5307908/national-parks-layoffs-visitors-disruptions\">the firing of 1000 national park employees.\u003c/a> At Joshua Tree National Park, hundreds joined the movement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Six rangers were fired last month at Joshua Tree as part of the Trump administration’s push to downsize the federal workforce. Some 300 people showed up at Joshua Tree. Nick Graver, a community organizer, says he’s worried Trump’s cuts will make it harder to protect the rare Joshua trees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We don’t have that many Joshua trees to lose and our parks are understaffed and our public lands are understaffed, we’re gonna we’re gonna lose huge areas of desert,” said Graver. He’s also concerned there won’t be enough rangers to respond to emergencies— especially when temperatures soar in the summertime.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Newsom Looks To Fast-Track Wildfire Prevention Projects \u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Governor Gavin Newsom \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2025/03/01/with-growing-fire-risk-governor-newsom-proclaims-state-of-emergency-to-fast-track-critical-wildfire-prevention-projects-statewide/\">proclaimed a state of emergency\u003c/a> on Saturday in an effort to fast-track wildfire prevention projects in California. Environmental regulations like the California Environmental Quality Act and the California Coastal Act will both be suspended under the proclamation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This year has already seen some of the most destructive wildfires in California history, and we’re only in March. Building on unprecedented work cutting red tape and making historic investments – we’re taking action with a state of emergency to fast-track critical wildfire projects even more. These are the forest management projects we need to protect our communities most vulnerable to wildfire, and we’re going to get them done,” Newsom said in a statement.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cb>Here are the morning’s top stories on Monday, March 3, 2025…\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">On Sunday night, Hollywood had its biggest night of the year with \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2025/03/03/nx-s1-5307159/oscars-winners-2025-anora-sean-baker-mikey-madison-zoe-saldana\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">the Academy Awards ceremony.\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> But here’s a plot twist. None of the ten films that were up for the best picture Oscar were shot in Hollywood or the greater L.A. area. It’s just the latest example of how much film and television production now occurs outside of Los Angeles, costing local jobs and raising questions about the very future of Hollywood.\u003c/span>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">On Saturday, people gathered at national parks across the country \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kvcrnews.org/local-news/2025-03-01/hundreds-gather-at-joshua-tree-national-park-to-protest-federal-cuts\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">to protest \u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">the firing of 1,000 National Park employees. Some 90 miles east of Los Angeles at Joshua Tree National Park, hundreds joined the movement. \u003c/span>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Declaring \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2025/03/01/with-growing-fire-risk-governor-newsom-proclaims-state-of-emergency-to-fast-track-critical-wildfire-prevention-projects-statewide/\">a state of emergency\u003c/a>, Gavin Governor Newsom has suspended two landmark state laws – the California Environmental Quality Act and the California Coastal Act.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Can Tax Credits Help Keep TV/Film Production In California?\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Film and television production has long been a staple of Hollywood. But the state’s production \u003ca href=\"https://www.capradio.org/articles/2025/02/24/newsom-wants-to-more-than-double-californias-film-industry-tax-credit-would-it-pay-for-itself/\">has been in decline\u003c/a> since the 2000s. That’s why last year, Governor Gavin Newsom \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2024/10/27/governor-newsom-proposes-historic-expansion-of-film-tv-tax-credit-program/\">proposed a major expansion\u003c/a> of the state’s tv and film tax credit program. It would expand California’s Film & Television Tax Credit Program to $750 million annually, up from the current $330 million annual allocation. This proposed expansion would position California as the top state for capped film incentive programs, surpassing other states like New York.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“California is the entertainment capital of the world, rooted in decades of creativity, innovation, and unparalleled talent. Expanding this program will help keep production here at home, generate thousands of good-paying jobs, and strengthen the vital link between our communities and the state’s iconic film and TV industry,” Newsom said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The tax credit program, first introduced in 2009, is designed to cut production costs and keep film and TV jobs in California. But is it working? Take the new NBC Peacock drama “Suits L.A.” The show was originally set to film out of state. Then, after receiving $12 million in California tax credits, it moved production to Los Angeles. In return, the show is expected to generate $25 million in wages and create more than 2,600 jobs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But other states and countries are also trying to lure big productions. And it’s still unclear if these tax credits make a dent in wider economic growth. A \u003ca href=\"https://lao.ca.gov/reports/2025/5000/Film-Tax-Credit-022825.pdf\">recent report released\u003c/a> by the non-partisan Legislative Analyst’s Office expressed doubts, finding that tax credits are “rarely effective at creating broader economic development.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2 class=\"ArtP-headline\">\u003ca href=\"https://www.kvcrnews.org/local-news/2025-03-01/hundreds-gather-at-joshua-tree-national-park-to-protest-federal-cuts\">\u003cstrong>Hundreds Gather At Joshua Tree National Park To Protest Federal Cuts\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>On Saturday, people gathered at national parks all over the country to protest \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2025/02/26/nx-s1-5307908/national-parks-layoffs-visitors-disruptions\">the firing of 1000 national park employees.\u003c/a> At Joshua Tree National Park, hundreds joined the movement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Six rangers were fired last month at Joshua Tree as part of the Trump administration’s push to downsize the federal workforce. Some 300 people showed up at Joshua Tree. Nick Graver, a community organizer, says he’s worried Trump’s cuts will make it harder to protect the rare Joshua trees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We don’t have that many Joshua trees to lose and our parks are understaffed and our public lands are understaffed, we’re gonna we’re gonna lose huge areas of desert,” said Graver. He’s also concerned there won’t be enough rangers to respond to emergencies— especially when temperatures soar in the summertime.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Newsom Looks To Fast-Track Wildfire Prevention Projects \u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Governor Gavin Newsom \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2025/03/01/with-growing-fire-risk-governor-newsom-proclaims-state-of-emergency-to-fast-track-critical-wildfire-prevention-projects-statewide/\">proclaimed a state of emergency\u003c/a> on Saturday in an effort to fast-track wildfire prevention projects in California. Environmental regulations like the California Environmental Quality Act and the California Coastal Act will both be suspended under the proclamation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This year has already seen some of the most destructive wildfires in California history, and we’re only in March. Building on unprecedented work cutting red tape and making historic investments – we’re taking action with a state of emergency to fast-track critical wildfire projects even more. These are the forest management projects we need to protect our communities most vulnerable to wildfire, and we’re going to get them done,” Newsom said in a statement.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "hulus-good-trouble-hired-this-hollywood-food-stylist-to-make-18-pizzas",
"title": "The Hollywood Food Stylist Behind the Scenes of Popular Films and TV",
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"content": "\u003cp>Making engaging movies or TV shows is all about creating a convincing fantasy. Take the show \u003ca href=\"https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0804503/\">\u003cem>Mad Men\u003c/em>\u003c/a> for example: The mid-century furniture, soundtrack and clothes all work together to create a mood.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Perhaps less obvious, but no less important, is the food seen on screen — tomato aspic, salmon mousse or cocktail party weenies in grape jelly that take us right back to the 1960s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Behind every dish on screen, there’s a person or a team of people researching it, cooking it and keeping it fresh on set take after take. It may seem simple, but food styling requires a unique combination of organizational skills, culinary expertise and creativity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While much of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2023/08/27/hollywood-writers-strike-issues-studios/\">media attention is focused on the Hollywood writers and actors strike\u003c/a>, thousands of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kcrw.com/news/shows/press-play-with-madeleine-brand/hollywood-indictment-crypto-space/wga-sag-aftra-economic-costs\">other movie industry workers are impacted\u003c/a> by the work stoppage. People like food stylist Melissa McSorley, whose work is often invisible.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Behind the scenes with Hollywood’s food stylist\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>On an early morning in March, well before the strikes began, McSorley pulled into the parking lot of a distinctly unglamorous part of Santa Clarita — an industrial-park-turned-soundstage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She unloaded her SUV, packed as tightly as a perfectly played Tetris game, pulling out electric burners and what looked like a contractor’s tool bag. Instead of hammers and drills, it held hundreds of kitchen utensils, from tongs and torches to measuring cups and cutting boards.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>McSorley moves around a lot, working on different sets most days, so she carries all her tools with her. On this particular set, she was assigned a designated space for her work kitchen — a treat — because the show, Hulu’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7820906/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1\">\u003cem>Good Trouble\u003c/em>\u003c/a>, features a character who is opening a restaurant. Food is central to the show’s plot.[aside postID=news_11954383 hero='https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/20230626-SAUCY-CHICK-05-KQED-1020x816.jpg']Before they started filming, the space was an empty shell with ceiling insulation exposed, McSorley said. But crews built a half-dozen huge plywood boxes that each hold a completely realistic room, like an office or a den.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“So many people touched all of this before you could even think about putting food into this set,” McSorley said, with awe.\u003cem> \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She made sure everything on the commercial kitchen set was perfect before filming began the next day when actors were expected to flip burgers and stir polenta. The set was incredibly realistic, from rubber mats covering the floor to food containers labeled with blue painter’s tape. Except, it wasn’t a real kitchen.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“One thing about a set, it doesn’t have practical lighting,” McSorley said. “Any light switches you see don’t really work.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She had to use the flashlight on her phone to complete her inspection.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>An unlikely career\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Food styling is not the job McSorley thought she’d have.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She grew up in Burbank, home to many studios, but her family wasn’t involved in entertainment at all.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“My mom had office jobs,” McSorley said. “In fact, when I was little, she was a telephone operator. I don’t even think that exists anymore.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Her stepfather owned a printing company in North Hollywood. But the entertainment industry was all around. As a girl, she remembers driving past fans lining up to watch \u003cem>The Tonight Show\u003c/em> being taped.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There was [an actors’] strike that happened when I was in high school, and it affected a lot of the families that I grew up with,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s when she told her family that she would never work in entertainment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I never wanted to work in an industry where people were so expendable,” she said. “Nobody cared how many lives these strikes could disrupt. And so, I was never, ever, ever going to be in this industry.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Melissa was a kid with a creative streak, growing up in a structured home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When I was in high school, I actually wanted to go to school for photography, and my parents said that I could do that as a hobby any time I wanted,” she said.[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Melissa McSorley, Hollywood food stylist\"]‘I decided I was just going to do it part-time for a little while before I decided what I really wanted to do. It turned out that I loved it. And here I am, almost 20 years later.’[/pullquote]They expected her to pursue a degree that would lead to a stable career.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Culinary arts falls under the term ‘arts,’ and it would not have been acceptable to my parents,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So she studied biology and psychology. She learned the basics of cooking as a kid by whipping up casseroles for her hungry siblings when her mom was working.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After college, she started taking cooking courses in her spare time. She cycled through several different careers, working at an electrical engineering company, drawing blood and producing commercials at an advertising agency.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But she yearned for more creative work. While working at the ad agency, she encountered her first “food stylist.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I decided I was just going to do it part-time for a little while before I decided what I really wanted to do,” McSorley said. “It turned out that I loved it. And here I am, almost 20 years later.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Not home cooking\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In her work kitchen on the set of \u003cem>Good Trouble\u003c/em>, McSorley demonstrated how cooking for the screen is a lot different than cooking at home. For example, in one scene an actor makes a pizza. To pull that off, she needed to prep at least 18 pizzas so the crew could shoot the actor in all stages of pizza-making.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“So you’ll see her grab a dough ball, that’s been proofed and looks amazing,” McSorley said.[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Melissa McSorley, Hollywood food stylist\"]‘Then, you might see her start to sauce it. Then, you might see it finished, but uncooked. At the very, very end of the scene, she’ll pull out that perfect pizza.’[/pullquote]McSorley will then swap out that dough for another that’s been perfectly shaped.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Then, you might see her start to sauce it. Then, you might see it finished, but uncooked,” she said. “At the very, very end of the scene, she’ll pull out that perfect pizza.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And to make sure that shot is just right, McSorley will have three or four perfect pizzas prepped — just in case.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Her job depends on making sure that food looks as delicious as possible, and that it looks identical, take after take.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A bizarre set of skills\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>What’s clear is that a Hollywood food stylist needs an eclectic array of skills that go way beyond cooking.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>First, they have to be organized. Even the simplest scene has many moving parts. One pivotal scene in the \u003ca href=\"https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2279339/\">2015 film \u003cem>Love the Coopers\u003c/em>\u003c/a>, for example, took place around a Christmas dinner table.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11959571\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11959571\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/230830-Hollywood-Food-Stylist-LM-02-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A woman with light-brown hair and black glasses holds a clipboard in one hand, a pen in the other, as she stands in front of a large refrigerator filled with food.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/230830-Hollywood-Food-Stylist-LM-02-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/230830-Hollywood-Food-Stylist-LM-02-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/230830-Hollywood-Food-Stylist-LM-02-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/230830-Hollywood-Food-Stylist-LM-02-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/230830-Hollywood-Food-Stylist-LM-02-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/230830-Hollywood-Food-Stylist-LM-02-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Food stylist Melissa McSorley checks the set refrigerator for ingredients needed for the next day’s shooting on the set of the Hulu series ‘Good Trouble.’ \u003ccite>(Lisa Morehouse/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>McSorley said the scene took nine days to shoot and in that time they went through more than 50 turkeys. There were full, perfect turkeys, turkeys staged just for carving, turkeys that fell on the floor, turkeys that the dog came too close to, and even turkeys in the oven. McSorley had to find them, buy them, store them and cook them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There were a lot of turkeys,” she said, shaking her head.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Second, a food stylist needs to be a nutritionist — and a problem-solver. In that same scene in \u003cem>Love the Coopers\u003c/em>, stars like Diane Keaton, John Goodman, Marisa Tomei and Alan Arkin all sat together.[aside postID=news_11958720 hero='https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66538_230623-wahpepahs-kitchen-05-ks-KQED-1020x679.jpg']“When you went around the table, there was a vegetarian who loves cheese; a vegan that also doesn’t do sugar or sugar substitutes; [and] other people who ate no carbs,” McSorley said. “You have to make sure that you’ve made something that everybody can eat.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Third, food stylists are often technical advisors, making sure kitchens on set seem real to viewers. They’ll organize a fictional restaurant’s fridge according to safety regulations, with raw meat on the bottom level, not sitting on top of produce, for instance.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Amplifying scenes with food\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>“The highlights of my career are the times when I’ve been able to do something that is, like, so amplified,” McSorley said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Like the time she dug into research for a period-perfect meal in \u003cem>Mad Men\u003c/em> or \u003cem>Perry Mason\u003c/em> or making food for imaginary worlds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On \u003ca href=\"https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0844441/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1\">the vampire drama \u003cem>True Blood\u003c/em>\u003c/a>, McSorley’s first task was to concoct a substance worthy of the show’s title — a drink that actors could gulp down, that also looked and functioned like blood, not juice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It had to leave a trail when it went down the glass,” she said, “And so, that was a lot of fun, using a little bit of wheatgrass to give it the opaqueness that it needed, and then to add a little bit of methyl cellulose to get the viscosity that it needed.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She added pomegranate-cherry juice to get the right color and to lend it a decent taste.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was like a little chemistry experiment in the kitchen,” she said.\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>McSorley also created the food seen in science-fiction shows like \u003ca href=\"https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8806524/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0_tt_2_nm_6_q_picard\">\u003cem>Star Trek:\u003c/em> \u003cem>Picard\u003c/em>\u003c/a> or \u003ca href=\"https://www.imdb.com/title/tt13668894/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0_tt_8_nm_0_q_boba%2520fett\">\u003cem>The Book of\u003c/em> \u003cem>Boba Fett\u003c/em>\u003c/a>. And that’s not as simple as it might seem.[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Melissa McSorley, Hollywood food stylist\"]‘I was able to work with the prop master to come up with a \u003cem>nuna\u003c/em> skeleton and skin that I could work with. Then, I filled it with turkey meat so that it looked like the meat was just coming off in layers.’[/pullquote]“The food couldn’t look like anything that we’ve seen here,” McSorley said. “Was it a planet that actually had an environment: air, water to it? Was it a dry planet that maybe everything would have been from root vegetables? And then, you just figure out what exists in the edible world that you can make look like that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For one scene in \u003cem>Boba Fett\u003c/em>, McSorley helped fill a 30-foot-long table for a feast. One element was a roasted \u003cem>nuna\u003c/em>, a swamp turkey from the planet Naboo.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“And it was really awesome because I was able to work with the prop master to come up with a \u003cem>nuna\u003c/em> skeleton and skin that I could work with,” she said. “Then, I filled it with turkey meat so that it looked like the meat was just coming off in layers. And you really get the idea that these came from another planet.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the hands of a stylist like McSorley, food becomes a character on screen. It can help set the mood with party food, home cooking or upscale bites.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It can mirror the personality of a character — like a meticulous assassin who also bakes with precision. One glance at a plate and the viewer should get a sense of the person in the scene with it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It takes a lot of labor to make the shimmering fantasy that Hollywood sells to the world. There are a lot of behind-the-scenes industry people like Melissa whose work is largely invisible — and they’re all feeling the impact of recent labor disputes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I guess I wish people knew that the job existed, that the food didn’t just miraculously appear on the plate,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Lisa Morehouse’s series \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://californiafoodways.com/\">\u003cem>California Foodways\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> is supported by California Humanities, a nonprofit partner of the National Endowment for the Humanities.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Hollywood writers and actors are on strike. But these work stoppages also affect other creative people in the business, including food stylists for TV and film.",
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"title": "The Hollywood Food Stylist Behind the Scenes of Popular Films and TV | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Making engaging movies or TV shows is all about creating a convincing fantasy. Take the show \u003ca href=\"https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0804503/\">\u003cem>Mad Men\u003c/em>\u003c/a> for example: The mid-century furniture, soundtrack and clothes all work together to create a mood.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Perhaps less obvious, but no less important, is the food seen on screen — tomato aspic, salmon mousse or cocktail party weenies in grape jelly that take us right back to the 1960s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Behind every dish on screen, there’s a person or a team of people researching it, cooking it and keeping it fresh on set take after take. It may seem simple, but food styling requires a unique combination of organizational skills, culinary expertise and creativity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While much of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2023/08/27/hollywood-writers-strike-issues-studios/\">media attention is focused on the Hollywood writers and actors strike\u003c/a>, thousands of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kcrw.com/news/shows/press-play-with-madeleine-brand/hollywood-indictment-crypto-space/wga-sag-aftra-economic-costs\">other movie industry workers are impacted\u003c/a> by the work stoppage. People like food stylist Melissa McSorley, whose work is often invisible.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Behind the scenes with Hollywood’s food stylist\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>On an early morning in March, well before the strikes began, McSorley pulled into the parking lot of a distinctly unglamorous part of Santa Clarita — an industrial-park-turned-soundstage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She unloaded her SUV, packed as tightly as a perfectly played Tetris game, pulling out electric burners and what looked like a contractor’s tool bag. Instead of hammers and drills, it held hundreds of kitchen utensils, from tongs and torches to measuring cups and cutting boards.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>McSorley moves around a lot, working on different sets most days, so she carries all her tools with her. On this particular set, she was assigned a designated space for her work kitchen — a treat — because the show, Hulu’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7820906/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1\">\u003cem>Good Trouble\u003c/em>\u003c/a>, features a character who is opening a restaurant. Food is central to the show’s plot.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Before they started filming, the space was an empty shell with ceiling insulation exposed, McSorley said. But crews built a half-dozen huge plywood boxes that each hold a completely realistic room, like an office or a den.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“So many people touched all of this before you could even think about putting food into this set,” McSorley said, with awe.\u003cem> \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She made sure everything on the commercial kitchen set was perfect before filming began the next day when actors were expected to flip burgers and stir polenta. The set was incredibly realistic, from rubber mats covering the floor to food containers labeled with blue painter’s tape. Except, it wasn’t a real kitchen.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“One thing about a set, it doesn’t have practical lighting,” McSorley said. “Any light switches you see don’t really work.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She had to use the flashlight on her phone to complete her inspection.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>An unlikely career\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Food styling is not the job McSorley thought she’d have.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She grew up in Burbank, home to many studios, but her family wasn’t involved in entertainment at all.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“My mom had office jobs,” McSorley said. “In fact, when I was little, she was a telephone operator. I don’t even think that exists anymore.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Her stepfather owned a printing company in North Hollywood. But the entertainment industry was all around. As a girl, she remembers driving past fans lining up to watch \u003cem>The Tonight Show\u003c/em> being taped.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There was [an actors’] strike that happened when I was in high school, and it affected a lot of the families that I grew up with,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s when she told her family that she would never work in entertainment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I never wanted to work in an industry where people were so expendable,” she said. “Nobody cared how many lives these strikes could disrupt. And so, I was never, ever, ever going to be in this industry.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Melissa was a kid with a creative streak, growing up in a structured home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When I was in high school, I actually wanted to go to school for photography, and my parents said that I could do that as a hobby any time I wanted,” she said.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘I decided I was just going to do it part-time for a little while before I decided what I really wanted to do. It turned out that I loved it. And here I am, almost 20 years later.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>They expected her to pursue a degree that would lead to a stable career.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Culinary arts falls under the term ‘arts,’ and it would not have been acceptable to my parents,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So she studied biology and psychology. She learned the basics of cooking as a kid by whipping up casseroles for her hungry siblings when her mom was working.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After college, she started taking cooking courses in her spare time. She cycled through several different careers, working at an electrical engineering company, drawing blood and producing commercials at an advertising agency.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But she yearned for more creative work. While working at the ad agency, she encountered her first “food stylist.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I decided I was just going to do it part-time for a little while before I decided what I really wanted to do,” McSorley said. “It turned out that I loved it. And here I am, almost 20 years later.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Not home cooking\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In her work kitchen on the set of \u003cem>Good Trouble\u003c/em>, McSorley demonstrated how cooking for the screen is a lot different than cooking at home. For example, in one scene an actor makes a pizza. To pull that off, she needed to prep at least 18 pizzas so the crew could shoot the actor in all stages of pizza-making.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“So you’ll see her grab a dough ball, that’s been proofed and looks amazing,” McSorley said.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>McSorley will then swap out that dough for another that’s been perfectly shaped.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Then, you might see her start to sauce it. Then, you might see it finished, but uncooked,” she said. “At the very, very end of the scene, she’ll pull out that perfect pizza.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And to make sure that shot is just right, McSorley will have three or four perfect pizzas prepped — just in case.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Her job depends on making sure that food looks as delicious as possible, and that it looks identical, take after take.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A bizarre set of skills\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>What’s clear is that a Hollywood food stylist needs an eclectic array of skills that go way beyond cooking.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>First, they have to be organized. Even the simplest scene has many moving parts. One pivotal scene in the \u003ca href=\"https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2279339/\">2015 film \u003cem>Love the Coopers\u003c/em>\u003c/a>, for example, took place around a Christmas dinner table.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11959571\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11959571\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/230830-Hollywood-Food-Stylist-LM-02-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A woman with light-brown hair and black glasses holds a clipboard in one hand, a pen in the other, as she stands in front of a large refrigerator filled with food.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/230830-Hollywood-Food-Stylist-LM-02-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/230830-Hollywood-Food-Stylist-LM-02-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/230830-Hollywood-Food-Stylist-LM-02-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/230830-Hollywood-Food-Stylist-LM-02-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/230830-Hollywood-Food-Stylist-LM-02-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/230830-Hollywood-Food-Stylist-LM-02-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Food stylist Melissa McSorley checks the set refrigerator for ingredients needed for the next day’s shooting on the set of the Hulu series ‘Good Trouble.’ \u003ccite>(Lisa Morehouse/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>McSorley said the scene took nine days to shoot and in that time they went through more than 50 turkeys. There were full, perfect turkeys, turkeys staged just for carving, turkeys that fell on the floor, turkeys that the dog came too close to, and even turkeys in the oven. McSorley had to find them, buy them, store them and cook them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There were a lot of turkeys,” she said, shaking her head.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Second, a food stylist needs to be a nutritionist — and a problem-solver. In that same scene in \u003cem>Love the Coopers\u003c/em>, stars like Diane Keaton, John Goodman, Marisa Tomei and Alan Arkin all sat together.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“When you went around the table, there was a vegetarian who loves cheese; a vegan that also doesn’t do sugar or sugar substitutes; [and] other people who ate no carbs,” McSorley said. “You have to make sure that you’ve made something that everybody can eat.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Third, food stylists are often technical advisors, making sure kitchens on set seem real to viewers. They’ll organize a fictional restaurant’s fridge according to safety regulations, with raw meat on the bottom level, not sitting on top of produce, for instance.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Amplifying scenes with food\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>“The highlights of my career are the times when I’ve been able to do something that is, like, so amplified,” McSorley said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Like the time she dug into research for a period-perfect meal in \u003cem>Mad Men\u003c/em> or \u003cem>Perry Mason\u003c/em> or making food for imaginary worlds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On \u003ca href=\"https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0844441/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1\">the vampire drama \u003cem>True Blood\u003c/em>\u003c/a>, McSorley’s first task was to concoct a substance worthy of the show’s title — a drink that actors could gulp down, that also looked and functioned like blood, not juice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It had to leave a trail when it went down the glass,” she said, “And so, that was a lot of fun, using a little bit of wheatgrass to give it the opaqueness that it needed, and then to add a little bit of methyl cellulose to get the viscosity that it needed.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She added pomegranate-cherry juice to get the right color and to lend it a decent taste.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was like a little chemistry experiment in the kitchen,” she said.\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>McSorley also created the food seen in science-fiction shows like \u003ca href=\"https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8806524/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0_tt_2_nm_6_q_picard\">\u003cem>Star Trek:\u003c/em> \u003cem>Picard\u003c/em>\u003c/a> or \u003ca href=\"https://www.imdb.com/title/tt13668894/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0_tt_8_nm_0_q_boba%2520fett\">\u003cem>The Book of\u003c/em> \u003cem>Boba Fett\u003c/em>\u003c/a>. And that’s not as simple as it might seem.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘I was able to work with the prop master to come up with a \u003cem>nuna\u003c/em> skeleton and skin that I could work with. Then, I filled it with turkey meat so that it looked like the meat was just coming off in layers.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“The food couldn’t look like anything that we’ve seen here,” McSorley said. “Was it a planet that actually had an environment: air, water to it? Was it a dry planet that maybe everything would have been from root vegetables? And then, you just figure out what exists in the edible world that you can make look like that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For one scene in \u003cem>Boba Fett\u003c/em>, McSorley helped fill a 30-foot-long table for a feast. One element was a roasted \u003cem>nuna\u003c/em>, a swamp turkey from the planet Naboo.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“And it was really awesome because I was able to work with the prop master to come up with a \u003cem>nuna\u003c/em> skeleton and skin that I could work with,” she said. “Then, I filled it with turkey meat so that it looked like the meat was just coming off in layers. And you really get the idea that these came from another planet.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the hands of a stylist like McSorley, food becomes a character on screen. It can help set the mood with party food, home cooking or upscale bites.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It can mirror the personality of a character — like a meticulous assassin who also bakes with precision. One glance at a plate and the viewer should get a sense of the person in the scene with it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It takes a lot of labor to make the shimmering fantasy that Hollywood sells to the world. There are a lot of behind-the-scenes industry people like Melissa whose work is largely invisible — and they’re all feeling the impact of recent labor disputes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I guess I wish people knew that the job existed, that the food didn’t just miraculously appear on the plate,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Lisa Morehouse’s series \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://californiafoodways.com/\">\u003cem>California Foodways\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> is supported by California Humanities, a nonprofit partner of the National Endowment for the Humanities.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"#episode-transcript\">\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">View the full episode transcript.\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Hollywood is no stranger to changes brought on by technology. But KQED’s Rachael Myrow says that for writers and actors currently on strike, this moment is existential — thanks in no small part to Silicon Valley.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Many KQED staffers are also members of SAG-AFTRA, but journalists have a different contract from Hollywood actors.\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"200\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https://playlist.megaphone.fm/?e=KQINC9846389333\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2 id=\"episode-transcript\">Episode Transcript\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This is a computer-generated transcript. While our team has reviewed it, there may be errors.\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>I’m Ericka Cruz Guevarra, and welcome to The Bay. Local news to keep you r ooted. Writers in Hollywood have been on strike since May, demanding better wages and working conditions. And last month, thousands of actors joined them. This standoff between the Writers Guild of America, the Screen Actors Guild and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers is likely to drag on for a while. And behind these calls for improved working conditions is an entire business model changed in large part by none other than Silicon Valley.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>The entire business model has been changed by streaming digital air. This is a moment of history. That is a moment of truth. If we don’t stand tall right now, we are all going to be in trouble.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>Hollywood is no stranger to big changes brought on by technology. But for writers and actors on strike right now, this moment is existential. Today, how Silicon Valley changed Hollywood and why this strike has everything to do with big tech.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>Well, my first question, Rachel, I understand you actually come from a Hollywood family. So am I in the presence of Hollywood royalty right now?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Rachael Myrow: \u003c/strong>I wouldn’t call it royalty, but I come from a long line of composers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>Rachael Myrow is senior editor of KQED’s Silicon Valley Desk.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>MUSIC: \u003c/strong>[“You Make Me Feel So Young” by Frank Sinatra]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Rachael Myrow: \u003c/strong>Both my father and grandfather worked in Hollywood. My grandfather worked for 20th Century Fox in the studio system during the 1940s and fifties. He’s probably best known today for two songs. “You Make Me Feel So Young” and “Autumn Nocturne.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>MUSIC: \u003c/strong>[continues]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Rachael Myrow: \u003c/strong>You know, you make me feel so young was was part of a sort of a boiler plate musical of the kind that Hollywood used to churn out back then and would probably have been buried in that movie, except for the fact that a number of years later, Frank Sinatra decided to do a cover. Oh, my gosh. I don’t know. That’s that sounds like royalty to me.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>MUSIC: \u003c/strong>[continues]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra:: \u003c/strong>Well, I guess what did you come to learn about how Hollywood works from like this point of view or this perspective?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Rachael Myrow: \u003c/strong>There’s always been this war dance, if you will, between labor and the production companies. New technologies always been new technologies, disrupting things. And there’s always been this sort of gap between the experimental phase of a new technology being rolled out and that moment when the unions catch on and demand a piece of the action for their members in the next contract talks. So whether you’re talking about the shift to television or videotape rentals, remember those or foreign residuals? You know, there’s a little lag and then the unions catch up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>You know, we’re talking about the strike. All these actors, producers, writers demanding higher wages and better protections. But what is that? What does any of that have to do with big tech and Silicon Valley?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Rachael Myrow: \u003c/strong>This wouldn’t be the first time Big Tech has essentially gone up against Big Labor in California, Right? These are very well-established unions. The Writers Guild of America, SAG-AFTRA. The gig economy has disrupted all sorts of labor markets. Right. And in really stark terms, because the shift to part time work with minimal employer provided benefits has taken money out of the pockets of rank and file workers and shifted it to the pockets of executives and investors. And again, in Hollywood, you know, the executives have always looked out for themselves, for sure. But what’s happening now is that these companies don’t mind sharing the wealth with the top 1%, the superstars, the the showrunners. But everybody else appears to be treated as expendable in much the same way that you see very carefully delineated stratification of the labor market in Silicon Valley. So, you know, Hollywood was already gig ified by the time Silicon Valley arrived. But Silicon Valley has perfected the business model in a very kind of dark and foreboding way.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>And that is in big part because of the fact that streaming has really sort of changed the game. Right. You talk about the role of streaming in all this and Netflix sort of changing the landscape for many of these these folks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Rachael Myrow: \u003c/strong>Netflix introduced the concept of streaming. Netflix has also changed the name of the game in terms of transparency or lack thereof. You know, it was always hard to know exactly what was happening under the hood, financially speaking, with a show that you’re involved in producing. But Netflix tells you nothing. Even if you were the one making this the show and people who have been very successful on these programs report that they’re not making the kind of money you would think you would make if you were involved with a hit. My God, I’m going to be so rich.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>News Anchor \u003c/strong>That was Kimiko Glenn, who played Brooks Soso on Netflix’s Orange is the New Black. She earned just $27 on that residual check. You saw it there. Her frustration being echoed by many of her costars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Rachael Myrow: \u003c/strong>Which makes you ask the question, who knows how much Orange is the New Black is actually making, and who stands in for the actors inside Netflix arguing for them to get a fair amount of money?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>News Anchor \u003c/strong>Leah DeLaria telling The New Yorker, I got $20. I would love to know how much money did Ted Sarandos make last year? Well, here’s the answer. Sarandos, who’s the CEO of Netflix. According to the company’s financial statements last year, he received $20 million in base salary, more than $50 million, if you include the stock and the options…\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Protesters \u003c/strong>[chanting]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Rachael Myrow: \u003c/strong>The people I talked to on the picket lines outside of Netflix headquarters in Los Gatos. These people, Ericka, they can connect the dots. They watched what happened to gig workers in other industries. They saw what happened to musicians. My grandfather made a comfortable living on contract with 20th Century Fox, now owned by Disney. My father, on the other hand, died young, in large part from the stress of the ups and downs of working as an independent, a creative gig worker before we knew what that meant. But then you get to someone like Rajiv Shah, right? He’s from Los Gatos. He’s a member of SAG-AFTRA, the Screen Actors Guild slash American Federation of Television and Radio Artists for more than 20 years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Rajiv Shah: \u003c/strong>This is full time for me. So, I mean, I do a lot of work in L.A. and here I’m also a writer, so I do a lot of work with that. And we actually have a production company that does a lot of work for, you know, small businesses and things like that. So it’s all creative. You know, what I’ve been doing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Rachael Myrow: \u003c/strong>And like many creatives, he’s a hyphenate. He’s working a diversified portfolio of gigs. And I think I mentioned he’s from Los Gatos, right? He gets the tech has eaten Hollywood.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Rajiv Shah: \u003c/strong>But I think what everybody understands is this is setting a precedent for what’s going to come in the future because, you know, tech is only going to grow. You know, streaming is only going to grow. So all we’re asking is that we grow with it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Rachael Myrow: \u003c/strong>You know, But this is Labor’s moment, right? Maybe the last opportunity it has to fight for a share of the pie that allows people like Shah to survive economically.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>I mean, Rachael, big tech has also been notoriously anti-union, right? I mean, just sort of thinking about how Uber and Lyft, for example, have been some of the biggest champions of gig work as opposed to full time work with benefits. How does that play into this? Like has. Have you seen this sort of anti-union, I guess, energy trickling down into Hollywood?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Rachael Myrow: \u003c/strong>The companies coming from tech. They don’t have this history of hashing things out every few years with the writers, the directors and the actors. Many of them are not union in the slightest, not even a portion of their employee base. It’s a different ballgame. We’ve seen Hollywood executives say some pretty dark things about willing to watch the writers and the actors bleed. You lose their homes. And, you know, it’s not that the companies aren’t at risk of losing a lot of money, but a lot of their entertainment services are are kind of loss leaders, to borrow a phrase from retail. If you’re Amazon, it doesn’t matter if prime, you know, at least the entertainment part of prime makes money. The whole point is to give people a reason to sign up for prime. Right. To to have the diapers delivered to your doorstep and to keep you engaged with Prime to continue re-upping every year. So that’s what Prime video is there for if you’re Apple. You don’t need to make money from Apple TV, right? This it’s just one unit. And in truth, you could say, well, yeah, those other media behemoths, they’re also made up of multiple units, many of which they talk about selling to each other. So so there’s some of that. But the big media companies, they have to succeed in entertainment versus for tech companies. I don’t think they have to.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>There’s so much talk now about A.I. in big tech. How do you think that might further reshape the landscape of Hollywood?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Rachael Myrow: \u003c/strong>This is the question on everybody’s lips, and there’s a lot that really nobody really knows yet. You’ve probably noticed the companies are busy hiring specialists just to figure out what’s possible. Right. And what kind of intellectual property rights are protectable because nobody owns as much creative content as these companies. Right. But already it doesn’t take a software engineer to see that visual special effects people are in big trouble and actors are in big trouble. I don’t know if you saw the latest Indiana Jones movie. There’s a big chunk at the beginning, which is starring a fairly believable younger version of Harrison Ford, but that’s Harrison Ford. So he gets to make bank off that project, right? $25 million. Now, imagine that you’re an extra or the kind of actor who makes a little money here and there for big roles. People might recognize your face or the kind of character you usually play. There are legions of people like this in Hollywood and really all over the world, because there are all sorts of film sets all over the world. Right, including the Bay Area today. Nothing protects these actors from having their likeness recorded on the one or two days. They’re brought on to a set and then used for perpetuity. They’re never going to get called back.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Harley Ford: \u003c/strong>There’s places for A.I., but let us do the work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Rachael Myrow: \u003c/strong>So actors like. One woman I met outside of Netflix in Los Gatos, Harley Ford, she can see the writing on the wall. She knows where this is going.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Harley Ford: \u003c/strong>We’re the ones that, you know, have felt those emotions. And how can a robot put a tear behind something that doesn’t know what a real feeling is? It doesn’t know love. It doesn’t know respect or kindness. It doesn’t know fear.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Rachael Myrow: \u003c/strong>Harley understands something that I think if you can appreciate that spark of creativity, the way that that only a human can speak to the emotions within us, like some some computer driven retread just can’t. Get to that. Looking ahead here, where does the, I guess, strike stand now? Are the actors and writers any closer to reaching a deal? At this moment, it’s just the writers back at the bargaining table. But I. I can’t read the tea leaves on this one because for one thing, we’re not getting a lot of public information about what they’re talking about. But also, I think that all three core issues for the writers especially are existential, right? Who gets paid and how? Who works and how much and who gets a say in how generative AI is used. And I should say it’s existential for the actors, too. I just think this is this is a moment, perhaps the last moment when when these two unions have the strategic capacity to drive the conversation. I go back to the idea, Erica, that Silicon Valley has eaten Hollywood, eaten the production model, eaten the economic model, and, you know, seems to be well on its way to eating the creative model. We might not see so many picket lines up here in the San Francisco Bay Area. But I’ll tell you, when you see those actors and writers yelling into the cameras on social media, they are yelling at us.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>Rachel, thank you so much.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Rachael Myrow: \u003c/strong>Thank you.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>That was Rachael Myrow, senior editor of the Silicon Valley desk for KQED. Many KQED staffers are members of SAG-AFTRA. But broadcast journalists have a different contract than the Hollywood actors. This 40-minute conversation with Rachel was cut down and edited by senior editor Alan Montecillo. Producer Maria Esquinca scored this episode and added all the tape. If you liked this episode or learn something, tell someone about it. I’m Ericka Cruz Guevarra, thanks for listening to The Bay. Talk to you next time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\n\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"#episode-transcript\">\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">View the full episode transcript.\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Hollywood is no stranger to changes brought on by technology. But KQED’s Rachael Myrow says that for writers and actors currently on strike, this moment is existential — thanks in no small part to Silicon Valley.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Many KQED staffers are also members of SAG-AFTRA, but journalists have a different contract from Hollywood actors.\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"200\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https://playlist.megaphone.fm/?e=KQINC9846389333\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-content post-body\">\u003ch2 id=\"episode-transcript\">Episode Transcript\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This is a computer-generated transcript. While our team has reviewed it, there may be errors.\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>I’m Ericka Cruz Guevarra, and welcome to The Bay. Local news to keep you r ooted. Writers in Hollywood have been on strike since May, demanding better wages and working conditions. And last month, thousands of actors joined them. This standoff between the Writers Guild of America, the Screen Actors Guild and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers is likely to drag on for a while. And behind these calls for improved working conditions is an entire business model changed in large part by none other than Silicon Valley.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>The entire business model has been changed by streaming digital air. This is a moment of history. That is a moment of truth. If we don’t stand tall right now, we are all going to be in trouble.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>Hollywood is no stranger to big changes brought on by technology. But for writers and actors on strike right now, this moment is existential. Today, how Silicon Valley changed Hollywood and why this strike has everything to do with big tech.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>Well, my first question, Rachel, I understand you actually come from a Hollywood family. So am I in the presence of Hollywood royalty right now?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Rachael Myrow: \u003c/strong>I wouldn’t call it royalty, but I come from a long line of composers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>Rachael Myrow is senior editor of KQED’s Silicon Valley Desk.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>MUSIC: \u003c/strong>[“You Make Me Feel So Young” by Frank Sinatra]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Rachael Myrow: \u003c/strong>Both my father and grandfather worked in Hollywood. My grandfather worked for 20th Century Fox in the studio system during the 1940s and fifties. He’s probably best known today for two songs. “You Make Me Feel So Young” and “Autumn Nocturne.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>MUSIC: \u003c/strong>[continues]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Rachael Myrow: \u003c/strong>You know, you make me feel so young was was part of a sort of a boiler plate musical of the kind that Hollywood used to churn out back then and would probably have been buried in that movie, except for the fact that a number of years later, Frank Sinatra decided to do a cover. Oh, my gosh. I don’t know. That’s that sounds like royalty to me.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>MUSIC: \u003c/strong>[continues]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra:: \u003c/strong>Well, I guess what did you come to learn about how Hollywood works from like this point of view or this perspective?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Rachael Myrow: \u003c/strong>There’s always been this war dance, if you will, between labor and the production companies. New technologies always been new technologies, disrupting things. And there’s always been this sort of gap between the experimental phase of a new technology being rolled out and that moment when the unions catch on and demand a piece of the action for their members in the next contract talks. So whether you’re talking about the shift to television or videotape rentals, remember those or foreign residuals? You know, there’s a little lag and then the unions catch up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>You know, we’re talking about the strike. All these actors, producers, writers demanding higher wages and better protections. But what is that? What does any of that have to do with big tech and Silicon Valley?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Rachael Myrow: \u003c/strong>This wouldn’t be the first time Big Tech has essentially gone up against Big Labor in California, Right? These are very well-established unions. The Writers Guild of America, SAG-AFTRA. The gig economy has disrupted all sorts of labor markets. Right. And in really stark terms, because the shift to part time work with minimal employer provided benefits has taken money out of the pockets of rank and file workers and shifted it to the pockets of executives and investors. And again, in Hollywood, you know, the executives have always looked out for themselves, for sure. But what’s happening now is that these companies don’t mind sharing the wealth with the top 1%, the superstars, the the showrunners. But everybody else appears to be treated as expendable in much the same way that you see very carefully delineated stratification of the labor market in Silicon Valley. So, you know, Hollywood was already gig ified by the time Silicon Valley arrived. But Silicon Valley has perfected the business model in a very kind of dark and foreboding way.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>And that is in big part because of the fact that streaming has really sort of changed the game. Right. You talk about the role of streaming in all this and Netflix sort of changing the landscape for many of these these folks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Rachael Myrow: \u003c/strong>Netflix introduced the concept of streaming. Netflix has also changed the name of the game in terms of transparency or lack thereof. You know, it was always hard to know exactly what was happening under the hood, financially speaking, with a show that you’re involved in producing. But Netflix tells you nothing. Even if you were the one making this the show and people who have been very successful on these programs report that they’re not making the kind of money you would think you would make if you were involved with a hit. My God, I’m going to be so rich.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>News Anchor \u003c/strong>That was Kimiko Glenn, who played Brooks Soso on Netflix’s Orange is the New Black. She earned just $27 on that residual check. You saw it there. Her frustration being echoed by many of her costars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Rachael Myrow: \u003c/strong>Which makes you ask the question, who knows how much Orange is the New Black is actually making, and who stands in for the actors inside Netflix arguing for them to get a fair amount of money?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>News Anchor \u003c/strong>Leah DeLaria telling The New Yorker, I got $20. I would love to know how much money did Ted Sarandos make last year? Well, here’s the answer. Sarandos, who’s the CEO of Netflix. According to the company’s financial statements last year, he received $20 million in base salary, more than $50 million, if you include the stock and the options…\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Protesters \u003c/strong>[chanting]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Rachael Myrow: \u003c/strong>The people I talked to on the picket lines outside of Netflix headquarters in Los Gatos. These people, Ericka, they can connect the dots. They watched what happened to gig workers in other industries. They saw what happened to musicians. My grandfather made a comfortable living on contract with 20th Century Fox, now owned by Disney. My father, on the other hand, died young, in large part from the stress of the ups and downs of working as an independent, a creative gig worker before we knew what that meant. But then you get to someone like Rajiv Shah, right? He’s from Los Gatos. He’s a member of SAG-AFTRA, the Screen Actors Guild slash American Federation of Television and Radio Artists for more than 20 years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Rajiv Shah: \u003c/strong>This is full time for me. So, I mean, I do a lot of work in L.A. and here I’m also a writer, so I do a lot of work with that. And we actually have a production company that does a lot of work for, you know, small businesses and things like that. So it’s all creative. You know, what I’ve been doing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Rachael Myrow: \u003c/strong>And like many creatives, he’s a hyphenate. He’s working a diversified portfolio of gigs. And I think I mentioned he’s from Los Gatos, right? He gets the tech has eaten Hollywood.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Rajiv Shah: \u003c/strong>But I think what everybody understands is this is setting a precedent for what’s going to come in the future because, you know, tech is only going to grow. You know, streaming is only going to grow. So all we’re asking is that we grow with it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Rachael Myrow: \u003c/strong>You know, But this is Labor’s moment, right? Maybe the last opportunity it has to fight for a share of the pie that allows people like Shah to survive economically.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>I mean, Rachael, big tech has also been notoriously anti-union, right? I mean, just sort of thinking about how Uber and Lyft, for example, have been some of the biggest champions of gig work as opposed to full time work with benefits. How does that play into this? Like has. Have you seen this sort of anti-union, I guess, energy trickling down into Hollywood?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Rachael Myrow: \u003c/strong>The companies coming from tech. They don’t have this history of hashing things out every few years with the writers, the directors and the actors. Many of them are not union in the slightest, not even a portion of their employee base. It’s a different ballgame. We’ve seen Hollywood executives say some pretty dark things about willing to watch the writers and the actors bleed. You lose their homes. And, you know, it’s not that the companies aren’t at risk of losing a lot of money, but a lot of their entertainment services are are kind of loss leaders, to borrow a phrase from retail. If you’re Amazon, it doesn’t matter if prime, you know, at least the entertainment part of prime makes money. The whole point is to give people a reason to sign up for prime. Right. To to have the diapers delivered to your doorstep and to keep you engaged with Prime to continue re-upping every year. So that’s what Prime video is there for if you’re Apple. You don’t need to make money from Apple TV, right? This it’s just one unit. And in truth, you could say, well, yeah, those other media behemoths, they’re also made up of multiple units, many of which they talk about selling to each other. So so there’s some of that. But the big media companies, they have to succeed in entertainment versus for tech companies. I don’t think they have to.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>There’s so much talk now about A.I. in big tech. How do you think that might further reshape the landscape of Hollywood?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Rachael Myrow: \u003c/strong>This is the question on everybody’s lips, and there’s a lot that really nobody really knows yet. You’ve probably noticed the companies are busy hiring specialists just to figure out what’s possible. Right. And what kind of intellectual property rights are protectable because nobody owns as much creative content as these companies. Right. But already it doesn’t take a software engineer to see that visual special effects people are in big trouble and actors are in big trouble. I don’t know if you saw the latest Indiana Jones movie. There’s a big chunk at the beginning, which is starring a fairly believable younger version of Harrison Ford, but that’s Harrison Ford. So he gets to make bank off that project, right? $25 million. Now, imagine that you’re an extra or the kind of actor who makes a little money here and there for big roles. People might recognize your face or the kind of character you usually play. There are legions of people like this in Hollywood and really all over the world, because there are all sorts of film sets all over the world. Right, including the Bay Area today. Nothing protects these actors from having their likeness recorded on the one or two days. They’re brought on to a set and then used for perpetuity. They’re never going to get called back.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Harley Ford: \u003c/strong>There’s places for A.I., but let us do the work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Rachael Myrow: \u003c/strong>So actors like. One woman I met outside of Netflix in Los Gatos, Harley Ford, she can see the writing on the wall. She knows where this is going.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Harley Ford: \u003c/strong>We’re the ones that, you know, have felt those emotions. And how can a robot put a tear behind something that doesn’t know what a real feeling is? It doesn’t know love. It doesn’t know respect or kindness. It doesn’t know fear.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Rachael Myrow: \u003c/strong>Harley understands something that I think if you can appreciate that spark of creativity, the way that that only a human can speak to the emotions within us, like some some computer driven retread just can’t. Get to that. Looking ahead here, where does the, I guess, strike stand now? Are the actors and writers any closer to reaching a deal? At this moment, it’s just the writers back at the bargaining table. But I. I can’t read the tea leaves on this one because for one thing, we’re not getting a lot of public information about what they’re talking about. But also, I think that all three core issues for the writers especially are existential, right? Who gets paid and how? Who works and how much and who gets a say in how generative AI is used. And I should say it’s existential for the actors, too. I just think this is this is a moment, perhaps the last moment when when these two unions have the strategic capacity to drive the conversation. I go back to the idea, Erica, that Silicon Valley has eaten Hollywood, eaten the production model, eaten the economic model, and, you know, seems to be well on its way to eating the creative model. We might not see so many picket lines up here in the San Francisco Bay Area. But I’ll tell you, when you see those actors and writers yelling into the cameras on social media, they are yelling at us.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>Rachel, thank you so much.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Rachael Myrow: \u003c/strong>Thank you.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>That was Rachael Myrow, senior editor of the Silicon Valley desk for KQED. Many KQED staffers are members of SAG-AFTRA. But broadcast journalists have a different contract than the Hollywood actors. This 40-minute conversation with Rachel was cut down and edited by senior editor Alan Montecillo. Producer Maria Esquinca scored this episode and added all the tape. If you liked this episode or learn something, tell someone about it. I’m Ericka Cruz Guevarra, thanks for listening to The Bay. Talk to you next time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\n\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>"
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"content": "\u003cp>Long before the current reckoning with the Golden Globe Awards and the push for more diverse representation in media, Black actors in Hollywood’s golden age paved the way in an industry that gave them few options and, often, no credit. In her seven-decade stage and screen career, Juanita Moore made more than 80 film and television appearances.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Though she was nominated for an Academy Award for her performance in the 1959 film, \u003ca href=\"https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0052918/?ref_=tt_mv_close\">“Imitation of Life,” \u003c/a>she didn’t reach the level of fame and recognition that might normally follow such a nomination. Her nephew, Arnett Moore, says her spotlight is long overdue. [pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Arnett Moore\"]‘In the ’50s when I was growing up, when you saw a Black person on the TV screen, you got excited. And Juanita was that face you saw again and again and again. You might not know her name, but you knew that she was that person.’[/pullquote]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>From his home in the Oakland Hills, 75-year-old Arnett has launched a one-man campaign to get his late aunt a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce only picks one posthumous candidate each year to get a star. Applications are due by May 28, and this is the third year in a row Arnett has submitted Juanita for consideration.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In the ’50s when I was growing up, when you saw a Black person on the TV screen, you got excited. And Juanita was that face you saw again and again and again,” he says, “You might not know her name, but you knew that she was that person.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11874869\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/Juanita-Portrait.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11874869 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/Juanita-Portrait-800x947.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"947\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/Juanita-Portrait-800x947.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/Juanita-Portrait-1020x1207.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/Juanita-Portrait-160x189.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/Juanita-Portrait-1298x1536.jpg 1298w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/Juanita-Portrait-1731x2048.jpg 1731w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/Juanita-Portrait.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Portrait of Juanita Moore. Photo courtesy Arnett Moore \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Arnett Moore)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Juanita was born in Itta Bena, Mississippi, one of seven sisters, and the youngest of nine children, though one of her brothers died in childhood. Her other brother was Arnett’s father. Juanita’s mother moved all the children to Los Angeles around 1921. Her brother, Juanita’s uncle, was a sleeping car porter and was able to get train tickets for the family to come to California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While attending Thomas Jefferson High School in Los Angeles, Juanita was part of the glee club, singing and dancing. A teacher saw her perform and suggested that she had the talent to pursue a career on stage. Arnett says she and a friend moved to New York City to do just that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“She was a showgirl at 18 at Small’s Paradise, at the (Cafe Zanzibar), at several venues throughout New York, during the Harlem Renaissance. This is in the thirties.\u003ci>” \u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11874820\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/Juanita-Age-18.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11874820 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/Juanita-Age-18-800x653.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"653\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/Juanita-Age-18-800x653.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/Juanita-Age-18-1020x833.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/Juanita-Age-18-160x131.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/Juanita-Age-18-1536x1255.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/Juanita-Age-18.jpg 1921w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Juanita Moore, around 18 years old, as a Chorus Girl in New York circa 1933. Photo courtesy Arnett Moore \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Arnett Moore)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But soon after, says Arnett, Juanita headed to Europe, “Because Black entertainers weren’t as well received in America as they were in Europe.” She sang at the London Palladium, at the Moulin Rouge, and Arnett says she even had a chance to sing and dance with Josephine Baker, the entertainer and civil rights activist.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11874838\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/Juanita-and-Friend.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11874838 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/Juanita-and-Friend-800x983.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"983\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/Juanita-and-Friend-800x983.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/Juanita-and-Friend-1020x1253.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/Juanita-and-Friend-160x197.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/Juanita-and-Friend-1250x1536.jpg 1250w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/Juanita-and-Friend-1667x2048.jpg 1667w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/Juanita-and-Friend.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Juanita Moore (right), with a friend, sometime in the early ’30s. Photo courtesy Arnett Moore \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Arnett Moore)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Juanita returned to California after the death of her mother, and it was then that she began to pursue acting. “She started out in, they called it, Black cinema or\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2016/03/04/469149240/restored-movies-by-african-american-filmmakers-find-new-audiences\"> race movies,\u003c/a>” Arnett says. These were films made by Black filmmakers featuring primary Black casts for Black audiences. “But these were all movies that you aren’t getting credit for, for being a Hollywood star yet.\u003cem>” \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Her first appearance in a mainstream movie came in the 1949 film, “Pinky,” in which she had a few lines as a nurse. Many of the roles available to her were based on negative stereotypes, Arnett says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“She once said she was from the boudoir to the jungle,” he says, “In other words, she played a maid to a savage. And that was her early career.” Those were the roles available to Black women at the time, says Arnett, but Juanita had her limits. “One thing she wouldn’t do is play the mammy role or the buffoon roles. She would not do those, and those that did became very successful. But she refused to do those.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It wasn’t until 1959 that Juanita got her big break when she was cast in the drama, “Imitation of Life,” alongside Lana Turner and Susan Kohner. Juanita plays Annie, a woman whose light-skinned daughter rejects her Black identity, to live her life passing as white.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://youtu.be/-_ax1pt8zp0\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I remember that it was a very emotional picture,” Arnett says, “I once was asked by a friend of mine who was older, ‘Did you cry during Imitation of Life?’ I said, ‘No!’ I didn’t want him to think I cried. But yes,” Arnett admits, laughing, “I cry even today. And I cried then.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During a 1995 interview with Turner Classic Movies, Juanita Moore remembered what the film’s producer, Ross Hunter, told her when she got the part: “’Juanita,’ he said, ‘I’ve put my neck out for you. If you’re no good, the picture is not gonna be any good.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11874895\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/Juanita-with-Ross-and-Sammy-scaled.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11874895 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/Juanita-with-Ross-and-Sammy-800x1234.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"1234\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/Juanita-with-Ross-and-Sammy-800x1234.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/Juanita-with-Ross-and-Sammy-1020x1573.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/Juanita-with-Ross-and-Sammy-160x247.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/Juanita-with-Ross-and-Sammy-996x1536.jpg 996w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/Juanita-with-Ross-and-Sammy-1328x2048.jpg 1328w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/Juanita-with-Ross-and-Sammy-1920x2960.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/Juanita-with-Ross-and-Sammy-scaled.jpg 1660w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Juanita with Ross Hunter, the producer of ‘Imitation of Life,’ and Sammy Davis Jr. Sammy was a friend of Juanita’s, and stopped by the set for a visit. Photo courtesy Arnett Moore \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Arnett Moore)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“That was significant pressure,” Arnett says, “Because really that was her coming out too. She had been in movies prior to that, playing small parts and some uncredited parts. But this was her opportunity to bust out at 44-years-old.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The film was a success and Juanita received an Academy Awards nomination for Best Supporting Actress. She became the fifth Black actor ever to be nominated for an Oscar. Although she didn’t win, Juanita hoped she would get cast in more leading roles. But the offers never came. She didn’t work for a year after that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I didn’t want to carry the trays anymore,” recalled Juanita during the 1995 interview. “I knew that was the only kind of job that I was going to get. I knew that, but I did not want to do that. So I don’t know if being nominated helped me or not.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But true to her passion, Juanita never quit acting. She went on to perform in mostly small roles. Her last role was in 2000, as a grandmother in Disney’s “The Kid” with Bruce Willis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She died just before New Year’s Day 2014, at the age of 99.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11874843\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/Juanita-Laughing-1950s.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11874843 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/Juanita-Laughing-1950s-800x995.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"995\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Juanita Moore in the 1950s. Photo courtesy Arnett Moore\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Arnett says his aunt never talked much about her career when he was a kid growing up in LA.[aside tag=\"hollywood, golden globes\" label=\"More Hollywood Stories\"] He’s had to uncover much of her professional history himself after her death, including digging up hundreds of photos. A three-inch-thick binder holds much of the information he’s found about his aunt, and many family photos too. Framed portraits of her sit in his living room. His affection and admiration for her is clear.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m very proud of her,” he says, “She had a lot of obstacles, the biggest one being racism … she’s a star without a star.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Arnett recalls a conversation he had with Juanita just a few months before her death.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I said, Nita, do you want a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame? And she says, ‘If you think I deserve one, baby.’ From that point on, I did everything I could to look and research and see how she could earn a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Arnett says he’s mostly optimistic. If Juanita isn’t selected this time around, he says he’ll keep trying until she gets her star.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"title": "‘A Star Without a Star’: An Oakland Man's Mission to Get his Aunt on the Hollywood Walk of Fame | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Long before the current reckoning with the Golden Globe Awards and the push for more diverse representation in media, Black actors in Hollywood’s golden age paved the way in an industry that gave them few options and, often, no credit. In her seven-decade stage and screen career, Juanita Moore made more than 80 film and television appearances.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Though she was nominated for an Academy Award for her performance in the 1959 film, \u003ca href=\"https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0052918/?ref_=tt_mv_close\">“Imitation of Life,” \u003c/a>she didn’t reach the level of fame and recognition that might normally follow such a nomination. Her nephew, Arnett Moore, says her spotlight is long overdue. \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>From his home in the Oakland Hills, 75-year-old Arnett has launched a one-man campaign to get his late aunt a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce only picks one posthumous candidate each year to get a star. Applications are due by May 28, and this is the third year in a row Arnett has submitted Juanita for consideration.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In the ’50s when I was growing up, when you saw a Black person on the TV screen, you got excited. And Juanita was that face you saw again and again and again,” he says, “You might not know her name, but you knew that she was that person.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11874869\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/Juanita-Portrait.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11874869 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/Juanita-Portrait-800x947.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"947\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/Juanita-Portrait-800x947.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/Juanita-Portrait-1020x1207.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/Juanita-Portrait-160x189.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/Juanita-Portrait-1298x1536.jpg 1298w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/Juanita-Portrait-1731x2048.jpg 1731w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/Juanita-Portrait.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Portrait of Juanita Moore. Photo courtesy Arnett Moore \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Arnett Moore)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Juanita was born in Itta Bena, Mississippi, one of seven sisters, and the youngest of nine children, though one of her brothers died in childhood. Her other brother was Arnett’s father. Juanita’s mother moved all the children to Los Angeles around 1921. Her brother, Juanita’s uncle, was a sleeping car porter and was able to get train tickets for the family to come to California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While attending Thomas Jefferson High School in Los Angeles, Juanita was part of the glee club, singing and dancing. A teacher saw her perform and suggested that she had the talent to pursue a career on stage. Arnett says she and a friend moved to New York City to do just that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“She was a showgirl at 18 at Small’s Paradise, at the (Cafe Zanzibar), at several venues throughout New York, during the Harlem Renaissance. This is in the thirties.\u003ci>” \u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11874820\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/Juanita-Age-18.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11874820 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/Juanita-Age-18-800x653.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"653\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/Juanita-Age-18-800x653.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/Juanita-Age-18-1020x833.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/Juanita-Age-18-160x131.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/Juanita-Age-18-1536x1255.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/Juanita-Age-18.jpg 1921w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Juanita Moore, around 18 years old, as a Chorus Girl in New York circa 1933. Photo courtesy Arnett Moore \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Arnett Moore)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But soon after, says Arnett, Juanita headed to Europe, “Because Black entertainers weren’t as well received in America as they were in Europe.” She sang at the London Palladium, at the Moulin Rouge, and Arnett says she even had a chance to sing and dance with Josephine Baker, the entertainer and civil rights activist.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11874838\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/Juanita-and-Friend.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11874838 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/Juanita-and-Friend-800x983.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"983\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/Juanita-and-Friend-800x983.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/Juanita-and-Friend-1020x1253.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/Juanita-and-Friend-160x197.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/Juanita-and-Friend-1250x1536.jpg 1250w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/Juanita-and-Friend-1667x2048.jpg 1667w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/Juanita-and-Friend.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Juanita Moore (right), with a friend, sometime in the early ’30s. Photo courtesy Arnett Moore \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Arnett Moore)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Juanita returned to California after the death of her mother, and it was then that she began to pursue acting. “She started out in, they called it, Black cinema or\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2016/03/04/469149240/restored-movies-by-african-american-filmmakers-find-new-audiences\"> race movies,\u003c/a>” Arnett says. These were films made by Black filmmakers featuring primary Black casts for Black audiences. “But these were all movies that you aren’t getting credit for, for being a Hollywood star yet.\u003cem>” \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Her first appearance in a mainstream movie came in the 1949 film, “Pinky,” in which she had a few lines as a nurse. Many of the roles available to her were based on negative stereotypes, Arnett says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“She once said she was from the boudoir to the jungle,” he says, “In other words, she played a maid to a savage. And that was her early career.” Those were the roles available to Black women at the time, says Arnett, but Juanita had her limits. “One thing she wouldn’t do is play the mammy role or the buffoon roles. She would not do those, and those that did became very successful. But she refused to do those.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It wasn’t until 1959 that Juanita got her big break when she was cast in the drama, “Imitation of Life,” alongside Lana Turner and Susan Kohner. Juanita plays Annie, a woman whose light-skinned daughter rejects her Black identity, to live her life passing as white.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/-_ax1pt8zp0'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/-_ax1pt8zp0'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>“I remember that it was a very emotional picture,” Arnett says, “I once was asked by a friend of mine who was older, ‘Did you cry during Imitation of Life?’ I said, ‘No!’ I didn’t want him to think I cried. But yes,” Arnett admits, laughing, “I cry even today. And I cried then.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During a 1995 interview with Turner Classic Movies, Juanita Moore remembered what the film’s producer, Ross Hunter, told her when she got the part: “’Juanita,’ he said, ‘I’ve put my neck out for you. If you’re no good, the picture is not gonna be any good.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11874895\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/Juanita-with-Ross-and-Sammy-scaled.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11874895 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/Juanita-with-Ross-and-Sammy-800x1234.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"1234\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/Juanita-with-Ross-and-Sammy-800x1234.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/Juanita-with-Ross-and-Sammy-1020x1573.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/Juanita-with-Ross-and-Sammy-160x247.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/Juanita-with-Ross-and-Sammy-996x1536.jpg 996w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/Juanita-with-Ross-and-Sammy-1328x2048.jpg 1328w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/Juanita-with-Ross-and-Sammy-1920x2960.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/Juanita-with-Ross-and-Sammy-scaled.jpg 1660w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Juanita with Ross Hunter, the producer of ‘Imitation of Life,’ and Sammy Davis Jr. Sammy was a friend of Juanita’s, and stopped by the set for a visit. Photo courtesy Arnett Moore \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Arnett Moore)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“That was significant pressure,” Arnett says, “Because really that was her coming out too. She had been in movies prior to that, playing small parts and some uncredited parts. But this was her opportunity to bust out at 44-years-old.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The film was a success and Juanita received an Academy Awards nomination for Best Supporting Actress. She became the fifth Black actor ever to be nominated for an Oscar. Although she didn’t win, Juanita hoped she would get cast in more leading roles. But the offers never came. She didn’t work for a year after that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I didn’t want to carry the trays anymore,” recalled Juanita during the 1995 interview. “I knew that was the only kind of job that I was going to get. I knew that, but I did not want to do that. So I don’t know if being nominated helped me or not.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But true to her passion, Juanita never quit acting. She went on to perform in mostly small roles. Her last role was in 2000, as a grandmother in Disney’s “The Kid” with Bruce Willis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She died just before New Year’s Day 2014, at the age of 99.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11874843\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/Juanita-Laughing-1950s.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11874843 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/Juanita-Laughing-1950s-800x995.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"995\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Juanita Moore in the 1950s. Photo courtesy Arnett Moore\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Arnett says his aunt never talked much about her career when he was a kid growing up in LA.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp> He’s had to uncover much of her professional history himself after her death, including digging up hundreds of photos. A three-inch-thick binder holds much of the information he’s found about his aunt, and many family photos too. Framed portraits of her sit in his living room. His affection and admiration for her is clear.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m very proud of her,” he says, “She had a lot of obstacles, the biggest one being racism … she’s a star without a star.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Arnett recalls a conversation he had with Juanita just a few months before her death.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I said, Nita, do you want a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame? And she says, ‘If you think I deserve one, baby.’ From that point on, I did everything I could to look and research and see how she could earn a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Arnett says he’s mostly optimistic. If Juanita isn’t selected this time around, he says he’ll keep trying until she gets her star.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"disqusTitle": "Will 'Intimacy Coordinators' Change the Future of Sex Scenes in Hollywood?",
"title": "Will 'Intimacy Coordinators' Change the Future of Sex Scenes in Hollywood?",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">As jury deliberations continue in the trial of big budget movie producer Harvey Weinstein, the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) has signaled it wants to institutionalize more sensitive approaches to simulating intimacy on set.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last month, the guild released \u003ca href=\"https://www.sagaftra.org/contracts-industry-resources/workplace-harassment/intimacy-coordinator-standards-protocols\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">new standards and protocols\u003c/a> for the work of intimacy coordinators, a growing industry of professionals who help choreograph scenes that depict sexual behavior\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> in movies and TV\u003c/span>\u003cstrong>.\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"The best practice around when to use us is whenever there are scenes involving any level of nudity — and then, of course, any type of simulated sex,\" said Amanda Blumenthal, an intimacy coordinator who helped the guild put together the new standards.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Blumenthal's website lists a number of specific scenarios during which intimacy coordinators can be useful, like \"coordinating with departments such as costumes and makeup to make sure that the actors are provided with appropriate nudity garments and prosthetics.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Intimacy coordinators, or ICs, can play a role in all kinds of intimate scenes, including “groping of breasts over clothing, heavy make out sessions, first kisses for minors and things like that,\" said Blumenthal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"A lot of people don't realize that there are many younger actors who have their first kiss on screen, and that can be a really sensitive and tender situation that should be handled with care,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Scenes with simulated sexual violence are also part of intimacy coordinators' work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11802512\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-11802512\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/02/RS41375_GettyImages-1199730929-qut-1-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"Michelle Hurd at the \" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/02/RS41375_GettyImages-1199730929-qut-1-800x533.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/02/RS41375_GettyImages-1199730929-qut-1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/02/RS41375_GettyImages-1199730929-qut-1-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/02/RS41375_GettyImages-1199730929-qut-1.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Michelle Hurd at the \"Star Trek: Picard\" premiere in London, England, on Jan. 15, 2020. \u003ccite>(Eamonn M. McCormack/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Productions across studios, networks and genres are using IC services, including the new television series, Star Trek: Picard. This is thanks, in part, to one of its stars, veteran actress Michelle Hurd. Hurd is a member of \u003ca href=\"https://timesupfoundation.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Time’s Up\u003c/a> and also worked with SAG-AFTRA on the new protocols.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"We’re talking about people. We're talking about physical contact,\" Hurd told KQED. \"These scenes need to be handled with kid gloves and choreographed.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The new standards strive to lay a foundation, Hurd added, “to enable and empower the actors to feel confident and strong and comfortable.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Shifting the Culture on Set\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Intimacy coordinators have been working on sets for a while now, but SAG-AFTRA decided to formalize their role with new protocols to give ICs a more official platform and to help raise awareness within the industry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s hard for the whole concept to find space in the entertainment industry and to find a path to flourish and to grow without there being a standard understanding of what we’re talking about and what it means,” said David White, national executive director of SAG-AFTRA.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.sagaftra.org/files/sa_documents/SAG-AFTRA_IntimacyCoord_part.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">new guidelines\u003c/a> include:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>Standards for training for intimacy coordinators, including gender and sexual diversity sensitivity training and an understanding of guild and union contracts that impact simulated sex.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Guidelines for resolving discrepancies in expectations between actors and productions around scenes involving intimacy.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Guidelines for on-set assistance, including enforcing continued consent throughout filming.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>White is careful to point out that the guild is not making intimacy coordinators mandatory. He said there will be time in the future to integrate coordinators into collective bargaining agreements, but that's not the point of the guild's recent move.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Both White and SAG-AFTRA president Gabrielle Carteris acknowledged the potential for pushback from filmmakers for both creative and financial reasons.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Carteris, who is also an actor, recounted a conversation she'd had with a female director who was initially resistant to including an intimacy coordinator on a recent project — the director worried that an extra facilitator might interfere with her vision and rapport with the actors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But that's not what happened, said Carteris.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That director said to me, ‘I was able to share my vision, work [with the] actor, but also pay attention to everybody else in the set, knowing that the actor had somebody who [was] there one-on-one with them regarding any concerns they might have',” said Carteris.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Another potential obstacle to incorporating intimacy coordinators on set regularly is that they add another line item to project budgets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s very unusual for the [filmmaking] community to embrace the idea of a new cost to a production,” said White.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Hurd said that if there is nudity or intimacy in a script, producers should build accommodations into their budgets to allow for “more care-taking to our artists... as they are put into vulnerable positions that will be... there on screen and film or digital for the rest of their lives.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hurd's own experience may inform her commitment to instill more sensitivity on sets. In 2014, she \u003ca href=\"https://www.cbsnews.com/news/actress-michelle-hurd-bill-cosby-was-very-inappropriate-with-me/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">spoke out about\u003c/a> Bill Cosby treating her inappropriately during the filming of the television show, The Cosby Mysteries, when she was working as a stand-in.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hurd said she sees intimacy coordinators as just the next evolution of conscientiousness on set.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"There didn’t used to be stunt coordinators or regulations around child actors or the way animals were used in filming,\" she said, “[Intimacy coordinators] should go into the same kind of category.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And there are other parallels, like actors \"requesting \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/03/05/590867132/whats-an-inclusion-rider-here-s-the-story-behind-frances-mcdormand-s-closing-wor\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">inclusion riders\u003c/a> so that there's a person of color or LGBTQ or disabled [person] in every room,” Hurd added.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For now, actors who request coordinators are not guaranteed one. Blumenthal, who also founded Intimacy Professional Association, one of the bodies that accredits ICs, said there are about 25 accredited coordinators currently working in the United States.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>White said the guild is not directly connecting ICs with filmmakers, just raising awareness about their work. Intimacy coordinators are also not currently union members, though some are advocating for SAG-AFTRA membership.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, White said, the new protocols have the power to gradually shift the culture on set.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"The time will come where this position becomes a standard role of any production involving intimate scenes,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">As jury deliberations continue in the trial of big budget movie producer Harvey Weinstein, the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) has signaled it wants to institutionalize more sensitive approaches to simulating intimacy on set.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last month, the guild released \u003ca href=\"https://www.sagaftra.org/contracts-industry-resources/workplace-harassment/intimacy-coordinator-standards-protocols\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">new standards and protocols\u003c/a> for the work of intimacy coordinators, a growing industry of professionals who help choreograph scenes that depict sexual behavior\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> in movies and TV\u003c/span>\u003cstrong>.\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"The best practice around when to use us is whenever there are scenes involving any level of nudity — and then, of course, any type of simulated sex,\" said Amanda Blumenthal, an intimacy coordinator who helped the guild put together the new standards.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Blumenthal's website lists a number of specific scenarios during which intimacy coordinators can be useful, like \"coordinating with departments such as costumes and makeup to make sure that the actors are provided with appropriate nudity garments and prosthetics.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Intimacy coordinators, or ICs, can play a role in all kinds of intimate scenes, including “groping of breasts over clothing, heavy make out sessions, first kisses for minors and things like that,\" said Blumenthal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"A lot of people don't realize that there are many younger actors who have their first kiss on screen, and that can be a really sensitive and tender situation that should be handled with care,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Scenes with simulated sexual violence are also part of intimacy coordinators' work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11802512\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-11802512\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/02/RS41375_GettyImages-1199730929-qut-1-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"Michelle Hurd at the \" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/02/RS41375_GettyImages-1199730929-qut-1-800x533.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/02/RS41375_GettyImages-1199730929-qut-1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/02/RS41375_GettyImages-1199730929-qut-1-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/02/RS41375_GettyImages-1199730929-qut-1.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Michelle Hurd at the \"Star Trek: Picard\" premiere in London, England, on Jan. 15, 2020. \u003ccite>(Eamonn M. McCormack/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Productions across studios, networks and genres are using IC services, including the new television series, Star Trek: Picard. This is thanks, in part, to one of its stars, veteran actress Michelle Hurd. Hurd is a member of \u003ca href=\"https://timesupfoundation.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Time’s Up\u003c/a> and also worked with SAG-AFTRA on the new protocols.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"We’re talking about people. We're talking about physical contact,\" Hurd told KQED. \"These scenes need to be handled with kid gloves and choreographed.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The new standards strive to lay a foundation, Hurd added, “to enable and empower the actors to feel confident and strong and comfortable.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Shifting the Culture on Set\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Intimacy coordinators have been working on sets for a while now, but SAG-AFTRA decided to formalize their role with new protocols to give ICs a more official platform and to help raise awareness within the industry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s hard for the whole concept to find space in the entertainment industry and to find a path to flourish and to grow without there being a standard understanding of what we’re talking about and what it means,” said David White, national executive director of SAG-AFTRA.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.sagaftra.org/files/sa_documents/SAG-AFTRA_IntimacyCoord_part.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">new guidelines\u003c/a> include:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>Standards for training for intimacy coordinators, including gender and sexual diversity sensitivity training and an understanding of guild and union contracts that impact simulated sex.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Guidelines for resolving discrepancies in expectations between actors and productions around scenes involving intimacy.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Guidelines for on-set assistance, including enforcing continued consent throughout filming.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>White is careful to point out that the guild is not making intimacy coordinators mandatory. He said there will be time in the future to integrate coordinators into collective bargaining agreements, but that's not the point of the guild's recent move.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Both White and SAG-AFTRA president Gabrielle Carteris acknowledged the potential for pushback from filmmakers for both creative and financial reasons.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Carteris, who is also an actor, recounted a conversation she'd had with a female director who was initially resistant to including an intimacy coordinator on a recent project — the director worried that an extra facilitator might interfere with her vision and rapport with the actors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But that's not what happened, said Carteris.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That director said to me, ‘I was able to share my vision, work [with the] actor, but also pay attention to everybody else in the set, knowing that the actor had somebody who [was] there one-on-one with them regarding any concerns they might have',” said Carteris.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Another potential obstacle to incorporating intimacy coordinators on set regularly is that they add another line item to project budgets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s very unusual for the [filmmaking] community to embrace the idea of a new cost to a production,” said White.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Hurd said that if there is nudity or intimacy in a script, producers should build accommodations into their budgets to allow for “more care-taking to our artists... as they are put into vulnerable positions that will be... there on screen and film or digital for the rest of their lives.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hurd's own experience may inform her commitment to instill more sensitivity on sets. In 2014, she \u003ca href=\"https://www.cbsnews.com/news/actress-michelle-hurd-bill-cosby-was-very-inappropriate-with-me/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">spoke out about\u003c/a> Bill Cosby treating her inappropriately during the filming of the television show, The Cosby Mysteries, when she was working as a stand-in.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hurd said she sees intimacy coordinators as just the next evolution of conscientiousness on set.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"There didn’t used to be stunt coordinators or regulations around child actors or the way animals were used in filming,\" she said, “[Intimacy coordinators] should go into the same kind of category.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And there are other parallels, like actors \"requesting \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/03/05/590867132/whats-an-inclusion-rider-here-s-the-story-behind-frances-mcdormand-s-closing-wor\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">inclusion riders\u003c/a> so that there's a person of color or LGBTQ or disabled [person] in every room,” Hurd added.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For now, actors who request coordinators are not guaranteed one. Blumenthal, who also founded Intimacy Professional Association, one of the bodies that accredits ICs, said there are about 25 accredited coordinators currently working in the United States.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>White said the guild is not directly connecting ICs with filmmakers, just raising awareness about their work. Intimacy coordinators are also not currently union members, though some are advocating for SAG-AFTRA membership.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, White said, the new protocols have the power to gradually shift the culture on set.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"The time will come where this position becomes a standard role of any production involving intimate scenes,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"info": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown brings listeners the wisdom of the former Governor, Mayor, and presidential candidate. Scott Shafer interviewed Brown for more than 40 hours, covering the former governor's life and half-century in the political game – and Brown has some lessons he'd like to share. ",
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"info": "The MindShift podcast explores the innovations in education that are shaping how kids learn. Hosts Ki Sung and Katrina Schwartz introduce listeners to educators, researchers, parents and students who are developing effective ways to improve how kids learn. We cover topics like how fed-up administrators are developing surprising tactics to deal with classroom disruptions; how listening to podcasts are helping kids develop reading skills; the consequences of overparenting; and why interdisciplinary learning can engage students on all ends of the traditional achievement spectrum. This podcast is part of the MindShift education site, a division of KQED News. KQED is an NPR/PBS member station based in San Francisco. You can also visit the MindShift website for episodes and supplemental blog posts or tweet us \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MindShiftKQED\">@MindShiftKQED\u003c/a> or visit us at \u003ca href=\"/mindshift\">MindShift.KQED.org\u003c/a>",
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"info": "For decades, the process for how police police themselves has been inconsistent – if not opaque. In some states, like California, these proceedings were completely hidden. After a new police transparency law unsealed scores of internal affairs files, our reporters set out to examine these cases and the shadow world of police discipline. On Our Watch brings listeners into the rooms where officers are questioned and witnesses are interrogated to find out who this system is really protecting. Is it the officers, or the public they've sworn to serve?",
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"info": "Political Breakdown is a new series that explores the political intersection of California and the nation. Each week hosts Scott Shafer and Marisa Lagos are joined with a new special guest to unpack politics -- with personality — and offer an insider’s glimpse at how politics happens.",
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"possible": {
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"title": "Possible",
"info": "Possible is hosted by entrepreneur Reid Hoffman and writer Aria Finger. Together in Possible, Hoffman and Finger lead enlightening discussions about building a brighter collective future. The show features interviews with visionary guests like Trevor Noah, Sam Altman and Janette Sadik-Khan. Possible paints an optimistic portrait of the world we can create through science, policy, business, art and our shared humanity. It asks: What if everything goes right for once? How can we get there? Each episode also includes a short fiction story generated by advanced AI GPT-4, serving as a thought-provoking springboard to speculate how humanity could leverage technology for good.",
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"radiolab": {
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},
"rightnowish": {
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"tagline": "Art is where you find it",
"info": "Rightnowish digs into life in the Bay Area right now… ish. Journalist Pendarvis Harshaw takes us to galleries painted on the sides of liquor stores in West Oakland. We'll dance in warehouses in the Bayview, make smoothies with kids in South Berkeley, and listen to classical music in a 1984 Cutlass Supreme in Richmond. Every week, Pen talks to movers and shakers about how the Bay Area shapes what they create, and how they shape the place we call home.",
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"tagline": "Real stories with killer beats",
"info": "The Snap Judgment radio show and podcast mixes real stories with killer beats to produce cinematic, dramatic radio. Snap's musical brand of storytelling dares listeners to see the world through the eyes of another. This is storytelling... with a BEAT!! Snap first aired on public radio stations nationwide in July 2010. Today, Snap Judgment airs on over 450 public radio stations and is brought to the airwaves by KQED & PRX.",
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"soldout": {
"id": "soldout",
"title": "SOLD OUT: Rethinking Housing in America",
"tagline": "A new future for housing",
"info": "Sold Out: Rethinking Housing in America",
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