More from Gary Baum
Who Won the Strikes? Who Lost? A Merciless Assessment
As the town flocked to picket lines during a historic 148-day writers strike and 118-day actors strike, moguls took a hit (looking at you, Bob Iger), stars made blunders (why, Drew Barrymore?) and others saw their stock rise (Lindsay Dougherty holds court next with the studios) … Winners Fran Drescher & Duncan Crabtree-IrelandTo be sure, […]
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How TMZ Became Hollywood’s Grim Reaper
On Oct. 28, TMZ was first to report Matthew Perry’s drowning death. The media outlet, which over the past two decades has become a byword for hard-edged celebrity coverage, cited law enforcement sources and ran a redacted audio clip it’d obtained of a dispatcher communicating with emergency personnel before running photos of the actor’s stricken parents […]
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“Anti-Racist” Dinner Party Hosts Say CAA Dropped Them Over Israel “Genocide” Rhetoric
CAA has dropped a pair of female BIPOC entrepreneurs who’ve gained attention in recent years for holding “anti-racist” dinner parties for an affluent white women audience, according to one of the founders who says they offended their agent with their vocal support for Palestine following Hamas’ Oct. 7 massacre and Israel’s subsequent invasion of Gaza. […]
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John Amos and a Family at War With Itself
In July, TV legend John Amos’ 53-year-old son, K.C., ended up in a New Jersey jail after his 57-year-old daughter, Shannon, claimed that K.C. had sent her “terroristic” threats over text message that made her believe that her life was in danger, according to a police report. These included a photo of a rifle with […]
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‘Priscilla’ L.A. Premiere Moves Amid Venue’s Union Dispute (Exclusive)
Priscilla’s L.A. premiere on Monday has been derailed by an ongoing IATSE contract dispute with the American Legion Theater in Hollywood. Distributor A24 confirms to The Hollywood Reporter that it decided on Friday to move to another, yet-to-be-announced location after becoming aware of the labor fight Thursday night. THR published an in-depth examination of the […]
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How a Sexual Misconduct Scandal and Allegations of Corruption Sparked a Civil War at the American Legion Theater
This year, the head of American Legion Post 43, the nearly century-old private club for military veterans in Hollywood, faced a secret probe into his alleged misconduct. An employee at the organization’s theater, which is rented out for events, had accused him of putting his arm around her neck at the end of a night […]
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Unmasking the AMPTP: Hollywood Labor’s Opaque Nemesis
On Sept. 8, more than four months into a historic Hollywood labor battle, the Writers Guild of America turned a klieg light on its adversary, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. Citing behind-the-scenes conversations the union’s leaders were allegedly having with unidentified legacy studio executives, its negotiating committee said in a bulletin to […]
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AMPTP Hires New Crisis PR Firm as Strikes Go On
The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers has hired a prominent Washington, D.C.-based crisis management firm to assist its messaging effort as the double actors and writers strike grinds on with no end in sight. The studios’ trade association has been under an unprecedented national spotlight in its four-decade history as the work stoppages […]
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More Allegations of Picket-Busting at NBCUniversal Campus
It’s happening again. The NBCUniversal campus, already a flashpoint for Hollywood’s ongoing labor unrest, as the writers and actors guilds have alleged picket-busting, is now the site of a new strike controversy. This time, Unite Here Local 11, the Southern California hospitality union that’s also currently staging walkouts, is claiming that the Sheraton Universal is […]
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The Insiders’ Insider: Hollywood’s Go-To Wine Cellar Consultant
“You are part private banker, part art curator, part psychiatrist,” explains Jeff Smith, Hollywood’s go-to wine cellar consigliere, of his job. “Sometimes you’re hosting private dinners for your clients; sometimes you go in through the back door.” Smith, 63, grew up in Beverly Hills and now lives in Bel Air, a short stroll from the […]
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Hollywood Food Insecurity Spikes Amid Strikes
The entertainment industry’s most vulnerable workers are increasingly unable to feed themselves amid a historic double strike with no clear end in sight, according to non-profits tasked with addressing the food insecurity crisis. They describe Hollywood’s ongoing work stoppage — prompted by the contractual impasse between the writing and acting guilds on one side and […]
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NBCUniversal Partially Restores Sidewalk for Writers Guild, SAG-AFTRA Picketers
Two weeks after the Writers Guild of America and performers organization SAG-AFTRA filed mirror National Labor Relations Board grievances against NBCUniversal, claiming the studio had infringed on their members’ right to picket — as well as their safety — by obstructing the public sidewalk in front of their studio lot, the company has restored partial […]
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