Welcome back Studio Coffee Folks! We’ve actually got a handful of pretty normal entertainment headlines today with Michael Bay and Anne Hathaway booking more biz – along with some very COVID-related ones, specifically looking at Bob Iger’s Disneypaycut and John Krasinski’s disgustingly kind news show featuring a tiny The Office reunion. That and more, right here!
And, in case you missed it, we’ve also got ten Bob’s Burgers episodes to help you ride out the pandemic.
Michael Bay resuscitates the industry with the first post-COVID overall deal
Michael Bay has inked a first look deal between his own Bay Films and Sony Pictures for film and TV. Normally the spectacle-centric Transformers director wouldn’t cause much of a stir for me personally, but it is notable that this is one of the industry’s first deals of this kind since the coronavirus began wreaking havoc. It was mostly completed back in January, but hey, a win’s a win. Bay just recently worked with Netflix on 6 Underground, the Ryan Reynolds-lead action film and, with Sony, he’ll direct for Black Five, an ensemble drama based on his own idea.
How do you balance work and home? Anne Hathaway finds out
Anne Hathaway is teaching her French kids not to throw food in her next movie, French Children Don’t Throw Food, an adaptation of the eponymous anti cuisine catapulting novel by Pamela Druckerman. StudioCanal handles the cash, while Blueprint Pictures produces. The movie follows Hathaway’s character, who moves to Paris for her husband’s work, and faces the trials and tribulations of work/life balance, the burnout and the inevitable feeling that everything is falling apart. She’ll look to her friends and French neighbors for help – but realize, perhaps, that even French kids throw food. Jamie Miniprio and Jonathan Stern are scripting.
Disney big wigs take salary cuts to keep the company afloat
Last year Disney CEO Bob Iger made 1,424 times the median salary of his employees. For the record, he made $65.7 million, while employees made around $46,127. This year, he’s foregoing that draconic sum, along with several other Disney execs, to balance out revenue shortages. Meanwhile, up and comer Bob Chapek is taking a 50% paycut and said in a statement, “While I am confident we will get through this challenging period together and emerge even stronger, we must take necessary steps to manage the short- and long-term financial impact on our company.” Execs on the VP level will take a 20% reduction, Senior VPS will take a 25% reduction and executive VPs and up will take a 30% reduction.
Quibi twists back to the ’90s for a murder mystery
‘90s fun turns into ‘90s murder mystery with Quibi’s When the Streetlights Go On. When a girl is murdered in suburbia, her sister and high school friends are left to cope with the mystery behind it and try to find normalcy again. It’s an adaptation of the Black List feature script by Chris Hutton and Eddie O’Keefe from Paramount TV and Anonymous Content, and stars Chosen Jacobs, Sophie Thatcher, Sam Strike, David Lewis, Mark Duplass, Cameron Bancroft, Tony Hale, Ben Ahlesr, Kristene Froseth and Queen Latifah. Check it out when Quibi goes live on April 6.
John Krasinski and Steve Carell have a tiny The Office reunion on Some Good News
In more celebrities being bored, John Krasinski (The Office, The Quiet Place) has begun his very own news show, titled Some Good News. The actor/writer/director was, apparently, sick of hearing overwhelmingly negative news (which is fair, there’s a lot), so he created a platform to highlight the nice things. In the 15 minute pilot, he chats briefly about stories his Twitter followers shared on Twitter – and brings on The Office co-star Steve Carell for a brief reunion. In the back half, they talk about their favorite memories of working on the show, including shooting their final scene together. Krasinksi jokes about a reunion, but says he truly wants to just see his old friends again as people.
