So, it was another day on the picket line for me as I walked outside of Warner Brothers on August 18, 2023. It is now day 35 of the strike for SAG/AFTRA, and day 109 for the WGA. The picket hours have been reduced to go from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. as the heat continues to be brutal and unforgiving, and the unions clearly want to make sure no one suffers from heatstroke.
After picketing outside of Paramount Studios and Netflix, I felt the time had come to go over the hill, so to speak, and check out what was going on in the valley. Picketing has ceased at Universal Studios due to them not providing enough safety for union members exercising the right to protest. As a result, the crowd outside of Warner Brothers proved to be especially huge as the sidewalks were crowded, and strike captains had to keep telling people to keep moving as there were parents with strollers trying to get through. And while there were sidewalks you could cross at, there were others which were off limits as cars kept coming up and down Barham Boulevard. Like me, many of them were desperately trying to find a place to park.
It was also a big day for Latino actors (Latino/a/x) as they made their presence known and partied on like there was no tomorrow. Their energy proved to be infinitely infectious as many joined in with their dancing and singing while also chanting loudly, “This corporate greed has got to go!” And if you looked closely, you could see actress Frances Fisher (“Unforgiven” and “Titanic”) walking the picket line as well as the Mandalorian and Captain America who was carrying a sign saying, “I can do this all day.”
Once again, a big thank you to the strike captains for keeping everyone safe and hydrated. To date, this has been the busiest picket line I have been to yet, so their jobs were a lot tougher than usual as a result. The temperature was in the high eighties, so even a warm lime La Croix was refreshing in this climate.
Check out the video below, and please consider making a donation to those in need.
WRITER’S NOTE: For the record, I am not currently a member of SAG/AFTRA or the WGA. The video I have put together here is not officially endorsed by either union.
On July 20, 2023, I did something I had been meaning to do for a long time: walk the picket line alongside members of the Writer’s Guild of America (WGA) and the Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG/AFTRA). Both unions are in a furious labor dispute with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) as streaming has forever changed the landscape of entertainment. The residual deals many actors and writers previously enjoyed are no longer such a thing, and streaming services have not been quick to give out the numbers of viewers or streams their programs have received thus far. Also, with artificial intelligence (AI) on the rise, many careers threaten to be rendered obsolete as those with all the money keep finding new ways to eliminate the human equation. Plus, when you compare the amount of money someone like Bob Iger makes to the average worker, one cannot help but be infuriated by the infinite corporate greed on display. As John Carpenter once said, the 1980’s never left us.
Signing up to walk in the picket line was very easy, and you do not have to be a member of either union to participate. Considering the continued divide between the haves and the have nots and the dangers posed by AI, I encourage you to participate as the technology itself poses dangers not just to acting and writing careers, but to careers in other fields as well. Clearly, many people still need to watch the first two “Terminator” movies to understand what happens when AI becomes self-aware.
It was a privilege to be walking with these people, union and non-union alike, along Melrose Avenue outside of Paramount. It quickly became clear to me of how everybody was looking out for one another, and this was great considering the hot temperatures we are currently enduring. The temperature reached up to around ninety degrees at one point, and there was only so much shade we could hide in. Paramount does not have any Ficus tress outside their studios, but if they did have any, they would already have had them trimmed.
Big applause goes out to the strike captains who made sure everyone was safe and kept everyone in line, and to all those who donated food, water, snacks and tons on sunscreen for us to utilize. You can never wear enough sunscreen on a day like this. I also have to say how much I appreciated everyone crossed the street both safely and legally. These days in Los Angeles, no one seems to know how to cross the friggin’ street anymore.
With the video I shot and edited above, I wanted to show the harmony of the strikers on display as this event has brought Los Angelenos together in ways I have not seen outside of the LA Marathon. Also, this video shows how everyone was looking out for one another, and how everybody was respectful of the rules set out for them. These visuals really do speak for themselves more than words can. Granted, writers can say a lot about the strike too, but we need to pay them more first.
If you are interested in helping out in the strike or want to make a donation, please visit the following websites by clicking down below:
WRITER’S NOTE: For the record, I am not currently a member of the WGA or SAG/AFTRA. This video is my creation alone and is not endorsed by either union or any other organization.
James Franco steps behind the camera once again for his directorial effort, and adaptation of John Steinbeck’s novel “In Dubious Battle.” This movie takes us back to the 1930’s when a group of migratory workers rose up and began a strike against landowners who informed them their pay was being cut from $3 to $1 a day for their work. In addition to directing, Franco also stars as one of strike’s key leaders, Jim Nolan, who struggles to stay true to his idealism of having the courage never to submit or yield. Also, it features a fantastic cast of actors which include Robert Duvall, Vincent D’Onofrio, Bryan Cranston, Ed Harris, Nat Wolff, Selena Gomez, Sam Shepard, Zach Braff and Josh Hutcherson.
I got to speak with the producers of “In Dubious Battle,” Andrea Iervolino and Lady Monika Bacardi, recently at the Redbury Hotel in Hollywood, California. Iervolino is considered one of the most accomplished entrepreneurs in the movie business as he has financed and distributed over 50 films since he was 16 years old. Bacardi is an entrepreneur as well and a successful businesswoman, patron of the arts, philanthropist, and humanitarian. Together, they founded the AMBI Group, a multi-national consortium of vertically integrated film development, production, finance and distribution companies.
Ben Kenber: I thought the movie was really good, and it was surprising to learn that this was one of John Steinbeck’s lesser-known books because, in today’s world, it is so timeless. Is that what really attracted you to producing this movie?
Andrea Iervolino: You know, two years ago, when we decided to produce this movie, we didn’t expect what is now happening in the United States.
Lady Monika Bacardi: A lot of the demonstrations that have happened after the release of the movie. The demonstrations in the film and people fighting for their rights, and now history is repeating itself.
AI: We decided to do this movie because, first of all, we’re big fans of John Steinbeck. He is the best author in American culture, and of course, we love James Franco. When we read the script, me and Monika, we were in two different countries; I was in New York and she was in Monte Carlo. We received the script and we talked for six hours about it.
LMB: And then we decided (to do the movie). It was very fast.
AI: Super-fast. And then we tried to do the maximum we can to promote the movie, and we also went to the Venice Film Festival where it received two awards (for James Franco and Andrea Iervolino). We went to the Toronto Film Festival, the Vail Film Festival, in Capri, etc. So everywhere we went, he received awards for the movie. So, we are proud of the quality in this movie is timeless. We believe today that in 10 years when you watch the movie, for sure a revolution will happen again. A protest will happen again for many individuals so you can think this can be me.
LMB: Yes. When people fight for their rights and they gather together, it’s the hope that they can help them because in their time there were a lot of revolutions that changed things and help the workers get the rights they deserved. So, it’s a message of hope.
BK: It’s interesting how you talk about history repeating itself because it’s a sad fact we can’t seem to escape.
LMB: Yes, it’s sad because we should be learning from history, and the same mistakes should not be made again. There must always be a positive revolution, but unfortunately, we see over and over again that history doesn’t change we make the same mistakes. It repeats itself.
BK: Yes, and that’s why it’s great this movie is being released now. Also, it feels like a miracle this movie got made in today’s world of superhero movies. Was it hard to get the financing for it?
AI: If you do a movie at the right budget, you can do every type of movie you want. The toughest ones to market are the most commercial ones. We believe this movie was made for the right budget and had the right cast, and we believe this movie respects the audience it was meant for.
BK: How much time did you have to shoot this movie in?
AI: The movie was shot in around five weeks.
BK: That sounds like a longer schedule than you like this tend to get these days. Also, it has quite the cast. Was it difficult getting all those actors together?
LMB: James Franco actually has a lot of friends, and he loves John Steinbeck. As a director, he called his friends, and for that reason, this is why he has all the stars together here. He’s a great director and a great actor.
BK: You can tell this is a film people got involved in because of their love and belief in the material, and it really shines through here. Also, you to have been working in the movie business for a while now. How would you say movies have evolved during your time in the business?
AI: You know, I did my first movie was when I was 15, so 14 years ago, I was doing a movie in digital. So, I was the first one in Italy to do a movie in digital because they don’t pay you a lot of money to make your first movie. I financed it by going door to door in my town to collect money, so I was forced to do my movie in digital. But then a few years later I became more powerful because I was the first one with the experience in digital, and I also started to make a movie in Italy with the same technology and distribution point of view, and that was when I was 21. Basically, in my point of view, in the way you can produce a movie there is change, but today I think there are more independent people, young people, with opportunities to produce their movies because the key is that the distribution system has changed. Before you can monetize your movie, you have to go to a local agent to bring your movie to a local cinema or in the local store to someone who can print your DVD, and then you need the agent to go speak with a company. So today, you can run content by yourself. You can do one deal worldwide, and you can add your movie directly to the internet platform. For big managers today, this is a problem because the distribution power is going down, down, down because if you do have good content, you can go for direct distribution, so from who produces and who watches the movie, it is only one step. Before it was 10 or 20 steps which is what managers took advantage of.
LMB: This distribution changed on us.
AI: Yes. And if you think about it, it is like going back. My mentor in Italy, Luciano Martino, he was doing movies in Italy in the 1950’s, 1960’s, and the 1970’s. He was telling me he was producing the movies by himself with his company, and he was going to the cinemas everywhere in Italy to position the movies, and then the movies ran the cinema for six months. So, it was one step production, and today it is again one step. So, it’s like going back. The powers coming back to the producer, not the distribution companies.
LMB: I agree with Andrea always 100%. We cannot speak at the same time, but we have the same opinions on film.
BK: With the changes in distribution, did that help “In Dubious Battle” or take away from it at all?
AI: It actually helped this movie for sure because we were going to go out with the DVD system so we will go out in the principal market, and the same time we will go out in the DVD system. A movie like this cannot make 20 million in one week; it’s too risky. But today, with this new platform, this movie can embrace this distribution concept where you can arrive to your audience and make your audience find the movie all around them without losing your investment.
BK: There is so much money put into advertising movies these days to where it costs more to promote them than to make them.
AI: Yes, sometimes more.
BK: So, it’s nice to see a movie like this can still find its audience while not having a huge budget for advertising.
LMB: Yes, absolutely.
AI: I really believe in three, four or five years, it will become more and more possible to produce a movie with a specific audience because you will know where you can find the audience that likes this movie. Before you needed to spend $10 million dollars in TV advertising in order to get to 300 million people, and in order to reach 3 million people who like your movie.
LMB: (Laughs). It’s absolutely true. Plus, the young people have a different concept that they look a lot of internet, and they go to the movies a lot less than our generation did. It depends on the country, and every country is different
BK: Was there any pressure to modernize this book at all when it came to making this movie?
LMB: We had to keep it as a true story because the message it gives is actually timeless about how history repeats itself. You have to keep it at the time and be true to the book so we cannot change it completely.
AI: Also, the love story component in the movie between Selena Gomez and Nat Wolff and the friendship story between James and Nat, these help the movie be more accessible to young people. Maybe 15, 16 or 18-year-olds, they don’t know or care about John Steinbeck.
LMB: And the love story makes it very human and very touching. It’s about the revolution, but it’s also about the human story and the human aspect.
BK: It almost would have been great to see this movie made in black and white. Was that ever a consideration?
AI: You know, it was in the beginning for about five minutes, but it was too difficult. Black-and-white in a distribution point of view can give you so many limitations. Maybe we can do a black-and-white animation movie someday.
I want to thank Andrea Iervolino and Lady Monika Bacardi for taking the time to talk with me. “In Dubious Battle” premieres in theaters and VOD on February 17, 2017.
The Ultimate Rabbit 