Why IATSE Won't Strike + Regal's New Screen X
This week Film Center discuss why the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) won't go on strike. Out of all the unions, they're one of the most powerful! Also as a bonus, we got invited to check out Regal Cinema's Screen X! Listen in to find out all the details on this special double episode of Film Center!
Transcript
this is Film Center, your number one show for real entertainment industry news.
Speaker:No fluff.
Speaker:All facts.
Speaker:Now here are your anchors, Derek Johnson II and Nicholas Killian,
Speaker:everyone.
Speaker:Welcome to Film Center, your number one place for Studio News.
Speaker:I'm Derek Johnson ii.
Speaker:I'm Nicholas Killian.
Speaker:And what are we getting in today, Nicholas?
Speaker:Today we're going to be talking about.
Speaker:I, and actually we're after after the strike of the W G A.
Speaker:And SAG.
Speaker:People assume that Izi was also going to strike.
Speaker:And for you guys that didn't, don't know what Izi is.
Speaker:The izi is the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage.
Speaker:Employees.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So basically they're not the writers.
Speaker:And they're not the actors.
Speaker:They're literally everyone else who's under the line, right?
Speaker:So they're the grips, they're the key grips.
Speaker:They're the gaffers, the electricians, the best boys, the production
Speaker:assistants, they're production hands.
Speaker:The all, like when you go to see a movie, the when you leave, that's all
Speaker:those people who are on the screen.
Speaker:That's who all those guys are.
Speaker:That, that's who all those guys are.
Speaker:After you see the actors and you're like, oh, okay, cool.
Speaker:That was the director.
Speaker:I know who he is.
Speaker:And then you get up and leave everyone else who's part of
Speaker:II is then on the screen.
Speaker:Exactly.
Speaker:And the, all the people that made it possible for everybody on that
Speaker:screen to look as good as they do, to sound as good as they do.
Speaker:All of that is ii it's always a huge team effort.
Speaker:A lot of people say, man, I love that Quentin Tarantino movie, or, I love
Speaker:that that, it doesn't really matter.
Speaker:They'll name some director or they're name some, oh man, the
Speaker:Rock was, I love the Rock's movie.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:There was like a minimum 200 people who help get this thing made.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Bro easily, more easily more.
Speaker:And without every single one of them, it would not be possible.
Speaker:And the thing is as much as people complain about actors and writers
Speaker:and directors, izi, people get treated worse than the named staff.
Speaker:Way worse.
Speaker:'cause no one knows who they are and you'll never know who they are.
Speaker:But the thing is they get more work.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:See the writers and actors and directors, they also compete for very small slots.
Speaker:I oe they're working every day.
Speaker:It's like a nine to five forever.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:They're basically guaranteed work.
Speaker:I have a teacher of mine.
Speaker:He's an I oe he's a makeup artist.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And they work they work longer hours than named staff.
Speaker:Oh, most definitely.
Speaker:Most definitely.
Speaker:There is.
Speaker:They're there before you get there and they're there after you leave.
Speaker:When I was a key grip on one of Bill Duke's movies, I, oh my gosh, man, I
Speaker:I've been a, I've been a key grip for bill Duke and I've also been a camera
Speaker:op for Bill Duke and I ran his his C cam for one of the movies that he did.
Speaker:And you get there, your call time is usually some.
Speaker:Sometimes super early in the morning.
Speaker:And by the way that's good.
Speaker:Your call time is like four or five o'clock in the morning.
Speaker:That is po That's a good sign for me.
Speaker:My call time was I think the earliest call time I had on either one of
Speaker:Bill Duke's movies was like six 6:00 AM because if you get a call time,
Speaker:'cause usually the actors are there, they're working for Eight hours max.
Speaker:And they're up, then they're down.
Speaker:They're up, they're down.
Speaker:They're waiting for us to set up.
Speaker:It's, they're on set for eight hours max.
Speaker:If you're a grip, if you're a grip or you're part of ia, you're
Speaker:doing the background stuff, you're there for 12 minimum, usually.
Speaker:Oh yeah.
Speaker:You could be there easily 16.
Speaker:Oh, easily.
Speaker:And if you get a call time on a sheet that says, Hey, get there
Speaker:at The afternoon, you're like, oh man, this is like a late day shoot,
Speaker:or like worse, an overnight shoot.
Speaker:I there's a saying they have, they say overnight shoots, test
Speaker:friendships, and it's so true.
Speaker:Like I have been on some sets where I.
Speaker:These people were my really good friends.
Speaker:And then it just takes one overnight shoot to make you say,
Speaker:man, this person is really annoying because it's four in the morning.
Speaker:You've been working for 10 hours, right?
Speaker:And you're just and this person decides oh, you know what?
Speaker:I don't feel like working as hard, so I'm gonna start doing stuff to mess up.
Speaker:And now you have to do more stuff.
Speaker:Nah, bro.
Speaker:But anyway we sit there thinking okay, why is I c not striking along
Speaker:with SAG AFTRA and the W G A, right?
Speaker:It's a way bigger It's a way bigger union.
Speaker:They have over 170,000 members.
Speaker:Like they, like I said, it's a very large union with members and over
Speaker:a hundred companies, which makes it more difficult to coordinate a strike.
Speaker:Yeah, that's true.
Speaker:The thing is also what you have is I, Ozi has a long history of working
Speaker:with the studios to reach agreements.
Speaker:So because they're more integral to all of the goings on of movies,
Speaker:they're obviously a lot closer.
Speaker:To the studios then say maybe SAG AFTRA or the Writer's Union.
Speaker:And by closer leadership, not workers.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And I, this is gonna come off a little wrong, but I don't like, it doesn't mean
Speaker:that SAG or W G A is not as important, but what I will say is it's a lot
Speaker:easier to replace writers replace, if you aren't working on a TV show.
Speaker:Replace like 10 writers or for a movie, really a couple writers.
Speaker:And it's lot easier to replace actors than it is to replace possibly like 200
Speaker:people who all have one specialized job.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Like you.
Speaker:You can't even cast for that.
Speaker:You had to ask other people if they know someone and ie.
Speaker:Provides this invaluable roster.
Speaker:They don't have really the, and that's part of the reason why they're so
Speaker:close is 'cause literally studios cannot operate without these people.
Speaker:Yeah, no it's not even an option.
Speaker:It's not even like what I do and what my teacher does.
Speaker:You can't.
Speaker:You can't have people for that, like making facial hair pieces, the
Speaker:fact that he's a makeup artist that can do basically every discipline
Speaker:in the makeup artistry realm.
Speaker:Now, this doesn't mean that people don't try to replace them because they do.
Speaker:Oh, your if I can recall your teacher universal has tried to replace him
Speaker:a couple times and was unable to.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So basically what happens is I.
Speaker:Because it's so specialized, it I'll give you an example, right?
Speaker:So a very small example is he's had a contract with Universal to do Beetlejuice
Speaker:head pieces for over 20 years, right?
Speaker:Now the Beetlejuice head pieces are not anything big.
Speaker:It's literally the universal park that has the Beetlejuice head pieces, right?
Speaker:Now, the thing is.
Speaker:The reason why he's had the contract for so long, and this is a example of
Speaker:many different areas in his life, is the fact that they have tried to go
Speaker:and get other people to do this for a lower price, probably for a lower price,
Speaker:for whatever they want, fill in the example, maybe have some guy full time
Speaker:to do only Beetlejuice here whatever.
Speaker:And they've gone back to him every single time for two decades.
Speaker:For two, for over two decades, doesn't even wanna do it anymore.
Speaker:What people don't understand is like movies and TV shows and stuff
Speaker:like that, it's a giant clock.
Speaker:And actors are more like the face, like you can't really the numbers the hand.
Speaker:It is those things might be, now they're not, I meanly replaceable.
Speaker:Like you can get another one.
Speaker:Mainly because of.
Speaker:I'm saying like, when it comes to actors and writers, there's like proportionally
Speaker:a hundred people competing for one job.
Speaker:When you are dealing with I OE members, they're the actual cogs of the watch.
Speaker:So you need all one.
Speaker:It's 100 people com competing for 100 jobs.
Speaker:You know what I mean?
Speaker:Like you need every single one of these people to work every single
Speaker:one of these jobs compared to I have, it's like supply and demand.
Speaker:If I have a there's tons of demand and a little supply.
Speaker:Then obviously I get to pick and choose what I wanna do.
Speaker:And then you also sit there and you think about, okay, what is the reason?
Speaker:What is another reason why they're not striking is be it's not that they're
Speaker:more p it, they're, it's not because they're not as powerful, but it's
Speaker:also because of the rise of streaming.
Speaker:It's also because there is substantially more non-union work.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:In the entertainment industry as far as those support jobs.
Speaker:Then you can, for union membership.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Union job, like a lot of these, I actually, people are not being paid on
Speaker:residuals, like the writers and sag.
Speaker:They're being paid for being there on set, right?
Speaker:So when streaming comes along, there's just more jobs, which
Speaker:means more money for them.
Speaker:It doesn't necessarily mean that, 'cause they're not already not
Speaker:working off of residuals, right?
Speaker:They don't really, they're not getting residuals.
Speaker:They just need to be on set.
Speaker:As long as there are sets and now that there are more of
Speaker:them, They can still work.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:It, but like I said, it makes it more difficult for the union to bargain for
Speaker:significant concessions from studios because there is so much more work.
Speaker:Like my teacher was telling me, he was like, okay, listen, it, I
Speaker:think back in the day it was like three grand to join SAG aft, right?
Speaker:It's double that to join Izi.
Speaker:But the reason why he said it was double that is because you
Speaker:get double the work, right?
Speaker:You're basically get it's the amount of money that you can make.
Speaker:If you're like, oh, I wanna come out to la right?
Speaker:And you say, I wanna be a writer or a director, you are like, oh, good luck.
Speaker:'cause there's not Let me adjust.
Speaker:You say, oh, I wanna be an ie.
Speaker:They're like, oh, okay, cool.
Speaker:That's like saying I, I want to be I don't know, like a fireman.
Speaker:He's yeah.
Speaker:It's a very doable jury.
Speaker:And like we said, Izi is over 170,000 workers, right?
Speaker:And we've already established that it is the cogs of the machine, of the watch.
Speaker:You, we, you can have TV shows without actors and writers, but you can have.
Speaker:Anything without I Osse members, you cannot, ai I osse.
Speaker:You can't.
Speaker:You can say, oh, AI can write stuff.
Speaker:Oh, maybe I can even have C G i actors that are generated through ai, whatever.
Speaker:Okay an AI software is not gonna pick up that light and hang it from the roof.
Speaker:And back in 2021, they had averted the strike by signing a tentative deal,
Speaker:and then ATI's current contract with the studios expires on July 31st 2023.
Speaker:So it's already expired, right?
Speaker:They signed a pink contract with with the Broadway workers.
Speaker:To make sure tentatively nothing goes underwater.
Speaker:But the union has been in negotiations with everything since.
Speaker:January of this year.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And once again, these studios, they're like, there's a reason why you don't
Speaker:hear so much about you always hear about how writers are underpaid
Speaker:and you know what they go through.
Speaker:You always hear about actors and what they go through and stuff like that.
Speaker:There's a reason why you don't hear so much.
Speaker:Like I obviously it's basically the teamsters of Yeah.
Speaker:Of Hollywood.
Speaker:It's everybody.
Speaker:It's literally everybody from the top down.
Speaker:If I actually went on strike and was like, we're done.
Speaker:It's like the government shutting down, like nothing's moving.
Speaker:Also, the thing is that izi in the studios aren't very far apart in their demands.
Speaker:So because like you said, the studios realize if they try
Speaker:and screw over izi, that's it.
Speaker:That's done.
Speaker:They like, why?
Speaker:Once again, there's so many, there's so much work.
Speaker:You need tons and tons of people, but so the studios have all.
Speaker:Offered I e a 3% wage increase over the next three years, right?
Speaker:And the union is seeking a 4% wage increase over three years, as
Speaker:well as improvements to healthcare and pension benefits, right?
Speaker:So if you look at it, They're not that far off.
Speaker:Yes, they're far off, but they're not as far off as the actors and the writers.
Speaker:They can negotiate with the actors and writers.
Speaker:'cause like we said, supply and demand.
Speaker:But they can't do that with the oze.
Speaker:Like they they're, they know that they're incapable.
Speaker:It's like saying, okay, if I have a band, okay, like I have a marching band.
Speaker:And the actor is the actors are like some of the dancers.
Speaker:And then the writer, he's more the coordinator I guess.
Speaker:And then you have the director who might be the conductor.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:II is every single band member.
Speaker:So II is the instruments.
Speaker:Is the uniforms, right?
Speaker:Is the shoes the laces, uniforms.
Speaker:The thing is if II went on strike, it would last maybe a week.
Speaker:And because of this they're very similar in their domains because
Speaker:Aiani says we want more work.
Speaker:And the studio say we wanna make more productions.
Speaker:So it goes hand in hand.
Speaker:What they are differentiating in is what the writers and actors is payment.
Speaker:Is the huge one.
Speaker:Also talking about ai right.
Speaker:This does not affect iatse at all.
Speaker:Also, the studios can't afford to have iatse go on strike.
Speaker:They, no, they literally can't.
Speaker:The studios can afford the actors and the writers to go on strike.
Speaker:Because the pandemic allowed us, allowed them to really backlog a lot of shows.
Speaker:But that's it.
Speaker:It would cost the studios literally billions of dollars very quickly.
Speaker:If I oe went on strike, it would be so bad.
Speaker:Like a lot of the executives would not even go into work that day.
Speaker:They'd be like, all right, cool.
Speaker:There's no reason for me to do anything.
Speaker:There's no reason.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And the thing is they've, but they have already gone and authorized a strike.
Speaker:II and its members have already authorized through, I think
Speaker:they have to it's a 98% vote.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And 98% of its workers have already authorized.
Speaker:I oi to go on strike.
Speaker:The reason why OI is not going on strike is because the leadership is
Speaker:probably really cozy with the studios.
Speaker:Yeah, I, yeah, I would agree with that.
Speaker:Although it's like to people who are a little bit confused 'cause that
Speaker:might have confused some people.
Speaker:Once again this is a film center and here in film center.
Speaker:Both me and Nicholas work in the industry, right?
Speaker:So we're not coming at a perspective that's oh, we're just like guessing here.
Speaker:When it comes to unions and the way that they strike, they have to vote first
Speaker:and then later on they will decide if they're actually technically on strike.
Speaker:For example SAG voted to go on strike and then didn't go on strike for some time.
Speaker:Same old thing with the W G A and I honestly did vote.
Speaker:Let's say they said, oh yeah, we're gonna go on strike, but.
Speaker:To be fair, like you said, the leadership is pretty cozy with the studio.
Speaker:So the studios know how much, and the reason why they're cozy is 'cause
Speaker:the studios need them so badly.
Speaker:So there's no way to AI ossie.
Speaker:So now that a ozy, now that a Ozy, now that ai, OZY ai, I ozy now
Speaker:that a Ozy has decided, oh yeah.
Speaker:We voted to go on straight.
Speaker:The studios are probably still going to give them whatever they want.
Speaker:And before they actually officially go on strike, what this usually
Speaker:means is that okay, they voted to go on strike for really any reasons.
Speaker:They feel like it just a union.
Speaker:They can go on strike when they feel like it.
Speaker:So then they can say, oh, okay, we voted.
Speaker:So now we're going to present our case to the studios, right?
Speaker:And be like, Hey, if you don't give us what we want, we'll be officially
Speaker:on strike and I guarantee you what the studios are gonna bend.
Speaker:They don't have a choice.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And then the thing is the last, they don't know how to make their own coffee.
Speaker:The last time they went on strike was 1988 and it did not last very long at all.
Speaker:How long did that one last?
Speaker:I believe it was I think they said a couple months.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah, I think it was like 45 days.
Speaker:But, and this is according to II's website that 98% of eligible
Speaker:union voters cast ballots.
Speaker:In the strike authorization with more than 98% of them in
Speaker:support of strike authorization.
Speaker:That means that about 162,000 I os e members are in favor.
Speaker:And voted in favor of authorizing the strike.
Speaker:So maybe what some of our audience doesn't understand is that just
Speaker:because you vote to go on strike does not mean that you go on strike.
Speaker:The leadership.
Speaker:Has to then say, okay, yes, we're going to go on strike.
Speaker:And then also, once again, they're only gonna go on strike Wednesday
Speaker:after they informed the studios like, Hey, we are about to go on strike
Speaker:if you don't meet these demands.
Speaker:Because if they tell the studios that we're going that they're gonna
Speaker:go on strike, unless the demands and the studios meet those demands
Speaker:immediately, then the strike is canceled.
Speaker:And like I said, the.
Speaker:The valley in between what Izi wants and what the studio wants.
Speaker:It's really not that far off.
Speaker:It's very close.
Speaker:They're really just talking about semantics for the most part
Speaker:compared to the other two unions that are talking about real change.
Speaker:Also the issue with going on strike and probably the most important
Speaker:issue with Izi going on strike is the fact that I'm not saying that
Speaker:writers and actors don't izi members.
Speaker:This is their nine to five.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:It.
Speaker:It's not like it's their daily job.
Speaker:It's their daily job.
Speaker:They don't have money saved up.
Speaker:They can't afford to go on strike.
Speaker:Yeah, they don't.
Speaker:They don't.
Speaker:You're not gonna see them driving like a lot, like some actors and writers
Speaker:can get rich off what they're doing.
Speaker:You do not get rich off of, ie.
Speaker:You do get to go on a whole bunch of really cool movies.
Speaker:All of I.
Speaker:I am not officially with Ancy myself, but I've there, but I've worked alongside
Speaker:with the for quite some time now.
Speaker:And like you get on some really big sets you get to meet some really famous
Speaker:people, and that's all real cool.
Speaker:But that should, that's your daily job.
Speaker:You're not gonna get rich off of this.
Speaker:You're not gonna get rich off of it.
Speaker:You're going to pay your rent, right?
Speaker:You're gonna pay your rent, you're gonna pay your car.
Speaker:No, you are gonna go to Starbucks and that's it.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:You're not driving any Teslas.
Speaker:You're not, you're driving a Honda.
Speaker:Not to say that act that you know that writers and actors, but typically
Speaker:writers and actors, I would say.
Speaker:Wouldn't you say in your experience they do better than I would say the
Speaker:possibility to do better is The poss?
Speaker:Yeah, the possibility.
Speaker:The possibility.
Speaker:'cause I cannot, I can tell you like not all right.
Speaker:What's crazy is that, so I work independently.
Speaker:I am an independent I'm not attached to any union, which
Speaker:allows me to do non-union work.
Speaker:And I often make a lot more than some of the wj some of my WJ friends, and,
Speaker:but everyone knows the big people in wj, like Aaron Sorkin, who are these huge
Speaker:writers who make millions of dollars, I do not make as much as he does clearly.
Speaker:But that's a possibility that you can have.
Speaker:Being in wj, there's a poss, everyone knows all these A-list actors who have all
Speaker:these millions and millions of dollars.
Speaker:There's a possibility in sac, it's not a possibility, an because.
Speaker:A lot of these rich actors and writers that you see, they
Speaker:get rich off of residuals.
Speaker:And they get rich off of points on the back end.
Speaker:You don't get that with ie.
Speaker:You get No, you, they say, Hey, you know what?
Speaker:You worked X amount of hours, you get a paycheck in the mail.
Speaker:And they say, you fill out the little form on set.
Speaker:It's just it's just like being an extra on set.
Speaker:You, you fill out the form.
Speaker:I think, and the thing is like you said, there is so much work.
Speaker:It's, it, there is so much non-union work.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Right there.
Speaker:You do have union work, but there is so much non-union work.
Speaker:Non-union work being anything that any other set needs work with.
Speaker:And contrary to a lot of, to people who don't know anything about Hollywood.
Speaker:Most work in Los Angeles, Atlanta Toronto and Canada, New York City, New York.
Speaker:Nashville.
Speaker:It's all non-union, Louisiana.
Speaker:Most of it's non-union.
Speaker:In fact, I would say percentage wise, I would say in the entertainment business
Speaker:as a whole, I would argue that like 75% of it, that's not a crazy number.
Speaker:75% being non-union.
Speaker:Because you're also talking about commercials.
Speaker:Yeah, all commercials are non-union.
Speaker:You're also talking about like podcast, like this is a podcast.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:This is this podcast we're on right now.
Speaker:This is non-union work, also con contributing to the
Speaker:decline of membership, right?
Speaker:So the rise of streaming services have made it easier for the studios
Speaker:to produce union produce movies and TV shows without hiring union labor.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:You have the decline of the theatrical film industry.
Speaker:It leads to, you don't have to hire union people.
Speaker:You just had to hire someone who knows what they're doing.
Speaker:That's all you need.
Speaker:That's it.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Comparative to, and especially 'cause with I OTI members, here's another huge reason
Speaker:why it's so much Anazi job is so much more secure than SAG and wga sometimes
Speaker:studios and production companies.
Speaker:They're hiring the writers based off their name to sell the movie.
Speaker:They're hiring the actors based off their names, get Because of an N D A I
Speaker:can't really say the recent movie I was on, but you're not seeing 'cause of me.
Speaker:Like you're not, you're seeing it 'cause of you're la it's labor.
Speaker:You're not seeing, you're like, oh, who get the key grip on this?
Speaker:I hope it's, I hope it's Derek.
Speaker:No, you're gonna be there to see the the alist actor that's on it.
Speaker:And they also do it to save money, right?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:It's.
Speaker:It's way cheaper to hire some non-union person than to hire a union.
Speaker:I Ossi member.
Speaker:It saves them money and it gives me way more money because
Speaker:I can get guaranteed days.
Speaker:So what they, so sometimes when you're a non-union they will still guarantee
Speaker:you days if you're, if you're tight with production and it's way easier
Speaker:to get your foot into the door.
Speaker:I've met so many high level people through working those lower union
Speaker:lower non-union jobs plus plus with with that support staff type of.
Speaker:Work type of role.
Speaker:You're not you could be guaranteed work, but like you said, you have to
Speaker:be tight with production and Yeah.
Speaker:We can get into that in a different episode and how to do that type of
Speaker:stuff, but I would suggest anyone who wants to get, quote unquote, let's say
Speaker:you get on one of these sets, a lot of first people sets is not gonna be.
Speaker:With Universal it's gonna be with some studio that you've never heard of.
Speaker:Mine actually was with the studio that some people might be familiar with.
Speaker:My first feature that I was on was with Asylum which some people
Speaker:know them for Sharknato and some other mod movies they make.
Speaker:But it was a lot of fun getting to know them and stuff like that.
Speaker:And then what will happen is that, You do a good job as well
Speaker:as wild as they, as that sounds.
Speaker:They love seeing people actually work and do good work, and
Speaker:they'll call you for the next one.
Speaker:And originally I was put on, when you're non-union, you're, you
Speaker:don't have a certain contract.
Speaker:You're either they want you there or they don't.
Speaker:Right?
Speaker:So I originally just went I can't even name this movie right now, but whatever.
Speaker:I think it's outta contract.
Speaker:So you can go there for one day and then they'll put you on for
Speaker:three more days if you want.
Speaker:I was, We were talking about the last strike of 1988.
Speaker:It lasted 28 days and resulted in a number of concessions from studios
Speaker:including a 4% wage increase over three years, and improved healthcare benefits.
Speaker:So I, so we were so to retract the earlier statement, it was not a couple
Speaker:of months, it was not even a month.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Comparative to how long they're doing the WJ and SS and SAG strike.
Speaker:So for how long Indefinitely, they were like, yeah, we can't even
Speaker:survive a month without these guys.
Speaker:No, not a month.
Speaker:Because here's the thing that I think people don't understand about
Speaker:I ozi it is everyone on the set, like if, and that's hard to imagine.
Speaker:So let's break it down a little bit.
Speaker:So I'll give you an example, right?
Speaker:You have the actors in the writers.
Speaker:Let's say you have a hundred people.
Speaker:The actors and the writers are two people.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Proportionally.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:I would say that's correct.
Speaker:Proportionally, out of a hundred, they will be two, two people.
Speaker:98%.
Speaker:98 other people is I ozi.
Speaker:Literally it's from the Teamsters van.
Speaker:The people that pick you up in the vans.
Speaker:That's something that people don't even thinking about.
Speaker:Oh, the actors gotta get there somehow.
Speaker:And lemme tell you, the trailers also gotta get there.
Speaker:Somehow.
Speaker:The guys who bring their trailers for them to be driven to, it's it
Speaker:is everything from the top down.
Speaker:Ev All of it.
Speaker:All of it, all of those, they, these names that you see after the actors
Speaker:and directors and all that, all those names that you see that are super small,
Speaker:but it fill up the screen for a long time and so they can't even go a month.
Speaker:Speaking of the screen Nicholas and I recently got to go check
Speaker:out Regal's New experience.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And screen X.
Speaker:We went to go see grand Smo.
Speaker:The, it's based off a true story about a sim driver who got to
Speaker:become a real race car driver.
Speaker:He's from the uk.
Speaker:We're not going to review the movie.
Speaker:That's not really what we do here.
Speaker:I, my opinion of the movie was, is that it started off, it was too long.
Speaker:Okay, Nick, that was Do log in.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:But I got better in the end.
Speaker:Which it got really good in the, towards the end, right?
Speaker:Which, yeah, it was, the first half of it was real slow.
Speaker:It was kinda weird.
Speaker:It felt like I was watching an independent movie, even though.
Speaker:It clearly wasn't marketed that way and actually didn't need to be that way.
Speaker:I feel like someone might have blown the budget on the race cars and the
Speaker:pd, but they needed the cars, right?
Speaker:It's all racing, dude.
Speaker:The cars were, Ooh.
Speaker:Anyway, let's talk about Screen X.
Speaker:That's screen X.
Speaker:It's 270 degrees, right?
Speaker:Which, if that's confusing to you.
Speaker:So 360 is all the way around people.
Speaker:Everyone knows that.
Speaker:Most people know that, right?
Speaker:The way you usually watch a screen, you usually watch it 180
Speaker:where it's just in front of you.
Speaker:Just the screen, right?
Speaker:Actually 180.
Speaker:Yeah just when it's right in front of you, two 70, it's in front of you and
Speaker:it's on your left and on your right.
Speaker:Now the way they for this movie in Grand Smo is that you saw it, it
Speaker:spread out on the side sometimes, and sometimes it was just in front and
Speaker:it seemed a little bit random to me.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:I like I was telling you during the movie, I was like, why don't
Speaker:they just have it on all the time?
Speaker:It felt like it would've been way better on all the time.
Speaker:It feels like a bit of technology that really, filmmakers have not cut up.
Speaker:It feels like how three D was at first.
Speaker:Three D, they were just doing stuff.
Speaker:They didn't really understand how to use it.
Speaker:Spy kids.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Just reaching out to you.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:But no, the thing is what I thought was What I thought was, like I said,
Speaker:I just thought it was real random.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And the thing was is that when you look to the side of them, it
Speaker:wasn't as clear as the screen.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:The sides, like the sides were very blurry.
Speaker:I told Nick this in the screening.
Speaker:I was like, it seems like they were like, AI generated size.
Speaker:That's how weird they looked and it felt like they had just taken the, or
Speaker:maybe they just punched into the screen and then just stretched out the edges.
Speaker:But it's like you shouldn't have done that.
Speaker:You should have recorded it properly.
Speaker:So it can actually be on two 70, it looked like it was a movie that wasn't
Speaker:supposed to be two 70 that they then, Edit it to try to make it two 70.
Speaker:But once again, this is me saying I don't think the filmmakers were
Speaker:expecting them to show it in this way.
Speaker:I think it was more of a marketing thing.
Speaker:And they were like, oh, how do we do this?
Speaker:But I was looking up some stuff and it what I saw was like the first Screen X
Speaker:theater opened in South Korea in 2012.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And then the first screen X Theater in the United States opened in 2018.
Speaker:And they're not everywhere.
Speaker:No, we couldn't.
Speaker:We could only find one.
Speaker:And it, we just so happened to be near it.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:It was great.
Speaker:'cause we we live in Los Angeles County, so we are thinking like,
Speaker:oh, there's gonna be a bunch of 'em.
Speaker:Is there gonna be, no, there was one, and I will say this, if it's,
Speaker:there were some parts of the movie I.
Speaker:Like it, like we said, it was random.
Speaker:They didn't really seem like they was meant for that, but there were
Speaker:certain parts of the movie where the two 70 did increase my experience.
Speaker:Oh yeah.
Speaker:I definitely think that there were parts of it that it really increased.
Speaker:It really increased the viewing experience.
Speaker:But then the thing was is it would just fall away.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:I think that's what made, like you said earlier, I would, it should just be there.
Speaker:It should just be there consistently, just.
Speaker:Yeah and then if you're going to take away the size, there should be
Speaker:some like moment in the story where something gets like real intimate and
Speaker:then I could see the why the sides will be black or not as important,
Speaker:but it should just be always two 70.
Speaker:Like I said, I don't think it was shot in that expectation.
Speaker:Now the real question is that when we're talking about two 70 and
Speaker:screen X, what we're really talking about is regal cinema's way to
Speaker:counteract AMCs take over the world.
Speaker:Yeah, and I personally, I really think that two 70 could work when
Speaker:we, it was a racing movie, right?
Speaker:So it's possible that it needs to be a certain type of movie for two 70
Speaker:degrees to be working with, but it really made me feel like I was in the car.
Speaker:I think the thing is so whenever we walked into the movie theater,
Speaker:it didn't look any different.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:That was the crazy part because we were like, oh, two 70, blah, blah, blah.
Speaker:It's 270 feet wide and 70 feet tall.
Speaker:And we walked in there and we were like 70 degrees.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And so we were just like, it wasn't until the movie came on.
Speaker:The previews were 180.
Speaker:All the previews were just that regular screen in front of you.
Speaker:And then the second set of previews that, 'cause they have like the previews and
Speaker:then they have the long movie previews.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And those long movie previews were in the two 70.
Speaker:They, when they were flexing oh hey look, this is the type
Speaker:of screen that you're watching.
Speaker:And that presentation was really cool, but that presentation was cool.
Speaker:Because it was designed with the two 70 in mind.
Speaker:They knew where you were going to be looking.
Speaker:They knew it was gonna be on the left side, it was gonna be on the right side.
Speaker:It really made me feel like I was at a theme park.
Speaker:Like those four D theme park kind of stuff.
Speaker:Except it was a professional movie.
Speaker:And the thing, with the surround sound and with all the stuff I
Speaker:was like, But then I thought, like you said, it was just random.
Speaker:Like it was just very random.
Speaker:I was like, this could have been done really well if you had
Speaker:just kept it on the whole time.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:If you.
Speaker:I don't know what the I don't know what the mechanics of it, but if you could
Speaker:have it on at that point, then why wouldn't you just have it on all the time?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:We might talk about the way that this might impact.
Speaker:'cause Regal Cinemas now also has its own it's not called the A-list,
Speaker:but they do have their own membership now that's competing with AMC's
Speaker:A-list, and we might talk about how.
Speaker:Positive.
Speaker:We think this all might, their new experience might be compared
Speaker:to a m c, whether we think they might be able to take over or
Speaker:not, but is my current opinion.
Speaker:Before we do more research to into it, and if you would like to hear
Speaker:that type of episode, let us know.
Speaker:But it's my current opinion that I think that the two 70 could work very well.
Speaker:You just need to make the movie with the two 70 in mind, right?
Speaker:It's more of a gimmick right now, right?
Speaker:Just three D started off as a gimmick before people started to
Speaker:use it for certain reasons, right?
Speaker:They, instead of using it for overdoing stuff with spiky S three D, even
Speaker:though when I came out I thought it was fun 'cause I was a kid, right?
Speaker:But.
Speaker:But when Avatar was using it, when Avatar was using it, it was the using it just as
Speaker:a depth to help you immerse in the depth.
Speaker:And that was like, okay, this is the right way to use three D after
Speaker:we've done five years of randomness.
Speaker:And a and I gotta say this, I did I liked it better than imax.
Speaker:Yeah, I did too.
Speaker:Because the thing is it had the two 70 viewing and then of course
Speaker:it had the, projections and then it had the surround sound, and I
Speaker:was like, oh, this is much better.
Speaker:Another clue to me that the filmmakers and that intend for it to be stretched to the
Speaker:two 70 degrees is that when we're watching the the pre like the preview where they're
Speaker:showing oh look, it's two 70 and they have these stripes going around and stuff like
Speaker:that around you, which is really cool.
Speaker:They're all crystal clear on the side walls.
Speaker:When we were watching the movie, it was blurry a little bit on the side walls.
Speaker:I.
Speaker:Yeah, exactly.
Speaker:No, I completely agree.
Speaker:I think that this could do really well for Avengers end game and I would love to see
Speaker:Mission Impossible and Fasten the Furious.
Speaker:It seems like it's ABR For action movies.
Speaker:I would love to see Andy Indiana Jones and this, I would love to see
Speaker:any, like any fantasy movie, period.
Speaker:Lord.
Speaker:Lord of the Rings, rings, jinx Lord of the Rings would dominate the
Speaker:theaters if they were shown in two 70.
Speaker:Dude dominate.
Speaker:I would, I ain't gonna lie to you.
Speaker:I would watch, I would pay a premium dollar to see lower the rings.
Speaker:In two 70 with the panoramic viewing and projection of screens.
Speaker:And at first I thought my neck would like hurt going left.
Speaker:But no, it actually, it didn't bother me at all.
Speaker:I think that 360, it also lemme know that 360 would've been too much.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:360 would've been too much, but it turns out two 70, it keeps my interest.
Speaker:It really does well, two 70 also is your complete field of vision in front of you.
Speaker:I thought it was, and then of course you have your peripherals.
Speaker:Which is it gets the peripherals.
Speaker:And so the thing is maybe that's why they didn't make it crystal clear on the
Speaker:sides because whenever I was looking at the screen at the movie, say the race
Speaker:car, they're really zoning in on this the fact that it was blurry on the sides
Speaker:really didn't bother me all that much.
Speaker:Not at all.
Speaker:Not at all.
Speaker:But yeah..
Speaker:We guys has been a film center.
Speaker:This is a bit of a double episode here with Izi and talking
Speaker:about Regal Cinema's two 70.
Speaker:Nicholas, what is your final verdict on the two 70?
Speaker:I think it could be game changing if they do it in a way that is complimentary
Speaker:to it and not just a gimmick.
Speaker:I couldn't agree more.
Speaker:Hey guys, my name's Derek Johnson a second.
Speaker:I'm Nicholas Killian and we'll talk to you next time.
Speaker:See ya.
Speaker:This has been Film Center on Comic-Con Radio.
Speaker:Check out our previous episodes at comic-con radio.com.
Speaker:You can follow the show at Film Center News on all major social media platforms.
Speaker:Tune in next Wednesday for a fresh update.
Speaker:Until next time, this has been film Center.
