01/29/21
This week: Our next movie has a title—and starts shooting next week!TRENDS THIS WEEK
☞ YouTube: Billie Eilish, ROSALÍA - Lo Vas A Olvidar
☞ Letterboxd: PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN
☞ TikTok: #XGamesMode
☞ Spotify: drivers license - Olivia Rodrigo
☞ Netflix: FATE: THE WINX SAGA
☞ Twitter: #robinhood
Life & Culture
Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock with spotty internet coverage, I’m guessing you’ve heard about the twisty, turny story of Reddit, Gamestop and the stock market by now. Admittedly, my only real stock market experience involves playing a simulation stock market game in the sixth grade, but I can still recognize that what’s happening right now is extremely unique. If you need a quick download on what’s going on in layman's terms, I found this and this explanation helpful. And for more advanced deep dive into how this could end, try this one.
In a nutshell: Redditors got excited about Gamestock (and later AMC) stock and also got annoyed about hedge funds betting against those businesses by shorting the stock. They (and likely other hedge funds and institutional investors as well) bought a bunch of the stock and drove up the price. This week, the stock price has been ping-ponging all over the place in a completely unpredictable way that has nothing to do with the value of the company and a few hedge funds lost a lot of money in the process. The situation escalated on Wednesday when Robinhood and other brokerages stopped allowing individuals to buy Gamestop and AMC stock on Thursday, only allowing them to sell. The story is evolving by the minute, and the saga briefly brought figures like AOC and Ted Cruz on the same side of the issue–although she quickly clapped back at his offer to collaborate, and it was everything the internet hoped and dreamed it would be. Things are still evolving, and it’s not totally clear how this will end. But I don’t think anyone will underestimate the power of a Redditor again. Michael Lewis, if you’re reading this, I hope you’re already hard at work on your next-next book.
In non-Gamestop news, Pepsi is blurring the lines between content and advertising even further, and co-creating a TV show. That’s right, co-creating, not sponsoring. It’s a branded six-episode game show on Fox, called CHERRIES WILD. The show will be hosted by Jason Biggs, the actor best known for AMERICAN PIE, and will premiere on Valentine’s Day. It sounds like the show concept is similar to a typical game show, and contestants will compete for cash by answering pop-culture questions. Viewers are able to join in the action as well, by downloading an app that allows them to play along and compete for money—during the ad break. This is definitely out-of-the-box thinking, and I for one am very curious to see if viewers watch and love it, or skeptically skip it.
Don’t worry, though. It’s not all transactional news this week. I also found myself obsessively refreshing Humans of New York’s Instagram these past 48 hours, for the latest on Sidra, a woman who grew up in Pakistan with dreams of creating something for herself. Sidra shares a sweeping but deeply relatable tale of pushing back on her parents’ plans for her future, leaving home, finding forbidden love, struggling with failure, and relentlessly pursuing her dreams—which might just involve building a brand you already know about. All 11 chapters are up now, so read through the whole story for a heartwarming start to your weekend!
And finally, two of my favorite TikToks this week: this video, in which a grandson takes viewers through the one-of-a-kind book his grandmother made to depict her life, and this video of falling snow that will make you instantly forget the stress of the workweek.
—Darlene Kenney, Marketing Assistant
Physical Production
We’re about to go into production on AM I OK?, starring Dakota Johnson and Sonoya Mizuno, with Tig Notaro and Stepanie Allynne directing (!!). You can read more about the film here, and learn a little bit about how we landed on that title here. But I promise it’s not the last time I will bring this up!
—Darlene Kenney, Marketing Assistant
Film Festival
It’s Sundance weekend!! While our team is bummed to not be in Park City, we can’t wait to check out this year’s selections. High on our must-watch list are CODA (dir. Sian Heder), ONE FOR THE ROAD (dir. Baz Poonipiriya), ON THE COUNT OF THREE (dir. Jerrod Carmichael), and R#J (dir. Carey Williams). While we’re already big fans of those four filmmakers, we’re also excited to discover our new favorites who we don’t even know yet!
—Julia Hammer, Creative Executive
Also worth noting: Sundance has gone digital this year, which means anyone can get involved. Interested movie-lovers are able to buy single-movie tickets for $15. Digital attendees get to watch a movie and attend a live Q&A with the director, cast, and crew. You can either watch during the premiere, when there will be a three-hour window to start the movie, or you’ll get a full day's worth of availability two days after that. There are still a decent number of tickets available—grab ‘em here.
—Darlene Kenney, Marketing Assistant
TV
I cannot stop thinking about WANDAVISION and its embrace of the old-school sitcom. That nostalgic format is punctuated with sudden moments of heart-stopping genre that will immediately hook you in one of the most original and innovative offerings from Marvel’s prolific writers' room. I’m also just so impressed by Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany’s irresistible comedic chops—and someone please give Jac Schaffer the Nobel Prize for being a freaking genius.
—Kauveh Khozein Carrera, Creative Executive
I’ve been watching THE REAL WORLD this week. I don’t know why or how it happened, but it’s happening. Maybe I wanted to escape the real world of the present and experience the real world of 1994 for a moment? I turned to Google to see which seasons were the best, and found some consensus around Season 3, and then I dove right in. Straight off the bat, I found the show extremely powerful. The season follows seven young strangers who move in together in San Francisco, including Pedro Zamora, who was the first person openly living with HIV and AIDS to be on television. What’s so powerful is how these roommates are forced to learn to understand each other and work through their struggles together. I’m still making my way through the season but I recommend it to anyone who feels like they might be looking to jump into a 90s reality show.
—Darlene Kenney, Marketing Assistant
Theater
The latest offering in Center Theatre Group’s NOT A MOMENT, BUT A MOVEMENT reading series celebrating Black voices is CROWDNATION by Angelica Chéri. Performed by Sheria Irving, the one-woman piece follows our protagonist, Fatima, as she turns 29, the age at which her mother died of breast cancer. Fatima finds herself pulled in different directions by her faith, by her sexuality, and by family secrets that come to light–all while trying to find her purpose. You can buy a ticket to the digital stream HERE.
—Julia Hammer, Creative Executive
Comic Book
In POST AMERICANA by Steve Skroce, the nuclear Holocaust happened and America is now a wasteland. The government had a plan to restart humanity but that’s been co-opted by a power-hungry populist who plans to rule the wasteland with an iron fist and highly advanced tech. That’s where our hero, a cyborg rebel, steps in to defy his plans.
In the vein of MAD MAX and FALLOUT this is a gory new series about what happens when all the rules of our country and society dissolve away over centuries. It asks what we’re left with after that—and what it ultimately means. All questions that feel pretty relevant these days.
—Royce Reeves-Darby, Director of Production
Book
I have been dying to talk about MILK FED by Melissa Broder ever since I read it last year (yes, I am 100% bragging), and now it’s finally out in the world and I can talk to all of you about it! The book is about a young Hollywood assistant named Rachel who has a very complicated relationship with food and with her body. After a voluptuous Orthodox Jewish woman named Miriam begins working at the frozen-yogurt shop Rachel visits every day, Rachel becomes infatuated with Miriam. The two embark on a relationship that Broder uses to explore spirituality, hunger, and female desire—in the most laugh-out-loud funny way.
—Julia Hammer, Creative Executive
