The Film and TV Industries

Talks between the Motion Picture Association and the Hollywood labor unions have failed to produce an agreement on a new law that would address firearm safety on movie sets.

The two sides backed competing proposals earlier this year in Sacramento in response to the fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of “Rust” in New Mexico last October. Both bills would have established a training standard for film armorers — a job that is currently almost entirely unregulated.

The union proposal would have been more sweeping, however, establishing the role of a “set safety supervisor” who would have the power to shut down productions. Both bills stalled in the legislature in May, but the two sides continued to talk in hopes of reaching an agreement before the Aug. 31 legislative deadline.

Those efforts have failed to produce a compromise. It is possible that the issue will come up again next year.

Oh Yeong-su, the Korean actor who recently won a Golden Globe for his performance in hit series “Squid Game,” has been indicted on sexual misconduct charges. He was released without detention.

Prosecutors in Suwon, South Korea, revealed on Friday that they had charged Oh a day earlier. The 78-year-old Oh is alleged to have inappropriately touched a woman in mid-2017.

The alleged victim filed a complaint against Oh in December 2021. Authorities closed the case in April 2022, but reopened it again at the victim’s request, the Yonhap news agency reports. Oh denied the allegations when questioned by prosecutors.

In a statement Oh shared with Korean broadcaster JTBC, the actor said: “I just held her hand to guide the way around the lake. I apologized because [the person] said she wouldn’t make a fuss about it but it doesn’t mean that I admit the charges.”

Warner Bros. Television Studios is in the process of closing a major animation deal with Amazon for DC-branded content, according to Channing Dungey.

Dungey teased the news at Content London, stating that the studio is “exploring animated IP on different platforms,” including WBD-owned HBO Max.

“With animation we used to be about staying in-house but now we are doing it on different platforms,” she added. “HBO Max is the first stop but we are in the process of closing a big deal with Amazon featuring DC branded content in animation.”

Movie studios can be sued under false advertising laws if they release deceptive movie trailers, a federal judge ruled on Tuesday.

U.S. District Judge Stephen Wilson issued a ruling in a case involving “Yesterday,” the 2019 film about a world without the Beatles.

Two Ana de Armas fans filed a lawsuit in January, alleging that they had rented the movie after seeing de Armas in the trailer, only to discover that she was cut out of the final film.

Universal sought to throw out the lawsuit, arguing that movie trailers are entitled to broad protection under the First Amendment. The studio’s lawyers argued that a trailer is an “artistic, expressive work” that tells a three-minute story conveying the theme of the movie, and should thus be considered “non-commercial” speech.

Voice actress Hirano Aya, whose many credits include The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Death Note, and Fairy Tail, knows this firsthand. While the bulk of her work now consists of stage productions, she recently shared on Twitter how she continues to receive death threats and deal with slander whenever she works in anime again [1].

Fortunately, the police resolved those situations without incident. But it made Hirano want nothing to do with the anime world.

In Hirano’s case, her death threats stretch back over a decade to the height of her career. Vitriol against her rose when rumors of her sexual relations with the male members of her band led to the band’s breakup. Her honesty about her dating preferences on a variety show also angered hardcore otaku enough to destroy their Hirano merchandise [2].

Unfortunately, we’ve seen how even the whisper of a rumored romance or sexual dalliance can derail an idol’s career. That’s almost what happened to Hirano, who was restricted from taking on new anime roles following the “scandal.” Only after switching to a different agency could Hirano find new work.

Sadly, death threats aren’t uncommon. Ishikawa Yui, the voice of Mikasa Ackerman in Attack on Titan, received a series of anonymous death threats in 2020 that targeted her, her family, and a director at her agency [3]. In 2019, police arrested two people for sending death threats about Ito Ayumi, the voice behind Final Fantasy‘s Tifa Lockhart. One of them allegedly wanted to gouge her eyes out [4].

Wading into a whole mess of controversies, apparently with blithe indifference, Nickelodeon announced today that it was launching a sequel movie to Dan Schneider-produced kids series Zoey 101, calling it, unsurprisingly, Zoey 102.

This’ll take a second to unpack, so bear with us: Although he most likely won’t be involved in the film itself, Schneider has become an increasingly dicey topic for Nickelodeon in recent years in general; the former Head Of The Class star was a major moneymaker for the network from the ’90s through the 2010s, creating some of their most lucrative kid-based sitcoms. But he’s also been the subject of a lot of half-whispered comments about inappropriate behavior—most recently in iCarly star Jennette Mc Curdy’s recent book I’m Glad My Mom Died, where Mc Curdy tells multiple stories about a man referred to only as “The Creator,” who emotionally manipulated teen actors and was sometimes physically inappropriate with them.

In terms of Zoey 101, meanwhile, former co-star Alexa Nikolas—who’s had a long and fractious relationship with series star Jamie Lynn Spears, as well—recently said that she “did not feel safe” around Schneider. Nikolas is not, unsurprisingly, expected to participate in the new movie—although Spears is, starring front and center in Zoey 102. (Meanwhile, she has, of course, also had a whole other set of controversies over the last few years, centered on her often-fractious relationship with her sister Britney.)

Alec Baldwin and armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed will face criminal charges for the October 21, 2021 fatal shooting of Rust cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, the Santa Fe District Attorney said this morning.

Close to 16 months after Baldwin took the life of Hutchins and wounded the movie’s director Joel Souza with a loaded gun on the set of indie western Rust, New Mexico First Judicial District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies today has finally unveiled her decision as to who should be charged and not charged in the tragic incident.

“After a thorough review of the evidence and the laws of the state of New Mexico, I have determined that there is sufficient evidence to file criminal charges against Alec Baldwin and other members of the Rust film crew,” Carmack-Altwies said Thursday. “On my watch, no one is above the law, and everyone deserves justice.”

In charges set to be formally filed by the end of the month, Baldwin and Gutierrez-Reed will each be charged with two counts of involuntary manslaughter in Hutchins’ death.

Heading towards a hearing before a state judge and then a jury trial, the first charge is a fourth-degree felony with sentencing of up to 18 months in jail and a $5,000 fine. The second charge, which is formally an involuntary manslaughter in the commission of a lawful act charge, is also a fourth-degree felony punishable by up to 18 months in jail and up to a $5000 fine. However, the second charge additionally carries a firearm enhancement. That gives the offense a punishing mandatory five years behind bars if Baldwin and Gutierrez-Reed are found guilty.

Long a key figure in the events surrounding Hutchins’ death, Rust assistant director David Halls reached a plea agreement with prosecutors for the charge of negligent use of a deadly weapon. The industry vet faces a suspended sentence and six months of probation, the D.A.’s office said today. While Baldwin has in the past vowed to fight any charges, Halls’ plea deal and the cooperation he likely has had with prosecutors could become a major factor for the actor going forward.

“If any one of these three people—Alec Baldwin, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed or David Halls—had done their job, Halyna Hutchins would be alive today. It’s that simple,” stated Andrea Reeb, the special prosecutor assigned to the case. “The evidence clearly shows a pattern of criminal disregard for safety on the ‘Rust’ film set. In New Mexico, there is no room for film sets that don’t take our state’s commitment to gun safety and public safety seriously,” Reeb added.

Over the months, while the Santa Fe Sheriff’s office put the final touches on its wide ranging investigation of the late 2021 shooting at the Bonanza Creek Ranch, the D.A. has been partially planting the seeds for today’s announcement.

An August 30 letter to the New Mexico Board of Finance from Carmack-Altwies revealed the D.A’s possible intentions to prosecute as many as four individuals with criminal and homicide charges related to Rust including “one of the possible defendants” being “well known movie actor Alec Baldwin.” In her ask, Carmack-Altwies was requesting $635,000 for the matter, but was only granted $317,750 by the state.

Much has happened around the Rust tragedy on-screen and in the courts, as many have waited on Carmack-Altwies’ decision.

In an ABC news interview with George Stephanopoulos in December 2021, Baldwin insisted he never actually pulled the trigger of the gun that took Hutchins’ life during a quick-draw rehearsal move in a church location on the set of Rust. Just minutes before the shots that killed Hutchins and wounded Souza, Baldwin was told by Assistant Director Dave Halls that the 1880s Colt prop weapon was a “cold gun, as many witnesses including Hall have asserted. Seemingly indifferent to his own tone, Baldwin also told the Good Morning America co-host in the now infamous sit-down, that he had been told by people who are in the know, in terms of even inside the state, that it’s highly unlikely that I would be charged with anything criminally.”

Just a couple of weeks prior to the anniversary of the tragedy, Baldwin and Rust producers reached a settlement with the Hutchins Estate on October 5, 2022, ending the wrongful death suit brought forth in mid-February against the production and the actor, who also served as a producer on the $7 million budgeted film.

Part of the agreement entailed the DP’s husband Matthew Hutchins becoming an executive producer on the resurrected Rust movie, which was scheduled to start reshooting this month. While the production has been scouting locations in California, such as Simi Valley, Deadline heard, no official word has been given about the Western fully resuming production and where it would actually film. There is also no word if Rust has been able to get insured, a necessary requirement to make a movie.

At the time the deal with the Hutchins estate was made public, the Santa Fe-based District Attorney made sure that there was no perception this was all over. “The proposed settlement announced today in Matthew Hutchins’ wrongful death case against Rust movie producers, including Alec Baldwin, in the death of Halyna Hutchins will have no impact on District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies’ ongoing investigation or her ultimate decision whether to file criminal charges in the case,” her office said in a quickly issued statement.

Staying in the public eye over the last year, Baldwin was set to star in the spy movie Chief of Station, shooting in Budapest, however, the actor had to vacate the role over scheduling issues back on October 31.

As civil lawsuits and that wrongful death action from Hutchins’ family hit court dockets in New Mexico and California over the last year, the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office in late 2022 finally made public the FBI assisted police report which detailed the calamities that ensued before the shooting of Hutchins on October. 21, 2021.

The raw 551-page report cast suspicion on Rust armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, among others on what appeared to be an openly problematic set. Dolly grip Ross Addiego, for instance, claimed to police that the armorer and her crew had issues that involved “negligent discharges”. The armorer was preparing one of six guns and one of the revolvers went off toward her foot. A few minutes later at the cabin set, a discharged gun went off that wasn’t announced, which would have been assistant director Dave Halls’ responsibility to announce, per Addiego.

Besides the live round in the gun in Baldwin’s hand, the FBI found five more rounds of live ammo on the Rust set, the report detailed. Additionally, the report cast doubt on Baldwin’s assertion that he never pulled the trigger. “With the hammer at full cock, the revolver could not be made to fire without a pull of the trigger while the working internal components were intact and functional,” the document stated.

The report also went into detail on other instances of guns going off on Rust.

Reese Price, a key grip, told authorities that “accidental discharge” occurred twice during the course of one day on set. “One of the accidental discharges occurred by ‘armorer girl’ who was messing with a gun,” Price told authorities. Souza, in his interview with the cops, reported there wasn’t any negligence on the set, and didn’t believe the armorer intermingled live rounds with blanks.

While staying in the public eye over the last year, multi-Emmy winner Baldwin hasn’t been in front of the camera much professionally since the Rust shooting. Baldwin was set to star in the spy movie Chief of Station, shooting in Budapest, however, the actor had to vacate the role over scheduling issues back on October 31.

In that vein, in mid-November last year, Baldwin took on the role of plaintiff and hit Rust armorer Gutierrez Reed, first assistant director Halls, property master Sarah Zachry, and weapons and rounds supplier Seth Kenney and his company with a negligence lawsuit.

Filed in LA Superior Court, the action claimed that “Baldwin has also lost numerous job opportunities and associated income” because of what happened on Rust. “For example, he’s been fired from multiple jobs expressly because of the incident on Rust and has been passed over for other opportunities, which is a direct result of the negligence of Cross-Defendants Gutierrez-Reed, Halls, Kenney, PDQ, and Zachry,” stated the cross-complaint paperwork prepared by Quinn Emanuel attorney Luke Nikas for Baldwin.

Along with a much challenged but still enduring suit from Rust‘s script supervisor Mamie Mitchell, that matter remains before the California courts.

He’s the most famous person involved, but he’s just an actor,