This week I’m joined by Anthony Penta, director of We Kill for Love , a documentary/film essay about the erotic thriller and its place in the history of cinema. Drawing parallels to film noir and gothic romances, among other genres, Penta traces not only the artistic legacy of We Kill for Love but also the role they played in the early days of home video rentals and pay cable. Hundreds of films melding sex, violence, and sexy violence were produced, yet many of them have all but disappeared, cri...
Sep 02, 2023•54 min
This week I’m joined by Chris Yogerst to discuss The Warner Brothers , his fascinating new look at the life of Jack, Harry, Sam, and Albert Warner, who collectively formed the Warner Bros. studio. From the technological innovations such as sound pursued by Sam, to the moral case for cinema made by Harry, to the classic mogul behavior of Jack, the journey of the brothers Warner makes for an interesting glimpse into the world of Hollywood. Amongst the topics discussed: how Warner Bros. went to war...
Aug 26, 2023•53 min
This week I’m rejoined by The Entertainment Strategy Guy to talk about his two-part series on streaming flops (TV shows here ; movies here ). If hits pay for the misses, and we know what the hits are, shouldn’t we know what the misses are as well in order to make fewer of them? We discuss his methodology and then examine one buzzy title, Hijack , to see if it’s a hit or a flop and how to think about those terms. We also discuss why sports documentaries tend to underperform and why most mid-to-la...
Aug 19, 2023•52 min
This week I’m joined by Roy Price, the founder of Prime Video and Amazon Studios, to discuss what it would look like in 2023 to start a brand-new movie studio. Which genres are under-served? What price points should budgets be aimed at? And which audiences are looking for something they aren’t getting from the big studios? We also talk a bit about streaming networks and audience acquisition/retention, and why low-budget horror might wind up being a crowded space in the coming years. If you enjoy...
Aug 12, 2023•47 min
Some backstory to this episode: last month I bought a ticket for Sound of Freedom because I was curious about the year’s most unexpected box office sensation. As the credits rolled, star Jim Caviezel came on the screen and gave a speech to the audience about the importance of theatrical exhibition; it’s the sort of thing you typically see at the start of movies these days, actors and directors thanking audiences for coming to the theater. Here’s the wrinkle: during his speech, Caviezel tells aud...
Aug 05, 2023•49 min
I’m rejoined this week by The Wall Street Journal ’s Erich Schwartzel, author of Red Carpet: Hollywood, China, and the Global Battle for Cultural Supremacy , to talk about Hollywood’s disastrous summer in China, where virtually every American movie released so far has underperformed. We also talk briefly about why Meg 2: The Trench may end up being one of the lone bright spots for Hollywood this year. If you enjoyed this episode, make sure to share it with a friend! Learn more about your ad choi...
Jul 29, 2023•37 min
On this week’s episode Ryan Faughnder, author of the Wide Shot newsletter , returns to the show to talk about Netflix’s softer-than-expected earnings report, the momentary bright spot at the box office, and the possibility that this strike is going to be going on for quite some time. If you enjoyed the episode, share it with a friend! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices...
Jul 22, 2023•32 min
This week I’m rejoined by Jake Tapper, who is on the show to discuss his new historical novel All the Demons Are Here , the third book in the Charlie and Margaret Marder Mysteries. It’s a great beach read and works as a standalone, but I still recommend checking out his previous novels as well to get the full scope of of the Marder family’s story. On this episode we discuss how the books have evolved, the research that went into writing them, and which big name is circling an adaptation of The H...
Jul 15, 2023•37 min
I’m happy to be rejoined by the first (and, perhaps one day, final) Bulwark Goes to Hollywood guest, Richard Rushfield of The Ankler ( subscribe today! ), to talk about Hollywood’s shaky summer. Nine-figure flops, the collapse of IP, labor woes, c-suite shakeups: it’s a weird time out west. How is the industry going to handle it? And what might the future look like? All that and more on this week’s episode. If you enjoyed it, share it with a friend! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcas...
Jul 08, 2023•36 min
This week I’m joined by Nick de Semlyen, the editor of Empire magazine and author of the new book The Last Action Heroes: The Triumphs, Flops, and Feuds of Hollywood's Kings of Carnage . We talk Sly, Arnold, Bruce, and the other big names of the 1980s, how the cinematic heroes of the decade dovetailed in a way with the presidency of Ronald Reagan, and how a second-rate Chuck Norris feature may have inspired a revolution. If you enjoyed the episode, check out the book. And share this podcast with...
Jul 01, 2023•34 min
This week I’m joined by Ken Harbaugh, the producer of Against All Enemies , to discuss his new documentary about the disproportionate number of military and police personnel attracted to extremist groups like the Oath Keepers. How did so many end up at the vanguard of the mob that stormed the Capitol on January 6? And what role do lies about elections play in radicalizing this cohort? We also discuss the film’s glowing reception at Tribeca and the work that goes into getting a documentary like t...
Jun 24, 2023•32 min
This week I’m joined by Brooks Barnes of the New York Times to discuss his story on Universal’s efforts to build what amounts to a new release window, the premium video on demand (PVOD) window. For the first time, Brooks has some real numbers, and they’re pretty interesting. For instance, The Super Mario Bros. Movie , pictured above, has made more than $75 million since May 16 despite still being in theaters and being the seventh-highest-grossing film last weekend. You should read the whole thin...
Jun 17, 2023•35 min
On this week’s show, I’m joined by Arthur Smith, chairman of A. Smith and Co. Productions, the company behind long-running hits like Hell’s Kitchen and American Ninja Warrior . In addition to explaining why he shies away from the label “reality TV,” he’s here to talk about his career and his fascinating new book Reach: Hard Lessons and Learned Truths from a Lifetime in Television . Arthur has one of the most interesting careers of anyone I’ve ever spoken to: he got his start at the CBC, working ...
Jun 10, 2023•54 min
This week I’m joined by Cara Cusumano, Festival Director and VP of Programming at the Tribeca Festival, for a wide-ranging chat about the nature of the modern film festival, how a festival’s sense of place can coexist with efforts to make the festival’s programming available to people around the world, and how Tribeca has expanded beyond film into a multimedia extravaganza. We also talked about a subject near and dear to my own heart, as a parent of younger children: What can festivals do to get...
Jun 03, 2023•35 min
On this week’s episode, I’m joined by the Entertainment Strategy Guy to talk about the state of streaming data. What do we know? What don’t we know? Do movies fare better on streaming after getting a theatrical run? How does the data help determine what we watch? What is the “binge curve”? All that and more on this week’s episode. If you found it illuminating, make sure to sign up for his Substack ! And if you enjoyed this episode make sure to share it with a friend! Learn more about your ad cho...
May 27, 2023•50 min
I am pleased to be joined this week by screenwriter Colby Day to discuss all the unapid work that goes into getting paid work. I loved reading Colby’s diaries of annual pitch meetings and the such for 2021 and 2022 , and thought I might share them, and him, with you as a way to help you understand some of the frustrations that writers have with the current state of Hollywood. How many pitches does a writer have to make to land one paying gig? Why does it take an endless amount of time to get pai...
May 20, 2023•37 min
This week I’m rejoined by Scott Mendelson of The Wrap to talk about the state of the box office. Is the comic book boom over? What should we be looking for from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 if we want to assess the health of Disney’s cash cow? What did Scott make of The Flash at Cinemacon? When will the mid-level movie recover? Why is 2017 a better comparison point than 2019? All that and more on this week’s show! If you enjoyed it, share it with a friend! Learn more about your ad choices. Vis...
May 13, 2023•41 min
This week I’m joined by Judah Miller, showrunner of the new Peacock dramedy Bupkis , to talk about bringing Pete Davidson’s life to the small screen. Bupkis is fascinatingly hard to describe in shorthand, given the way it mixes tones and genres, and also the manner in which it blends Pete Davidson’s ripped-from-the-headlines life with a fictionalized version of his family and day-to-day existence. The first season is streaming in its entirety now on Peacock, and I strongly recommend checking it ...
May 06, 2023•24 min
This week I’m joined by Matthew Ball, CEO of Epyllion, former global head of strategy for Amazon Studios, and the author of The Metaverse and “ The Streaming Book ,” which you can read at that link there. And you should read it if you want to understand how we got where we are in the streaming wars, why it’s early yet in the contest between the companies vying for your attention, and where we’re headed as consolidation occurs. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices...
Apr 29, 2023•40 min
This week I’m rejoined by David Herrin of The Quorum —a must-visit site for any amateur or professional box office nerd—to talk about a new study The Quorum put together in partnership with The Cinema Foundation about the value proposition of going to the movies. We talked all sorts of stuff on this episode: why audiences are three times more excited to return to theaters now than they were at the same time last year; how going to the movies stacks up against going to concerts and other out-of-t...
Apr 22, 2023•30 min
I’m rejoined this week by Frank Pallotta, formerly of CNN, to preview the summer box office. Have we already seen the year’s biggest movie debut with The Super Mario Bros. Movie ? Will audiences show up for big-budget blockbusters like the new Mission: Impossible and Guardians of the Galaxy ? Will adults ready for raunchier fare come out for Jennifer Lawrence’s new romcom? Who’s going to win the Battle of July 21, when Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer and Greta Gerwig’s Barbie debut? All that and...
Apr 15, 2023•46 min
This week I’m joined by Sean McNulty of The Ankler to talk about the week’s biggest entertainment news: the merger of the WWE and UFC into a $21 billion sports-entertainment company. But this move is just a piece of the puzzle if you want to understand the complex dance between sports leagues, streaming companies, and cable bundles. Are sports leagues the ultimate “arms dealers” in the streaming wars, moving from company to company as these services try to find content that makes sense for viewe...
Apr 08, 2023•42 min
This week I’m joined by Gene Park, video game reporter at the Washington Post, to talk about the oncoming video game boom and how our current moment feels reminiscent of 2008, when the comic book boom kicked off for real. Yes, there had been comic book successes before that, your Batman s and your Spider-Man s. But 2008 saw the release of The Dark Knight (which smashed opening weekend records) and Iron Man (which inaugurated the single most successful franchise of all time, the Marvel Cinematic ...
Apr 01, 2023•46 min
On this week’s episode, I’m joined by Cinema Foundation President Jackie Brenneman to discuss the group’s new report on the state of the cinema industry . Among the many topics discussed this week are the ways in which theatrical exhibition help tamp down piracy by keeping pristine copies off the pirating sites, the success of National Cinema Day, how the ongoing domestic box office recovery is tied to increases in wide releases, and the slightly complicated way average ticket prices are calcula...
Mar 25, 2023•40 min
On this week’s episode, I’m joined by April Wright, director of Back to the Drive-In . We discuss the ways in which drive-in theaters kinda-thrived during the pandemic, but also have been hit by some of the same problems plaguing every industry in the post-pandemic era: labor shortages, supply chain issues, and nonsensical mandates from local governments. Make sure to check out Back to the Drive-In , which is on VOD now . And if you enjoyed this episode, share it with a friend! Learn more about ...
Mar 18, 2023•33 min
On this week’s episode, I’m joined by Bilge Ebiri and Brandon Streussnig to talk about Vulture’s enormous feature on the best stunts of 2022. Part celebration of the year in action, part plea for the Oscars to finally recognize stunt performers and performances as a category worthy of notice, the inaugural Stunt Awards is a feast for any lover of action (and action-adjacent) cinema. Among the issues discussed this week are why some professionals think an Oscar for stunts is a bad—even potentiall...
Mar 11, 2023•50 min
This week, I’m joined by Michael Schulman to discuss his new book, Oscar Wars: A History of Hollywood in Gold, Sweat, and Tears . What were some of the ulterior motives for making the Oscars? How did the ceremony help break the blacklist? And was Rob Lowe’s duet with Snow White really the worst thing that’s ever happened on the show? Or, you know, in the history of existence? All that and more on this week’s episode. If you enjoyed our chat, make sure to pick up his book and share this episode w...
Mar 04, 2023•43 min
This week I’m rejoined by Richard Rushfield—fresh off a nice little profile in Vanity Fair —to talk about the oncoming train of a WGA strike. Seventy days out, Richard put the odds of a work stoppage at 65 percent. What are the two sides looking for? How might the industry change? And is the fate of civilization itself at stake? All that and more on this week’s episode. If you enjoyed this episode, make sure to share it with a friend! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/ad...
Feb 25, 2023•33 min
On this week’s episode, Sonny is pleased to welcome David Thomson back to the show to discuss his new book, Acting Naturally: The Magic in Great Performances . In this episode we discuss the difficulty of describing what, precisely, actors do onscreen; the trickiness of writing about appearances; why Method Acting was the biggest thing since the advent of sound; and why audiences feel uncomfortable when they find out a filmmaker is less-than-perfect in their personal lives. If you enjoyed this e...
Feb 18, 2023•41 min
I was very excited to get Julian Schlossberg on the show this week to talk about his new book, Try Not to Hold it Against Me: A Producer’s Life , in large part because he is intimately involved with a part of showbiz that I do not understand at all, at least financially: Broadway and live theater. But Julian’s career stretches beyond the stage: he booked theaters in New York City where he helped Warren Beatty save McCabe and Mrs. Miller from obscurity; he had a radio show that brought him into t...
Feb 11, 2023•47 min
