Columns – Below the Line

Union Roundup: New Rust Charges, and Disney’s Reedy Creek District, Where the Past Is Not Only Prologue But Epilogue, Too

January 27, 2023 Mark London Williams Comments Off

“The past is never dead,” William Faulkner famously wrote, adding “it’s not even past.” The 20th-century literary icon and Nobel winner, who sojourned for a while in Hollywood to drink heavily and collect then-easy screenwriting money, was, of course, talking about the personal histories that ineluctably shape us. But being from the South, he was also aware of the broader weight of history, as well. Indeed, the region’s politics are […]

Union Roundup: Contract “Churn” in Hollywood’s New Year, Which Will Be a Crucial One on the Labor Front

January 19, 2023 Mark London Williams Comments Off

When we last greeted you in this columnar space, we looked back on the year that was and opined that all in all, 2022 wasn’t that bad after all — considering what could have been. A much easier conclusion to come to, of course, for those of us who are housed during storms, fed on a regular basis, and so far, not in active war zones. But what will this […]

Union Roundup: Hollywood Gets in the Holiday Spirit to Toast What Was a Pretty Good Year… All Things Considered

December 16, 2022 Mark London Williams Comments Off

The thing about the song “It Was a Very Good Year,” if you’re in the habit of listening to it at year’s end and wondering how it is that wall calendars go up and down so much faster than they used to, is that after the first few verses celebrating rambunctious youth, first loves and lusts (from a male perspective, granted — we need a definitive female cover of the […]

Union Roundup: New Mexico Film Commissioner Amber Dodson Says the State Is in Showbiz for the Long Haul

December 2, 2022 Mark London Williams Comments Off

Our post-election, Georgia Peach logo-meets-Wakanda Forever column drew an interesting email from the New Mexico Film Office. Would we be interested in chatting, they asked, now that their governor, Democrat Michelle Lujan Grisham, has also been handily reelected, as the state seeks to emphasize its specific differences with Georgia? Before, this kind of conversation would have been restricted to differences in production tax incentives, and perhaps the square footage of […]

Union Roundup: Union Organizer for Music Supes Says Step Licensing Deals Are Growing Harder to Come By

November 18, 2022 Mark London Williams Comments Off

So, nearly two weeks later, the election is almost wrapped up, and while it seems little substantive legislation will get done on the split-house Federal level over the next two years, American cultural shifts will keep moving around like tectonic plates in the hills near Hollister (look at the leadership changes on at least one side of the aisle, for example). Why, we’ve even had mail from at least one […]

The Godfather at 50: Inside the Academy’s New Exhibit — and Don Corleone’s Office

November 11, 2022 Eric Green Comments Off

The Academy Museum recently debuted a fantastic new exhibit that celebrates The Godfather just in time for its 50th anniversary. The exhibit was lovingly curated by the Museum’s Assistant Curator, Sophia Serrano, with support from Curatorial Assistant Esme Douglas and in collaboration with both Paramount Pictures and American Zoetrope. Released in 1972, The Godfather broke box office records en route to becoming the highest-grossing film ever, at the time, and […]

Union Roundup: Viewing the Election Results Through the Lens of Wakanda Forever‘s Georgia Peach Logo

November 10, 2022 Mark London Williams Comments Off

While the role of this column isn’t to give you the big-picture political analysis you’ve either been mainlining or avoiding all week (especially given how wrong most of the mainstream pundits were with their false tsunami warnings), you already know the GOP underperformed in this election and there was, essentially, a kind of massive national “draw” between the parties, as opposed to a singular wave. As of this writing, on […]

Union Roundup: A Dispatch From the Austin Film Festival and Writers Conference, Where James Gray Deemed Cinema to Be “In a Strange Place” Now

November 4, 2022 Mark London Williams Comments Off

Filing into the awards show luncheon, I immediately took an available seat facing the stage, as I usually do at, say, the VES or ASC awards, to better watch the speeches, awardees, and film clips. Only the twist here is that I was doing the journalist equivalent of breaking the fourth wall, or making like She-Hulk busting through the on-screen Disney+ menu — I was, in this instance, one of […]

Emmy-Winning Set Decorator John Sparano on How “We Used to Talk” on Set — Before the Dreaded Cellphone Came Along

November 2, 2022 John Sparano Comments Off

Anyone who has ever weathered bleeding fingers deciphering the threading diagram of a Moviola can tell you the day they saw their first video playback system on set. Along with anamorphic lenses, the Steadicam, computer-generated Imagery, camera drones, and wireless LED lighting, innovations such as that one have been game-changers in the process of making television programs and motion pictures. Their impact, along with a slew of other technological breakthroughs, […]

Union Roundup: Two Frames, One Afternoon — Editors and “Prime/Cuts” at the TV Academy

October 21, 2022 Mark London Williams Comments Off

Seemingly energized after two consecutive weekends comprising three nights of Emmy Awards, the Television Academy, rather than rest, proceeded to launch into a series of “Prime/Cuts” events featuring past award winners and nominees in various disciplines talking about their work, and in many cases, how they wound up going from new-to-L.A. hopefuls to masters of their crafts. On one recent fall afternoon — we’d love to add “crisp,”, but it […]