Good Morning,
Disney is preparing layoffs that will reach thousands of employees across its TV networks and film studio; some managers have been told to find 20% in annual savings (Deadline). They follow 1,000 cuts in April and several hundred in July. So what’s ailing the Mouse?
Gov. Gavin Newsom wants to raise California’s film and TV tax credit from $750 million to at least $1 billion a year, with new credits for actors’ pay that Georgia and New York already offer (Los Angeles Times). Los Angeles shoot days still fell nearly 5% from July to September.
This fall’s biggest new musicals are opening Off-Broadway because Broadway costs too much. Memoirs of Amorous Gentlemen, a manga adaptation with the late Duncan Sheik’s last score, was capitalized at $5 million; its producer says the same show on 45th Street would need $18 to $22 million (NPR).
Novaya Gazeta, Russia’s last major independent newspaper, will close its office on Nov. 9 after authorities blocked its websites, seized its printing house and shut its reader-donation system (Euronews).
Art Basel Paris closed two days early on Oct. 23, citing possible demonstrations, and the galleries say nobody asked them. A group representing more than a quarter of the fair’s exhibitors is demanding compensation and accusing organizers of “disrespect, even contempt” (Hyperallergic).
All of our stories below.