Local and Industry News
The Stage Directors and Choreographers Society has reached an agreement with the Broadway League to have associate directors and choreographers covered under their collective bargaining agreement.
The associates were one of the few groups on Broadway not covered by a union contract, and the League granted them voluntary recognition. They will now received health and pension benefits and increased pay as provided for by the union contract.
British musicians are finding it harder to tour internationally thanks to Brexit. In addition to new rules on visas and bringing instruments across the border, U.K. orchestras will now lose a ten percent tax credit they used to be able to claim for performances within the European Union. Prior to Brexit, twenty percent of British orchestra earned revenue came from international touring.
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Gower Street Analytics projects that the global box office will be down five percent in 2024, to $31.5 billion in revenue. The downturn is not due to lack of demand, but rather to the writers' and actors' strikes, which caused a significant loss of production time resulting in fewer productions being available for release in 2024.
Warner Bros. and Paramount are in talks to merge, according to reports from Axios. Warner is valued at $29 billion and Paramount at $10 billion. If the two were to merge, they might better be able to compete with behemoths Netflix and Disney.
Americans are cutting back on their streaming services as prices rise. In the U.S., about 25 percent have cancelled services in the past two years, up from 15 percent two years ago. New customers are also leaning towards ad-supported tiers when they subscribe; 60 percent of Disney+ and more than a third of Netflix new subscribers have opted for the ad-supported tiers.
The No AI Fraud Act has been introduced in Congress by sponsors including Representative Maria Salazar (R-FL). The bill would give individuals intellectual property rights for their visual or vocal likeness, allowing them the exclusive right to approve or reject use of their likeness.
SAG-AFTRA has reached an agreement with Replica Studios on licensing actors' digital simulations for use in video games. Under the agreement, the Studio is required to obtain permission before digitally cloning an actor, and compensation must be paid.
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As a result of auditions held in January, Palm Beach Opera has hired Molly Flanagan as fourth horn. Molly is currently a DMA candidate at the University of Maryland, where she studies with Greg Miller.
