Universal Sends Films to Peacock Within 4 Months of Opening

This week, Universal Filmed Entertainment Group has announced a major development in how their film pipeline will work going forward. BLAKE & WANG P.A entertainment lawyer examines what we know.

Brandon Blake– Entertainment Lawyer

As of 2022, Universal released films will open on Peacock within four months of their theatrical opening. This is, of course, a considerable acceleration in the traditional pay-one home entertainment window, which would once have been at least 6 months. It’s not the first move like this we’ve seen, however, with Disney, Paramount, and WarnerMedia all planning early releases for their prime titles on their streaming services.

The Universal model is a little different, however. Its 18-month pay-one window is specifically designed to allow content distribution over several platforms. Peacock takes over the first 4 months and the last 4 months. However, the intervening 10 months will allow other partners- namely Amazon Prime Video and IMDb TV- to take over. Intriguingly, HBO, their current pay-one partner, does not seem to be taking a share of the cake. The deal will include not only Universal titles, but those from Focus Features, Illumination, and DWA as well.

Offered reasons for the intriguing pipeline include reaching the broadest possible audience and maximizing profit from their vast film library. As the Universal theatrical schedule for 2022 includes anticipated titles like Jurassic World: Dominion and Illumination’s Minions: The Rise of Gru, results could be interesting. Peacock has languished a little since its launch, primarily due to the surge of focus on streaming by industry heavyweights. Despite meeting 42 million sign ups in April, that covers only 10 million paid subscriptions. It was also hoped that the planned 2020 Olympics could be used to promote the service after launch, only to have the international sporting event delayed until this Summer. Of course, this may well be the boost the service needs.

Universal has, to date, been something of a ‘pioneer’ in seeking to collapse the traditional theatrical window. We’ve already seen them controversially create a ‘premium VOD’ window a mere 30-45 days after theatrical release. Warner Bros, too, have announced their entire slate for this year will debut on day-and-date only, with immediate HBO Max access.

Will this be the future for theatrical release? It’s tough to say. One thing is for certain, however. This interesting new release pipeline will be well worth watching.

How we progressed through the year of COVID-19, according to our Netflix accounts

With social isolation being the predominant theme of 2020, there was a concurrent spike in demand for streaming services. As a bit of festive fun from BLAKE & WANG P.A Entertainment Lawyer Los Angeles, we’re taking a look at what shows trended when during this tumultuous year of lockdowns, restrictions, and more- and what it says about ourselves as a whole, too.

Firstly, and as a positive, Netflix would see a boom in foreign-language dramas throughout the year as it opened itself to a wider subscriber base. This was accessed by viewers willing to use subtitles as well as native speakers. Romance and action would also remain key parts of the 2020 landscape no matter what happened- indicative, perhaps, of an urge to escape a lonely year with something escapist.

A very surprising boom would come at the start, however- baking shows! Perhaps accompanying the social media ‘banana bread’ challenge (or causing it), many anchor programs revolving around the soothing art of creating comfort food would see an uptick- well over 50% extra demand!

The euphoria would not last long, however. As lockdown stretched into April and beyond, we would instead see a 30% uptick in demand for sad content and tearjerkers, alongside a greater interest in true crime documentaries and, of course, the phenomenon that was Tiger King. Alongside it would come a demand for stand-up comedy in all its forms. Dating shows and other ‘fluffy’ unscripted reality would also stay strong throughout the year.

In a move that can be seen as positive for humanity as a whole, in the three weeks following the controversial murder of Geroge Floyd, there was a peak in demand for content focusing on the experiences of people of color. This would be the push behind Netflix’s launch of their Black Lives Matter collection.

All in all, it’s a telling look into the mood of a year that’s been like no other, especially for the entertainment industry. The trends we see here will doubtless shape the 2021 orders Netflix places, which means it could also be an interesting knock-on effect for the industry as a whole. BLAKE & WANG P.A will continue to watch (pun intended) with interest.

WGA standoff with agencies finally coming to end

Blake & Wang P.A.

While somewhat overshadowed by the unfolding dramas hitting the entertainment industry in the wake of the global health crisis, the Writer’s Guild Association standoff with top-tier agencies over packaging has been ongoing for well over a year now. Finally, it looks like it might be coming to an end, and we certainly can’t argue that it isn’t time. BLAKE & WANG P.A take a closer look at recent developments.

This week we saw the WGA send both CAA and WME a proposal which will allow them to finally be enfranchised with the guild. If accepted, it will finally put the 18-month long conflict to bed. There is still something of a large ‘if’ around the matter, however. CAA and WME are the last 2 agencies which haven’t arrived at some form of deal with the WGA, which has been mostly successful in forcing agencies to accept a proposed end to packaging fees for writing services by a Jun 2022 deadline.

The potential deal has been a long time coming, with the crux of the issue being the need for both to reduce their ownership shares in production entities to meet the ‘20% or less’ guidelines set by the WGA. Supposedly terms were accepted last month by the CAA, but the WGA have countered that their asked-for accommodations were unacceptable, stalling the deal again. The WGA also claims a lack of corporate transparency from both agencies around their disclosure of their corporate structures, making it difficult to continue with the deal.

All the same, it does look like the 18-month standoff could well be drawing to a close in which the WGA has prevailed with its wishes to a remarkable extent. We will watch the situation as it unfolds with much interest.