16824346183340176

This podcast explores the roles of screen actors and film producers in the entertainment industry. Screen actors entertain audiences and need to maintain good health and reputation. Producers invest in film projects and oversee various aspects of production. The two roles are interdependent, as producers use actors to generate hype for their films. However, issues can arise when actors or producers make controversial decisions that affect the success of a project. These issues have wider implications for the industry, as they can impact careers and audience interest. The podcast emphasizes the importance of maintaining a good public image in the screen industry. Hello and welcome. This is Entertainment for Noobs, a podcast where we introduce our listeners to the ever-growing world of the screen industry. I'm your speaker and host, Jamie Shape. Screen, cinema, film, TV. We live in a world full of entertainment. Varying in choice and variety, there is a film or TV show for every audience. In this world, two worlds have come to influence the great changes in the screen over the generations. The role of the screen actor and the role of the film producer. In this podcast, we'll delve deep into the functions of these two roles, learn why they are so important, how they influence one another, and most importantly, how do they both shape the wider industry of screen entertainment. Actors are the court jesters of the modern day. In our comparison made by Kurt Russell, the job is simple. The actor had to entertain. The conditions of their employment all around them being able to perform and show up to perform in order to be in their selected films. However, sometimes actors have to cancel certain projects due to scheduling conflicts, like Will Smith not being able to return to Steadshot for the sequel to Suicide Squad. Actors need to be in good health and good condition to perform. That's not threatening their well-being, setting the screen as their stage. In the modern day, screen actors are both highly valued and highly praised by both the media and general audiences alike. They have become more like figureheads among the last few generations, attracting fans and awards, granting success to movies just because they're part of them. Almost like they have more value than the film itself. Producers and movie studios use the actor as a way to generate hype and anticipation for the film projects. Recently, Bill Murray's name was plastered over much advertising for Ant-Man 3, despite the fact it was only a film for two minutes. It was more like using his name to garner the film's success, but ultimately the true purpose of the actor is to entertain. They need to play their parts well, as there is always an audience hungry for entertainment. As the producer, the film producer is in charge of finding film projects, and then investing time, money and resources into them in order to develop a successful film. They do this through a combination of things, such as arranging finances, hiring writers, a director and a creative team, supervising pre-production and post-production until the film's release. There are actually many different types of producers, with varying roles and responsibilities. Some of the more significant producers include executive producers, who contribute a substantial amount of money towards the film. They also manage other producers and deal with the legal issues if need be. Creative producers are in charge of maintaining the artistic integrity of the film, meaning that they have a high importance in the development of creative decisions. The producer collaborates with the director and also supervises production. They make decisions in casting, work and script writing, and ensure quality control. The film producer, in all its forms, is vital to the creation of the film, as they work to bring the studios a lot of money by hiring the right people, signing on to the right film projects, and most importantly, giving audiences what they want. So, how do the two roles, which are both so different, congregate, and even more so, influence one another? Well, they have higher interdependence than you may think. As established earlier, the actor acts as the face of the film, so the producer uses the actor to give their project attention. As producers have a lot to say in casting, they are responsible for bringing forward names that will make the project bigger. This is called star casting, an effective way for small or otherwise unanticipated movies to gain traction. However, this form of democratisation breeds issues of its own. Recently, Scarlett Johansson came under fire for taking on the role of a trans character in a project called Rug and Tuck, meaning that she is not trans herself. It was deemed very unfair by the public that she be taken on the role away from someone who was trans, who could play the part. It showed the public that the producers cared more about big names than proper casting and stirred up controversy. The situation meant to display that just as an actor or actress can enhance a film, they can completely bring it down, just by being themselves. Just as Amber Heard may cause the downfall of Act Planted, but more on that later. The producer finds the projects, makes the projects, signs on to the projects, and then uses actors to make the projects bigger. In so doing, screen actors have their prominence boosted, gaining fans of both themselves and their characters they play, possibly going on to achieve awards. While the producer makes up lots of money from the actors' performance, this could lead to sequels and spin-offs in every attempt to keep the cash flow flowing into the studios. However, there have been cases in which screen actors and film producers have sabotaged film projects they are part of, through behaviour which comes down to them not doing their job properly. As earlier established, the screen actor is the face of the film. Their reputation enhances the film, so for them to achieve a bad reputation would spoil a project just as well. In this case, we have the screen actor Jonathan Majors. A man who has risen to fame in the last few years for his stunning acting ability. However, in recent news, Majors was arrested on 25 March upon charges of assault against his girlfriend. Majors now has the reputation of a man who commits domestic violence, a reputation which will likely stick with him for the rest of his career. Majors debuted this year as Kang in Ant-Man 3, a role which he is set to hold for years to come, being that he is the next big bad of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Majors was set to be part of the next two Avengers movies, Avengers The Kang Dynasty and Avengers Secret Wars. Majors is needed for the movies to make them work. Marvel needs Kang, and Majors has already been established as Kang. Ant-Man 3, Loki Season 2, The Avengers, every easter egg and cameo, it's not easy simply to recast him, as the studio has already firmly established that this is their villain. However, how can Marvel keep Majors in their movies after these allegations have formed? Kevin Feige, Marvel's biggest producer, may just be forced to cut ties with Majors for the sake of Marvel Studios and their parent company Disney. Why? Because audiences may turn away from a film which features an actor who has a very bad reputation in his personal life. Kevin Feige, being president of Marvel Studios and also its most prominent producer, is responsible for dealing with this situation in the eyes of Disney. As the previous Avengers movie made over $2 billion in the box office, Disney will be desperate to recreate the same success, no matter what the cost. If Feige makes the new Avengers flop by making bad decisions, he'll be let go. Just as Victoria Alonso, another big Marvel producer, was sacked for making decisions detrimental to the studios and wider company. Majors, in this case, has put Kevin Feige in the firing line by not maintaining his reputation for the sake of the film. In another case, producers can just as well affect the careers of screen actors, in which we show Captain Kendi. Both producer and president of Lucasfilm, Captain Kendi, sought to rebuff Star Wars over a brand new trilogy of movies, the Star Wars sequels. However, the film did not go down well with fans, dividing the Star Wars fandom and causing a cycle of hate on social media. Their popularity is clear through the dropping box office numbers. Although The Force Awakens, first installed in the trilogy, made a successful $2 billion box office, The Last Jedi made $1.3 billion, and The Rise of Skywalker made even less at $1.08 billion, Disney were losing money with every movie, and losing fan interest. But why? The fans' issues with the movie stem from Captain Kendi's failures to her job. As a producer, she needed to hire a capable creative team, directors, writers, and everything in between. However, being that her fans' biggest issues with the films came from the bad writing, this fault does come down to her. The writers who put forward the ideas the audiences did not like were able to do so with Kendi's approval. Fans were in dismay. Kendi turned them against Star Wars, hiring people like Rian Johnson to direct The Last Jedi, lost the pseudo-potential extra billion in the box office, and caused huge controversy on social media over the value of the new movies. But more to the point, the failure of the films caused a downfall of an inspiring actress's career. Daisy Ridley played the lead role of the Star Wars trilogy, Rey, and as the face of the films, her career suffered due to their failure. Since being in The Rise of Skywalker in 2019, Daisy has only appeared in one movie, Chaos Walking, in which she was a complete bop. Considering that one of her co-stars, Adam Driver, has hit it big time in recent years following the sequels, the only reason to suggest that she has not come to achieve the same success is that unlike Driver, Daisy was the main face of all the movies. This means that other film companies and other producers may not want to hire her for their films due to her not being associated with anything successful. Effectively, Kendi has caused Daisy to lose relevance within the screen industry and it's no wonder why she had no choice but to sign back onto Star Wars in recent weeks because nobody else wants her. However, it's an understatement to say that these problems are only causing issues between the actor and the film producer because in reality, these issues are causing huge effects on the industry as a whole. Referring back to Majors, Disney wants to make a lot from the new Avengers movie. Each Avengers movie has done better than its predecessor with the exception of Age of Ultron. Neither the studio wants to break another successful film. Unfortunately for Marvel and Disney, Majors may be making that dream of this less realistic. Kang is meant to be the new Thanos, a powerful villain who will serve to unite the heroes from all the individual Marvel projects into one big Avengers movie. Given that Marvel have set up the multiverse as a concept for their films, where they have loads of different versions of the same heroes and the same villains from different universes, they could easily recast Majors and say his replacement is a Kang from another universe. However, in Ant-Man 3, they established that Kang looks exactly the same in every universe so they effectively have written themselves into a corner. Of course, it is possible to just recast Majors, though they have done it before with smaller characters, but Majors was meant to be the face of the Marvel movies going forward so recasting him won't go down well with fans who appreciate continuity. This is proven when the Fantastic Beasts franchise recast their key villain Grindelwald from Johnny Depp to Mads Mikkelsen. This is to show them not return at all, rather than complete change the actor and subsequently put the development of the character they play in jeopardy. Actors need to maintain a good public persona for the benefit of their colleagues due to Majors' actions, not only has he missed the career opportunity of a lifetime, but Kevin Feige and all the other producers and writers he works with are going to have to juggle big changes to reorganise the franchise that Majors has put at risk for the sake of their jobs. Kathleen Kennedy's actions have also led to problems in the wider industry. As a producer, she has the core responsibility of making money on projects. She needs to produce content that will make money and to do so she needs to understand what people want to watch. However, a recent decision in Lucasfilm displays that she has not been able to do this effectively. After the failure to release this mnemonic franchise as big and successful as Marvel, all Star Wars movies became dead in the water. Kennedy cancelled many film projects, disappointing fans and dropping Star Wars into further ruin. Originally, both Obi-Wan Kenobi and Boba Fett, both being big Star Wars characters, were planned to have big shows made about them, big movies made about them. However, Kennedy cancelled both and they were altered into TV shows on Disney+, meaning they generated no profit to the company. Disney Plus is not profitable until 2024, so effectively Lucasfilm has not made anything from anything that they have produced on Disney Plus in recent years. For Kennedy, this is not an issue, she has a guaranteed salary, but for the studio as a whole, this is a big issue. Disney bought Lucasfilm to make money, but they have not been able to do that for them anymore. In fact, Kennedy's plans are spoken by the viewership of her shows. The Mandalorian, Disney's flagship show, has had the worst viewership of all the Star Wars shows in its most recent season, losing 20% of its audience across the first five episodes. That's a big drop, considering the Mandalorian is the centrepiece of Star Wars at the moment. As a result, the actors who are part of these shows are losing prominence, losing any credibility they have in the screen industry. It goes to show that a producer needs to provide the entertainment that audiences want for the good of everyone involved, the industry and the audiences who want to be entertained. Contractual obligation has caused a variety of issues to those involved in screen-based projects. Recently, Amber Heard destroyed her relationship with the public upon the Johnny Depp defamation trial, which has been broadcasted to people all over the world. Amber Heard has turned a lot of people in the world against her, which has thus destroyed her reputation. In this way, Heard will now have to In this way, Heard will now have an effect on every screen-based project she is set to appear in, as audiences are far more likely not to want to watch films she has been in or is set to be a part of. With this in mind comes the arrival of Ackman 2. This December, a sequel to the 2018 smash hit Ackman is set to arrive, and the Ackman The Lost Kingdom. Seeing as the original made over a billion in the box office, all the others are eager to recreate the same success. However, the film is labelled as somewhat controversial as Amber Heard is set to reprise her role as Mera to the dismay of fans and audiences alike. The issue here lies in that her bad reputation is destroying the film's reputation. However, they can't just simply fire and recast her as her contract's most likely being fixed term, since she has to be kept in the film until it is finished. It means she just can't be dropped. Although there are usually escape causes for the studio, as Heard has not gone out of her way to harm the film itself, she effectively has not done anything wrong. This leaves producers in predicament, as they want the film to do well, but they also need to keep her in it at the same time. In this way, the producers, according to reports, dropped her screen-time presence as much as possible so as not to violate any contractual agreements, but also keep audiences satisfied. Ultimately, the past few years have sought to show us anything. They seek to show that individuals are far more important than they seem, and in a world of cancel culture, boycotts, rallies and outcry, everyone in the screen industry needs to be careful so everyone can keep doing their jobs and keep them. Well, the podcast is over now. Goodbye.