‘Dear White People’ Review: How Biting Satire and a Sincere Love Story Make Season 1 Essential TV — Spoilers

Adam Rose/Netflix

[Editor’s Note: The following review contains spoilers for “Dear White People” Season 1. Please watch the 10 episodes, now available on Netflix, before continuing — or read the spoiler-free review.]

Romance is an all-encompassing experience. Once you’re in it, there’s nothing else out there. It’s just the two of you against the world, as they say. But generally, you’re not against anything: life, and everything in it, is improved. When you’re in love, the day-to-day is all sunshine and rainbows, leaving little time for concern, let alone cause.

This kind of overwhelming emotional state is why there’s a whole genre dedicated to romance, and why it can be hard for shows to establish a truly great relationship without letting it overwhelm everything else in the series. Viewers relate to the concept of a happy ending with a happy couple, and such an instinctual reaction can prove daunting if the will-they-won’t-they drama plays out as it does in many relationships: indefinitely.

READ MORE: ‘Dear White People’ Spoiler-Free Review: Justin Simien’s Netflix Series Sets the Standard for Movie-to-TV Adaptations

In “Friends,” the gang went through a lot, but we all knew it was going to be OK as long as Ross and Rachel worked it out. The same went for Paul and Jamie on “Mad About You,” Jim and Pam on “The Office,” Lorelai and Luke on “Gilmore Girls,” Derek and Meredith on “Grey’s Anatomy,” and so on and so forth. We felt better knowing they were OK, and that was the great service each show provided, in the end.

Well, we have a new great TV couple to fall for in 2017, but the fate of “Dear White People” isn’t tied to the whether or not Sam (Logan Browning) and Gabe (John Patrick Amedori) will or won’t. In fact, the first season paints a beautiful portrait of young love that grips you deeply, but, in the end, Justin Simien’s brilliant Netflix series offers an inverse perspective on the couple’s destiny: their fate is tied to ours, as a people, rather than the other way around.

Even as a concept, Sam and Gabe was a risky choice for Simien. His series had a cause, and an incalculably important one at that: examining the racial divide in America via the lens of young, black and brown students at a fictional Ivy League school. With as much real-life references to Ferguson and Black Lives Matter as there are pop culture riffs on Drake and Quentin Tarantino, “Dear White People’s” first priority is insightful commentary fueled by an array of characters. A central romantic pairing could submerge the sociological insights that make the series vital.

READ MORE: ‘Dear White People’: Why the ‘Scandal’ Parody Isn’t Just Fun, But an Essential Part of the Show

But what Simien astutely recognized — and what keeps the original series from feeling overly preachy — is that his setting not only allows for romance, but it requires romance. College kids are going to hook up. They’re going to date. They’re going to do a lot more, and they’re going to do a lot of it. To ignore that aspect of these characters would be to ignore their humanity. To acknowledge it makes them feel authentic, and helps every viewer identify with each and every student.

So when we meet Lionel (DeRon Horton) and find out he likes his straight roommate, Troy (Brandon P Bell), from that unrequited crush comes empathy, humor, and connection. When we find out Sam’s best friend Joelle (Ashley Blaine Featherson) is into Reggie (Marque Richardson) — who’s into Sam — it builds a dynamic among the activists that expands beyond protests. More importantly, it doesn’t take away from what they’re saying when they’re not flirting — just like Troy and CoCo’s (Antoinette Robertson) relationship is used to convey a broader point about the various motivations for dating.

We’ve all been there, in one if not all of these situations. And realizing this makes it all the more powerful when these characters are put in situations we haven’t been in, can’t have faced, or both. Namely, the events of the fifth episode — directed by Barry Jenkins, who just won an Oscar for “Moonlight” — are an absolute gut punch because of how well we know everyone in that room. Simien’s decision to frame each episode from an individual perspective, shifting between his core cast of six for each half-hour “chapter,” builds up to a beautiful climax halfway through and then again at the season’s end.

But Reggie’s day ending with him staring down the barrel of a gun was built from hours of watching him mope about Sam. She chose Gabe, he was jealous, and the events spun out from there. That his near-death experience had nothing to do with Sam isn’t entirely true, but that its message — that this injustice can happen to anyone, at any time, for the most insignificant of reasons — was magnified by how connected we were to him for universal reasons.

Think about how his and Sam’s dynamic flipped from that morning to that night: from barely speaking to her knocking on his door, begging to come in, as he sat and cried on the floor. It didn’t matter who was with who, just that the good people stuck together. Our priorities shifted with the characters’, making for a beautifully painful human connection.

A similar turn took place in the season finale, when Sam and Gabe broke free from the protest and town hall meeting to sort out their relationship. While their conversation was strictly about their future as a couple, it was impossible not to see America’s fate reflected in the exchange:

“Nothing about our relationship has been easy,” Gabe says.

“Who said it was supposed to be easy?” Sam replies.

“No one. I just know it doesn’t have to be this hard.”

A white man of privilege speaking to a black woman trying to wake people up; one complains about how hard it is while the other counters that she expected it to be hard. Could there be a more succinct summary of racial perspectives who want the same thing? It would be easier for Gabe to stay out of this — to date a white girl and leave the protesting to Sam and the black student union — just like it’s easier for the unaffected to ignore the problem because they don’t have to live with it on a daily basis. Those who are in it, are in it. They accepted the situation long ago, and they’re ready to fight for what they want.

“The more I think about it, the more I know that this won’t work,” Gabe concludes.

With that attitude, it won’t. He needs to believe, and while Sam cheating on him made that hard, there’s still hope for the couple. “Dear White People” is focused on the fight. The series depicts resistance as vital, and makes it a damn addictive experience in the process. We want Sam and Gabe to work out just like we want things in general to work out. Splitting them up to end the season is fitting, given where we stand now. But will they work it out eventually? We’ll see. We can hope. We can fight.

Love is part of the experience in “Dear White People,” but not the whole experience. However, its masterful implementation gives the whole project incredible resonance and only makes us want more; to see what’s next; to keep going. Now would be a good time to greenlight Season 2, Netflix. We need this story to continue.

Grade: A

“Dear White People” Season 1 is streaming now on Netflix.

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Tom Hanks Needs a Reboot: Why America’s Favorite Actor Is Playing It Too Safe

Tom Hanks

Shutterstock

No actor embodies the American everyman more than Tom Hanks, but that archetype has worn awfully thin. He was ideal as Cpt. Sully Sullenberger in Clint Eastwood’s “Sully,” a valiant working-class hero who always does the right thing — but at one of the most polarizing moments in this country’s history, roles like like start to seem less hand-in-glove and more like a rut. However, the actor’s earlier credits prove that a much broader range lurks beneath his kindly demeanor, and he’s overdue to unleash that potential once more.

In “The Circle,” which opens today, he plays a scheming tech mogul whose charm belies his nefarious vision. The problem is the material doesn’t give him enough substance. The movie finds one of the character’s young employees (Emma Watson) drawn into the company’s live-video platform even as it holds the potential for widespread invasion of privacy and Hanks is relegated to a side character whose cheery presentations about the platform obscure its creepier connotations. He never gets the opportunity to transform the figure into the 21st-century villain the story suggests.

Hanks’ bland, smiling delivery has subversive potential, but “The Circle” is a tonally confused work, caught between satire and sincerity in a jumble of half-formed ideas written by luddites. For Hanks to truly push beyond his safety zone, he’ll need some higher standards.

“The Circle”

In his ’90s heyday, the actor showed a tremendous ability to channel his likable persona into smart, unpredictable narratives. From the fantasy of “Big” to the socially conscious storytelling of “Philadelphia,” Hanks tackled one risky project after another and grounded it with subtle, intelligent performances. While “Forrest Gump” may have grown divisive with time, it remains a completely unorthodox and innovative work of cultural storytelling, and his disarmingly sweet delivery fuses it all together.

In the next decade, Hanks entered a more elegant, classical phase. His collaborations with Steven Spielberg, from “Saving Private Ryan” all the way through “Bridge of Spies,” harken back to an earlier era of slick Hollywood productions focused on mature dilemmas. (He’s got another one right around the corner with Spielberg’s untitled Pentagon Papers drama, in which Hanks plays Washington Post editor Ben Bradlee.) But even the best of these movies have a neutral currency in modern times — they go down easy, but fall short of introducing big ideas. Other Hanks credits suggest he does want to expand his reach; it’s just that he has terrible aim.

“The Circle” marks the actor’s second go-round with a Dave Eggers adaptation, following on the heels of the misbegotten “A Hologram For the King.” That one found Hanks as a melancholic business man trapped in the limbo of a never-ending business trip in Saudi Arabia. Though it contained a degree of whimsy usually absent from modern-day Hanks movies, it was another case of subtly dark material (in this case, the corrosive impact of corporate life on a soul-searching everyman) squandered by a light touch.

Tom Hanks in “Sully”

Warner Bros.

Hanks has the right idea in aligning with a creative voice operating outside of the Hollywood safety zone; he just needs some help with the curatorial process. Just imagine what might happen if the actor teamed up with Olivier Assayas, whose collaborations with Kristen Stewart on “Clouds of Sils Maria” and “Personal Shopper” brought the actress’ talent into an exciting new arena of sophisticated narratives about inner turmoil. Hanks could also attach himself to a project from a masterful director fighting to get more projects off the ground, like David Cronenberg, who hasn’t been able to cobble together resources for a movie in years.

The actor’s name carries weight, and it would better serve contemporary cinema if he sought a career stage defined by surprise choices. He’d be a great fit for an economical director of humanistic comedies like Lynn Shelton, and could turn his everyman status on its ear by inserting himself into the unnerving visions of social rebellion crafted by Andrea Arnold.

Of course, the very idea of a middle-aged white guy holding such currency in today’s entertainment industry is questionable. However, Hanks provides a special case. He’s an iconic figure with the capacity to influence how movies achieve stature in popular culture, and he’s certainly worked hard at it. But if that’s going to continue, he’s going to need something better than “The Circle.”

“The Circle”

Tom Hanks in “Sully”

Film Acquisition Rundown: Oscilloscope Picks Up ‘November,’ The Orchard Buys ‘Flower’ and More

“November”

Gabriela Liivamägi

Keep up with the wild and wooly world of indie film acquisitions with our weekly Rundown of everything that’s been picked up around the globe. Check out last week’s Rundown here.

– Oscilloscope Laboratories has acquired the North American rights to the Tribeca Film Festival entry “November.” Directed by Rainer Sarnet, the film is based on Andrus Kivirähk’s novel “Rehepapp,” about about a peasant girl in 19th century Estonia who longs for village boy. The story of requited love takes place in an incredibly complicated, dark landscape where spirits, werewolves, plagues, and the devil himself converge.

READ MORE: Film Acquisition Rundown: The Orchard Picks Up ‘Thelma,’ Samuel Goldwyn Films Buys ‘Gook’ and More

“’November’ is one of the most unique and stunning films to come along in some time,” Oscilloscope president Dan Berger said in a statement. “It’s equal measures beautiful love story and balls-to-wall bonkers-ass folk tale.” Oscilloscope will open the film theatrically later this year.

– The Orchard has acquired “Flower,” a dark comedy from director Max Winkler that premiered at the 2017 Tribeca Film Festival. The movie centers on a rebellious 17-year-old named Erica (Zoey Deutch) who has a habit of sexually scheming guys out of their money. “Flower” co-stars Kathryn Hahn, Adam Scott and Tim Heidecker.

“Flower”

Full Metal Mullet LLC

The film was written by Winkler and “Ingrid Goes West” director Matt Spicer, who worked on an original script from Young Adult novelist Alex McAulay that made the 2012 Black List. “Flower” marked the first acquisition out of this year’s Tribeca.

– IFC Midnight has acquired the U.S. rights to “Darkness Rising,” written by Vikram Weet and directed by Austin Reading. The film follows a young woman named Madison Shaw who finds out her childhood home is about to be torn down and decides she must see it one last time. Far from a nostalgic trip through childhood memories, Shaw is motivated by the need to confront demons that have haunted her ever since her childhood, when her mother killed her baby sister.

“Darkness Rising” stars Katrina Law, Tara Holt, Bryce Johnson, Heather Mazur, Myk Watford, and Ted Raimi. The debut film from Reading, “Darkness Rising” was produced by Storyboard Entertainment’s Jason Potash and Paul Finkel, in association with Compass Entertainment’s Marcus Fuller, Julie S. Fuller and Daniel Hyman. “Austin’s gripping storytelling is in the perfect hands with IFC, and we are excited to be partnering with their entire team to release this thrilling haunted story,” producer Jason Potash said in a statement.

– Roadside Attractions and LD Entertainment are partnering on the release of Bethany Ashton Wolf’s family romance, “Forever My Girl.” The film tells the story of country music super-star Liam Page who left his bride Josie at the altar choosing fame and fortune instead. However, Liam never got over Josie, his one true love, nor did he ever forget his Southern roots in the small community where he was born and raised. Written and directed by Wolf, “Forever My Girl” is based upon the novel by Heidi McLaughlin. The film stars Alex Roe, Jessica Rothe, Abby Ryder Fortson, Travis Tritt, Judith Hoag and John Benjamin Hickey.

“Forever My Girl”

Roadside Attractions

“We fell in love with this special movie the moment we saw it and we are excited to partner again with Mickey Liddell and our friends at LD Entertainment,” Roadside co-presidents Howard Cohen and Eric d’Arbeloff said in a statement. “Forever My Girl is the kind of film that will play everywhere but we believe it will play especially well in the heartland.” The film features original country music written for the screen by Brett Boyett. “Forever My Girl” marks the 7th collaboration between Roadside and LD, and will be released wide in theaters on October 27, 2017.

– Grasshopper Film has acquired the U.S. distribution rights to “Spettacolo,” the new documentary from Jeff Malmberg and Chris Shellen. “Spettacolo” tells the story of villagers in a tiny hill town in Tuscany who came up with a remarkable way to confront their issues – they turned their lives into a play. Every summer, their piazza became their stage and residents of all ages played a part. The annual tradition kept the town together for 50 years, but with an aging population and a future generation more interested in Facebook than farming, the town’s 50th anniversary performance just might be its last.

“‘Spettacolo’ is a wonder, the story of a tiny Italian village that for the past half-century has created an alternate world to deal with their own,” Grasshopper CEO Ryan Krivoshey said in a statement. “Seven years after first watching a documentary about an amazing 1/6th scale World War II-era town, I couldn’t be more thrilled to be working with Jeff and Chris on their beautiful new film.” “Spettacolo” received its world premiere at the SXSW Film Festival and will open theatrically this fall, followed by a VOD and home video release.

– Breaking Glass Pictures has acquired the North American rights to the Puerto Rican drama “La Granja” (“The Farm”) from first-time director Angel Manuel Soto. The film follows three intersecting stories that focus on the pursuit of happiness and its unanticipated consequences during the economic collapse of the island of Puerto Rico.

“Over the years, Breaking Glass has been doing great things to bring Spanish-language films and introduce them to North American culture and audiences, which makes them a perfect fit for this release,” executive producer Tom Davia said in a statement. “La Granja” held its world premiere at Fantastic Fest and went on to play Tribeca, Raindance, and the Miami International Film Festival.

– Abramorama has acquired the theatrical rights to “Hare Krishna! The Mantra, the Movement and the Swami who started it all,” a documentary on the life of Srila Prabhupada, the 70-year-old Indian Swami who arrived in America without support or money in the turbulent 1960s. Suddenly thrust into the raging counterculture, he speaks of the world’s real need – a need for a revolution in consciousness. This captures the attention of a generation of youth seeking answers and ignites a worldwide spiritual movement, now known as the Hare Krishna movement.

READ MORE: Cannes Adds Roman Polanski Film to Lineup

“Our relationship with filmmakers exploring and documenting the pursuit of spiritual enlightenment is one that we value and intend to support with our work,” Abramorama’s Richard Abramowitz and Karol Martesko-Fenster said in a statement. “Agnostic, so to speak, about the individual disciplines and denominations, our interest is in adding to the essential conversations about how people develop their inner resources in order to live full and meaningful lives.” Co-directed by John and Jean Griesser and Lauren Ross, “Hare Krishna!” will have its world premiere at the Illuminate Film Festival on June 3, followed by a nationwide release in theaters beginning in New York City on June 16, 2017.

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“Flower”

“Forever My Girl”

Geena Davis Reveals How Television Is Helping Fight Hollywood’s Sexism Problem

As Geena Davis’ Bentonville Film Festival readies for its third edition, the fledgling Arkansas event is already pivoting to embrace other entertainment mediums beyond just films, all the better to serve their mission of bolstering diversity in the industry.

“Our tagline has evolved to be ‘championing women and diverse voices in media,’ because the lack of female characters and diverse characters exists in pretty much any form of the media,” said Davis, who co-founded the festival with Trevor Drinkwater, in an interview. During its first two years, Bentonville aimed to champion those voices specifically in film, but 2017 will turn the focus of the festival on other entertainment options, including an episodic section and a shorts competition

READ MORE: The Bentonville Film Festival is Brought to You By Women, Diversity and Corporate Synergy

“One thing that has been apparent for a long time is how television is doing much better than film as far as gender and diversity,” she said. “Particularly for older actors – such as myself! – the best place to be is television if you want really great, well-drawn characters where you get to do something cool.”

Although Davis still snags roles on the big screen – she was last seen in the Sundance premiere “Marjorie Prime,” and recently completed production on Pat Mills’ comedy “Don’t Talk to Irene” – she’s found renewed success on television as of late, including a starring role on “The Exorcist” and a significant arc on “Grey’s Anatomy.”

Davis pointed to a recent study by her own Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media, which found that TV does a far better job of giving its female characters occupations than films do. It’s just one more discovery that exemplifies a major gap in films when it comes to actually drawing robust, real female characters.

“In films, of the characters that have jobs, only 20% are female,” Davis said. “Women are 50% of the workforce in real life, so it’s interesting that we’re not even reflecting the reality on screen, where it’s fiction. You can do whatever you want on screen, since you’re making it up for the most part, and yet [film] is not doing that.”

Opening the festival up to other mediums will also allow Bentonville to form stronger ties to more creators, and Davis is clear that the future of the festival extends far beyond just five days of screening new (film) work in a cute Arkansas town. They want to be in on the ground floor.

“That’s exactly what we’re looking to do, [to] really be much more involved proactively in the creation of content, not just showing movies after they’re done, but really helping them get made,” Davis said. “What we need to do is to try and impact films at every stage of being created.”

Davis isn’t one to get starry-eyed about ideas without being able to back them up. As the founder of the Geena Davis Institute, the Oscar winner helps drive actual research into gender representation in the media. Measurements matter to Davis, and she’s not always happy with what she sees in the course of her work.

“I read a quote somewhere, ‘if you can’t measure it, it hasn’t happened yet,’ and I really subscribe to that notion,” Davis said. “I’ve been in films where the press all predicted ‘this changes everything,’ specifically ‘Thelma and Louise.'”

That change didn’t come. She added, “You just have to look at when Kathryn Bigelow won the Oscar and all the press wanted to say is, ‘Now, now the glass ceiling is broken, it’s all changed,’ and then we see that it doesn’t.”

Davis is, however, heartened by the recent uptick in conversations around issues like diversity and inclusion, the exact issues that Bentonville and her institute are attempting to shed further light on.

“There are some things that are really working in our favor,” she said. “One is how much people are talking about it now. It’s really exciting and encouraging to hear how much people are willing to talk about pay inequality and lack of roles for older women and lack of diversity on screen show.”

READ MORE: Geena Davis Has Two Easy Steps to Make Your Film Gender-Balanced

Armed with her own research and experience, Davis is starting to see change in action, including on the small screen.

“I think the research is really helping, I know it’s helping a lot,” Davis said. “When I talk to creators of kids media to __show them the numbers, it’s really unconscious bias and they had no idea they were leaving out that many female characters until they had the numbers to look at. That makes a huge difference.”

She added, “I think the more content creators and studios can learn about the upside of being more inclusive, the better off that we’ll be and more progress can happen.”

The 2017 Bentonville Film Festival runs May 2 – 7 in Bentonville, Arkansas.

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‘Twin Peaks’ Teaser Offers First New Footage of the Upcoming Revival — Watch

We still don’t know what’s in store for us when “Twin Peaks” makes its long-awaited return next month, but we do finally have some new footage — kind of. Showtime has released a new teaser for the series, and though the 30-second ad consists of nothing more than a few establishing shots, it does serve to remind that this truly is happening and is just a few weeks away.

READ MORE: ‘Twin Peaks’ New Teaser Sums Up the First Two Seasons in Less Than Three Minutes — Watch

Carrying the tagline “Something old is new again…,” the teaser returns us to a few familiar locations: the red room, the sheriff’s department, the Double-R Diner. We don’t actually see anybody — most of the main cast is returning, with a few notable exceptions; there are also a number of new additions — suggesting that they must all be in another place.

READ MORE: Cannes Film Festival Accepts TV: Why Shows From David Lynch and Jane Campion Are Only The Beginning

The third season of “Twin Peaks” debuts on May 21 with a two-part premiere. The revival consists of 18 episodes, the last of which is set to air on September 3.

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WGA Strike: Why This Time the Writers, Netflix, and the Public May Have the Upper Hand

Netflix

Like all labor disputes, the WGA’s strike threat is meant to ensure its members get an equitable share of profits. However, this one contains a particularly potent strain of deja vu. As they did 10 years ago, and even 30 years before that, studios argue that writers want in on a market that doesn’t wholly exist.

The gap between writers’ and producers’ terms are massive: Entertainment lawyer Jonathan Handel crunched the numbers for The Hollywood Reporter and estimated the gap to be somewhere in the region of $350 million. The healthcare issue is particularly staggering, with Variety reporting the WGA’s 2020 projected deficit alone to be $65 million.

It sounds dire. Only this time, the public’s rapidly evolving viewing habits could give writers the upper hand.

READ MORE: WGA Members Approve Strike Authorization, as Contract Negotiations Resume Tuesday

In 1985, the WGA went on strike over the then-burgeoning home video market based on selling tapes to stores for close to $100 a unit for public rental. Studios held tight to their .3 percent residual payout, arguing that writers wanted to share in a developing market that they hadn’t figured out how to monetize. And then, for the next 22 years, home video was the economic story of Hollywood. VHS tapes became cheap to manufacture and video stores grew nationwide, setting the table for the DVD boom.

The 2007-08 WGA strike

Mccarten/EPA/REX/Shutterstock

In the ’90s and ’00s, DVDs sales were the studio profit center. One copy of a DVD in every outlet of the three major video store chains was worth $4 million. A movie in theaters only needed to be a breakeven affair; the real money lay in having a well-known title fill a wall at your local Blockbuster. Meanwhile, the consumer-friendly price of DVDs led to extensive home libraries, which made studios’ own libraries increasingly valuable.

By 2007, writers were thoroughly burned by DVDs and could see the internet was the future home entertainment profit center. With iTunes just starting to get into movies and television shows, and many of the major studios being owners of Hulu, writers were steadfast in their demand for a cut of of VOD revenue and ad sales for TV programming that was streaming for free.

Again, studios claimed writers came to the party too early; Hollywood hadn’t figured out how to monetize their content on the internet. Ten years later, it’s clear there was some truth to that: No one projected subscription video on demand services like Netflix would drive a boom in original television content that doesn’t even pay residuals.

Today, writers are staring down yet another changing landscape driven by technological advances in home entertainment. Premium and basic cable, along with SVOD players like Netflix and Amazon, are driving a massive and unparalleled rise in scripted television, with a 40% increase in scripted union shows in just the last two years.

Shailene Woodley and Reese Witherspoon in limited series finale of “Big Little Lies”

Hilary Bronwyn Gayle/ HBO

However, this trend in “quality TV” also means shorter arcs of six to 13 episodes as a new phrase enters our media lexicon: limited series. Quality over quantity rules as top film talent floods TV in an effort to make it more “cinematic.” That’s good for movie folks, since studios now make fewer than 100 films a year, most of which are blockbusters that can provide only a very small percentage of the WGA with large paydays.

READ MORE: Every IndieWire TV Review of 2017 Shows, Ranked from Best to Worst By Grade

The result is writers are locked into exclusive TV deals that pay less and forbid them from taking other work. As they demand contract flexibility and increased minimum salaries, including what gets paid per teleplay, the studios say… you guessed it, writers are too early and want to discuss a market that’s in the middle of upheaval. This time, however, it’s a little different.

READ MORE: 19 Indies and Festival Favorites You Can’t Miss This Summer Season

Let’s imagine there’s a strike. Original content is severely cut. On which are you more likely to rely for entertainment: your seemingly endless Netflix queue, or your near-empty cable DVR? And that is why the big networks/studios will be motivated to get a deal done. Non-signatory Netflix doesn’t need to be in the negotiations to be in the room.

Theoretically, the scripted-TV arms race should not hurt writers. While studios are still very much grappling with their economic models in an age of Netflix, they are no longer in the position to tell writers, “Wait until we figure it out.” Beyond the trust element, this time it’s the public that has put the studios at a disadvantage.

The 2007 strike hurt the studios, but it was at a time when cheap reality TV was king and scripted television struggled. Today, reality television is a mature business, the public can’t get enough golden-age TV, and they’re no longer tethered to their cable boxes or their living rooms. Big players can’t afford another reason for people to cut the cord.

With profits solid, and advertiser upfronts starting in two weeks, studios may be forced to be open to the idea they need to enter the brave new world having already cut the writers in on unknown new profits.

The 2007-08 WGA strike

Shailene Woodley and Reese Witherspoon in limited series finale of “Big Little Lies”

Take a Deep, Meaty Dive Into the Gross Story Behind ‘Fight Club’ Sound Effects — Watch

“Fight Club”

We’re all familiar with how silly movie sound effects can sometimes be, but one of the things that David Fincher’s cult classic “Fight Club” is best remembered for is its willingness to get as down and dirty with its sound design as it did with those bloody fight scenes.

In a new tribute video by Film Radar, “The Beauty of Sound Design” reveals what went into achieving the uncomfortably realistic noises of fists cracking against faces. The truth isn’t for the faint of heart, but then again, neither is the film.

READ MORE: David Fincher Nearing Deal to Direct Brad Pitt in ‘World War Z’ Sequel

The “Fight Club” sound designers, Ren Klyce and Richard Hymns, discuss how the standard way punching sounds are created — sham-wrapped celery being cracked in half — was not working for the level of realism Fincher’s scenes called for. They decided instead to use chicken carcasses filled with walnuts to achieve those wet crunches, and then took it a step further by actually punching themselves in the chest. Cute!

It clearly paid off, as the video highlights, when the film became controversial upon release for not shying away from the brutality of bare-knuckle fighting. Watch Film Radar’s video below.

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