city Burbank: Last News

It was a tale of two coasts today, as WGA picketers and their allies targeted Disney’s upfront presentation in New York and also the company’s Burbank lot in Los Angeles. And the two scenes were very different.

Pat McAfee, the sports broadcaster who regularly breaks news with his pal Aaron Rodgers, has signed a deal with ESPN.

Law enforcement to horn-blowing strike supporters: you may be breaking the law, man!

Pat Saperstein Deputy Editor A number of restaurants and bars have decided to show solidarity with striking members of the Writers Guild by offering discounts on menu items and drinks. Writers can’t live on donuts alone, even if they’re delivered by Jay Leno, nor will the generous offers of pizza sent to picket lines solely sustain the hundreds of sign-carrying scribes marching in front of studios across Los Angeles and New York. In Silver Lake, All Day Baby is offering discounted $8 daiquiris, and owner Lien Ta wrote on Instagram, “All Day Baby is so lucky to receive regular support from writers — we have both investors and guests who are a part of our special tapestry. For example, the writers’ room at ‘Shrinking’ even keeps score of how many days one of their writers goes with or without mentioning ADB! We’re disappointed that Hollywood isn’t matching value with worth for our industry’s writers; and in a way, the restaurant industry can relate to these writers: they are like the chefs/cooks of film + TV, writing integral and delicious recipes, and without their talent, there would be no product or project for millions to benefit.”

Bam Margera’s friends are concerned.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic U2 has announced the first dates this fall for a series of shows being billed as “U2:UV Achtung Baby Live at Sphere” — just five nights in late September and early October, for now, although the possibility of more shows being added seems more like a probability. The ambition and logistical planning of creating a unique show for Sphere, the world’s most technologically advanced space for music, certainly ultimately augurs for a longer run, even if U2 has studiously been avoiding sticking around Vegas quite long enough to merit the avoided word “residency.” U2’s guitarist, the Edge, got on a Zoom with Variety last week to discuss the enormously ambitious run of shows, following a demonstration of the design and technology for Sphere that was held for a handful of media representatives at a scale model of the building in Burbank. Although the concerts will be themed around the 1991 “Achtung Baby” album (with the “UV” in the show’s title referring to the album track “Ultraviolet”), the Edge said that Sphere itself was the reason for conceiving the new show. “When we found out about what this venue was really offering us creatively, we kind of saw it as a throwdown … as a challenge,” he says.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer In a months-long goal to reach 7,000 job cuts total, Disney will begin its second round of layoffs of the year today. The notifications will be handed out to staff through Thursday, concluding with approximately 4,000 job eliminations completed overall by week’s end, according to company officials. While the Disney workforce will be reduced by thousands across divisions Disney Entertainment, ESPN, and Disney Parks, Experiences and Products (hourly frontline operations roles at Parks and Resorts will not be affected), and locations from Burbank to New York and Connecticut, there are still more layoffs to come. According to Disney, a third and final wave of cuts is expected to begin ahead of the summer, which will bring the Mouse House to its 7,000 layoffs target. (The figure represents 3.2% of Disney’s total headcount of about 220,000 worldwide as of Oct. 1, 2022.)

It was originally described as the “big one,” or even more pointedly, a straight-up “bloodbath.”

Cynthia Littleton Business Editor Warner Bros. Discovery shares were down 6% at the close of trading Wednesday, on the heels of the company’s expansive presentation of its plans to overhaul the HBO Max streamer. WB Discovery shares have been battered over the past year as the company dealt with post-merger cost-cutting and management realignment. On Wednesday, the stock fell 5.8% to $14.05 on what was a down day overall for the market and a down day for most of WB Discovery’s media rivals, including Disney (down 2.5%), Paramount Global (3.3%) and Netflix (down 2%). The Dow Jones index fell a modest 38.2 points while the Nasdaq dropped 102 points, or 1%. The hourlong WB Discovery presentation was held during trading hours, at 10 a.m. PT on the Warner Bros. lot in Burbank. Wall Street’s verdict on WB Discovery’s plans is still not in, but the immediate reaction of investors indicates that the company still has a long road ahead in sorting out its profit centers in the age of streaming.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Warner Bros. Discovery finally revealed the plans (and confirmed the long-rumored name) for its new streaming service, Max, which will combine offerings from HBO Max and Discovery+ into one product, during a splashy press presentation on the Warner Bros. Studio lot Wednesday. The event kicked off at 10 a.m. at the iconic Burbank location, presided over by WBD CEO David Zaslav, president and CEO of global streaming and games JB Perrette, HBO and HBO Max CEO and chairman Casey Bloys (who now also has oversight of Chip and Joanna Gaines’ Magnolia Network), and U.S. networks group chairman and chief content officer Kathleen Finch. Variety is on the scene, ready to fill you in on all the details about the new streamer, Warner Bros. Discovery’s direct-to-consumer strategy, the future of HBO and the standalone version of Discovery+.

Jon Burlingame As part of its 100th anniversary celebration, Warner Bros. showcased its historic musical legacy with — of all things — a chamber-music concert Thursday night at its Steven J. Ross Theater on the WB lot in Burbank. An estimated 700 fans attended the two shows, in which a string quartet played famous movie and TV themes amid hundreds of artificial candles. Unlike most film-music concerts these days, there were no images screened. The music itself took center stage. Nearly half of the 16 pieces played were from post-2000 films, perhaps a nod to contemporary audiences expecting music they could easily recognize. But in terms of reflecting the rich Warner Bros. history of songs and scores, it was disappointing to find so few from the studio’s first 50 years.

Pat Saperstein Deputy Editor It was 1941. Though World War II was already under way, film production was in full swing at Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank. Humphrey Bogart was getting ready to shoot “The Maltese Falcon,” while the next year, “Casablanca” would film on Warners soundstages and at the nearby Van Nuys airport, subbing for Morocco. Bette Davis was making “Now Voyager” on the lot after location visits to Lake Arrowhead and Laguna Beach. At the Warner Bros. Café, the studio’s commissary on the Burbank lot, James Cagney and Rita Hayworth lunched with director Raoul Walsh, while actor and future president Ronald Reagan dined with Olivia de Havilland — just a few of the major stars and filmmakers who could be seen taking a break from the hard work of filming.

Cynthia Littleton Business Editor David Zaslav went office-furniture shopping when he moved into the executive building on the Warner Bros. lot last year. The new CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery had Jack L. Warner’s large dark-wood desk pulled out of storage for his use. He also found a leather legal pad holder once clutched by another of his predecessors at the storied studio: Steven J. Ross. Zaslav wanted these totems in his sunken workspace overlooking Olive Avenue in Burbank to show the formidable legacy, in business and in popular culture, he has inherited. “I wanted them to remind me that we need to show as much courage now in leading this business as the Warner brothers did in launching it one hundred years ago,” Zaslav says. As the studio marks the centen- nial of its incorporation as Warner Bros. Pictures Inc. (the official date is April 4, 1923), the company has never been more focused on using the wealth of intellectual property assets, the production expertise and the global distribution muscle built up over the past 100 years to power its second century. The vast Warner Bros. movie and TV library is the foundation of WB Discovery’s empire-building ambition to transition from traditional cable to direct-to-consumer streaming.

Scarlett Johansson just doesn't have a strong enough mentality to deal with social media. The actress appeared on Dear Media's "The Skinny Confidential Him & Her Podcast" and was asked why she's not on Twitter, Instagram, TikTok or any other social media forum."I can't. My ego is too fragile," she said. "I can't deal with it.

Sophia Scorziello editor Nneka Garland, an Emmy-winning producer on “General Hospital,” died Monday in Burbank. She was 49.  She had suffered a heart attack at her home in Sherman Oaks, according to the Hollywood Reporter. Garland joined the ABC soap opera in 2001 as an executive assistant and spent the last 22 years working on the show. In 2021, she became a producer of “General Hospital” and shared a Daytime Emmy win for outstanding drama series. That same year, show writers named recurring fictional character Nneka (Arlondriah Lenyéa) after Garland. 

The cast of the new Disney+ movie Chase Can Dunk stepped out for the world premiere!

Tom Sizemore, who starred in Saving Private Ryan, Black Hawk Down and in hundreds of other film and TV roles over three-plus decades, died Friday at a hospital in Burbank. He was 61 and had been in a coma since suffering a stroke February 18 that resulted in brain aneurysm.

A flash flood warning was issued for the entirety of Los Angeles county this afternoon which will remain in place until 10 p.m. Forecasters pointed to Burbank, Griffith Park, Universal City, North Hollywood, Pasadena, Hollywood, downtown, Van Nuys, Beverly Hills, Alhambra, Mount Wilson, Encino, Northridge, Santa Clarita, Chatsworth, Woodland Hills, Whittier, West Covina, Glendora and San Dimas as areas that are likely to experience flash flooding.

Adam B. Vary Senior Entertainment Writer SPOILER ALERT: This story discusses major plot points, including the ending, of “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania,” currently playing in theaters. One day in early 2020, Jeff Loveness got a call from his agent telling him to go to the Marvel Studios offices in Burbank by 3 p.m. that day, with no further information. It wasn’t until he walked into the meeting room and saw director Peyton Reed — who’d helmed Marvel’s “Ant-Man” and “Ant-Man and the Wasp” — that Loveness understood that he was there to talk about a third movie starring Paul Rudd’s incredible shrinking superhero. But then Loveness was asked a surprising question: “Do you have a take on Kang the Conqueror?”

“Joker: Folie à Deux” had been forced to work non-stop for two hours sans bathroom or water breaks during production at Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank.

The classic New York vs. Los Angeles tension is playing out on several fronts at the moment, much to the discomfort of those of us who align with both sides.