From The Pitt, Patrick Ball climbed out of debt: A Hollywood story
One of my key interests in the business of TV and filmmaking is the feast and famine element of it. Routinely we see trade press reporting on tax breaks delivered to a production to film in [insert state/country], or that production has shifted from one location to another between seasons, or that production has shut down because of the health of a star, or that there will be a two year hiatus between seasons, etc.
All of this has a very real impact on the many people working in TV. There’s a human cost to all of this.
Families having their lives uprooted (either temporarily, or permanently as working parents follow production out of LA to production hubs like Atlanta), sources of income suddenly ripped away, and a need to always be hustling as one moves from one job to the next.
The working life for a Hollywood professional is not as seen in Entourage. Key grip Julio is not Vincent Chase.
Yes, this is now a dated reference. Do the kids of today even know Entourage? Have they even heard of Johnny Drama?
I was interested in this section from an interview with The Pitt star Patrick Ball. In addition to having television’s best hair, he is also a star who is very open about the financial difficulty he had as a jobbing actor.
[Ball pauses, and begins to cry.] I paid off my student loans like three months into The Pitt, and that was a really profound moment ‘cause I thought I was gonna die with it. It’s a huge burden to carry, and a lot of people carry it. I was $80,000 in debt and I had been through a series of failed relationships where my financial insecurity was a real problem. I had just thought that was going to be my life forever, and that is a really heavy thing to live with. Paying off those student loans and getting back to zero, I remember being like, Man, if this show works, great. If it doesn’t work, they can’t take that away from me. I am out of debt. No take-backsies on that.
He talks about the need to take on a job in fundraising for a local university after he lost a longterm relationship because of his financial issues. The human cost.
I was working at a coffee shop, I was working at a restaurant, I was working as a wardrobe assistant for And Just Like That…, I was doing these corporate coaching seminars. I don’t think I’ve told anybody this story, but I was doing these seminars where they’d bring me into Blackrock and Blackstone and Goldman Sachs, and they would want to teach these young administrators how to have difficult conversations, à la how to fire somebody. They would bring me in as an actor so that these administrators could get practice firing someone. So I have been fired more than anyone you’ve ever met, I promise you. I’ve been fired thousands of times. And then the call for The Pitt came in and everything was different.
Ball’s story, for the moment, has a happy ending. He is financially above water, he has a hit show, he found love, and a lot of administrators from financial firms are now better trained in firing staff.
Related:
I also came across this on Patrick Ball’s Instagram feed and it delighted me greatly:
Enter: Paramount Global Publishing
A sign of Paramount seeking to scale up and bring as many of its third-party deals in-house is the launch of Paramount Global Publishing.
As per Paramount’s announcement about the new division:
The imprint, part of Paramount’s Products & Experiences division, will produce original and complementary publishing content inspired by the company’s portfolio of brands and deep library of IP, while also investing in new stories designed to become future franchises. Content will span print, digital and audio formats and reach audiences across age groups, from kids and families to adults.
What I’m curious about seeing is how active Paramount are in staffing this new division up at launch, or whether it will fill its ranks with incoming staff from Warner Bros Discovery, such as the Warner Bros. Discovery Global Consumer Products team. I’d also assume this new Paramount division will become home to the print-side of the DC Comics business.
News Desk
Peter Dinklage has joined the cast of Alien: Earth for season 2. There’s still no word on whether the Dinklage-led Poker Face reboot has found a new home after Peacock cancelled the show. Read: Variety
AMC Networks is changing its name to AMC Global Media. Read: Deadline
Channel 4 in the UK pulled an episode of The Great Celebrity Bake Off because it featured Scott Mills. Read: Variety
Joining the guest cast of season 3 of Netflix’s dopey hit romcom Nobody Wants This is Sarah Silverman, Andrew Rannells, Keyla Monterroso Mejia, Steven Weber, Poorna Jagannathan, and Stephanie Koenig. Read: thefutoncritic
With Dan Lin having overhauled Netflix’s approach to its movie slate, there should be no surprise that Netflix has dropped the volume of its film releases in Q1 of this year (the lowest volume for new releases since 2017). Read: What’s On Netflix
Paramount President Jeff Shell has been officially exited from the company following allegations related to insider trading. Read: Deadline
David Opie has this good list of differences between The Testaments book and the new TV show, a spin-off of The Handmaid’s Tale. Read: Radio Times
Trailer Park
M.I.A. debuts on Peacock May 7.
Restless in the Florida Keys, Etta Tiger Jonze dreams of a life in Miami's glittering, sub-tropical kingdom. When her family's drug-running business shatters in tragedy, however, Etta embarks on a dangerous journey through Miami's neon-lit underbelly that will define who she is and what she's ultimately capable of.
Remarkably Bright Creatures debuts on Netflix May 8. The movie stars Sally Field, Lewis Pullman, and Alfred Molina.
Based on the bestselling phenomenon by Shelby Van Pelt comes the story of Tova, a widow who forms an unlikely friendship with the curmudgeonly Marcellus - a giant pacific octopus that lives at the aquarium where she works. Unbeknownst to Tova, Marcellus is on a mission to solve a mystery that will heal the widow's heart and lead her to a life-changing discovery.
Criminal Record returns to Apple TV for season 2 on April 22.
That’s the newsletter for the today.
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