00:00
Hey, sister. Did you hear about the drama with Warner
00:02
Brothers? I haven't,
00:05
Well, they had a fully finished film,
00:07
Coyote versus Acme. You know why?
00:10
And they just decided to shelve it.
00:12
It's never gonna come out.
00:14
Like, what do you mean?
00:15
Like, it's never gonna come out like it's just never gonna
00:18
come out. They made the whole movie but it's never gonna
00:21
hit theaters and is it a waste of money?
00:25
I mean, there's like a tax write off element to it
00:27
So people think that might be a big reason.
00:32
and it's not the first time Warner Brothers does this.
00:33
Actually, they did it with Bat girl back a few years
00:35
ago. Is that what happened in bad girl?
00:38
I thought, I thought that they just canceled it.
00:40
I didn't know that they,
00:42
they made the movie and it never came out.
00:45
But again, there's so many moving parts to this.
00:47
Is it Hollywood? Is it the,
00:49
the tax write off government regardless?
00:52
We're actually gonna have Texas State congressman,
00:54
Joaquin Castle, join us to break down this whole Warner Brothers
01:00
Oh, sorry Congressman.
01:02
Good day. How are you?
01:04
Thank you. Good to be with you.
01:06
You actually tweeted the other day about the Warner Brothers decision.
01:09
Can you break down your tweet for us?
01:11
you know, and this problem that you see is,
01:14
is larger than even just this one movie.
01:17
it's really like this predatory,
01:20
anti, competitive, really anti worker practice that has existed in
01:25
Hollywood for some time.
01:26
But Warner Brothers Discovery has really started doing it and using it
01:31
more often, which is,
01:32
they'll, they'll make,
01:37
it'll be in post production and they will decide that instead of
01:42
putting it in movie theaters or putting on streaming platforms,
01:46
they're just gonna shelve it and they're gonna take a ta
01:48
a big tax break without ever giving those content creators or
01:53
the performers a chance to to earn RSID,
01:56
which is part of the standard contracts in Hollywood.
02:00
and also with a film like batgirl,
02:02
they did the same thing of Batgirl.
02:04
And that was gonna be the first Latina superhero who was leading
02:08
a superhero movie when these companies like Warner Brothers Discovery,
02:12
when they go try to merge with other companies that the Department
02:15
of Justice or the Federal trade Commission that reviews and decides whether
02:20
to sue to block these mergers that they should take a look
02:25
at those predatory practices and,
02:27
and given the huge investment in these projects wouldn't studios want to
02:31
release the movie. I mean,
02:32
the actors and everyone involved with this last one,
02:37
with the Coyote movie,
02:38
for example, it was reported that the head of the company
02:42
David Zasloff and some of the people right below him never even
02:46
watched the movie to make a business decision about whether it was
02:52
actually worth releasing or not.
02:56
sometimes it's that they want to go in a different direction because
02:59
the movie was green lit by the previous CEO or the
03:03
previous administration. And so,
03:05
you know, so it's not their thing.
03:06
And so they don't want to do it,
03:08
so it comes down to a lot of different things,
03:10
but it's not always this strategic business decision that the companies
03:15
make it out to and you said,
03:16
and so it seems like the studio holds obviously most of the
03:18
power, but is there anything that us as consumers can do
03:21
to help get these products out there instead of just again,
03:25
the one side just deciding,
03:27
no, it's not going out.
03:28
Consumers have a big role to play and have a big voice
03:31
And I've seen it all over social media.
03:32
I saw it with Back Girl and also with,
03:34
with this latest looney tunes movie that there are big fan
03:38
bases for these films and people should speak up and they should
03:43
speak up. Not only to Warner Brothers Discovery and the other
03:47
companies that are doing this.
03:48
but also to the federal government that reviews mergers when
03:52
they come forward. And then remember,
03:54
ultimately, you know,
03:55
consumers have a choice about whether they go to a film or
03:58
not and about whether they subscribe to Max or some other
04:03
platform or not. So,
04:05
there's a way to voice your strong opinion and perspective.
04:10
in your lane of Congress,
04:11
what could legislation do to help this,
04:13
like not happen anymore?
04:16
I think as this practice continues,
04:17
it's worth the Congress taking a look at the tax policy
04:22
that allows for this.
04:23
Now we have taken an initial look and the tax
04:30
I don't wanna say loophole but benefit that they're taking advantage of
04:33
as a company applies not only to entertainment or media companies but
04:38
to other companies as well.
04:39
Nonetheless, like these contracts are structured different in entertainment,
04:45
like the way that content creators and actors and others make some
04:49
of their money is on the back end.
04:51
In other words, it happens when the,
04:53
when the movie is released and then they make residuals,
04:57
for example. And it helps them,
04:59
especially if they're small bit actors,
05:00
for example, like it helps them build their resume,
05:03
you know, and so there's different considerations I think for the
05:07
entertainment industry and we have one more question for you,
05:11
who do you identify with more coyote or Roadrunner?
05:16
You know, I'm gonna say the,
05:19
Oh, man, that's good.
05:21
we appreciate your time again.
05:23
It seems like there's a lot of,
05:24
moving pieces to this.
05:26
A lot of gray areas.
05:28
hopefully it doesn't keep happening because it seems like it's just an
05:30
easy. No, we're gonna shelve this.
05:32
there's so much people attached to this project that they can see
05:35
their work put on display for their friends and family to see
05:38
and the whole world to see it.
05:39
Kinda, it's a little part of my friend,
05:46
absolutely. And for,
05:48
and for Latinos, this is already an industry that's fairly exclusive
05:53
that has not been one that's been welcoming to Latino
05:57
content creators. And so,
05:59
you know, that's been a challenge as well.
06:01
Definitely. And it's one of the best way for people to
06:03
reach out to you and keep updates on you or Instagram,
06:06
which social platform would be best.
06:08
Yeah, I'm on Instagram on Twitter,
06:11
on Facebook, on threats on a bunch of congressmen.
06:15
Well, thanks for your time.
06:16
Thank you. Take care of people are gonna be skeptical to
06:20
work with Warner Brothers because it's gonna be like,
06:22
oh, well, is it gonna even be like,
06:24
it's gonna, they're gonna have that hesitation.
06:26
You know, it's crazy.
06:28
They, they need a Warner Brother.
06:30
Yeah. If you see that side.
06:34
Warner brother for real brother.
Series