Richard V. Rupp

September 18, 2024

I'm novelist Richard V. Rupp, writing to you from Burbank, California – "Media Capital of the World."

 

Welcome to my monthly newsletter, published on the third Wednesday of each month.

 

Last month, I started my post with a comment about the ground under our feet here in Burbank, indicating we were 'Rocking and Rolling.' Well, we still are.

 

I jumped out of bed and kneeled next to it last Thursday, September 12, when it started to shake under me. A 4.7 magnitude earthquake centered near Malibu (just 40 miles from Burbank) caused my reaction. We have now experienced fourteen seismic events of 4.0 or greater this year. Scientists confirm that this is an unusually active year for moderate earthquakes in Southern California.

 

I thought about going outside to a "clear area" as suggested by the AMERICAN RED CROSS, but . . . Ugh – During the past couple of weeks, there has been an official "Air Quality Alert" advising us to stay inside with our windows closed with the air conditioning running. The air quality is terrible here because of three major wildfires burning out of control across Southern California. More than 110,000 acres had burned, forcing evacuations, school cancellations, and the unhealthy air conditions mentioned above. To add to our discomfort, we have been going through a heat wave with temperatures reaching 100 degrees or more.  

 

The good news is that the weather is cooling as I finish this newsletter, and the fire officials have indicated they are gaining control of the fires.

 

I'm still trying to relax from what has been happening, but my mind keeps thinking about the fact that scientists are debating whether the recent earthquake activity indicates that a big one is on the way.

 

Yep, I've lost a lot of sleep in recent days. That's probably why this post addresses a strange combination of things: Show me the Money, Women Are Flexing Their Muscles, Gossip Away, and a Memory.

 

SHOW ME THE MONEY

 

The AMERICAN FILM INSTITUTE ranked the famous quote "Show Me the Money" from the film JERRY MAGUIRE as one of the best movie quotes ever. I wonder if they did this because it applies to their industry.

We humans love to be entertained. This was true in Shakespeare's day, and it's particularly true in our crazy world today. That "love" has generated a huge business segment centered here in Burbank—the "Media Capital of the World."

 

The global media and entertainment industry is estimated to generate over $2.5 trillion annually. This is from the website of the MOTION PICTURE ASSOCIATION, the leading advocate of the film, television, and streaming industry around the world – "The film and television industry supports a dynamic U.S. creative economy, employing people in every state, and across a diversity of skills and trades. In all, 2.74 million people—from special effects technicians to makeup artists to writers to set builders to ticket takers and more—work in jobs supported by the industry, which pays over $242 billion in wages annually.

 

When a movie or television show shoots on location, it brings jobs, revenue, and related infrastructure development, providing an immediate boost to the local economy. Our industry pays out $33 billion per year to more than 240,000 businesses in cities and small towns across the country—and the industry itself is comprised of more than 122,000 businesses, 92 percent of which employ fewer than ten people. As much as $1.3 million can be injected into local economies per day when a film shoots on location. In some cases, popular films and television shows can also boost tourism."

 

Hollywood (where I was born) and Burbank (where I now call home) have lost ground to rival cities for the media dollar in recent years, but with the help of the CALIFORNIA FILM COMMISSION, they are fighting back. The method of fighting is – "Show me the Money."

 

Round One of the fight is evidenced by the fact NBCUniversal relocated the production of their new show, SUITS:LA, from Vancouver to Hollywood, mainly because of a $12 million tax incentive provided by the State of California.

 

California has allocated $51.6 million to the CALIFORNIA FILM COMMISSION for tax incentives, hoping this will produce a knockout punch, allowing the State to reclaim its crown as the world's media capital. The legislature initiated the tax incentive after determining that Hollywood's share of domestic film and TV employment had dropped from 35% to 27% in the past year. It is estimated that SUITS: LA, during its 100-day shoot, will generate approximately $51.0 million for the Hollywood economy and employ over 2,600 actors and movie crew members.  

 

Other productions have also taken advantage of this tax credit. A $3.3 million tax incentive has convinced PEACOCK to shoot the movie COMMUNITY: THE MOVIE, starring DONALD GLOVER, in Hollywood. TEMPLE HILL, which is producing a JANIS JOPLIN biopic, has qualified for a $2.5 tax incentive. BEN AFFLECK and MATT DAMON received a $2.5 million incentive for their film KILLING GAWKER, based on HULK HOGAN's lawsuit against GAWKER MEDIA.

 

The City of Los Angeles is also launching an effort to keep Hollywood from packing its bags. MAYOR KAREN BASS has established the ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY COUNSEL, which includes as members NETFLIX executive AMY LEMISCH, filmmaker JASON REITMAN, and ELLEN GOLDSMITH-VEIN of THE GOTHAM GROUP. NBCUNIVERSAL and IATSE members are included in the mix, covering all bases from studios to unions. The city is also greenlighting new studios and soundstages to sweeten the deal. With billions in GDP and countless jobs at stake, Bass wants City Hall to be Hollywood's BFF.

 

Yes, "show me the money" works. Hopefully, the incentives will continue to help my town, as many of my STORY TAVERN actor and crew member friends are still struggling to survive.

 

WOMEN ARE FLEXING THEIR MUSCLES

 

I'm an old timer, and when I started researching the movement for gender equality for this article, I was reminded of a World War II poster showing a woman flexing her biceps to depict how critical American women were to the war effort.  

 

That World War II movement or feeling totally ended when American troops returned from the war and did not start returning until recently. Yes, women are again flexing their biceps, and they are showing.

  

Think of names like TAYLOR SWIFT (yes, I'm a Swiftie), CATLIN CLARK (more exciting to watch than the men's game), Women's Soccer (In 2019, the US Women's National Team had an average attendance 8% greater than the US Men's National Team, and this year the USWNT SheBelieves Cup played at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta drew 50,644 people, the largest crowd for a home friendly in the history of U.S. women's soccer.)

 

Then there are the TV changes involving women. I loved the old TV series MATLOCK and the current TV series ONLY MURDER IN THE BUILDING. To me, these shows are examples of the gender equality or "HeForShe" movement initiated by the UNITED NATIONS. In September 2014, the UN Global Goodwill Ambassador EMMA WATSON delivered an address at the UN Headquarters in New York City that focused on the personal and professional motivation for establishing the "HeForShe" program. Her speech went viral and currently has 3.8 million views on YouTube.

 

CBS is rebooting MATLOCK, with KATHY BATES taking on ANDY GRIFFITH's role as Matlock. She is also an executive producer of the show. In this remake, Bates plays Madeline "Matty" Matlock, a 70-something lawyer who joins an esteemed New York law firm. This is a perfect example of the HeForShe movement, adding that age doesn't matter.

 

Speaking of ageism and the HeForShe movement, there is ONLY MURDER IN THE BUILDING where SELENA GOMEZ is teamed up with two old guys (STEVE MARTIN and MARTIN SHORT). Selena is a rising female rising talent who more than holds her own with them. All three are listed as executive producers.

 

A recent REFRAME REPORT on gender hiring in TV looked at genderp staffing (women with the top spots on the call sheet, including women in executive producer roles and as crew members) of 200 scripted television series. They found the numbers were up across several categories, with 108 shows featuring women in leading roles, an increase from last year's 45.5%. The 2022-23 season marks an all-time high for women in leading roles.

 

In 2016, EMMA WATSON started a feminist Goodreads book club, OUR SHARED SHELF, to raise awareness about gender inequality through scientific books and articles. I bring this up because women are moving forward in the sciences. This fall will be the first time in 133 years that more than half of CALTECH's incoming undergraduate class will be made up of women. The class of 113 women and 109 men comes 50 years after Caltech graduated its first class of undergraduate women, who were admitted in 1970.

 

Caltech isn't the first educational institution to reach gender parity in STEM. HARVEY MUDD COLLEGE, a small private institution in Claremont, was an early leader in diversity. The college enrolled more women than men in 2010 for the first time in its history and graduated more women than men in engineering in 2014. Today, women make up 52.8% of majors in computer science, 50.5% in engineering, and 68.2% in mathematical and computational biology. Then there is the UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT BERKELEY, where nearly 50% of STEM majors are women.

 

The next President of the United States may be a woman.

 

GOSSIP AWAY

 

There is no denying that humans love gossip, and science seems to indicate it's good for you. A JOURNAL OF PERSONALITY AND SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY 2012 study indicates that when subjects actively gossiped about a person or situation, it soothed them and brought their heart rates down.

 

The news media appears to be more gossip than hard news these days. Could news media executives have read the same scientific articles that I did? Recent scientific research indicates that gossip is good for humans.

WEBSTER'S DICTIONARY defines gossip as "a person who habitually reveals personal or sensational facts about others."

 

Gossip involves three levels of people – the gossiper, the listeners, and the person being talked about. A study led by RICE UNIVERSITY psychologist TIANJUN SUN looked at gossip from the standpoint of its shaping perceptions of self and others by looking at factors such as basic information, ego enhancement, and social segregation within a group.  She indicates that gossip creates a sense of connectedness and belonging. From what I could tell from the study, gossip is beneficial for humans in some ways.

 

A research article titled "Gossip and Reputation in Everyday Life," published by THE ROYAL SOCIETY, also indicates that gossip helps individuals learn who to trust and who to avoid and reinforces group norms. Social psychologist TERENCE DORES CRUZ says her studies suggest that gossipers will pass on accurate information when they have no conflict of interest with the target of the gossip. However, when they had a rivalry or other conflict with the target, they were likelier to pass on things that were self-serving or outright false.

 

This is the lead wording into an article titled "Gossiping Is Good" by BEN HEALY in THE ATLANTIC, "Word on the street is that gossip is the worst. An ANN LANDERS advice column once characterized it as "the faceless demon that breaks hearts and ruins careers." The Talmud describes it as a "three-pronged tongue" that kills three people: the teller, the listener, and the person being gossiped about. And Blaise Pascal observed, not unreasonably, that "if people really knew what others said about them, there would not be four friends left in the world." Convincing as these indictments seem, however, a significant body of research suggests that gossip may in fact be healthy."

 

So, my friends gossip away.

 

MEMORIES

 

This past week, my son Brian went to a "soft open" of the Tiki Bar at Cliftons in Downtown LA. This restaurant has quite a history, which I'm not going to go into now. However, it resulted in text messages between Brian, my son Matt, and my grandson Ryan. In the messages, I indicated, "I used to go there with your grandparents 70 years ago." Matt replied, "Dang, I'm surprised. Not much has changed in 70 years." Of course, it has.

 

I've seen a ton of change in the Los Angeles Fairfax District over 86 years. I used to go with my mom, who loved to buy fresh veggies and fruit at the FARMERS MARKET, which is now more referred to as a place next to THE GROVE, a luxury outdoor shopping complex located in the Fairfax District, just to the south of the CBS TELEVISION CITY. As a teenager, I purchased gas at Gilmore Gas Station and watched the HOLLYWOOD STARS, a minor league baseball team, play at Gilmore Field behind the gas station. Both were replaced by CBS Television City in 1952.

 

I just read that major changes are in the works for the Fairfax District. What I knew as CBS Television City is now just TELEVISION CITY. Over the years, the old CBS complex was expanded to a major TV and movie production facility with nine sound stages, 325,450 square feet of production support and storage space, and 322,690 square feet of office space. There is a plan to spend $1.2 billion to modernize and expand the Television City complex. Plans for the project include 1,724,000 square feet of sound stage, production support, production offices, general office, and retail space, as well as the retention of 264,377 square feet. According to city planning documents, about 479,303 square feet of space would be demolished to make way for new buildings. The number of stages at Television City would increase from eight to fifteen, and two stages built in the 1990s would be demolished. Four original stages built by CBS in 1952 would be preserved along with other historical design elements.

 

The idea is to keep existing media industry jobs and create more of them in Hollywood.

 

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If you are new to my posts and find this one interesting, you can read my prior posts, learn about my novels, and learn more about me on my website at www.richardvrupp.com. You can also sign up in the RUPP'S NOTES section to get my posts directly.

 

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Until next month.

 

Cheers, 

 

Richard V. Rupp, Author

Website – www.richardvrupp.com

Email – rupprisk@gmail.com

Copyright@2024 by Richard V. Rupp