Richard V. Rupp

March 19, 2025

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.

 

It's been a busy start to my year. Some of it good, some of it bad. You'll see what I'm talking about below.

 

I love March because of college basketball's March Madness. This year, my interest leans more toward the women's playoffs, with Center Lauren Betts (6'7") playing for UCLA and Sporting News' Women's College Basketball Player of the Year JuJu Watkins playing for USC. JuJu is the talk of the town. One of these local teams has a good chance of going all the way.

 

My comments below range from a further discussion of what's happening with the media industry to reminiscing about my old insurance/risk management gig, a health problem, and, as usual, a few other things.

 

FIRST A WELCOME HOME

 

They are finally back safely.

 

It was a beautiful sight to see the four parachutes open and the capsule slowly dropping into the ocean.

 

I extend a welcome back to Earth, to Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore the two NASA astronauts who spent over 9 months (286 days) aboard the Space Station on what was to be a 10-day mission, which began last June. They always had a positive attitude as they learned piecemeal about the problems with the Boeing Starliner Capsule that was to be their ride back to Earth.

 

I have followed their space adventures with great interest because of SKYWARD, the novel I'm currently working on about the colonization of space.

 

To get them back NASA decided to use the old SpaceX Crew Dragon Capsule as their space taxi, which under Elon Musk's direction cost a fraction of what Boeing had spent on developing their problem loaded Starliner Capsule.

 

When the Dragon Capsule arrive at the Space Station with seven replacement astronauts from around the world Sunita and Butch were greeted by, one of the Russians — Ivan Vagner who had donned an alien mask in a lighthearted moment.

 

"It was a wonderful day. Great to see our friends arrive," Williams told Mission Control.

 

Again, Sunita and Williams welcome home. It's great to see with all the commotion in the world multiple countries working together in maintaining the Space Station.

 

Maybe the politicians of the world should be replaced with scientists.

 

CORD CUTTING

 

In my last Newsletter, I mentioned that "I look(ed) at my cable TV bill and wonder why I'm still paying it."

 

Shortly after renewing the lease on my Burbank apartment and returning from the supermarket, I opened two emails from Spectrum indicating my bill for Cable TV, phone, and Wi-Fi was $326. That did it. Like many other people, I cut the cord to cable television. With Spectrum, it was not an easy task. What hoops you must jump through with them to delete their cable service. They make it as hard and expensive as possible. I suspect this is a sign of their declining cable business.

 

The Spectrum website does not provide (at least not easily) for a reduction or suspension of service. I thought I had cancelled the service when I took my Spectrum cable equipment to their Burbank store, which is in walking distance of where I live. There, I informed the lady that I wanted to cancel my cable TV service. She accepted the equipment and gave me a receipt. I thought that was all I needed to do. Then, a friend advised me she had gone through the same thing and that I had better go online and check the status of my account. Sure enough, it indicates that I still had an active cable TV service. After two weeks of going to the store, calling on the phone, and using their chat facility, I was unable to cancel the service. At one point I was advised that because I had Spectrum Wi-Fi, I could still access their TV service??? Another person indicated that my account was on an old system, making it difficult to access. She then put me on hold. Twenty minutes later there was a dial tone.

 

I have no idea why, but I printed out the Spectrum "Chat" comments. Here's a couple of them – First, "Our stores I am not sure if they have the ability to cancel the services that is done over the phone.  Then, "We absolutely can it just has to be our customers solutions team, we do not have the ability to cancel a line of service on our end." The grammar is "Chat's."

 

So, I filed complaints with the FCC and Senator Adam Schiff.

 

Guess what? I received a phone call from a very nice lady from Spectrum who reviewed my account and implemented cancellation. She also offered an apology and seemed honestly surprised at what I had gone through. She called me back two more times, just to make sure everything was alright.

 

I just paid my new bill for only phone and Wi-Fi. It was $200 less than what I was paying before.

 

A CHANGING INDUSTY

 

My cord-cutting story above is just one example of what's happening with the changing media industry. With my cord-cutting, I am now learning how to better utilize streaming services. I subscribed to Disney Plus, Amazon Prime, PBS App, Paramount+, and Peacock. It takes some time to get used to, but I have plenty of things to watch and don't miss cable TV at all.

 

Disney CEO Bob Iger has indicated that Disney has turned declining traditional TV channels into reliable revenue streams by cutting programming costs while still collecting cable fees to help fund their streaming future. He indicated that it is less about saving linear TV and more about milking it during the transition.

 

Paramount Global is currently making sweeping changes under new ownership. Reportedly the streaming business is a bright spot, as in the fourth quarter of last year Paramount+ gained 5.6 million new subscribers.

 

One of the questions being asked is what the public wants to see. Viewing habits are changing. I noticed that the industry is evaluating whether long shows or series or shorter shows or series are better. You won't believe it, but in China, 'Micro dramas' (90-second episodes, cheesy plots, lots of romance) are catching on. Younger generations' attention spans are really short, and they don't like to see what's happening in the real world. Will they upend the entertainment industry?

 

MY TOWN

 

In talking with my media industry friends, media production in Burbank and the Hollywood Area is stagnant. According to FilmLA the on-location production in the Burbank/Hollywood area was down 23% from a year earlier.

 

One of the problems is that more and more cities, states, and foreign governments are offering financial incentives to attract production to their areas. Because of this the local media frequented pubs have been missing guild and union heads lately. They are in our State capital, Sacramento, trying to convince legislators to back Governor Newsom's $750 million tax credit plan and two new bills that would make more types of shows and movies eligible for the tax credit. Newsom calls the situation a "real crisis," with Georgia offering unlimited tax breaks worth billions and New York putting up $700 million.

 

Hopefully, they are successful, or I'm going to be living in an uninteresting ghost town.

 

A FUN EVENING

 

A couple of media industry friends asked me to join them for the screening of an independent production titled "The Paper Bag Plan," directed by Anthony Lucero, at the Santa Monica Film Festival (which was being held this year in West Hollywood???). My friends were part of the movie's cast.

 

I loved the movie. If you have the opportunity to see it, I strongly recommend doing so.

 

It is a love story. Not romantic love, but father-son love. It tells the story of Oscar, the father of Billy, who is disabled and confined to a wheelchair. Oscar dedicates his life to caring for Billy, to the point where his son is totally reliant on him. When Oscar is diagnosed with cancer, he realizes that the way he has cared for Billy has left him incapable of taking care of himself. Understanding this Oscar develops a plan to teach Billy to be a grocery store bagger in the hope that he will land a job in a grocery store, giving him needed self-confidence and a degree of independence. You must see the movie to find out how this works out.

 

Yes, my eyes watered up as I watched the story. Great acting by Lance Kinsey who played Oscar and Cole Massie who played Billy.

 

I was invited to the after party with the cast and crew of the movie. It confirmed my belief that making a great movie creates a new family. Thus far "The Paper Bag Plan" does not have a distribution agreement. It was felt by those at the after party that this is due to the current belief that movie goers prefer horror, sci-fi, and superhero genres.

 

Well, folks, this is another form of superhero genre to me and deserves widespread distribution.

 

MY OLD GIG

 

There are two recent things that reminded me of my old insurance/risk management gig. The targeting of two insurance executives and the reduction of information traditionally available from the federal government that the insurance industry needs.

 

When I headed up the Continental Risk Service research facility located in Newport Beach (the New York executives loved coming to see us) a division of Continental Insurance Company, I can remember a trip to the Home Office in New York. I was standing in front of the lobby elevator at the New York City headquarters with John B. Ricker Jr, chairman and chief executive officer of Continental as his security detail escorted him and only him into an elevator up to the executive suite. I was scheduled to meet with him but had to take a separate elevator for the meeting. It was recognized that the heads of insurance companies were targets of disgruntled people. By the nature of insurance, many people end up disappointed because they or a family member were not provided with a new experimental lifesaving medical procedure or denied adequate funds to rebuild their home, etc.

 

So, I was surprised when last December, the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, Brian Thompson, was walking unprotected in Midtown Manhattan and ended up being murdered. Then, more recently, in Oregon, State Accident Insurance Fund Corporation CEO Chip Terhune had his home fired upon by an individual wearing a hoodie and ski mask.

 

Insurance executives being targeted by disgruntled people has historically been an industry understanding. Because of the nature of their business, insurance executives need personal protection. It comes with the job. The insurance industry is not alone in needing such protection. Not providing loans or repossessing a property, etc., puts bank executives in the same boat. Then there are medical providers and, of course, the media industry.

 

In my research days for the insurance industry (e.g., Can we add kidnap and ransom coverage to upscale homeowners' policies? Or what effect will autonomous vehicles have on personal and commercial vehicle insurance?), my staff and I would access federal databases and reports for needed information. The insurance industry relies on a steady flow of publicly available data to predict losses, price policies, and mitigate financial exposure.

 

It appears that many of the sources I had available to do research will no longer be available. The federal government's current "downsizing" by the newly formed Department of Governmental Efficiency (DOGE) has reduced and, in some cases, eliminated once-reliable datasets. The potential implications for insurers are staggering. They will reduce underwriting accuracy, lead to higher loss ratios, and inevitably increase premiums for policyholders.

 

A MOUTH FULL

 

I have always felt your teeth are a very important part of your body, but I did not realize how important they were until what I have recently gone through.

 

During a regularly scheduled teeth cleaning, my dentist indicated that I needed a root canal on one of my teeth. I took the referral slip to the root canal specialist indicated on it who advises me that I needed three root canals??? Okay. Ugh. He wanted to do them all at one time, but because of the cost ($3,950), I scheduled them a month apart so I could make part of the payments out of my current income instead of using my retirement funds. This turned out to be a good move.

 

The first session went fairly smoothly, but I got bad vibes from how it was done.

 

Two days after the second session I woke up with a swollen face. A really swollen face. I looked like a space alien. I drove to the Providence Hospital Emergency Room, expecting they would give me some medicine and I would head back home. Wrong – I had Facial Cellulitis, an infection of the skin and underlying soft tissues, which can lead to chronic liver or kidney disease. They immediately put me in a bed and hooked me up to an IV system and started pumping antibiotics into me. I was then transferred to the hospital, where I spent the next two days getting antibiotics, after which they sent me home with two weeks' worth of antibiotic tablets. You won't believe what that much antibiotics does to your digestive system.

 

I should have looked up the reviews for the root canal dentist before using him. Ninety percent of the reviews were negative, and he had a malpractice suit against him. After showing the reviews to my primary dentist, she no longer refers patients to him. 

 

The hospital advised me to return to my dentist and to see my primary care doctor for further treatment. My dentist referred me to another dental specialist who advised me because of what happened I needed two teeth extracted that had root infections. A follow-up session with my primary dentist indicated I had several options ranging from dental implants ($20,000) to a partial removal bridge ($4,000).

 

As my teeth are not hurting, I am in the thinking stage of what I want to do. I am leaning toward the $4,000 option. Not a great feeling. I've been advised to make up my mind before I start feeling pain, or I may end up back in the hospital.

 

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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. 

 

For those of you who have not read my novels, they are available on Amazon.com. Amazon.com: Richard V. Rupp: books, biography, latest update 

 

Until next month. 

 

Cheers,

  

Richard V. Rupp, Author

Website – www.richardvrupp.com

Email – rupprisk@gmail.com

Copyright@2025 by Richard V. Rupp