The Bulwark Goes to Hollywood

You may remember Tony Davis as the guy who explained to us why popcorn grease is destroying movie theater projectors. (He also had lots of interesting thoughts on 3D and the economics of the theater business, but mostly, judging by responses I received: popcorn grease.) He’s back this week to explain why the home theater set you can build in your home looks about as good as a standard (read: non-I...

Sonny talks to the Austin-based Alison Macor this week about the life and times of Warren Skaaren this week. Skaaren’s battles with the studios and the Writer’s Guild to get proper credit for his work on Top Gun, Batman, Beverly Hills Cop 2, and Beetlejuice are the subject of her excellent book, Rewrite Man. Consider picking it up after listening to this podcast; it’s a quick read and a great view...

This week Sonny talks to Derek Dye, the Senior Brand Manager for Highland Ventures, which is the parent company of the iconic Family Video brand. The chain is spearheading the #SaveTheVideoStore campaign, which hopes to raise awareness for those remaining stores. Derek and Sonny discuss the difficulties of operating a video store in general, the extra hardships created by a lack of new content com...

This week, Sonny talks to Alyssa Rosenberg (The Washington Post) and Peter Suderman (Reason Magazine), his old friends from Across the Movie Aisle, about the world of movies and movie writing post-Trump. Is Christopher Nolan right that Hollywood studios should be looking to foreign box office dollars? Does Netflix have buyer's remorse about their mega-deals with super-producers? And now that The T...

This week on the show, Sonny talks to Shannon Moore, the Director of Field Marketing at Allied Global Marketing’s Washington, DC office. Sonny’s been a working film critic for 15 years or so, and the first question he always gets—after “What’s your favorite movie?” which he refuses to answer on general principle—is “How do you see the movies? Do you, like, get a private screening?” So he decided t...

Sonny is joined today by Natalie Metzger, VP of development and production at Vanishing Angle. She is a Spirit Award nominated producer whose credits include GREENER GRASS, THUNDER ROAD, THE ROBBERY, and THE WOLF OF SNOW HOLLOW. Metzger is currently in post-production on Josh Ruben’s horror comedy WEREWOLVES WITHIN (Ubisoft), Jim Cummings’ thriller THE BETA TEST, and Sean Mullin’s baseball documen...

This week, Sonny is joined by Mark Graham, the Editor-in-Chief of Decider, a website dedicated to helping solve one of society's most pressing and important issues: What movies and shows should I watch? They discuss how Mark and his team decide what to cover for Decider and why, looking at the ways in which non-traditional audience metrics can help determine what’s worth writing about. Plus! Mark...

Sonny is joined this week by Phil Contrino, the Director of Media and Research for the National Association of Theatre Owners. Topics of discussion include the state of the movie theater business (spoiler: it’s kind of dire at the moment, given news that Regal’s U.S. screens are shuttering again), the relative safety of moviegoing as opposed to dining out or attending church (spoiler: it’s much sa...

This week, Sonny talks to Zack Stentz (“X-Men: First Class,” “Thor,” “Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles”) about his work with Netflix on the film “Rim of the World” and the hit new show, “Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous.” What’s it like pitching the service that has everything? How is the world of TV evolving as different streaming services aim for different markets? And how can filmmakers w...

This week, on the Bulwark Goes to Hollywood, Sonny talks to Chris Yogerst about his new book, “Hollywood Hates Hitler: Jew-Baiting, Anti-Nazism, and the Senate Investigation into Warmongering in Motion Pictures.” Chris is an assistant professor of communication at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in the department of Arts & Humanities. He has written for the Washington Post, Hollywood Rep...

This week, Sonny talks to “Feeding the Dragon” author Chris Fenton. For seventeen years, Fenton served as president of DMG Entertainment Motion Picture Group and GM of DMG North America, internationally orchestrating the creative and business activities of DMG—a multi-billion dollar global media company headquartered in Beijing. He is currently CEO of Media Capital Technologies and a Trustee of th...

This week, Sonny talks to Gerry Daly, who has 15 years experience in home entertainment sales, including 13 years with 20thCentury Fox, working in Category Management. Also, at one time was an elections & politics blogger with a fairly sizeable audience, quoted in the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, and New York Post. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Sonny Bunch talks to David Guglielmo, who in only a few years has cast over 20 feature films, including the critically acclaimed THE STANDOFF AT SPARROW CREEK as well as the upcoming RUN HIDE FIGHT, premiering at this year’s Venice International Film Festival. Additionally Guglielmo writes, directs, and produces his own independent films such as NO WAY TO LIVE and HOSPITALITY. Learn more about you...

Sonny is joined today by James Emanuel Shapiro, who has been an executive in the entertainment industry for 20 years working in home video entertainment, exhibition festival programming and in distribution. He most recently worked at the Alamo Drafthouse where he started their analytics department and contributed to Alamo forming their internal booking department. Learn more about your ad choices....

Sonny Bunch talks to PEN America’s James Tager, the lead author of PEN’s new report, “Made in Hollywood, Censored by Beijing,” to talk about the ways in which China uses the levers of business to ensure that Hollywood’s products reflect the Communist Party line. Special Guest: James Tager. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week on The Bulwark Goes to Hollywood, Sonny talks to Tessive founder Tony Davis, who until last year headed the technology group at RealD, the company that enables 3D movie presentation in over 30,000 theaters around the world, about 3D’s successes, failures, and future in an uncertain exhibition landscape Special Guest: Tony Davis. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/...

In the inaugural episode of The Bulwark Goes to Hollywood, Sonny Bunch talks to Richard Rushfield about Disney’s decision to charge for early access to MULAN, the future of streaming, and the death of theaters. Special Guest: Richard Rushfield. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices