How the Hollywood Strikes Could Affect Fall Festivals and Oscar Season

With summer season film season at its midpoint, Hollywood usually begins to show its gaze towards the autumn, when a trio of main movie festivals acts because the unofficial kickoff to Oscar season. Seven of the final 10 best-picture winners had their debuts at a fall pageant, popping out of the gate with standing ovations and demanding acclaim that helped propel them by way of the monthslong awards-show gantlet

But now that SAG-AFTRA and the Writers Guild of America are each on strike, may a protracted battle between the unions and the studios trigger these fall launchpads to fizzle?

Though the writers’ strike, which started May 2, didn’t have a lot of an impact on the Cannes Film Festival that month, the actors’ strike that began Friday might considerably reshape coming fests in Venice, Telluride, Colo., and Toronto. That’s as a result of SAG-AFTRA is prohibiting members from selling any movie whereas the strike is on, an across-the-board ban that features interviews, picture calls and red-carpet duties. Without these appearances, festivals shall be sapped of the star energy that’s invaluable to elevating a movie’s profile.

The first occasion that can most likely be affected is the Venice Film Festival, which begins its eightieth version on Aug. 30 with the premiere of the attractive tennis comedy “Challengers,” starring Zendaya. Venice has recently rivaled Cannes for glamour and headlines, so the lack of well-known actors could be a giant blow. Nearly all the key moments at Venice final yr had been star-driven, from the viral clip of Brendan Fraser crying after the premiere of “The Whale” to the social-media scrutiny of Harry Styles and Chris Pine as they appeared to conflict whereas selling “Don’t Worry Darling.” (Though if there had been a strike, Florence Pugh, the star, would have had a greater excuse for infamously skipping that movie’s news convention.)

The pageant will announce its full lineup on July 25, and buzz suggests it may embody extremely anticipated movies like Bradley Cooper’s Leonard Bernstein biopic, “Maestro”; Sofia Coppola’s “Priscilla,” concerning the relationship between Elvis Presley and his spouse, Priscilla; and “The Killer,” a David Fincher thriller starring Michael Fassbender and Tilda Swinton. Those auteurs are at the very least well-known sufficient to choose up a few of the promotional slack, although Cooper is perhaps in a bind as each the director and star of “Maestro,” since any press he does may very well be seen as flouting SAG’s prohibition.

The Telluride Film Festival, which runs Sept. 1-4 and shot to the highlight the likes of “Lady Bird” and “Moonlight,” must be much less laid low with the absence of stars: That intimate Colorado gathering is a favourite of well-known attendees as a result of they’re not required to do picture ops or media blitzes and might as a substitute mill round like common folks.

But the Toronto International Film Festival, starting Sept. 7, is a heady 10-day affair full of purple carpets, portrait studios and press junkets that can all shrink considerably if actors are forbidden to attend. Canadian companies are already bracing for successful to their backside line if the pageant contracts. Organizers issued a press release of concern final week: “The impact of this strike on the industry and events like ours cannot be denied. We will continue planning for this year’s festival with the hope of a swift resolution in the coming weeks.”

There is a workaround for actors to attend festivals, but it surely’s a slim one: Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, the SAG-AFTRA negotiator, has stated that “truly independent” movies capable of safe interim agreements with the guild may enable their stars to do media duties. Still, that’s a proviso extra more likely to spare the indie-focused Sundance Film Festival in January reasonably than fall festivals, the place the most important titles are inclined to hail from main studios. And if the SAG strike continues into January, will probably be extra than simply festivals that really feel the pinch.

A monthslong strike would hit the awards-season ecosystem with its hardest check since Covid: If stars can’t attend ceremonies, may the occasions be held in any respect? (At least when this stuff had been on Zoom, the nominated stars confirmed up.) Post-pandemic, status movies want all the assistance they will get on the field workplace. If they will’t be sustained by awards chatter and media-happy film stars, studios may decide to maneuver some extra susceptible year-end titles to 2024.

That may present an awards-season benefit to streamers like Netflix, which don’t must issue the field workplace into selections on what to debut or delay. And motion pictures which have already had a giant cultural second — like A24’s “Past Lives,” an art-house hit from June, or Martin Scorsese’s “Killers of the Flower Moon,” which shall be launched by Apple in October however obtained a significant premiere at Cannes in May — shall be higher positioned to thrive this awards season than movies that will not have full-fledged press excursions.

Will an settlement on this bitter battle be reached in time to avoid wasting awards season? Even if either side can compromise earlier than the televised ceremonies start, one change is more likely to nonetheless be felt: Don’t count on the same old listing of studio executives to be fairly so effusively thanked in acceptance speeches.