✍️ Writer’s Quotes to Live By
“I always had a repulsive need to be something more than human. I felt very puny as a human. I thought, “F**k that. I want to be a superhuman.”
— David Bowie
BOX OFFICE RECAP: Joker' laughing all the way to the bank with a crazy amount of $55M it’s second week out; 'Addams Family' Buries 'Gemini Man' alive.
The common complaint of Gemini Man, seems to be the extreme and overuse of CGI throughout… but the lack of strong storytelling is palpable. This film seems to be a rare stumble for the supernova that IS Will Smith, but as most of us can all agree, we can’t wait to see what Smith has up his creative sleeves next.
Joker (2019) $55M
The Addams Family (2019) $30M
Gemini Man $20M
Can’t Write A Hit Song? Just Buy One!
Why are songwriters cashing out on their royalties? This is a question I’ve seriously wondered. Why not keep the royalties and eat off of them into perpetuity? Because no one has patience to wait for the residual checks and also, because the upfront money is just too good to say no to… at least that’s what the IPO owner Merck Mercuriadis of the publicly traded Hipgnosis Songs is hoping when he makes an offer.
Mercuriadis’ primary effort has been amassing a huge monetary fund to acquire the catalogs of hit-making producers, songwriters and artists.
IN A NUTSHELL: Hit songs are things that will consistently make money… forever.
Merck and Co. are banking that if they acquire enough royalties of No. 1 hits and albums they will see their return from the investment over the long haul. They’re buying rights and catalogs from some of the best in todays music era. The Chainsmokers, Benny Blanco, Poo Bear the songwriter (Chris Brown, Justin Bieber ) , Teddy Geiger (Shawn Mendes), Johnta Austin (Mariah Carey, Mary J. Blige), and Tricky Stewart (Rihanna, Beyonce) are just a few of the rights which have been acquired by Hipgnosis.
So the lesson to be learned here kids is; if you can’t write a hit song… just buy it.
Digital Media Cannibalizing Itself?
Quick Rundown:
Freelance writers and content creators have been on thin ice over the last month as 3 huge shifting deals have closed, signaling that digital media isn’t as sustainable as we once thought.
Vox Media acquired New York Magazine parent company New York Media in a $105 million all-stock deal.
Vice Media acquired Refinery29 for $400 million,
Group Nine Media acquired PopSugar in a stock deal that valued the female-focused celebrity and lifestyle publisher at more than $300 million.
Now the $100 million question is, what does all that mean for writers? Succinctly, it means some people are probably about to get fired as Sports Illustrated (New York Magazine’s Catalog) writers staff is being shaven down a bit as the company goes through a restructuring post-acquisition.
The thing that holds value in these deals aren’t the writer’s per se, but the platform the writers’ words are building. One idea that can be gleaned from these deals (that are all closing at an alarming rate), is that the writer is expendable at all times. It’s the brand names that are struggling to survive in this russian roulette game for attention brands like BuzzFeed, Vice, Refinery29, and Vox are all playing.
*This is a dirty game of merger fever, and there’s no amount of Robitussin that can make this sickness subside.
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