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PaleyFest’s Secret Weapon: Love

January 21, 2023
Notes
Transcript

This week I’m rejoined by Rene Reyes, Vice President of Public Programming and Festivals at the Paley Center, to talk about PaleyFest 2023. It’s the year’s most entertaining celebration of television, from prestige cable hits to broadcast mainstays to the wild world of streaming. Tickets are on sale now for this year’s festival, and some of the highlights look great; I’d kill to be able to attend the opening night celebration of The Mandalorian, and I imagine the Yellowstone tickets will go quick if they haven’t disappeared already.

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This transcript was generated automatically and may contain errors and omissions. Ironically, the transcription service has particular problems with the word “bulwark,” so you may see it mangled as “Bullard,” “Boulart,” or even “bull word.” Enjoy!
  • Speaker 1
    0:00:07

    Welcome back to the Board. It goes to Hollywood. My name is Sunny Bunch. I’m culture editor at the Bulwark. And I’m very pleased to be rejoined today by Renee Reyes of the Pali Center.
  • Speaker 1
    0:00:15

    He is here he is I’m sorry. He’s Vice President of Programming and Festivals at the Pali Center, and we’ve got Pali Fest coming up again in a couple of months tickets. Went on sale yesterday. You should rush her out and get them. They’re they’re gonna go they’re gonna go quick, but you you wanna get out there and get those tickets.
  • Speaker 1
    0:00:35

    But I’m I’m very excited to have him back on. We had a great show last year. He ran us through the program and the festival and kind of how everything is gonna work. With people coming back into theaters and coming back to live events. It’s fun to have people back in a room together celebrating stuff.
  • Speaker 1
    0:00:50

    Renee, thank you for being back on the show. I appreciate it.
  • Speaker 2
    0:00:53

    Senny, it’s such a pleasure to to speak with you and to be on. Again, thank you for having me. And I can’t believe it’s been a year already, but it indeed it has. Here we are.
  • Speaker 1
    0:01:03

    Been a year. Been a year. So, you know, one thing one thing we talked a little bit about last year get into the to the weeds too much on? Is it is how the the festival actually comes together? How the how you guys kind of set the programs?
  • Speaker 1
    0:01:18

    Set the set the festival. And I I was curious about the mechanics therein. I mean, is it is it a is it a function where you guys sit down and you’re like, Alright. We we’ve got we wanna we wanna get people from this show, this show, this show, and this show, and then you start sending out feelers and and build from there. Do you go to the networks and say, hey, what do you wanna what who who do you have on tap to promote this year?
  • Speaker 1
    0:01:41

    What do you guys wanna talk about? What is that? How does that actually work for you guys? You
  • Speaker 2
    0:01:46

    know, it’s it’s many of those things. It’s actually all of those things and a whole array of other things. One great benefit we do have at the Daily Center. And I guess almost everybody now has on their social media platforms is that we hear from from our members and we hear from the general public about the shows that they would like to see at the festivals, you know, people are passionate about television and especially passionate about the shows that they really watch. And that’s fairly evident right now that, you know, what board we are It’s such an embarrassment of riches in terms of the amount of of programming that’s available television wise.
  • Speaker 2
    0:02:24

    So it’s I mean, It’s hard to make a decision as to what you’re gonna watch each night. So it’s equally hard to to make a decision about what we’re gonna feature at the best of all. And I think it always there there’s there’s core stats that’s about the selection process. And a lot of it is, like, you’re you’re looking at television the landscape currently. And what’s resonating what’s resonating both from a critical standpoint, from an audience standpoint, what is shows that are doing something new or a milestone that we could tie something to, and there’s there’s a few milestones as part of this year’s lineup.
  • Speaker 2
    0:03:08

    So
  • Speaker 1
    0:03:08

    that
  • Speaker 2
    0:03:08

    factors in. That’s one little bucket. And then hearing from our members pay the center as a member organization, a member, and we do events like this all year long, plus we preserve this incredible archive of television spanning a hundred years. And so hear from our members and we hear from the general public. And then we sort of put all of that into a buck and come up with a list of shows that we think this is what we really wanna try to feature.
  • Speaker 2
    0:03:38

    And all through the year because we do program we’re also hearing from the networks and studios where our wonderful partners about, hey, you know, take a look at this show. It’s coming up. We think it might work for a Payley kind of program or or the festival, so that goes into consideration as well. So it’s a soup, a ball manner. Of different things.
  • Speaker 2
    0:03:59

    And then, you know, the big the big question is is this scheduling because everything is, you know, people are shooting at different times. That the particular if a show, let’s say, is is has stopped shooting, cast, and producers might have gone on to another project and not be available to be altogether in one place. So there’s so many factors that end up affecting. There’s shows that we we’re hoping to do this this festival that we just it didn’t align timing wise with talent or production schedule. So that’s a big factor in roadblock that we have to overcome, not just for pay leave us, but really in any of our programming throughout the year.
  • Speaker 2
    0:04:43

    Does that make any
  • Speaker 1
    0:04:44

    sense? Yeah. No. I mean, I you know, there there’s such a I mean, I feel like Paylifast is is is a big deal. Like, people people, you know, like to come and like to to to celebrate TV.
  • Speaker 1
    0:04:55

    And I’m always kind of blown away by level of talent that that shows up for these things. I mean, it really is like it it it it’s just gonna this may sound I don’t want this to sound come out the wrong way, but it’s like a plus version of comic con. Right? Where comic con, you have, like, all these big stars showing up and, you know, But this is like a a smarter version of comic con. Maybe put it that way or or a I don’t I like, I feel like now I’m insulting comic con, which I’m not trying to do either.
  • Speaker 1
    0:05:23

    But it but it’s very but it’s but it’s, you know, they’re they’re you guys have a you have a limited amount of space. And a lot of a lot of, you know, shows that I’m sure would want to be there to be celebrated and, you know, kind of connect with folks. So it’s it’s interesting to see, you know, how that that process comes together. You mentioned milestones as one of the one of the factors that goes into to trying to figure out what you want on the on in the festival. What was one of the milestones you guys looked at this year and was like, hey, this is a this is a show that we need to we really need to get somebody out here to talk about.
  • Speaker 1
    0:05:59

    Howard Bauchner:
  • Speaker 2
    0:06:00

    Sure. First, just just double backing your on I I know you met on slides to comment on as well too. They they do they do wonderful things all over the No.
  • Speaker 1
    0:06:10

    No. That’s I this is as I was asking the question, I was like, this is coming out horribly. I’m not I’m not trying to insult a competition or or a daily. I’ve just I but it’s it it but it feels like a very similar sort of thing where you have a limited amount of space. You have a ton of people there to celebrate the stuff.
  • Speaker 1
    0:06:27

    And and there’s huge competition for for that space.
  • Speaker 2
    0:06:31

    Of course, I’m just interested in what I think the difference is. Obviously, we’re Comic Con embraces all worlds that may they film and television and, you know, print media for their for their events. This the festival specifically is television and television in all its forms, you know, across broadcast and and streaming and and digital. But with a focus and television solely. And I think also because we’re a non profit organization that’s dedicated to celebrating television and the creative process of TV across over forty well, forty years for the festival, our organization is over fifty.
  • Speaker 2
    0:07:17

    Over fifty years running. And so the perspective, when you’re a cast and you’re on a stage at Palipas being honored by the organization for your creative achievement. You’re also part of a festival that welcomed Lucille Ball. Welcomed, you know, the the pioneers of television who who who sort of built the the industry that we have today and the art form that we have today from at a whole clock. And so there’s that continuum of your part of what makes this medium, great.
  • Speaker 2
    0:07:56

    I think that’s so that’s that might be a different aspect of why oh, that differentiates us from other festivals. And then in terms of your milestones question, this year, well, an incredibly significant series that we’re featuring the the monolith missus Mazzle is just about to in in Premier, it’s final season, the fifth and final season early next year. So that we we knew we wanted to sort of have that show back and that cast back because we we had them during their first season. And now to just sort of span the time. So we get those oh, this is another big part of it.
  • Speaker 2
    0:08:35

    We film these conversations, so they’re and they’re added to the to the archives. So you we have, like, this record of history. Along with the programs we we preserve the regular television series, episodes, but these conversations with the people who made it happen. And the conversation is different from season one to season five when you’re reflecting more on the overall arc of a series. So that that was one of them.
  • Speaker 2
    0:09:03

    The other is the late late stage of James Gordon, who has been a great friend to the festival. He’s kicking off his final month of shows with our event in April. So that’s gonna be fun because he’s you know, his show sort of upended the the late night talk show format and and really brought the digital space into it in a different way than any other show had done really, I think, in a in a really effective way with, like, these, like, carpal karaoke, which became its own phenomenon the crosswalk musicals, which I I I think are really, really fun. But I I so we wanted to have him again, at this point in this in the run of his of his in the arc of his show to be able to talk
  • Speaker 3
    0:09:57

    about what
  • Speaker 2
    0:09:57

    it’s been like and how we envisions, you know, the the the future as well too. Yeah. And he spent, you know, it just made me think, we actually, before he started hosting the show, he actually hosted one of our conversations with the cast of the good wife at Pailey Fest, which was a great a great night. And I’m saying that’s out of school. But right before he went on stage, he said to me he said to me as we were queuing him on.
  • Speaker 2
    0:10:28

    He said, oh, no. Never interviewed anybody before. So it was the first time he’d interviewed anybody was on our stage and also in front like, two thousand people with the entire cast of the show there. So that that’s a fun memory for us and and those kind of things happen all the time.
  • Speaker 1
    0:10:47

    Oh, that’s great. Well, I that that kind of leads me to another question about how you pull these things together. I mean, I where when you’re when you’re looking at trying to get a somebody to host one of these panels or to moderate discussions. You know, where where where are you looking? Where’s the talent pool I mean, is it what what names come to mind?
  • Speaker 1
    0:11:09

    Or where do they come from when you’re trying to figure out how to put together a good you know, panel that really grabs both the the attention of the panelist, which is not always easy. I’ve sat on some panels that have just been really poorly moderated. It happens. It’s not it’s not fun. But the the the payload thrust panel panels are always great because everyone is, like, super into it and really excited because in part the the host moderators do such a good job.
  • Speaker 2
    0:11:38

    We’re really fortunate with the folks who we have to moderate our conversations. I think another aspect that, you know, and I’m touched on the moderates as well, that makes it sort of the conversations so good at the festival. The digital moderator is the fact that the only agenda that the organization has is to celebrate the, you know, the creative achievement of these particular shows. There’s nothing we’re not there to do any any gotcha questions. And it’s truly we’re saying, look, you’ve done great work and we just want to acknowledge it and acknowledge it with the audience, the the fans and the viewers who are so passionate about your show
  • Speaker 3
    0:12:25

    and you’re
  • Speaker 2
    0:12:26

    gonna be there with them and we’re all gonna be in one room just to say how great you are. So I you know, that I think makes people sex
  • Speaker 1
    0:12:35

    people at ease.
  • Speaker 2
    0:12:36

    Yes. It’s the only it truly is. The
  • Speaker 1
    0:12:39

    only
  • Speaker 2
    0:12:40

    obviously, we wanna have themes that we touch on and during the conversation, but it’s all driven by a look at the behind the scenes of the creative process of what it takes to make these incredible shows, both from the perspective of of an actor or performer or the writers or the producers. And then the component that’s brought by the audience of viewers, it’s all an incredible interplay. And then, so for the moderators,
  • Speaker 3
    0:13:09

    in
  • Speaker 2
    0:13:11

    addition to we’re celebrating these folks, we also wanted to comfortable with the person they’re talking to. So I work with the studio and network teams and individual personal policies about journalists or writers or podcasters who who have an ease or familiarity with the show. I mean, you wanna really have a person be. Familiar with the show. You can’t get in a situation where where the audience is way more familiar with what.
  • Speaker 2
    0:13:39

    What you’re talking to these folks about than the person on stage. It just doesn’t yield a very good conversation. And
  • Speaker 1
    0:13:46

    occasionally,
  • Speaker 2
    0:13:49

    we we we think maybe there’s a celebrity who’s a who’s or another performer, an actor, another writer who’s a fan of the show, that might have a different spin on the conversation. The last time we hosted the late late show, which was actually during the pandemics who were virtual. Andrew Reynolds, the host of the conversation, because he’s been on the show so many times and a good part. And it was it was great. That interplay is totally different than an interplay with, you know, some, you know, someone like you who host to host this incredible podcast.
  • Speaker 2
    0:14:27

    Or a journalist. You
  • Speaker 3
    0:14:28

    know, and
  • Speaker 2
    0:14:29

    then and then we have the other aspect that we do take questions from the audience towards the last part of the program so they get that interplay as well. Sometimes that sometimes likely not too much yet at our at Payley Post. But it’s it can be a mind mind field of but the audience shoes those people down really quick. When when someone says, oh, I have a script, I want you to read, you know, that’s it’s not
  • Speaker 1
    0:14:55

    what what
  • Speaker 2
    0:14:56

    this is about. It’s it’s about It’s about like how you made this show happen. And and — Yeah. — our audience questions really run the line of that. So, yeah, it’s the moderators are drawn from all the world, but we do want them to have some kind of, you know, connection to or knowledge, good knowledge of of the topic that we’re covering that night.
  • Speaker 2
    0:15:21

    So that’s why we end up working with a lot of this the same grade folks through the years because we know that they’re good. Yeah. That
  • Speaker 1
    0:15:29

    no. It’s and and whatever whatever you’re doing, keep doing it, because it it works. It it it it it it but it’s perfect. One last one last kind of big idea question, you know, you you mentioned that one of the things that’s really interesting about Payley Fast and the Payley Center in general is the continuity. Right?
  • Speaker 1
    0:15:48

    There there’s a you’re you’re on the same stage as LaSiel bar or maybe same state, but the, you know, the same festival as Lucille Ball. And, you know, there there’s a there’s a idea of television as this thing that exists from decade to decade and goes on, but it’s also very much a medium in flux. I mean, you know, we’ve gone from three broadcast networks to four broadcast networks and then to cable, basic cable, to pay cable, to streaming. I mean, there’s so many more options now. There’s so much more ground to cover from, you know, from your perspective as somebody who who’s been who, you know, kind of, schedules these festivals and and and helps figure out what to talk about.
  • Speaker 1
    0:16:31

    How has that expansion changed the the scope or the expanse of the the festival. I mean, what what is it done for your job. Has it made it easier, has it made it harder? I mean, there’s more to choose. There’s more great stuff to choose from, which is nice, but that also makes it hard because then you’ve got to make tough decisions.
  • Speaker 2
    0:16:51

    Yeah. It’s it’s it’s made it it’s wonderful. First of all, we’re at an incredible golden age of wonderful shows, wonderful performances, you know, that unfortunately, a lot of times people don’t see them. Because there’s just so much we’re it’s it’s unbelievable the amount of of viewing options we have. And then when I, you know, when I started doing this
  • Speaker 3
    0:17:20

    when I started
  • Speaker 2
    0:17:21

    working on this, especially I worked for the organization for eighteen years. And I started working on Payley personally shortly after that. It was an entirely different entirely different world. We didn’t have streaming. If you there were no time shifted viewing options.
  • Speaker 2
    0:17:38

    It was basically the, you know, the three major networks and cable. And the only way you you could time shift your viewing is if you had a VCR and you were video taking, it would show yourself so you can watch it whatever you wanted to. So the amount of programming is a gift in terms of because you there’s just so much good work to be able to celebrate. So you have and it’s a gift, but it’s also a challenge because, you know, you’d like to celebrate more than you can, and it just doesn’t always work out that way. That’s
  • Speaker 3
    0:18:13

    why having
  • Speaker 2
    0:18:13

    the ability to do programs throughout the year just gives us a little bit more coverage.
  • Speaker 3
    0:18:20

    And then you
  • Speaker 2
    0:18:21

    wanna make sure you’re covering the entire, you know, landscape of television in some way and another you know, broadcast television. There’s some incredible stuff I’m having in broadcast television, but oftentimes, I’ll what gets coverage is shows that are happening on on streaming platform because it’s the shiny. It’s not even the shiny new thing anymore. It’s just the the shiny thing. But there’s there’s great work happening in every space of television.
  • Speaker 2
    0:18:52

    So it’s more challenging. It is it’s it’s better in a lot of ways. I think the In terms of the of the festival
  • Speaker 3
    0:19:05

    itself, not
  • Speaker 2
    0:19:06

    every great show is gonna be the right fit for that’s all what happens in a in a large as large as space as the one we host them. We’re our home right now is a Dolby Theatre. In Hollywood where they host the Academy Awards. It’s a pretty big daunting — Mhmm. — road.
  • Speaker 2
    0:19:23

    And when we started doing the festival, broadcast television with King and most people most of the shows have this ginormous audience of people watching shows. Every week. And now that that is totally different. The the era of like, you know, twenty, thirty million people watching a show at the same time. And having that sort of communal experience is it happens with live event programming all the times like, you know, sports programming or which — Sure.
  • Speaker 2
    0:19:58

    — eventized programming another way. But we’re we’re oh, most people are watching on their own schedules and the so the audience size diminishes. You wanna make sure that’s part of the you don’t wanna program a show that you even know it’s totally worthy of programming for the festival. That’s, you know, there are gonna be not as many people as you’d hope to be in the audience tonight. So that’s that’s a factor as well.
  • Speaker 3
    0:20:26

    Yeah. I
  • Speaker 1
    0:20:26

    mean, it’s it is hard because and it’s hard to tell because, you know, we do have Nielsen ratings now for streaming shows, but it is still very kind of hit and miss, who’s getting covered, who who isn’t And
  • Speaker 2
    0:20:40

    since I can understand. Yeah. Has you know, that hasn’t in a lot of ways, has a huge outsize influence, then it doesn’t always correlate. Something that could be, you know, getting a lot of attention on social media. Might not work in this room.
  • Speaker 2
    0:20:58

    It just doesn’t draw the the same. And then people’s viewing habits in different parts of the country are different. We’re we’re, you know, we’re We’re based in Southern California, and we also
  • Speaker 1
    0:21:08

    have
  • Speaker 3
    0:21:09

    our home for
  • Speaker 2
    0:21:09

    the organization. The museum itself is in New York City. And the viewing habits of those areas might be different than what’s resonating in different parts of the country. So
  • Speaker 3
    0:21:20

    that You have
  • Speaker 2
    0:21:21

    to weigh that as well too. Yeah.
  • Speaker 1
    0:21:24

    Well, let’s let’s talk about let’s talk about a show that is that it’s big all over the country, but it has gotten a lot of attention for being big specifically in kind of, you know, the the the middle of the country. Right? Yellowstone. Huge huge big success, biggest show, I mean, biggest show on cable, I think. I I biggest show just about on TV right now is making its I believe your the debut at the Payley Fast.
  • Speaker 1
    0:21:48

    Right? This is its first first year.
  • Speaker 2
    0:21:50

    It is. It is it. So we’re really excited to be able to to have a Cassie creative team on stage. It’s because it’s it’s a phenomenon. And it’s a it’s a global phenomenon.
  • Speaker 2
    0:22:01

    And, you know, paramount network, it’s on. And and but the show has sort of hit on something. A lot of times people go you know, I refer to, like, succession on horseback or a succession, you know, in that different space, because it is that sort of family core family dynamic that really I think has drawn people to the show in a big way, which that formats at work over time, people find new new spins on them and and do
  • Speaker 3
    0:22:36

    the the the
  • Speaker 2
    0:22:36

    special sauce that a performer and actor like Kevin Kasner brings in in terms of getting attention to a show and getting level of of of authenticity to it. I think it is an amazing factoring it as well. But you have to hand it to Taylor, share it in, because he’s he’s created this whole universe of its own, not just Yellowstone, but what’s come after it, like, Meyer Kingsdown with Jeremy Brenner eighteen eighty three. There’s just it’s it’s incredible. And it is, I think, the the biggest story in television right now.
  • Speaker 2
    0:23:21

    And finally, almost, you know, almost five seasons in. We we we tried several times. It just didn’t it just had not had not worked. And we’re happy to have him having this time. Yeah.
  • Speaker 1
    0:23:35

    Will will Taylor Sheridan be at the the festival I can’t I can’t I I don’t have the release in front of me. I’ve gotten He will be there.
  • Speaker 2
    0:23:42

    He’s scheduled to to appear currently, you
  • Speaker 3
    0:23:45

    know, we always
  • Speaker 2
    0:23:46

    have to go to carry out all of these things because, like, anybody else anything can happen last year. We were dealing with — we were still in really a big COVID time. So sometimes people would test positive before the night before the panel. So we’d have to we would zoom them in on occasion so they would still be part of it. So we currently, yes, we do.
  • Speaker 2
    0:24:07

    We’ll be — Okay. — our expectations that we shared and and and thrilled that he
  • Speaker 1
    0:24:12

    Yeah. I I’m I’m really I’m I’m excited to get I would just I’m gonna try and get a a stream of some of it. Maybe at some point, we’ll see because I I I cannot be there, unfortunately. But the I I’m really fascinated to hear from him because he is he is the big story in TV right now. I mean, like a modern dick Wolf basically.
  • Speaker 1
    0:24:30

    Like, he’s out there, kind of creating multiple franchises. He’s working. He’s got, you know, shows on a bunch of networks. He’s working in streaming. He’s working on basic cable.
  • Speaker 1
    0:24:40

    Like, it’s it’s really kind of amazing what he is doing. So I’m excited to see what he has to say about the landscape of television and and where things stand. Yeah,
  • Speaker 2
    0:24:51

    absolutely. And it’s the the Dick Wolf analogy is out. The the Dick Wolf remains the water day. Dick Wolf Well, for that, I mean, that’s how the the amount of shows
  • Speaker 3
    0:25:04

    that
  • Speaker 2
    0:25:04

    has that we’ve filmed. That’s out. I’m a I’m a level of quality. I’m in engagement. I’m in the shows that that are not just we get the first run, but you know, law and order from many different incarnations in many different seasons is still appointments like you can just turn it on.
  • Speaker 2
    0:25:22

    And dig into that show. And as viewers do, you know, around the world, but to have that franchise and all its iterations, the Chicago franchise and all its iterations on on the CBS network. He’s got he’s got the the whole FBI franchise. I mean, it’s an incredible world and how they keep it all going. But there
  • Speaker 3
    0:25:44

    are a lot of
  • Speaker 1
    0:25:45

    Uber
  • Speaker 2
    0:25:45

    producers like that. And just in different ways, Shandra Rhimes, of course, too, in in in her ABC Network series, but also the work she’s been doing on on Netflix.
  • Speaker 1
    0:25:57

    Greg
  • Speaker 2
    0:25:58

    Berlanti who’s Right. It seems like he had forty eight shows going at one time, and and he’s and he’s wonderful. They’re all by Ryan Murphy in in Ryan
  • Speaker 1
    0:26:09

    Murphy.
  • Speaker 2
    0:26:10

    Employees as well. They’re
  • Speaker 3
    0:26:12

    and I
  • Speaker 2
    0:26:13

    think what I mean, I haven’t I don’t I I assume it’s this way for Taylor here, but I I haven’t his this is a whole new area than the other producers who we’ve actually had on our stages many times. But one thing that that links all of them is they’re all very collaborative and they’re they’re they might be in name at the at the executive producer home of it. They have they have lifted up so many
  • Speaker 1
    0:26:43

    other
  • Speaker 2
    0:26:44

    producers and writers and performers and and brought all of these new voices to the medium, and they’re all they’re they’re comfortable to let this up to let this person who’s who’s got these great ideas take the lead and and and them to take a backseat on some of their shows as as an executive producer. And that’s an that’s an incredible scale and it’s those people have really changed the the landscape of television.
  • Speaker 3
    0:27:15

    Yeah. Well, I
  • Speaker 1
    0:27:16

    mean, you gotta you gotta be able to do that if you’re running, you know, five, six different shows. I mean, I can’t even imagine how Rimes does it with the the schedule that she’s, you know, putting out on Netflix and — Yeah. — Ryan Murphy always seems to have about seventeen shows coming out at any any given time. You know, it’s it’s an incredible year
  • Speaker 2
    0:27:33

    for him. And I don’t I don’t know if you got to see the the the goal of the Globes broadcast where they they gave him Carol Burnett award, but his speech was so moving because his his speech was all about shining a light on other people who’ve made what he has achieved possible and he singled out. It
  • Speaker 3
    0:27:56

    was
  • Speaker 2
    0:27:56

    just beautiful. It’s nice to see. Yeah. People brought along from the right.
  • Speaker 1
    0:28:02

    Yeah. Let’s talk about the the opening. I mean, we haven’t even talked about the the app peck opening night celebration here with the the Mandalorian crew. I mean, the Mandalorian is a phenomenon. I think, you know, you could credit it.
  • Speaker 1
    0:28:15

    You can arguably credit it with single handedly launching Disney plus into, you know, into a viable Netflix competitor, one show kind of just, like, really blew up and and and did that. John Favreau, Dave Felloni, and Rick I can never pronounce his name. Rick Fajumua, I don’t
  • Speaker 2
    0:28:40

    I’m terrible. I’m
  • Speaker 1
    0:28:41

    I’m I may be close there, but and there’s gonna be more people. So what what are what are the folks gonna be talking about for the Mandalorian and and on their panel?
  • Speaker 2
    0:28:51

    Well, they had just launched season three, which is really exciting. Everybody’s, you know, hotly anticipating that. And it’s, you know, it’s in a long road with the Mandalorian. We actually had the Mandalorian
  • Speaker 3
    0:29:06

    schedule
  • Speaker 2
    0:29:06

    that it was gonna be part of the festival in our back in twenty twenty lineup. And then just like the week before, the world, you know, changed. And we had to postpone the festival. So this is now the first time we’re having them back in person since that time. And, yeah, it has it was it was a new story, a new phenomenon then.
  • Speaker 2
    0:29:35

    But the universe, it’s created the impact on culture overall is worldwide is amazing. So I’m anxious to get get them on stage and get that conversation, go and have that record of of how now after having three seasons done and creating this other this world of other shows that, you know, it really brought Star Wars to television. In this live action format. And yes, I agree with you. I would say I would bet progress.
  • Speaker 2
    0:30:12

    Everybody at Disney and Disney Plus would agree with saying that, yes, it helped establish a network and that was an incredible move for Bob Iger at that time to to to not only bring that whole the
  • Speaker 3
    0:30:24

    Star Wars
  • Speaker 2
    0:30:25

    universe into the fold at at Disney along with so many other incredible tentpoles, but to give it this platform, this global platform, and It’s a great story. It’s and I’m I’m really happy to have them back. Have them
  • Speaker 1
    0:30:43

    appear
  • Speaker 2
    0:30:43

    for the first time. Yeah. But back. Nonetheless.
  • Speaker 1
    0:30:48

    It’s it’s also just a really interesting show from a technological perspective. I mean, the the introduction of the volume, the giant LED rooms that they can use to, you know — Yeah. — shoot things more more quickly, more efficiently, more cheaply without sacrificing too much in terms of quality is is really I mean, it it is a game changing sort of thing for for not just, you know, not just Disney and Star Wars, but the industry ran large.
  • Speaker 2
    0:31:17

    Absolutely. And other folks have kind of tried to catch up and adapt some of those some of those methods. But, yeah, technologically, it is an incredible feat. And there’s a a huge array of artisans who work to make all of that happen. But it also I think comes down to storytelling.
  • Speaker 2
    0:31:37

    Good storytelling. Well performed. By an incredible cast of characters, an incredible directing team and writing team. It’s those things or what brought people in, yes, the the epic scale of
  • Speaker 3
    0:31:54

    it. It draws
  • Speaker 2
    0:31:54

    it to but if you don’t have a good story, there are shows that are epic that just go.
  • Speaker 3
    0:31:59

    Mhmm. Especially
  • Speaker 2
    0:32:01

    now when we have so much so many choice to watch to watch.
  • Speaker 1
    0:32:06

    Yeah. You know, you you mentioned wanting one of the nice things about festivals that you can focus on broadcast networks. And I I this is one thing I actually really I love about the festivals that it I’m unlike Unlike critics, certainly, you know, I consider I I include myself in this, you know, who have kind of a tendency to ignore, broadcast, shows just because that’s not, you know, what the cool buzz is all about. It’s still where you’re gonna find the highest rated individual programming. So, you know, a show like Grey’s Anatomy, you know, doesn’t get a ton of talk, you know, from critics and and, you know, the the the the high brow set.
  • Speaker 1
    0:32:50

    But it is still immensely popular, so very good. People still watch it all the time. And they are gonna be on the stage with also Avid Elementary. Right? I mean, not the same time, but, you know, that would
  • Speaker 2
    0:33:02

    be Avid
  • Speaker 1
    0:33:03

    Elementary. All another another network TV show is gonna be there to to, you know, celebrate what they’re doing. So I I the the Grey’s Anatomy Panel I was looking at, there’s there’s like twenty people on that list. How are you gonna fit them all on the stage? I don’t
  • Speaker 2
    0:33:18

    know. I don’t bringing in
  • Speaker 1
    0:33:19

    risers. Is there
  • Speaker 2
    0:33:20

    gonna be a, you know, it’ll happen. It’ll happen somehow. Last year, we had we had an event that celebrated the NCS franchise. We had three panels in one conversation was like, I was like, oh, you got a good clock. We’re getting those people on and off stage and getting audience question time.
  • Speaker 2
    0:33:35

    It was it was amazing, but it was it actually turned out beautifully. But, yes, when you look at something like Grey’s Anatomy that continues to reinvented stuff. It’s nineteen seasons in nineteen seasons. People that tell stories across that time and they’re not doing seven episodes and we’re done. They’re doing twenty two episodes across a season.
  • Speaker 2
    0:34:01

    And it’s a testament to the storytelling on that show and how people still are invested in it and new people come to it. You know, and the incredible producers, Krista Bernoff, who is sort of heads that show along with Debbie Allen, who’s also an actor on the show and has this incredible groundbreaking career in television.
  • Speaker 3
    0:34:26

    And the the
  • Speaker 2
    0:34:26

    the ensemble cast, it’s really a true ensemble. And there’s a lot of newer folks that have joined that ensemble this year that we’re going to have. And it’s it’s we’ve had we had the show during one of its early seasons and they have it back now. It’s it’s it’s wonderful. And I agree, as you were saying earlier, that broadcast TV, which does command the widest swath of an audience, especially at a at a very specific time and now
  • Speaker 3
    0:34:54

    with, you
  • Speaker 2
    0:34:55

    know, time shift to viewing as well too. I I don’t know why it doesn’t always get the attention that it deserves because it’s it’s there’s just as good material. And a diversity of material content on broadcast that there is in streaming. But, you
  • Speaker 3
    0:35:15

    know, we
  • Speaker 2
    0:35:15

    tend to run to what’s shiny and new in terms of coverage. So at least as part of the festival, I’m proud that we get to. To recognize what’s going on in that part of the landscape as well too. Abid elementary, of course, is one of a huge stories and television. It’s just a show that’s filled with heart, and I think people have taken that taken that to their own hearts, really made it such a a big hit, whether they’re watching it, you know, as it when it when it runs on Wednesday nights or they’re watching it when they deviate it or on a on a streaming platform.
  • Speaker 2
    0:35:55

    People have fallen in love with it around the world and it and it’s
  • Speaker 3
    0:36:00

    focusing
  • Speaker 2
    0:36:02

    on education and educators, especially at this time, in our culture, in our society, and and and the difficulties and challenges of of of teachers, and and the dedication that they that they put into what they do, that this show shines a light and shines a light on that right now.
  • Speaker 3
    0:36:24

    I think
  • Speaker 2
    0:36:25

    is beautiful. And the ensemble is is so much fun. You know, Tyler James Williams, who obviously just is one of the leads on the show. We had him when he was a kid who had the festival for his show, everybody hates Chris. So it’s it’s fun to see that.
  • Speaker 2
    0:36:42

    That’s part of that continuum. I’m I was here when I was, you know, eleven years old and now I’m I’m on this incredible show and I and I’m back again. So that’s fun.
  • Speaker 3
    0:36:55

    That is fun.
  • Speaker 1
    0:36:57

    That is fun. That was that was pretty much everything I wanted to ask. I think I hit on all the major, oh, yellow jackets. I I I didn’t mention yellow jackets, but that’s another another panel that’s coming up hit Showtime series. People love people love that show.
  • Speaker 2
    0:37:12

    Incredible. Absolutely. Yeah. It should it should be fun. And it’s fun as well too because there’s season two premieres just right before their their festival date.
  • Speaker 2
    0:37:21

    So that’s gonna
  • Speaker 3
    0:37:22

    be. Didn’t
  • Speaker 2
    0:37:23

    have that big group. That’s another big group. My god. That’s gonna be Yeah. That is another that’s
  • Speaker 1
    0:37:26

    another very large again, you’re gonna have to bring risers out onto the stage to get everybody on there, to get to get everybody
  • Speaker 3
    0:37:33

    into the conversation.
  • Speaker 1
    0:37:34

    As you know, I like to close the interview by asking if there’s anything I should have asked, if there’s anything you think folks know about Payley Fast, Payley Sutter? What what what did I not ask? What do you think folks should know about? What you what you do and what what you’ve got coming up? I I there’s
  • Speaker 2
    0:37:51

    nothing that you that you didn’t ask. We covered so many wonderful things I and I appreciate the opportunity to be able to
  • Speaker 3
    0:38:00

    talk about television
  • Speaker 2
    0:38:01

    and and and because it’s something that that we just we love and the festivals about love Just to know that with the painly center, if you’re if you love TV and you’re passionate about, celebrating and preserving its legacy. We’re a good organization to be a part of because that’s what we do and we’d love to welcome you to our member community. You’ll find lots of events like this throughout the year. And you’d be helping us preserve this incredible work and this incredible legacy.
  • Speaker 3
    0:38:34

    And you get
  • Speaker 1
    0:38:35

    early access to tickets. If — Yes. — early access on
  • Speaker 2
    0:38:38

    an edit discount. Exactly. I wanna I wanna emphasize
  • Speaker 1
    0:38:41

    that it’s not just feel good, you know, celebrate television support the museum. It’s also you get something. You do you do get you do get something important for putting the knowledge that
  • Speaker 2
    0:38:51

    you’re helping to preserve Yes.
  • Speaker 1
    0:38:53

    Include,
  • Speaker 3
    0:38:53

    including.
  • Speaker 1
    0:38:53

    Yes. There’s, you know, I’m I’m I’m I’m I wanna get people into the organization and get them to the festival because it’s fun. It really is I have always been slightly jealous of not living on on the West Coast because I would love to maybe maybe next year, like, I’ll get out there. But watching the panels on YouTube and thank you. Thank you.
  • Speaker 1
    0:39:16

    But it it’s it’s so much fun just to watch the panels on on my computer. I can’t imagine how great they are in person. So you’d go check it out, tickets on sale now. And and find find a panel you like and and check it out. My name is Sunny Bunch.
  • Speaker 1
    0:39:31

    I’m the culture editor at the Bulwark. And I’ll be back next week with another episode of The Bulwark goes to Hollywood. We’ll see you guys in.
  • Speaker 3
    0:39:42

    It could be information to change your life forever, or that something you should know podcast could just be something interesting. Talking about the benefits of play, my guest is Joanna Fortune author of the book, why we play, how to find joy and meaning in everyday life. Playfulness in the life of adults
  • Speaker 2
    0:40:01

    in terms of its psychosocial impact is under studied if anything, but the research that is available does point to a myriad of pro social benefits and psychological benefits. Something you should
  • Speaker 3
    0:40:13

    know wherever you listen.