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David Zaslov Isn't Just Bad For CNN. We Are Looking At A 5-Alarm Pop-Culture Fire At HBO Max [1]
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Date: 2022-08-19
I did a diary about a week ago about the cancelation of the movies Batgirl and SCOOB: Holiday Haunt.
www.dailykos.com/…
x Adil El Arbi and Billal Fallah found out ‘BATGIRL’ was cancelled whilst they were in Morocco for Adil’s wedding.
(Source: Deadline) pic.twitter.com/sUj5oxGwHc — DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) August 3, 2022
Generally speaking, the diary was met with a shrug and bunch of people telling me that popular culture is not worse off for Batgirl and Scooby Doo movies being canceled.
But the movies weren’t just canceled. They were already made on budgets of between $70-100 for Batgirl and $40 for SCOOB. And what Warner Discovery CEO David Zaslov did is write them off for tax purposes. For those not in the know, the loophole he used means that Warner Discovery is not allowed to make money off those movies EVER. For that reason, these movies cannot be seen legally EVER for any reason, (at least until they enter the public domain in 80 years). My argument in that diary is that this precedent was dangerous for artistic freedom and creators because Zaslov could decide not just to do this for projects we’ve never seen, but he could go back into the Warner Bros catalogue and ERASE large of chunks of it down the memory hole.
A week later, that is exactly what happened. HBO Max has written off a TON of shows, mostly all-ages fare with diverse leads (which is getting Zaslov in trouble with anti-trust laws.)
x LMFAO the hits just keep on coming: David Zaslav's canceling of so many specifically female/POC-skewing projects at Warner-Discovery may have "Dampened diverse and inclusive programming" enough to get Warner-Discovery in trouble under FEDERAL ANTI-TRUST MERGER ENFORCEMENT LAWS 🤣
https://t.co/U7BpI8g12T — Like Kurosawa, I Make Mad (@the_moviebob) August 18, 2022
Many of these shows are popular and beloved and their creators who poured their hearts and souls into these projects for several years are tearing their hair out in frustration and grief. As a creator myself my heart goes out to them.
Just some of the shows that HBO Max has not just canceled, but rather destroyed, include Infinity Train, Final Space, The Not-Too-Late Show With Elmo, Summer Camp Island, ThunderCats Roar, Aquaman: King Of Atlantis, Close Enough, and many others.
x Titles to be removed from HBO Max this week, this is a bit of shock:
https://t.co/rrSM4s6dx3
Titles To Be Removed:
12 Dates of Christmas
About Last Night
Aquaman: King of Atlantis
Close Enough
Detention Adventure
Dodo
Ellen’s Next Great Designer
Elliott From Earth
Esme & Roy — RegularCapital (@RegularTweetsUK) August 18, 2022
x Titles to be removed from HBO Max this week, this is a bit of shock:
https://t.co/rrSM4s6dx3
Titles To Be Removed:
12 Dates of Christmas
About Last Night
Aquaman: King of Atlantis
Close Enough
Detention Adventure
Dodo
Ellen’s Next Great Designer
Elliott From Earth
Esme & Roy — RegularCapital (@RegularTweetsUK) August 18, 2022
I don't think Sesame Workshop is going to be very happy for one of their prize shows to have been written off for tax purposes
Here are some reactions from some of the creators.
x We worked for 5 years to make 100 episodes of animation. We worked late into the night, we let ourselves go, we were a family of hard working artists who wanted to make something beautiful, and HBO MAX just pulled them all like we were nothing. Animation is not nothing! — Julia Pott (@juliapott) August 18, 2022
I did an essay mourning the loss of The Not-Too-Late Show With Elmo on Dreamwidth:
matt-zimmer.dreamwidth.org/…
Why I will mourn the erasure of The Not-Too-Late Show With Elmo
Crazy couple of days, right? I managed to purchase the first season of The Not-Too-Late Show With Elmo off Amazon Prime (before it's, well, too late) but the second season is not available. And the first season is the talk show and the second season is the game show. The talk show is better but I am really upset to lose the Game Show version. Because of the kids. There was one disabled kid on one of those game episodes. The games are all staged and rigged in favor of the kids but it gave me great joy to see a boy with no hands on his arm stumps being allowed to play on a game show and being made to feel like he is playing a videogame. This was probably the highlight of his young life, and possibly the highlight of his entire future life too. He was made to feel joyous and normal instead of people staring at him and feeling sorry for him. And because of David Zaslov, the best moment of his life is not something he will ever be able to share with his children legally when he has then. One of the best and most rewarding experiences of his young life is something no future generations will be allowed to share with him. For a brief shining moment for around six months before the show was written off, this kid showed the world his lack of arms won't stop him from having fun and playing with Elmo.
Now? Nobody will ever know. I weep for this kid at much as I weep for every single person whose hard work has been destroyed by David Zaslov's greed and maliciousness. I was never that crazy about The Game Edition because the games were clearly fixed, but having it disappeared down the memory hole stings for this reason.
Another thing to keep in mind is that this situation doesn't just threaten creators’ projects they’ve poured their hearts and souls into. The projects being destroyed effects creator residuals too and having those projects written-off affects a good source of income for many.
“It’s just Elmo. It’s just ThunderCats. None of the canceled shows are any I’ve heard about. They can’t really have been THAT popular.”
Do you know another Warner Bros project that did poorly at the box office and lost them money? Blade Runner. How would cinema and popular culture be if Zaslov decides to write off that “unpopular failure” and make it only available to view by piracy? This is the worst case scenario, and the tax loophole laws were written this way because the lawmakers never envisioned them being abused to this extent.
I’m thinking soon we might have to call our Congresscritters and get them to repeal this tax loophole law (and retroactively) because all creative freedom is at risk. Forget the damage a sociopath like David Zaslov can do to Warner Discovery and HBO Max. What if other companies see the tax write off as a quick way to make some extra cash? Companies in debt like Netflix could simply destroy their entire library to make a buck.
This is the destruction of art and on an unprecedented scale. I think people who care about creative freedom need to think about contacting their elected officials and tell them how concerned this makes them. I am not exaggerating in the title when I say this is a five-alarm pop-culture fire. Everything is at risk.
Thanks to the website Anime Superhero’s forum for getting me all this information.
animesuperhero.com/…
The poster DogBoneController has been doing heroic work keeping us all informed on the subject with the latest news and updates, and I want to acknowledge them here.
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[1] Url:
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