Contributing Editor, Vanity Fair. My book—Burn It Down: Power, Complicity & a Call for Change in Hollywood—is out now from Mariner Books.🔥🐉🌈 💚 She/her
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Jul 16, 2023 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
The education going on during Hwd strikes is important 💚👊🏻🔥🪧Many people don’t know what incomes of Hwd workers are. Having talked to thousands of them, fact is, many live paycheck to paycheck & know their entire career could go away tomorrow for reasons to beyond their control
I def tried to make connections btw larger labor & exploitation issues in US/world & what has been standard operating procedure--but getting even worse--in Hollywood. Dunno, might get this first sentence put on a T-shirt & wear it daily. Anyway, from #BurnItDown (pinned tweet):
Jul 15, 2023 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
👇🏻 this. I repeat a similar sentiment often in my book & I will be screaming it from the rooftops until the day I die: These are **choices.** These are active decisions—not the disembodied hand of fate imposing terrible outcomes. They want this. These. Are. CHOICES
An attitude I come across all the time on many Hollywood fronts amounts to this: “couldn’t be helped–it had to be that way.” No, it *could* be helped. You *chose* to make it that way. Don’t passive-voice yr way out of this: You (company or person) MADE A DECISION & a choice. 🔥🌋
Jul 13, 2023 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
In 2021, when he was paid $246 million (yes, for 1 yr), I noted in my book Zaslav made $675,000 per day. Using data from #PayUpHollywood, avg WB support staff at the time (SIDE NOTE THEY RARELY WORK 52 WKS/YR) made $185/day. That was him making 3600x more than entry level workers
In Burn It Down, I quoted Popular Information: In 1965 "American CEOs made 15 times more than the avg worker. Today, CEO-to-worker pay gap at America’s largest low-wage employers like Starbucks is closer to 670 to 1, accdng to a report published by Institute for Policy Studies"+
May 30, 2023 • 37 tweets • 12 min read
Hello! A bit of housekeeping: I’m creating a new thread to pin. It’ll be a repository for info on my book, links to podcast appearances, reviews, events, interviews etc. Thanks for your patience on the phenomenon known as First-Time Author Promoting Their New Book a Whole Bunch.
And here's a @chicagotribune interview about why I wrote the book & what I hope it accomplishes with @phillipstribune -- it was such a full circle moment, given that I worked at the Trib for 13 years. Thanks for the delightful chat, Michael! chicagotribune.com/entertainment/…
May 4, 2023 • 8 tweets • 2 min read
Having covered 07-08 strike & other near-strikes, I can say--I've never seen the guilds stick together like this. Usually AMPTP plays divide & conquer but that appears to be a non-starter now. I think that'll likely stay the case & I'm not surprised, given state of the industry
This level of open & loud solidarity--it's notable this time. Again, doesn't surprise me, not just due to the changes affecting all in Hollywood--but also, the unions have evolved. Back when, it used to be that AMPTP could play wealthiest WGA members against the rest. Not now.
Dec 13, 2022 • 8 tweets • 2 min read
if zaslav's goal is to infuriate the creative community, A+++ /no notes
honestly gutted so much HBO/Max fare (incl Gordita Chronicles, Love Life, Minx, Batgirl in addtn to WW etc--many from marginalized creatives--canceled, unreleased or DISAPPEARED (at least for now). Hard not to wonder if it's a shot across the bow re DGA/WGA contracts coming up
Nov 18, 2022 • 6 tweets • 3 min read
I have a newsletter (info below); it's 1 way to find me & my work, also on instagram (moryan66 there) & moryan.com Genuine love to you weirdos, there was some yikes stuff on here sometimes, but I met & talked & liked & loved a lot of ya & damn you made me laugh 💚🌺
welp looks like I'm going to have to just read books or something...
Oct 18, 2022 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
Just one of many deserving possible mentions: Les Revenants (the Returned). French zombies (maybe)? I mean, no real idea what was going on a lot of the time but it was insanely great on atmospheric/**vibes only** levels (if you're looking for something like that, it's on AMC+)
First episode of Les Revenants has one of the best opening sequences I've ever seen on any show, ever. true rev-heads understand.
Oct 14, 2022 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
What David is saying here, wisely & calmly (as always) -- I've been delving into & thinking about them a lot for my forthcoming book. I'm very aware I'm trying to hit a moving target (the industry changes so much constantly) but ... agree this is all def concerning. Anyway. 🧵
Can't stop thinking abt the ol' bait & switch: Creative people were told streaming would be different therefore $$ a LOT different (LESS generally + shorter runs etc). And now streamers are chasing ads & making it 2009 again thru science or magic. Ain't paying folks like 2009 tho
Dec 17, 2021 • 8 tweets • 3 min read
incoming thread... in a good way!
SOME NEWS: I'm 🔥writing 🔥a 🔥book 🔥about 🔥Hollywood: Burn It Down. I'm SO excited to share this news! The announcement:
Dec 3, 2021 • 14 tweets • 4 min read
I've been quiet on the socials for a few reasons, but one reason is, I've been working on a thing... thread incoming.
I had one of the more interesting (and at times, challenging) conversations of my career last week. I had heard a rumor: Was Jeff Garlin fired from the ABC comedy The Goldbergs? For some time, I could not pin down what was going on.
Sep 30, 2021 • 14 tweets • 3 min read
The whole interview is... something. Absolutely baffled by the non-logic of AS declining to comment to the press when Rudin stories came out in April because "who would that benefit?" OH I DUNNO, THE PEOPLE WHO WORKED FOR SR & SIMILAR MONSTERS IN THE INDUSTRY? Jeeebus just unreal
all right fine, let's do this. Sorkin: "Stories that I had heard over the last 12 years were ...they could have been scenes from The Devil Wears Prada, there was no violence." Oh, OK, thanks for signaling that anything that does not involve physical contact is OK. Good to know.
May 12, 2021 • 23 tweets • 6 min read
THREAD. For some time, I’ve been speaking to people from the drama All Rise, which is made by Warner Bros & aired by CBS. I ultimately spoke with 30 people, 18 of whom worked directly with EP/showrunner Greg Spottiswood.
Spottiswood was fired as showrunner of All Rise March 24, not long after Warner Bros learned I was working on this story. This @salon piece on Spottiswood’s alleged conduct, his firing & much more, represents several months of work. I hope you’ll read it: salon.com/2021/05/12/he-…
Feb 1, 2021 • 8 tweets • 2 min read
In recent years, Evan Rachel Wood has spoken out about abuse at the hands of an unnamed ex. Today she breaks that silence: “The name of my abuser is Brian Warner, also known as Marilyn Manson.” Four other women have come forward regarding Manson as well. vanityfair.com/hollywood/2021…
Evan Rachel Wood today: “I am here to expose this dangerous man and call out the many industries that have enabled him, before he ruins any more lives. I stand with the many victims who will no longer be silent.”
Jan 26, 2021 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
Every person who works in PR for TV & film should read this. Obv editors at many publications too. But this kind of PR gatekeeping is keeping talented critics & writers from marginalized communities -- especially POC -- on the sidelines or driving them out medium.com/swlh/gatekeepi…
I'm white, I have a track record at known outlets, so even as a freelancer, I automatically get or *can* get most TV screeners. I have heard SO MANY tales of Black, Asian, disabled, queer, Latinx critics--among others--having major obstacles to getting them. It's a major problem.
Jan 25, 2021 • 4 tweets • 4 min read
I was lucky enough to serve on #AFIAwards jury again. PLOT TWIST: Everyone on 2020 jury considered both TV & film (that was eligible; FYI some shows/movies not eligible, I literally don't make the rules). Anyway I can now issue a ruling on whether film or TV is better... 1/2
Regret to inform you that President Biden issued an executive order today. There’s a minimum 1-year ban on starting your episode of television with an in media res action sequence putting key characters in unexplained jeopardy, followed by the on-screen words “36 hours earlier”
The text of the executive order reads as follows: “I love you knuckleheads but you have all overused this trope. It was once fun, but it got out of hand a long time ago. I’ll ban this malarkey for a decade if I need to!”
Jul 10, 2020 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
I support @emilyvdw.
I do not support those who use weak, strawman arguments to prop up intolerance & transphobia. Especially if some making those arguments have silenced and harmed marginalized communities. And have massive platforms with which to do so. #TransLivesMatter
A powerful layer of established people cannot stand that newer forms of media have given voice to those they’d comfortably ignored in the past. These high status folks do everything in their power to delegitimize & discredit voices they don’t like while bleating about free speech
Jun 19, 2020 • 17 tweets • 6 min read
Nicole Beharie on #SleepyHollow: “Sometimes I think that some people I was working with didn’t like that I was unwell but loved by the audience. ...everyone of color on that show was seen as expendable and eventually let go.” Yes. That happened in real time & it was so awful.
I think a lot about the many terrible decisions made & thus enabled from on high at #sleepyhollow. Black women boosted SH online/on social media & helped make it a phenomenon. Watching their hearts get broken in real time is one of the worst things I ever witnessed as a critic.
Jun 17, 2020 • 28 tweets • 7 min read
Been working hard on something that means a lot to me, so a thread is incoming!
Some Hollywood TV studios came after the pay of lowest-level assistants & support staff after the pandemic hit. For @vanityfair, I talked to 20+ industry people abt what happened, 1 studio changing course & why this affects marginalized folks most severely vanityfair.com/hollywood/2020…
May 27, 2020 • 11 tweets • 4 min read
Adding to this thread on a pattern of misconduct -- and coverups -- at one entertainment media conglomerate. This 2 yr old thread is on CBS. But these ingrained patterns can (and do) exist all over the industry. Some context for this Criminal Minds development:
In 2018, Variety's @gdanielholloway reported on a years-long pattern of alleged abuse by DP of Criminal Minds. 19 sources on "a toxic environment on set, groping male staffers, threatening them physically, and firing anyone who complained" per Dan's story variety.com/2018/tv/news/c…
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