Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese and Paul Thomas Anderson are stepping as much as assist curate programming for Turner Classic Movies, amid a tumultuous week of layoffs and management adjustments that had followers apprehensive about the way forward for the channel.
Last week Warner Bros Discovery laid off some high TCM individuals together with General Manager Pola Changnon and programming head Charles Tabesh, prompting public outcries from the movie group who tweeted with the hashtag #SaveTCM and wrote passionate op-eds about its cultural worth.
By Wednesday, beneath the management of WBD CEO David Zaslav, the corporate had stabilized plans for TCM’s future, enlisting Warner Bros Motion Picture Group co-chairs and CEOs Michael De Luca and Pam Abdy to supervise TCM, bringing on Spielberg, Scorsese and Anderson as official curators and reversing course on Tabesh’s layoff.
“TCM is a cultural treasure, and we are honored to help steer the future direction of this beloved brand with the partnership of three of the most iconic filmmakers of our time, Steven, Marty, and Paul,” De Luca and Abdy mentioned in a press release.
The technique, all famous, was led by Zaslav. And Spielberg, Scorsese and Anderson are already engaged on concepts with De Luca and Abdy.
“We are thrilled that longtime programmer Charlie Tabesh will be staying with TCM and gratified to know that the team is focused on preserving TCM’s mission of celebrating our rich movie history while at the same time ensuring that future generations of filmmakers and film lovers have TCM as a valuable resource,” the filmmakers mentioned in a press release.
TCM’s on-air hosts, like Ben Mankiewicz, Dave Karger and Alicia Malone are anticipated to remain on too and plans are nonetheless in movement for the annual movie pageant in Los Angeles to proceed as effectively.
Mankiewicz earlier this yr spoke to The AP in regards to the channel’s passionate fan base, from civilians to celebrities like Tom Hanks, who talked about TCM ceaselessly in his latest memoir. Scorsese additionally famously retains it on in his enhancing suite.
“There’s no channel like us where people’s identification is with the channel,” Mankiewicz mentioned. “When you take a look at individuals’s social media pages, they’ll be like ‘lawyer, mother, wife, TCM fan.’ No one says that about Showtime. No one says ‘I’ll watch something on ABC.’ It’s an absurd factor to say however they are saying it about us.”
A spokesperson for Warner Bros Discovery mentioned the corporate “is fully committed to safeguarding, supporting, and investing in (TCM) for the future” and mentioned that the content material funding has grown by over 30% this yr however that TCM is just not resistant to “the very real pressure on the entire linear ecosystem.” The adjustments and cuts, the spokesperson mentioned, imply a extra sustainable operation behind the display screen and shield the channel’s mission of bringing extra titles to the air and “preserving and defending the tradition of cinema.”
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