Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, and Paul Thomas Anderson really are saving TCM
All it took was a round of layoffs and the three most powerful directors in Hollywood to save a cultural institution
Aux News Martin Scorsese
The crisis at TCM appears over—for now. After last week’s surprise round of layoffs at the beloved classic movie channel, capped off by a meeting between three of Hollywood’s most influential directors, Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, and Paul Thomas Anderson, and Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav, things were looking bleak. However, all it took was Hollywood’s biggest names to “volunteer” their time to shepherd the station so it could remain an entity.
Per IndieWire, Spielberg, Scorsese, and Anderson are taking non-salary positions at TCM, providing guidance on programming and, we presume, playing the role of human shield against Zaslav’s habitual cost-cutting. They’ll also offer expertise as advisors on host segments, curation, and programming. Though, as some have pointed out on Twitter, requiring three of Hollywood’s most powerful to protect a single entity after a round of layoffs is not a good sign for the industry at large. Essentially, WBD got the three best interns on Earth to protect one of the most beloved cultural institutions on television.
Under its new org chart, IndieWire reports, TCM will be led by Charles “Charlie” Tabesh, a longtime network stalwart included in last week’s layoffs. Tabesh will report directly to WB executives Michael de Luca and Pamela Abdy.
“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 said in a statement. “David Zaslav led the charge, driven by our shared love of storytelling, to bring us together for a project about which we are so passionate. Over the last year, we have meaningfully increased our content investment in TCM, and intend to further enhance TCM’s on-air programming and engagement with fans.”
In a statement, Spielberg, Scorsese, and Anderson say that the arrangement was “initiated” by Zaslav and “reflects his commitment to honoring the TCM legacy while also involving us on curation and programming.”
“We are thrilled that longtime programmer Charlie Tabesh will be staying with TCM,” they said, “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.”
If only every TV executive had this kind of backing, we could save the entertainment business.
29 Comments
So Zaslav cuts a bunch of long-time employees and gets three of Hollywood’s elite as unpaid help as a consequence? I expect he views that as a win-win.
My cautious optimism is paying off!
If Zaslav gave one shit about art and culture he wouldn’t have stuffed “Max” with reality shows and garbage like that. And maybe not take 500k a day while everyone else gets fired. He’s not doing a job worth 500k a day so save the “he earned that” nonsense. If I was making that while laying people off and canceling things, I would feel so much guilt I would take a pay cut.
Just, y’know, don’t watch the shows you don’t want to watch, you pretentious fuck.
You’re Paul Thomas Anderson, and you’re the third-most exalted film director in the room.I really wanted Robert Osborne to host the Oscars, just once.
Have Eddie Mueller host. A tribute to the Maltese Falcon and Sunset Boulevard.
I haven’t had access to TCM in decades. Apparently, they don’t have a streaming package for people without cable. You might be able to convince me to give the 99-cents a month or $5 per year. Their loss.
There is a TCM hub on MAX. You don’t get the network programming but you have access to the library.
The TCM hub is some old movies, and then “classics” from all eras. The stuff you can watch on the channel is a bit of a wider variety of stuff, IMO.
Thanks. I dropped HBOmax when I had watched all that I wanted to watch with the plan of getting it again for a few months, maybe even a full year now that I don’t also have to cycle through the Discovery Network separately. I just haven’t gotten around to it yet and am kind of waiting to see if they offer a Prime Day deal.
99 cents a month? $5 a year? I don’t see how not having the support of a tightwad is their loss.
As far as I can tell and from what I remember, it’s a bunch of old movies with no new, original programming. If it were cheap enough, I might add it as an option, but I’m not going to pay a premium price because I don’t anticipate watching it much.
There’s a rather general Kindle app.
I’m not sure that TCM is what people want so much as easy access to the classic movies. Is this announcement simply making a promise that those who rely on the over-the-air cable channel will be able to keep doing what they’re doing? Or is this a promise that the classic movies will not be removed from the Max streaming service?
The real advantage to the cable/live tv streaming version of TCM is seeing that they’re playing a movie I never would have thought to try and find on regular streaming services, or to stumble on something I haven’t seen and finding out I really liked it.
Seeing as TCM is seeing the revenue it generates through carriage fees steadily nosedive as people are cutting the cord these guys need to reimagine what it’s gonna be
I don’t think it IS the easy access that makes TCM valuable in a lot of people’s eyes (myself included.) I mean, it’s part of it. But the curation is a bigger part of it, as is the original intros/outros and context the channel uses to put the films into that separates it from, say, just a streaming service with a big ol’ list of movies. Also, this is maybe a me thing, but I actually prefer TCM to the Criterion Channel because I like being able to turn it on and just see something I’d never have thought to watch without being forced to seek it out.Also, most of those classic movies already HAVE been removed from Max, if they were ever there at all. A month of programming on TCM absolutely dwarfs the classic film content on Max in terms of sheer numbers and variation.
“David Zaslav led the charge, driven by our shared love of storytelling, to bring us together for a project about which we are so passionate.”I’m surprised they were able to say all of that with his dick all the way down their throats.
I just want TCM Underground back.
Oof, yeah.
Not impressed they have some part-time “advisors” instead of experienced staff.
At least all these guys are notorious unbusy and probably don’t have a lot going on most of the time.
Rather than save an aging brand that belongs to a major corporation and reaches an ever smaller audience, using their money and influence to start up a non-profit that makes classic important movies that are overlooked by profit focused corporations available to a wide audience through quality streaming and other services would be a better use of their time if they really cared about the art more than the industry.
Those things are not mutually exclusive. Contrary to some trending opinions, it’s not necessary to tear down something just because it’s old in order to support something new.
“Fine. You can have your…‘art.’”
I haven’t had access to TCM for ages. There’s no reasonably affordable option to get it. Still, I want it to exist and thrive out there and I’m grateful for whatever support it gets. I read an editorial the other day calling for it to be spun off or sold to a private group to preserve it but I don’t see that happening and it could just as easily go wrong down the road.If they really wanted to make it more valuable and profitable they need to start advertising it outside its audience sphere. There are young people out there who love it just the way it is and if twenty-something women on TikTok can singlehandedly save the publishing industry and Barnes & Noble a few of them could certainly give TCM a huge boost.I’d also look at a FAST sister channel on both cable and OTA. It doesn’t have to have the same content. Hell, you could even run Robert Osborne’s old intros and I’d be there in a minute.
TCM has a pretty clever (and active) Instagram account showing film clips in ways designed to grab attention. I believe they run the same clips on TikTok.
I get it through Hulu Live which is WAY cheaper than the cable package in my area.
All it took was a round of layoffs and the three most powerful directors in Hollywood to save a cultural institutionPaul Thomas Anderson is fantastic, but is he really a more powerful director in Hollywood than, say, James Cameron? Hell, I’m not even sure P. T. Anderson is the most powerful director named Anderson.