As Late Night Goes Dark During The Writers Strike, Marketers Scramble With Shows Shut Down. Studio PR Campaigners Have Found Themselves Cut Off From A Vital Assets To Place Stars.
“Pete Davidson was set to host Saturday Night Live for the first time on May 6, but the gig was scrubbed when the long-running NBC sketch-comedy show decided to air reruns for the time being because of the writers strike. Had Davidson gone ahead and hosted, he no doubt would have mentioned his upcoming summer tentpole, Transformers: Rise of the Beasts (the comedian and SNL alum voices Mirage, an Autobot spy who transforms into a sleek, silver-blue Porsche), and maybe his cameo in Fast X.
Moreover, Paramount surely would have taken out an accompanying advertisement for Rise of the Beasts, which opens June 9 in U.S. theaters. Instead, Davidson handed out pizza from L&B Spumoni Gardens to striking writers at a Brooklyn picketing line May 5, several days after the strike commenced.
Thousands of miles away, Hollywood movie marketers were wringing their hands as they found themselves cut off from one of their most important publicity assets: late night programs.
Beginning May 2, the Writers Guild members have participated in a work stoppage after leadership didn’t come to terms with the studios — represented by the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers — on a series of contract points that the union considers significant to the future of their industry. Writers are seeking a boost in compensation and residuals (particularly pay from streaming distribution), a health plan increase, protection from studios taking advantage of “mini-rooms” (where writers prepare for a show in advance) and guidelines on the use of AI.
In addition to SNL, weeknight stalwarts The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, The Late Show With Stephen Colbert and Late Night With Seth Meyers went dark almost immediately after the Writers Guild called for its first work stoppage in 15 years.
“These shows are hugely important. Even if viewership is down across the board, you’ve got the YouTube and social media reach of all these talk shows and talk show personalities,” says one top marketing executive at a major studio.
Case in point: The amount of exposure Top Gun: Maverick received as a result of Tom Cruise taking then-late night host and buddy James Corden on a joy ride not long before the movie opened in theaters was immeasurable, sparking a frenzy on social media and headlines across the globe. (Cruise returned to The Late Late Show With James Corden for another stunt several weeks after Maverick opened.)
Marketers are rushing to revamp their publicity campaigns sans access to late night. “We have these huge summer movies opening and had very big late night plans, which had to be scrapped,” says the executive. “We’re looking at what audience we’re losing, and where else we can find that audience.”
Universal, for example, would have certainly populated the various late night shows with stars from event pic Fast X, which hits the big screen May 19 in the U.S. Ditto for Disney and The Little Mermaid, which sails into cinemas over Memorial Day weekend. Generally speaking, stars begin making the rounds in earnest during the two weeks before a movie’s opening, and particularly the week of opening.
Morning network news programs also enjoy favored nation status when it comes to publicizing a new movie, although they draw an older audience and are more family-friendly. “Normally, if you have two or three morning shows and two or three late night shows, you’re covered,” says the executive. “But not now.”
Bookers at Today or Good Morning America are no doubt fielding more calls than usual from Hollywood; ditto for the raft of daytime talk shows, such as The View or The Kelly Clarkson Show. (On May 15, Clarkson hosted Fast X star Vin Diesel.) “But daytime television has gotten much older and simply doesn’t have the same online reach,” says the marketing executive. Digital platforms, radio and local news broadcasts are also seeing more action, according to another source.
Another marketer, however, says late night isn’t integral to a movie’s success. “Is it ideal? No,” he says. Others aren’t so sanguine. “The loss of late night is really unfortunate on multiple levels,” says a rival studio executive. “Hopefully the strike will end and things will return to normal.” ” -Hollywoodreporter.com
