Playwright-turned-TV writer Jessica Goldberg explores a religious cult in "The Path"; comedian Garry Shandling dies at the age of 66; studios threaten to leave Georgia if its governor signs a bill that is considered anti-gay; the music from "Star Trek" is featured in a concert tour.
Disney, AMC, other entertainment giants rally against Georgia's 'religious liberty bill'
There’s a Hollywood term called “runaway production,” which is a way of describing films and TV shows that have left California for states that offer better financial incentives.
The second most popular state for runaway productions is Georgia, which trails New York. Almost 250 movies and TV shows were shot in the Peach State in the 2015 fiscal year, including the AMC series “The Walking Dead” and the upcoming “Captain America” film.
Those productions pumped about $1.7 billion in direct spending into the state's ecomomy.
But now Hollywood is reconsidering shooting anything in Georgia. That’s because Governor Nathan Deal has before him a bill called The Free Exercise Protection Act. Advocates for marriage equality and LGBT rights say the bill is discriminatory, and are vowing to boycott the state if it’s signed into law.
Among those objecting to the proposed law are the Walt Disney Co., Time Warner, and several other major corporations, including Google, Microsoft, Coca-Cola and Verizon.
The Human Rights Campaign, which advocates for LGBT rights, has sent a letter to Gov. Deal signed by several dozen leading actors, filmmakers, producers and studio executives urging him to veto the bill.
Earlier this month, before the current version of the bill was passed, Gov. Deal said he would not sign legislation he believed could be used to discriminate. Asked for comment today, a spokesperson for the governor would only say he "has been very clear as to where he stands on this issue." Deal has until May 3 to sign or veto the bill.
Sarah Warbelow, legal director of the Human Rights Campaign joins the show to talk about what the bill says, why so many people are against it, and what its passage would mean for people living and working in the state of Georgia.
'Star Trek' music tour with live orchestra headed for Los Angeles
"Star Trek" is 50 years old this year. (Talk about “live long and prosper.”) One way you can celebrate the golden anniversary of the beloved franchise is by hearing a live orchestra play music from five decades of movies and TV series. "Star Trek: The Ultimate Voyage" is a 100-city concert tour, which docks in L.A. on April 1-2.
According to William Shatner, who played Captain James T. Kirk on the original TV series and in six feature films:
Think of the urge to go to the moon. Why the heck would you want to go to the moon? It’s there and it’s irritating us, ’cause we’re not there, and it looks like you can grab the moon, especially on those nights when the moon looms up, and you think, My god, I could just take a jump and I’d be on the moon. People want to go to Mars! Why? Why would you jeopardize your life? Burn up in a cinder, and be lost until the sun explodes? What is in us, human beings, to want to do that? And that’s what the themes of these great composers contain.
“These great composers” are the dozen or so who gave musical voice to Shatner’s fictional home aboard the Starship Enterprise. "Star Trek: The Ultimate Voyage" was conceived of as a way to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the enduring and enormous galaxy that Gene Roddenberry created back in 1966.
“Now the audience is not only taken in by the scene,” says Shatner, “but all of a sudden they’re aware that there’s music behind what’s going on on the screen — which they may not have, and frequently are never aware. But the music sustains, supports, increases the emotion.”
This touring show celebrates all of it, from the exotica theme for the original series written by Alexander Courage, to iconic moments of score for the small screen both old and new, to the majestic, symphonic pieces written for the Federation’s adventures on the big screen. It’s a broad and eclectic spectrum of music, but if there’s one composer who really defined what "'Star Trek" music is, it was Jerry Goldsmith, who scored five of the feature films and main themes for two of the TV series.
“I would say he helped define it, and it became a template,” says Shatner, who hired Goldsmith to compose the score when he moved from the captain’s chair to the director’s chair on "Star Trek V: The Final Frontier."
"The Ultimate Voyage" is performed by a touring orchestra and conducted by Justin Freer, the founder of CineConcerts. He’s conducted scores to accompany screenings for, among other titles, "The Godfather" and "Gladiator," and this summer he’ll do so with the first "Harry Potter" movie at the Hollywood Bowl.
“With the advent of technology, it’s become a lot easier to present these types of things,” Freer says. “Whereas 15 years ago it was very difficult to synchronize an entire score-to-picture in a live setting.”
Freer had a special interest in "Star Trek," not just because he was a fan of the franchise, but as a one-time apprentice of Jerry Goldsmith.
“For [Goldsmith], it wasn’t about film music, it wasn’t about television music — it was about music,” Freer says. “And it was about form and harmony and melody. And with those tools you could approach a scene, and hopefully extrapolate the emotion, which is what was so important to him —always finding an emotional connection to what was happening onscreen that you couldn’t see.”
Freer says this concert isn’t just for Trekkies — it’s for anyone who enjoys great music. And Shatner agrees:
These very talented people, in another era, they would have written symphonies, oratorios . . . Their unique musical talent is the equivalent of any musical talent in the past ages, which didn’t have the conceit of writing it to picture. I’m sure you will agree with me when you hear it that it stands on its own as wonderful music.
"Star Trek: The Ultimate Voyage" will be performed at the Pantages Theater on April 1-2.
'The Path' creator Jessica Goldberg made a new religion for the new Hulu show
The new Hulu series “The Path” follows a group of people who have committed their lives to the spiritual teachings known as “The Meyerist Movement.”
It’s not exactly a cult, not exactly a religion, but it makes for an interesting premise for a TV show. Series creator Jessica Goldberg launched her career as a playwright, but eventually started working in television, most recently writing for the NBC show “Parenthood.” Hulu's “The Path” is the first series she’s created.
The Frame's John Horn spoke with Goldberg about creating a fictional religious movement and what inspired her to make the show.
INTERVIEW HIGHLIGHTS
I grew up in Woodstock. At that time, in the '70s, it was a community with a lot of seekers. We had people who followed the Rajneesh, we had people who were Sufi, and I was always taken by people seeking to have lives of meaning through faith. So when I went to build my own religion, I pulled a lot from Eastern religions, but I have to say that there's a lot of Catholicism in there, there's a lot of Christianity in there.
I feel like the base of most religions is quiet beautiful — like the basic message — and it's the people who corrupt them. When we got a writers' room together, we really pulled from all different religions, but we tried to make something sort of beautiful at the base of it.
There's a scene in the show where the leader of the group, played by Hugh Dancy, is preaching to his followers and he talks about Plato's "Allegory of the Cave." What inspired you to use this as a reference point in the show?
Well, it was actually the leaping off point for the show. I had... lost my frame at one point in my life, like within a year I got divorced and my father died, and I just had this moment where I was at the farmer's market with my daughter and it all just left like shadows. Everything just seemed like bullshit. I think because I had grown up without a system for what happens when you lose your way, I became sort of obsessed with, at that time, What if I had one?
So I kept thinking of Plato's "Allegory of the Cave." Writing is sort of mysterious, you don't know how you get from point A to point B exactly, but it was a world that I wanted to write about.
Even though you're making up a fictional religion or movement, as you're thinking about the components that make up the movement, are you finding some personal answers to what sounded like a spiritual crisis that you were undergoing?
I think so. For me, writing ends up being a frame, so I was so lucky that I got to be — for three years — in this project, and that has become a way out of whatever existential crisis I was in then.
"The Path" debuts on Hulu on March 30.
Garry Shandling, comic, 'Larry Sanders Show' creator, dies
Garry Shandling, who as an actor and comedian pioneered a pretend brand of self-focused docudrama with "The Larry Sanders Show," has died.
Shandling was taken from his Los Angeles home by ambulance Thursday morning for an unspecified medical emergency and pronounced dead at a hospital. He was 66.
Lt. David Smith of the Los Angeles County coroner's office said Shandling's death appeared to be from natural causes and no autopsy was planned. No official cause of death determination has been made yet, but medical records will be used to determine how the comedian died, Smith said.
Alan Nierob, Shandling's spokesman, said doctors believe the comedian died from a heart attack. Shandling had no history of heart trouble, Nierob said, but doctors at the hospital where Shandling died Thursday said it appeared he suffered a fatal heart attack.
Shandling created the 1990s HBO series "The Larry Sanders Show," which starred him as an egomaniacal late-night TV host with an angst-ridden show-biz life behind the scenes.
The Chicago-born Shandling moved from a short stint in the advertising business to comedy writing and standup. His big break happened in 1981 when he had a successful appearance on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson:
He began to experiment with TV comedy with his first series, "It's Garry Shandling's Show," a Showtime sitcom that called attention to its artificial nature with the actors routinely breaking the fourth wall.
In 1992, he created his comic masterpiece with "The Larry Sanders Show," which starred him as an egomaniacal late-night TV host with an anxiety-ridden show-biz life behind the scenes. Here's a scene with Shandling and Jeffrey Tambor:
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This story was updated with the coroner official's and spokesman's comments on cause of death.