The Edit: August is coming in hot 🔥

We made it through this first heated week of August. Hello from The Auteur Edit, a roundup of what’s keeping me sane, inspired and awestruck in the madness that is the media arts business. Here’s the list this week.* Emmys, Emmys, Emmys. Since Emmy nominations are on the minds of just about everyone in Tinsel Town, it’s no surprise that The Hollywood Reporter’s Awards columnist Scott Feinberg is weighing in with a few predictions. He provides some great analysis with a focus on the newest competitors — streamers — and how they’ll fare among the competition. Check it out.* 17.7 MILLION! That’s not the mega-millions jackpot. That’s the number of people who watched the second prime-time broadcast television installment of what’s been dubbed the January 6th hearings. While that’s down from the first hearing earlier this summer, it’s still the second largest viewing audience for Congress in prime time, according to reports. I opined on the topic just before the first hearing. (FYI: My synopsis has more to do with how the hearings are being covered rather than whether it’s relevant.) Here’s a link to my take in case you missed it.* What diversity in marketing looks like. A lot of folks say they want to be more inclusive when it comes to media messaging and marketing efforts, but not everyone gets it right. In some cases, many don’t even know where to start. There’s a great piece of analysis with a complete data readout on what inclusive marketing looks like, over at AdWeek, and it’s giving me all the feels. It really sums up what I’ve been opining about in this regard, with the data to boot.* The Dragons are back. Late-summer temps are in the 90’s, folks are still on vacay, and new television programming (sans streaming) is still on hiatus, which means the summer viewing season is as dry as Arizona. But I’m not complaining since this is actually the time I can catch up on some of my streaming. But I’m already thinking about the Fall television season binging lineup that’ll start when HBO’s House of the Dragon premieres on the 21st. If you haven’t seen the trailer yet — it’s fire — as the kids would say. As for the box office, I am WAY behind and have not seen a single new summer release, so I don’t have any recs for you on that front, but here’s the gem 💎 we’ve all been anticipating — the official trailer to the Game of Thrones prequel called House of the Dragon, and boy do we have a goodie to look forward to later this month. Take a look:* Brunson’s television art mimics life. As someone who teaches a Film and Television course, I have to appreciate — and analyze — when good shows chronicle real life with characters we can all connect with. In this case none does it better than the breakout hit series Abbott Elementary on ABC, which shines a comedic light on the struggles of public school teaching. Brunson, who is the first Black woman ever to receive three Emmy noms in a single year, is the show’s creator, producer and lead character (yes, girl, yes). Take a listen to The Hollywood Reporter’s awards analyst, Scott Feinberg (again), this time as he speaks with Quinta Brunson about her inspiration for Abbott Elementary, in this insightful podcast episode that just dropped.* Some studio progress. Any guesses on what the photo is in this last item on my list? I spent the week working with the vendor doing a custom build for on new set piece for our studio. I’m beyond ecstatic, despite a small glitch earlier in the week that pushed delivery back. The selections I made are now finalized!! And I can give you this little sneak peek of some of the materials (hint: one of the walls). Don’t worry, it’ll all come together and make sense when it’s completed.Finally, I love hearing feedback. Tell me what you like/don’t like and wish to see more of in these newsletters. Also, if you know someone who’d like to get a copy of my newsletter, share it and encourage them to sign up.In the meantime, thanks for your support. Have a great weekend. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.tarawall.com/subscribe