This week host Paul Dergarabedian is joined by Pete Hammond, a renowned film critic and cinema expert, who is currently the Chief Film Critic for Deadline Hollywood and has served as Deadline’s Awards Editor and Columnist for the past 10 years. Listen as Pete shares how the film industry has changed since the beginning of the pandemic and how some of those changes have benefited the industry. Then stick around as Pete and Paul discuss what theaters and the industry as a whole can do to draw audiences in as more theaters begin to open up.

This episode covers:

• Memorial Day Weekend box office hopes and predictions
• Why the movie theater experience is sacred
• How the film industry has benefited from the pandemic
• What the industry needs to do to draw audiences to theaters
• How Pete keeps his cool when interviewing the biggest names in the business

ABOUT THIS EPISODE'S GUESTS:

Pete Hammond, a renowned film critic and cinema expert, is currently Chief Film Critic for Deadline Hollywood. For the past ten years, he has also been Awards Editor and Columnist for Deadline (previously he was doing a similar column for the Los Angeles Times/“The Envelope”) and has served as film critic for Boxoffice Magazine, Backstage Magazine, Hollywood.com, Movieline and Maxim magazine in addition to being a frequent contributor to Variety. He is the recipient of five Emmy nominations for his TV writing, is the winner of the 1996 and 2013 Publicists Guild of America’s Press Award, and has served on the Board of Governors for the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences representing writers for six years.

Don't forget to rate, review, and subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts!