Latest news with #NightSchool
Perth Now
03-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Perth Now
Hannah Montana's Jason Earles reveals how Disney gave him the 'worst contract ever': 'I got f*****'
Jason Earles "got f*****" by his Disney Channel contract. The 48-year-old actor found fame when he was cast as Miley Cyrus' older brother on the hit sitcom 'Hannah Montana' in the late 2000s and while he earned "good" money at the time, the technicalities of his contract meant that he didn't make as much as he necessarily should have done through royalties. Speaking on the 'Night School' podcast, he said: "This is the reality of the situation. They are really good-paying jobs. Before being on 'Hannah', I was an extra, a stand-in and a substitute teacher, and being on 'Hannah' paid significantly more than those jobs. That being said, when 'Hannah' was on, the contract was before SAG and AFTRA merged, so it was an AFTRA basic cable agreement. "So, because of that, that is like the worst television contract that you can be under. "One of the ways you make your money is through residuals. So if they air the episode a bunch of times, you make money on the back side. "For 'Hannah', because it was that agreement, whatever they pay you above scale, they can credit back in your residuals. "Let's for easy numbers, say that scale as a series regular is $5,000 an episode. And then, because you're whatever, you sign your deal and they pay you $10,000 an episode. "So what happens is, they pay you $10,000, they air the episode, and the first $5,000 of residuals you should have gotten, they keep because they paid you upscale. "The double whammy was, at the time, usually a reuse, is that they aired it once, and it counts as one. "The after agreement said that if the episode was aired at noon, there was a full 24 hours to air as many times as they wanted, and it counted as one use. So I got f*****. "You're getting double d*****." Despite this, Jason is still "grateful" for the progression that the series gave him in his career and while he doesn't have the "generational wealth" that he feels he deserves after being a part of the billion-dollar franchise, he is "doing better" than others. He said: "All that being said, we did 101 episodes, we did a feature film, that show led to 'Kickin It', which was another 88 episodes. So on volume alone, and I'm a frugal guy, I saved money, and I'm doing fine. "I live in an apartment instead of a house, I feel like I should have generational wealth based on the 'Hannah' success. I don't. "But "I'm doing better than a lot of people, I'm doing better than my parents. So in some ways, I could be bitter or I could be grateful. "And I choose to be grateful. "I hope that I have more opportunities to make up the difference now that the contracts are better."
FACT
22-04-2025
- Entertainment
- FACT
Kevin Hart brings big laughs to Jeddah
The show is part of the comic's Acting My Age tour. Saudi Arabia has been pulling out all the stops when it comes to entertainment. The Kingdom is becoming a hotspot for global superstars with Jennifer Lopez and Usher setting the stage on fire in Jeddah last weekend. And now, comedy heavyweight Kevin Hart is making his way to the coastal city. Taking place on 1 May, Kevin Hart will be performing live at the Abadi AlJohar Arena. If you're a fan of stand-up comedy, you're in for a treat with sharp-witted punchlines and observation by the man himself. For the unversed, Kevin Hart is a big name in the comedy world. Hailing from Pennsylvania, he first stepped into the industry under the name Lil Kev. While he had a rough start, he's currently an Emmy and Grammy-nominated actor and comedian, known for hits like Fatherhood, Night School, Ride Along, Think Like a Man, Soul Plane, and the Jumanji series — to name a few. And his upcoming performance is expected to be nothing short of spectacular. Kevin Hart is no stranger to Saudi Arabia. He's performed in Riyadh before and has been making regular visits to the Kingdom since 2023. So his upcoming stop in Jeddah — part of his Acting My Age Tour — is definitely one to look out for as he gears up to have you rolling on the floor laughing. After Jeddah, Kevin Hart is heading over to Abu Dhabi, where he'll be performing at Etihad Arena as part of the Abu Dhabi Comedy Season as well. Tickets for Kevin Hart's Jeddah show go on sale later today on WeBook, so make sure you secure your passes and enjoy an evening full of unstoppable laughter. GO: Visit for more information.
WIRED
10-04-2025
- Entertainment
- WIRED
You Can Play the New Game in ‘Black Mirror'—and It's an Adorable Nightmare
Apr 10, 2025 12:01 AM The creator of Thronglets , featured in season 7 of the Netflix series, says the game makes it feel like a Mogwai 'effed up your life.' Still from Black Mirror: Thronglets. Courtesy of Netflix When Charlie Brooker's Netflix series about tech-driven dystopias, Black Mirror , returns, it will do so with a surprising new twist: a mobile video game tie-in called Thronglets . Think Tamagotchi, but psychologically threatening. Netflix showed off both a sneak peek of the new season of Black Mirror and the accompanying life sim game from Night School Studios during a private event in March during the Game Developers Conference. Sean Krankel, cofounder of Night School Studios and Netflix's newly appointed general manager of narrative, says the team worked closely with Brooker to create 'an artifact' from the show people could experience as an extension of its story. 'The way I came back to the team and I was like, oh my God, imagine if you brought a Mogwai home and it effed up your life after you watched Gremlins ,' Krankel says. 'That's the vibe that we really wanted to create there.' Night School, which Netflix acquired in 2021, is well-versed in creating games based in TV universes. Previously it worked on a tie-in to USA Network's Mr. Robot ; the studio was also working on an unannounced game which would have connected to Netflix's Stranger Things before the title's publisher, Telltale Games, abruptly shut down. Working with Brooker, Krankel says, had been a dream of his after seeing the 2018 Black Mirror film, Bandersnatch . 'It was designed so well that even when you finished it, it was immediately dangling the carrot to come back and play it and get stuck in that loop,' Krankel says. 'They showed a real gamelike design sophistication to it.' Unlike the series, which typically tells different stories about the perils of technology and near-future dystopias through anthology, Black Mirror: Bandersnatch was a stand-alone film and a fully interactive experience. Viewers make choices throughout the movie that shape its story, clicking options using their TV remote much like they would click buttons in a video game. Krankel says that after getting wind that Brooker would be returning to that world—in this season of Black Mirror , Will Poulter reprises his role as video game developer Colin Ritman—he knew it was a project Night School wanted to be a part of. The season 7 episode, titled 'Plaything,' is an homage to—or possibly a horror story retelling of—Brooker's time as a video game journalist in the 1990s. Brooker wrote for a games magazine called PC Zone, which plays a role in the show, and once had to review a life sim game called Creatures . 'That's as autobiographical as this gets, because then all sorts of horrible things happen,' Brooker says. The episode's protagonist pays a visit to Poulter's character, who sets him down the show's dark path. Brooker wanted 'the juxtaposition of making it look as cute as possible and having quite disturbing and dark things.' (It has to be said that the show's depiction of a games journalist—a greasy, socially awkward white guy whose stammering and social ineptitude border parody—is so eye-poppingly painful I can't decide whether to be a little insulted at the stereotype or ask to hear Brooker's horror stories over a stiff drink.) It wasn't the first time Krankel had pitched a collaboration to Brooker; he says the Black Mirror creator had been 'meh' about previous ideas. ('Surely I didn't 'meh,'' Brooker says.) But the episode featured a 'Tamagotchi gone really wrong life sim' type of game, Krankel says, that Night School had a good feel for. You raise the thronglets, and then they terrorize you. Courtesy of Netflix There is no escape. Courtesy of Netflix Thronglets —the game has the same name in real life as it does in the show—is sort of like Stardew Valley or Zoo Tycoon . You raise tiny yellow creatures, the thronglets, as they multiply. You alone are responsible for keeping them clean, happy, and fed. Unfortunately, from what I've played of the mobile game, that's a task that spirals out of control very quickly. The pesky little thronglets remember when you let them go hungry or bored; as their numbers grow, they'll start to die if you can't act quickly enough. 'Charlie said something early on that we wrote on the wall very quickly: 'Thronglets are adorable and horrible,' and so that is the game,' Krankel says. 'We want you to fall in love with this character. We want you to multiply them, but guess what—you're also raising them … these creatures are a reflection of you, ultimately.' Black Mirro r's new season premiers on Netflix today, April 10. Krankel wouldn't disclose many details about how Thronglets ties into the 'Plaything' episode but did say there are ways in which 'the game talks to the show and vice versa … there are things attached to the show that will talk back to the game.'
