Studios & streamers donate to LA wildfires relief

Warner Bros Discovery, Sony Group Corporation, Netflix, and Amazon are donating tens of millions of dollars to LA wildfires recovery and rebuilding efforts.

The donations come as the ravaged Los Angeles region was bracing for the return of high winds early on Tuesday morning that were forecast to blow through Wednesday. The National Weather Service issued a red flag warning and said there was extreme fire danger.

Warner Bros Discovery has donated $15m to ”immediate response and rebuilding efforts”, and has been paying for hotel rooms and temporary housing, rental cars, meals, and counselling for more than 1,000 employees impacted. The company is setting up an onsite emergency relief centre.

Sony Group Corporation said it will donate $5m to relief organisations supporting first responders, community relief and rebuilding efforts, and employee assistance programmes. Chairman and CEO Kenichiro Yoshida and president, COO and CFO Hiroki Totoki said the company’s “roots run deep in this community”.

Netflix and Amazon’s entertainment companies (Amazon MGM Studios, Prime Video, and Amazon Music) and Amazon Web Services, Ring and Whole Foods Market, have each donated $10m. Last week Disney and Paramount both donated.

On Monday evening, American Cinema Editors postponed its annual awards gala, the 75th Annual ACE Eddie Awards, from January 18 until a later date. As previously announced, the event will pivot from a black tie, red carpet event to a “Come as You Are” community-building fundraiser with a portion of ticket sales being donated to LA wildfire relief. The organisation’s private annual nominee cocktail party on 16 January is also being rescheduled.  

Writers Guild of America postponed Monday’s nominations announcement, marking the second time it has pushed back the original nominations date. “Due to ongoing wildfires in the Los Angeles area, we will be delaying the announcement of Writers Guild Award nominees until further notice.” The ceremony is scheduled for 15 February in New York and Los Angeles. 

Earlier on Monday, the Academy announced a revised nominations voting and announcement schedule, with the window to cast ballots pushed back a second time to 17 January and the announcement now due on 23 January. The 97th Oscars are scheduled to take place on 2 March.

Meanwhile American Society of Cinematographers postponed its nominations announcement a second time. The awards show is set for 23 February in Los Angeles. On Sunday the Producers Guild of America postponed its nominations a second time until sometime this week. Its awards ceremony is scheduled for 8 February in Los Angeles.

After clear skies across much of Los Angeles on Monday, winds are forecast to reach 35mph to 55mph by Tuesday morning. While not as ferocious as last week’s winds, the Service said the weather could be severe enough to potentially cause “explosive fire growth”. Authorities expect Thursday to be a transition day, with cooler weather and higher humidity weather expected to offer some respite by the weekend. 

According to reports, the Palisades and Eaton fires have claimed 24 lives, with officials warning the death toll is likely to rise.

Cal Fire, California’s department of forestry and fire protection, said the Palisades fire has engulfed 23,713 acres and Eaton 14,117 since the fires began on 24 January. Firefighters have been making progress in battling the deadly blazes, which are 14% and 33% contained, respectively. Cal Fire said more than 12,300 structures have been destroyed.

California Governor Gavin Newsom has asked the state legislature to approve a $2.5bn aid package.

This story originally appeared in our sister title ScreenDaily