Not a new Marvel movie, nor is it another Star Wars pledge.
Disney's most sought-after brand in 2022 is none other than the Kardashian family.
Three months ago, the Disney + service launched "The Kardashians", the recent evolutionary incarnation of the infamous and successful "Keeping Up with the Kardashians".
The premiere episode, which premiered in the US-owned Hollow Service, was the most-watched in the history of the content provider, featuring series such as "The Story of a Slave" and the hit "Only Murderers in the Building" with Selena Gomez and Steve Martin. Most on Disney + platforms in the rest of the world.
"We ran with the previous series for 20 seasons, and we felt it was a round and dignified number to sign this episode of our lives and take some respite - but after a year of not filming, we missed the screen," admits Chris Jenner, the "Mama-Jer" of The family (a combination of the words in English mother and principal), who has been winning over the empire for 15 years.
"The proposal from Disney is an attractive opportunity to move to streaming. We discussed the idea and we all drifted into a new and exciting chapter in our lives."
"Politics is an Option": Kim, Photo: GettyImages
"It's time for someone else to take the reins in a new direction," adds daughter Chloe who sits next to Chris.
"This is an innovative step to upgrade the content we produce, and everything is filmed at a quality level. We show how much we have grown since the same series that came out in 2007. Because when we started we were scared, a lot happens to us in life "In editing, they were wrapped in a sweet color film and forgotten on the side. That's not how life looks in reality. Now we are more exposed, we turn directly to the camera naturally, not just a reality but an authentic documentary series."
The self-righteous and pretentious praise, it must be said, scattered by Chloe Kardashian is not accidental.
A significant change behind the scenes of the new TV variant is that for the first time Mama Jenner and all five of her daughters received credit from producers.
In other words, success has given them unprecedented control over the product and the way they will be presented, and they will take advantage of the situation, they claim, in order to reveal the whole truth, in response to the incessant criticism of them.
Especially remember the moment when Kim and Kendall presented the award for the best reality show in the world at the 2019 Emmy Awards.
Kim praised television with real people behaving naturally, and she and her sister did not seem to understand why the audience burst into an inevitable flurry of ridicule.
When confronted with their involvement in the production of the series, Chloe claims: "We are involved behind the scenes, watching excerpts while editing and commenting, but not from a defensive place but simply to express our opinion on what will make the series better. It's a mirror of our lives, and I personally feel "I went through an emotional growth from watching myself. Kendall and Kylie were little girls when we started, so they're more boundary-setting."
"Want to change reality for them": Kim and her children, Photo: GettyImages
Kendall: "We both chose to maintain privacy in the previous series, but now feel more open to sharing, specifically as co-producers. People think everything is filmed or staged, but in the new series there is no more room for doubt - the chaos is endless."
This deal added the Kardashian family to the top of the inflated contracts of the period.
Although the exact amount transferred from the media giant to the first family of reality has not been published, Variety magazine claims that it is a nine-figure sum.
Suffice it to say that this is a deal equivalent to that of Shonda Reims ("Grey's Anatomy," "Bridgerton") or Ryan Murphy ("American Horror," "Waves") who were kidnapped by Netflix on huge $ 100 million contracts, a direct product. Of the era of the war of streaming between the content giants, and that Disney is very strong in the race.
The contract period is for two seasons of 20 episodes, and needless to say, his renewal will be reflected in a great deal of money that will go into the pockets of the Kardashians.
"I understood what effect I have"
At the press event to promote the series, which took place two weeks ago in Hollywood, the family arrived in a partial lineup of glam teams for each one, who took care of touch-ups of makeup and hair and that the garment would be photographed perfectly, constantly.
The girls of the family are also backed by a huge PR machine, which makes sure that their names are frequently mentioned in all the gossip columns.
The desire for such ostentatious life prevents a huge factory of oil-bearing products.
While they did not invent the capitalist method, they certainly stuck a pioneering stake for contemporary celebrities.
Stay outside.
Ryan Seacrest (left), Photo: GettyImages
In a quick look at the episodes of "The Kardashian Family" on the Disney + service, the eyes are aggressively washed over with loads of marketing content, expensive logos and fashion brands, private jets and exotic destinations, an infinity of luxuries that the average person can only dream of, all under heavy makeup, accessories and accessories .
But with all due respect to Disney, they have earned their crowns on social media.
The family has a total of 1.7 billion followers on Instagram.
Lakim, Kylie, Chloe and Kendall separately have more followers than Netflix has subscribers.
And unlike the streaming giant, they have no signs of weakening.
The 24-year-old Kylie has the third leading Instagram account with 350 million followers, followed by only the official account of the social network with 520 million followers and the footballer Cristiano Ronaldo with 456 million followers.
Kim is currently in seventh place with 319 million followers, overtaking a round of superstars like Beyonce and Justin Bieber.
And with $ 1.8 billion in equity, according to Forbes magazine, Kim is desperate to be taken seriously at last.
For years, the character most identified with the family has been struggling to get rid of the frivolous and provocative star image that became famous thanks to a sex tape.
She followed in the footsteps of her late father, Robert Kardashian, O's attorney.
Jay.
Simpson, and decided to study law.
Along the way, she also joined an activist initiative to help inmates imprisoned for no wrongdoing and came with her Justice Project to the White House during President Trump's tenure.
Many raised an eyebrow at the reality star in the Oval Office.
Following the meeting, Kardashian openly admitted that "this was the moment I realized what an influence I had," adding that politics is definitely an option in the future.
"I got used to being criticized for everything and I'm not really excited about people's reactions. I focus on empathizing with those who need help - and not for public relations," Kardashian says emphatically. When I was a girl, O.J.'s trial was held. And I would sneak into my father's office at home and see documents and evidence he was working with as part of the trial. An injustice in the American legal system. Those who go back to my interviews from the past will see that I have always said that without reality and publicity I would like to be a criminal lawyer or criminal investigator. However, now that I enter this world more, I also hear voices advising me not to Because it 'will damage my image, and it's better if I already donate - that I go to volunteer at some charity'.
"But no one would dare dictate to me what to do," she insists.
"My volunteering is unrelated. I grew up, I am raising four black children, that is, from a persecuted community that is discriminated against in this country. I want to change reality so that my children and the children of all my friends have a different future, hoping we can heal the crooked system. That is my motivation." .
Do you feel responsible as someone who has millions of young followers?
"Absolutely. When I talk about these issues with my children, as little as possible because they are small, or with my sisters or in the White House, I see that the younger generation is interested and develops concern about what is happening in the world. Justice reform is a burning issue in this country. "The next step is politics. At the moment it is not on the agenda, because I understand the seriousness and responsibility involved in such a choice. But I do not rule it out outright."
What was the turning point in your life?
"Age and parenting brought enlightenment with them. I wake up every morning at 5:40, and at 6:00 do an hour of fitness training, before I wake the kids. We sit down for breakfast at 7:40 and at 8:00 we are all out. Home and start the day. I take care of free time, pamper myself with a massage or vacation, but it happens less because of the mothers. My friends know I am no longer in a hurry to parties, my focus has changed. At the end of the day I am with the kids for dinner. I am no longer the same Kim "Who thinks for hours what bikini selfie is worth wearing. But it also has not disappeared from my life. A person must be loyal to who he really is and take everything for fun."
"Mighty Challenge"
Whoever does not enjoy the huge deal with Disney is presenter and producer Ryan Seacrest, who broke out two decades ago as the reality reality show host of "American Idol," and thanks to her popularity climbed up the showbiz ladder as a regular character on screen.
Mediated by the production company he founded, Seacrest developed the original series in 2007, after hearing that Chris Jenner was offering an idea of family reality throughout the city.
In contrast, he was then in a position that immediately opened doors for him, decided to hire a photography team and document a family barbecue, conducted a pilot and sold it to the entertainment channel E!
- and the rest is history.
Without the family, for those who are wondering, the channel is slowly dying out with reruns of past episodes and desperate attempts to produce new reality shows without success.
In September 2020, the family announced its decision to end the series.
In the industry it was clear that this was not a complete parting from the screen, but the parting from Seacrest, to which they owe their economic prosperity, was not expected at all.
The success, by the way, Seacrest was unable to replicate with any other format he produced.
The interpretation of the business breakup is that the golem surpassed its creator and the balance of power was reversed.
The Kardashian family does not need Seacrest, whose influence in the industry has waned.
He was not even part of the farewell special that was finally directed by Andy Cohen, who is generally identified with the reality corporation "Real Housewives".
Now that they are in control of the new home, the Kardashians have decided to obey the fashion order and add one of the hottest producers in Hollywood in recent years, the British Ben Winston - who came on the wave when his professional partner, TV presenter James Corden, screwed into the light night scene in the US. Which came out in 2015 (and in the coming year will come to an end at the request of the talent) was a great success, and so were the carpool karaoke clips, which became a viral hit and a television format in its own right, also signed by Winston. To promote the new album, as well as the "Friends" reunion broadcast.
"I was on vacation, and at my wife's request I put my cell phone in a safe in the room. The last day we woke up in the morning with six missed calls from James Corden. I returned a call and he grumbled 'Where are you going? Kim Kardashian is looking for you!'. Winston at the meeting, who for the most part looked at the Kardashians with admiration, and perhaps also arrogance, for appropriating this televised golden egg.
He too insists that this time it is the real thing.
"For me it was a huge challenge. I knew I wanted to come this time with a documentary approach, because filming reality means you start with the cameras on, but check you fit into an existing situation, not necessarily one captured on camera from the first moment. In one episode, for example, Courtney complains about what "It happened in the previous episode and we chose to insert this passage, because that's really what the family went through at that point in time. It is our duty to bring the true story because this is after all the most famous family in America, the" royal dynasty of the United States that changed the face of culture. "
What challenged you the most?
"The time gap. From the moment there is knowledge of them to the broadcast of the episode that deals with the same matter. At today's pace, to think that it will be several months since something was known until the broadcast - it is stressful. .
"In those cases where news is published a few months before an episode airs, it reports in a very different way from how they will talk about it in the series," points out executive producer Daniel King, who previously worked on the docu-reality "Small Town News" on HBO. The Kardashian family "functions as the showrunner in charge of all day-to-day production.
"Viewers want to see them talk about everything in first person, the series carries the oil and fans come to hear what they have to say," King clarifies, another significant casting in the current round.
"I treat the items on them like a future teaser for what is expected to happen in the series. We are constantly discussing how to make the new series different from the previous one, and the guiding word was 'more'. Raise their openness threshold. Too much to deliver the goods. "
Is it work around the clock?
"No, we shoot in a normal setting of five working days a week. There are specific cases where we shoot a weekend event, and without knowing what exactly will come out of it I will run an overtime photography team. It's not exhausting for a moment, because they are skilled at work. "What we are going for and we will not exceed the budget. But it is important to be dynamic with the Kardashian family. There is great satisfaction in working with the biggest name in the reality genre. They do not see with the eyes."
The clear conclusion from the Kardashians' tenure in E!
Is that the key to success is in having all the companies and family members all under one roof.
All 14 of the family's daughter series that came up over the years did not last long.
Neither Kylie, nor brother Rob and his then-partner stripper Black China, neither Chris' daily entertainment program nor Caitlin Jenner's spin-off, who very conveniently stayed out of the arrangement with Disney.
And what has really changed?
"Viewers will get the girls more individually, each with matters and busy days than others and the nodes where we meet depend on the schedules," Jenner says, "and of course life interferes and things change wildly. I am the mother who supports any separation from husband or baby-daddy and that It happens several times a year. It is impossible to invent what happens to us. "
dcaspi@goldenglobes.org
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