If production companies and unionized writers don’t reach a new contract by midnight tonight, the scribes will put down their No. 2 pencils and strike for the first time in 15 years.

The stalemate reflects how streaming has upended TV and film, with writers feeling like they aren’t seeing any of the plusses from the emergence of all the plusses.

Depending on how long the strike lasts (if it does happen), it could send Hollywood into a deep freeze: Series might go off the air, productions might get delayed, more reality shows would flood the airwaves, and the California economy could lose billions.

What are the writers’ gripes?

They argue that Hollywood’s pivot to streaming worsened their working conditions and made it hard to earn a middle-class income as a writer. Here’s why…

• Shorter series: In the previous TV era, shows like How I Met Your Mother reliably churned out seasons with 20+ episodes. Now, streamers are prioritizing seasons with eight-to-12 episodes.
• Residuals: Historically, if you had a writing credit on a TV show and that show was aired as a rerun, you’d earn a royalty payment known as a residual. Streaming has disrupted that income stream.
• Mini rooms: In the streaming age, writers often work in “mini rooms” where they crank out scripts at low wages for shows that may or may not be made.

So, there’s a lot of frustration. Last month, 97.85% of eligible members of the Writers Guild of America, which represents most of the working writers in Hollywood, voted to authorize a strike if an agreement with major studios wasn’t reached. That’s the most support for a work stoppage in the union’s history.

What happens if they strike? Studios have been stockpiling scripts ahead of the May 1 deadline, so scripted TV shows would continue for awhile. But late-night shows and other topical programs like SNL could be impacted almost immediately.

During the last strike, which lasted 100 days from 2007–2008, Conan O’Brien filled the airtime by seeing how long he could spin his wedding ring. More importantly, it cost the LA economy over $2 billion, according to the Milken Institute.

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Jeffrey Epstein’s private calendar shows meetings with bigwigs. The late, disgraced financier had meetings with the future top lawyer at Goldman Sachs, the future director of the CIA, professor Noam Chomsky, and other prominent individuals years after he became a convicted sex offender. That’s according to the WSJ, which reviewed Epstein’s schedules and emails that show the arranged meetings. When asked by the WSJ why they planned to meet with Epstein, most of these people “told the Journal they visited Epstein for reasons related to his wealth and connections,” the paper said.

Biden promised to bring home detained Americans. In his speech at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, President Biden said the White House is working “every day” to secure the release of WSJ journalist Evan Gershkovich, who has been detained in Russia on what the US calls bogus spy charges. Biden also pressed for the release of other Americans detained abroad, including freelancer Austin Tice and former Marine Paul Whelan. As part of his comedy set, Biden poked fun at his age, blasted Fox News, and took a swipe at fired CNN host Don Lemon.

Authorities search for Texas shooting suspect. Police have expanded their search for a man who allegedly killed five of his neighbors in Cleveland, TX, on Friday night. According to police, neighbors approached this man and asked him to stop shooting his gun in his backyard because they had an infant who was trying to sleep. The man got upset after hearing this, and walked into their house and killed five of them, including an eight-year-old, with an AR-15-style rifle, police said. The FBI special agent in charge acknowledged authorities have “zero leads” about where the suspect is hiding.

Another one bites the dust: Authorities seized First Republic Bank this morning and sold most of its assets to JPMorgan, the country’s largest bank.

First Republic Bank’s collapse marks the second-biggest banking failure in US history, topping Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse in March. Like SVB, First Republic is a midsized California-based lender with a specific client base—in this case, wealthy individuals—that made it particularly exposed to the shockwaves of the recent banking turmoil.

First Republic tried to weather the storm itself, but after customers withdrew more than $100 billion in deposits in Q1 and its share price plunged nearly 75% last week alone, the government had to hang the “closed” sign on the door.

But by quickly finding a buyer over the weekend, the government avoided the unsavory tactic it had to deploy for SVB: protecting deposits over the federally insured cap of $250,000. JPMorgan said it will assume First Republic’s $92 billion in deposits, which is a welcome outcome since making SVB depositors whole cost the FDIC’s Deposit Insurance Fund about $20 billion.

Big picture: This government-brokered acquisition is the latest in a series of bigger banks swallowing failing, smaller banks at a discount this spring. First Citizens collected the scraps of SVB, New York Community Bank snatched up assets of Signature Bank, and UBS absorbed crosstown rival Credit Suisse.

Met Gala: One of the most exclusive parties in the world pops off tonight at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC. Did we mention it was exclusive? Individual tickets are reportedly going for $50,000 and a table costs $300,000—but even shelling out that kind of dough won’t guarantee you an invite, because Met Gala mastermind and Vogue editor Anna Wintour must give her blessing to every attendee. This year’s theme: fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld.

Fed meeting: With inflation still ripping, the Federal Reserve is expected to announce its 10th straight interest rate hike at the conclusion of its meeting on Wednesday. It’s possible the Fed could hit pause after this one.

The coronation of Charles: On Saturday, King Charles III will become the 40th monarch crowned at Westminster Abbey since 1066. The ceremony will involve all types of rituals, many of them religious in nature, but it does not make Charles the king—he became the monarch after his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, died last year.

Everything else…

• May the Fourth be with you on Thursday.
• Cinco de Mayo is on Friday.
• The Kentucky Derby is on Saturday.
• The second rounds of the NHL and NBA playoffs rev up this week. Get healthy soon, Embiid .

Stat: The otherwordly journey of struggling Italian American plumbers from Brooklyn just smashed through $1 billion at the global box office. The Super Mario Bros. Movie hit the milestone yesterday, 26 days after its release. It’s in rare company: The film, from Illumination and Universal, is the fifth movie since the Covid pandemic began to hit the threshold and the 10th animated movie ever to gross $1 billion.

Quote: “It all went south.”

Twitter’s former CEO Jack Dorsey is not impressed with how the current CEO is running the ship. Writing on Bluesky, the Twitter rival he helped create, Dorsey said that Musk should’ve backed out of the deal and that the board shouldn’t have forced him to buy it. It’s a total 180 from last year, when Dorsey said Musk was “the singular solution I trust” to lead the company. Bluesky, meanwhile, got a lot of buzz last week after prominent folks like AOC, Dril, and Chrissy Teigen joined the platform.

Read: Homeless in the city where he was once mayor. (New York Times)

Buttery, flaky goodness: A quest to find the best croissant in Paris. (YouTube)

Career advice: An argument for why you shouldn’t work at a startup.

This plaque is meta: It was commemorated to commemorate its own commemoration.

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Turntable: A “V,” a “G,” and five other letters walked into a bar. The bartender asks, “Are you part of a Turntable puzzle?” They say yes and direct the bartender to find the hidden words here.

Skyscrapers throughout history

On this day in 1931, the Empire State Building in NYC opened and stood as the tallest building in the world until 1970, when it was dethroned by the World Trade Center’s North Tower.

This quiz is all about the world’s tallest structures throughout history. We’ll give you a year, and you have to name the tallest structure of any kind in the world at that time. Some hints will be provided.

1. 500
2. 1881 (hint: It’s in Germany.)
3. 1885 (hint: It’s in the US.)
4. 1895 (hint: It’s not in the US.)
5. 1930 (hint: Back in the US)
6. 2023

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500: Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt

1881: Cologne Cathedral

1885: Washington Monument in Washington, DC

1895: Eiffel Tower in Paris

1930: Chrysler Building in NYC

2023: Burj Khalifa in Dubai

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*Source: https://www.travelagentcentral.com/your-business/stats-62-americans-planning-spend-more-travel-2023