Apple nixes plans to premiere Apple TV+ content at SXSW 2020 due to virus

Apple will not attend the SXSW 2020 festival in March due to ongoing concerns over the spread of COVID-19, leaving three Apple TV+ originals without an official premiere venue.

Apple was originally slated to debut Apple TV+ original productions "Beastie Boys Story," "Central Park" and "Home" at the SXSW 2020 Film Festival, but the company is no longer participating in the annual event, reports Variety.

Also canceled is a discussion with "Little America" creators Kumail Nanjiani and Emily V. Gordon.

Despite a number of high-profile withdrawals, including Amazon Studios, Facebook, Intel, TikTok and Twitter, organizers still plan to hold the event from March 13 through 22.

The Spike Jonze-directed "Beastie Boys Story" was announced in January and tells the story of the Grammy Award-winning group through the lens of band members Mike Diamond and Adam Horovitz.

"Central Park" is an animated series about a family of caretakers who live and work in New York's Central Park. Created by Emmy Award-winning animator Loren Bouchard ("Bob's Burgers"), the show is executive produced by Nora Smith ("Bob's Burgers") and stars Josh Gad, Leslie Odom Jr., Tituss Burgess, Kristen Bell, Stanley Tucci, Daveed Diggs and Kathryn Hahn.

The third show initially set to premiere at SXSW, "Home," is a docuseries that takes a "never-before-seen" look inside the world's most innovative homes and "unveils the boundary-pushing imagination of the visionaries who dared to dream and build them."

What Apple has in store for the three originals is unclear. Each was expected to hit Apple TV+ in the days or weeks following their premiere at SXSW 2020.

5 Comments

bestkeptsecret 13 Years · 4289 comments

About 4 years ago

I just read that Chuck Palahniuk was developing a series for Apple called Best Intentions, which he described as a darker Black Mirror. I hope that comes to fruition!

badmonk 11 Years · 1336 comments

"Right now there's no evidence that closing South by Southwest or other activities is going to make this community safer," Mark Escott, the interim medical director and health authority for Austin Public Health said in a press conference, according to CNN. "We're constantly monitoring that situation."

That seems like an untenable statement at the beginning of a viral epidemic that has a twenty fold higher mortality rate than the flu. Conferences like this that have people fly in from all over the world to be confined in close quarters with sleep deprivation and too much alcohol consumption and than return to locations around the world seems like a bad idea. I wonder who this guy is?

Beats 4 Years · 3073 comments

bestkeptsecret said:

I just read that Chuck Palahniuk was developing a series for Apple called Best Intentions, which he described as a darker Black Mirror. I hope that comes to fruition!

A darker version of Black Mirror? Is that possible? Maybe it'll be like The Purge. Where did you see this? I can't find any info.

Beats said:

bestkeptsecret said:

I just read that Chuck Palahniuk was developing a series for Apple called Best Intentions, which he described as a darker Black Mirror. I hope that comes to fruition!

A darker version of Black Mirror? Is that possible? Maybe it'll be like The Purge. Where did you see this? I can't find any info.

This is where the interview is:
https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/authors/profiles/article/81751-is-chuck-palahniuk-too-big-to-fail.html
This is the section from the article:
His third, Invisible Monsters, is in series development now—one of six TV projects that he’s currently working on, including an anthology series for Apple TV titled Best Intentions (Palahniuk describes the show as “like Black Mirror but darker”).

darkvader 15 Years · 1146 comments

badmonk said:

"Right now there's no evidence that closing South by Southwest or other activities is going to make this community safer," Mark Escott, the interim medical director and health authority for Austin Public Health said in a press conference, according to CNN. "We're constantly monitoring that situation."

That seems like an untenable statement at the beginning of a viral epidemic that has a twenty fold higher mortality rate than the flu. Conferences like this that have people fly in from all over the world to be confined in close quarters with sleep deprivation and too much alcohol consumption and than return to locations around the world seems like a bad idea. I wonder who this guy is?

Mark E. Escott, MD, MPH, FACEP, NRP

Dr. Escott serves as the EMS System Medial Director for the City of Austin and Travis County, Texas and is an Assistant Professor in the Section of Emergency Medicine at the Baylor College of Medicine. He also is appointed as a Senior Lecturer at Flinders University in Adelaide, Australia. Dr. Escott was elected Chair-elect of the Section of EMS and Prehospital Medicine of the American College of Emergency Physicians in 2015 and serves on the EMS Committee of ACEP. He is Board Certified in Emergency Medicine and Subspecialty Board Certified in EMS. He has published numerous articles, abstracts, papers, and presentations related to EMS, Disaster Management, and Public Health.

Prior to his position in Austin, Dr. Escott served as the Director of the Division of EMS and Disaster Medicine and EMS Fellowship Director for Baylor College of Medicine, Health Authority for the Montgomery County (Texas) Public Health District and Medical Director for the Montgomery County Hospital District EMS, Harris County ESD #48, and San Jacinto Community College-North. In addition, he served as the Medical Director for the EMS Service and EMS education program at Rice University which he founded as an undergraduate student in 1996 after completing his training as a Firefighter and Paramedic.
http://www.austintexas.gov/page/medical-directors-and-staff-biographies
So, just as a guess, probably somebody who is likely to understand the situation better than you do.