Entertainment
Maisie Williams Admits She Paid an Etsy Witch to Help With Her Career
Maisie Williams knows a thing or two about witchcraft beyond her work in “Practical Magic 2,” admitting she once hired a digital mystic.
Specifically, at Wednesday’s European Premiere for “Practical Magic 2,” the “Game of Thrones” alum shared that she once hired an “Etsy witch” to assist in her career.
“I paid an Etsy witch to give me a role. To help me manifest a role in a movie,” she said to British Vogue during a red carpet interview. “And she told me some things that I had to say every night.”
Per Williams, she followed the online spellcaster’s instruction, as she said the words “every night.” However, the spell didn’t work, with Williams quipping, “It didn’t happen!”
While Williams may not be sold on the Etsy witch industry, the actress confessed that she does partake in superstitions.
“I don’t like to walk over the three consecutive drains,” she said, referring to the British superstition that it’s bad luck. “I don’t swear by it. I’ve done it. Listen, I’ve partaken. But it makes me feel uncomfortable every time, even if I sometimes end up walking into ongoing traffic. I just have to. I stick with that one.”
She added: “It makes me feel like everything is going to be fine. It makes me feel like I have control over the uncontrollable, which I don’t.”
Watch Williams’ red carpet interview below.
Williams stars opposite Sandra Bullock, Nicole Kidman and Joey King in the sequel to the 1998 romantic fantasy “Practical Magic.” She steps into the role of Antonia Owens, one of Bullock’s onscreen daughters, taking over the part from the original film’s child star, Alexandra Artrip.
In an August Instagram post, Artrip shared that she “retired from acting after the film,” but voiced her support for her onscreen sister, Evan Rachel Wood, who did not return to “Practical Magic 2” to reprise her role of Kylie Owens.
“Practical Magic 2” opens exclusively in theaters on Sept. 11.
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After parting ways with WNBC, longtime investigative journalist Sarah Wallace wants to clear the air: She’s not retiring.
Instead, the seasoned journalist revealed in a direct-to-camera social media video on Friday that her position was entirely eliminated from the company, citing the changing media landscape as the cause for her career change.
“As we know, the media landscape around the country has changed, and WNBC made the difficult financial decision not to renew my contract and to actually eliminate my position as an investigative reporter,” Wallace said. “I had 11 great years there, and they have been fabulous to me. I’m also grateful to all of you who have reached out with your support: your calls, your messages, your emails.”
In the video, Wallace looked at the bright side of the situation, saying that she will now be able to dive even deeper into investigation outside of WNBC. However, she, like many journalists who have been laid off, now faces the struggle of finding the best channel through which to continue her work.
“Now, I am able to focus full-time on my passion of investigative reporting: crime, corruption, wherever it leads, and I am just now looking for the right platform to do it,” Wallace shared. “You’re going to be seeing more of me, and I want to hear from you, so I’ll keep you posted.”
You can watch the full video below.
Wallace’s story is becoming all too familiar in the media world, as mass layoffs and restructurings continue across the industry. In the past 10 days, BuzzFeed cut the HuffPost National Desk to three reporters and Vox laid off four employees after being acquired by James Murdoch’s Lupa Systems and. In July, BuzzFeed laid off 35% of its workforce, while Patreon laid off 20%.
These losses have hit the entertainment sector as well. Despite the massive success of “Toy Story 5,” Disney let go of hundreds of staffers in July, with Pixar hit particularly hard. Annapurna similarly laid off 30 staffers on Wednesday due to “shifting market conditions.” In 2025, entertainment and media layoffs were up 18%, with over 17,000 jobs cut across television, film, broadcast, news and streaming in the first 11 months of the year.
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Summer is rapidly coming to an end, even if the weather doesn’t feel like it just yet, and that means it’s back to school for many. To prepare, some good back-to-school movies might help.
Whether you’re headed back to the classroom yourself — either a student or maybe a teacher — or just have a loved one getting back into the swing of things, a new school year can be daunting. So, for this list, we picked some films that can remind you how fun it is, while maybe teaching some good lessons along the way.
Here are five back-to-school movies to stream in August.
Grease
Technically, “Grease” takes place over the course of an entire school year, but it does start at the end of summer and the beginning of a new school year. Danny Zuko literally says (very cheekily, thanks to John Travolta understanding the assignment) “it’s only the beginning” at the start of the film.
“Grease” will hit extra hard for any youngins who found a summer romance, as it stars Olivia Newton-John and Travolta as somewhat star-crossed lovers, who have to figure out how to navigate life when they run into their summer fling at school. Can they even exist together as a couple when they get back to real life and their usual friends?
Granted, “Grease” doesn’t send an awesome message when Sandy (Newton-John) changes nearly everything about herself in order to keep her man and friends as she heads into the next summer. Maybe just turn it off before you get to that part, and pretend it ends just before the “Look at Me I’m Sandra Dee” reprise (though that reprise is gorgeous).
“Grease” is streaming now on Pluto TV and Paramount+.
Kicking and Screaming
Just about every cinephile knows the name Noah Baumbach, and his debut film, “Kicking and Screaming” is a perfect back-to-school movie if you want to buff up your knowledge of his work, or just enjoy a good filmmaker’s start.
“Kicking and Screaming” follows a group of college grads who, for various reasons, decided to stick around their college town instead of moving on with their lives. Now it’s a new school year, and they spend the fall semester figuring things out (or … not) while navigating situations and dynamics they no longer relate to.
It’s a beloved entry in ’90s slacker culture cinema, and boasts a stacked cast of indie darlings, including Parker Posey, Chris Eigeman, Eric Stoltz, Cara Buono and Josh Hamilton.
“Kicking and Screaming” is currently streaming on YouTube, Tubi, The Roku Channel, PLEX and Fandango.
Back to School
I mean, it’s hard to have a “Best Back-To-School Movies” list and not have “Back to School” on it. A little literal? Perhaps. But it counts!
The film stars Rodney Dangerfield as a wealthy but uneducated father, who goes to college in solidarity with his discouraged son, Jason (Keith Gordon). But here, he learns that money can’t actually take care of everything. We’ve seen plenty of similar plotlines since — at least, in the “parents go back to school and learn how different it is” genre — but this is one of the best.
It also stars a young Robert Downey Jr., which is always an added bonus.
“Back to School” is now streaming on Prime Video and Philo.
Mean Girls
When joining a new school, it’s important to figure out the cliques pretty fast, and figure out who you can trust. Otherwise, things can get messy.
This is a lesson that Cady Heron (Lindsay Lohan) learns pretty immediately on her first day at North Shore High. She’s just started going to public school, after being homeschooled for her entire life. Things in a real school work differently, she soon learns, but it’s not unlike the jungle environment she grew up in.
“Mean Girls” is just a classic, and may be a good reminder to your kid not to be the Regina George of their class. And maybe it’ll encourage them to join mathletes, who knows.
“Mean Girls” is currently streaming on Pluto TV, Peacock and Paramount+.
Monsters University
It’s rare that a sequel that’s actually a prequel is as good as the original, but such is the case for “Monster’s University,” and it just so happens to be a great back-to-school movie.
The animated film gives fans the story of how Mike Wazowski (Billy Crystal) and James P. Sullivan (John Goodman) first met and became best friends. And it turns out, it was in college. At the start of their first year at Monster’s University, both are determined to be great scarers, but Sulley is a slacker and Mike is just … not that scary looking.
Though they initially butt heads, they eventually work together to help each other out, creating the bond that eventually leads to “Monsters Inc.” It’s a college story, sure, but it’s Disney and Pixar, which means it works for kids of all ages, headed to a new school year and looking to make friends.
“Monsters University” is streaming on Disney+.
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The California production community can breathe a sigh of relief: State lawmakers have officially introduced a bill meant to allow studios a few key exemptions from a recently enacted restriction on corporate tax credits.
AB136, introduced Friday evening, addresses concerns raised from stakeholders including the Motion Picture Association about the threat of undermining the efforts to expand California’s Film & TV Tax Credit pool to $750 million.
Lawmakers have to consider legislation for 72 hours before voting. With that in mind, a vote on AB136 is likely to come Monday evening, hours before the midnight end to the legislative session.
The state budget, passed this summer, seeks to stabilize revenue by preventing corporations from offsetting more than $5 million in tax liability annually for the next three years. Several advocacy groups pushed for a complete exemption, but the solution introduced by lawmakers on Friday evening does fall short of that.
Instead, only independent productions will be completely exempt from the $5 million cap. The legislation also addresses concerns about the payback period for studios that have elected to refund credits for cash. Current law allows studios to get cash instead of claiming the credit against tax liability for a 10% discount on the total with a payback period of five years. The fix accelerates that to two years with just a 5% discount.
The new legislation will also extend the expiration date of the non-refundable tax credits that were issued prior to 2025.
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