The all-new Hollywood Reporter offers unprecedented access to the people, studios, networks and agencies that create the magic in Hollywood. Published weekly, the oversized format includes exceptional photography and rich features.
EVEN AFTER A second-place finish in Iowa on Feb. 1, Donald Trump shows no signs of backing off of his public feud with Fox News. Hours after delivering a concession speech that caught many pundits off guard for its somewhat gracious tone, Trump resumed his rant against the press, complaining to his nearly 6 million Twitter followers about the media’s “unfair treatment” of his “long shot great finish in Iowa.” But he might not have been striking the same tone privately. Trump reached out to Fox News chairman and CEO Roger Ailes on Feb. 2, the morning after his Iowa loss, and the two men had a brief but cordial talk, a person familiar with the conversation tells THR. The discussion might in part have been trying to smooth a…
VIACOM RAISED EYEBROWS IN JANUARY when it revealed a raise for the entertainment industry’s second-highest-paid CEO Philippe Dauman for 2015 ($54.2 million, up 22 percent from $44.3 million in 2014) even as the company’s stock plunged more than 40 percent. The news came as the company faces several challenges: an ongoing court fight over the mental capacity of 92-year-old executive chairman Sumner Redstone, a shareholder lawsuit accusing Dauman of failing in his duties and a lacerating report from activist shareholder SpringOwl Asset Management slamming Viacom — home of MTV, Comedy Central and Paramount — for underperformance. Viacom says its board and management are “completely focused on delivering long-term value.” At public companies, executive pay is recommended by the board’s compensation committee, made up of independent directors. In 2015, proxy advisory…
DRAMA ABC Castle PRO Its last renewal proved ABC doesn’t know how to quit this moderately rated eighth-season procedural. CON Leads Nathan Fillion and Stana Katic are poised for tough renegotiations to board a new season. CBS The Good Wife PRO CBS’ prestige show remains broadcast’s lone drama with consistent awards love. CON Creators Michelle and Robert King are leaving, star Julianna Margulies says she is, too, and season seven ratings are threadbare. THE CW Vampire Diaries PRO The origin of producer Julie Plec’s relationship with the network still commands a cult following in season seven. CON Nina Dobrev is long gone, star Paul Wesley is said to be keen to follow, and it was shipped to Friday. FOX Bones PRO Fox’s longest-running drama still outperforms plenty of would-be successors.…
RYAN MURPHY HAS BEEN RESPONSIBLE FOR more than two dozen people getting their Directors Guild of America cards on his watch. But only four or five of them have been women. “I personally can do better,” he says in an interview in which he reveals plans to help make Hollywood more inclusive. Inspired by a series of recent events — including former publicist Nanci Ryder’s emotional speech at The Hollywood Reporter’s Women in Entertainment breakfast, where she called upon the industry to take action on its “gender problem” — Murphy, 51, is launching a foundation within his 20th Century Fox Television-based production company called Half. “Nanci said, ‘People in power, you have a position and responsibility to change the industry,’ and I thought, ‘She’s right,’ ” says Murphy, who has…
YOUTUBE ORIGINAL CONTENT CHIEF Susanne Daniels is facing her first big test since joining the company from MTV in the fall: persuading cash-strapped millennials who happily watch videos for free to pay for the streamer’s first slate of originals. YouTube is prepping the Feb. 10 release of four projects it has funded in the past year, including a reality series starring YouTube sensation Felix Kjellberg, better known by his alias PewDiePie, and the docu A Trip to Unicorn Island, featuring Canadian vlogger Lilly Singh. Other programs are set to roll out later this year. Originals are the missing piece for Red, the $10-a-month subscription service YouTube launched in October with the promise of zero advertising, streaming music and exclusive shows. “One of the most important things will be original programming,”…
IF YOU THOUGHT THE O.J. SIMPSON saga would be put to bed after new projects on FX and ESPN, think again. An undertaking backed by Martin Sheen is making the rounds, with TV execs eager to find the next true-crime hit. William Dear, a Dallas-based private investigator, says he has spent 21 years gathering “hard evidence” he believes exonerates the football Hall of Famer, who was acquitted of killing ex-wife Nicole Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman in 1995 but found liable by a civil jury two years later. “I have evidence nobody has seen or looked at,” says Dear, who laid out alternative theories in his 2012 book O.J. Is Innocent and I Can Prove It. Dear hopes FX’s American Crime Story: The People v. O.J. Simpson and ESPN’s…
