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.
An out-of-town wife and 3-year-old daughter forced Adam Steck to cancel plans to attend the Route 91 Harvest music festival Oct. 1 with his cousin. No big deal, thought the veteran Las Vegas show producer, until his phone lit up just after 10 p.m. “I got a text from my company manager at Thunder From Down Under, and I called my cousin as he was walking in,” recalls Steck. “I could actually hear bullets rattling off through his phone, people running down the street. It was just absolute mayhem.” His cousin escaped unharmed. Steck, who also produces Boyz II Men’s show at The Mirage and Mike Tyson’s Undisputed at MGM Grand, spent the next several hours calling artists, friends and family as TV and social media spread word that Stephen…
Not great, Bob! Great job! Premiere week ratings for the Big Four networks may have dropped 16 percent from 2016, but most broadcast networks got a surprise silver lining with the arrival of several unquestionably big new series. Put CBS’ Young Sheldon at the top of that list. TV’s best comedy launch in six years, the Big Bang Theory spinoff averaged 21.5 million live-plus-3 viewers and a 5.2 rating among adults 18-to-49 from its Sept. 25 preview sampling. “We did a very effective job of reaching the Big Bang audience,” says CBS Entertainment president Kelly Kahl, looking ahead to Sheldon’s official Nov. 2 premiere. Military drama SEAL Team also gave CBS a strong first outing, while ABC’s The Good Doctor and NBC’s Will & Grace reboot fared especially well —…
With China clamping down on capital flow into Hollywood — and box-office disappointments piling up — Bob Simonds’ STX Entertainment Studio is looking to an unconventional IPO in Hong Kong to stay liquid. On Sept. 27, The Wall Street Journal reported that STX is planning to raise around $500 million in an initial public offering on the Hong Kong stock exchange in the first quarter of 2018, with a valuation pegged at around $3.5 billion. Insiders say it’s about time that the studio’s early private-equity investors, which include TPG Capital and China’s Hony Capital, would be pushing for an exit. And with Bad Moms ($184 million worldwide) the sole blockbuster among the studio’s 14 releases to date, fundraising can be expected to be a concern for the company. Launched in…
Stars who endorse brands on social media are on high alert following a series of warning shots fired by the FTC, and experts say it’s only a matter of time before the Feds take action against a well-known personality to get the rest of the industry’s attention. Influencers earn their name by doing just that: influencing their millions of followers online. The agency is cracking down on common Instagram post practices like burying sponsorship disclosures in a string of hashtags, saying only “thanks to” a company in a post or merely tagging the brand. “A big part of the influencer economy, which has been booming, is based on posts that likely violate the endorsement guidelines,” says attorney Jesse Saivar, who reps both companies and influencers. To avoid trouble, endorsers need…
Associates of O.J. Simpson have been shopping his first post-prison interview for weeks, numerous sources tell THR. But the erstwhile NFL great, who was released from Lovelock Correctional Center in Nevada a little after midnight on Oct. 1, so far has no takers. “It is treacherous,” says one TV news veteran. Not with a “10-foot pole,” says another. In part that’s because those representing themselves as his associates — and there are many of them — are asking for a sevenfigure payout for an interview with Simpson, who was acquitted in the 1994 murders of Nicole Brown and Ron Goldman but ended up serving nine years for a botched 2007 robbery in Las Vegas. Sources at ABC, CBS and NBC all stress that they will not pay for a Simpson…
FILM Michelle Williams (WME, Brillstein, Bloom Hergott) is in talks to join Tom Hardy in Sony’s Venom. Paramount has picked up the movie rights to the Sonic the Hedgehog video game franchise after Sony put its project in turnaround. Black-ish creator Kenya Barris (CAA, Principato Young, Morris Yorn) will write Coming to America 2 for Paramount with Warm Bodies director Jonathan Levine set to helm. The Mindy Project’s Ike Barinholtz (UTA, Principato Young, Morris Yorn) will star in and make his feature directorial debut with thriller The Oath for QC Entertainment. Lucifer showrunner Joe Henderson (CAA, Hirsch Wallerstein) will pen Lionsgate’s reboot of the 1986 kids sci-fi adventure film Flight of the Navigator. Phil Lord and Chris Miller (UTA, Ziffren Brittenham) will direct the adaptation of The Martian writer Andy…
