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.
On March 1, members of the Time’s Up anti-harassment organization met the media to deliver a 60-day progress report on its campaign for “basic fairness in the workplace,” as Bad Robot co-CEO Katie McGrath put it. The timing was right. Hollywood being what it is, and people being what they are, there has been speculation and some suspicion about where Time’s Up came from, who gets to participate in the group and what its priorities are. At the meeting with the press, A Wrinkle in Time director Ava DuVernay assured that even though Time’s Up “started so splashy on the red carpet, there’s real work being done.” At this point — about two months since its Jan. 1 unveiling as Hollywood’s most high-profile effort toward gender equality — Time’s Up…
Film Inclusion Riders Frances McDormand’s push for the clause Television ESPN’s Pick Can the new quarterback score with digital? Steve Gilula/Nancy Utley The Fox Searchlight chiefs land their third best picture Oscar in five years with The Shape of Water (and six wins total) just as Disney is determining their future. Rich Ross The Discovery channels group topper exits and Kathleen Finch adds to a purview including HGTV, TLC and Food Network as the company acquires Scripps Networks. Lisa Nishimura Netflix’s head of docs nabs an Oscar win for Russia doping pic Icarus, only the second in company history and first in a feature category. Adam Stotsky The E! president sees Oscars red carpet viewership drop 35 percent from 2017 as host Ryan Seacrest becomes a distraction after a harassment…
It might just be the most famous contract clause no one’s ever seen. When Frances McDormand uttered the words “inclusion rider” on the Oscar stage March 4, the Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri star left viewers (and some in the industry) baffled. The concept, however, is simple: Stars — or anyone with leverage, really, such as show runners and top movie directors — can negotiate a contract addendum, or rider, that commits a studio or producer to recruit and hire diverse actors and crew on a project. It’s the brainchild of USC professor Stacy Smith and Cohen Milstein civil rights employment attorney Kalpana Kotagal. Smith first introduced the idea in a 2014 THR guest column, but it lay mostly dormant until Oscar night. Smith says she’s not aware of any…
STUDIO WIN TALLY Viral Moments INSTAGRAM 1,126,000+ Likes that Ansel Elgort’s Instagram post with Timothee Chalamet (center) and Armie Hammer (left) has received, making it the most liked photo from the evening. 1,061,000+ In the night’s most liked Instagram video, Gal Gadot revealed her preshow makeup application. TWITTER 207,000+ Number of mentions of the #MeToo hashtag during the ceremony. 163,000+ Retweets that Jordan Peele’s tweet (“I just won an Oscar. WTF?!?”) has received since Sunday night, making it the most retweeted of the show. NIELSEN 23,000,000 Interactions on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter about the Oscars (up from 22 million interactions across Facebook/Twitter in 2017). Source: Instagram. Twitter, Nielsen Source: Nielsen Event TV? Not Really Must-See It hasn’t been a great year for marquee live events, with the four major spectacles…
As Love, Simon — the first teen-targeted, major studio project centering on a gay romance — gears up to hit theaters in wide release March 16, the film has already made a marketing splash. Fox 2000 has been promoting the $17 million title more like a rom-com than a release about a closeted high schooler coming out. That is, in part, super-producer Greg Berlanti’s doing. Berlanti, who also directed the film that stars Nick Robinson as the title character in the adaptation of the hit book Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda, says he asked the studio to “sell it as they would any other teen rom-com, the same size and scope” and “not hide or obfuscate in any way what the movie is about.” The trailer premiered in theaters…
ESPN’s pick of Jimmy Pitaro — a savvy, Silicon Valley-connected executive with experience navigating the digital landscape — as its new president is a clear sign of the Walt Disney Co.’s priorities for the sports behemoth. And it’s one that Disney CEO Bob Iger likely hopes will calm investors as Pitaro, 48, gets to work on reimagining ESPN for the overthe-top universe. The move was greeted with enthusiasm at ESPN’s Bristol, Connecticut, headquarters, where Pitaro had his first meeting with direct reports March 7, sources say. Iger had previously attempted to insert Pitaro as former president John Skipper’s No. 2, but Skipper rebuffed the move. Pitaro’s first order of business will be the April launch of ESPN Plus, the company’s direct-to-consumer offering powered by BamTech, the MLB Advanced Media tech…
