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.
James Goldston The former ABC News president lands at the Blackstone-backed Candle Media with a mandate to create a splash in the nonfiction and doc space. Eric Guggenheim The Magnum P.I. showrunner falls victim to NBC’s post-football Sunday woes, as the show’s move from CBS for season five drops 30 percent from its 2022 average. Debra J. Fisher The Ginny & Georgia showrunner sees the Netflix drama maintain its hold at No. 1 on Nielsen’s streaming list, as HBO’s The Last of Us makes its chart debut at No. 6. Elon Musk/Mark Zuckerberg During an ad downturn, the tech titans turn to consumer revenue with pay-for-verification bets for Twitter and Facebook. But can those plans scale? Showbiz Stocks $22.93 (+3.3%) PARAMOUNT GLOBAL (PARA) Paramount’s big bet on the Taylor Sheridan…
As Hollywood’s writers prepare for a round of union negotiations that is expected to be especially combative and potentially even trigger a strike, some are revisiting the wins and losses of their last work stoppage, in 2007-08. The 100-day Writers Guild of America strike more than 15 years ago rocked the industry as the union fought in large part for a greater cut of what was then called “new media” — projects distributed or rerun over the internet, on iPods or cellphones. In an action that cost the L.A. economy $2.1 billion, per the Milken Institute, deals were lost, scripted series including 30 Rock, Lost and Pushing Daisies were curtailed or forever altered, late night shows were hobbled and the Golden Globes were reduced to a press conference. Though periodically…
At Berlin’s European Film Market, which wrapped Feb. 22, the indie industry was back in force, and plenty of deals got done. Amazon Prime Video snatched up international rights to AGC Studio’s The Order, a white supremacist thriller starring Jude Law and Nicholas Hoult from Assassin’s Creed director Justin Kurzel; also, in a deal with sales outfit Rocket Science, Amazon grabbed pirate-themed survival thriller The Bluff, starring Zoe Saldaña from Anthony and Joe Russo’s AGBO banner. Black Bear International sold out most of Europe and a number of other international territories for Nicolas Cage serial killer movie Longlegs, and the Jamie Bell- Margaret Qualley musical biopic Fred & Ginger. Buyers across Europe pounced on Dogman, Luc Besson’s comeback movie, starring Caleb Landry Jones, which Kinology is selling, with a domestic…
The closing of CAA’s closely watched megadeal for rival ICM last June and the reverberations of the Writers Guild’s years-long standoff with agencies over packaging fees and affiliate productions have reshaped Hollywood’s representation landscape. With only three majors left — CAA, Endeavor-owned WME and UTA — there’s now a race among midsize firms to become the de facto No. 4. One of the firms eyeing an expansion is A3 Artists Agency, which had its outside counsel send letters of purchase inquiry to three of its rivals — Verve, APA and an undisclosed agency — in mid-January. A3 chairman Adam Bold says the Bill Weinstein-led Verve dismissed the offer to open discussions (Verve had no comment), while APA president Jim Osbourne tells THR that “a sale to anyone, much less A3,…
Spotify’s Joe Rogan Experience kept its lead as the most-listened-to podcast in the U.S. in Q3 and Q4 of 2022. Audiochuck’s Crime Junkie and The New York Times’ The Daily round out the top three, per Edison Research. Since the pandemic began, and amid an ad downturn, new series launches have declined, falling from 1 million-plus new shows in 2020 to 730,000 in 2021 and 225,000 last year, per podcast firm Listen Notes. The Daniel Ek-led Spotify is testing out a vertical-swipe homepage feed similar to TikTok, Bloomberg reports, noting that the firm is aiming to preview the design tweak at its March 8 creator event in L.A.…
Despite ballooning operating losses (nearly $250 million) and an advertising downturn, Roku’s stock soared a day after it reported fourth-quarter earnings on Feb. 15. The rally came as the number of active users picked up to 70 million (from 61.3 million in Q1 2022) and the Anthony Wood-led firm beat revenue expectations for the quarter. Roku also promised to tighten expenses moving forward, with a plan to reach positive adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization in 2024. But, longer term, Wall Street’s view on the stock remains mixed, depending on how much belief there is that Roku can maintain its place as a key gatekeeper in the streaming landscape with its media player. A team of analysts at investment bank Evercore noted Feb. 16 that Roku has an…
