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.
Heat Index Hugh Johnston Bob Iger taps the Pepsi exec to succeed Christine McCarthy as Disney’s chief financial officer — adding a new name to spark the CEO succession rumor mill. Bob Bakish The Paramount CEO beats Q3 revenue expectations (and trims streaming losses), yet still gets a stock downgrade from Bank of America for not selling off more assets. Taylor Tomlinson CBS enlists the comedian to replace James Corden and launch a new late night series, After Midnight, produced by Stephen Colbert. John Heilemann/Mark McKinnon After eight seasons, Showtime pulls the plug on its political docuseries The Circus just as the 2024 presidential campaign revs into full gear. Showbiz Stocks $85.80 (+4.6%) TKO GROUP HOLDINGS (TKO) In its first quarter as a stand-alone public firm, the Endeavor-controlled UFC and…
In the heat of the actors strike that had ground Hollywood to a halt for months, Fran Drescher told the 34 members of SAG-AFTRA’s negotiating committee a story about an aikido student in Japan who gets into a tiff with a drunk on a train. Throughout the strike, it has been Drescher’s practice to often open or pepper meetings with a Buddhist saying or tale, and in this one, the aikido student is bracing for a fight, titillated by the opportunity to use his new martial arts skills, when an old passenger on the train intervenes and settles the drunk down by talking to him gently about sake. The story’s takeaway is clear: There is more than one way to resolve a conflict. Now, 118 days into the strike, Drescher…
For decades, the one identifiable stepping stone on the nebulous journey to becoming a TV writer was landing a job as support staff, which encompasses work as a writer’s production assistant, writer’s assistant and script coordinator, among other roles. Even these positions — which, depending on the role, can involve tedious tasks like taking copious notes in the writers room, grabbing coffee for the team or even letting a handyman into a showrunner’s home — have been hard to come by, relying on the time-honored system of knowing the right people or getting a tip on message boards. But now, these gigs feel like dues-paying that never actually, well, pays off. While the writers strike is over and rooms for broadcast hits have reopened, few jobs in this space have…
How intense is the pressure of being CEO of HBO? You’re constantly calling Kim Cattrall, enduring the servers at Craig’s asking how “Max” is going, and ever since his show ended, dealing with John Wilson filming outside your house. But the worst part of the job is that TV critics can just say whatever they want, like it’s a college campus before 2010. So who can blame the HBO head for carving out a few hours of his day to seek revenge on those critics? But it all fell apart Nov. 1, when Rolling Stone revealed that six tweets mocking TV critics who wrote negative reviews about HBO shows were actually composed at the direction of Max CEO Casey Bloys under fake names. Most were posted by the account @KellySh33889356,…
I’m Mattman.” Those were Matthew Perry’s last public words, in a cryptic Oct. 22 Instagram post accompanied by a photo of the Friends superstar reclining in his hot tub, the lights of the Pacific Palisades shimmering on the horizon. Six days later, Perry was found unresponsive in the same hot tub and soon after was pronounced dead at the age of 54. And the mystery of “Mattman” — Perry’s “Rosebud” — would only deepen. Was it code? An inside joke? TikTok conspiracy theorists questioned if it was a cry for help. In truth, Perry was obsessed with Batman. In 2017, he spent $20 million on a 10,000-square-foot “mansion in the sky.” It was the biggest condo sale of that year. Perry bought it, he has said, in part to live…
If you’re a sports league or a superstar athlete, it used to be that you wanted all eyes to be on the field, court or track. Now, the real action occurs as much after the game’s over, with cameras still rolling. The runaway success of Netflix’s Formula 1 docuseries Drive to Survive and golf docuseries Full Swing has sparked a mini frenzy from leagues, teams and athletes, all of whom are hoping that a hit docuseries of their own can drive new interest in their in-game performances, or at least provide an ancillary stream of revenue to an already lucrative sports business. Netflix, for its part, is happy to crow about its success in the genre. “After Drive to Survive took off, fans started packing the stands at the races,”…
