By now, you know one of the hallmarks of The Ankler is our fearless commentary and reporting, often led by Richard Rushfield, who I’d argue is the preeminent moral conscience of Hollywood today.
Last fall, two columns he wrote about directors touched off small firestorms:
On Friday, we invited top members of the DGA and other industry bigwigs to join the conversation with us. Barry Jenkins, Lee Isaac Chung, Boots Riley, Patricia Riggen, Lord Miller productions president Aditya Sood and more hit the stage at the packed DGA theater in conversation with both Richard and fellow moderator Elaine Low for our event, “Behind the Chair: Representation and the Business of Filmmaking.”
It was lively, smart, at times hilarious, and wildly inspiring. Richard will have more this week about the big ideas from the stage, and follow us on Instagram and YouTube @theankler to see clips and video from the event. Thank you to our sponsor, IW Group, and the DGA and these top talents for helping make a memorable day (with more to come on these topics).
This week, Richard’s most recent column was another talker, telling a different urgent story, about what he calls the New New Hollywood forming. He names today’s talent building outside the traditional studios and streamers; take a look at his blueprint for a post-consolidation Hollywood (and who’s leading the charge):
And did someone say consolidation? Our Series Business team adeptly reported on the ongoing fallout from the looming Paramount-WBD mashup.
Lesley Goldberg answered the most pressing questions (including where is Jeff Shell in all this, with the Paramount Skydance president laying very low amid fresh legal troubles — and some fresh and pretty wild reporting we’ve added from yesterday’s Los Angeles Times as an update):
Manori Ravindran gave the view from Europe, where regulatory clearance could be an even bigger hurdle than in the U.S.:
Elaine Low broke it all down — first for NPR’s 1A and then on Ankler Agenda with Lesley, Sean McNulty and Natalie Jarvey:
I’ll be celebrating more change in Hollywood at the Impact Lounge’s Lumen Awards on Wednesday, with honorees showrunner Patrick Macmanus (Devil in Disguise: John Wayne Gacy), the nonprofit Ashes to Films and more. Find me and Matthew Frank there!
Now, ICYMI, the rest of our best of the week:
Series Business: Inside Tales From Gen Z
As consolidation reshapes entertainment from the top down, its youngest workers are rebuilding from the bottom up. Elaine Low talks to a dozen 20-somethings about how they’re adapting to a dire new normal:
Dealmakers: WME & CAA’s AI Deepfake Cop
Loti AI’s Luke Arrigoni tells Ashley Cullins why the next chapter for stars’ images on social media is about royalties, not just takedowns:
Crowd Pleaser: Cinema’s Fading Palaces
Hollywood once built cathedrals to film. Matthew chronicles the history and hope in a photo essay as the likes of Kristen Stewart move to revive Los Angeles’ beloved cinema glory:
Prestige Junkie: Sinners Late Surge
Katey Rich lays out the takeaways from Sinners’ dominant showing at SAG’s Actor Awards — and how Ryan Coogler’s film is increasingly looking like a serious best picture contender come Oscar Sunday:
The Wakeup: Annapurna Is Baaaack
In Versant’s first earnings report, the numbers were… about what you’d expect for a cable TV network company in 2025. Sean McNulty analyzes that, and the return of Annapurna from that other Ellison:
📹 Ankler Shows
Rushfield Lunch: Katey and Christopher Rosen join Richard for a brutally honest conversation about the awards industry:
📱 LIKE & SUBSCRIBE BY NATALIE JARVEY
👓 THE OPTIONIST BY ANDY LEWIS
FINAL HOUSEKEEPING!
As an Ankler subscriber, you are automatically subscribed to all of our newsletters and podcasts by default. Not interested in all of them? Customize which ones would like to receive notifications for. It’s easy to do.
Log into your Substack account from a desktop or laptop, select “Settings” from the drop-down menu.
Under Subscriptions, click on The Ankler to review the sections you’d like to subscribe to/unsubscribe from.
On the next page, click on the toggles next to each newsletter and podcast you want to receive emails for. A gray toggle indicates notifications are off.
Alternatively, when you get an email newsletter, select “Unsubscribe” in the footer of the email and click on “Turn off emails” next to each section you’d like to unsubscribe from.
