Welcome to the Week of Our Discontent. It’s Anxiety Week, The Ankler’s week-long look at the forces that have gotten under the skin of this whole town and are turning the industry into a great big shivering mass of nervous wrecks.
All week long our team will be taking a peek under the hood at what’s eating everyone here. Even as COVID lets up and the streaming money flows in great torrents, anxiety grips under the skin, down the spine of everyone you meet.
Ahead in this great exploration:
• The Reasons You May Feel Anxious: The worst of times amidst the best of times: economic dislocation, separating fears and FOMO, hustling twice as hard for half as much, social upheaval and not knowing where the lines are, and that secret producers chat (encrypted, of course).
• Ankler Hot Seat: On the podcast, the shrinks spill all about what’s ailing entertainment’s workers.
• Apocalypse Entertainment: Entertainment Strategy Guy adds up the sum of all Hollywood fears. Are we right to be afraid?
• Unemployed and Embarrassed: A TV writer confesses their secret shame.
All that is coming this week…and more!
But first a few words on anxiety, Hollywood’s signature ent.
Not to light of the suffering that’s gone on in these times. The rise in depression and suicide in the U.S. has reached actual crisis levels. This series will dig into the sense of professional unease among the inhabitants of Hollywood-ville, a town built on ridiculous optimism that feels smaller, pessimistic, with people wondering if their best days are behind them.
This has been a sneak preview of today’s edition of The Ankler, the industry’s secret newsletter. To read the rest of this issue, subscribe today for just $17 a month and don’t miss out on who’s in the hot seat next!
Also on The Ankler:
CAMERA ROLL IS UP! Great photos of who was where this week in Hollywood.
Check out our new awards season pop-up, The Glossy. It’s Vincent Boucher’s take in the ramp-up to the Oscars on the nexus of fashion and entertainment, who’s making money now and how, and the most inventive costume work in film and TV.
Zelensky Memo Reveals ‘Your Business Smells Russian’ Campaign: Sean Penn’s co-director/producer shares the leader’s call to action, revealed on The Ankler Hot Seat podcast.
On the departure of Netflix’s flamboyant marketing chief, Bozoma Saint John, and what it says about Netflix and Hollywood today. (And wow, a lot of you are reading this).
Entertainment Strategy Guy explains the MGM/Amazon/FTC death spiral and its meaning for the rest of entertainment.
Richard Rushfield’s annual State of Showbiz address.
CAMERA ROLL: 20 pictures of who’s where in Hollywood this week.
The fight is on for the role of the decade. The Transom has the details on the battle to play Madonna in the Material Girl’s self-directed biopic, and Brad Pitt’s Beetlejuice 2 plans.
If you’re not already a subscriber, we invite you to become one and join the most influential and powerful members of the entertainment community.
On The Optionist:
A highly curated list of 10 current and backlist books, new journalism, and podcasts ready for option. This week: divorcees, a detective and Ukrainian ghosts.
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