We’re still riding high from our Women Shaping Television luncheon on Wednesday at Spago, where Janice Min and Katey Rich hosted more than 70 of Hollywood’s top creative and business leaders, including 25 Emmy nominees. It was a room of stars (Shailene Woodley to Kate O’Flynn), showrunners (Eva Anderson to Jen Statsky) and execs (Shondaland’s Betsy Beers to Paramount’s Jane Wiseman and Matt Thunell).
Katey’s panel conversations with Emmy-nominated actresses were especially candid — and hilarious (you won’t believe what Janelle James had to say about her Abbott Elementary character). Check out our Instagram for all the day’s sparkly, special moments, watch our socials @TheAnkler for more highlights in the coming days, and read all about it in Katey’s report. Many thanks to our presenting partner Morgan Stanley Global Sports & Entertainment, plus supporting sponsors SharkNinja and Lifetime.
Meanwhile, just before heading over to Spago, Lesley Goldberg dropped our biggest story of the week — a detailed, scoop-filled report on the state of play at DC Studios. As Lanterns debuts on HBO, Lesley reveals its tortured path to the screen, plus the demise of two other big TV swings once touted by DC chiefs James Gunn and Peter Safran:
Now, ICYMI, here’s our best of the week:
New Hollywood Press Tour
↑ The 17 Press Stops Publicists Are Fighting Over — and Fighting About Hollywood’s PR circuit is a “cycle of hell” as Nicole LaPorte talks to insiders about which bookings move the needle now and the deepening conflict between personal reps and studio marketers who want talent to do anything for attention.
Series Business
↑ The Indie TV Bet With a 100% Pickup Rate Elaine Low talks to Joe Lewis and creator David Steinberg about the three ways to finance a show outside the system — then sell to a streamer — and which model pays off with the highest reward.
TV in 3: Off Campus Boss Scoop; 750 Writers Vie for Dungeon Crawler Carl Lesley has the showrunner moves at Prime Video’s college hockey hit and the details behind Seth MacFarlane’s DCC adaptation for Peacock, now writers’ most wanted gig.
Richard Rushfield
↑ Winners and Losers of a Long, Hot Movie Summer: What Changed Movie stars returned — and Netflix suddenly looks a lot more like a legacy studio, writes Richard.
Storm Clouds Over 2027 The long, hot movie summer is nearly over. Now, Richard writes, let’s get to reality.
David Ellison Had a Done Deal. Why Did the Pitchforks Come Now? Hollywood rolled over for every upheaval before this one, but this fight became different. Richard explains why.
Be Original, Not a Try-Hard — More Advice From Hollywood’s Best Richard hears from Jane Fonda, James Ellroy, RZA and others on finding your voice, ignoring “cool” kids and making work only you can.
Lena Dunham Says ‘Say No’ — Advice from Hollywood’s Smartest Marc Platt, Michael Moses, Parvati Shallow and more tell Richard the rules for surviving in showbiz.
Reel AI
↑ Will Audiences Watch AI Actors? In China, the Answer Is Yes Of the Middle Kingdom’s top 100 short-form shows, 38 percent now feature “digital humans” as Erik Barmack assesses the implications of fans crossing the uncanny valley with ease.
Crowd Pleaser
↑ The Ross and Rachel Microdrama Is Coming Six streamers in six months launched short-form feeds, betting bite-size clips lead viewers back to full-length shows. Matthew Frank talks to the big Hollywood companies and outside players in the mix.
Bob Iger’s Clutch Shot
↑ Bob Iger and the Lakers: What Just Happened Mark Walter bought the Lakers at a $10B valuation last year. Bob Iger and Josh Kushner are paying $12.5B now. Erik explains what that 12 months tells you about where media capital is running.
Prestige Junkie
↑ Hacks: A Secret Visual Love Story of Deborah & Ava Emmy-nominated director Lucia Aniello and DP Adam Bricker take Katey through the final season’s unforgettable scenes.
Plus, Katey chats with Charles Melton about his role on the second season of Netflix limited series Beef and Widow’s Bay breakout O’Flynn:
The Wakeup
In yet another week of Paramount-WBD merger madness, Ellison threatened to move PSKY out of California, Bonta cries blackmail, and the DGA and IATSE just want it to be over with. Sean McNulty makes sense of it all:
Friday → ☀️ Biggest 2026 Streaming Movies Outside NETFLIX
Thursday → ☀️ DGA, IATSE Offer PSKY Deal Remedies; Iger’s LAKERS 💰 Questions
Wednesday → ☀️ Bonta Calls ‘Blackmail’ As PSKY Settlement Vibes Stir
Tuesday → ☀️ PSKY Board Approves CA Exit Move
Sunday → ☀️ Spider-Man, Odyssey Numbers Are Getting Really Wild
Podcasts
Ankler Agenda
Ashley joins Elaine and Sean to break down the biggest PE players, the sectors they’re chasing — and whether or not their billions are actually good for Hollywood:
Shows
Monday Morning QBs
The Bulwark’s culture editor Sonny Bunch has a theatrical plea: Just play The Odyssey in IMAX 70mm until Dune: Part Three shows up in December:
Like & Subscribe
New from Natalie Jarvey’s creator economy newsletter:
The Optionist
Andy Lewis’ latest IP picks:
↑ The Next Road to Perdition; Secret History Meets Yellowjackets
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