Mornin! Here’s the Hollywood + MediaBiz news to know on FRIDAY March 19, 2021. And a lot goin’ on today…
Starting with PEACOCK going all NETFLIX on us, making all 9 seasons of “The Office” avail to watch for free. For a week. Starting yesterday. During MARCH MADNESS opening weekend. Watch here.
ALSO – you can enter to win your own Dundee – details here. Basically gotta show how big of an “Office” fan you are on social, but don’t make it too long.
🎧 MUSIC TO READ BY
New BIEBS album “Justice” is out today. If that’s you’re thing – here are the links. Listen on Spotify / YouTube
If you need new tunes:
📽 THE SILVER SCREEN
WB sets Andy Garcia to lead “Father of the Bride” reboot
Will center on a Cuban-American family. Andy also an Exec Producer; Brad Pitt/Dede Gardner’s PLAN B producing. /THR
ALSO: WB moves “In The Heights” up 1 week to June 11th in theaters + HBOMAX.
ALSO IN MOVIES
The OSCARS will be Zoom-free : Be there IRL or you’ll have your photo featured like always. Eventual winners also advised to keep speeches short and “read the room” 😉👍 /Variety
WB + The Black List + MACRO mgmt/production firm launching new competition for screenwriters of color – winner gets to pitch their movie to WB + $10k. /Deadline
📺 THE TV SET
APPLE TV+ orders Maya Rudolph comedy series
Currently untitled, she’ll play a woman whose “seemingly perfect life is upended after her husband leaves her with nothing but 87 Billion dollars”. Gotta be some AMAZON jokes in there somewhere.
Alan Yang (“Master of None”) and Matt Hubbard (“30 Rock”) writing/producing, no episode count given. /Deadline
HBO developing a ”GOT” spinoff focused on Lord Corlys Velaryon
Bruno Heller (“Rome” co-creator) writing. HBO also developing 2 other spinoff ideas… but no writers or talent attached. /Variety
ALSO: HBO in early development on “A Time To Kill” limited series with McConaughey. Based on latest Grisham book “A Time for Mercy” but project needs a writer if ya got one. /Variety
ALSO ALSO: HBO adds Sally Field as Jerry Buss’s mother in Adam McKay 1980’s LAKERS series. John C. Reilly playing Jerry. /Variety
APPLE TV+ sets Vera Farmiga to lead Katrina limited series “Five Days at Memorial”
Set at NOLA hospital in the 5 days after the hurricane hit, based on book from Pulitzer Prize winner Sheri Fink. Vera playing a doctor at the hospital.
From John Ridley & Carlton Cuse, ABC SIGNATURE producing. /THR
ALSO IN TV
HBOMAX orders 2 part docuseries on actress Brittany Murphy from BLUMHOUSE. /THR
WBTV signs Paris Hilton to unscripted production deal. She may or may not appear in shows, nothing announced with the deal. /THR
PARAMOUNT+ adds Dianne Wiest to Jeremy Renner show “Mayor Of Kingstown” from Tyler Sheridan. She’ll play the matriarch of the power family at the center of the show. /Variety
SHOWTIME orders 3 episode scripts from team behind “The Comey Rule” (Billy Ray, Shane Salerno) for a project about events leading up to Jan 6 Capitol insurrection. /Variety
NETFLIX renews home improvement series “Get Organized” and “Dream Home Makeover”. New Marie Kondo show “Clean up your Sh-”… I mean “Sparking Joy” coming this Summer. /THR
💻 THE MEDIA BIZ
NFL finalizes TV deals for the next decade
Worth over $100 Billion thru 2033. Pretty much Doubles prices of current, soon to expire deals.
NFL Season also very likely expanding to 17 games this Fall (official decision coming by end of this month).
CBS paying $2.1 Billion & FOX paying $2.2 Billion/year to keep their current Sunday packages.
NBC paying a little under $2 Billion/year to keep “Sunday Night Football”.
DISNEY/ESPN paying $2.7 Billion/year for “Monday Night Football” (MNF not going to ABC as rumored).
All networks get streaming rights to games for their services (PAR+, ESPN+, PEACOCK, and… FOX gets “expanded digital rights” for TUBI, so we’ll see what that means exactly come 2023 🧐).
AMAZON paying $1 Billion/year for 15 game “Thursday Night Football” exclusive package starting in 2023: TNF games no longer also on Broadcast TV or NFL NETWORK – that network will still get “some exclusive games” (not defined), but begs the question if NFL NETWORK’s days are numbered. Also assuming Amazon doesn’t do an about face and begins revealing exact usage #s…. this will be the first time that NFL Football games will not have publicly available data about viewer audience size.
ABC now also getting 2 SUPER BOWLS (first is in 2026); CBS, FOX, NBC each get 3. AMAZON gets to… advertise during all of them 🤷♂️ (sorry AMAZON no SB’s for you).
SUNDAY TICKET out-of-market game package still for sale. DIRECTV deal ends after the 2022 season. (ESPN+ the early money favorite… but HBOMAX would be an intriguing surprise). /CNBC /NFLwebsite /THR
And… there is some flexibility in the deal to add more digital rights… and for the NFL to end the deal and re-negotiate around 2030. /WSJ
ENDEAVOR reportedly giving the IPO thing a sequel
Filed confidential paperwork with the SEC to do another run at going public according to SPORTICO. Very early stage and ENDEAVOR is mum on this. Where’s a SPAC when ya need one?
YOUTUBE’s TIKTOK “homage” feature “Shorts” rolling out to some US users this week, most still weeks away from getting it
This joins SNAP’s “Spotlight” and IG’s “Reels” in the “imitation is the sincerest form of near patent infringement” category. So basically – just as every studio needs it’s version of NETFLIX… every social platform needs it’s version of TIK TOK.
It’s avail in the YT mobile app only, still kinda in beta but THE VERGE lays out its TOK-like features (or well, the ones it’s lacking really) for anyone inclined.
If you have AT&T Wireless, your HBOMAX mobile streaming is no longer data-free
A new Cali law essentially says data providers can’t give preferential treatment to their own services, or – “if ya do it for one, ya gotta do it for all” kinda thing. So all HBOMAX mobile streaming will now eat up your AT&T data (if you’re not on wifi). /Bloomberg
Only about 25% of HBOMAX subscribers are also AT&T customers.
ALSO IN MEDIA
Alexi McCammond now Not taking EIC job at TEEN VOGUE after staff objections over decade-old racist tweets from when she was a teenager. /NYT
GOOGLE spending $7 Billion on new offices + data centers this year, hiring 10k people in the next 12 months (about a 7-8% workforce expansion). /WSJ
Online video advertising NEW FRONTS set for May 3-6; Podcast Upfronts moved up to May 11-13. /Deadline
CHARTER paid their top 4 execs a total of $97 Million in cash and stock in 2020. CEO/Chairman Tom Rutledge getting almost $39 Million alone at the country’s 2nd largest cable/broadband company (behind COMCAST). /THR But – he’s no Kanye West 👇
KANYE made $191 Million from his ADIDAS YEEZY line alone last year and has over $1.7 Billion in assets, and a net worth of several Billion; once again proving that the real money in Hollywood… comes from doing things outside of it. /Bloomberg
🎥 TRAILER HOUSE
NETFLIX “Dad Stop Embarassing Me!” multi-cam sitcom. Jamie Foxx trying to raise his daughter as a single dad, David Alan Grier as grandpa. Drops Tue April 14.
EPIX “Godfather of Harlem” Season 2 trailer. Premieres April 18th.
📰 WEEKEND READS
Kevin Mayer goes on the record about his TIK TOK gig, getting passed over for the DISNEY CEO gig, and wtf is up with all his SPACs and the DAZN thing – Quite the Q&A at CNBC.
Jason Derulo on how TIK TOK resurrected his career in the pandemic. He’s now the most popular music artist on TIK TOK. /Variety
QUICK FUN READ: What Hollywood Execs do all day at home… according to their kids. “Scream, send emails and tell bad jokes.” 👏😂 /THR
👩💻 THE FSS FEED:
(new Stuff to Watch this weekend)
FRIDAY:
NCAA MARCH MADNESS games all weekend on CBS, TNT, TBS, & TruTV starting today at 12noon.
All games taking place in Indiana; the NCAA makes 80% of its annual budget from MARCH MADNESS TV rights fees. /WSJ
”The Courier” in theaters from LIONSGATE. 1960’s British Spy intrigue with Benedict Cumberbatch and Rachel Brosnahan.
Welcome back LA movie theaters! AMC Theaters now 98% re-opened in the US.
DISNEY+ “Falcon & The Winter Soldier”. First episode drops today – 6 episodes total. Watch/add to your List here.
NETFLIX “Sky Rojo” – A new kinda pulpy series from the creators of “Money Heist” about 3 “exotic dancers” who get mixed up with, well let’s just say a group of undesirables. 8 half-hour episodes. Watch/Add to your List here.
NETFLIX “Country Comfort” – Sitcom starring Katherine McPhee & Eddie Cibrian. Aspiring country singer becomes nanny for hot widower and his 5 kids. Watch/Add to your List here.
ROKU CHANNEL “Cypher” – Their first US exclusive scripted series, about an FBI cryptanalyst.
TRU TV “Double Cross with Blake Griffin” Season Premiere at… 530pm. (it’s between NCAA MARCH MADNESS games. Smaht).
SATURDAY:
Happy 1st Day of Spring!
NO New SNL, but you’ll be too tired from managing your NCAA bracket all day anyway.
SUNDAY:
NCAA MARCH MADNESS Women’s Tournament kicks off at 12noon on ESPN channels and ABC.
NAT GEO “Genius: Aretha” premieres at 9p. Cynthia Erivo playing Aretha, new episodes air each night at 9p thru Wednesday.
HBO“Q: Into the Storm” premieres at 9pm. 6 part HBO docuseries on QAnon.
A Little break for a Big thank you! To everyone who shared the newsletter with folks this week. Had the 2nd biggest week of growth yet! I’m this close to that free Substack keychain.
And if you’re brand new to THE WAKEUP, would you share it with any friends or co-workers you think might dig it? Or your Dentist! How are they supposed to keep up with Hollywood news when they can’t have magazines in their waiting rooms anymore? #ThanksCovid
It’s all very much 🙏 -Sean
🕵️♂️ THE WEEK AHEAD
Tue – Parts 1 & 2 of Demi Lovato docuseries hits YOUTUBE
Wed – Producers Guild Awards
Thu – NBC “Superstore” series finale
Sat – NCAA Sweet 16, SNL returns with Maya Rudolph
That’s a wrap for this week! Email me anytime – just hit Reply to this email or click my name below to send a LINKED IN message.
Any ideas, cheers or jeers are really welcome and appreciated…
Have a great weekend!
