Hope everyone is getting a much-needed break this Memorial Day weekend!
We’ll keep this short today so you can resume your off-duty duties.
Two quick highlights:
The success of The Ankler in the past year was noted by AdAge, who named Janice one of AdAge’s Leading Women of 2023. Thanks to all for coming along for the ride.
We are running a Memorial Day sale this weekend! It’s 25 percent off a paid subscription for new subscribers. As a paid subscriber, you’ll never be blocked by a paywall (or beg for a forward from your colleague again). It’s also the perfect graduation gift for your aspiring Hollywood-player-to-be. Like the long weekend, this offer ends tomorrow night.
Three great reads from the week:
1. Our biggest story: Richard weighed in on the strike’s potentially very long duration, and the intertwined dialogues within the DGA and SAG:
He writes:
Chatting with people around town (the contents of the conversations I’ll share) one gets a clear sense that the various tectonic plates of the various parties are shifting away from a settlement, rather than towards one. But before I get to the WGA… there are a few other related plot lines to unpack…
2. On the one-year anniversary of the Uvalde tragedy, Peter Kiefer reported on Hollywood’s behind-the-scenes efforts around the portrayal of guns onscreen. Piper Perabo, showrunner Matt Nix and producer Michael Castigan were among those who talked to Kiefer after heading to the White House for a meeting with Susan Rice:
3. Sean McNulty sounded the alarm over how the studios are following a parallel path on streaming as they did with cable TV (and we know how that turned out).
He writes:
Streaming’s timeline only took a little over 10 years to reach subscriber saturation (domestically)… not four decades like Cable TV took…
SO: Having lived through the arc of the Cable TV bundle business, and currently dealing with the fallout of their business decisions….
What lessons are the studios applying in the streaming business, now that they’ve (more or less) hit the same peak…?
Warning – this may sound familiar.
🪧 Strikegeist
Our FREE strike newsletter from Elaine Low now boasts well over 4000 subscribers. Join us! And reach her at elaine@theankler.com.
Momentum Builds for a ‘Hot Labor Summer’ David Zaslav and ‘bad employers’ bear the brunt of the wrath at the Unions Strike Back rally: ‘If you want to f*** around, you’re going to find out’
A Multigenerational WGA Family on Strike Former Cheers showrunners lead their clan on the frontlines
What Is a Neutral Gate and How Do Picketers Flip It? Plus WGA West HQ gets picketed by the AMPTP…? (Not really)
Oof! ‘Creators’ Gather Outside WBD The launch of Max is perceived as ‘a total insult’
A Starry Rally at the Rock has Big Names… But Few Directors Plus, Stiehm on the picket, Rushfield‘s revelations
A Studio Exec Agrees… Mini-Rooms Suck The most contentious issue, staffing minimums, also hurt support staff too
☀️5 Days of The Wakeup
LIONSGATE Q1 shows the 💰 power of having a Studio-caliber Library
‘Vicious Cycle’: Studios Repeating Cable Mi$takes in Streaming – a #MediaNerd special
NETFLIX makes rare North America-only deal for Todd Haynes CANNES pic 🧐
FAST X hits 3rd biggest franchise opening; Specialty still 👎 going into Summer
🔎 The Optionist
An International Corporate Espionage Thriller Involving … Soda Cans! Also: a sweet second-chance rom-com; a John le Carré-meets-Yellowstone novel
🎧 This Week In Podcasting
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