ICYMI: Drugs, 'Gaslighting' and Existential Crises

First, let’s start with a tweet that captures the mood of much of Hollywood’s creative community right now.

From the creator and showrunner of Apple TV+’s Dickinson:

https://t.co/3TRH1RaSxjhttps://t.co/3TRH1RaSxj/a/p—%20Alena%20Smith%20(@internetalena)%20a%20href=https://twitter.com/internetalena/status/1636078767654465536?ref_src=twsrc%5EtfwMarch

Smith is referencing the first of two columns this week from Entertainment Strategy Guy that examined economic issues at stake in the coming WGA negotiation, with just 43 days left before a possible strike. We highly recommend both analyses to anyone who makes a living in this industry on either side of the table (for paid subscribers only):

How Raising TV’s Flat-Rate Residuals Could Backfire One of the WGA’s demands is rife with possible unintended consequences
The Urgent Need for Ratings Transparency Our current ‘information asymmetry’ leads to market failure

Great Listens

All the Sturm und Drang in this business certainly takes a toll. (If you haven’t yet, check out our series, The Squeeze, about how the Streaming Wars have ravaged producers, writers, actors and executives).

Two podcasts this week resonated with a lot of you and certainly seemed to reflect a state of mind:

🎧 Is it Worth Working in Hollywood Anymore? Sean McNulty is joined by Richard and the newest addition to the Ankler team, reporter Elaine Low to discuss a town’s current mood
🎧 Everyone is On Something Adderall, psilocybin, Ozempic, heroin: Rob Long on Hollywood’s helpers

And one more listen, about sports, is a smart and fun conversation between mega-agent Rich Paul and ESPN analyst and WNBA player Chiney Ogwumike:

🎧 Rich Paul: ‘Don’t Get Comfortable Having a Lot of Money’ From our NXStream Global conference, Klutch Sports Group’s CEO (and LeBron’s guy) on training players to constantly earn more, and what Brittney Griner‘s ordeal had to do with low pay for women in sports

The Good News

Exactly a week ago the Oscars were not only free of any obvious debacles, but actually inched up in the ratings as well. Richard was there and had the morning-after take on the first drama-free show in…. who can remember that far back?

Check out the post-mortems:.

Seems Like Old Times at the Oscars Inside the Dolby: The Academy shows entertaining still lurks in its bloodstream
🎧 ‘It Was a Great Show’: Bruce Vilanch Unpacks the Oscars The legendary former head writer analyzes a night that (finally!) worked