With a week to go before the WGA deadline, Hollywood is getting nervous. Here at The Ankler we’re on the case, giving you a deeper look at the forces at work in the negotiation, as well as considering all sides of how this might play out. Richard wrote this week on the critical question: Who’ll Blink First? It’s your primer to the negotiations with clues on how it ends.
Also give a listen to this week’s Martini Shot: Force Majeure. Rob Long breaks down the looming strike in three acts (full transcript here).
And here’s the rest of the week on The Ankler, in case you missed it.
Where Hollywood Finds New Careers: ‘It’s Hard to Land Right Now’ An exodus into gaming and other industries is underway as entertainment wobbles. Elaine Low has the story.
‘South Park’ Drama: Paramount Files $50M Counterclaim Against Warner Bros. In a sign of just how pressured streaming has gotten, two studios duke it out over one of TV’s most valuable libraries.
Podcasts
🎧 Netflix Earnings: What We Learned One year after the Great Correction, the tea leaves become harder to read. Elaine and Sean McNulty talk it through (full transcript here).
🎧 The Dark Underbelly of ‘Love is Blind’ Alleged cruelty on Netflix’s juggernaut reality hit; plus the DGA dance with the WGA (full transcript here).
🎧 Force Majeure The contract clause that can kill your project if there’s a strike, from Rob Long (full transcript here).
🎧 Going to the Movies: Still the Best Value Around David Herrin of The Quorum joins Sonny Bunch to explain where the audience is now and why tracking is ticking upward.
Out and About
Janice moderated a hilarious (and teary) Women in Comedy panel yesterday at Chapman University’s Dodge College of Film and Media Arts with (from left) Kerry Ehrin, Yvonne Orji, Megan Mullally, Tiffany Haddish and Molly Shannon. The major theme onstage (as students in the audience went absolutely wild for the women): resilience.
Also Elaine stopped by CNBC again this week to talk Netflix’s live debacle and reality TV. Take a look!
☀️5 Days of The Wakeup
NETFLIX orders Supernatural series with ‘Stranger Things’ creators as EPs
Inside NETFLIX’s shocking…ly quiet Q1, but a strike? Eh, we’re fine
Tale of 2 UNIs: MARIO astounds again… as RENFIELD bleeds red ink
🔎 The Optionist
Sale! Full access to our sister newsletter about the best available intellectual property is now 30 percent off until Friday. It’s the perfect companion for development teams, producers and writers who might have, er, more time on their hands come May 1.
IP Picks🔎: Space Heroines and Horror Hunters + cons galore, from a Ghanaian Swiss bank swindler to an ersatz Sherlock.
