Mornin! This is Sean McNulty (connect with me on LINKEDIN here if ya like or email me atseanmcnultynyc@gmail.com), and here’s the Hollywood + Media news to know on Friday, May 15, 2026.
Where it’s not just white-collar workers being put out of jobs by #bigtech these days.
It seems like assassins are also having a rough go of it, as drone technology has advanced to the point where they are increasingly being used in lieu of snipers.
Ukraine’s top sniper said he hasn’t fired a shot in 18 months, according to the WSJ, offering: “Drones are just more effective and cost less.”
Hollywood, with your obsession with assassins . . . there’s gotta be a movie in here somewhere.
THEN: Here, at last, is the full NFL schedule for the 2026-27 season.
- Sorry, JETS, RAIDERS, DOLPHINS, TITANS and CARDINALS — primetime’s only for winners. But enjoy what I’m sure will be plenty of 1 p.m. Sunday timeslots for you instead (and apologies to RAIDERS #1 pick, Fernando Mendoza).
- Note that DISNEY is only putting 10 of its 17 MNF games on ABC next season — gotta sell those ESPN D2C subscriptions (with a likely higher price tag by the fall) somehow.
- Again, all games that air/stream on these outlets are broadcast for free on local TV in each team’s local market.
AND: Some Gen X bummer news, but Jason Biggs and Jenny Mollen have separated after 18 years of marriage.
YAH: PSKY is furthering its campaign for the prestigious “Just Get a Room, Already!” Award, with Axios reporting that PAR is engaging in talks to add Katie Miller’s podcast to a potential new podcast network — Katie being the wife of one of Trump’s top henchmen, Stephen Miller — with pods potentially being added to PAR+, according to BI (in a nod to NETFLIX).
- I mean, what better pitch to advertisers is there than, “Buy Jon Stewart’s Weekly Show podcast and get Katie Miller half off.”
OH: Saudi Arabia has bumped up its tax credit to as much as 60% of all local spending for productions that shoot in the country, and a sped-up reimbursement process.
PLUS: YOUTUBE still isn’t investing in original programming, but YT is now connecting promising creators with its advertiser relationships to enable them to better fund their new show projects, per the NYT.
- YT is also helping to organize and, in some cases, actually fund Emmy campaigns for some creators.
FINALLY: Fun to see Letterman on Colbert last night — throwing stuff off the roof never gets old . . . and Letterman started the night by subtly reminding us that while talk show hosts talking crap about their own networks is just commonplace today, Dave was the one who truly pioneered it: “I’m standing backstage, a guy comes over, and he says he’s from CBS and then he fired me.”
Box Office Preview
FOCUS’ Obsession is the new entry, with forecasts ticking down a bit from early estimates — around $8M to $10M seems to be the current thinking, although some see a pop into the low/mid-teens potentially in the cards.
Word of mouth seems good on this — I’ll go over $11M to $13M myself.
New Pod
💻 The Media Biz
Now that Upfronts are well behind us — I’m going to round out the week here with a look at the business trends for the 2 largest linear TV-centric companies we have, as FOX and VERSANT both released earnings reports this week amid Upfronts madness #thanks.
- Note that AMC NETWORKS is certainly up there for linear-centric businesses, but its Q1 revenue ($542M) is much smaller than both VERSANT ($1.69B) and FOX ($4B).
FOX’s TUBI business finally has some real detail to look at — and impressive growth — while VERSANT is hard at work diversifying into new businesses.
But make no mistake — the vast majority of their revenue still comes from cable TV.
So let’s dive into the Q1 trends to know across:
- #Cordcutting / affiliate revenue
- Linear TV advertising
- Digital businesses (i.e., future growth)
- How the Kardashians played a big role in VERSANT’s business trends and more
Don’t stop here
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