Mornin! Here’s the Hollywood + Media news to know on Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2026.
Where I’m not really sure how to feel about Miami Vice ’85 recreating the seedy world of the ’80s Miami drug scene in . . . Wayne, New Jersey.
On the one hand, I mean, #YeahJersey💪, and nice to see plenty of NJ folks in the industry working!
On the other . . . the fact that importing palm trees to North Jersey in mid-October is the best budget option for Hollywood in 2026 — for a movie that lives & breathes South Florida — thanks to Jersey’s tax credits makes my soul die just a little bit inside.
Thankfully, the Jersey October weather is also cooperating nicely, with temps near 70 and sunny skies for pretty much the next 2 weeks (although be careful with the weekend dip into the mid-50s, Austin Butler! 🥶). Can’t wait to see the speedboat scenes shot on the Hackensack River.
And again, just to reiterate to UNIVERSAL — Ankler Managing Editor Christopher Rosen and I are fully available for NJ background work!
AH: The decrease in value from SKYDANCE’s rocky bond / debt offering rollout at the end of September single-handedly caused the gap between the performance of all new debt issuances vs. JP MORGAN CHASE’s existing investment-grade bond index to be the biggest deficit since Covid.
- The gap was a 26-basis-point decrease between the performance of new vs. existing bonds. If you removed the SKYDANCE bonds, it would have been a 4-basis-point increase.
YEAH: Gotta love the inflation rate coming in at +3.7% YoY for September, above expectations and well above the Fed’s target, uh, under +2% goal.
- Yes, gas prices are a big reason for that, but even without them, we’re still at +2.6% YoY — and streaming prices, you’re not helping either.
- This comes as ships in the Strait of Hormuz have faced the greatest number of attacks in the last 2 weeks since the period at the start of Trump’s war in Iran.
BUT: Always nice to see storyline fodder already building for the Artificial sequel, with a Saudi national being arrested for planting a listening device in a TV in a high-level OPENAI boardroom.
AND: PARAMOUNT and Rick Caruso will reopen the Bay Theater cinema in Palisades Village before the end of the year, although it’ll be operated by THE LOT luxury dine-in theater chain.
THEN: Ari’s doing a season 2 of his pod Rushmore with co-host Ben Persky, featuring guests including Seinfeld, Larry David, Roger Goodell, Pat McAfee, Shaq, Kevin Durant and other people already at the top of Ari’s call sheet.
IN TODAY’S EDITION:
- The NETFLIX layoffs come with some new troublesome engagement data — plus, how Affleck’s 2nd movie on NETFLIX this year fared and DISNEY’s big week on the service.
- A very busy day for TV series orders and production deals.
- More feature spec market action, another horror pic from UNI, another podcast becomes a “TV show” and much more.
AS ALWAYS: Get in touch with me anytime off the record at seanmcnultynyc@gmail.com or on LINKEDIN here.
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💼 In The Executive Suite
NETFLIX’s layoffs hit, Churn / Engagement concerns rise
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