Two scoops! It’s the optimal ice cream portion — I hope you enjoyed some on July 4th — and it’s what The Ankler served up this week with a pair of exclusives that had the town buzzing.
But first: Today only, you can upgrade to a paid yearly subscription at 25% off and finally get full access to everything The Ankler has to offer. A paid subscription gives you top-in-class career insight and insider information you can’t get anywhere else — always unvarnished, independent and fearless. No trade slop, no gossip, no bait-and-switch headlines. Just the smartest, most authoritative reporting in the industry, including:
Best-in-class analysis from Sean McNulty’s The Wakeup
Series Business with the inside track on the TV market from Elaine Low, Lesley Goldberg and Manori Ravindran
Dealmakers from Ashley Cullins, where agents, reps and lawyers reveal the latest changes in offers, negotiations and terms
Reel AI from Erik Barmack, a working producer on the frontlines of the technology and the cutting edge of its impact on your job
Prestige Junkie from Katey Rich, who delivers all the ins, outs and big interviews around awards season
Ankler Features on everything from the return of spec scripts to the 19 press tour stops ruthless publicists care about (and not)
Entertainment Strategy Guy’s data-driven analysis to better inform your decisions (and give you insight into others’)
The one and only Richard Rushfield
Now, back to those two scoops! First, there was Richard Rushfield’s Tuesday bombshell about the HFPA, where he broke news that the organization had voted to reconstitute itself and investigate the Golden Globes’ nope-not-yet-completed-despite-reports sale to Jay Penske and Todd Boehly. The move by the group’s legacy membership — which also voted Thursday to oust Helen Hoehne, who transitioned in 2023 from leading the nonprofit HFPA to running the for-profit Golden Globes, LLC — could spell the unwinding of the deal, which was announced two years ago but has yet to win approval from California Attorney General Rob Bonta. It was a development so major that the Penske-owned trades, which haven’t touched the mounting troubles and conflicts at the Globes, actually were compelled to follow Richard’s reporting (in a rare move, some of them even credited The Ankler, because journalism).
Then, on Wednesday, Lesley Goldberg brought you a Last of Us shocker: the exit of Neil Druckmann, who co-created the OG game, from the hit HBO series. After serving as EP, writer and director on the first two seasons under showrunner Craig Mazin, Druckmann is stepping back ahead of the third to focus instead on his next title for game publisher Naughty Dog. Lesley’s deep sourcing and trusted reporting put her way ahead of the crowd on this one — check it out.
Matthew Frank also stirred up conversation with his feature on the AI fight at top film schools, where professors teach and embrace the tech even as students rage that it’s cutting off their entry-level path to Hollywood. Matthew dove into the fraught debate with top industry stakeholders including CAA’s Alan Braun and Ken Ziffren, plus students and deans at USC, AFI and Chapman, as Lionsgate vice chair Michael Burns offered this warning to the industry’s next generation: “Participate in the revolution or sit it out.”
Now, without further ado, ICYMI, even more of our best of the week:
Series Business: Apple Series Wish List
Elaine Low kicks off her Summer Sellers’ Guide — where she talks to agents and producers about what networks and streamers are looking for — with an update on Apple TV+ (paid subscribers only): what kinds of shows it’s developing and buying; who really has greenlight power; and which of the spendy streamer’s creative execs have impressed top agents:
Richard Rushfield
In addition to his HFPA scoop this week, Richard rolled his eyes at Shari Redstone’s capitulation to Trump and Hollywood’s outsized presence — Leo to Ted to Oprah — at the gaudy Bezos-Sánchez wedding:
Reel AI: Veo 3 & 118,000 Lost Hollywood Jobs
Google’s Veo 3 won’t just speed up AI video generation — it’s set to imminently alter Hollywood production (and jobs). Erik Barmack breaks down (paid subscribers only) the steps the powerful new tool eliminates, what that means for budgets — and how more than 118,000 behind-the-camera jobs could be impacted in the next 18 months:
ESG: Disney Threats & Weaknesses
Entertainment Strategy Guy checks in on the state of the Mouse House — where his previous doomsday hypotheses (trouble at Marvel, Star Wars and Pixar, and cable’s demise) and new risks (sports, succession) make a potent mix of troubles to watch:
Prestige Junkie: Oh Yes, Oscar Harbingers
Katey Rich takes early stock of which 2026 Oscar contenders you should watch out for — from Josh O’Connor and Paul Mescal-starrer The History of Sound to Bruce Springsteen biopic (with Jeremy Allen White as the Boss) Deliver Me From Nowhere:
The Wakeup
Sean McNulty lays out the details of Paramount’s $16 million Trump settlement, what comes next for the Skydance merger talks:
Monday Morning QBs
Make sure to catch our weekly live show with Richard & Sean to review what just happened with weekend box office. This week, the duo analyzed the exciting new experience vs. familiarity complex that drove F1 way ahead of M3GAN 2.0 in its opening weekend:
The Rushfield Lunch
Survivor and Traitors alum Parvati Shallow is “a true icon of our times,” says Richard, and she joins him to dish on life as a reality TV star, and how the coping mechanisms she learned during a tumultuous childhood — the very things that made her so powerful on Survivor — have held her back outside the show:
🎧 PODCASTS
THE ANKLER
Druckmann Ditches HBO: The Last of Us Faces a Creative Apocalypse Plus: Film schools’ heated AI divide with surprising battle lines:
MARTINI SHOT
Dumb Comedies Will Save Hollywood Rob Long marks a big birthday by pondering showbiz ups and downs:
📱 LIKE & SUBSCRIBE FROM NATALIE JARVEY
👓 THE OPTIONIST BY ANDY LEWIS
FINAL HOUSEKEEPING!
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