☀️ A-List Signals Hot 2024 Film Marketplace as EFM Begins
UNI/BLUMHOUSE sets Jan 2025 pic / PEACOCK sets scripted slate / ALTICE #cordcutting grows in Q4
Mornin! This is Sean McNulty (connect with me on LinkedIn here if ya like), and here’s the Hollywood + Media news to know on THURSDAY Feb. 15, 2024.
Where we have a new job alert! The NYT is hiring a new Media Correspondent to cover “non-traditional media organizations — including those behind newsletters, podcasts and new video formats,” at a salary range of $120k to $155k.
See? There are well-paying jobs in journalism! Just try not to call me “that gif guy” in your coverage 🙏.
AND: The GENESIS Invitational 🏌️♂️ with Tiger starts today, as does the EUROPEAN FILM MARKET (EFM) in Berlin (more on that below).
ALSO: JLo is going on tour this summer, tix go on sale Feb. 20 for members of her fanclub, and Feb. 23 for fair weather fans.
PLUS: Warren Bufffet’s BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY sold 1/3 of its 15% stake in PARAMOUNT in Q4 (PARA stock was nearly -5% after hours last night). It bought most of its stake in the company in Q1 2022, when the stock was trading at over $30 a share. The stock was trading between roughly $11 and $17 in Q4 ‘23.
BH also sold 1% of its stake in APPLE, leaving it with about 5.9%, or uh $167 Billion worth. I guess it’s reassuring that Warren and I likely still had the same MCDONALD’S breakfast this morning.
OH: Caitlin Clark goes for the women’s college hoops 🏀 scoring title again tonight against MICHIGAN, exclusively on PEACOCK at 8 p.m.
SOUNDS FAMILIAR 🤔: UBER announced it just had its first full year of being a profitable company (with LYFT becoming cash flow positive this year) — the secret, according to the head of UBER’s delivery business? “Long gone are the days of exuberant promos”. Ah, charging prices that show the true cost of the product — guess streaming isn’t so special after all. Man, I really shoulda gotten an MBA…
PLUS: Just to share some positive job related news for once, and to demonstrate how there can be unexpected benefits to societal shifts like increased WFH work — while making up 12% of the U.S. adult population, disabled folks made up almost a third of the new labor growth in the U.S. since the pandemic according to JP MORGAN Chief U.S. Economist Michael Feroli. Labor participation rates for disabled men and women also both hit records last year according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
BONUS LABOR #FUNFACT: The BLS also puts the gender split in Arts/Entertainment/Media sector employment as 48% women, 52% men. In the Construction/Extraction business? 4% women, 96% men.
IN TODAY’S EDITION:
An overview of the plethora of A-List names looking to sell movies in at the EFM in Berlin this week shows a very active industry afoot.
DISNEY looks to unload another India business stake.
The latest bad #cordcutting trends in ALTICE numbers, the PEACOCK new scripted slate, project news at UNI, DISNEY, FOCUS, HULU, STARZ and more. Oh — plus a big ESPN BET expansion.
👋 ME IN LA: Well, at least my voice — I’ll be on LAist, LA's #1 NPR station this afternoon on All Things Considered, as part of The Ankler’s Entertainment Thursday programming, talking all things Box Office 2024 woes, and what’s ahead for the year.
📽 THE SILVER SCREEN
