☀️AMAZON Re-Org Signals Branded Content Push
New women's 🏀 league emerges / AMAZON goes Sherlock for next franchise / Broadcast TV shows Sports youth draw
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, May 30, 2024.
Where first tech came for the Hollywood jobs, and now they’re coming for the pilots (err, these 🛩️, not 📒).
A sight familiar to many East Coast summer beachgoers may soon have a different look . . . as Miami #ofcourse will soon begin utilizing drones to fly ad banners over beaches, instead of human-flown planes.
While the drones are safer, quieter and more eco-friendly — they also, uh, don’t need pilots, or the accompanying businesses that surround those planes (landing strips, etc).
Drones do create some jobs: There’s a different kind of pilot “flying” them remotely, and they’ll each need two visual observers and a safety officer — so perhaps some (I’m guessing lower-paid) work for those unemployed pilots after all!
The unmanned vehicles can also be flown at lower altitudes, so the advertisements can get closer to folks trying to get some sun . . . which I’m sure will totally enhance the relaxing vibes of a day at the beach. Can’t wait to see the reaction when they bring it to Jersey.
AND: It appears noted DISNEY fan Nelson Peltz sold all of his stock in the company as soon as he lost the proxy battle in early April — CNBC reports he sold it at about $120 a share, which was roughly the price the day after the DISNEY annual meeting . . . and it hasn’t been that high since.
He reportedly netted about $1 Billion in the whole process, which reportedly cost DISNEY tens of millions 💰 to fight.
NYT puts the size of Nelson’s DISNEY stake at $3.5B, but that includes Ike Perlmutter’s shares . . . which were the majority of that total — no word on Ike’s current stake at this time.
PLUS: VOX and The Atlantic are the latest media companies to cut deals with OPENAI to let it harvest its archives. No deal fee was mentioned.
BTW: It was 126 degrees in New Delhi yesterday 🤯🥵.
THEN: All charges against PGA golfer Scottie Scheffler have been dropped, as evidence that came forth afterward corroborated Scheffler’s version of events surrounding the diving incident outside of the PGA Championship.
HUZZAH!: Goes out to the PWHL’s (women’s hockey) MINNESOTA . . . well, they actually don’t have a mascot, but they apparently don’t need one as MINNESOTA took home the first PWHL Walter’s Cup Championship last night, beating BOSTON (also no mascots — think we have a theme here) in front of a sell-out crowd of 6,309 folks.
FOLKS DOING GOOD:
PART 1: The INEVITABLE FOUNDATION launched its Visionary Fellowship program, giving grants up to $55k to disabled filmmakers, including $25k to produce a short film, supported by NETFLIX’s Fund for Creative Equity. Folks can apply here for the grants.
PART 2: After missing a last-second field goal kick against the CHIEFS in the NFL playoffs last year, BILLS kicker Tyler Bass deleted his social media to avoid the barrage of hate from
gamblersupstanding citizens . . . whom I’m sure all use their real names online.Fans from the BILLS MAFIA group, plus the CHIEFS and other teams then took that opportunity to turn the situation around, raising $400k for Tyler’s local non-profit, the TEN LIVES CLUB, which helps cat animal rescue / shelter efforts.
Now, the organization is using the money to add a new addition to its facility outside Buffalo (video of very cute kittens ahead here).
AND ONE MORE NOTE OF POSITIVITY
It’s been quite a narrative here in 2024 for BLEECKER STREET Founder and CEO Andrew Karpen, who was suddenly diagnosed with a deadly brain tumor (glioblastoma) earlier this year, and recently had a very promising surgery in NYC, which at minimum has removed any evidence of a tumor at the present time.
Just going to include this quote from Andrew in the piece, which is something I consistently try to keep in mind as well — always remember to live the day in front of you first.
“What I’ve learned is to appreciate every day, appreciate the people you love.
I wake up every day, and I focus on living. That doesn’t mean everything is easy; there are a lot of hard days, and a lot of tears. But I appreciate every second, and I want to live as long as I can.”
WAKEUP BOX OFFICE POLL
Does the box office have a long-term problem, or will a full year in 2025 make all of these “movies are over/on the brink” pieces look bad in about 9-12 months?
SONY’s Tony Vinciquerra’s take on an investor call this week:
“Once we get back into the normal cadence of producing films, I think you’re going to see the comeback. We may not get back to pre-pandemic level. It is more difficult to produce a film that generates cultural action within the community but we’re pretty optimistic about the next couple of years.”
What say you?
FINALLY: Just as a nod to the last time that “movies are dead” became the hot talking point, a mere 3-4 years ago — AMERICAN AIRLINES is basically acknowledging a strategic failure, whereby it significantly cut resources dedicated to business / corporate travelers . . . figuring this business was not meaningfully going to come back post-Covid.
DELTA and UNITED happily took the market share, and now AMERICAN is now vowing to “get that back.” Good luck, AMERICAN.
Yet another reminder that as much as businesses seem to change . . . employee culture & management leadership often matter most, and no matter the present circumstances — be wary of cementing trends about what “people” no longer want to do.
📽 THE SILVER SCREEN
