☀️AMAZON/UA Buys Big Again, HBO Scores with Tim Robinson
NBCU trims TV staff / APPLE gets F1 / NETFLIX takes ‘Pop Culture Jeopardy!’ / NEON buys Soderbergh pic
Mornin! This is Sean McNulty (connect with me on LINKEDIN here if ya like or email me at seanmcnultynyc@gmail.com), and here’s the Hollywood + Media news to know on Friday, October 17, 2025.
Where META has decided #hardpass on being accredited for brand safety by industry standard bearer, the MEDIA RIGHTS COUNCIL, and will no longer be approved by the group.
I mean, anyone who has used FACEBOOK and still operated under any illusion of brand safety on FACEBOOK should really not be working in the advertising business anymore, so — I kinda get this one.
FB and INSTA had just received accreditation by the group back in June.
AND: While new-amenity office buildings got all the press after the pandemic, a lotta folks in NYC seem to be determining they don’t need all the perks, with Class B and Class C office building rentals seeing a surge over the past year.
THEN: PAR set its Q3 earnings report day for Monday, November 10 because Shari apparently put a secret clause in the sale deal that all big news from PARAMOUNT must happen on Mondays. Nice payback, Shari!
AH: Welcome to the entertainment business, OPENAI! Apparently MLK is the place where the company is drawing a line, blocking the use of his image in SORA 2 video creation after some folks were shockingly making “disrespectful” videos featuring the civil rights leader.
But uh, yeah, OPENAI is keeping things on-brand by making dead people have to opt-out of being included in SORA, just like they’re doing with Peter Griffin. Gonna be a fun court case here one day.
To note, OPENAI removed MLK from the system at the request of his family, not of the company’s own volition.
OPENAI’s 🤌 official statement here:
“OpenAI believes public figures and their families should ultimately have control over how their likeness is used. Authorized representatives or estate owners can request that their likeness not be used in Sora cameos.”
Remember when OPENAI was focused on health breakthroughs that were gonna save humanity? Now we’re doing porn and mocking dead people. Nice work, Sam!
PLUS: We’re getting one step closer to never having to interact with people ever again! Now driver-less WAYMOs will deliver DOOR DASH orders, starting in Phoenix. Good luck explaining to the car that uh, you ordered pepperoni, bro!
OH: Add Whooping Cough to the list of things RFK Jr. / MAHA are making great again — cases are +81% YoY in Florida in 2025, and that’s comparing the first 9 months of 2025 vs. the entirety of 2024 so . . . that’ll only get worse. But ya know — the taxes are much better in Florida so, here’s some Robitussin, Johnny. Have a good day at school.
COME HANG!: Rushfield finally accepted my invitation to come to Jersey! It’s been a 3-year push, but totally worth it — we’ll be doing a State of the Film Business conversation with some folks tomorrow at the Montclair Film Festival at 1 p.m. We’ll also be around at other events during the day, including ones with Pam Abdy and Spike Lee.
All GIANTS talk is welcome with me, while Richard will be very open to all food suggestions.
WAKEUP BOX OFFICE POLL
Huh, quite a few Black Phone 2 bears out there this weekend — count me in with the mostly optimistic.
NEW POD
🎥 THE SILVER SCREEN
