Mornin! This is Sean McNulty and here’s the Hollywood + Media news to know on THURSDAY July 1, 2021.

Where typing Bill Cosby is a free man is definitely not the way I anticipated we’d lead off July. Or any month for that matter.

So instead - hey let’s all wish my sister a Happy Birthday! This counts as my gift to her right?

BUT…. Back to the courts, NXIVM figure Allison Mack was sentenced to 3 years in prison.

AND - James Franco is paying $2.2 Million to settle a 2019 class-action sexual harassment case brought against him by 2 students in his acting course. Settlement pending approval by a judge, Franco admits no wrongdoing.

📽 THE SILVER SCREEN

HULU sets Bowen Yang & Joel Kim Booster (“Shrill”) to star in “Fire Island” movie from SEARCHLIGHT

They’ll play 2 gay men going to Fire Island for a week’s Summer vacation, will shoot in August. No theatrical plans at this point, and will stream under STAR brand in DISNEY+ internationally. /Variety

Wes Anderson shooting next movie in Spain with Tilda Swinton starring

Not much else known… will shoot in the Fall. No word if Scott Rudin will be involved either. /Variety

ALSO IN MOVIES

• NETFLIX sequel to “The Old Guard” will shoot 1st quarter next year, script already completed, no plot details yet. /Variety

• 20th CENTURY STUDIOS casts Isabella Merced as “Juliet” in “Rosaline” - a revisionist take on “Romeo & Juliet” starring Kaitlyn Dever as “Romeo’s” ex and “Juliet’s” cousin.

  • Isabella played “Dora” in the “Dora and the Lost City of Gold” movie, also in WB’s upcoming “Father of the Bride” reboot. /Deadline

IN AWARDS CEREMONY NEWS

• GLOBES to allow non-English films to compete in main categories (reaction to “Minari” backlash… and “The Farewell” backlash the year before). NBC already cancelled the 2022 GLOBES broadcast. /Variety

• OSCARS will still allow films that hit streaming on the same date as movie theaters to qualify for nominations, unlike the DGA. And there will be 10 Best Picture nominees next year (no longer a range between 5 and 10). /THR

• CRITICS CHOICE ASSOCIATION sets WORLD MOVIE AWARDS to recognize non-English language films, as they expanded membership this Spring to international critics. /Deadline

And… not exactly Awards news per se, but David Geffen may be thanked at the OSCARS a lot more in about 5-10 years - he just gave $150 Million to the YALE School of Drama, eliminating tuition for all graduate students. Will be renamed the David Geffen School of Drama. New class on How to Score Endorsement Deals pending. /Deadline

📺 THE TV SET

Nick Offerman joins AMAZON’s TV series adaptation of “A League of Their Own”

Will play the club manager, although the role won’t likely be as prominent in the large ensemble show as the manager Tom Hanks played in the movie. /THR

APPLE TV+ orders TV series from Josh Schwartz & Stephanie Savage (“The OC”) “inspired by” the 2015 book “City on Fire”

8 episodes, it’s the first order for Josh & Stephanie since setting up a deal at APPLE TV in 2019. They’re also doing the “Gossip Girl” reboot at HBOMAX.

Fictional story centers around an NYU Student who is shot in Central Park on July 4th, 2003, and how it relates to a series of fires in the city as well as other eventually intertwined characters from various walks of life.

Book was set in the mid 70’s on New Years Eve and involved the 70’s NYC Punk scene so… the “inspired by” description makes sense. No word on a production timeline. /Deadline

ALSO IN TV

• A “Loki”-themed short episode of “The Simpsons” will hit DISNEY+ next Wed with a new episode of “Loki”. /Variety

• If you’re big Chip & Joanna fans - THR has a cover story for ya, 2 weeks before the launch of their MAGNOLIA Network.

• HBO casts Nico Parker (“Dumbo”) as daughter of Pedro Pascal’s character in “The Last of Us” series adaptation of the post-apocalyptic video game. Show is co-created by Craig Mazin (“Chernobyl”). /Deadline

• NETFLIX sets first look deal with POWERHOUSE ANIMATION, the studio behind their “Castlevania” series, and upcoming anime “Tomb Raider” show. /Deadline

💻 THE MEDIA BIZ

CAMEO will more than double revenue in 2021 to $200 - $300 Million

CAMEO will net about $50+ Million this year once APPLE / GOOGLE take their 30% cut (20% of CAMEO sales happen via its app) and the bigger cut goes out to celebrities.

The Information also reports CAMEO is working on a monthly subscription function called “Fan Club”, which… basically sounds like ONLY FANS without having to explain that you’re not doing porn.

OF NOTE: The… uh “innovation” team (🤷‍♂️) at FACEBOOK is building a competitor called “Super”, although with the myriad of other product ripoffs they have going right now, who knows when they’ll get to this one.

INSTAGRAM rolling out full-screen video in people’s feeds… as it continues to morph into TIKTOK

You’ll also begin seeing “recommended” videos in your feed in the TBD near future from accounts that you don’t follow (that also aren’t Ads either). But uh… at least you’ll be able to pick topics that are of interest to you to help IG guide which ones they shove- um I mean thoughfully place in there 😬. /THR

Basically - IG thinks photos are so 2010’s. Especially considering how much more $$ they likely get for video ads vs image ones.

Just me or is FB really looking to squeeze more 💰💰 out of IG this year? Guess those APPLE iOS 14.5 privacy updates are working as feared.

Think I’m just gonna start subscribing to the newspaper again. 👨🏻‍🦳

Former E! head Adam Stotsky set as Prez of Strahan / Brady sports content outfit RELIGION OF SPORTS

Company has raised $10 Million this year from undisclosed sources to fund productions across docus, scripted and podcasting/audio, and is behind the upcoming “The Last Dance”-for-Tom-Brady docuseries at ESPN+ called “Man in the Arena”, which will stream this Fall TBD.

RELIGION OF SPORTS CEO says they wanna be “the PIXAR of sports"… but gonna assume that doesn’t mean in the sense of releasing just 1 or 2 projects a year. /THR

NCAA approves college athletes to make money from their Names and Likenesses

Let the Ad endorsement deals begin… and they can also accept money for signing autographs. Now all they need is a time machine back to 1997 (#cameraPhones).

Either way BCS and MARCH MADNESS ad breaks are gonna feel a lot different next year. /Sportico

ALSO IN MEDIA

• Streaming services operating in France (NETFLIX, DISNEY+) must now invest 20-25% of their French revenues in local productions. /Variety

• THE WEATHER CHANNEL sets $4.99/month SVOD service to launch in late Fall TBD. No word if keeping to just US only, but the Byron Allen-owned service plans to hit 30 Million subscribers by 2026. /NextTV

🏦 STOCK NOTES:

Wall Street mostly snoozing into the holiday weekend but ROKU up over 4% as it continues to “have a month”.

👩‍💻 NEW TO WATCH:

HBOMAX “No Sudden Move” - Soderbergh, Benicio, Cheadle, Hamm, Harbour, Liotta. I’m in. I’d also definitely order a sandwich with any of those names. Well maybe not Hamm, sorry Jon. Watch or Add to your List here

NETFLIX “Audible” - A short film on a Maryland High School for the Deaf football team that looked really intriguing. Watch or add to your list here (can also watch the trailer there too)

If you were sent this newsletter or… just kinda found it:

🎥 TRAILER HOUSE

AMAZON PRIME ”Jolt” movie trailer. Kate Beckinsdale as a bouncer 💪 who needs to ‘jolt’ ⚡️ herself with electricity to subdue murderous impulses 🔪, until a guy she falls for ❤️ is killed 💀.
Then it’s a lotta bad guys doing the “let’s attack her individually” versus group-approach fight scenes, and of course torture involving jumper cables. The End. Premieres Fri July 23.

AMAZON PRIME “Cinderella” movie teaser. AMAZON bought from SONY earlier this year, Camila Cabello in the title role. Premieres Fri Sept 3.

SHOWTIME “The L Word: Generation Q” Season 2 trailer. Premieres Fri Aug 6.

🎧 PLAYING ME OFF

OLIVIA RODRIGO finally got her prom - She dropped her 30 minute “SOUR Prom” concert video as her album still sits atop the ROLLING STONE album chart. Video hit 5.4 Million views in first 24 hours.

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-Sean McNulty

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