☀️ DISNEY gets new Activist Investor (ish); RIP Norman Lear
College Football's monster ratings wknd / SAG deal ratified / TIKTOK takes valuation hit
Mornin! This is Sean McNulty (connect with me on LinkedIn here if ya like), and here’s the Hollywood + Media news to know on WEDNESDAY Dec. 6, 2023.
Where we have a 78% approval of the SAG-AFTRA deal, a higher percentage than the last two deals (2020: 74%, 2017: 76%).
WAKEUP Poll experts were spot-on of course, or at least the biggest voting block of 43% got it right, choosing “70% to 85% approval” yesterday.
Voter turnout: 38% (2020: 27%, 2017: 15%).
WGA deal: 99% ratification, and I think about 77% turnout (8525 votes out of 11k-ish members was the math, but no official percentage was put out there).
A REST IN PEACE: Goes out to industry legend Norman Lear, who died yesterday at his home in L.A. at age 101. A once in a lifetime talent.
AND: Lenny Kravitz is gonna play Biden’s fundraiser in L.A. on Friday. If doesn’t play “Are You Gonna Go My Way” with an intro nodding to the election… that’s just a missed opportunity.
ALSO: Here are your INDEPENDENT SPIRIT Award nominees. Note: Poor Things, Nyad and Maestro were not eligible due to the “under $30 million budget” requirement, and uh, “independent” series from AMAZON, NETFLIX, PEACOCK, ABC and HBO were among the overall TV nominees.
AND: Here are your CRITICS CHOICE TV Award nominees.
BTW: If you ever did 23 & ME, sensitive info from 6.9 Million accounts was hacked this week.
OH: Elon is looking for more investor money since the last round is doing so great. He’s looking to raise $1 Billion for his X.AI fund - meet the ‘Grok’ AI bot who will “answer spicy questions that are rejected by most other AI systems” and tell whatever advertiser you like to go fuck themselves.
He’s raised about $135 Million so far, and has been funded entirely by… Elon Musk, according to The Information. Sure it’ll go great.
IN THIS EDITION
DISNEY gets another Peltz-supporting (small) activist investor
Context around the Super Mario debut on NETFLIX and the new Jen Garner family/holiday pic debut numbers.
Another busy day with PAR+, TIKTOK, HBO, AMAZON, PIXAR, Dave Chappelle and more, so let’s just get going.
📽 THE SILVER SCREEN
