Grief, Gifts and What This Week Revealed About Hollywood
Plus: Film schools’ career scramble; shrinking production companies (and parties); how ‘Heated Rivalry’ became a hit
A small note, for those who’ve asked: If you have colleagues, assistants or friends who would genuinely value our reporting, you can now gift The Ankler at 30% off for teams of two or more through the end of the year.
It’s a simple way to share work you already read, watch and enjoy — and to support independent, intelligent industry journalism, free of filler, nonsense and gossip, heading into 2026.
Gift a team subscription before our biggest discount ever ends Dec. 31 →
Meanwhile, it goes without saying, the tragic murders of Rob Reiner and Michele Singer Reiner cast a profound shadow over a shocked industry this week. No surprise, Richard Rushfield was a preeminent voice in the conversation, remembering Reiner’s range as a filmmaker, but also his extraordinary humanity behind the camera and as a person — a potent reminder in an era today that needs more (not less) of that quality:
Listen to Richard also on NPR’s The Brian Lehrer Show, which features not just his commentary, but also Reiner fans calling in (and Richard at times responding)👇🏼:
Prestige Junkie’s Katey Rich and Ankler deputy editor Christopher Rosen also were joined by Richard for a bittersweet survey of Reiner’s “towering career” (watch on YouTube or listen to the podcast):
Now, ICYMI, here’s the rest of our best of the week:
Series Business: ‘Heated Rivalry’ Deal Math; Film School Career Scramble
Queer Canadian hockey drama Heated Rivalry — now renewed for a season 2 — is a smash. Bell Media CEO Sean Cohan and exec Justin Stockman tell Lesley Goldberg how the series scored globally and without financial partners: “We kept ponying up until we owned it”:
Plus: Why the pre-holiday TV deal-palooza?
As studios melt, algorithms rule and screens go vertical, film school professors are rewriting syllabi on the fly. Elaine Low reveals how:
Plus, Elaine scoops UTA shuttering representation of three below-the-line roles:
Rushfield: Hollywood’s Fork in the Road
Richard lays out the sliding doors that await in 2026; plus, he weighs in on the “touching sight” of Zaslav, Peters and Sarandos strolling Warners’ lot, and the Oscars going to YouTube, aka “the end of the end”:
Dealmakers: Christmas Green(lights)
Reps and filmmakers tell Ashley Cullins why a Yuletide twist can get just about any story made right now, how Netflix turned holiday movies from made-for-TV filler into prestige-adjacent assets and what it costs to make one of these holly-jolly titles:
Shrinking Production Companies (and Parties)
As invites dry up, checks get split and the $400 Wally’s gift basket goes by the wayside, industry gatherings and rituals are simpler and thriftier, writes Nicole LaPorte. But the party circuit can still be a gift, as top leadership coach Lacey Leone McLaughlin offers advice on how to handle soirees, family and awkward questions when your career is on ice:
Avatar Made a Mint, But No Memes. Why?
How could such a massive franchise be so small online? The data on James Cameron’s Avatar tells a fascinating story about fandom and filmgoing as Stat Significant’s Daniel Parris dives into search history, meme counts and more to unpack the mystery of the films’ surprisingly light mark on the broader culture:
Reel AI: Trump’s Authoritarian Intelligence
From guilds to Gavin Newsom, Erik Barmack assesses what studios and creatives must reckon with now after President Trump signed an executive order designed to create a “national AI policy framework” that sets up challenges to state AI laws across the country:
Main Character With Renata Reinsve
How do you follow up being The Worst Person in the World? For star Renata Reinsve and Sentimental Value director Joachim Trier, it meant developing a character with “more emotional weight” for their latest collab, Reinsve says. In the second episode of Main Character, Ankler Studio’s video series focused on the top actors in the game, Reinsve talks about the grueling process of shooting the Oscar contender:
Prestige Junkie: Oscar Shortlist Season
Katey Rich delivers interviews with The Smashing Machine’s Emily Blunt, Song Sung Blue’s Kate Hudson, and Jay Kelly’s Noah Baumbach. Plus, Katey and Chris analyze the Academy Awards shortlists — and what they signal — and Katey and Like & Subscribe’s Natalie Jarvey explore the Oscars’ move to YouTube in 2029:
The Wakeup
Another week, another round fresh round of developments in the WBD-Netflix-PSKY soap opera. Sean McNulty breaks it all down:
📹 Ankler Shows
Rushfield Lunch: Director Craig Brewer tells Richard why his Song Sung Blue feels like a uniquely American story, reflects on his Sundance breakout Hustle & Flow — 20 years on — and recalls how he went from shelving books at Barnes & Noble to watching his film win an Oscar:
🎧 PODCASTS
THE ANKLER
Elaine and Sean break down how the tables turned on suitor PSKY, what this means for the timeline of a Netflix-Warner Bros. merger and the wild payouts David Zaslav and the WBD C-suite will get regardless of what happens:
MARTINI SHOT
Rob Long on downsizing, gratitude and helping homeless youth in L.A.:
Subscribe on Apple Podcasts
📱 LIKE & SUBSCRIBE BY NATALIE JARVEY
Natalie chats with Samuel Weidenhofer, better known as @ItsSozer, about how he monetizes good deeds; reveals a new “operating system” for creators from the co-founder of DraftKings; and reports on MrBeast’s adventures with Beast Games season two. Plus, Natalie and ICYMI’s Lia Haberman hopped on Substack Live to discuss the highs and lows of a watershed year for the creator economy:
👓 THE OPTIONIST BY ANDY LEWIS
FINAL HOUSEKEEPING!
As an Ankler subscriber, you are automatically subscribed to all of our newsletters and podcasts by default. Not interested in all of them? Customize which ones would like to receive notifications for. It’s easy to do.
Log into your Substack account from a desktop or laptop, select “Settings” from the drop-down menu.
Under Subscriptions, click on The Ankler to review the sections you’d like to subscribe to/unsubscribe from.
On the next page, click on the toggles next to each newsletter and podcast you want to receive emails for. A gray toggle indicates notifications are off.
Alternatively, when you get an email newsletter, select “Unsubscribe” in the footer of the email and click on “Turn off emails” next to each section you’d like to unsubscribe from.
