☀️ IATSE To Members: AI Job Loss is Coming; Netflix's New Christmas Star
COMCAST Olympic 💰 takes new medal / NETFLIX Films hits summer lull / Bronfman still in PAR pursuit
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, July 31, 2024.
Where META is actually going to pay a real fine for once! I know, right? 🤯
The company is cutting a nice $1.4B check to Texas (i.e. just 9% of its net profit in Q1 alone) to settle a facial recognition data lawsuit, whereby the company scanned everyone’s photos for its facial recognition software without, ya know, asking for permission to do that . . . which Texas alleged is against state laws.
Don’t worry folks, META is still keeping all of that data.
AND: The personal immediacy and authenticity that was the backbone of social media growth just keeps getting better — you can now establish an AI bot on INSTA to answer fan/follower questions for you.
In a few years, social platforms are just going to be a bunch of AI bots talking to, and creating posts for . . . each other, right?
BUT: META is putting the kibosh on the “celebrity-modeled” AI bots that it launched less than a year ago, for celebs like Tom Brady, Paris Hilton and MrBeast.
GEE: I hope none of them were inadvertently recommending the ads present on META platforms for marketplaces to buy . . . cocaine that seemingly still exist on FB and INSTA, according to a new WSJ piece. Don’t worry big ticket advertisers, I’m sure your ads are nowhere near this stuff.
HOWEVER: PERPLEXITY AI has set new partnerships with some news orgs like TIME, FORTUNE and others to share a cut of ad revenue each time material from their publications is used in a result.
Great, now can we do the same for when Sora or any text-to-video AI uses something from a copyrighted movie or TV show?
BTW: IATSE had quite a different message for its members around AI in its new AMPTP deal vs. the WGA or SAG last year. More below about what it indicates for many working in Hollywood.
THEN: The Federal judge in the NFL Sunday Ticket case is expected to make some sort of ruling in the appeals process today.
PLUS: SAG-AFTRA will be back on strike outside of Gate 5 at WB this morning, this time as part of its strike against the video game industry, of which WB GAMES is a part.
OH: Good news Horizon-stans! Part 2 will screen at Venice in about a month.
ALSO: Sorry Southern California, I know the election is your favorite topic this month . . . but the Harris and Trump campaigns and PACs are spending 98% of their ad money in just 5 swing states.
BTW: Add STARBUCKS sales being -2% in Q2 to MCDONALD’S -1% for your messages from the American consumer this summer.
KUDOS: To my NY GIANTS for missing this screenshot in the quick-turn HBO Hard Knocks edit process, which shows how it analyzed & ranked 2024 draft players earlier this year. Not exactly the GOT STARBUCKS coffee cup . . . but someone at the NFL is not gonna have a great day today (the league produces the series with HBO).
AND: While U.S. women’s gymnastics took the well-deserved spotlight yesterday, let’s send a 🙌 out to the U.S. women’s rugby sevens team for winning the first medal for the U.S. in the sport ever, in dramatic, last-second fashion over AUSTRALIA. I know . . . pretty much zero about rugby, and even I can see that’s a helluva 90-yard run from Alex “Spiff” Sedrick.
This is a really fun read about the phenomenon of the team, which is racking up millions of social account follows for its players, and to note — women’s sports team mogul Michele Kang has also donated $4M to the team’s efforts to help with growth and support for the L.A. games in 2028.
See ya on the PEACOCK Gold Zone today (i.e. Red Zone for The Olympics each day, switching around to various sports throughout the day as medals are on the line).
