ICYMI: CBS Prez Tells All; Gen Z vs. Gen X; Disney's 'Snow Woke' Woes
Plus: Everything you need to know before the Oscars
Happy Oscar Sunday! Say hi to Academy Awards obsessives Katey Rich (her predictions here) and Richard Rushfield at the big show tonight if you see them. In the meantime, our expertise has been shining all week — look for Katey’s multiple press stops today on PBS NewsHour, KTLA and Sky News — and Janice Min hit Morning Joe on Friday following her role as the fireside chat at New York City’s Campaign Convene marketing conference. In both instances Janice hammered home a similar theme: the rise of fierce independents and the rejection of traditional gatekeepers across all media, including at the Oscars (hello Anora and The Brutalist!), publishing (see: The Ankler) and in advertising and marketing.
The post-game of course is also part of the action, and Katey and Richard both will share analysis on Monday. Katey’s going live on our new YouTube channel (subscribe and click the bell to get notified) and Janice hits the big Rapid Response podcast.
And last chance! Join our Prestige Junkie Oscar Pool before the show. The winner will receive a free year of Patron status from our friends at Letterboxd; our runner-up scores a yearlong Pro membership.
Series Business: Gen Z’s View, Broadcast’s Coup, Japan TV Clues
In Elaine Low’s latest Salary Confession (paid subscribers only), a 20-something, $80k-a-year creative exec at an indie studio shares Gen Z’s radical salary transparency beliefs and how they deploy them to get an edge in pay negotiations; what they really think of their Gen X bosses (it’s not good); and why they have no respect for the glut of mid-level execs:
Despite streaming, cord-cutting and everything else that’s wrought change in TV, broadcast is booming. CBS president Amy Reisenbach, architect of its No. 1 strategy, reveals to Lesley Goldberg what her team looks for in a script; her good news for writers; the three “buckets” that are crucial for a show to succeed at CBS; and why the network keeps leaning into IP:
A trifecta of recent deals between distributors and Japanese broadcasters has Manori Ravindran explaining why Japan’s traditionally inward-facing industry is more open than ever to international partnerships; how its unique creative is sparking interest; and four essentials for a lucrative partnership. Plus, Manori’s scoop about the hot reality property The Box and she predicts who could replace the BBC’s exiting Charlotte Moore:
Rushfield: MAGA’s Snow White Meltdown
When Disney announced its live-action Snow White remake in Oct. 2016, it couldn’t foresee how the project would become the target of racist attacks by MAGA warriors. Richard Rushfield charts the movie’s misbegotten road to the big screen and how the studio can change its trajectory:
RFK Jr.’s Embarrassing Influencer Payday
Just before Robert F. Kennedy Jr. officially became the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, where he oversees a $2.37 trillion bureaucracy, he was shilling a Swedish workout device for $100,000. Investigative reporter Dave Levinthal reveals RFK Jr.’s stunning product endorsement, the credit card debt that may have led to it and how his cabinet position has impacted wife Cheryl Hines:
Reel AI: And the Oscar Goes to . . . Runway AI?
As nearly half of tonight’s best picture nominees faced an AI controversy, Erik Barmack considers (paid subscribers only) the Oscar categories most and least likely to be upended by AI in the near future; which major categories have already honored movies that relied on AI; how doc filmmakers will ultimately embrace AI to make their stories more real; and why post-production awards will never be the same:
Prestige Junkie: Final Oscar Predictions!
Katey Rich predicts who goes home with the gold. (Visit Ankler Pundits as well to inform your picks before you join our pool.) Plus, she chats with the ceremony’s executive producers about what to expect from the show:
Notable: Wicked’s Original Showman Speaks Out
Rob LeDonne gets a rare interview with normally reclusive Broadway legend Stephen Schwartz about Wicked’s long journey to the screen, his shock at director Jon M. Chu’s “very strange” Oscar snub and the highly anticipated Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo performance planned for tonight:
THE WAKEUP
Entertainment companies’ earning season came to a close this week with Sean McNulty breaking down how WBD sounded like it has a plan while Paramount is stuck in neutral — and both need to unload their cable assets before it’s too late:
🎧 PODCASTS
THE ANKLER
Michael Wolff on Trump’s Coming ‘Self-Destruction’: ‘He Will Pay the Price’ The All or Nothing author, under attack from the president, tells Janice his unsparing thoughts on Trump, misguided Dems, Musk, media panic and a whole lot more:
Read the interview in a Q&A format here.
Broadcast TV Surge; WBD’s Sports Pause; Paramount Stalled Plus the team’s final thoughts before Oscar’s big show:
Like and subscribe on Apple Podcasts
MARTINI SHOT
James Bond’s Corporate Suit Rob Long on why 007 needed his earlier impossible owners
📱 LIKE & SUBSCRIBE FROM NATALIE JARVEY
👓 THE OPTIONIST BY ANDY LEWIS
FINAL HOUSEKEEPING!
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