ICYMI: Final Day for 2024 Prices!
Plus: L.A. real estate hell; 'Emilia Pérez' Oscar collapse; agents' indie market intel
Ed note: Our prices increase for the first time in three years tomorrow. The price for a paid subscription will go up $20 a year for annual subscriptions, and $2 a month for monthly subscriptions. Subscribe today to an annual subscription to lock in 2024 pricing.
Hi and happy Super Bowl Sunday!
If you’re in New Orleans, say hi to Natalie Jarvey, writer of our new excellent standalone Like & Subscribe newsletter about the business of the creator economy. Natalie caught up there yesterday with YouTube CEO Neal Mohan, whose company was featured in her story this week, YouTube vs. Netflix vs. Spotify: The Creator Arms Race Gets Spicy — they shared a good-natured laugh about our illustration of Mohan shoving Ted Sarandos (blame Janice!).
Meanwhile, I always sing the praises of our Series Business team, Elaine Low and Manori Ravindran, and their unparalleled ability to deliver only-at-The Ankler insights about the TV market. (The two were moderating all over NATPE and Realscreen in Miami this week, gathering intel to inform future stories you won’t want to miss.)
Now, Lesley Goldberg has joined our Series Business team. You know Lesley from her Hall of Fame run at The Hollywood Reporter, with too many TV scoops, high-impact stories and podcasts for me to list. Look for her to be doing that every Wednesday in Series Business (for paid subscribers only) with a keen focus on development.
But hey, it’s still Oscar season, and on Wednesday, our Ankler & Letterboxd Audience First FYC Screening Series featured a showing of best picture nominee Conclave, followed by a Q&A led by our awards editor Katey Rich with members of the film’s Academy Award-nominated team: director Edward Berger, producers Tessa Ross and Michael A. Jackman, screenwriter Peter Straughan, editor Nick Emerson, costume designer Lisy Christl and composer Volker Bertelmann. Conclave just took home the Critics Choice Awards for best acting ensemble and best adapted screenplay, and is nominated in eight Oscar categories.
Then we kicked off the weekend yesterday with on-screen icons Wallace and Gromit. The actual sculpted puppets used in the film visited the Netflix Icon theater for The Ankler & Letterboxd Audience First Screening of Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl, nominated for best animated feature. Guests lined up for photos with the puppets and directors Nick Park and Merlin Crossingham, and following the screening, Park and Crossingham joined Katey onstage to chat about the film, craft and the legacy characters they’ve built.
For more information about booking this series, please email London@theankler.com.
Now, with no further ado, ICYMI:
Rushfield: Ambition! Feuds! Firings!
Surviving and thriving in this industry is no easy task. Richard Rushfield revealed in a week-long series how to succeed from starting line through your (inevitable) sacking, and best of all — how to settle a score and win:
Dealmakers: Top Agents, Execs on the Art of Selling an Indie Film
Hollywood players have changed the way they engage with film festivals — hint: go to fewer — as the market for indies shifts. Ashley Cullins talks with lawyers, execs and sales agents (paid subscribers only) to uncover how long it now takes to sell a movie post-festival; the purchase prices filmmakers and their reps should expect; the three film fests dealmakers never miss; and the alternative theatrical windows for indies now being negotiated:
Series Business: L.A. Production Bleed and What’s at Stake
Elaine Low goes inside the grassroots #StayinLA campaign trying to woo production back to the city (paid subscribers only), revealing how it’s pressuring studios and creators; the A-listers who’ve joined the fight; why Gov. Gavin Newsom’s tax incentive isn’t enough; and quantifiable ideas to make the incentive more impactful:
‘Purgatory’: L.A.’s Post-Wildfires Housing Scramble
Price gouging, all-cash offers, you name it — the L.A. real estate market is more frenzied (and expensive) than ever since the wildfires. In her latest Ankler Feature, Nicole LaPorte speaks with residents and nearly a dozen top realtors to reveal the market chaos; where displaced Palisades residents are migrating; and the decision to rebuild or “get the fuck out of L.A.”:
Super Bowl: Why Does Hollywood Have the WORST Ads?
For millions of people (including me!), the ads are why they’ll tune into the Super Bowl today. With big brands pulling out all the stops — increasingly co-opting Hollywood’s own celebs and movie IP — studios continue to promote upcoming movies by just running trailers. I interviewed top ad world creatives to explore the new Super Bowl ad playbook Hollywood has yet to embrace; what studios could do to get more bang with the same bucks; and why Christopher Nolan should direct a Super Bowl ad for his next movie:
Entertainment Strategy Guy: Tubi Originals, Good or Bad Idea?
As Tubi enters the scripted originals arena, Entertainment Strategy Guy breaks down (paid subscribers only) why the free streamer is getting into originals now; what FAST services need to learn from Netflix, Snapchat and YouTube’s forays into making its own shows; and why Tubi’s success might hinge on acting like its parent company Fox:
GOP Rep. Darrell Issa, Anti-Piracy Crusader for Hollywood
Just after Rep. Darrell Issa held a private roundtable about international piracy with Amazon, Disney and Paramount, he gave Matthew Frank an exclusive interview, explaining how his proposed “judicial blocking” would work to restrict the practice — and how he expects President Trump to respond to California’s needs after the wildfires:
Trump Keeps Calm and Subscribes On. Even to Peacock
Despite President Trump’s recent attacks on the federal government’s purchases of news media subscriptions, investigative reporter Dave Levinthal is back with part two of his look into FEC documents that reveal what Trump’ political committees have been subscribing to since the election, from Peacock to everyone’s favorite meditation app, and, of course, news:
Prestige Junkie: Who Gains After ‘Emilia Pérez’ Implodes?
Katey Rich evaluates what the Karla Sofia Gascón scandal will mean for all of Emilia Pérez’ Oscar chances, chats with Anora director Sean Baker before his DGA Awards win about his unique way or crafting films, and considers whether Anora is the favorite (again) after its best picture win at the Critics Choice Awards (and now the PGA Awards too):
THE WAKEUP
Following Disney’s Q4 earnings call, Sean McNulty breaks down the company’s theatrical turnaround, mixed signals for ESPN and what Bob Iger might do with the linear networks. Plus: The implications of Fox’s D2C streaming reveal:
🎧 PODCASTS
THE ANKLER
Inside #StayinLA; Two Minutes with Bob Iger; SpinCo Woe The team breaks down the news of the week:
MARTINI SHOT
The Garbageman’s Vanity Card Rob Long on standing out in Hollywood's junk and clutter:
📱 LIKE & SUBSCRIBE FROM NATALIE JARVEY
Can anyone catch YouTube in the creator space? Natalie Jarvey’s latest Like & Subscribe (subscribe here) explores how Netflix is making deals with YouTube stars like Ms. Rachel with an eye to exclusive content; whether Spotify can woo creators to do video; and why YouTube and Spotify’s video podcasting fight could be a problem for creators and producers:
👓 THE OPTIONIST BY ANDY LEWIS
FINAL HOUSEKEEPING!
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