We hope you’re enjoying a well-deserved three-day weekend.
Some quick housekeeping:
If you haven’t started listening to The Ankler on NPR’s #1 station in L.A., LAist 89.3, please check us out on Entertainment Thursdays. This week, Peter Kiefer hit Morning Edition to discuss his story on the current state of documentary….
…and Sean McNulty appeared on All Things Considered talking the troubled state of the box office in 2024 and how we got here:
Also: a quick brag. How are we doing? It turns out, pretty well! You can read this story for a quick snapshot of the growth of our business and why it’s working. (Thanks as always to all of you.)
And now, our best of the week, ICYMI:
Hollywood as Told in Photos
We’re in the whirl of event season, and photographer Todd Williamson (a familiar face inside parties, on the red carpet and at the festivals for years) is capturing it all. Yesterday, we piloted our new Todd on the Town newsletter, let us know what you think:
Hollywood’s Hidden Gold Mine
Entertainment Strategy Guy dives into the numbers behind faith-based films and TV, as Amazon gets into the genre and other players score big:
A Conversation with John Landgraf
For Series Business, Elaine Low sat down with FX chief John Ladgraf and talked the state of pitching and development, FX’s Hulu relationship, why he would advise his sons against going into TV, and much more:
Missing: Female CEOs in Hollywood
Why is there not a single woman running a major media conglomerate? Lacey Leone McLaughlin diagnoses the four main reasons, and suggests how our companies remedy them:
What Richard Said
In this week’s Jamboree: Richard names one strong favorite in the Netflix film chief race, and takes stock of the flailing superhero genre:
Post Super Bowl, he analyzed how somehow Netflix has escaped the event economy:
Oscar Docs’ Froth-Free Field
Gregg Kilday breaks down the nominated docs, which reveal current trends in tackling weighty themes head-on:
☀️THE WAKEUP
Again, we’ll repeat, if you aren’t already starting your day with Sean McNulty’s morning business newsletter, you’re not even in the same conversation as the smartest people working in entertainment:
🎧 PODCASTS
If you like our shows, please subscribe on the podcast app of your choice. It’s the fastest and easiest way to hear our series. Thanks!
THE ANKLER
Paramount's Best/Worst Week Ever It started with the Super Bowl and Jon Stewart. Then came layoffs, Warren Buffet and big questions:
MARTINI SHOT
The Imaginary List of Approved Writers A Hollywood myth and what it means, from Rob Long:
👓 THE OPTIONIST
IP Picks🔎: A Hopeless Meth Addict Becomes an Olympic Hopeful Plus, a true-life Talented Mr. Ripley set in London's glitz-and-grime underworld
FINAL HOUSEKEEPING!
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