ICYMI: Paramount and What's Really About to Happen; Deal Dish; AI Movie-by-Text
Catch up on our recent best
The business side of Hollywood has been defined this year by the Paramount sale process, NBA rights negotiations and the slow (at best) recovery from last year’s strikes. While there are definitely more twists and turns coming in the passing of control at Paramount Global from Shari Redstone to David Ellison, I know this: The Ankler is your indispensable guide to understanding these kinds of seismic shifts and how they’ll affect you.
So I hope you read Sean McNulty’s brilliant, cogent breakdown of the Skydance-Paramount deal and its assumptions and implications, Richard Rushfield’s trenchant takes (and hilarious assessment of the worst studio owners in history) and Ashley Cullins’ perfectly timed and dishy interview with veteran dealmaker Chris Brearton about the M&A landscape (Apple looked at MGM? Yep!). Together these pieces delivered insight, expert analysis and humor you simply won’t find anywhere else. And as always, an unvarnished truth.
The industry isn’t going to get any less disruptive any time soon, so check out what you missed just this week and, if you haven’t, join us as a paid subscriber for full access to everything we do.
New Kids on the Block
While the trades sent literally hundreds of alerts about the Paramount acquisition, Sean had the singular must-read, breaking down piece-by-piece exactly what it means — for each division and the thousands still nervously in Paramount’s employ:
Richard heralded the arrival of the town’s first millennial chieftain (with his own theme song, no less), and unknots the “bundled solution” Paramount’s counting on to save its streaming business. He also considers the impacts of high-profile ownership on the low-profile Ellisons:
Text 'Y' to Receive Personalized AI Movies
Are we ready for a world where viewers can plug in a prompt for a movie and AI spits out something passable? As tech companies try to make that possibility a reality, in the latest Reel AI (paid subscribers-only), Erik Barmack analyzes how much further the tech needs to go:
Secrets of a Top Hollywood Dealmaker
Chris Brearton negotiated the last major studio acquisition (Amazon-MGM), and in this special Dealmakers Q&A (paid subscribers-only), Ashley gets the longtime industry lawyer and strategist to spare no words about where consolidation is coming, how to prep an entertainment company for sale — and what it was like talking to Apple about MGM:
Netflix vs. HBO: Baby Reindeer Games
How did the BBC and HBO win Richard Gadd’s new series Lions, his follow-up to his global smash Baby Reindeer? Manori Ravindran uncovers the likely answer in her international edition of Series Business (paid subscribers-only):
The Great Vacation Disparity
Leonardo DiCaprio and David Zaslav had a great time at Michael Rubin’s White Party, but for most everyone else, as Elaine Low reports, “survive ‘til '25” means Starbucks, not St. Tropez, is your summer splurge:
Prestige Junkie
Katey Rich chatted with Oscar nominee Colman Domingo about the leap of faith he made acting in his latest awards-contending film, the true-life prison drama Sing Sing:
Reality TV is as bold and diverse as TV gets these days, and yet even the ‘80s Lakers would be envious of RuPaul’s Drag Race’s Emmy dynasty. But what should we make of all this stagnation?:
Plus, with Emmy noms days away, don’t miss Katey’s awards for the year thus far at the movies:
THE WAKEUP
Aside from the big Paramount news this week, Sean McNulty also expertly surveyed the rest of the entertainment business this week, including a great take on how to track the box office the rest of the summer:
🎧 PODCASTS
THE ANKLER
Paramount: New Boss, Same Problems David Ellison inherits the same legacy issues that even happy talk can’t solve:
👓 THE OPTIONIST
FINAL HOUSEKEEPING!
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