ICYMI: Penske Lunacy; TV Development's Free Labor; Oct. 7 H'wood Hell
Plus: How to get a brand to fund your show
It’s Ankler coast-to-coast! We love convening you all, our engaged audience. And later this month in Los Angeles and Montclair, N.J., we’ll be live at two great industry events.
First up: Our latest The Ankler & Pure Nonfiction Documentary Spotlight, hosted by the incomparable Thom Powers. On Oct. 18 at Vista House in the Hollywood Hills, you’ll get to hear from and meet Daughters co-director Natalie Rae, I Am: Celine director Irene Taylor; Frida director Carla Gutiérrez and composer Victor Hernandez Stumpfhauser; Porcelain director Brendan Bellomo; Sugarcane directors Emily Kassie and Julian Brave NoiseCat; Will & Harper director Josh Greenbaum; and filmmakers from No Other Land.
If you’ve been to any of our previous Documentary Spotlight events, you know how amazing they are (and more participants announced soon!), so if you’re in L.A. on the 18th, request your invitation here.
My fellow East Coasters, we have you covered too. We’re excited to be a signature sponsor of the Montclair Film Festival, which runs Oct. 18-27, and whose advisory board includes J.J. Abrams, Stephen Colbert, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Laura Linney and Jon Stewart. Prestige Junkie fans know from Katey Rich how important regional film festivals are to garner attention for films, and our team you know and love from The Ankler will be on hand leading some of the programming:
Katey leads a conversation, “Hollywood Awards Season: Who Wins and Why It Matters”: Oct. 20, 4 p.m. ET.
Sean McNulty moderates the “Annual Report: State of the Film Industry” panel: Oct. 26, 1 p.m. ET.
Dealmakers columnist Ashley Cullins leads “Artists, Audiences & Artificial Intelligence”: Oct. 26, 3:30 p.m. ET. (And please read Ashley’s essential piece about the new state of AI in Hollywood, arguably the most important story this week about changes in the business, and certainly the kind of information the trades never give you.)
Montclair Film Festival tickets just went on sale. Learn more and get yours here.
So with no further ado, our best of the week, ICYMI:
Rushfield: Penske’s Cartel Problems
Who could have foreseen the problems that might emanate from one person owning the industry’s trades and one of its major awards shows? Well, Richard Rushfield certainly did, as he broke the news this week that the brazen Variety Golden Globes Salon Dinner Series (whose existence he first revealed to the wider world two weeks ago) is no more. Plus, a compelling blow-by-blow account of the Deadline-Variety intra-office feud:
Series Business: TV Development is the New Free Labor, and the Brands Paying for TV Budgets Now
Remember pilot season? Those days are long gone, but what’s replaced it, year-round development, is worse for many. In this week’s Series Business (twice a week, for paid subscribers only), Elaine Low reveals writers’ biggest gripes with the lack of urgency (and money) created by the new system:
As budgets crunch, producers, networks and streamers are turning to brands to fund their shows. Manori Ravindran talks to UTA’s Julian Jacobs, head of UTA New York and co-head of entertainment marketing, and other top industry names about the four primary show formats where broadcasters and brands want to work together, why brands could move into scripted soon, and how to get the money:
Hollywood Jews One Year Later
Tomorrow marks the first anniversary of Hamas’ deadly attack on Israel, and with war escalating in the Middle East, tensions remain ripe among friends and colleagues. Peter Kiefer interviewed Jewish industry figures about a long, lonely and stressful year, and the internecine battles within the community:
The New AI Power Hierarchy
As AI deals escalate (along with regulation), experts project $10 billion of dealmaking in 2025 for entertainment and media. In this edition of Dealmakers (for paid subscribers only), Ashley Cullins reveals how talent and their reps can get their share; the impact of the Lionsgate-Runway partnership; and what concessions studios are already getting in contracts from talent and writers:
Prestige Junkie: Secrets of The Wild Robot
With The Wild Robot winning over movie audiences, Katey Rich speaks to director Chris Sanders about how he made the breakout animation hit so visually and emotionally stirring, and also covered Oscar season’s coming ground game (think swing states, but for movies), and how another #OscarsSo Male is brewing for best director:
THE WAKEUP
Another week, another round of consolidation and layoffs. Sean McNulty puts the drip-drip-drip of Disney cuts (and closing ABC Signature) in context, and gives outgoing Sony CEO Tony Vinciquerra a fitting sendoff:
🎧 PODCASTS
THE ANKLER
The $10 Billion in AI Cash About to Rock Hollywood Studios, agents and lawyers are navigating how to profit — not perish — from machine learning's big money:
MARTINI SHOT
Indiana...Smith? Or Jones? Rob Long on how to deal with exec notes:
👓 THE OPTIONIST
FINAL HOUSEKEEPING!
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