ICYMI: The New Abnormal
Discover more from The Ankler.
This week in Hollywood, one could feel a New Abnormal setting in. Days passed when no one even mentioned the industry’s continued standstill, or that the SAG-AFTRA strike was at Day 100. Six months of Hollywood at a stop once seemed unthinkable; now it’s reality as Taylor Swift, sports and TikTok videos continue to challenge America’s legacy viewing habits. As the awful milestone hit, the actors and studios announced they were resuming talks. But one can’t help feeling that conflict and strife have replaced the daily rhythms that once held people together, particularly as we now face the industry’s internecine wars over who-said-what about the Israel-Gaza conflict.
Needless to say, bringing our community together has never seemed more important. We were pleased to play a role in doing that at The Ankler this past week.
At Zibby’s Bookshop in Santa Monica, following our smash In Conversation: Page to Screen with Judy Blume and Kelly Fremon Craig of Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret, Janice talked with New York Times bestselling author Michael Wolff about his incredibly-timed new book, The Fall: The End of Fox News and the Murdoch Dynasty, before a standing room only crowd. (You can hear both conversations in podcast versions soon.)
Meanwhile, Richard hit the Newport Beach Film Festival to interview legendary Irish filmmaker Jim Sheridan, following a screening of his film In the Name of the Father (which holds up incredibly well if you haven’t watched it recently). Among the revelations: to get into the mind-space of the very intense interrogation scene, the then-young Daniel Day-Lewis had the crew keep him awake for three straight days, throwing cold water on him when he started to pass out.
On the other side of the country, Peter Kiefer hit New York’s splashy Advertising Week, moderating two discussions. Featuring panelists Alison Temple, CEO at Wild Card Creative Group; Annie Granatstein, VP of content marketing, Marriott; Angela Matusik, founder of A.M. Studios and James Knight, global director, media & entertainment / visual effects at AMD, “Brand as Entertainment” focused on effective storytelling across the entertainment landscape. Meanwhile, in a second talk titled “AI: Friend or Foe”, Dan Jasnow of ArentFox Schiff took a look at whether the entertainment industry’s fears surrounding the new and controversial technology are justified. (Look for more insight gleaned from both of these panels from The Ankler this week).
Otherwise, as Rome burns here, the Ankler remained on the case:
Claire in Cannes
Claire Atkinson filed a dispatch from Mipcom in Cannes, the lucrative annual international TV festival (right as eight French airports were shut down due to terrorism threats). Her details of who is buying what, the doc surge, and the changes in the market, here:
Missing the Spotlight
Richard laments Hollywood’s inability to command people’s attention in a competitve attention economy, but finds hope in four recent exceptions that have found success in unique ways:
☀️The Wakeup
Sean McNulty hit CNBC’s Power Lunch, discussing the winners and losers in streaming, and played #MediaNerd especially well this week as he unpacked the peek into ESPN numbers, the Netflix earnings call and what to expect from entertainment’s other Q3 reports about to roll in:
🎧 Podcasts
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Netflix’s ad woes were the subject of guest Sahil Patel, the journalist who broke news that Netflix missed its ad target by half in year one, and what is behind all the exec shuffles:
THE ANKLER
Peace in Hollywood? Rob Long suggests giving it a shot, especially if your enemy can offer you a job:
MARTINI SHOT
Transcript here
Remember film criticism? It once not just mattered beyond a “fresh” rating — it also changed the way Hollywood operated. Sonny Bunch interviews the author of a new book about Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert:
THE BULWARK GOES TO HOLLYWOOD
🪧Strikegeist
Listen to Elaine Low discuss the SAG-AFTRA strike on AirTalk with Larry Mantle.
👓 The Optionist
IP Picks🔎: A VR-World Murder Mystery and a 'Yellowjackets'-Type Thriller Plus, a high-concept rom-com and two overlooked WWII stories