ICYMI: Disney TV Wishlist; RTO Rage; Producers Flip to YouTube for $
Plus: Janice's very news-making interview with Tina Brown
I’ll flag a few highlights from these parts this week. Janice Min was featured as one of the 57 most powerful people in media for a New York magazine cover story. Part of the piece covered the decline of the scale game in media, where outlets chase eyeballs with clickbait, volume and gossip to try to game Google and social media algorithms. As the story points out, it’s failing for many reasons, but one of them is that both consumers and advertisers are rejecting the premise (advertisers today hate having no idea whom they are reaching).
New York posted this on Instagram from the story’s writer Charlotte Klein. She makes the point that, today, 9,000 paid subscribers are more valuable than “products that are trying to reach everybody,” she says, and “end up reaching nobody.”
Because we know who you are, we know exactly what kind of high-value information resonates with you. That relationship was on full display at the Montclair Film Festival yesterday. In front of an audience containing Evie McGee Colbert, chair of the Montclair Film board (and spouse of Stephen), and doc god Thom Powers, among others, The Wakeup’s Sean McNulty led a deeply revealing conversation with NEON’s Dan O’Meara, IFC/AMC’s Scott Shooman and WME partner Maggie Pisacane about the state of the film industry. Dealmakers’ Ashley Cullins then guided a riveting discussion with Greg Kahn, CEO of GK Digital Ventures, EDGLRD’s Eric Kohn, Cornell Law professor James Grimmelmann and director Michaela Ternasky-Holland.
We’ll make those conversations, true insider conversations, available to you soon.
Meanwhile, we’ve got more special stuff planned, including our first Ankler x Pure Nonfiction Documentary Spotlight with Thom Powers in London on Nov. 22 (save the date!). Now, with no further ado, ICYMI:
Series Business
Sellers’ Guide to Disney+, Hulu, FX
Even as ABC and Hulu consolidate executive ranks, Disney’s studios and streamers remain active. In her second Fall Market Guide (for paid subscribers only), Elaine Low breaks down the one thing ABC “desperately” wants right now; the two types of shows Hulu wants to solidify its identity; and the IP currently in demand at Disney+:
Producers’ YouTube Pivot
With the international TV world buzzing about . . . Andrew Garfield’s appearance on the YouTube series Chicken Shop Date, Manori Ravindran reveals how traditional producers are turning to the digital video giant to create original content, why legends like Caryn Mandabach see the future in making 15-minute comedies and how they see an opportunity to make more money in three to five years than they do now in licensing fees:
Is Zaslav Really That Terrible?
Set aside the optics of David Zaslav’s taste for the spotlight. (Tennis with Elon Musk, anyone?) Is he a good CEO of WBD or not? Entertainment Strategy Guy breaks down the rationales for Zaslav’s moves in sports, TV, film and more (for paid subscribers) to come to a surprising conclusion about both Zaslav and the future of WBD:
How Hybrid Work is Hurting Careers
Four-and-a-half years after Hollywood went into Covid lockdown, Nicole LaPorte reports on the growing belief that hybrid work is hurting the industry. With Amazon and Lionsgate’s recent return-to-office mandates (and likely others to follow), can younger workers resisting the change survive the transition? And how much will bosses tolerate:
AI’s Big Cash: Should You Take It?
AI companies crave Hollywood content to train their models, but is what they’re willing to pay worth the risks? In this edition of Reel AI (for paid subscribers only), Erik Barmack explores the eerie parallels between the early streaming era and this AI moment; what studios should do when tech comes calling; and why doing nothing is not an option:
Rushfield: Bob Iger’s Endless Reign; Penske Loves Turkey
We’re entering year 14 of Disney’s efforts to find a suitable replacement for Bob Iger, a search that will now extend into 2026 and be led by former Morgan Stanley CEO James Gorman. Richard Rushfield lays out exactly why this succession saga is never-ending. Plus: More eyebrow-raising activities from our industry’s media monopoly:
Kamala’s Hollywood Backers, Ranked
Matthew Frank parses through the data to see which entertainment industry luminaries have given the most to Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign:
Goth Goddess Showdown
Just in time for Halloween, Joe Pompeo goes deep on the delicious feud between L.A. horror hosts Maila Nurmi (Vampira) and Cassandra Peterson (Elvira), a remarkable yarn that features everything from James Dean to Plan 9 From Outer Space to the city’s early punk scene:
Prestige Junkie: Colberts Sit Down with Katey
At Montclair, Katey Rich spoke with Stephen and Evie McGee Colbert. Plus, she evaluates Denzel Washington’s supporting actor Oscar chances with an electrifying performance in Gladiator II:
THE WAKEUP
Six months ago, Sean detailed the bonuses at stake for Endeavor’s Ari Emanuel and Mark Shapiro if they sold off pieces of the business before it went private. This week, Endeavor “sold” Professional Bull Riders, On Location and IMG Media to TKO (which Ari & Mark also run) for $3.25 billion — and only Sean covered how they’re forgoing those bonuses and what this deal really means:
🎧 PODCASTS
THE ANKLER
Tea with Tina Brown: Trump, Harris, Meghan Markle & Menendez Bros. You were probably forwarded Janice’s very news-making, noisy interview with Tina Brown (covered everywhere), and if you haven’t, listen to (or read) their spicy takes on Trump, Harris, Meghan Markle and Prince Harry, the Menendez Bros. and much, much more:
Read the interview in a Q&A format here
Hollywood’s WFH Wars Worsen Workers revolt over RTO mandates at Amazon and Lionsgate as industry vets warn about the eventual costs of a career on Zoom:
MARTINI SHOT
'I'm Working on a Cancer Comedy' Rob Long on the writer's curse of turning every conversation into a pitch:
👓 THE OPTIONIST
FINAL HOUSEKEEPING!
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