Mornin! This is Sean McNulty and here’s the Hollywood + Media news to know on WEDNESDAY June 22, 2022.

Where this morning I’m wearing my “We raised $1.5 Million and all I got was this designer T-shirt” t-shirt … as THE ANKLER made some news yesterday announcing an initial round of funding / valuation at $1.5 Mil / $20 Mil led by Y-COMBINATOR and others.

Big congrats to Janice & Richard 👏, and I’ll do my best to raise that valuation to at least $20.05 Mil after my Q2 earnings call analysis season next month.

(Janice can we seriously get those shirts though? HARRY STYLES just set a clothing line at GUCCI, sure it’s super affordable)

PLUS: BROADWAY is ditching the mandatory masks thing as of July 1. I mean with the theater crowd being so young… I don’t think it should be a problem.

HOUSEKEEPING: As a couple of you WAKEUP readers have asked me about this - You can choose which newsletters you receive from THE ANKLER - here’s a link with the easy to follow instructions so you can manage your account as ya like.

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📽 THE SILVER SCREEN

WB sets Zoe Kravitz to star in heist pic based on short story

Called “The Sundance Kid Might Have Some Regrets”, about twins who rob banks… but one of them has supernatural powers 😵‍💫. Guessing the other one is the driver. A “venture goes awry” and the non-powered twin begins to question the operation.

Now to find a director... /THR

APPLE + SKYDANCE set A-List voice cast for “Spellbound” animated musical pic

John Lasseter still knows how to attract talent apparently… Nicole Kidman, Javier Bardem, John Lithgow and Nathan Lane all on board (Rachel Zegler already cast).

OSCAR winner Alan Menken (“The Little Mermaid”, “Beauty and the Beast”) doing the music for the movie about a young girl looking to break a spell that’s divided her kingdom in two. Hopefully before Nov 2024. /THR

WB adds Lea Seydoux to “DUNE: Part Two”

Will play “Lady Margot”. Chalamet, Zendaya, Bardem and Rebecca Ferguson all returning. Florence Pugh, Austin Butler and Christopher Walken also joining the cast.

Will begin shooting this Summer. /Deadline

A24 sets Sebastian Stan to co-star in “A Different Man” psychological thriller

About an outcast looking for a fresh start who gets facial reconstructive surgery 🤕, and becomes obsessed with the actor who plays him in a play based on the outcast’s former life. Always the way…

Shoots in July. /Deadline

📝 IN OTHER WORDS…

“The Ted Tax”

- What NETFLIX’s finance department reportedly at one time called projects that Ted Sarandos personally greenlit over the recommendations of his own NETFLIX development staff. And yes, “The Pentaverate” was one of them.

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📺 THE TV SET

STANLEY CUP audience increasing for ABC

Game 3 rose to 4.1 Million, and a 1.2 rating in 18-49 (that’s up about 1/3 from Game 1). No word on ESPN+ streaming as per usual. /TheWrap

ALSO IN TV

• It’s only in development… but NETFLIX has secured an “East of Eden” limited series project to be written by Zoe Kazan (her grandfather Elia Kazan of course directed the original), and star Florence Pugh. ANONYMOUS and ENDEAVOR CONTENT producing, and would think a strong candidate for a series order - so if ya got a director with a take… 1800-NETFLIX. /Deadline

• AMC renews “Dark Winds” for a Season 2. /Variety

• HBOMAX beginning production on a Season 3 of former CINEMAX series “Warrior” next month. /Collider

• NETFLIX orders 3 part docuseries “The Most Hated Man in the World” from “Don’t F*ck with Cats” producer. About a woman who went after “professional life ruiner” (#LinkedInBio) Hunter Moore when he posted nude pics of her daughter online… which it sounds like something he did often via his RevengePorn site. /Deadline

IN THE HOLLYWOOD EXECUTIVE SUITE

• Former FOX & HBO exec Pam Levine joins NAT GEO & DISNEY BRANDED CONTENT as new Head of Marketing. Will report into both Courteney Monroe & Ayo Cash respectively. /Variety

• NETFLIX comedy exec Fidel Barajas joins WME as an agent, to put his expertise in finding Latin American talent as well as other diverse voices to use. /Deadline

• AND… PORNHUB’s CEO & COO are on the market - Feras Antoon and David Tassillo resigned from da HUB’s parent co MIND GEEK in case you need 2 execs with over a decade of streaming content experience. /Variety

  • I’m sure this New Yorker piece called “The Fight to Hold PornHub Accountable” that dropped last week had nothing to do with it.

💻 THE MEDIA BIZ

FB & INSTA delay taking a cut of Creators income by a year to 2024

AKA META’s latest plea to please stop using TIKTOK and create for us. To note: META still hasn’t clarified what that exact cut will be in 2024… other than “less than 30%” which, uh hey it’s better than YOUTUBE? 🥴

The revenue streams FB will put their hands in are: fan subscriptions, paid events, badges and their newsletter product Bulletin. /The Verge

AND: While I think anyone making solid projections about Ad spends in the 2nd half of this year is a distant relative of Ned Flanders, TIKTOK is projected to 3X Revenue this year to $12 Billion according to the WSJ, and when it comes to TIKTOK - it’s hard to make the case for an Ad spend pullback.

• Granted META took in $27 Billion of Revenue in the first 3 months of this year… but still.

GOOGLE added to NETFLIX’s list of companies to potentially partner with on Ad-supported version

This comes out of Ted’s trip to the south of FRANCE this week 👨‍🎨 for CANNES (the Ad biz version), which also tracks. He’s also giving a big speech there tomorrow fwiw.

As previously reported by THE INFORMATION, they’re also talking with ROKU and NBCU about handling Ad sales & tech aspects. /CNBC

And… well - my big entirely unsubstantiated outside theory is that GOOGLE buys NETFLIX eventually, so at least that prediction stays alive.

SPORTS STUFF

• Sports is saying “farewell mate”… and “check ya later bro” respectively to two guys on… very different ends of the spectrum:

  • Nick Faldo stepping down as a voice of CBS Golf after over 15 years.

    • Trevor Immelman will now join Jim Nantz in the booth in 2023. /THR

  • Gronk is retiring again from the NFL (this time from TAMPA BAY).

    • No word if he’ll be returning to FOX as a commentator this Fall… although as that’s Brady’s eventual retirement home, gotta think FOX is now gonna sweeten that deal for Gronk. /Deadline

• AMAZON is adding retired QB Ryan Fitzpatrick and his beard (they got separate deals) to their “Thursday Night Football” correspondent lineup, alongside Tony Gonzalez and Richard Sherman. /Deadline

• Naomi Osaka sets up HANA KUMA production co at Lebron’s SPRING HILL. She’s producing a TBA doc at EPIX, and a doc-short for the NY Times about the first woman of color in Congress who also sponsored the Title IX legislation. /THR /Deadline

ALSO IN MEDIA

• The Obamas take their podcast / audio deal over to AMAZON’S AUDIBLE. Described as a multi-year first-look deal, worth several million dollars over its duration 💰. /THR

• ED SHEERAN wins $1.1 Million settlement to cover 90% of his legal fees from the guy who sued him saying he stole “Shape of You” from him, which… may help deter the prevalency of these lawsuits in recent years. /Variety

🏦 STOCK NOTES

ROKU +8% ($89.08)

ALTICE -5% ($8.26)

But otherwise a quiet but slightly up day.

👩‍💻 NEW TO WATCH:

NETFLIX “The Umbrella Academy” Season 3 - STREAM HERE

DISNEY+ ”Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” - STREAM HERE

ABC Stanley Cup Final Game 4 at 8p

🎥 TRAILER HOUSE

NETFLIX “Stranger Things 4” Vol 2 trailer. PREMIERES FRI JULY 1

HULU “Legacy: The True Story of the LA Lakers” docuseries teaser trailer - Where everyone totally won’t be comparing the 1979-80 episode to what happened in “Winning Time”. 10 eps total, so a lot more to cover after that… including the sibling battle for control after the death of Dr. Buss. This making more sense as to why one of Jerry’s sons was just made a season regular for Season 2 on HBO… PREMIERES, uh soon. 🤷‍♂️

HBOMAX “Edge of the Earth” 4 part docuseries trailer - Extreme explorers (climbers, surfers etc) do 4 expeditions that… I would never do. PREMIERES TUE JULY 12

HULU / SEARCHLIGHT “Not Okay” movie teaser trailer - Zoey Deutsch is an influencer who falls into a scandal and fakes a trip to Paris on INSTA…and seemingly steps in it again. Hopefully she stays out of the newsletter business. PREMIERES FRI JULY 29

🎧 PLAYING ME OFF

New MAGGIE ROGERS song “Want Want” - Maggie going 2 for 2 on the singles, love this one too. Album out in late July.

If you need some new tunes:

THE WAKEUP Spotify playlist

Email me anytime at seanmcnultynyc@gmail.com or connect here on LINKED IN.

-SEAN MCNULTY

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