Microdrama Money!; 10 Careers Post-Participant; Amazon TV's U.K. Mess
Plus: Showveralls & mini first-look moves; Apple's new backend deal; Sean's Hollywood chaos meter
During a chaotic week for Los Angeles, I was more than 1,500 miles away and almost a mile high at the Banff World Media Festival, where Elaine Low moderated three terrific conversations (more in tomorrow’s Series Business). Off stage, she fielded questions left and right about the wild story she and Natalie Jarvey wrote last week on microdramas, the booming format that’s grabbing audiences and offering lucrative new opportunities for performers, writers and crew — one overwrought 60-second episode at a time. Check it out, because it’s DEFINITELY coming up at your next meeting:
Microdramas are Minting New Six-Figure Careers: 'Faster You Can Get in, the Better'
The genre's top exec and star share how writers, actors and agents can tap into a (non-union) $5B Gold Rush. I teamed up with Natalie Jarvey of Like & Subscribe — where she covers the booming business of the creator economy — to dig into the world of microdramas, a robust industry operating right under the nose of legacy studios...
Meanwhile, on Monday, Ankler CEO Janice Min and Mattel CEO Ynon Kreiz, introduced by majordomo Jane Rosenthal, played opening act for Tribeca X in New York in a wide-ranging onstage chat about Barbie, Barney and the company’s “new-stalgia” strategy to reinvent beloved brands with off-the-beaten-path storytelling. (Also discussed: what it’s like to watch yourself spoofed onscreen by Will Ferrell.)
For the rest of June, The Ankler is going global, roaring into Cannes Lions with a series of can’t-miss events centered on the creator economy:
Janice is one-on-one with YouTube CEO Neal Mohan at ADWEEK House for a live Ankler podcast on Tuesday morning, the day before he keynotes Cannes Lions. By invitation only.
Natalie chats Tuesday afternoon with Therapuss podcaster Jake Shane and UTA chairman Paul Wachter at Hôtel Martinez (in partnership with global trade marketing association DPAA; RSVP here)
On Wednesday we’ve got another live Ankler podcast at ADWEEK House with Natalie, BFFs podcast co-host Josh Richards and Chris Sawtelle, CEO of CrossCheck Studios.
At the Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc, we’re hosting an invitation-only exclusive luncheon with Meta.
And then it all wraps up Thursday night aboard the 122-meter megayacht Kismet, where Janice will host a private dinner alongside ADWEEK CEO Will Lee and Activate Consulting CEO Michael J. Wolf. Kismet belongs to Shad Khan — owner of the Jacksonville Jaguars and Fulham FC and co-owner of All Elite Wrestling — who’ll join for the intimate gathering. Quel bonheur!
MEANWHILE… look for Like & Subscribe news dispatches through the week from Natalie, who’ll be wherever the creators are.
Après Cannes, The Ankler is a media partner for the third Mediterrane Film Festival. It’s a powerhouse lineup for the young fest: Twilight helmer Catherine Hardwicke and Oscar-winning Avatar production designer Rick Carter are on the jury, and competition films include Uberto Pasolini’s The Return starring The English Patient duo Ralph Fiennes and Juliette Binoche; top Brit playwright Rebecca Lenkiewicz’s directorial debut Hot Milk; and Maltese director Joshua Cassar Gaspar’s The Theft of the Caravaggio (a world premiere). Screening out of competition are Berlinale and Sundance standouts (Peter Hujar’s Day, The Ballad of Wallis Island), Malta-shot crowdpleasers Gladiator II and Murder on the Orient Express, and more. I’ll lead a post-Murder Q&A with Josh Gad on June 23 and moderate a Masterclass with Glenn Gainor, Amazon MGM Studios’ head of physical production for Amazon Original Movies, on June 27. Malta’s history goes back 7,000 years, so what better spot for a talk titled “The Future Producer”?
Now, without further ado, ICYMI, our best of the week:
Series Business: Amazon’s U.K. Miscues; How to Make YA Work
Yet another hire of an American exec by Amazon for a top U.K. programming role? Yep. Manori Ravindran has a juicy read about why Prime Video has failed to produce a big scripted hit out of the U.K.; why producers there pitch Netflix first; the budgets Prime Video wants; and how the reporting structure back in L.A. muddles everything:
In a wide-ranging conversation, Lesley Goldberg chats with legendary YA scribe Julie Plec about why she left WBTV after 15 years — and why she sought agency representation again after firing her agents amid the WGA’s battle over packaging rights:
Rushfield: 5 Hollywood Mavens Spill All
This week, Richard sat down with five of the smartest people he knows in this industry to talk — very uncensored — about the state of the business. Plus, in his latest Hollywood Stories pod, Richard chats with comedy TV writing titan Nell Scovell about her journey from Spy to Letterman to The Simpsons:
Dealmakers: Apple & TV Deals Report Drama!
In a two-parter on the new state of TV deals, Ashley Cullins scoops (paid subscribers only) Apple’s new performance-based comp model; plus: her report on why episodic quotes are dead across the industry, what’s a “showverall” really, the truth about Uni’s mini-first-looks and how reps are fighting to get every last cent:
Participant: New Life After Layoffs
Participant shut its doors in April of last year, and founder Jeff Skoll went kinda MAGA. Despite that upheaval and industry-wide contraction, many execs found solid new roles. Matthew Frank reports on 10 names who landed very nicely after layoffs:
Prestige Junkie: Rachel Bloom; Seth Meyers; Jenny Slate; Paul Giamatti; Ellen Pompeo
Can Rachel Bloom earn an Emmy nom without the support of Netflix, which aired her special — but didn’t submit it? Katey Rich talks with the actress/comedian about her grassroots campaign, in addition to more big names of the season, talent and creators behind Black Mirror, Dying for Sex, Late Night with Seth Meyers and Good American Family:
THE WAKEUP
Amid widespread layoffs, Sean McNulty takes stock of the bigger picture by creating a chaos and stability ranking for each Hollywood player — and the numbers aren’t pretty:
Monday Morning QBs: Live with Richard & Sean
Make sure to catch our weekly live show with Richard & Sean on Monday mornings PT to review what just happened with weekend box office. This week, the duo discussed WBD’s conscious uncoupling, and critiques Lionsgate for its John Wick spinoff with not enough actual John Wick:
The Rushfield Lunch
Cultural critic and “The Honest Broker” of Substack Ted Gioia joined Richard on Wednesday to give his pointed thoughts on the new marketing strategy across industries, the state of counterculture, why nobody wants AI curating music for them and much more:
🎧 PODCASTS
THE ANKLER
Swipe, Pay, Cry: A $5 Billion Boom in 60-Second Soaps A Gold Rush frenzy over werewolves, cliffhangers, and coin-fueled payments:
TV’s Top Directors: High Potential, What We Do in the Shadows & Hacks
Subscribe on Apple Podcasts
📱 LIKE & SUBSCRIBE FROM NATALIE JARVEY
👓 THE OPTIONIST BY ANDY LEWIS
FINAL HOUSEKEEPING!
As an Ankler subscriber, you are automatically subscribed to all of our newsletters and podcasts by default. Not interested in all of them? Customize which ones would like to receive notifications for. It’s easy to do.
Log into your Substack account, select "Settings" from the drop-down menu.
Under Subscriptions, click on The Ankler to review the sections you'd like to subscribe to/unsubscribe from.
On the next page, click on the toggles next to each newsletter and podcast you want to receive emails for. A gray toggle indicates notifications are off; orange or green means on.
Alternatively, when you get an email newsletter, select “Unsubscribe” in the footer of the email and click on “Turn off emails” next to each section you’d like to unsubscribe from.