☀️ PAR 2.0: A Cautious Optimism For The Creative Class
LGF considering 3 ARTS stake sale / Final Q2 cordcutting #s / HULU orders Britton series
Mornin! This is Sean McNulty (connect with me on LINKEDIN here if ya like or email me at seanmcnultynyc@gmail.com), and here’s the Hollywood + Media news to know on Friday, August 8, 2025.
Where I gotta say, it was nice to see many of the NYC/DC entertainment/media business writer complex all in one place yesterday in midtown to hear from the new PAR brass as summer enters its final stretch.
I’d say we were 50/50 on it all being an elaborate setup for AI to take us all out somehow 🧐, but I’m sure the food server asking for my phone password in exchange for a LEVAIN cookie was unrelated (totally worth it 🍪).
But I guess we shouldn’t take much offense that the only group picture taken at the event was of the New PARAMOUNT folks on stage. Don’t worry, biz journalists, you’re the real stars to me. More on the event and my takeaways for the business of Hollywood (excluding all the Trump talk which I’m sure you’ve seen) down below.
NOW: Who’s ready to get paid! No, not you people. Here are the pay packages for the top 3 PARAMOUNT execs:
David Ellison and Jeff Shell: $3.5M salary (at minimum), bonus with $1.5M target range.
Roughly $55M worth of shares (as of yesterday’s stock price) to vest over 5 years.
Andy Gordon: $2.8M salary (at minimum), bonus with $1.2M target range.
Roughly $44M worth of shares (as of yesterday’s stock price) to vest over 5 years.
ALSO: PARAMOUNT corporate headquarters will officially move from NYC to the lot in L.A. (SKYDANCE’s Santa Monica home will also remain in the mix) — so, just in case you’re looking for ideas on how PARAMOUNT may make those real estate cost efficiencies that Ellison mentioned were ahead in his letter yesterday . . . #1515Broadway.
PAR put 355k sq. ft. of its midtown office space up for sublease in early June this year (split between 1633 Broadway and 1515 Broadway buildings).
As far as I could find, its lease at 1515 Broadway goes until 2031 per a 2012 agreement.
THEN: META bought an audio AI company called WAVEFORMS AI in its ongoing buying spree, whether people or companies. The company uses AI to “understand and mimic emotion in audio,” so expect the Q3 META earnings call to go up a notch.
OH: Byron Allen sold off 10 of his local TV stations to the GRAY MEDIA station group (180 stations) for $171M. I hear TRASK INDUSTRIES was a close 2nd in the bidding. #WorkingGirlHumor
ALLEN MEDIA GROUP put 28 stations it owns up for sale in June, so there may still be some more to come here.
EH?: NETFLIX added Canadian rights to its Women’s World Cup rights in 2027 and 2031.
WAKEUP BOX OFFICE POLL
Weapons looks like it has a pretty even bell curve here — count me in with the optimists and god bless the 19% dreamers.
Also, count me very curious to see the audience reactions and CinemaScore on this one.
NEW POD
New PARAMOUNT is here — the (likely) chaos ahead and (mostly) promising signs for the creative class
I’ll leave the myriad of politics-tinged questions that were lobbed yesterday at the new PARAMOUNT C-suite aside . . . and say that business wise — it sounded to me like the creative class (and talent agency class) should actually be (cautiously) excited for this new team to start cooking.
Current PAR employee class . . . maybe not so much.
But my big takeaway on the business front from new PARAMOUNT leadership is that David and the team see increasing investment 💰 for a bigger movie and TV slate as a key tenet of their plan to return PARAMOUNT to a growth business — namely: