☀️PARAMOUNT swings hatchet at Cable Networks, as 9 teams become... 1 group
OTTO opens big on NETFLIX / NY TIMES Ad$ takes Q1 hit / Pedro Pascal gets another big movie role
Mornin! This is Sean McNulty (connect with me on LinkedIn here if ya like), and here’s the Hollywood + Media news to know on WEDNESDAY May 10, 2023.
Where PARAMOUNT killed MTV NEWS yesterday. I mean yes, no one else in “digital news” is exactly thriving these days in terms of a business model… and MTV’s linear TV schedule today is literally 6 hours of Catfish, and 17 hours of Ridiculousness. #WhatEvenIsThis🤯
But I think I speak for almost all GenX’ers out there, in that a little part of us all died yesterday. Growing up on MTV NEWS > Growing up on TIKTOK NEWS.
ALSO: DGA / AMPTP negotiations begin. Does anyone know if that S.W.A.T. deal team is available?
Or maybe just S.W.A.T. creator Shawn Ryan, as it sounds like he was the key figure in actually getting the surprise final season renewal deal done, according to THR.
THEN: AMAZON is offering some PRIME customers $10 to participate in their brand new Get it Your Damn Self program (working title).
Yes it seems some folks are being offered $10 to go pick up their PRIME orders IRL from a WHOLE FOODS, AMAZON FRESH or… KOHL’S (🤷♂️) store instead of having it shipped to their homes - not because there’s anything to see here people, ahem 🤑, but to instead just encourage those who haven’t tried the pick-up thing, to hey uh, give it a try! Ya huh.
PLUS: It’s DISNEY Q1 Earnings Call time later this afternoon. Hope Bob I is keeping that tea with honey nearby today.
AND: Break out the cigars for Robert DeNiro, who apparently had a 7th kid recently… but did not share any other details - so unlike Bob Mr. DeNiro.
IN TODAY’S EDITION:
Ari Emanuel announced he’s finally going to pay you back at ENDEAVOR… although it’s probably not in the way he’s promised he’d do that to many people over the years. Meet the ENDEAVOR Dividend! Plus a look inside the Q1 books.
NETFLIX Film chart - Man Called Otto debuts to huge numbers in first 2 days on the service, as the chart almost resembles something you’d see on an HBO Movies chart usage - save for a surprise French action movie hit.
CBS makes Fall series orders.
NY Times sees Advertising drop, mostly due to brand campaign spends, with not a lot of hope in the short term… but paid subscriber growth continues to hum along.
DOTDASH MEREDITH also sees sizable Q1 Advertising hit.
PARAMOUNT’s massive layoffs - what’s afoot behind the huge cuts.
BUZZFEED Q1 Earnings show what was going on internally that led to ending continued BUZZFEED NEWS losses.
Pedro Pascal sets another high profile movie role and more.
🪧 STRIKE UPDATES
NETFLIX unsurprisingly joins Studios in suspending their overall TV deals for any Writer/Producer not currently in production. They’ll cover assistant pay for another 30 days, but execs are on their own. /Deadline
Tony Gilroy is now not performing any non-writing Showrunner duties on DIS+ Andor Season 2 either. /THR
Ari Emanuel didn’t have too much concrete to share on the strike during the ENDEAVOR Q1 Earnings Call - of course “We support our clients,” and also nothing will materially hit WME’s bottom line until the strike goes on “for any great length” (not delineated).
Essentially, if it’s still going on by the August Q2 Earnings call… then we’ll talk about WME.
📽 THE SILVER SCREEN
