Mornin! This is Sean McNulty and here’s the Hollywood + Media news to know on FRIDAY April 15, 2022.

Where Gilbert Gottfried proved it’s never too late to shift to using new tools for your career.

Over the past few years, he made over 12,000 CAMEO videos for fans (at roughly $175 a pop), earning about $2 Million on the platform. Creators own all videos they make on the platform which CAMEO will provide for his family as a nice archive, and there are some nice messages from fans about what the videos meant to those he sent them in the link too.

ALSO: A festival inspired by the OSCAR-winning doc “Summer of Soul” will launch in Harlem next Summer in the same park the 1968 festival took place in.

AND: Wishing a safe and happy Passover & Good Friday to those who observe.

📽 THE SILVER SCREEN

SONY sells Kev Hart / Woody Harrelson action-comedy “The Man from Toronto” to NETFLIX

The mistaken identity assassin pic will hit NETFLIX sometime “later this year”. No price disclosed. SONY is keeping the CHINA rights.

SONY of course has an existing relationship with NETFLIX, as all SONY pics will now go to NETFLIX in their post-release, “pay TV” window. /Variety

Also 2nd pic of Kev’s to go the SONY to NETFLIX route (“Fatherhood” last year).

ALSO IN MOVIES

• STX conducts layoffs in Marketing & Distribution groups, as they shift from a theatrical-focused model, to doing just 5 theatrical pics a year, and 10+ for streamers or PVOD-only under their soon to be new ownership. /Deadline

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📺 THE TV SET

HULU doing Sammy Davis Jr. limited series

Lee Daniels and writing collaborator Thomas Westfall will write the 8 episodes, based on a book. Lee will also direct the first 2 episodes.

Elijah Kelley (“The Butler”, FOX’s “Star”, “The New Edition Story”) will play Sammy. /Variety

HBOMAX orders “Dead Boy Detectives” series from “Flight Attendant” creator

That creator would be Steve Yorkey, and this show is adapted from a Neil Gaiman / Matt Wagner DC comic. Greg Berlanti among the producers, as he is on “Flight Attendant”.

Described as a “vintage detective series — only darker and on acid” about 2 dead British teens and their alive friend. I could share more but I think you know if you’re in or out based on that. /THR

AMAZON PRIME sets Dominique Fishback as the lead for new Donald Glover / Janine Nabers limited series

Dominque just co-starred with Sam Jackson in APPLE TV+’s “The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey” and is in the new “Transformers” movie.

This series (fka “Hive”, now untitled) from the “Atlanta” and “Watchmen” creatives is about a “Beyoncé-like figure”… but that’s about all that’s known. /Deadline

ALSO IN TV

• Interim “Jeopardy!” exec producer Michael Davies is named the permanent EP. He previously ran “Who Wants to be a Millionaire” among other shows, and will continue to lead his production co EMBASSY ROW. /THR

• “Mrs. Maisel”’s Stephanie Hsu (she plays “Mei”) joins PEACOCK “Poker Face” series with Natasha Lyonne and Joseph Gordon-Levitt. /Deadline

• NETFLIX adds Robbie Amell (“Heels”, “Upload”) to “The Witcher” Season 3. /Variety

IN OTHER WORDS…

“Everyone else is trying to figure out how they survive. We got everything we need. Now we just got to work together.”

- WARNER DISCO CEO David Zazlav laying out his POV on the streaming landscape to employees at the town hall yesterday.

Not too much said in terms of specific announcements… other than pointing out the overall idea is to have one big streaming service… eventually - not 3.

And that there will be some significant cost savings when you don’t have to pay marketing costs for 3 different services, and support all 3 with separate engineering teams.

So… take that as you will Marketing and Engineering groups.

💻 THE MEDIA BIZ

JUST TWO THINGS

• YOUTUBE will exclusively stream 15 MLB games this season to further guarantee you will have absolutely no idea how to watch your favorite team’s game at some point this year. /THR

• FACEBOOK is realizing there’s… not much money in Podcasting for them to be concerned with, a year after launching their push into the platform. FACEBOOK is now tilting their conversations with Podcasters to… wait for it - using the Metaverse and utilizing online shopping on FB, where FB gets a much bigger cut of any revenue (should there be any).

  • Sounds like they’re also just basically abandoning any meaningful support for the Podcast related initiatives they launched 12 months ago. /LA Times

    • Side funfact: in early proposals, FACEBOOK is looking to take 47% of any virtual sales made in its METAVERSE that are made using its hardware (VR headsets etc). /CNBC

IN OTHER OTHER WORDS….

“TWITTER has become kind of the de facto town square, so it is just really important that people have the reality and the perception that they are able to speak freely within the bounds of the law.”

- Potential future TWITTER CEO Elon Musk at a TED talk yesterday.

Reinforcing the belief that people should be able to speak freely… ya know, without their actual identities attached to anything they say. So yeah totally like a town square. Where most people are wearing disguises. And only 10% of the town’s population is in the square.

Musk also said there is a “Plan B” if his takeover bid is rejected by the board. /THR

Also FYI investment firm VANGUARD GROUP is once again the biggest TWTR shareholder at 10.3%, upping their stake this week to surpass Elon’s. /WSJ

🏦 STOCK NOTES:

A slightly down day for pretty much everyone.

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👩‍💻 THE FSS FEED:

(new Stuff to Watch this weekend, Friday - Saturday - Sunday)

FRIDAY

IN THEATERS:

• ​​WB “Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore” - Only in Theaters

STREAMING:

SERIES

• APPLE TV+ “Roar”  - Female-driven anthology series featuring Nicole Kidman, Cynthia Erivo, Issa Rae, Merritt Wever, Alison Brie, Betty Gilpin, all 8 eps drop today - STREAM HERE

• AMAZON PRIME “Outer Range” Josh Brolin series - STREAM HERE

• NETFLIX “Anatomy of a Scandal” limited UK series - STREAM HERE

• ROKU CHANNEL “Swimming with Sharks” - no GOOGLE’able link avail

TV:

• CBS “Come Dance With Me” at 8p - A competition show where talented dancers invite an untalented family member who has supported their dreams to join them as their partners.

SATURDAY

• FOX & NBC USFL kickoff at 730p

• NBA playoffs start on ABC. Wonder which will get a bigger audience?

• SNL is Lizzo and LIZZO

SUNDAY

• New “60 Minutes” at 7p

• SHO “The First Lady” anthology series premieres at 9p

• HAPPY EASTER!

🎥 TRAILER HOUSE

HBOMAX “Hacks” Season 2 teaser - Though just a heads up - this is really more like a date announcement piece (:45 spot set to music / only one brief trackup), but Premieres Thu May 12

NETFLIX “Grace and Frankie” final episodes trailer. Premieres Fri April 29

NEON “Crimes of the Future” teaser trailer - New David Cronenberg movie that’s premiering at CANNES, with Viggo Mortensen, Lea Seydoux, and Kristen Stewart that totally doesn’t look creepy AF at all. About a performance artist who “showcases the metamorphosis of his organs in avant-garde performances” as humans live in a synthetic environment. From there, the laughs never end in theaters this June

SHOWTIME “Ziwe” Season 2 trailer - Premieres Fri Apr 29 (on the app)

NETFLIX “Our Father” docu trailer - About one of those fertility doctors who used his own sperm without telling people in the 80’s… and got 23 AND ME’d in the 2010s. Premieres Wed May 11

NETFLIX “David Spade: Nothing Personal” trailer - Premieres Tue April 26

🎧 PLAYING ME OFF

Ok this one’s admittedly very niche… but for any fellow fans of composer Thomas Newman - he’s doing the music for NETFLIX’s “Operation Mincemeat” and here’s a track that makes us happy.

If you need some new tunes:

THE WAKEUP Spotify playlist

Email me anytime - just Reply to this email, or connect here on LINKED IN.

-SEAN MCNULTY

@theseanmac on TWITTER

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