Transcript: Apple Now Thinks Different About Movies
The hardware giant discovers the stomach-dropping risks of showbiz
Sean McNulty (00:04):
Welcome to The Ankler Podcast. This is Sean McNulty of The Wakeup newsletter here at The Ankler, here on the Jersey Shore on Thursday, August 29th. I'm joined by Elaine Low and a Richard Rushfield who has that unmistakable look of joy on his face to be back at work, which I think is kind of the same face Richard probably had on vacation. Richard, are you happy to see us?
Richard Rushfield (00:27):
I'm delighted to be back here. I survived the heat wave in Rome and Swifty invasion in England and back to tell the tale.
Elaine Low (00:42):
I'm glad you're here to put fears to rest, Richard, that something had happened to you, which David last week was like, "And everything's fine. Richard's okay."
Sean McNulty (00:49):
Yeah, David was spreading some rumors that were not going in a good direction. I'll just say that. So, Elaine and I can both attest we see him as we're speaking. This is not AI Richard being substituted here.
Elaine Low (01:01):
Hold up a newspaper with today's date, Richard.
Sean McNulty (01:04):
Exactly. Right. Richard, what did you bring us back from Europe? Did you buy us a movie studio? What'd you get?
Richard Rushfield (01:09):
You know, they give away TV series there.
Sean McNulty (01:11):
Oh, do they? Oh wow. Breaking news here.
Richard Rushfield (01:14):
So you can all do it. And I was invited to play at Wimbledon, so I'm sure...
Elaine Low (01:21):
Wimbledon was like three months ago, Richard.
Sean McNulty (01:23):
That's why they invited him.
Richard Rushfield (01:24):
Yeah, no I was...
Sean McNulty (01:27):
"You can come now." Alright, great. Yeah. Did you run into any Kazakhstani telecom moguls while you were over there wearing "Paramount Rules" t-shirts or anything, any of Edgar Bronfman's contingent in Europe that maybe you saw in the streets of Rome or something?
Richard Rushfield (01:42):
I tell you, you walk through the streets of Europe and everybody's just saying, "What's happened with Paramount? Is David Ellison really going to take over?" It's all anyone can talk about there.
Sean McNulty (01:54):
You can't escape it, Richard.
Richard Rushfield (01:55):
Every waiter and cab driver just wants to know, "Is the deal going to go through?"
Sean McNulty (02:01):
It is not. We'll start here by pouring out some Seagram's VO for Edgar Bronfman's historic run at taking control of Paramount Global, which came to an abrupt end with a simple letter from Edgar earlier this week saying that's been real y'all, but peace out. So now it's back to the day-to-day business of cost savings and asset sales, Richard, until Skydance gets the keys sometime in July 2025, assuming the U.S. government is okay with all this. But Richard, where does this whole shebang ranked for you in Hollywood deal history? How's this going to be remembered, do you think, here in the annals of Hollywood now that it seems to have settled out here? I say finally, famous last words, but all the deadlines are over so I feel okay saying it, but Richard, where's this going to land here, you think, maybe five, 10 years down the road?