Transcript: Hollywood’s WFH Wars Worsen
Workers revolt over RTO mandates at Amazon and Lionsgate as industry vets warn about the eventual costs of a career on Zoom
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, October 24th. I'm joined by Richard Rushfield and Elaine Low, who may not be a tennis champion on the courts, but she still is in our hearts. Elaine, how you doing there, kiddo?
Elaine Low (00:21):
Thank you. Thank you. We had a great time. It was our team from L.A. repping SoCal against 16 other teams from across the country, so it was a good time, but I really enjoyed hearing you guys try to figure out where I was last week on the pod.
Sean McNulty (00:34):
Well, we knew it was a tennis thing. That's pretty good for us, I'm going to say.
Elaine Low (00:39):
She’s at a tennis thing. She's taking days off to play tennis.
Sean McNulty (00:41):
I didn't want to say anything that was false, Elaine, so I just kept it very broad. There's tennis involved and she's not here right now, so that was the extent of it. I didn't know how it was going either, so didn't want to have any spoilers there. So hope you had fun. Sounds like it was a good time, Elaine.
Elaine Low (00:55):
Hey, we made it to the national championships. It's the Super Bowl of rec tennis.
Richard Rushfield (01:01):
You're the national tennis champion?
Elaine Low (01:04):
Well, we're in 16th place.
Sean McNulty (01:07):
To be clear.
Elaine Low (01:08):
We're the 16th best team in the country.
Sean McNulty (01:10):
16 of 16, but we were among the 16 and that's the important takeaway there. It's not about the order of the teams. Well, Richard, I was sorry to read this week that your rightful ascension to the top of the Disney throne has to wait another 15 months. Did I get this right or are you going to wait this out or are you just going to take that job in Netflix instead? Which one are you going to do here?
Richard Rushfield (01:39):
Mere formalities.
Sean McNulty (01:42):
I don't know about this.
Richard Rushfield (01:43):
I've been given my key to the executive washroom and I can make myself at home anytime I wish.
Elaine Low (01:50):
But what does the snack room look like, Richard?
Sean McNulty (01:52):
At Disney, we're going to see some changes coming on in 2026. I'll tell you that right now.
Richard Rushfield (01:58):
Not too much of an emphasis on the healthy snacks.
Sean McNulty (02:01):
Yeah, I don't think Bob Iger's a big snack guy, I got to say right now. I would say that that would be a definite change in policy if Richard took over.
Richard Rushfield (02:08):
They're going to learn about the words Little Debbie's there.
Sean McNulty (02:12):
Oh, cross-branding. Very impressive. Of course referring to the Disney Corporation announcing that they'll be picking a new CEO in early 2026 at this point. It's something-
Richard Rushfield (02:23):
Or so.
Sean McNulty (02:24):
Or so. Ish. They also announced that former Morgan Stanley honcho and current Disney board member James Gorman is going to take over the board come January. He's of course, more importantly I guess also leading the succession committee on the board there as well. So Richard, total shot in the dark here, but I thought you might have thought or two on this one. I don't know.