Transcript: The Rapid-Fire News Out of Netflix
An exec exit and a surprise WWE deal portend change — and leave Hollywood heads spinning
Sean McNulty (00:04):
Welcome to The Ankler Podcast. This is Sean McNulty from The Wakeup newsletter here at The Ankler on the afternoon of Thursday, January 25th, here in New York City. I am joined by Elaine Low and the non-Oscar nominated Richard Rushfield in Los Angeles. Richard, what happened?
Richard Rushfield (00:20):
Both myself and the movie that I assumed was going to sweep the nominations because it was clearly the best film of the year, Strays, were shut out of contention this year, and I have suspicions about what to attribute this to. I don't want to point fingers and say anything, but-
Sean McNulty (00:36):
Of course not.
Richard Rushfield (00:37):
... it doesn't add up to anything good.
Sean McNulty (00:39):
I see.
Elaine Low (00:39):
We protest at City Hall tomorrow.
Sean McNulty (00:41):
Yeah, exactly.
Richard Rushfield (00:42):
I mean, if you folks still want to watch and participate in the Oscars, I'm not going to hold it against you, but they've revealed themselves for what they are right now.
Sean McNulty (00:51):
Well, you get number one fan of Strays, Richard. Congratulations. You won the award. So you have that award going for you.
Richard Rushfield (00:56):
Thank you.
Sean McNulty (00:56):
We'll give that one to you. So, congratulations.
(00:59):
Elaine, can you feel the excitement in the air today?
Elaine Low (01:01):
Because of sports?
Sean McNulty (01:04):
No. I got to get you a new go-to. We have our first listener mail, Elaine.
Elaine Low (01:13):
Oh, that's right.
Sean McNulty (01:13):
And the title is, "I love you, guys." So I had no idea your 8-year-old had an email address. That's very nice. That's really very generous.
Elaine Low (01:21):
Stuffing the inbox early there.
Sean McNulty (01:23):
Yeah, really jumped in-
Elaine Low (01:24):
[Inaudible 00:01:24] the good letters.
Sean McNulty (01:24):
... jumped in early, so we appreciate that. But our podcast inbox now has a name, Elaine. A shout-out to listener Frank, who sent us the amazing suggestion to call our listener mail, Ankletters. Pretty good, right?
Elaine Low (01:38):
Clever. Ankletters, I like it.
(01:39):
Richard, do we approve?
Richard Rushfield (01:40):
Yeah, that can be the name of our acapella group also.
Sean McNulty (01:46):
I do love a good twofer. Well done, well done, Frank. We definitely appreciate that. So, again, you can send us an email with questions for a future show. We'll be doing an Ankletters segment or thoughts to share, or just say, "Hey." That address of course is podcasts, plural, podcasts@theankler.com. And of course, if you're listening on Apple or Spotify, leaving your rating is always appreciated there as well, if that is your listening platform of choice.
(02:11):
But Elaine, I am going to make a sports reference that I hope you're going to get. What do you think? What are the odds here?
Elaine Low (02:16):
Try me. Try me, Sean.
Sean McNulty (02:17):
Try. Well, I mean, this week, I think we need one of those lists of topics on the side of the screen that ESPN does in their talk shows, and like a ticking clock and a buzzer to get through all the topics that came up this week.
Elaine Low (02:27):
I do get that reference. I've seen-
Sean McNulty (02:27):
You goy that one? All right.
Elaine Low (02:29):
... whatever show that is once. Yes.
Sean McNulty (02:33):
SNL have also done a parody of it. So that's probably where it comes from.
Elaine Low (02:35):
I was like, "I think TMZ does something similar."
Sean McNulty (02:36):
Yeah, yeah, pretty much. But I feel like... So between the aforementioned Oscar nominations, Netflix adding subscribers like we're back in a pandemic, we had more Sundance buys. The head of Netflix films is leaving. Netflix is going live with the WWE and Peacock is still losing $800,000,000 a quarter, that Comcast couldn't be happier about. I think I just put them all in a hat and we just pick one out at a time. Or how do we even do this Elaine this week?
Elaine Low (03:01):
It's a newsy week. I mean, on top of earnings alone, there's a lot that's been happening.
Sean McNulty (03:06):
Right, and add on to earning calls from Netflix and Comcast, so yeah. And just a note, coming up in the next segment, we'll have The Ankler's Claire Atkinson, who will join us. She had a great piece this week as well, diving into the world of corporate communications at studios and so forth, we'll dive into all of her insights there as well.
(03:23):
And of course, Richard, we have to get your insights to the new choice of the LA Chargers, have a new coach coming in, Jim Harbaugh is coming to Los Angeles.