Morning! This is Sean McNulty (connect with me on LinkedIn here if ya like), and here’s the Hollywood + Media news to know on WEDNESDAY Jan. 31, 2023.
Where can someone let me know if the sun still exists? The only ☀️ we’ve seen in NYC in like 10 days now is the logo in The Wakeup subject line.
Let’s just say I’m really beginning to understand the appeal of hanging out with Sydney Sweeney & Glen Powell at a warm Australian summer wedding for an hour and a half.
ALSO: Latte Larry’s is coming to life! Yes the storyline from season 10 of HBO’s Curb is coming at ya IRL in the form of two locations in LA this weekend in Culver City and Venice Beach (really they’re just MENOTTI’S Coffee Shop locations). So, enjoy some Hot Cup of Spite and Dry Scones on Larry HBO, while supplies last.
Larry is also doing some “In Conversation” events in D.C. (March 29) and Boston (April 1).
AND: AMAZON MGM’s Anne Hathaway-Nicholas Galitzine pic The Idea of You will close SXSW in mid March.
PLUS: Music rights are the new cable channels – TIKTOK and UNIVERSAL MUSIC are in a standoff over a new rights deal that expires… uh, today. So the world’s largest music catalog may disappear from TT tomorrow – yes, that includes the world’s two biggest artists in Taylor Swift and Bad Bunny.
UMG posted an ‘open letter’ as to the issues here (hint: it’s about money). Yeah have fun with that BYTE DANCE – thinking you’re more CHARTER 2005 than CHARTER 2023 in the leverage analogy here.
A REST IN PEACE: Goes out to Hollywood and Broadway legend Chita Rivera, who died this week at the age of 91.
TODAY IN JOB CUTS:
COMCAST’s SKY is cutting more than1,000 folks in 2024, or about 4% of the U.K. staff, as the company tries to pivot away from a TV dish present into a streaming future. Most cuts are folks who work in the physical dish business.
PAYPAL is cutting about 2,500 jobs, or 9% of its workforce.
The WSJ D.C. bureau and TECH CRUNCH are also making small staff trims.
UPS is cutting about 12,000 positions of its 85,000 management roles, with employees now expected to be back in the office 5 days a week.
UPS expects a savings of about $1 Billion a year… and according to UPS, having to pay employees more due to gains won in their union deal negotiation last year was a factor here, as its hurting profitability. Lower package shipping volume is also playing a role.
BUT: Cost savings from increased AI use was also noted as a factor in needing fewer people. Ahem. 👀
OH: Thanks to reader Elena who sent me this piece about an NYC equivalent of a postnatal retreat for brand new mothers after giving birth… whose cost is about 3X that of the South Korean equivalent I linked to yesterday (roughly $1500 a night).
🎥 THE SILVER SCREEN
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