General
Diane Weyermann Elevated to Chief Content Officer at Participant Media
Brian Welk, The Wrap
Diane Weyermann, a 14-year veteran at Participant Media, has been promoted to the role of chief content officer, the company’s CEO David Linde announced Thursday at the kickoff of the Toronto International Film Festival.
Billboard’s Parent Company Is Buying Nielsen’s Music Business
Lucas Shaw, Bloomberg
Valence Media, the parent company of famed entertainment-industry publication Billboard, is acquiring the music-industry data, software and analytics business of Nielsen Holdings Plc, according to people familiar with the situation.
Trump calls ‘Will & Grace’ star Debra Messing a ‘McCarthy style Racist’
Christie D’Zurilla, Los Angeles Times
The spat between Debra Messing and President Trump is heating up, with POTUS on Thursday calling the actress a “McCarthy style Racist.” He also wonders whether NBC will give the actress the boot, a la ABC and Roseanne Barr, for her recent Twitter activity supporting both the listing of Trump donors and a church sign that name-called both black and white Trump supporters.
Struggles of a Latino Producer in Hollywood: ‘I Still Face a Lot of Issues When I Pitch to Executives’
Trey Williams, The Wrap
The numbers are stark. Representation among Latino actors and filmmakers in Hollywood, while improving, has still proven to be — like many minority groups and women — insufficient.
RIAA’s Posts 2019 Mid-Year Report: Revenues up 18%, Streaming Soars
Jem Aswad, Variety
Revenues are up 18% to $5.4 billion and streaming accounts for 80% of that revenue, according to the Recording Industry Association of America’s mid-year report released today. Paid streaming services added more than 1 million new subscriptions a month, pushing the U.S. total past 60 million.
Film
The Netflix debate: Should you see ‘Marriage Story,’ ‘Laundromat’ and ‘The King’ at home or in a theater?
Justin Chang, Los Angeles Times
“Marriage Story,” a critical standout at this year’s Venice International Film Festival, begins with some of the loveliest, most emotionally resonant filmmaking of writer-director Noah Baumbach’s career.
‘It: Chapter Two’ Thursday Night Previews Popping $10M+
Anthony D’Alessandro, Deadline Hollywood
New Line’s It: Chapter Two is seeing an estimated gross tonight per sources between $10M-$11M. If those figures remain on track, the sequel will be the second biggest preview for a horror movie and September release after, of course, 2017’s It which rang up $13.5M.
‘Birds of Prey’ and Reviving the Magic of a Movie Trailer
Richard Newby, The Hollywood Reporter
If you’re wondering when that Birds of Prey teaser that’s been making the rounds on the web in low definition and non-English languages will be officially released by Warner Bros., you’ll have to keep waiting. The 40-second teaser for Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn), which sets itself up as the opening titles for It: Chapter Two before offering brief glimpses of the first footage from Cathy Yan’s film, will only be attached to the Stephen King adaptation.
How Hollywood reinvented horror movies into hits
Johnny Oleksinski, New York Post
Horror? I barely know her!
A Massive Lineup Of Oscar Contenders, But Is There Another ‘Green Book’ Waiting To Surprise?
Pete Hammond, Deadline Hollywood
After Venice and Telluride, the Fall Festival Trifecta continues with the Toronto International Film Festival, where the world premieres just keep on coming. It opens tonight with several of them competing for attention.
Television
Fall brings new shows, services and chance of bigger TV tabs
Lynn Elber, The Associated Press
Intrigued by a drama set behind the scenes of a morning TV show, with Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon topping the cast? How about a supernatural series with Lin-Manuel Miranda or a comedy starring Paul Rudd as a man overshadowed by his clone, or the chance to see Oscar-winner Forest Whitaker as a real-life 1960s gangster?
‘Mad About You’ Reboot on Spectrum Nov. 20
Michael Malone, Broadcasting & Cable
Spectrum premieres the reboot of comedy Mad About You Nov. 20. Paul Reiser and Helen Hunt reprise their roles in the series, which aired on NBC from 1992 to 1999.
TV networks need NFL ratings rebound to continue
Jesse Pound, CNBC
The NFL returns to the national spotlight on Thursday night, but it remains to be seen if TV’s biggest draw can continue the ratings renaissance it experienced last season.
Merchandising TV history: a peek inside Warner Bros’ pop-up Friends experience
Kyle O’Brien, The Drum
In a fractured media landscape, keeping a television show alive years after broadcast takes more than just syndication and streaming. It takes merchandising – and that’s just what the planners of the immersive Friends pop-up experience in Manhattan have done on an epic scale.
How ‘Friends’ went from ‘bad reviews’ to global phenomenon
Reed Tucker, New York Post
In early 1994, NBC was desperate to secure the services of an actress for its new sitcom, then called “Friends Like Us.” The actress was a 25-year old named Jennifer Aniston, whose biggest role to date had been on the flop TV spin-off “Ferris Bueller,” but NBC was certain she was the next big thing.
Technology and New Media
What happens when Netflix buys Hollywood’s iconic Egyptian Theatre? It’s complicated
Ryan Faughnder, Los Angeles Times
North Hollywood-based librarian Christina Rice, 45, loves to see movies with her 9-year-old daughter at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood. On a recent Friday afternoon, she trekked to the historic movie palace for a lively screening of the 1942 feature “Get Hep to Love,” where she sat with former child actress Cora Sue Collins, who starred in the picture.
The People With Power at Quibi
Beejoli Shah, The Information
Quibi, the streaming video service launching next year, plans to air approximately 7,000 episodes of programming within its first year—an ambition for output likely surpassed only by Netflix. But unlike Netflix, which speeds production by letting a wide range of executives greenlight new shows, Quibi Chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg has to sign off on all programming deals.
‘The Grisham Universe’ Two-Show Franchise Scrapped at Hulu
Lesley Goldberg, The Hollywood Reporter
Hulu’s innovative plans to bring the so-called Grisham Universe to television are no longer happening. Sources tell The Hollywood Reporter that the Disney-controlled streamer has scrapped efforts to bring author John Grisham’s The Rainmaker and Rogue Lawyer to television as part of an interconnected universe.
New analysis shows the international Netflix markets with the most potential for original TV and movie investment
Travis Clark, Business Insider Prime
As Netflix seeks to grow its international presence and global subscriber base, it’s likely to invest in more in local productions — especially in markets that have seen recent subscriber gains. Netflix produces little content in some of its most important markets, and a new study from Ampere Analysis has predicted which of those the streaming giant will invest in going forward.
Netflix’s Festival Blitz Hints It Will Challenge Indies’ Awards-Season Turf
Peter Bart, Deadline Hollywood
The advent of festival season, with its raves and rebukes, usually prompts a cautious optimism in the indie world; there’s action out there, perhaps even at the box office. This would be welcome this year, following a 6% drop in overall box office and a 45% plummet in the specialty sector so far in 2019.
As Disney+ Looms, ‘The Boys’ Is Sweet Relief
Alison Herman, The Ringer
The comedian Marc Maron recently landed himself in hot water with a self-fulfilling prophecy. In an August conversation with Conan O’Brien, the WTF host explained his refusal to watch Marvel movies like Avengers: Endgame: “I think those movies are for grown male nerd-childs,” Maron declared.
Apple Music Unveils New Web App
Micah Singleton, Billboard
Apple Music is bringing its streaming service to the world’s largest platform. On Thursday (Sept. 5), Apple Music launched a web app accessible using any desktop computer browser.
‘Midsommar’ director’s cut will be an Apple TV exclusive
Marc DeAngelis, Engadget
A director’s cut of Ari Aster’s broad-daylight horror movie Midsommar hit select theaters this past weekend, expanding the original runtime of 148 minutes to 171 minutes.
Opinions, Editorials, Perspectives and Research
The Time Netflix Considered Selling Itself to Amazon for Peanuts
Mark Randolph, The Wall Street Journal
“Jesus, Reed, where are you taking us?” The street we were walking on looked like a movie set of skid row.
How (And Why) I Cut the Cord: A TV Critic’s Journey Over the Top
Tim Goodman, The Hollywood Reporter
If cutting the cable cord actually saves money for people or streamlines the viewing experience while adding better options at roughly the same price for people not hung up on the money part — and it’s shocking how easy all of this is to do — then why are more people not doing it? Simple: It just seems too confusing.
Why Hollywood Keeps Coming at the King
Ben Lindbergh, The Ringer
Roy Lee was 10 years old in 1979—about as old as Mark Petrie, the protagonist of Salem’s Lot, the Stephen King–inspired, vampire-infested miniseries that aired on CBS that fall. That made Lee the perfect age to be terrified when he watched the undead Danny Glick hover outside his former school friend’s window and whisper, “Open the window, Mark.”
Season 1 of Into the Dark blurred the line between TV and film, but rarely in a good way
Noel Murray, The Verge
Blumhouse Productions was in the news quite a bit in August 2019 due to the uproar over the movie The Hunt. Co-produced by Blumhouse founder Jason Blum, the satirical thriller was pulled from release by distributor Universal Pictures after right-wing pundits slammed the film’s trailer, saying it appeared to endorse the idea of wealthy liberal elites stalking and killing salt-of-the-earth middle-American conservatives.
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