General
BuzzFeed Chief Marketing Officer to Step Down
Jessica Toonkel and Beejoli Shah, The Information
BuzzFeed Chief Marketing Officer and commerce leader Ben Kaufman is stepping down from his position at the end of the year, a move that comes at a delicate time for the digital media company as it seeks to boost revenue and return to profit.
Podcast listening has reached a zenith— thanks to millennials
Wendy Lee, Los Angeles Times
Podcasts, once a niche category, continue to surge in popularity thanks to millennials who are listening to audio programs on the go. The number of people using mobile apps to discover and listen to podcasts increased 60% compared with January 2018, according to data released Wednesday by Adobe Analytics.
Talent Agencies Cancel Emmy Parties Amid WGA-ATA Standoff
Nellie Andreeva, Deadline Hollywood
The talent agencies had a greatly reduced presence at the May upfronts. Amid stalled negotiations between the WGA and the Association of Talent Agents, which broke off in April with no deal, triggering the firing of agents by more than 7,000 writers, most agency parties were canceled or dramatically scaled back.
How the New Celebrity Book Clubs Are Boosting Literary Sales
Mackenzie Nichols, Variety
When author Maria Hummel’s publicist called to tell her that her novel “Still Lives” would appear as a selection on a book club started by Reese Witherspoon, she couldn’t believe it. “I remember just staring in the mirror and thinking the person I’m looking at is not me, the person this is happening to is not me,” Hummel recalled.
Film
Yes, Young People Still Go to the Movies: Report Finds 18-24 Is Biggest Moviegoing Segment
Chris Lindahl, IndieWire
Teenagers and twenty-somethings would never trade a Netflix binge for a trip to the theater, right?
Why ‘Brittany Runs a Marathon’ Deserves to Be This Summer’s Indie Breakout
Brent Lang, Variety
Jillian Bell is a comedic force who steals scenes with a delivery that slides effortlessly between perky and profane. She’s been an unlikely drug dealer in “22 Jump Street,” a shrewd pimp in “Office Christmas Party,” even an aunt who gets attacked by a vampire poodle in “Goosebumps.”
Sony’s Stage 6 Films Plots Sequel To Sundance Sleeper ‘Searching’
Mike Fleming Jr., Deadline Hollywood
You don’t see that many films acquired at Sundance getting sequels, but Sony’s Stage 6 Films is working on a second installment of Searching, the thriller about a father’s desperate search for his missing daughter that Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions bought for $5 million in a world rights deal and watched become a breakout hit that grossed $75 million worldwide. It was released by Sony’s Stage 6 Films and Screen Gems.
Facebook Movie Ads Can Now Include Premiere Reminders, Showtime Lookups
Todd Spangler, Variety
Facebook is extending Hollywood studios’ ad buys on the social platform with the official launch of two new features – movie reminders and showtimes. The new features are available in the U.S. and the U.K., as a standard part of ad campaigns that studios buy for News Feed.
New Academy President David Rubin On A Shorter Oscar Season, Praising Movie Theatres, And AMPAS Code Of Conduct
Pete Hammond, Deadline Hollywood
“Will I be seeing you in Telluride?” I asked new Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences president David Rubin as he celebrates his first full week on the job today, after presiding over the graduation of the third class of Academy Gold Star interns as his first official duty over the weekend. At Telluride, the Academy holds an annual reception for its members during the Labor Day weekend film festival in the Rocky Mountains.
Television
Viacom-CBS Merger Could Boost Advertising Ambitions
Alexandra Bruell, The Wall Street Journal
The merger of CBS Corp. and Viacom Inc. creates a larger media company better positioned to pursue advanced advertising technology and ad-supported streaming video.
Samantha Bee’s Boiling Point
Laura Bradley, Vanity Fair
A little more than one year ago, Samantha Bee wrapped up what she considered a perfectly ordinary episode of her TBS late-night series, Full Frontal With Samantha Bee. “I left the studio that day feeling like, little back pat,” the comedian says in her office on a recent rainy day in New York.
CBS-Viacom Merger Internal Reaction: Relief, ‘Some Anxiety’ and Plenty of Questions
Michael Schneider, Variety
Inside CBS and Viacom, there are many execs who believe the companies shouldn’t have split in 2005. But after 15 years of operating independent of each other, some of those same execs weren’t so sure the two sides should get back together.
Food TV Can Thrive After Anthony Bourdain, but Gordon Ramsay Won’t Be the Person to Lead It
Danny Chau, The Ringer
It takes exactly 30 seconds for Gordon Ramsay to utter his first “Bloody hell!” in his new National Geographic TV show, Uncharted. The goal of the series, ostensibly, is to show viewers how to colonize non-Anglocentric cultures around the world in just one week.
How ‘Who Wants to Be a Millionaire’ changed the primetime TV rulebook
Brian Lowry, CNN
Twenty years ago, “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” took primetime by storm, during what was traditionally a quiet time in the month before the start of the fall TV season. While the quiz show recently ended its run, its impact continues to ripple through television, having opened the floodgates to all forms of unscripted projects.
Technology and New Media
Star Trek is ViacomCBS’s best hope for streaming greatness
Julia Alexander, The Verge
CBS and Viacom are set to become a potential powerhouse in streaming, rivaling Netflix. But where Netflix focuses on building a universal library of originals, ViacomCBS is set to overwhelm rivals with content drawn from dozens of smaller channels, many of which have years’ worth of content in the bank.
Will Netflix Have to Change Its Strategy Soon?
Tim Goodman, The Hollywood Reporter
Netflix is doing something weird this week — and yes, it does often partake in convention-defying bits of decision-making almost as a rule: On Friday it will premiere the second season of its acclaimed but hardly zeitgeisty drama Mindhunter after choosing not to send out screeners to critics and to only have a fan-based premiere of the first three episodes. Which is, well, weird.
Spotify to Test More Expensive Subscriptions in Scandinavia
Lucas Shaw, Bloomberg
Spotify Technology SA plans to sell a more-expensive version of its music service in Scandinavia, a test to see whether it can raise prices around the world, according to people familiar with the matter.
Opinions, Editorials, Perspectives and Research
Taylor & Kanye: How two superstars, four words, and 15 seconds of TV influenced a decade of pop culture
Emily Yahr, The Washington Post
Whether you were watching from a couch, a dorm, a bar or in the control room at Radio City Music Hall where the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards were taking place, it was the rare moment in our culture where everyone had the same reaction: Did that actually just happen?
Why Viacom Fell (And Why It Can Come Back)
Matthew Ball and Jason Hirschhorn, Redef
Viacom had the culture to not only survive in the digital era, but to thrive. Why did it fall and how will it come back?
Why Is Hollywood So Scared of Climate Change?
Cara Buckley, The New York Times
Humans ruined everything. They bred too much and choked the life out of the land, air and sea.
Someone Please Help Netflix With Its Extremely Lazy Movie Titles
Adam Epstein, Quartz
Who’s ready to fall “inn” love? Netflix certainly is!
ViacomCBS Merger: 5 Key Questions in the Wake of the Deal
Tyler Hersko and Chris Lindahl, IndieWire
After years of on-and-off discussions, the entertainment industry has found its newest corporate juggernaut in ViacomCBS Inc. CBS and Viacom announced their agreement to merge on Tuesday, marking the end of Shari Redstone’s years-long mission to reunite the two companies, which her father, Sumner Redstone, split in 2006.
The Hunt’s cancellation and Hollywood’s history of self-censorship, explained
Alissa Wilkinson, Vox
Less than two months before The Hunt’s scheduled late-September release, Universal Pictures decided to indefinitely postpone it. The film’s premise — in which “elites” hunt “normal” people for sport — first garnered a smattering of criticism from left-leaning social media accounts for its apparent intent to valorize MAGA-style protagonists.
From ‘Fleabag’ to James Bond and Beyond: Phoebe Waller-Bridge on Death and Her Secret New Movie
Michael O’Connell, The Hollywood Reporter
Phoebe Waller-Bridge has clearly done her homework. Delivering herself onto a shaded sofa in the Chateau Marmont courtyard, the 34-year-old British auteur surveys the Sunday brunch set with the confidence of a regular.
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