Top Stories

  • Netflix Inc. is “looking for opportunities to extend the universe” of its films and television shows through video games, according to the company’s interactive games head Chris Lee. The streaming service, which licensed a mobile game for “Stranger Things” in 2017, plans to launch Stranger Things 3: The Game on July 4 to coincide with the third season of the series and will release a game based on “The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance” later this year. (Bloomberg)
  • Several actors belonging to the Television Academy’s Performers Peer Group have been disqualified from voting in this year’s Primetime Emmy Awards after they were allegedly found to have discussed block voting, a practice in which members plan to all vote for the same nominee, according to a memo. No names or status on expulsion were shared, but Chairman and Chief Executive Frank Scherma and operations chief and President Maury McIntyre said in the memo that the Television Academy takes “suggestions of voting impropriety” very seriously. (The Hollywood Reporter)
  • Fox has joined other networks, including Disney Media Networks, Turner and CBS Corp., in participating in Project OAR, a group created earlier this year to standardize addressable advertising. An advisory committee, composed of groups including Omnicom Media Group and Horizon Media, has also been formed. (AdAge)

Chart Review

Events Calendar (All Times Local)

06/13/2019
E3 2019
TimesTalks: Jonas Brothers and Ryan Tedder 8:00 pm
06/17/2019
Forbes Live: 2019 Women’s Summit
Digiday Media Leaders Cannes
Free to State 4:00 pm
TimesTalks: “The Weekly” 7:00 pm
06/18/2019
Forbes Live: 2019 Women’s Summit
Film Independent–Producer’s Toolkit ’19: Indie Business Plan Primer 7:30 pm
Film Indepdendent Know Your Crew: The Camera Crew 7:30 pm
06/19/2019
American Film Institute Docs Film Festival
The Wall Street Journal CMO Network Annual Meeting at Cannes
06/20/2019
American Film Institute Docs Film Festival
Hollywood Chamber Economic Development Summit 2019 8:00 am
View full calendar

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General

Your Book Became a Hit Show? Time For a Sequel.
Ellen Gamerman, The Wall Street Journal

A great story has a beginning, a middle and, possibly, no end. Acclaimed novelists from Margaret Atwood to Kate Atkinson are creating literary fiction franchises, bringing back beloved characters, settings and themes—sometimes years or even decades after they first appeared.

WarnerMedia Names CAA’s Christy Haubegger Chief Inclusion Officer
Matt Donnelly, Variety

WarnerMedia has appointed Christy Haubegger to the position of chief enterprise inclusion officer. Haubegger joins the team from CAA, where she spent 14 years working to increase representation of women and people of color in the content space and within the corporate culture of the agency.

Filmmaker Bryan Singer settles rape allegation by Cesar Sanchez-Guzman
David Ng, Los Angeles Times

Filmmaker Bryan Singer has settled the rape allegation made by Cesar Sanchez-Guzman, who said the “X-Men” and “Bohemian Rhapsody” director sexually assaulted him on a yacht in 2003. An attorney for Singer confirmed Wednesday that the matter has been resolved.

Film

Lionsgate And Redbox Set New Multi-Year Deal For Disc And Digital Titles
Dade Hayes, Deadline Hollywood

Lionsgate and Redbox have firmed up a new multi-year agreement spanning disc and digital titles that will continue to be available at Redbox kiosks and via Redbox On Demand.

‘Spice Girls’ Movie in the Works as Paramount Unveils Animation Slate
Carolyn Giardina, The Hollywood Reporter

Paramount Animation president Mireille Soria is bringing girl power to the unit — literally. The studio, which boasts a mostly female senior staff, is in early development on a Spice Girls movie among a slate eyeing two releases a year, starting in 2020.

Sony Pictures Animation Unveils Expanded Slate: New ‘Boondocks’, ‘Hungry Ghosts’ Anthology, More
Denise Petski, Deadline Hollywood

Sony Pictures Animation unveiled an expanded slate Wednesday at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival in Annecy, France.

Television

The Woman Leading PBS Through TV’s Time of Turmoil
Vanessa Fuhrmans, The Wall Street Journal

When Paula Kerger took over as chief executive of PBS in 2006, “Downton Abbey” hadn’t yet made its debut and Charlie Rose and Tavis Smiley were mainstays. Netflix hadn’t yet moved into streaming and Apple had just begun selling TV episodes via iTunes.

The Anchor: Gayle King and CBS News’ Plans to Steady a Once-Storied Ship
Marisa Guthrie, The Hollywood Reporter

On March 5, Susan Zirinsky was in her “crummy little office” along a dark corridor in the labyrinth of CBS News headquarters on West 57th Street. It was just a temporary spot, since it was technically only her second day on the job as president of CBS News.

Dana Walden Talks ‘Undeniable’ Scale of Disney Television, Organizing Studios in Post-Merger Era
Joe Otterson, Variety

Dana Walden has her eye on the future. Walden, the chairman of Disney Television Studios and ABC Entertainment, said that one of the reasons she stayed on following the Disney-21st Century Fox merger was because she wanted to be part of a company with great storytellers but also a vision of what is to come

MSNBC Shakeup Leaves New Dayside Programming Leadership
Aidan McLaughlin, Mediaite

MSNBC implemented a big shakeup in programming this week, Mediaite has learned, appointing SVP of programming and development Jonathan Wald and MSNBC executive editor Dan Arnall to lead dayside. The former head of dayside, NBC News SVP Janelle Rodriguez, will take control of NBC News Now, the network’s streaming service.

HBO’s Explicit ‘Euphoria’ Courts Controversy: How Much Teen Sex and Drugs Is Too Much?
Bryn Elise Sandberg, The Hollywood Reporter

On June 16, casual TV surfers (and AT&T executives) might be surprised if they check out what’s on the company’s HBO channel: an erect penis. It’s just one of many jarring elements of Euphoria, the new teen drama that offers perhaps the most unflinching, not to mention explicit, take on modern adolescence ever to hit U.S. television.

TV Chiefs From Starz, NBC, Amazon and Showtime Weigh in on Merger Disruption and the Content Arms Race
Will Thorne, Variety

Several of television’s top executives gathered at Variety‘s TV Summit to discuss the content arms race that’s being caused by the impending launch of new streaming platforms and the major disruptions happening in the industry as a result of the flurry of recent mega-mergers.

Warner Bros. Reveals Details of Probe That Ousted ‘Fuller House’ Creator
Eriq Gardner, The Hollywood Reporter

Why was Jeff Franklin removed from his role as showrunner of Fuller House? If one is to believe Franklin, who created Full House in the 1990s and shepherded the recent Netflix reboot until he was dumped at the end of 2018, he was the victim of career ambition.

Technology and New Media

Sky to Double TV Production as Comcast Battles Netflix in Europe
Gerry Smith, Bloomberg

Sky, the European media giant, is creating a new TV studio and plans to more than double its investment in original programming over the next five years as its new owner, Comcast Corp., steps up its battle with Netflix Inc. across the continent.

Why the creator of MTV’s ‘The Real World’ is betting on Facebook Watch for the realest season yet
KC Ifeanyi, Fast Company

After 32 seasons, The Real World‘s creator and executive producer Jonathan Murray is finally making the version of the show he’s always wanted to—on Facebook Watch, no less.

‘Fortnite’ Maker Epic Games Scoops Up Houseparty App
Sarah E. Needleman and Betsy Morris, The Wall Street Journal

The maker of “Fortnite” has acquired the video-chat app Houseparty, uniting two tech properties that seize on teenagers’ affinity for socializing in intimate groups online. The deal between the two venture-backed companies, announced Wednesday, gives Houseparty a line into Epic Games Inc.’s expertise at building a massive fan base.

Apple’s attempts to limit data sharing on kids’ apps is negatively impacting PBS
Emily Stewart, Vox

A change Apple recently made to kids apps in its App Store is negatively impacting the Public Broadcasting Service, and the nonprofit broadcaster’s chief executive isn’t happy about it.

‘When They See Us’ Is “Most Watched” Series Claims Netflix; “Publicity” From Ava DuVernay Show Forces Central Park Five Prosecutor To Resign From Columbia Law School
Dominic Patten, Deadline Hollywood

Just days into the initial round of Emmy voting, When They See Us has gotten a big boost from the streaming service that the Ava DuVernay directed limited series is on and from real world outrage over the prosecutors who were hellbent on putting the Central Park 5 behind bars for the brutal sexual assault of a NYC jogger in 1989.

Milken-Backed Immortals Makes Esports’ First $100 Million Deal
Christopher Palmeri, Bloomberg

Immortals Gaming Club, an esports business backed by Meg Whitman and the family of Michael Milken among others, acquired Infinite Esports from two of the owners of the Texas Rangers baseball team, marking what the buyers said is the industry’s first $100 million deal.

What do subscription services and streaming mean for the future of gaming?
Brian Heater, TechCrunch

The future of gaming is streaming. If that wasn’t painfully obvious to you a week ago, it certainly ought to be now.

Opinions, Editorials, Perspectives and Research

Kneel Before Zack
Rob Harvilla, The Ringer

“Well, I believe in truth,” says Henry Cavill as Superman, crashing the calamitous final battle of the woebegone 2017 film Justice League. “But I’m also a big fan of justice.”

Limited Series Tempt Movie Stars to Television, But Who Will the Emmys Embrace?
Anne Thompson and Libby Hill, IndieWire

While most television fans pivot to summer pleasure watching, digging into new content from “The Handmaid’s Tale,” “Black Mirror,” and “Big Little Lies,” our Emmys pundits continue to cast their eyes to the past, sizing up the state of the race and attempting to read the tea leaves as Emmy voting is finally underway.

Morning Consult