General
Rupert Murdoch, scrappy Fox mogul who transformed media, begins his Hollywood goodbye
Meg James, Los Angeles Times
Thirty-four years ago, Rupert Murdoch showed up in Hollywood with $250 million, buying a stake in the 20th Century Fox film studio — even though he had little interest in making movies. The scrappy Australian newsman, then known for his clamorous tabloids, was viewed with suspicion.
MoviePass Parent Company’s CFO Resigns To Take Another Job
Dade Hayes, Deadline Hollywood
Stuart Benson, CFO and Secretary of MoviePass parent Helios and Matheson Analytics, has resigned to take another job.
Writers Guild, talent agents find little common ground in early talks
David Ng, Los Angeles Times
Negotiations between Hollywood writers and their talent agents have stalled again as the two sides broke off talks Thursday with little to show for their efforts. The Writers Guild of America met with agents to discuss their ongoing dispute over agency practices that the union sees as harmful to its members, including packaging fees and the move toward TV and film production.
After Time Warner and Fox Sales, Entertainment Veterans Flood Job Market
The Information Staff, The Information
Two mega-entertainment deals, Disney’s $71 billion purchase of 21st Century Fox’s entertainment businesses and AT&T’S purchase of Time Warner, are putting a lot of veteran media executives on the job market. Just last week, AT&T announced the integration of the former Time Warner’s three main businesses, prompting an exodus of the top executives at HBO and Turner, while lots of lower-level folks are departing as their jobs are eliminated.
Viacom Closes Deal To Sell Awesomeness Content Globally & Strikes Deal With RTL’s German SVOD Service TV Now
Peter White, Deadline Hollywood
Viacom has closed a deal to sell a raft of Awesomeness content globally after the U.S. media giant acquired the youth-skewing brand last year. It has also sold a number of titles to a German SVOD service run by RTL.
How Podcasts Learned to Speak
Adam Sternbergh, Vulture
When you first heard about podcasts, do you remember how excited you weren’t? Do you recall the first person who said, “Did you know you can now download audio files of people talking?”
Film
‘Captain Marvel’ Climbs the List of Superhero Hits
Gabe Cohn, The New York Times
As “Captain Marvel” swooped into its second weekend in theaters on Friday, the question wasn’t really whether it would top domestic ticket sales, but by how much.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin Grilled Over Interest in Wife’s Production Company
Ted Johnson, Variety
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin was asked in a Senate hearing about a continued potential interest in Stormchaser Films, the production company founded by his wife, Louise Linton.
‘Flash’ Shocker: Ezra Miller Writing Script in Bid to Stay On as Star
Borys Kit, The Hollywood Reporter
In a bid to keep himself involved as the Scarlet Speedster, actor Ezra Miller is taking a hands-on approach to The Flash. Miller is taking a stab at writing the script for the Warner Bros. project, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.
Television
‘Saturday Night Live’ Accused of Plagiarizing New York Comedy Duo’s Sketches
Daniel Holloway and Elaine Low, Variety
“Saturday Night Live” aired last October a sketch about a pumpkin patch where the employees, much to the consternation of the proprietor, engage in sexual intercourse with the product. “The Pumpkin Patch” was lewd, funny, and seasonally appropriate.
Jeanine Pirro’s Fox News Show Doesn’t Air 1 Week After Remarks on Rep. Ilhan Omar’s Muslim Faith
Thom Geier, The Wrap
Jeanine Pirro’s weekly show on Fox News did not air on Saturday evening one week after the former federal judge suggested on air that Rep. Ilhan Omar may not fully support the United States Constitution because she is a Muslim — a statement that the network said it “strongly condemns.” Without explanation, “Justice With Judge Jeanine” was replaced by a repeat episode of the documentary series “Scandalous,” about the 1991 rape trial of William Kennedy Smith.
Fox Is Said to Decide Not to Bid for Nexstar TV Stations
Anousha Sakoui, Bloomberg
Rupert Murdoch’s Fox has decided not to bid for a group of television stations being sold by Nexstar Media Group Inc., according to a person familiar with the situation.
Neil deGrasse Tyson Will Return to National Geographic After Assault Investigation
Michael Schneider, Variety
National Geographic Channel has completed its investigation into “Cosmos” and “StarTalk” host Neil deGrasse Tyson, and will move forward with both shows. The channel didn’t elaborate on its findings, however.
NBC sets a date for the 2020 Golden Globes
Nardine Saad, Los Angeles Times
The Golden Globes will again take place on the first Sunday of the year: For 2020, that’s Jan. 5. That’s when the Hollywood Foreign Press Assn. will put on the 77th Golden Globes, a party-style ceremony that honors its favorites in film and television.
Inside Mike Hopkins’ Fiercely Independent Strategy for Sony Pictures Television
Elaine Low, Variety
A year ago, Sony Pictures Entertainment chairman Tony Vinciquerra sat opposite journalist Soledad O’Brien in a cream-colored armchair in Miami and plainly told NATPE conference attendees that “if we don’t grow, we will be somebody’s purchase.” The then-newish SPE boss was not intent on the latter; he had recently brought on Hulu chief and former Fox comrade Mike Hopkins to help turn around the company’s television operations, a tall order for an unaffiliated studio crowded by ever-consolidating legacy players and an influx of big spenders from Silicon Valley.
Technology and New Media
Apple’s Big Spending Plan to Challenge Netflix Takes Shape
John Koblin, The New York Times
Apple is coming to Hollywood. Delete that.
Amazon’s Prime Video Direct Is Cutting Royalty Fees for Low-Engagement Content
Todd Spangler, Variety
Amazon is rejiggering the payment structure for its Prime Video Direct self-publishing program to reward the highest-performing content with higher rates — while reducing royalty rates for less-popular titles.
Despite Ongoing Peace Talks, Netflix Won’t Have Any Movies at Cannes 2019
Elsa Keslassy and Matt Donnelly, Variety
Although Netflix and the Cannes Film Festival continue quietly to negotiate a potential settlement to their differences, the streaming giant will be absent from the Croisette again this year with no film in or out of competition, Variety has learned.
Cinedigm Acquires Future Today For $60M, Expanding Streaming Footprint
Dade Hayes, Deadline Hollywood
Cinedigm, which has been steadily transforming itself from a cinema equipment concern to a streaming specialist, is significantly expanding its digital reach by acquiring video platform company Future Today.
The future of streaming is the cable bundle
Todd VanDerWerff, Vox
The cancellation of Netflix’s critically beloved cult favorite sitcom One Day at a Time felt like some weird crossed Rubicon for the streaming era — even more so than Netflix canceling the cult comedy American Vandal or Hulu deciding not to order a second season of its Sean Penn-starring The First. (Both events happened in 2018.)
CNN Original Series Ride News Tide to Multiplatform Success
Cynthia Littleton, Variety
When CNN was getting ready to launch Anthony Bourdain’s “Parts Unknown” in 2013, newly appointed president Jeff Zucker joked that viewers would see the series again and again as CNN used it to offset the slow news periods when its audience often evaporated.
How Wattpad Is Courting Streamers and Producers Worldwide With User-Generated Stories (and Data)
Matt Lopez, The Wrap
With studios like Disney and WarnerMedia hoarding content in preparation to launch streaming services, original content has become a priority among streamer’s attempting to build their subscriber base. Hoping to capitalize on this trend is Wattpad, a text-based storytelling platform with more than 500 million user-generated stories and over 70 million users around the globe.
Opinions, Editorials, Perspectives and Research
Inside Hollywood’s Disney-Fox Freakout
Nicole Sperling, Vanity Fair
Rising from the ashes of the 1929 stock-market crash, Twentieth Century-Fox was forged in a master stroke by ruthless producer Darryl F. Zanuck, who merged Twentieth Century Pictures with William Fox’s ailing studio—and booted out Fox in the process—to create a formidable Hollywood player. It was the studio that turned Marilyn Monroe into a star, awarded Elizabeth Taylor her first $1 million payday (for the costly Cleopatra, which at $44 million nearly capsized the company), and helped solidify the modern-day blockbuster with George Lucas’s space fantasy, Star Wars.
Can There Really Be Too Many Movies? In The Streaming Era, Maybe.
Michael Cieply, Deadline Hollywood
In the mid-1980s, a common complaint among studio film distribution executives claimed there were just too many movies. What those moguls meant was that upstart independents, fueled by easy bank lending, junk bonds, and a seemingly bottomless well of home video revenue, were crowding screens with a sudden flush of, say, 450 films annually.
Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman may initially have a rough road in Hollywood after cheating scheme
Sandra Gonzalez, CNN Entertainment
Former “Desperate Housewives” star Felicity Huffman and actress Lori Loughlin, best known for playing Aunt Becky on “Full House,” are facing court appearances later this month related to allegations they participated in a college admissions cheating scheme. In the court of public opinion, however, it’s hard to say whether fans and Hollywood will, as Uncle Jesse says, “Have mercy.”
TV Long View: Big Data Doesn’t Tell the Whole Ratings Story
Rick Porter, The Hollywood Reporter
A common complaint about TV ratings in the era of big data goes something like, “Why does everyone rely on a relatively small and antiquated Nielsen sample when set-top boxes can collect so much more information?”
How ‘The Bachelor’ justifies Disney’s Fox purchase
Steven Zeitchik, The Washington Post
“The Bachelor” this week aired the finale of its 23rd season, its 11th after moving to its long-running time slot on Mondays at 8 p.m. The dating reality franchise, for all the devotion of its hardcore fans (many of them in the media), has been on a slow but undeniable ratings descent since its rebirth with that 2009 move.
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