General
Bill Cosby Loses Appeal of Sexual Assault Conviction
Graham Bowley, The New York Times
A panel of three appellate judges on Tuesday rejected Bill Cosby’s appeal of his 2018 sexual assault conviction, upholding a verdict that represents one of the most high-profile convictions of the #MeToo era.
Writers Guild Members Working Near Contract Minimum Wage, Despite Record Employment Growth
Dave McNary, Variety
The Writers Guild of America revealed Tuesday that although employment numbers are rising for members, compensation is dramatically behind.
Warner Music, Providence to Invest $650 Million in Old Songs
Lucas Shaw, Bloomberg
Warner Music Group is teaming up with private equity giant Providence Equity Partners to go shopping for hit songs. The two companies plan to invest as much as $650 million in a new platform called Tempo Music Investments, which will acquire music catalogs, they said Tuesday.
Film
Knives In: Lionsgate Bounces Back in 2019 After Worst Box Office Year in Over a Decade
Jeremy Fuster, The Wrap
Lionsgate, the film distributor behind “The Hunger Games,” “La La Land” and “John Wick,” is making a rebound after the worst year in company history. Following a 2018 in which it earned a mere $357 million at the domestic box office and less than 3% of all ticket sales, the company just passed $700 million in annual domestic grosses thanks to hits like “John Wick: Chapter 3 — Parabellum” and the Daniel Craig whodunit “Knives Out.” The Santa Monica-based studio currently holds a market share of just under 7%.
‘She’s Gotta Have It’ and ‘Purple Rain’ Join National Film Registry
Dave Itzkoff, The New York Times
The debut feature film of Spike Lee, breakthrough works by Elaine May, Kimberly Peirce and Patricia Cardoso, and other acclaimed pictures including “Platoon,” “Gaslight” and “Sleeping Beauty” are among the movies that will be inducted into the Library of Congress’s National Film Registry this year.
Oscars Gain 567 Voters as Academy Membership Tops 9,000
Steve Pond, The Wrap
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has added more than 500 Oscar voters over the past year, according to the annual AMPAS update of the number of members in each of its branches.
Women Will Direct Four Major Superhero Movies in 2020, and Hollywood May Never Be the Same
Adam B. Vary, Variety
In late 2016, in anticipation of the debut of “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,” Lucasfilm chief Kathleen Kennedy spoke with Variety about the company’s efforts to diversify its director ranks in the same way the franchise had cast women as the leads on screen.
Television
ViacomCBS begins first round of layoffs
Alexandra Steigrad, New York Post
ViacomCBS is beginning its first round of layoffs since merging less than a week ago. The media company behind Showtime and Nickelodeon is swinging the ax at CBS’ finance department, which is housed in the network’s Midtown Manhattan headquarters building known as “Black Rock,” sources told The Post.
Fox News Whistleblowers, Struggling for Work, Claim Widespread TV Industry Retaliation: “No One Was Hiring Me”
Rebecca Keegan, The Hollywood Reporter
Julie Roginsky was optimistic walking into her first meeting with an agent after leaving Fox News in 2017. A charismatic Democratic strategist and daughter of Soviet dissidents, Roginsky supplied a rare progressive voice on Fox shows like The Five and Outnumbered.
Fox Nation Host Britt Mchenry Is Suing Fox Over Sexual Harassment
Diana Falzone, Vanity Fair
On Tuesday, December 10, Britt McHenry, a Fox Nation host, filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Manhattan against Fox News Channel and Fox News contributor George Murdoch, known as Tyrus, alleging sexual harassment, gender discrimination, and retaliation. The complaint also names Fox Nation and Fox executive producer Jennifer Rauchet, Executive Vice President of Development John Finley, and Senior Vice President of Human Resources Monica Mekeel as defendants, among others.
Marvel TV Division Folded Into Studio Unit, Layoffs Expected
Lesley Goldberg, The Hollywood Reporter
Marvel Television has a new home. The TV arm of Marvel Entertainment is being folded into the Marvel Studios group.
Sony Pictures Television Buys Silvergate Media, Producer of ‘Octonauts’ and ‘Hilda,’ for $195 Million
Stewart Clarke, Variety
Sony Pictures Television is diving into children’s TV in a big way by buying Silvergate Media – the producer behind global hits “Octonauts,” Netflix’s “Hilda” and the “Peter Rabbit” animated series – for $195 million, Variety has learned. The acquisition marks SPT’s first move into producing kids’ TV and follows its stablemate Sony Pictures Animation’s diversification into TV series.
NBCU Claims $1B in Olympic Advertising Sales
Jon Lafayette, Broadcasting & Cable
NBCU said it has already sold advertising commitments worth more than $1 billion for the Tokyo Olympic Games, which will begin in eight months. Dan Lovinger, executive VP for ad sales, NBC Sports Group, said the total represented double-digit growth from four years ago and that he expects to surpass the record-setting $1.2 billion in ad sales generated by the Rio games in 2016.
NBCUniversal Digital Enterprises Group’s Dave Howe to Step Down
Lacey Rose, The Hollywood Reporter
Dave Howe’s nearly two-decade tenure at NBCUniversal is coming to an end. The news comes nearly four years after Howe moved from his perch atop Syfy to a more strategic role under longtime boss Bonnie Hammer.
Technology and New Media
John Stankey: HBO Max Will Appeal to ‘Entire Family’ With Broader Menu Than Disney Plus
Cynthia Littleton, Variety
WarnerMedia’s HBO Max aims to compete against the Disney Plus streaming juggernaut next year by ensuring that the service’s content has plenty of appeal to viewers who are well past adolescence.
‘The Irishman’ Viewed by 26 Million Members, Netflix Says
Natalie Jarvey, The Hollywood Reporter
Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman was viewed by 26.4 million households in its first week on Netflix, according to content chief Ted Sarandos. The executive, speaking at the UBS Global TMT Conference on Tuesday, also predicted that the mob drama will reach an audience of 40 million households within its first 28 days.
Streaming Service Quietly Gathers More Subscribers Than HBO Now
Lucas Shaw, Bloomberg
Any list of the most-popular online TV services begins with Netflix, Amazon and Hulu. But after those comes an unlikely success story of the streaming revolution: CuriosityStream, a service for kids and adults that’s devoted to subjects like science and nature.
AMC Networks’ Niche Streaming Services Pass 2 Million Subscribers
Alex Weprin, The Hollywood Reporter
AMC Networks said Tuesday morning that its four niche streaming video services — Acorn TV, Shudder, Sundance Now and UMC (Urban Movie Channel) — have passed 2 million combined subscribers.
Steve Harvey Revives His Daytime Talk Show For Facebook Watch
Michael Schneider, Variety
Steve Harvey is bringing back his daytime talk show — but this time, he’s going the streaming route, sealing a deal for a new series at Facebook Watch. The new show, titled “Steve on Watch,” is set to premiere on January 6.
To Draw Advertisers, Video Services Need to Agree on Audience Measures
Jessica Toonkel, The Information
Spare a thought for advertisers contemplating buying commercial time on one of the wide array of free, ad-supported video services, ranging from giants like YouTube and Hulu to smaller outlets like Pluto TV and Tubi TV. Right now, there’s almost no way an advertiser can compare how many people watch all these services, as the viewership metrics used for many vary.
Netflix Tests TV-Like ‘Watch Now’ Experience to Start Streaming Without Browsing the App
Janko Roettgers, Variety
Netflix is starting to feel a bit more like regular television to some of its members: The streaming service began a global test of a new feature for its TV apps Tuesday that offers users the option to skip browsing titles, and instead start streaming right away.
Jeff Bezos’ favorite TV show is coming to Amazon. The creators say it’s a perfect fit
Lewis Beale, Los Angeles Times
It never hurts to have the world’s richest man as a fan. When Syfy canceled “The Expanse” last year after a three-year run, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, reportedly a follower of the show and the books it is based on, helped along the deep-space drama’s move to Amazon Prime, where its fourth season premieres on Friday.
Marriage Story Proves Anything on Netflix Can Be a Meme Now
Tyler Coates, Wired
When I saw Marriage Story a few weeks ago, I was more than a little bit surprised. Director Noah Baumbach has made a series of great films, from Kicking and Screaming to The Squid and the Whale, and I had every expectation I would enjoy his latest.
Facebook’s Portal TV Gets Amazon Prime Video, FandangoNow, Sling TV, Deezer
Janko Roettgers, Variety
Facebook is bringing additional media services to its Portal TV device: Portal owners got access to subscription video content Amazon’s Prime Video service and Sling TV Tuesday. Portal now also offers access to FandangoNow’s on-demand movies and TV shows, and Deezer’s music subscription service.
Opinions, Editorials, Perspectives and Research
I’m Sick of “Pay Your Dues” So I Created #PayUpHollywood
Liz Alper, The Hollywood Reporter
Do you remember the Dr. Seuss book Horton Hears a Who? The story follows Horton the elephant, who discovers a speck of dust that contains an entire microscopic civilization called the Who.
‘Bombshell’ director Jay Roach watches Fox News — but not as a fan
Margy Rochlin, Los Angeles Times
Jay Roach, director of hit comedies (the “Austin Powers” films, “Meet the Parents”) and Emmy-winning political docudramas (“Recount” and “Game Change”), likes to spend months pondering the positives and negatives of a project. But when Charlize Theron sent him Charles Randolph’s script to “Bombshell,” he surprised himself.
The Inevitable Decade of Marvel
Alan Siegel, The Ringer
On October 28, 2014, Marvel Studios summoned the media to El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood for a surprise press conference. Normally, such pageantry would’ve been saved for the adoring crowds at San Diego Comic-Con.
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