Ankler Agenda

TheAnkler.com
  • 4.0 (121)
  • Business
  • Updated Weekly

"Ankler Agenda" breaks down the headlines, trends and creativity shaping the evolution of Hollywood, the creator economy and entertainment. The show is hosted by Elaine Low, author of Ankler Media’s popular “Series Business” Substack newsletter, who is joined weekly by her colleagues Sean McNulty (“The Wakeup”) and Natalie Jarvey (“Like & Subscribe”) -- in addition to Richard Rushfield, the Ankler himself. Episodes will also be available every Thursday on YouTube.

  1. 47m ago

    Studios Ghost the Film Festivals; Trump's Hollywood Rescue Plan

    It wasn’t long ago when studios took the biggest jewels of their fall slates — the Gravitys and Jokers and First Mans — to the Venice Film Festival to kick off awards season and put A-list talent on a gondola. But this year, not so much: The Venice lineup is light on flashy studio premieres — don’t look for Tom Cruise and Digger or Timothée Chalamet and Dune: Part Three or Jeremy Strong and The Social Reckoning — and heavy on indie and international titles. Elaine Low and Sean McNulty talk to Ankler awards editor and Prestige Junkie host Katey Rich about how the studio calculus on festival season has shifted — and how best picture winner One Battle After Another was a canary in the coal mine for this year’s underwhelming slate. Then: Katey sticks around to talk with Elaine and Natalie Jarvey about the top Emmy storylines — including the Television Academy’s controversial decision to boot major categories from the primetime show (sorry, David Harbour and Dakota Fanning) and why, with the final season of Hacks and prohibitive drama frontrunner The Pitt leading the way, this could be the last stand for HBO Max before the merger. Also: Elaine and Sean on Donald Trump‘s sudden renewed enthusiasm to bring production back to Hollywood and why there’s actual bipartisan support for federal film and TV tax incentives. Make Hollywood great again? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  2. Aug 27

    YouTube’s Netflix Death Match Levels Up

    Hollywood’s newest talent war isn’t over movie stars. For years, YouTube was treated as a “farm league,” in Ted Sarandos‘ words — a place where talent dreamt of graduating to Hollywood. Now smaller player Netflix is raiding the world’s biggest streamer, scooping up creators, podcasters and personalities who built their audiences on YouTube. And YouTube has had enough. Natalie Jarvey shares her scoop on the millions that Neal Mohan‘s tech giant is throwing down to keep its creators exclusive — and names who’s been offered the cash — in an escalation one dealmaker says reveals that YouTube is “scared shitless.” Natalie joins Elaine Low and Sean McNulty to unpack her fresh reporting on the new creator bidding wars — and debate the bigger question: Which company is actually playing defense? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    YouTube’s Netflix Death Match Levels Up

  3. Aug 24 ·  Bonus

    BONUS EP: ‘Sleep in the Bed They Made’: Bonta Fires Back as Paramount Talks Collapse

    So much for détente. California Attorney General Rob Bonta canceled Monday’s planned meeting with Paramount after accusing the company of leaking — and misrepresenting — confidential settlement discussions to the press. “They need to sleep in the bed that they made,” Bonta tells Elaine Low in this bonus episode of Ankler Agenda, blasting Paramount for “playing games” and waging a PR campaign while, he says, losing where it matters: in court. The rupture comes even as Gov. Gavin Newsom, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, and several Hollywood guilds have all voiced varying degrees of support for getting the two sides to the table. Does that growing pressure change Bonta’s thinking? “Not at all,” he says. But Bonta also makes clear that the door isn’t permanently shut. He says he’s ready to resume negotiations if Paramount stops the leaks and comes back in good faith — and, for the first time, gets unusually specific about what a deal might require. Forget the chatter about CNN: Bonta says the news network “is not our focus” and that resolving the states’ antitrust concerns would require some portion of Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery’s combined cable portfolio to be placed under separate ownership. Bonta also explains why behavioral remedies are a nonstarter, says he hopes Republican attorneys general may still join the case, and dismisses as “meritless” and “silly” a request seeking his correspondence with Mark Ruffalo following backlash over the actor’s criticism of the Paramount deal. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    BONUS EP: ‘Sleep in the Bed They Made’: Bonta Fires Back as Paramount Talks Collapse

  4. Aug 20

    Hayden Panettiere’s Child-Star Tragedy; Bonta on Paramount ‘Playing Cute’

    Hayden Panettiere worked in Hollywood since she was 11 months old, and by the time Heroes made her a household name at 16, she was already navigating the darker side of child stardom. The Wall Street Journal‘s Esther Zuckerman joins Elaine Low to reflect on Panettiere’s life, career and exploitation — including a top NBC exec kissing her on the lips when she was a teenager, and an Oscar winner who exposed himself — and the extreme emotional toll of growing up in front of the camera. Then, California Attorney General Rob Bonta tells Elaine he is ready to talk to Paramount, a slight shift from his earlier hard-line posture. “Let there be no doubt here, now, or anywhere for any time. It has always been our position that coming to the table is always on the table,” he says, adding, “We prefer to resolve cases in the boardroom instead of the courtroom.” So what’s stopping them? Bonta accuses Paramount of “playing cute” and mounting a PR campaign instead of offering the structural remedies the state AGs want. He’s equally dismissive of Paramount’s threat to move and request for a $1.9 billion bond: His argument is that Paramount voluntarily agreed to the ticking fee it faces — and now wants California taxpayers to pick up the tab for a problem it created for itself. “It’s revealing the weakness of their position. It looks desperate,” Bonta says. Elaine and Sean McNulty break down her chat with the California AG, as Hollywood guilds plead for resolution and the town lingers in uncertainty. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    Hayden Panettiere’s Child-Star Tragedy; Bonta on Paramount ‘Playing Cute’

  5. Aug 13

    Private Equity Has Billions Ready for Hollywood. Who Gets It?

    “Everyone has dry powder for sports,” Ashley Cullins heard while reporting her recent look at the private equity firms circling Hollywood. It’s a truism Bob Iger and Josh Kushner‘s Thrive Capital proved, buying the Los Angeles Lakers for $12.5 billion. But sports is only part of the story. With billions in undeployed capital sitting on the sidelines, where else is private equity looking to spend — and what kinds of Hollywood companies still look attractive amid lofty valuations, delayed exits and fears of an AI bubble? Ashley joins Elaine Low and Sean McNulty to break down the biggest players, the sectors they’re chasing and the deals that could come next — plus the bigger question hanging over all of it: Is private equity actually good for Hollywood? Plus: David Ellison turns up the pressure in the Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery fight, threatening to move the company out of California as Rob Bonta calls it “blackmail” — even as both sides signal there may still be a path to a negotiated settlement. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    Private Equity Has Billions Ready for Hollywood. Who Gets It?

  6. Aug 6

    How Zendaya & Tom Holland Won Summer; Ellison on the Defensive

    It’s been a while since Hollywood has seen a power couple quite like Zendaya and Tom Holland. With Spider-Man: Brand New Day and The Odyssey, the newlyweds helped drive more than $2 billion (and counting) at the box office this year. What makes them so bankable to Gen Z in a volatile theatrical landscape? And how much does the audience’s parasocial investment in them help sell tickets? Elaine Low, Sean McNulty and Natalie Jarvey break down what each star gets right in an era of fractured attention. Meanwhile: David Ellison breaks his silence! Paramount’s chief took to the New York Times to defend his planned acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery. The crew parses what he really means (“Unfortunately, I can’t give anyone a view into my heart and mind”) — and what he’s trying to signal to Hollywood as his company heads to trial in 2027 amid increasingly long odds and states unwilling to show mercy to “kings and oligarchs.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    How Zendaya & Tom Holland Won Summer; Ellison on the Defensive

  7. Jul 30

    The Waiting Game at WBD; SpaceX’s L.A. Mansion Rush

    What a difference a month makes. With Paramount’s bid to buy Warner Bros. Discovery now in limbo, 35,000 Warners staffers have plenty of time to reconsider their options. Could HBO chief Casey Bloys or WBTV head Channing Dungey be tempted by more stable pastures? Is Warners still a haven for top showrunners? As confidence in the deal crumbles, Hollywood is taking sides. (Case in point: Ari Emanuel‘s WSJ op-ed dismissing the state AGs’ lawsuit as “trash.”) The Ankler’s Lesley Goldberg joins Elaine Low and Sean McNulty to break down the quiet panic inside WBD, and why anyone senior at the company who hasn’t spoken with David Ellison yet might want to be looking for a new job. Then, Degen Pener pops by to talk about the 4,000 newly minted SpaceX millionaires in L.A. and the luxury real estate they are about to snap up. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    The Waiting Game at WBD; SpaceX’s L.A. Mansion Rush

  8. Jul 28 ·  Bonus

    BONUS EP: California AG Rob Bonta on the Coming Paramount Trial: 'We're Not Talking Settlement'

    What could Paramount Skydance do to make a dozen attorneys general drop their lawsuit against the Warner Bros. Discovery merger? Sell off CNN? Paramount Pictures? According to California Attorney General Rob Bonta: not much. “We’re not talking about settlement. We’re going to be telling the judge when we want a trial date,” he tells Elaine Low on Friday, shortly after Paramount announced it would delay the merger until June 2027 or until a pair of antitrust lawsuits against it work their way through the courts — whichever comes first. “We’re not going to have oligarchs or kings in the economy,” says Bonta. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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out of 5
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About

"Ankler Agenda" breaks down the headlines, trends and creativity shaping the evolution of Hollywood, the creator economy and entertainment. The show is hosted by Elaine Low, author of Ankler Media’s popular “Series Business” Substack newsletter, who is joined weekly by her colleagues Sean McNulty (“The Wakeup”) and Natalie Jarvey (“Like & Subscribe”) -- in addition to Richard Rushfield, the Ankler himself. Episodes will also be available every Thursday on YouTube.

Information

  • Creator
    TheAnkler.com
  • Years Active
    2022 - 2026
  • Episodes
    286
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Ankler Media
  • Show Website
    Ankler Agenda

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