The Ankler Podcast TheAnkler.com

Entertainment execs are paid to find tomorrow’s stars today — and that applies to politics too. Matthew Frank joins Sean McNulty, Elaine Low and Richard Rushfield to name names of who identified Kamala Harris’ talent early — from Disney’s Dana Walden to legend Sherry Lansing — and what her win could mean for Hollywood. Plus: David Lidsky breaks down the implications of the new NBA rights deal on scripted TV and the business prospects of Peacock and Warner Bros. Discovery, and we preview Deadpool & Wolverine.
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Paramount isn’t the only legacy studio struggling with tough choices and crushing debt these days. Warner Bros. Discovery, after laying off 2,000 people over the last year, will now be cutting another 1,000 jobs. All while Wall Street tells David Zaslav that WBD isn’t working and he should explore a breakup of the company. Sean McNulty, Richard Rushfield and Elaine Low analyze the latest job cuts and where WBD and other studios actually are still hiring. Plus: Peter Kiefer joins to discuss the reboot epidemic; the divide between what’s selling today and what gets Emmy noms; and a tribute to the late Bob Newhart.
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The (seeming) finale of the Paramount sale drama brings closure to some questions but raises more. How is David Ellison’s promise of a rejiggered tech stack going to stem linear TV losses? Where is the additional $3 billion in revenue he is projecting coming from? And wait, is that Jeff Shell? Sean McNulty, Richard Rushfield and Elaine Low break down the next phase of the drama to come. Also: how people are vacationing right now (if at all), and the reinvigorated summer box office.
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HBO and A24 are two of the only Hollywood brands left that signal prestige. But for better or worse, both are now leveling up — or is it down? Sean McNulty, Elaine Low, and Richard Rushfield break down HBO’s incorporation of Max’s upcoming tentpole Warner Bros. IP series, like the Harry Potter and Green Lantern adaptations, and A24’s massive investment round led by Josh Kushner. Also: what’s selling now in unscripted and Hollywood’s lost Latin opportunity.
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What’s the one common trait across every studio executive with greenlight power? They’re all old enough to remember the launch of the first Mac. And what they give the go-aheads to on their film slates shows it (looking at you, St. Elmo’s Fire sequel). Sean McNulty, Elaine Low and Richard Rushfield break down what remake fever means to the box office, why Paramount and AMC stocks are the opposite of Nvidia, and how showrunners have adapted to the world of brand-building.
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Over four decades, legendary director, writer and Oscar-winning producer Ed Zwick built an enviable body of work, from acclaimed films (Courage Under Fire, Legends of the Fall) to zeitgeisty TV series (Thirtysomething, My So-Called Life). Ankler CEO Janice Min spoke to Zwick about his best-selling memoir, Hits, Flops, and Other Illusions, a page-turner that’s packed with revealing stories about what it took to bring his iconic movies over the finish line, including his battles with Julia Roberts, Matthew Broderick, and Hollywood bigwigs who “messed with the wrong hippie.”
Transcript here. Subscribe to The Ankler here for more entertainment news.
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