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Writers’ Shut-It-Down Strategy Has Been Effective, Executives Privately Concede
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Business
Where Actors Could Make a Deal With Studios on AI
With AI no longer a theoretical issue and lawyers looking for ways to protect talent without stifling innovation, SAG-AFTRA has a new rallying cry: "augmentation, rather than replacement."
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Business
As Writers Strike, AI Could Covertly Cross the Picket Line
Writers want artificial intelligence to be used only as a tool that can help research or facilitate script ideas — but studios have taken an expansive view of the labor-reducing possibilities.
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Business
What Constitutes “Writing” During a Strike?
Scribes also employed as directors, actors or producers are consulting their reps, their unions and their consciences on when it’s kosher to work.
Latest Business
Ron DeSantis Wins Bid to Disqualify Judge in Disney’s Free Speech Suit
In an early blow to Disney’s suit against Ron DeSantis for control of the district that oversees development around the company’s theme parks, the Republican governor has won a bid to disqualify the judge who was initially assigned the case. U.S. District Judge Mark E. Walker, who ruled against DeSantis last year in a separate […]
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Netflix Shareholders Reject Exec Pay Packages, Days After Writers Guild Urged “No” Vote
In a rare rebuke of corporate executive compensation, Netflix shareholders rejected the pay packages for top executives at the company, including co-CEO Ted Sarandos, former co-CEO Reed Hastings, and Greg Peters, who was COO of the company last year and was elevated to the co-CEO role earlier this year. The “no” vote on the “Say […]
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AMC Theatres Moves Streaming Library to Fandango’s Vudu
AMC Theatres has transferred its streaming library over to Fandango’s Vudu as the theater chain prepares to sunset its own streaming platform, AMC Theatres On Demand. Beginning Thursday, AMC Theatres On Demand users will be able to transfer their accounts over to Vudu to rent and purchase films, as well as view previously purchased movies. […]
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A+E Networks Group Chief Paul Buccieri Joins Elton John AIDS Foundation Board
Paul Buccieri, president and chairman of the A+E Networks Group, has joined the Elton John AIDS Foundation board of directors. Buccieri leads the multiplatform global entertainment business that encompasses A&E, Lifetime, The History Channel, A+E Networks International, A+E Studios, Six West Media and Category 6 Media. “Raising awareness of the ongoing global AIDS epidemic, and […]
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Verizon Bundles Netflix and Paramount+ With Showtime
Amid calls to build back the pay TV landscape, streaming rivals Netflix and Paramount+ are being bundled together via Verizon +Play. The telecom giant will see its subscription bundling platform for a limited time offer Netflix’s premium plan and the Paramount+ with Showtime in a bundle for $25.99 a month. Verizon is pointing to annual […]
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Why AI Isn’t Funny — At Least Not Yet
Many comedy writers view AI as no laughing matter. “It’s horrific,” Seth Rogen explained to The Hollywood Reporter at the May 10 premiere of Apple TV+’s show Platonic, in which he stars. “Any use of AI seems terrifying and also just unfair from a financial standpoint because it’s all being input with things that they’re not […]
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AMC Networks CFO Outlines Three Steps to “Economic Repair” in the Streaming Age
AMC Networks CFO Patrick O’Connell elaborated on how media and entertainment is pivoting to streaming sustainability, telling an investor conference on Thursday that “there needs to be economic repair to the media business.” Speaking at TD Cowen’s 51st Annual Technology, Media & Telecom Conference in New York in a session that was webcast, he said that […]
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All3Media Up For Sale From Warner Bros. Discovery, Liberty Global
Entertainment conglomerate Warner Bros. Discovery and John Malone’s cable and telecom giant Liberty Global are considering alternatives for their production joint venture All3Media, the largest TV production firm in Britain, whose titles include the likes of Fleabag, The Traitors and The Tourist, as well as the 2019 film 1917. Sources tell The Hollywood Reporter that […]
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‘The Aarthi and Sriram Show’ Nabs Podcast Deal With iHeartMedia
The Aarthi and Sriram Show, an interview show hosted by veteran tech executives and investors Aarthi Ramamurthy and Sriram Krishnan that first debuted on Clubhouse, has landed a distribution deal with iHeartMedia. The podcast was formed after the husband-and-wife duo Krishnan and Ramamurthy first began hosting conversations with influential figures in tech and media on […]
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Guest Column: This AI Storytelling Experiment Will Fail
The writers strike is rooted in several existential issues, but it seems the one everybody wants to talk about is AI. It’s new and sexy. The flashing red danger signs coming from pioneers in the field seem to just make the whole thing more attractive. A few clever quotes out of ChatGPT and dollar signs […]
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David Leavy Tapped as COO of CNN
Warner Bros. Discovery is turning to a veteran of the company to help bolster CNN’s leadership team. On Thursday the company announced that David Leavy, currently WBD’s chief corporate affairs officer, will become COO of the news brand, reporting to CNN CEO Chris Licht. Leavy is a 23-year veteran of Discovery Inc., having been one […]
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Saudi Production Hub Neom, Studio Telfaz11 Strike Partnership for Up to 9 Film, TV Projects
Neom, the burgeoning production hub in northwestern Saudi Arabia, and Telfaz11, a studio specializing in content from the Middle East that was behind this year’s Saudi Oscar submission Raven Song, have struck a partnership for the creation of up to nine TV and film projects over the next three years. “The collaboration between Neom and […]
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Kansas City Chiefs Star Travis Kelce Signs With CAA for Off-Field Representation (Exclusive)
Travis Kelce is making moves in Hollywood. The Kansas City Chiefs star and two-time Super Bowl champion has signed with CAA for representation off the field. News of his new agency comes on the heels of a well-received turn as host of Saturday Night Live in March, a showing that made him the 34th athlete […]
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Broadway Is Rebounding, Even Though “the Suburbs Have Not Come Back”
In the 2022-23 season — Broadway’s first full season since the pandemic began — the industry almost bounced back to pre-COVID levels. The total gross for the season reached nearly $1.6 billion, which is a marked improvement from the previous two seasons but still below the pre-pandemic total of $1.8 billion in 2018-19, according to […]
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Former Writers Guild Chief: Why Writers Rooms Matter, and Can Save Lives
My father, Howard Rodman Sr., worked in one-hour episodic network drama in the 1960s, notably on Route 66 and Naked City. There were no writers rooms then in one-hour drama. Only two people, called “story editors,” and a pool of freelancers. That was it. The two of them — my father and Stirling Silliphant — […]
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