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We are just different which makes us…us. Thats a good thing

He finally tells the truth…

Warner Bros. Discovery is splitting (back) into two distinct units:

The Global Linear Networks company will be called (drum roll please) Discovery Global. It will house:

CNN
TBS
Food Network
Cartoon Network
HGTV
Discovery+
TNT Sports (US)
Leadership:

Gunnar Wiedenfels (CEO and President)
Gerhard Zeiler (President, CCO)
Fraser Woodford (CFO)
The Studios & Streaming company will be called Warner Bros.

It will house:

Warner Bros. Studios (film/TV)
HBO + HBO’s linear channels
Max
TNT Sports International
DC Studios and DC Comics Publishing
New Line Cinema
Leadership:

David Zaslav, President and CEO
Pam Abdy, Mike De Luca (CEO, Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group)
JB Perrette (CEO and president of streaming and games)
Casey Bloys (CEO, HBO)
For those keeping track, the company is facing massive challenges:

60% stock drop since WarnerMedia merged with Discovery in 2022
$40 bn debt
Q1 2025 $1.8bn EBITDA linear division
↓ 14% overall vs. last year
↓ 11% ad revenue vs. last year
The reorganization will be completed by the summer of 2026.

Skydance’s leadership is starting to take shape. After the merger with Paramount was solidified late last week, there’s a new member joining the team: Josh Greenstein.

Greenstein is exiting Sony where he serves as the president of their Motion Picture Group. He used to be Sony’s head marketing chief, overseeing films like Napoleon. No word on his new Skydance role, maybe president of Skydance/Paramount Pictures?

He has a good connection with David Ellison (soon to be president of Skydance/Paramount), as he was previously at Paramount as head of marketing and distribution, working on joint Skydance/Paramount projects, including Mission: Impossible and the Star Trek and Transformers franchises.

Greenstein is cut from steel, his first gig in the business was as Scott Rudin’s assistant in 1998, later becoming Bob Weinstein’s assistant in the early 2000s.

Sony, meanwhile, down a key player, is elevating Peter Kang to President of Production at Sony Motion Picture Group. He won’t replace Greenstein but Kang will report to Greenstein’s former counterpart, Sanford Panitch.

Tidbits:

Percival Everett’s novels are hitting big. First American Fiction (based on Erasure) wins TIFF, then Spielberg picks up James, and now UCP (Universal Content Productions) grabs his acclaimed thriller novel The Trees. The limited series has an all-star trio of actors attached. Oscar winner Da’Vine Joy Randolph (The Holdovers), Emmy winner Sterling K. Brown (Paradise), and Winston Duke (Black Panther) will star in a powerful story of racial reckoning and historical justice.

Dan Levy’s Not a Real Production Company has named Anne-Marie McGintee head of film and TV. Formerly of Ava DuVernay’s Array, McGintee will oversee development under the company’s Netflix deal. Upcoming projects include a crime comedy series and a Lilith Fair doc.

Fincher's Cliff Booth sequel has started shooting, expanding on the reluctant hero from Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. We are already seeing vintage storefronts pop up in LA. We also should expect more casting like the recently announced Corey Fogelmanis (Ma, I Wish you All the Best).

Meet the Parents 4 announces its name will be Focker-in-Law. It will follow Skyler Gisando introducing his fiancée (Ariana Grande) to Greg Focker (Ben Stiller) and family, including his grandfather (Robert De Niro).

2x Eddie Murphy-announced spinoffs/reboots in the very early stages, starring Murphy:

DreamWorks’ Shrek Donkey movie spinoff
Tentative Release: 2028
Pink Panther spinoff
Stars Murphy as Inspector Clouseau

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DLszHm6Oai7/?igsh=ZXRxcXF4aHptamE0

I don’t know about y’all, but this Fourth of July feels strange. Less about the fireworks, more about the state of the times we are in. A celebration of independence hits different when you’re really paying attention. These powerful performances from #Blackish, #Roc, & #ADifferentWorld all tell the same story. Much love to the cast and crew of these legendary sitcoms for telling the real stories that continue to resonate years later. 🎭 @anthonyanderson @sistersouljah @iamjasmineguy #CharlesSDutton @kadeemhardison #Follow @BlackTVSitcoms for more content. #90ssitcoms #90ssitcom #80ssitcoms #80ssitcom #70ssitcoms ##blacksitcoms #blacksitcom #blacktvsitcoms #blacktv #blacktvshows #blackculture #anthonyanderson #kadeemhardison

The Moors - When Others Try To 🪦Bury The History Of Black Excellence😡 #themoors #blackmoors #black365 #blackawareness #blackhistoryfact #blackhistoryiseveryday #blackandeducated #blackkingsandqueens #africanamericanhistory #blackhistorymatters #blackhistoryfacts #blackculture #blackandproud #africanamerican #africanhistory #blackexcellence #sermonclip #Fayetteville #FortLiberty #Raeford

Two of America's most powerful industries are lobbying the White House with competing visions for the future of AI, setting up a high-stakes showdown that President Trump will ultimately referee.
In one corner: Silicon Valley's AI juggernauts seeking unfettered access to creative content. In the other: Hollywood's A-list fighting to protect their intellectual property.
Hollywood’s move:
Over 400 entertainment powerhouses—including Paul McCartney, Cate Blanchett, and Matrix co-creator Lilly Wachowski—submitted an open letter to the White House just before the March 15 deadline for the AI Action Plan.
They're asking the government to "uphold existing copyright frameworks" rather than create special exemptions for AI companies.

“America’s arts and entertainment industry supports over 2.3M American jobs with over $229Bn in wages annually, while providing the foundation for American democratic influence and soft power abroad. But AI companies are asking to undermine this economic and cultural strength by weakening copyright protections for the films, television series, artworks, writing, music, and voices used to train AI models at the core of multi-billion dollar corporate valuations.”

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DGMbDDhRt1J/?igsh=MXY4YnljYm01eHd6bQ==

Stay Woke ✊🏽✊🏾✊🏿

But something in the back of your mind told you something wasn’t right with the man. Sometimes God speaks to us through our gut feelings…

May God help our country.

Hollywood Reporter

Why Los Angeles Is Becoming a Production Graveyard
By Winston Cho. Oct , 23, 2024

As the number of movie and TV shoots approaches historic lows, insiders are lobbying for fewer restrictions to help bolster Hollywood’s place in the city it calls home.

For years, Gordon Ramsay and his hit MasterChef franchise called a converted soundstage in Los Angeles home. From there, contestants crisscrossed the 30-mile zone where Hollywood holds court to film on location at glitzy mansions and Michelin-starred restaurants. Tens of millions of dollars flowed into the economy across the Fox show’s 14 seasons.

Enter Australia, which has aggressively been courting the production to relocate. It was a tempting proposition. The burgeoning film hub, unlike California, allows unscripted programming to receive tax credits to shoot there. Still, the math didn’t make sense, at least not until permitting issues with MasterChef’s L.A. soundstage emerged that would require major renovations. So, starting next year, producers will fly dozens of home cooks — and the troves of cash that come with a big-budget network production — to shoot in Australia.
“It’s distressing,” says Paul Audley, president of the permitting office FilmLA. “We worked a lot to try to keep them here.”

The flight of production from L.A. started as a trickle. A television show relocating to Georgia here. A movie opting to film in the U.K. there. Now, the migration borders on an exodus. Since the strikes ended last year, Hollywood has been holding its breath for a comeback worthy of the more flush days of power lunches at the Polo Lounge. A clearer picture is coming into focus that the rebound has yet to materialize. New data released by FilmLA on Oct. 16 shows that filming in L.A. is approaching historically low levels, with the three-month period from July to September seeing the fewest number of shoot days this year. The figure even falls short of shooting in the region during the same time last year, when the industry was halted by the work stoppage.
Shoot Days in L.A.: Not a Great Trendline

The number of features, scripted and unscripted TV, and commercial projects filming have all declined in recent years
Part of the downturn of filming in the city can be traced to the contraction from the era of so-called Peak TV, when studios were viciously competing for subscribers to grow their streaming endeavors. But some data indicates that competing international film hubs are seeing flat, or in some cases rising, levels of production. Last quarter, the U.K. and Canada each saw more live-action, scripted titles with budgets of at least $10 million actively filming within their borders. The U.S., meanwhile, saw a 35 percent decline (251 to 163), according to industry intelligence platform ProdPro.

“To the extent production has pulled back, the vast majority of that is happening to U.S.-based projects,” says ProdPro chief executive Alex LoVerde, who notes that New York has proved more resilient (about 75 percent of 2022 production levels compared with about 60 percent in other states).

Other data suggests that L.A.’s share of the film and TV economy is shrinking, though it remains at the front of the pack. The region posted a 27 percent share of employment in the sector in 2023 — an indication of its portion of domestic production — compared with 35 percent just the year before, per an Otis College report. Californians now account for less than 30 percent of the business’ workers, down 10 percent from a decade ago, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Hollywood luminaries are taking notice, lobbying for more financial support while bemoaning sky-high filming costs. Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter at a fundraiser in September, Judd Apatow said that California will keep ceding productions to other states and countries if it doesn’t implement a “healthy tax rebate for our industry.”

“It is heartbreaking to watch it happen because as people tighten their belts, there are very few situations where people can just stay in town because they want to,” said the director, who has filmed more than half his movies in the state.

A production executive at a major studio stresses that “pressure on budgets is at the highest level that it’s been in 10 years.” Amid this financial austerity, he says there’s “been a lot more scrutiny” in considering alternative locations to ensure production tax credits are maximized. “We want to be getting as much return as we can,” the exec adds. “It’s rare we do a show without some question about the incentive aspect, not just in scripted, but all the way down to unscripted and documentaries now.”

A production executive at a major studio stresses that “pressure on budgets is at the highest level that it’s been in 10 years.” Amid this financial austerity, he says there’s “been a lot more scrutiny” in considering alternative locations to ensure production tax credits are maximized. “We want to be getting as much return as we can,” the exec adds. “It’s rare we do a show without some question about the incentive aspect, not just in scripted, but all the way down to unscripted and documentaries now.”

And while L.A. has long retained a stranglehold in unscripted, its grip is quickly loosening. There was one-third the number of shoot days for reality TV last quarter compared to the highs of 2022. And it may not return to the region at the same levels as before the work stoppage. Other states and countries are making increasingly attractive bids for the likes of Selling Sunset, The Golden Bachelorette and 90 Day Fiancé. In June, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker signed a bill expanding the state’s tax credit program to include game, talk and contest-based shows, among other types of reality TV. Georgia already allows the format to qualify.
The studio production exec notes that margins for unscripted programming are typically much lower, which has pushed productions to look abroad. “That’s just a natural part of looking for the best deals on the planet,” the exec says.
The production downturn has forced some industry insiders to reconcile with the impact of the most recent WGA and SAG-AFTRA deals, which structure yearly minimum raises to match inflation.

Preston Garrett, managing director of production company Rakish, is advocating for a moratorium on increases to crews and the temporary lowering of minimums until more work returns. “What matters more, keeping pace with what’s deemed to be fair inflation or sustainable crew rates that keep people working?” Garrett asks. “If we make the market more competitive, more work will come.”

On Monday, Sony Pictures Entertainment CEO Tony Vinciquerra warned that the deals made with major labor unions are suppressing domestic production. “The contract terms are forcing productions out of the U.S. now,” he said at MIPCOM in Cannes.

“There’s a very significant difference in California, which has been the hardest hit [and] just hasn’t responded to what’s going on in the world of incentives,” Vinciquerra noted. “The cost of doing business in California is so high that it’s very difficult to price out a film.”

In a statement, SAG-AFTRA national executive director Duncan Crabtree-Ireland said Vinciquerra is peddling a “false narrative.” He added, “Threatening the offshoring of American jobs is a cynical attempt to manipulate workers while masking the industry’s own business failures.”

Other Hollywood vets lament that L.A. is simply no longer a film-friendly hub. It’s not any one thing, it’s death by a thousand cuts. Another example: The rising cost of shooting permits. Last year, FilmLA rolled out rate hikes on a slew of fees. While some of the increases were tied to inflation, others represented markups of roughly 8 to 17 percent. Among the service pricing changes were additional limitations imposed by the guidelines that have aggravated location budgets. A permit that used to accommodate up to 10 locations over 14 consecutive days now allows for only five locations over seven days.

Jason McCauley, a location manager for Joker: Folie à Deux, which was partially filmed in L.A., says he’s seen permitting fees double in some cases. “It’s not the deciding factor, but those costs on top of what it otherwise costs to film here become expensive,” he adds. “It’s not just the permits; it’s labor, fuel, parking.”

Actor and producer Luke Barnett (Faith Based, Your Lucky Day) says he realized Los Angeles was in trouble when he saw the price tag for a permit to shoot for a single day. "The fact that it can cost thousands of dollars to shoot on a property you own, that's hard to justify if you can do it somewhere else," Barnett says.

Still there's reason for optimism heading into a fall season that Audley said will "make or break the year." Some data indicates that the filming slowdown has bottomed out, with the number of production starts in the U.S. steadily climbing.

Atlanta is slowly becoming the Hollywood of the South.

A Filmmaker's Guide for Shooting in ATL — Studios & Resources A complete guide to film studios in Atlanta Georgia, the production hub that is still giving Hollywood a run for its money.