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Matthew Belloni

Formerly the editor of The Hollywood Reporter, and an entertainment lawyer, Belloni covers the inside conversation about money and power in Hollywood.

THE LATEST ARTICLES
NEWSLETTERS
Chris Keyser, co-chair of the WGA’s negotiating committee.
HOLLYWOOD • May 26, 2023
Hollywood’s Writers-Strike Force Majeure Fantasy
The longer the work stoppage goes on, the more fears spread about studios cutting unproductive writer-producer deals, wiping the fiscal slate clean, and ushering in a new era of austerity. But how much of that will actually happen?
Disney C.F.O. Christine McCarthy and C.E.O. Bob Iger and have told everyone for months that the content purge was coming, part of their increasingly frantic effort to erase $3 billion from the bottom line this year.
HOLLYWOOD • May 21, 2023
Disney and the Great Streaming Purge
What’s going on at Disney is kind of nuts. If you told me that each of the Seven Dwarfs holding up the executive building in Burbank were being auctioned off to increase free cash flow, I’d probably believe it. Nearly every division has been asked to spend less, some way less. And titles are disappearing from Disney+ and Hulu as an entire industry retrenches.
2015 Ted Sarandos would have cringed at the sight of 2023 Sarandos suggesting from the stage that Netflix host “a 30 minute commercial” that “plays out over several days.”
HOLLYWOOD • May 19, 2023
The TV Upfronts B.S. Barometer
An honest assessment of the P.R. spin, wishful thinking and outright obfuscation in a slimmed-down, mostly star-free ad pitch week.
The issues at the heart of this seemingly long-term labor fight will only get more pronounced as it drags on.
HOLLYWOOD • May 11, 2023
Can the Striking Writers Avoid Class Warfare? 
The class divide between the haves and have-nots of Hollywood writers has not yet been an issue in this labor stand-off. But, if history—and past comments by Todd Phillips and Aaron Sorkin—is a guide, it likely will soon enough.
Kevin Costner, busy shooting the sequel to his undated ‘Horizon’ film, hasn’t yet agreed to return for the final episodes of ‘Yellowstone.’
HOLLYWOOD • May 8, 2023
Kevin Costner Won’t Give ‘Yellowstone’ an Answer
The franchise’s biggest, most difficult star is using his remaining leverage to shape how his character is put out to pasture.
There’s a lot of info and misinfo swirling around town one week into the strike.
HOLLYWOOD • May 7, 2023
Writers Strike Questions: The Netflix Precedent & the ‘Munich’ Strategy
Can showrunners be forced to work? What side are the trades really on? Will the DGA save the day? And other pressing concerns from the front lines of the writers’ strike.
Are studios, like those under David Zaslav’s WBD, at least somewhat incentivized to wait out the strike?
HOLLYWOOD • May 4, 2023
Harsh Realities of the Writers Strike
The WGA is winning on social media, but the streamers have the upper hand, the studios are leaning on the Directors Guild, and it’s still too early for a Lourd or an Iger to intervene—meaning this situation will need to get a lot worse before it gets better.
Can Ben Stiller pull off a salvage job on “Severance” Season 2?
HOLLYWOOD • April 28, 2023
A ‘Severance’ Salvage Job and Hollywood’s Executive Amnesia
Ben Stiller brings in a trusted hand to fix problems on his Apple TV+ Emmy winner, Sony’s Tom Rothman forgets in a speech to movie theater owners that he abandoned their business during the pandemic, and much more.
HOLLYWOOD • April 24, 2023
Shrapnel from the Jeff Shell Bombshell
Inside the investigation, fallout, and succession drama at NBCU after yet another executive ouster.
Only one of the Top 20 actors named in the study is under 40.
HOLLYWOOD • April 24, 2023
Only Old Movie Stars Matter to Moviegoers
A list of the Top 100 actors making the rounds among industry executives highlights a troubling reality for Hollywood: the supply of new movie stars is declining alongside the box office.
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