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HOLLYWOOD

Bob Iger’s Originals Sin

To pare its streaming losses, Disney plans to reduce spending, raise prices, crack down on password sharing, and produce less—less!—content. In an era of ruthless competition and franchise fatigue, Iger may be pushing the limits of what consumers will pay without getting something original in return.
Julia Alexander • August 15, 2023
Matthew Belloni • August 14, 2023
The Interns of Hollywood Can See Through the B.S.
Amid dual strikes and the graying of Hollywood, a conversation with six unabashedly candid interns about where movies fail with young people, Barbenheimer lessons, Marvel’s decline, Netflix “content dumping,” and how one Disney fan has lost respect for Bob Iger.
Matthew Belloni • August 11, 2023
Strike Pressure, Iger’s Desperation, & the ‘Barbie’ Effect
News and notes on the biggest Hollywood stories of the week: Disney earnings, ‘Oppenheimer’ in China, a Globes deadline, and more.
Netflix’s resuscitated surprise hit ‘Suits,’ in many ways, is a perfect illustration of how to measure success in this new streaming age.
Julia Alexander • August 8, 2023
‘Suits’ Success & The Future of Netflixonomics
The surprise mega-performance of the underwhelming Sussex-adjacent series underscores the power of Netflix’s transformation from the era of hypergrowth to the age of super-retention.
The Lizzo complaint ventures into intriguing territory.
Eriq Gardner • August 7, 2023
The Problems with the Lizzo & Leah Remini-Scientology Suits
Assessing the viability of the most bizarre celebrity lawsuits in recent memory: Remini’s bout against the Church of Scientology and the weird Lizzo sitch, both of which will likely face First Amendment scrutiny.
When the meeting arrived, WGA chief negotiator Ellen Stutzman and general counsel Tony Segall told Lombardini there would be no further negotiations unless the companies were willing to engage with all of the guild’s demands
Jonathan Handel • August 7, 2023
The Writers Will Script This Strike Ending
With the AMPTP chief reluctant and the Writers Guild recalcitrant, Friday’s meeting was doomed from the start. A historical look at why Hollywood union bargaining is so difficult.
Matthew Belloni • August 4, 2023
The Studios-Streamers Coalition of the Willing
Why the AMPTP finally agreed to sit down with the Writers Guild and how there’s reason to be cautiously optimistic for Hollywood’s labor breakthrough of the summer.
Conventional wisdom holds that some streamers are more vulnerable than others to an extended strike.
Julia Alexander • August 2, 2023
The Streamers’ Strike Vulnerability Index
A semi-surefire, partially-definitive, entirely data-driven guide to which streaming services are susceptible to the most subscriber churn as the dual actors-and-writers impasse grinds on.
Kevin Mayer was the architect of Disney’s big-ticket M&A and D.T.C. strategy, and Tom Staggs was Iger’s C.F.O., parks chief and C.O.O. before being passed over for the top job and leaving in 2016.
Matthew Belloni • July 31, 2023
Iger Brings Back His Old Heirs Apparent
Kevin Mayer and Tom Staggs have both been engaged individually to consult with Iger, ESPN chief Jimmy Pitaro, and others at Disney.
SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher and national executive director Duncan Crabtree-Ireland.
Matthew Belloni & Jonathan Handel • July 31, 2023
Why Actors Don’t Love the Strike’s Interim Agreements
As SAG-AFTRA grants more than 100 exceptions to the ongoing strike and the C.E.O.s mull returning to the bargaining table, some question whether they hurt more than help. As usual, the devil is in the details.
Netflix co-C.E.O. Ted Sarandos said he was “open to all different models that are out there right now."
Julia Alexander • July 28, 2023
The Netflix Pricing Wars
After a decade of phenomenal growth based on a single offering, a content bazooka, and an indifference to password sharing, Netflix’s next theater of growth all comes down to nailing multiple price points—including a possible free tier—and deploying its vaunted algorithms across the spectrum.
The threat A.I. poses to the livelihoods of Hollywood’s writers goes beyond the mere existential threat of being replaced by auto-generated text.
Baratunde Thurston • July 25, 2023
A.I.: A Hollywood Odyssey
There are ways that these tools can enhance storytelling, support labor, and improve the industry. But that has to be determined in collaboration—not by a handful of big tech companies dropping random, unvetted digital tools on an industry. Not again.
What started as a seemingly trivial quarrel over soundproofing has escalated into an eight-year odyssey of fiery lawsuits between the actor Justin Theroux and his neighbor.
Eriq Gardner • July 24, 2023
Justin Theroux & The Greenwich Village Co-Op Battle From Hell
The morality tale of a celebrity tenant, a pissed off lawyer jonesing for a final battle, and the bonds that tie us all: co-op boards.
Barbenheimer awakened normal people to the continued existence of a theatrical window.
Matthew Belloni • July 24, 2023
Barbenheimer, Revisited
The lesson learned from Hollywood’s biggest weekend of the Covid era is that there’s really no lesson to be learned.
Jonathan Handel • July 24, 2023
Hollywood’s Billion Dollar Math War
The studios say that they offered the actors a billion-dollar package. The actors say it was less than $800 million, and not good enough anyway. But the truth is that the AMPTP may have as many deal insecurities as SAG-AFTRA, itself.
Rep. Adam Schiff and SAG-AFTRA chief negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland.
Matthew Belloni • July 21, 2023
Can Anyone Win Hollywood’s Labor Summerslam?
With Netflix pulling away in streaming and L.A.’s mayor poised to jump into the fray, the incentives for the studios and talent guilds to make a deal become even more complicated.
Bob Iger, himself, said that companies tied to the linear and satellite businesses are in real trouble—but those pivoting to streaming aren’t in the clear, either.
Julia Alexander • July 19, 2023
The Iger Streaming Beta Blocker
Disney needs to both cut its losses and grow its appeal outside of its core franchises. Herewith, a few ideas for how Iger can turn things around.
The playbook for how to effectively challenge Lina Khan’s regulatory efforts is now out in the open.
Eriq Gardner • July 17, 2023
Iger’s M&A Wiggle Room
Lina Khan, Biden’s wunderkind antitrust impresario, was long considered an M&A spoilsport. But Microsoft’s successful workaround in its attempted acquisition of Activision may pave a path for Iger to sell off ABC, ESPN, and much more.