House of Lourd, Iger’s ESPN Existentialism, McCarthy’s Impeachment Theater

Happy Friday and welcome back to The Daily Courant, your afternoon flyer featuring Puck’s latest reporting.

Today, we lead with Matt Belloni’s definitive breakdown of the blockbuster CAA-Pinault deal: the implications for the blue-chip talent agency and Hollywood’s representation wars, TPG’s monster exit, Bryan Lourd’s coronation, and much more.

Plus, below the fold: Lauren Sherman considers CAA’s new fashion calculus and rounds up early NYFW talking points. Tina Nguyen plumbs the depths of Kevin McCarthy’s impeachment paradox. On the latest episode of The Town, Matt and TIFF C.E.O. Cameron Bailey discuss the strike’s trickle-down effects for film festivals. And on The Powers That Be, Peter Hamby and Dylan Byers dig into Disney’s battle with Charter, and if we’ve finally reached the end of the cable bundle era.

MATTHEW BELLONI

A French fashion player announces himself in Hollywood as the talent agency’s private equity backers prove that, even if the sky appears to be falling, you can still make a lot of money in this town.

LAUREN SHERMAN

News, notes, and observations on New York Fashion Week.

TINA NGUYEN

The speaker is pinned between pro-impeachment hardliners who want to shut down the government, vulnerable moderates whose fate will determine control of Congress, and maybe the outcome of the 2024 election, too.

MATTHEW BELLONI

It’s festival season, so Matt is joined by Cameron Bailey, the CEO of the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), to discuss the trickle-down effect of the strikes on film festivals, why TIFF is so successful in predicting Oscar nominations, and how to handle a festival without stars.