Big Media 2025, where a firebrand commentator is the new face of “impartiality” at CBS News and will personally pocket nine figures for allowing David Ellison to appease Trump and feel better about his Israel coverage. What a time. (Kim has more on Bari below.)

Runner-up: Taylor Swift. Has any pop star ever exploited—sorry, served—her superfans more effectively? Music’s savviest businesswoman knows the Swifties will buy whatever she offers, so her latest 12-song album is available as five different vinyl, CD, and cassette versions; a Target-exclusive vinyl; four limited-edition CDs with eight acoustic versions of those same tracks; and an 89-minute “experience” that grossed $50 million in global theaters this weekend. We’re on day four of this album cycle.

Second runner-up: Rob Manfred, the MLB commissioner, who followed big regular season ratings gains with a 64 percent year-over-year increase in first-round playoff audiences on ESPN. (This entry may have been influenced by the Dodgers’ win tonight.)

“We will make some good decisions and some missteps, but we will take feedback and try to fix the missteps very quickly.”
—Sam Altman, the OpenAI C.E.O., in a Friday night walk-back of the “opt-out” approach of Sora 2, giving Hollywood rightsholders “more granular control” over characters, including maybe (fingers crossed!) payment for use of their I.P.

A little more on this: Everyone feel okay now? Ha. Altman certainly didn’t apologize. And he wasn’t just reacting altruistically after public concern (including from me and astute copyright attorneys like Aaron Moss) over the rampant use of I.P. on Sora. Studio lawyers made it pretty clear that OpenAI and its Pikachu-grilling videos would be sued shortly, I’m told, and that deals for the use of particular characters would not be possible if the opt-out scheme remained. So he relented.

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The question is, now what? MPA chief Charlie Rivkin took nearly a week to put out tonight’s statement demanding “immediate action”—a nice gesture, and I guess a week counts as immediate when your members include Amazon and Netflix. He wants OpenAI to “acknowledge it remains their responsibility—not rightsholders’—to prevent infringement on the Sora 2 service.” The reality is that the A.I. assault is only beginning, and it will require both an aggressive legal/legislative strategy and smart dealmaking. Studios would prefer a path akin to how Hollywood I.P. is deployed across video games, either by game-development licenses or limited-time, marketing-focused deals, like when Boba Fett skins appear in Fortnite. But that requires cooperation and respect, two things OpenAI won’t provide without fearing the alternative.

The MJ movie is ready for its close-up: At this point, the highest-stakes film of next year may be Michael, the Michael Jackson biopic that, due to the rights issue with a former child molestation accuser, had to be totally reconceived by director Antoine Fuqua and writer John Logan. Additional photography has now wrapped, and the film ends after Jackson’s triumphant rise to fame in the ’80s. So all the footage of MJ’s later King of Pop (and scandal-plagued) years, including two weeks of shooting at Neverland Ranch, now owned by Ron Burkle, is unusable. Producer Graham King’s plan is to make a second Michael movie that would include all that stuff, plus a significant amount of additional, yet-to-be-shot footage with stars Jaafar Jackson, Colman Domingo, and Miles Teller, but that will now depend on—yes, you guessed it—how the film is received by audiences next April. If it’s a hit, or if all signs are pointing that direction, they greenlight part two, and if not, producers eat all that unused footage. (Remember, the Jackson estate is paying for costs associated with the production debacle.) Lionsgate and Universal, which has international rights to the film, will attach the Michael trailer to Wicked: For Good in November.

Nearly 30 percent
Decline, from 2022 to 2024, in movies and TV shows with budgets of at least $40 million that began shooting in the U.S. [ProdPro via WSJ]

14.3 percent
Increase this year in ad spend on social media, up from earlier forecasts and contrasted with a 14.4 percent decline for linear TV. [IAB]

4 in 10
Adults under 45 who use subtitles at least “often” when watching TV or movies. (It’s 3 in 10 for adults over 45.) [AP]

Now here’s Kim on the Amazon situation…

When Amazon announced last week that the company was hiring former Netflix executive Peter Friedlander as its new head of television, the collective sigh of relief from its TV team almost blew out the windows. The fear had been that the job would go to Chris McCarthy, one of Paramount’s short-lived C.E.O. throuple (alongside now-also-departed Brian Robbins and still-surviving George Cheeks). Bryan Lourd, CAA’s influential leader, was said to be going to bat for McCarthy, with client Taylor Sheridan baiting the hook.

But at Paramount, McCarthy had not been a beloved boss. Friedlander, however, is genuinely well-liked and well-regarded—and it isn’t every day that I get to say that. “Peter is fantastic,” the Duffer brothers (Matt and Ross) told me by email. “We worked really closely with him on this final season of Stranger Things, and he was incredibly supportive throughout. He’s always calm and coolheaded, even when things get tough. … He loves and trusts his artists. Amazon is lucky to have him.”

Having started at Netflix in the Cindy Holland era, marked by prestige hits from House of Cards to The Queen’s Gambit, Friedlander is known to have good taste. One example: In 2023, when Paramount moved Showtime under the auspices of the aforementioned McCarthy, Steve Zaillian was finishing his limited series, Ripley, for them. “To his credit, [McCarthy] didn’t pretend he knew what to do with it,” a source said. “He was straight-up: ‘This is in black-and-white.’” In other words, the project was in trouble. Ari Greenburg, the agent who represents Zaillian, told me that his “first call was to Peter Friedlander,” who immediately agreed to meet Zaillian in his edit bay to watch five hours of the show. Two days later, Greenburg had a closed deal for the series at Netflix.

“We had a good laugh about this at the Emmys a year later,” Greenburg told me. “Very few people in town would drop everything, but Peter considered the opportunity to sit with a filmmaker like Zaillian a priority.” (Ripley won four Emmys, including best director for a limited series.) Added producer Garrett Basch: “I can count on one hand the executives who would fight for a black-and-white period piece like Peter did, and it’s probably a one-fingered hand. I haven’t made a show with Amazon, but I would now.”

What’s still unclear is whether Friedlander, after 14 years at Netflix, is the right guy to fix what’s been ailing Amazon. Everyone likes to win awards—and Amazon, which whiffed on Primetime Emmy nominations this past year, could use a boost in the prestige department. But Prime Video seems most interested in broad hits like Reacher and Jack Ryan. Jeff Bezos’s thirst for his own Game of Thrones has never been slaked, though a lot of money has been spent trying. “Can’t wait to see how [Friedlander] likes doing all the bible and MAGA guy-with-gun shows,” said a former insider. (Amazon has a deal with faith label Wonder Project, which kicked off last February with its House of David series.)

Sources cited another aspect of Friedlander’s nature that might be troublesome, especially after the profligate reign of Jen Salke, who was ousted last March after seven years at the streamer. “Sometimes you need the studio or network to draw firm, hard lines,” said one person who has worked with Friedlander. “When there are moments of conflict, of creative disagreements or budget challenges, [Friedlander] had a real aversion to having hard conversations.”

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It’s understandable that the Duffer brothers would be enthusiastic Friedlander fans. According to a knowledgeable source, they got to spend $50 million to $60 million on each of the final-season episodes of Stranger Things, which run from 90 minutes to two hours long. On the hit show Wednesday, another person said, Friedlander’s agreeable nature was again a problem. “It would have been great if someone at Netflix had put Jenna Ortega in her place from the jump,” this source said, alleging that the young star complained about every aspect of the job, from the money to the location. She also publicly criticized the show’s writers in comments that she subsequently walked back, telling Vanity Fair, “I probably could have used my words better in describing all of that.”

Friedlander was named Netflix’s head of scripted series for North America in 2021, also overseeing event programming and the overall-deals department. But in August, he was out and Jinny Howe, his head of drama series, replaced him. Howe is highly regarded despite—as content chief Bela Bajaria noted in announcing her promotion—having invented the term “gourmet cheeseburger” as a descriptor for Netflix programming. (At this point, they might need to think about dropping that adjective; Adolescence can only take you so far, and that came out of London.) Howe is credited with championing Beef, among other shows, but “will definitely develop some trash,” a talent rep told me, adding, “She’s working hard, and she’s definitely the most decisive person in town.”

“I think the plan has always been for [Bajaria] to promote Jinny,” a former Netflix executive told me. “I think the big unspoken thing was that Peter would do the job until she had time to get her sea legs.” Other sources who have worked with Netflix agreed that Friedlander seemed to be a placeholder. “Try to find someone who can tell you what Peter’s job has been for the past 18 months,” said one. “Jinny not only had Bela’s ear, but huge influence and growing power. She is very savvy and very hands-on.”

As for Friedlander, many in town are wondering how he will fare amid Amazon’s notoriously weird culture and cumbersome decision-making processes. If things work as they have until now, Friedlander will need buy-in from both Kelly Day, V.P. of Prime Video International, and Jay Marine, who in August expanded his oversight of Amazon’s sports and advertising business to include all the Prime Video U.S. business, before he can bring a show to Mike Hopkins, head of Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios. Getting a show to a greenlight at Amazon is “like getting a bill through Congress,” mused one talent rep.

But hope lives on that the new head of television can make it work. “I would say a lot of people root for Peter because we’d like to believe a nice person can finish out in front,” said one producer who worked with Friedlander at Netflix. “And maybe this one can.”

With Mike Cavanagh upped to co-C.E.O. at Comcast and Daniel Ek handing the Spotify reins to two Swedish dudes, might Disney replicate the dual-leadership model? [Bloomberg]

Free speech warrior Elon Musk wants Netflix punished for an old kids’ show with a trans character. Given the still-simmering Jimmy Kimmel dustup with MAGA Nation, are we sure Disney C.E.O. Bob Iger didn’t quietly D.M. Elon the offending episodes? [Slate]

Candle Media leaders Kevin Mayer and Tom Staggs “haven’t been very involved” as its flagship Hello Sunshine division melts under Reese Witherspoon and a new C.E.O. [Bloomberg]

Important research from Stephen Follows: Do standing ovations at film festivals actually matter? [Stephen Follows]

How badly does Jay Penske want Joe Rogan, Tucker Carlson, and Megyn Kelly to walk the Golden Globes red carpet as “best podcast” nominees? He leaned on his own subsidiary to be the “objective” judge of eligibility. [Page Six]

Sentiment toward Disney among Republicans and Democrats plummeted in the wake of the Kimmel standoff. [CNBC]

Juda Engelmayer, Holly Baird, and the grossest celebrity crisis P.R. people explain exactly how gross they are (with photo shoots!). [GQ]

Note to anyone who values discretion: Maybe think twice (or 10 times) before hiring a crisis publicist who does a self-promoting magazine spread.

And speaking of publicists: Cindi Berger, the longtime R&CPMK leader, is attempting to salvage the venerable publicity brand after owner IPG began downsizing and reassigning teams to other divisions. Rumors flew this weekend that Berger was trying to recruit potential buyers, including former partner Michael Nyman and his Acceleration holding company, to take on the unit. Which would be amusing given Berger and Nyman worked under an arranged marriage at IPG until he left in 2018. But an IPG rep tells me, “IPG is not selling or divesting R&CPMK to Acceleration or any company. Cindi will have more information to share and an exciting announcement soon.” Can’t wait!

Bela Bajaria did British Vogue. [Vogue]

Maybe Travis Kelce isn’t the best muse. [New Yorker]

You won’t believe this but Vin Diesel publicly promised a Fast & Furious movie for April 2027 when it doesn’t have a script, a budget, or basic cast deals yet. [WSJ]

Tom Cruise cakes from Doan’s Bakery that were sold this summer have been recalled due to “undeclared wheat and milk.” If this impacts holiday deliveries, we riot. [Today]

It was all A.I. and Sora in my inbox this week, even after Altman’s backtrack. Some examples…

“This all makes the Napster threat look like kindergarten.” —An executive

“Setting aside the legal battles, why isn’t Hollywood making a serious marketing/P.R. push around the inherent uncoolness of A.I.-‘created’ (a.k.a., stolen) slop? Who wants this, truly? I get that the people who are saying they want it have megaphones, but I genuinely do not think they represent any kind of majority. Aren’t we supposed to be the best storytellers in the world? Has Hollywood really forgotten how to craft a simple, humanist narrative about the real value and goodness of things made by people, for people?” —A producer

“The idea that Altman and OpenAI think they’re entitled to our hard work for their plagiarism machine is infuriating. It’s hard enough getting a show greenlit these days; that we could be competing for eyeballs against illegal copies of our own work is all kinds of wrong.” —An animation producer

“Thank you for calling out OpenAI when none of these Hollywood executives or their supposed trade group have the balls to do so publicly.” —A filmmaker

“Why haven’t you reported that Iger went to work for Josh Kushner’s Thrive Capital before he returned to Disney (most people believe he will go back to Thrive next year). Thrive is a big investor in OpenAI. That’s why Disney isn’t saying anything publicly about Sora.” —Another executive

“The fact that the WSJ reported that OpenAI was going to require copyright holders to opt out one day before [launch] was the ultimate ‘fuck-you,’ and the complete nonresponse from the industry is depressing.” —Yet another executive

Some thoughts on Bari Weiss from Kim…

I’ve been in journalism for more years than Weiss has been alive. I’ve covered Congress and the Supreme Court, and made forays into the White House. But if someone approached me to be the editor-in-chief of CBS News, I would tell them that I’m not remotely qualified. I know nothing about television news other than what I picked up as a talking head and from watching the prescient Broadcast News. It makes me wonder how Weiss has the hubris to think she belongs in that role. Not only does she lack news experience, but she has established a clear bias—pro-Israel and anti-“woke”—that happens to suit David Ellison and his fellow billionaires very well. If no one tried to talk her down to a lesser title, they failed her.

I realize that the Ellisons don’t care about CBS News and that television news—broadcast or cable—is in decline. That hardly makes this announcement any more palatable. We are dealing with an administration that has mounted an assault on the truth itself. The independence of CBS News—and 60 Minutes in particular—is well worth defending. That’s not a controversial statement. If Ellison hired Weiss to suck up to the right, to grease regulatory approval for a deal for Warner Bros. Discovery, that’s alarming. If Ellison genuinely thought this was a good idea, that’s also alarming.

Either way, giving Weiss this job is an affront not only to journalists but to citizens who understand that a free press is in fact the cornerstone of democracy. “We believe the majority of the country longs for news that is balanced and fact-based, and we want CBS to be their home,” Ellison said in a statement. Right goal, absurd strategy.

Having spent some time with Ellison, I see him as a man who very much wants to be taken seriously. But this is a clown move, and while the people in town whom he most wants to impress may take his money, he should know that they won’t give him their respect.

Have a great week,
Matt

Maya Tribbitt contributed research for today’s issue.

Got a question, comment, complaint, or your own clown move? Email me at Matt@puck.news or call/text me at 310-804-3198.

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