The Wakeup Charter believes in video bundle again! Here’s why
‘Fewer, Bigger, Better’: How the Producers of ‘Traitors’ & ‘Squid Game: The Challenge’ Make Reality Hits Studio Lambert’s Stephen Lambert and Tim Harcourt tell Manori Ravindran what buyers want, their advice for succeeding in unscripted, and why ‘medium’ swings no longer work
Sundance: Get it Together, Indie A-Holes and Indie A-Holes Part II What part of ‘extinction event’ do you not understand? asks Richard Rushfield, who follows up with fixes for indie film production, distribution and marketing
Bums vs. Billionaires: Malibu’s Silicon Valley Takeover is Almost Complete ‘Seething resentment’: Big Tech is colonizing Hollywood’s hideaway, trampling on what locals hold dear, reports Peter Kiefer. And the fires only make things worse
🎧 Sean Evans, Rhett & Link on Building Creator Businesses (and Each Other) The top YouTubers tell Like & Subscribe’s Natalie Jarvey about their partnership, staying fresh (‘therapy’!) and why they want an Emmy: ‘Brands are still way behind in the conversation’
David S. Goyer’s New AI-Powered Sci-Fi Fantasy World: The Reel AI Interview The prolific creator tells Erik Barmack about Incention, a dizzyingly ambitious platform to upend IP that anyone is invited to join: ‘I’m not a proselytizer, I’m not a doomsayer’
Indie TV: ‘Holy Shit, This is a Viable Model’ Film’s done it for decades. Now Cooper Raiff, Duplass Brothers & Joe Lewis tell Elaine Low about self-financing shows: ‘Way less crazy.’ No wonder TV execs are nervous
The MIT Grad Whose Prediction Market Can Reveal What Netflix Show Will Be #1 Tarek Mansour’s Kalshi foretold Trump’s election. Now his site’s users are betting on everything from Bob Iger’s exit day to Oscar odds for The Brutalist as a new data set for entertainment emerges, reports Matthew Frank
Mudslinging Comes Back in Style Dirty tricks and trolling campaigns return, reports Katey Rich, this time with ‘stans’ often driving the narrative
5 Oscar Best Actress Nominees Fight the Patriarchy (What’s Your Film Doing?) A bigger-than-film campaign narrative always has been a best picture must. Katey assesses the field of who is flexing ‘important’
How Sing Sing’s Underdog Anthem Landed an Oscar Moonshot Black Pumas’ Adrian Quesada and Texan Abraham Alexander tell Rob LeDonne how they captured hope and yearning in prison
🎧 A Dire Sundance, Indie Peril & the Creator Incursion It was definitely a mood at the festival; plus: Peacock thwacked
🎧 The New Showbiz: Hollywood, Creators & Brands The ‘win-win’ as talent and brands reset the terms of engagement for the next phase of entertainment with UTA’s Julian Jacobs, creator Jordan Howlett and more
🎧 ‘You Guys Are All the Same’ Rob Long on not letting success — or faking it — mess with your head
🎧 Sundance: J. Lo Shines at a Muted Fest With High Hopes, Few Hits The fest’s mixed vibes and films that hit home, from Lopez’s Kiss of the Spider Woman to standout doc The Stringer
