Plus: How Wasserman's LA28 warped fire recovery; Hollywood hotspots vs. rats
By Alison Brower
Sunday, May 17, 2026
Bonjour, Hollywood! If you’re in Cannes, I hope you’ve had a chance to attend The Ankler’s terrific Croisette Conversations, presented with Brand Innovators, at our studio in Armani Caffè. Catch them also on The Ankler YouTube and in our Cannes Daily newsletters.
Our studio, helmed by Ankler executive producer Jennifer Laski, so far has welcomed Club Kid star Diego Calva, Academy CEO Bill Kramer and president Lynette Howell Taylor, OpenAI’s Critterz directors, David Oyelowo, dealmaker Josh Braun, and so many more, all in conversation with our own Katey Rich and Ashley Cullins. Look for another Cannes Daily in your inbox later today and one more tomorrow.
STUDIO STARS Clockwise from top left: Club Kid’s Diego Calva, Tangles producer Lauren Miller Rogen and director Leah Nelson, Ashes director Diego Luna and (from left) Katey with the Academy’s Bill Kramer, Lynette Howell Taylor and Meredith Shea. Omar Vega/January Images
Meanwhile, back here in L.A., there’s a Palais-worthy cinematic political drama brewing ahead of our June 2 mayoral primary. Reality TV star Spencer Pratt is, against all odds, surging. Matthew Frank broke down the latest list of donors to Pratt’s campaign, and it was full of surprises — from Haim and Cheryl Saban to Lucian Grainge and many longtime Dem stalwarts.
And finally, before she jetted off to Cannes, Katey touched down in L.A. for a Prestige Junkie Live screening with Prime Video’s The Girlfriend, featuring star, director and EP Robin Wright and star Laurie Davidson. Hats off to the hardest-working awards editor in the business.
GIRLFRIEND TALK From left: Katey with Robin Wright and Laurie Davidson at the London West Hollywood on May 11. Jordan Strauss/January images
Now, ICYMI, the rest of our best of the week:
Series Business
Ankler illustration. Disney/Michael Le Brecht II; Roy Rochlin/Getty Images for Netflix; Charles Sykes/NBCUniversal via Getty Images; Disney/Pawel Kaminski; Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images for Netflix; Virginia Sherwood/NBCUniversal via Getty Images.
Ankler illustration. Kayla Oaddams/WireImage; Fabrice Coffrini/AFP via Getty Images.
↑ Katzenberg’s Last CurrencyOn the outs in Hollywood circles and among Dems, Jeffrey Katzenberg held a Santa Barbara confab featuring none other than Palantir’s Alex Karp, a major player behind Trump’s would-be security state.
↑ L.A.’s Rat Attack: Panic Hits Hollywood’s Hot Tables From San Vicente Bungalows to Peninsula Beverly Hills to Dan Tana, industry-favored eateries are seeing a troubling rise in vermin. Degen Pener investigates why.
Fire Fest: Wasserman & LA28
Ankler illustration. Lisa O’Connor/AFP via Getty Images; Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg via Getty Images; Etienne Laurent/AFP via Getty Images; Katelyn Mulcahy/Getty Images for LA28; Frederic J. BROWN/AFP; David Swanson/AFP; Qian Weizhong/VCG via Getty Images.
↑ How Casey Wasserman’s Olympic Agenda Warped L.A.’s Fire Recovery The Optionist’s Andy Lewis excerpts Jonathan Vigliotti’s Torched, revealing how Gavin Newsom, Karen Bass and the industry scion prioritized LA28’s Olympics over future safety as wildfires ravaged the city.
Richard sat down with Stick creator Jason Keller for a wide-ranging conversation about Owen Wilson’s “writer’s brain” and the long road Keller took to Hollywood:
