Aaron Sorkin Drops CAA After Maha Dakhil’s Israel-Hamas Post: “She’s Just Wrong”
Aaron Sorkin has dropped CAA and returned to WME over a post critical of Israel made by its co-chief of the motion pictures department, Maha Dakhil. “Maha isn’t an antisemite, she’s just wrong. She’s a great agent, and I’m very proud of the work we did together over the last six years. I’m excited to be […]
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Why Ari Emanuel Can’t Help Himself
Oops, he did it again. At 62, Ari Emanuel is now lord and master (or more precisely, CEO) of not one but two publicly held companies. Still, he could not resist bashing his longtime rivals at CAA when presented with a mic at the Bloomberg Screentime conference. And those weren’t the only comments that made […]
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How the Writers Deal Got Done: Inside the Room
On Saturday, Sept. 23, Disney CEO Bob Iger was in Beverly Hills, seemingly living his best life. He was at dinner with Paul McCartney and Eagles alum Joe Walsh at La Dolce Vita, an Old World Italian restaurant with long white tablecloths and dark red leather booths. Some people were discreetly snapping photos, as was […]
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Does CAA Have a Succession Problem?
For those of a certain age who like to think that they’re still young — and who doesn’t? — it is sobering to realize that when Michael Ovitz bowed out of the agency business in 1995, neither Tom Holland nor Zendaya had even been born. People who weren’t around in those days can’t begin to […]
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A Disney Sale to Apple? Don’t Count It Out This Time
A few weeks before Bob Iger sat down for that CNBC interview in which he said Disney’s linear TV networks, like ABC and FX, “may not be core” to the company’s business, a veteran Hollywood executive mused to The Hollywood Reporter on the possibility of a deal that would rock the industry: Apple buying Disney. […]
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Unpacking Bob Iger’s Terrible, Horrible, No Good PR Week
Why did he do it? That’s the question many in Hollywood have asked in the wake of Bob Iger’s now-infamous July 13 interview with CNBC in bucolic Sun Valley. What possessed Iger to pick such a place and time to express his “disappointment” with the demands of the striking talent guilds? Not only was he at […]
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The Behind-the-Scenes Players Seeking a Path to Hollywood Peace
Every labor dispute involves posturing and hyperbolic language: One side denounces the other as evil incarnate and the other does the same — until a deal is done. But this time, with two major guilds pitted against the studios, the anger is so intense that it’s hard to see how peace will be restored. In the simplest […]
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Tom Cruise Lobbied Studios on SAG-AFTRA Stunt and AI Positions (Exclusive)
How important is the AI issue to members of SAG-AFTRA? Important enough that Tom Cruise Zoomed into a June negotiating session to urge the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers to hear out the guild’s concerns on the issue, The Hollywood Reporter has learned. That wasn’t the Mission: Impossible star’s sole concern. He also wanted to […]
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After Filmmaker Outcry Over TCM Cuts, Warner Bros. Reverses Course (Sort Of)
It wasn’t that David Zaslav wasn’t cautioned. He was, explicitly, in a December 2022 conversation with CAA’s Bryan Lourd, who said that damaging the relatively small but beloved Turner Classic Movies would lead to backlash from “a lot of important people” — people whom Zaslav most admired and wanted to be admired by, such as Steven […]
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Sources: Warners’ Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy to Gain Oversight of TCM (Exclusive)
Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav is attempting to calm the waters after stirring up a storm over Turner Classic Movies earlier this week. Zaslav is moving oversight of the channel to Warner Bros. Pictures bosses Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy, sources with knowledge of the situation tell The Hollywood Reporter. The move is […]
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When David Zaslav Is Your Boss: 20-Plus Insiders on His Exacting Standards (And Those 6:30 a.m. Calls)
On June 7, at roughly 9 a.m. ET, the media parlor game shifted abruptly from how long CNN chief executive Chris Licht would remain in the job to who would replace him. Licht, whose turbulent tenure lasted just 13 months, had met his demise after a blistering 15,000-word profile appeared in The Atlantic. His boss, David […]
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Peter Rice’s Next Act: Film, TV Producing Deal With A24 (Exclusive)
Peter Rice has found his next gig. The respected film and television executive, who was unceremoniously ousted at Chapek-era Disney, will next focus on becoming an independent producer and has partnered with powerhouse A24. Under the producing and co-financing agreement, Rice will have a nonexclusive deal with the Oscar-winning outfit. Film and TV projects that fall […]
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