HORROR IN LAS VEGAS WHEN SPIELBERG TAUGHT DIRECTING HUGH HEFNER TOM PETTY

Are festival concerts forever changed? 50 years of AFI stories and storytellers 1926-2017 1950-2017

October 4, 2017

STR EAMING
WARS
Can YouTube spin stars like
Demi Lovato (and Google’s
$86B) into a platform that
rivals Netflix, Amazon, Apple
and TV’s new power players?
• Who wins and loses in media’s
great pivot to video
• A TV exec’s warning to Silicon Valley
by john landgraf

From left: YouTube CEO

Susan Wojcicki, Lovato and
content head Susanne Daniels
were photographed in
Mountain View, California.
Issue No. 31, October 4, 2017

FEATURES
76 Streaming Wars
Can YouTube, the world’s
largest video site, compete
with Netflix, Amazon, Hulu,
Apple and the networks in
the original-content battle
raging across Hollywood?

86 Hugh Hefner, 1926-2017

The controversial
innovator, who died
Sept. 27 at 91, and his six
decades of Hollywood
parties at the Playboy
Mansion are remembered.

92 50 Creative Masters of
TV’s Golden Age
THR’s annual look at the
top showrunners with
the sharpest pens, the
wildest visions and, yeah,
the richest deals.

102 AFI Enters Middle Age

The American Film
Institute, now 50, has
taught David Lynch,
Patty Jenkins and scores
of others how to put
their dreams on a screen.

114 Reality TV’s Great

Risk-Taker
John de Mol, creator
of The Voice, Big Brother
and shows that reach
500 million global viewers,
is hungry for more.

ON THE COVER
From left: Susan Wojcicki, Demi Lovato
and Susanne Daniels were photographed
by Koury Angelo on July 20 at Google in
Mountain View, California. Hear
Lovato and Daniels reveal the worst social
media faux pas at THR.com/video.

86
Hefner was
photographed
for THR on Aug. 23,
2011, outside of
the Playboy Mansion
in Beverly Hills.

Photographed by Joe Pugliese

T H E HOL LY WO OD R EP ORT ER 2 O C T OBE R 4, 2017

Issue No. 31, October 4, 2017

102
Patty Jenkins and
David Lynch were
photographed
Sept. 27 in the Louis
B. Mayer Library at
AFI Conservatory
in Los Angeles.

68 Why Everyone
THE REPORT Is Flocking to Italy
29 Fall TV’s Week Europe without the
One Scorecard terrorism and shores
Who’s winning without the hurricanes,

(Young Sheldon) and
who’s losing (sorry,
Megyn) after this
season’s premiere
week.
41
the Boot contains
Quentin Tarantino’s
seafood spot in Rome,
George Clooney’s top De Armas was
hotel in Venice and more. photographed
Sept. 21 at Corinthia
Hotel London.

ABOUT TOWN REVIEWS Erdem dress,

Delfina Delettrez ring.

41 Next Big Thing: 121 Blade Runner 2049

Ana de Armas Harrison Ford joins Ryan
The Cuban actress Gosling in Denis Villeneuve’s
raises her game stylish but bloated sequel.
in Blade Runner 2049.

BACKLOT
THE BUSINESS 127 Meet the Most
57 Executive Suite: Powerful Women in

JENKINS: AUSTIN HARGRAVE. DE ARMAS: NICOLE NODLAND. JOY: CORAL VON ZUMWALT. JEANS: COURTESY OF BRAND.
Kevin Kay Global Television
The Viacom veteran 25 female executives who
on the new Paramount are rewriting the rules
Network and the of how people watch TV.
morale hit from
Dauman vs. Redstone. 134 The Search for the Next
Thrones at MIPCOM
TV creators go high-
STYLE
92
concept to wow choosy Showrunners Lisa Joy and
64 What’s Your Hollywood international buyers. Bryan Fuller were photographed
Sept. 22 at City Market
Jean Type? South in downtown L.A.
Decoding the denim
SEE YOU IN 2 WEEKS

64
worn by talent The next issue publishes Oct. 18. Keep up DSTLD High-Waisted
and execs reveals eight Ripped Mom Jeans
with news, reviews and videos at THR.com in Medium Vintage;
industry profiles. and via Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. $95, dstld.com

T H E HOL LY WO OD R EP ORT ER 4 O C T OBE R 4, 2017

 NETFLIX
PROUDLY CONGRATULATES OUR

2017 THR POWER

SHOWRUNNER HONOREES
Matt and Ross Duffer
Aziz Ansari and Alan Yang
Robert Carlock and Tina Fey
Mitch Hurwitz
Gloria Calderon Kellett and Mike Royce
Jenji Kohan
Chuck Lorre
Peter Morgan
Mike Schur

ONES TO WATCH
Robia Rashid
Liz Flahive and Carly Mensch
 Matthew Belloni
EDITORIAL DIRECTOR

Alison Brower Shanti Marlar Tom Seeley

DEPUTY EDITORIAL DIRECTOR CREATIVE DIRECTOR DEPUTY EDITORIAL DIRECTOR,
DIGITAL MEDIA

Sudie Redmond Stephen Galloway Jennifer Laski Jeanie Pyun Peter Flax Erik Hayden
EXECUTIVE MANAGING EDITOR EXECUTIVE EDITOR, FEATURES PHOTO & VIDEO DIRECTOR DEPUTY EDITOR FEATURES EDITOR NEWS DIRECTOR

EDITOR-AT-LARGE Kim Masters

FILM
FILM EDITOR Gregg Kilday • SENIOR FILM WRITERS Borys Kit,
Pamela McClintock, Tatiana Siegel • TECH EDITOR Carolyn Giardina
STAFF WRITER, FILM Mia Galuppo • CHIEF FILM CRITIC Todd McCarthy
CHIEF THEATER CRITIC David Rooney • INTERNATIONAL FILM EDITOR Deborah Young

TELEVISION
TELEVISION EDITOR Lacey Rose • CHIEF TELEVISION CRITIC Tim Goodman • TELEVISION CRITIC Daniel J. Fienberg
TELEVISION EDITOR, EAST COAST Marisa Guthrie • TELEVISION NEWS EDITOR Lesley Goldberg
SENIOR WRITER, TELEVISION Michael O’Connell • TELEVISION WRITERS Bryn Elise Sandberg, Kate Stanhope
MEDIA & POLITICS WRITER Jeremy Barr • STAFF REPORTER Brian Porreca

SENIOR EDITOR Benjamin Svetkey • SENIOR EDITOR, COPY Mike Barnes

MARISA GUTHRIE
REVIEWS EDITOR Jon Frosch • FASHION & BEAUTY DIRECTOR Carol McColgin will moderate THR’s
AWARDS EDITOR Rebecca Ford • REAL ESTATE & CITY EDITOR Peter Kiefer annual Women in Global
SENIOR WRITERS Seth Abramovitch, Gary Baum, Scott Johnson Entertainment Power
SENIOR AWARDS ANALYST Scott Feinberg • SENIOR EDITOR, EVENTS Ramona Saviss
Lunch at MIPCOM on
SENIOR REPORTER Rebecca Sun • INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS EDITOR Georg Szalai
WEST COAST BUSINESS EDITOR Paul Bond • SENIOR EDITOR, NEW YORK Eriq Gardner Oct. 16 at the Majestic
BOOKS EDITOR Andy Lewis • STAFF WRITER Chris Gardner Hotel in Cannes.
STAFF WRITER, DIGITAL MEDIA Natalie Jarvey • STAFF REPORTER Ashley Cullins
ASSOCIATE EDITOR Lindsay Flans • ASSISTANT STYLE EDITOR Jane Carlson
EDITORIAL ASSISTANT Kendal McAlpin • ASSISTANT TO THE EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Beno Akram

COPY
RHONDA RICHFORD ASSOCIATE MANAGING EDITOR Jennifer H. Levin
AND SCOTT DEPUTY COPY CHIEF Darah Head • SENIOR COPY EDITORS Cheryl Cheng, Lisa de los Reyes
ROXBOROUGH
will cover the MIPCOM ART
international TV DESIGN DIRECTOR Peter B. Cury
market in Cannes from ART DIRECTOR Kelsey Stefanson • ASSOCIATE ART DIRECTORS Nicholas Brawley,
Christopher Hawkins, Fah Sakharet • SENIOR DESIGNER Jen Cienfuegos
Oct. 16 to 19.
SENIOR ART PRODUCTION MANAGER Michelle Mondragon
ART PRODUCTION ASSOCIATE Amanda Tannen • PRODUCTION ARTIST BJ Samuels • JUNIOR PRODUCTION ARTIST Ashley Bradley

PHOTO & VIDEO

DEPUTY PHOTO DIRECTOR Carrie Smith
PHOTO EDITORS Chelsea Archer, Lisa Dragani, Michelle Stark • SENIOR PHOTO PRODUCER Kate Pappa
ASSOCIATE PHOTO EDITORS Tristan Cassel, Jared Rosenthal • PHOTO RESEARCHER Megan Downie
PHOTO & VIDEO ASSISTANT Kayla Landrum • PHOTO EDITOR-AT-LARGE Jenny Sargent

DIRECTOR OF PRODUCTION, VIDEO Stephanie Fischette

SENIOR VIDEO PRODUCERS Marya Gullo, Victoria McKillop, Laela Zadeh • VIDEO PRODUCER Natalie Heltzel CHRIS GARDNER
YOUTUBE CHANNEL MANAGER Jason Al-Samarrie • WEB VIDEO CONTENT MANAGER April Salud
and THR will receive
RIGHTS & CLEARANCES MANAGER Travis Gollaher • LEAD VIDEO EDITOR Victor Klaus • VIDEO EDITOR/MOTION GRAPHICS ARTIST Darin Eaton
JUNIOR VIDEO EDITOR Nebiyu Dingetu • VIDEO PRODUCTION ASSISTANT Dustin Hattier the ALS Association’s
Golden Spotlight Award
THR.COM at the Champions
DEPUTY EDITOR Kimberly Nordyke for Care and a Cure
ASSIGNMENT EDITOR Jennifer Konerman • STYLE & FASHION NEWS DIRECTOR Booth Moore Celebration on Dec. 2
SENIOR EDITOR Hilary Lewis • EAST COAST DIGITAL LEAD EDITOR Jackie Strause
for the magazine’s
SENIOR REPORTER Ryan Parker • EDITOR, HEAT VISION Aaron Couch • INTERNATIONAL EDITOR Abid Rahman
DEPUTY STYLE EDITOR Stephanie Chan • ASSOCIATE EDITORS Lauren Huff, Meena Jang, coverage of publicist
Ashley Lee • ASSOCIATE STYLE EDITOR Samantha Reed • COPY CHIEF Pete Keeley Nanci Ryder’s
SENIOR PHOTO EDITOR, DIGITAL Christina Pompa-Kwok • PHOTO EDITORS Mike Jianu, Ben Park battle with the
DIGITAL CONTENT EDITOR, VIDEO Annie Howard • SENIOR MANAGER, SOCIAL MEDIA Jennifer Liles
neurodegenerative
SOCIAL MEDIA EDITOR Sarah Gidick • MANAGER, SOCIAL MEDIA Christina Schoellkopf
SOCIAL MEDIA COORDINATOR Natalya Jaime • ASSISTANT EDITORS Patrick Shanley, Arlene Washington illness.

INTERNATIONAL
INTERNATIONAL NEWS EDITOR Kevin Cassidy
EUROPE BUREAU CHIEF Scott Roxborough • ASIA BUREAU CHIEF Patrick Brzeski • CANADA BUREAU CHIEF Etan Vlessing
CORRESPONDENTS Agustin Mango ARGENTINA • Pip Bulbeck AUSTRALIA • Rhonda Richford FRANCE
Karen Chu HONG KONG • Ariston Anderson ITALY • Nyay Bhushan INDIA • Gavin J. Blair JAPAN • Lee Hyo-won KOREA
John Hecht MEXICO • Nick Holdsworth, Vladimir Koslov RUSSIA • Pamela Rolfe SPAIN • Alex Ritman U.K.

CONTRIBUTING EDITORS
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar • Jonathan Handel • Austin Hargrave • Bill Higgins • Wesley Mann
Miller Mobley • Gavin Polone • Joe Pugliese • Ramona Rosales • Michael Wolff

T H E HOL LY WO OD R EP ORT ER 6 O C T OBE R 4, 2017

 SONY PICTURES TELEVISION
CONGRATULATES OUR 2017 HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
POWER SHOWRU N N ERS HONOR EES

THE GOLDBERGS BETTER CALL SAUL ONE DAY AT A TIME

Adam F. Goldberg Peter Gould Gloria Calderon Kellett
Vince Gilligan Mike Royce

OUTLANDER THE CROWN

Ronald D. Moore Peter Morgan
©2017 Sony Pictures Television Inc. All Rights Reserved.

ONES TO WATCH: Robia Rashid – ATYPICAL

 Lynne Segall
EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT/GROUP PUBLISHER

Elisabeth Deutschman Victoria Gold Randi Windt

VICE PRESIDENT, TELEVISION & MEDIA VICE PRESIDENT, ENTERTAINMENT VICE PRESIDENT, BRAND PARTNERSHIPS

Alison Smith-Pleiser Alexandra von Bargen

MANAGING DIRECTOR, INTERNATIONAL SALES MANAGING DIRECTOR, LUXURY

ADVERTISING
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, INDEPENDENT FILM & TALENT Debra Fink
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, TELEVISION Scott Perry
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, LUXURY REAL ESTATE & REGIONAL SHELTER Sue Chrispell
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, BRAND PARTNERSHIPS Hillary Gilmore • DIRECTOR, SPONSORSHIP & WEST COAST CONSUMER SALES Karbis Dokuzyan
DIRECTOR, LUXURY PARTNERSHIPS Pauline L’Herbette • DIRECTORS, BRAND PARTNERSHIPS Jackie Horn,
Gabrielle Koenig, Amy Jo Lagermeier, Justine Matthews • MANAGING DIRECTOR, MUSIC Aki Kaneko
DIRECTOR, EAST COAST SALES Joe Maimone • MANAGER, BRAND PARTNERSHIPS Jamie Davidson • SENIOR ACCOUNT DIRECTOR Lori Copeland
DIRECTOR OF BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT Cathy Field • BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT COORDINATOR Sabrina Yaghoubzadeh
EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT Ashley Lyle • SALES COORDINATORS Mitchell Brown, Katie Pope, Andrea Rico, Kendall Stempel

ACCOUNT DIRECTOR, ASIA Ivy Lam • INTERNATIONAL ACCOUNT DIRECTOR Tommaso Campione
ACCOUNT DIRECTOR, NEW ZEALAND & AUSTRALIA Lisa Cruse

DIGITAL MEDIA
GENERAL MANAGER, VIDEO Michael Palmer
VICE PRESIDENT, PRODUCT Nathan McGowan • VICE PRESIDENT, DIGITAL REVENUE OPERATIONS Gina Perino
DIRECTOR, PRODUCT Reed Hallstrom • INTERACTIVE ART DIRECTOR Rett Alcott • SENIOR DESIGNER Andrew Elder
DESIGNER Ady Chng • EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, MUSIC STRATEGY & BRANDED CONTENT Alyssa Convertini
DIRECTOR, ADVERTISING OPERATIONS & AUDIENCE REVENUE Daniel Eberle • DIRECTOR OF PARTNERSHIPS Shira Brown
MANAGER, BRANDED CONTENT Ryan Katon • AD OPERATIONS ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR Cheryl Kampanis
SENIOR AD OPERATIONS MANAGERS Ninash Delgado, Maureen Vanterpool • AD OPERATIONS MANAGER Samantha Turpen
DIRECTOR, ACCOUNT MANAGEMENT Shameka Frank • SENIOR MANAGER, ACCOUNT MANAGEMENT Renee Giardina
SENIOR ACCOUNT MANAGER, FILM & ENTERTAINMENT Greg Johnson • DIGITAL ACCOUNT MANAGERS Sarah Seo, Casey Shulman, Mallory Somerset
ASSOCIATE ACCOUNT MANAGERS Allie Hedlund, Chelsea Sageer, Tal Zaiet • ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR, ANALYTICS Katherine Shaoul
SALES ANALYTICS SPECIALIST Lauren Kim • VIDEO ANALYTICS SPECIALIST Stephanie Kurse
EDITORIAL ANALYST Kelsey Weekman • SEO SPECIALIST Matt Albrecht • ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR, SOCIAL MEDIA Stephanie Apessos
SOCIAL MARKETING MANAGER Dervla O’Brien • QA ENGINEER Robert MacCracken

MARKETING
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, INTEGRATED MARKETING Kellie Pean
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, STRATEGY Anjali Raja • DIRECTOR, INTEGRATED MARKETING Laura Lorenz
ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR, BRAND MARKETING Erika Cespedes • DIRECTOR, TELEVISION DEVELOPMENT Joanna Zwickel
MANAGERS, STRATEGY Ross Figlerski, Jonathan Holguin
STRATEGY EXECUTION MANAGERS Briana Berg, Kwasi Boadi • MARKETING DESIGN MANAGER Kim Grasing
MARKETING COORDINATORS Steven Huizar, Sarah Lombard, Claire McMahon
BRAND MARKETING COORDINATOR Erica Daul • EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT/MARKETING COORDINATOR Matthew Baum

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, CONFERENCES & EVENTS Curtis Thompson • ASSOCIATE MANAGER, EVENT MARKETING Anush Yemenidjian

LICENSING
VICE PRESIDENT, BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT & LICENSING Andrew Min
ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR, INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS & LICENSING Anuja Maheshka • DIRECTOR, LICENSING & MARKETING Amy Steinfeldt Ulmann
MAGAZINE REPRINTS Wright’s Media (877) 652-5295, email PGM@wrightsmedia.com

OPERATIONS
GROUP FINANCE DIRECTOR David Aimone
FINANCE DIRECTOR Jerry Ruiz • HUMAN RESOURCES DIRECTOR Alexandra Aguilar • EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, GROUP PRODUCTION Kelly Jones
DEPUTY PRODUCTION DIRECTOR Mary Bradley • PRODUCTION MANAGER Maya Eslami • SENIOR DESIGNER Suzanne Rush
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, AUDIENCE DEVELOPMENT & CIRCULATION Katie Fillingame • SENIOR MANAGER, EMAIL MARKETING & CIRCULATION Meredith Kahn
PROCUREMENT MANAGER Linda Lum • IMAGING MANAGER Brian Gaughen • IMAGING SPECIALIST Michael Sullivan

HEADQUARTERS
5700 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 500 • Los Angeles, CA 90036
PHONE (323) 525-2000 • EDITORIAL EMAIL THRnews@thr.com • ADVERTISING (323) 525-2013

New York 340 Madison Ave., 6th floor, New York, N.Y. 10173
PHONE (212) 493-4200 • FAX (646) 654-5637 • NEW YORK SALES OFFICE (212) 493-4193

SUBSCRIPTIONS
U.S. (866) 525-2150 • OUTSIDE U.S. (845) 267-4192 • hollywoodreporter.com/subscribe

John Amato
PRESIDENT

Severin Andrieu-Delille Gary Bannett Stephen Blackwell Dana Miller Jim Thompson
CHIEF TECHNOLOGY CHIEF FINANCIAL CHIEF STRATEGY CHIEF MARKETING CHIEF AUDIENCE
OFFICER OFFICER OFFICER OFFICER OFFICER

Barbara Grieninger Julian Holguin Michele Singer Angela Vitacco

VICE PRESIDENT, SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, GENERAL COUNSEL VICE PRESIDENT,
FINANCE BRAND PARTNERSHIPS HUMAN RESOURCES

T H E HOL LY WO OD R EP ORT ER 8 O C T OBE R 4, 2017

TO ALL OUR TALENTED AND CREATIVE SHOWRUNNERS ON THE
2017 THR POWER SHOWRUNNERS LIST
DAVID E. KELLEY | BIG LITTLE LIES
DAVID BENIOFF AND D.B. WEISS | GAME OF THRONES ®

PRENTICE PENNY AND ISSA RAE | INSECURE ®

JAY AND MARK DUPLASS | ROOM 104

MARTI NOXON | SHARP OBJECTS
MIKE JUDGE AND ALEC BERG | SILICON VALLEY ®

DAVID MANDEL | VEEP ®

LISA JOY AND JONATHAN NOLAN | WESTWORLD

/VTL)V_6MÄJL0UJ(SSYPNO[ZYLZLY]LK/)6 ®HUKYLSH[LKJOHUULSZHUKZLY]PJLTHYRZHYL[OLWYVWLY[`VM/VTL)V_6MÄJL0UJ(SSYPNO[ZYLZLY]LK
An extraordinary year
for our scripted drama

A Kudos production for Sky Atlantic

Written and created by Rowan Joffe
A Kudos production in association with
Thriker Films for the BBC
An extraordinary year
for our scripted drama

Screen Australia and Network Ten present in association with Create NSW
a Lingo Pictures production in association with Endemol Shine Australia

Create NSW
Arts, Screen & Culture
Season 3 – A Kudos production in association with
Shine France Films for Sky Atlantic
An extraordinary year
for our scripted drama

A Caryn Mandabach Productions and Tiger Aspect

Productions for BBC Two
 TROY
FALL OF A CITY

A Wild Mercury production in association

with Kudos for BBC and Netflix
An extraordinary year
for our scripted drama

Based on the novel by Ildefonso Falcones

A Diagonal TV, Catedral del Mar Producciones A.I.E. and Televisió de Catalunya
production for Atresmedia Televisión, Televisió de Catalunya and Netflix

CATEDRAL DEL MAR

PRODUCCIONES AIE
An Endemol Shine Israel production for Reshet
An extraordinary year
for our scripted drama

A Kudos and Parti Production for BBC Two

A Kudos production in association with Wild Mercury
for Channel 4 and AMC
An extraordinary year
for our scripted drama

Season 1 – A Kudos production for Channel 4

Season 2 – A Hootenanny production in association with Kudos for Channel 4
Cave Bear Productions and Tiger Aspect Productions
for Sky 1 and NOW TV
An extraordinary year
for our scripted drama

A Bandit Television Production for Sky 1

A Tiger Aspect Drama production for ITV
An extraordinary year
for our scripted drama

A House of Tomorrow production for Netflix

A Rainmark Films Ltd production for ITV Encore
An extraordinary year
for our scripted drama

A Seven Studios Pty Ltd production for Foxtel

An Endemol Shine Banks Production
for Network Ten Australia
 ↑ Television
Premiere Week
Highs, lows and Megyn’s
NBC debacle p. 30

Film
The Re ort Behind the Headlines
IPO for STX?
A struggling studio’s new
strategy p. 32

Heat Index

Jimmy Kimmel
ABC’s late-night host
parlays emotional political
monologues into year-
over-year ratings gains for
premiere week.

Above: Concertgoers came to one another’s aid at the Route 91 Harvest music festival as bullets rained down from
the nearby Mandalay Bay (top right); country music star Aldean (right) was onstage when the attack began.

Are Music Festivals Forever

Changed by a ‘Random Act of Evil’?
Tom Cruise
His American Made opens
to a soft $16.8 million and
third place, the latest sign of
Cruise’s waning star power With 59 dead and more than 500 injured in Las Vegas, the worst mass shooting in U.S. history
after June’s The Mummy and
2016’s Jack Reacher sequel. leaves lives destroyed and the $10 billion concert industry grappling with a terrifying new reality:
‘You could not have taken any [safety] measures’ BY JASON LATHAM AND RYAN PARKER

A
n out-of-town wife TV and social media spread word moment. It’s an absolute tragedy.”
and 3-year-old daughter that Stephen Paddock, perched Adds Loba: “Do I think it will
KELLY: NATHAN CONGLETON/NBC. KELLY: ABC/RANDY HOLMES. CRUISE: DONNA WARD/WIREIMAGE. LOEB: DAVID LIVINGSTON/GETTY IMAGES. SHOOTING: ETHAN MILLER/GETTY IMAGES. HOTEL: DAVID BECKER/GETTY

forced Adam Steck to on the 32nd floor of the nearby stop artists wanting to perform?
IMAGES. ALDEAN: MINDY SMALL/FILMMAGIC. POLICE: AP PHOTO/JOHN LOCHER. SHUCK: ANNIE TRITT/COURTESY OF WARNER BROS. RECORDS. CORSON: RONALD CADIZ/COURTESY OF WARNER BROS. RECORDS.

Aaron Bay-Schuck &
Tom Corson (right)
The veteran music execs are
named co-chairmen and
COOs of Warner Music Group,
the first major move made by
WMG’s new CEO of recorded
music, Max Lousada.
Jeph Loeb
The creator of ABC’s Inhumans
— the worst-reviewed show of
the fall, according to Metacritic
— suffers an awful premiere
for a Marvel-branded series
(a 0.9 in the 18-to-49 demo).
Showbiz Stocks
$13.75 (+7%)
TIME INC. (TIME)
The publisher launches
“People Perks,” a $60 annual
subscription to People that
comes with discounts from
partners like Barnes & Noble.
$58.55 (-3%)
CBS (CBS)
“Any decline in NFL
viewership related to the
national anthem debate may
negatively affect” CBS,
writes a JPMorgan analyst.
cancel plans to attend the Route
91 Harvest music festival Oct. 1
with his cousin. No big deal,
thought the veteran Las Vegas
show producer, until his phone
lit up just after 10 p.m. “I got a
text from my company manager
at Thunder From Down Under,
and I called my cousin as he was
walking in,” recalls Steck. “I could
actually hear bullets rattling off
through his phone, people run-
ning down the street. It was just
absolute mayhem.”
His cousin escaped unharmed.
Police Steck, who also produces Boyz II
responded Men’s show at The Mirage and Mike
to the
shooting, Tyson’s Undisputed at MGM Grand,
which lasted spent the next several hours call-
about
15 minutes. ing artists, friends and family as
Mandalay Bay hotel, was firing
relentlessly with 23 rifles and
automatic weapons at the 22,000
festivalgoers enjoying a set by
country star Jason Aldean. By the
time Paddock, 64, was discovered
dead in his hotel room from a
self-inflicted gunshot, 59 people
were dead and 527 injured in the
worst mass shooting in modern
U.S. history.
The tragedy has left the close-
knit Las Vegas entertainment
community reeling, just as many
in the global live music indus-
try are questioning the future
of large-scale outdoor festivals
in major cities (like Austin City
Limits, beginning Oct. 7) or
even in remote locations (like
Coachella). “Can we stop this?”
asks Jon Loba, exec vp at BBR
Music Group, Aldean’s label. “To
the credit of most major pro-
moters, all of our management
team and our staff, they prepare
the best that they possibly could
for security threats, [but] you
can’t protect everyone at every
No. Will it stop listeners want-
ing to have that experience? No.
Especially not in this genre.”
Steck, who began his career pro-
ducing outdoor music events in
Iowa, agrees: “You could not have
taken any [safety] measures — it
was a total random act of evil.”
But where does that terrifying
fact leave the concert industry, a
$9.6 billion business in the U.S. in
2016 that is projected to grow to
$9.9 billion in 2017? The illusion
of safety at an indoor music venue
was shattered by the Paris rock
club attack of November 2016
and the May terrorist bombing
of an Ariana Grande concert in
Manchester, U.K. Now an out-
door festival was hit by a brutal
attack. What about other aspects
of live entertainment, including
sports, theme parks or even live
theater in places like New York’s
Central Park? “This is a new order
of magnitude — automatic weap-
ons,” adds Miami Beach Police
Chief Don Oates, who in 2012 led
the investigation into the Aurora,

Sept. 25-Oct. 2

T H E HOL LY WO OD R EP ORT ER 29 O C T OBE R 4, 2017

 The Report
Behind the Headlines
Colorado, movie theater shoot-
ing. “It is as if each new person
wants to be bigger and more
grandioso than the one before, so
it’s absolutely perverse.” Oates
predicts Las Vegas and other
police departments will now
adjust their tactics when securing
outdoor venues, just as adjust-
ments were made after gunman
James Holmes killed 12 people
and injured 70 during a screening
of The Dark Knight Rises. “What
buildings are in the line of sight,
within shooting distance, and
what security can be done on
those buildings prior to a con-
cert” all will have to be taken into
account, he says.
Las Vegas, home to such resi-
dent artists as Elton John, Britney
Spears and Celine Dion, has been
aggressively courting live music
acts — and specifically outdoor
festivals — in recent years. Buoyed
by the likes of Life Is Beautiful,
Rock in Rio, the iHeartMusic
Festival and top moneymaker
Electric Daisy Carnival (an EDM
event that injected $1.3 billion
into the city’s economy in 2016),
the three-day Route 91 Harvest
was considered a key expansion to
country music fans. Insiders say
locals already are talking about
how to beef up security protocols
for the city to rebound. “Now
we’re going to have to assume this
scenario is a possibility,” says Las
Vegas performer Marc Savard, who
was staging his Comedy Hypnosis
show at Planet Hollywood when
the Strip went into lockdown
Oct. 1. “You can say, ‘Oh, my God,
this happened in my backyard,’
but honestly, I’m surprised that it
hasn’t happened before.”
Las Vegas has faced tragedy and
bounced back before. The MGM
Grand and Las Vegas Hilton fires
of the early 1980s — referenced
by native Jimmy Kimmel in a gut-
wrenching ABC monologue Oct. 2
— killed hundreds and led hotels
to implement some of the nation’s
strictest fire codes. The Sept.
11, 2001, terrorist attacks forced
changes at the city’s Strip-adjacent
McCarran Airport and upgrades
to its surveillance systems. More
recently, a 2015 incident in which
a woman steered her car onto a
crowded Strip sidewalk, killing
one person and injuring 34 others,
gave Clark County commission-
ers reason to install steel posts
strong enough to stop high-speed
vehicles on sections of Las Vegas
Boulevard. Notes Savard, “If the
tourists don’t feel safe, they’re not
going to come, and we have to send
a message to the rest of the world
that it’s safe to come to Las Vegas.”
Indeed, just 24 hours after the
shooting, business largely had
returned to normal on the Strip,
though several live productions,
Steck’s included, went dark for
the evening. “[We did it] just out
of respect for what happened,” he
explains. Cirque du Soliel shows
also were canceled for the night
but resumed. Savard, deciding
the show must go on, returned
to his V Theater stage at 10 p.m.
“Everyone mourns in different
ways, and some people mourn,
maybe, by disconnecting from
reality a little bit,” he says. “I can’t
go down to a hospital and con-
tribute in the [emergency room]
because I’m not a surgeon — I can
only do what I can do.”
Adds Steck: “Look what hap-
pened in Orlando,” referencing
the 2016 Pulse Nightclub mass
shooting that killed 49. “It’s not
stopping people from going to
Orlando. I would actually predict a
massive Las Vegas benefit concert
[on the Strip]. Everybody’s going to
come here to show the world, ‘Hey,
we’re not afraid of anything.’ ”

TV Premiere Week: Megyn Stumbles, Sheldon Gets a Big Bang Boost

Feel-good programming draws big numbers (welcome back, Will & Grace!), darker dramas struggle, Hannity
beats Maddow and the NFL holds steady as it plays defense amid the Donald Trump anthem blitz BY MICHAEL O’CONNELL

KAHL: CLIFF LIPSON/CBS. KELLY: NATHAN CONGLETON/NBC. TEN: ABC/PAUL SARKIS. FOOTBALL: OTTO GREULE JR/GETTY IMAGES. WILL: CHRIS HASTON/NBC. GOOD: ABC/LIANE HENTSCHER. YOUNG: ROBERT VOETS/CBS.
ABC’s Ten Days
in the Valley
Megyn Kelly on
NBC’s Today

Great
job!

Pretty
good.
ABC’s The
Good Doctor
Not great,
Bob!
NFL on NBC’s CBS’ Young
Fox News’ primetime
Hannity Will & Grace Sheldon

P remiere week ratings for the Big Four net-

works may have dropped 16 percent from
2016, but most broadcast networks got a surprise
silver lining with the arrival of several unquestion-
ably big new series.
Put CBS’ Young Sheldon at the top of that list.
TV’s best comedy launch in six years, the Big Bang
Theory spinoff averaged 21.5 mil-
lion live-plus-3 viewers and a 5.2
rating among adults 18-to-49 from
its Sept. 25 preview sampling. “We
Kahl did a very effective job of reaching
the Big Bang audience,” says CBS
Entertainment president Kelly Kahl, looking ahead
to Sheldon’s official Nov. 2 premiere.
Military drama SEAL Team also gave CBS a
strong first outing, while ABC’s The Good Doctor
and NBC’s Will & Grace reboot fared especially
well — a fact that Kahl and other insiders credit
to “feel good” programming (a la NBC’s This Is
Us) resonating with viewers. That trend also could
help explain the failure of ABC’s Ten Days in the
Valley, a dark mystery starring Kyra Sedgwick,
which limped on to the schedule. (Sedgwick proph-
esied her lack of viewers in an interview, calling out
the network for not promoting it.)
Premiere week’s most humbling moment,
however, wasn’t even in primetime. Megyn Kelly,
taking a stab a “feel good” herself in Today’s third
hour, saw her daytime foray plagued by on-air
flubs, harsh reviews and a 21 percent ratings
deficit behind competitor Kelly & Ryan. Former
Fox News colleague Sean Hannity, on the other
hand, bested MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow during
their first-week head-to-head at 9 p.m.
But as President Donald Trump tweets, so
goes the conversation. And the NFL again is
playing defense, with ratings for many primetime
matchups down, a fact the president blames on
player protests during the national anthem —
though NFL ratings, overall, are on par with 2016.
“The degradation of the ratings appears to have
stopped,” says Marc Ganis of marketing firm
Sportscorp, “but we’re not seeing them rebound
to where they were two years ago.”

T H E HOL LY WO OD R EP ORT ER 30 O C T OBE R 4, 2017

F X N E T W O R K S C O N G R AT U L AT E S O U R

FEARLESS SHOWRUNNERS
JOEL FIELDS & JOE WEISBERG DONALD GLOVER NOAH HAWLEY

NOAH HAWLEY ONE TO WATCH: DAVE ANDRON RYAN MURPHY & BRAD FALCHUK
 The Report

Behind the Headlines

Launched in 2014, STX, which

would not comment to THR for
this article, is said to be target-
ing the Hong Kong exchange to be
closer to its many local finan-
cial partners, which, along with
Hony, include tech giant Tencent
and Hong Kong telecom com-
pany PCCW, both of which took Left: Simonds. Above: STX’s The Foreigner,
minority positions in the studio starring Chan (left) and Brosnan, made
$22 million in China in its opening weekend.
in 2016. But financial insiders say
the Los Angeles-based studio’s But two years on, only one film —
unconventional choice of Hong STX’s 14th and most recent title,
Kong is likely a matter of necessity the action thriller The Foreigner,
as much as preference. “The stock starring Jackie Chan and Pierce
exchanges in New York and main- Brosnan — has obtained a release

Why a Hong Kong IPO land China require that a company

has cleared certain benchmarks
in China, opening to $22 million
in the Middle Kingdom (a U.S.

Adds Up for STX for profitability and growth over

a sustained period,” says one
China-based financial executive.
release is set for Oct. 13).
Many analysts are optimistic
about the company’s forthcom-
Bob Simonds’ decision to take his struggling studio public in
Given the studio’s patchy track ing slate, which includes Aaron
the pre-eminent Asia exchange strikes some as desperate,
record and relentless expansion, Sorkin’s potential awards con-
but others see an opportunity to strengthen ties with China
it’s unclear whether STX currently tender Molly’s Game and a raft of
BY PATRICK BRZESKI
could clear these hurdles. female-led comedies including

W
ith China clamping
down on capital flow
into Hollywood —
and box-office disappointments
piling up — Bob Simonds’ STX
Entertainment Studio is look-
ing to an unconventional IPO in
Hong Kong to stay liquid.
On Sept. 27, The Wall Street
Journal reported that STX is plan-
ning to raise around $500 million
in an initial public offering on
the Hong Kong stock exchange
in the first quarter of 2018, with
a valuation pegged at around
$3.5 billion.
Insiders say it’s about time that
the studio’s early private-equity
investors, which include TPG
Capital and China’s Hony Capital,
would be pushing for an exit.
And with Bad Moms ($184 million
worldwide) the sole blockbuster
among the studio’s 14 releases to
date, fundraising can be expected
to be a concern for the company.
By contrast, STX’s unique-
ness in the Hong Kong market
— as a Hollywood entertainment
company endorsed by some of the
region’s biggest names — should
indeed deliver a higher valuation
than could be achieved elsewhere.
The studio became a trailblazer
in the Chinese market in 2015,
when it signed a landmark,
three-year slate financing deal
with influential Beijing-based
studio Huayi Brothers Media.
a Bad Moms sequel and I Feel Pretty
with Amy Schumer. None of those
titles look particularly China-
friendly, however.
“It’s possible that the company
intends to better leverage its pow-
erful lineup of Chinese partners
— which it has always said is part
of the strategy,” says Stan Rosen,
a professor at USC who special-
izes in the Chinese entertainment
industry. “But we have not seen
these plans yet.”

SIMONDS: GARY GERSHOFF/WIREIMAGE. FOREIGNER: CHRISTOPHER RAPHAEL/STX ENTERTAINMENT. ROSE: @AMBERROSE/INSTAGRAM.

Feds Put Social Media ‘Influencers’ on Notice
The FTC demands stars reveal sponsorship deals when peddling products online

S tars who endorse brands on social media are on high

alert following a series of warning shots fired by the
FTC, and experts say it’s only a matter of time before the
Feds take action against a well-known personality to get
the rest of the industry’s attention.
Influencers earn their name by doing just that: influ-
encing their millions of followers online. The agency is
cracking down on common Instagram post practices
like burying sponsorship disclosures in a string of
hashtags, saying only “thanks to” a company in a post
or merely tagging the brand. “A big part of the influ-
encer economy, which has been booming, is based on
posts that likely violate the endorsement guidelines,”
says attorney Jesse Saivar, who reps both companies
and influencers. To avoid trouble, endorsers need to say
— where it’s easy to see — that they were paid to post or
given a product for free. Using “#Ad” can be enough.
The FTC in April sent 90 warning letters to individuals
and brands, including actress Ashley Benson, singer Ciara
and model Amber Rose. In September, it asked 21 of those
influencers to disclose any “material connection” with the
endorsed company and, if one exists, detail how they plan
to ensure fans understand that relationship.
“Celebrities are now in the crosshairs,” says top
advertising lawyer Jeffrey Greenbaum. “It’s a big red
flag to talent and their representatives that they
need to make sure these posts are being managed
properly.” — ASHLEY CULLINS

T H E HOL LY WO OD R EP ORT ER 32 O C T OBE R 4, 2017

 Warner Bros. Television Group
proudly congratulates our honorees for

The Hollywood Reporter ’s Power Showrunners and

Ones to Watch of 2017

Power Showrunners
Greg Berlanti
Ava DuVernay
Lisa Joy & Jonathan Nolan
I. Marlene King
Chuck Lorre
John Wells

One to Watch
Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa
and we salute all of our talented showrunners
 The Report

Behind the Headlines

Simpson
signed
Box Office Broadcast TV Cable TV his release
papers
Domestic International 18-49 Audience Viewership Oct. 1.
Gross Cume % Chg Gross Cume Total Live+3 Live+3 Live+3

1. Kingsman: The Golden Circle FOX

16.9 66.6(2) -57 50.6*81 126.3 192.9
1. Sunday Night Football NBC
6.3 17.6M
1. The Sinner USA
4.7M
Broadcasters
The sequel narrowly won a tight three-way race
in North America while debuting to $16.1 million 2. Football Night in America 3 NBC
The No. 1 cable launch of 2017 goes
out on a high note after averaging
Balk at Paying
in South Korea — Fox’s biggest opening of all
time there after local film The Wailing.
3.8 10.6M 3.8 million viewers for eight episodes.
The miniseries now seems likely to O.J. to Talk
3. America’s Got Talent 1 NBC be renewed as an anthology.
3.6 16.8M After nine years in jail,
4. America’s Got Talent 2 NBC Simpson seeks seven figures,
3.3 17.3M but traditional media
5. 60 Minutes CBS won’t bite BY MARISA GUTHRIE
2.8 15.2M Associates of O.J. Simpson have
6. Big Brother CBS been shopping his first post-prison
2.6 7.8M interview for weeks, numerous
2. It WARNER BROS.
16.9 290.8(4) -43 37.6*64 264.8 555.6 7. Dancing With the Stars ABC 2. American Horror Story: Cult FX sources tell THR. But the erstwhile
It powered the biggest September in history 2.0 12.2M 4.6M NFL great, who was released from
at the North American box office, with revenue
reaching $709 million, nearly 15 percent 8. The Good Place NBC 3. Fear the Walking Dead AMC Lovelock Correctional Center
ahead of the previous record ($618 million). 2.0 7.0M 3.0M
Before settling into its new Thursday
in Nevada a little after midnight on
time slot, a special Sept. 20 premiere 4. The Last Ship TNT Oct. 1, so far has no takers.
of the Ted Danson comedy scores the 2.6M “It is treacherous,” says one TV
week’s top growth — seven-tenths
of a ratings point, a 54 percent jump. 5. Chesapeake Shores HALLMARK news veteran. Not with a “10-foot
2.5M pole,” says another.
6. Greenleaf OWN In part that’s because those rep-
2.4M resenting themselves as his
7. If Loving You Is Wrong OWN associates — and there are many
3. American Made UNIVERSAL 2.3M
16.8 16.8(1) N/A 3.9*59 64.8 81.6 of them — are asking for a seven-
8. South Park COMEDY CENTRAL figure payout for an interview with
4. The Lego Ninjago Movie WARNER BROS. 2.3M
11.6 35.2(2) -43 10.7*56 22.9 58.1 Simpson, who was acquitted in
9. Outlander STARZ the 1994 murders of Nicole Brown
5. Flatliners SONY The Orville FOX 2.2M
6.6 6.6(1) N/A 3.1*21 3.1 9.7
9. and Ron Goldman but ended up
1.8 6.3M 10. Ray Donovan SHOWTIME serving nine years for a botched

SIMPSON: BROOKE KEAST/NEVADA DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS VIA AP. GOOD: COLLEEN HAYES/NBC. WORLD: COURTESY OF ABC. SINNER: PETER KRAMER/USA NETWORK. FLATLINERS: MICHAEL
6. Battle of the Sexes FOX SEARCHLIGHT 10. American Ninja Warrior NBC 1.9M
3.4 4.1(2) +563 N/A N/A 4.1 2007 robbery in Las Vegas. Sources
1.7 6.7M at ABC, CBS and NBC all stress
7. American Assassin LIONSGATE/CBS FILMS
One to Watch

GIBSON/SONY PICTURES ENTERTAINMENT. VICTORIA: PETER MOUNTAIN/FOCUS FEATURES. IT: BROOKE PALMER/WARNER BROS. KINGSMAN: COURTESY OF TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX.
11. MasterChef 1 FOX that they will not pay for a Simpson
3.3 31.9(3) -47 3.4*63 17.4 49.3 1.6 5.3M interview, which would violate
8. Home Again OPEN ROAD Football Night in America 2 NBC
1.7 25.1(4) -47 870K*8 4.1 29.2
12. news division standards. Multiple
1.5 4.8M large cable TV groups, including
9. Til Death Do Us Part NOVUS Gotham FOX
1.5 1.5(1) N/A N/A N/A 1.5
13. A+E Networks and Discovery, also
1.5 4.5M have passed.
10. mother! PARAMOUNT
14. Saturday Night Football ABC World News Tonight ABC But the ethical thicket for media
1.4 16.3(3) -56 4*39 18.5 34.8 1.4 5.3M For the first time in the 21 years since companies goes beyond paying
11. Victoria & Abdul FOCUS FEATURES MasterChef 2 FOX
Peter Jennings was at the anchor
1.1 1.3(2) +588 3.8*28 19.3 20.6
15. desk, ABC’s evening news (with David Simpson, 70. The optics of even giv-
1.4 4.9M Muir) is the season’s most watched.
ing him a platform are likely to be
Stephen Frears’ awards contender, expanding
into a total of 77 cinemas, scored the best
screen average of the weekend for any film controversial. If an interview aired as
playing in more than one theater, at $14,184. part of the lineup on a news program
Closer like Today or 48 Hours, it would not
Look Flatliners DOA Among Remakes
automatically lead to an advertiser
A $6.6M debut is no match for horror reboots
exodus. But, says one media buyer,
Halloween Fright Night “if any anti-O.J. sentiment starts,
1978 $178.6M 1985 $62.4M
I could see people pulling away.”
2007 $75.3M 2011 $20.5M
Similarly, a Simpson special would
A Carrie likely be a nonstarter for advertisers.
A Question of Faith PURE FLIX Nightmare 1976 $141.2M
12.
on Elm 2013 $40M “From a news perspective, it’s prob-
1.0 1.0(1) N/A N/A N/A 1.0 Street ably a get,” notes media consultant
Stronger ROADSIDE ATTRACTIONS 1984 $64.9M Poltergeist
13.
Ellen Page couldn’t bring 1982 $231.6M Bill Carroll. “From an advertiser’s
923K 3.2(2) -43 N/A N/A 3.2 Flatliners back to life.
2010 $63.1M
2015 $47.4M perspective, it’s something that
14. Friend Request ENTERTAINMENT STUDIOS most, if not all, advertisers would
728K 3.4(2) -64 N/A N/A 3.4 Source: Box Office Mojo; domestic box office adjusted for inflation.
stay away from.”
15. The Hitman’s Bodyguard LIONSGATE
679K 74.6(7) -58 1.4*27 97.6 172.2 Box-office source: comScore; estimates in $ millions; ( )Weekends in release; *Territories. Broadcast source: Nielsen, live-plus-3, week of Sept. 18. Cable TV source: Nielsen, live-plus-3 scripted series, week of Sept. 18.

T H E HOL LY WO OD R EP ORT ER 34 O C T OBE R 4, 2017

 Congrats to
Mr. Kelley
from
Mr. Mercedes.
You’re killing it.
AT&T AUDIENCE® Network proudly congratulates
David E. Kelley,
recognized as one of The Hollywood Reporter’s
Power Showrunners of 2017.
 The Report

7 Days of DEALS
Who’s inking on the dotted line this week

W H Y NBCU IS MOV ING HITS TO HU LU:

‘THEY DON’T FEEL THEY NEED NETFLIX’
In a landscape where networks such as CBS, HBO
Deal and Showtime are hoarding their libraries to launch
of the their own over-the-top services, NBCUniversal
Week seems to be taking the opposite approach.
The Comcast-owned company has been steadily
moving its shows to Hulu, inking a massive SVOD
deal Sept. 27 to transplant 30 Rock and Parenthood
from their longtime home at Netflix. The pact comes
a week after Hulu became the exclusive streaming
destination of the original eight seasons of Will &
Grace, and four months after the two companies
struck a record-breaking deal in May for last season’s
breakout drama This Is Us (which is produced by 20th
Century Fox TV).
As part of the latest agreement, Hulu also
will pick up competition series Face Off, from
NBCU-owned cable network Syfy; U.K. reality show
Made in Chelsea; and Paul Reiser ’s new comedy
↓ Universal There’s … Johnny, which was originally set to pre-
TV’s 30 Rock miere Aug. 24 on Seeso, the NBCU-owned comedy
(below)
moved to streaming platform that the company announced
Hulu on Aug. 9 would shutter by the end of the year. Johnny’s
Oct. 1; debut on Hulu keeps it somewhat in the family,
Parenthood
will follow given that NBCU owns a 30 percent stake in the
in 2018. streamer (alongside Disney-ABC Television Group
Byron Allen Plots an Oscar Run for Hostiles
and Fox Entertainment Group as well as Turner,
which has a 10 percent stake).
“The [Sept. 27] deal makes sense for NBCUniversal
given its equity stake in Hulu and its recent deci-
sion to pull the plug on its own SVOD service,”
eMarketer principal analyst Paul Verna tells THR. “It
makes sense also for Hulu because it’s still playing
catchup to Netflix and Amazon when it comes to
exclusive content.”
But why shift the libraries now, when Hulu has
been around for a decade? “The streaming ecosys-
tem is well enough established that networks don’t
feel they need Netflix to the extent they used to, Williams
so more of them are venturing off on their own,”
says Verna. “The dynamic is similar to the tensions
between music labels and Apple over the latter’s
iTunes store years ago, but TV and film content
owners now have more alternatives than their music
counterparts did.”
Hulu also is riding a high from beating Netflix
and Amazon to become the first streamer to win
an Emmy for best drama series, for The Handmaid’s
Tale. The Margaret Atwood adaptation, along with
the launch of an HBO add-on and the addition
of 7,500 episodes from HGTV, A&E, Fox and other
licensing partners, boosted Hulu’s average daily
subscriptions 98 percent since March. “Our goal is
for Hulu to be home to your favorite show, whether
it’s still on the air now or one you watched growing
FILM
up,” says Hulu vp content acquisitions Lisa Holme.
Michelle Williams (WME,
But Verna counters that the company will have to
Brillstein, Bloom Hergott)
come up with more hits to accompany Handmaid’s
is in talks to join Tom Hardy
Tale if it truly wants to pull closer to the market
in Sony’s Venom.
leaders: “Deals for exclusive content, such as the one
between NBC and Hulu, increase the competitive
Paramount has picked
pressure, but the real determining factor in who
up the movie rights to
wins comes down to original content, not licenses
the Sonic the Hedgehog
for what amount to reruns.” — REBECCA SUN
video game franchise
after Sony put its project
in turnaround.

With its $50 million bud-
get, Hostiles was the
Big
Deal most expensive movie at
the Toronto film festival
market, a big factor in the
violent drama’s failure to
sell by TIFF’s Sept. 17 close.
But Scott Cooper’s Western
also was one of the best
Allen reviewed, which is why, with
awards season glory in mind,
Byron Allen has beaten out such suitors
as Fox Searchlight, Annapurna and Netflix
to nab it for his Entertainment Studios.
The courtship began at the festival,
followed by a Sept. 22 screening for Allen at
CAA, which negotiated the deal with WME.
The aggressive upstart will give Hostiles an
Oscar-qualifying release in December,
followed by an expanded rollout in January.
Set in 1892, Hostiles stars Christian
Bale as an Army captain who reluctantly
escorts a dying Cheyenne war chief (Wes
Studi) and his family back home to tribal
lands. Making the perilous journey from
New Mexico to Montana, the former rivals
encounter a widow (Rosamund Pike)
whose family was murdered on the plains.
Together, they must overcome the punish-
ing landscape, hostile Comanche and
vicious outliers encountered along the way.
Cooper, who previously directed Bale
in 2013’s Out of the Furnace, rewrote the
Hostiles script first penned by the late
Donald Stewart (who won an Oscar for co-
writing 1982’s Missing) and produced the
film along with Ken Kao and Oscar-winning
Birdman producer John Lesher.
ROCK: NBC/PHOTOFEST. HOSTILES: COURTESY OF TIFF. WILLIAMS: VENTURELLI/WIREIMAGE. ALLEN: JEFFREY MAYER/WIREIMAGE.
Hostiles marks the third acquisition for Black-ish creator Kenya
Entertainment Studios out of the Toronto Barris (CAA, Principato
market. The 47 Meters Down distributor Young, Morris Yorn) will
also nabbed the Jason Clarke starrer write Coming to America 2
Chappaquiddick, which will get an Oscar- for Paramount with Warm
qualifying release in December, as well Bodies director Jonathan
as Keanu Reeves-led sci-fi pic Replicas. Levine set to helm.
— TATIANA SIEGEL
The Mindy Project’s
Ike Barinholtz (UTA,
Principato Young, Morris
Yorn) will star in and make
his feature directorial
Bale stars debut with thriller The Oath
in Hostiles,
which for QC Entertainment.
premiered at
Telluride on Lucifer showrunner Joe
Sept. 2 before
screening Henderson (CAA, Hirsch
at Toronto. Wallerstein) will pen

T H E HOL LY WO OD R EP ORT ER 36 O C T OBE R 4, 2017

 The Report

Deals

$
20.3M
Big
James Murdoch’s annual
compensation in his first fiscal year
Number as 21st Century Fox CEO, falling
$6.1 million from the prior term.

Rees Villeneuve Mitchell Redd

Richie
Lionsgate’s reboot of the
1986 kids sci-fi adventure
film Flight of the Navigator.
Phil Lord and Chris Miller
(UTA, Ziffren Brittenham)
will direct the adaptation
of The Martian writer Andy
Weir’s upcoming book
Artemis for Fox.
Iron Man writers Matt
Holloway and Art Marcum
(CAA, Grandview, Mark D.
new shows to its daytime
Beyonce (Corcoran) has
lineup: Outnumbered with
Hot sold a condo in Manhattan’s Rep
Sandra Smith and The Daily
Lot Midtown East for $9.95 million. Sheet
Briefing With Dana Perino.
The 44th-floor corner unit
at One Beacon Court covers
Dylan Baker (Innovative,
2,669 square feet, with three bedrooms, a chef’s New Girl’s Lamorne
Viking) is joining
kitchen and floor-to-ceilings windows. The sale Morris has left Gersh
the seventh season of
comes a week after the singer and her husband, for UTA .
Showtime’s Homeland.
Jay Z, paid $26 million for an East Hamptons home
and a month after they picked up a 30,000-square- Bobby Moynihan has
DIGITAL
foot Bel Air estate for $88 million. signed with 42West.
Jon Hamm (CAA,
Forward, Sloane Offer) is
The Mermaid co-writer
adaptation of Japan’s Your Shire) will star in Liars Miguel Sapochnik joining Amazon and BBC
Lu Zhengyu has signed
Name for Paramount and creator I. Marlene King’s (WME, the U.K.’s Casarotto Studios’ Neil Gaiman and
with WME, as have The
J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot. soap adaptation of Sara Ramsay, Sloane Offer) Terry Pratchett adaptation
Defiant Ones co-writer
Shepard’s The Heiresses and David Nutter (WME, Good Omens.
Doug Pray and Beast
Dee Rees (WME, Frankfurt for ABC. Jackoway Tyerman) will
helmer Michael Pearce.
Kurnit) will direct an direct episodes of Game Danny Glover (ICM,
adaptation of Joan Didion’s Lionel Richie (CAA) will of Thrones along with Principal) has joined
Kodachrome cinema-
political thriller The Last join Katy Perry and Luke creators David Benioff and Hulu’s horror comedy
tographer Alan Poon
Thing He Wanted for The Bryan as a judge for ABC’s D.B. Weiss. adaptation Locke & Key.
has signed with Gersh .
Fyzz Facility. American Idol reboot.
Meghan Trainor (CAA) Marlon Wayans (UTA,
Ballers staff writer
Kathy Bates (ICM), Justin 30 Minutes or Less will exec produce and 3 Arts, Morris Yorn)
Chloe Domont has signed
Theroux (CAA, Lighthouse, scribe Michael Diliberti provide original music for has set a stand-up special
with Verve.
Felker Toczek) and (UTA, Morris Yorn) will ABC’s girl group drama with Netflix.

BOOK: COURTESY OF SIMON & SCHUSTER. RICHIE: NICHOLAS HUNT/GETTY IMAGES FRAGRANCE FOUNDATION. REES: MATT WINKELMEYER/GETTY IMAGES FOR SUNDANCE. VILLENEUVE: KARWAI TANG/
Bisgeier) are writing a Men Sam Waterston (Gersh, pen The Nice Girls, Broken Record. THEATER

in Black spinoff for Sony.
Denis Villeneuve (CAA,
Canada’s Claude Girard)
is in talks to helm
Sony’s long-delayed
Cleopatra movie.
Jude Law (WME, the
U.K.’s Julian Belfrage,
Jackoway Tyerman)
is in talks to join Blake
Lively in the spy thriller
The Rhythm Section.
Arrival writer Eric
Heisserer (WME, Art/
Work, Jackoway Tyerman)
will pen a live-action
Industry) will join Felicity
Jones in Participant’s On
the Basis of Sex.
Bleecker Street has picked
up the Rachel McAdams
and Rachel Weisz starrer
Disobedience for the U.S.
TELEVISION
Jerrod Carmichael (UTA,
Ziffren Brittenham) has
inked a two-year overall
deal with 20th Century
Fox Television.
Pretty Little Liars grad
Shay Mitchell (APA,
David Dean, Grubman
Fox’s female-led reboot
of The Nice Guys.
Chris Redd (ICM,
Principato Young, Schreck
Rose), Heidi Gardner
(TalentWorks, Odenkirk
Provisio) and Luke Null
(UTA) have joined the 43rd
season of Saturday Night
Live as featured players.
Friday Night Lights
producers Patrick
Massett and John Zinman
(WME, Industry, Hansen
Jacobson) have inked an
overall deal with Skydance
Television.
Designated Survivor actress
Diablo Cody (WME, Natascha McElhone
MXN, McKuin Frankel) (Paradigm, U.K.’s Artists
has sold an hourlong Partnership, Myman
drama about an ex-cop, Greenspan) will star oppo-
titled Two Nights, to Fox. site Sean Penn in Beau
Willimon’s Hulu space
NBC has set animated drama The First.
Halloween special
The David S. Pumpkins Hulu has picked up the
Halloween Special based U.S. SVOD rights to ABC’s
on the popular Tom Hanks TGIF block, including
SNL sketch. Boy Meets World and
Home Improvement.
NBC has renewed freshman
comedy Marlon. … CBS has Netflix has picked up
handed out a full season off-network stream-
order to Young Sheldon. … ing rights to CBS drama
Fox News has added two Madam Secretary.
WIREIMAGE. MITCHELL: JAMIE MCCARTHY/ GETTY IMAGES FOR REFINERY29. REDD: GARY GERSHOFF/WIREIMAGE. APARTMENT: ISLA HARVEY/SPLASH NEWS. MORRIS: JOHN SHEARER/WIREIMAGE.
Jason Mraz (Paradigm,
Goldring Hertz) has signed
up for a 10-week run in the
Broadway musical Waitress.
AGENCIES
CAA is spinning off its
entertainment marketing
division into a yet-to-
be-named company
owned by private equity
fund Stagwell Media.
REAL ESTATE
Netflix content chief
Ted Sarandos has
picked up a Malibu
home along the Encinal
Bluffs for $20 million.

Rights Available! Hot new books with Hollywood appeal BY ANDY LEWIS AND TATIANA SIEGEL

The Cuban Affair (SIMON & SCHUSTER, SEPT. 19)
BY Nelson DeMille AGENCY ICM Partners
Set in Key West and Havana, the novelist’s latest debuted at
No. 1 on The New York Times and USA Today best-seller lists. Fidel
Castro’s death in November 2016 hasn’t dampened this thriller
about $60 million hidden in Cuba before the revolution.
Uncommon Type (KNOPF, OCT. 17)
BY Tom Hanks AGENCY CAA
The two-time Oscar winner’s first collection of short fiction has
all the charm and wit one expects from the beloved actor and
typewriter enthusiast, plus well-drawn, interesting characters.
The book has shown up on every fall “must read” list.

T H E HOL LY WO OD R EP ORT ER 38 O C T OBE R 4, 2017

 WE PROUDLY CELEBRATE OUR SHOWRUNNERS
FOR THEIR CREATIVE VISION AND INFLUENTIAL WORK.

©2017 CBS Corporation

© UNIVERSAL STUDIOS
 About Town People, Places, Preoccupations

N E X T BIG T HIN G “My life and career

have been a big
improvisation,” says

Ana de Armas
de Armas, who was
photographed Sept. 21
at Corinthia Hotel
in London. “I am not a
The Cuban actress raises her game in person who plans
things in advance.”
Denis Villeneuve’s Blade Runner 2049
By Rebecca Ford Styling by Leith Clark
Vivetta dress

B
lade Runner 2049, the sequel to
Ridley Scott’s iconic 1982 sci-fi epic,
has been a top-secret endeavor since
the beginning. In fact, when Ana
de Armas first read for the role of Joi, the Cuban
actress wasn’t given the film’s script but rather
a scene from the 2014 sci-fi flick Ex Machina.
And two weeks ahead of Blade Runner’s Oct. 6
opening (via Warner Bros.), de Armas still
won’t reveal much about her character: “She is
anything you want her to be.”
What is known is that Joi is LAPD Officer
K’s (Ryan Gosling) love interest in the film,
helmed by Arrival director Denis Villeneuve
(and produced by Scott). It’s also de Armas’
most high-profile role yet, following turns in
the horror film Knock Knock with Keanu
Reeves, the boxing drama Hands of Stone and
Todd Phillips’ War Dogs. “The sets were incred-
ible. You would walk in at 6 in the morning,
and we were really living in Blade Runner,” she
says of the $150 million-plus project, which
shot for five months in Budapest. “[Denis] was
determined to make it feel as real as possible.
He wanted the actors to focus on each other’s
eyes, not tennis balls.”
Raised in Havana, de Armas studied at the
National Theater School of Cuba before moving
at 18 to Spain, where she starred in several
TV series. She speaks English confidently now,
but she didn’t learn it until she made the move
to L.A. in 2014: “I don’t like feeling stuck,
like I’m not going anywhere. I wanted more.”
HAIR BY JON CHAPMAN AT CAROL HAYES MANAGEMENT, MAKEUP BY MARY WILES AT THE WALL GROUP.

She visits Havana when

she can (her parents still
live there) and hopes VITAL STATS
to return more often, even
AGE 29
as her Hollywood career
BORN Havana
blooms (next up: action BIG BREAK
thriller Three Seconds with 2015 horror film
Rosamund Pike). “I want Knock Knock
to be there more because REPS
CAA, Impression
there’s a lot happening,
Entertainment, Kuranda
and Cuba is changing,” she Management (Spain)
says. “It’s my roots. It’s
my home.”

Photographed by Nicole Nodland

41
 About Town

People, Places,
Preoccupations

GUEST COLUMN
A TRANS WRITER
BRINGING LGBTQ+
The Anti-Cops Cop Show TRUTH TO KIDS TV
By Shadi Petosky
Dan Abrams’ real-time A&E police docuseries Live PD has earned soaring
ratings for its ‘transparency’ amid Black Lives Matter By Kate Stanhope

I was distrustful of the sparkly

No one was clamoring for another
Cops. But in October 2016, three
Q&A
years into the Black Lives Matter
movement, A&E’s promise of
“transparency” and “clarity” with Live PD,
which follows police from across the country
in real time, resonated. The docuseries’ dis-
turbing, sometimes dull but always authentic
look at law enforcement (three-hour episodes
air twice weekly) has scored, with ratings
surging 136 percent since its debut, hitting
2.5 million viewers in July; the network has
ordered 300 more hours. “I don’t know that
we expected it would be quite this successful,”
says host Dan Abrams, who spoke with THR
ahead of the second cycle’s Oct. 6 premiere.
Why has Live PD resonated with audiences?
With Cops, you’re taping the greatest moments
eyes on the kids show story
editor. He couldn’t wait to get
↑ Host Abrams (left) guides the audience between feeds from into the writers room and talk about
six cities per episode and interviews experts about the action.
our childhoods. “The best is when we
what police deal with on a more regular basis. get into the stories of our past; it’s
It’s the equivalent of a ride-along. A crude like therapy. Fun!” I was sure I’d be
example is that a couple of times someone the transgender fun killer in the room.
who’s been detained or arrested has decided He’d beam about the
to urinate in the police car, and you know time he found 50 frogs
who ends up cleaning it? The police officer. and named them all! I’d
tell the adorable story
What role has social media played? of being captured in Petosky
[People on social media] have actually helped the woods, my seventh-
with information. There have been times grade classmates holding saw blades
when we haven’t seen something, the officers over me: “Keep perfectly still or we
didn’t see something, but people watching on cut you.” Nostalgia isn’t always easy
↓ Danger &
TV have a different angle. They see someone Eggs for me or many of my LGBTQ+ peers.
has thrown drugs out and they tweet about it. co-creator Kids animation thrives on nostal-
Petosky
The police department then sees the tweets is the only gia — I learned that working on Yo
and goes back and finds the drugs. out trans Gabba Gabba! But when my show,
showrunner
Danger & Eggs, got the series

LIVE: COURTESY OF A&E (2). PETOSKY: TODD WILLIAMSON/GETTY IMAGES FOR AMAZON STUDIOS. DANGER: COURTESY OF AMAZON STUDIOS. ROCK: SHAREIF ZIYADAT/GETTY IMAGES. THEDE: BENNETT RAGLIN/GETTY IMAGES.
in animation.
and creating a highlight reel. You know how How has the show impacted the conversation
it’s going to end, to some degree. There’s around police brutality and Black Lives Matter? Oct. 11 is
going to be some wild moment and a person’s Live PD is an extension, to some degree, of National
Coming Out
going to get arrested. What we’re showing body cameras. There’s an argument to be Day
is real, real. It gives people a better sense of made that the public has a right to see how the
people that they’re paying to engage and lead
Live PD’s
brief tape law enforcement are doing their jobs. You have
delay allows people who love law enforcement who are
editing
of sensitive watching [the show] in one way, and people
content who distrust law enforcement potentially
such as
domestic watching it in another way. But I think that’s
incidents
that involve
all a good thing. If body cameras and our cam- order from Amazon, I asked our
children. eras lead to better policing, that’s great. writers to take a different path, to
treat the writing more like specula-
tive social fiction. I didn’t realize that
writing about LGBTQ+ kids (our show
includes trans youth, gay dads and
other queer characters) and their
‘WE DON’T HAVE TO TALK TRUMP 24/7’ freedoms of tomorrow would begin to
heal my own traumatic childhood.
Presidential tantrums have provided copious fodder (and We even did a Pride episode in the
Late ratings gold) for late-night hosts from CBS’ Stephen Colbert show’s Midwestern-style city, with
Night
to Comedy Central’s Trevor Noah. But BET’s weekly The rainbow flags and the whole thing.
Rundown With Robin Thede, premiering Oct. 12, won’t rely so heavily on Amazon didn’t blink an eye at doing
POTUS. “Black people have been through way worse than Trump,” a story about this real thing that
says Thede (who declines to reveal her age). “So I don’t need real people really do (kids are way
to be so alarmist as other people.” Not that she plans to into rainbows, BTW), and I’ve seen
pull punches with Trump. Her Chris Rock-produced show incredible responses: “I wish I had
— “we want it to feel like a news party” — targets a black something like this when I was a kid.
audience but welcomes anyone who’s “woke,” she adds. “It’s My life would be …” Different. Better.
going to be funny as fuck.” — LESLEY GOLDBERG Rock What I and my LGBTQ+ peers want
isn’t so odd — just some sparkly-
← “I don’t want people to tune in just because I’m a black woman,” says Thede. eyed nostalgia of our own.

T H E HOL LY WO OD R EP ORT ER 42 O C T OBE R 4, 2017

 About Town

Yes, I Did Say That! Quotes

A look at who’s saying what in entertainment

Compiled by Seth Abramovitch

“I just started
crying. In front of
everyone. I
couldn’t believe it.
“Thanks for your I was in shock,
VOTE of confidence!” and I stayed in shock
for a long time.”
OPRAH WINFREY
The media mogul and new 60 Minutes DARRELL HAMMOND
correspondent, retweeting an article that dubs The former Saturday Night
her “Democrats’ best hope for 2020.” Live castmember, telling
The Washington Post about his
reaction to learning that Alec
Baldwin would be stepping in as
Donald Trump, whom Hammond
had played since the mid-1990s.

“Why lionize
Hugh Hefner, a pig, “I called up the
a pornographer “You’re going producers and said,
& a predator too? I straight to hell.” ‘Why don’t we
once went to the LIN-MANUEL MIRANDA see if we can get …
‘mansion’ in ’68 and
The Hamilton creator, responding
on Twitter after President Trump um … uh … Ryan?
got the clap walking tweeted that the mayor of Hurricane Ryan Gosling.’ ”
Maria-ravaged San Juan showed
thru the door.” “poor leadership” and that the people
HARRISON FORD
The actor, momentarily forgetting the
BETTE MIDLER of Puerto Rico “want everything name of his Blade Runner 2049
The actress, tweeting her to be done for them.” co-star during an appearance on
thoughts on the Sept. 27 death The Graham Norton Show.
of the Playboy founder.

WINFREY: ALBERTO E. RODRIGUEZ/GETTY IMAGES. MIRANDA: SHANNON FINNEY/GETTY IMAGES. ZUCKERBERG: JEFF CHIU/AP PHOTO. CARTER: PAUL MORIGI/WIREIMAGE. KELLY: NATHAN CONGLETON/NBC.
“For the ways
my work was used “It seems altogether “To James Cameron
to divide people natural because we -STOP dissing
rather than bring have one very WW: You poor soul.
us together, I ask important thing in Perhaps you
forgiveness common — we were do not understand
and I will work both born and the character.”
to do better.” raised in Brooklyn.” LYNDA CARTER
TV’s Wonder Woman, blasting the
MARK ZUCKERBERG RUTH BADER GINSBURG director on Facebook for his
The Facebook founder, in a The Supreme Court justice, telling continued criticisms of the superhero
Yom Kippur post seeking to atone Charlie Rose that she’s aware in a THR story. “Your thuggish jabs
for the ways fake news on his her “Notorious R.B.G.” nickname is an at a brilliant director, Patty Jenkins,
platform may have played a role homage to rapper Notorious B.I.G. are ill advised,” Carter added.
in the 2016 election.

MEGYN Megyn Kelly Today had a bumpy debut. Guest Jane

Fonda called Megyn Kelly’s plastic surgery questions
HAS “weird,” while Debra Messing publicly expressed
A VERY “regret” over appearing on the show. By week’s end,
BAD the host was sarcastically noting, “I’ve just been
WEEK so delighted at the media response.”

T H E HOL LY WO OD R EP ORT ER 44 O C T OBE R 4, 2017

 Petty and Bogdanovich in
New York in November 2007.

om was an American
T original, kind of like Gary
Cooper. I didn’t detect
influences from anybody. He was
the Miracle of Gainesville — the
sweetest guy. I met him over the
making of Runnin’ Down a Dream,
a documentary about his life. We
had a mutual friend who recom-
mended me for the directing job.
He asked if I was interested, and
I always say yes. Then I called my
ex-wife and said, “Remind me who

PETTY: JOE PUGLIESE. BOGDANOVICH: DAVID X PRUTTING/PATRICK MCMULLAN VIA GETTY IMAGES. BED: GEORGE ROSE/GETTY IMAGES. JUDGE: RAY MICKSHAW/WIREIMAGE. SATURDAY: ALAN SINGER/NBCU PHOTO BANK. DYLAN: DEBORAH FEINGOLD/GETTY IMAGES.
Tom Petty is. Is he a folk singer?”
So Tom and I met at Geoffrey’s in
Malibu, talked for four hours
and agreed to do it. We ended up
Tribute spending two years on that film.
At one point the picture was run-
ning over five hours, and Tom said,

Tom Petty 1950-2017

“It’s getting a little long.” And I
said, “I’m sure you know this, but
if we’ve got the audience on our
wavelength, it doesn’t matter how
long it is. And if we don’t, it doesn’t
He sold 80 million albums, spun out dozens of hits (‘Free Fallin’,’ ‘American Girl’),
matter how short it is.” It ended up
influenced generations over his 40-year career and appeared in Runnin’ Down a Dream,
being four hours and 19 minutes.
a 2007 documentary about his life and his band The Heartbreakers. Now, director
One of the more surprising things
Peter Bogdanovich remembers the ‘American original,’ who died Oct. 2 at age 66
I learned was how rough his father
had been on him. Child abuse. We
didn’t get into that until I’d known
1
him awhile. Another thing that
3 amazed me was how fast he could
write. Tom could sit down and
write a song in five minutes. He
also had this incredible sense of
integrity. I once told him I liked a
song of his called “Magnolia,”
but he seemed ambivalent because
he’d written it on commission.
That took away some of its integ-
2
rity. I saw him play just the other
day at his penultimate concert at
the Bowl. He was as great as ever.
4 — AS TOLD TO BILL HIGGINS

1 Petty during a bus tour in 1981. 2 With King

of the Hill creator Mike Judge — Petty
voiced a recurring character — and co-star
Brittany Murphy. “The most unassuming
rock star you could ever hope to meet,” says
Judge. 3 Performing on SNL in 1991. 4 With
Bob Dylan at 1985’s Farm Aid.

46
WE PROUDLY CONGRATULATE
THE AMERICAN
FILM INSTITUTE
ON THEIR

50TH ANNIVERSARY
 About Town

The Red Carpet

Party
Crawler
Spotlight on
Spielberg
Spielberg If anyone can draw the
who’s who in Hollywood,
Los Angeles, Sept. 26 it’s Steven Spielberg (1).
Indeed, Tom Hanks (2), Vin
Diesel, Martin Short (5),
2
Kate Mara (7) and Quincy
Jones were just a few of
Rita Wilson and the industry luminaries who
Tom Hanks
came out to Paramount’s
Lansing Theater for a
sushi supper followed by
the premiere of HBO’s
two-and-a-half-hour doc-
umentary Spielberg.
American Masters pro-
ducer Susan Lacy made
the film with the prolific
auteur’s cooperation, mark-
ing the first time Spielberg
3 has ever taken part in a
project that put his process
Jim Gianopulos 4
(left) and Jeffrey in front of the camera.
1 Katzenberg Edgar Ramirez “He’s never participated
in a film about him. He’s
From left: Kate Capshaw,
Steven Spielberg never participated in a book
and Jessica Capshaw about him. So for him to
commit to this was really a
journey of self-exploration,”

SPIELBERG: JEFFREY MAYER/WIREIMAGE. SHORT, GIANOPULOS, RAMIREZ: ALBERTO E. RODRIGUEZ/GETTY IMAGES. HANKS, MARA: JEFF KRAVITZ/FILMMAGIC. HUNTER: RICH FURY/GETTY IMAGES. BELLONI, LIBBY, RICH: TODD WILLIAMSON/GETTY IMAGES.
Lacy told THR. Spielberg,
whose Pentagon Papers
film The Post hopes to
be an awards contender,
explained why now is the
time to put his past work
in focus. “I make movies
and work a lot, and I look
forward all the time,” he
said. “This forced me
5 6 7 to look back. I got a good
Martin Short (left) Holly Hunter Jamie Bell and hard look at it, and I was
and Josh Gad Kate Mara very proud of a lot of what
I looked back upon — and
other things I wasn’t as
proud of, but I think it was a
THR’s Awards Season Kickoff very honest accounting of
the body of work … so far.”
Los Angeles, Sept. 26 — ALEX CRAMER

THR Toasts
Awards Season
8 The Hollywood Reporter’s
annual kickoff to Oscar
From left: Fox Searchlight’s
Michelle Hooper, Matthew season saw studio execs
Belloni and Nancy Utley (Sony Classics’ Michael
9 Barker and Tom Bernard;
Chris Libby (left) Fox Searchlight’s Nancy
and Lee Ginsberg Utley (8)), publicists,
filmmakers and reporters
gather on the rooftop
of Sunset Boulevard’s new
Jeremy Hotel to dish on
must-see films, red carpet
looks and all things awards.
Editorial director Matthew
Belloni (8) and publisher
Lynne Segall detailed the
brand’s coverage plan
10 and gave a shout-out to
newly appointed awards
Warner Bros.’ Blair Rich editor Rebecca Ford.
(left) and Lisa Taback
— MIA GALUPPO

T H E HOL LY WO OD R EP ORT ER 48 O C T OBE R 4, 2017

 About Town
The Money
The Red Carpet in Music
At THR’s seventh annual
Business Managers
Breakfast honoring the
financial advisers who
keep Hollywood talents
in the black, editorial
director Matthew Belloni
and prolific music attorney
Donald Passman (1)
discussed everything from
artists’ revenue sources
to copyright concerns.
During the keynote Q&A
at the Beverly Wilshire’s
CUT, Passman noted
that music sales were
up in 2016 for the first
2 time since the 1990s — a
From left: positive sign for the future
Steves Rodriguez, impact of streaming on
Pat Wheeler, artists. His caveats: The
1 Andrew Meyer and
Kayli Dang technology is still in its
Donald Passman (right) “awkward adolescence,”
and son Josh Passman
and established artists
(including his clients

THR’s Business Taylor Swift and Adele)

still are making most of
their money from touring,
Managers sponsorships and song-
writing. The talk was
Breakfast introduced by Martha
Henderson (3) of City
Beverly Hills, Sept. 27 National Bank, which
returned as the present-
5 ing sponsor of the event,
Lloyd Balbier (left) where an Ermenegildo
and Evan Bell Zegna suit was raffled off.
— ASHLEY CULLINS

Curb Comes
Around Again
After a six-year hia-

PASSMAN, MEYER, HENDERSON, GRANT, BELL: EMMA MCINTYRE/GETTY IMAGES. BACON: TODD WILLIAMSON/GETTY IMAGES. DAVID, HINES, GARLIN: DAVE ALLOCCA/STARPIX. SMOOVE: MIKE PONT/FILMMAGIC.
tus, Larry David (7)
revived his Curb Your
Enthusiasm alter ego
for the comedy’s long-
awaited ninth season.
HBO feted its most
3 4
6 famous curmudgeon by
Martha Jonathan Drubner premiering two epi-
Henderson (left) and Jeff Bacon Warren Grant sodes of the new run at
the SVA Theater in
Manhattan’s Chelsea.
Before the screening, a
Curb Your Enthusiasm voiceover from the star
implored attendees not
New York, Sept. 27 to spoil anything (he also
thanked them for “keep-
ing the hand-shaking
to a minimum”). “Thanks
8 for coming — actually,
you should be the one
J.B. thanking me,” David
Smoove
intoned. “Do you have
something better to do
on a Wednesday night?”
After the screening —
greeted with big laughs
and applause — David and
co-stars Jeff Garlin (10),
Cheryl Hines (9), Susie
7 Essman (7) and J.B.
9
10 Smoove (8), among
Susie Essman
and Larry David From left: Cheryl Hines, others, celebrated at
husband Robert F. Kennedy Jeff Garlin (left) TAO Downtown.
Jr. and Keegan-Michael Key and Ira Glass
— JACKIE STRAUSE

T H E HOL LY WO OD R EP ORT ER 50 O C T OBE R 4, 2017

 NETFLIX
PROUDLY CONGRATULATES THE

AMERICAN
FILM INSTITUE
ON THEIR
50TH ANNIVERSARY
 About Town
“My neck can
bench-press more Heard Around Hollywood
than yours.”

says Lewis. “But I wasn’t one of

them.” And when David Letterman
Power
arrived at the Hollywood outpost Dining
in the early ’80s to do a set — Leonardo DiCaprio
intended to be unannounced but sat with Al Pacino
DiCaprio
Smirnoff had let the cat out of at Tower Bar. Ryan
Murphy was nearby.
the bag — the Late Night host saw … Jon Hamm lunched
the crowds and bolted: “Dave just with Brian Grazer at
walked out of the club, got back in The Palm. Larry King
his truck and drove away.” also was there. …
Vergara Meg Whitman and
Jeffrey Katzenberg
Bale is bulking up his neck — and nothing else — to match his heavier-set body for the role. When Dick Wolf Hosts a had breakfast at Art’s
Getaway Retreat Deli. … Sofia Vergara
It doesn’t look like any crimes checked out TAO L.A.
Rambling Reporter were committed at Law &
Order guru Dick Wolf ’s Maine
… Writer Ed Decter
was at Larchmont’s
By Chris Gardner Le Pain Quotidien.
estate, where he hosted a … Dana Walden had
small tribe of industry intimates. dinner at Toscana.
Christian Bale’s Secret Dick Cheney Workout A photo on Instagram that Julie Andrews was
At September’s Toronto International Film Festival, Christian Bale, appeared the weekend of Sept. 23 also in. … Producers
43, said he packed on the pounds by eating pies to play Dick Cheney in shows members of Wolf’s inner Rick Solomon and Hal
Lieberman stopped
Adam McKay’s drama Backseat for Annapurna Pictures. But THR has circle — WME’s Rick Rosen and by Terroni on Beverly. …
learned that the Oscar winner famous for his physical transformations Marc Korman, attorney Cliff Eva Longoria popped
(2011’s The Fighter landed him best supporting actor) isn’t completely Gilbert-Lurie, Wolf Films execu- into The Highlight
ignoring his fitness. Word is, before the film, now shooting, started tives Peter Jankowski and Arthur Room. ... David Unger

GYM, SHIRT: ISTOCK. BALE: PAUL BEST/GETTY IMAGES. DICAPRIO: TIBRINA HOBSON/WIREIMAGE. VERGARA: DESIREE NAVARRO/WIREIMAGE. MIGHTY: ORIANA KOREN. DOHERTY: AMANDA EDWARDS/WIREIMAGE. WINFREY: COURTESY OF BUDD FRIEDMAN.
production, he had been hitting an L.A. gym several times a week to Forney (both of whom are execu- had dinner at The
Polo Lounge.
work out with a well-known trainer — but only from the neck up. The tive producers on all Wolf shows)
source says Bale has been focused on neck exercises while ignoring — enjoying an outdoors jaunt
anything below to achieve Cheney’s shoulders-up profile. (Bale also in Seal Harbor at the creator’s
dyed his eyebrows to play the onetime vice president.) Backseat — picturesque seaside mansion.
co-starring Sam Rockwell as George W. Bush and Amy Adams as Lynne The guests were said to be indulg-
Cheney — marks a reteaming for Bale and McKay after The Big Short. ing in a part-work/part-fun
Bale’s rep did not provide a comment. getaway that included hikes in
nearby Acadia National Park.
Robin Williams Was a Joke having to drive the late-night Wolf’s rep declined comment.
Thief, Says Comedy Tell-All host home while he made out
NEW
Budd Friedman — the legend in with a woman who “couldn’t Another ’90s Reboot That HO T ANT
AU R
the stand-up comedy scene who have been more than 18” in the Isn’t Happening REST

founded New York’s and L.A.’s backseat. Equally controversial, Shannen Doherty will soon be seen The Mighty
The Improv — has teamed with Richard Lewis accuses the late on TV Land’s new version of 1988’s The Quick Pitch
author Tripp Whitesell for an oral Robin Williams of stealing jokes. dark comedy feature Heathers in Odys + Penelope’s
history of his comedy club. The “Some comics hated him for it,” a role that’s being closely guarded, Karen and Quinn
Hatfield have taken the
tome will give insiders plenty to but Charmed fans shouldn’t count DNA of what works at
wag their tongues about, includ- on that WB series being magi- their casual Mid-City
ing Jimmy Fallon bombing when cally brought back to life. “It’s not spot The Sycamore
he attempted to do an Andy happening,” Doherty, 46, tells Kitchen to downtown
Kaufman-style set. Longtime L.A. THR. “It would be far too soon, L.A. with this sister
Doherty concept, which leans on
Improv emcee Bruce Smirnoff but I also don’t think you need the smart, handmade pas-
dishes about Johnny Carson get- original cast for a reboot. I know tas. Obligatory order:
ting drunk in the audience and our fans really want us back, the fennel sausage and
but we were basically a reboot of porchetta sammie.
Practical Magic. Now it should The Inside Dish
The Mighty shares an
just rest.” As for Doherty, her intersection with two
cancer is in remission, and she’s of the city’s most fre-
ready not to rest. “I want more,” quently utilized filming
she says of acting work. “Heathers locations, the former
is just the start. Cancer has Cathedral of Saint
Vibiana and Caltrans’
brought a different aspect to me futuristic District 7
as a person, and I want to show headquarters. 108 W.
Friedman with Oprah Winfrey and Williams. that in my work.” 2nd St. — GARY BAUM

Got tips? Email rambling@thr.com

T H E HOL LY WO OD R EP ORT ER 52 O C T OBE R 4, 2017

Warner Bros. Entertainment
warmly congratulates the

AMERICAN
FILM INSTITUTE
for preserving and promoting
motion pictures for

50 YEARS

©2017 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.

 About Town

2 Mileposts

“the ghostess with

the mostess” on
television’s Topper,
died Sept. 27. She
was 94.

S.I. Newhouse Jr.,

the owner of Conde
Nast who greatly
influenced the suc-
cess of The New Yorker,
3 Vogue, Vanity Fair,
Architectural Digest
and other magazines,
died Oct. 1 at his
home in Manhattan.
He was 89.
1 Shah and
Eisenberg
2 Brungardt Digby Diehl, a jour-
1
and Couch nalist and author
3 Mia Isabel
who collaborated on
autobiographies
Hitched, Hatched, Hired with Esther Williams,
Natalie Cole, Patti
Inside the industry’s celebrations and news
LuPone, Dan Rather
and others, died

EISENBERG: MARISSA MAHARAJ. MCDANIEL: COURTESY OF SUBJECT. COUCH: JSI PHOTOGRAPHY. JEFFREYS: PHOTOFEST. DEAL: ABC PHOTO ARCHIVES/ABC VIA GETTY IMAGES. BRADY: STEVE GRANITZ/WIREIMAGE. ORLANDO: COURTESY OF BET.
Weddings Pilgrim Media Conde Nast Faye Penn was strategy and enter- Sept. 26 in Los
Kosha Shah, an execu- Group scripted Entertainment appointed vp edito- prises, will manage Angeles. He was 76.
tive in UTA’s ventures executive Jamie named David Lopez rial for Lifetime on on an interim basis.
division, married Fleischman married vp branded con- Sept. 27. Tony Booth, the
Adam Eisenberg, vp EditStock CEO Misha tent video Sept. 27. English actor who
acquisitions at Bolour Tenenbaum on Sept. 3 Comedy Central starred in the BBC
Associates, on Sept. 3 at the Andaz West appointed Lucy sitcom Till Death Us
at the Royal Oaks Hollywood. The cou- Robinson to head its Do Part in the 1960s
Ranch in Santa Ynez ple honeymooned London-based and 1970s, died
in front of 235 guests. on the Amalfi Coast programming team Sept. 25. He was 85.
The couple, who of Italy. Sept. 26. Jeffreys
became engaged over Paul Rodriguez,
Labor Day weekend in Births Orlando Mark Greenberg Deaths a respected film
2016, honeymooned Angelica McDaniel, stepped down Anne Jeffreys, the and TV sound
in Bora Bora. The executive vp day- BET Networks tapped as president and actress who starred executive, died
newlyweds will both time programs and Connie Orlando CEO of Epix on on General Hospital Sept. 24 from cardiac
take Shah as a middle syndicated program as executive vp head Sept. 29. Monty for 20 years and arrest after a brief
name and share development for of programming Sarhan, executive opposite her husband hospitalization. He
Eisenberg as their CBS Entertainment Sept. 29. vp programming, Robert Sterling as was 65.
last name. and CBS Television
Distribution, and her
THR Heat Vision husband, actor-come-
editor Aaron Couch dian Brian McDaniel,
wed Anna Brungardt, welcomed daughter 1921-2017 n this business, you’re lucky
a Ph.D. candidate
in Germanic lan-
Mia Isabel on Sept. 24
at Providence Little Monty Hall I to meet a legend, and even
luckier still to work with and
learn from one. I miss Monty
guages at UCLA, Company of Mary The co-creator of like everyone connected to Let’s
on Sept. 16 at the Medical Center in Let’s Make a Deal, Make a Deal, but I can smile
Uptown Theater Torrance, California. who died Sept. 30 because he got to see his baby fly
at 96 in his again. Getting the Monty “Seal of
in Kansas City, Beverly Hills home,
Missouri, in front Congrats is remembered by Approval” is one of the greatest
Wayne Brady, the honors I’ve received in my career
of 130 guests. The MSG promoted so far. He was the perfect mix
current host
couple will honey- Josephine Vaccarello of the legendary of gentleman, joker and teacher. Hall (pictured here in 1968) co-created
moon in Indonesia. to senior vp Sept. 25. game show Thank you for the love, Monty. Let’s Make a Deal in 1963. Inset: Brady.

To submit, send email to hhh@thr.com

T H E HOL LY WO OD R EP ORT ER 54 O C T OBE R 4 2017

 SON Y PIC TURES ENTERTA INMENT
Salutes the

AMERICAN FILM
INSTITUTE
on 50 years of celebrating and preserving
the art of film in America

www.sonypictures.com
© 2017 Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc.
All Rights Reserved.
 salutes

on their 50th Anniversary

 The Business
Kevin Kay
The Viacom veteran on
plans for the new Paramount
Network, Kevin Costner’s
massive salary and the morale
hit from Dauman vs. Redstone
By Lesley Goldberg
I
n the wake of a famously
messy stretch at Viacom,
23-year company veteran
Kevin Kay has emerged as
one of new CEO Bob Bakish’s
top lieutenants. A straight-
talking executive, Kay, 63, has
been handed the keys to two more
cable networks (TV Land and
CMT) and tasked with rebrand-
ing male-skewing Spike — home
to breakout Lip Sync Battle and
mixed martial arts — as a gen-
eral entertainment channel with
the synergistic name Paramount
Network. The Jan. 18 change-
GROOMING BY SU HAN AT DEW BEAUTY AGENCY.
over will be accompanied by a
fresh batch of high-end origi-
nals, including miniseries Waco,
with Taylor Kitsch and Michael
T H E HOL LY WO OD R EP ORT ER
Executive Suite
↑ If Kay, photographed Sept. 5 at his office in Hollywood, weren’t running networks, the avid baseball from Netflix to Apple appear
fan says he’d like to coach a minor league team: “What would be more fun than that?”
to have bottomless pockets and
Shannon; and Taylor Sheridan enormous ambition.
drama Yellowstone, starring Kevin On a sunny September morn-
Costner. If all goes as the New RÉSUMÉ ing, the married father of three
York native plans, Paramount CURRENT TITLE sat down in his Hollywood
Network, which reaches 83 mil- President, Spike office for his first wide-ranging
lion homes, will be part of the (soon to be Paramount interview since the Viacom
same prestige conversation as FX Network), TV Land, reorganization. He spoke about
CMT Group of Networks
and AMC in a matter of years. the decision to reinvent a net-
PREVIOUS JOB
At the same time, Kay, who President, Spike work that’s had success (and
began his career holding cue cards BIG HIT $316 million in cash flow, per
at Saturday Night Live, is realistic Lip Sync Battle, SNL Kagan) and what it was like
about the challenges facing him, which enjoyed the to work through the very public
highest-rated premiere
including skinnier cable bundles. legal battle between former CEO
in Spike’s history
Asked to pinpoint the biggest, Philippe Dauman and Viacom
and has since spawned
he says: “Distribution, without a a kid-centric spinoff, owner Sumner Redstone.
doubt.” He’s also quick to admit Lip Sync Battle Shorties.
it’s tough running a suite of cable What has been the biggest change
networks at a time when rivals at Viacom under Bob Bakish?
Photographed by Michele Thomas
57 O C T OBE R 4, 2017
The Business
Executive Suite
The synergy that was never
there before. There’s coopera-
tion now between [Paramount
film chief] Jim Gianopulos,
me, [Paramount Network/TV
Land head of development] Keith
Cox and [Paramount TV head]
Amy Powell. The walls are broken
down, the silos are gone and
everybody is working toward a
common goal [now].
What was it like as your top bosses
were facing each other in court?
Distracting. A lot of time was
spent talking about rumors, and
that’s not productive when you
want to make shows. I’m happy
it’s over.
What’s your pitch to creatives?
You can go take that crazy SVOD
money, but don’t you want people
to have a conversation about your
show? If you look at shows like
Game of Thrones, each week people
have a conversation about them.
That’s our model. The other part:
Don’t you want to help us launch
a new network?
Kevin Costner is making $500,000
per episode for Yellowstone. How
do you justify that?
The statement we wanted to make
was that we’re open for business
and we’re willing to pay top-tier
actors whatever their quotes are.
It sends a message and that’s what
we want to do.
What has been your hardest day?
When Bob and I had a conversa-
tion about me rebranding Spike. I
rebranded TNN as Spike [in 2003],
and a lot of people didn’t make the
cut. Changing a brand is difficult,
especially in a world where you’re
shutting down networks.
Of all the brands, why Spike?
Because the TV Land affiliate
agreements would never allow
it and they also don’t have full
HD penetration. The one thing
that stood between Spike and
getting to general entertain-
ment was its name. Spike was too
well-branded — we did too good
a job of saying, “This is for men.”
T H E HOL LY WO OD R EP ORT ER
1 I don’t think we can take a heavy-
2
3
1 Kay performed “All I Do Is Win”
as part of a Lip Sync Battle
parody with Viacom CFO Wade
Davis. 2 Art in Kay’s office.
3 Kay was key to MMA’s early
development. 4 David Letterman
signed a photo of himself playing
softball with Kay (and the CBS
News team) at Yankee Stadium.
5 An original Yankee Stadium
sign for the avid fan.
5 how we can use CMT and build
We want to be 50-50 male-female
with an 18-to-49 demo. In the
Viacom world, you have networks
that have specific audiences —
MTV with millennials, Comedy
Central with comedy, BET is
focused on African-Americans
and Nickelodeon is a kids and
family brand — so the goal is to
have “general entertainment” as
part of the portfolio.
Does the average TV viewer know
what the Paramount brand is?
They do. The first thing we did
was talk to consumers. They
think of a movie studio, quality,
cinematography, great charac-
ters, great stories. The Godfather,
Mission: Impossible, Transformers.
What are the changes you’ll make?
The average Spike viewer is 43.
If we can be in the early 40s,
it helps set us apart from some
of the other networks that are
in the family. We’re more upscale
as we move away from all that
police programming that was
on Spike. You’ll still see Cops, but
58
4
you won’t see the same volume
of it. We’re looking at bringing
over some high-quality sit-
coms for daytime, and you’ll see
more movies.
With Younger’s success at TV
Land, how tempted are you
to move that to the Paramount
Network?
It’s worth considering, but it’s
also dangerous to say, “Let’s take
Younger off TV Land and put it on
in a place that people don’t know
about yet even though it may have
bigger distribution.” TV Land
needs Younger. We’re focused on
[creator] Darren Star’s next show,
which takes place in Paris. That
could be a big Paramount Network
show. It’s a half-hour dramedy
about a young American girl who
wants to change her life. She goes
to Paris for a life-changing experi-
ence and ends up staying. There’s
a bit of Carrie Bradshaw in it that
draws on what Star didn’t get to do
in Paris on Sex and the City. We’ll
either pilot or go straight to series
on that.
O C T OBE R 4, 2017
You’re launching with a lot of
programming produced by outside
studios. Is that a concern?
handed position right now because
we need product and we need tal-
ent to want to work here. I do want
to own content. We’re working
hard with Paramount TV to create
the model for us to be in business
together. We’re developing [spy
drama] Velvet from [Lone Star cre-
ator] Kyle Killen with them.
How do you assess the challenges
at TV Land and CMT?
TV Land makes a lot of money on
a diet of mostly acquired com-
edies shared internally with some
others, and the cost of program-
ming isn’t that expensive. So
I’m not worried about TV Land
at all. CMT is seeing this resur-
gence because of Nashville, but it
admittedly has some distribu-
tion issues. It’s got some carriage
problems that we also had on
Spike. The longer-term play for
CMT is to be strategic about
a business there that’s not just
about linear TV. Is there a concert
business there? Is there more of
a music play with CMT? Is there
some other partner that we want
to think about for CMT strategi-
cally? We have a lot of work to do.
In an a la carte future, do those
niche networks survive?
I think so. You look at the bal-
ance sheet, and they all make a
lot of money. Nobody wants those
networks to go anywhere. You
have to find the efficiencies and
think about how you invest in
those versus how you invest in the
flagships. CMT was going down a
path of lots of scripted program-
ming because they had Nashville,
and they could not really afford
it. So, we’re keeping Nashville and
moving into nonscripted, where
we can develop quicker and maybe
have some hits and definitely be
more efficient financially.
Let’s end on a lighter note. In a
network exec edition of Lip Sync
Battle, who would you challenge
and what would you sing?
I would do “All I Do Is Win” [by DJ
Khaled] because I’m unbelievably
competitive, and I’d take on [FX’s]
John Landgraf.
 City National ®

Congratulates
THE AMERICAN FILM INSTITUTE

50 YEARS OF PRESERVING AND

ENHANCING AMERICAN FILM

The way up® for the entertainment industry. CNB.COM CNB MEMBER FDIC
City National Bank is a subsidiary of Royal Bank of Canada. 6722.01

A Message for Silicon Valley:
Brands Matter, Even in Television
FX’s chief responds to Wall Street’s ‘irrational exuberance’ over platforms like Netflix and Apple
with a prediction that the future of content will reward artists, not algorithms By John Landgraf
W
ho owns the future?
This is the question
at the heart of every
stock market. In the competi-
tion for delivery of the goods and
services that make up the vast
majority of the American econ-
omy, platforms like Google and
Amazon are currently at war with
brands like Mercedes-Benz, Nike
and even HBO and FX over the
answer to this ques-
tion. In some forms
of retail, the writing
is on the wall and
Landgraf the platforms have
already won. In other
segments, such as luxury cars
and designer clothes, the future
still seems to favor brands. Apple
sits on both sides of this conflict
as the world’s dominant luxury
personal computer brand and a
leading internet platform. Maybe
that’s why it is the most valuable
corporation on earth.
Perhaps storytellers don’t need
to care as much about the future
T H E HOL LY WO OD R EP ORT ER
as executives and investors do.
After all, isn’t it possible that
technology will enable storytell-
ers to connect directly to their
audience without the need for
anyone to share the program-
ming decisions or the profit in
between? Don’t bet on it. As
long as goods and services have
existed, a substantial share of the
authority and profit generated
from getting those goods into the
hands of the end user has gone
to businesses, agents and govern-
ments who sit in the middle.
Which is why the internet wants
us to believe it is just a benign,
frictionless ramp between con-
sumers and producers. Pay no
attention to the unprecedented
concentration of profits and
power in Silicon Valley — that’s
just a generous tip we consumers
have all donated as a thanks to
technology companies altruisti-
cally creating a consumer and
information utopia.
A hundred years ago, most
Illustration by Matt Collins
60
people in America bought what
they needed from small, family-
owned businesses — say, a corner
butcher shop, a local bakery and
a small general store. There were
a few recognizable brands, but
shoppers didn’t especially need
brands to guide their purchases
when there were a limited number
of choices and you could squeeze
today’s fresh melon or place next
Sunday’s new felt hat right on
your own head in a neighborhood
store. Retailers, however, wanted
to compete by giving consumers
more choices and lower prices. So
along came grocery stores, then
supermarkets, then Walmart.
Sears became one of the largest
companies in America by bring-
ing the “department store” to the
masses. Thus, we had a prolif-
eration of both location-based
brands (like Sears and Kroger)
and the regional or national
sub-brands inside these stores to
help guide consumers through a
bewildering array of choices.
O C T OBE R 4, 2017
The Business
Guest Column
Location-based brands
were also a thing in television.
A broadcast network was a
national location-based brand
(“Channel 2”) distributed through
a series of local affiliate sta-
tions. And consumers were once
thrilled to have three of these net-
works, plus even PBS for us nerds!
As abundance and choice
grew, brands became the largest
single engine of profit in the U.S.
economy. Create a great product
that people love, and you could
sell it beyond your town, city or
even state. Once consumers knew
how good it was, they would look
for that brand everywhere they
went and buy it for the rest of their
lives. That legacy is still with us.
Most retail commerce still hap-
pens in physical stores, and the
largest segment of television
usage — by a large margin — still
remains within linear channels.
Of course, over time, the notion
of brand as a solemn commitment
to quality began to fray around
the edges (profit and quality can
be tough bedfellows). Too often
“brand” became synonymous
with a great package rather than
a great product inside. On TV,
three networks became four, then
five, then six, then hundreds of
cable channels cropped up, both
basic and premium. And if you
ran a channel, you could program
the cheapest programming that
generated the biggest ratings.
Then you could add even more
commercials. It was a simple
equation, and it is just so hard for
short-term thinkers to resist kill-
ing the golden goose.
Of course, not every brand did
this. Many of the brands that
continued as beacons of extraor-
dinary quality still are going
strong. Steve Jobs insisted that
the products made and mar-
keted under the Apple brand be
“insanely great,” and Apple is now
LANDGRAF: CHARLEY GALLAY/GETTY IMAGES FOR VANITY FAIR.
the most valuable brand on earth.
Jobs’ mission statement was, in
principle, no different than NBC
legend Grant Tinker’s — “First
be best, then be first.” Television,
remarkably, got a lot better as
competition grew fiercer. That
 CHEERS TO A
GOLDEN ANNIVERSARY
Congratulations on your remarkable contributions
to this treasured art form. We’re proud to be the
Official Airline of AFI.

EDUCATING TODAY'S AUDIENCES

AND TOMORROW'S ARTISTS

American Airlines and the Flight Symbol logo are marks of American Airlines, Inc. © 2017 American Airlines, Inc. All rights reserved.
The Business
Guest Column
continues today, and the best
thing to come of the “Peak TV” era
is the increase in diverse voices
who finally have the chance to
have their stories heard.
But, alas, even when you do
own the future, the future doesn’t
stay owned. Now there is a group
of giant companies in Silicon
Valley that have a very different
idea about how to guide viewers
to television programs as well as
everything else — and who will
make a handsome profit in the
process. In the internet’s vision of
the future, most brands become
irrelevant. What consumers (or
viewers) will need to steer them
toward nirvana are the seamless
utility and recommendations of
a platform. For many types of
products, this prediction may be
true. And so, very quickly, plat-
form-based internet companies
have become the most profitable
and powerful enterprises. The
biggest ones are now more valu-
able than the largest banks and
oil companies. If you ask me,
Google could give the Catholic
Church at its height of power a
run for its money … and with-
out the inconvenience of those
10 pesky commandments.
And so, just as many stores and
brands have become irrelevant, so
will many channels. When we had
to watch a show at a scheduled
time or miss it entirely, you bet
we knew exactly which channel it
was on and when. Now viewers,
who often don’t have to go to a
physical store, also don’t have to
Disney vs. Netflix: Profits Don’t Mean Dominance
As Netflix races past 100 million subscribers, Wall Street has rewarded the streamer with
a skyrocketing stock price despite low net income. Meanwhile, Disney, with estimated profits
of $9.1 billion this year and a diversified revenue stream, is valued at about half as much
Estimated total Estimated net
revenue in 2017 income in 2017
$55.1B $9.1B
$11.6B
T H E HOL LY WO OD R EP ORT ER
access a channel to get TV pro-
gramming, so they don’t have to
care when the program is sched-
uled to air.
Currently, Wall Street is plac-
ing bets that platforms will own
the future of everything, includ-
ing TV. This is reflected in the
radically disparate valuations
FX’s American Horror Story (left) and Fargo are from one brand and available on many platforms.
(relative to profits) of traditional
media companies versus inter- Starz, BET, Nat Geo and numer- tomorrow. To answer a question
net media companies. Disney ous cable networks for a great like that, you have to truly put
stock trades at 17 times earn- new original series, as well as the artist first. Not the data. Not
ings. Netflix stock trades at 222. Netflix or Hulu. And most U.S. the money. Not the plan for world
Projected 2017 net revenue for TV viewers still seem eager to go domination. The artist.
Disney is $9.1 billion, and it’s to ABC, CBS, The CW, Fox, NBC I’ll bet, given the excruciating
$561 million for Netflix. I suspect and PBS. The legacy of these paradox of choice viewers now are
that Wall Street is partially right brands will be hard to completely facing, that the really good legacy
about the bright future value of erase, and in many ways, as the brands based on channels will
platforms, although with a huge streaming ecosystem develops, continue to have value and mean-
dose of irrational exuberance. they actually will get better. I’m ing to consumers. Streaming
I do think platforms are very use- absolutely thrilled FX can begin platforms will too, unless they get
ful tools. I’m an Amazon Prime to use a subscription streaming so bogged down with the pursuit
member. I subscribe to Netflix model that will allow our brand of shock-and-awe levels of volume
and Hulu, and they have great to be more fully expressed than it that they can’t maintain a consis-
user interfaces and some excel- could ever be through a chan- tent quality.
lent original programs. But what nel. This ideal — that a TV brand So who owns the future of
truly distinguishes all three of should be a complete box set television, brands or platforms?
these services is the utility of their of every great current and past Well, if you think viewers want
vast libraries of acquired con- series it has ever programmed — their television “good enough,”
tent, which also is a part of what was pioneered by HBO. bet it all on platforms with their
makes each a platform, even if And as much as I’d bet the big cheap pricing, vast libraries
it has a “house brand,” too. But streaming television platforms and data-driven algorithms. On
this giant scale also can make are here to stay, I’m dubious that the other hand, if you think many
it hard to find one great story to their various recommendation viewers want their television
watch amid the tens of thou- engines can fully supplant the “insanely great,” cast a vote for
sands available. Still, I don’t think need for brands. For one thing, brands to still make a meaningful
anyone can argue that these new I am getting tired of the way contribution, even as platforms
platforms haven’t used their internet platforms think they add their share. I personally think
unrestrained access to capital to know me, either personally or as the answer is “both/and,” which
innovate brilliantly around tech- a member of the fake news and means we are facing a likely
nology and the consumer media clickbait-addicted masses. And as stalemate in which platforms and
model to create value for viewers. skeptical as I am that an algo- brands both have value and, despite
On the other hand, I think Wall rithm will ever figure out what their natural antagonism, will
Street is wrong about the bets few shows my wife and I will enjoy have to learn to happily co-exist
it is not placing on the future of watching together, I’m almost (just like I’m certain will hap-
the strongest TV brands. People certain that it will never figure pen any day between red and blue
still go to HBO, Showtime, AMC, out what I don’t know I might love America). Unfortunately, unlike
the tiny political divide in our
country, the current competitive
Disney
and philosophical divide between
traditional media companies and
Netflix Silicon Valley will not be settled
anytime soon.
One final word of advice: Any
Current stock price Stock multiplier
time anyone (including me)
per share by earnings
tells you that the world will be
$177.01 222x a perfect place and that you will
finally be free, if only you will
AMERICAN: FRANK OCKENFELS/FX. FARGO: CHRIS LARGE/FX.
vote for him, embrace his plat-
$99.90 form or revere his brand, be very
skeptical. In my experience, The
$561M 17x Who got it exactly right when
they sang, “Meet the new boss,
Source: MoffettNathanson, Disney numbers for 12 months ending Sept. 30; Netflix for 12 months ending Dec. 31; stock price on Oct. 2. same as the old boss.”
62 O C T OBE R 4, 2017
SAG-AFTRA salutes the
American Film Institute
for its 50-year
commitment to the
past, present and future
of American cinema.

SAGAFTRA.org
 Style Fashion

What’s Your Hollywood Jean Type?

Decoding the designer denim worn by the town’s top talent and execs
reveals eight distinct industry insider profiles By Alexandra Cheney

for the
TAT ED
U N DERSRO
HE
s
Joe’s Jean

for the

M U LT I- D Affleck
E
TA L EN T enim
McGuire D

for the
McCaffrey
MAN
EV ERYas on
Buck M

Pratt

for the

R EA LIT Y
STA R
ican
Good Amer

Kardashian
KARDASHIAN: JASON LAVERIS/FILMMAGIC. MCCAFFREY:

EMMA MCLNTYRE/GETTY IMAGES. LAWRENCE: WALTER

DELEVINGNE: VICTOR CHAVEZ/GETTY IMAGES. RHIMES:

MCBRIDE/FILMMAGIC. MILLER: AXELLE/BAUER-GRIFFIN/

JIM SPELLMAN/WIREIMAGE. PRATT: SAMIR HUSSEIN/
WIREIMAGE. AFFLECK: MIKE MARSLAND/WIREIMAGE.

FILMMAGIC. JEANS: COURTESY OF BRANDS (8).

T H E HOL LY WO OD R EP ORT ER 64 O C T OBE R 4, 2017

 THE REALITY STAR:
Good American
LABEL LOVERS Chrissy Teigen,
the Kardashians, top
Hollywood hairstylist Jen Atkin
HOT PAIR The Good Legs
jean, with grommet accents
and sizing up to 24; $179,
goodamerican.com. “They
cater to women of all shapes
and sizes,” says Atkin of the
label co-founded by Khloe
Kardashian and Emma Grede
that made $1 million on its
first day of sales, marking the
largest denim launch ever.
THE MULTITALENTED:
McGuire Denim
LABEL LOVERS Jennifer
Lopez, Zoe Saldana,
HBO vp drama programming
Kathleen McCaffrey
HOT PAIR The Ibiza in a
for the
L E A DI NG
L A DY
im
Mother Den
Lawrence
weathered wash called
Talamanca; $268, at select
Anthropologie stores.
“McGuire makes a jean that’s
professional but still rad,”
says McCaffrey, who works
with both executives and
creative talent. “I’ll leave the
suits to the agents.”
THE EVERYMAN:
Buck Mason
LABEL LOVERS Chris Pratt,
Patrick Dempsey, Will &
Grace producer David Kohan
HOT PAIR 12-Month Rinse jeans;
$175, buckmason.com. “Last
summer, while directing a
film, I took a page from Steve
Jobs’ playbook and wore the
same thing every day. My
uniform was Buck Mason’s
ECO -LO
cuffed slim jeans and a white
T-shirt,” says writer Jordan
Roberts (Big Hero 6).
“On adventurous days, with
a gray T-shirt.”
THE
UNDERSTATED HERO:
Joe’s Jeans
LABEL LOVERS Chris and
Liam Hemsworth, Cade
Hudson, Ben Affleck
HOT PAIR The Brixton Straight
+ Narrow in Diggie wash;
$188, joesjeans.com. Andrew
Weitz, ex-WME agent and
founder of style consultancy
The Weitz Effect, likes that the
men’s styles are “very clean,
without a lot of stitching.” Adds
for the
V ER
LD
DST
Delevingne
CAA agent Hudson: “After
wearing a suit and tie all
day, there’s nothing I enjoy
more than putting on my
Joe’s — especially being from
Texas, where denim is king.
They just fit and feel better
[than other jeans].”
THE LEADING LADY:
Mother Denim
LABEL LOVERS Jennifer
Lawrence, Kerry Washington,
Leslie Mann
HOT PAIR High-waisted Looker
in Not Rough Enough wash;
$238, motherdenim.com.
Says Mann, “They’re great
butt jeans.”
THE ECO-LOVER:
DSTLD
LABEL LOVERS Cara
Delevingne, CAA Ventures’
business development
executive Kaitlyn Powell
HOT PAIR Skinny jeans
for the
P OW ERER
P O DUC h
R it
Parker Sm
Rhimes
in Light Vintage wash; $95,
dstld.com. Says Powell, “It’s
luxury-grade denim crafted
from sustainable fabrics,
offered at wildly attractive
prices [from $75 to $105].”
THE POWER
PRODUCER:
Parker Smith
LABEL LOVERS Shonda Rhimes,
Extra’s Sharon Levin
HOT PAIR The Bombshell
Crop in Tower wash; $198,
parkersmith.com. “I’m
obsessed — they look good,
are comfortable and come in
every cut and wash,” Rhimes
tells THR. “Parker Smith
knows that a great booty is
a terrible thing to hide.”
THE COOL MOM:
Re/Done
LABEL LOVERS January
Jones, Sienna Miller,
Michelle Monaghan
HOT PAIR The Crawford, part
of a new collaboration
with Cindy Crawford; $328,
shopredone.com. “They’re
mom jeans that don’t look
like mom jeans!” says writer
Natalie Krinsky. “It’s
sustainable denim from an
iconic brand [Levi’s].”
for the
M
CO OL M O
one
Re/D
Miller
 Style

Real Estate

1 Larchmont Boulevard.
Just Sold
3
2 This home in nearby Windsor $2 . 47M
Square lists for $11 million
with The Agency’s Billy Rose.
3 Larchmont Bungalow
closed after eight years of
defying local business rules.

1 526 N. BEACHWOOD DRIVE

Tig Notaro
(Amazon’s One

Battle for the Mayberry of Hollywood Mississippi)

bought this
newly remodeled
Larchmont Village business owners are fighting L.A.’s zoning rules for the
3,100-square-foot
future of a small-town street in the shadow of Paramount Pictures By Peter Kiefer
five-bedroom
via listing agents
ver since Julius LaBonte developed Los Angeles’ price of a 2,300-square-foot Larchmont Village home is
E Larchmont Village during the 1920s, the four-block $1.5 million, according to neighborhood real estate agency
Anne Loveland and
Sue Carr.
stretch near Paramount Pictures has been cher- Loveland Carr — modest compared with the many grand
ished — and fiercely defended — as a slice of Mayberry homes in surrounding Hancock Park and Windsor Square
wedged between Koreatown and Hollywood. But with but up nearly 25 percent from three years ago).
On the Market
the death in July of LaBonte’s only heir, Charlotte Lipson, Many business owners are chafing at the rules, which
who owned more property along Larchmont than anyone, resulted in the closure in August of the popular Larchmont
there is concern that the star-friendly neighborhood, Bungalow. Albert Mizrahi, another prominent
where Dave Navarro and Showtime’s David Nevins own neighborhood landlord, operated the restau-

PRADO: ERICA BROWN. WINDSOR: THE AGENCY. NEVINS: TODD WILLIAMSON/GETTY IMAGES. BOULEVARD: HOLLYWOODPHOTOGRAPHS.COM. WINE: COURTESY OF SUBJECT. GREER: FRAZER HARRISON/GETTY IMAGES. BEACHWOOD:
homes, can’t stem the tide of modernity for much longer. rant as a sit-down spot (as opposed to takeout)
“It’s a big question,” says John Welborne, who owns and in defiance of the Q Conditions, which cap

JEFFREY ONG/POSTRAIN PRODUCTIONS/COURTESY OF LOVELAND CARR PROPERTIES. NOTARO: JB LACROIX/WIREIMAGE. ARDEN: COURTESY OF BRAD HOLMES GROUP. GOWER: MARTIN CLARK/COURTESY OF REDFIN.
runs the community newspaper, Larchmont Chronicle, Nevins the number of full-service restaurants at 10
of the fate of the 250 feet of street frontage Lipson owned, — an effort to keep businesses along the strip 533 N. ARDEN BLVD.
all on the village’s most trafficked (and contentious) block local and diverse. It took the City Attorney’s office eight This Spanish-style
between 1st Street and Beverly Boulevard. For decades, years to compel the Mizrahi family to close the Bungalow home, listed for
Lipson, who died the day after her 100th birthday, carried (Albert died Aug. 12, 2016). $2.6 million by Brad
out her father’s wishes by supporting “neighborhood- Steve Vernetti, who opened his eponymous Italian eatery Holmes, has a pool
servicing” retail and providing small businesses like south of Beverly in 2015, calls the restrictions “extremely and an in-law unit
Chevalier’s Books and Larchmont Barber Shop with space wasteful” and “grossly out of date,” adding, “The street above the garage.
at what most believe are rents well below market. But cannot be sustained by just counting on local revenue. The
that hasn’t kept surrounding rents from soaring. Space world doesn’t work that way.”
along Larchmont now leases for between $8 and $10 per The Larchmont Business Improvement District,
square foot, one of L.A.’s highest which represents property own-
retail rates. (THR’s calls to Lipson’s ers like Vernetti, hopes to strike
lawyers were not returned.) a truce between commerce and
A longtime resident, Welborne in character. “Larchmont is still
the 1990s helped craft Larchmont’s a village with a small-town char- 643 N. GOWER ST.
Q Conditions, zoning rules that acter,” says BID spokesperson Redfin’s Laura
specify acceptable width and height Heather Duffy Boylston. “But we Salgues has the
of storefronts and place a cap on have to balance that with the $1.7 million listing on
certain types of businesses. These reality that there are very sophis- this three-bedroom,
restrictions have helped drive ticated shoppers and diners who three-bathroom
up residential prices (the median Larchmont Boulevard in 1977. live in the area.” contemporary.

Larchmont
Village
GOOD
IN MY
HOOD ◄ Larchmont Wine & Cheese Larchmont Beauty Center LEKfit
“There is a line out the door at the “They have everything and don’t mind “We jump up and down on trampolines
sandwich counter for a reason. This if you just want to play with products to loud music, dance and laugh our
Judy Greer
Casual (Hulu) and shop is one of the reasons I moved here.” for an hour, which, duh, I always do.” butts off in Lauren Kleban’s classes.”
I’m Sorry (truTV) 223 N. Larchmont Blvd. 208 N. Larchmont Blvd. 615 S. Arden Blvd.

T H E HOL LY WO OD R EP ORT ER 66 O C T OBE R 4, 2017

 Style
Travel
‘If You Want to Drink Wine
With Young Italian Filmmakers,
You Will Find Them Here’
Europe without the terrorism and beaches without the hurricanes, the Boot now boasts everything
from Tarantino’s seafood spot in Rome to Clooney’s top hotel in Venice and more By Beth Landman
ith Google hosting
W its summer camp for
billionaires in Sicily
(Prince Harry attended, and
Elton John and Lenny Kravitz
performed) and David Geffen
entertaining Bob Iger, Oprah
Winfrey and Barry Diller aboard
his Portofino-bound yacht, Italy
is proving to be an unparalleled
draw for Hollywood heavies and
tech moguls. Indeed, Italia may
seem like one of the few safe
options as the State Department
issues travel warnings high-
lighting other parts of Europe
due to terrorism and hurricanes
continue to slam the Caribbean.
This fall, as tourists thinned
and truffles came in season,
Julia Roberts headed to Italy, The
Rolling Stones played in Lucca, and
Sting and Trudie Styler hosted a
cocktail block party at their villa
in Tuscany. “Italy is my favorite
country,” says Terry George, who
directed Oscar-nominated Hotel
Rwanda. “We did music for the
film there and found a wonderful
combination of great food, style,
T H E HOL LY WO OD R EP ORT ER
culture and eccentric, fun people.”
Producer Mark Canton agrees:
“Dennis Hopper first brought me
to Italy — the filmmakers are
legendary, food is the best, people
are better and the fashion great.”
(All room rates fluctuate and are
approximate, but the exchange
rate is excellent.)
Getting there
Will Arnett calls Blade’s Bounce
helicopter service — which takes
travelers from New York City to
JFK or Newark in five minutes,
or from DTLA, Santa Monica or
Malibu to LAX in 10 — a “game
changer.” Patrick Whitesell’s wife,
Laura Sanchez, prefers it to Uber,
which “could take two hours
in traffic.”
Instead of Alitalia, many opt for
Air France (flights stop in Paris
en route to Italy from LAX; from
$9,402, first-class round trip),
with new, fully mattressed suites,
complimentary black pajamas, a
24-inch HD screen, cocktails from
the head bartender at Paris’ Ritz
68
and meals like tarragon shrimp
and squid in lobster sauce from
chefs Daniel Boulud and Michel
Roth. Emirates,
which offers deals,
has a direct flight
from JFK to Milan,
Arnett with a shower in first
class and car service
to and from the airport as well as
from the airport to your hotel.
Getting around
High-speed trains are remark-
ably comfortable, and getting
from Florence to Rome, for exam-
ple, takes less than an hour and
a half. “Italo is the newer, more
stylish private train company,
offering better service and inter-
net than the state-run company,”
says luxury tour operator Dino
Triantafillou, who arranged part
of Katy Perry’s July visit.
Helicopter service Hoverfly pro-
vides speedy travel in Italy, and
in Venice, Triantafillou books the
Moa luxury limo boat, with “free-
flowing champagne for VIPs.”
O C T OBE R 4, 2017
1
1 The Rosewood at Castiglion del
Bosco in Tuscany, with its 17th
and 18th century farmhouse villas
and a rare 18-hole private course,
is where Paul McCartney marked
his 70th birthday. 2 Lounge at
Hotel Lungarno. 3 In addition to
Dan Brown, Orlando Bloom
vacationed at Villa Mangiacane.
4 Ischia’s Regina Isabella. 5 Villa
Meravigliosa at Borgo Egnazia
in Puglia, where Madonna rode a
white horse into her birthday
party in August and Netflix film
head Scott Stuber has stayed.
Jet owners, take note: Ampu-
gnano, a private airport in
Tuscany, “opened this year and is
closer than Grosetto — fantas-
tic service,’’ says Sienna Charles
travel expert Jaclyn Sienna India.
Where to stay, what to do
VENICE George Clooney is such
a frequent visitor to Cipriani
(Giudecca, 10; from $902), which
has one of the City of Water’s
8

2
3 6
4 5
few pools, canal views and
private docks, that he created
two drinks with the bartender;
Steven Spielberg, Harrison Ford
and Uma Thurman have been
guests. “I stayed there when we
shot Contagion,” says Activision
Blizzard Studios’ Stacey Sher.
“Gwyneth Paltrow liked their
tomato sauce so much, she got the
recipe. She had just started Goop,
ROSEWOOD: MATTEO CARASSALE. LUNGARNO: JANOS GRAPOW. MANGIACANE, FOUR, PACIFICO, BORGO, REGINA, AMAN:
COURTESY OF SUBJECT. ARNETT: EMMA MCINTYRE/GETTY IMAGES. SHER: JASON KEMPIN/GETTY IMAGES FOR MTV.
and she posted it.” Clooney threw
his wedding reception, attended
by Matt Damon, Bill Murray and
Emily Blunt, at
onetime palazzo
Aman Venice (Calle
Tiepolo Baiamonte,
Sher 1364; from $2,173),
which features ornate
fireplaces and soaring frescoed
ceilings amid sleek design.
Former owners “the count and
countess” still live on the top
floor, says Destination Happiness
travel guru Melissa Schwartz
T H E HOL LY WO OD R EP ORT ER
(201-314-3633), who adds that the
hotel has a secret entrance with
“access to the Rialto Bridge and its
fabulous market.’’ The hotel’s new
restaurant with garden is “very
private, and each room has a dif-
ferent mood,” says India.
Natalie Portman, Salma Hayek
and Yoko Ono managed to find
off-the-beaten-track Antiche
Carampane (Rio Tera de le
Carampane, 1911), one of Venice’s
oldest family-run trattorias
whose grilled octopus and
pasta with spider crab stand
out. At Centrale (Calle Piscina de
Frezzaria, 1659/B), a supper club
in a 15th century palazzo, the
menu comes on an iPad; Spike
Lee has been spotted here. Be
sure to stroll through the Peggy
Guggenheim Museum (Dorsoduro,
701-704), says producer and man-
ager Jane Rose, currently in Italy
with The Rolling Stones: “I’m in
love with the collection.”
69
7 the ports. LaGravenese says about
6 Four Seasons Hotel in
Florence. 7 Tamal de chocolate
at Pacifico restaurant in Rome’s
Palazzo Dama. 8 A terrace
view at Aman Venice. “This was
the noble family’s house,”
says travel expert Schwartz.
ROME Jay McInerney recommends
the intimate La Posta Vecchia
(Palo Laziale, Ladispoli; from
$386). “It’s just outside Rome, on
the sea and close to the airport,
so it’s perfect if you are leaving on
a cruise or flight,” he says. Hotel
Eden (Via Ludovisi, 49) has been
freshly renovated to include walk-
in rain showers in its suites. “We
put top Hollywood producers”
in the Bellavista Suite ($1,600),
which has spectacular city views,
says India (she also recommends
Hotel de Ricci, Via della Barchetta,
14; from $446), because “our
Hollywood clients can take over
the hotel”). In April, director
George stayed at contemporary
classic De Russie (Via del Babuino,
9; from $857). “They even helped
me find a butcher,” he says. “The
first time I was there, the Ocean’s
Twelve crew had taken the whole
roof and top floor.” Former family
home Palazzo Dama (Lungotevere
O C T OBE R 4, 2017
Arnaldo da Brescia, 2; from $415)
is popular with Oscar-nominated
scribe Richard LaGravenese: “It
has a courtyard bar with magnifi-
cent architecture, a perfect place
to meet friends for cocktails.’’
The Americans producer Joel
Fields reports that his family
starts the day at Tazza d’Oro
cafe: “You get your daily shot of
espresso in a cloud of shaved
ice and whipped cream.” A new
branch of the London restaurant
Zuma opened last spring
(Via della Fontanella di Borghese,
48), says concierge company
Quintessentially’s Benjamin Le
Hay, who adds, “restaurants in
Rome can feel stodgy, but this
modern place has taken off with
our clientele.” Quentin Tarantino
and Jamie Foxx are patrons of
longtime treasure Pierluigi
(Piazza de’Ricci, 144), which spe-
cializes in seafood straight from
L’Antico Porto (Via Federico Cesi,
36): “You feel like you are walking
into someone’s home; it has the
most incredible spaghetti vongole.
We had a raw fish antipasto that
was insane.”
For culture, “Il Kino (Via
Perugia, 34) boasts an outdoor
cinema showing classic and
experimental movies and half a
dozen truly great food stands,’’
says Paul Haggis. “If you want to
drink wine with young Italian
filmmakers, you will find them
[here].” He adds that Jerry
Thomas Speakeasy (Vicolo Cellini,
30) “is my favorite bar, where the
cocktails are made from ridicu-
lously fresh ingredients. You can
try using my name to get in, but
it probably won’t work.’’ Fields
loves the Pantheon, which “looks
like another old Roman building,
but inside is one of the most awe-
inspiring rooms in the world.”
TUSCANY During the shooting
of 2016’s Inferno, Dan Brown and
Tom Hanks rented the extremely
private Villa Mangiacane (Via
Faltignano 4; from $222), built in
the 15th century with views of
Florence and an indoor pool for
rainy days. Once the historic cas-
tle of director Luchino Visconti,
the 4,200-foot Castello di Casole
(Localita Querceto, Casole D’Elsa;
from $650) has been trans-
formed into an oasis complete
with a pool on a hill overlooking
 Style
Travel
1
a valley of vineyards, a spa and
three restaurants (farms with
spectacular homes are available
for purchase starting at $6.5 mil-
lion). According to India, top
producers book the master suite
deluxe with private pool at Hotel
Il Pellicano (Localita Sbarcatello;
from $503), perched on a coastal
cliff: “During the day, they take a
boat out to Isla di Giglio for lunch
and swimming.” Canton says
he and Amanda Seyfried stayed
at Hotel Adler Thermae (Str.
Di Bagno Vignoni, 1; from $317)
on a shoot: “It’s in the middle
of nowhere and a very serious
spa with thermal baths.’’ James
Cameron, Justin Bieber and Pink
are all fans of Michelin-starred
Castello del Nero Hotel & Spa (Str.
Spicciano, 7; from $529), which
uses indigenous ingredients in
its therapies.
In bordering Umbria, new mul-
timillion-dollar villas have just
been unveiled to buy or rent out
from Castello di Recchio (Fattoria
di Reschio, Lisciano Niccone;
$5,900). “They are incredibly well
designed,” says India. “Umbria
is picturesque like Tuscany but
wilder and less manicured.”
ISCHIA Canton, who has chaired
the Ischia Film Festival for the
last decade, says of Regina Isabella
(1 Lacco Ameno; from $232): “This
is the single most extraordi-
nary hotel; I’ve brought so many
friends and colleagues here. We
watch movies in an amphithe-
ater on the sea. One night, Sting,
Andrea Bocelli and Zucchero
started singing impromptu.” The
on-site restaurant, Indaco, is
T H E HOL LY WO OD R EP ORT ER
Michelin starred, and the island’s
2,500-year-old spa offers medical
checkups and Botox treatments
along with hot springs and mud
wraps. “The actors come by
speedboat, yacht or helicopter,’’
says Pascal Vicedomini, who runs
the fest. “This summer, everyone
went to St. Tropez for Leonardo
DiCaprio’s party but came right
back till the Venice Festival.’’
CAPRI Jennifer Aniston is among
those who love the easy-in-and-
out harbor location of wellness
beachfront hotel JK Place (Via
Tragara, 8; from $658), which
provides a Mercedes
or golf cart to zip
guests into town
and a 24/7 concierge.
Beyonce At no-kids-allowed
Scalianatella (Via
Tragara, 8; from $411), Tony
Bennett sits by the pool and
sketches. Says Le Hay of the Hotel
Caesar Augustus (Via Giuseppe
Orlandi, 4; from $423): “Most
starlets and members of Egypt’s
royal family flock to this exceed-
ingly refined hotel.’’ A trip to
the blue grotto can be moving,
as one guide confides: “When
Mariah Carey got to the grotto,
she started to cry and we saw her
human side.” Aurora restaurant
(Fuorlovado, 18) is known for its
thin-crust pizza and sightings
of Beyonce. “On Aug. 30, Giorgio
Armani was at the next table
70
1 Rome’s Hotel
Eden of the
Dorchester includes
rooms that were
once home to Ingrid
Bergman and John F.
Kennedy as well
as this Villa Medici
Presidential Suite.
2 Tuscany’s Castello
del Nero Hotel &
Spa. 3 Sunset dining
at Hotel Caesar
Augustus, located at
one of Anacapri’s
highest elevations.
3
celebrating his birthday,’’ says
Schwartz, adding that she saw
Valentino at the Terrace at Grand
Hotel Quisisana (Via Camerelle,
2). Christie Brinkley loves Da
Paolino (Via Palazzo a Mare, 11)
for the “best mozzarella, and you
sit under fragrant lemon trees.”
POSITANO/AMALFI COAST The for-
mer home of Franco Zeffirelli was
transformed in 2016 into Villa Tre
Ville (Via Arienzo, 30; from $872).
Have the hotel arrange for a boat
to take you to the privately owned
islands of Li Galli for secluded
swimming, suggests Andrew
Saffir, founder of NYC’s Cinema
Society; the “scenery is so idyllic,
you’ll want to pinch yourself.”
Hollywood favorite Le Sirenuse
(Via Cristoforo Colombo, 30;
from $825), frequented by Reese
Witherspoon and CAA’s Jim Toth,
has added an open-air bar called
Franco’s. “It’s very happening,’’
says Schwartz. Geffen, Winfrey,
Diller and Diane von Furstenberg
pulled up to Lo Scoglio restau-
rant just west of Positano (Piazza
delle Sirene, 15); a menu highlight
is sea urchin and clams. Design
aficionados love the Ceramiche
Cosmolena store in Ravello:
“One of Hollywood’s leading
ladies made a special trip to this
ultimate ceramic store,’’ reports
Ovation Travel’s Judy Stein.
SARDINIA Regarding Cala di Volpe
(Costa Smeralda, Porto Cervo;
O C T OBE R 4, 2017
from $412), “Michael Jordan was
there Aug. 24 doing photos with
everyone,” but stars “who want to
hide away go to their sister prop-
erty, Patrizza” (Costa Smeralda;
from $397), says Schwartz about
the hotel with private pools, villas
carved into the mountainside
and a helipad. For unique dining,
Ristorante Giagoni in Piazza San
Pantaleo (Piazza Della Chiesa,
6) is “a five-star restaurant on
the mountain, a hidden gem,”
says Schwartz. “It’s in an arti-
san town, and you have to know
about it.”
MILAN “We just sent a major
actress from L.A. to this newly
upgraded hotel, and she was
extremely happy,” says Le Hay of
Hotel Townhouse Galleria Milano
(Via Silvio Pellico; from $845),
which sports a private entrance.
“If someone wants special lychees
in a drink at 2 a.m., they will
come up with them.’’ Insiders
seek out the upscale power din-
ing of Ristorante Cracco (Via
Victor Hugo, 4). “The chef is a rock
star; it’s a moment in Milanese
culinary history,” notes Le Hay.
FLORENCE At the family-friendly
Four Seasons (Borgo Pinto, 99),
EDEN: NIALL CLUTTON. CASTELLO: COURTESY OF SUBJECT. CAESAR: ALESSANDRA FARINELLI. BEYONCE: DIMITRIOS KAMBOURIS/GETTY IMAGES.
insiders “favor the private gar-
den suite with floor-to-ceiling
windows in the heart of the city’s
park, with an exclusive view
of the Duomo” (from $986), says
Genuine Access travel specialist
Gen Hershey. Its Michelin-starred
restaurant, Il Palagio, can prepare
a picnic on the property. And the
just-refurbished, low-key Hotel
Lungarno (Borgo S. Jacopo, 14;
from $686) contains Picasso and
Cocteau artwork and two floors
privatized for VIPs. Eat at Enoteca
Pinchiorri (Via Ghibellina, 87),
suggests Le Hay: “People fly in to
have a meal at this gastronomic
temple, but getting them in can
be a challenge.’’
We Proudly Represent These

SUPREMELY TALENTED
SHOWRUNNERS
Recognized by The Hollywood Reporter

SARAH-VIOLET BLISS
JAY DUPLASS
MARK DUPLASS
VINCE GILLIGAN
AARON KORSH
CHRISTOPHER LLOYD
BRUCE MILLER
ROBIA RASHID
SHONDA RHIMES
CHARLES ROGERS
 Style
Cheat Sheet to
Europe’s Fall
Fashion Weeks

Blade Runner’s a Hit — The Firths on Milan’s green carpet.

on the Fashion Runways he spring 2018 runway shows in

T Paris, London and Milan that
wrapped Oct. 4 featured several need-
Collections are paying homage, while the sci-fi sequel is being deemed a must-see: to-know innovations for Hollywood:
‘I will be out there on opening day,’ says Opening Ceremony’s Humberto Leon By Booth Moore
THE NEW GREEN CARPET In Milan, Livia
Firth (wife of Colin) brought stardust
hirty-five years after Blade Runner hit the big ↑ From left: The sequel’s Gosling with Joi, played by Ana de Armas;

T screen, Blade Runner 2049, opening Oct. 6,

is the most hotly anticipated fashion film of
the year. The retro-futuristic costumes from the
original — designed by Michael Kaplan and Charles
Knode, on sets conceptualized by visual futurist
Syd Mead — blended 1940s noir and 1980s punk,
creating a gritty-glam aesthetic that still influences
fashion today. Pierre Hardy’s fall Replicante shoe
collection incorporates futuristic shapes and color-
blocking, while Raf Simons’ spring 2018 menswear
collection at New York Fashion Week was a rain-gear
and replicant homage in Manhattan’s Chinatown.
Blade Runner 2049 costume designer Renee April
(Arrival, Rise of the Planet of the Apes) admits the pres-
sure was on, saying that director Denis Villeneuve
wanted her to “hint at the same world but push
Hardy Replicante shoe; costume sketch for Joi; and a Simons homage.
to sustainable fashion, hosting the first
Green Carpet Fashion Awards at La
Scala opera house Sept. 25. “This is the
“It’s cotton that we laminated and painted over. It’s
indestructible. Sometimes we made things and they Oscars of fashion,” the eco-activist
said in praising the artisanal approach
would be too beautiful, so we sent them out to be of winners Ermenegildo Zegna and
destroyed. There is not a lot of beauty in this world.” Brunello Cucinelli to a crowd including
Jared Leto may be a fashion flamboyant in real Dakota Johnson, Zoe Saldana, Lauren
life, but in the film, the replicant creator’s look is Hutton and Giorgio Armani.
more cybermonk, she says. “He has 50 of the same
FRENCH TRANSPARENCY A new law
kimono-like garment. He’s the Steve Jobs of this passed during Paris Fashion Week had
world.” Mariette, a streetwalker who recalls Daryl media types buzzing (beyond rumors
Hannah’s character Pris in the original, is edgier, that Lena Dunham is taking over
wearing a manga-inspired pink plastic and fur coat. Glamour, which her rep denied): Any
Instead of power shoulders for 2049’s Sean Young- photoshopped images of models made
to appear thicker or thinner must be
type character — Luv, played by Sylvia Hoeks — “she labeled as “photographie retouchee”
wears very simple lines,” says April. “That’s all for the (“retouched photograph”). American
story. Sometimes in sci-fi films, the costumes take photo agency Getty Images no longer

it further. In the first film, it was raining and dark,
but now it’s raining and snowing and toxic and
brutal.” This led April to focus on protective outer-
wear, including the coat with an exaggerated collar
that is blade runner Ryan Gosling’s signature piece:
up too much space. Here, there’s no fluff.”
Asked if the film’s style will translate to runways,
she says she’s not sure: “When I saw the Raf Simons
collection, it was so strange. Who wants to wear fur
and plastic at the same time in real life?”
SIMONS: JP YIM/GETTY IMAGES. SHOE: COURTESY OF PIERRE HARDY. FIRTH: JACOPO RAULE/GETTY IMAGES. LAURENT: ESTROP/GETTY IMAGES. ADRIAN: EVAN MILLER.
will accept shots that have digitally
altered models’ body shapes.
YABBA DABBA DO! If you notice on the
red carpet in coming months that the
bottoms of skirts and dresses look like
they were gnawed by saber-toothed

GARBO: METRO-GOLDWYN-MAYER/PHOTOFEST. BLADE: STEPHEN VAUGHAN/WARNER BROS. SKETCH: COURTESY OF WARNER BROS.
tigers, blame it on the Paris runways.
Fashion insiders are calling it the
“Flintstones hem,” as seen at Balmain
and Yves Saint Laurent.
Resurrection of an Iconic Costume Designer Ragged hems at Saint Laurent.
→ An architect of classic Hollywood glamour is about to get a second life. On Oct. 10, Adrian
Original will be relaunched with 30 pieces, including evening gowns (below; from $1,900).
Besides creating iconic onscreen looks for The Wizard of Oz’s Judy Garland, The Philadelphia
Story’s Katharine Hepburn and Mata Hari’s Greta Garbo (left), Gilbert Adrian was a fashion
force whose Beverly Hills salon, opened in 1942, outfitted Garbo, Norma
Shearer and Adrian’s wife, Janet Gaynor. “It’s rare in the U.S. to have a
brand with this much legacy,” says founder Kate Silverman, whose family,
with the blessing of the designer’s son Robin Adrian, is bankrolling the
line. Adds brand consultant John Favreau, who is working on the launch:
“We fully expect to be on the awards show red carpet this season.”

For more Hollywood fashion news, go to PretaReporter.com

T H E HOL LY WO OD R EP ORT ER 72 O C T OBE R 4, 2017

PROUDLY
CONGRATULATES
OUR 2017 POWER SHOWRUNNERS

VINCE GILLIGAN
& PETER GOULD

SCOTT M. GIMPLE
© 2017 AMC Network Entertainment LLC. All Rights Reserved.
 Thank You
AFI BOARD OF TRUSTEES
AFI BOARD OF TRUSTEES Jim Breyer Eva Longoria Ted Sarandos
CHAIR Breyer Capital Bryan Lourd Netflix
Ì James L. Brooks Creative Artists Agency Chris Silbermann
Sir Howard Stringer
Gracie Films Michael Lynton ICM Partners
AFI BOARD OF DIRECTORS Gabrielle Carteris Snap Inc. Stacey Snider
CHAIR SAG-AFTRA Lori McCreary 20th Century Fox
Ì Christopher J. Dodd Revelations Entertainment Steven Spielberg
Robert A. Daly
Motion Picture Association Ron Meyer Amblin Partners
Rulemaker, Inc.
of America NBCUniversal Kevin Tsujihara
Ì
AFI BOARD OF TRUSTEES Nancy Fisher Jonathan Miller Warner Bros.
Ì
VICE CHAIRS Jack Gao Advancit Capital Todd Wagner
Jon Avnet
Ì Wanda Cultural Jim Moffatt 2929 Entertainment
Brooklyn Films Industry Group Deloitte Touche William Wang
Ì Jim Gianopulos Tohmatsu Limited VIZIO
Richard Frank
Ì
Paramount Pictures Leslie Moonves Hayma Washington
Marshall Herskovitz
Dr. Carla D. Hayden CBS Corporation Television Academy
The Bedford Falls Company
Ì
Library of Congress Edward James Olmos
Tom Pollock
John Hendricks Frederick S. Pierce
Ì
The Montecito
Discovery Communications The Frederick S. Pierce Co. FOUNDING DIRECTOR
Picture Company Ì
Ì Kazuo Hirai Cecilia DeMille Presley George Stevens, Jr.
Edward Zwick
Sony Corporation Cecil B. DeMille Foundation
The Bedford Falls Company
Alan Horn
Ì PRESIDENT EMERITA
Kevin Reilly Ì
TRUSTEES Walt Disney Studios Turner Entertainment Jean Picker Firstenberg
Ì
Brad Anderson Gene F. Jankowski Shonda Rhimes
AFI National Council Jankowski Communication PRESIDENT & CEO
Shondaland
Ì

Neal Baer System, Inc. Bob Gazzale

Jay Roach
Baer Bones, Inc. Kathleen Kennedy Everyman Pictures
Ì Lucasfilm Ltd. HONORARY TRUSTEE
Jeanine Basinger Rich Ross
Scott Keogh Diane Keaton
Wesleyan University Discovery Channel
Halle Berry Audi of America, Inc. Ì
Jill Sackler
Ì Donna Langley Dame Jillian &
Gary Birkenbeuel
Universal Pictures Dr. Arthur M. Sackler
Ernst & Young LLP
Debra L. Lee Foundation for the Arts
Roger Birnbaum
BET Networks Sciences and Humanities
Cave 76 Productions
Ì Lori Lee Josh Sapan
Richard Brandt Ì
AT&T Inc. AMC Networks Inc. AFI Board of Directors
 Thank You
AFI TRUSTEES EMERITI
AFI CHAIRS EMERITI Steven Broidy Ava Fries Francis Keppel Amy Pascal Vivian Sobchack
David Brown Charles Fries James Kimsey Charles Peebler Jr. T.G. Solomon
Gregory Peck
Dan Burke Michael Fuchs Patricia Kingsley Arthur Penn Aaron Spelling
Roger L. Stevens
John Calley Richard Gallop Arthur Knight William L. Pereira Michael Spindler
Charlton Heston
Mark Canton Emanuel Gerard Howard W. Koch Eleanor Perry Helen Stansbury
Richard Brandt
George Chasen Dolly Gillin Barbara Kopple Ted Perry Dawn Steel
Bonita Granville Wrather
Alfred A. Checchi Ina Ginsburg John Korty Daniel Petrie Charles A. Steinberg
Gene F. Jankowski
Peter Chernin Marvin Goldman Alan Ladd Jr. Dan Petrie Jr. Bunny Stivers
Frederick S. Pierce
Henry Cisneros Samuel Goldwyn Jr. Melvin R. Laird Barbara Phillips Harriet Stuart
Tom Pollock
Martha Coolidge Douglas Gomery Sherry Lansing Arnold Picker Gordon Stulberg
Jon Avnet
Joan Ganz Cooney Mark Goodson Mary W. Lawrence David Picker Robert Sturm
John F. Cooke
Karen Cooper Larry Gordon Richard Leacock Frank Pierson Donald Sutherland
Peggy Cooper Cafritz Edward Grebow Warren Lieberfarb Henry Plitt Anne Sweeney
AFI TRUSTEES EMERITI Francis Ford Coppola J. Ronald Green Jack Lemmon Sidney Poitier Barbara Tannenbaum
Berle Adams Bruce Corwin David Greenblatt Joseph E. Levine Tony Ponturo Daniel Taradash
Merv Adelson Sherill Corwin Brad Grey Suzanne Lloyd Frank Price Brandon Tartikoff
Chris Albrecht John Costello Philip Guarascio Peter Lund Michael Pulitzer Liener Temerlin
Shana Alexander Cathy Coughlin Peter Guber David Lynch David Puttnam Anthony Thomopoulos
Debbie Allen John Culkin Andre Guttfreund Shirley MacLaine Joan Ransohoff William. F. Thompson
Herbert Allen Massimo d'Amore Dee Dee Halleck John W. Macy Jr. Robert Rehme Grant Tinker
Gil Amelio William Daniels John Hancock David Mallery Joel Resnick Helene Tobias
Maya Angelou Martin S. Davis Sidney Harman Frank Mancuso David Rips Thomas Tull
John Antioco Suzanne de Passe Salah M. Hassanein Brad Martin Victoria Riskin Cicely Tyson
Anna Bing Arnold John DiBiaggio Larry Herbert Marsha Mason Jeff Robinov Robert Wagner
Lisa Arpey Barry Diller D. Heriard Dubreuil Richard Masur Henry C. Rogers Richard Walsh
Elizabeth Ashley Garth Drabinsky Alan Hirschfield David Matalon Wayne Rogers John Warnock
Ted Ashley Bill Duke Dustin Hoffman Guy McElwaine Kelly Rose John Wells
Norbert T. Auerbach Tracey Edmonds Ken Howard Donald H. McGannon Frank Rosenfelt Peter Werner
Paris Barclay Michael Eisner Dawn Hudson Harry McPherson Paul Roth Richard J. Whalen
Sidney Barlow William Ellinghaus Gale Anne Hurd Barry Meyer Tom Rothman Roy B. White
Ting Barrow Ari Emanuel Robert Iger Edward H. Meyer Lois Saffian James A. Wiatt
Patricia Barry Ed Emshwiller Cheryl Boone Isaacs Bernard Meyerson T.W. Sarnoff Billy Dee Williams
Joan Barton Roger Enrico Alan Jacobs Ronald W. Miller Andrew Sarris Irwin Winkler
Katherine J. Bayne Robert Evans Leo Jaffe Walter Mirisch Scott Sassa Robert Wise
Warren Beatty Raymond Fielding Jon Jashni Carole Mitchell Franklin J. Schaffner David Wolper
David Begelman Freddie Fields Deane F. Johnson Phil Molyneux Arthur Schlesinger Jr. Bob Wright
Bob Bennett Robert L. Fitzpatrick Robert Johnson Wendi Murdoch John A. Schneider Michael Wright
Charles Benton Christopher Forman Larry Jordan Janet Murray George Seaton Frank Yablans
Jeff Berg Michael Forman Vernon E. Jordan Jr. Michael Nesmith Daniel Selznick Alex Yemenidjian
Allen Bernstein Richard Fox Marvin Josephson Mace Neufeld John Shaffner Bud Yorkin
James Billington Stephen O. Frankfurt Fay Kanin Paul Newman Robert Shaye Paul Ziffren
Richard L. Bloch M.J. Frankovich Lawrence Kasdan Rick Nicita Jack Shea Fred Zinneman
Daniel J. Boorstin A. Alan Friedberg Jeffrey Katzenberg Richard Orear Marc Shmuger Jeff Zucker
Todd Bradley William Friedkin Jerry Katzman Michael S. Ovitz Fred Silverman

Days before Morgan Spurlock debuted his
anticipated Super Size Me sequel at the
Toronto Film Festival, the documentary
already was drawing buyer interest. Netflix
made a play for Spurlock’s poultry indus-
try exposé, per sources. Hulu and CNN also
were said to be in the mix, but a surprising
distributor quickly rose to the top: YouTube.
The lights had just dimmed on Super Size
Me 2: Holy Chicken’s Sept. 8 world premiere
when THR reported that the streamer would
pay $3.5 million for the documentary, com-
mitting to a theatrical release and a hefty
marketing spend. “YouTube made the most
sense for what I wanted to accomplish with
this film,” says Spurlock, who is said to have
left millions on the table to work with the
Google-owned video hub and its 1.5 billion
monthly viewers. “You don’t make movies to
sit on a shelf and collect dust. You want them
to actually be enjoyed by as many people
as you can. And their plan is to make this a
noisy partnership.”
Indeed, when Super Size Me 2 debuts on
YouTube Red, the company’s $10-a-month
streaming service, in 2018 after a run in
theaters (a distribution partner hasn’t been
chosen yet), it will front a small but growing
slate of films — among them a documentary
from rapper Warren G and a special starring
Katy Perry — that YouTube global head of
original content Susanne Daniels is hoping
will help turn the world’s biggest repository
for web video into an arbiter of taste and
culture, a player in both the Oscar and Emmy
races. “I want the movies that we’re buying to
be buzzy and have something provocative to
say,” says Daniels, a career television executive
who joined YouTube in 2015 to lead its original
content push. “It’s easier to support films the
right way when they have a really loud and
strong point of view.”
That YouTube execs were trolling Toronto
for the next big indie hit says a lot about the
rise of streaming video services over the past
few years. An arms race among cash-rich new
T H E HOL LY WO OD R EP ORT ER
players — led by Netflix and Amazon and now
including Hulu, Apple, Facebook and, yes,
YouTube — has electrified the content busi-
ness as legacy distribution models continue
to fracture (see the 25-year low in box-office
attendance this summer). The shift is redraw-
ing the hierarchy of the television industry,
where all five broadcast networks saw a
decline in total viewers last season while the
streamers committed about $20 billion to
programming delivered without a cable sub-
scription. This summer, Apple poached Sony
TV’s top execs Zack Van Amburg and Jamie
Erlicht to help it spend $1 billion making the
kinds of shows (The Crown, Breaking Bad) that
they once sold to networks. Netflix snapped
up uber-producer Shonda Rhimes from
ABC with an estimated $100 million deal.
And Facebook announced its new video
destination along with deals with dozens of
production and publishing companies.
If there’s one thing that Netflix’s House of
Cards, Amazon’s Transparent and Hulu’s drama
series Emmy winner The Handmaid’s Tale have
shown, it’s that it only takes one big hit to
earn Hollywood’s respect and, in many cases,
a subscriber’s credit card information. “If you
can offer talent the same level of fame and
exposure and pay them the same — if not more
— than they get elsewhere, you can get access
to anybody,” says BTIG media analyst Richard
Greenfield. “There are no barriers anymore.”
Perhaps, but for every Netflix or Hulu,
there is an Xbox Entertainment Studios or a
Yahoo Screen or an Intel Media, all of which
were scrapped after pricey launches. Even
YouTube has been here before with its short-
lived initiative to offer as much as $5 million
up front to everyone from Ashton Kutcher to
Jay Z to create their own “channels.” But the
latest investments have the Hollywood talent
community salivating. “The commitment of
resources seems to indicate that this is a long-
term game,” says Joe Cohen, co-head of CAA’s
TV department. “It’s the most exciting time
we’ve been in because of how much opportu-
nity there is.”
1
1 Macchio (left) and Zabka announced Cobra Kai at the TCA Summer Press Tour.
2 The cast of Step Up: High Water. 3 Rhett & Link star in the Red series Buddy System.
4 This Is Everything: Gigi Gorgeous premiered in January at Sundance.
78 O C T OBE R 4, 2017
Hart (left), star of YouTube series What
the Fit?, with Kyncl at Brandcast on May 4.
There’s certainly not room for half-hearted
programming plays in 2017. With nearly 500
scripted series expected this year, breaking
through all that clutter isn’t easy. A common
PREVIOUS SPREAD, PROP STYLING BY MAT GIBILISCO AT AUBRI BALK. LOVATO HAIR BY AHN CO TRAHN AT TRACEY MATTINGLY, MAKEUP BY JILL POWELL AT DEW BEAUTY AGENCY. WOJCICKI
FREDERICK M. BROWN/GETTY IMAGES. GORGEOUS: GARY GRIFFIN/COURTESY OF SUNDANCE. STEP: COURTESY OF YOUTUBE ORIGINALS. RHETT: COURTESY OF MYTHICAL ENTERTAINMENT.
refrain as these new buyers take meetings is
HAIR AND MAKEUP BY CASSIE CHAPMAN. DANIELS HAIR AND MAKEUP BY ERICA CAMARENA AT AUBRI BALK. THIS SPREAD, HART: NOAM GALAI/FILMMAGIC FOR YOUTUBE. MACCHIO:
that each is looking for its Game of Thrones
— an all-audience, brand-defining megahit.
What that means for each platform is start-
ing to come into focus. While Apple has been
on the hunt for a big-budget drama from the
likes of A-list creators Ryan Murphy or Vince
Gilligan, Facebook is taking a more mea-
sured approach — saving Nicole Byers’ MTV
comedy *Loosely Exactly Nicole from cancel-
lation and ordering low-budget series from
such longtime partners as BuzzFeed and
Refinery29.
Where does all this leave YouTube, the site
that launched the streaming age in 2005 with
user-generated cat videos but now wants to
be taken seriously as a prestige subscription
destination? During a recent visit with THR at
Google’s Mountain View campus in Northern
California, YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki laid
out her multipronged offensive: a slate of
ad-supported unscripted originals from such
names as Demi Lovato (see sidebar), Ryan
Seacrest and Ellen DeGeneres, coupled with a
scripted push for YouTube Red that combines
2
3
The Evolving Business of YouTube
With ad revenue growth expected to slow, the world’s biggest video platform is diversifying into subscriptions By Natalie Jarvey

APP YouTube YouTube Red YouTube TV YouTube Ad Revenue

YouTube ad revenue (billions)
PRICE FREE $10/MONTH $35/MONTH YouTube ad revenue as a percentage of total digital ad spending

WHAT Ad-supported Ad-free viewing, Around 50 live TV

YOU GET original series access to Google feeds — including $4B $4.39B
including Play Music and all the broadcast $3.96B
3 $3.5B
competition show original series networks and such
$2.92B
Best.Cover.Ever. featuring YouTube cable channels as FX 2
and Kevin Hart’s stars (Foursome, and ESPN — along $2.24B
What the Fit? The Thinning) and with unlimited cloud 1 4.1% 4.2% 4.2% 4.2%
will join billions of traditional talent DVR storage and
3.8%
hours of user- (Step Up: High access to YouTube
generated videos. Water, Cobra Kai). Red originals. 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
Source: eMarketer

existing IP (including Step Up: High Water,
an offshoot of the dance movie franchise,
and The Karate Kid spinoff Cobra Kai) with
projects fronted by its homegrown digital
stars. Among the shows in the works are a
musical comedy with Rudy Mancuso (3 mil-
lion YouTube subscribers) executive produced
by Avengers: Infinity War directors Joe and
Anthony Russo, an Anna Akana (1.9 million)
drama executive produced by Mark Gordon
and a Liza Koshy (11.7 million) vehicle. It even
launched its own version of a skinny bundle,
YouTube TV, offering access to channels
including FX and ESPN over the internet for
$35 a month. “Television is changing a lot, and
there are opportunities to reinvent parts of
it,” says Wojcicki. “We’re going to continue to
invest more in it.”
when chief business officer (and Netflix alum)
Robert Kyncl began to plot the launch of a ser-
vice that would give users the best of YouTube
without the advertising, he knew how impor-
tant it would be to get Hollywood on board.
“YouTube Red was something the creative
industry always wanted us to do,” says Kyncl.
“I’d been on the receiving end of those calls
pretty much every week.”
Enter Daniels, who had spent years tap-
ping into the minds of teens at WB Network
and later MTV. Early YouTube Red offerings
starring the platform’s biggest stars (think a
reality series with PewDiePie) drew eyeballs
but not much notoriety. Now that strategy has
changed. This summer, YouTube Red went
head-to-head with Netflix, Hulu, AMC and
Amazon to land Sony TV’s Karate Kid reboot,
set 30 years after the coming-of-age classic,
beyond the $5 million an episode of some
premium dramas, except for a handful of
marquee projects.
YouTube also is said to have beat out oth-
ers to land the Mancuso project, which has
Pitch Perfect’s Jason Moore attached to direct
the pilot. But for other pickups, Daniels and
her 30-person staff in the company’s Playa
Vista office have had to get more creative. She
landed the series reboot of Step Up after run-
ning into Lionsgate’s Erik Feig at a New Year’s
Eve party. “Whatever was in the champagne
that night, the call came in Monday, and it was
like, ‘Let’s figure out how to do this,’ ” recalls
Lionsgate Television chairman Kevin Beggs.
Meanwhile, she piloted the Doug Liman-
produced Impulse, based on a novel in Steven
Gould’s Jumper series, before ordering it to
series. “It’s my preference always to do a pilot,”

Y ouTube and Hollywood haven’t always with Ralph Macchio and William Zabka repris-
been so chummy, of course. As the ing their roles. Most involved expected the
original digital video disrupter, the half-hour Cobra Kai — from Harold & Kumar
site was a pariah during its early years when duo Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg and
uploaded clips made up the bulk of its data- Hot Tub Time Machine writer Josh Heald — to
base. Viacom sued for $1 billion over copyright land at Netflix. But Daniels’ aggressive 10-epi-
infringement of footage from The Daily Show sode straight-to-series offer sealed the deal.
and South Park (it was settled in 2014), and the Why? “Netflix is breaking a show every other
company still regularly wars with the music week,” says Macchio. “With the passion that
industry over royalties. So three years ago, YouTube and Susanne Daniels have, this show
is not going to get lost. They want it to be that
4 first big show that puts them on the original
content map.”
YouTube isn’t really part of the prestige TV
conversation yet, and Kyncl declines to disclose
how much the company is willing to spend on
its originals business. But sources indicate it’s
more likely in the hundreds of millions annu-
ally, nowhere near the $6 billion that Netflix
pledges. (EMarketer estimates that YouTube
ad revenue, which Google doesn’t break out in
its earnings reports, will be about $3.5 billion
this year, and Google had $86 billion in cash
on hand in 2016.) While YouTube is willing to
spend like any cable outlet (around $2 million
an episode for dramas), say people familiar
with its deals, it’s not quite ready to stretch
says Daniels. “But in this crazy, competitive
environment — more competitive than I’ve
ever seen it before, ever — I don’t always have
a choice.”
That competition will only become fiercer
as Apple, Facebook and perhaps someday soon
Snapchat or Twitter or Instagram get into the
premium video game. While a meeting with
Netflix, Amazon or Apple may be a creator’s
goal among the streamers, persuading a top
writer or producer to make the trek to Playa
Vista — YouTube’s Hollywood outpost — isn’t
as easy. But Daniels hopes that’s changing as
she starts to make more high-profile pickups.
Agents say the streamer’s hybrid approach of
working with both YouTube celebrities and
more traditional TV talents has led to some
confusion over what the outlet is looking for.
However, developing a “brand” of shows is a
notion that Daniels pooh-poohs: “Short of
choosing a really specific lane to play in, how
do you really define ‘brand’? How is Amazon’s
brand different than Netflix’s brand different
than HBO’s brand different than Showtime’s
brand?” She does acknowledge that she is
focusing on the 18-to-34 demographic with
youthful but edgy fare. On her wish list is a

Hear Lovato’s and Daniels’ favorite viral video and the last thing they googled at THR.COM/VIDEO

T H E HOL LY WO OD R EP ORT ER 79 O C T OBE R 4, 2017

 Disney Kid to
the ambitious project, which drew more
Pop Diva to than 50 million views in 190 countries. (Per
YouTube Star: sources, MTV also bid, but the show would
have aired only in the U.S.) “I’m so glad we
Demi Lovato swung for the fences on that and tried it,”
The ‘Sorry Not Sorry’ says Daniels. “We need to be thinking about
singer spearheads community and interactivity and live and
the platform’s push into international and all the things that we are
original content with a that a TV network isn’t.” Witness was the first
music documentary about in a small slate of unscripted originals that
recording her sixth album: YouTube has developed separately from its
‘It’s about me thriving’ Red programming and will release outside the
By Natalie Jarvey paywall in the hope of attracting blue-chip
advertisers. “One of the things that I grew
uncomfortable with was the fact that we were
not creating original content for our biggest
partners,” says Kyncl, noting that he’s hoping
to tap into the demand that has been created
her rehearse, onto the set of did a 96-hour live stream for by the nearly 20 percentage point drop in
her latest music video (a wild the platform in June, viewed ad-supported originals in the traditional TV
On a bright summer day at house-party-themed affair for more than 50 million times. business over the past five years as subscrip-
Google headquarters the single “Sorry Not Sorry”) Lovato will spread her energy tion streaming services have flourished.
in Mountain View, California, and into the gym, where she around YouTube in other ways Plus, there’s the assurance that an ad on a
young programmers in san- unwinds after work (wear- as well. She’s appearing as Kevin Hart or Ryan Seacrest show won’t run
dals and carrying backpacks ing, not incidentally, the gear a judge on Best.Cover.Ever., alongside anti-Semitic, violent or other con-
are strolling the immaculately from her own fitness clothing Ryan Seacrest’s upcoming troversial videos often found on YouTube (and
groomed grounds. But they brand, Fabletics). There are YouTube competition show in that prompted an advertiser revolt dubbed the
stop and stare as Demi Lovato moments of her riding in cars which musicians invite fans “ad-pocalypse” earlier this year). So far, L.L.
comes striding across the with friends; playing with her to post cover performances Bean and STX Entertainment have signed on
lawn, trailed by a photog- dogs, Batman and Cinderella; of one of their hit singles (in for DeGeneres’ behind-the-scenes series Show
rapher and a flock of Google and in general doing the Lovato’s case, “Confident”). Me More Show. The rate card for the series,
executives and assistants. sorts of everyday, mundane “I used to [sing] covers as a which has averaged around 500,000 views per
Silicon Valley, meet things that have made so kid,” she says. “I used to sing video since its Sept. 19 launch, is said to range
Hollywood. many other YouTube stars to Kelly Clarkson and Christina from $500,000 to $1.5 million, though other
The 25-year-old former (the ones that can’t sing or Aguilera and Aretha Franklin. shows have packages that are more expensive.
Disney star turned pop diva dance) incredibly famous. Those songs became such Ulta Beauty is on board for Lovato’s Simply
is visiting the Google campus “I hope fans get to see a an important part of my life, Complicated (Oct. 17), and Johnson & Johnson
for a photo shoot promot- lighter side of me,” says and now I get to be that for is the exclusive sponsor of the Seacrest-
ing Simply Complicated, her Lovato, who got her start on other people.” produced singing competition Best.Cover.Ever.
YouTube documentary that YouTube nine years ago by Simply Complicated will act Talent, meanwhile, has been lured by the
starts streaming Oct. 17. posting vlogs with fellow for- as a sequel of sorts to Lovato’s potential to reach fans no matter what coun-
The idea is to give her fans mer child star Selena Gomez. last documentary, 2012’s Stay try they live in. “YouTube is the O.G. of video
— some 1.3 million Lovatics, “It’s something that I haven’t Strong, and show how she content on the internet,” says Lovato, the
as they call themselves, shown before. I like to think has overcome struggles with 25-year-old pop star (for those over 40, she’s
subscribe to her channel I’m funny, and I’d like to think an eating disorder and drug referring to the “original gangster”). “When
— an intimate look at her life that I have positive energy.” abuse that led to a stint in they came to me with the idea, I just couldn’t
and her process for mak- The nearly 80-minute rehab at the age of 18. “The say no.”
ing her sixth album, which special joins a growing roster last documentary, it was about But as YouTube sets its sights on higher-pro-
was released Sept. 29. The of programming that YouTube me surviving,” she says with file projects, it risks alienating the community
cameras follow her into the is bringing to its 1.5 billion a smile. “This documentary is of digital talent who came to fame on its
recording studio to watch global users — Katy Perry about me thriving.” platform (and subsequently helped raise pro-
duction values and CPMs), especially because
family show with religious overtones (she over sheer audience scale. For now, YouTube projects like the Logan Paul-fronted sci-fi film
recently met with Touched by an Angel scribe has a clear head start on video, with more than The Thinning and Joey Graceffa’s reality series
Martha Williamson), and sources say she also 1 billion hours watched daily throughout the Escape the Night are said to be some of the
is looking for a broad, multicamera comedy, world. But through Watch (which currently is most popular on Red.
a female ensemble in the vein of Girls and an only available in the U.S.), Facebook is gun- Creators are watching YouTube’s moves
action drama that would appeal to YouTube’s ning for a larger slice of the $11.7 billion in ad closely. “It makes sense for them to do both,”
large gaming community — in other words, dollars expected to flow into the digital video says Rhett McLaughlin, one half of host-
something for each of YouTube’s core demos. business this year. ing duo Rhett & Link, who have both a YouTube
While nearly all of the streamers are com- Already, the two have gone head-to-head Red series (Buddy System) and an ad-supported
peting for awards recognition and prestige, on programming. Facebook also considered show (Good Mythical Morning). “This is ulti-
only Facebook, with its 2 billion monthly users working with Katy Perry on her 96-hour mately a battle for people’s eyeballs.”
worldwide, and YouTube truly can duke it out live stream, but YouTube ultimately landed Facebook already is exploiting the tension,

T H E HOL LY WO OD R EP ORT ER 80 O C T OBE R 4, 2017

 offering upfront deals to digital influenc-
ers to post their videos on Watch, though the
The Push for Property (and Profits)
social network says it eventually wants to stop Netflix and Amazon are putting greater emphasis on owning their
funding content altogether in favor of a reve- scripted originals, while Hulu continues to lean on the major studios
nue-share arrangement (the split is the same By Lesley Goldberg
as YouTube’s, with 55 percent of ad revenue
going to the creator). YouTube execs, however,
say they won’t abandon the site’s homegrown
stars. “We focus on both YouTube native talent
and Hollywood talent,” says Kyncl.
T he race for talent among the big three streamers is a clear sign of a
larger overall push for ownership in TV. After making deals with networks
and the major studios alike to license a library of scripted films and series,
Netflix, Amazon and Hulu began buying from pretty much everyone as they
stocked up on originals. But that strategy has started to shift as deep-pocketed
Of course, there are quirks to working
Netflix and Amazon are making a clear push to own their scripted fare, while Hulu
with a technology company. At YouTube,
remains focused on buying both from studios — including Sony, Warner Bros.
the main challenge is its uniquely annoying
and Universal — and from indies like The Handmaid’s Tale producer MGM. Here’s
platform architecture, in which each origi-
a look at how the ownership pie breaks down at all three services.
nal series must live on a designated YouTube
channel. For Step Up, for instance, YouTube is
NETFLIX
creating a whole new channel, which it will fill
out by licensing the original films and offer- Orange
ing collections of dance videos. “Some of these
Is the
New Black
(Lionsgate
13 Owned
in-house
things are really new to us and require a whole
different approach,” says Lionsgate’s Beggs. “A
TV)
6 ABC
Studios
lot of people who are not normally in the same
room together have met multiple times over at
3 Fox
Studios

YouTube to compare notes.”

55 3 Paramount
Television
One benefit of having all those engineers
working behind the scenes, though, can be
SHOWS
3 Universal
Television

the troves of data about the intimate viewing

habits of billions of people. Daniels came to
3 Warner
Bros. TV

the Cobra Kai pitch armed with the knowledge 3 Sony Pictures
Television Studios
that Karate Kid videos had yielded more than a
billion views on YouTube. And platforms that
21 Other
studios
The streaming giant signed prolific showrunner Shonda Rhimes (Grey’s Anatomy, Scandal) to
rely on advertising typically aren’t as precious a sizable overall deal in its most telling push for ownership yet. Content chief Ted Sarandos said
about data as Netflix or Amazon. Although in September that Netflix Studios is now producing 75 percent of the company’s new projects.
YouTube doesn’t release subscriber figures
or ratings for Red (the only number that execu- AMAZON
tives have shared is that its first 37 originals
have been viewed 250 million times — or an Transparent
average of about 6.7 million views per show),
(Amazon
Studios) 12 Owned
in-house
creators with channels on Red receive monthly
reports detailing how long people have watched
3 The
Weinstein Co.

their videos (important since YouTube shares

subscription revenue with its creator partners)
33
SHOWS
3 Paramount
Television

and other performance metrics. 2 Sky

Studios
In the subscription space, no one seems
poised to catch Netflix, which has a five-year 2 Universal
Television
head start and series slate that included
43 scripted originals in 2016. But as Netflix
11 Other
studios

and others look to own more of their shows, Roy Price’s Amazon Studios also is locking up talent, landing The Walking Dead
ORANGE: CARA HOWE/NETFLIX. TRANSPARENT: JENNIFER CLASEN/AMAZON STUDIOS. HANDMAID’S: GEORGE KRAYCHYK/HULU.

creator Robert Kirkman from AMC as well as Gilmore Girls creator Amy Sherman-Palladino,
YouTube (and Apple) could get a boost. among others, as the retail giant/streamer searches for an all-audience hit.
“Netflix wasn’t even in the original program-
ming game four years ago,” says BTIG’s
HULU
Greenfield. “If Apple wants to be a major
player, if Google wants to be a major player, The Handmaid’s
Tale (MGM TV)
this is the beginning.”
Sitting in her Playa Vista office in August
1 Owned
in-house

after her weekly production update meet- 17

SHOWS 2 Sony Pictures
Television Studios
ing, Daniels contemplates just what it will
take to turn YouTube into the kind of plat-
form that gets mentioned in the same breath 3 Universal
Television
with Netflix, Amazon and Hulu. “I want our
shows to resonate in a big way with audi- 11 Other
studios
ences,” she says with a gleam in her eye. “And
A joint venture of Disney, Fox, Comcast and Time Warner, the platform has put a
once that happens, we’ll be on that list — like larger emphasis on spreading the wealth to its parent companies and establishing itself
it or not.” as a home for originals beyond library titles before it focuses on ownership.

*Scripted series currently in production or preproduction. Does not include kids programming, unscripted or documentary fare. Source: Amazon, Hulu and THR research.

T H E HOL LY WO OD R EP ORT ER 81 O C T OBE R 4, 2017


Twitter’s TV
Push: ‘There’s an
Audience Already
Talking About
What’s Happening’
The social network boosts its
live video business by 300 percent
as advertisers test its slate
of morning shows, live sports
and other news-driven fare
By Natalie Jarvey and Jeremy Barr
D oes Twitter want to be a TV
network? A new crop of live
programming on the social
network certainly seems to indicate
that it does.
Over the past several months,
the platform better known as the
place to read the latest musings
of the American president or to
share thoughts on last night’s
Scandal also has become home to
a growing slate of current event-
centric shows and live sports that
are not only driving conversa-
tions but also attracting interest
from advertisers. During the third
quarter of this year alone, Twitter
is expected to broadcast some
2,000 hours of live programming,
according to BTIG estimates,
up from just over 500 hours of
SOCIAL MEDIA’S FIGHT FOR U.S. AUDIENCE
Facebook
Instagram 68.5M
Snapchat 61.7M
Pinterest 63.2M
Twitter 52.3M 55.7M
50M
Illustrations by Rami Neimi
T H E HOL LY WO OD R EP ORT ER
programming during the fourth
quarter last year. Driving that
growth are shows like BuzzFeed’s A Seller’s Guide to the
AM to DM, which streams live
every weekday morning for an
Streaming Universe
hour, and Circuit Breaker, a weekly
gadget review show from Vox
PLATFORM CONTENT BUDGET
Media that debuted Oct. 3. Twitter
also streams WNBA games, and
a 24/7 channel from Bloomberg is $6B
and the streamer
in the works. Netflix expects that
“We think we have a unique number to grow to
$7 billion in 2018
medium, where there’s an audi-
ence already talking about what’s
happening, and we’re building a
$4.5B
video experience on top of that to
strengthen that discussion,”
Amazon with an increasing
portion going toward
says Twitter COO Anthony Noto. event series
Indeed, the shows that are
working best on Twitter are those
that leverage conversations tak- $2.5B
without a global
ing place on the platform. To
wit, Talk the Thrones, the Game of
Hulu reach, Hulu’s spend
includes only
domestic content
Thrones after-show produced
by Bill Simmons’ The Ringer that
was canceled at HBO after one $1B+
season, averaged nearly 600,000 the deep-pocketed
Apple tech giant hopes
unique live viewers per episode
to establish itself as
across the eight weeks it streamed a premium buyer
this summer. “A reaction show
makes the most sense for us to do
N/A
on Twitter,” says Ringer president
YouTube is said
Eric Weinberger. “That’s where YouTube Red to be willing to spend
the conversation is immediately hundreds of millions,
after Thrones airs.” if not billions
Despite lagging user growth
(Twitter reported 328 million N/A
monthly active users in July), shows It’s prepared to pay
Facebook $3M for some dramas,
have the potential to reach view-
around $50,000
ers who don’t have an account via for shortform
Twitter’s TV app and video player.
That has been enough to draw inter-
est from advertisers like Verizon
(Talk the Thrones) and Wendy’s (AM
to DM). In most cases, Twitter is
sharing ad revenue with its partners.
“We’re not trying to disrupt or
replace anyone,” Noto says. “We’re
trying to be a complement to media
companies and help them reach
an audience they wouldn’t other-
wise reach.”
2016 2020
166.8M 182M
94.4M
Half the U.S. population was Amazon’s Secret
86.6M on Facebook last year, and the
pioneer of social media will Shortform Video Surge
77.9M dominate the industry for the
foreseeable future. The e-commerce giant has paid ‘tens
of millions’ to partners through its
little-known Video Direct program
100M 150M
Source: eMarketer By Natalie Jarvey
82 O C T OBE R 4, 2017
 With Apple the newest entrant in the increasingly competitive arms race
for prestige programming, creators and agents weigh in on the perks, the problems and what each of these
digital disrupters wants most from Hollywood By Bryn Elise Sandberg and Lacey Rose

TOP DECISION-MAKERS LOOKING FOR THE ALLURE THE KNOCK

CCO Ted Sarandos and

Everything, though Netflix maintains its “cool kid” rep, notes one source, With so many series rolling out weekly, it’s easy
No. 2 Cindy Holland
sellers cite YA horror, with a massive global footprint, an unrivaled content for new ones to get lost. Also working against Netflix:
have empowered a
multicam comedies (like budget and baked-in prestige. Plus, it will stick with Deals mostly preclude sharing meaningfully in a hit
vast team, though big
The Ranch) and properties it likes (see Will Arnett’s Flaked) and pay big and there’s a growing maze of executives. “Sometimes
moves still fall to
even a musical. for hot for talent (Shonda Rhimes’ $100 million deal). I’m like, who do I even call?” groans one agent.
these two.

It’s “the Roy

Genre plays, with Though it recently pivoted to focus on world-building That strategy shift, which had Amazon backtracking
Price show,” as
Tal Yguado’s fare, its output and ability to spend (i.e., $160 million on renewals, along with what one top rep describes as
one rep puts it, but
group making big on David O. Russell’s Robert De Niro-Julianne Moore “leadership challenges.” And though it has made deals
Joe Lewis and
swings to land Amazon’s drama) is more significant than any of its peers’, save for more transparent with rewards for success,
newcomer Sharon Tal
own Game of Thrones. Netflix. Says a rep, “They’ll spend a shitload of money.” backend potential remains limited.
Yguado have latitude.

Though Mike Hopkins

Big tentpole IP, which Big momentum with Handmaid’s, which proved that It’s a smaller platform than Netflix or Amazon,
and his board are hands
can make noise a la Hulu could nurture and market a bona fide breakout. which means less output and less real estate.
on, creative falls
The Handmaid’s Tale, Its best drama Emmy — the first for a streamer — was One agent references a “bottleneck,” as
to Joel Stillerman,
and more animation and not lost on the town’s sellers, who love the idea writers and reps wait on projects’ fate, though word is
Craig Erwich and
edgy comedy voices. that they can still own and profit big off of Hulu shows. Stillerman is looking to speed things up.
Beatrice Springborn.

Sony alums
At least to start, big, It’s the biggest and arguably most innovative It’s not interested in working at the pace or scale of
Zack Van Amburg and
sweeping, prestige company in the world, so the opportunity to be on the Netflix, which means leadership passes on the majority
Jamie Erlicht head
dramas (think: ground floor — what Mad Men was to AMC or House of what’s come at them. And at least for now, there are
programming, with
Game of Thrones and of Cards to Netflix — has the town salivating. Added plenty of questions, such as how will their shows be
Matt Cherniss manning
The Crown). bonus: a licensing model and a team of familiar execs. distributed and what does a deal with Apple look like?
development.

Sellers are excited Female ensemble shows While the industry isn’t bum-rushing Daniels’ office An unproven mandate change (swapping digital
about new hire like Sex and the City, a just yet, sellers can’t ignore its reach (1.5 billion free stars for Hollywood names) and a limited track record.
Jon Wax, but ultimately, John Wick-esque action active users). The platform’s play for 18- to 34-year-olds And though it landed a sought-after Karate Kid
Susanne Daniels’ drama and a family is betting on fare that’s edgier and more grounded sequel, it hasn’t become a must-stop for sellers. Snipes
opinion matters most. show like 7th Heaven. than Freeform’s conventional, frothy programming. one, “It still feels like a second-tier cable network.”

Content moves fall to Younger and (hopefully) Two billion eyeballs is hard to turn your nose up at, even A still elusive strategy, which several describe as
global creative strategy hipper programming, if Facebook’s Watch platform is only available in the U.S. smaller, cheaper and less prestige-based, has sellers
head Ricky Van Veen including high school Though there are lots of questions lingering (including skeptical. “If they know what they want, they’re
and his development fare — a turnoff at most whether the service is really going to pony up), doing a bad job messaging it,” says one development
chief, Mina Lefevre. other outlets. most sellers at least have Facebook accounts. executive. “No one is clamoring to be at Facebook.”

Lynch won an Emmy

for her role in Amazon’s
Dropping the Soap.

W hen Jane Lynch took home a Funny or Die and several dozen indie filmmakers. the program has paid $3.75 million for exclusive
DROPPING: COURTESY OF GLASS HOUSE DISTRIBUTION. VAN VEEN: JEMAL COUNTESS/WIREIMAGE FOR IAC. RANCH: GREG
GAYNE/NETFLIX. STILLERMAN: COURTESY OF YOUTUBE. ERLICHT: CHARLEY GALLAY/GETTY IMAGES FOR WGN AMERICA.

shortform Emmy on Sept. 10 for her
performance in soap opera satire
Dropping the Soap, she shed light on an under-
the-radar program at Amazon that is driving
audiences to projects that would normally get
lost in the glut of video available online.
Amazon Video Direct, a self-service platform
where anyone can upload a video and make
money off of its distribution, is giving a number
of filmmakers and digital companies access
to the same audiences watching Transparent
or The Man in the High Castle. In the 16 months
since its launch, the program has paid out
“tens of millions” to its partners, executives
say, as it has caught on with such firms as
Amazon Video director Eric Orme says the
program has led to “billions of minutes” of video
streamed: “We’re seeing more and more provid-
ers coming on [to the platform].”
Partners can release projects via Amazon
Prime, sell them through a stand-alone sub-
scription, charge for rental or purchase, or offer
them free with ads. Terms vary based on the
release strategy, but in general, Amazon pays
U.S. partners either 15 cents per hour streamed
or 50 percent of revenue generated. And there
are bonuses for creators who participate in
AVD’s Film Festival Stars program, in which indie
filmmakers can earn up to $100,000 in bonuses
for premiering their films on Amazon. To date,
streaming rights to more than 75 films.
The appeal for many is the scale of Amazon
Prime, estimated at 80 million in the U.S. alone.
“It gives us so much access to customers,” says
Dropping the Soap creator Paul Witten.
For Funny or Die, which has made Amazon a
primary distributor (outside of its own web-
site) for its digital videos, it was attractive that
projects would live alongside fare typically
found on TV. The company even released a web
series starring Justin Long on Amazon (and not
its own site) in July. “It’s all about the way the
content is experienced,” says Funny or Die vp
partner content Brian Toombs. “It’s behind the
paywall, so it feels premium in nature.”

T H E HOL LY WO OD R EP ORT ER 83 O C T OBE R 4, 2017

Who Wins and Loses in
T
the Great Pivot to Video
Digital media’s latest shift away from words reveals the same
old obsession: Steal some of TV’s $70 billion ad pot. Can even
Facebook succeed amid a tsunami of new content? By Michael Wolff
The transformation of digital
media from a largely text-based
format to a predominantly video
experience has been underway
for half a decade. In 2014, more
because it was obvious than
that I was prescient, I wrote a
book called Television Is the New
Television, the thesis being that
every digital showboat really
wanted to be in the TV business.
So the larger question about the
overnight fixation on the “digital
pivot” (“We will be shifting our
resources and business model
away from written content and
instead focus on our fans’ grow-
ing appetite for premium video
across all platforms,” declared
Fox Sports then-president Jamie
Horowitz this summer) is why
everybody is acting like it’s new.
Along with Fox Sports, Vice,
Mashable, Vocativ, MTV News,
Mic and in some fashion almost
everybody else has shifted
resources from written content
to video production. Things move
in a clunky manner in the digital
media business, until everybody
wakes up and realizes it is now
or never. Like social media, like
mobile, like apps. Like so many
other transformative moments
come and gone. It should be
T H E HOL LY WO OD R EP ORT ER
obvious to anybody who has been
alive longer than a bug that the
pivot to video is another risible
internet chapter that will make a
few fortunes and sink most every-
body else. But that is really beside
the point. There is just, suddenly,
manifestly, no other option.
The video future may be uncer-
tain, but that’s more hopeful than
an almost moribund text-based
present. It’s the old math: In
text-based digital media, CPMs go
down and the cost of traffic goes
up. Arguably, the math is no bet-
ter in video-based digital media,
but calculations for the future are
hopeful — and projected growth
remains the real digital currency.
But even that is hardly the
point. It is more that the nature
of the medium itself has shifted.
One would barely know how to
have a conversation with someone
proposing a text-based startup:
“We’re going to hire great writ-
ers!” Try that on someone. And if
you do have great writers now or,
even better, game and cheap ones,
you are still saying — and have
been for a while — “Yes, yes, we’re
working on our video strategy.
Amazing stuff!”
Indeed, every digital media
business is now being valued
in good part on how efficiently
it is deploying and monetizing
video. You couldn’t sell a digital
media company, or attract new
investment for it, at a reason-
able multiple without a video
growth plan. The nature of the
medium is, of course, dictated
by the big platforms, most
singularly Facebook. In 2014,
Mark Zuckerberg, still running a
mostly text-based site, began to
84 O C T OBE R 4, 2017
talk about an upgrade that in five
years would transform Facebook
into a product that was “mostly
video.” That alone would mostly
be the ballgame: If you had a digi-
tal business that depended on the
traffic skimmed off of Facebook,
as virtually all do, then you had
better be sharing video.
But perhaps as important was
a change in language and media
perspective. In the past, there
were two media disciplines —
print on the one hand, film and
television on the other. Over
50 or 60 years, the balance of
power might have tilted to film
and TV (particularly TV), but
print continued to command
even more total ad dollars than
TV. Then the digital text-based
business — searchable, share-
able and immediate — grievously
undermined the print busi-
ness. Functionality became the
medium instead of specifically
print or video. Text-based digital
media could, with relatively
simple functionality, transmog-
rify into video-based media.
If you had a video function
and video could be produced as
cheaply as text, why wouldn’t
you use video? Indeed, the act of
publishing suddenly had noth-
ing necessarily to do with print.
Now you published video.
Video was an upgrade. Video
was merely better technology. It
didn’t matter, for instance, that
for more than 150 years, The New
York Times was a print publisher
that, when it might have had the
opportunity, did not go into TV
— that, in fact, it knew nothing
about the TV business. Now it was
a video publisher.
But the other aspect of platform
hegemony, beyond Facebook’s
specific encouragement of video,
was TV itself. TV remained the
only medium where ad rates
reliably went up instead of down.
What’s more, people paid for
content. Digital was a fraught
 The Battle for Buzz, Eyeballs and Big Money
Netflix’s $6B spend may have the industry’s attention, but YouTube is still the
biggest video provider as viewers increasingly turn to the web By Paul Bond

WHO’S WATCHING WHERE — AND HOW THAT’S CHANGING

When it comes to time spent watching video, TV will dominate for years to come, but digital is closing the gap.
The following represents the average time per day, real and projected, spent by over-18 adults:

4 hr. 4 hr.
10 min. 3 hr. 3 hr.
business model, sustained only 5 min. 58 min. 52 min.
3 hr.
47 min.
by ever increasing the size of the
4 hr.
audience. TV, after all these years,
still was able to increase the value
3
of its existing audience.
Digital media had, in its 20-year 1 hr. 1 hr.
2 1 hr. 1 hr.
run, undermined and stolen print 1 hr.
10 min. 17 min. 22 min. 26 min.
1 min.
advertising, but it had not gotten
1
much of the $70 billion TV ad pot.
If digital media was to continue
its growth promise — if Facebook
2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
was to continue its growth prom-
Source: eMarketer
ise — it had to get a meaningful
piece of TV ad revenue. There was
a larger dread out there, too. If YOUTUBE’S UPPER HAND AND THE MOST POPULAR
programmatic advertising sales YouTube and Netflix will remain the dominant providers STREAMING SERIES IS …
of over-the-top (OTT) video for many years, though when it The streamers don’t share
had taken much of the profit out comes to U.S. users, Amazon is growing faster. ratings, but Parrot Analytics
of text-based digital advertis- developed a “demand expressions”
YouTube Netflix Amazon Hulu
ing, what would happen when it U.S. Users measurement based on streams,
did that to commoditized video, viewers, engagement and more.
180.1M Via that formula, these are the
too? It was already doing that. 120M
2016

most popular original shows for

Worse, ad blockers, which had 76.2M for the three primary streamers:
32.6M
undermined text-based adver- Amazon
tising, were now onto video. 185.9M
128M 1 The Man in the High Castle
2017

Moreover, the very nature of the 85.3M 2 The Grand Tour

digital attention span, as well 34.7M 3 Transparent
as its audiences based on size 190.9M 4 Comrade Detective
rather than quality, threatened 132.6M 5 The Last Tycoon
2018

90.3M
the long-term prospects for the 36.1M
digital ad business. Advertising Netflix
195M 1 Narcos
had a troubled future.
2019

136.4M
This created a two-class 93.6M
2 Stranger Things
digital video world. Platforms like 37.4M 3 Ozark
4 Orange Is the New Black
Netflix and Amazon, eschewing 198.7M
5 Marvel’s The Defenders
2020

advertising, were making and 139.1M

96.5M
selling high-end video — vastly 38.6M Hulu
expanding the scripted video 1 The Handmaid’s Tale
201.7M
market — and trying to challenge 141.5M 2 11.22.63
2021

TV. YouTube was trying to find 98.8M 3 The Path

39.5M
its premium strategy. AT&T, with 4 Chance
its proposed acquisition of Time 50M 100M 150M 200M 5 Harlots
Warner, was betting on a high- Source: eMarketer Source: Parrot Analytics

end content future. And then the

rest was low-end, ad-supported,
commoditized video — the tsu-
A TALE OF 2013 2015 2017
nami of it. In this, Facebook was
TWO BUDGETS $6B
faced more and more with some- Netflix and Amazon
$6B $4.9B
thing of an existential crisis. Was are the two most $4.5B
established players 5B
the future social media or TV? $2.7B
MONEY: ISTOCK. NARCOS: JUAN PABLO GUTIERREZ/NETFLIX.

in subscription 4B $2.4B
Shared videos or paid-for videos? streaming media. 3B $1.2B
Could Facebook achieve world Here’s how their 2B
dominance without Hollywood spending has 1B
grown (and led to
dominance? Emmy noms): Emmy
Noms 14 12 34 12 91 16
At any rate, that’s it, there’s
only video. Netflix Amazon Source: Business Insider, Netflix, Amazon, Statista, JP Morgan, IHS Markit, THR research

T H E HOL LY WO OD R EP ORT ER 85 O C T OBE R 4, 2017

Hefner’s favorite film was Casablanca,
and for two decades, the film buff
celebrated his birthday with a
viewing party at the mansion. He
was photographed Aug. 23, 2011,
at the Playboy Mansion’s library.

Hef’s
Hollywood
Hugh Hefner may be a publishing icon — one whose legend is being debated (and
decried) in the wake of his Sept. 27 death at 91 — but his mythology and biography
are pure showbiz. Now, one of his close friends reveals how the weekly movie nights
at the Playboy Mansion opened a window into a man whose life was defined by film
By Jeremy Arnold

I
will always associate
my late pal Hugh Hefner
first and foremost with
classic movies. He called
them the major influ-
ence in his life. And he
meant it.
Vintage films consumed his
life on a daily basis, whether
he was watching, cataloging,
discussing or writing about
them. I discovered this in 2002,
when I profiled him for Premiere
magazine. He greeted me at the
mansion in his satin pajamas and
silk bathrobe, and a scheduled
one-hour interview turned into
a two-hour gabfest as we bonded
over the old-time movies and
music we both loved. A day or two
later, I returned for a movie night
screening of Billy Wilder’s Love in
the Afternoon. “Good at any time
of day,” Hef said with a smile. He
would later joke that I “never left.”
Over time I learned that
Hef liked to collect friends who
shared his passions and had
interesting points of view to offer.
One night Patricia Ward Kelly
dropped by for An American in
Paris, starring her husband, Gene
Kelly, and stayed to talk with us
as Hef and his then-girlfriends
went out on the town; when they
returned well after midnight, we
were all still there, talking about
Gene Kelly. Hef laughed long and
hard over that one, and Patricia
became a regular guest.
But mostly, the movie night
crowd of anywhere from a dozen

Photographed by Joe Pugliese

T H E HOL LY WO OD R EP ORT ER 86 O C T OBE R 4, 2017

to about 60 people comprised
Hef’s long-standing friends: actors
Don Adams and Chuck McCann,
actresses Terry Moore and Colleen
Miller Ralphs and director Elliot
Silverstein, for instance. Other
folks dropped in if they were con-
nected to the evening’s movie:
Producer Dana Brunetti came for
The Social Network and Captain
Phillips; Martin Landau regaled
us with stories at a screening of Ed
Wood; film editor Anne V. Coates,
director Vincent Sherman, Kevin
Spacey, Bettie Page, Tony Curtis
and Shirley MacLaine all turned
up at one time or another.
Occasionally it got bizarre.
One night in 2005, as we watched
Capote, a cellphone started ring-
ing over and over. Eventually
some of us realized it belonged to
Mike Tyson, a guest that night.
But he had fallen asleep. And At movie In fact, when he discussed his
nights in
nobody wanted to be the one to the mansion’s formative years, it was often
startle him awake! screening through the prism of the films of
room, Hefner
Through it all, Hef was the con- typically read that era. On his first date, he once
aloud intensely
summate host. He laughed a lot on researched vividly recounted, he took a girl
these nights, and when he wasn’t introductions to see Jesse James. His childhood
for each film.
laughing, he was smiling. crushes on Alice Faye, Deanna
Mansion movie nights com- Durbin and Toby Wing were still
menced with cocktails and a buffet Hollywood, baseball, politics and in the voting except to break a potent at 91. He told me one night
dinner starting at 5:30 p.m., anything on Hef’s mind; followed tie. But in truth, his favorites of being struck, at age 8, by the
with Hef calling “movie time” at by any movie that we voted to tended to be our favorites: the “eroticism” of Tarzan and His Mate
7. The nights were so important see. The last Monday picture we bread-and-butter movies of his and its vision “of living with your
to him that he spent hours each watched with Hef was Alias Nick childhood years. Typically we’d mate in harmony with nature and
week honing meticulous intro- Beal nine days before he died. choose a film noir, a Bing Crosby animals, an early fantasy for me.”
ductions in longhand (working Hef’s oldest friend, trumpeter musical, or maybe a Sherlock But Hef’s favorite picture was
from research notes supplied by and big-band leader Ray Anthony, Holmes or Charlie Chan feature, Casablanca. Starting in the 1990s,
his friend Richard Bann) that always sat to his right, with Hef’s though anything was pos- he celebrated his birthday every
he would read aloud before the brother Keith to his left. Other sible. Showbiz documentaries, year with a screening of that
Friday movies. Saturdays brought regulars were actor and football Radio Days and Marilyn Monroe romantic classic. Guests all wore
more classics, and Sundays were veteran Fred Dryer, Rifleman made frequent appearances. bow ties and white dinner jackets,
for first-run movies, with 35mm star Johnny Crawford, producer Sometimes we’d begin with or vintage dresses and evening
(and eventually digital) prints Kevin Burns, film historians an Our Gang or Laurel and Hardy gowns. And after the movie, the
supplied by the studios. Richard Bann and Ron Borst and short or a vintage big-band caviar and champagne flowed as
On Mondays, he convened a jazz expert Mark Cantor. Past soundie. More than once we it had onscreen, in a dining room
dozen close male friends for members included Robert Culp, screened the serial Flash Gordon, transformed by candlelight into
“Manly Night,” which I joined in Jerry Vale and Mel Torme. a chapter each week, whose Rick’s Cafe. Casablanca Night
2012. The evening consisted of Hef would say Mondays were leading lady Jean Rogers was a was by far the most special night
dinner; conversation about Old for us, and he wouldn’t take part childhood favorite of Hef’s. of the year at the mansion. Hef

THANKS FOR THE EXPOSURE

The Oscar-winning actress recalls her nude shoot — and the complicated man who made it happen
BY KIM BASINGER

remember when my magazine at that time. I sim- Playboy. The interviews

I Playboy pictorial came

out in 1983. Some folks
in high places said, “I saw
some beautiful pictures of
you in — I think Vogue.” Of
course, I knew I had not been
in Vogue or any other fashion
ply said, “No, that must have
been Playboy.”
There were many people
who still would not admit that
they would occasionally, or on
a monthly basis, look forward
to popping open the pages of
were brilliant, and the women
— well, what can I say!
I found there were many
Basinger graced
the cover of the
February 1983
issue of Playboy
sides to him, but the Hugh and a nude
pictorial inside,
Hefner I knew was a highly all of which
intelligent, sensitive, funny, promoted her
role in Never Say
caring and compassionate Never Again.

88
 once invited star Paul Henreid’s
daughter Monika to the evening; WHEN HEF ‘The Consummate Optimist’
she shared her father’s tales to PLAYED HEF The producer of the upcoming Hefner biopic believes the Playboy founder
a room of captivated movie fans ‘was trying to make this country a better place’ By Brett Ratner
Chad Hodge,
and became a frequent guest. creator of
Beyond hosting his beloved NBC’s failed ef was my friend. He was the
movie nights, Hef was a serious
force in the world of film pres-
ervation. He donated millions
drama The
Playboy Club

to the UCLA Film and Television
Archive and George Eastman
House to preserve such classics
as The Lost World, The Mysterious
Fu Manchu, The Benson Murder
Case, the original cut of The Big
Sleep, 12 vintage Sherlock Holmes
films and several pictures made
during the mischievous pre-Code
era, including Too Much Harmony
and Murder at the Vanities. He
also endowed a film studies chair
at USC and donated heavily to its
School of Cinematic Arts.
Hef saw film preservation as
a way not just to help secure a
vital but disintegrating American
art form (more than half of all
films made before 1950 are gone)
HEFNER: KEN HIVELY/LOS ANGELES TIMES VIA GETTY IMAGES. HOPPER: KEVIN WINTER/GETTY IMAGES. HODGE: BENNETT RAGLIN/WIREIMAGE. MONROE:
I had written a
H coolest. And the hippest. And the
squarest. While he transformed
from an Illinois prude to the ultimate
voiceover for a sophisticate, he never lost the Midwest
young Hefner values on which he was raised. His word
to start and end was bankable. His heart was full of
the pilot. I lis-
emotion, open for all to see. He was the
tened to so many
auditions from least prejudiced man I ever knew. He
actors doing had deep pockets and long arms.
his voice — and I admired him differently at differ-
nobody sounded ent times. When I was a kid, he was the
authentic. So
embodiment of everything I wanted but
I asked Hef to
do it himself. seemed out of reach: beautiful women,
I’ll never forget a kingly mansion, a bunny-emblazoned
going to the DC-9. He smoked a pipe and wore paja-
mansion and mas day and night. So did my uncle
giving Hugh
Mario, but he was a doctor and unfortu-
direction on how After RatPac secured the rights to develop
to best sound nately wasn’t dating Barbie Benton. a Hefner biopic, Hefner sent Ratner an inscribed
copy of Playboy’s first issue.
like himself. And In those days, Hef’s name was syn-
after I screened onymous with sin. For me, like most
the finished meetings with Hef, desperately trying
young American boys, getting my hands
product for Hef, to crack how to tell the story, the odys-
on a Playboy was the ultimate forbid-

he clapped and sey of his life. The development process

but also to safeguard the screen’s said he wanted den fruit … the joys of living before the
went through many incarnations —
enduring representations of to host a party internet. But in those days, I thought the
COURTESY OF BRETT RATNER. LETO: CHARLEY GALLAY/GETTY IMAGES FOR AMAZON. CLUB: MATT DINERSTEIN/NBC/NBCU PHOTO BANK.

Imagine, Universal (with Robert Downey

America itself: its history, culture for the premiere. interviews with Norman Mailer, the short
In that moment, Jr. attached), Jerry Weintraub at Warners,
and dreams. Hef also was preserv- stories by John Cheever or the poems
I thought and then, thankfully, a dream came true:
ing his own dreams, forged by by Allen Ginsberg were mere fillers that
that if Hef liked I bought it for RatPac. There will never be
Hollywood’s most romantic era. it, it didn’t mat- kept The Girls of the Big Ten from slam-
another Hugh Hefner, but a movie about
Ultimately, his movie nights ter if anybody ming directly into Miss November.
his life is the next best thing.
represented the underlying rea- else did. (Alas, In my 20s and 30s, when fortune smiled
not a lot of other The America into which Hugh Hefner
son for anyone to preserve films on me and I actually came to know Hef,
people did!) was born was in many ways intolerant
in the first place: so they can go spending time at the mansion, I admired
and repressive. He, among only a hand-
on being exhibited. What Hef Amber Heard in his hospitality, how he made this Jewish
ful of men in our history, made it less so.
did along the way was turn his The Playboy Club. kid from Miami Beach with a couple of
It saddened him to see the pendulum
own handpicked audiences into movies under his belt feel as if he’d made
swinging the other way. But Hef was the
a family that spanned decades. it in a town that can be both magical and
consummate optimist. I’m sure he passed
Just as Casablanca ends with “the difficult. I also realized that by his foster-
on believing that the pendulum will swing
beginning of a beautiful friend- ing the literary and performing arts, by
back, that the progress he was commit-
ship,” Hefner’s life faded out with putting the wealth of his organization and
ted to will ultimately become a permanent
countless friendships in its wake. the power of his convictions squarely on
part of our national character.
They can all be traced to a boy’s the side of civil liberties for all of our citi-
passion to hang on to the celluloid zens, he was trying to make this country a
dreams of his childhood as he better place.
grew up into a kind and generous Now that he’s gone, I realize more JARED LETO TO PLAY HEF
man. Here’s looking at him. than ever that he didn’t have to do those Ratner discloses that Leto has been cast
things. Many titans of industry have no to play Hefner in his biopic project. “He’s
interest in contributing to the Greater an old friend,” says Ratner. “And I really
believe he’s one of the great actors today.”
man. He loved animals pioneer but a generous one Good. Certainly Hef enjoyed money and
and cherished his exotic bird who saw potential in girls what it could buy. But his most treasured
menagerie, as I found out like myself when the timing acquisitions were friends of whom there
when he invited me to come in their careers was perfect are too many to count and causes that
over one afternoon to the for that particular kind of were unabashedly progressive.
mansion after he agreed to exposure (pun intended) that My personal relationship with Hef
participate in a documen- was catapulting, not exploit- started when I read that Brian Grazer
tary that we were making ative. I will always be thankful was to produce a biopic about him.
on the illegal importation of to Mr. Hefner and Playboy I sent Brian my classic 1970s playboy
exotic birds and macaws up for helping me at a very cru- pinball machine with a note declaring
through Mexico. cial period of time in my life that he’d found his director. After
He was not only a fearless and career. Brian capitulated, I had a series of

T H E HOL LY WO OD R EP ORT ER 89 O C T OBE R 4, 2017

 A ‘STRANGE JOKE’
The pro-sex feminist on the meaning behind
the ‘childlike’ Playboy Bunny costume
BY CAMILLE PAGLIA

hen it came to that infamous

W Playboy Bunny costume, the one

that Gloria Steinem wore under-
cover at the Playboy Club for a Show magazine
exposé in 1963, second-wave feminists
were irate. They felt that it reduced women
to animals. Yes, it’s animal imagery, but
a bunny is charmingly harmless. Hugh
Hefner’s iconic creation could certainly be
criticized as infantilizing to women, but
it’s the type of animal here that is key to his
unique sensibility.
“Multiplying like bunnies,” we say:
Hefner was making a strange joke about the
procreative process. It seems like a defense
formation — Hefner turning his Puritan
1 2
guilt into humor. It suggests that, despite
his bland smile, he may always have suffered
from a deep anxiety about sex.
There was nothing dark or threatening
in Hefner’s opulent sexual universe. It was a
childlike vision, sanitizing all the conflicts That Time Everyone Got
Naked at the Mansion
The first party THR’s correspondent attended at Hefner’s estate was also the best
By Bill Higgins

he first time I set foot At its imposing door, I to have drinks and wander

T on the Playboy Mansion’s

grounds was in 1988.
I was sent by the now-defunct
Herald Examiner to cover a
performance at the Music
Center and an afterparty at the
mansion for a visiting troupe of
French ballerinas. I remember
being really impressed by the
house. It was the picture of East
Coast covered-in-ivy formality.
learned the first rule of events
held at the Playboy Mansion:
You don’t get to go in the
house. You’re shown around
back to the pool. I guess if
you’re Hugh Hefner, you don’t
want a bunch of strangers
trooping through the den look-
ing for bunny memorabilia.
While waiting for the bal-
lerinas to arrive, we were left
the grounds. It’s odd, but
what I remember most clearly
was there being a chain still
wrapped around a massive tree
that had once been attached
to a pet chimpanzee. I’d heard
stories about the monkey and
that a person had to be careful
because he was a biter.
A classic arts patron crowd
assembled near the pool. I

Steinem undercover at the Playboy Club in ’63.

and turbulence of the sex impulse. Everybody

Hef Was My Boss for 34 Years
knows that Hefner’s sexual type was the girl The longtime deputy editor of Playboy recounts working for a man who was obsessive
next door: the corn-fed, bubbly American girl about details, family and separating business from pleasure By Stephen Randall
who stays at the borderline of womanhood

I
but never crosses it. She was like an ingenue n February 1981, L.A. was being
in a postwar musical comedy like Oklahoma! pounded by rain, a regular mon-
— uncomplex as a personality, but always
warm and genuine.
soon that affected every aspect of
Hefner’s bunnies were a major departure daily life. It was during that del-
from historical female mythology, where uge that I drove up to the Playboy
women were often portrayed as animals of Mansion, ready to attend my first
prey — tigresses and leopards. Hefner was editorial meeting as the new West
good-natured but abashed, diffident and shy.
So he re-created women’s image in a palat-
Coast editor of Playboy. This was
able and manageable form. I don’t see my first job at a national magazine,
anything misogynist in that. A woman as a so I dressed accordingly. Slacks.
cozy, cuddly bunny is a perfectly legitimate Tie. Sports coat. Not the jeans and
modality of eroticism. I think feminism T-shirts I’d worn at my last job.
goes wildly wrong when it portrays men
as oppressors. What I see is Hefner’s frank
← Hefner reviewed Playboy layouts in his
acknowledgment of his fear of women’s Chicago office in 1961, eight years after he
enormous power. founded the magazine.
 JON PETERS
MEETS PAM
ANDERSON
The first time I
went to the man-
sion, I saw this
3 angel sitting at the
The Rise and Fall of bar. It was Pammy.
She was like 19.
the Big Bunny I knew she would
be a star. We
Imagine a Playboy Mansion at 35,000 feet. That’s ended up living
exactly what Hefner did By Benjamin Svetkey together. Pamela
was a girl who

didn’t see Hefner. There was a
sense of playfulness about hav-
ing a classy event like this at
the mansion, but it was pretty
sedate. This was the wealthy
do-gooder/dance aficionado
stratum of L.A. society.
Then the ballerinas arrived,
and the first thing they did
was take off their clothes and
jump in the pool. That changed
things. So everybody took off
their clothes and jumped in the
pool. There was a lot of chatter
among the guests about how
this was much better than the
usual Music Center afterparty.
I’d be back to the mansion
a dozen times in the next few
decades, but that’s the only
time I saw anyone nude.
There, sitting around a huge table,
were my new colleagues from Playboy
HQ in Chicago and the satellite office
WIREIMAGE. MAHER: CHARLEY GALLAY/GETTY IMAGES FOR PLAYBOY. MAGAZINE: AP PHOTO. HARRIS: CHARLEY GALLAY/GETTY IMAGES FOR PLAYBOY.
CAAN: DONALD MIRALLE/GETTY IMAGES. STEINEM: BETTMANN/CORBIS VIA GETTY IMAGES. GROUP: PAUL DRINKWATER/NBC/NBCU PHOTO BANK VIA
GETTY IMAGES. JET: HULTON-DEUTSCH COLLECTION/CORBIS VIA GETTY IMAGES. PETERS: VINCE BUCCI/GETTY IMAGES. ANDERSON: JEFF KRAVITZ/
4 in the sky. For one thing, it was painted black like a stealth
1 Hefner (right) and his
longtime friend James Caan
shared a laugh at a 2003
Fight Night at the mansion.
2 Hefner surrounded
by 13 Playmate models
celebrating the magazine’s
25th anniversary in 1979.
3 Cooper Hefner (right),
Hugh’s son and Playboy’s
current chief creative officer,
broke out the pajamas in
2015 along with Bill Maher, a
regular at mansion parties.
4 Hefner and his wife,
Crystal, appeared at a 2013
luncheon celebrating Raquel
Pomplun, the first-ever
Mexican Playmate of the Year.
in my life. Casual, down-to-earth,
funny — but also one who regularly
expected the impossible. It was not
I
with no makeup
t was, in the early 1970s, the most recognizable private jet
was gorgeous.
I tried to talk
fighter. For another, it had a rabbit painted on the tail fin. her out of doing
The Big Bunny, Hefner’s personal DC-9, wasn’t so much Playboy. I said,
an aircraft as it was the Playboy Mansion at 35,000 feet. It “Focus on a
serious career.”
had a living room with leather sofas, a full galley where flight
She said, “You’re
attendants — “Jet Bunnies” — whipped up lobster and roast nuts.” Pamela
beef dinners and a discotheque for dance parties. Hef could knew what she
relax in his salon, lounging on an oval bed covered in silk wanted to do, how
sheets and opossum fur bedspreads. she wanted to do it
“There wasn’t anything else like it,” says Katharina Hefner and
Leventhal, who as a 21-year-old became one of the first Jet Anderson, who did
13 Playboy covers.
Bunnies (and wore a black leatherette miniskirt and knee-
high boots) after Hefner bought and renovated the plane in
1969 for $6 million. Leventhal, now 69, recalls mingling with
some of Hef’s travel buddies. “Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley,
Tom Jones, Connie Stevens, Raquel Welch, James Caan —
there were always celebrities on board.”
Alas, what goes up typically comes down, and Hefner
unloaded the plane in 1975. Stripped of its luxury appoint-
ments, it served as a commercial aircraft until 2004, when
Aeromexico put it in storage. But in 2008, it returned to
service; the fuselage was donated to a park in Queretaro,
Mexico, where the onetime symbol of aviatic hedonism
found new purpose as a children’s educational tool.
— she was like an
early Kardashian,
a modern-day
Marilyn Monroe.
more often than the Duggars.
And I think that’s
Of course, then there’s the other why Hefner
Hef. The nude women. The pajama gave her 13 covers.

in New York. These were giants in
the business — people who hung out
with Norman Mailer and Helmut
Newton. But they were dressed like
slobs. I was puzzled. Is this how the
best and brightest dress for meetings
with the boss?
As Hefner entered at warp speed,
I had a realization about Playboy:
It’s impossible to underdress if your
boss wears pajamas. As Hef spoke
(“Someone just told me it’s raining.
Is that true?”), I had another realiza-
tion: This is a man who exists in
such a rarefied realm that he doesn’t
even experience weather.
For 34 years, Hef would be a factor
unusual for a story to go through 12 parties. The grotto. The celebrity He really loved
or so rewrites to meet his exacting friends. The seven girlfriends. Even her and saw her
beauty. I had total
standards. (Yes, he cared as much after 34 years, I didn’t know that Hef
respect for Hefner
about the words as the pictures.) If I well. Party Hef wasn’t keen to mix his (and identified
ran a magazine, I would hire Hef as business life with his personal life. with him because
the copy chief. No detail escaped his Still, the business Hef was no I worked out of
eye; every caption had to fit exactly. normal editor — he was the first my house in my
pajamas). People
The magazine was the great love of celebrity editor. Does any other
think he was a
his life. It had to be perfect. magazine have theme music written playboy. The way
Despite his image, he was devoted by Cy Coleman? There were remind- he handled him-
to his family. Even his ex-wife ers of work and Hef wherever I went. self, he was ahead
worked for him. His father was too On my desk still sits my favorite of his time.
conservative to read Playboy but not memento: the Hef bobblehead that
Peters is
too conservative to act as his CFO. was popular during The Girls Next former Sony
His daughter was CEO. His son is Door’s run on E! Name one other edi- Pictures
chief creative officer. It was the same tor who was famous enough to be a chairman.
at home — he had family dinners bobblehead. You can’t.

T H E HOL LY WO OD R EP ORT ER 91 O C T OBE R 4, 2017

 MEET THE
PRIME
OF PEAK TV
THR unveils the 50 writer-producers with the sharpest pens, the wildest visions

← “I love TV, but you can get worn down,” says
Joy, photographed with Fuller on Sept. 22 at
City Market South in downtown Los Angeles.
“With Bryan, that’s never happened.”
• S
What does it take for a he joined the
staff of his whim-
television show without sical ABC drama
dragons, zombies or Pushing Daisies in
Sterling K. Brown to get a little 2007, but Westworld
co-creator Lisa Joy
attention? More than 400 U.S.
first met American
scripted series are set to air in Gods showrunner
2017 — thanks for the sobering Bryan Fuller well
stats, John Landgraf — and before that — they
just can’t agree on
getting lost in the logjam is the exactly how. He says:
new normal. So in highlighting It was on the dance
the most impactful writer- floor at the roving
weekly party Bootie
producers working in TV right L.A. She says: It was
now, THR focused on a few on the set of NBC’s
key factors. These 50 power Heroes, where Fuller
showrunners rise above the was a writer, when
Joy, then a law stu-
churn with unprecedented deals dent with TV-writing
(ka-ching, Shonda Rhimes), aspirations, visited
surging output, cultural cachet a friend there. Either
way, the prestige
and legit “hits.” Most have paid pair have landed in
their dues (witness the reunions vastly different gigs
of two pairs of past collaborators), now. Discuss.
JOY HAIR AND MAKEUP BY BRENDAN ROBERTSON FOR MAC COSMETICS AT STATE MGMT. FULLER GROOMING BY HARPER FOR ORIBE HAIRCARE AT EXCLUSIVE ARTISTS. GODS: JAN THIJS/STARZ. WESTWORLD: JOHN P. JOHNSON/HBO.
a few struck gold early (hear
When you’re catching
from Stranger Things’ Duffer up with other writers,
brothers ahead of their sure-to-be- what do you talk about
scrutinized sophomore season) lately?
FULLER The complete
and all have a few choice words to shift of American
say about the challenges of politics toward
making TV today. something farcical.
The metaphor of
that has potential to
be expressed through
both of our shows.
That and my rage
quotient, which has
risen dramatically.
TV, your own series
included, is much
darker these days.
Do you see room for
MOVERS
lighter dramas like
Pushing Daisies?
JOY When I look at
Stranger Things, even
though it’s horror,
there’s a lightness
to those kids and
it being the 1980s.
There’s room for more
of that playfulness,
levity and fun. But
my show right now is
and, yeah, the richest deals Photographed by Coral Von Zumwalt
By MICHAEL O’CONNELL
2017 POWER
SHOWRUNNERS
kind of a dark explo- time, and one where
ration. (Laughs.) they didn’t. Even
FULLER I’m telling on the one where
you, you have to write they did understand
and direct Amazing and gave us more,
Stories. [Fuller is it still wasn’t enough.
developing a reboot Wondering why we
of the anthology.] can’t have two more
That’s the goal with days to find that shot
Amazing Stories — to is when it’s most
get people like Lisa maddening, even if
to give you the expe- you’ve already burned
rience of a summer through three addi-
movie in the ’80s. tional weeks.
What’s changed the
most about your jobs
LISA JOY in the past 10 years?
Westworld (HBO) FULLER The networks
have taken on the
mantle, at least in
some respects, of the
BRYAN FULLER artist’s vision. On
American Gods (STARZ)
Pushing Daisies, we
couldn’t show a toilet!
Now both our shows
What have you have a lot of cock.
fought the hardest for Times are changing.
in the past year? JOY There’s a big
JOY Time. That’s the difference between
one thing. No mat- first and second sea-
ter how benevolent sons. In cable, they
the network, they want you to go bold
can’t break the space- — but you’re trying
time continuum to define something
and give you more new and carve out
time to write and a space. It’s not until
shoot every episode. everyone is on the
FULLER I had two same page about
experiences in the what show you’re
last year — one making that every-
where the studio one really pushes for
and network under- it together.
stood the value of FULLER With American
Gods, there was a
time when the net-
work had no idea
what we were doing.
They disengaged
from the show.
“We’re not being
helpful, because we
don’t understand.”
They reengaged when
they got it. That’s not
an isolated incident.
← From top: Ricky Whittle
(left) and Pablo Schreiber in
American Gods; Westworld’s
Thandie Newton.
93
AZIZ ANSARI AND ALAN YANG
Master of None (NETFLIX)

• Their Netflix series, more of an experi-

ment in tone than a traditional comedy,
continues to earn raves and Emmy adora-
tion (eight noms in 2017 and a key writing
win for Ansari, 34, and rising star Lena
Waithe). Yang, 35, and much of the writing
staff now turn their attention to a buzzy
Amazon vehicle for Fred Armisen and Maya
Rudolph — part of Yang’s own deal with
Universal TV.
Best thing I saw this year Yang: “Wings
of Desire, by Wim Wenders, and Logan, by
James Mangold.”
Dream casting goal Yang: “Aziz and I are
both continuing to say Hugh Jackman
constantly until he responds in some way.”

KENYA BARRIS
Black-ish (ABC); Grown-ish (FREEFORM)

• Heading into season four, Black-ish

is considered the gold standard for
broadcast comedy — with an average
2.1 rating among adults 18-to-49, two Emmy
noms and a Golden Globe for star Tracee
Ellis Ross. Barris, 43, has diversified his
portfolio by setting younger-skewing
spinoff Grown-ish (starring breakout Yara
Shahidi) at Freeform. Oh, and he wrote a
little summer film called Girls Trip.
Most discussed series in our writers
room Game of Thrones
Dream casting goal Eddie Murphy
Right now, TV viewers need …
“Perspective outside of their own.”

DAVID BENIOFF AND D.B. WEISS

Game of Thrones (HBO)

• With its brief seven-episode return for

summer 2017, GoT reaffirmed its sta-
tus as the biggest TV series in the world,
pulling an average 31 million U.S. viewers
alone. Benioff, 47, and Weiss, 46, head into
the final run with a controversial follow-up
gestating at HBO (revisionist history slave
drama Confederate) and the continued
adoration of their peers. Their show tops
the list of most discussed series in other
showrunners’ writers rooms.
Best thing I saw this year Weiss: “The
Clockwise from left: K.J. Apa on The CW’s Riverdale; HBO’s Game of Thrones;
Shahidi (right) on ABC’s Black-ish.
‘Ricklantis Mixup’ episode of Rick and
Morty. Benioff: “The ‘Pickle Rick’ episode
of Rick and Morty.”
GREG BERLANTI
Arrow, The Flash, Supergirl,
Legends of Tomorrow, Riverdale,
Black Lightning (THE CW); Blindspot (NBC);
Deception (ABC); and You (LIFETIME)
• The undisputed king of TV, at least
in terms of volume, Berlanti, 45,
essentially owns The CW with more than
half of its primetime lineup this season,
plus dramas at NBC (Blindspot) and ABC
GROOMING BY MICHELLE BEAR. RIVERDALE: KATIE YU/THE CW. GAME: COURTESY OF HBO. BLACK-ISH: RON TOM/ABC VIA GETTY IMAGES. GOOD: RON BATZDORFF/NBC. INSECURE: JUSTINA MINTZ/HBO.
T wo comedy writ-
ers walk into a
bar and … Two years
(Deception) and soon a cable entry with after their first col-
the Lifetime thriller You.
Best thing I saw this year “The second laboration, Brooklyn
season of Master of None.” Nine-Nine and Good
You know a pitch isn’t going well when … Place creator Michael
“They tell you they love it but don’t say in Schur, 41, and Insecure
the room that they want to buy it.”
Right now, TV viewers need … “To watch
showrunner Prentice
Penny, 43, are sharing
more shows live.”
a drink for the first
RACHEL BLOOM AND ALINE BROSH MCKENNA time in, well, too long.
Crazy Ex-Girlfriend (THE CW) (You can blame the
• With each having locked her own big
deal with CBS Studios and now devel-
four series and five
children they have
oping separate projects, the duo have a
third season of their critically beloved musi- between them.) But
cal comedy arriving on The CW. Ratings when they do, there’s
pressure is low — good thing, because it’s plenty to discuss,
broadcast’s least watched series — but the including topic A:
show remains a favorite of network boss
Mark Pedowitz. Bloom, 30, is now a bona how there’s no way to
fide CBS star, featured at the net’s telecast really tell what works
of the Tonys and Emmys. these days.
You know a pitch isn’t going well when …
McKenna: “They say, ‘Thank you for com- Is staffing as hard as
ing in,’ at the end.”
Right now, TV viewers need … Bloom: it was a few years ago?
“Commercials for SunnyD. Remember PENNY No. The way
those? Those were fun.” shows are limited

Photographed by Amanda Marsalis

T H E HOL LY WO OD R EP ORT ER 94 O C T OBE R 4, 2017

 2017 POWER
← “Everyone’s wildly flailing around, trying to project
SHOWRUNNERS
confidence,” says Schur (left), who was
photographed with Penny on Sept. 21 at Harlowe in
West Hollywood. “But no one actually has any
idea what television is going to look like in five years.”

ROBERT CARLOCK AND TINA FEY 100 percent of the spring finale audience
Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (NETFLIX); and boosting its sibling lead-out.
Great News (NBC) Best thing I saw this year Chaiken:

• The post-30 Rock years continue to

be a boon to Carlock, 45, and Fey,
47. Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt was just
renewed for a fourth season on Netflix,
while Fey agreed to step in as a recurring
guest to boost attention for their NBC
sophomore Great News. They continue
to have one of the busier development
slates in broadcast, and Fey is never too
far from Saturday Night Live, where her
Aug. 17 “Weekend Update” appearance
went viral.
You know a pitch isn’t going well when …
Fey: “You have to quietly put your shirt
back on.”
Most invaluable person in my career
Carlock: “Tina and Lorne [Michaels]. I’ve
never seen them together and am pretty
sure they are the same person.”
Right now, TV viewers need … Fey:
“Jack Donaghy.”
ILENE CHAIKEN, LEE DANIELS
AND DANNY STRONG
Empire (FOX)
• Detractors may knock Empire for its
fall from No. 1 status on broadcast, but
it remains a powerhouse — so much so
that Fox is finally embracing Daniels’ other
drama, Star, as a spinoff. Empire moved time
slots for its fourth season opener, retaining
“Casablanca, for the 57th time.”
Dream casting goal Daniels: “I don’t dis-
cuss dreams. Especially when actors are
involved. It hurts the negotiation.”
New streaming platform I’m most excited
about Strong: “Betamax!”
CARLTON CUSE
Colony (USA); Jack Ryan (AMAZON)
• ABC Studios signed its old Lost show-
runner to a rich ($20 million!) overall
deal in August, one that will have Cuse, 58,
developing originals for the now-Shonda-
less production house for at least four
years. That’s on top of current USA drama
Colony and Amazon’s long-in-the-works
Jack Ryan, plus a potential Hulu take on
the comic property Locke & Key.
Best thing I saw this year “Season three
of The Leftovers.”
In five years, Netflix will be … “Fighting it
out with some other very powerful stream-
ing competitors.”
MATT DUFFER AND ROSS DUFFER
Stranger Things (NETFLIX)
• Overnight celebrity scribes Matt and
Ross Duffer followed Stranger Things’
blockbuster 2016 launch with a surpris-
ingly robust awards showing: 18 Emmy
nominations and key victories with SAG

you can only see that networks and asset.” It had the news for people like
MICHAEL SCHUR Richard Mulligan on studios are mak- total number of epi- us is that it matters
Brooklyn Nine-Nine (FOX), The Good Place (NBC)
Master of None (NETFLIX) our show!” For the ing has never been sodes and the total less, in the short
most part, that’s over. higher; the amount of cost, and we were term, how much
money they’re losing $145 million in the they’re lying. They
PRENTICE PENNY What expectations has never been lower. hole. It was almost used to lie and cancel
Insecure (HBO)
are there on your So there’s no incen- like, “Do I owe you?” things. At least they
runs or off-cycle, we on an eight-episode shows to perform? tivization to tell you. PENNY It’s like when don’t cancel things
have writers on our season to remain PENNY People care PENNY For sure. None. you get your taxes. anymore. But it is
show who went off dormant the rest of more about just SCHUR It’s unclear This is not a bill! getting harder for
and did Great News the year. cracking the mar- that it even matters. (Laughs.) Can you these companies to
and Vice Principals ketplace. It’s more On The Good Place, imagine what John cry poverty because
during the break. It Higher-ups are cool important that the [NBC] picked up Wells owes? they are making so
never affected us. with that flexibility? show has resonance the show for season SCHUR What about much money. It’s
SCHUR Everybody has SCHUR I think they than 10 million peo- two and made a deal Shonda Rhimes? She absurd. The one time
two jobs now. People are. There’s still ple watching it. TV for the show to air must be $4 billion they didn’t was Parks
are still working weird turf battles is becoming bespoke. on Netflix. That pays in the red. The good and Recreation.
on 22 episodes a year; at Netflix or HBO And the more spe- instantly to make
they’re just doing it or whatever. I don’t cific you are, the more the new episodes. It’s
on different shows. know. But there of a talking piece you insane. [By compari-
Showrunners have aren’t those hard become. The days of son,] after Parks and
had to get flexible, and fast rules about the wide net are over. Recreation ended, I
letting their people exclusivity — same SCHUR No one has any got an official letter
leave [a season] early for actors. In the idea who’s watch- from NBC that said,
or come back late. It 1980s, it was like, ing. Everyone lies to “Here is your first
would be inhumane “If you want to see you all the time. The profit statement as
to tell someone who’s Richard Mulligan, amount of money a part owner of this From left: Kristen Bell on The Good Place; Insecure’s Issa Rae.
 → Is there a viral replacement for “Barb” (played by
Emmy nominee Shannon Purser) in Stranger Things 2?
“I’m sure there will be something people pick up on
(right), “just as I’m sure there’ll be things maybe we
think will catch on and don’t. It’s just hard to predict.”
(outstanding drama ensemble) and the
PGA (best episodic drama). Now the twin
brothers just have to keep fans — and the
industry — interested in the follow-up.
Best thing I saw this year Matt: Big
Little Lies
Most discussed series in our writers
room Ross: Freaks and Geeks
Dream casting goal Matt: Riz Ahmed
JAY DUPLASS AND MARK DUPLASS
Room 104 (HBO)
• The indie darlings remain hugely com-
mitted to TV. The renewal for their
anthology Room 104 was accompanied by
a choice overall deal at HBO, where they’re
developing another serialized project.
Elsewhere, Jay, 44, remains a regular on
Amazon’s Transparent, and Mark, 40,
earned raves for playing Ted Kaczynski
in the Discovery miniseries about
the Unabomber.
You know a pitch isn’t going well when …
Mark: “That cane hooks you by the neck
and yanks you offstage mid-softshoe.”
Dream casting goal Jay: Frances
McDormand
Right now, TV viewers need … Jay:
“A book.”
AVA DUVERNAY
Queen Sugar (OWN)
• The Oscar-nominated filmmaker
does nothing small. So it’s no
surprise that DuVernay, 45, followed the
critically lauded family drama Queen
Sugar (renewed through season three)
with a big pact at OWN and a hot new
project at Netflix (home of her Oscar-
nominated 2016 doc 13th). She’ll attempt
to fix the streamer’s lack of limited series
with a highly anticipated narrative about
the Central Park Five.
Most invaluable person in my career
“My late aunt, Denise Amanda Sexton,
who gifted me with a love of movies and
TV that led me to this career in the first
place.”
Dream casting goal “Samantha Morton in
anything.”
New streaming platform I’m most
excited about “I’m wildly interested in
Tidal. I think it occupies a unique place in
the market — a potent brew of authen-
tic cultural leadership, technology and
inclusion.”
SAM ESMAIL
Mr. Robot (USA)
• Mr. Robot’s second season proved
more divisive than the first — but, on
the eve of the USA drama’s Oct. 11 return,
creator Esmail, 40, remains as wanted as
ever in TV. He’ll next tackle a TV spin on
the podcast Homecoming (starring Julia
Roberts) for Amazon and is bubbling a mini
based on the silent classic Metropolis.
Network notes are most helpful when …
“They’re not trying to predict what audi-
ences will or will not like.”
Right now, TV viewers need … “More
Twin Peaks.”
T H E HOL LY WO OD R EP ORT ER
that we weren’t thinking about,” says Matt Duffer
JOEL FIELDS AND JOE WEISBERG
The Americans (FX)
• Now in the homestretch, the duo
behind FX favorite The Americans has
the daunting task of giving a satisfying end-
ing to one of the most critically cherished
series of the past decade. What’s next is up
to them. Fields, 53, and Weisberg, 51, are
widely acknowledged as two of the sharp-
est scribes in town.
Best thing I saw this year Weisberg:
“Oliver Stone’s interviews with Putin.”
Most discussed series in our writers room
Weisberg: “Our median age is … not young.
Bochco comes up a lot.”
DAN FOGELMAN
This Is Us (NBC)
• One of TV’s more prolific creators,
Fogelman, 41, finally struck gold
with NBC and 20th TV’s This Is Us.
The drama’s power freshman run aver-
aged 17 million viewers and scored
an Emmy for star Sterling K. Brown
— unprecedented in an era of cable
and streaming drama dominance. Its
Sept. 26 return, which saw ratings climb
to another high, rejects the idea of a
sophomore slump.
You know a pitch isn’t going well when …
“True story: In an early movie pitch of
mine, the producer sighed, stood up and
sadly announced to his assistant, ‘I guess
you should call my wife and tell her I’m
gonna be home late — this seems like it’s
gonna take forever.’ ”
Most discussed series in our writers
room “Ken Olin won’t shut up about
thirtysomething.”
ALEX GANSA THE DUFFER BROTHERS’
SOPHOMORE SCARES
Homeland (SHOWTIME)
• As Showtime has struggled to launch
new hits, it’s got at least two seasons
The Stranger Things duo talk season-two pressures and why they
left from old faithful. Gansa, 56, is steward
of Homeland, which is still the cable won’t join a franchise soon: ‘We don’t have that J.J. Abrams gene’
outlet’s most watched series. Even without
awards luster, it stays in the conversation
with its often prophetic “ripped from the
headlines” plots. SCOTT M. GIMPLE unaffected by the potentially devastating
Best thing I saw this year “The end cred- The Walking Dead (AMC) lawsuit against AMC from other EPs seek-
its of our finale. Meanwhile, the pilot of
The Crown was the best written, directed • It might be on the decline, but The
Walking Dead still pulls the type of
ing a big share of those massive profits.)
Most invaluable person in my career
and acted episode of television I’ve seen in numbers — a 7.9 rating among adults “George Lucas. Er, we’ve never met.”
a long time.” 18-to-49 and 15.4 million viewers for its Most discussed series in our writers room
Network notes are most helpful when most recent season — that most TV execs Family Ties
… “They end with, ‘Well, we trust your see only in their dreams. Gimple, 45, runs
judgment.’ ” an apocalyptic empire. (He’s also blissfully DONALD GLOVER
Atlanta (FX)
• Already a successful rapper and
actor, Glover, 35, didn’t need to prove
anything — but he did with Atlanta. The
auteur-ish dramedy set in his hometown
surprised critics and viewers with its 2016
launch, earning the in-demand multi-
hyphenate two Emmy Awards (for directing
and acting). Next up: a sophomore run and
a turn in the Star Wars stand-alone Han
Solo film as a young Lando Calrissian.
Best thing I saw this year “O.J. Simpson:
From left: The Americans’ Matthew Rhys and Keri Russell; Made in America. The story is incredible.
Sterling K. Brown on This Is Us. We’ll never see anything like that again.”
Photographed by Austin Hargrave
96 O C T OBE R 4, 2017

Matt and Ross Duffer have little experi-
 ence with expectations. The 33-year-old
twin brothers, writers and directors of 2016
Netflix breakout Stranger Things, had barely
worked in Hollywood when their throwback hor-
ror series became a hit out of nowhere. Season
two is another matter. Still wrapping postproduc-
tion ahead of their Oct. 27 release, the Duffers
share insights into how Things will evolve and why
they think they’ll know when to call it a day.
Is there any truth to reports you’ll film seasons
three and four simultaneously?
MATT I think it came from an actor. It honestly
could not have been Netflix. They know, the way
that Ross and I work, that it would destroy us
mentally. It was not a realistic proposition ever.
But does the fact that these kids are aging put any
pressure on you to work at a certain pace?
ROSS It’s better to adjust the narrative to fit the
ages than to try to rush the process. They grow
so fast, we would have to move at such a speed to
keep them young. Even over the course of these
nine episodes, you can see them getting older.
That’s something that plays over a week. We want
to move as fast as we can, but it’s not really dic-
tated by the kids.
MATT Even if I had the choice to freeze them in
time, I wouldn’t. We don’t want to be repeating
ourselves. This show is going to naturally evolve
and feel different year to year, and that to me is
a good thing. I like that we’re able to watch them
grow. Look at Harry Potter. How powerful was
that to grow up with those kids? For me, that
made that series especially potent.
Do you need this cast to make Stranger Things —
or could it exist as an anthology?
ROSS It’s not Star Wars. You’re not really creating
this giant universe. Right now it’s very specific to
this town of Hawkins and these kids.
MATT The title means it could carry over into
other supernatural-style stories that
aren’t specifically related to these events,
but it’s hard to know. We’ve spent maybe
10 minutes talking about that.
ROSS You see a lot of that in Hollywood.
It’s dangerous because everyone is trying
to create these universes that span mul-
tiple films, but they haven’t even built
the foundation. Star Wars had to be built.
We’re looking at those mistakes.
MATT Let’s do one good series. Then, if
we don’t manage to mess that up, we can
talk beyond that. We don’t have that J.J.
Abrams gene — for good or bad.
When a project is successful now, even if
it’s intended as a one-off, the immediate response
is to make more. What’s your take on that?
MATT It’s so hard to strike a chord with audiences
that, when it happens, everyone is coming to you
immediately to do it again and again. They don’t
want to leave it alone. In our case, as soon as we
started developing with Netflix, it was always
supposed to be a multiseason arc. As long as it’s
creator-driven, I don’t really have an issue with
it. So if Steven Zaillian thinks there is more that
he can mine from The Night Of, I say, “Hell, yes!”
I’m into that. Big Little Lies is the same thing. You
fall in love with these worlds and these charac-
ters, so I don’t think it’s a bad thing. It’s also not
a bad thing to just leave things alone.
How will you be feeling on Oct. 26?
MATT This a very different feeling than last year
when we were afraid that it was going to get
lost. Now we know that people will watch and,
of course, everyone has expectations. We will be
scouring social media to see the response.
You’ve been in touch with Stephen King about
his influence on the show. Any feedback from
Steven Spielberg?
ROSS I’m going to have to plead the Fifth on that.
2017 POWER
SHOWRUNNERS
↑ Stranger Things’ second-season trailer has
been viewed 11 million times on YouTube.
MITCH HURWITZ
Arrested Development, Lady Dynamite,
Flaked (NETFLIX)
• Netflix’s alt comedy king is finally
getting the fifth — or is it second?
— season of Arrested Development. The
cult favorite returns in 2018 with the entire
cast, as Hurwitz, 54, continues to tackle
niche projects like Will Arnett’s Flaked,
which dropped a second season in 2017,
and Maria Bamford’s Lady Dynamite
(returning Nov. 10).
LISA JOY AND JONAH NOLAN
Westworld (HBO)
• Production on HBO’s pricey
Westworld caused concern for more
than a few, but the finished product oblit-
erated doubts. Gross viewership climbed
past 12 million viewers, and the drama
took 22 2017 Emmy nominations — tying
Saturday Night Live for the most men-
tions. For their part, married duo Joy, 40,
and Nolan, 41, are being praised as HBO’s
next big creatives.
Best thing I saw this year Nolan: Dunkirk
You know a pitch isn’t going well when …
Nolan: “The network president falls asleep.
True story.”
Right now, TV viewers need … Joy: “Less
tragedy on the nightly news.”

MIKE JUDGE AND ALEC BERG

Dream casting goal “Depends. But a
safe bet would be Tracee Ellis Ross and
[Chewing Gum star] Michaela Coel.”
ADAM F. GOLDBERG
The Goldbergs (ABC)
PETER GOULD AND VINCE GILLIGAN
Better Call Saul (AMC)
• Even in an era when your dry cleaner
could successfully pitch a show, carte
blanche doesn’t come easy — but that’s
what Gould, 57, and Gilligan, 50, earned by
that’s what they’ve found in Fuller, 48,
and Green’s heady stab at adapting Neil
Gaiman’s beloved American Gods. The
project, which Fuller ultimately chose
over CBS All Access’ Star Trek: Discovery,
premiered to near-network highs and gave
Silicon Valley (HBO)
• Silicon Valley, still relatively young in
its life cycle as it gears up for season
five, is all the more important to HBO
now that Veep is officially ending with its
seventh season. The tech comedy offers

• More valuable to Sony Pictures

Television Studios than ever, the
following Breaking Bad’s run with three sea-
sons of the Emmy-nominated Better Call
Albrecht some watercooler cred.
Network notes are most helpful when
a rare combo of viewers and awards
attention while minting big stars — from
AMERICANS: PATRICK HARBRON/FX. THIS: RON BATZDORFF/NBC. STRANGER: JACKSON DAVIS/NETFLIX.

comedy writer scored a massive two-
season renewal for his autobiographical
ABC sitcom in 2017 — more than making
up for the one-and-done midseason
entry Imaginary Mary. (Goldberg, 41, also
got some social flack for thinly veiled
Twitter commentary about the president
— but who hasn’t?)
Most discussed series in our writers
room “The failed pilot for Poochinski,
about Peter Boyle, a streetwise cop who is
reincarnated as a dog.”
Right now, TV viewers need … “A
reboot of Who’s the Boss? to air after the
Roseanne reboot.”
Saul. When they’re ready to move on, they’ll
be greeted with a lot of open arms.
Best thing I saw this year Gould: “Ken
Burns’ The Vietnam War.”
New streaming platform I’m most
excited about Gould: “Apple. The trick
will be for a company known for hands-on
perfectionism to give creators room to
succeed — and even fail.”
BRYAN FULLER AND MICHAEL GREEN
American Gods (STARZ)
• Starz CEO Chris Albrecht has been
anxious for shows that offer buzz in
addition to pulling in subscribers, and
… Fuller: “They are over wine. Thank you,
Suzanne Patmore Gibbs.”
Right now, TV viewers need … Green: “A
news outlet that doesn’t rely on ratings.”
NOAH HAWLEY
Fargo, Legion (FX)
• Fargo may be on the back burner
after three successful seasons, but
Hawley, 50, is not skipping a beat. His
experimental Legion returns to FX in
2018, and he’s developing a Dr. Doom
feature for FX corporate sibling 20th
Century Fox film. Comic book IP snares
everyone eventually.
now-departed T.J. Miller to Big Sick
breakout Kumail Nanjiani.
Most discussed series in our writers room
Berg: Beavis & Butt-head Judge: Seinfeld
Dream casting goal Berg: “When we got to
cast Stephen Tobolowsky, that was a big
dream come true. What a legend.”
JASON KATIMS
The Path (HULU); Rise (NBC)
• Katims hasn’t had an impactful hit like
Friday Night Lights or Parenthood in
several years, but he remains one of the
best pitchmen in Hollywood. In addition to
Hulu drama The Path, which he produces

T H E HOL LY WO OD R EP ORT ER 97 O C T OBE R 4, 2017

 alongside creator Jessica Goldberg,
Katims, 56, has the NBC freshman Rise
(under Universal TV, where he has a big
deal), which will premiere in midseason.
Network notes are most helpful when …
“I love when notes calls have clarity. It’s a
misnomer that notes are bad, but some-
times they can be more efficient.”
You know a pitch isn’t going well when …
“Glazed eyes and frozen smiles.”
GLORIA CALDERON KELLETT AND MIKE ROYCE
One Day at a Time (NETFLIX)
• How do you make a multicamera sit-
com culturally (and critically) relevant
in 2017? Team with the man who made the
genre an art form. Calderon Kellett, 42, and
Royce, 53, are the shepherds of Norman
Lear’s update on One Day at a Time, a show
that instantly made the pair hot scribes
and got Netflix kudos for putting on an all-
too-rare show fronted by a Latino cast.
Best thing I saw this year Calderon
Kellett: The Handmaid’s Tale and Fleabag
Right now, TV viewers need … Royce:
“An app that puts all your shows — DVR,
streaming, whatever — on one page. One
big list of all your shows, regardless of
where they are.”
Dream casting goal Calderon Kellett:
Gloria Estefan
DAVID E. KELLEY
Big Little Lies (HBO); Mr. Mercedes (AT&T);
Goliath (AMAZON)
• The once and future king of TV — you
may remember him as the only show-
runner ever to win simultaneous Emmys
for best comedy (Ally McBeal) and drama
(The Practice) in 1999 — returned in a
big way. He launched Amazon’s Golden
LACROIX FLAVOR FACE-OFF
IN THE WRITERS ROOM
The majority of polled showrunners who
admit to consuming the trashy-classy
fizzy water say their staffers favor
grapefruit, while coconut has its fans
5%
LEMON
5%
LIME
11%
COCONUT
PAMPLEMOUSSE
16%
PASSIONFRUIT
“We are all convinced
coconut is actually
suntan lotion.”
Kenya Barris
“We fuck with Perrier.”
Issa Rae
Globe-winning Goliath, produced the AT&T
surprise critical hit Mr. Mercedes and wrote
the Emmy darling and pop culture sensa-
tion Big Little Lies for HBO. Kelley, 61, and
BLL author Liane Moriarty still are in talks
about a follow-up.
Dream casting goal “Adding Tom Hanks
and Meryl Streep to Big Little Lies.”
Right now, TV viewers need … Walter
Cronkite
COURTNEY KEMP
Power (STARZ)
• Power is exactly what Kemp has. In
the midst of a two-season renewal
and a nice new overall deal with Starz
and Lionsgate, the 40-year-old writer
sold a drama to ABC and is develop-
ing other projects for her cable home,
where her drama pulls in 8 million
viewers. (It also doesn’t hurt that she’s
a trusted confidant for Curtis “50 Cent”
Jackson, her oft-outspoken star and
executive producer.)
Network notes are most helpful when …
“You are too close to a line of dialogue to
realize it’s stupid and no one likes it.”
New streaming platform I’m most
excited about “Apple. Matt Cherniss is
really smart.”
NAHNATCHKA KHAN
Fresh Off the Boat (ABC)
• Development season started early
for Khan, 44. The prolific favorite
at 20th Century Fox TV and boss on
ABC’s Fresh Off the Boat quickly sold
two buzzy projects to Fox in August.
As for FOtB, it continues to help ABC
plant a comedy flag on Tuesdays.
Best thing I saw this year “Please Like
63%
“What on earth is
LaCroix? I drink tea.”
Peter Morgan
Me. It somehow manages to be extremely
funny and realistic while also dealing
with the subject of mental illness in a very
powerful and moving way.”
Network notes are most helpful when …
“They’re being given to someone else.”
I. MARLENE KING
Famous in Love (FREEFORM)
• Since Freeform clearly could not
envision a life without former flagship
Pretty Little Liars, it has done everything
it can to stay in the good graces of Warner
Bros.-housed King. The writer, 50, got a
second season for Famous in Love, sold a
PLL spinoff and is working on an additional
project with another PLL alum.
Best thing I saw this year “Hands down,
The Handmaid’s Tale.”
New streaming platform I’m most
excited about “Facebook. Mina Lefevre is
a trendsetter. ”
JENJI KOHAN
Orange Is the New Black, GLOW (NETFLIX)
• Netflix’s original leading lady does not
waver in her strength at the streamer.
On top of Orange Is the New Black, a
perennial hit, the launch of the Kohan-
produced GLOW made noise in a summer
when few entries managed to break
through. Kohan, 48, also remains a vocal
force against Hollywood sexism.
Best thing I saw this year Difficult People
Most invaluable person in my career
“My husband and my nanny.”
AARON KORSH
Suits (USA)
• At the halfway point of its seventh
season, Korsh’s Suits (a vestige of
USA’s Blue Sky past) is nearing a renewal
for an eighth and potentially ninth season,
while seeds for a backdoor spinoff (one
of several projects) are being sowed in a
2018 episode starring Gina Torres. USA
may be getting darker, but on sunny days,
it’s still 50-year-old Korsh’s sandbox.
Best thing I saw this year “Man in the
High Castle. It’s operating at such a high
level, it actually makes me sick.”
Network notes are most helpful when …
“Given with the spirit of helping clarify and
elevate what you’re trying to accomplish.”
STEVE LEVITAN AND CHRISTOPHER LLOYD
Modern Family (ABC)
• Strange bedfellows Levitan, 55, and
Lloyd, 57, share duties on ABC’s No. 1
series — and will continue to do so for two
more (likely final) seasons, with the show
renewed through 2019. Levitan, for his
part, is diversifying, directing the pilot (and
nabbing a lucrative EP credit) on the Fox
midseason comedy LA to Vegas.
Network notes are most helpful when …
Levitan: “Presented in song form with
uplifting choreography.”
Most discussed series in our writers room
Lloyd: “Last Week Tonight With
John Oliver because his persona is
so bulletproof: He knows just how
self-deprecating he needs to be to lay
down the most withering attacks, and it’s
never anything but funny.”
CHUCK LORRE
The Big Bang Theory, Mom,
Young Sheldon (CBS); Disjointed (NETFLIX)
• With Big Bang atop broadcast rank-
ings and spinoff Young Sheldon
seeing a boffo preview (followed by a quick
full-season order) on Sept. 25, Warner
Bros.-housed Lorre, 63, is laughing all the
way to the bank. He also recently broke
out of his broadcast mold with the Netflix
launch of the pot comedy Disjointed.
You know a pitch isn’t going well when …
“You’ve managed to bore yourself.”
Right now, TV viewers need … “One
comedy series about a 9-year-old genius
growing up in Texas and one about a pot
dispensary in California.”
DAVID MANDEL
Veep (HBO)
• In the wake of what could be comedy
writing’s greatest torch-passing of all
time, Mandel, 47, returns to Veep for his
third and final season running Armando
Iannucci’s beloved creation. The Emmys’
top comedy for three straight seasons also
just minted a new acting streak for six-
time winner Julia Louis-Dreyfus. HBO has
said it will be ending in August 2018.
Most invaluable person in my career “I
used to say Larry David but starting to
think it was actually Armando Iannucci.”
Right now, TV viewers need … “More
IMAGES. FEY: JOHN SHEARER/WIREIMAGE. CUSE: GREG DOHERTY/GETTY IMAGES. KOHAN: JASON LAVERIS/GETTY IMAGES. BLOOM: GREGG DEGUIRE/GETTY IMAGES. FLAHIVE: MATT BARON/REX/SHUTTERSTOCK.
LACROIX: VIVIEN KILLILEA/GETTY IMAGES (2). MORGAN: DAVID M. BENETT/GETTY IMAGES. RAE: KEVIN MAZUR/GETTY IMAGES. BARRIS: DAVID LIVINGSTON/GETTY IMAGES. DUPLASS: MICHAEL TULLBERG/GETTY
Israeli format shows.”
ERICA MESSER
Criminal Minds (CBS)
• Messer, 43, is doubling down on future
projects, forming her own production
shingle as part of her latest deal with ABC
Studios — one that saw her sell a family
drama to ABC in October. As for her day
job, Criminal Minds (No. 3 on CBS, just
behind NCIS) remains a fruitful constant
for its network as new hourlongs prove
harder and harder to launch.
Network notes are most helpful when …
“We’re snow blind and they’re not and can
give perspective.”
Most discussed series in our writers
room The Twilight Zone
BRUCE MILLER
The Handmaid’s Tale (HULU)
• Miller, 52, who’s been consistently
working without much fanfare since
mid-era ER, has TV’s current darling in
The Handmaid’s Tale. Eerily relevant and
slick as all get-out, the Hulu game-changer
earned top drama honors at the 2017
Emmys (and an actress win for star and
producer Elisabeth Moss), instantly driving
at least 7,500 new subscriptions.
Best thing I saw this year “The eclipse.”
Most discussed series in our writers room
“Definitely Outlander.”
Right now, TV viewers need … “A reboot
of Cop Rock.”

WE DON’T SAY ‘CANCELED’ AROUND HERE
The C-word decidedly passe, showrunners share a selection of the euphemisms they’ve heard
from conciliatory network execs (and a few choice phrases they invented themselves)
JOEL FIELDS
“THREE IS A VERY
RESPECTABLE NUMBER
OF EPISODES.”
↓ MARK DUPLASS
“We feel like the show
really, uh, creatively ran its
course — so this is actually
a bit of a mutual decision in
some ways, right?”
“ABRUPTLY
LIMITED SERIES.”
↓ RACHEL BLOOM
“SEEING IF
AMAZON OR HULU
IS INTERESTED.”
↑ JENJI KOHAN
“PERMANENT HIATUS.” BREAK, FOREVER.”
RONALD D. MOORE
Outlander (STARZ)
• Starz didn’t underestimate its lusty
viewers, 5.1 million of whom tune in
to the steamy romance. With a sprawl-
ing job (production spans 6,300 miles
from Scotland to South Africa), Moore,
53, continues to get credit for translating
Diana Gabaldon’s beloved book series
(28 million copies sold) and has Philip K.
Dick’s Electric Dreams up next at Amazon.
Most discussed series in our writers room
“Breaking Bad and Game of Thrones.”
T H E HOL LY WO OD R EP ORT ER
2017 POWER
SHOWRUNNERS
is topping cable ratings, and their Crime
MICHAEL GREEN Story follow-up about the death of Gianni
“ELIGIBLE FOR Versace is creating feverish buzz. They’ll
next try to remedy Fox ratings with the
NETFLIX REVIVAL.” Angela Bassett drama 911. On his own,
Murphy has Feud and a Netflix com-
mitment for Ratched — a showcase for
repertory MVP Sarah Paulson as the
↓ CARLTON CUSE
infamous One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s
“ ‘They’re going to call you.’ I
Nest nurse.
still have not gotten an official
Best thing I saw this year Falchuk: “The
call from Fox on The Adventures
Handmaid’s Tale and Westworld.”
of Brisco County Jr. But that
Most invaluable person in my career
was only 1994. I’m still hoping.”
Falchuk: “Ryan.”
MARTI NOXON
Girlfriends' Guide to Divorce (BRAVO);
UnREAL (LIFETIME), Sharp Objects (HBO)
• With UnREAL on the back burner
and Girlfriends' renewed for a final
season, the ever-in-demand Noxon,
53, next will go to Dietland at AMC and
try to make some Big Little Lies-level
magic at HBO. Her adaptation of Sharp
Objects, starring Amy Adams, arrives
in 2018.
You know a pitch isn’t going well when …
↑ TINA FEY “What’s that old joke? Somebody answers
DARREN STAR
the phone during sex and says, ‘Nothing,
what are you doing?’ It’s like that.”
“IT’S TOO GOOD FOR
Right now, TV viewers need … “More
vitamin D.”
OUR NETWORK.” PRENTICE PENNY AND ISSA RAE
Insecure (HBO)
• If you’re looking for evidence that
JASON KATIMS
“We’re going to see how
time slots aren’t dead, look no further
than Insecure. HBO’s celebrated drama
our pilots come in
before we make a decision
from Rae, 32, and comedy vet Penny,
could not have less in common with Game
of Thrones. But sharing a Sunday night
about next season.” with TV’s biggest series helped bring a
34 percent audience spike to Insecure.
Most discussed series in our writers
SCOTT GIMPLE
room Rae: “Sex and the City in a ‘Did they
“RE-GESTATING.” already do this?’ way.”
In five years, Netflix will be … Penny:
“The biggest producer of live content and
hopefully still part of a euphemism for
DAN FOGELMAN
casual hookups.”
“JUST TAKING A LITTLE
TYLER PERRY
If Loving U Is Wrong,
The Haves and the Have Nots (OWN);
Too Close to Home (TLC)
• Having made OWN profitable with
his primetime soaps, Perry, 48, soon
will try to save another (bigger) cable
giant: Viacom. The ever-rebranding suite
Right now, TV viewers need … filmmaker’s series has locked in Emmy noms of channels will be home to Perry’s volu-
“Something that breaks the format and and a drama win at the 2017 Golden Globes. minous output come 2019 in a massive
establishes a new way of storytelling.” You know a pitch isn’t going well when …
“George Lucas leaves the room and puts
deal encompassing television, film and
shortform video. Already planned are 90
PETER MORGAN you on his private jet back to London.” hours of annual original television on BET,
The Crown (NETFLIX) Most discussed series in our writers room which Perry will be producing from his
• The scope of storytelling possibilities
continues to expand, and few series
The Sopranos new, sprawling Atlanta studio.
Best thing I saw this year Taylor
better showcase that than The Crown. RYAN MURPHY AND BRAD FALCHUK Sheridan’s Wind River
Morgan, 54, is trying to tell six decades AHS, ACS, Feud (FX); 911 (FOX) Most invaluable person in my career
of Queen Elizabeth II’s life, an endeavor
that will see multiple cast changes and • Alone or together, Murphy, 51, and
Falchuk, 46, seem infallible. The
Oprah Winfrey
Right now, TV viewers need … “Laughter,
already has cost a reported $60 million. The current season of American Horror Story love, hope and encouragement.”
99 O C T OBE R 4, 2017
2017 POWER
SHOWRUNNERS

ONES TO WATCH
8 novices, many fostered by established EPs, made big impressions in 2017

SHONDA RHIMES ROBERTO AGUIRRE-SACASA Showalter. The dark comedy is niche,

Scandal, Grey’s Anatomy,
How to Get Away With Murder (ABC) • His Riverdale, under Greg Berlanti,
may be in hot water over star K.J.
for now, but people really like what
they’re doing and they’re among the few

• The megaproducer who launched a

thousand ships, Rhimes, 47, essentially
set fire to broadcast in August when she
said she was leaving longtime home ABC
Studios for a rich deal — read: the richest in
TV history — with Netflix. The pact will give
her backend and a venue to ramp up her
output. Meanwhile, her trio of ABC dramas
continues to do ratings gangbusters on
Thursdays, even if more recent production
attempts (The Catch, Still Star-Crossed)
haven’t shared that fate.
Best thing I saw this year The Crown
Network notes are most helpful when …
“They tell you the problem and don’t pitch
a solution.”
Dream casting goal “It’s always the same:
Idris Elba and Meryl Streep.”
Apa’s recent post-work car wreck, but the
show signals a new future for The CW.
The drama is said to have been an unprec-
edented hit for CW streaming and Netflix.
A sister series (a Sabrina the Teenage Witch
reboot) is in the works.
DAVE ANDRON
• John Singleton’s pick to shepherd his
FX cocaine drama Snowfall is finally
in the driver’s seat after a successful ten-
ure writing on Justified. The drama, not
yet at the level of his network’s critically
beloved mainstays, returns for a second
fresh showrunners to have gotten a no-
brainer renewal in the last year.
LIZ FLAHIVE AND CARLY MENSCH
• The Jenji Kohan empire at Netflix
made a big move this summer
with the Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling
(GLOW). Created by Flahive and
Mensch, two writers who met working
on Nurse Jackie, it is currently top-
ping the list of Netflix’s most eagerly
awaited returns.
ROBIA RASHID

MICHAEL SCHUR
Brooklyn Nine-Nine (FOX);
The Good Place (NBC);
Master of None (NETFLIX)
• As SNL writing alums go, Schur,
is among the most prolific. The
mastermind behind Parks and Recreation,
currently focusing on NBC favorite The
Good Place while also lending a hand to
Brooklyn Nine-Nine and Master of None,
is always growing his Fremulon shingle
at Universal TV. Potentially joining his
robust roster are two new sales at NBC —
which clearly likes what he’s doing.
Best thing I saw this year “The Leftovers.
A close second was Anthony Atamanuik’s
two-minute improvised monologue, as
Trump, watching a truck drive by in the
pilot of The President Show.”
Dream casting goal “Someday I am going
to write a role worthy of Jackee [Harry].”
season in 2018.
SARAH-VIOLET BLISS AND CHARLES ROGERS
• These TV newcomers created
TBS’ Search Party, back for season
two Nov. 19, alongside director Michael
From left: Rashid, Aguirre-Sacasa, Flahive and Mensch
• After fine-tuning her comedy chops
on How I Met Your Mother, Rashid
scored a TV series of her own, Netflix’s
Atypical, which got a huge push — even
by the streamer’s standards. Tackling
autism in the half-hour format helped
distinguish the show and earned it a
quick renewal.
SARAH WATSON
• This Jason Katims disciple (cred-
its on Parenthood and About a Boy)
finally launched her own show in
Freeform critical breakout (yes, really)
The Bold Type — a loose spin on the
life of former Cosmopolitan editor-in-
chief Joanna Coles.

JILL SOLOWAY
Transparent, I Love Dick (AMAZON)

• Amazon may be desperate for a

mainstream hit, but at least it’s got
Soloway. The Transparent creator, 52,
appears happy there, extending her pact
in May after launching the comedy I Love
Dick. With the future of that project still up
in the air, Soloway was back to work on a
fifth season of Transparent almost as soon
as the fourth dropped Sept. 21.
Most discussed series in our writers
room “The Los Angeles County Board
of Supervisor five-hour-long meetings,
weekly on KLCS at 10 p.m.”
Right now, TV viewers need ... “Battle of
the Streaming Stars. Elisabeth Moss in a
giant, sweaty ropes course against Robin
Wright, with a cheering live audience.”
DARREN STAR
Younger (TV LAND)
embattled parent Viacom, Younger had
an average 1.3 million viewers for its fourth
season, its most watched so far. And he’s
staying put at Viacom, where he’s setting
his next project.
Network notes are most helpful when …
“They are fans of the show. You can’t
ignore a note from an exec who is invested
in the story and characters.”
In five years, Netflix will be ... “The model
for every network.”
JENNIE SNYDER URMAN
Jane the Virgin (THE CW)
• The 42-year-old brain behind Jane
is one of the most valued in CBS
Studios’ growing stable of writer-produc-
ers. Currently trying to crack the Charmed
reboot still in development at The CW,
Urman also has an aggressive slate of
We need him on Jane the Virgin. Lin? Are
you reading? We need you.”
JOHN WELLS
Shameless (SHOWTIME);
Animal Kingdom (TNT)
• With Shameless now anchoring fall
for Showtime and Animal Kingdom re-
upped for a third season at TNT, Wells, 62,
is busier than ever. He’s got a TNT pilot, a
Netflix movie about the Panama Papers,
and his Alicia Silverstone starrer American
Woman will help launch the Paramount
Network in 2018.
Dream casting goal “Paul Newman and
Elizabeth Taylor. That isn’t happening any
more than the majority of the ‘dream list’
suggestions we get from network execs.”
DICK WOLF
Chicago Fire, Chicago P.D.,
Chicago Med, Law & Order: SVU,
Law & Order True Crime (NBC)
• The Wolf, 70, of 2017 is a showrun-
ner more focused than ever on
diversifying his television offerings. He
delved into anthologies with Law &
Order True Crime, a clear prestige play
starring Edie Falco. He also scored
a straight-to-series order for an FBI
drama at CBS. (But don’t worry about his
AGUIRRE-SACASA: JASON MERRITT/GETTY IMAGES. RASHID: JONATHAN LEIBSON/GETTY IMAGES.
relationship with NBC, where he has
five dramas — the network just ran out
of room.)
Best thing I saw this year Super Bowl
Most invaluable person in my career
Brandon Tartikoff

• Few have a better track record at net-

work-defining hits than Star, 56. With
Younger — Star’s latest tube contribution
after giving the world Beverly Hills, 90210;
Sex and the City and others — TV Land
has a rare success. A lone scripted hit for
projects she’s shepherding elsewhere for
several of her Jane writers.
Most discussed series in our writers room METHODOLOGY
“Every iteration of the Bachelor/ Eligible showrunners had at least one current scripted (not animated) series air
Bachelorette.” new episodes between August 2016 and July 2017 (sorry, Seth MacFarlane!).
Dream casting goal “Lin-Manuel Miranda.

T H E HOL LY WO OD R EP ORT ER 100 O C T OBE R 4, 2017

 CONGRATULATES
ALL OUR 2017 NEWS & DOCUMENTARY EMMY® AWARD NOMINEES
A GIRL IN THE RIVER: VICE NEWS TONIGHT REAL SPORTS
THE PRICE OF FORGIVENESS BEST STORY IN A NEWSCAST WITH BRYANT GUMBEL
BEST DOCUMENTARY OUTSTANDING CONTINUING COVERAGE OUTSTANDING INVESTIGATIVE REPORT
OUTSTANDING SHORT DOCUMENTARY OF A NEWS STORY IN A NEWSCAST IN A NEWSMAGAZINE
PRODUCER/DIRECTOR SHARMEEN OBAID-CHINOY “RETAKING MOSUL” “COST OF THE GAME: THE DANGERS OF YOUTH FOOTBALL”
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS TINA BROWN, SHEILA NEVINS EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS MADELEINE HAERINGER, SHANE SMITH, EXECUTIVE PRODUCER RICK BERNSTEIN
SENIOR PRODUCER LISA HELLER JOSH TYRANGIEL SENIOR PRODUCER JOE PERSKIE
SENIOR PRODUCER NOREEN JAMEEL PRODUCER NICK DOLIN
OUTSTANDING MUSIC & SOUND SUPERVISING PRODUCERS JUSTIN DIAL, CHRISTINA VALLICE COORDINATNG PRODUCERS NICK DOLIN, TIM WALKER
COMPOSER WENDY BLACKSTONE PRODUCERS ADAM DESIDERIO, BEN FOLEY, MARTINA VELTRONI ADDITIONAL PRODUCERS BRIAN DERR, NISREEN HABBAL
SOUND EDITOR/RE-RECORDING MIXER CHRIS BERTOLOTTI LINE PRODUCER MARAL USEFI CORRESPONDENT BERNARD GOLDBERG
SOUND RECORDIST/SOUND ENGINEER NADIR SIDDIQUI CORRESPONDENT SEB WALKER
EBOLA: THE DOCTORS’ STORY
ONLY THE DEAD OUTSTANDING CONTINUING COVERAGE OUTSTANDING SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
SEE THE END OF WAR OF A NEWS STORY IN A NEWSCAST DOCUMENTARY
OUTSTANDING CURRENT AFFAIRS DOCUMENTARY “PHILIPPINES DRUG WAR” PRODUCER/DIRECTOR STEVEN GRANDISON
DIRECTOR/PRODUCER MICHAEL WARE EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS MADELEINE HAERINGER, SHANE SMITH, EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS KAREN EDWARDS, LUCIE KON,
DIRECTOR BILL GUTTENTAG JOSH TYRANGIEL SHEILA NEVINS
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS ROSS COWLEY, CHRISTOPHER JOHNSTONE, PRODUCERS ORLANDO DE LA CRUZ, ADAM DESIDERIO, SENIOR PRODUCER NANCY ABRAHAM
JUSTINE A. ROSENTHAL MARTINA VELTRONI
PRODUCER PATRICK MCDONALD CORRESPONDENT SEB WALKER BODY TEAM 12
OUTSTANDING FEATURE STORY IN A NEWSCAST OUTSTANDING SHORT DOCUMENTARY
UNDERFIRE: THE UNTOLD STORY “FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS” DIRECTOR/PRODUCER DAVID DARG
OF PFC. TONY VACCARO EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS MADELEINE HAERINGER, SHANE SMITH, EXECUTIVE PRODUCER PAUL G. ALLEN
OUTSTANDING HISTORICAL DOCUMENTARY JOSH TYRANGIEL CO-EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS CAROLE TOMKO, OLIVIA WILDE
DIRECTOR/PRODUCER MAX LEWKOWICZ SUPERVISING PRODUCERS JONAH KAPLAN, JESSICA WEISBERG PRODUCER BRYN MOOSER
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS GIANNA CERBONE-TEOLI, SHEILA NEVINS, PRODUCER ROLAKE BAMGBOSE COORDINATING PRODUCERS JANNAT GARGI, MOLLY SWENSON
ANN OSTER, TIM VAN PATTEN CORRESPONDENT JAY KANG OUTSTANDING EDITING—DOCUMENTARY
SENIOR PRODUCER JACQUELINE GLOVER EDITOR DAVID DARG
PRODUCER VALERIE THOMAS OUTSTANDING HARD NEWS FEATURE STORY
IN A NEWSCAST
ORPHANS OF EBOLA
THREE DAYS OF TERROR: “THE RISE OF CARFENTANIL”
OUTSTANDING EDITING—DOCUMENTARY
THE CHARLIE HEBDO ATTACKS EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS MADELEINE HAERINGER, SHANE SMITH,
EDITOR FRANCO BOGINO
OUTSTANDING INVESTIGATIVE DOCUMENTARY JOSH TYRANGIEL
PRODUCER/DIRECTOR DAN REED SENIOR PRODUCER JAVIER GUZMAN
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS SAM BAGNALL, LUC HERMANN, SUPERVISING PRODUCER JONAH KAPLAN
SHEILA NEVINS PRODUCER ISABEL CASTRO
SENIOR PRODUCERS NANCY ABRAHAM, SARAH WALDRON CORRESPONDENT DEXTER THOMAS

OUTSTANDING RESEARCH OUTSTANDING EDITING—NEWS

RESEARCHERS LUCILE BERLAND, MARION GUÉGAN, “PHILIPPINES DRUG WAR”
ERIC PELLETIER, DAN REED EDITOR KIMMY GORDEN

THANK YOU, TELEVISION ACADEMY MEMBERS, FOR OUR 18 NOMINATIONS

©2017 Home Box Office, Inc. All rights reserved. HBO® and related service marks are the property of Home Box Office, Inc.
 AFI

50 Years

‘MAKING
MOVIES IS
T H E O N LY
THING I
KNOW HOW
TO DO’
David Lynch, Patty Jenkins and more
American Film Institute alums and friends
celebrate a half-century of scholarship, wild
Life Achievement ceremonies, top 100 lists and the
time Richard Nixon gave an award to John Ford
P h o t o g r a p h e d by AU S T I N H A R G R AV E
Patty Jenkins (class of 2007) and David Lynch (1972) were
photographed Sept. 27 in the Louis B. Mayer Library at AFI in
Los Angeles. When Lynch attended, AFI was housed at Greystone
Mansion in Beverly Hills, where, he revealed at the photo shoot,
he spent much of his time in the old stables (Lynch later filmed
some interiors for Eraserhead there). “AFI helps you find your
cinematic voice — it’s support, encouragement and inspiration.”
O n Sept. 29, 1965, President
Lyndon B. Johnson invited
a collection of leaders
from the arts, entertain-
ment and politics to the
White House Rose Garden
for the signing of the Arts
and the Humanities Act. He promised the creation
of a National Theater, a National Opera Company,
a National Ballet Company and “an American Film
Institute, bringing together leading artists of the
film industry, outstanding educators and young
men and women who wish to pursue the 20th cen-
tury art form as their life’s work.”
Most of those Rose Garden promises never came
true. But AFI, formally established 50 years ago in
and discovering new films and filmmakers (at its
annual AFI Fest and AFIDocs). Its board of trust-
ees is chaired by former Warner Bros. head Robert
Daly and includes such power players as Disney’s
Alan Horn, NBCUniversal’s Ron Meyer, Lucasfilm’s
Kathleen Kennedy, Netflix’s Ted Sarandos, Steven
Spielberg and Shonda Rhimes.
But AFI’s cultural influence is most evident at
its Hollywood Conservatory, which offers a two-
year graduate film program (5,112 attendees so
far). Its first 18-member class in 1969 included
Terrence Malick, Caleb Deshcanel and Paul
Schrader (“Screenings three times a day, cock-
tail parties with Hitchcock, Ford and Capra — it
was pretty great,” recalls the Taxi Driver writer).
David Lynch would arrive in 1970, followed in
7 C L AS S I C
M O M E NTS F RO M
AF I ’ S LI FE
AC H I EVE M E NT
AWAR DS

1967, proved the exception. “It was a great experi- later years by Darren Aronofsky, thirtysomething
ment that blossomed into something that paid off creators Marshall Herskovitz and Ed Zwick,
TRICKY DICK SALUTES
in a culturally seismic way,” says Bob Gazzale, who Spielberg’s cinematographer Janusz Kaminski JOHN FORD, 1973
has served as AFI’s president and CEO since 2007. and Game of Thrones helmer Jeremy Podeswa President Richard Nixon
Operating on an annual $32 million bud- — not to mention class of 2007’s Patty Jenkins, presented director John
get — entirely dependent on private donations, who this summer rewrote the record books with Ford with the Presidential
a big chunk of which is raised by its annual Life Warner Bros.’ Wonder Woman grossing $821 mil- Medal of Freedom at
the very first ceremony,
Achievement Award gala — AFI has been active in lion worldwide. also attended by Jimmy
film preservation (the AFI Collection in the Library Says Jenkins of her Conservatory days, “AFI was Stewart, Danny Kaye and
of Congress numbers 60,000 films), historical the one and only pocket of time where I was able Charlton Heston. A week
research (its AFI Catalog of Feature Films provides to steal all of my focus away from making a living before the event, the
a database of movies going back to 1893), education and the realities of survival and focus solely on the Watergate burglars had
been convicted. A week
(AFI’s 100 Greatest Movies lists provoke debate) kind of filmmaking I loved.” later, John Dean would
begin to cooperate with
the Senate investigators.

Cracking
Hollywood’s
Glass Ceiling
Since 1974

AFI’s female-focused
workshop has been
taking on director
inequity for more than
40 years — eight
filmmakers at a time
BY R E B E C CA S U N

1 Grant behind the camera for

DWW’s first workshop in 1974.
2 Sarah Gertrude Shapiro (right)
working on her DWW short in 2012.

T H E HOL LY WO OD R EP ORT ER 104 O C T OBE R 4, 2017

 AFI 50 Years

Since 1973, one influential artist (think Beatty, Spielberg, Fonda) has been singled out
each year in a ceremony that has become the hottest ticket in Hollywood BY M I A GA LU P P O

PHOTO/KEVORK DJANSEZIAN. MYERS: MARK MAINZ/GETTY IMAGES. WHITE: KEVIN WINTER/GETTY IMAGES FOR AFI. ALLEN: MICHAEL KOVAC/GETTY IMAGES FOR AFI. BURSTYN: MICHAEL LOCCISANO/GETTY IMAGES FOR HBO. ANGELOU: MATHEW IMAGING/FILMMAGIC. FIRSTENBERG: FREDERICK M. BROWN/GETTY IMAGES FOR AFI. KIDDER: ALBERT L. ORTEGA/GETTY IMAGES.
PREVIOUS SPREAD: JENKINS HAIR BY ERICK ORELLANA, MAKEUP BY DANA DELANEY AT FORWARD ARTISTS, STYLING BY ERICA CLOUD AT THE ONLY AGENCY. NARCISO RODRIGUEZ DRESS, ALDO SHOES. THIS SPREAD: GRANT, SHAPIRO: COURTESY OF AFI. NIXON: BETTMANN/GETTY IMAGES. SINATRA: AP PHOTO. KELLY: MICHAEL OCHS ARCHIVES/GETTY IMAGES. POITIER: AP
SINATRA SINGS FOR A PRINCESS BOWS FOR ROSA PARKS STANDS MIKE MYERS BETTY WHITE DRIVES WOODY ALLEN GOES
ORSON WELLES, 1975 JIMMY STEWART, 1980 UP FOR POITIER, 1992 DONS A KILT FOR FREEMAN NUTS, 2011 LA-DE-DA, 2017
Frank Sinatra serenaded Grace Kelly left When Sidney Poitier CONNERY, 2006 White rolled onstage The famously L.A.-averse
the Citizen Kane Hollywood at 26 to became the first The Austin Powers star in a Hudson Commodore director — he doesn’t
director with a reworded become princess African-American came onstage at Sean (a la Driving Miss even come for the Oscars
version of “The Lady of Monaco, but she recipient of the award, Connery’s ceremony Daisy) for a three- — made a rare visit to
Is a Tramp” in honor of returned some two civil rights legend Rosa accompanied by bagpipe minute musical number Hollywood to honor his
Welles’ infamous radio decades later for a Parks — the activist who music, flanked by Scottish honoring Morgan longtime co-star and
broadcast that had many ceremony honoring her refused to sit in the back dancers and wearing a Freeman. Surrounded muse Diane Keaton. “She
thinking Martians had Rear Window co-star of the bus — was on kilt with knee-high socks. by six tuxedoed backup has been involved roman-
invaded. “In ’38, with a Jimmy Stewart. “It’s nice hand for the ceremony. He said Connery was a dancers, the actress sang, tically with a half-dozen
radio play,” sang Sinatra. to be back,” she told the James Earl Jones, favorite of his Scottish “So let’s all clap, Morgan. of the most gifted, char-
“War of the Worlds filled crowd from the stage. Denzel Washington, father’s: “My dad would Even though you’ve ismatic, attractive men in
us with much dismay. Two years later, at the Morgan Freeman and say, ‘See that Sean made some crap, Morgan. Hollywood,” he said. “And
And he scared the actress’ funeral, Stewart John Singleton also Connery? That is bloody Please don’t ever make every one of them has
shhhh … adows away!” delivered her eulogy. were present. me on the screen.’ ” Hard Rain again!” dumped her.”

I n 1974, less than a decade

2
into the institute’s existence,
Mathilde Krim, the wife of
United Artists head Arthur Krim
and future co-founder of amfAR,
wrote a letter to AFI founding
director George Stevens Jr. ask-
ing a simple question: “Why are
there no women directors?”
“Not only did she have the idea
[for the Directing Workshop
for Women], she got the money
for it [from the Rockefeller
Foundation],” says Jean Picker
Firstenberg, who served as
AFI’s CEO and director from
1980 to 2007. The inaugural
class launched with a student
body made up of mostly famous
actresses who wanted to direct,
including Ellen Burstyn, Lee
Grant and Margot Kidder,
along with poet Maya Angelou.
Says Firstenberg, “There was
a theory when we started
that women of note should be
Burstyn Angelou
invited so we would get traction.
It worked.”
Today, the workshop accepts
up to eight applicants — women
who have worked in the arts for
at least three years but do not
yet have professional narrative
directing credits — to participate
in a tuition-free yearlong program
centered on a three-week, full-
time course of intensive classes
and hands-on training. It culmi-
nates in a completed narrative
short that screens at a showcase
for reps, producers and executives.
One gauge of the workshop’s
success: the top Hollywood talent
it has attracted as guest lectur-
ers, including Paul Feig, Patty
Firstenberg Kidder
Jenkins, Gina Prince-Bythewood
and Issa Rae. But Firstenberg
believes the workshop still has a
lot of work ahead. “The sad issue
is that we still need a directing
workshop for women,” she says,
although the success stories
among the program’s 316 alum-
nae keep her optimistic about
the future. “In 1982, we had this
application from a woman work-
ing in Japan as a choreographer,”
she says. “She told us this story
she wanted to tell. No one knew
who she was, but we admitted
her.” She was Lesli Linka Glatter,
and her Oscar-nominated DWW
short preceded DGA noms for
Mad Men and Homeland.

T H E HOL LY WO OD R EP ORT ER 105 O C T OBE R 4, 2017

AFI 50 Years

IS
C ITIZ E N K AN E
STI LL
N O. 1?

AFI’s prestigious 100 Movies

list hasn’t been refreshed
in 10 years, though another
ballot seems likely

• • • “It’s like the Good Housekeeping Seal 2

of Approval,” says film historian Leonard
Maltin of American Film Institute’s list of
the 100 greatest movies of all time, which
in Hollywood is at the top of everyone’s list
of favorite movie lists.
The ranking began in 1998 with AFI’s
100 Movies, and in subsequent years, the
AFI issued one new list a year, branching
into subcategories like 100 Laughs, 100
Thrills and 100 Cheers (for inspirational
flicks). However, a new list has not been
compiled since 2007, when the flagship
list of 100 Movies was last updated: Back
then, 1,500 Hollywood insiders — Maltin
was one, along with Steven Spielberg and
Martin Scorsese — were polled on their
big-screen favorites. They were mailed a
ballot containing the names of 765 mov-
ies and asked to number their top five,
then check off 95 others in no particular
order; write-ins were welcome.
In 1998 and 2007, Citizen Kane came
out on top, while Casablanca — Maltin’s
all-time fave — and The Godfather took
turns in second place. But the list is long
overdue for a refresh — a lot of great
movies have come out these past 10
years — especially considering the 20th
anniversary of the list’s inception is right
around the corner. “It’s a concept we’re
committed to because it’s designed to
catalyze conversations about what is
excellent and why,” says AFI president and
CEO Bob Gazzale, “and we’ll be announc-
ing something soon.”
Couldn’t be soon enough for Maltin,
who looks forward to a whole new round
of arguing among cinephiles. “That seems
to be part of the attraction,” he says.
“BuzzFeed has built a whole business on
it.” — SETH ABRAMOVITCH
The ballot from the
2007 update of AFI’s
100 Movies list.
How AFI
Became a Major
Player in
the Oscar Race
Its film festivals and awards lunch
have made the institute a must-stop
destination on the road to Oscar
T hey may not have the buzz of
Sundance, the prestige of Telluride
or the fashion wackiness of Cannes,
but AFI’s film festivals and other events are
making the institute an increasingly impor-
tant player in Hollywood’s awards season.
AFIDocs takes place over five days in
June in Silver Spring, Maryland (home of
the AFI Silver Theatre), and is arguably the
world’s pre-eminent documentary show-
case. This year, it opened its 15th season
with Netflix’s Icarus, a docu-thriller about
sports doping that’s already regarded as an
Oscar frontrunner.
In November, there’s AFI Fest, which
celebrates films of all genres and nation-
alities. An outgrowth of the Los Angeles
International Film Exposition, or Filmex,
it is now entering its 31st year as a stand-
alone event. Its timing has always been
problematic; in November, many on the
awards circuit are returning home from
a marathon of far-flung festivals before
the Thanksgiving break, and most of the
1 From left: Oprah Winfrey, Ava DuVernay and David
Oyelowo at an AFI Q&A for Selma in 2014. 2 Charlton
Heston at the 1996 AFI Fest at Mann’s Chinese Theatre.
picture nominations). This November, the
fest will open with the world premiere of
Ridley Scott’s All the Money in the World.
Along with world premieres, AFI Fest
unspools a slew of smaller films in more
modest screening rooms that have some-
times planted the seeds of award-winning
careers. Before Damien Chazelle and his
composer Justin Hurwitz showed their
Oscar-nominated musical La La Land at
the fest in 2016, they came to AFI Fest with
their first film, 2009’s Guy and Madeline on
a Park Bench. Hurwitz recently recounted
how back then he and Chazelle snuck into
the main theater and “dreamed one day
we’d be here,” fuel for the ambition that
ultimately earned them a slot in the big
room (and, for about 30 seconds, a best
picture trophy).
In January, on the Friday before the
Golden Globes — right in the middle of
Oscar nomination voting — comes the AFI
Awards luncheon, with honorees announced
in advance (the year’s top 10 films and TV
shows, as determined by juries of film
industry types). Only a small press pool
is allowed, which partly explains why it’s
DUVERNAY: TIMOTHY NORRIS/COURTESY OF AFI. HESTON: COURTESY OF AFI.

buzziest films have already premiered,
leaving AFI Fest with slim pickings.
Still, every year, at least a few movies
debuting at AFI Fest go on to become major
contenders, like 2003’s Monster (which
got an Oscar for Charlize Theron), 2010’s
The Fighter (an Oscar for Christian Bale)
and 2014’s American Sniper and Selma (best
one of the most star-studded events of the
year. Emma Stone, Denzel Washington
and Mel Gibson were among the attendees
in January, when AFI president Bob Gazzale
welcomed them with a brief speech. “This
is a campaign-free zone,” he insisted. “You
don’t have to thank anybody. We’re here to
thank you.” — SCOTT FEINBERG

T H E HOL LY WO OD R EP ORT ER 106 O C T OBE R 4, 2017

David,
You were a larger than life presence
at Fox and made a huge mark
on everyone who was lucky enough
to know you and work with you.
We’ll miss you.

David LyleǥǭǩǤɝǦǤǥǫ
AFI 50 Years

‘ MAKE TH E
M OVI E
YO U WANT
TO S E E ’

AFI’s Harold Lloyd Seminars

have been bringing masters
and students together long
before James Lipton did

• • • Robert Altman, Bernardo Bertolucci,

Mel Brooks, Robert De Niro, Clint
Eastwood, Federico Fellini, Martin
Scorsese — scores of cinematic geniuses
have given guest lectures at AFI over the
past 50 years and answered questions
from classrooms full of future cinematic
geniuses. THR was given access to
the archives for a few choice highlights.

ALFRE D
H ITCH COCK

↑ Hitchcock lectured in 1970, teaching Suspense 101. “Four people are sitting
around a table talking about baseball. … Very dull. But tell the audience there’s a
bomb under the table, and the whole emotion of the audience is different.”

JAN E
FON DA

→ Fonda told
students in 1985 that
she’d just been sent
a script about a
woman raped in front
of a cheering crowd
in a Boston pool hall.
“I think I’m going to
have to say no,” she
said. “I’m scared it’s
titillating, that it’s
going to encourage
[rape].” Jodie Foster
ended up with the
part in The Accused
BILLY and won an Oscar.
WILDE R

↑ The Oscar-winning
filmmaker’s lecture in
1978 focused on the
importance of directors
paying attention to the
script. “It’s not important
for a director to be able
to write,” he told
students. “But it is very
important that he knows
how to read.”

← “A lot of times the writer doesn’t

know much more about the
character than you do,” De Niro said
of acting when he was a guest
ROBE RT lecturer in 1980, just before filming
DE NIRO King of Comedy. “Then you have
to just go on your own because you
know he doesn’t know. In other
words, it’s up to you as an actor to
make these details work.”
COURTESY OF AFI (4).

T H E HOL LY WO OD R EP ORT ER 108 O C T OBE R 4, 2017

AFI 50 Years

← “I suffered
through elementary
school, high school
and college as a
STEVE N wimp,” 29-year-old
S PI E LBE RG Spielberg told
students in 1975. “I
can’t fix cars
— making movies
is the only thing
I know how to do.”

QU E NTI N
TAR ANTI NO
→ “My advice,” Tarantino told students in 2017, “is to
make the movie you want to see. A whole lot of films
have been made. What’s the movie we haven’t
seen because you haven’t made it? Make that movie.”

From Johnson to Reagan, from Bush (one and two) to Obama,

AFI has always had a friend in the White House (until Trump)
• • • Ever since LBJ launched AFI in
SO M E the Rose Garden, the institute has had
a special place in the hearts of U.S.
PR E S I D E NTS presidents — until now, that is.
LOVE AF I , Barack Obama hosted AFI’s Student
Film Festival at the White House for
SO M E DO N ’ T the last three years of his adminis-
tration. Bill Clinton spoke at Warren
Beatty’s Life Achievement Award
event in 2008, while both Bush
presidents turned up at AFI events
and Ronald and Nancy Reagan came
to AFI’s Preservation Ball in 1988. Even
Richard Nixon, despite the mounting
Watergate scandal, managed to attend
John Ford’s Life Achievement Award
ceremony in 1973.
Donald Trump, however, appar-
ently is not such a bigly fan. Sources
say the White House has not returned
AFI’s phone calls. That puts AFI in
good company — Trump also has said
he’ll skip December’s Kennedy Center
Honors and proposed eliminating
funding for the NEA and PBS — so AFI
CEO Bob Gazzale is not feeling too hurt.
While the student fest isn’t returning
to the White House this year, says
Gazzale, “We’re going to build some-
thing bigger now.”

TARANTINO: SETH PIERSON/COURTESY OF AFI. SPIELBERG, REAGAN, OBAMA, BUSH: COURTESY OF AFI.
1
3

1 From left: Jean Picker Firstenberg with Ronald and Nancy Reagan at AFI’s Preservation Ball in 1988. 2 Obama spoke
at AFI’s 2014 White House Student Film Festival. 3 George H.W. Bush at the institute’s 25th anniversary in 1989.

T H E HOL LY WO OD R EP ORT ER 110 O C T OBE R 4, 2017


How AFI Began:
‘So I Wrote to
Hubert Humphrey’
Founding director George Stevens Jr.
recalls the early days — like how
Cary Grant turned down a planned
tribute because he wouldn’t do TV
B Y G R E G G K I L D AY
G eorge Stevens Jr. — son of Giant
director George Stevens — was in
the Rose Garden the day Lyndon
B. Johnson established the National
Endowment for the Arts and, along with
it, the American Film Institute. Stevens,
now 85, went on to become its found-
ing director, from 1967 to 1980, and set
up its first home in Greystone Mansion
in Beverly Hills (the campus moved to
Hollywood in 1981). Fifty years later, he
sits down with THR and remembers how
it all began and how far it has come.
How did the idea for AFI come about?
I had seen the first legislation for the
National Endowment for the Arts. It listed
theater, symphony, painting — with no
mention of motion pictures. So I wrote to
Senator Hubert Humphrey, whom I knew
and who was one of the major sponsors,
and made the case that motion pictures
was an indigenous art form. So he added
motion pictures. Film did not have the
stature in this country that it has today.
Nobody knew who directed movies
T H E HOL LY WO OD R EP ORT ER
Why did you choose Greystone Mansion as
the first site for the film studies center?
I believed the center should belong in Los
Angeles because we had the idea of a tuto-
rial tradition where we would have the great
filmmakers pass on their knowledge to the
fellows, as we called the students. George
Seaton, the director, producer and writer,
was on the board at AFI, and his wife was
the mayor of Beverly Hills. Greystone was
on their hands, and after a series of negotia-
tions, they provided it to us for $1 a year.
What was the inspiration for the Life
Achievement Award?
I had this idea to do an event at the Kennedy
Center where we would honor Cary Grant
and show clips from his films. I called
Cary, whom I knew slightly since he’d made
three films with my father, and we had
a wonderful conversation. So I told Bob
Wood, [president] at CBS, who offered to
broadcast it. But when I called Cary back
to get a date, he said, “Television? George, I
From left: AFI’s Roger Stevens, Stevens Jr., Gregory Peck
and Poitier in 1969 at Greystone Mansion in Beverly Hills. don’t do television.” So that idea was dead.
except for Alfred Hitchcock and Cecil B.
But a couple of years later, we’d made a
DeMille. You’d go to Rizzoli Bookstore
film called Directed by John Ford that Peter
Bogdanovich directed. John Ford was a
in New York, and there’d be one little shelf
of film books.
Republican, so I called Leonard Garment
at the [Nixon] White House and said we’d
like to honor John Ford at the Kennedy
What was AFI’s first order of business?
Center. “Do you think the president would
Film preservation. Very few people were
like to be involved?” Well, nothing came
paying attention to the problems of
of it, but six months later, Garment called
films being lost. In 1962 at Cannes, Henri
back and said, “The president will come
Langlois [head of the Cinematheque
to your event for John Ford on March 29
Francaise], with his mop of gray hair, had
in Los Angeles.” I said, “But Leonard, we
cornered me on the Croisette and gave
were talking about the Kennedy Center.”
me a scolding about what was happen-
ing with American films. He told me John
Ford’s first feature, Straight Shooting, was
lost, and nothing remained of Greta Garbo
in The Divine Woman.
And he said, “The president will be in Los
Angeles.” So suddenly the idea became
a reality, and we passed a resolution in
February of ’73, and five weeks later, the
event happened. It was a real turning point
for AFI. It enabled us to raise money. The
How did you go about setting up the
second year, we honored James Cagney. It
AFI Conservatory?
was a fabulous night that Sinatra hosted,
I went and looked at the Czech film
and I believe the telecast got a 56 share on
school, the Russian school, the Polish film
CBS and absolutely put AFI on the map.
academy. Not that we were going to imi-
tate them, but they were doing interesting
work. It was the time of Milos Forman,
Ivan Passer, Jan Kadar and all those
wonderful filmmakers. When I arrived in
Czechoslovakia, the Russian tanks were in
the street. It was a very tense time, to say
POITIER: COURTESY OF GEORGE STEVENS, JR. STEVENS, NIXON: COURTESY OF AFI.
the least. One of the teachers, Frank Daniel,
was assigned to show me around, and we
got along very well. I asked him if he would
come and help set up the center. He said he
would, but he didn’t know if he could get out
of the country with his children. Working
with the State Department, we were able to
get him out. I think his was one of the last
Ford, flanked by Richard Nixon (left) and Charlton
families to get out. Heston, accepted his Life Achievement Award in 1973.
112 O C T OBE R 4, 2017
International
TV Producer
of the Year

From left: de Mol, Carson Daly and

R
Mark Burnett celebrated The Voice’s first
reality competition Emmy win in 2013.

eality TV
might be in
a tough spot
these days,
but the same
can’t be said
for the man
who helped
invent it. From his home base in
tiny Hilversum, Holland, Dutch
billionaire John de Mol, 62, CEO
of Talpa Media and creator of Big
Brother, Fear Factor and The Voice,
continues to show the world how
to play the nonscripted game.
After getting his start in media
as a teenager, editing highlights
of Dutch soccer matches for the
national public broadcaster,
de Mol founded Endemol in 1994.
He sold his stake in 2005 to launch
Talpa, which now has 180 for-
mats on the air and estimates the

Reality
worldwide audience for its shows
at roughly 500 million. The Voice,
which just picked up its fourth
reality series Emmy in five years,
is the last global unscripted hit
left, with 65 local versions world-
wide. De Mol recently secured

TV’s Great
full control, in a $280 million
deal, of SBS Network Group,
which operates four free-to-air
channels in the Netherlands,
giving Talpa a platform for new
shows. His pact with British

Risk-Taker
giant ITV, which bought Talpa
for $530 million in 2015, could
net the divorced father of one
son up to $640 million more if
he stays at the company through
2020 and hits growth targets.
De Mol — whose estimated net
worth is $1.62 billion — spoke
with THR about keeping The Voice JOHN DE MOL, CREATOR OF THE VOICE, BIG BROTHER AND
fresh, why Holland is a great test- SHOWS THAT REACH 500 MILLION GLOBAL VIEWERS, IS
ing ground and the importance HUNGRY FOR MORE: ‘I AM WORKING DAY AND NIGHT TO
of taking risks. COME UP WITH THE NEXT BIG THING’ By Scott Roxborough

114
De Mol, photographed in his What are The Voice U.S.’ challenges
Talpa office in Hilversum,
Holland, says his initial plan going into the new season?
to slow down following We won our fourth Emmy this
the ITV sale hasn’t worked
out: “I’m afraid my golf year, and The Voice is still the
handicap is back up to 36.”
most successful nonscripted
show in the U.S. The objective is
the same: We are always focused
on keeping the show fresh, and
we’ll be carefully adding some
new elements to keep our audi-
ence engaged. But we are also
careful to not damage the basis
of the format. It’s an ongoing
process in which we always need
to ask ourselves, “Will this add
to the format or put the format
in danger?” I can’t tell you yet,
but we’ve worked on something
new in the auditions and the
button will be a highlight of that
new element.
What do you think about ABC’s
plans to reboot American Idol?
I always say that there is room for
multiple singing competitions,
like there are a lot of game and
reality shows that have lived next
to each other for years. I person-
ally think it will be a challenge to
get Idol back to the success it once
had. Idol is a strong brand in the
U.S., but it’s also an older brand.
You saw the ratings at Fox in the
last seasons, and for the network,
it was tough to keep the show
financially healthy as these shows
are expensive. But you never
know. In Holland, the network
tried a reboot of Idol, and it did
fairly well for the first episodes,
but ratings went down fast again
after that, and eventually the
reboot was not recommissioned.
Let’s see what happens.
Was there a battle to secure Kelly
Clarkson as a coach on The Voice?
American Idol was rumored to be
DE MOL: GREGOR SERVAIS/PHENSTER. DALY: FRANK TRAPPER/CORBIS VIA GETTY IMAGES. SING!: COURTESY OF STAR CHINA.
chasing her.
Kelly has been part of The Voice
family as an adviser to the
coaches in the battle rounds. We
love her, and she is extremely
funny and cares about the artists
on the show and the process.
We always wanted to have her
in one of the red chairs, and this
time we could make the dates
work and got her on. I can’t wait
to see Kelly and Blake [Shelton]
in one season. For the first
time, Blake will have some real
country music competition. It’ll
be interesting.
T H E HOL LY WO OD R EP ORT ER
There hasn’t been a new “home and not being scared to fail.
run” in reality TV — a truly global When I created Big Brother, every
hit — since The Voice launched in network rejected the show, and
2010. What do you attribute that to? it was the same story for The Voice.
Creating a global hit these days I needed to financially invest and
is a bigger challenge than ever due take a huge personal financial risk
to the decline in linear watching to get them on air. That is risky,
and the huge variety in watch- but it seems to be what it takes
ing content online anywhere and to get that big hit show. You need
in any way. We should look at to be willing to take a chance on
what defines a hit. There are so a new format that is not more of
many options for people to watch the same, and when you believe in
specific content at different times it, you need to keep going to get it
that I feel the next-day ratings on air.
will never be what they were, so a I just got 100 percent owner-
ratings number to define “a hit” is ship of the SBS Network Group in
much harder. Holland, where we operate four
Finding the new hit is also a linear networks. I have decided
matter of trying out new shows to give American producers,
HOW DE MOL CRACKED CHINA’S
TV MARKET — THEN DIDN’T
The Chinese version of The Voice was a massive hit until a similar
show popped up and regulators shut down foreign programming
T
alpa was one of the
first Western com-
panies to crack
the Chinese market. On
July 13, 2012, The Voice
of China, a local-lan-
guage version of Talpa’s
iconic spinning-chairs
singing competition
show, launched on satel-
lite network Zhejiang
Television and was an
instant success, drawing Star China produced four seasons of The Voice before
upward of 120 million launching the comparable Sing My Song, above.
TV viewers and some
400 million online. theft came from Star experiences have been
The show’s status China, the local group very positive, but if
only grew from there. that produced four you look at the current
By season four, which seasons of The Voice of situation, not just for
aired in 2015, The China but then launched us but for all interna-
Voice topped the rat- its own, strikingly similar tional players, you see
ings virtually every competition format that the current devel-
week. The season Sing My Song. Talpa opments have quite an
finale was watched sued and signed a new impact on our business,”
by nearly a third of all deal with media group says Maarten Meijs,
TV households in the Zhejiang Tangde to managing director of
country of 1.2 billion produce seasons five Talpa Global. “[Beijing]
people. Buoyed by the to eight of The Voice has essentially closed
success, Talpa lined of China and to down the domestic mar-
up multiple deals for develop and produce ket for foreign formats.”
the Middle Kingdom, some 200 new shows Despite the set-
including with internet for the market. But backs, Meijs remains
giant Tencent, to before anything could optimistic about the
produce an online-only happen, the government Chinese market and
version of the Dutch cracked down, effec- Talpa’s place in it. “We
group’s social experi- tively banning imported aren’t turning our backs
ment format Utopia, television formats in on China,” he says.
renamed The 15 of Us favor of “domestically “It’s a difficult market,
for China. invented TV programs but you can’t afford to
Then Talpa ran into that convey the Chinese ignore it. We’ll find a
the roadblocks familiar dream — core social- way to work with China,
to any foreign company ist values, patriotism to find a way to adapt
working with China: and Chinese traditions.” and produce for the
those of government “We’ve been a fore- market without running
regulation and copy- runner in the Chinese afoul of the regula-
right theft. The alleged industry, and I think our tions.” — S.R.
115 O C T OBE R 4, 2017
International and other producers
TV Producer
of the Year around the world, a
chance at fast access
to broadcast on my
networks in Holland. I think
some ideas in the U.S. don’t come
to fruition because there is lim-
ited shelf space at the networks,
or because the formats seem too
risky for buyers. I am willing
to take these risks, as they have
paid off for me, so I am seeing if
we can bring some of these great
ideas from American producers
and established production com-
panies to my networks in Europe.
We’ll help them get the next big
thing on air. Holland has been the
premiere territory for global hit
shows such as Big Brother, Deal or
No Deal, Fear Factor and The Voice
as it’s proved itself to be a fantas-
tic breeding ground for creativity.
Several Talpa shows such as I Love
My Country do very well in Europe
but haven’t cracked the U.S. What
makes the U.S. market different
from, say, Europe?
I always say, a great format works
everywhere — look at The Voice
and Big Brother. They literally
run on every single network in
the world and have been success-
ful in both Europe and the U.S. I
am mainly focused on develop-
ing these global hits, and if done
right, they tend to work every-
where. In Europe, nonscripted
is the bigger part of any network’s
programming, so there is much
more shelf space and more room
to experiment. Some formats
that are considered primetime
in Europe are considered “too
soft” for American primetime.
However, you slowly see the land-
scape changing, and I hope some
nonlinear players and also net-
works will start experimenting
De Mol, circa June 2000, on the Studio City
set of the first season of Big Brother.
T H E HOL LY WO OD R EP ORT ER
“We really focused on embedding interactivity in the
initial phase of the content process, so it doesn’t come as
an afterthought but is truly integrated and feels natural,”
says Maarten Meijs, managing director of Talpa Global.
“There needs to be a level of interactivity and connectivity
to reach our viewers where they are.”
It’s still too early to say whether 5 Gold Rings will be
the interactive breakout the market has been waiting for.
Talpa Reaches for the Compared to Talpa juggernauts like The Voice, it is still a
Gold Ring of Unscripted TV minnow, sold to just a handful of territories. NBC commis-
sioned a U.S. pilot of the format but passed on the series,
DE MOL’S NEW TRIVIA SERIES HOPES TO BREAK and Talpa is currently rethinking its American strategy.
THE CURSE OF INTERACTIVE GAME SHOWS “It’s a very technical show, and we are attempting
to have the exact same game on mobile devices as we
W
ith 5 Gold Rings, Talpa thinks it may have have on live TV,” says de Mol. “The challenge is to get
cracked the toughest nut in reality TV: the the viewer to download the app and play along, but the
interactive format. penetration [for the U.K. version] was very high and
Every major player in the nonscripted space has been will hopefully grow in season two.”
trying to make reality TV interactive, to stitch together Interactive or not, Talpa is betting big on a game show
the AARP-heavy live TV audiences with millennial- revival at this year’s MIPCOM, with an array of formats,
friendly multiscreen viewers. Everyone, so far, has failed. including The Big Picture, Divided and What Do I Know?,
(Remember ABC’s short-lived Rising Star? Didn’t think so.) tapping into a new vogue for the genre (think ABC’s
5 Gold Rings is Talpa’s big interactive play. The trivia revivals of Match Game and Pyramid).
show, in which contestants place gold rings over their “You see that this genre, one of the oldest genres
answers on a giant LED screen while viewers play along at on television, is coming back,” says Meijs. “The challenge
home on their phones, has just been renewed for a second is always to be original, to add interactive technology
season on Britain’s ITV and is also on the air in France components when they make sense and, most of all, to
and the Netherlands. take risks.” — S.R.
with these kinds of shows that Brother, Fear Factor, The business model —
run well in Europe but haven’t Voice and Deal or No Top 5 Talpa which tends to be a
had that same success in the U.S. Deal, and I am deter- Formats buy-out model with
— yet. I think with big names mined to add at least Worldwide no future upside for
now wanting to host primetime one, preferably two, to producers?
Current shows’
nonscripted shows, like Steve that list of global hits. global markets A global hit show on
Harvey and Ellen DeGeneres, we I’m still hungry — I The Voice linear television is
are closer to making these kinds
of European hit shows work in
want that fifth Emmy
for The Voice, I want
67 still the most lucra-
tive option in terms
the U.S. They need big talent to my first Emmy for The Voice Kids of financial revenue
work, and I feel the time is now to
try them out. A show like I Love
another show, and I
want to create a new 37 in the long term. I
think the business
My Country has traveled the world format that everyone I Love My Country model of nonlinear
and has seen similar success to stays home to watch. is still in an ongoing
The Voice, just not in the U.S. yet. … For sure the next 33 development phase;
big thing will not Dating in the Dark
we’ll see where it
What shows do you have in look like the last big ends up. For the non-
development now? Where do you thing: It has to be 25 linear platforms, I feel
see the new trends? original and it has to it would be great to
Divided
I always focus on heavily format- rise above anything do a main show that’s
ted concepts. Over the years, the
biggest successes have been social
else that has been
done. Something that
20 English language and
have spinoff versions
experiments, game shows, dating you simply cannot Total worldwide that are local and have
audience for Talpa
RINGS: XANDER MOUTHAAN/COURTESY OF ITV. BROTHER: LUIS SINCO/LOS ANGELES TIMES VIA GETTY IMAGES.
shows, dance and music competi- miss because every- shows currently a local language, host
on air
tions, and weight-loss shows. With one will talk about it and contestants. I
my team, I am working day and
night to come up with the next
the next day. And this
involves taking risks,
500M think that will become
very interesting for
big thing in these areas. When I which is something the platform — as I
created The Voice, everyone said, not all broadcasters are prepared feel it would add subscriptions —
“You’re crazy. There is no room for to do but is something crucial. and it will be interesting for us as
a new singing competition.” We producers in terms of financial
proved our critics wrong. And I When we last spoke two years upside. In general, there have
know I will do that again in one of ago, you correctly predicted that never been this many outlets that
these spaces. It’s just a matter of streamers like Netflix and Amazon need clever content, so as a pro-
time. I have been fortunate to cre- Prime would begin investing in ducer of formatted content, it’s a
ate four of the top 10 nonscripted nonscripted programming. What’s great period to be developing for-
shows in the world with Big your opinion on the streamers’ mats and producing shows.
116 O C T OBE R 4, 2017
P R O M OT I O N

2 3 4

O n , S e pt. 14, T h e H o lly wo o d Re p o r te r a n d

SAG-AF T R A invite d th e te levisio n in dus tr y’s
e l i te to r a i s e a g l a s s i n c e l e b ra t i o n of t h i s ye a r’s
E m my Aw a rd c o n te n d e r s a t t h e i r E m my N o m i n e e s
N ig h t eve n t. P re s e n te d by A m e r i c a n A ir lin e s ,
B re g u et , a n d D a c o r, t h e g a t h e r in g s e r ve d a s t h e
f ir s t re d c a r p et eve n t h e l d a t t h e J e a n- G e o rge s a t
th e Wa l d o r f A s to r ia B eve r l y H ills . T h ro u g h o u t th e
eve n in g, g u e s t s e n j oye d c u s to m c o c k t a ils a n d
s a m p l e d J e a n- G e o rge s’ si g n a tu re d ish e s w h il e
e n j oy i n g m u si c p rov i d e d by DJ M y l e s H e n d r i k .
 5 6

7 8

10

1. From left: Natalia Dyer, Joe Keery, Finn Wolfhard

and Gaten Matarazzo enjoyed a Stranger Things reunion
inside the event. 2. This Is Us star Chrissy Metz arriving
at the fete. 3. Carly Hughes (left) and Jennifer Neetles
were all smiles in the photo booth, presented by American
Airlines. 4. From left: Ryan Michelle Bathe, Sterling K.
Brown, Brian Tyree Henry and Shanola Hampton shared
a laugh. 5. Breguet illuminated Nominees Night with its
branded vitrines and luxury timepieces. 6. Moms star
Allison Janney and SAG-AFTRA president Gabrielle Carteris.
7. Westworld’s Leonardo Nam leaving some “words of
wisdom” on SAG-AFTRA’s signing wall. 8. Dacor was at the
center of the excitement thanks to its sponsorship of both
event bars, custom Cocktail Ice from the Modernist column
freezer, branded cocktail napkins, logo inclusion on cocktail
menus, and a custom refrigerator installation 9. Guests
enjoyed signature dishes from the renowned Jean-Georges.
10. THR and SAG-AFTRA’s Nominees Night event, held in
the Jean-Georges in the Waldorf Astoria Beverly Hills.
 Join us
O C TO B E R 2 0 , 2 017 at the BEVERLY HILTON HOT E L
6:00PM COCKTAIL RECEPTION & SILENT AUCTION + 7:30PM DINNER & AWARDS PRESENTATION

H O NO R IN G H OST E D BY

T R AVI S VAN WI N KLE

BIG BROTHER | TNT’S THE LAST SHIP

SHERRY LANSING AWARD

CI N DY H O L L A N D
NETFLIX KELLY SULLIVAN
VICE PRESIDENT, ORIGINAL CONTENT BIG SISTER | TLC’S TOO CLOSE TO HOME

HONORARY CHAIRS
MEGAN COLLIGAN SUE KROLL JENNIFER SALKE
ROY P. & SHERI DISNEY SHERRY LANSING ANNE SWEENEY
NANCY JOSEPHSON JOHN LASSETER RITA TUZON

REGISTER ONLINE AT GOBIGLA.ORG/EVENTS

FOR MORE INFORMATION: DANIEL.RODRIGUEZ@BBBSLA.ORG | 213.213.2420
 Reviews Film

Blade Runner 2049

A fantastically fierce Harrison Ford joins Ryan Gosling in Denis Villeneuve’s
stylish but bloated sequel to the Ridley Scott sci-fi classic By Todd McCarthy

OPENS For fans who have been waiting now working on big Hollywood ↑ Gosling is point where snowfall in Southern
Friday, Oct. 6 an L.A. cop
35 years for a sequel to Ridley films; his elegant, often por- looking for California is not uncommon.
(Warner Bros.) renegade
Scott’s mesmerizing sci-fi land- tentous style suggested him The original script’s co-author,
CAST old-school
Ryan Gosling, mark Blade Runner, the good news as an excellent match for this “replicants” Hampton Fancher, along with
that have
Harrison Ford, is that director Denis Villeneuve second cinematic go-round been new co-writer Michael Green
Ana de Armas, achieves something close to with Philip K. Dick’s postapoca- replaced (Logan, Alien: Covenant) go light
Sylvia Hoeks, by more
the same narcotic effect in Blade lyptic noir featuring detective obedient on exposition, no doubt suc-
Robin Wright, new models.
Runner 2049, with a voluptuous Rick Deckard. cumbing to the director’s own
Mackenzie Davis,
Carla Juri, mood bath sustained from begin- The opening few minutes offer inclination to follow Sir Ridley’s
Lennie James, ning to end. The problem is that immediate assurance of being template in emphasizing visual
Dave Bautista, 164 minutes occupy the distance in good hands. California by 2049 impression over explanation.
Jared Leto between that beginning and has turned far more toxic and LAPD Officer “K” (Ryan Gosling)
DIRECTOR
end, another example of directo- congested than it was in the 2019 is on the hunt for renegade old-
Denis Villeneuve
Rated R, 164 minutes rial excess where self-discipline envisioned by the first film in style Nexus 8 replicants, which
would have been a benefit (the 1982. Ravishing images reveal a have been “retired” and replaced
release version of the original ran thick, smoky atmosphere through by the more docile Nexus 9 series.
118 minutes). which you can barely see; popula- K, who has a Nexus 9 girlfriend
The French-Canadian tion density in the vast expanses named Joi (Ana de Armas), is a
STEPHEN VAUGHAN/ALCON ENTERTAINMENT

Villeneuve has developed — of Los Angeles makes modern Sao man of few words in a world where
through Prisoners, Sicario and Paulo look like a ghost town; and the richest and most powerful fig-
Arrival — into one of the more atmospheric cooling, not warm- ure is the blind Niander Wallace
formally expressive directors ing, has asserted itself, to the (Jared Leto), who made his fortune

T H E HOL LY WO OD R EP ORT ER 121 O C T OBE R 4, 2017

creating civilization-saving
genetically modified food and is
now the force behind the Nexus 9.
There are rumors of a pregnant
replicant, which K’s boss, police
lieutenant Joshi (Robin Wright),
denies is true, and we meet Luv
(Sylvia Hoeks), an attack dog
in the guise of a very tough chick
who works for Wallace. There’s
welcome time spent on the dark
streets of L.A. — moments that
expand evocatively upon similar
scenes in the original, thanks to
fine work by production designer
Dennis Gassner. And it’s all
masterfully captured by cinema-
tographer Roger A. Deakins with
one brilliant through-a-lens-
darkly composition after another.
Still, after about an hour, you
begin to wonder where the movie
is going and how long it’ll take
to get there. In stories with com-
plex narratives, epic scope and/
or plentiful engaging characters,
long running times are welcome;
otherwise, if a filmmaker doesn’t
→ Ford reprises his role as Rick Deckard,
a former “Blade Runner” who has been
missing for more than 30 years.
keep his or her eyes on the clock,
the viewer may do so instead.
Around the 90-minute mark,
with K’s arrest, matters become
muddled and confusing, and
another issue presents itself: What
Blade Runner 2049 lacks compared
to its progenitor is the shock of
the new, which is perhaps the
main factor that made the origi- that bursts through the film’s All manner of superlatives will
nal so resonant. What 2049 exquisite languor. As a contrast to deservedly be bestowed upon the
eventually offers in its place is the Gosling’s deliberately deadened fabulous design and tech hands
shock of the old: the re-emergence turn, Ford energizes a movie that’s who contributed to the film’s spec-
of Harrison Ford as Deckard. otherwise intentionally drained of tacular look. And though there
Having disappeared and eluded character vitality. was displeasure among fans
authorities for decades, this old Hoeks supplies her character when news leaked that the origi-
cop — who supposedly has the with some unexpected emotional nal score by Johan Johannson
solution to creating more repli- shading, but no replicant warriors was being replaced by music
cants, which Wallace so desires in Blade Runner 2049 can mea- from the more conventional
— makes it clear to the young sure up to those played by Rutger team of Benjamin Wallfisch and
cop that he’s none too pleased to Hauer and Daryl Hannah in the Hans Zimmer, the pair’s work
have been found. Grizzled and first movie. Among the other here is in a more experimental
ferocious, Ford’s Deckard ups the players, Leto achieves the desired mode than is customary from
ante, as the action star delivers weirdness level, while Wright is the Zimmer factory — and is
a ragingly physical performance all business as a top cop. extremely effective.
 Reviews

White Famous Film & Television

Jay Pharoah impresses in Showtime’s

comedy about a rising black comic, but the
series suffers from staleness By Daniel J. Fienberg
THR’S SOCIAL CLIMBERS
A ranking of the week’s top actors, comedians
Watchable thanks to a charismatic lead turn by Jay and personalities based on social media engagement
Pharoah, Showtime’s White Famous feels like a relic of the across Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and more
TV landscape three years ago, before series like Atlanta,
This Last This Last
Master of None and Better Things redefined the making-it- Week Week Actors Week Week Comedians
in-entertainment small-screen comedy subgenre.
1 ←
→ I 1 I Dwayne Johnson 1 ←
→ I 1 I Kevin Hart
In those shows, creator-director-stars funnel familiar
stories through a uniquely personal perspective; in this 2 ↑ I 8 I Vin Diesel 2 ←
→ I 2 I D.L. Hughley
one, co-creator Tom Kapinos (Californication), producer
3 ↑ I 13 I Priyanka Chopra
Jamie Foxx and recurring director Tim Story (Ride Along) 3 ↑ I - I Jeff Dunham
struggle to make things feel fresh. 4 ↑ I 5 I Jennifer Lopez The comedian and
ventriloquist, up
Pharoah is Floyd, a SoCal stand-up comic content with 387 percent in all social
a level of fame one character describes as “east of the 10, 5 ↑ I - I Emilia Clarke conversation, received
a star on the Hollywood
south of Crenshaw.” The alternative is to become “white Clarke’s rise to No. 5 comes
Walk of Fame on Sept. 21
following a photo she took
famous,” which Floyd’s agent Malcolm (Utkarsh Ambudkar) of her newly dyed blond and appeared on the finale
of America’s Got Talent,
explains as the ability to transcend color in the comedy hair, allowing her to look
performing with eventual
almost exactly like her
world, as Eddie Murphy and a handful of others have. But Game of Thrones character, winner Darci Lynne Farmer.
compromises need to be made, and Floyd is opposed to Daenerys Targaryen, for
which she often wears a wig.
compromises. Meanwhile, he’s trying to be a good father She was up 713 percent in
4 ←
→ I 4 I Joe Rogan
to son Trevor (Lonnie Chavis), who lives with Floyd’s ex- Instagram favorites.
5 ↓ I 3 I Marlon Wayans
with-benefits Sadie (Cleopatra Coleman, so good you wish
she had a real part). And Floyd still loves Sadie. 6 ↓ I 3 I Kevin Hart 6 ↑ I 8 I Bill Maher
The first two episodes are so sitcom-conventional that
7 ↑ I - I Deepika Padukone 7 ↑ I - I George Lopez
they feel conspicuously like NBC’s Marlon. Pharoah, unde-
rutilized for six seasons on Saturday Night Live, displays 8 ↓ I 4 I Shay Mitchell 8 ↓ I 6 I Mike Epps
INSTAGRAM. DUNHAM: ROBIN MARCHANT/GETTY IMAGES. ORTEGA: STEVE GRANITZ/WIREIMAGE. KIMMEL: JB LACROIX/WIREIMAGE.

shades of a young Murphy in his energy and comfort as

BLADE: STEPHEN VAUGHAN/ALCON ENTERTAINMENT. FAMOUS: MICHAEL DESMOND/SHOWTIME. CLARKE: @EMILIA_CLARKE/

9 ↑ I 20 I Vanessa Hudgens 9 ↑ I - I Ricky Gervais

a romantic lead, but the character is lacking in depth. In
fact, White Famous only sometimes feels authentically like 10 ←
→ I 10 I Lily Collins 10 ↑ I - I Kumail Nanjiani
Floyd’s story at all — which I think one would recognize
11 ↑ I - I Jared Leto This Last
even without knowing the opening episodes were writ- Week Week TV Personalities
ten by a 40-something white guy. Floyd’s battle to retain 12 ↑ I - I Leonardo DiCaprio
his voice in an industry unequipped to nurture him feels 1 ↑ I - I Jimmy Kimmel
13 ↑ I - I Ashley Benson
dated, as do gags like his being mistaken for the valet The death of the
Graham-Cassidy health care
as he leaves a restaurant. Even in that scene, the empha- 14 ↑ I - I Norman Reedus bill in the U.S. Senate was
sis is the discomfort this causes for a white producer celebrated by the TV host,
who had declared his
(Stephen Tobolowsky) rather than what it means to Floyd. 15 ↑ I - I Jenna Ortega opposition to the bill on his
Floyd also gets upstaged in the pilot by Foxx, playing The 15-year-old Disney show and on social media.
Channel actress was up It led to a 2,083 percent
himself in a cameo lifted from AIRDATE 10 p.m. Sunday, 221 percent in Twitter jump in social engagement,
the raunch-for-raunch’s-sake Oct. 15 (Showtime) likes and 410 percent in helping him to his first No. 1.
Instagram favorites, mostly
Californication playbook. Like the CAST Jay Pharoah, due to photos of her trip
rest of the show, reportedly based Utkarsh Ambudkar, Jacob to New York with Musical.ly 2 ↑ I 7 I Chris Hayes
on Foxx’s own experiences in Ming-Trent, Lonnie Chavis, star-singer Jacob Sartorius,
Cleopatra Coleman sparking dating rumors 3 ↑ I 4 I Jimmy Fallon
Hollywood, those scenes may CREATORS Tom Kapinos,
among their fans.
amuse, but they reveal little about Chris Spencer 4 ↓ I 2 I Joanna Gaines
the Oscar winner’s journey. and Buddy Lewis 16 ↑ I 18 I Cara Delevingne
5 ↓ I 1 I Tyra Banks
17 ↓ I 6 I Zendaya
6 ←
→ I 6 I Stephen Colbert
18 ↓ I 12 I Sabrina Carpenter
7 ↑ I 8 I Bill Maher
19 ↓ I 11 I Gal Gadot
8 ↓ I 3 I Gordon Ramsay
20 ↑ I - I Holland Roden
9 ↓ I 5 I Trevor Noah
21 ↓ I 2 I Nina Dobrev
10 ↑ I - I Jeremy Clarkson
22 ↑ I - I Mark Hamill
Data Compiled By
23 ↑ I - I Michael Rapaport
24 ↑ I - I Hugh Jackman Source: The week’s most active and talked-about entertainers on
leading social networking sites Facebook, Google Plus, Instagram,
Twitter and YouTube for the week ending Sept. 26. Rankings are based
on a formula blending weekly additions of fans as well as cumulative
25 ↓ I 9 I Rowan Atkinson weekly reactions and conversations, as tracked by MVP Index.

↑ Pharoah (right) is a comic trying to boost his profile, and Steve Zissis a director he meets.

T H E HOL LY WO OD R EP ORT ER 123 O C T OBE R 4, 2017

 In Celebration of AFI’s 50th Anniversary!
Becoming AFI
50 Years Inside the
American Film Institute
by JEAN PICKER FIRSTENBERG
and JAMES HINDMAN
Foreword by DANA GIOIA
Preface by PATTY JENKINS
Afterword by DAVID LYNCH
“This book puts you directly
behind the scenes for a
story that began with a
dream, overcame constant
challenges, and evolved into
the institution it is today.”
—STEVEN SPIELBERG
www.santamonicapress.com
“Documented here by the people who
lived it, this is a remarkable tale of
how a major institution, created out
of whole cloth, wove itself into the
American fabric.”
—COKIE ROBERTS, author and
political commentator for ABC and NPR
“The AFI started out as an experiment
verging on a mystery. But somehow it
became an incubator for some of the
great film talent of the late part of the
twentieth century and the beginning of
the twenty-first. This is a tribute to the
dedication and insight of its leaders
and its faculty and its Fellows.”
—CALEB DESCHANEL, filmmaker
(AFI class of 1969)
UPCOMING AUTHOR EVENTS
10.21.17 Museum of the
Moving Image,
Astoria, Queens, NY
10.26.17 WritersBloc,
Los Angeles, CA
11.11.17 AFI Fest, Los Angeles, CA
11.13.17 AFI Silver Theatre
and Cultural Center,
Silver Spring, MD
Hardcover $27.95 • 9781595800947
 NEW YORK FILM FESTIVAL
Noah Baumbach
FREE TALKS
FEATURING DIRECTORS AND STARS FROM THIS YEAR’S LINEUP
FRIDAY, SEP 29
7:00 Ruben Östlund, The Square
8:00 VR and the Future of Virtual
Production by Lucasfilm
SATURDAY, SEP 30
7:00 Gamescape: The Revenge of
Full Motion Video
8:00 IndieWire Screen Talk LIVE
podcast recording with Eric Kohn 7:00 Making The Florida Project: Sean
& Anne Thompson
SUNDAY, OCT 1
3:00 Directors Dialogues: Lucrecia
Martel, Zama
7:00 Film Comment Live: The
Cinema of Experience with
Nicolas Rapold, Ashley Clark,
Farihah Zaman & Teo Bugbee
8:00 Making Mrs. Hyde: Serge Bozon
& Isabelle Huppert
SEPTEMBER 28–OCTOBER 15
These projects are supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts. New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.
Photo by Daniel Rodriguez
Photo by Sean DiSerio
Photo by GODLIS
Photo by GODLIS
Greta Gerwig Isabelle Huppert Agnès Varda
SPONSORED BY
MONDAY, OCT 2 FRIDAY, OCT 6 TUESDAY, OCT 10
6:00 Directors Dialogues: Agnès 7:00 Documenting Creativity: 7:00 Field of Vision Presents with
Varda & JR, Faces Places Griffin Dunne, Rebecca Miller, Charlotte Cook, Marshall Curry,
7:00 Noah Baumbach, The Susan Lacy, Myles Kane, and Josh Begley, Farihah Zaman &
Meyerowitz Stories (New and Josh Koury Jeff Reichert
Selected) 8:00 Directors Dialogues: Philippe
SATURDAY, OCT 7
8:00 NYFF Shorts Filmmakers Garrel, Lover for a Day
7:00 Film Comment Live: Filmmakers
TUESDAY, OCT 3 Chat with Claire Denis, Joachim WEDNESDAY, OCT 11
Trier & more 7:00 Keeping Cultural Borders Open:
Baker & Chris Bergoch Laurie Anderson & guests
SUNDAY, OCT 8 Presented with The Federation
WEDNESDAY, OCT 4 7:00 Vanessa Redgrave,
7:00 Making Call Me by Your Name: Sea Sorrow THURSDAY, OCT 12
Luca Guadagnino, Armie 7:00 Real Characters: Writing Biopics
MONDAY, OCT 9 and Origin Stories
Hammer & Michael Stuhlbarg
7:00 Greta Gerwig, Lady Bird Presented with WGAE
THURSDAY, OCT 5 8:00 Directors Dialogues:
7:00 Spotlight on Documentary Hong Sang-soo, The Day After FRIDAY, OCT 13
7:00 Film Comment Live:
Filmmakers & On the Beach at Night Alone
Festival Wrap
8:00 Access New Audiences:
Wonderstruck & The Blind Boys
of Alabama
Presented with NYWIFT
. FILMLINC.ORG/NYFF
OFFICIAL B E N E FAC TO R
MEDIA H O S P I TA L I T Y
 Backlot Innovators, Events, Honors

Women of
International
TV

Meet the Most Powerful Women and social demographics of the

faces onscreen. “The ABC is at an

in Global Television 25 female execs important moment in its history,”

she told a crowd at the University

from around the world are rewriting the of Melbourne. “The challenges
we face as an industry have the

rules of how people watch TV By Scott Roxborough potential to change the way the
ABC engages with its audience and
how it remains relevant for the
next generation.”

W omen ruled at this year’s Emmy Awards as the female-

focused storylines of The Handmaid’s Tale, Veep and Big Little
Lies dominated TV’s biggest night. And even in the real
AUSTRALIA

MICHELLE GUTHRIE
CANADA

world, outside the Television Academy and outside the U.S., opportuni- Managing director, SHAHRZAD RAFATI
ties for women in television have never looked better. Australia CEO,
“It’s a great time for women to be entering the business, whether Broadcasting Corp. BroadbandTV Corp.
onscreen or off of it,” says Cecile Frot-Coutaz, CEO of London-based As the first female BBTV, which Rafati
production giant FremantleMedia Group. But in many parts of the boss of Australia’s national founded in 2005 and
world, says African television pioneer Mosunmola “Mo” Abudu, the broadcaster — and the first which now is the world’s larg-
power of the patriarchy is still very much in force. “Bottom line, from a non-English-speaking est multiplatform network, has
women have to work twice as hard for the same recognition as their background (her parents are shifted its business model mul-
male counterparts,” she says. Australian-Chinese), Guthrie tiple times to keep up with the
The women on THR’s annual list of the world’s most power female has made on-air diversity her transformation of the industry. “I
GUTHRIE: COURTESY OF SUBJECT. RAFATI: PETER HOLST.

television execs share their insights on the global landscape — “There mantra. Aiming to make ABC realized that you have to remain
are increasingly varied and interesting representations of women on “look and sound like Australia,” nimble and use data and technol-
TV who reflect and create new realities,” says BBC America’s Sarah she has introduced a “diversity ogy to make informed decisions
Barnett — and their advice for future generations of women who want tracker” that keeps tabs on the quickly,” she says. And, unlike
to make their mark on it. gender, ethnicity and regional male-dominated Silicon Valley,

Illustration by Tim Peacock

T H E HOL LY WO OD R EP ORT ER 127 O C T OBE R 4, 2017

 Backlot
Women of
International
TV
Rafati has done her part to close
the tech gender gap. “As a woman
and as a leader, I wanted to make
sure that we practice equal pay
for equal work. It gives me great
pride to say that the disparity
in pay across our male and female
employees is less than 2 percent,
and 43 percent of our employees
are now females.”
CHINA
REN JING
Director of business
development,
Dragon TV
After starting in the
business as a journalist, Ren has
launched some of China’s most
successful reality shows, includ-
ing China’s Got Talent and the
hit variety format Go Fighting.
Even now, Ren says her goal is to
“make shows that really express
love and are socially relevant” as
well as commercially successful.
HUANG LAN
Producer,
The First Half of My
Life, If You Are the
One, Tiger Mom
Huang arguably is the busiest TV
producer in China, coming off
the success of serial drama The
First Half of My Life, a ratings and
online megahit that, in a first
for conservative China, focused
on a housewife who, follow-
ing a messy divorce, becomes a
successful career woman. Fox
Networks Group has snatched up
the show for broadcast in the rest
of Asia. Says Huang: “A lot of peo-
ple enter this industry because
T H E HOL LY WO OD R EP ORT ER
Cumberbatch stars in Studiocanal’s production of The Child in Time.
they think it is interesting or
easy to get famous and have an
easy lifestyle. It’s not. Young
women need to have the attitude
of a researcher, an explorer.”
FRANCE
DELPHINE ERNOTTE
CUNCI
President and CEO,
France Televisions
Since taking the
reins of France Televisions in
2015, the former Orange execu-
tive has shaken things up at the
channel: Ernotte Cunci dis-
missed longtime nightly news
anchor David Pujadas and
replaced him with former talk
show host Anne-Sophie Lapix in
an effort to transform the face
of the network. Ernotte Cunci
also launched the France.tv
freemium SVOD platform that
will showcase the channels’
programs and partner with nine
French producers, including
Lagardere Studios, Newen and
Banijay, to create content. She
notes, “When I see that Netflix
is investing $7 billion a year in
creation on a global scale, we
must greatly strengthen our
investments in French fiction,
documentary or animation.”
CAROL TRUSSELL
Senior vp production,
Gaumont TV U.S.
It has been a busy
year for the U.S. divi-
sion of French film and TV giant
Gaumont with the return of the
hit Colombian drug series Narcos
on Netflix; the season three
renewal of Bill Burr ’s animated
comedy series F Is for Family on
the streamer; and a series of
headline-catching development
deals, including a first-look with
Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation
director Christopher McQuarrie
and his producing partner
← The Gaumont TV-produced animated comedy F Is for Family airs on Netflix.
128
Heather McQuarrie to adapt
multiple scripted drama proj-
ects for Gaumont. Trussell sees
the golden age of TV as a unique
opportunity for female talent:
“There is more content than
ever, and while this may make it
hard to find an audience, it more
importantly gives women more
opportunity to create content.”
GERMANY
ROLA BAUER
Managing director,
Studiocanal
As head of U.S.
television opera-
tions at French giant Studiocanal
and boss of SC’s European
co-production division, Canada-
born and Munich- and L.A.-based
producer Bauer oversees some
high-profile new productions,
including Benedict Cumberbatch
starrer The Child in Time, which
Studiocanal partner SunnyMarch
is producing for the BBC and
Masterpiece, and Brazza, a Congo-
set drama that Bauer’s German
group Tandem Productions is
developing with Havas Media’s
Save Ferris Entertainment and
Idris Elba’s Green Door Pictures.
ASTRID QUENTELL
Managing director/
senior vp international
production,
Sony Germany
Running the production side of
Sony’s German television opera-
tions, Quentell has helped turn
the studio outlet into one of the
largest and most respected pro-
ducers of small-screen content
in Europe’s No. 1 TV territory.
Sony’s The Teacher has been a
critical and commercial hit for
leading network RTL, which
recently commissioned a sixth
season of the school-set dram-
edy, and the launch of Lion’s Den.
Says Quentell, “Being successful
O C T OBE R 4, 2017
is not only a matter of talent but
very much a matter of hard work
and dedication.”
ANKE
SCHAFERKORDT
CEO, Mediengruppe
RTL Deutschland
European TV’s uber
manager Schaferkordt surprised
many in the industry this year
when she resigned her post as
co-CEO of RTL Group, the con-
tinent’s largest broadcaster, to
focus her efforts on transform-
ing RTL’s core German free-TV
business. German operations still
are solid — revenue of $434 mil-
lion in the first half of 2017 was on
par with 2016’s results — but the
commercial network faces major
challenges as it shifts its tradi-
tional ad-funded model to adjust
JING, LAN, TRUSSELL, QUENTELL, AGA, SCHAFERKORDT: COURTESY OF SUBJECT. FAMILY: COURTESY OF NETFLIX. CHILD: COURTESY OF PINEWOOD TELEVISION/SUNNYMARCH TV/MASTERPIECE FOR BBC/MASTERPIECE. CUNCI: LAURENT VITEUR/GETTY IMAGES.
to an increasingly fragmented and
on-demand audience.
INDIA
MYLEETA AGA
Senior vp/GM, India,
BBC Worldwide;
Senior vp/GM,
Southeast Asia and
India, BBC Worldwide
Aga cut her teeth on U.S. TV — her
work as an executive producer on
Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations
for Travel Channel earned her
a pair of Emmy noms — before
joining BBC Worldwide’s India
office in 2009 to spearhead the
network’s move into local produc-
tions. Her successes include the
shiny floor hit Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa
(based on BBC’s Strictly Come
Dancing), now in its 10th season.
“Work hard, with integrity and
passion” is her advice to women
trying to make it in the industry.
LATIN AMERICA
ANGELICA GUERRA
Senior vp/managing
director of production,
Latin America
and U.S. Hispanic,
Sony Pictures Television
Guerra’s recent successes include
Blue Demon, a 65-episode drama

for Mexican TV giant Televisa
that is based on the true-life
story of iconic Mexican wrestler
Alejandro Munoz Moreno, and the
wildly ambitious El Comandante,
a co-production with Telemundo
about the life and times of late
Venezuela President Hugo Chavez.
To unwind, Guerra’s formula is
simple: “Watch series, drink wine
and do Pilates, not necessarily in
that order.”
NIGERIA
MOSUNMOLA “MO”
ABUDU
Founder and CEO,
EbonyLife TV
Abudu has been at
the forefront of media innovation
on the continent since transi-
tioning from a career in human
resources at oil giant Exxon Mobil
to hosting a talk show to, in 2006,
launching her own global net-
work, EbonyLife TV (the largest
pan-African network is available
in about 50 countries). Her media
empire now extends to movies —
in 2016, EbonyLife’s film division
co-produced Nollywood rom-
com The Wedding Party, which
smashed local box-office records,
taking in more than $1.3 mil-
lion at the Nigerian box office.
Her goal for the coming year: “To
successfully produce Africa’s first
sci-fi TV series.”
UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
MARYAM EID
ALMHEIRI
CEO, twofour54
At the beating heart
of the TV hub that
has emerged in Abu Dhabi over
the past decade is twofour54,
the United Arab Emirates’
government-owned media zone
that’s home to local bases for the
likes of CNN, Cartoon Network,
Fox Channels, Nat Geo and Sky
News. And at the top, oversee-
ing the explosive growth of the
local industry, sits AlMheiri, who
replaced Noura Al Kaabi after
she was upped to chairperson
this year.
T H E HOL LY WO OD R EP ORT ER
Backlot
Women of
International
TV
UNITED KINGDOM
ANNE MENSAH
Head of drama, Sky
Mensah has overseen
a drama renais-
sance at British pay
TV network Sky with series like
Riviera, starring Julia Stiles, and
cop thriller Tin Star, featuring
Tim Roth and Christina Hendricks,
smashing ratings records for the
channel. “The confidence these
shows have given our team to go
bolder and bigger next year is
incredible,” she says, adding that
to survive, broadcasters “need
to be creatively forward-looking
and not just reactive” to stand
out in a crowded marketplace.
“Being good isn’t good enough
anymore.” Off the clock, Mensah
unwinds with a bit of reality TV
— she cites Love Island on ITV as
her indulgence of the moment
(“proof positive that audiences
love entertaining, warmhearted
shows, plus beautiful semi-naked
people”) and says she’s “obsessed”
with U.S. comedy. “Basically I
relax with real stories and work
with made-up ones.”
CHARLOTTE MOORE
Director of content,
BBC
Overseeing content
at Britain’s largest
and most trusted broadcaster,
Moore easily weathered the loss
of hit competition show The Great
British Bake Off to competitor
Channel 4 by doubling down on
drama, including the ground-
breaking Three Girls, a series
London-based Bad Wolf was a producer on HBO’s Emmy-winning drama The Night Of.
130
based on true stories of victims
of sexual abuse, which had an
average audience of 8.1 million on
BBC One. Moore reminds young
women entering the business that
“just because you’re organized
and good at getting things done,
don’t let men tell you you’re not
the creative one.”
JANE TRANTER AND
JULIE GARDNER
Founders/producers,
Bad Wolf
Since leaving the
BBC (where Tranter,
pictured top, and
Gardner were key in
rebooting the sci-fi
franchise Doctor Who)
to set up their own production
shingle in South Wales, they have
landed a hit Emmy-winning HBO
show (The Night Of, the adapta-
tion of the BBC drama Tranter
executive produced), lined up a
big-budget adaptation of Philip
Pullman’s best-selling fantasy
trilogy His Dark Materials with the
BBC and New Line Cinema and
started production on Sky’s fan-
tasy series A Discovery of Witches.
Gardner says the duo’s goal with
Bad Wolf is to “unearth and
develop quality projects that speak
to the world today with entertain-
ment, intelligence and swagger.”
SOPHIE
TURNER LAING
CEO, Endemol Shine
The world’s larg-
est independent
production group (with a slate
that runs from Big Brother and
O C T OBE R 4, 2017
THR IN CANNES:
WHAT WOMEN WANT
ON SMALL SCREENS
Executives and producers
converge to discuss the challenges
of creating content for females at
the annual MIPCOM Power Lunch
T HR will host its annual Women
in Global Entertainment Power
Lunch on Oct. 16 at the Majestic Hotel
in Cannes. This year, Oscar winner
Catherine Zeta-Jones will add star
power to the event. The Feud actress
will discuss her experiences spanning
more than a quarter-century in the
industry. Zeta-Jones next appears
as notorious “Black Widow” drug lord
Griselda Blanco in Cocaine Godmother
from A+E Networks, one of the Power
Lunch sponsors, along with the com-
pany’s Lifetime network. Other guests
include Stephanie Laing, executive
producer of HBO’s Emmy-winning Veep
and Divorce; New Pictures co-founder
Willow Grylls, whose production cred-
its include BBC’s award-winning limited
series The Missing; Lea Goldman,
former editorial director of lifestyle site
Refinery29 who took over as editor-in-
chief of A+E’s Lifetime and FYI networks
this year; and Fleur Pellerin, president
of CanneSeries, the new TV festival that
will launch in April, timed to MIPCOM
sister event MIPTV.
LAING, GARDNER, TRANTER, ABUDU, MENSAH: COURTESY OF SUBJECT. ALMHEIRI: SAEED JUMOH. MOORE: ROBIN MARCHANT/GETTY IMAGES. NIGHT: COURTESY OF HBO. ZETA-JONES: JASON LAVERIS/GETTY IMAGES.
THR’s East Coast TV editor Marisa
Guthrie will moderate a panel at the
lunch about the challenges of creating
content that addresses all women and
how networks and producers can better
reach the female millennial audience.
Says Guthrie: “The industry is begin-
ning to wake up to the value of diverse
voices as evidenced by the growing
ranks of women behind the camera as
directors and producers.” — S.R.
↓ Zeta-Jones plays a notorious drug lord
on A+E’s Cocaine Godmother.
 SONY PICTURES TELEVISION
CONGRATULATES OUR 2017 HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
TOP 25 GLOBAL WOMEN HONOREES

ANGÉLICA GUERRA ASTRID QUENTELL

International Production International Production
Latin America & Germany
U.S. Hispanic
©2017 Sony Pictures Television Inc. All Rights Reserved.

FremantleMedia is behind Starz’s critical hit American Gods.
MasterChef to Humans and Black
Mirror), Endemol Shine, accord-
ing to boss Laing, finally has put
its 2014 merger “behind us and
[we’re] now firmly focused on the
future.” This year saw a few exec-
utive shake-ups at the company’s
U.S. operation — including the
exit of co-CEO Charlie Corwin and
unscripted topper Eden Gaha and
the closure of its short-lived digi-
tal studio — but Laing, who got
her start in the business working
on The Muppets as Jim Henson’s
secretary, says the industry giant
still is focused on “things that can
really move the dial,” whether it
be a U.S. version of cult U.K. series
Utopia, which the company has in
development with HBO, or efforts
to “establish another superbrand
in nonscripted.”
JANE TURTON
CEO, All3Media
British indie giant
All3Media went from
strength to strength
in the past year, both in scripted
drama, where the company
recently bought Fleabag produc-
ers Two Brothers Pictures, and in
nonscripted, inking a deal with
Fox for Gordon Ramsay’s 24 Hours
to Hell & Back, a new restaurant
reality show. Her advice to young
women entering the business: “Be
yourself. Be passionate, energetic,
dogged. Hard work pays off. Be
creative and have fun.”
CECILE
FROT-COUTAZ
CEO,
FremantleMedia Group
Frot-Coutaz pulled
off one of TV’s biggest coups
this year when she successfully
struck a deal with ABC to bring
American Idol back to U.S. screens
in 2018. But globally, the France-
born executive has been pushing
innovation at Fremantle, with
acclaimed scripted series The
→ Starz Play Arabia inked a deal with NBCU International TV for Lopez’s Shades of Blue.
T H E HOL LY WO OD R EP ORT ER
Young Pope (HBO) and Starz’s
American Gods and her continuing
drive to diversify and strengthen
her company for an uncertain
future. “The sobering realization
is that we all think we’ve already
been disrupted — whether by
Google, Amazon, Facebook, Apple
or Netflix,” she says, “but in fact
this is only the beginning.”
POLLY HILL
Head of drama, ITV
Poached from the BBC
in 2016 (at reportedly
double her corporate
salary), Hill has been charged with
revitalizing leading commercial
network ITV in its post-Downton
Abbey phase. The initial reviews
have been positive: Season three
of the crime drama Broadchurch
was hailed as a return to form
after season two was panned, and
Hill has an impressive lineup of
top-notch dramas in the wings,
including a big-budget, seven-part
remake of Vanity Fair, starring
Tom Bateman and Michael Palin,
and the contemporary family
thriller Next of Kin featuring The
Good Wife’s Archie Panjabi. Says
Hill: “My first job was with the
incredible [Doctor Who producer]
Verity Lambert working as a script
reader. She taught me that great
work should also be great fun.”
UNITED STATES
SARAH BARNETT
President and GM,
BBC America
With the signoff of
the Emmy-winning
drama Orphan Black this season,
Barnett and BBC America face a
turning point, one she met head-
on with the big swing of nature
doc Planet Earth II, which paid off
with the highest ratings ever for
a nature show in the U.S. (2.7 mil-
lion total viewers across BBC
America, AMC and SundanceTV),
132
Backlot
Women of
International
TV
as well as 10 Emmy nominations.
Says Barnett, “It couldn’t hap-
pen to a nicer and more talented
group of filmmakers.”
KELI LEE
Managing director
of international
content, platforms
and talent,
ABC Studios International
When Lee segued from her role
as executive vp casting at ABC
Entertainment to running ABC
Studios International’s con-
tent and talent operation out of
London, it was an acknowledg-
ment of her success in finding
and promoting diverse and
global creative voices. Lee’s ABC
Discovers initiative, a globally
focused talent recruiting pro-
gram, served as a launchpad for
the likes of 2014 Oscar winner
Lupita Nyong’o (12 Years a Slave),
Black Panther star Chadwick
Boseman, Randall Park of Fresh
Off the Boat and Dania Ramirez
of Devious Maids. Her advice for
young women starting out: “It
sounds cliche, but work harder
than you’ve ever worked, be resil-
ient and build relationships.”
BELINDA MENENDEZ
President,
NBCUniversal
International TV
Distribution and
Universal Networks International
As if overseeing 15 offices and
176 territories around the globe
wasn’t enough, Menendez also
has kept busy with a slew of recent
deals. On the distribution side, the
company inked pacts to bring NBC
programming to Germany and
O C T OBE R 4, 2017
Austria through a renewed deal
with Sky; to Japan, where NBC’s
Golf Channel signed not one but
two new distribution agreements
ahead of the 2020 Olympics in
Tokyo; and to the Middle East and
Africa, where Starz Play Arabia
inked a new deal for series includ-
ing Mr. Robot, Bates Motel and
Jennifer Lopez’s Shades of Blue.
Says Menendez: “I’d like to flag
that I’m very proud that Comcast
NBCUniversal was recently named
as one of the best places for women
to work in Fortune’s 100 Best
Workplaces for Women survey,”
she says. “Employee feedback cited
the company’s focus on integrity
and commitment to creating an
AMERICAN: JAN THIJS/STARZ ENTERTAINMENT LLC. TURTON, FROT-COUTAZ, HILL, BARNETT: COURTESY OF SUBJECT. LEE: ROB LATOUR/REX USA/COURTESY OF ABC. MENENDEZ: ALEX BERLINER/COURTESY OF NBC. SHADES: PETER KRAMER/NBC. CISNEROS: LARRY MARANO/GETTY IMAGES.
environment celebrating diversity
and encouraging development.”
VENEZUELA
ADRIANA CISNEROS
CEO, Cisneros Group
Harvard grad
Cisneros is the third
generation of her
family to lead the Venezuelan
Cisneros Group, one of the largest
privately held media entertain-
ment companies in the world.
Cisneros Media, the company’s
oldest division, includes the
network Venevision and several
cable TV channels. Cisneros’ com-
pany also handles distribution,
production, record labels and
concert promoting and recently
started producing content for U.S.
networks through its Mobius-
Lab company. Says Cisneros, “To
young women I always say, ‘If you
are in a company that doesn’t
value you as a woman, get out and
find one that does.’ ”
 NEW FROM JOHN GREEN
#1 BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF

WORLDWIDE RELEASE 10.10.17

50 million JOHN GREEN books in print

 Backlot
From left: DCD Rights’ Romper Stomper,
Sky Vision’s Britannia and Sony Pictures
MIPCOM Entertainment’s Counterpart.

The Search for the Next Thrones

Begins in Cannes TV creators
go high-concept to wow choosy
international buyers By Scott Roxborough this procedural in which he
plays an FBI agent who teams
up with the survivor of a famous

T he global trends that will shape the TV industry of the future

get their test drive in Cannes at the annual MIPCOM trade fair.
Disruption has become a theme in recent years, as the expan-
plays Howard Silk, a lowly cog in
the bureaucratic machinery of a
Berlin-based U.N. spy agency, who
child-abduction case (played
by Leven Rambin) to solve abduc-
tions and missing person
sion of digital and online channels shakes up traditional business discovers that his organization cases. This is the first series in
models, while local TV has gained strength, not only dominat- safeguards the secret of how to NBCUniversal’s European drama
ing primetime at home in Germany, Japan or Turkey, but increasingly cross into a parallel dimension. pact with German channel
expanding abroad as well. A fresh focus on the demands of the global SALES Sony Pictures RTL and French network TF1.
audience is being matched by a long-overdue interest in female viewers. Entertainment SALES NBCUniversal International
The 2017 MIPCOM Personality of the Year, Discovery Communications
president and CEO David Zaslav, recently closed a $14.6 billion deal to DEEP STATE ROMPER STOMPER
acquire Scripps Networks Interactive and the largely female audi-
ence for its lifestyle channels, including HGTV, Travel Channel and
3 Fox Networks Group’s
first-ever series com-
5
This Australian drama,
based on the 1992
Food Network. But front and center at MIPCOM this year will be the missioned specifically for its film of the same name starring
programming, and THR has picked five new dramas that could take international viewers, this spy Russell Crowe, comes in the
international buyers by storm. thriller from Matthew wake of the success of
Parkhill, creator of MIPCOM TNT’s Animal Kingdom,
BRITANNIA underworld. Kelly Reilly, David Audience Network’s Rogue, Oct. 16-19 another series adapted
1 The most ambitious Morrissey, Zoe Wanamaker and features Kingsman star Palais des from a cult Aussie

of the international
series looking to be the next Game
of Thrones, this fantasy drama
from Amazon and Sky in Britain
is set in 43 A.D. as the Roman
army marches north to crush the
Celts, led by warrior women and
powerful druids who claim they
can channel the forces of the
Nikolaj Lie Kaas co-star.
SALES Sky Vision
COUNTERPART
2 Oscar-winning actor
J.K. Simmons finally
gets his own small-screen vehi-
cle: an espionage mystery with
a supernatural edge. Simmons
ROMPER: COURTESY OF DCD RIGHTS. BRITANNIA: COURTESY OF SKY VISION. COUNTERPART: COURTESY OF SONY PICTURES ENTERTAINMENT. ZONA: COURTESY OF MOVISTAR+.
Festivals,
Mark Strong as an ex-spook Cannes, France film. Original writer-
sent back into the field director Geoffrey Wright
to avenge the death of his son. updated his tale of Melbourne
SALES Fox Networks Group neo-Nazis for the TV version,
Content Distribution which shifts perspectives among
Aussie skinheads, the anti-
GONE fascists fighting them and young
4 Sex and the City’s Chris
Noth returns to TV with
Muslims caught in the middle.
SALES DCD Rights

TELECOM COMPANIES GET IN

ON THE PEAK TV BOOM
Deep-pocketed telcos are backing new series in an
effort to drive subs to their streaming services
T he single biggest new trend in international televi-
sion is the move by telecommunications companies
into original content. To compete with Netflix and Amazon
Prime, telco giants — France’s SFR, Spain’s Telefonica, the
U.K.’s BT, Germany’s Deutsche Telekom and Australia’s
Foxtel, among others — are investing in original series to
drive subscriptions for their homegrown pay TV and
streaming services. Given the companies’ size, reach and
deep pockets — Deutsche Telekom had 2016 revenues of
$73 billion, Telefonica of $52 billion — their shift to original
content could be an industry game-changer.
At MIPCOM this year, buyers will get a look at
Telefonica’s first original productions for its premium pay
channel Movistar+. This will include the Oct. 16 premiere
of thriller La Zona, which is set in the wake of a meltdown
at a nuclear power plant in Northern Spain. Germany’s
Beta Film is handling world sales on the series. Just ahead
of MIPCOM, Deutsche Telekom announced its first
original series, the culture-clash comedy Germanized, a
co-production between Bavaria Fernsehproduktion and
France’s Telfrance about a sleepy French village on the
verge of bankruptcy that welcomes in a German company
along with hundreds of German workers. These new
shows are among the first in what could be the next big
boom in original production — if they pay off. MIPCOM will
be their initial testing ground. — S.R.

← Spain’s Telefonica has high hopes for the dystopian thriller La Zona.

T H E HOL LY WO OD R EP ORT ER 134 O C T OBE R 4, 2017

SPIN ON IN
50% OFF PARKING FOR 2017

Sign up for Smart Parking before

you visit: westfield.com/smartparking.

SMART PARKING | RESERVED PARKING | 3 VALET STATIONS

OVER 150 SHOPS AND RESTAURANTS NOW OPEN
westfield.com/centurycity
 88 Years of THR

Memorable moments from a storied history

19
995 199 9 6 199 977 199 9 8 1 9 99 200
00 20
001 20022 20 033 2004 2005 20
006 20
0 07 20 088 20 09 20
0 10 20111 20122 2011 3 20 14
4 20 15

SNL’s ‘Lazy Sunday’ Was YouTube’s First Viral Hit

When Google bought YouTube play Beastie Boys-style rappers 2 million-plus viewings. That sued for more than $1 billion (and
in October 2006 for $1.65 bil- who sing the praises of “bomb week, YouTube’s traffic was up settled seven years later) over
lion, financial commentators frosting” on New York’s Magnolia 83 percent. Inevitably, the site’s “brazen” copyright infringement.
pointed to News Corp’s purchase Bakery cupcakes (“My hunger success drew legal attention. “YouTube would have found its
of Myspace just one month pains are stickin’ like duct tape / In February 2006, NBC asked way without ‘Lazy Sunday,’ ” says
earlier for “only” $580 million Let’s hit up Magnolia and mack on that “Lazy Sunday” and 500 other Parnell, “but we gave it a shot of
and noted what a great deal some cupcake”) and either going clips be taken down. Viacom adrenaline.” — BILL HIGGINS
that had been. But it wasn’t: uptown to see The Chronicles of
Facebook ate Myspace’s lunch, Narnia or smoking “chronic” pot
and News Corp unloaded it in — it’s open to artistic inter-
2012 for $35 million. Meanwhile, pretation. The duo’s cupcakes
today almost 5 billion videos rap has an aggressive intensity
are watched on YouTube daily. that suggests imminent world
And some credit for that success destruction. “That’s just their way
goes to Saturday Night Live and of being badass,” says Parnell,
cupcakes. In December 2005 — now 50. But what turned out to be
just five months after YouTube really badass was the number of
went online — SNL’s Chris Parnell hits the two-and-a-half-minute
and Andy Samberg appeared video racked up on YouTube.
in what was being touted as an Within days, “Lazy Sunday” was
SNL Digital Short called “Lazy the first TV show clip to have
Sunday.” Parnell and Samberg a viral second life online, with

↑ Parnell (left) and Samberg in “Lazy Sunday,” which had 5 million-plus YouTube views in 2005.

The Hollywood Reporter, Vol. CDXXIII, No. 31 (ISSN 0018-3660; USPS 247-580) is published weekly; 40 issues — three issues in January, March, April, May, July, August, October and November, and four issues in February, June, September and December — with 15 special issues: Jan. (1), Feb. (1), June (4), Aug. (3),
Nov. (3) and Dec. (3) by Prometheus Global Media LLC, 5700 Wilshire Blvd., 5th floor, Los Angeles CA 90036. Subscription rates: Weekly print only, $199; weekly print and online, including daily edition PDF only, $249; online only, $199; digital replica of weekly print, $199. Single copies, $7.99. Periodical Postage paid
at Los Angeles, CA and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send all UAA to CFS. Non-Postal and Military Facilities send address changes to The Hollywood Reporter, P.O. Box 125, Congers, NY 10920-0125. Under Canadian Publication Mail Agreement No. 41450540 return undeliverable Canadian addresses
to MSI, PO BOX 2600, Mississauga, On L4T OA8. Direct all other correspondence to The Hollywood Reporter, 5700 Wilshire Blvd., 5th Floor, Los Angeles, CA 90036. Prometheus Global Media, LLC: Vice President, Human Resources: Angela Vitacco. Advertising/Editorial Reprints: Reprints of editorial or ads can be used
as effective marketing tools. For details, please contact Wright’s Media: (877) 652-5295 or e-mail at pgm@wrightsmedia.com. Permission: Looking for a one-time use of our content, as a full article, excerpt or chart? Please contact Wright’s Media, (877) 652-5295; pgm@wrightsmedia.com. Subscription inquiries: U.S. call
toll-free (866) 525-2150. Outside the U.S., call (845) 267-4192, or e-mail subscriptions@hollywoodreporter.com. Copyright ©2015 Prometheus Global Media, LLC. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in any retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means — electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise — without the prior written permission of the publisher. THR.com PRINTED IN THE U.S.A.

T H E HOL LY WO OD R EP ORT ER 136 O C T OBE R 4, 2017

 LIONSG ATE AND S TAR Z CONGR ATUL ATE OUR
®

INCREDIBLE TALENT FOR BEING ONE OF THE

HOLLY WOOD REPORT ER ’ S 2017 POWER SHOWRUNNERS

Br yan Fuller & Michael G reen

Cour tney A . Kemp
Jenji Kohan
Ronald D. Moore

FROM YOUR FRIENDS AT

AND

STARZ and related channels and service marks are the property of Starz Entertainment, LLC. PBR-7420-17
fmscreenings.com