| | What's news: Jami Gertz has transitioned from actress to owner and public face of the NBA's Atlanta Hawks. Plus: L.A.'s secret Breitbart power broker, Scarlett Johansson gets paid big for her Black Widow movie and First Man faces stiff box office competition. — Will Robinson | | ^Tax plan hits Hollywood workers: According to the payroll specialists, come tax time, the town is going to be "hit by a two-by four" despite Trump preaching he is responsible for tax breaks, Paul Bond reports: | + How pay changed: The average on-the-set worker has seen about a 5 percent bump in his or her pay stub since the passage of the Tax Cut and Jobs Act of 2017. But accountants are quick to point out that in April, the federal government will be grabbing back that 5 percent and maybe a lot more, thanks to the law's stingier freelancing rules and caps on property tax deductions. | + Hidden until Tax Day: Actress and tax attorney Sandra Karas, secretary treasurer of the Actors' Equity Association, who estimates that 75 percent of her guild will be paying more taxes this year. She calculates, for instance, that an unmarried industry worker in California making, say, $38,500 will pay close to 10 percent more this year. "They're going to be hit by a two-by-four," she says. | + Studios' benefit: The tax law is designed (in part by U.S. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, a former producer) to cut down on runaway productions going to less expensive countries. The code now allows studios to write off up to 100 percent of their expenses for films and TV shows shot in the U.S., a change that could save Hollywood media companies as much as $2 billion a year. Full story. | | | Gertz Got Game | | | Shooting hoops, not scenes: Jami Gertz, former Lost Boys star, bought the struggling Atlanta Hawks with her billionaire husband and is taking an active role in running the team, Seth Abramovitch reports: | + NBA controversies opened doors: In the wake of former Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling's ouster from the league, Ressler and Gertz were outbid for the team by Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, who paid $2 billion in 2014. A few months later, it was revealed that the Hawks' former owner, Bruce Levenson, complained to NBA officials in a 2012 email that "the black crowd scared away the whites." | * The bidding war: Despite living in a 13,000-square-foot mansion at the time, Ressler did his best negotiating from inside a closet. "He has a little tiny desk in there, and he was taking calls in the closet," Gertz recalls of Hawks auction night in June 2015. They won with a $720 million bid. | + Division of duties: "I think it's fair to say that she makes a better impression on our fan base than any of us in the organization," Ressler says. "I'm very active on the business and player personnel decision-making. But Jami steps in when it comes to so many parts of the business that I did not appreciate or have any experience in." | * NBA blanched at Gertz's public appearance: The notion of Gertz being the team's ambassador at the NBA Draft Lottery in May was not popular with league officials, who typically want the role to be filled by a team legend like Dominique Wilkins. "But I said fuck it," Ressler says. "I'd rather go with Jami." Full story. | Elsewhere in film... | ► Manhattan DA drops part of Harvey Weinstein criminal case. A judge agreed to dismiss allegations by one of three accusers in the case, Lucia Evans. In a story published a year ago Wednesday, Evans told The New Yorker that Weinstein forced her to perform oral sex during a meeting at his office in 2004. | ► Scarlett Johansson lands $15 million payday for Black Widow movie. That salary equals what Chris Evans and Chris Hemsworth earned for playing Captain America and Thor, respectively, in this year’s Avengers: Infinity War, Tatiana Siegel and Borys Kit report. | ► Media, entertainment stocks beaten up badly with rest of market. Paul Bond emails: All 50 companies tracked by THR saw their shares fall, right along with the rest of the market. Indeed, Wednesday’s action harkened back to the days when the internet bubble burst nearly two decades ago, wiping out half the value of the Nasdaq over the course of two years. | Some of Wednesday’s largest fallers included new-media darlings like Netflix and Twitter, each down 8.4 percent, as well as Amazon (off 6.2 percent) and Google (down 5.1 percent). Experts say the market was ripe for a correction after two years of growth, and that rising interest rates has spooked investors, suggesting that more pain could be in store for entertainment workers who have their retirement accounts tied up in shares of the company that employs them. | ► Lionsgate CEO Jon Feltheimer talks expansion, courting entrepreneurial talent. Feltheimer told THR's Stephen Galloway that he's not worried about the studio's longevity because it has a safety net: its library. "It's hard to compete in this business without evergreen cashflow," Feltheimer said, adding that Lionsgate's library of 16,000 titles still brings in "hundreds of millions each year." More. | ► Will Smith & Marc Forster's Telepool backs Defiant Studios horror film slate. Phobias, a horror anthology, will be the first project produced under the agreement with Eric B. Fleischman's Defiant Studios, with Kodiak Pictures and Telepool as co-producers and co-financiers. | ► Mel Gibson accused of dodging The Professor and the Madman deposition. Voltage Pictures is seeking sanctions against the actor, who allegedly claimed he wouldn't be in the country until next year but was spotted last week at an UFC fight. | Casting call... | ► Issa Rae to star in Paul Feig comedy American Princess. Stella Meghie, the helmer behind the YA adaptation Everything, Everything, is on board to direct the Fox project. | ► Henry Golding, Kate Beckinsale to star in Toff Guys from Guy Ritchie. Ritchie and Marn Davies wrote the script that explores the collision between European “old money” and the modern marijuana industry. The Miramax pic follows a British drug lord attempting to cash out on his highly profitable empire by selling it off to a dynasty of Oklahoma billionaires. Matthew McConaughey will also star. | ► Dave Bautista in talks to join Michael Pena in Fantasy Island. Sony's big-screen reimagining of the 1970s television show is described as being a tonal mix of Westworld meets Cabin in the Woods. | ► Hamilton alum Anthony Ramos to star in In the Heights movie. Crazy Rich Asians filmmaker Jon M. Chu is set to direct the movie with Miranda producing, along with Anthony Bregman, Mara Jacobs and Scott Sanders. Warner Bros. is behind the project after picking up the rights to the musical in May after it was released by The Weinstein Co. as it was readying for bankruptcy. | ► Sylvester Stallone's Rambo 5 adds Yvette Monreal. Avi Lerner’s Millennium is behind the film that Adrian Grunberg is directing from a script by Matt Cirulnick and Stallone. Kevin King Templeton and Les Weldon are producing, with Lerner, Trevor Short and Boaz Davidson exec producing. | Quoted: “It’s not all white or black. Otherwise you’d ask yourself what on earth you’re doing with that person for 10 minutes, let alone for 10 years. ... I reached a place many years ago where I just don’t care about him." — Mia Farrow, on her relationship with Woody Allen. | | ^First Man to blast off in wake of juggernauts Venom, A Star Is Born: The critically acclaimed film from director Damien Chazelle and actor Ryan Gosling is tracking to debut in the $18 million-$20 million range when unfurling nationwide for Universal, on par with Ben Affleck's Oscar-winning film 2012 film, Argo, Pamela McClintock reports. Box office preview. | Musical notes... | ► Kanye West to join President Trump for Music Modernization Act signing. The MMA is a multifaceted bill forged by compromises throughout the music industry that creates a blanket mechanical license and a centralized system to administer it, while changing some considerations used in setting music publishing rates. | ► Appeals court reverses ban on Lynyrd Skynyrd movie. Heirs of two band members killed in a 1977 plane crash sued over the movie, and a subsequent injunction had press advocates sounding the alarm about prior restraints. | ► Cardi B, Post Malone won't compete for best new artist at Grammys. Nominees will be announced Dec. 5, with the winners awarded in a live ceremony Feb. 10, and best new artist category will include eight contenders instead of five for the first time. | In memoriam... | ► Verne Troyer's death ruled suicide by coroner. The Austin Powers star died in April of "sequelae of alcohol intoxication" or alcohol abuse, according to a report released by the coroner on Wednesday. The 49-year-old actor died April 21. | Latest reviews... | ► Sony's Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween. "One reason for its more juvenile feel is that [Jack] Black is mostly absent from the proceedings (visually at least), not showing up until the final scenes," Frank Scheck writes. "Tellingly, his appearance instantly lifts the film, providing it with the sly, hysterical humor it so sorely needs." Full review. | Coming attractions... | ► Trailer: Kurt Russell is Santa in Netflix's holiday pic The Christmas Chronicles. Chris Columbus (Home Alone, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone) produced Netflix's take on the family Yuletide genre. Watch. | ► Trailer: Pet Sematary shows why dead is better. This time, John Lithgow plays the narrator/voice of reason, a role that became a pop culture staple thanks to Fred Gwynne's original interpretation. Watch. | ► Poster: Will Smith unveils first Aladdin art. "LEMME OUT!!" Smith, who will be playing Genie, wrote on Facebook Wednesday. "Can’t wait for y’all to see Me BLUE!" Photo. | Will Creed II's Russian villain attract Russian trolls? The MGM film, set to release Nov. 21, pits the sons of the Rocky originals — American boxer Adonis Johnson (Michael B. Jordan) and pugilist Viktor Drago (Florian Munteanu) — against each other, Tatiana Siegel reports. |
| | L.A.'s Secret Breitbart Power Broker | | | Unsuspecting stakeholder: Susie Bean Breitbart is a quiet owner of the fire-breathing empire founded by her late husband, Andrew Breitbart, but this "cool mom" can more likely be found cheering on her kids' Little League teams than boosting Trump on Fox News, Ravi Somaiya reports: | + Quintessential Westside parent: "She's definitely a cool mom," says Mark Ebner, who became a family friend after co-authoring a book with Andrew, 2005's Hollywood, Interrupted: Insanity Chic in Babylon — The Case Against Celebrity. "The way she raises her kids, she just … it's hard to imagine her as a principal on what evolved into the platform for the alt-right." | + Keeping separate worlds: For Breitbart herself, perhaps the struggles and occasional hateful comment when she attends a dinner party are worthwhile. Her friends all pointed out that nobody would have known Andrew's thoughts, and where he might have wanted to take his site, better than she would. And it remains his legacy, however flawed it might seem to those who take a different political view. Full story. | Elsewhere in TV... | ► WarnerMedia prepping streamer featuring HBO, other brands. CEO John Stankey announced the new product on stage at the Vanity Fair New Establishment Summit on Wednesday morning, noting that it is expected to launch in the fourth quarter of 2019. "You're going to see a stronger HBO as this offering comes to market," he said. | ► Peter Rice fields questions at Fox townhall as staff awaits job cuts. The exec said employees need to be "operationally ready" should the Disney deal close Jan. 1, even though Disney and Fox have repeatedly said the regulatory process could drag on for a few months beyond that date. | ► Mike Greco named executive vp content strategy at MTV, VH1 and Logo. In the new role, Greco will partner with Chris McCarthy, president of the Group, to "focus on the critical intersection of program scheduling, content strategy, acquisitions, finance, quantitative research and audience insights." | ► Diversity of TV directors ticks up in DGA study. 25 percent of the 2017-2018 season's episodes directed by women and 24 percent by people of color. Those numbers represent a four-point increase for women, but just a two-point increase for people of color. The percentage of episodes directed by white males decreased from 61 percent to 56 percent. Details. | ► IATSE votes to ratify contract with producers. Twelve of the 13 affected locals voted for ratification, according to the union, which did not release totals. The new three-year deal increases wages 3 percent annually for the next three years, and addresses rest periods, streaming video programs, diversity and other matters. | ► UTA, MRC, Valence Media form joint TV venture. The talent agency will hold a minority stake in Civic Center Media, which will develop, produce and finance premium content. (Valence Media is the parent company of THR.) | Digital digest... | ► Walmart makes bigger video push. MGM will produce short-form content for the retailer's ad-supported Vudu service, Michael Corkery and Brooks Barnes report. Walmart has reportedly invested $250 million in "interactive storytelling" start-up Eko. [New York Times] | ► Jeffrey Katzenberg's video venture gets new name, lines up A-list projects. Quibi is a combination of the words "quick" and "bite." The Guillermo del Toro project, per Katzenberg, is "a modern zombie story," while the Antoine Fuqua project is "a modern version of Dog Day Afternoon," with "two great acting roles." He likened the Jason Blum project, called Wolves and Villagers, to Fatal Attraction. | Network orders... | ► New Amsterdam picked up for full season on NBC. The medical drama is the first new series of the season to get an order for more episodes. | ► The Resident gets back-nine from Fox for full season two. The medical drama has put up consistent ratings at the start of its second season. | Deals and greenlights... | ► Dick Wolf's FBI changes showrunners again. Greg Plageman, who replaced Craig Turk, is exiting. Chicago duo Rick Eid and Derek Haas have now joined CBS' rookie drama as showrunners. | ► Amazon, Blake Lively developing fashion-focused scripted series. The show will have an e-tail component, revealed Amazon Studios head Jennifer Salke at the Vanity Fair New Establishment Summit. | ► Showtime renews Jim Carrey's Kidding for season two. The series, which doubles as the actor and comedian's return to TV after a nearly three-decade absence, premiered in September to a strong critical reception and is thus far grossing 2.3 million weekly viewers across the network's various linear and digital platforms. | ► Ozark renewed for season three at Netflix. The family drama will be back for another cycle of 10 episodes, likely in 2019. Showrunner Chris Mundy will return in the same capacity. | Quoted: "You showed us that the new hero ― the kind of heroism called for in this moment ― is a woman facing the patriarchy with no weapons other than her voice, her body, and the truth." — Tarana Burke, Tracee Ellis Ross and America Ferrera, in open letter to Dr. Christine Blasey Ford. | | ^ How Martha MacCallum practices journalism on Fox News: The anchor, who scored a win with her Brett Kavanaugh interview, insists that real reporting can cut through cable's overheated political discourse — and the amplified opinionators on her own network, Marisa Guthrie reports: | + How she landed Kavanaugh exclusive: On the morning of Sept. 24, as MacCallum was leaving her New Jersey home for Fox News' Manhattan office, the White House communications office emailed offering her the only interview with Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, who for 10 days had been buffeted by accusations of sexual assault. | * Rerouted course: "We went straight [to Washington, D.C.]," recalls MacCallum, who spent the 3½-hour drive crafting questions on her iPhone notes app. "It's the kind of thing you would like to have more time for, but on the other hand, sometimes I think it's better when you don't," she says. "And it was pretty clear to me what needed to be asked." | + Fighting against bias: The network's news anchors have always toiled in the shadow of their more famous opinionated colleagues, including top-rated Sean Hannity. But amid raging culture wars and a deepening political divide — with Fox News tagged by critics as "state-run TV" — 2018 is an especially delicate time to practice journalism there. "We have a lot of different voices," she says. "Anyone who treats it as a monolithic voice is clearly not watching." | + Life after O'Reilly and Ailes: Fox News is in a "better place," after a leadership change that included the promotion of Suzanne Scott to CEO. "At the time, people were quick to point fingers and say, 'How could you not know?'" MacCallum recalls. "I've watched the sisterhood at these different networks go through similar things, where they also felt shocked and defensive about the people who were being accused. [Now] they know what we went through." Full story. | Casting call... | ► Grey's Anatomy enlists Josh Radnor to romance Ellen Pompeo. It's unclear how many episodes Radnor will appear in. He begins his role during Thursday's episode, in which his character arrives to pick up Meredith for a blind date. | ► Michael Kenneth Williams joins HBO's Lovecraft County. The Wire alum is the latest addition to the cast of the upcoming Jordan Peele-J.J. Abrams drama series. | ► Netflix's The Witcher finds its female leads. Freya Allan and Anya Chalotra will star as Ciri and Yennefer opposite Henry Cavill's Geralt of Rivia. | ► James Cromwell joins Berlin Station season three at Epix. The Emmy-winning actor will have a recurring role in the spy thriller as a former CIA agent. | ► Project Runway retools with strong slate of judges. The series has tapped supermodel and entrepreneur Karlie Kloss as its host, with former Runway champion and CFDA fashion designer Christian Siriano as mentor for the rebooted franchise. They will be joined by fashion designer Brandon Maxwell and former Teen Vogue editor in chief Elaine Welteroth. | Ratings notes... | ► NFL ratings up for first time since 2015. "Five weeks into the season, the average TV audience for a game is 15.6 million, up 3% compared with the same period a year ago, according to Nielsen. Ratings remain 16% lower than in the first five weeks of the 2015 season." [Wall Street Journal] | ► American Music Awards stumble. ABC's broadcast of the AMAs tied for the lead among adults 18-49 in primetime with a 1.8 rating, but that was down 25 percent from the 2.4 for the 2017 show (the 2018 awards were staged a month earlier than in the past 15 years). The AMAs also fell about 28 percent in viewers to 6.55 million, versus 9.15 million in 2017. | Who will die on The Walking Dead this season? Josh Wigler rates the survival rates for all the remaining characters. Some spoilers. |
| Netflix's Sky-High Salaries | | | Resetting the market: The streamer pays so well it's been sued by competitors, but there's a downside: Your co-workers can see exactly what you make, Bryn Elise Sandberg reports: | + Beyond showrunners: Though the primary focus on salaries is on nine-figure deals for showrunners like Ryan Murphy and Shonda Rhimes, Netflix ponies up: Its salaries, say sources, are 25 percent to 50 percent higher than those at legacy media companies (5 percent of compensation typically comes in stock). | * Breakdown: According to employees, managers make roughly $150,000 to $400,000, directors from $400,000 to $800,000, and vps can easily make $1 million or more, with department heads like Cindy Holland, Lisa Nishimura and Scott Stuber said to be cashing multimillion-dollar paychecks. Assistants make between $70,000 and $80,000, with some executive assistants and coordinators pocketing north of $100,000. | + Supply and demand disparity: "People really want to go to Netflix, so it's a real mystery why they pay a premium when the demand to enter their workforce is great," says STI Management's Neal Lenarsky, who represents industry execs. "I think they're being played and people are giggling about it." Full story. | What else we're reading... | — "Halloween at 40: Their ‘Horrible Idea’ Became a Horror Classic." Bruce Fretts interviews the prime players — director John Carpenter: "I can’t believe nobody else had called their movie Halloween before. I told [ep Irwin Yablans] I wanted final cut and my name above the title. It was important for me to have control over my own film. He said, 'Yeah, sure.'" [New York Times] | — "Trump, No Longer Ratings Gold, Loses Prime-time Spot on Fox News." Jason Schwartz and Gabby Orr report: "Fox still provides livestreams of the campaign events online, but during a crucial period, with the midterms less than a month away, some in the White House are worried that the president is losing a prime-time megaphone to his base." [Politico] | — "Jonah Hill and Michael Cera Get Real." The Superbad co-stars catch up — Cera on his 20s: "For me it was a bit of a crisis. It was very weird. I was so unsure, and there was nothing that made a lot of sense to me about the way my life was configured. I didn’t feel like any of it was something that I had built. I feel like as you get older and you go into adulthood, you kind of construct your life, or try to." [Vulture] | — "Michael Peña Has Come to Play." Joshua Rivera profiles: "Michael Peña's greatest weapon might be his smile. It's both impish and innocent at the same time. If you're paying attention, it can turn you into a conspirator, in on a joke. If you're a less-observant chump, you might mistake it for naiveté." [GQ] | — "An Open Letter to SNL: Your Live Music Just Sucks." Tim Sommer sounds off: "The musical bookings used to say the same damn thing the show did: We are intruders in the palace. We reject the bosom-jokes and wifey-burned-my-dinner set-ups of other variety shows and ‘60s/’70s sitcoms." [RealClearLife] | What else we're watching... | + "Halloween star Jamie Lee Curtis doesn't like scary movies." [Jimmy Kimmel] | + "Jennifer Lawrence taught Amandla Stenberg how to pee in the woods." [Tonight Show] | + "Democrats look for history-making victory in Georgia." [Daily Show] | From the archives... | + On Oct. 11, 1975, NBC first turned the cameras on for Saturday Night Live. Though it grew into a cultural touchstone, the first episode with host George Carlin struggled mightily: "The 90 minute show, which replaced reruns of The Tonight Show With Johnny Carson, was plagued throughout with a lack of exciting guests and innovative writing, helping to keep the debut at a lackluster pace." Flashback review. | Today's birthdays: Michelle Trachtenberg, 33, Bradley James, 35, Matt Bomer, 41, Emily Deschanel, 42, Constance Zimmer, 48, Stephen Moyer, 49, Jane Krakowski, 50, Luke Perry, 52, Lennie James, 53, Joan Cusack, 56. |
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