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Thousands of Hollywood jobs could be on the line as Paramount and Warner Bros. combine. Enter Ynon Kreiz, Paramount’s new “execution" guy, who oversaw a 2,000-person layoff after taking over Mattel. Full Ankler Agenda episode: mrf.lu/20gHn

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Taylor Swift has tried for an Oscar nomination before. This time, her campaign has an A-list music video and praise from Tom Cruise. Katey Rich looks at Swift’s push to win over the Academy music branch: mrf.lu/200B6

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A.J. Gentile says Night Media owes him $743,988 in commissions. His fight with the management firm raises a much bigger question about the creator business: where does management end and talent agency work begin? mrf.lu/20mh2

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Put down "Roll the Calls." Back away from "Behind the Castle Walls." If you really want to understand how Hollywood works, read Richard Rushfield's curriculum of the 20 books that explain it all: mrf.lu/20sd1

Nathan Fielder’s new film is the buzziest doc of the fall, but behind that breakout is a business in crisis. Addie Morfoot reports acclaimed docs are going unsold as streamers favor true crime, celebrities and built-in audiences mrf.lu/20krd

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Cindy Holland is out at Paramount, the first domino in a wave of cuts that could hit Hollywood’s C-suite especially hard. Lesley Goldberg reports on the harsh months ahead: mrf.lu/20ZW1

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As the midterms heat up, the race for political influence is moving beyond cable news. Podcast network Lemonada Media is betting on 'The Moment LIVE,' where pop culture, internet discourse and politics collide mrf.lu/20csD

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The Ankler @theankler.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Sources previously described Netflix's first year of podcast deals as experimental, while the company waited to see what resonated most with subscribers. Read more at Like & Subscribe: likeandsubscribenews.substack.com/p/netflix-hi...

Hiring a dedicated podcast exec is a sign Netflix is still serious about the medium. Sources previously described its first year of deals as experimental, while the company waited to see what resonated most
with subscribers.

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Indie film has a strange new problem: Buyers are hungry, and audiences are showing up. There just aren’t enough movies to buy. Ashley Cullins talks to top dealmakers about what’s driving the shortage and what could fix it: mrf.lu/2dyqT

The Ankler @theankler.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

For Olivia Wilde, ‘The Invite’ captures something distinctly millennial: the strange mix of anxiety, optimism and arriving at adulthood only to feel like you don’t quite belong there. Full conversation with Katey Rich: mrf.lu/2d-7n

The Ankler @theankler.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Harlan Coben has made 13 shows with Netflix, including some of its biggest hits. His rule for getting there? Ignore the data. Manori Ravindran talks to Coben about modest budgets, prestige TV and adapting his books: mrf.lu/2dfN2

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The Ankler @theankler.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

The best actor race could have its starriest lineup yet. Katey Rich maps how Matt Damon, Tom Cruise, Robert Pattinson, Ryan Gosling and Brad Pitt are following very different paths through a modern Oscar race mrf.lu/2ddP-

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The Ankler @theankler.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

In addition to likely layoffs, Disney staffers will soon face reduced benefits as the company plans to eliminate health insurance coverage for spouses of many employees. bsky.app/profile/thea...

photo of Josh D'Amaro with the text: "Disney staffers are on edge as CEO Josh D'Amaro prepares to make more cuts. Employees are being told to 'choose wisely' about whether to take Disney's time-limited voluntary early retirement offer. And starting next year, spouses will looks access to Disney health plans if they can get coverage through their own employers."

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The Ankler @theankler.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Mike Schur (@kentremendous@bsky.social) calls the Paramount-Warner Bros. merger “gasoline on a fire,” warning that Hollywood’s shrinking ecosystem could drive writers, actors, directors and the executives who nurture them out of the business mrf.lu/2mXm-

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The Ankler @theankler.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Disney staffers are bracing for cuts as Josh D’Amaro pushes to streamline the company. A leaked memo says its legal division will become a “much smaller organization,” while insiders say there’s a sense “something big” is coming: mrf.lu/2mv_7

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The Ankler @theankler.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

John Wilson turned the unmistakable style of HBO’s ‘How To’ into his first feature, ‘The History of Concrete,’ even as Hollywood had ideas of what his follow-up should be. Katey Rich talks to Wilson about making the movie his way: mrf.lu/2mD1w

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The Ankler @theankler.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

A bipartisan federal tax credit aimed at bringing film and TV production back to the U.S. has officially been introduced in Congress. It still needs to pass, but it has support from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle. Elaine Low breaks down what’s in it

The Ankler @theankler.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

“People in this town love art, but what they truly worship is math.” Ari Emanuel’s gospel of scale has helped define modern Hollywood. Richard Rushfield considers where that philosophy has led the industry: mrf.lu/2mCp1

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The Ankler @theankler.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Mike Schur ( @kentremendous.bsky.social ) says California officials “bought” Paramount’s threat to leave the state, even as the merger itself could eliminate thousands of jobs. “I would have fought a lot harder to try to stop that from happening” theankler.com/mike-schur-p...

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When a 'Summer House' scandal breaks, fans can spend days dissecting it before the episode even airs. Erik Barmack looks at an AI company that could turn unused footage into programming on demand: mrf.lu/2SK7x

After ‘Backrooms’ made more than $400M worldwide, A24 is throwing its newfound weight around. The studio wants a bigger cut of ticket sales, and some theater chains are refusing to play along. Matthew Frank reports: mrf.lu/2Sn8D

The superhero hierarchy has changed dramatically since the MCU’s peak. Adam B. Vary crunches box office, streaming, audience affinity and cultural staying power to rank Hollywood’s 67 most valuable characters. See who made the cut: mrf.lu/2SWB6

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Rep. Laura Friedman makes the case for keeping film and TV production in the U.S. as Elaine Low learns a federal production tax credit could be introduced in the House Thursday: mrf.lu/2SMsz

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Jake Paul has gone from Vine star to boxer to venture capitalist. His Anti Fund now manages more than $180M, with bets on OpenAI, Anduril and more. Natalie Jarvey sits down with Paul to unpack his investment playbook: mrf.lu/2Sv7K

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“I felt way overexposed.” After ‘The Fault in Our Stars’ took off, John Green had people showing up at his home at night. He tells Andy Lewis how that experience with fame helped inform his new novel, ‘Hollywood, Ending’: mrf.lu/2Sbjt

David Ellison won. Paramount is acquiring Warner Bros. Now comes the part that matters: proving the skeptics wrong. Richard Rushfield on the deal, its promises and what Hollywood needs from the new studio: mrf.lu/2S6QX

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Before ‘La Bola Negra’ became the first Netflix film to win TIFF’s People’s Choice Award, Los Javis told Katey Rich what mattered more than festival honors: their queer epic is a tribute to the LGBTQ+ people who came before them mrf.lu/2SfFQ

For Paramount and Warner Bros. employees, the question is quickly becoming when the cuts start and how deep they go. Sean McNulty and Elaine Low discuss the layoff timeline as the merger moves ahead without protections for workers mrf.lu/2Sdp0

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Thirty movies a year. Another $1.5B in U.S. film production. Editorial safeguards for CNN and CBS News. Those are among Paramount’s merger concessions. Matt Stoller explains how a clause covering recessions and labor disruptions could undermine the commitments mrf.lu/2SSKs

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In an email to WBD staffers, David Zaslav said he expects the merger “will close no later than early October.”

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The Ankler @theankler.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Audiences didn't just turn out for a 'Resident Evil' movie. They turned out for a Zach Cregger movie. Christopher Rosen and Sean McNulty discuss why filmmaker equity is becoming a powerful box office draw: mrf.lu/2Sqm3

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For months, the Paramount-Warner Bros. merger faced something recent Hollywood megadeals rarely have: real resistance. Then it all collapsed. Monopoly expert Matt Stoller tells Richard Rushfield who was pushing for the fight to end mrf.lu/2SQwL

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The Ankler @theankler.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Paramount appears to have escaped the state AG fight without selling any cable networks. Sean McNulty breaks down the concessions we know about so far, what remains unclear and what the Warner Bros. deal means for Hollywood: mrf.lu/2Sk5y

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The Ankler @theankler.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Paramount has reached a settlement with the 12 states that sued to block its Warner Bros. Discovery takeover, clearing a major hurdle for David Ellison’s megadeal. The WSJ reports Paramount will avoid having to sell cable channels

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The Ankler @theankler.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

‘Widow’s Bay’ famously began as Katie Dippold’s ‘Parks and Rec’ writing sample. But the version Mike Schur read was 85% comedy and 15% spooky. He tells Lesley Goldberg how Dippold eventually realized she needed to flip that ratio: mrf.lu/2hWsD

The Ankler @theankler.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

'A Different World' showrunner Felicia Pride co-wrote a 'Grey’s Anatomy' episode with Elisabeth Finch. She tells Lesley Goldberg about “the gravity of the pain” Finch caused and why she ultimately left the show mrf.lu/2hvgm

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The Ankler @theankler.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Hollywood is supposedly dying. So why are thousands of people still descending on Toronto to make, sell, buy and obsess over movies? Richard Rushfield spends four days among the producers, fans and dreamers who keep finding a way: mrf.lu/2hzg7

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The Ankler @theankler.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Debbie Allen recruited 'A Different World' showrunner Felicia Pride with a message: “The time is now to hear from young Black America.” Pride tells Lesley Goldberg about bringing a new generation to Hillman. Read more: mrf.lu/2h3r4

The Ankler @theankler.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

David Ellison's been talking a big game about Paramount leaving LA. The workers inside Paramount and WBD? They'll believe it when they see it: mrf.lu/2hLkR