United Talent Agency is staying put in Beverly Hills at its longtime headquarters. The David Kramer-run Big Three representation giant inked a long-term lease at Civic Center Drive with the buildings owner, investment firm DivCore Capital, which unveiled the new deal. (The year that the lease runs through wasnt disclosed.) The agency occupies two four-story buildings and 192,000-square-feet as the...

The Warner Bros. bake-off has officially begun. Paramount, Comcast and Netflix each submitted bids for some or all of Warner Bros. Discovery on Thursday, a source familiar with the matter confirms, officially kickstarting a process that is likely to see the company sold to yet another new buyer, either whole or in part. Paramount, led by CEO David Ellison, is...

Mr. and Mrs. Smith and The Night Agent will relocate to California after being tapped to receive subsidies to shoot in the state amid a global tit-for-tat race to host Hollywood. In total, 17 TV shows will get roughly $313 million in tax credits, the California Film Commission, announced on Thursday. Theyre projected to generate $1.2 billion in economic activity...

A flood of AI slop is raging through our screens. By one count, theres 50,000 AI songs uploaded daily to a major streaming service and 97 percent of listeners cant tell when they hear a fully AI-generated track. In another survey, about 1 in 4 of all producers conceded to using AI tools, while others may quietly say that the...

We put our feet up, we took things for granted, opined California Gov. Gavin Newsom on July 2, as he signed into law a doubling of the states tax incentives for film and TV projects from $330 million to $750 million annually. Now the impact of the move is starting to come into focus: California saw a 10 percent increase...

Shares in Netflix on Wednesday stumbled after Morgan Stanley analyst Benjamin Swinburne questioned the value to the streaming giant from potentially bidding to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery and prized properties like DC Comics and the Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings franchises. While such a transaction may have long-term benefits for Netflix, Swinburne wrote the streamer may have the...

AMC has been sued over its handling of profit payouts for Fear the Walking Dead by creator Dave Erickson, who accuses the network of breach of contract for shortchanging him backend payments. The lawsuit, filed on Wednesday in California state court, challenges the structure through which Ericksons profits for the series is calculated, alleging hes not on equal footing as...

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting may have been shuttered, but public media isnt going anywhere. New York Public Radio on Tuesday night hosted its Stand With Public Media gala, imploring attendees to help fund public media, while honoring CBS Late Show host Stephen Colbert and his wife Evelyn McGee Colbert, outgoing Ford Foundation chief Darren Walker, and New Yorker editor...

Creative Artists Agency has acquired Beanstalk, a firm focused on brand licensing and management for major companies. The deal will see Beanstalk, which was founded in 1992, integrated with CAA Brand Management. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Beanstalk and CAA Brand Management work with companies and brands on licensing arrangements that extend their reach (i.e., apparel, jewelry and...

Hollywood is about to get a bit more cheesy. United Talent Agency has signed the Parmigiano Reggiano Consortium, the governing body for the king of cheeses Parmigiano Reggiano, to get the supermarket staple placement in films, TV shows and streaming projects around the globe. The companies say that UTA will leverage its expertise and global connectivity across entertainment and culture...

Senators Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders and Richard Blumenthal sent a letter late last night to President Trumps top antitrust enforcer, Department of Justice Assistant Attorney General Abigail Slater, raising concerns about a potential sale of Warner Bros. Discovery and demanding that any deal review be conducted transparently, independently, and in accordance with federal antitrust and anti-corruption laws not politics. According...

For as long as there has been technology, there have been attempts to let ordinary people shape stories with it. The proto-interactive 1960s project The Sumerian Game allowed users to make choices in an ancient setting that a system could then react to and incorporate. During the 1990s, developers began working on Facade, in which a player could talk to...

Fox either forgot what business its in, or its executives are thinking 10 steps ahead of everyone else. In a span of less than four weeks, Fox Entertainment announced a two-way first-look deal with publisher HarperCollins imprint Avon A, unveiled a business arrangement with vertical videos maker Holywater, took an equity stake investment in actor/writer B.J. Novaks (The Office) pop-up...