With Los Angeles production levels in a sorry state, underemployed workers are flocking to a format thats faster, shorter, cheaper and quite literally overturns film and TV norms. Unlike the ill-fated Quibi, verticals serialized one- to three-minute dramas filmed in portrait orientation and intended to be viewed in short increments on mobile dont bring Hollywood-level production value and budgets to...

Australia artificial intelligence company Othelia Technologies is expanding to the U.S. with the hire of former Bento Box Entertainment CEO and cofounder Scott Greenberg. Greenberg, an Emmy Award-winning producer (Bobs Burgers), will serve as Othelia executive chairman. Hes investing his own money (Greenberg and his partners in Bento Box sold the animation company to Fox in 2019) into the company...

After nearly a year on strike against major video game companies, SAG-AFTRA has worked out the details of a suspension agreement to allow its performers to return to work for the major studios as its negotiating team readies the terms of a tentative new contract. The National Board of the union will meet on Thursday to go over the agreement...

Prolific digital creator and beauty influencer Bretman Rock has signed with Range Media Partners for representation. The social media phenomenon has over 50 million social media followers, with nearly 19 million on Instagram and 8.7 million subscribers on YouTube. Rock built that digital following in part through YouTube videos, including Can Bretman Rock Escape the Jungle and Sister Does My...

Netflix co-chief Greg Peters shared some insight into the global streaming giants playbook during TheWall Street Journal CEO Council Summit in London on Wednesday, including its thoughts on political proposals in the U.S. and U.K., competition from YouTube, and the streamers push into advertising. Asked about a recent proposal from a U.K.parliamentary committee for a levyof 5 percent of U.K....

In the next chapter of Big Entertainment vs. Big Tech, Disney and Universal have filed a lawsuit against AI company Midjourney over tools that allow users to create images and videos that can manipulate its famous characters at the click of a prompt. Our world-class IP is built on decades of financial investment,creativityand innovationinvestments only made possible by the incentives...

Warner Bros. Discovery has tapped Guy Griggs to lead ad sales for CNN. Griggs will join the company as senior vp of ad sales and client partnerships later this month, and report to WBD ad sales chiefs Ryan Gould and Bobby Voltaggio, while also working closely with CNN CEO Mark Thompson. He joins CNN after most recently working as vp...

will.i.am and Issa Rae are among the bold names set to share their expertise and insights at this years Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. HarbourView Equity Partners, an investment firm focused on opportunities in the music, sports, media and entertainment sectors, is convening them and other creators and entrepreneurs for a three-day program of curated conversations running June 17-19,...

Toonstar, an L.A.-based animation studio that has been embracing the use of AI in its production pipeline, is signing with the agency WME in a sign of its ambitions to expand its slate of tech-assisted titles. As part of the partnership, the studio behind YouTubes StEvEn Parker and Snapchats Storytoons is set to work with WME on developing a number...

The creation of Warner Bros. Discovery began with the corporate equivalent of sunshine and rainbows. In February 2021, David Zaslav, then the CEO of Discovery Inc., sent ATT CEO John Stankey an amiable text. The message, which was adorned with both a golf and sunglasses emoji, sparked a series of talks (including secret meetings in a lower Manhattan townhouse) that...

Media companies have made major mistakes in reacting to technological change in the past that must be avoided amid the rise of artificial intelligence. That was the message shared by David Rhodes, executive chairman of Sky News and the formerCBS Newspresident, and Almar Latour, CEO of Dow Jones and publisher of The Wall Street Journal, both part of News Corp,...

TV producers have some useful advice on how to navigate a global entertainment industry threatened by Donald Trumps tariffs war that appears drawn from a world leaders manual on how to survive an Oval Office ambush. Dont lose the plot and stay focused. We have a plan. Were sticking with the plan and just sort of ignoring the distractions, Justin...

ABC News correspondent Terry Moran has been let go from the network. The decision comes two days after ABC suspended Moran, the networks senior national correspondent, over an X post about White House adviser Stephen Miller. In that post, which he lated deleted, Moran referred to Miller as a world-class hater. We are at the end of our agreement with...