Creative Artists Agency has hired Brent Weinstein to serve as part of its senior leadership, overseeing a number of high-profile business areas including digital media, podcasts, games, talent business ventures, and speakers. Weinstein will also be involved in CAAs investments and MA activity. A veteran entertainment executive, Weinstein was most recently chief development officer of Candle Media, the rollup vehicle...

Regal Cineworld has earned a debt ratings upgrade from SP Global Ratings, with its analysts citing the Hollywood box office recovery to sustain continuing debt reduction efforts. The debt ratings firm raised Regal Cineworld to B from B-, with a stable outlook for company growth post-pandemic and post-bankruptcy. The company, which operates the Regal Cinemas chain in the U.S. market,...

After a two-year stint managing CNNs business during a leadership and strategy transition, David Leavy is heading back to his longtime home at parent company Warner Bros. Discovery. The executive had joined as chief operating officer of the cable news network during the short-lived Chris Licht-led era then stepped in to co-lead the brand days later after Licht was fired...

California is a uniquely expensive and complex setting for film and television productions, and outdated processes are scaring away badly needed shoots and the jobs they provide, according to a new report from the Milken Institute. A Hollywood Reset: Restoring Stability in the California Entertainment Industry paints a bleak picture of a production environment in desperate need of an overhaul...

Olivia Dupuis, a long-time PR executive at AMC, has been promoted. The company has upped Dupuis to executive vp publicity at AMC Networks. In her new role, shell lead publicity and talent relations full portfolio of networks and streaming platforms, as well as movie distributors Independent Film Company and RLJE Films. Dupuis will continue to report to AMC Networks chief...

Griffin Gaming Partners, a venture capital firm focused on gaming, has led a 12.0 million ($13.5 million) Series A funding round in Paris-based Amplitude Studios, the team behind the Endless universe, with a 10.0 million ($11.3 million) investment. Also participating in the financing was Bpifrance, a French public investment bank. Founded in 2011 and acquired by Sega in 2016, Amplitude...

National Public Radio and Colorado public radio stations have brought a lawsuit against the Trump administration for a May 1 executive order seeking to cut off Congressional funding for the non-profit broadcaster. The May 27 legal action filed in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia argues Trumps executive order violates the expressed will of Congress and...

For the third straight month, YouTube led all media companies in the United States in TV viewing time. Nielsens Media Distributor Gauge for April shows YouTube capturing 12.4 percent of all TV use nearly one of every eight minutes viewers spent on their televisions. Thats up from 12 percent in March and marks YouTubes third straight month leading all distributors...

Producers of a Will Smith music video are negotiating an IATSE contract after facing a picket line from dismissed workers. The shoot, which was taking place at Quixotes West Hollywood studios, fired workers on Thursday night after they attempted to flip the show union, sources told The Hollywood Reporter. The workers responded by picketing the Breathe Entertainment production on Friday...

Wendy McMahon is exiting CBS News. Its become clear that the company and I do not agree on the path forward, McMahon said in a memo to staff on Monday. Its time for me to move on and for this organization to move forward with new leadership.I have spent the last few months shoring up our businesses and making sure...

Michele Missy Imperato Stabile, a longtime production executive and manager on dozens of feature films, is looking ahead to her next chapter. The producer, who is currently Warner Bros. president of physical production, is set to retire from the role in October, the studios film bosses Mike De Luca and Pam Abdy wrote in a memo to staff on Thursday....

Warner Bros. Discovery has been downgraded to BB+, or junk bond status, for 2025 and 2026 by SP Global over linear TV weakness as the Hollywood studio continues to pivot to the streaming space. The ratings firm continued its outlook for WBD as stable, but pointed to weak credit metrics overall to explain its bond rating markdown to speculative grade....

Warner Bros. Discovery CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels on Thursday explained the rationale for his studios rebrand of Max as HBO Max to better position the streaming platform for consumers. What really differentiates us, what really swings the needle when it comes to growth momentum is quality. Its the quality content that we can produce in a way that nobody else can,...