In a surprise move, Warner Bros. Discoverys head of advertising sales Jon Steinlauf will exit the company later this year. WBD chief revenue and strategy officer Bruce Campbell announced Steinlaufs looming exit Friday, telling staff that I have news to share that may come as a surprise to many of you. Jon is one of the industrys most respected and...

Earlier this week, CNN launched a digital paywall in a major strategic shift to its business strategy. At the time, CNN executive vp of digital products and services Alex MacCallum wrote to staff that in addition to unlimited access toCNN.coms articles, subscribers will receive benefits like exclusive election features, original documentaries, a curated daily selection of our most distinctive journalism,...

Women remain noticeably underrepresented in the film and TV production sectors in many countries around the world, and Spain, Mexico, and Argentina are no different. A round table session on the final day of Iberseries Platino Industria presented studies on female participation in the audiovisual sectors of those countries and saw speakers call for a change in attitudes and support...

Rebel Wilson is countersuing The Deb producers Amanda Ghost, Cameron Gregor and Vince Holden, accusing them of a troubling pattern of theft, bullying and sexual misconduct. The cross-complaint comes months after Ghost, Gregor and Holden sued Wilson for defamation in July after she initially accused them of sexual harassment and embezzlement in an Instagram video. The producing trio alleged in...

Evan Shapiro entertained, shocked and awed an industry crowd in Madrid this week. The former top executive at the likes of Comcasts NBCUniversal and Participant Media, as well as producer (Portlandia, Brick City), now calls himself a media universe cartographer and shares graphics, charts and unconventional thoughts on such platforms as his Substack newsletter Media War Peace: Reports from the...

Paramount Global is facing a new lawsuit over the latest round of major companywide layoffs. The proposed class action, filed in New York federal court on Thursday, alleges that the company failed to give more than 300 employees proper notice of their terminations in violation of the states Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, which requires at least 90 days...

An annual holiday season moratorium on TV and movie shoots at Los Angeles International Airport is going into effect sooner this year, the citys permitting office stated in a production alert this week. LAX wont host feature, TV or commercial shoots between October 25, 2024 and January 2, 2025, FilmLA wrote in the note. The LAX Film offices website notes...

Earlier this year, Amazons Prime Video shook up the world of advertising. The streaming giant flipped a metaphorical switch, and turned on ads for all of its Prime Video users. Prime subs could pay a couple of dollars extra per month to avoid ads, but by all accounts very few did. The switch instantly made Prime the largest ad-supported subscription...

Sable Ranch, a nearly 400-acre filming location in the Santa Clarita Valley that has hosted shoots for dozens of films and TV shows over the past five decades, including Sons of Anarchy, SWAT, American Horror Story and the upcoming The Accountant 2, has been put up for sale. The property, comprising the adjacent Rancho Maria and Sable Ranch lots, sits...

The latest media company to secure live sports rights also wants to sell its viewers on playing the sport. QVC, which owns the live shopping-focused QVC and HSN channels and streaming services, has cut a wide-ranging deal with USA Pickleball, including rights to stream its tournaments throughout the year, as well as the USA Pickleball Nationals tournament each November. QVC...

More than three years ago, The New Yorkers unionized employees authorized and threatened a strike during a contentious first contract negotiation that culminated with scores of protestors descending on the Greenwich Village home of Cond Nast executive Anna Wintour days before a deal was ultimately reached. Now, as the labor group is in the middle of negotiating a second contract...

What is the appeal of the Ibero-American market for the USA: being a growing market, lower costs, collaborating with local talents or financing opportunities? Are there opportunities for co-production between the USA and Ibero-American territories? Those were some of the questions addressed during a Thursday panel at Iberseries Platino Industria in Madrid, Spain. Plus, Spains progress toward becoming the Hollywood...

For years, Hollywood talent managers have grumbled at a California law that puts them in danger of losing their commissions if theyre found to have engaged in activities related to obtaining work for their clients. The issue relates to the Talent Agencies Act, a licensing scheme that was originally enacted to regulate agents and ensure that theyre acting in their...