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Hollywood's Trump Daze; Why a Smug Media Failed; Will Escapist Movies Thrive?; Aaron Sorkin's Letter to His Daughter

November 10, 2016

What's news: Networks are touting their best election ratings ever while the rest of the industry is still reeling at saying the words "President-Elect Trump." Plus: Leslie Moonves pushes for control at a potential CBS-Viacom and Rosie O'Donnell returns to TV. — Matthew Belloni, Erik Hayden and Jennifer Konerman.

Trump's Walk of Fame star looks mostly repaired, but Hollywood is still stunned as studio execs, agents and producers tried to process the implications of a Trump administration. A few notes from around town:

► Harvey Weinstein's email to THR: "With both Donald and Hillary splitting the popular vote of Americans 50/50, I was proud to see Hillary say this morning that she would work with Donald because that's what our country wants to see.

He continues: "One of the great things President Obama did was taking a page from Lincoln's playbook — taking on rivals and working together with them in the White House. It takes a willingness from both sides, however, and our country is sick and tired of the divisiveness in D.C. It is my hope that President-elect Trump will do this with Hillary and others. It will make people less fearful, which I'm sure he wants and it's what we need as a country."

► UTA CEO Jeremy Zimmer wrote in a memo to staff: "Many of us will be scared and threatened and we can give comfort. Some of us will be happy because our voice was heard. Either way, it's a challenging moment so let's be extra sensitive and caring with others."

► WME Global head Graham Taylor sent an email to staff: "We have colleagues and clients that are both happy and upset. We have a divided country, a disrupted globe, and the level of fear and cynicism is unprecedented both in our business and the world at large."

► Blind quote: “It feels weird to conduct business as usual," says one producer. "How can we focus on make-believe stories when the real world seems to need so much help?"

View from late-night is mostly conciliatory (so far)...

"There’s no way around it, this is what it feels like when America’s made great again ... I was really hoping it would feel better because this sucks." — Stephen Colbert.

"We still have millions of nasty women who aren't going away, and as along as women over 25 are still allowed on television, I'll be here cheering them on." — Samantha Bee.

"Whoever you voted for last night Trump, Hillary, those other two ... now is the time more than ever to remember our values." — James Corden.

"In America, we get to choose who's going to ruin our country." — Conan O'Brien.

"I felt a lot of emotions last night and into today; some sadness, some anger, some fear. But I’m also aware that those are the same emotions a lot of Trump supporters felt." — Seth Meyers.

Making sense of it...

► Aaron Sorkin pens letter to daughter. The screenwriter, in a note shared with Vanity Fair, detailed disbelief that "a thoroughly incompetent pig with dangerous ideas, a serious psychiatric disorder, no knowledge of the world and no curiosity to learn" was elected.

► Michael Wolff's latest column, on media smugness. Yep, this is about right: "Ads don’t work, polls don’t work, celebrities don’t work, media endorsements don’t work and ground games don’t work."

► How Donald Trump's power could be checked. Legal expert Eriq Gardner's latest column: "One thing unchanged, however, is the U.S. Constitution. Those fearing autocratic rule in a Trump Administration can at least place some hope in the judicial branch of government."

► A view from inside Trumpland. Seth Abramovitch talks to reality TV star turned Trump insider Omarosa Onee Manigault, who says: "the one thing I can assure you, putting aside our differences, is that America is his priority." Full Q&A.

Networks Tout "Best Election Ever"

CNN and Fox News Channel set records on Tuesday night with election coverage, with several networks touting their "best election ever," Michael O'Connell writes:

Primetime coverage reached a total 71M viewers across 13 networks for the 8-11 p.m. block, when CNN led primetime cable news coverage with 13.3M viewers. Fox News was a close 12.1M viewers, while MSNBC earned 5.9M. CNN also touted total day records and its best election ever, though the same goes for FNC.

Early primetime ratings for the broadcast networks were off 10 percent from those of the 2012 election. With updates, NBC News led with NBC top (nearly 11.2M viewers) — trailed by ABC (9.2M), CBS (8.1M) and Fox (4.3M).

► Inside Fox News' studio on election night: Rupert Murdoch brought his teen daughters to the new $30 million Fox News studio on Election Night, just one detail Marisa Guthrie learned during her exclusive ride-along at the network.

► Leslie Moonves pushes for control. The merger dance between Viacom and CBS Corp. is underway, and Moonves, who holds a strong hand in this negotiation thanks to his stellar reputation, wants clear control of the combined company, but Shari Redstone might have developed an appetite for influence at a CBS-Viacom and could attempt to pull strings.

In TV deals...

► The CW orders more Legends of Tomorrow. The DC Comics series will get a slightly larger sophomore run. The CW has upped its original 13-episode order to 17.

► Rosie O'Donnell plots TV return in Showtime pilot. In what could be her first regular series gig ever, O'Donnell joins Frankie Shaw's SMILF, an adaptation of her own Sundance short of the same name. The show is set to start shooting in Boston soon.

► Big Bang Theory enlists Christopher Lloyd. The Back to the Future grad will guest star on the Dec. 1 episode of the comedy from Chuck Lorre, Bill Prady and showrunner Steve Molaro. Additional details about Lloyd's role and the storyline are being kept under wraps.

↱ What's behind TV's big spinoff trend? Lesley Goldberg writes: In the era of dwindling mass-audience TV hits, networks will do just about anything to keep bankable franchises going. So it’s no surprise that CBS would want a spinoff of The Big Bang Theory, as ABC preps a '90s spinoff of The Goldbergs. ↲

Who's up for escapist TV? Tim Goodman writes: Boycott cable news, but by all means seek solace in a good comedy (NBC's The Good Place) or a drama like The Americans, which takes us back to the relative comfort of the Reagan years (yes, today is that bad).

Box Office: Time for Escapist Films?

Looking to get away from cable news and your Facebook feed after the election? That's what theaters are hoping for, Pamela McClintock writes in the weekend forecast:

Denis Villeneuve's critically acclaimed sci-fi adventure, Arrival, starring Amy Adams and Jeremy Renner, is projected to open in the mid- to high-teens when launching at the North American box office this weekend.

Almost Christmas, the first year-end holiday comedy of 2016, is tipped to open in the low- to mid-teens for Universal and prolific producer Will Packer.

But, holdover superhero tentpole Doctor Strange and animated family film Trolls are projected to beat both new offerings and retain the top two spots on the box-office chart.

Also: the forecast isn't looking good for Ang Lee's Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk, which Sony opens in New York and Los Angeles this weekend, making a nationwide play on Nov. 18.

Elsewhere in film...

► Tencent extends move into film business. The Chinese internet giant's upstart filmmaking unit has set aside more than 1 billion yuan, or over $150 million, to finance Hollywood and Chinese film projects in 2017, an unnamed source at the company told Bloomberg News.

► Lady Gaga's A Star is Born gets release date. The musical feature, starring Lady Gaga and directed by Bradley Cooper, will hit theaters on Sept. 28, 2018. Ray Liotta is also now in talks to join the Warner Bros. film.

↱ Exec suite: MACRO's Charles King. At his Hollywood office, the multicultural media exec talks about how Hollywood can recover from #OscarsSoWhite: "One of the things we need to ensure is that this isn't just a moment. That this will be part of the norm." ↲

► Edgar Ramirez joins David Ayer's Bright. The actor joins the cast that includes Will Smith, Joel Edgerton and Noomi Rapace. Netflix's fantasy thriller, currently shooting in Los Angeles, comes from director Ayers and screenwriter Max Landis.

► John Boyega confirms Pacific Rim 2 title. The actor shared a photo of his script for Pacific Rim: Maelstrom, the title of the follow-up to Guillermo del Toro's film. The film, from Legendary and Universal, is set for a Feb. 23, 2018 release date.

Which Oscar films benefit from more diverse membership? Stephen Galloway writes: Now that the Academy has invited a new class, younger, more diverse members could reshape the Oscar race, especially in categories where nominees are separated by a thimbleful of votes.

Imagining a California Brexit

Yes, those are protesters who shut down the 101 freeway in Los Angeles last night. Speaking of which, #Calexit started trending Tuesday night, suggesting California should exit the U.S. Hypothetically, here's the scenario, Ashley Cullins writes:

First things first. The U.S. Constitution contains rules for how a state may enter the union but doesn't have explicit instructions on how to leave.

It actually hasn't been that long since a state has tried to leave. In fact, it was just a few days after President Barack Obama was elected to his second term. In 2012, a Texas-based online petition asked the White House to set the Lone Star state free but, unsurprisingly, it was rejected.

"Our founding fathers established the Constitution of the United States 'in order to form a more perfect union' through the hard and frustrating but necessary work of self-government," wrote public engagement director Jon Carson at the time.

Carson added: "They enshrined in that document the right to change our national government through the power of the ballot — a right that generations of Americans have fought to secure for all.But they did not provide a right to walk away from it."

It has been more than a hundred years since the Supreme Court considered the issue in 1868's Texas v. White. There the high court held that the U.S. is "an indestructible union."