What's news: As the nation reels, Hollywood companies and executives speak out for black lives. Journalists continue to be targeted by police and protestors, celebrities and public figures protest and speak out, Spike Lee releases a new short film: Three Brothers: Radio Raheem, Eric Garner and George Floyd. Plus: U.K. reveals return-to-production guidelines, NBCUniversal weighs turning CNBC into a Fox competitor, WWE Network goes free, and Facebook v. Trump. --Alex Weprin

 Hollywood Speaks Out

This weekend was marked by escalation and acknowledgement, as protests sparked by the brutal killing of George Floyd spread across the country, with some becoming violent. Images and videos shared to social media gave viewers a lens in which to see the demonstrations through the eyes of the protestors and those watching from the sidelines, and they dominated social platforms all weekend.

There was also acknowledgement, from individuals, brands, and entertainment companies that they needed to speak up to eliminate inequity and to build a better future. For many brands, which by nature are wary of polarization and conflict, the decision to speak out is a seismic shift.

►Companies speak out: In a move quite unlike past protests spurred by police brutality, over the weekend dozens of companies in the entertainment space released statements on social media offering full-throated support for the Black Lives Matter movement. Netflix wrote Saturday on its social platforms "To be silent is to be complicit. Black lives matter," while Disney-owned Hulu shared "We support Black lives. Today, and every day. You are seen. You are heard. And we are with you." Amazon, Warner Bros., Showtime, HBO, CBS, Sesame Workshop, Fox and others also weighed in with messages of support. The story.

+Executives did so privately, too: While corporate social media feeds shared messages of support, in internal memos over the weekend, some of the Hollywood giants acknowledged to their employees that they needed to do more. In a memo to Walt Disney Co. staff Sunday, CEO Bob Chapek, chairman Bob Iger and chief diversity officer Latondra Newton wrote "We, too, are struggling to make sense of the recent tragedies that leave us feeling overcome with sorrow. While we don’t have all the answers, we resolve to use our compassion, our creative ideas and our collective sense of humanity to ensure we are fostering a culture that acknowledges our people’s feelings and their pain. We also realize that now more than ever is the time for us all to further strengthen our commitment to diversity and inclusion everywhere."

--At WarnerMedia, CEO Jason Kilar wrote an email to staff, telling them "I want to provide validation to the voices of our Black team members. Your voices matter, your messages matter. To me and to the world. I want to be very clear in saying that our responsibility to the Black community is that we truly listen, that we seek understanding, and that we do these things with as much empathy as possible. In no uncertain terms, we as a company are firmly in support of people that suffer injustice, including our own."

--At Paramount Pictures, Jim Gianopulos wrote to employees: "The fabric of our society, the founding promise that all men are created equal, is broken, and it is the responsibility of all of us to raise our voices and be part of the solution. At the same time, we have an opportunity for internal reflection as we ask ourselves hard questions about the beliefs that are entrenched in our culture, and explore how we can become better citizens and stewards for one another."

--Also at ViacomCBS, entertainment and youth brands president Chris McCarthy wrote to staff that all of he company's cable channels will go dark for eight minutes and 46 seconds today, "to mark the time in which George Floyd was brutally killed as a tribute to Mr. Floyd and other victims of racism. We will provide a call to action encouraging our audiences to get involved and help be part of the solution with our partner Color of Change."

►Where things stand: Los Angeles County on Sunday night enacted a countywide curfew amid the protests... Los Angeles mayor Mayor Eric Garcetti said he asked California Gov. Gavin Newsom to send 500 to 700 members of the National Guard to the city... The soldiers patrolled the streets of L.A. early Sunday as the city began cleaning up after a night of violence that saw demonstrators clash repeatedly with officers, torch police vehicles and pillage businesses... The Quentin Tarantino-owned New Beverly Cinema was among the businesses vandalized Saturday... Meanwhile in New York City: Mayor Bill de Blasio said he has no plans as of yet to enact a citywide curfew...

 Journalists Targeted

►The incidents involving CNN on Friday were just the beginning: Following the arrest and subsequent release of a CNN correspondent on Friday, and protests targeting CNN Center in Atlanta, journalists continued to be targeted by both police and protestors over the weekend. MSNBC anchor Ali Velshi was hit by a rubber bullet in Minneapolis, KCRW's Cerise Castle was hit by a rubber bullet in L.A., CNN commentator Keith Boykin was arrested in New York, a Fox News crew in Washington and a KNX Radio reporter in L.A. were targeted by protestors. In one of the most egregious incidents, a local TV reporter in Louisville was targeted by a police officer who shot a pepper bullet at her.

-- "I want to apologize," Louisville police spokeswoman Jessie Halladay told the Courier Journal in response to the incident. "It's not something that should have occurred if she was singled out as a reporter." More.

+Also: Actor John Cusack said police officers came at him with batons while he was protesting in Chicago. In the video shared by the actor, someone assumed to be an officer, can be heard yelling "Get the fuck out of here!" along with what sounds like a baton striking Cusack's bike multiple times. More.

+And: Insecure actor Kendrick Sampson was hit by rubber bullets fired by LAPD while protesting George Floyd’s death in Los Angeles. While live on his Instagram during the protest, officers could be seen firing rubber bullets at the actor and other protestors. Sampson could also be seen backing away from police while being hit repeatedly by an officer's baton. More.

TV news organizations broke into regularly scheduled programming, with ABC and NBC issuing special reports at 8 pm last night. On cable news, anchors who normally don't work weekends reported from the studio, including Don Lemon and Chris Cuomo on CNN, Bret Baier on Fox News, and Brian Williams on MSNBC. Meanwhile, some of America's most high-profile American American journalists delivered commentaries on the state of affairs...

+NBC Nightly News anchor Lester Holt ended a special edition of his broadcast Sunday by telling viewers: "It's hard to comprehend that this was about a singular event, no matter how horrific. This explosion of raw passion, seeming to come from a place far deeper. A primal scream from a country that may just be fed up. Begging for life to be better. Fed up with lockdowns and layoffs. COVID and incivility. Racism and power abused. A perfect storm of unmitigated pain."

+Venerable CBS 60 Minutes correspondent Bill Whitaker told viewers of the newsmagazine Sunday "This virus of racism and injustice has threatened and infected America for four hundred years. There is no antidote but we desperately need to heal from it."

+CNN anchor Don Lemon called out Hollywood for not doing enough: "What about Hollywood? Strangely quiet," the CNN Tonight host said during a conversation with Rev. William Barber. As he screened footage of fires and looting in cities nationwide, Lemon continued, "I've seen them on Twitter, I see them, 'Oh, I'm loving what Don Lemon's doing' ... But they gotta do more than that."

►Spike Lee's film: The acclaimed director debuted a new short film on Lemon's CNN program last night, called Three Brothers: Radio Raheem, Eric Garner and George Floyd. Raheem is a character in Lee's 1989 film Do the Right Thing, while Garner is another African American, who, like Floyd, died in police custody. Real-life footage of Garner and Floyd was intercut with similar scenes from the film that showed Raheem suffering brutality at the hands of police officers and ultimately dying. The film and more from the program, here.

Meanwhile, over the weekend, dozens and dozens of celebrities and public figures spoke out on social media...

+Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda and producer Jeffrey Seller took to social media to issue an apology for taking part in the "moral failure" of not speaking up amid the ongoing protests. "We spoke out on the day of the Pulse shooting. We spoke out when Vice President Mike Pence came to our show 10 days after the election. And that we have not yet firmly spoken inaugural truth of Black Lives Matter and denounced systematic racism and white supremacy to our official Hamilton channels is a moral failure on our part," Miranda said in a video. More.

+Mega-producer Tyler Perry posted to Facebook: "I'm not in Atlanta, but if I were I would have been standing with our Mayor! But there was nothing I could say better than what Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms said last night! Please, please stop this violence!!" He then emphasized, "Looting is NOT THE ANSWER!!!!" More.

+Singer Lizzo took to Instagram: "Minneapolis, I love you. I see you. I hear you. I see your truth. I know your heart. You're good people, you are tired of being oppressed," Lizzo said in a video on Instagram, adding that she's "100 percent dedicated to helping rebuild Lake Street and rebuilding south side Minneapolis." More.

+NBA legend Michael Jordan wrote: "I am deeply saddened, truly pained and plain angry. I see and feel everyone's pain, outrage and frustration. I stand with those who are calling out the ingrained racism and violence toward people of color in our country. We had had enough." More.

+Lady Gaga posted: "I am outraged by the death of George Floyd as I have been by the deaths of exponentially too many black lives over hundreds of years that have been taken from us in this country as a result of systemic racism and the corrupt system that supports it." More.

 U.K. Sets Return To Production Guidelines

►U.K. to resume film, high-end TV production under new COVID-19 guidelines. Drawn up by the British Film Commission alongside the British Film Institute, The Working Safely During COVID-19 in Film and High-end TV Drama Production guidance was developed to help protect crew and cast from COVID-19 related risks, and while it isn't mandatory, is expected to provide producers with necessary and scalable safe practice guidelines to help get the wheels moving on an industry hit hard by the crisis. The details.

+British Film Commission CEO on "coming out of the tunnel" with COVID-19 production guidelines. With U.K. government support and studio and streamer involvement, the film and high-end TV production safety guidelines are "probably the largest consultation on production guidance that anybody's ever done," Adrian Wootton tells THR in an interview.

►Does CNBC plan to take on Fox News? In his Media Equation column for The New York Times this week, Ben Smith has a few very interesting pieces of reporting. First, it sounds as though WarnerMedia news and sports chief and CNN president Jeff Zucker is once again considering a run for office. Asked by Smith about a run for New York City mayor next year, Zucker responded “New York City is going to need a very strong mayor in the aftermath of this, and I always like a challenge.”

--Perhaps more relevant to readers of this newsletter: NBCUniversal is considering a revamp of CNBC's primetime lineup, abandoning reality shows like The Profit and reruns of Shark Tank to become a conservative opinion programming block. The thinking, a source familiar with the matter tells THR, is that small reality shows with no back-end participation just aren't the best use of CNBC's fairly vast distribution, and with CNBC's audience skewing somewhat libertarian and in favor of less regulation already, opinion may make for a better fit.

►WWE launches free version of streaming network. A no-cost version of the streamer launches today with more than 15,000 titles including episodes of Monday Night Raw and Friday Night SmackDown. Jayar Donlan, executive vp of advanced media at WWE, tells THR that the company sees the introducing of the free product, dubbed the Free Version of WWE Network, as “a balance of providing a great experience for our fans by essentially offering unlimited access to a larger array of programming while still maintaining the value of our more premium content at $9.99 per month." The story.

►Trump and Facebook: Mark Zuckerberg spoke to Donald Trump on a call in which the Facebook CEO reportedly "expressed concerns about the tone and rhetoric" the president was using in his social media posts about the nationwide protests against police brutality and outlined how Trump's comments were putting the social media giant in a difficult position. More.

+"Mark is wrong": Facebook employees go public with criticism of company's policy. Several senior staff took to social media to strongly disagree with Mark Zuckerberg's inaction over the president's incendiary posts about the Minneapolis protests. More.

+Facebook pledges $10 million to fight racial injustice. In a post late on Sunday night, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg revealed the financial commitment and wrote that the company is "working with our civil rights advisors and our employees to identify organizations locally and nationally that could most effectively use [the funding] right now." More.

Obituaries: Herb Stempel, the contestant on NBC's Twenty-One who helped expose the rigged television quiz shows of the 1950s after he was "defeated" by Charles Van Doren, has died. He was 93... Christo, known for massive, ephemeral public arts projects died Sunday at his home in New York. He was 84... Kiss guitarist Bob Kulick — who toured and worked in the studio with the band — has died at the age of 70...

In other news...

--Exhibition companies should consider allowing premium VOD releases of mid-tier films after a 30-day theatrical window, Credit Suisse analyst Douglas Mitchelson said in a Monday report entitled "Not Coming to a Theater Near You: Do Theater Companies Need to Entertain a PVOD Window?"

--Mobile video gaming giant Zynga said Monday it has entered into an agreement to acquire Istanbul, Turkey-based mobile games firm Peak, which is behind the likes of Toon Blast and Toy Blast, for $1.8 billion in cash and stock.

--Dream Hampton, executive producer of Surviving R. Kelly, was announced Monday to direct Black Wall Street, a limited documentary series about the Tulsa Race Massacre, a deadly act of racial violence committed 99 years ago.

--"HBO Max isn't a game changer for AT&T," Evercore ISI analyst Vijay Jayant writes in the title of a new report published on Sunday, just days after the launch of the streaming service.

--Defending Jacob's stars speak to THR's Jean Bentley about that shocking season finale twist.

--How that deadly Killing Eve finale builds a bridge toward season 4.

What else we're reading...

--"YouTube’s chase for streaming-TV ad dollars faces hurdles" [WSJ]

--"During a pandemic, even the stars settle in for some comfort TV viewing" [LA Times]

--"Build the perfect streaming TV bundle" [Bloomberg]

--"Fall is now jam-packed for book publishers. That could be a problem" [NY Times]

--"HBO Max celebrates launch week with quarantine-friendly brand partnerships and digital events" [AdWeek]

Today's birthdays: CNN, 40, Tom Holland, 24, Morgan Freeman, 83, Alanis Morissette, 46, Heidi Klum, 47, Adam Garcia, 47.