What's news: Behind the WarnerMedia and NBCUniversal executive ousters (plus: charts!). Also: Ozark star Julia Garner covers the new issue, why the first Surviving R. Kelly team resigned, Disney makes a bet on Mulan for $30 and a look back at the legacy of Sumner Redstone (1923-2020). — Erik Hayden

 New Hollywood Reporter Cover

Rebecca Keegan writes: Nominated for her second best supporting actress award for Ozark, 26-year-old Julia Garner reveals the angst of not acting during lockdown, what happened when she met the imprisoned real-life subject of her coming Netflix show from Shonda Rhimes, and how she became one of TV's most sought-after young actresses. Full story.

 Behind Hollywood's Exec Ousters

As WarnerMedia, NBCUniversal and Disney pivot to streaming to take advantage of the moment, legacy companies are making massive structural changes in record time, Kim Masters and Lesley Goldberg report: 

+ The realignment means that the legacy companies are forced to throw massive amounts of money at generating new "product" just as the pandemic has shut almost everything down and revenue is plummeting.

+ So the challenge is simple: Make a lot more programming with less money coming in and a fraction of the staff. And be sure to keep an eye on the old-school businesses that have been keeping your bread well buttered all these years. Says an executive in the thick of trying to manage it: "Things are going to be very bumpy and ugly for a while." Full story. 



+ Who reports to who? WarnerMedia and NBCU full exec charts here.

Meanwhile...

► The TV fallout for college football's partially lost season. The Big Ten and Pac-12 both have long-term, multibillion-dollar TV contracts with ESPN and Fox Sports to air their games.

► Seth MacFarlane's first NBCU show. As part of his company's $200M deal, the Family Guy creator is adapting author Herman Wouk's The Winds of War and War and Remembrance as a limited series.

► Fresh Prince of Bel-Air drama reboot in the works. Based on Morgan Cooper's viral YouTube trailer, the update from Will Smith, Benny Medina and Quincy Jones is currently being shopped to streamers.

► Fox News international streamer in the works. Fox Corp. plans to launch an international streaming service with live content, with an eye to offering Fox News  and Fox Business to 20 countries by early 2021.

► Liberty Global to acquire Sunrise for $7.4 billion. The all-cash tender offer for the no. 2 Swiss telecom firm is part of John Malone's international cable company's strategy to create "converged, national champions" across core European markets.

► CuriosityStream is going public. The streaming service offering factual content is headed to the NASDAQ Exchange via a reverse merger deal valued at $331 million.

In THR, Esq: Texas town sues Netflix, Hulu over utility fees. The City of New Boston says the streamers are obligated to pay a share of the revenue they generate from Texas residents to the municipalities in which they reside.

 Will 'Mulan' for $30 Work?

Disney's plan to sell Mulan for $29.99 to Disney+ customers in the U.S. makes the film the centerpiece of the premium video-on-demand revolution, Pamela McClintock and Natalie Jarvey write: 

+ LightShed media analyst Rich Greenfield suggests that Mulan, if it were only a global PVOD release on Disney+, would need to sell 29 million units to equal $1 billion in global box office grosses. 

+ That estimate, however, excludes theatrical revenue from the markets where it can play in cinemas; the benefit of drawing new Disney+ subscribers; and the potential to monetize by windowing Mulan on third-party PVOD platforms. Full story. 



Elsewhere in film...

► Martin Scorsese inks first-look TV, film deal with Apple. The Oscar-winning director and producer's Sikelia Productions will develop film and TV projects for Apple's TV+ streaming platform. 

► Sarah Paulson thriller Run moves from Lionsgate to Hulu. The streamer, which scored a buzzy success with the critically acclaimed comedy Palm Springs in July, has acquired the domestic rights.

► New York Film Fest to close with Michelle Pfeiffer's French Exit. Azazel Jacob's satire, about a New York socialite who has a blasé reaction to her husband's death, also stars Lucas Hedges. Details.

► Zurich Fest unveils indie film market. The organizer is teaming with the San Sebastian Fest to host market screenings of 20 new indie titles looking for international distribution.

► Robin's Wish trailer: doc details Robin Williams' final days. The comedian's widow, Susan Schneider Williams, is joined in the film preview by friends and colleagues who shed light on Williams' career. Full clip.

 ICM acquires stake in Sweden-based lit agency Albatros. Partner Pete Stone will relocate to Sweden in a bid to help the agency expand its domestic and international footprint. Full story.

 Sumner Redstone, R.I.P.

1923-2020: Sumner Redstone, the hard-charging mogul who parlayed his father’s New England drive-in theater business into a media empire that now flows into virtually every avenue of entertainment, has died. He was 97. 

+ Mike Barnes notes: The mogul, the controlling shareholder of the recently merged ViacomCBS, made famous the mantra “content is king.” ...  Like William Randolph Hearst before him, Redstone ruled like a king, his companies and employees subject to his whims. Full obit.

 Behind the Scenes

Lifetime's bombshell docuseries Surviving R. Kelly premiered to acclaim in 2019, but behind the scenes, the original, nearly all-Black postproduction group protested the project's direction and walked out — only to see the show eventually fulfill its hopes, Katie Kilkenny reports: 

+ Peggy Tachdjian broke her two-year silence on social media in mid-June. "Let's talk about performative allyship," the TV editor wrote on Instagram amid Black Lives Matter protests nationwide. Tachdjian went on to describe how, while she was working at Bunim/Murray in 2018, several colleagues were editing the production company's docuseries Surviving R. Kelly.

+ As an editor on Bunim/Murray's Born This Way, Tachdjian observed the primarily Black Surviving R. Kelly editing team take a stand over the direction of the docuseries and resign together over a creative disagreement regarding how to empower survivors. Full story. 

What else we're reading...

— "Disney’s CEO is scrapping once-sacred businesses." Christopher Palmeri writes: "Besides scrapping the networks, he shut down a musical version of the animated film Frozen ... closed a chain of English-language schools in China, and scaled back a $1 billion resort-technology project." [Bloomberg]

— "AFI Fest will go virtual in 2020." Mark Olsen notes: "festival organizers plan to have much of the same programming structure as in past years, including sections dedicated to world cinema and new auteurs." [Los Angeles Times]

— "Media buyers are holding back spending on TikTok." Kristina Monllos notes: "advertisers will likely test out TikTok competitors like Triller and now Instagram’s Reels." [Digiday]

— "New Xbox will lack Halo effect." Dan Gallagher writes: "The problem with being in the videogame hardware business is that even the best consoles don’t amount to much without new games to play on them." [Wall Street Journal]

*George Christy, R.I.P. The gossip and party columnist, who wrote for THR for more than 26 years before leaving amid controversy in 2001, has died. He was 93. Obit. 

From the archives...

Today in 1970: A letter circulates amongst Holmby Hills homeowners calling for legislation to ban the sale of Hollywood star maps. "The Star Maps Hustler."

Today's birthdays: Michael Ian Black, Bruce Greenwood, Cara Delevingne, Lakeith Stanfield, Maggie Lawson, Yvette Nicole Brown.