Today In Entertainment

SEPTEMBER 17, 2020

What's news: Toxic work cultures underscore the dark side of daytime TV, why small towns are suing streaming giants like Netflix and Hulu, Stumptown latest pandemic cancelation, executive shakeup at NBCUniversal, layoffs at Fox News. Plus: THR's brutally honest Emmy ballot, and The Mandalorian's big night at the Creative Arts Emmys. --Alex Weprin

 The Dark Side Of Daytime TV

➤Daytime TV's dark side: Former TMZ on TV, Ellen and Rosie employees detail abusive work culture. Long before Ellen DeGeneres' show came under fire, culture problems were rife at several shows produced by Telepictures, Katie Kilkenny and Seth Abramovitch report: "What you had at Ellen are showrunners who came from notoriously toxic environments."

--Several staffers complained of being subjected to crushing hours — 80-hour workweeks were not uncommon — not because the demands of the job were particularly overwhelming, but because that was simply expected of them.

--"The culture is 'This show is the most important product in America,' " says one former Telepictures producer. "Everyone is expected to work until 11 p.m. and on weekends. Even if your work is complete, you have to sit around and wait for 'notes.' " The producer, who worked under [Ed] Glavin, recalls once having "dared to leave before 11 p.m. after having been there since 6:30 a.m. The next day, he walked by my office and instructed me in a weirdly menacing tone to never leave before him again." If they complained, employees were "blacklisted and fired," the producer says, "ostensibly because 'people would kill for this job.' " The story.

 Municipal Streaming Mayhem

➤Why cash-strapped towns are suing streaming giants. A growing number of municipalities are going to court against Netflix, Hulu and Disney+ to argue these companies need to pay their fair share of revenue as a utility fee, Eriq Gardner reports.

--“It’s about respect,” Maple Heights, Ohio mayor Annette Blackwell says. “In many ways, we’re doing business together. If there’s a natural disaster, we are there providing maintenance on infrastructure so that the end product can be delivered. And if people are in a place of crisis, if they don’t have jobs, they don’t have time to do Netflix. We help them [our citizens, their customers] so they can sit back and enjoy these services. Why would we not be part of the revenue?” The story.

➤THR's brutally honest Emmy ballot: One Emmy voter explains their vote against Hillary, why the Clark Sisters biopic should have been nominated, and how The Good Place is "the Sixth Sense of comedy."

--"I didn’t watch Hillary because I can’t look at her — she should have written her book and then gone away. I loved McMillions, but it was a little light — they stretched it out too much. Tiger King was the talk of the pandemic and was really good. But they basically stumbled into a great story, so I can’t vote for that over The Last Dance, which couldn’t have been more impressively made or more watchable." The column.

➤Here's what happened at last night's Creative Arts Emmys: The Mandalorian won the Emmy for outstanding special visual effects on Wednesday, succeeding HBO's juggernaut Game of Thrones, which won the category a remarkable six times... Cinematographers Greig Fraser — who lensed Denis Villeneuve's upcoming Dune — and Baz Idoine also won an Emmy for the Disney+ series... The winners list...

+Meanwhile at the ACM Awards: Taylor Swift made her return to the Academy of Country Music Awards for the first time in seven years... There was a shocker at the end of the show: the first tie for entertainer of the year (or any major category, for that matter) in the show’s history. The co-winners were Carrie Underwood, winning in the category for the third time, and Thomas Rhett, winning in the category for the first time... The winners list...

 'Stumptown' Latest Pandemic Cancelation

➤ABC's Stumptown is the latest previously renewed series to be canceled in the wake of issues stemming from the novel coronavirus pandemic. The Disney-owned broadcaster has reversed course on its renewal and instead opted to strike the show from its schedule due to timing and scheduling issues. The decision comes as a shocker for the Cobie Smulders-led drama series, which was poised to be part of ABC's 2021 scripted lineup.

--Sources say the decision to scrap the series was based on a number of factors starting with the show's creative reboot for season two. The story.

+Desus & Mero will return in 2021 at Showtime. The ViacomCBS-owned premium cable network has renewed the late-night talk show for a third season. The news comes as the twice-a-week series hosted by Desus Nice and The Kid Mero will wrap up its sophomore run in October. More.

+Two veterans of ABC's Single Parents have sold another comedy at the network. Taylor Cox and Kim Rosenstock are developing Happy for You, about the relationship between three sisters and their mother. The project from Disney's 20th Television has a script plus penalty commitment from the network. Cox is writing, and Rosenstock, who has an overall deal with 20th, is executive producing and supervising. More.

➤Instagram freeze organizers say campaign isn't about bottom line, but "a grassroots movement." Kim Kardashian, Kerry Washington, Sacha Baron Cohen, Mark Ruffalo and Dwyane Wade are part of the campaign organized by a coalition of civil rights groups that want Instagram owner Facebook to curb racism, misinformation and hate speech on its platforms. The story.

+TikTokers' approach to Oracle deal: "Waiting to see what happens." “We’ve seen apps come and go before, but never have we seen one potentially go away in such a dramatic, enforced manner,” says Maxwell Mitcheson, who works with many TikTokers as head of talent at management firm TalentX. The story.

➤Chris McCumber, the highly regarded president of USA Network and Syfy, is leaving NBCUniversal amid the conglomerate's larger restructuring. The executive, who has been with the company for nearly 20 years and oversaw hits including Mr. Robot and long-running "Blue Skies" originals like Suits and White Collar, will remain on board for an undetermined period to help with the transition that is expected to see USA Network and Syfy oversight folded into Susan Rovner's larger entertainment programming purview. The story.

+A month into her new role overseeing NBCUniversal's entertainment business units, Frances Berwick has set her senior leadership team. Overseeing business strategy for the entertainment division, Berwick has named her heads of communications, marketing and research, eith Jeff Bader, Val Boreland, Jennifer Storms and Chip Sullivan taking sernior roles. More.

+Fox News will lay off staff in a reorganization and restructuring of its businesses. No on-air talent are expected to be impacted by the changes, and less than 3 percent of staff will lose their jobs in the reorg. The layoffs at Fox News are not related to the novel coronavirus pandemic, with the exception of the channel's hair and makeup department, which was heavily impacted by the pandemic. Going forward, only anchors and contributors will get their hair and makeup done, not on-air guests, a source familiar with the matter tells THR. The story.

Revolving door: Adam Levine is doubling down on his producorial pursuits, signing an exclusive overall deal with Brent Montgomery's Wheelhouse Entertainment...A3 Artists Agency has added another four former Paradigm Talent Agency execs to its ranks, including Valarie Phillips as partner and co-head of its motion pictures literary division... Endeavor Content's film group has upped Joanna Korshak and Christopher Slager...

Casting roundup: Big Little Lies star Chris Backus, Luna Lauren Velez, and Holly Taylor are set to appear opposite Tyrese Gibson, John Malkovich and Michael Jai White in director Jon Keeyes’ new action thriller Red 48 for Yale Productions... Jim Carrey will play Democratic nominee Joe Biden in Saturday Night Live's 46th season, which debuts Oct. 3. The show has also added three new featured players to its cast...

In other news...

--Snapchat has ordered a new series from Jaden Smith as part of its election year programming. Smith will host The Solution Committee, in which he seeks out young activists and his celebrity friends to help him create change around racial and social justice issues. 

--In some good news for struggling theater owners, Universal and DreamWorks Animation’s The Croods: A New Age is moving up its release in cinemas from Dec. 23 to Nov. 25.

--North Carolina's Film Fest 919 will go drive-in only this year.

--Music streaming giant Spotify feels "really good" about how the business has performed since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, with consumption now above pre-pandemic levels, CFO Paul Vogel said during a virtual investor conference session on Wednesday.

--Imax CEO Richard Gelfond touted the recent theatrical release of Christopher Nolan's Tenet, while he poured water on the premium VOD window for Hollywood blockbuster releases, during an investor conference appearance on Wednesday.

--Discovery is bullish on advertising after the market bottomed during the coronavirus pandemic lockdowns, with third-quarter U.S. ad revenue looking to be down 10 percent "or possibly less" after a 14 percent drop in the second quarter, president and CEO David Zaslav said on Thursday.

--In his latest string of tweets about his recording deals Wednesday, Kanye West said he was going to upload his Universal Records contracts, while once again referring to the music industry as "modern day slavery."

--BET and the National Urban League are partnering with over 40 organizations and political, entertainment and media stars including Stacey Abrams, Soledad O'Brien and Tina Knowles-Lawson to launch an inaugural day encouraging Black Americans to vote and informing them on options for 2020's unique election.

--Bunch, a party app for multiplayer games, has closed $20 million in Series A funding.

What else we're reading...

--"Live from New York once again" [Vulture]

--"Amazon Music joins podcasting fray" [WSJ]

--"Big Ten football to resume weekend of Oct. 24" [ESPN]

Today's birthdays: Phil Jackson, 75, Narendra Modi, 70, Rita Rudner, 67, Chuck Grassley, 87, Danielle Brooks, 31.

Is this e-mail not displaying correctly?
View it in your browser. 

©2020 The Hollywood Reporter. 5700 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90036 All rights reserved.

SEPTEMBER 17, 2020

UNSUBSCRIBE 

MANAGE PREFERENCES

PRIVACY POLICY

TERMS OF USE