Today In Entertainment

DECEMBER 10, 2020

What's news: The Directors Guild challenges Warner Bros. over HBO Max plan, AT&T to sell anime service to Sony for $1.2 billion, Hollywood insiders defend "essential" worker status, the evolution of the intimacy coordinator, Chris Pratt's indie project, Jessica Simpson's Amazon deal. Plus: Taylor Swift dropping another surprise album, and HBO plots a True Blood reboot. --Alex Weprin

 Warner Bros. Fallout Continues

►DGA takes on Warner Bros. Days after WarnerMedia’s Dec. 3 reveal that it would premiere its entire 2021 slate of 17 films — including tentpoles like Godzilla vs. Kong, Dune and The Matrix 4 — on HBO Max the same day the features hit theaters, the Directors Guild of America has sent a sharply worded letter to Warner Bros. CEO Ann Sarnoff demanding a meeting to address its issues with the plan, sources tell THR's Kim Masters and Erik Hayden. The letter, signed by DGA national executive director Russell Hollander, was sent to Sarnoff on the evening of Dec. 8, sources say. It does not explicitly threaten any action but expresses the guild's concerns about how films will be valued. The story.

+Related: What will Disney have in store today? This afternoon The Walt Disney Co. will host an investor day, where it is expected to unveil a slate of new movies, TV shows and streaming content, and outline its strategy for Disney+, Hulu, theatrical, and more. Will Disney follow in Warners' footsteps? Or will it reaffirm a commitment to theaters (while also pushing more movies to Disney+)? Stay tuned...

►Hollywood insiders defend "essential" worker status amid growing criticism. Outrage that film and TV shoots can continue while other businesses must close down amid the latest COVID-19 surge has the industry on the defensive, Bryn Sandberg reports.: "We are not a bar where everybody sits around with their masks off." The story.

►AT&T is selling anime-focused streamer Crunchyroll to Sony for nearly $1.2 billion as part of its ongoing effort to streamline its assets. Crunchyroll, which was previously part of WarnerMedia's Otter Media segment, will now be part of Funimation, the joint venture between Sony Pictures and Sony Music's Aniplex. The deal will give Funimation control over a direct-to-consumer brand with 3 million subscribers and over 90 million registered users. The story.

+Some context: AT&T is looking to cut its significant (nearly $150 billion!) debt load, and has been examining all its assets for potential divestitures. What's next? Most likely the satellite TV firm DirecTV, which the company acquired for $49 billion in 2015. According to the Wall Street Journal, the company has received bids on a potential DirecTV spinoff that would value the satellite TV company at round $15 billion.

+Related: Deal activity in the media and telecommunications industries for the past 12 months through mid-November was roughly on par with the activity for all of 2019 despite the novel coronavirus pandemic, PricewaterhouseCoopers said in a Thursday report.

--The pandemic came on top of digital disruption, leading industry leaders to re-think and re-focus their core strategies and to double down on digital efforts, while selling non-core assets (think Fox/Tubi, ViacomCBS/Simon & Schuster). The story.

 The Evolution of the Intimacy Coordinator

►Let’s talk about simulated sex: Intimacy coordinators two years on. The field is booming, yet still faces resistance from some skeptical creators as well as representation and credentialing issues, Emily Hilton reports: "Anybody can come off the street and say 'I'm an intimacy coordinator.'"

--"People often confuse my role with HR," says Amanda Blumenthal (Euphoria), founder of Intimacy Professionals Association, a training program in Los Angeles. "That's not my job. I'm not here to tell you what you can and can't say." Coordinator Elle McAlpine (Brave New World) says, "When we go on set, we're sometimes called the fun police. It's not about that; it's about educating people about this work." The story.

►Chris Pratt is becoming an indie sensei. The star of mega studio movies Guardians of the Galaxy and Jurassic World has signed on to star in and produce The Black Belt, an indie comedy from Monarch Media. Pratt will produce the film through his banner, Indivisible Productions, with producing partner Jon Schumacher.

--Written as a spec by Randall Green, Black Belt is described as a comedic coming-of-age story about a shy, unassuming teen boy on a quest for an expertise in karate, and the unorthodox uncle who guides him along the way. Pratt will play the uncle. The story.

In other film news...

+DreamWorks Animation has gone to the dog. The animation arm owned by Universal, is developing a feature film adaptation of Dog Man, the mega-selling graphic novel series by Dav Pilkey. Peter Hastings, who cut his teeth writing influential '90s animated series Animaniacs and Pinky and the Brain, is attached to direct Dog Man, whose rights DreamWorks recently optioned. More.

+Kid Cudi (aka Scott Mescudi) and his recently launched Mad Solar banner are developing an adaptation of the coming-of-age campus novel Real Life, with Mescudi set to star. Bron Studios acquired the rights to the 2020 Booker Prize-shortlisted novel with Mad Solar, which was launched last month with backing from Bron. More.

+Mariah Carey eyes adapting best-selling memoir for the screen. During an interview about her Apple TV+ Christmas special, the singer-songwriter reveals she's in early talks with a "special friend" to adapt The Meaning of Mariah Carey and she may hop in the director's chair herself. More.

+Also: John Wick director Chad Stahelski is teaming with Jason Spitz via their 87Eleven Entertainment banner to turn Duane Swierczynski's short story Lush into a feature spy thriller for Lionsgate. More.

+And: Netflix will team with producer DeVon Franklin on a faith-based feature that is inspired by a real-life COVID-19 recovery. More.

►Jessica Simpson is getting into business with Amazon. The singer, actress, fashion mogul and author has signed a multimedia rights deal with the tech and retail giant that includes a pair of TV projects at Amazon Studios as well as a publishing component. The two TV shows, one unscripted and one scripted, are based on Simpson's best-selling memoir Open Book. The story.

 'True Blood' Reboot

►HBO is eyeing a return to Bon Temps. WarnerMedia's premium cable outlet is in the early stages of developing a new version of its series True Blood, with Riverdale and Chilling Adventures of Sabrina creator Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa at the helm. Alan Ball, the creator of the original series, is also on board as an executive producer. The story.

In other TV news...

+Jon Bernthal's passion project is starting to come to life. The Walking Dead and Baby Driver alum is set to create, star in and co-write Amazon drama The Bottoms, a project he has quietly worked on developing for the past decade. The story.

+Headspace, the popular mediation app, is getting its own Netflix series. The company is making three new shows for the streamer, which will all launch in 2021. The first of the trio, Headspace Guide to Meditation, will premiere on Jan. 1, with Headspace Guide to Sleep and an untitled interactive experience following later in the year. The story.

+Kate Bosworth and Michael Polish are set to take a modern-day western drama series out to potential buyers — after completing principal photography on the show during the coronavirus pandemic. The couple, via their Make Pictures Productions, are executive producers of a show titled Bring on the Dancing Horses. Bosworth stars, and Polish wrote and directed the 10-episode drama. Cast and crew stayed in a quarantine bubble during filming in Montana, adhering to COVID-19 safety protocols. More.

+John Wilson will keep exploring the ins and outs of everyday life for HBO. The premium cable outlet has renewed its documentary/comedy series How To With John Wilson for a second season. The pickup comes two weeks after the show wrapped its critically acclaimed, six-episode first season. More.

+ViacomCBS continues to build up and broaden out CBS All Access. The streamer has added nearly 800 more episodes of children's programming, including from hit series Paw Patrol, Dora the Explorer, Blue's Clues and more as the subscription service prepares to rebrand next year as Paramount+. More.

+Related: Paramount+ is also reviving iCarly for a grown-up reboot. The streamer has given a series order to the show, which will feature original stars Miranda Cosgrove, Jerry Trainor and Nathan Kress. The Simpsons veteran Jay Kogen and Ali Schouten will develop the show. Nickelodeon Studios is producing. The story.

+The incredibly prolific Kevin Hart has lined up another project, starring in a new Netflix limited series alongside Wesley Snipes. A departure from much of Hart's resume, True Story is a drama and being written and executive produced by Narcos and Narcos: Mexico showrunner Eric Newman. More.

►Facebook faces major antitrust suit. In a move that could culminate in Facebook being forced to divest prized assets, nearly all U.S. states led by New York have filed an antitrust action against the social media giant. The complaint filed on Wednesday in D.C. federal court alleges that Facebook illegally maintains "monopoly power by deploying a buy-or-bury strategy that thwarts competition and harms both users and advertisers." The story.

►Taylor Swift is dropping a surprise album tonight. Swift, who previously dropped her Folklore album with just a few hours' notice this summer, posted on Instagram Thursday that she's dropping her ninth studio album, and Folklore's sister record, titled Evermore, at midnight on Thursday night.

--"To put it plainly, we just couldn’t stop writing songs.. To try and put it more poetically, it feels like we were standing on the edge of the folklorian woods and had a choice: to turn and go back or to travel further into the forest of this music. We chose to wander deeper in." The story.

►FaZe Clan COO Jaci Hays on what Hollywood can learn from gamers. As the esports brand expands into the entertainment industry, Hays talks to Trilby Beresford about the next generation of influencers and the need to diversify gaming.

--"Once you start watching, it's hard to turn away. I might not like basketball, but once I know the teams, I'm in. The content creators just open that up to a bigger, wider audience by pushing it out a bit more. Look at the Lakers. If every single player was also a content creator and pushing out that game globally, probably they'd attract more fans." The interview.

Revolving door: ViacomCBS Networks International head David Lynn is set to step down after 24 years with the studio. Raffaele Annecchino has been named as the new president and CEO of ViacomCBS Networks International... Full-service talent and literary agency A3 Artists Agency has hired veteran Hollywood agent Marc Kamler to become a partner in its alternative programming, digital media, licensing and branding division...

►Film review: Frank Scheck reviews Michael Bay's pandemic-thriller Songbird, writing that "it would be churlish to criticize the film's low-level production values, since, well, it was filmed during a pandemic. But that doesn't prevent one from pointing out the simplistic nature of the script by director Mason and Simon Boyes, which feels as perfunctory as the obviously rushed production schedule must have necessitated." The review.

►Obituaries: Dale Sheets, the onetime right-hand man for Lew Wasserman at MCA and Universal who went on to serve as the personal manager for such singers as Mel Tormé, Vic Damone and Patti Page, has died. He was 91. The obituary.

--Marguerite Ray, the first actress to play Mamie Johnson on CBS' long-running soap The Young and the Restless, has died. She was 89. The obituary.

In other news...

--The global race for a vaccine against the COVID-19 virus has hatched a feature documentary from CNN Films and the BBC. Billed as the inside story on the scientific journey to battle the Coronavirus pandemic, the film will air as Race For The Vaccine on CNN in the U.S, with CNN chief medical correspondent Sanjay Gupta narrating.

--Fox News wants to talk more about the weather. On Wednesday, the Fox News Media division unveiled plans for an advertising-supported streaming weather service, Fox Weather, to debut in the third quarter of 2021 and complement the traditional news operation.

--A Dec. 13 event for the Georgia Democratic Party featuring the cast of Elf will serve as a fundraiser for the Georgia run-off election in support of Democratic Senate challengers Jon Ossoff and Rev. Raphael Warnock.

--Canal+, the pay-TV arm of French media giant Vivendi, has won its long-running court battle against Paramount Pictures and competition regulators over movie licensing in Europe.

--Steve McQueen and Ryan Murphy are set to receive the Gotham Independent Film Awards' director's and industry tributes, respectively.

What else we're reading...

--"Will Hollywood recover fast, or are we going to run out of stuff to watch? [Vanity Fair]

--"Tillis pushes prison time for online streamers after pre-election Hollywood cash blitz" [The American Prospect]

--"Hollywood’s Fort Knox is Iron Mountain. Its latest restored treasure: Bee Gees footage" [LA Times]

--"I can't Mank it stop" [The Ringer]

Today's birthdays: Kenneth Branagh, 60, Raven-Symone, 35, Rod Blagojevich, 64, Meg White, 46, Bobby Flay, 56.

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DECEMBER 10, 2020

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