Netflix Fires Employee for Leaking Info on Chappelle Special 

►"We understand this employee may have been motivated by disappointment and hurt." Netflix has fired an employee for leaking confidential financial data to Bloomberg, resulting in an article published on Oct. 13 that detailed the cost of Dave Chappelle special The Closer as it compared to other projects from the streaming service.

In the piece, Netflix reportedly spent $24.1 million on The Closer and $23.6 million on the 2019 special, Sticks & Stones. Those numbers were in comparison to the $3.9 million the streamer spent on Bo Burnham’s Inside and the $21.4 million spent on the hit show Squid Game. According to the internal documents, Sticks & Stones was measured as having an “impact value” of $19.4 million, which meant that the special cost more than the value Netflix determined it generated. The story.

—"Morphing into a platform." With Pepsi's sponsorship deal for the Super Bowl Halftime Show ending in 2022, the NFL has big plans for the future of the event. The league is looking to expand the content around the show and is courting streaming services and record labels as possible new partners. The story. 

—No network, no stars. The embattled HFPA has declared that it will announce Golden Globes nominations and winners in early 2022, despite an ongoing boycott of the organization by a coalition of publicists, major studios, networks and talent due to its demographic and ethnical shortcomings. THR's Scott Feinberg writes that the HFPA's efforts to push ahead with the Globes prior to resolving its differences with those boycotting it may well further antagonize those constituencies. The story.

—"I got really dizzy and couldn’t stand up." Howie Mandel has shared the story behind his recent health scare, following news reports that he collapsed at a Starbucks. On his podcast Howie Mandel Does Stuff, Mandel explained that he fainted from dehydration, following a colonoscopy. The story. 

IATSE and AMPTP Enter Critical Weekend of Talks 

►End game. The pressure is on for IATSE and AMPTP to reach an agreement as we enter the critical final weekend before a strike deadline set by the union. Talks continue with conflicting reports on just how far apart the sides are in coming to a deal. 

Rest periods and streaming disparity had been the key sticking points earlier in the week that brought IATSE members to the brink of a strike that could shut down productions nationwide. If no agreement is struck sometime this weekend, then about 60,000 film and TV workers will go on strike Monday at 12:01 a.m. PT. The story. 

—Stellar cast. Common is the latest big name to sign up for Apple TV+’s sci-fi drama series Wool, joining Rebecca Ferguson, Tim Robbins, Rashida Jones and David Oyelowo. Wool, based on Hugh Howey’s best-selling trilogy of novels, is set in a future dystopia where a community exists in a giant silo underground, where they believe they’re protected from a toxic atmosphere. The story. 

—It's all about the money. Netflix has reported the 2020 income of Amsterdam-based Netflix International Holdings, basically every unit outside of the U.S. and Brazil, and the numbers are way, way, up. Netflix International Holdings' 2020 revenue shot up 32 percent to $14.5 billion, with operating profit jumping 78 percent to $605 million. The story. 

—Some good P.R. Netflix and developer Caruso are partnering to keep the legendary Bay Theater in the tony Palisades Village open. The lease expands the streamer’s ability to screen its movies on the big screen during awards season while helping another struggling cinema to stay open. Netflix already operates the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood and New York’s iconic Paris Theatre. The story. 

An Oral History of 'Smallville'  

►"We had freedom to change the mythology." Smallville debuted on The WB on Oct. 16, 2001, just four weeks after the Sept. 11 terror attacks. Audiences tuned in to see a hopeful vision of America, with the pilot telling the story of an alien growing up in Kansas, facing the challenges of the teenage years while feeling different. The show was as much about parenting as it was about superpowers. 

It ran for 10 seasons and 217 episodes, becoming a favorite among members of the military fighting overseas in the wake of 9/11 and helping pave the way for the superhero-saturated era we live in today. 

Series creators Miles Millar and Alfred Gough and stars Tom Welling, Michael Rosenbaum, Kristin Kreuk, John Schneider, Annette O'Toole, John Glover and Erica Durance look back at the hit that launched a superhero craze. The oral history.

—Replacement found. Noah Reid has joined the cast of the Anna D. Shapiro-directed Broadway run of Tracy Letts’ The Minutes. The Schitt’s Creek actor has replaced Armie Hammer, who dropped out in April, following sexual harassment allegations and a subsequent LAPD investigation. The story.

—Fade to gray. Lionsgate and AGC Television are teaming up to produce new espionage thriller series Gray, starring Patricia Clarkson and Nathalie Emmanuel. Clarkson will play a CIA spy coming in from the cold in the thriller based on an original idea from Absolute Power novelist David Baldacci. The story.   

—Casting news. Hulu’s limited series about Mike Tyson, Iron Mike, is adding Harvey Keitel, Laura Harrier, Grace Zabriskie, Olunike Adeliyi and TJ Atoms to the cast. The eight-episode series, currently in production, stars Trevante Rhodes as Tyson, with Keitel set to play Cus D’Amato, the boxer's first trainer, mentor and eventually adoptive father. The story. 

What's It Like to Be a Latino In Hollywood? 

►"There’s no other month I feel more invisible." Jaime Dávila, exec producer of Netflix's Selena: The Series, penned a guest column for THR that posted Friday, the last day of Hispanic Heritage Month. In the column, Dávila reflects on the irony of a month celebrating Latino culture when the stark reality, in Hollywood and elsewhere, is that Latinos are grossly underrepresented: "I must be more honest about what it really means to be among the 49 percent of Los Angeles residents that identify as Latino, one of the almost five million people who reside in Hollywood but are rarely heard from in “mainstream” media except for this one month." The column.  

—"I feel really proud of what we did." The Morning Show newcomer Greta Lee speaks to THR's Jackie Strause about how her character, Stella Bak, has been making her mark at the show’s fictional network home as the new UBA president. The actress also talked of her pride in how the show tackles racism and anti-Asian hate in the COVID-era season and shares her hope for Stella if the series returns. Warning spoilers. The interview. 

—Getting the band back together. Matt Damon and Ben Affleck make their much-awaited onscreen reunion in Ridley Scott's The Last Duel. Speaking to THR, the pair, together with co-screenwriter Nicole Holofcener, talk in depth about the medieval drama, which marks a major reunion for the two men: their first writing collaboration in almost 25 years since their Oscar-winning film Good Will Hunting. The interview. 

In other news... 

—Theater review: Saoirse Ronan in The Tragedy of Macbeth. 

—TV ratings: MLB playoffs score but NFL rules Thursday.

—Phil Rosenthal proclaims L.A.’s food scene has “surpassed” New York’s.

—Corey Stoll prepared for West Side Story by watching 1961 original and then forgetting all about it.

—AFI Fest: 6 standouts from 2021 indie films set for Hollywood Reporter panel.

—Leo Sheng and Jillian Mercado on their L Word: Generation Q rom-com romance.

—Oscars: Finland selects Compartment No. 6 for international feature category.

—Salma Hayek explains viral Angelina Jolie cake-smashing video.

—Busan Film Festival: Farewell, My Hometown, and The Apartment take top awards.

—Bulgari Hotels & Resorts unveils plans for Los Angeles getaway.

—Dorothy Steel, actress in Black Panther, dies at 95.

—Darren Criss and wife Mia expecting their first baby. 

What else we're reading...

—"On Succession, Gerri Calls the Shots. J. Smith-cameron Knows the Feeling" [Los Angeles Times]

—"The Cruel Paradox of Linda Evangelista’s Fate" [New York Times]

—"What Does the Next Era of James Bond Look Like?" [The Ringer]

—"Please Stop The Great British Baking Show From Becoming The Great British Science Fair" [Vanity Fair]

—"How Did Netflix Fuck Up the Dave Chappelle Backlash This Badly?" [Daily Beast]

Today... 

...in 1973, Sydney Pollack’s romantic drama The Way We Were held its premiere in New York at Loew’s State 1 theater. The Barbra Streisand and Robert Redford film went on to be nominated for six Oscars at the 46th Academy Awards, winning two for original dramatic score and the title song. The original review. 

Today's birthdays: Angela Lansbury (96), Tim Robbins (63), Caterina Scorsone (40), Suzanne Somers (75), Paul Sparks (50), Flea (59), Jeremy Jackson (41), Kenneth Lonergan (59), David Zucker (74), Pamela Bach-Hasselhoff (58), Anniek Pheifer (44), Kim Wayans (60), Kellie Martin (46), Madison Wolfe (19)