Listen in as The Ankler team and industry insiders break down Hollywood’s latest business headlines, power struggles and trends shaping the future of entertainm...
Tales from the '90s: 'Last Action Hero' Screenwriters Tell All
In this new Ankler series, Hollywood Stories, we are starting with wild untold showbiz tales from the '90s. For our debut episode, Richard Rushfield sits down with Adam Leff and Zak Penn, the original screenwriters behind one of film's most iconic flops, Last Action Hero. Speaking publicly together for the first time about the screenplay they sold when they were just out of college 30 years ago, they recall the highs — a heady bidding war, a yes from megastar Arnold Schwarzenegger — and the cascading humiliations of the misbegotten project, which became a superlatively excessive and lousy product of the bloated Hollywood machine it was originally meant to parody.
Transcript here. For more entertainment news, subscribe to The Ankler or apply to The Ladder, a new members-only hub for early career entertainment professionals.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
--------
1:21:46
HBO & the Harry Potter Gamble
What is HBO heading into 2025? A major prestige cabler that can attract any talent it wants? An empire in decline? A little bit of both? Series Business writer Manori Ravindran was at the intimate London gathering where HBO chief Casey Bloys revealed plans for a Harry Potter series, and joins Elaine Low and Richard Rushfield to talk the storied brand’s changed TV buying mandate, new frugality and if it needs a megahit to restore luster. Speaking of! Manori explains the new trick for selling series and getting them made: international co-productions, the kind of deal used on shows from The Day of the Jackal to The Night Manager.
Transcript here. For more entertainment news, subscribe to The Ankler or apply to The Ladder, a new members-only hub for early career entertainment professionals.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
--------
32:08
AI Stole My Scripts: Rage as Big Tech Takes Without Asking
When The Good Wife co-creator Robert King saw that 139,000 produced TV and movie scripts — including his — were used for AI training, it “personalized” the AI issue for him. “There’s something very offensive of someone just walking into your house, checking into your computer, grabbing everything and saying, Well, it’s for the better good of training,” says King, who joins Elaine Low to discuss writers’ reaction, why studios must take action and no one should believe Big Tech’s assurances. Plus: Katey Rich joins Sean McNulty, Richard Rushfield and Elaine to game the Oscars race as it now stands, post-#Glicked.
Transcript here. For more entertainment news, subscribe to The Ankler or apply to The Ladder, a new members-only hub for early career entertainment professionals.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
--------
53:54
MSNBC’s $125 Million ‘Ratings Viagra’
Ratings are down 40 percent, Morning Joe’s hosts are being ridiculed and the network’s anchors and shows are soon to be ruthlessly reshuffled. Turns out it’s time for MSNBC to take its $125 million “ratings Viagra.” Ankler contributor Lachlan Cartwright joins Sean McNulty, Elaine Low and Janice Min to discuss his scoopy, blockbuster about MSNBC, Rachel Maddow’s pay cut and who’s likely to be on air and off (even before Comcast spins-out the channel). Plus: Richard Rushfield’s exclusive on the Attorney General’s investigation into the not-yet-closed deal to buy the Golden Globes and what it could mean for CBS’ broadcast.
Transcript here. For more entertainment news, subscribe to The Ankler or apply to The Ladder, a new members-only hub for early career entertainment professionals.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
--------
53:02
The New Disney Magic
Don’t mind the $430 million revenue drop in linear over the last two years — Bob Iger would like to shift your attention over to streaming, where price hikes have proven a magical Disney attraction. Elaine Low, Sean McNulty and Richard Rushfield break down all the news from Disney’s Q3 earnings call, new turns in the company’s succession drama — and why Richard worries we’re headed back to 1993, only worse. Plus: The crew predicts which films will top the holiday box office.
Transcript here. For more entertainment news, subscribe to The Ankler or apply to The Ladder, a new members-only hub for early career entertainment professionals.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Listen in as The Ankler team and industry insiders break down Hollywood’s latest business headlines, power struggles and trends shaping the future of entertainment.
theankler.com
New Zealand