Hollywood Buzz: May 2023
By Natalie Lifson, Agent Trainee at Buchwald and your co-Editor-in-Chief at THA
THE WRITER'S STRIKE
A comprehensive, regularly updated timeline of the writers strike available here
NEWS
The Directors Guild reaches deal on a new contract with the studios (LA Times, 6/4)
As AMC Theatres closes its streaming platform, AMC Theatres On Demand, it moves its streaming catalog to Vudu (Hollywood Reporter, 6/1)
Vimeo will remove TV apps from app stores, including Apple TV, Android TV, Amazon Fire TV, Fire TV Stick, and Roku (Variety, 6/1)
Comcast is launching a hybrid linear-streaming service for $20 per month. (Deadline, 5/23)
Montana is the first state to ban TikTok. Ban goes into effect January 1, 2024 (CNBC, 5/17)
Bob Chapek, former Disney CEO, being sued for misrepresenting Disney+ subscriber growth (Variety, 5/15)
Vice Media filed for bankruptcy protection (New York Times, 5/15)
BET+ launching an ad-supported tier on June 25th called “BET+ Essential” (Variety, 5/11)
Disney launching a streaming app that combines Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+ (Deadline, 5/10)
The Kelly Clarkson Show is moving from LA to NYC (Variety, 5/8)
NEW PRODUCTION COMPANIES
Blake Shelton and Lee Metzger launched Lucky Horseshow Productions (Variety, 5/24)
The Story Collective has invested in comedy-drama production company Mighty Pebble Pictures, set up and led by James De Frond and Tom Davis (Televisual, 5/18)
Who Knows Best - an Oakland-based production company founded by W. Kamau Bell to produce “revolutionary non-fiction stories” by diverse creators. Overall deal with Boardwalk Pictures (Variety, 5/12)
Yellow Dot Studios - a nonprofit production company founded by Adam McKay (Succession, Anchorman, Vice) to address climate issues (Hollywood Reporter, 5/9)
Wonderworld.fun: New premium animated content production and distribution company. Created in partnership with Kintop Pictures, ReDefine, and Prime Focus Studios (Animation Magazine, 5/9)
"Highly Flammable" - new production company by Fisher Stevens. Maura Anderson and Zak Kilberg are Partners (Deadline, 5/3)
