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Speaker 1: Welcome to Daily Variety, your daily dose of news and

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Speaker 1: analysis for entertainment industry insiders. It's Thursday, August fourteenth, twenty

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Speaker 1: twenty five. I'm your host, Cynthia Littleton. I am co

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Speaker 1: editor in chief of Variety alongside Ramin Setuda. I'm in

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Speaker 1: la He's in New York, and Variety has reporters around

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Speaker 1: the world covering the business of entertainment. In today's episode,

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Speaker 1: we'll talk with Business editor Todd Spangler about the Paramount

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Speaker 1: Skuidance merger. He and I compare notes after we both

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Speaker 1: attended Meet the Press sessions in Gotham and Los Angeles

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Speaker 1: with the new executive team, and we'll hear from Janelle Riley,

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Speaker 1: Variety's deputy Awards and Features editor, who gives us the

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Speaker 1: backstory on Variety's Ten Storytellers to Watch feature. But before

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Speaker 1: we get to that, here are a few headlines just

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Speaker 1: in this morning that you need to know. The incomparable

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Speaker 1: Shenead O'Connor is the subject of a biopic in development.

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Speaker 1: It's been in the works since the release of the

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Speaker 1: twenty twenty two documentary Nothing Compares on the trailblazing singer

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Speaker 1: who died in twenty twenty three at age fifty six.

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Speaker 1: Alex Rittman in our London bureau has the story YouTube

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Speaker 1: is experimenting with new age verification technology in the US.

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Speaker 1: It's designed to determine if viewers are under eighteen. YouTube

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Speaker 1: began rolling out what it calls an age estimation model

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Speaker 1: powered by AI this week. If it determines the person

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Speaker 1: is under eighteen, some viewing restrictions may be added. Ll

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Speaker 1: Cooljay will host MTV's VMA Awards, airing September seventh on

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Speaker 1: CBS and Paramount Plus with a simulcast on MTV. The

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Speaker 1: wording of this announcement tells me it is a new

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Speaker 1: world order for Paramount and CBS. All of these stories

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Speaker 1: and so much more can be found on Variety dot

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Speaker 1: com right now. Now, we turned to conversations with Variety

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Speaker 1: journalists about news and trends in show business. Next up,

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Speaker 1: I'll compare notes with business editor Todd Spangler on the

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Speaker 1: vibes and the vision around the new regime At paramount

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Speaker 1: S guidance. We both attended media Q and A sessions

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Speaker 1: with CEO David Ellison and others. Todd went to Times

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Speaker 1: Square last week on the day the deal closed. I

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Speaker 1: went to the Paramount lot on Wednesday. Here's our takeaways.

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Speaker 1: Todd Spangler, thanks for joining me.

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Speaker 2: Hello, helone.

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Speaker 1: We have a fun opportunity here to compare notes because

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Speaker 1: we both had the privilege of spending some time with

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Speaker 1: the new regime. At Paramount's guidance, David Ellison, Jeff Shell.

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Speaker 1: They did a press event in New York on the

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Speaker 1: Data merger closed August seventh. Today here on August thirteenth,

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Speaker 1: they did a similar thing on the Paramount Pictures lot

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Speaker 1: on Melrose Avenue and Hollywood. You had Paramount Skuydance CEO,

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Speaker 1: David Ellison, president, Jeff Shell, who's very well known as

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Speaker 1: a media veteran, and five of their top lieutenants that

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Speaker 1: to their credit, they just fielded questions from a couple

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Speaker 1: of dozen entertainment business reporters, including me and my colleague

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Speaker 1: Matt Donnelly, Todd from your time in Times Square at

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Speaker 1: fifteen fifteen Broadway, What did you come away with?

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Speaker 2: So in New York it was literally just three or

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Speaker 2: four hours after they had officially closed the deal for Paramount.

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Speaker 2: I think the messaging that we came away with was

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Speaker 2: David Ellison saying, look, we're going to bring in some

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Speaker 2: Silicon Valley expertise, which this company has been lacking, but

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Speaker 2: we're going to remain true to Paramount's creative roots. And

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Speaker 2: then you had Jerry Cardinally, who's big investor, head of Redbird, saying, look,

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Speaker 2: we are professional managers were coming in and we're going

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Speaker 2: to manage these assets better than they had before. I

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Speaker 2: spoke to Jerry at our event and he was very emphatic,

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Speaker 2: we will invest. They really pledged to significantly up the

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Speaker 2: investment to make Paramount Plus a contender alongside Disney Plus

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Speaker 2: and HBO Max And you and I both know that's

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Speaker 2: going to take a lot of money.

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Speaker 1: If they're serious about that. They said all the things

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Speaker 1: fareholder value running the company to making it much more efficient.

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Speaker 1: They were very candid. It's funny in every merger, the

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Speaker 1: new regime always picks one or two things that they

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Speaker 1: point out as being backwards from the old regime, and

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Speaker 1: this time around there have been critical of Paramount's operation

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Speaker 1: of two very totally separate, sort of siloed Paramount Plus

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Speaker 1: Dreamer and Pluto the Fast Channel, and so that they're

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Speaker 1: saying that there's a lot of savings and even more

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Speaker 1: corporate benefit to be had by bringing them together.

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Speaker 2: They talk good talk, and it is true Pluto and

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Speaker 2: Paramount Plus, yes, should be on the same platform. But look,

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Speaker 2: it's taken Disney many years now to merge Hulu and

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Speaker 2: Disney Plus onto the same tech stack. So this is

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Speaker 2: not an easy thing. It's super expensive. I think what

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Speaker 2: I came away from the New York presentation sensing was

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Speaker 2: they were not allowed connecting the dots. How are you

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Speaker 2: going to turn this thing around other than just trying

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Speaker 2: to cut a bunch of costs. Well, between the New

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Speaker 2: York presentation and the LA presentation this past Monday, they

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Speaker 2: showed at least part of their hand this seven point

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Speaker 2: seven million dollar deal with UFC over seven years. That's

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Speaker 2: a real proof point, right that they're going to invest

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Speaker 2: in Paramount Plus and bring this premium programming to try

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Speaker 2: to make baramunt Plus on its own a thriving, standalone

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Speaker 2: winner in the streaming wars.

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Speaker 1: Ellison was very strong about that the owners of this

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Speaker 1: company now the key majority owners, their incentives are aligned

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Speaker 1: to make Paramount as successful as possible. He pointed to

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Speaker 1: the previous regime the Redstones had through super majority shares,

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Speaker 1: they had ironcloud voting control of almost eighty percent of shares,

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Speaker 1: so they could basically vote in what they wanted, but

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Speaker 1: they had only ten percent of the economic interest in

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Speaker 1: the company. Now the Ellisons and that group have seventy

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Speaker 1: percent of the economic interest and one hundred percent of

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Speaker 1: the voting power, so they have actually even more sway

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Speaker 1: over the company.

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Speaker 2: The skin in the game is definitely compelling statement.

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Speaker 1: Another thing that stood out to me from our questioning

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Speaker 1: was that they really David Ellison and Dana Goldberg, who

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Speaker 1: was going to have a very big hand in steering

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Speaker 1: film and TV there both made a very strong pledge

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Speaker 1: to support family programming, truly programming for children. Obviously they

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Speaker 1: have Nickelodeon, they have a studio that does family features,

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Speaker 1: but they both emphasize that this is a market that

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Speaker 1: is very important to them. David Ellison has two young

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Speaker 1: daughters at home that is going to influence the way

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Speaker 1: he pilots this company, no doubt.

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Speaker 2: As a media company. To be a big player, you

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Speaker 2: want to cover all the quadrants, and it's kids, sports, news, scripted, unscripted,

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Speaker 2: everything and all that takes is money, right.

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Speaker 1: You could see the eagerness. You could tell that it's

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Speaker 1: been a longslot things that we've covered in depth throughout

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Speaker 1: the last months here on Variety. You can tell that

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Speaker 1: they are eager to get to work. And of course,

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Speaker 1: while a bunch of us were sitting there eating our

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Speaker 1: quin wa and salmon salads over there at Paramount, the

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Speaker 1: company was making news in other realms. The stock went

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Speaker 1: a little crazy. Todd what happened?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, No, one is entirely sure. Because on the day

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Speaker 2: that they announced the UFC dealed, the stock declined three

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Speaker 2: about three point four percent, So you know, that didn't

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Speaker 2: seem to be what something that retail investors were going

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Speaker 2: to gravitate toward. But today stock went up thirty six percent.

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Speaker 1: I mean, that's crazy.

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Speaker 2: Jim Kramer, CNBC grasping for an explanation, and is only

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Speaker 2: it's a meme stock, you know, which indicates that their

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Speaker 2: people or groups of people who are somehow promoting this

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Speaker 2: on social media somewhere. You couldn't find a real source

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Speaker 2: of who was promoting this stock in this way, but

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Speaker 2: it definitely went up and buying today.

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Speaker 1: These meme stocks usually seem to revolve around companies that

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Speaker 1: are really really into stress or extremely flimsy, and Paramount

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Speaker 1: has its problems but it has truly has lots of

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Speaker 1: hard assets. And that wasn't the only other headline that

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Speaker 1: emerged while we were lunching and schmoozing with the executives.

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Speaker 1: One investor, Mario Gabelli, made his feelings known in a

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Speaker 1: lawsuit against former owner Sharry Redstone.

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Speaker 2: That's right. He'd been talking ever since the deal, even

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Speaker 2: before the deal was done last summer, that he wasn't

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Speaker 2: sure that this was going to give the other Class

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Speaker 2: A investors in Paaramount Global the former Paramount fair shape.

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Speaker 2: And he said his company asked for documentation from Paramount

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Speaker 2: and National Amusements and they claimed that it just didn't

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Speaker 2: provide the transparency to give them assurance that they weren't

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Speaker 2: getting cheated effectively on a steal. So the lawsuit is

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Speaker 2: alleging that Sharry Redstones National Amusements Ink received sixty bucks

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Speaker 2: per share for their Class A voting shares, well Geabelly's

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Speaker 2: firm and others similarly situated shore Owders got twenty three

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Speaker 2: bucks a share, and that was the twenty three dollars

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Speaker 2: to share with public. But he's alleging that Scherry made

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Speaker 2: out like a bandit and the other classic stockglders got stiffed.

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Speaker 1: Doesn't this stuff all have to be spelled out in

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Speaker 1: black and white in these three inch thick SEC filings

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Speaker 1: around these kind of deals? Or is there a wiggle

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Speaker 1: room because National Amusements itself was private.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it was not disclosed what the per share price

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Speaker 2: per SE was going to be for the NAI portion

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Speaker 2: of that.

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Speaker 1: I remember there was a lot of back and forth

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Speaker 1: about that. Well, was Scherry Redstone's overall haul. It's at

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Speaker 1: one point it was over two billion, and then I

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Speaker 1: think by the end it was neated at one point

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Speaker 1: eight if I'm not mistaken.

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Speaker 2: Yep, when you back out the debt, that's right.

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Speaker 1: Well, never a dull moment covering the Redstones, even as

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Speaker 1: they let go of their empire. At the event that

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Speaker 1: I attended, I'm just going to say it the best,

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Speaker 1: just hands down. George Cheeks a super cool Sam and

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Speaker 1: pink suit. He looked very Martha's Vineyard. CBS has been

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Speaker 1: through a lot is part of this merger, so here's

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Speaker 1: hoping for brighter days for the Tiffany Network and other things.

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Speaker 1: Todd is always thank you for helping us sort all

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Speaker 1: this stuff out.

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Speaker 2: Thank you.

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Speaker 1: Next up, we'll hear from Janelle Riley on how she

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Speaker 1: assembled this year's very eclectic ten Storytellers to Watch feature.

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Speaker 1: Janelle Riley, thanks for joining me.

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Speaker 3: Hi, thank you so much for having me a longtime listener,

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Speaker 3: first time participant on here.

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Speaker 1: We published a feature this week, Ten Storytellers to Watch,

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Speaker 1: and you were the person who assembled it. You spearheaded

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Speaker 1: the recruiting and the scouting for it. Janelle, what inspired

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Speaker 1: this particular list?

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Speaker 3: We've had so many like Oscar winners and big names

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Speaker 3: come off ten Directors to Watch list, and we do

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Speaker 3: ten screenwriters as well, and obviously ten actors. But you know,

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Speaker 3: storytellers is such a great word because there's so many

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Speaker 3: unique ways to tell a story. You know, so many

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Speaker 3: different mediums, and you can do it through music, through words,

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Speaker 3: sometimes you can do it without any sound at all.

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Speaker 3: So looking for people who are creative and interesting and

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Speaker 3: telling stories in new ways, and that could be anything

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Speaker 3: from composers to podcasters to playwrights to people who will

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Speaker 3: do all three of those things at once.

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Speaker 1: Can you give me an example of folks on the

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Speaker 1: list that you think epitomize this new reformability to be

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Speaker 1: a creator that is not bound by discipline or genre.

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Speaker 3: I was not super familiar with what pad, which is

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Speaker 3: a site where authors can upload their stories, and one

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Speaker 3: of our storytellers to watch, Ariana Goody, got started by

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Speaker 3: uploading a story to a website titled Mia More de

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Speaker 3: pad My what pad Love, and you developed a big

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Speaker 3: following from there and is now, you know, publishing her

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Speaker 3: first novels that are also being made into films.

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Speaker 1: We've done some interesting stories which you realize is that

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Speaker 1: there is such a content ecosystem in Asia and the webtunes,

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Speaker 1: as you say, is not only a platform for aspiring writers,

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Speaker 1: but also just literary scouts. Now you'll have a bellweather

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Speaker 1: for how much people are reading, how much they're reacting

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Speaker 1: to a story, how they react to different characters. Variety

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Speaker 1: was on the CUSP pair because we had David jay Lee,

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Speaker 1: who is the big boss of Webtoon Entertainment, one of

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Speaker 1: the biggest publishers based in South Korea but with increasing

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Speaker 1: operations in Los Angeles. David jay Lee joined us at

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Speaker 1: our entertainment conference at CEES this year, and he was

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Speaker 1: a guest on our Strictly Business podcast back in January.

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Speaker 1: It's great that you tapped into webtunes as a springboard

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Speaker 1: for writing talent. Now I kind of addicted to that site.

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Speaker 1: There's a lot of really great writing on there. There's

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Speaker 1: so much talent out there. Where did you start in

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Speaker 1: terms of scouting and narrowing the list of folks that

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Speaker 1: you thought was worthy of inclusion. We start by asking

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Speaker 1: for recommendations, you know, from different people in the industry

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Speaker 1: or just people we know. It reached out to publishing

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Speaker 1: houses to see who were the up and coming authors were,

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Speaker 1: but a lot of it really is word of mouth.

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Speaker 1: In fact, you gave me a great suggestion that ended

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Speaker 1: up making the list. Thank you for including my suggestion.

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Speaker 1: Jake Halpern is a very distinctive voice, and I've read

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Speaker 1: his byline, I've heard his work on radio and podcast platforms.

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Speaker 3: We have a lot of discussions about like what is

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Speaker 3: a storyteller and how it encompasses so much and things

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Speaker 3: you might not have normally thought of. This year we

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Speaker 3: have Heather Christian who is a theater artist who writes books,

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Speaker 3: music lyrics, also performs does scores even for adult swim

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Speaker 3: programs and for movies for other people. Just a little

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Speaker 3: bit of everything, and it's really fun. People can be hyphenates.

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Speaker 3: Nobody feels like they have to be one or the

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Speaker 3: other anymore. You can work on Broadway and in your

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Speaker 3: spare time you can write for adult swim. It is very,

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Speaker 3: very mobile time for creative talent, that is for sure. Well,

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Speaker 3: all of the storytelling prowess is going to be celebrated

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Speaker 3: next week, August seventeenth in the Little Rock at the

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Speaker 3: Film Land Festival. A number of the honorees will be

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Speaker 3: able to join Variety there at a panel hosted by

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Speaker 3: our very own chief film critic, Peter de Bruges. Yes,

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Speaker 3: he's very excited to go to Arkansas. You know, I

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Speaker 3: was actually in Arkansas recently because the Bentonville Film Festival,

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Speaker 3: which is done in conjunction with Gena Davis's Media Institute,

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Speaker 3: is also in Arkansas.

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Speaker 1: Janelle, thank you for joining me to talk about this list. Absolutely,

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Speaker 1: thank you so much. As we close out today's episode,

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Speaker 1: here's a few things we're watching for today. In New York,

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Speaker 1: Variety and Rolling Stone are hosting our fifth annual truth

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Speaker 1: Seekers event, showcasing documentary content. We'll have highlights in Monday's episode.

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Speaker 1: Variety is about to go on a big festival run

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Speaker 1: for the rest of August. On Saturday, we'll publish the

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Speaker 1: first of three digital show dailies out of the Sarajevo

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Speaker 1: Film Festival. On Sunday, we'll have the first of three

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Speaker 1: digital dailies out of the san Fik Industria Festival in Santiago, Chile.

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Speaker 1: On Monday, we're on the coast of Norway at the

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Speaker 1: Haggisond Film Festival. And week after next comes the Venice

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Speaker 1: Film Festival, which runs August twenty seventh through September ninth.

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Speaker 1: We'll have a large contingent there. We'll publish five festival

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Speaker 1: print dailies on site in the city of Canals, and

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Speaker 1: we'll also have six digital dailies, plus some other cool

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Speaker 1: stuff that is coming together. There's a lot to cover

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Speaker 1: before we go. Congrats to Rebecca Hable, the theater veteran

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Speaker 1: has been named managing director of the Roundabout Theater Company.

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Speaker 1: Starting next year. She returns to the beloved New York

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Speaker 1: institution after spending the past six years with the Harold

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Speaker 1: and Miriam Steinberg Theater Center and what is now the

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Speaker 1: Todd Haymes Theater on Broadway. Thanks for listening. This episode

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Speaker 1: was written and reported by me Cynthia Littleton, with contributions

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Speaker 1: from Todd Spangler and Janelle Riley. It was edited by

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Speaker 1: Aaron Greenwald. Stick's Next hick Picks. Please leave us a

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Speaker 1: review at the podcast platform of your choice, and please

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Speaker 1: tune in Monday for another episode of Daily Variety.