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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, October ninth, 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. On today's episode,

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Speaker 1: Variety's Tatiana Siegal discusses her deep dive on Barry Weiss

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Speaker 1: and what Weiss's new role as editor in chief means

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Speaker 1: for CBS News. And we'll hear from Variety's veteran international

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Speaker 1: correspondent Nick Viverrelli on the pulse of the media biz

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Speaker 1: in Italy as he covers the Rome media market. But

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

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Speaker 1: just in this morning that you need to know. Megan

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Speaker 1: Kelly has cut a rich, multi year deal with Sirius

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Speaker 1: ExM to host her own channel. She will continue with

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Speaker 1: her flagship daily show and add other new titles. It's

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Speaker 1: all flowing through her Devil Maycare Media production banner. Taylor

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Speaker 1: Swift is busting through album sales records once again with

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Speaker 1: Life of a Showgirl. She now claims the biggest first

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Speaker 1: week of sales ever for an album more than three

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Speaker 1: point five million units across physical product, sales and streaming.

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Speaker 1: The previous record holder was Adele for her album twenty five,

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Speaker 1: released in December twenty fifteen. Don't miss Owen Gleiberman's great

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Speaker 1: review of what sounds like an awesome feature documentary from

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Speaker 1: director Robert Gordon Newport and the Great Folk Dream. It's

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Speaker 1: culled from hours and hours of footage shot during the

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Speaker 1: pivotal years of nineteen sixty three to nineteen sixty six.

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Speaker 1: You might call it a prequel to a Complete Unknown.

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Speaker 1: All of these stories and so much more can be

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Speaker 1: found on Variety dot com. Right now. Now we turn

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Speaker 1: to conversations with Variety journalists about news and trends in

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Speaker 1: show business. Tatiana Siegel, Variety's executive editor of Film and Media,

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Speaker 1: discusses her deep dive on Barry Weiss and what it

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Speaker 1: all means. There's still a lot of uncertainty at the

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Speaker 1: Tiffany Network about who's in charge of the news division.

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Speaker 1: Tatiana Siegel, thanks for joining me.

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Speaker 2: Happy to be back.

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Speaker 1: We send you on the toughest missions. No name has

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Speaker 1: been on people's lips like Barry Weiss, who is known

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Speaker 1: personalities in East Coast journalism circles, and she has just

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Speaker 1: been tapped by CBS News for this newly created editor

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Speaker 1: in chief role that came with Paramount acquiring her digital

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Speaker 1: media startup, The Free Press. It's fair to say the

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Speaker 1: industry has been obsessing about Barry Weiss and her new

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Speaker 1: role at CBS News, Tatiana. As you set out to

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Speaker 1: make sense of all this, what did you find?

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Speaker 2: People have very strong opinions about Barry Weiss, both very

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Speaker 2: good and some negative. She elicits a strong response from people.

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Speaker 1: There was a lot of chatter about this deal and

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Speaker 1: that it was formally announced at the start of this week.

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Speaker 1: Paramount said they're bringing in Barry Weiss for her perspective,

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Speaker 1: bringing a perspective that they clearly feel was missing within

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Speaker 1: the larger CBS News organization. Tatiana, What is the lens

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Speaker 1: that Barry Weiss brings that Paramount has been so eager

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Speaker 1: install at CBS News.

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Speaker 2: I think that is the sixty four thousand dollars question.

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Speaker 2: What are her politics? How will they be injected into

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Speaker 2: the content and the News and the newsroom, and that's

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Speaker 2: where I got a lot of differing answers. I think

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Speaker 2: there's sort of a knee jerk reaction that Barry Weiss

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Speaker 2: is center conservative slash contrarian. She's been vocal on social

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Speaker 2: media and elsewhere about Israel, and so people will say, oh,

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Speaker 2: we think this is what transpires at CBS News. But

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Speaker 2: other people that I talked to said that Barry is

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Speaker 2: actually very independently minded. Would not not work with somebody

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Speaker 2: because of their politics. She is somebody who comes from

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Speaker 2: the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times. After that,

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Speaker 2: she's obviously worked in a newsroom with differing opinions. I

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Speaker 2: think the Ellisons cee Barry Weiss is somebody who can

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Speaker 2: shift the way things are done without losing journalism altogether.

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Speaker 1: Let's talk about the Free Press. It was launched in

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Speaker 1: twenty twenty one. The Ellison's appear to be responding to

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Speaker 1: the impact that she and two other founders had in

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Speaker 1: launching this. Do you think the Free Press had really

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Speaker 1: made a mark in its few years in operation.

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Speaker 2: I think it did. It was talked about, it was cited.

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Speaker 2: They definitely broke news.

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Speaker 1: There was a number attached to this deal early on,

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Speaker 1: long before it became official, of one hundred and fifty

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Speaker 1: million as the price tag for the Free Press. Knowing

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Speaker 1: what I know about digital media businesses, I struggle to

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Speaker 1: see how that valuation was reached. But I know you

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Speaker 1: did dig into that tatana and what what do you

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Speaker 1: think is going on? Is that a real number?

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Speaker 2: It's impossible to say if it is a one hundred

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Speaker 2: percent real number because there's so many factors that go

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Speaker 2: into it. But based on people I talked to that

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Speaker 2: knew what they were talking about, I was told that

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Speaker 2: Free Press brought in somewhere between fifteen and twenty million

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Speaker 2: a year in revenues. It wasn't just a website or substack.

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Speaker 2: They also had events. There were other components of whatever

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Speaker 2: the money making was there.

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Speaker 1: So Barry now going into CBS News has the title

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Speaker 1: of editor in chief. There's also a CBS News president

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Speaker 1: in Tom Sabrowski. Do you have any sense of what

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Speaker 1: Barry's role is going to be.

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Speaker 2: I think that that is still to some extent being

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Speaker 2: worked out. She will report directly to David Ellison, so

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Speaker 2: it's not like there's a layer above her other than

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Speaker 2: the owner. I think that is where some of the

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Speaker 2: trepidation is with who is in charge here, right? And

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Speaker 2: I don't think that is fully known how that works out,

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Speaker 2: because you can have people on paper being the one

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Speaker 2: in charge, but do they have the final say on hirings, firings,

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Speaker 2: contract renewals. The best sources that I talked to seem

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Speaker 2: to say that their understanding is Barry will have a voice,

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Speaker 2: but not the only voice.

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Speaker 1: Let me close by asking you your sense of David

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Speaker 1: Ellison and what he wants to see out of CBS News.

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Speaker 1: I read very carefully his memo that he put out

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Speaker 1: in announcing the deal. He's saying all the right things

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Speaker 1: in terms of what he wants CBS News to be.

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Speaker 1: What is your sense about what people there think in

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Speaker 1: just a few months that he has been the big boss.

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Speaker 2: It's still a big wait and see. I think people

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Speaker 2: have no actual idea because unlike the film industry, which

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Speaker 2: can look and point to David's work as a producer

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Speaker 2: slash financier of films and see how you know deep

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Speaker 2: politics make its way into top gun or movies he's

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Speaker 2: worked on and have an answer, there's no answer on

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Speaker 2: the news front. This is really brand new territory.

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Speaker 1: And as always, news organizations are tested when there is

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Speaker 1: big news to cover, so there will be a lot

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Speaker 1: of scrutiny, much to watch and much to cover. Thank

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Speaker 1: you Tatiana as always for taking on the hard ones.

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Speaker 1: Now we switch our lens to Europe and the Rome

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Speaker 1: media market, which is also known by the acronym Miia

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Speaker 1: or MIA. Nick Viverelli reports the topics generating buzz among

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Speaker 1: buyers and sellers at the event include AI co productions

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Speaker 1: and the tighter coordination of how TV shows and movies

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Speaker 1: are rolled out between linear and streaming platforms. Nick Vivarelli

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Speaker 1: our man in Rome for many years, Thanks for joining me.

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Speaker 3: Thank you Cynthia.

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Speaker 1: You're based in Rome and for a change you're covering

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Speaker 1: a big market that happens to be in Rome and

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Speaker 1: a very active MIA market this year. Give us some

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Speaker 1: background in terms of what MIA is and what its

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Speaker 1: importance to Italy is.

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Speaker 3: Mia was set up eleven years ago, and it was

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Speaker 3: set up because the Italian industry felt there was something

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Speaker 3: missing and what was missing was a major market in

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Speaker 3: Italy which Italy used to have, which was the me

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Speaker 3: fed market in Milan. At some point roughly twenty years ago,

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Speaker 3: it was taken off the map basically due to the

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Speaker 3: fact that there was there was a change of dates

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Speaker 3: on the part of AFM. Americans didn't really want to

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Speaker 3: come to Italy that much during that time of year,

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Speaker 3: and so the market just collapsed. So sometime later the

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Speaker 3: Italian industry regrouped and they launched this market. What makes

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Speaker 3: Mia unique is the fact that it's dedicated to product

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Speaker 3: that is not finished product, so it's in various stages

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Speaker 3: of either development or production, but it's it's seeking a

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Speaker 3: piece of its financing, and so it's a place where

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Speaker 3: basically you can foster European co productions.

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Speaker 1: This does draw the biggest players and people. Really they

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Speaker 1: really are doing business here.

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Speaker 2: Oh yeah, you have all.

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Speaker 3: The bigger players in Europe, like you have a Fremantle,

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Speaker 3: you have Banni J, you have all of the streamers,

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Speaker 3: you have Sony Pictures Television. So you know, the level

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Speaker 3: of executives that are coming to Rome is top level.

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Speaker 1: Is it fully organized by the Italian government or is

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Speaker 1: there a third party entity that runs.

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Speaker 3: This is fully financed and organized by the Italian government.

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Speaker 3: They make it a very pleasant experience. It's set up

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Speaker 3: in central Rome. The Hub is a combination of a

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Speaker 3: beautiful National Arts Gallery where they set up stands, some

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Speaker 3: of the stands that are just in the midst of

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Speaker 3: the museum under Renaissance paintings. And connected to that is

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Speaker 3: a multiplex movie theater which is very state of the art,

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Speaker 3: where they can have either screenings or panels. There's a

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Speaker 3: beautiful garden, they're lovely restaurants. It's right near the Via

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Speaker 3: Ventato of Delcea Vita fame.

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Speaker 1: You are painting such a picture, Nick, You're in the

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Speaker 1: thick of it now so far. What have been the themes?

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Speaker 1: What have people been talking about as you've been walking

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Speaker 1: around these gorgeous settings.

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Speaker 3: Well, one of the themes, unsurprisingly has been artificial intelligence,

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Speaker 3: and there's a new dedicated section on AI.

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Speaker 1: Would you say, is the attitude fear or is it

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Speaker 1: like we need to understand this. What's the attitude toward AI?

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Speaker 3: The head of Sky Studios in Italy, Neil's Hartman, said

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Speaker 3: that it's something that we have to face, and we

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Speaker 3: have to face it fearlessly, and we definitely have to

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Speaker 3: come to terms with the fact that content creation is changing.

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Speaker 3: So I think the attitude is we can't just pretend

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Speaker 3: that it's not there.

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Speaker 1: One headline coming out of mea that caught my eye

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Speaker 1: is that original content commissioning by Italian TV and film

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Speaker 1: companies has dropped considerably twelve percent in the last year

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Speaker 1: or so. How was this news received?

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Speaker 3: This is a trend that we're seeing worldwide. There is

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Speaker 3: a bit of a slowdown in terms of commissioning. On

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Speaker 3: the positive side, the commissions for unscripted are rising. For example,

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Speaker 3: Amazon Prime Video has diminished the number of scripted shows,

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Speaker 3: but they've actually increased the number of unscripted.

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Speaker 1: And Nick, you had mentioned to me that there's going

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Speaker 1: to be a very starry executive visit from Netflix to

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Speaker 1: button up the week. What are you expecting from that?

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Speaker 3: Well, it's a nice coincidence that this year's MIA coincides

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Speaker 3: with the ten year anniversary of Netflix launching in Italy.

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Speaker 3: Ted Sarandus is going to be in Rome tomorrow to

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Speaker 3: announce an agreement between Netflix and an Italian institution. We

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Speaker 3: don't really know anything more than that at the moment,

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Speaker 3: but I do think it's significant that he's going to

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Speaker 3: be here.

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Speaker 1: What else do you think people are going to be

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Speaker 1: talking about through the rest of the market.

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Speaker 3: In the panel yesterday where they gave all the facts

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Speaker 3: and figures about Italian TV. One of the things that

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Speaker 3: was discussed was the crossover now between public broadcaster, between

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Speaker 3: RYE and Netflix, where they have a show while the

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Speaker 3: See Beyond that launches on the streamer that's connected to RYE.

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Speaker 3: That's where they launch it first, then it goes in

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Speaker 3: in primetime on Rise linear channel, and then it goes

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Speaker 3: on Netflix. So there's this synergy between linear and streaming

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Speaker 3: and also between the public broadcaster and Netflix. And I

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Speaker 3: think one of the things that people are talking about

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Speaker 3: is how to work within this new world where you

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Speaker 3: have streamers that are connected to linear broadcasters, and there's

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Speaker 3: just new business models connected to that and new ways

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Speaker 3: of conceiving shows.

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Speaker 1: You know, I look at ABC, CBS, NBC, they all

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Speaker 1: have some version of that setup. Nick. As ever, thank

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Speaker 1: you for covering all of this stuff in real time

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Speaker 1: for us Joos Cincia, and now we'll get a bulletin

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Speaker 1: about Friday's episode of Variety's Strictly Business podcast from Andrew Wallenstein.

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Speaker 1: Andy is my longtime colleague, my dear friend, and he

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Speaker 1: is co host of Strictly Business. Andrew Wallenstein, thanks for

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Speaker 1: joining me. Good to be with you, Andy, you are

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Speaker 1: overdue for being on. We started in July, and Daily

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Speaker 1: Variety is a full fledged spin off of Strictly Business,

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Speaker 1: the weekly interview podcast series that you and I launched

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Speaker 1: for Variety back in twenty eighteen.

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Speaker 4: It's great to see Daily Variety evolve. It feels like

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Speaker 4: a true sibling and sensibility to what we started with

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Speaker 4: Strictly Business, and I'm looking forward to continuing to watch

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Speaker 4: it grow.

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Speaker 1: You and I have been colleagues a long time and

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Speaker 1: we have a lot of similar interests. That's what has

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Speaker 1: made Strictly Business such a great partnership. And now we've

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Speaker 1: opened the doors and a lot of colleagues are also

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Speaker 1: contributing episodes. And for the last bunch of years, Andy,

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Speaker 1: you headed up a data unit within Variety called the

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Speaker 1: Variety Intelligence Platform. Earlier this year, you transitioned that team

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Speaker 1: over to another division of our parent company, PMC called Illuminate.

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Speaker 4: We while originally were Variety Intelligence, we have since rebranded

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Speaker 4: as Illuminated Intelligence, but largely doing the same analytic work

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Speaker 4: about the entertainment industry, putting out monthly reports and daily commentaries.

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Speaker 4: Only now we've got exclusive illuminate data.

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Speaker 1: You will definitely have to come back and talk about

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Speaker 1: some of your reports, but you've popped on today because

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Speaker 1: you've teed up a very special episode of Strictly Business

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Speaker 1: for the October tenth release, and it was an interview

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Speaker 1: that you eagerly pursued for a very specific timing.

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Speaker 4: I realized that it was twenty years ago this week

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Speaker 4: that a deal I consider a true landmark in the

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Speaker 4: digital entertainment space, when Apple and Disney came together to

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Speaker 4: put prime time TV shows like Lost and Desperate Housewives

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Speaker 4: on iTunes or more specifically, on the video iPod. And

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Speaker 4: luckily I was able to get Anne Sweeney, who at

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Speaker 4: one point would one of the most prominent executives in Hollywood,

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Speaker 4: presided over a wealth of TV assets from ABC to

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Speaker 4: Disney Channel, and she was the one who really drove

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Speaker 4: this deal. And so we didn't just want to explain

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Speaker 4: what the deal was about, but to give people a

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Speaker 4: picture of this period twenty years ago when there was

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Speaker 4: no Netflix streaming YouTube was barely in its infancy, so

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Speaker 4: it was really groundbreaking in terms of bringing premium entertainment

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Speaker 4: to digital devices in a way no one had before.

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Speaker 1: I love that she is so candid and so forthcoming

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Speaker 1: about the circumstances, the competitive dynamics. Listeners, it's a terrific listen.

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Speaker 1: If you're a fan of Daily Writing and Strictly Business,

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Speaker 1: you're gonna love this because Andy really takes Ann Sweeney

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Speaker 1: beat by bet so thanks so much for pursuing that

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Speaker 1: and bringing it to Strictly Business.

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Speaker 4: Andy absolutely looking forward to coming back on the show.

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Speaker 4: And we've got some other good stuff to share.

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Speaker 1: As we close out today's episode. Here's a few things

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Speaker 1: we're watching for the great Live Olman will be honored

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Speaker 1: by the European Film Academy at the European Film Awards

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Speaker 1: in January in Berlin. I'm heading off this weekend to

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Speaker 1: the MIPCOM Content Market in can France. It's a packed

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Speaker 1: schedule of speakers and should be a very busy week

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Speaker 1: on the Quassett. You'll hear all about it on this

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Speaker 1: podcast next week with reports from me and my colleagues,

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Speaker 1: including Elsa Kislass, Variety's international editor. Before we go, congrats

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Speaker 1: to Shannon Buck. She's just been named Executive VP and

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Speaker 1: head of Communications in PR for Paramounts Direct to Consumer division.

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Speaker 1: She's an alum of Netflix NBC Universal and Stars and

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Speaker 1: One More Thing. Happy Birthday, John Lennon and Sean ono'lennon, Imagine,

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Speaker 1: Thanks for listening. This episode was written and reported by

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Speaker 1: me Cynthia Littleton, with contributions from Tatiana Siegel and Nick

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Speaker 1: Viverrelli sticks Nick's hick Picks. Please leave us a review

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

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Speaker 1: in Monday for another episode of Daily Variety