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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, December eighteenth, twenty

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Speaker 1: twenty five. I'm your host, Cynthia Lyttleton. 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 unpack the YouTube Oscars deal that has rocked Hollywood's world.

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Speaker 1: Varieties Clayton Davis and Michael Schneider explain what they know

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Speaker 1: about what went down, and they debate whether it's a

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Speaker 1: good idea, and then Mark Malcolm brings us a fun

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Speaker 1: and slightly risque interview with one of the heart throbs

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Speaker 1: of the moment, heated rivalry star Connor Story. 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 first

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Speaker 1: is that Daily Variety is going to take a winter

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Speaker 1: break after today's episode, hibernate for a bit and be

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Speaker 1: back with fresh headlines, questions, and quips on January fifth.

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Speaker 1: We started this podcast venture on bestiele Day, July fourteenth,

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Speaker 1: Vivra Daily Variety CBS News is promising us more Town Halls,

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Speaker 1: hosted by Editor in chief Barry Weiss. They're promising a

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Speaker 1: series presented under the banner Things that Matter. Future guests

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Speaker 1: will include Vice President j. D vance Open, AI CEO

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Speaker 1: Sam Altman, and Maryland Governor Wes Moore. Netflix's sports coverage

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Speaker 1: just got a whole lot smarter. ESPN alumnus l Duncan

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Speaker 1: is moving to the streamer. She'll serve as a host

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Speaker 1: across the company's lineup of live events. Her first outing

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Speaker 1: will be early next year, when free solo climber Alex

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Speaker 1: Honnell attempts to scale the tallest building in Taipei. All

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

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Speaker 1: on Variety dot com Right now and now it's time

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Speaker 1: for conversations with Friday journalists about news and trends and

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Speaker 1: show business. Clayton Davis, Barty's Chief Awards editor, and Michael Schneider,

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Speaker 1: television editor, joined me for a robust discussion of what

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Speaker 1: it all means that the Academy Awards will move to

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Speaker 1: YouTube in twenty twenty nine. We don't agree on everything,

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Speaker 1: but we do agree that the deal is a masterstroke

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Speaker 1: for YouTube CEO Neil Mohan, Clayton Davis, and Michael Schneider,

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Speaker 1: thanks for joining me. Hello, Helloo, no rest for the weary.

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Speaker 1: Wednesday morning's crazy curveball was Hello YouTube. The Oscars, the

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Speaker 1: pinnacle of award season is moving to YouTube in twenty

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Speaker 1: twenty nine. That took a minute to sink in. When

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Speaker 1: I saw that headline hit my inbox. Clayton, what was

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Speaker 1: your first reaction when you saw this news?

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Speaker 2: The Academy had been in close conversations reporting by Variety

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Speaker 2: with YouTube. I put in an offer. We know NBC

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Speaker 2: was very, very interesting. ABC was still at the table,

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Speaker 2: but I think what the Academy needs. It's the thing

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Speaker 2: that people like myself's have been saying for multiple decades.

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Speaker 2: We don't care about a long show. We want a

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Speaker 2: good show. We want the show to evolve. Everyone's consuming

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Speaker 2: content differently. We need to meet the potential watchers where

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Speaker 2: they are. I don't subscribe to that movies are dying.

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Speaker 2: I just think we're not meeting the consumers where they

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Speaker 2: can find them. So this is a good way to

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Speaker 2: do that, and I think it really does offer up

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Speaker 2: a lot of way more pros than any potential.

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Speaker 1: Con Mike, what about you.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I think this is a little more dangerous for

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Speaker 3: the Academy to go because you're leaving a network that

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Speaker 3: has infrastructure already in place that knows how to put

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Speaker 3: on a show like this, or going to YouTube that

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Speaker 3: doesn't have any sort of infrastructure like this whatsoever. Granted

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Speaker 3: they have three years to put something together, but essentially

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Speaker 3: this sounds like you're turning over the keys completely out

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Speaker 3: to the academy to produce the oscars. There's pros and

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Speaker 3: CODs there, but the cod be There's a reason why

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Speaker 3: there's been a back and forth over the years between

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Speaker 3: Disity and Oscars over the best way to produce the shows.

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Speaker 3: If if you give all that power to just what

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Speaker 3: edge day you like, the Academy, you could end up

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Speaker 3: with a lesser show.

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Speaker 1: You raise a good point from an am pass perspective,

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Speaker 1: though might have been very attractive. The idea of like

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Speaker 1: you will streamline it somewhat in that you're not going

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Speaker 1: to have that traditional checks and balances of network studio producer.

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Speaker 1: My first thought was, at this moment in time, YouTube

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Speaker 1: is so global, it is becoming like a household utility

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Speaker 1: in so many countries, and so now this will answer

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Speaker 1: the question where are the oscars. The Oscars are on YouTube.

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Speaker 1: That will be a significant component. The other thing that

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Speaker 1: stood out to me was that YouTube is more Switzerland

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Speaker 1: than Disney, ABC is in the Oscar race. YouTube doesn't

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Speaker 1: have a studio, does not appear to be in the

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Speaker 1: mix for a studio anytime soon, although we wouldn't have

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Speaker 1: thought that they would play for Oscar rights just a

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Speaker 1: few years ago either. For years there were real restrictions

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Speaker 1: on who could advertise in the Oscar telecast because the

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Speaker 1: Academy was so desirous of not looking like it was

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Speaker 1: favoring any studio or advertiser and all. Do you think

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Speaker 1: that will have any significant impact on what the Academy

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Speaker 1: might be able to do with different specials, different rights,

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Speaker 1: Because you're not in a situation of, oh, are we

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Speaker 1: favoring Disney titles?

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Speaker 2: You hit the nail on the head in the sense

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Speaker 2: of is Switzerland because you don't. Because listen, we knew

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Speaker 2: at some point Netflix was in the mix, and if

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Speaker 2: they went to Netflix, I think there would have been

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Speaker 2: upheaval in this town for.

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Speaker 1: That same reason. They're heavily invested in We all know

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Speaker 1: Netflix really really really wants to win a Best Picture Oscar.

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Speaker 2: It's also freedom to with more promotions, like they get

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Speaker 2: more creative control. That way, it really takes to guardrails off.

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Speaker 2: I don't know if at Ceremony one oh one is

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Speaker 2: going to be like the definitive one, but I think

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Speaker 2: we are going through an evolution of media. I think

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Speaker 2: there is a way to do this as a blend

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Speaker 2: that we can still have it feel traditional and the

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Speaker 2: way that we know the Oscars to be, but also

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Speaker 2: be able to meet people where where they are. The

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Speaker 2: big thing that's going to be interesting. They can't hide

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Speaker 2: behind viewership anymore in terms of we're gonna know instantly

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Speaker 2: how many people are watching. But in three years, we

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Speaker 2: don't even know if YouTube is going to be what

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Speaker 2: we think YouTube is right now.

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Speaker 4: They're evolving, and.

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Speaker 2: I got to make this point. You know, they're not

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Speaker 2: just taking the Oscar telecast, They're taking the Oscars as

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Speaker 2: a whole. They're going to digitize their archives. You know,

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Speaker 2: they're gonna work with them on streaming the Governor's Awards,

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Speaker 2: which we'd love to see, the Side Tech Awards, you

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Speaker 2: get artisans, They're due up there. I'm hopelessly optimistic about

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Speaker 2: the possibility of this.

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Speaker 1: Clayton, I could tell that you'd been turning these ideas

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Speaker 1: over in your head because you came out with a

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Speaker 1: very strong column not too long after the news broke

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Speaker 1: and you say, quote, this isn't the Oscars selling out,

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Speaker 1: This is the Oscars finally being set free. End quote.

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Speaker 2: We've never cared about how long the show is. We

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Speaker 2: just want a good show. It's four hours. It's a

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Speaker 2: four hour great show. No one's going to be mad

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Speaker 2: about that, but I'll also be mad at that. Clear

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Speaker 2: the full course show is ridiculous. I think we don't

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Speaker 2: want to go too overboard.

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Speaker 4: For sure.

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Speaker 3: You guys are right in that this is all about independence,

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Speaker 3: and this is about the Academy just tired of of

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Speaker 3: having to fight Disney over the parameters, and they would

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Speaker 3: have to fight NBC Universal if it ended up beat

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Speaker 3: that they would have to fight Netflix. I think in

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Speaker 3: this case they get to do whatever they want. This

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Speaker 3: is the freedom. They probably got more money than they

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Speaker 3: ever would have gotten from NBC Universal Disney at this

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Speaker 3: point because Disney wasn't going to offer as much money

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Speaker 3: as they used to.

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Speaker 1: Mike, let me ask you the other side of this question. Obviously,

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Speaker 1: this is a loss for ABC. It's something that they

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Speaker 1: always built a lot of first quarter promotion around what

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Speaker 1: do you think this means for ABC?

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Speaker 3: So I think they do. They were thinking it was

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Speaker 3: going to NBC. They really were convinced that they were

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Speaker 3: kind of bracing themselves for that because they just they

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Speaker 3: weren't offering the same license fee as before. And I

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Speaker 3: don't think the Academy was ever going to go for

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Speaker 3: a haircut, so they were braced for this, and they

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Speaker 3: smartly stole away the Grammys from CBS. So they do

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Speaker 3: have a major award show that's still coming, and they're

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Speaker 3: finally now airing the Super Bowl again for the first

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Speaker 3: time in more than fifteen years, so they still have

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Speaker 3: a lot of big events. But yeah, this is the

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Speaker 3: marquee event, one of the biggest entertainment shows of the

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Speaker 3: year in.

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Speaker 1: The three dimensional chess game that is media. You do

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Speaker 1: wonder if Dana Walden and the Disney team they really

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Speaker 1: played hard for Grammys with the understanding that the Academy

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Speaker 1: was gonna want a big, old increase.

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Speaker 3: You see how it was kind of like big event

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Speaker 3: insurrets about you still have a big show. ABC still

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Speaker 3: has the Oscars for three more it could include the

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Speaker 3: Big one hundredth, So in some ways, it's like almost

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Speaker 3: the series finale of the Oscars, that final big hundredth

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Speaker 3: event to that. Who knows what happens after that. I

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Speaker 3: already have an idea the first season of the new

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Speaker 3: Oscars on YouTube. At the very start of the show,

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Speaker 3: mister Beast offers a million dollars to any contender who

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Speaker 3: just drops out of the race right then.

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Speaker 2: And I think the same way like Netflix came on

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Speaker 2: to the scene with House of Cards and like people

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Speaker 2: just really didn't understand what they were doing. YouTube has

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Speaker 2: branded itself as TV.

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Speaker 3: We're still waiting to see what the TV Academy does

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Speaker 3: with the Emmys. And I do wonder now if something

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Speaker 3: like this is going to convince them to also do

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Speaker 3: something that's a little out of the box, a little revolutionary.

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Speaker 3: This may be something that now forces them to think, well,

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Speaker 3: we got to do our own YouTube deal. We got

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Speaker 3: to do our own like crazy new deal. So I'll

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Speaker 3: be interested to see. I don't think they'll just got

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Speaker 3: to go back to a traditional wheel format the way

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Speaker 3: they've had for the past year decades.

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Speaker 1: There is no world in which Neil Mohan is not

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Speaker 1: getting a heavy, heavy pitch right now for that heavy deal.

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Speaker 1: That I will say with just on informed speculation here,

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Speaker 1: I have missed no opportunity to remind people that Neil

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Speaker 1: Mohan was on the cover of Variety in March of

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Speaker 1: this past year, and he's been making us look good

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Speaker 1: for it ever since. I really don't think this is

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Speaker 1: an exaggeration this. I don't think this would have happened

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Speaker 1: five years ago. But that just tells you how much

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Speaker 1: YouTube is evolved, especially YouTube TV. YouTube TV is a

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Speaker 1: virtual cable operator that has strengthened Neil Mohan and relations

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Speaker 1: with people at Google and YouTube that has definitely strengthened

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Speaker 1: their ties to traditional Hollywood because they're doing carriage deals.

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Speaker 1: As we know, we saw a big battle between Disney

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Speaker 1: and YouTube, a carriage fight that lasted what almost two weeks.

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Speaker 1: This does show that YouTube, for all its newness, is

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Speaker 1: becoming more and more integrated into the more traditional fabric

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Speaker 1: of television and film. What a world, What a world.

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Speaker 1: I am so grateful to have great colleagues like you

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Speaker 1: that are so insightful and can turn out columns in

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Speaker 1: record time.

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Speaker 2: I think Mike, she went an oscar.

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Speaker 3: Now he's good, say mohab mo oscars.

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Speaker 1: And now here's Mark Malcolm With his chat with Connor's story,

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Speaker 1: the Heated Rivalry star takes Mark through his meteoric rise

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Speaker 1: over the past few months thanks to the success of

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Speaker 1: the HBO Max hockey drama Thanks Cynthia.

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Speaker 4: Heated Rivalry is the show of the Moment, an adaptation

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Speaker 4: of Rachel Reid's career romance novel series Game Changers. The

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Speaker 4: series stars Connor's story as Ilia Rosenoff and Hudson Williams

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Speaker 4: as Shane Hollander. The two men are not only professional

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Speaker 4: hockey champions, but they've also been having a hot and

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Speaker 4: steamy and very secretive, years long affair. When the first

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Speaker 4: two episodes dropped over Thanksgiving weekend on HBO Max, the

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Speaker 4: streamer acquired the series from Canadian streamer Crave. The show

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Speaker 4: became an instant hit, with word of the soapy queer

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Speaker 4: drama exploding on social media. Memes and gifts zeroed in

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Speaker 4: on the romance, the sports, and more often than not,

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Speaker 4: the sex. I caught up with story just the other

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Speaker 4: day from his Los Angeles area home.

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Speaker 5: Like I didn't even know that my butt was a

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Speaker 5: topic of conversation until you know, I had so many

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Speaker 5: random people sent screenshots of my ass on Twitter.

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Speaker 4: Story, who grew up in Odessa, Texas, was just another

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Speaker 4: actor living paycheck to paycheck when he booked he did Rivalry.

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Speaker 4: In fact, he was on the verge of losing his

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Speaker 4: watering job at Laurel Grill in Los Angeles when the

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Speaker 4: offer to play Rosenoff came in.

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Speaker 5: He sat me down, being like, this is not acceptable,

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Speaker 5: Like this is this is a final morning if if

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Speaker 5: anything like this ever happens again, like you're out.

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Speaker 4: Minutes later, his agent called to tell him he booked.

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Speaker 4: He did Rivalry.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, he worked a few more shifts and then was

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Speaker 5: kind of like the.

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Speaker 4: Chemistry between Story and Williams is electric. The two felt

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Speaker 4: it right away during their chemistry read Well. They work

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Speaker 4: closely with an intimacy coordinator for their sex scenes. Story

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Speaker 4: says there is some improvising because the two men are

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Speaker 4: so comfortable with each other.

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Speaker 5: So I'm like, let's go all the way. I'll wear

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Speaker 5: the least amount of clothes, I'll do the most amount

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Speaker 5: of kisses, and I'm it literally just but me being

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Speaker 5: it made me and Hudson be like, is it cool

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Speaker 5: if I touch you here? And I'm like, yeah, touch

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Speaker 5: me anywhere. I don't care. You know, some all those

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Speaker 5: little intricate kisses, touches in between moments, a lot of

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Speaker 5: that is just us organically beating into that moment.

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Speaker 4: Just an hour or two before our conversation, HBO, Max

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Speaker 4: and Crave announced that He did Rivalry was renewed for

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Speaker 4: a second season.

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Speaker 5: Those books are literally sold out everywhere. They're like number

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Speaker 5: one on some of the book charts, which is crazy.

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Speaker 5: I think that proves that these are obviously really well

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Speaker 5: constructed stories that a lot of people are really into.

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Speaker 5: So I think you kind of the only way to

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Speaker 5: make this make sense is to stick to the books,

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Speaker 5: you know, and also honor the fandom of the people

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Speaker 5: who are really spearheading this whole thing.

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Speaker 4: One person who hasn't watched the entirety of the first

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Speaker 4: season is Story's mother for good reason.

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Speaker 5: She was like, I can't watch the sex scenes yet,

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Speaker 5: and I was like, you don't ever have to watch

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Speaker 5: the second Like, like, I don't need you to watch that.

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Speaker 4: For more of my interview with Connor's story, head over

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Speaker 4: to Variety dot Com and coming tomorrow my first interview

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Speaker 4: with his co star Hudson Williams. Happy holidays.

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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. Don't miss Clayton Davis's latest column, why

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Speaker 1: Oscar voters love villains, just not truly evil ones. Don't

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Speaker 1: forget to check out variety 's V one twenty list

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Speaker 1: of the industry's most powerful executive leaders. You'll find that

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Speaker 1: list popping up early next week on Variety dot com

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Speaker 1: and on January second. Don't miss the rollout of Variety's

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Speaker 1: ten Directors to Watch feature. These are the helmer names

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Speaker 1: you'll need to know in the coming years. We love

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Speaker 1: to hear from our listeners, so please send thoughts, gripes,

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Speaker 1: and other feedback about Daily Variety two podcasts at Variety

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Speaker 1: dot com before we go. Congrats to the one hundred

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Speaker 1: and five employees at UTA that have been promoted The

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Speaker 1: Talent Agency unveiled promotions on MOSS at departments across the agency,

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Speaker 1: Clutch Sports Media Link and other units. Thanks for listening.

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Speaker 1: This episode was written and reported by me Cynthia Littleton,

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Speaker 1: with contributions from Clayton Davis, Michael Schneider, and Mark Malkin

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Speaker 1: stick Snick's hick Picks. Please leave us a review at

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

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Speaker 1: on January fifth for a fresh episode of Daily Variety

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Speaker 1: and Happy holidays, everyone, Blessed, bs all.