issue 198
Hello! So my love language, profit participation, has been trending recently thanks to ScarJo suing Disney over minimized Black Widow box office bumps (because Disney self-dealt to its streaming service - if it sounds familiar, WarnerMedia did the same with its 2021 slate to HBO Max: here was my response in Dec).
I will always side with the talent. If you’ve got a materially profitable project, I’d recommend auditing the studio. Yes, serious. And if they’re on the auction block, they’d probably settle quick.
I’ve heard that Clint Eastwood literally audits every single one of his movies with Warner Bros, and that relationship goes back decades (to the mid 70s). So no, you’re probably not going to labeled “tough to work with.” You’ve gotta play your own sheriff, judge, and jury. As Clint once said, “I tried being reasonable, I didn’t like it.”
If you’re getting paid from someone else’s checkbook in this industry and don’t think you’re getting played, then I have some news for you. Studios (and financiers, and sales agents) will create a big a wedge as possible to try not to pay talent.
I’ve been witness to the numbers on some of the most successful film franchises where deals become borderline number theory, that’s what happens when legal eagles and back-office bean counters serve their corporate overlords. Those cats don’t have your back.
I’ve seen some shit.. egregious overheard fees, interest calculations run amok, and serious double dipping in marketing and P&A. Forensically analyze the finances.
And to those of you who signed up to the movie club the other week, sorry for lagging on it. I’m going to send out the first note this week. And today is my wife’s bday (she’s the best and reads over these emails before I hit send - love you Anmari). We’re going skiing next to Mt Doom on New Zealand’s largest active volcano. Toodles!
That’s all for now. Thanks for reading. All outbound, no inbound. See you next week.
Tech
Norby, community and creator marketing platform, raised $3.8m TC
Disney accelerator inductee startups Cision
Trading TV, finance social livestreams, raised $6m Fins
Evil Geniuses, esports org, raised at $255m val BW
That’s No Moon, game dev studio, raised $100m (bon chance) THR
Brain Tech, NLP search app, raised $50m TC
INKR, digital comics, raised $3m TC
JPG is a new digital art gallery (the website is sick) JPGtwtr
F You Pay Me hopes to get creators paid direct from brands (what an aggressive name) NYT
Solana sets aside $5m for a creator focused fund on their blockchain Sol
Class, virtual classroom built on top of Zoom, raised $100m at unicorn (it’s not even a yr old) TC
Neuralink, Elon’s co for brain computer interface chips, raised $200m Reut
OneDay, enterprise video creation platform, raised $19m Fins
Datenight is a livestream HQ Trivia like dating app (ppl in LA tech hype circles were sharing it) RGtwtr
Twitter acq Brief for news product push Prot
SnapMap to recommend places to visit Verge
TikTok adds new features for live video push Verge
FB explores integrating Oculus fitness apps with Apple Health Bberg
Roblox designated game fund Rob
Copyrighting TikTok dances THR
Mark Cuban’s audio app Fireside lets users invest (this is going to become more of a thing, on top of Republic) Verge
ShareChat, India social network, raised $145m and went from $2b to $3b val in five months TC
Tenderly, Eth based apps, raised $15m TC
Scout, avatar based social network for Gen Z, raised $1.2m Forbes
Lolli, bitcoin rewards app, raised $10m Lollblog
1Password raises massive round, adds a lot of other founders in it 1Pblog
Startups and lawyers team up for cap table management standards Prot
Breakdown of gaming engagement activity last month by genre Newzoo
Media
Staggs and Meyer acq Hello Sunshine for $900m THR
Peacock 54m signups and rolls out on Sky (how many will churn post Olympics) Var
Cards Against Humanity is on the block, looking for $500m (add NFTs as IP and bam ask for a billy) bberg
Vice and Hulu renew licensing deal Var
ICM acq NFL agency Select Sports Group (growing sports biz) Var
TuneIn and iHeart partner on tech/distrib deal Forbes
Endeavor’s On Location acq Qcue, ticketing provider Dead
Discovery kicking tires on UK’s Chanel 4 Reut
Vnue, music tech for venues, acq StageIt livestreams MBW
Substack acq Letter, destination where writers debate SSblog
Vault AI adds Orion’s Hegeman to board, marketing optimization (doesn’t sound too dissimilar from the Blum x Operam connect) Cision
Cineworld secures $200m in incremental loans THR
NBA signs deal w/ iHeart for pods Bberg
Dish and WarnerMedia end HBO carriage dispute, Dish to also offer Max THR
Olympics averaged 16m viewers first three days, down since last one but more on digital apps THR
Comcast expects to make profit on Olympics Var
Sony backed BeatStars has paid out over $150m in royalties MBW
Entertainment
ScarJo and Disney lawsuit over box office bumps PDF
Netflix implements blanket covid vax policy for prods Dead
Travis Scott’s Cactus Jack inks deal w/ A24, Travis wrote script Utopia Var
Springsteen and Obama to release book based on their podcast THR
Lionsgate Play plans SEA expansion plans, preps slate Var
Gomez-Rejon sets Fortress of Solitude film at Amzn Var
Broadway requires attendees to be vaxxed and masked THR
Redbox sets 6pic slate deal with Command Films (pretty interesting actually) Dead
Sundance Institute grants for BIPOC creators Dead
Waterworld tv sequel in the works at Uni THR
Gaumont buys film/tv rights to game Isklander Var
Roadshow and Brillstein to oversee subs for Bloodlist’s Fresh Blood, horror scripts Var
Gravitas picks up NA rights to Biggie/2pac doc (think Nflx got all the attention there) Var
IFC takes NA rights to doc Cow (so many animal movies recently) Dead
Jennifer Garner inks film deal w/ Nflx THR
Prentice Penny multiyear deal w/ Disney’s Onyx Collective Var
Kurtzman extends CBS Studios TV deal (huge) Var
XYZ takes NA rights to Indemnity Var
Millennium hasn’t been paying Gerard Butler on Olympus has Fallen (includes deal terms) Var
List of all the BIPOC showrunners IW
Oscope takes US rights to Stanleyville Var
Peacock made a $25m bid for a Magic Johnson doc (yeesh) BR
Streamland, post house conglom, acq Sim Post THR
Sunset Studios partners w/ Blackstone’s Hudson Pacific in new $1b film campus in UK Var
Korean game maker Nexon launches film/tv group Dead
Dolphin Ent and FTX plan sports/ent NFT marketplace Var
UK’s Creation Theatre pushing for more digital tech BBC
Collaborative
Ridley Scott’s House of Gucci trailer YT
Koppelman interviews Tarantino SpotMoment
Profile on Netflix’s Scott Stuber Var
Digital media pubs going public (Vox flirting Spac) NYT
Lamb trailer YT
Letter from David Lowery, director of Green Knight A24
Lil Miquela’s Brud launched a new site (it used to be a Google Doc) Brud
A look at crypto-native games and Dark Forest Gubsheep
QR codes and tracking are here to stay NYT
Proving your fandom to top artists on Spotify Tab
Breakdown of gender lyrics in pop songs (love this site) Pudding
Snyder’s Army of Thieves prequel trailer YT
NCAA making coin as influencers QZ
Charlie Snell on generative and ai art Berkeley
US Gov employs TikTok stars to talk about vax (my lawd) NYT
Iterative and adaptive urban planning (fun to think about) Forbes
(Free) Book on hypertext, linking choice based stories Fulrcum
The rise of employee tracking Neolife
Shrader’s Card Counter trailer (nice Brax) YT
Interview w/ Diller on Rudin KCRW
Quick Q&A with the GS bankers who run the IB software division GS
Rhys Wallace on social products at the infra level to retain attention RWblog
Spotify’s Daniel Ek on the future of podcasts SpotAxios
Howard Marks letter on the macro PDF
Succession plan at Scholastic and the fate of the Harry Potter books WSJ
Means of Creation, playing games to earn virtual items Spot
At current growth rate, Amzn will have 80% share of book market in a few years Med
Galileo Project and using science to try to find alien tech Guardian
Matt Lockyear on crypto media models Med
Lucasfilm hired the vfx artist who did the Skywalker deepfake IW
Swimming gives boost to brain health (like I needed another excuse to get in the water) Convo
Sean Penn’s Flag day trailer YT
France gives stipend to kids for entertainment and culture, they go for bandes dessineés (comics) NYt
How experiences changes your brain GQ
Fred Wilson shows off some of USV’s fund performance AVC
King Richards trailer (about Venus/Serena’s dad — like how they include the write-up in the about section, every studio should do this.) YT
Profile on George Gankas, radical guru to golfers GQ
Bezos offered to cover $2b in NASA costs in exchange for contracts CNBC
Richard Yao on the divergence of social platforms Med
Freddie DeBoer on the Gawker moment being gone FDBss
Silicon valley as AI and religion NYToped
Adam Cochran on gaming economics with NFTs and such ACtwtr
How the job of a social media manager has grown WSJ
Ghostbusters Afterlife trailer 2 YT
Extremist gamers video essay from the Economist YT
Church outs a priest by combing through Grindr available app data that was supposed to be anonymized Washpo
Travis Scott mixed with Interstellar soundtrack YT
Unemployment insurance fraud during the pandemic ProP