CHINA govt takes ownership stake in TIK TOK parent company

PEACOCK buys FIELD OF DREAMS TV series / HBO adds HR reps to Watergate series set / SMARTLESS podcast gets DISC+ docu

Aug 17, 2021

Mornin! This is Sean McNulty and here’s the Hollywood + Media news to know on TUESDAY August 17, 2021.

Where lets send some love out LIZZO’s way after her emotional IG Live video yesterday, talking about the fat-shaming and racist troll responses to her new song with CARDI B. Time to cut out the haters and get back to this swagger LIZZO 🙌 .

ALSO: The NY COMEDY FESTIVAL announced the headliners for the Nov 8-14 event, including Maron, Nick Kroll and… well a long list of boldface names, so just click the link if inclined.

📽 THE SILVER SCREEN

SONY selling “Hotel Transylvania 4” to AMAZON

Deal not final but thought to be close to $100 Million. SONY will keep linear TV, Home Entertainment and… China rights.

The movie previously was slated for Fri Oct 1 in theaters. /Variety

ALSO IN MOVIES

Scarlett Johannson is today’s new name joining Wes Anderson’s next movie in Spain. /THR
Charles D. King’s MACRO production / management firm doing movie pitch competition for students at HSBC’s. BEATS also involved, winners will go to the inaugural BEATS Black Creators Summit late this year, and MACRO’s Lodge at Sundance 2022. /THR
PARAMOUNT+ adds Samantha Mathis (“Pump Up the Volume”) and Henry Thomas (“E.T.”) to “Pet Sematary” reboot. /THR

📺 THE TV SET

I’m not crying, you’re crying. via Giphy

PEACOCK orders “Field of Dreams” TV series from “The Good Place” creator Mike Schur

Not too many details as to what the take is specifically… or a production timeline. Mike also created the Ed Helms series “Rutherford Falls” at PEACOCK. /Variety

HBO adds HR Representatives on the set of WATERGATE limited series “The White House Plumbers” as production resumes

Production was put on hold early this month after showrunner Dave Mandel (“Veep”) blew up at the props master, cursing him out and literally telling him that he’d never work in this town again, causing him to walk off set. /Deadline

Bateman-Arnett-Hayes “SmartLess” podcast getting 2-part docu on DISCOVERY+

Based on their upcoming early 2022, 6 city tour. Docu project will hit DISC+ later next year. /THR

The podcast gets 7-10 Million downloads a month (4 eps a month), and was doing about $6 to $7 Million a year in ad revenue, pre-AMAZON deal. /Bloomberg

ALSO IN TV

“For Life” & “Rebel” officially cancelled. IMDBTV declined to pick up either after putting their already-aired-on-ABC Seasons on the service for the past 6 weeks or so. /Deadline
Heads up if you’re a Chip & Joanna / MAGNOLIA NETWORK fan, they dropped a bunch of show renewals, +3 new series orders for the Fall at their home on DISCOVERY+. /THR

💻 THE MEDIA BIZ

Footage from TikTok’s board meeting with their US legal complience offer. via Giphy

China’s government took a $$ stake and a board seat at TIK TOK’s Chinese parent company BYTE DANCE

This happened back in April apparently, and was just discovered now. And… pretty sure this was not by-invitation from BYTE DANCE. The board only apparently only has 3 seats.

So yes, in case there was any question - the Communist Chinese Government is now definitely tracking all of your TIKTOK’s. /The Information

JAY-Z applies for NY license to create online gambling service

He’s teaming with the sports apparel site / brand FANATICS and a co-owner of the 76ers for the license application - a Swedish gambling tech company… and the parent company of BARSTOOL are both also involved.

And if there’s no docu-series to go with this process I think we can all agree that’s a missed opportunity.

NY State is deciding who gets licenses by end of year, with hopes that online gambling will be up and running by the SUPER BOWL. Ya know, for the sake of the children. /ESPN

VIACOM sells NYC CBS Headquarters building “Black Rock” for $760 Million

Tells real estate investment firm buyer HARBOR GROUP INTERNATIONAL to just make the check out to “Paramount Plus”.

Pre-covid, they were hoping for $1 Billion or more, but obviously office real estate on 52nd and 6th in Midtown Manhattan not really at a premium currently. /THR

ALSO IN MEDIA

ENDEAVOR began process of selling majority stake (or outright sale) of ENDEAVOR CONTENT division last week. /Deadline

They also slightly missed revenue expectations in 2Q.
- Revenue obviously way up vs this time last year given their reliance on events with UFC, IMG, and PBR (the bull riding league not the beer), but still a little short of Wall Street expectations.
- Operational losses were also up 20%.
- Stock is about a dollar below what it went public at early this Summer. /Deadline

🏦 STOCK NOTES:

Another down day overall… but nothing too egregious outside of VIMEO continuing to get hit, down another 6% yesterday.

👩‍💻 NEW TO WATCH:

NETFLIX “Untold” - 5 docufilm series about moments in sports, seemingly NETFLIX’s take on “30 for 30”. First couple focus on the infamous PISTONS vs PACERS fight that spread into the stands in the 2000s, and Caityln Jenner. Watch or Add to your List here.

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🎥 TRAILER HOUSE

NETFLIX “Sparking Joy” trailer. 3 more episodes with Marie showing me things that definitely do the opposite of what the title says. Premieres Tue Aug 31

AMAZON PRIME “LuLaRich” trailer. 4 part Docuseries on the LuLaRoe pyramid scheme-ish fashion & lifestyle company’s crash and burn. Premieres Fri Sept 10.