Mornin! This is Sean McNulty and here’s the Hollywood + Media news to know on THURSDAY November 18, 2021.

Where ADELE puts our collective singing on the couch skills to shame today. Thanks luv. (it’s another new slow ballad though, for anyone else also waiting for something with more “fire to the rain” vibes).

ALSO: A lot of big new trailers today.

📽 THE SILVER SCREEN

WARNER BROS rebooting “Under Siege”

Ok now can we please change the lock for the vault on the WB lot? The writer of the recent Mary Elizabeth Winstead NETFLIX action movie “Kate” is writing here… but no plot direction details yet. /Deadline

SEARCHLIGHT picks up Sterling K. Brown legal drama project “The Defender”

Sterling will play IRL early 20th century attorney Africanus Jones, who defended 87 men wrongfully accused of murder after the 1919 Elaine, Arkansas race riot.

George Tillman Jr. directing (“Soul Food”, “The Hate U Give”), and script was on the 2018 BLACK LIST. /THR

PARAMOUNT PICS lays off 44 in Marketing & Distribution group

As the restructure continues… reading between the lines it sounds like a lot of folks in the International side were cut, as Domestic & International teams are “streamlined”.

Some org chart details are in the link for anyone inclined, only publicly named layoff was Cameron Saunders, EVP of Int’l Mktg & Distribution. /THR

ALSO IN MOVIES

DISNEYFOX adds Carrie Coon, Alessandro Nivola, and Chris Cooper to “Boston Strangler” movie. Will shoot next month. /Deadline
New massive $250 Million, 9 acre soundstage facility to be built in Toronto. Will be in the Basin Street waterfront district, east of downtown and next to the Pinewood Stages facility there. No completion timeline indicated. /THR

📺 THE TV SET

pretty sure I had this haircut at some point in college. via Giphy

NETFLIX orders BLOCKBUSTER VIDEO comedy series starring Randall Park

It’s called “Blockbuster” - a workplace comedy set at the last BLOCKBUSTER VIDEO store in America. 10 episode order. Curious to see which episode they work in the joke about BLOCKBUSTER passing on the offer to buy NETFLIX for $50 Million in 2000.

Created by Vanessa Ramos, a writer on “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” and “Superstore” and was originally developed by NBC. Former NBC Comedy head Tracey Pakosta of course now heads up Comedy Series efforts at NETFLIX. /THR

ALSO IN TV

USA NETWORK ending “The Sinner” after its current 4th season - finale airs on Wed Dec 1, pretty much ending USA’s long run of “prestige” original programming (“Mr Robot” etc), as it transitions to a Reality / Wrestling / Movies & TV reruns programming approach. /THR
NETFLIX sets Dominic West’s teenage son Senan West to play young Prince William in final 2 seasons of “The Crown”, joining dad in his Prince Charles role. The next season is set around the aftermath of Diana’s death, and this will be Senan’s first role. /Variety
APPLE TV+ adds Jacki Weaver to Billy Crudup “Hello Tomorrow!” retro-future comedy series about lunar timeshare salesmen. /Deadline

IN THE HOLLYWOOD EXECUTIVE SUITE

WALT DISNEY TV names new Prez of Entertainment - Bryan Noon, who comes over after an 8 year run at NETFLIX, where he departed a year ago in their big exec re-org.
- Bryan will oversee Production & Biz Affairs for pretty much all TV at DISNEY (HULU, 20TH TELEVISION, FREEFORM, etc), and report into DISNEY TV head Dana Walden.
STARZ names new Prez of Programming - Kathryn Busby is coming over from her TRI-STAR Television EVP role at SONY. She’ll report into STARZ CEO Jeffrey Hirsch. /THR
HBOMAX promotes Raina Falcon to SVP of Publicity. Still reports into HBO / HBOMAX EVP of Comms Karen Jones. /Variety

💻 THE MEDIA BIZ

Local Cable TV company now cutting its own cord in Kentucky

Ok admittedly - not major story… but BARBOURVILLE UTILITIES is getting out of the Cable TV business in Kentucky and will only offer Fiber-speed Broadband to their 3500 customers going forward. They told customers to sign up for online bundles like YOUTUBE TV or HULU LIVE TV, or get a satellite from DISH ($100 free credit! 🙌) to get TV channels instead.

I include this as, well it’s a slow MEDIA BIZ day for once, but also because it’s indicative of a trend we’ll see a lot more in the next few years especially in rural areas, as the ever-rising prices TV networks charge for carriage rights are increasingly making the old fashioned Cable TV business simply untenable for companies outside of the Top 5 or 6 (COMCAST, COX, ALTICE etc), and the traditional Cable TV business will begin losing more subscribers not because consumers are cutting the cord… but because companies like this will do it for them. /NextTV

🏦 STOCK NOTES:

ROKU dropped 11% as an analyst changed his position to “sell”, essentially saying ad revenue from outside content providers/channels is not looking as robust as expected.

ROBLOX up another 7%, it’s the Timothee Chalamet of stocks this month.

IMAX down almost 6%, CINEMARK THEATERS down almost 5%

ALTICE +6% for… some reason.

👩‍💻 NEW TO WATCH:

HBOMAX “The Sex Lives of College Girls” - New comedy series from Mindy Kaling, trailers were great - excited to watch…just as soon as I have a break from writing this thing. Stream or Add to Your List here

HULU “The Curse of Von Dutch: A Brand to Die For” - 3 part documentary about the rise and apparently violent fall of the brand too many people from the early 2000’s have photos of wearing that they’re not proud of. Stream or Add to Your List Here

PEACOCK “Psych 3: This Is Gus” movie - Stream or Add to Your List here

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🎥 TRAILER HOUSE

UNIVERSAL PICTURES “Marry Me” trailer - JLo plays a… pop singer who unexpectedly marries a guy at her concert when her fiancee cheats on her. Really hope there’s a “Horse & Hound” reference in here somewhere. In theaters Valentine’s Day

NETFLIX “Ozark” Season 4 teaser trailer. Premieres Fri Jan 21

HULU “Pam & Tommy” teaser trailer - Limited series about a videotape from the 90’s that I definitely don’t still have a copy of. The Seth Rogen & Nick Offerman mullets in this alone are worth the view. Premieres Wed Feb 2

DISNEY PIXAR “Turning Red” trailer - 13 year-old girl suddenly turns into a big red panda whenever she has strong emotions and… people seem pretty cool with it. “Releases” March 2022 - DISNEY hedging bets on 2022 business already.

MGM “Dog” trailer - Channing Tatum co-directs and stars in the story based on a US Ranger who must bring an unruly military service dog on a road trip to a Ranger’s funeral. In Theaters this February

HBO “Landscapers” trailer - 4 episode Limited Series about the IRL case of 2 dead bodies that were found in the backyard of an older British couple (Olivia Colman, David Thewlis). Premieres Mon Dec 6

🎧 PLAYING ME OFF

CARLY PEARCE + ASHLEY MCBRYDE“Never Wanted to be That Girl”. Same here.

Stream the song here on SPOTIFY

If you need new tunes:

THE WAKEUP Spotify playlist

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-SEAN MCNULTY

@theseanmac on TWITTER

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The Wakeup

Layoffs hit PARAMOUNT PICS as Marketing…