The AvA Connection

🐝 The Weekly Buzz

1) Mr. Beast secured a $15 million incentive from North Carolina’s Film & Entertainment Program for ‘Beast Games’ season 2. If you’re wondering, that’s nearly half of the state’s $31 million annual allocation, and is 6 times larger than what Nevada offered when the show filmed part of its debut there.

2) ‘Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle’ just posted the biggest domestic debut ever for an Anime film with $33 million. It also already beat Pokémon’s record for the biggest opening weekend ever on just it’s first day, which stood at $31 million in 1999.

3) Bowen Yang makes Emmy history as the most-nominated Asian male performer with 4. During a toast that celebrated the feat, he pointed out that he was the only AAPI nominee in the acting categories at all this year, and said “Things were so much better when Shōgun was on. We miss you.”

🔎 Deeper Look:

• Shōgun shattered Emmy records last year by winning 18 trophies, as well as for Asian representation at large. 

• 2025 was still notably the worst in 5-years for actors of color according to Variety.

4) Deezer’s AI tracking revealed that over 30,000 AI tracks are now uploaded daily to the streaming platform. AKA 28% of the music delivered to the platform every day is created by AI (+18% since January). Sorry for asking for begging for the return of the robots (Daft Punk).

5) Carín León becomes the first Latino artist to headline the Las Vegas Sphere. As of now that makes him the 17th artist to announce shows at the venue, and his performances are set from September 11th to 13th of 2026.

🏆 My Favorite Moment From The Emmys

🏃 Industry Moves

1. Paramount brings on ex-Meta exec as their new Chief Product Officer. Dane Glasgow’s most recent work was as a VP at Facebook, but he also brings experience from Microsoft, eBay, and Google to David Ellison’s (constantly growing) team.

2. Stephen Colbert’s Late Show promoted Yvonne De Mare as their new Director until the program ends in May of 2026. She has been a member of Colbert’s production team for 20-years, and will be filling in for the now retired Jim Hoskinson.

3. Lord of the Rings star Sean Astin has been appointed as the new President of SAG-AFTRA. He is taking over for Fran Drescher, and notably follows in the footsteps of his late mother Patty Duke who was President from 1985-88.

💼 AvA Job Board

Our new job board features 119+ early career roles in Entertainment:

Some standouts:

💼 Live Event Production Coordinator - Nintendo - Apply Here

💼 Runner - Live Nation - Apply Here

💼 Executive Assistant, New York Magazine - Vox - Apply Here

💼 Content Producer Specialist - Snap - Apply Here

💼 Manager, Sports Events - Red Bull - Apply Here

💼 Administrative Assistant, Publicity- Universal Music - Apply Here

💼 Casting Coordinator (Non-Fiction) - Netflix - Apply Here

💼 Executive Assistant, Marketing - Disney - Apply Here

💼 Executive Assistant - Warner Bros. Discovery - Apply Here

💼 Guest Booker & Media Producer - Fox Entertainment - Apply Here

💼 Marketing Coordinator (Alamo) - Sony Music - Apply Here

💼 Production Assistant - Madison Square Garden Entertainment Corp. - Apply Here

💼 Associate Talent Manager - Condé Nast - Apply Here

💼 Rotational Assistant - WME - Apply Here

🎒 TV Production Finance Intern (Remote) - A24 - Apply Here

📚 AvA Recs 🎧

A weekly series from Dominik, who leads our Strategy, Growth and Product

In honor of the Savannah Bananas playing at Yankee Stadium here is a frankly fascinating interview with the founder of the league on ACQ2. Bottom line they are building an entire new sports league and it may just work in the digital age.

He always wears that yellow suit? Maybe I need to find a AvA outfit to rep the account every where I go….

AND slightly more on topic, Matt Belloni broke down the viewership and returns of Emmy nominated shows across the major streamers. One major takeaway, The Pitt got views, a nom, and had a limited budget (a home run if we're talking Savannah Bananas speak…do they have home runs?).

👋 See you back here on Wednesday

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This newsletter is written by Warner Bailey and edited by Riley Furey and Dominik Sansevere.

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