The AvA Connection

🐝 Wild Hospitality Rider

Artist riders are some of my favorite things to look at due to the fact they aren’t really supposed to be seen by the public. You can learn A LOT about talent by the requests they make on these docs, and I may have found the craziest one yet..

Have a crazy/wild/funny/iconic rider you want to anonymously submit? Click here.

🐝 The Weekly Buzz - 5 things you need to know

1) Apple doubles ($150M/yr) ESPN’s current deal ($85M/yr) for the rights to stream F1 in 2026. All signs pointing to F1 moving to Apple in 2026. Side note, just saw the F1 movie last night. Go see it in theaters it’s a great watch.

2) Bad Bunny’s tour in Puerto Rico is expected to boost their local economy by $180 million. His “No Me Quiero Ir de Aquí” residency at the Coliseo will include 30 shows over 3 months, and is expected to create around 8,000 jobs. Want to know what’s even crazier? His first 9 arena shows sold out in just 4 hours.

3) Netflix is building out a massive film and TV production facility in New Jersey, and the Garden State is developing infrastructure to make the state a long term home for future film projects. They’re currently ranked #8 for global filming hubs, and they have a film program locked in until 2039. Below is where things stand at the moment:

4) Legendary Entertainment wants a piece of Lionsgate Studios, fresh off its split from Starz in May. The potential deal would mash up Legendary’s monster hits like Dune and Godzilla with Lionsgate’s John Wick and Hunger Games. Lionsgate’s stock jumped 20% after the news, which neither studio is confirming, but Wall Street clearly heard the roar.

5) Scarlett Johansson just became the highest grossing box office star according to ticket sales. She beat out Samuel L. Jackson, Robert Downey Jr., Zoe Saldańa, and Christ Pratt who round out the rest of the top 5. Full list here.

🏊‍♀️ Deeper Dive: Of the 20 actors listed, 14 have recurring roles in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Other frequent franchises include “Fast & Furious,” “Jurassic World,” “Mission Impossible,” and “Star Trek.”

👀 Coolest Thing I Saw This Weekend

Superman’s Fortress of Solitude (sounds like many nights early in my career on a desk) took 6 months to design, 16 weeks to build and was made from 242 resin crystals. Production Designer Beth Mickle spearheaded the project, and she called it “one of her most challenging set builds.” (Full breakdown here)

🏃 Industry Moves: Wasserman Edition

Wasserman signed three new senior executives last week, and here is the tea for where they’re all coming from:

1) Lydia Barry left WME to join Wasserman as their VP of Marketing Communications. She formerly led WME’s Music Communications, and will now lead all strategic communications for Wasserman’s global music division.

2) Michael Delle Donne split with Warner Music Group to become Wasserman’s VP of Digital Partnerships. With Warner he worked on activations for Charli xcx, Coldplay, Fred again, and more.

3) Emily Kennedy departed from the company that she helped co-found in 2017 called LoyalT Management, and signs on as Wasserman’s VP of Business Development. Her past work included a roster of Stephen Sanchez, Lord Huron, and AURORA.

📚 Book and Podcast Recommendation:

Each week, I highlight a new book and podcast that I am into. This week’s is Who is Michael Ovitz, an autobiography of the agent and operator who built CAA from the ground up and fundamentally rewrote the rules of Hollywood dealmaking.

“Piled into company Volkswagens to make the morning mail runs to studios, networks, lawyers, and clients. There were three routes: the Valley, Hollywood, and Beverly Hills. Before the days of fax or email, all business not handled by phone was conducted via hand-delivered memos and contracts. Our bags were full and heavy. There were twenty mailroom trainees, which meant I had nineteen rivals for advancement.”

And check out The Town’s look inside Sun Valley the annual gathering of media and technology CEOs from Bob Iger to Tim Cook.

👋 See you back here on Wednesday for a brand new selection of Entertainment jobs

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

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