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Good morning with visible bags under my eyes after a 3:30am wakeup for the Globes Nominee announcement event. Takeaways below.

MASSIVE curveball in the Netflix / WBD deal also…

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1) Netflix acquisition of Warner Bros. just faced a massive curveball and no it’s not Trump (yet)

Moneybags Paramount just offered a hostile $108B ALL CASH offer for all of Warner Bros. Discovery assets. Buckle up.

2) This was the story I wrote before the above came out so read it anyways:

YouTube dominates attention. More people now watch YouTube on their TVs than on their phones. But Netflix may be acquiring a century of Hollywood IP and will control the distribution. The potential (probable) loser in this deal though? Theaters.

Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos insisted WBD movies will still hit theaters. But long term? "Our primary goal is to bring first-run movies to our members, because that’s what they’re looking for." Hmmm

Barbie. Sinners. Minecraft etc. etc. Lots of cultural moments due in big part to theatrical releases. The deal (if it goes through) may change that forever.

Credit: A16Z

2) Golden Globe nominations are officially out. Here are a few highlights:

‘One Battle After Another’ leads nominations for films with 9, and ‘White Lotus’ leads for TV with 6
Netflix led all distributors with 35 nominations, and was notably followed up by Warner Bros. and HBO with 31 each (both would be owned by Netflix if the deal went through btw)
Cynthia Erivo made history as the first Black woman to earn 2 lead actress nominations in the comedy or musical category
Alex Cooper & Amy Poehler are amongst the inaugural class for the Best Podcast category. Heavily Political pods were notably left out off the nominee list.
Full list here

My takeaways:

I caught up with Skye P. Marshall after she hosted the nominee announcements and asked her: If you could leave a voicemail for yourself on your first day on set, what would you say?“

❝

Dare to suck. Just go out there. Have fun. You don’t have to be perfect. Enjoy all of the stages of this journey. I did not pursue acting until I was 28 years old. So do it while scared.”

-Skye P. Marshall

Eating Nobu yellowtail at 5:45am in a suit in a kitchen was a new & core experience.
When you’re D-list, Hollywood photography group chats will humble you:

3) Variety’s Hitmaker Awards celebrated Tyler, The Creator as the Artist of the Decade, and Sabrina Carpenter as the Artist of the Year. Can’t argue with the success of these two lately.

4) Blanco Brown dropped maybe my favorite way to deal with AI copyright infringement.

AI-generated act Breaking Rust reportedly copied Brown’s style on the single ‘Walk My Walk’ (as per Blanco himself). His retaliation?

To make a cover of the AI generated song.

We are well and truly in uncharted territory folks.

Bonus: Inspiring Story of the Day “Weird Al” Yankovic Edition

Credit: Stephen Colbert

Weird Al Yankovic was still working in a mailroom when he had his first song hit the Billboard Hot 100.

Nobody would take him seriously as he was considered a more ‘novelty’ voice in music at the time, and the day he entered the charts was the same day that he put in his 2-week notice.

No matter what your circumstances are, just know they could change at any minute.

Every week we drop our favorite podcast & book recs.

Today we have Mathew McConaughey on Theo Von. They talk about always learning, overcoming fear when taking on new movies, and how to define success.

This is a great watch or listen for anyone looking to get inspired to take the next leap in their career, whether it be a new job, role, or project. Plus how can you resist McConaughey’s voice?