Feast or Famine in Hollywood

As thousands of employees at Paramount and Amazon received layoff notices this week, marking the latest in a series of cuts across the media and tech sector, Taylor Sheridan entered into a massive multi-year deal with NBCUniversal that will pay him upwards of $1 billion, with the studio gambling on the prodigious writer-producer’s ability to churn out more hits like “Yellowstone” and “Landman.”

Forget trick or treat. Hollywood has become feast or famine, with this week’s juxtaposition of events serving as just the latest galling example confronting rank-and-file studio employees, whose corporate bosses have pleaded poverty as they swing the job-cutting scythe while simultaneously shelling out billions for high-profile talent and properties.

Paramount has begun letting go of an additional 10% of its workforce—after cuts last year under old management—because, as new chief David Ellison put it in a memo, it’s “phasing out roles that are no longer aligned with our evolving priorities.” Yet the company has simultaneously shelled out billions elsewhere, which includes snagging exclusive rights to the UFC for $7.7 billion over seven years—expanding the pact to additional international markets this week—renewing its deal with “South Park” creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone for a reported $1.5 billion, inking a four-year megadeal with “Stranger Things” creators the Duffer brothers, and shelling out $150 million for Bari Weiss’ anti-woke Substack outlet The Free Press.

Hollywood has always been a hit-driven business, with a strong lure—especially among risk-averse executives—to secure big names and franchises with proven track records. It’s also a place where entrepreneurial spirit and the right idea at the right time can pay off in spectacular fashion, as evidenced by, say, Haim Saban, who parlayed a 1990s kids show, “Mighty Morphin Power Rangers,” into a billion-dollar empire that allowed him to become an influential political donor.

The latest episode of Power Lines just dropped.

In this week’s show: We discuss Tucker Carlson’s chummy chat with white nationalist Nick Fuentes, the outrage at NBC News and MSNBC over parent company Comcast’s donation to Donald Trump’s ballroom vanity project, John Dickerson’s departure at CBS News and the layoffs that have roiled the Bari Weiss-led network, Elon Musk’s right-wing alternative to Wikipedia, and so much more.

You can watch on YouTube—or listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. If you enjoy the program, subscribe so you never miss an episode!

‘I Love LA’ is Hard to Like: HBO combines two familiar comedy-series themes, blandly, in “I Love LA,” which mixes 20-somethings finding their way in the big city, and clichés about life in Lalaland. Other than serving as a showcase for creator-star Rachel Sennott, the show feels about as generic as its title.

Granted, a certain level of self-absorption and L.A. stereotyping goes with this well-worn territory, which, on HBO alone, includes “Entourage,” “Girls” and “Looking” on the coming-of-age side, and “Curb Your Enthusiasm” and “Barry” on the Hollywood front.