Fun chat! Thx for having me....

Katie Drummond@katie-drummond.bsky.social · yesterday

This week on the @wired.com podcast, I had a fascinating conversation with Puck's @mattbelloni.bsky.social about tech and Hollywood. From the open secret of AI use, to Ben Affleck's $587M startup sale, to Amazon MGM dropping that OpenAI biopic...we covered a lot. Read and listen here:

New pod: In defense of movie franchise scarcity. And why the Peacock-YouTube tie-up should terrify Netflix. With @lucasshaw.bsky.social. Listen! Watch! open.spotify.com/episode/3ZKK...

Why Spider-Man Broke Records, and Why Peacock Partnered With YouTube

The Town with Matthew Belloni · Episode

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New pod: What’s more important, top filmmakers or big IP?? The one draft to settle all arguments. (Plus: my take on the WarnerMount trial delay.) With @lucasshaw.bsky.social. Listen! Watch! open.spotify.com/episode/6CFi...

The Future Blockbusters Draft: The Directors, Actors, and IP That Will Define the Next Decade

The Town with Matthew Belloni · Episode

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News: Paramount is bringing on trial attorney Beth Wilkinson to lead its antitrust trial against California. She successfully defended Microsoft's acquisition of Activision. Current lead lawyer Jeffrey Kessler is staying on, but will take backseat to Wilkinson.

New: Six months after his Epstein-adjacent email scandal, Casey Wasserman has sold his sports and talent agency. The buyer...and the price...are surprising. Full details ⬇️⬇️ puck.news/casey-wasser...

Wasserman’s Buyout & The Allure of Athlete-Adjacent Media

Months after agreeing to sell his talent and marketing firm amid an Epstein-adjacent email scandal, Casey Wasserman is getting a massive payout as a new Morgan Stanley ranking shows just how powerful ...

puck.news

New pod: Netflix vs YouTube and which platform risks more by trying to be like the other. With the platform-agnostic @lucasshaw.bsky.social. Listen! Watch! open.spotify.com/episode/5nU1...

Is Netflix Hurting YouTube by Poaching Talent?

The Town with Matthew Belloni · Episode

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New: Netflix tells me it wasn’t their call to omit Whitney Cummings’ Trump “sex traffic” joke from Mark Twain Prize show: “While it’s our preference not to cut jokes from anyone’s set, The Kennedy Center has the contractual right to do so.”

New: Netflix tells me it wasn’t their call to omit Whitney Cummings’ Trump “sex traffic” joke from Mark Twain Prize show: “While it’s our preference not to cut jokes from anyone’s set, The Kennedy Center has the contractual right to do so.”

New pod: I go one-on-one with Paramount’s top lawyer Makan Delrahim. The states’ antitrust arguments, CNN’s role, and he says Rob Bonta has a detailed list of concessions they’re willing to make. Listen! Watch! open.spotify.com/episode/1gd5...

Paramount's Strategy to Beat California, With Its Top Lawyer

The Town with Matthew Belloni · Episode

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New pod: Is Netflix just a regular media company now? Is the YouTuber experiment backfiring? What’s needed to recharge growth?? With Guggenheim analyst Michael Morris. Listen! Watch! open.spotify.com/episode/4eer...

The Numbers That Have Netflix Investors Spooked

The Town with Matthew Belloni · Episode

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New: A24 is offering a massive deal (its biggest ever) to secure Kane Parsons for a Backrooms sequel and another film. But Warner Bros. is courting him aggressively with something A24 can’t offer. All the details ⬇️⬇️ puck.news/can-a-24-kee...

Can A24 Keep Kane Parsons?

Everyone in town is fighting to sign the 21-year-old director of breakout hit 'Backrooms.' Can A24 keep him in the fold by offering its richest deal ever, or will Warner Bros. or Universal swoop in fo...

puck.news

New pod: Amid Netflix’s engagement issues, a new book reveals exactly how much algorithms and predictive data are influencing the shows and movies we watch. With Violaine Roussel, author of Data Driven Hollywood. Listen! Watch! open.spotify.com/episode/1nj3...

The Data Scientists Quietly Powering Hollywood’s Greenlight Machine

The Town with Matthew Belloni · Episode

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Netflix, the self-described “most transparent company in streaming,” is ending its biannual “what we watched” viewership reports. Now it’ll report viewership once a year so we can’t evaluate them as often.

New pod: The strategy behind the 3-pronged legal attack on the WarnerMount merger. With attorney general Rob Bonta and @lucasshaw.bsky.social. Listen! Watch! open.spotify.com/episode/0nkr...

The Case Against WarnerMount, with CA Attorney General Rob Bonta

The Town with Matthew Belloni · Episode

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New pod: California’s film commissioner says she’s stepping down, a year after helping secure a landmark $750M annual incentive, which is showing signs of bringing film/TV productions back to Hollywood. With Colleen Bell. Listen! Watch! open.spotify.com/episode/1d99...

Is California's $750 Million Bet on Hollywood Working?

The Town with Matthew Belloni · Episode

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Subbing for Scott on Pivot! Spend your weekend with @karaswisher.bsky.social and me debating whether Cannes Lions sucks and who dressed like a lesbian at Sun Valley. ⬇️⬇️ podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/p...

Netflix Chases YouTube, Meta's AI Photo Grab, and Disney Fights the FCC

Podcast Episode · Pivot · July 10 · 1h 10m

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Is Netflix going too much YouTube or just the right amount of YouTube? Debating the panic attack over growth and "engagement" with @loudmouthjulia.bsky.social ⬇️⬇️ puck.news/ted-sarandos...

Netflix’s YouTube Anxiety Attack

With more podcasters and YouTube stars showing up on Netflix by the day, it’s clear the streamer that upended TV is feeling its own angst of late. Are Ted & Co. working with a coherent strategy or run...

puck.news

Suitors are lining up for Letterboxd as the auction begins. Names and details on the process and the price bankers are floating ⬇️⬇️ puck.news/newsletter_c...

What I’m Hearing: Ted’s YouTube Panic, Letterboxd Suitors & Emmy Noms Awards!

Jul 9, 2026 Matthew Belloni Welcome back to What I’m Hearing. Like David Ellison, I’m skipping Sun Valley, so get the thrilling play-by-play from Puck’s Dylan Byers. Our fashion expert Lauren Sherman ...

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New pod: Are Reddit and YouTube really the new books and magazines? Decoding the post-Backrooms movie market, with producer Scott Glassgold. Plus a bold Emmys prediction! Listen! Watch! open.spotify.com/episode/487G...

Inside the Internet IP Gold Rush Sweeping Hollywood

The Town with Matthew Belloni · Episode

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Amazon gave away ARTIFICIAL, with indie distributor Neon agreeing to spend $15M to market and release the scathing Sam Altman movie. Details on the strategy ⬇️⬇️ puck.news/newsletter_c...

What I’m Hearing: Amazon’s ‘Artificial’ Giveaway & Armie’s Botched Comeback

Jul 6, 2026 Matthew Belloni Welcome back to What I’m Hearing, still digesting things that actually happened over the holiday: My friend Adam Aron deleted his LinkedIn after posting a remarkably detail...

puck.news

I’ve been a big fan of @mattbelloni.bsky.social fir a few years and love his new @theringer.com.web.brid.gy videocast The Town, such great Hollywood insider info #filmsky #moviesky youtu.be/FS3-Q4FIO-M?...

The Biggest Winners and Losers of 2026 So Far

YouTube video by The Town with Matt Belloni

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New pod: A nepo exec, a producer who hates me, a degenerate gambler, and Netflix: It’s the Hollywood winners and losers of ‘26 so far! With @lucasshaw.bsky.social. Listen! Watch! open.spotify.com/episode/2oS1...

The Biggest Winners and Losers of 2026 So Far

The Town with Matthew Belloni · Episode

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New pod: Box office is up this year, but ticket prices and inflation are helping. What about “admissions,” the actual butts in seats metric? And who’s actually going to movies more? With analyst Steve Buck. Listen! Watch! open.spotify.com/episode/3Pm3...

Why Attendance Tells a Better Story Than Box Office

The Town with Matthew Belloni · Episode

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News: ARTIFICIAL, the hot-potato Sam Altman movie that was dropped by Amazon, has been sold to NEON, the independent theatrical distributor behind Oscar best picture winner ANORA. Barring last minute complication, announcement is coming this week.

Comcast: Split companies are totally fine as standalone units. (Narrator: They’re not fine.) puck.news/dont-bet-on-...

Don’t Bet on the Comcast-NBCUniversal Split Actually Happening

While C.E.O. Brian Roberts insists both companies will be poised for standalone growth, the bidders will now step forward, just like when Warner Bros. Discovery announced its decoupling.

puck.news

New pod: It’s finally splitsville for Comcast and NBC Universal….What’s the actual strategy? Why now? And what’s in play? With @lucasshaw.bsky.social. Listen! Watch! open.spotify.com/episode/2DZU...

Will the Comcast-NBCU Split Lead to Another Huge Hollywood Deal?

The Town with Matthew Belloni · Episode

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New pod: Trump phonecalls, a shared worldview, and a $45M check: The Larry angle on the WarnerMount merger. With @emilyglazer.bsky.social of @wsj.com. Listen! Watch! open.spotify.com/episode/7za8...

How Larry Ellison’s Trump Bromance Is Helping WarnerMount

The Town with Matthew Belloni · Episode

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California's top lawyer sees a CNN divestiture as the ultimate consolation prize if he can't block the Paramount-Warners merger. The Ellisons haven't put that on the table. Would they? ⬇️⬇️ puck.news/would-the-el...

Would the Ellisons Give Up CNN to Get WarnerMount Done?

With Paramount’s federally approved acquisition of Warner Bros. entering its endgame, the Ellisons will still need to placate regulators like California’s Rob Bonta. So what’s on the chopping block?

puck.news

🗣️🗣️🗣️ @mattbelloni.bsky.social on Cannes Lions

New pod: With Amazon dumping its scathing Sam Altman movie, is Big Tech now off limits for Hollywood? With @wsj.com reporter and Altman biographer @keachhagey.bsky.social. Listen! Watch! open.spotify.com/episode/0RLB...

Amazon Won’t Release Its Sam Altman Movie. Will Anyone?

The Town with Matthew Belloni · Episode

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