Business of Media
Chaser comedian Julian Morrow returns to court with TV producer over canned ABC show
The bitter fallout between once-business partners, veteran TV producer Nicholas Murray and The Chaser’s Julian Morrow, drags on, as the pair return to court over their cancelled 2018 ABC comedy program and four “angry” emails Murray sent to ABC executives, report The Australian’s Joanna Panagopoulos and Liam Mendes.
Murray – the producer behind Gruen – has launched an appeal over a 2022 Supreme Court finding that he defamed Morrow when he sent multiple emails with “gratuitous comments” to ABC management about his then-collaborator which “gave the impression Mr Morrow was not someone you wanted to be in business with”. In one offending email, he called Morrow “Lord Voldemort”.
He had just discovered TV writer and performer Morrow was renegotiating what was effectively a seventh series of their “on-hiatus” consumer affairs show The Checkout without him, after talking Murray out of his shares in their joint TV production venture, The Checkout Pty Ltd.
The pair had produced six series of The Checkout for the ABC between 2013 and 2018 before the ABC told them in mid-2018 they would shelve the show, and Morrow scurried to change their mind, floating a new consumer affairs show Are You Being Served?. The show did not go ahead after Murray failed to sign a deed to release the joint venture company.
On April 13, 2022, Judge James Stevenson found four of the six emails were defamatory and Murray was ordered to pay Morrow $35,000 in damages.
Seth MacFarlane and showrunners exit Family Guy and American Dad until striking WGA gets new contract
Seth MacFarlane and the showrunners for American Dad and Family Guy are putting down their tools and talents until the Writers Guild of America has a new deal with the studios, reports Deadline’s Dominic Patten.
Multiple Emmy winner MacFarlane, American Dad’s Brian Boyle and Matt Weitzman and Family Guy’s Rich Appel and Alec Sulkin made it clear to 20th Television this week that none of them will be working on the respective series as long as the WGA remains on strike.
Putting his feet where his money is, the creator and voiceover star of Family Guy and co-creator and voiceover star of American Dad, MacFarlane has been seen on the picket lines since talks broke down with the AMPTP and the guild went on strike on May 2. His appearance with fellow WGA members and his walking off the two shows should be no big surprise, as MacFarlane was a big advocate for the WGA holding strong during the last strike of 2007-2008.
Reps for both WME-repped MacFarlane and 20th TV had no comment today when contacted by Deadline on the exit of the ex-Oscar host, and the showrunners.
Hollywood actors’ union asks members to authorize possible strike
The board of Hollywood’s actors union asked members on Thursday to give negotiators the power to call a strike, a move that would add new pressure to major studios already facing a writers’ strike, reports Reuters‘ Lisa Richwine.
The SAG-AFTRA actors union set a June 5 deadline for its 160,000 members to cast ballots in a strike authorization vote. If approved, the measure would allow union leaders to call a work stoppage if they cannot reach a new contract agreement with major Hollywood studios.
The writers’ strike has disrupted production of late-night shows and some TV series, but some filming is continuing. A strike by actors would lead to a broader shutdown across the industry.
Roughly 11,500 members of the Writers Guild of America went on strike on May 2 after the union failed to reach a deal with Walt Disney Co, Netflix Inc and other media companies for higher pay and safeguards around the use of artificial intelligence in the streaming TV era.
The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers said it offered “generous” increases in compensation.
Netflix stock pops on ad-tier growth
Stock in Netflix jumped $31.33, or 9.3 percent, to $371.29 after the streaming giant told the advertising world it had nearly 5 million monthly global active users for its new ad-supported video platform, reports The Hollywood Reporter’s Etan Vlessing.
That share price rebound on Thursday amid a struggling TV advertising market followed just over a year ago when Netflix saw its stock price crater after disclosing a loss of paid subscribers for the first time in a decade. That event also rocked rival entertainment and streaming players like Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery, Paramount and Roku as the era of seemingly unstoppable growth for pricey subscription streaming platforms had ended.
While not specifying how many actual subscribers it has for the new ad tier, this week’s announcement on monthly active users marked the first time Netflix revealed traffic figures for its advertising-supported tier that launched only six months ago. Wall Street investors, with a focus on profitability for content-hungry streaming platforms in an increasingly crowded and competitive landscape, have looked to Netflix’s new ad-supported option for signs of overall subscriber and churn trends and the company’s overarching financial outlook going forward.
Radio
ARN chiefs not at King Kyle’s wedding
In an affair that forced prime ministers and premiers to mingle with convicted felons, it might surprise some to learn that none of ARN Media’s directors or key management personnel attended radio star Kyle Sandilands‘ lavish wedding last month, reports Nine Publishing’s Myriam Robin.
Or so said the company’s chief Ciaran Davis at the company’s annual general meeting on Wednesday.
The statement rules out attendance by company chairman (and Sandilands’ ultimate boss) Hamish McLennan, who between his chairmanship of Rugby Australia, REA Group and Magellan is no slouch on the social scene. Guess King Kyle, whose hit show with Jackie ‘O’ Henderson is the network’s golden goose, is way past managing up.
No company funds were used on the wedding, Davis added, though the content it generated was widely used on its own programs. Asked how the company felt about its star getting married alongside convicted drug smuggler Simon Main (Sandilands’ best man), McLennan himself took the mic to describe the wedding as a “private matter”.
Though he couldn’t do anything but admit it was nonetheless “very well publicised”. Outstanding.
See Also: The end of HT&E: Shareholders vote to officially rebrand as ARN Media
Television
Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav: It’s time to bundle more streaming services together
Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav offered a look at his vision for CNN going forward, saying the goal is to “show both sides of every issue,” which includes bringing more Republicans on air, reports The Hollywood Reporter’s Caitlin Huston.
Speaking at an investor conference Thursday, Zaslav said leadership has been making adjustments to change the view that it is a left-leaning network, in an appeal that he says includes bringing in more advertisers, as well as Republican guests, noting, “they’re not going to get one more vote on Fox News.”
“We need to show both sides of every issue,” Zaslav said.
Zaslav covered a wide range of topics at the investor conference, touching on the future of the streaming landscape, as well as the trajectory of the company so far. The executive says he expects greater consolidation within the streaming space, but suggested it would not necessarily come from mergers due to the lengthy timeline and regulatory risks involved, but rather from the packaging and marketing of products together.
“For me, it seems very clear that if we were to package this great product that we have with others, if you were to wake up tomorrow and in each market the number one, two or three products, if we were marketed with two or three, for specific price, it would be great for consumers, it would probably reduce churn,” Zaslav said.
Zaslav did not offer more specifics on how exactly this might happen, but said, “If we don’t do it to ourselves, I think it’ll be done to us.”
iview hits driving more younger viewers for ABC
Aunty Donna’s Coffee Cafe may not necessarily be attracting broad crowds in overnight ratings but according to ABC it is drawing more younger viewers to iview, where all six episodes were available at launch, reports TV Tonight.
Speaking at Screen Forever, ABC Head of Comedy Todd Abbott was asked about recent successful shows for audiences under the age of 30.
“I don’t think it’s any secret that broadcast audiences generally are not heavily made up of Under 30s, but that’s obviously one of the reasons that we are really focused on ABC iView and really trying to populate that,” he said.