Hollywood Buzz: April 2023

By Natalie Lifson, Agent Trainee at Buchwald and your co-Editor-in-Chief at THA

THE WRITER'S STRIKE

• The Writer’s Guild of America (WGA) voted to go on strike if their demands are not met (4/20)

• WHY THEY'RE STRIKING

• STRIKE RULES

MAJOR NEWS

• Warner Brothers Discovery CEO: WBD doesn't believe in direct-to-streaming movies (4/26)

• Ousted: NBC's CEO Jeff Shell, CNN's Don Lemon, & Fox News's Tucker Carlson (4/24)

• Buzzfeed News is shutting down (4/20)

• Netflix announces broad rollout of “paid sharing” to cut down on password sharing (4/18)

• AMC+ streaming service launching an ad-supported version (4/17)

• "HBO Max" rebranding to "Max" following Discovery merger (4/12)

• Amazon Freevee launches FAST channels: Latino Vibes and OUTtv Proud with Fuse (4/12); anime channel RetroCrush, family-focused The Dove Channel, & true-life channel Docurama with Cinedigm (4/20)

NOTEWORTHY

• HBO Max: partnering with Gold House, a platform uniting & promoting AAPI voices (4/28)

• Prime Video has acquired new DC animated projects (4/26)

• Netflix plans to spend $2.5 billion through 2027 on content made in South Korea (4/26)

• The Roku Channel expands its original Spanish-language content (4/20)

• A new Twilight TV show is in the works at Lionsgate Television (4/19)

• Audience Measurement service. Accreditation had been suspended in September 2021 (4/18)

• Harry Potter series ordered at HBO Max (4/12)

• The Media Rating Council has reinstated the accreditation of Nielsen’s National Television

• The Hollywood Foreign Press Association added 215 international voters ahead of 81st Golden Globes, surpassing its pledge to increase size and diversity of its voting body (4/11)

• Netflix has ordered its first pilot: “Little Sky,” a single-cam comedy about a woman determined to prove herself as an on-air news reporter (4/4)

• Hollywood’s Covid testing protocols, including vaccine mandate, will expire May 12 (4/3)