Hollywood Buzz: May 2025
- Natalie Lifson
- May 13
- 4 min read
By Natalie Lifson, Agent Trainee and Executive Assistant at Buchwald and your co-Editor-in-Chief at THA
Everything you may have missed in the trades this month...
New Initiatives
Comcast’s spinoff of NBCUniversal cable networks, temporarily dubbed SpinCo, has an official name: Versant. -Cynopsis, 5/7
The spinoff will house Comcast's cable TV assets like USA, MSNBC, CNBC and E!, as well as some digital brands like Fandango. -THR, 5/6
The 2025-26 TV season will feature “bold originals, blockbuster sports and iconic live events.” -THR, 5/12
The new programming slate for Comcast-owned Versant will include 16 new series across E!, Oxygen, Syfy and USA. -Cynopsis, 5/13
Samsung Ads unveiled Samsung Television Network, dubbed “the broad-FAST channel of the future,” offering a curated selection of Samsung TV Plus programming. -Cynopsis, 5/7
“CNBC’s David Faber reports that a spinoff of Warners’ cable channels is imminent.” -THR, 5/8
The upcoming streaming service from Fox Corp. will be called Fox One. -THR, 5/12
It will include both live and on-demand feeds of Fox, Fox News, Fox Weather, Fox Business and FS1, among other channels, with a full lineup of sports, news, and entertainment programming.
TelevisaUnivision Launches Short-Form ‘Microdramas -Variety, 5/13
ESPN Reveals Name And Price Of Forthcoming Stand-Alone Streaming Outlet: ESPN. -Deadline, 5/13
New Genre Label Chroma Launches, Partners With Fantastic Fest on Fantastic Pitches, Offering $100,000 to Winning Pitch Team -Variety, 5/15
Mergers & Acquisitions
Roku Acquires Streaming Bundle Service Frndly TV For $185M -Deadline, 5/1
Starz has completed its separation from Lionsgate and returns to being a standalone public company. -Cynopsis, 5/8
Charter And Cox Communications To Merge In Blockbuster $34.5 Billion Deal. -Deadline, 5/16
Physical Production
New York
LA
L.A. Is Set To Become A Little Easier To Film In After City Council Passes Motion To Reduce Red Tape -Deadline, 4/29
Who’s Going to Halt Hollywood’s Production Exodus — and How? -THR, 5/7
Is it Gov. Gavin Newsom and his $750 million tax incentive plan, a Trump-Voight led federal push or a studio chief brokered blueprint? The White House has scrambled all bets, for now.
Amid the swirl of the Trump administration’s nascent plans to “Make Hollywood Great Again,” California is on the verge of revamping its Film & TV Tax Credit Program in the hopes of reinvigorating the state’s production pipeline. But, it could be more than a year before production workers begin to feel the affects of the proposed changes, if they are approved by the Legislature. -Deadline, 5/11
Rams Owner Plots Major TV and Film Production Facility at Hollywood Park -THR, 5/15
How The L.A. Fires Sparked A Major Fight To Bring Back Local Film & TV Production: “We Cannot Wait Until We Have Lost The Business” -Deadline, 5/17
Industry Updates
Trump Budget Calls For Elimination Of National Endowment For The Arts -Deadline, 5/3
Trump Administration’s Termination Of Arts Grants Hammers Film Festivals Nationwide: “We’re Sounding The Alarm Bell” -Deadline, 5/9
Creators Are Building Their Own Supersized Studio System As Hollywood Cuts Back -THR, 5/8
Broadway Box Office Has Finally Recovered, Overtaking Pre-Pandemic Returns for First Time. -THR, 5/13
Warners Reverses Course: Changes Max’s Name Back to HBO Max -THR, 5/14
Returning the HBO to Max Is Latest Sign of Potential Warner Bros. Discovery Split -THR, 5/14
Why David Zaslav Was Wrong to Get Rid of HBO’s Name in HBO Max -Variety, 5/14
Helpful Articles
Streaming Is Now Just As Crowded With Ads As Old School TV -THR, 5/1
How London Became the New Hollywood -THR, 5/8
Why Eliminating the NEA Would Be a Disaster For Our Country -THR, 5/12
Media CEO Pay Packages in 2024 -Variety, 5/15
Is The Industry Turning Towards AI? “Clean AI” Companies Asteria And Flawless AI See An Ethical Way Forward -Deadline, 5/15
Broadcast Schedule’s New Paradigm: How 8 PM Became “The Best Time Period On TV For Live Viewing” As 10 PM Hangs In (For Now) -Deadline, 5/16
Tariffs
After Trump promised a 100% tariff on "any and all Movies coming into our Country that are produced in Foreign Lands," industry figures are frantically trying to come to grips with how the proposal could possibly work. -THR, 5/5
What Donald Trump Is Really After With Movie Tariffs Does he believe he’s saving Hollywood or screwing Hollywood? -THR, 5/5
Media Stocks Hit After Trump’s Bombshell Plan To Tax Films Produced Outside U.S. – “Studios Carry A Significant Amount Of Risk” -Deadline, 5/5
Does TV Get a Free Pass in Trump’s Grand Tariff Plan to Save Hollywood? -THR, 5/6
Trump and his White House spokesperson keep talking about foreign films, but there are way more internationally produced television series consumed by Americans.
Could Trump’s Movie Tariff Add Momentum for Federal Filming Incentive? -Variety, 5/8
Trump Film Tariffs Plan Prompts Appeal From Global Industry Organizations Ahead of Cannes Film Festival -Variety, 5/11
Trump’s Movie Tariff Appeals to Some in Hollywood Who Lost Jobs to Foreign Subsidies -Variety, 5/14
Trump’s 100 Percent Tariff on Movies: 8 Key Questions the Industry Is Now Pondering and Dreading. -THR, 5/5
Unions
Writers Guild Of America West Staff Union Wins Voluntarily Recognition -Deadline, 4/29
Production Assistants, Seeing Work Dwindle, View a Union as Their Future -THR, 5/2
Video Game Companies Release ‘Best and Last’ Offer to SAG-AFTRA Addressing AI Demands Amid 9-Month Strike -Variety, 5/5
WGA Members Uphold Vote to Expel Two Members for Strike Violations -Variety, 5/9
Layoffs: NBCUniversal, Universal International Studios, Critical Content (furlough), Electronic Arts, Monkeypaw
Awards: BAFTA TV Award Winners, Tony Nominations
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