Hollywood Buzz: October 2023

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

• Studios deliver new contract offer to SAG-AFTRA; more talks this weekend (Deadline, 11/3)

• Disney to acquire remaining 33% Hulu stake from Comcast for $8.61 billion (Deadline, 11/1)

• HBO bosses used 'secret' fake accounts to troll TV critics (Rolling Stone, 11/1)

• Netflix: first streamer to offer downloads to ad-tier subscribers (Android Authority, 11/1)

• Taylor Tomlinson to host new CBS late-night show after Colbert (NY Times, 11/1)

• A Real Housewives reckoning led by Bethenny Frankel is rocking Bravo (Vanity Fair, 10/30)

• Hello Sunshine announces launch of Hello Sunshine Collective, an incubator program aimed at developing the next generation of female storytellers (THR, 10/19)

• Netflix enters live sports PGA Tour pros vs. Formula 1 drivers golf match (THR, 10/17)

• Showtime’s sports division to shut down end of the year (THR, 10/17)

• Jason Blum: Blumhouse-Atomic Monster merger is “very close” to closing (Deadline, 10/12)

• Disney Ent. Television expands its Directing Program into unscripted (Deadline, 10/11)

• 2,000+ top producers sign petition to drop second “P” from AMPTP, part of larger push to address inequities (Deadline, 10/10)

• Paramount will no longer develop limited series in the U.S. (Deadline, 10/10)

• It’s official: WGA members ratify new three-year deal with studios (Deadline, 10/9)

• Spotify is making a major push into the audiobook sector, adding more than 150K titles to its existing Premium subscription plans at no extra charge (Deadline, 10/3) 

• October / early November layoffs include: United Talent Agency, DreamWorks, Anonymous Content, Starz, Blumhouse, Condé Naste, TVA Group, Google News, Netflix