{"id":182271,"date":"2023-01-10T04:54:04","date_gmt":"2023-01-10T04:54:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/whats-happening-the-hollywood-reporter\/"},"modified":"2023-01-10T04:54:04","modified_gmt":"2023-01-10T04:54:04","slug":"whats-happening-the-hollywood-reporter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/whats-happening-the-hollywood-reporter\/","title":{"rendered":"What’s Happening \u2013 The Hollywood Reporter"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\tWarner Bros. Discovery took a lot of flak in 2022 for axing finished movies and series \u2014 most infamously, the Batgirl<\/em> movie \u2014 and removing some legacy titles from its HBO Max streaming platform. As it turns out, the company may have been ahead of the curve.<\/p>\n

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\tA fresh wave of cost-cutting moves at other companies, ranging from Disney to AMC Networks, has made WBD CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels seem prophetic.<\/p>\n

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\t\u201cWe got a lot of public noise about some of the content write-offs that we took, which is a reflection of an industry that went overboard and that went on a spending frenzy,\u201d Wiedenfels said at a Citibank conference on Jan. 5. \u201cWe shaved off a lot of the excess last year, and I think that’s something that everyone else in the industry is going to go through. We’re coming from an irrational time of overspending with very limited focus on return on investment, and I think others are going to have to make some adjustments that we, frankly, have behind us now.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\tAMC Networks has been particularly aggressive in cutting back, axing already ordered second seasons of legal drama 61st Street<\/em> and sci-fi series moonhaven<\/em> and rescinding series orders for demascus<\/em> and Invitation to a Bonfire<\/em>. The sci-fi comedy demascus<\/em> and 61st Street<\/em> had already wrapped production on their respective seasons, while Invitation to a Bonfire<\/em>starring Tatiana Maslany, was partway through filming.<\/p>\n

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\tThe moves come as AMC Networks is looking for up to $400 million in write-downs for programming as it seeks to get on more stable financial ground. Sources tell The Hollywood Reporter<\/em> that the company is prioritizing \u201ccore\u201d shows \u2014 think: the Anne Rice dramas Interview With the Vampire<\/em> and Mayfair Witches<\/em> and the ongoing The Walking Dead<\/em> universe \u2014 and will likely be cutting back on development as well. (The company also announced a round of layoffs in December.)<\/p>\n

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\tAmong the recent casualties are ABC’s Avalon<\/em>, a drama series from David E. Kelley and Michael Connelly that was scuttled after production on a pilot (lead studio A+E Studios, which was producing with Disney’s 20th TV, is shopping the show); a feature film based on Comedy Central’s workaholics<\/em> at Paramount+, scrapped five weeks before filming was slated to begin; and Netflix’s animated comedy Inside Job<\/em>which saw its second-season renewal taken back.<\/p>\n

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\tThe wave of un-renewals and discarded series orders is the second one to hit the industry in the past three years. The early months of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 brought on a similar spate of decisions that affected, among others, Netflix’s GLOW<\/em> and The Society<\/em>ABC’s Stumptown<\/em> and Showtime’s On Becoming a God in Central Florida<\/em>. Those cancellations were driven in part by pandemic concerns \u2014 including the additional cost of testing and social distancing measures prior to vaccines becoming available \u2014 while the latest moves come as the streaming era’s spending spree hangover kicks in and media conglomerates look to eliminate red ink on their balance sheets.<\/p>\n

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\tThe recent wave has unsurprisingly caused consternation in the creative community, with some writers calling for their union to make the corporate takebacks an issue in upcoming contract negotiations. The Directors Guild declined comment; THR<\/em> has also reached out to SAG-AFTRA and the Writers Guild. <\/p>\n

\n\tAdditional reporting by Alex Weprin.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n