The Headliner: The Skydance Era Begins

The $111B Paramount–Warner Bros. Discovery merger has closed, and David Ellison now controls one of the biggest content libraries on the planet. David Zaslav is out, reportedly with a payout of more than $600M. CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels has also left.

The big winner is Casey Bloys. The HBO chief beat Paramount+ head Cindy Holland for the combined streaming job, and Holland has exited. James Gunn and Peter Safran (DC), Mark Thompson (CNN) and JB Perrette all move into Ellison's leadership team. Skydance film veterans Dana Goldberg and Josh Greenstein now co-chair a motion picture group that includes Warner Bros. HBO has already placed its first series order of the new era.

Why it matters to us: Mergers this size mean executive reshuffles, exit payouts and relocations between LA and New York. Expect movement at the high end in Beverly Hills, Brentwood, the Palisades and Manhattan.

Center Stage: Entertainment & Music

Swift takes over the chart, again. Taylor Swift's "Patient Zero" debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 dated Oct. 10, and her new tracks took four of the top five spots.

Latin Music Week heads to Miami. Billboard Latin Music Week runs Oct. 19–22 at the Faena Forum in Miami Beach. The Billboard Latin Music Awards air live Oct. 22 on Telemundo and Peacock. It's a key week for the Latin artist and executive community.

Awards shows go to streaming. The Emmys will leave broadcast TV for the first time, moving to Prime Video in 2027. That follows the Oscars' move to YouTube.

Weekend box office. Resident Evil has reached $320M worldwide, a franchise record. Universal's horror film Other Mommy opened to about $45M globally. Sony's Aaron Sorkin follow-up, The Social Reckoning, stumbled with $5.5M domestic.

In memoriam. Breaking Bad's RJ Mitte died Oct. 12 at 34. Bryan Cranston and the cast have posted tributes.

The Front Office: Agency Moves (WME / CAA)

Ari's bestseller asterisk. WME chief Ari Emanuel's memoir Roll the Calls debuted at No. 2 on the NYT list. Publishers Weekly left it off its list after BookScan flagged heavy bulk sales.

CAA closes a max deal. CAA basketball co-head Austin Brown negotiated Donovan Mitchell's four-year, $273M max extension with the Cavaliers.

CAA to WME talent drain. Senior agents Adam Schweitzer (NY), Matt Martin and Trevor Astbury have moved from CAA to WME as senior partners. Schweitzer brings Cillian Murphy, Rebecca Ferguson, Christoph Waltz and Rachel Zegler. 

On Location: Filming Watch

Los Angeles / California. California's expanded $750M tax credit has now funded 170 projects. Even so, on-location filming fell 12% in Q2, and LA is still about 36% below its five-year average. Mayor Bass is pushing for an uncapped credit that would also cover reality competition shows and above-the-line costs.

New York / New Jersey. New Jersey is the growth story. Netflix (Fort Monmouth), Lionsgate (Newark) and 1888 Studios (Bayonne) are all building, and CBRE expects the state's studio inventory to triple by 2028. New York has 27 productions starting this month and dozens more in pre-production.

London / UK. The BFI London Film Festival marks its 70th edition through Oct. 18. Highlights include Danny Boyle's Murdoch drama Ink and Jesse Eisenberg's The Debut as the closing gala. Greta Gerwig's Narnia: The Magician's Nephew for Netflix is slated to start shooting in England Nov. 1. Bridgerton S5 continues filming around Greenwich, and Apple's Down Cemetery Road S2 is shooting in Clapham.

Canada. Toronto remains busy. Netflix's Return to You, directed by Mark Waters, is shooting through Nov. 10.

Australia. ABC's new drama Dustfall premiered Oct. 11. A recent industry study called Australia a world-class production hub but flagged workforce and soundstage capacity limits.

The Box Score: Sports Business

Rogers owns Toronto. Rogers closed its C$4.35B purchase of Kilmer's stake in MLSE. That gives it 100% of the Leafs, Raptors, TFC, Argonauts and Scotiabank Arena. Everything will be folded into Rogers Sports alongside the Blue Jays, and analysts think a stake sale could raise as much as C$7.5B.

Deadline season. Arizona traded Marvin Harrison Jr. to Houston on Oct. 12 for 2027 second- and seventh-round picks. The NFL trade deadline is Nov. 10.

Sports tech deal. Sportradar is selling Synergy's coaching and scouting unit (Atrium Sports) to Teamworks for $170M cash to focus on betting and media.

Brand play. PSG has signed a two-year partnership with L'Oréal.

The Feed: Creators

Dhar Mann builds a campus. Dhar Mann unveiled Creator City, a four-acre production campus in Los Angeles opening Super Bowl weekend 2027. It's a real estate story as much as a creator story.

Hollywood wants creator IP. AGC Studios launched a creator division to turn digital IP into film and TV franchises. FOX added two senior hires to its creator studio. Disney signed Like Nastya (133M YouTube subscribers) to a content deal.

Money moves. Get Engaged joined SAMY in a reported nine-figure deal to anchor its U.S. expansion. Slow Ventures disclosed three more investments from its $64M creator fund.

Europe. A YouTube-commissioned survey of 20,000 creators says EU creators added €8.4B to GDP in 2025. It also found two-thirds receive no government support.

Today in LA. CreatorIQ Connect is at The Ebell, and IMCX returns to Los Angeles this week.

Curtain Up: Broadway & West End

Tarantino takes the West End. Quentin Tarantino's first stage play, The Popinjay Cavalier, is confirmed for the Phoenix Theatre, with Sacha Baron Cohen in the title role. The swashbuckling 1830s comedy begins previews Feb. 23 and opens March 18. Sony Pictures and Sonia Friedman Productions are producing. Expect it to be the hottest ticket in London next spring.

Broadway's fall surge. Broadway grossed $27.7M for the week ending Oct. 4, up 15% across 28 shows. Hamilton led with $2.7M at over 100% capacity. Other Desert Cities (Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Ed Harris, Joe Keery) posted a sold-out preview week with an average ticket of about $276.

Opening nights to know (NY):

• Sea Wall, with Andrew Scott: Oct. 16
• Other Desert Cities, at the Hudson: Oct. 18
• 860, Billy Crystal's solo show at the Imperial: Oct. 21, running through Jan. 3
• The Imaginary Invalid: Oct. 22
• A Few Good Men, at the Vivian Beaumont: Oct. 29
• Much Ado About Nothing, with Tom Hiddleston and Hayley Atwell in Jamie Lloyd's
  production: first preview Oct. 31
• Dolly, the Dolly Parton musical: previews Dec. 7, opening Jan. 19

Client angle: Premieres, opening nights and limited runs create entertaining and gifting opportunities for clients.

The Circuit: Trade Shows & Events

This week

• CreatorIQ Connect (Oct. 13, The Ebell, LA): speakers include YouTube and the LA Rams' CCO.
• IMCX (LA): the influencer marketing expo returns to Los Angeles.
• BFI London Film Festival: runs through Oct. 18.
• Billboard Latin Music Week (Oct. 19–22, Faena Forum, Miami Beach), with the Latin Music Awards on Oct. 22.
• Coming up
• Web Summit (Nov. 9–12, Lisbon): tech, media and creator business.
• PrimeTime Sports Management Conference (Nov. 12–14, Toronto).
• TwitchCon (Nov. 13–15, San Diego): the biggest creator fan event left this year.
• Sports Business Journal Forty Under 40 / New Voices (Nov. 19–20, NYC).
• SVG Summit (Dec. 14–15, NYC): sports media and production.
• 
  

2027 note: VidCon is leaving Anaheim and relaunches as VidCon x LIONS Creators in Nashville in autumn 2027. Dhar Mann's LA Creator City also opens Super Bowl weekend 2027.

Sources

The Ankler · TheWrap · The Hollywood Reporter · Billboard · Variety · LA Times · FilmLA · CBRE / NJBIZ · Film London · City AM · Production List · Ontario Creates · Screen Australia / Variety AU · The Globe and Mail · NFL.com · ESPN · Sportradar / Inside World Football · Net Influencer · Social Day · TMZ / Hollywood Life · One Mann's Movies