Welcome to my periodic weekly collection of quick takes and flashpoints from the news around town. Today: box office on a roll, but who’s left out, execs making busy work, sadness on Southwest, and shake-up at Mouseville. Shake-Up at DisneyJust as we were going to press, news came through that Christine McCarthy is stepping down as Disney CFO for "family medical leave". And given that it’s about a woman who has battled cancer twice, and a husband who the Wall Street Journal reports is “ailing”, that's not an explanation to be just shrugged off. Sincere best wishes to her and hers. The fact that she's remaining in an advisory role suggests that this isn't an ouster along the lines of say... calling an employee on their way to an Elton John concert to tell him to not go on stage. With this torch passing, the tiny number of women in heartbeat-away-from-the chair-positions grows one smaller. (Her interim replacement, Kevin Lansberry, is not known to be a woman.) The number of studio heads themselves who are women, holds steady at zero. Congratulations, Hollywood. Obviously in the eyes of Iger loyalists, the steely McCarthy did the world a great service in ridding the world of the Chapek interregnum as has been reported, by going to the board. (A service that Iger himself had, of course, absolutely nothing to do with.) Of course, Disney being Disney, there is always palace intrigue. In December last year, CNBC’s Alex Sherman predicted McCarthy — discussed as a CEO successor to Iger — would not make it to the finish line. Meanwhile, with budget cuts, layoffs, delayed releases and shows being removed from its streaming services, Disney employees weathering the assorted storms of the moment are hoping for the restoration miracle to kick in. In a statement, McCarthy said that she will "always be rooting for the success of my extended Disney family." The Box Office at Mid-YearLook at us! Movies made it halfway through a year with no major shutdown or new paradigm interruption. Participation trophies all around! Just please don't turn the page to look at where this leads us in 2024, especially if the strike stretches into the fall. But for now... the first half of the year was definitely more than just okay. It's the kind of results that make you say, "What was the idea of throwing this entire business out the window for a new sector that shows little hope of ever being profitable?" You know, questions like that! But heartening as the comeback has been, fortune is not distributed equally in this life. There are the greats, the good, and the just okays. And a few who didn't even make it to that. So let's have a look at some takeaways from the six months that shook the box office and pick some winners and some losers. After all, Gore Vidal's maxim, "It's not enough to succeed. Others must fail," might as well be the founding principle of Hollywood. Our E pluribus unum. Take it away, takeaways:
We're So Busy. Really!Hollywood may not be doing much, but it’s busier than ever. At any given time during even normalcy, the greatest brainpower of Hollywood executives is devoted to the task of… demonstrating as loudly as possible that they are doing important things. Every year a huge swath of Hollywood's time goes to writing unneeded notes, taking pointless meetings and starting group email chains in the service of this goal. But this year, on top of it being June (and it being Hollywood), there is also an industry-wide strike, when no deals can be made or projects put into place, and production is going is in mothballs. And that leaves many in the industry with a very intense scramble to prove their jobs exist for a reason. The sword of Damocles of massive cuts and downsizing doesn't make that task any less urgent. I've heard this week from people across the industry that while there's never been less to do, they have never been busier, as seemingly every person at every company seems to be anxiously taking this opportunity to schedule needless meetings on Zooms, in person, department-wide, with outside vendors — you name it. With no writers present, the script notes and development meetings are burning white hot, as the desperation to prove one’s value become a general panic. At this rate, the writers are going to come back from the strike someday and fine a shockingly tired group of executives, agents and apparatchiks barely holding on. The Unfriendly SkiesFor those who came of age in Imperial Hollywood, its taken some adjustment to acclimate to this new world of belt-tightening, cutbacks, layoffs, quarterly earnings and disposable stars. But having lived through all of that, one sentence in yesterday's Variety profile of Warner Film bosses Michael DeLuca and Pam Abdy, brought home exactly how far we've fallen. Variety reporter Matt Donnelly captured this potent and heartbreaking moment at the Las Vegas Airport
And thus, an empire dies. There was a time not too long ago when every marketing assistant expected a seat in business class, across the aisle from her assistant. But no more. Can you have a business built on glamour when the most prominent executives have to push their way to the front of their boarding group to try and get an aisle seat? We'll find out. Or perhaps once the writers strike is settled we should put together a Patreon to raise money make sure all our top executives are upgraded to no less than Comfort Plus-level whenever they travel. Can’t afford The Ankler right now? If you’re an assistant, student, or getting your foot in the door, and want help navigating the craziness of this business but don’t have the money to spare, drop me a line at richard@theankler.com and we’ll work it out. No mogul or mogul-to-be left behind here at The Ankler. Got a tip or story pitch? Email tips@theankler.com. To advertise to our 52,000 subscribers, email info@theankler.com. ICYMI
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