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nbcu restructuring: nod to vertically integrated past or glimpse of future?
as media giants balance linear tv and streaming, their org charts are shifting, but an industrywide blueprint has not yet emerged |
Five years after NBC Entertainment and Universal Television were separated in a realignment that combined all NBCUniversal TV production divisions into Universal Studio Group, the broadcast network and studio are back together — along with the rest of USG — under one creative executive, USG chairman Pearlena Igbokwe, who will now also oversee Peacock scripted. The restructuring by NBCUniversal Entertainment & Studios chairman Donna Langley, which includes Frances Berwick running Bravo and Peacock unscripted, with Lisa Katz expected to continue overseeing NBC and Peacock scripted under Igbokwe, feels like vertical integration 2.0 in the era of streaming.
It is a throwback to times over the past two and a half decades when ABC and ABC Studios, NBC and Universal TV, CBS and then-Paramount Network TV and Fox and 20th Television were run by the same executive — or pair of executives as was the case of Dana Walden and Gary Newman overseeing Fox and 20th TV.
Pure streamers like Netflix, Prime Video and Apple TV+ all have the platform and the in-house studio under the same top executives, though an industry source noted that even a company like Netflix has two groups managing its content: production teams and the ones that commission the shows.
What makes things trickier for traditional media companies is that, while tech-based streamers only produce for themselves, legacy studios also sell outside, sometimes providing hits to networks and platforms that compete with their own. >>>Full Analysis |
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| Deadline Exclusives & Originals |
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'Brave New' B.O. - Disney/Marvel Studios' Captain America: Brave New World has hit three-weekend tracking with a $95 million-plus projection over four days. The movie opens February 14, the start to the 3-day Presidents Day weekend. >>>Comps
NBC Is In 'Love' With Anna Faris - NBC has ordered a pilot for Love Takes A Village, a new dating show – hosted by Mom star Anna Faris and Rick Edwards, who previously hosted The Courtship for the network. >>>Blind Date Format
Oscar Nominations & The L.A. Fires - Deadline's Pete Hammond says this year’s nominees list is even more international than in recent years likely in part because the L.A. wildfires moved the Academy to extend the voting period twice and by nearly a week overall. It was indicative that voters in Los Angeles, where a lot of them live, might have been preoccupied. >>> History Behind 'Emilia's 13 Noms
‘English’ Broadway Review - Absolutely nothing gets lost in the translation of Sanaz Toossi’s English as the Pulitzer Prize-winning play about a group of Iranians longing for the West finally makes its Broadway debut, two years after its Off Broadway bow garnered critical raves. >>>Greg Evans' Take
The Script's The Thing - The 2025 Oscar nominations include a powerhouse lineup of original and adapted screenplays, from leading noms-getter Emilia Pérez to Golden Globe winner Conclave. Deadline’s Read the Screenplay series featured the season's 10 writing nominees. >>>Read All Of Them |
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The Deadline Interview Michael Moore On Palestinian Film ‘From Ground Zero’, U.S. Distribution's Self-Censorship Crisis & Making His First Movie Since 2018 |
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Oscar winner Michael Moore is in awe of the endeavor behind anthology film From Ground Zero. The project is a collection of 22 shorts by emerging local filmmakers told through fiction, documentary, docu-fiction, animation and experimental cinema, each capturing the daily challenges, tragedies and moments of resilience faced in the Palestinian enclave. “This is a stunning achievement,” the Bowling For Columbine and Fahrenheit 9/11 director tells Deadline about the Palestinian film crafted amid the daily destruction and death stalking Gaza. “It is a brilliant work of art."
Moore is troubled by the reluctance by U.S. distributors to take on politically charged films or anything that might stir up too much controversy. "We need people that have courage, and who are not subject to propaganda or don’t care about it,” he declares.
The 70-year-old filmmaker also revealed to Deadline he is working on his first project since Fahrenheit 11/9, which came out in 2018. “I’ve been working on something, yes, for the last number of months, but I can’t talk about that right now,” he says. >>>Read The Interview |
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Exclusive
Netflix has added Seoyeon Jang (Butterfly), William Fichtner (Mom), Mikaela Hoover (Superman) and musician BM — in his acting debut — to the Season 2 cast of Beef.
Exclusive
The Big Broadway Dream of internet sensation Trisha Paytas just got a bit bigger: The one-night-only event at Broadway’s St. James Theatre next month will include special guest appearances and performances from Sutton Foster, Ben Platt, Gypsy’s Joy Woods and Romeo + Juliet’s Rachel Zegler.
Real Women Have Curves: The Musical has announced additional members of the production’s Broadway company: Florencia Cuenca (Broadway debut) as Estela, Shelby Acosta (1776) as Prima Flaca, Carla Jimenez (Broadway debut) as Pancha, Aline Mayagoitia (Broadway debut) as Itzel, Mason Reeves (Broadway debut) as Henry, Jennifer Sánchez (Elf) as Rosalí, Sandra Valls (Broadway debut) as Prima Fulvia and Quincy Hampton, Zeus Mendoza, Claudia Mulet, Christopher M. Ramirez, Monica Tulia Ramirez, Shadia Fairuz, Elisa Galindez and Omar Madden. |
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More News 🎢 Disney announced a handful of new appointments for executive team at its Experiences segment including a newly created role to oversee major events integration, and new heads for Disneyland Resort, Disney Signature Experiences and Shanghai Disney Resort.
📺 CNN unveiled details of changes to its daytime and afternoon lineup Thursday, with Wolf Blitzer moving to mornings to anchor The Situation Room with Pamela Brown, Jake Tapper getting a new time slot, and Kasie Hunt shifting to afternoons.
🧙 A day after Focus Features’ announcement of Werwulf, which Robert Eggers is set as his next film, comes the news that the filmmaker has closed his deal to write and direct a new Labyrinth film for TriStar Pictures. |
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Obituaries
🕯️ Ken Wydro, who co-created, co-wrote and produced the long-running 1983 Off Broadway hit musical Mama, I Want To Sing inspired by the life of 1960s “Just One Look” singer Doris Troy, died on Tuesday, January 21, at his home in Harlem, New York. He was 81 years old. 🕯️ 2025 Deaths Photo Gallery: Hollywood & Media Obituaries |
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On the Radar
Fri - LA Wildfire Relief telethon
Sat - Timothée Chalamet hosts SNL
Sun - NFL Conference Championships
Wed - Meta earnings
Thu - Comcast, Apple earnings; FireAid benefit concert |
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A Piece Of Cake - Reese Witherspoon and Will Ferrell attend a special screening for Prime Video's You're Cordially Invited in London. |
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