Shows / The Option
The Option
The Option is a daily intelligence briefing on the business of Hollywood—not the headlines, but what drives them. Each episode breaks down the deals, power dynamics, and economics that shape film, television, and streaming. From studio mergers and executive shuffles to talent leverage and IP strategy, The Option explains why decisions get made, not just what happened. This is not entertainment news. This is industry intelligence. Hosted by a senior industry insider, The Option delivers 3-6…
Episodes
- The Option
Episode 157: Disney Bids on Character.ai in Chapter 11 Sale
Disney Worldwide Services has entered a $20 million stalking horse bid for a non-exclusive perpetual license of Character.ai's intellectual property as the AI…
- The Option
Episode 156: Netflix's 5% Cut Before Q3 Earnings
Netflix is preparing for what multiple sources describe as a significant restructure — cuts in the 5% range or more — with the company's Q3 earnings call on…
- The Option
Episode 155: Michael Ovitz, CAA, and the Deposition He Walked Out Of
CAA co-founder Michael Ovitz was ordered by a New York state court to complete his deposition in the Julia Ormond sexual assault lawsuit after walking out of…
- The Option
Episode 154: Emmy Awards Land at Prime Video in 6-Year Deal
The Emmy Awards are leaving broadcast television for the first time in the show's history. Amazon Prime Video has locked up the telecast in a six-year deal…
- The Option
Episode 153: Skydance's Warner Bros To-Do List
Skydance Pictures Co-Chairs Dana Goldberg and Josh Greenstein have inherited one of the most complex theatrical slates in modern studio history — roughly 65…
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Episode 152: CAA Poaches NFL's Top Operator as COO
CAA has hired Dasha Smith as its new Chief Operating Officer, pulling her directly from the NFL where she served as Executive VP and Chief Administrative…
- The Option
Episode 151: Paramount Pays Up to Fund the Warner Deal
Paramount has accepted high borrowing costs to fund its acquisition of Warner Bros., according to the Financial Times. The terms signal that the combined…
- The Option
Episode 150: De Luca and Abdy Out at Warner Bros. After Paramount Close
Four days before the $110 billion Paramount Skydance–Warner Bros. Discovery merger closes, David Ellison is clearing house at Warner Bros. film. Michael De…
- The Option
Episode 149: Ynon Kreiz Eyes Senior Role at Paramount-WBD
Former Mattel CEO Ynon Kreiz has held direct conversations with Paramount CEO David Ellison about a senior executive role at the combined Paramount–Warner…
- The Option
Episode 148: Endeavor and Silver Lake Sue Carl Icahn
On September 21, Endeavor and Silver Lake filed suit in Delaware's Court of Chancery against Carl Icahn and dozens of his affiliated investment funds, seeking…
- The Option
Episode 147: Shawn Levy Lands at 20th TV After Netflix Tenure
Shawn Levy and his production banner 21 Laps Entertainment have signed a multi-year overall deal with 20th Television, part of Disney Television Studios —…
- The Option
Episode 146: Paramount Moves to NYSE as WBD Close Looms
Paramount's board authorized a transfer of its Class B common stock from the Nasdaq to the New York Stock Exchange, with the listing shift scheduled for…
- The Option
Episode 145: ParaBros Merger Hits Court Roadblock
Block the Merger, LULAC, and a coalition of press-freedom and documentary organizations filed midnight briefs in federal court urging Judge Araceli…
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Episode 144: Paramount Eyes Musk as WBD Close Approaches
Paramount is reportedly courting Elon Musk as an equity investor in the combined Paramount–Warner Bros. Discovery company, according to Semafor, even as the…
- The Option
Episode 143: Netflix Engagement Risk and What Comes Next
Wells Fargo analyst Steven Cahall downgraded Netflix stock Friday with a note titled "Engagement Risk," citing a measurable slide in the Nielsen Gauge and a…
- The Option
Episode 142: UTA Partner Josh Katz Exits After 30 Years
UTA Partner and Motion Picture Talent Agent Josh Katz has exited the agency after a 30-year run, departing voluntarily with no announced next destination. His…
- The Option
Episode 141: MACRO Acquires ALLBLK, Enters Streaming
Charles D. King's MACRO has acquired ALLBLK from AMC Global Media, marking a major structural shift for one of the entertainment industry's most respected…
- The Option
Episode 140: Industry Unites for a Federal Film Tax Credit
The U.S. Film & TV Production Coalition launched today, uniting virtually every major guild, union, studio group, and industry organization behind a proposed…
- The Option
Episode 139: Paramount & Netflix Cut Their Animation Pact
Paramount and Netflix are ending their animated film pact — a deal originally struck in 2023 between Netflix and Skydance Animation before the…
- The Option
Episode 138: Jimmy Kimmel's Budget Squeeze at ABC
A Page Six item about Jimmy Kimmel's future at ABC exploded online Tuesday, leading Drudge and landing on the day of Kimmel's post-summer return. The story as…
- The Option
Episode 137: NBCUniversal Goes Independent
NBCUniversal Media Group Chairman Matt Strauss took the stage at a Bank of America investor conference to make the public case for the company's coming split…
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Episode 136: Fox's $22B Roku Deal Hits DOJ Speed Bump
Fox Corp. COO John Nallen went on record at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia conference to say the company's $22 billion acquisition of Roku remains on track…
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Episode 135: AMC's $120M Walking Dead Settlement
AMC Global Media has settled the Walking Dead profit participation lawsuit brought by creator Robert Kirkman and fellow producers Gale Anne Hurd, Glen Mazzara…
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Episode 134: Netflix UK Price Hike: Ad Tier Up a Third
Netflix quietly raised UK subscription prices on September 3rd, with the ad-supported Standard with Ads tier jumping 33.4% — from £5.99 to £7.99 per month. The…
- The Option
Episode 133: France & Korea's $1.16B Screen Industry Fund
France and Korea unveiled the Lumière Partnership — a combined €1 billion ($1.16B) screen industry financing initiative — at the Lumière Summit in…
- The Option
Episode 132: CAA Signs Sydney Sweeney — and Scooter Braun's Role
Sydney Sweeney has signed with CAA — but the bigger story is how the deal got done. Months after her longtime agent Jennifer Millar departed Paradigm to move…
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Episode 131: Tom Cruise, 30 Movies, and the Paramount-WBD Bet
Tom Cruise appeared on the Pat McAfee Show Tuesday to discuss his Days of Thunder sequel — and ended up delivering an unsolicited public endorsement of…
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Episode 130: Range Media's Paramount First-Look Deal
Range Studios, the production arm of Range Media Partners, is in final talks to close a two-year first-look deal with Paramount Pictures focused on…
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Episode 129: Letterboxd's $1 Billion Question
Letterboxd's sale process just got significantly more interesting. Bankers who opened buyer conversations at a $250 million valuation are now floating a $1…
- The Option
Episode 128: Banijay Absorbs All3Media, Holland Named UK CEO
The All3Media acquisition has officially closed, and Banijay Entertainment has named Patrick Holland CEO and Executive Chairman of the combined Banijay U.K. —…
- The Option
Episode 127: UTA's War With Variety
UTA CEO David Kramer fired off a companywide memo attacking Variety reporter Matt Donnelly following a story about high-profile client departures — including…
- The Option
Episode 126: RedBird's $250M Bet on Puck
RedBird Capital is nearing a deal to acquire Puck — the subscription journalism platform behind Matthew Belloni's Hollywood coverage — at a reported $250…
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Episode 125: Ruffalo, Paramount, and The Antisemitism Debate
Mark Ruffalo's Instagram criticism of Oracle's ties to the Israeli military — framed around Larry Ellison's role as Paramount's controlling shareholder and…
- The Option
Episode 124: Mike Schur Says the Paramount-WBD Merger Kills Writers
Mike Schur — showrunner of Parks and Recreation, The Good Place, and Brooklyn Nine-Nine, currently on an overall deal at Universal Television — has gone public…
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Episode 123: Versant's Post-Bundle Strategy Takes Shape
Less than a year after Comcast spun out its non-Bravo cable assets into the newly public entity Versant, CEO Mark Lazarus is making his first real moves to…
- The Option
Episode 122: The ParaBros Relocation Threat and the AG Who Won't Fold
The Paramount–Warner Bros Discovery merger is in the most dangerous stretch of its long regulatory fight. California AG Rob Bonta is refusing to settle, a…
- The Option
Episode 121: All Three Chains Back Paramount-WBD Settlement
All three of the largest U.S. theater chains — AMC, Regal, and Cinemark — are now publicly aligned behind a settlement of California Attorney General Rob…
- The Option
Episode 120: BlackRock & Oaktree Take Control of a Hollywood Supplier
BlackRock and Oaktree Capital have jointly taken control of a major production supplier to Hollywood studios, according to the Financial Times. The move puts…
- The Option
Episode 119: Netflix Out-Lobbies All of Hollywood
Netflix has quietly built a federal lobbying operation that outspends every major Hollywood studio — and the quarterly disclosure filings prove it. Puck pulled…
- The Option
Episode 118: Unwell's $500M Valuation and the Whitesell Bet
Patrick Whitesell's Silver Lake-backed firm WTSL has made its first strategic investment in Alex Cooper's Unwell media company at a $500 million valuation —…
- The Option
Episode 117: Endeavor Buys 17 Broadway and West End Theaters
Endeavor — Ari Emanuel's company — has agreed to acquire ATG Entertainment, the Ambassador Theatre Group, which operates 7 Broadway theaters and 10 venues in…
- The Option
Episode 116: Fox Tells the NFL: Not Yet
Fox CEO Lachlan Murdoch publicly declared that the network will not renegotiate its NFL rights deal early — a pointed rebuke of the league's effort to bring…
- The Option
Episode 115: Netflix Doubles Ad Commitments, Women's World Cup Nearly
Netflix has closed its upfront sales cycle, doubling year-over-year ad commitments as it races toward a $3 billion ad revenue target for 2026. With Women's…
- The Option
Episode 114: Disney's Ryan Murphy Problem
Ryan Murphy hasn't charted a single show on Nielsen since returning to Disney — and that silence is a business problem, not just a creative one. This episode…
- The Option
Episode 113: FCC Kills the 39% Broadcast Ownership Cap
The FCC voted 2-1 to eliminate the national broadcast TV ownership cap — the rule that prohibited any single company from owning local stations reaching more…
- The Option
Episode 112: David Ellison Goes to the New York Times
David Ellison published a New York Times op-ed on the morning of Paramount's Q2 earnings call, arguing that the DOJ's antitrust challenge to his Warner Bros…
- The Option
Episode 111: Disney Consumer Products Moves Under Studios
Disney is moving its Consumer Products division — the world's largest licensor with $63 billion in retail sales in 2025 — from the Experiences segment into…
- The Option
Episode 110: Warner Bros. Racing the Clock on Barbie 2
Warner Bros. is scrambling to close a Barbie sequel deal before a December deadline — after which sequel rights revert to Mattel. Three years removed from one…
- The Option
Episode 109: Universal Music Shares Plunge 25% on Streaming Fears
Universal Music Group's shares fell 25% in a single trading session on fears that streaming growth is decelerating faster than the market had priced in. For…
- The Option
Episode 108: Disney Sells A+E Stake to Hearst in $1B+ Deal
Disney is selling its 50% stake in A+E Global Media — parent of A&E, History, and Lifetime — to co-owner Hearst Communications for north of $1 billion in an…
- The Option
Episode 107: Ari Emanuel Goes to the Wall Street Journal
Ari Emanuel published a Wall Street Journal op-ed this week calling the 12-state antitrust lawsuit against the Paramount–Warner Bros. Discovery merger "trash"…
- The Option
Episode 106: HFPA Sues PMC Over Golden Globes Acquisition
The Hollywood Foreign Press Association has filed a 113-page antitrust lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles against Penske Media Group, CEO Jay…
- The Option
Episode 105: Canal+ MultiChoice Deal Delivers $4.88B H1
Canal+ reported first-half revenues of €4.29 billion ($4.88B), up 40% year-over-year — but strip out the $2B MultiChoice acquisition and organic growth was…
- The Option
Episode 104: The Odyssey Eyes $1B as Spider-Man Looms
Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey is on a historic box office run — dropping just 30% in its second weekend to reach $639 million worldwide, placing it among the…
- The Option
Episode 103: Providence Equity Buys Out The Team (fka Wasserman)
Providence Equity Partners is finalizing a buyout of the remaining stake in The Team — the sports and talent agency formerly known as Wasserman — taking full…
- The Option
Episode 102: EU Clears Paramount-Warner Deal, U.S. Courts Still Loom
The European Commission cleared Paramount's $111 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery on Wednesday, but the deal remains frozen domestically after a…
- The Option
Episode 101: Disney Cuts Hundreds: Pixar and Nat Geo Hit Hardest
Disney is executing several hundred layoffs across multiple divisions, with Pixar and National Geographic absorbing the heaviest cuts. The move is notable…
- The Option
Episode 100: AMC Posts Best Quarter in 106 Years on Odyssey Windfall
AMC Entertainment reported its highest quarterly revenue in 106 years for Q2 2026, with adjusted EBITDA surging 70% to a record $321 million and free cash flow…
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Episode 99: Netflix Confirms $587M Ben Affleck AI Acquisition
Netflix confirmed in an SEC filing that it paid $587 million to acquire Ben Affleck's AI production firm InterPositive — putting an official price tag on a…
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Episode 98: Netflix Slides 9% on Mixed Q2, WBD Hangover Lingers
Netflix reported mixed Q2 2026 earnings — revenue of $12.56B missed consensus by $20M, earnings of $0.80/share beat by a penny — and the stock dropped 9% in…