Disney+ Details; 'Star Wars' Hiatus; HBO Exodus; Broadway's Fyre Festival; WGA Update; Inside THR's NY Party

What's news: As execs leave, HBO is on pins and needles waiting for other big changes and potentially layoffs. Plus: All the details about Disney+ revealed yesterday, the talent agencies offer a concession to the WGA and inside THR's New York media party. — Will Robinson April 12, 2019 What's news: As execs leave, HBO is on pins and needles waiting for other big changes and potentially layoffs. Plus: All the details about Disney+ revealed yesterday, the talent agencies offer a concession to the WGA and inside THR's New York media party. — Will Robinson ^HBO exodus: The premium cable network is changing under new owner AT&T as senior execs flee — headlined by Richard Plepler — and a volume strategy wins fans on Wall Street but groans in Hollywood, Michael O'Connell reports: + Bicoastal impact: "We know how the New York community felt about Richard," one top TV producer recalls of the 59-year-old who's famous for his hyper-curated talent dinners. "He was a large part of guaranteeing the quality of work at HBO." A TV lit agent with a history of business at HBO goes as far as calling him "an institution." + The blows may come slower now that the wider group has lost Warner Bros. chairman and CEO Kevin Tsujihara. Considered the only senior Time Warner exec to truly embrace WarnerMedia CEO John Stankey's strategy, his ouster after THR reported on his relationship with an actress he promoted for jobs left Stankey without his top ally and, as some suggest, a speed bump in the plans for change. + Massive consolidation: Departments facing the most streamlining — with strong buyouts offered — are human resources, finance, distribution, on-air marketing, scheduling and publicity. Those are areas WarnerMedia wants to consolidate into the bigger portfolio and, in some departments, eliminate as much as 87 percent duplication, according to one source. * Dragging it out?: With Netflix and Amazon paying big salaries to poach executive talent, some HBO creatives have been offered incentives to stay on for at least another two years. For those left hanging, WarnerMedia still won't comment on future layoffs. "Disney is at least ripping the Band-Aid off fast," says STI Management's Neal Lenarsky, who represents executives, of the job cuts in the wake of its March purchase of Fox assets. [Full report.]( Disney+ Unveiled Netflix killer?: During a nearly four-hour presentation, Disney CEO Bob Iger unfurled his plan for soon-to-launch video platform Disney+, the media behemoth's answer to the decline in cable subscribers and the rise of streaming, Natalie Jarvey and Lesley Goldberg report: + Jaw-dropping price point: $6.99 per month, or $69.99 for the year, is $2 less than Netflix's most basic plan. The price point immediately turned heads in agency circles, with one anticipating Disney+ will have subscribers in the eight-figure range right off the bat. (Disney expects to have 60 million-90 million global subscribers by 2024.) Another, meanwhile, expects Disney+ will eventually hike the monthly fee: "Disney is doing it so families can afford it but it will grow, price-wise." + What Disney was able to do on Thursday that Apple couldn't was show the sheer size of its commitment to going over-the-top. Every facet of the company is putting its muscle behind the launch, producing projects for the service and planning a marketing campaign that spans major events like D23. The company currently projects that by 2024 it will spend a combined $4 billion to both develop original programming and license content. * When will it arrive?: The service is set for a Nov. 12 launch. [Full story]( | [More from Investors Day]( + Programs and moves announced: The Simpsons has its [new streaming home](... Sandlot [reboot]( and Love, Simon, as [new TV series](... An animated Marvel series, Frozen docuseries are [in the works](... Rogue One prequel series [brings back]( original movie actor... Kevin Feige's [promise](. + Wall Street applauds: Shares in Walt Disney on Friday [jumped]( $13.40, or over 11 percent, to $130.00 in morning trading after unveiling its cheaper-than-Netflix price. The streaming giant’s saw its own stock tumble $14.37, or nearly 4 percent, to $353.30. -> Star Wars taking a break. “We will take a pause, some time, and reset,” Iger told Bloomberg, “because the Skywalker saga comes to an end with this ninth movie. There will be other Star Wars movies, but there will be a bit of a hiatus.” [[Bloomberg](] Elsewhere in TV... ► Talent agencies offer to share packaging fees. It’s unknown whether the Writers Guild of America, which [has blasted]( packaging fees as “illegal kickbacks,” will be receptive to the move. With 17 hours remaining before the WGA intends, in the absence of a deal, to impose a “Code of Conduct” that would effectively trigger thousands of writers firing their agents. -> Joel Stein: This is how I'll fire my agent. The TV comedy writer shares the 100 percent heartfelt letter he will send to terminate his WME rep if the WGA and talent agencies can’t make a deal: "You complete me — often with a director, producer and actor in a package, but still, [you complete me](." ► City of Chicago sues Jussie Smollett for investigative costs. The civil lawsuit, filed in the Circuit Court of Cook County, is the [latest volley]( in a legal battle that shows no signs of abating since the actor reported that masked men beat him up on Jan. 29 in Chicago, shouting slurs and wrapping a rope around his neck. ► Bidder for Disney RSNs allege Charter interference. "Big3 Basketball LLC alleged that Charter’s conduct is depressing prices in the auction and suggested the situation could benefit Charter’s largest shareholder, Liberty Media Corp., which is also a bidder." [[The Wall Street Journal](] ► Jake Gyllenhaal to star in, ep HBO limited series. Lake Success, based on the book of the same name, will mark the actor's TV debut. Author Gary Shteyngart [will adapt]( his book and co-write the script alongside Tom Spezialy (The Leftovers, Watchmen). ► Transparent to kill off Jeffrey Tambor's character in musical finale. Jill Soloway, creator of the Amazon series, revealed the character's fate and divulged more details about the movie musical that will serve as the last chapter of the critically acclaimed comedy. [More info.]( ► Shameless sets Noel Fisher's return in season 10. Following a social media stunt in which Showtime's Shameless Twitter account appeared to be hacked, actor Noel Fisher appeared in a video — in character as fan-favorite Mickey — to [reveal]( that he was indeed returning to the John Wells dramedy. -> With online bundles prices going up, cord-cutters savings shrink. "While U.S. television households with pay-TV services fell to about 78% last year, off from 87% in 2008, the amount they spend on such services hasn’t, according to annual surveys by industry tracker Leichtman Research Group." [[WSJ](] Deals and developments... ► NCIS renewed for season 17, as Mark Harmon re-ups. CBS' longest-running and most watched current drama series will return in 2019-20. So far this season, NCIS is [averaging]( about 16 million viewers per episode (including a week of delayed viewing), second only to The Big Bang Theory among all non-sports programs on the broadcast networks. ► Amazon renews Hanna. The [pickup]( for the thriller comes less than two weeks after its debut on the tech giant's streaming service. ► NBA star Chris Paul signs overall deal with Live PD producer. Big Fish Entertainment and the Houston Rockets point guard [will develop]( projects for multiple platforms. ^Inside The Daily: Host Michael Barbaro, along with his New York Times colleagues Lisa Tobin and Sam Dolnick, reveal the secrets behind 8 million listeners and their favorite episodes, Tatiana Siegel reports: + Almost famous: Barbaro was recently driving a U-Haul in New York City when a pedestrian tentatively tried to cross the street. "I rolled down the window and said, 'Please go. I'm in no rush,' " the host recalls. "He waved, and my passenger overheard him saying, 'That's Michael Barbaro.' She said, 'That's why you always need to be on your best behavior.' " + Managing love and work: "Michael and Lisa are creative partners. Every day they're powering The Daily, and when they leave they're romantic partners. But it doesn't interfere in any way with the work," Dolnick says. "The team is very critical and will tell Lisa when they think Michael is doing a bad job and vice versa, and people aren't walking around on eggshells. It's become for us a surprising part of The Daily, but one that makes the show even stronger." [Full interview.]( Digital digest... ► Joslyn Davis, Erin Robinson, Lily Marston return for Clevver relaunch. Under new owner Hearst Magazines, Clevver's style and news channels [will begin]( posting new videos this month. Latest reviews... ► Netflix's Tales of the City. "The original series, as fascinatingly gossipy as it was, always felt inorganic — the affected dialogue too wink-wink, the hammy acting and production design more appropriate for the stage — a trend that continues in the new version," Robyn Bahr writes. [Full review.]( Talking points... ► Michael Avenatti charged with embezzlement, fraud, cheating on taxes. The attorney best known for representing porn actress Stormy Daniels in lawsuits against Trump said Thursday on Twitter that he will [plead not guilty]( to the California charges. Coming attractions... ► Teaser: Zendaya-led HBO teen drama Euphoria lands premiere date. The highly anticipated series, which counts Drake among its executive producers, will debut June 16. [Watch.]( The joyful absurdity of The Tick and What We Do in the Shadows. The Amazon superhero comedy and FX's new vampire show offer just the kind of effortless humor everyone needs right now, Tim Goodman hails. [Critic's notebook.]( Enjoy reading this? Six days a week, look for Today in Entertainment in your inbox to stay up-to-date on the industry. Sign up for this newsletter (and others) at [THR.com/Newsletters](. Broadway's Fyre Festival Short-circuited: The planned 2016 production of a Bill Gates-Steve Jobs musical called Nerds became one of the biggest debacles in New York theater history, spawning a $6 million lawsuit and leaving at least one castmember feeling "stranded" by the experience, Seth Abramovitch reports: + Risky investments: Never making it to opening night after an announced Broadway run, nor even to a first preview, is exceedingly rare. The mastermind behind Nerds, Carl Levin, won't go to jail like Fyre Festival founder Billy McFarland; he's just being sued for $6 million, in a complaint that accuses the producer of leaving behind "a trail of disappointment, anger and unpaid vendors." But Levin can take credit for mounting a hell of a fiasco — an alleged perfect storm of financial mismanagement, deception and cringeworthy lyrics that resulted in one of the greatest tire fires in Broadway history. + Playing for seed funding: Once, Levin arranged a performance at Apple's Cupertino campus, figuring that since the play was about the tech industry he might find investors in Silicon Valley. Actor Benny Elledge remembers going "to San Francisco and singing about Segways," but in the end no money ended up being raised at the tech giant. + Behind on funds: Levin hadn't raised its minimum operating budget, projected at about $7.5 million. He'd brought in only about $200,000. After Levin sent $100,000 to the Shubert Organization as a down payment on the Longacre Theatre, the ledger showed only $14,302.58 left in the account, the lawsuit claims. [Full story.]( Elsewhere in film... ► Sundance Film Festival co-founder Sterling Van Wagenen charged with sex abuse. Van Wagenen [was charged]( April 2 and is out on $75,000 bail. The 71-year-old filmmaker and producer is accused of sexually abusing a child on or about Jan. 1, 2013 through Dec. 31, 2015 when the child was 7 and 9, according to court documents. ► Jason Statham exits CAA for WME. The move [comes]( on the heels of Universal debuting footage of its upcoming Statham and Dwayne Johnson collaboration Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw at CinemaCon. ► 1091 nabs Hannah Pearl Utt's comedy. The Sundance title Before You Know It, which stars Judith Light, Mandy Patinkin and Alec {NAME}, [marks]( the distributor's first theatrical deal under a new banner. -> MoviePass cofounder, who was let go, opens up. Jason Guerrasio talks to a candid Stacy Spikes: "Where things started to divide is: Myself and a handful of others were methodical about testing price points. ... [W]e were growing at a quarter of a million subscriptions a month. And I definitely was not a happy camper and was making that known." [[Business Insider](] Casting call... ► Glenn Close joins Amy Adams in Ron Howard's Hillbilly Elegy. The Netflix movie is [based on]( J.D. Vance's best-selling memoir of the same name. ► Mark Wahlberg, Connie Britton set for Good Joe Bell from Brokeback Mountain writers. The project [will tell]( the true story of an Oregonian father who sets out on a walk across America with his son. Reinaldo Marcus Green (Monster and Men) will helm. ► In the Heights adds Melissa Barrera & Leslie Grace. Anthony Ramos and Corey Hawkins also are [starring]( in the movie adaptation of Lin-Manuel Miranda's breakout Broadway musical. ^Bill Murray shares his best drinking stories: The comedic icon known for part-time bartending and photobombing weddings explains to Brad Japhe his relationship with booze and favorite places to get a martini in New York as his Slovenia vodka brand expands: + Drinking buddy: "I have a friend that I've had for a long time named Mitch Glazer, who is a screenwriter in L.A. He kind of operates on a martini. It's the end-of-workday ritual for him, when we have a freewheeling conversation about people and ideas," Murray says. "When you're with someone who's not drinking to get drunk, but to reflect and get deeper, it's like a masseuse who opens up your body and works through the tension." [More stories.]( Farewell from NAB... -> The trends that mattered this year. Carolyn Giardina examined some of the biggest show topics during a week that saw broadcasters prepping to roll out their "next gen TV" system and streaming service providers asking Hollywood to produce more content than ever before. [Top five trends.]( Musical notes... ► Entertainment One acquires U.K.-based audio network for $215M. The British film and TV music licensee [will add]( around 150,000 new tracks to the catalog and another 1,000 artists to the talent roster at eOne, which is led by CEO Darren Throop. ► Mariah Carey to receive Billboard Music Awards' Icon Award. The superstar will also [perform]( a medley of her greatest hits during the awards ceremony. Remembering Nipsey Hussle... ► One dead, others hurt in shooting during procession. The victims were [described]( as three African-American men and one African-American woman all between the ages of 30 to 50, said Los Angeles police Chief Michel Moore via social media. It is unclear which victim died. "We must stop this senseless violence," says Moore. ► Letter from Obama read at Nipsey Hussle's L.A. memorial. Obama's letter states that Hussle "saw a community that even through its flaws taught him to always keep going." [Inside the Staples Center memorial.]( Coming attractions... ► Trailer: Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Maya Rudolph celebrate messy female friendship in Wine Country. Based on a real trip that included a 50th birthday celebration, Poehler was inspired to create a film from her experience. [Watch.]( Amber Heard recounts extreme violence while asking court to dismiss Johnny Depp's defamation lawsuit. In March, Depp [sued]( his ex-wife for defamation following her December op-ed in The Washington Post centering on domestic abuse. The piece doesn't name Depp but was widely interpreted as being about the Pirates of the Caribbean star. Inside THR's NY Media Party News bosses and politicos: The event, held in conjunction with the publication of the magazine's annual New York issue, hosted Trevor Noah, Gayle King, Susan Zirinsky, Michael Strahan, Andy Lack, Naomi Watts and the team behind Showtime's upcoming Roger Ailes series: + The gathering of news and political insiders, co-hosted by the Committee to Protect Journalists and Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, took place at The Pool in midtown Manhattan in conjunction with the publication of THR's ninth annual 35 Most Powerful People in [New York Media list](. + Spotted: Newly minted CBS News topper Susan Zirinsky, and 60 Minutes head Bill Owens made the scene as did networkmates Gayle King, Lesley Stahl and Jeff Glor... The Today show crew... The Daily Show's Trevor Noah and former Comedy Central teammate Keegan-Michael Key enthusiastically greeted each other... CNN's Chris Cuomo, Kate Bolduan, Brian Stelter — the latter with wife, NY1's Jamie Stelter... Good Morning America's Michael Strahan... stars of Showtime's upcoming limited series The Loudest Voice — Naomi Watts and Annabelle Wallis — alongside writer-producers Gabe Sherman and Jennifer Stahl. -> Exec watch: NBC News' Andy Lack and Noah Oppenheim, Vice Media CEO Nancy Dubuc, Showtime CEO David Nevins. * Overheard: Martha Stewart at one point toasted another guest who asked her how she felt about Lori Loughlin's current infamy due to the college admissions cheating scandal. She raised a glass because Loughlin's "going to be in the big house," Stewart said. [Inside the event]( | [Gallery]( What else we're reading... — "The Awakening of Kim Kardashian West." Jonathan Van Meyer profiles the reality star and business mogul, on learning law: "It’s never one person who gets things done; it’s always a collective of people, and I’ve always known my role, but I just felt like I wanted to be able to fight for people who have paid their dues to society." [[Vogue](] — "Bret Easton Ellis Thinks You’re Overreacting to Donald Trump." An excellent Isaac Chotiner interview: "There seems to have been this hysterical overreaction that can be solved with voting [Trump] out of office. And I don’t know whether this pain and turmoil people have inflicted on themselves have gotten them anything." [[The New Yorker](] —"The L.A. Times, Once a Print-Media Tragedy, Is Rising From the Near-Dead." Joe Pompeo reports: "There’s a saying that has caught on among journalists at the embattled paper to sum up all of the turmoil, controversy, and abuse they’ve endured: 'We’ve been through the Twenty Years’ War.'" [[Vanity Fair](] — "How the SNL Portrait Became Its Own Art Form." Devon Ivie explores: "But more so than a definition, bumpers are feasts for the eyes, whether the final images veer toward surrealist vibrancy or black-and-white classicism. They all tell a story — you just have to figure out what it is." [[Vulture](] — "Why Are There So Many Movies About Music Stars Right Now?" Lindsay Zoladz asks and answers: "Biopics can often feel staid and predictable—rock biopics doubly so compared to the unruly energy of their source material. Perhaps these fictionalized reveries are more fitting." [[The Ringer](] Last night, on late night... + "Adam Driver's brutally honest wife will boo him." [[Late Night](] + "Don Cheadle played inebriated golf with Anthony Anderson." [[Jimmy Kimmel](] + "Bill Burr & 2-year-old daughter walked out of Dumbo." [[Conan](] From the archives... + Today in 1987: Fox aired a two-hour Sunday night premiere of undercover cop series 21 Jump Street, starring Johnny Depp: "Depp as the questioning clandestine cop, conservative in politics and personal habits, is earnest and well-intentioned. But he has too much dross to push through." [Flashback review.]( Today's birthdays: Saoirse Ronan, 25, Brooklyn Decker, 32, Ilana Glazer, 32, Jennifer Morrison, 40, Claire Danes, 40, Shannen Doherty, 48, Andy Garcia, 63, David Letterman, 72, Ed O'Neill, 73. Follow The News Is this email not displaying correctly? [View it in your browser.]( ©2019 The Hollywood Reporter. 5700 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90036 All rights reserved. [Unsubscribe]( | [Manage Preferences]( | [Privacy Policy]( | [Terms of Use]( April 12, 2019