Clock Ticking For TikTok; WarnerMedia Addresses Culture Concerns; Emmys Preview

[The Hollywood Reporter]( Today In Entertainment SEPTEMBER 18, 2020 What's news: The Trump administration moves forward on its TikTok ban, WarnerMedia execs address workplace culture concerns, layoffs at Paradigm, Greg Berlanti sets up dramas at HBO Max and Fox, Jerry Harris arrested. Plus: THR's Emmys preview, and the latest Nielsen streaming ratings. --Alex Weprin [Clock Ticks For TikTok] Clock Ticks For TikTok ➤The Trump administration is pushing forward on its TikTok ban. The Commerce Department will roll out a ban of transactions in the U.S. using TikTok and WeChat starting Sunday. The order Friday was put into place, according to Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, to "combat China's malicious collection of American citizens' personal data." At first, users will be unable to download the app or update the app, but will be able to keep it on their devices for now. Phone makers like Apple will still be able to offer the apps in their apps stores outside the U.S. WeChat will be impacted first, with TikTok later. --The ruling also bides time for TikTok parent ByteDance to strike a deal with Oracle and Walmart, which are teaming on a deal for the app. Further actions won't be taken until November. [The story](. +What? Recode's Peter Kafka [breaks it down](: "WeChat: Enormously popular with Chinese-Americans. Owned by Chinese company. Will be crippled in US Sunday night. TikTok: Enormously popular with Americans including some Trump voters. Owned by Chinese company, trying to do deal w/Trump supporters. Will be OK through election." +Meanwhile: The New York Times [reports that]( Instagram founder and former top Facebook executive Kevin Systrom has had talks with ByteDance to become CEO of TikTok. He would succeed ex-Disney exec Kevin Mayer, who stepped down as CEO after just a few months on the job. [WarnerMedia Addresses Culture Concerns] WarnerMedia Addresses Culture Concerns ➤WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar and Warner Bros. CEO and chairperson Ann Sarnoff are addressing reports of poor workplace cultures at The Ellen DeGeneres Show, TMZ on TV and other shows produced by its subdivision Telepictures in two new memos. --In the memos, both sent this week, Kilar and Sarnoff address what the former calls "public reports regarding patterns of unacceptable behavior." The memos follow three BuzzFeed News reports centering on "toxic" work environments at Ellen and TMZ on TV and in anticipation of The Hollywood Reporter publishing a [feature-length investigation]( into the workplace culture at those two shows and other Telepictures productions. (A WarnerMedia spokesperson points out the memos were meant to address HR problems throughout the company.) [The story](. ➤Layoffs at Paradigm: Paradigm talent agency disclosed on Thursday that it would be making permanent staff layoffs of 180 employees that were temporarily cut earlier in the year due to pandemic-related film and TV production shutdowns. In March, in California alone, Paradigm temporarily laid off 130 staffers at its Beverly Hills office and 4 staffers in Monterey, according to a filing with the state's Employment Development Department disclosed in May. On March 20, CEO Gores implemented the temporary cuts as well as pay cuts for staffers. [The story and memo](. [Emmys Preview] Emmys Preview ➤Everything to expect from the most unpredictable Emmy telecast ever. Emceed from Los Angeles’ Staples Center by Kimmel, the telecast will deploy more than 100 cameras to broadcast live with nominees stationed across the globe — and, providing some miracle of bandwidth, those signals will then be near-instantly beamed into viewers homes. If you can't imagine how that will look, it's because it’s never happened before. And nobody is even 100 percent sure it can be pulled off. “It’s not going to work properly all the time,” a candid Ian Stewart, executive producer alongside Kimmel and Reggie Hudlin, offered reporters this week. “It’s just not. And we’ve got to embrace that.” [Here's what to expect](. +News from last night's Creative Arts Emmys: Quibi [won its first Emmy awards]( on Thursday evening, picking up two trophies in the short-form acting categories for #FreeRayshawn... Meanwhile: Nine Inch Nails multihyphenates Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross [won an Emmy](on Thursday, making the pair one Tony away from EGOT status... [The winners list](... ➤Greg Berlanti is wasting no time getting a start on development season. The prolific producer, with a record 20 series currently on the air, has set up dramas at HBO Max and Fox, each landing at their respective homes with multiple outlets bidding. --For HBO Max, Berlanti has set up More, a female-driven family soap inspired by Amy Chozick's reporting in The New York Times. Sueño, meanwhile, is set up at Fox and has received a script-plus-penalty commitment from the independent broadcast network. [The story](. +Late-night TV show musicians sign open letter to networks asking for "economic parity." The letter arrives as the American Federation of Musicians is set to kick off a new round of contract negotiations this month. [More](. +Nielsen streaming ratings: The fifth season premiere of Lucifer drove the Netflix show to the No. 1 spot in Nielsen's streaming top 10 rankings, displacing The Umbrella Academy. Season five of the show debuted on Aug. 21 and immediately moved into the top spot for the week of Aug. 17-23, according to the ratings service's weekly rankings. [The numbers](. +Raised by Wolves will ride again at HBO Max. The WarnerMedia-backed streaming service has handed out a speedy season two renewal for the Ridley Scott-produced sci-fi drama. The pickup arrives two weeks after the drama launched as an HBO Max original. [More](. +Also: After eight years of a strong unscripted performance on Saturday nights, [OWN is expanding]( its reality programming to Fridays with another two-hour block... A filmed version of Heidi Schreck's award-winning play What the Constitution Means to Me is [headed to Amazon](... HBO [has landed]( a drama project from a pair of former Empire writers that combines hip-hop and the supernatural... Mo Willems [talks about]( his deal with HBO Max... ➤IMAX has formed a partnership with camera makers ARRI, Panavision, Sony and Red that could greatly expand the opportunity for filmmakers to make movies in the Imax format. --After roughly a year of planning, the large format cinema firm is launching its “Filmed In IMAX” program that effectively gives filmmakers that want to offer IMAX releases more choices of camera models and suppliers, while helping them to plan for the format starting in preproduction. It was described as a certification process and IMAX didn't elaborate on the terms of the agreements. [The story](. ➤Jerry Harris on Thursday was charged federally with producing child pornography, according to U.S. Attorney’s Office, Northern District of Illinois. The Cheer star is accused of enticing an underage boy to produce sexually explicit videos and photos of himself. [The story](. In other legal news... +IMDb isn't obligated to change the release date listed for a film, even though the producer alleges it's inaccurate, is hurting his ability to distribute it and has been making these requests for years. Bruce Singman, an attorney who's representing himself in the matter, [in May sued IMDb]( claiming his science feature film Warrior was stolen by a third party, the site incorrectly lists that person as the distributor and refuses to correct it. [More](. +And: A New York federal judge won't reconsider a hedge fund performance coach's claim that Showtime's Billions features a character that's based on her and the network failed to compensate her for her role in that creation. [More](. ➤TV's Top 5 podcast: During this week's podcast, hosts Daniel Fienberg and Lesley Goldberg preview what to expect from Sunday's live and virtual Emmys (what could go wrong?!), explore Stumptown's cancellation, and speak with Pen15 showrunners Anna Konkle and Maya Erskine. [Listen](. Revolving door: A day after Frances Berwick solidified her senior leadership team across NBCUniversal's entertainment business unit, newly installed studio chief Pearlena Igbokwe is [setting her team]( for Universal Studio Group... Warner Bros. Animation [has signed]( Mike Tyson Mysteries showrunner Hugh Davidson to an overall deal... Will Packer Productions [has tapped]( Johanna Byer to be the executive vice president of motion pictures... ➤Film review: David Rooney reviews the New York Film Festival opener Lovers Rock, writing that "its untethered, ethereal flow is utterly intoxicating, an immersive experience shaped by the clouds of cigarette and reefer smoke in the air, the smell of goat curry wafting from the kitchen, and above all, the sinuous rhythms of the slow-groove romantic reggae subgenre that gives the film its title." [The review](. ➤TV review: Daniel Fienberg reviews Peacock's Departure, writing that "I loved the cast of "Wait, when did I last see them?" stars and occasionally dug the twists and turns, but ultimately by the sixth episode, there were too many convolutions and contrivances for me to have much interest." [The review](. Casting roundup: Tatiana Maslany has [landed the lead role]( in Disney+'s She-Hulk series... Jeff Goldblum, Ariana Greenblatt and Eva Longoria are [getting ready for their soothers](, joining the cast of The Boss Baby: Family Business, DreamWorks Animation’s sequel to its 2017 Oscar-nominated hit... Patton Oswalt and Byron Mann are [set to voice star]( in Arcana Studios's animated feature Heroes of the Golden Masks... In other news... --New York Times Magazine writer and author Taffy Brodesser-Akner [has been tapped]( by Sister, the production shingle headed by Stacey Snider, to pen The Get, a feature based on Matt Shaer’s GQ piece ‘The Orthodox Hit Squad.’ --French cinema group UniFrance [has condemned]( what it called the "violent reaction" online and on social media to Netflix film Cuties and has thrown its support behind the movie's director, Maïmouna Doucouré. --Queen Elizabeth II [has stripped]( disgraced Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein of the Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire honor, or CBE, that he had been awarded in 2004. --Amid a busy year for newsroom unionization, the Writers Guild of America East [unveiled]( its new council leadership. --Freelance writers are [cautiously optimistic]( about California gig economy law amendment: "Work has picked up." --The Pinewood Group is [looking to build a visitor attraction]( next to its iconic U.K. studios in Buckinghamshire, famed home to the Star Wars and James Bond franchises. --Denzel Washington says the late Chadwick Boseman [lived a full life]( as a fellow Hollywood actor before his untimely death at 43 years after a battle with cancer. What else we're reading... --"Martha Stewart, blissed out on CBD, is doing just fine" [[NY Times](] --"Redefining Black masculinity at the Toronto Film Festival" [[Vanity Fair](] --"No red carpet? No problem" [[LA Times](] --"Epic and Riot Games' Tencent dealings draws U.S. government scrutiny" [[Polygon](] Today's birthdays: Jada Pinkett Smith, 49, Jason Sudeikis, 45, James Marsden, 47, Xzibit, 46, Ben Carson, 69. [Image] [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [Instagram]( [LinkedIn]( Is this e-mail not displaying correctly? [View it in your browser.]( ©2020 The Hollywood Reporter. 5700 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90036 All rights reserved. SEPTEMBER 18, 2020 [UNSUBSCRIBE]( [MANAGE PREFERENCES]( [PRIVACY POLICY]( [TERMS OF USE](