Quibi Postmortem; Another WarnerMedia Shakeup; To PVOD Or Not To PVOD; Debate Ratings Fall

[The Hollywood Reporter]( Today In Entertainment OCTOBER 24, 2020 What's news: Inside Quibi's shutdown, will investors learn from its mistakes? A theatrical shakeup at WarnerMedia, another major Netflix exec departs, studios weigh the risks of PVOD, the final Trump-Biden debate falls short of round one in the ratings. Plus: NBC developing a drama about a Native American family, and The Meg 2 finds its director. --Alex Weprin [Quibi Postmortem] Quibi Postmortem ➤Inside Quibi's abrupt shutdown: "This is not how they wanted it to go." The shortform entertainment platform, winding down Dec. 1, will leave about 250 employees looking for new jobs, Natalie Jarvey reports: “It's a shock for a lot of people.” --"[A] source with knowledge of Quibi says people were willing to take a chance on the startup, which at that point had raised $1 billion in funding and counted every major studio in town as an investor, in exchange for the opportunity to get in on the ground floor of a new type of Hollywood firm. 'Jeffrey went after top-performing executives and poached them,' the source says, adding that many who joined were excited by the prospect of making shows and building products freed from the bureaucracy found inside most big media organizations." Now, they will be looking for new opportunities. [The story](. +Will investors learn from Quibi's failure? Wall Street observers say the coronavirus pandemic is only partly to blame for the failure of the privately held firm, which had financial backing from several major Hollywood studios that also produced projects for its video service, Georg Szalai reports. --"If Katzenberg couldn’t pull off Quibi’s core vision, then no one can – and that vision of expensively produced, Hollywood-budgeted content for a mobile-first millennial audience is confined to the entertainment dustbin in perpetuity," said Peter Csathy, founder and chairman of advisory firm CreaTV Media. [The story](. ➤The movie making engine of WarnerMedia is getting overhauled. Warner Max, the feature arm of HBO Max that was to be jointly run by HBO Max and Warner Bros., is being phased out, with Warners and its sister division New Line Cinema now becoming the sole producers. --Warner Bros. Pictures Group chairman Toby Emmerich will have oversight over all feature output for WarnerMedia, be it streaming or theatrical. Moving forward, all development and production of original feature films for HBO Max will be consolidated under Emmerich and the Warner Bros. Pictures Group, working in conjunction with Casey Bloys on overall platform goals, according to the studio. --Sarah Aubrey, who is HBO Max’s head of content, remains in her position but as part of the restructuring Jessie Henderson, the head of Warner Max, has decided to leave her post. Nikki Ramey, Warner Max’s senior vp, is segueing to New Line where she will act as a production executive. [The details](. +Meanwhile at Netflix: Another top executive is exiting amid the streamer's restructuring. Drama exec Nina Wolarsky, who'd been at the company for eight years, is leaving her post as vp original series. There was said to be a change in her role, which caused her to depart. She will help with the transition, with her last day being in November. [More](. [To PVOD? Or Not To PVOD? That Is The Question] To PVOD? Or Not To PVOD? That Is The Question ➤Skipping theaters? Hollywood studios weigh risks of PVOD. While (most) megabudget tentpoles are being held back for a big-screen release, higher-priced home entertainment fare is becoming the industry standard for a wide array of titles that cannot wait out the pandemic, Pamela McClintock reports. --“Are these PVOD titles doing well? I have no idea. If they were really good, I would think studios would beat their chests about it,” says Wall Street analyst Eric Handler of MKM Partners of some of the small and mid-range titles. [The story](. +Claire Foy and Benedict Cumberbatch are teaming up to adapt the timely novel Migrations by Charlotte McConaghy. The novel was highly sought-after by a number of production banners and streamers as it offered a layered female protagonist in a unique setting, but it was Cumberbatch’s shingle, SunnyMarch, that secured the screen rights. Foy will star and executive produce while Cumberbatch will produce along with SunnyMarch’s Adam Ackland and Leah Clarke. [More](. +Warner Bros. is going back in the water for another bite. The studio has set filmmaker Ben Wheatley, whose updated version of Gothic tale Rebecca debuted this week, to direct the sequel to its 2018 giant shark thriller hit, The Meg. Much of key talent from the first movie is expected to return, including Jason Statham, who is said to be creatively involved. [More](. [Debate Ratings] Debate Ratings ➤Ratings for the final presidential debate of 2020 were still big, but they came up short of both the first face-off between Donald Trump and Joe Biden and the final debate of the 2016 campaign. --Per Nielsen figures, 63 million viewers watched the debate across 15 networks on Thursday. That's down about 7 percent from the combined tally of 73.1 million for the first debate on Sept. 29. The Fox broadcast network didn't air Thursday's debate due to its NFL commitments. [The numbers](. ➤NBC is developing a drama about a Native American family — a first for network television. The project, titled Sovereign, comes from Ava DuVernay's Array Filmworks and Warner Bros. TV, where the Queen Sugar creator and Selma director has an overall deal. Writer-exec producer Sydney Freeland is a member of the Navajo Nation, and co-EP Bird Runningwater belongs to the Cheyenne and Mescalero Apache Tribal Nations, and grew up on the Mescalero Apache Reservation in New Mexico. [The story](. +HBO's limited series Scenes From a Marriage is replacing one multiple Oscar nominee with another for its female lead. Jessica Chastain will star opposite Oscar Isaac in the drama, an adaptation of Ingmar Bergman's 1970s miniseries. She takes over the part from Michelle Williams, who had to drop out because of scheduling conflicts. [More](. +In other TV news: ABC is extending the seventh season of Black-ish. The network has ordered six more episodes of the veteran comedy, which had its season premiere on Wednesday. The additional installments will bring the show's total for the season to 21, with the potential to add more. [The story](. ➤Is Disney playing for keeps with ESPN? Once Disney’s cash cow, the cable giant is shedding linear subscribers while the high cost of live sports rights is hindering its transition to a direct-to-consumer future. “To date, Disney has declined to take its flagship ESPN network direct-to-consumer, we believe due to the high wholesale payment rate the company receives from distributors and concern that consumer demand may underwhelm at a necessary retail rate,” Guggenheim's Michael Morris says. “We expect Disney has put those concerns behind.” [The story](. ➤Jeffrey Scott, a TV screenwriter who wrote for many '80s children's shows including Spider-Man, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Hulk Hogan’s Rock ‘n’ Wrestling, has filed a lawsuit targeting Disney's reboot of Muppet Babies. Scott alleges the new Kermit and Piggy starrer has misappropriated elements of the original Muppet Babies production bible he created and says he owns. [More](. In other news... --Trump vs. Hollywood: Brett Ratner, Kristy Swanson and Scott Baio [among talking heads]( in new doc. --Al Franken on Trump's "shallowness" and [what he would have asked]( Amy Coney Barrett. --NXIVM founder Keith Raniere [is speaking out]( in a rare interview with NBC News. --The EnergaCamerimage Festival of the art of cinematography [revealed its main competition lineup](, with 12 films vying for the event's Golden Frog from Nov. 14-21 in Torun, Poland. --Lena Dunham on the "magical things" [she's experienced]( since getting sober. --In honor of the late Mythbusters host Grant Imahara, a [foundation has been established]( to empower young people to get involved in science, technology, art, engineering and mathematics. --There was one episode of Seinfeld where creator Larry David [says he was prepared]( to "pack the whole thing in" if NBC refused to air it. --On Friday, Disney announced it [would be opening]( California Adventure's Buena Vista Street next month for shopping and outdoor dining. The rides will remain closed. What else we're reading... --"CNN president Jeff Zucker faces what might be his last lap" [[WSJ](] --"Media executives are finally accepting the decline of cable TV as they plot a new path forward" [[CNBC](] --Pandemic entertainment is designed for social bubbles. But what if you’re alone in your bubble? [[LA Times](] --"Farewell to the $60 video game" [[The Ringer](] Today's birthdays: Drake, 34, BD Wong, 60, PewDiePie, 31, Kevin Kline, 73, Shenae Grimes, 31. [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. OCTOBER 24, 2020 [UNSUBSCRIBE]( [MANAGE PREFERENCES]( [PRIVACY POLICY]( [TERMS OF USE](