How the Writers Deal Got Done; Dan Harmon Talks Justin Roiland Drama; What Big Moves Are Left for Lachlan Murdoch?; 'The Creator' Review

[View on web]( [New reader? Subscribe]( September 27, 2023 What's news: It's magazine day! This week's cover star is prolific comedy producer Dan Harmon. WGA members can return to work! Netflix, Max and Disney+ and more streamers have launched the Streaming Innovation Alliance. The Golden Globes has added two new categories. Tubi is set to use ChatGPT AI for search and viewer recommendations. The Academy is replacing Hattie McDaniel's missing Oscar. — [Abid Rahman]( Do you have THR's next big story? Confidentially share tips with us at [tips@thr.com](. Dan Harmon Is Ready to Talk About All of It ►On the cover. Dan Harmon, the creative force behind Rick and Morty, Community, Strange Planet and Krapopolis, was a say-anything provocateur until a changing culture, a few brushes with cancellation and lots of therapy scared him into silence. But boy does he miss his soapbox. In a wide-ranging interview with THR's [Lacey Rose]( Harmon, for the first time, publicly addresses the disintegration of his relationship with Justin Roiland, and the allegations of sexual misconduct against his former creative collaborator. [The cover story.]( It's Over! The 2023 WGA Strike Officially Ends ►Back to work. The 148-day writers’ strike, the second longest in WGA history, officially ended at 12:01 am PT Wednesday thanks to a vote from guild leadership on Tuesday that officially authorized some 11,500 members to return to work. Tasks that for months were prohibited by strike rules — pitching, selling scripts, taking meetings, responding to notes — are now sanctioned, while writers’ rooms can reconvene. The WGA negotiators noted that the end of the strike doesn’t mean that the tentative agreement that the union reached with studios and streamers on Sunday night is a sure thing: Union members still need to vote to ratify the contract, a referendum that union leadership announced on Tuesday will take place between Oct. 2 and Oct. 9. All eyes now turn to the SAG-AFTRA strike. On Tuesday evening, in a statement posted to Instagram, the performers union's leadership sought to dispel speculation on meeting dates with the studios and streamers. “At this time, we have no confirmed dates scheduled to meet with the AMPTP. When we do have dates confirmed, we will inform you. Unless you hear it from us, it’s hearsay,” the statement said. [The story.]( —The deal deets revealed. THR's [Katie Kilkenny]( and [Lesley Goldberg]( have the details on the provisional pact between the WGA and Hollywood's top studios and streamers that was agreed on Sunday night. Restrictions on the use of A.I., minimum staffing in television writers’ rooms and a viewership-based streaming bonus are some of the many deal points in the tentative three-year contract. [The story.]( How the Writers Deal Got Done ►Inside the room. From the Chris Keyser-CEO calls that brought them back to the table to the ask that almost derailed the deal, THR's editor-at-large [Kim Masters]( and Lesley Goldberg have the play-by-play of the final negotiations between the WGA and AMPTP. [The story.]( —✊ Another win for Hollywood labor ✊ Over a year after it was voluntarily recognized by management, the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures’ union has officially ratified its first contract. The new three-year deal sets a wage floor of $20 per hour, with workers receiving a minimum of 3 percent wage increases annually. Paid parental leave was established as part of the pact. One-hundred and seventy-odd workers are members of the union, which is allied with AFSCME Local 126. [The story.]( —"Two friends correctly figured out it was me." While the industry will undoubtedly debate the winners and losers from the writers strike, there is one indisputable victor during the stoppage: the “Fake Carol” Lombardini Twitter account. In an exclusive interview with Lesley Goldberg, the mid-level comedy writer behind the viral social media account explains why they don’t plan to reveal their identity (except maybe to David Simon). [The story.]( Movies, TV Shows Brace for Post-Strike Talent Scheduling Crunch ►"Everybody’s going to be hitting the starting line with the same needs." As Hollywood sees the light at the end of the tunnel amid the history-making dual strikes, anxieties have begun to set in. THR's [Mia Galuppo]( and [Borys Kit]( write that the strikes have lasted long enough that entire production schedules have been blown on major studio features and series, and when the work stoppage finally ends, we should expect to see jockeying for stars and crews as projects fight for priority status. [The story.]( —"The rise of innovative, new video streaming services is an American success story." Several major streaming services, including Netflix, Max and Disney, have formed a trade alliance to advocate for federal and state policies that benefit the streaming industry. At launch, other members of the Streaming Innovation Alliance include AfroLandTV, America Nu Network, BET+, discovery+, For Us by Us Network, MPA, MotorTrend+, Paramount+, Peacock, PlutoTV, Telemundo, Televisa Univision, Vault TV and Vix. [The story.]( —No time to pawse. Paw Patrol 3 is officially a go. Spin Master Entertainment, Nickelodeon Movies and Paramount Pictures are moving forward with a third film in the franchise, which is slated to arrive in theaters in 2026. The news comes as the latest film, Paw Patrol: A Mighty Movie, arrives in theaters Friday. Cal Brunker, who directed A Mighty Movie and the 2021 feature Paw Patrol: The Movie, returns to direct. [The story.]( —Just one more thing. NBCUniversal has reached a deal to resolve a long-running case over back profits it allegedly owes to the creators of Columbo. William Link and the heirs of Richard Levinson have settled their lawsuit against the studio, averting a trial that was scheduled to start next month. Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed. NBCU was sued by Foxcroft Productions and Fairmont Productions in 2017 in a lawsuit that alleged that although Columbo has generated $600m in gross revenue, the studio has only paid the loan-out companies $5m. [The story.]( What Big Moves Are Left for Lachlan Murdoch? ►Chip off the old block? As Rupert’s eldest son Lachlan is set to rule a new Murdoch empire, THR's [Alex Weprin]( and [Georg Szalai]( write that he could coast on the assets put in place by his father or evaluate the kingdom for a megadeal involving crown jewel Fox News. [The analysis.]( —Rise of the machines. Tubi, Fox Corp.’s ad-supported video-on-demand service, has teamed up with ChatGPT AI program to change the way viewers navigate the streaming platform. The company says its Rabbit AI, which is powered by ChatGPT-4, will allow “viewers to go beyond simple keyword searches and ask questions the same way you’d ask a friend." Tubi started rolling out a beta test version of Rabbit AI to its iOS mobile app for users across the U.S. on Tuesday. [The story.]( —Lets fuggggggin goooooo! Fox’s NFL broadcast of the Kansas City Chiefs game Sunday was down some from the same week a year ago — but Taylor Swift's attendance at the game may have helped drive a ratings uptick in at least one demographic. Fox’s telecast averaged 24.32m viewers, but was off by about 8 percent from the same week last year. Ratings were off by similar amounts among adults 18-49 and adults 25-54 and down by slightly less (-5 percent) in adults 18-34. It was still the top broadcast of the week, along with No. 1 among women of all ages. [The ratings.]( Film Academy to Replace Hattie McDaniel's Oscar ►"Ms. Hattie is coming home!" The first competitive Oscar ever awarded to a Black person, the best supporting actress Oscar that Hattie McDaniel won for her performance in Gone With the Wind in 1940, went missing from Howard University (to which McDaniel bequeathed it after her death in 1952) sometime in the late 1960s. THR's Scott Feinberg reports that on Tuesday, The Academy announced that it will be rectifying this situation by gifting Howard’s Chadwick A. Boseman College of Fine Arts a replacement Oscar. [The story.]( —New categories just dropped. Two new awards will be presented at the 2024 Golden Globe Awards. One new category, best cinematic and box office achievement, will include eight nominees chosen "from among the year’s highest-earning and/or most viewed films." Another new category, best performance in stand-up comedy on television, will recognize six nominees who gave “traditional stand-up comedy performances of at least 30 minutes, other than roles in television series, limited series, anthology series or motion pictures made for television." [The story.]( —Champion producers. The Williams sisters are getting back into the producing game. Serena and Venus Williams, along with their sister Isha Price, have joined documentary Between Starshine and Clay: The Hidden Diary of Diahann Carroll as executive producers alongside Katy Barksdale and Valerie Gamache. The project, currently in production, is being co-directed by Susanne Rostock and Carroll’s daughter, Suzanne Kay, who are producing alongside Color Farm Media’s Erika Alexander and Ben Arnon. [The story.]( —New charge. Spanish prosecutors have charged Shakira with failing to pay $7.1m in tax on her 2018 income. The Colombian singer is alleged to have used an offshore company based in a tax haven to avoid paying the tax, Barcelona prosecutors said in a statement. The tax charge is Spain’s latest fiscal allegations against Shakira, she is already due to be tried in Barcelona on Nov. 20 in a separate case that hinges on where she lived between 2012-14. In that case, prosecutors allege she failed to pay $15.4m in tax. [The story.]( Film Review: 'The Creator' ►"More programmed than created." THR's chief film critic [David Rooney]( reviews Gareth Edwards' The Creator. John David Washington, Gemma Chan, Allison Janney and Ken Watanabe star in the postapocalyptic action thriller, which pits the U.S. military against an AI robot menace 10 years after a nuclear explosion levels Los Angeles. [The review.]( —"This art world satire doesn't slay." THR's Frank Scheck reviews Nicol Paone's The Kill Room. Samuel L. Jackson, Uma Thurman and Joe Manganiello star in this caper about a hit man turned unlikely art world star via an elaborate money-laundering scheme. [The review.]( In other news... —Natalie Portman [plays a stealth monster in May December trailer]( —Fingernails trailer: [Jessie Buckley navigates love triangle with Riz Ahmed and Jeremy Allen White]( —Tokyo Film Festival [aims to boost global relevance with bumper 2023 edition]( —Alex Rodriguez [to co-host Bloomberg podcast and video series The Deal]( —Zainab Johnson [sets debut comedy special, Hijabs Off, at Amazon Prime Video]( —Sean McManus [to retire as CBS Sports chairman]( —L.A.’s [Larchmont Village is "really a shopping street again"]( What else we're reading... —Despite the end of the WGA strike, Mary McNamara writes that Hollywood is never going back to normal as the business model of television is still a mess [[LAT]( —By digging into his past, Hugh Montgomery offers an inside look at the real Rupert Murdoch [[BBC]( —In an exclusive excerpt from her new encyclopedia of everything, intrepid journalist Philomena Cunk takes on Facebook, Fake News and "fullosophy" [[Daily Beast]( —Sara Morrison explains the Federal Trade Commission's case to break up Amazon [[Vox]( —With Starbucks’ pumpkin spice latte turning 20 this year, Ella Quittner writes that the drink will outlive us all [[NYT]( Today... ...in 1968, ABC tried out a new half-hour comedy show at 9 p.m., The Don Rickles Show, which proved to be short-lived. [The original review.]( Today's birthdays: Gwyneth Paltrow (51), Jenna Ortega (21), Anna Camp (41), Avril Lavigne (39), [Indira Varma]( (50), Tamara Taylor (53), Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa (73), Marc Maron (60), Andy Lau (62), Shaun Cassidy (65), Scott Lawrence (60), Carrie Brownstein (49), A Martinez (75), Thomas Mann (32), Lola Kirke (33), Sofia Milos (54), Amanda Detmer (52), Liz Torres (76), Patrick Muldoon (55), Denis Lawson (76), Sam Lerner (31), Giulio Berruti (39), Michael C. Maronna (46), Angélica María (79), Phil Tippett (72), Irvine Welsh (65), Jean-Marc Barr (63) This email was sent to {EMAIL} by The Hollywood Reporter. Please add email@email.hollywoodreporter.com to your address book to ensure delivery to your inbox. Visit the [Preferences Center]( to update your profile and customize what email alerts and newsletters you receive. The Hollywood Reporter is a part of Penske Media Corporation. © 2023 The Hollywood Reporter, LLC. 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