Hollywood’s Worsening Catch-22

Zaslav
Zaslav, saddled by that $50 billion-plus in debt, feels like he’s ready to do anything to save money, short of putting Bob Evans’ house on Airbnb. Photo: Santiago Felipe/Getty Images
Matthew Belloni
November 4, 2022

“What the eff do these people want?” I was on the phone yesterday with a friend on the corporate side at Paramount Global in New York, getting his read on the latest shellacking of the stock despite the fact that the company grew its streaming business to 67 million subscribers. It was easy to comprehend his frustration—and the anger that everyone is feeling around Hollywood. To many, the streaming-video clown car that we all feared would drive off a cliff now sees that cliff squarely in the rearview window, and it’s getting smaller and smaller.