Welcome back to The Daily Courant, your afternoon medley of Puck’s best new reporting.

First up, Kim Masters breaks down how Ben Affleck and Matt Damon’s idealistic production venture, Artists Equity—which launched three years ago with a mission to transform Hollywood—is shifting gears as streaming’s easy money era comes to an end. Plus, Kim asks the question on the tip of everyone’s tongues: Can the company thrive without its founders starring in or directing every film?

Then, below the fold: Lauren Sherman explains what Jonathan Anderson’s inspiring Dior debut signals about the state of luxury—and the fate of LVMH, itself. Abby Livingston canvasses plugged-in Democratic operatives and strategists to assess how Zohran Mamdani’s stunning victory in New York is reverberating through the party. And John Ourand examines the creeping malaise gripping the sports rights marketplace.

Meanwhile, on the pods: Matt Belloni and Lucas Shaw convene on The Town to discuss the early box office performance for Apple’s F1. On Fashion People, Lauren and marketing guru Chris Black contemplate the potential Anna Wintour successors at American Vogue. On The Grill Room, Dylan Byers and Julia Alexander reunite to explain why YouTube’s niche-centric strategy can’t be replicated. And on The Powers That Be, Leigh Ann Caldwell rings up Eriq Gardner to break down the real implications of the Supreme Court’s head-spinning ruling on birthright citizenship.

HOLLYWOOD

Amid the content recession and C-suite shake-ups, Artists Equity battles to live up to its quixotic mission of giving creatives more freedom and offering cast and crew a piece of the profit. With Damon’s wife moving into a leadership role and a new Sony deal, will the company have to change with the times, too?

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FASHION

The industry breathed a sigh of relief when Jonathan Anderson’s Dior was good and featured things people actually might want to buy. But one hit collection can’t save an industry battling numerous headwinds—the changing behaviors of Chinese consumers, the price misalignments, the downstream effects of secondhand retail, etcetera—and Anderson’s inspiring debut has only crystallized this reality.

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WASHINGTON

Democratic strategists and operatives are processing Zohran Mamdani’s shocking victory in New York in real time: the implications for incumbents, lessons for candidate recruitment, the challenge of managing the far left, and why the Israel issue isn’t going away. Herewith, some of their early takeaways.

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SPORTS

Sports may be the last remaining jewel of live TV, but the era of the 10-figure rights deals is a thing of the past for everyone besides the NFL and NBA. The current marketplace tells the story.

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HOLLYWOOD

Matt is joined by Bloomberg’s Lucas Shaw to discuss the opening weekend box office performance of F1, whether it should be considered a hit, and what this means for Apple’s interest in releasing movies in theaters. They also look at the rest of the tech streamers and discuss who is best positioned to release movies theatrically and, more importantly, who is most interested in doing so. Later, they discuss the disappointing opening weekend of M3GAN 2.0 and what this means for Blumhouse.

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FASHION

Lauren’s guest is Chris Black, marketer, sort-of influencer, and co-host of How Long Gone, a podcast for people who wish they were invited to the Bezos-Sánchez wedding. They discuss Jonathan Anderson’s Dior debut, the happy couple and extreme displays of wealth, who should succeed Anna Wintour at American Vogue, and why press trips have gotten so good lately.

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MEDIA

Julia Alexander reunites with Dylan to address a handful of media industry questions and provocations: why YouTube’s success with niche content doesn’t mean Netflix should follow suit, how the entertainment pendulum is swinging back toward quality over quantity, and what a bombshell A.I. ruling means for content creators and copyright law.

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WASHINGTON

Eriq Gardner joins guest host Leigh Ann Caldwell to discuss the Supreme Court’s eyebrow-raising ruling on birthright citizenship—which, in classic Supreme Court fashion, wasn’t actually about birthright citizenship and instead limited the power of lower courts to issue nationwide injunctions. Eriq and Leigh Ann wade into the various policy implications for immigration, foreign aid, etcetera, and preview the next wave of federal litigation.

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