Welcome back to What I’m Hearing, a little earlier tonight because I’m attending the societal and cultural event of the season: the L.A. premiere of Sonic the Hedgehog 3.

If you missed the news on Friday, Kim Masters is joining Puck! Yes, very exciting. I worked with Kim for a decade at The Hollywood Reporter and she’s the best reporter and writer covering the entertainment business, so we’re thrilled she’s our newest author. She’ll contribute to What I’m Hearing and help expand the entertainment vertical in 2025 and beyond. And today, even though she hasn’t even officially started yet, she and I have some thoughts on Bob Iger’s capitulation to Donald Trump. More on that, below.

Programming note: This week on The Town, Lucas Shaw and I debated the significance of David Zaslav’s latest reorg at Warner Discovery, and I counted down the 2024 hits and misses in both streaming TV and movies with the Entertainment Strategy Guy. Subscribe here and here.

Gift a Puck membership! Click here. Got a news tip or an idea for me? Just reply to this email or message me on Signal at 310-804-3198.

Mentioned in this issue: Chris Nolan, Bob Iger, Dan Lin, Cindi Berger, Jay Penske, Debra OConnell, David Zaslav, Matt Damon, George Stephanopoulos, Daniel Craig, Dana Walden, Helen Hoehne, Ben Affleck, Kathryn Bigelow, and… Scientology’s biggest donor.

But first…

Runner-up: Aldis Hodge, the star of Cross, which topped Nielsen’s overall streaming chart for its debut week and generated 1.4 billion minutes viewed, beating Deadpool & Wolverine and proving that Prime Video’s WGWG formula (White Guys With Guns) also works with a nonwhite lead.

Runner-up: “It saddens me that there isn’t a more theatrical moment for these movies.”
—Daniel Craig, continuing his crusade to convince Netflix to give the Knives Out movies a traditional theatrical window.

Which leads me to…

Yes, the filmmaker who famously will not work with Netflix was deployed, via the technology everyone is terrified of, to laud the accomplishments of the streaming service that is often criticized as anti-movie theater. Very Hollywood 2024. Naturally, A.I. Nolan had some very nice things to say about Netflix, I’m told. (Netflix confirmed the Nolan anecdote but declined to comment, as did Nolan’s rep.)

Lin has greenlit about 25 films since he took over in April for the famously talent-friendly Scott Stuber, including a Kathryn Bigelow White House thriller, RIP, with Ben Affleck and Matt Damon; and Greta Gerwig’s Narnia movie that he inherited from Stuber, the deal for which will include a theatrical release. (The latest on those talks: They’re in the home stretch, and she’ll get an exclusive Imax window at the end of 2026—if the production can hit that date.)

Peter Morgan, creator of a signature Netflix show, The Crown, wanted Lin to make a pricey film version of Patriots, his Broadway play. After a tense meeting with Lin in London, Morgan informed Bajaria that he wanted nothing to do with Lin ever again. (A Netflix source says Morgan will talk to others besides Lin going forward; Morgan’s rep declined to comment.) Lin has gone head-to-head with Skydance C.E.O. David Ellison over cost issues on several projects (Skydance declined to comment), and he is holding the budget of Enola Holmes 3 well below what Legendary’s Mary Parent thinks is appropriate for the third film in a hit series starring Millie Bobby Brown, the biggest star on Netflix. Adam Sandler and Tyler Perry are also among those with gripes, per sources.

I could go on. Annoying the agents that have feasted on streamers may not be a bad strategy these days, but without the carrots of theatrical releases or major moneybags, Lin and his deputy, Doug Belgrad, can only push back so far if they expect top talent to work with them. The New York Times is currently working on a long profile of Lin that will likely address these issues, and it’ll be interesting to see how Bajaria and her boss, Ted Sarandos, position the state of the company’s film initiative publicly.

A dude in the Philippines is one of an elite group of losers who figure out who wrote which SNL sketch. [WSJ]

What would compel someone to pay $32.5 million for the ruby slippers from Wizard of Oz? Marion Maneker investigates. [Puck]

Harry Warner’s L.A. estate could be yours for $35 million. Abusive behavior sold separately. [Real Deal]

Film critic Robbie Collin argues Hollywood has entered its “post-woke” era. [Telegraph]

Trish Duggan, better known as Scientology’s top donor, gave $18.5 million in the most recent year, and David Miscavige gave her a really big trophy. [Underground Bunker]

Now for my back-and-forth with Kim Masters on the big Disney news this week….

Kim Masters: They can make him a special svelte animatronic Trump with ravishing blonde locks. I do have some thoughts, as a journalist (one who used to write political stories for The Washington Post), as someone who has covered Iger for decades now, and as a dismayed citizen. I couldn’t stomach this payout even if Trump had to hand the money directly to E. Jean Carroll, the woman he sexually abused (I didn’t use that R-word), according to a jury of his peers, and to whom he now owes north of $83.3 million.

Matt: As you know, this appeared to be a very winnable case for Disney. George Stephanopoulos did falsely say Trump was found liable for rape when the jury actually found he was liable for sexual abuse, not rape. But that kind of fleeting error, especially against a public figure like Trump, almost never rises above the high “actual malice” hurdle in defamation cases. And Iger surely knew there would be swift backlash to the settlement, especially now that Trump and his allies are using it to advocate for further attacks on the media. Marc Elias, the Democratic lawyer, has been pretty scathing: “Knee bent. Ring kissed. Another legacy news outlet chooses obedience,” he posted.

Kim: Debra OConnell, the executive who oversees ABC News, followed Zuckerberg and Tim Cook to kiss the ring at Mar-a-Lago this month. Now Ted Sarandos of Netflix is headed there this week. That ring must be in dire need of disinfectant.

Matt: Ha, true. Though Disney notes it’s common for news executives to visit the incoming administration. And remember, Trumpworld thinks ABC News is particularly “biased” because of the aggressive fact-checking during its debate and TV chief Dana Walden’s longtime friendship with Kamala Harris. That’s a lingering problem for Disney.

Anyway, the two dominant theories are that either the Trump litigation has unearthed potentially damaging information or correspondence at ABC News that Disney doesn’t want revealed, or that this is indeed Iger’s gesture of sorts to Trump to avoid his vengeance and the lightning-rod spectacle of a public trial against a sitting president. I’m in the latter camp. Iger, since he returned to Disney, has been willing to placate the right to keep the company out of its crosshairs—withdrawing, for instance, the Florida litigation against Ron DeSantis and his allies. Bob knows he can’t actually give $1 million to Trump’s inauguration without causing an internal firestorm, and at least so far, he hasn’t made his own tail-between-legs pilgrimage to Mar-a-Lago. But he knows this settlement is a way to give Trump a victory and hopefully buy some insurance for the next four years.

Kim: The problem is that this is a big effing deal. Iger has undercut his news organization and positioned Stephanopoulos directly under the bus. I know from experience how little it takes to create a chilling environment in newsrooms—and this goes beyond just ABC News. Anne Applebaum, an expert on descents into authoritarianism, said “many people assumed in the past that the news media in the United States was too big, too diverse, and too complex to be intimidated.” Welp, so much for that cornerstone of democracy.

Matt: But Iger does have a responsibility to protect Disney in unprecedented times, with a U.S. president who has been open about using the office to punish enemies both real and perceived. Bob and his board care a lot more about Disney’s other businesses than its ABC News operation, and there are a ton of ways the Trump administration can hurt Disney—everything from threatening TV station licenses to blocking M&A opportunities. So putting the news division, which is a very small part of the kingdom, through the pineapple Dole Whip machine may just be one of those cost-benefit analysis decisions Iger has to make. I just wonder how much goodwill it actually buys with Trump. If he sees an opportunity to benefit from attacking Disney, he’s gonna do it, regardless of the bone he was just thrown.

Matt: Exactly. It’s easy to criticize without looking at the big picture.

Kim: Unfortunately, it’s not just ABC News taking that hit. The MAGA team will look for any chance to attack ABC, CNN, CBS, etcetera. Trump said today that he’s going after The Des Moines Register for a poll that predicted he would lose the state to Harris—as if that’s remotely actionable. It reminds me of the Church of Scientology, which used to sue people—even with very weak cases—to keep the press intimidated. I remember when Bryan Burrough and I wanted to write about Scientology for Vanity Fair and the answer was, “Forget it.” Scientology had dragged Time through years of litigation and lost, but the point had been made.

Matt: As much as the Disney settlement emboldens Trump, I do think he would have relished litigating this case publicly during his administration. Attacking the media is a winning issue for him, given the low trust/opinion in polls. And even if he eventually lost the case, he could just play the victim, as he has in other litigation he has lost.

Kim: I totally disagree. Yes, Trump and his allies are focused on bullying the media. But does he want to sit in another deposition to talk about the—I’ve lost count, how many is it now?—women he allegedly assaulted? And then, the first witness: “E. Jean Carroll, please take the stand.” He’s been through that before and it didn’t go well.

Kim: Remember, Iger was the one who tweeted about Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill to pressure then-C.E.O. Bob Chapek, who initially didn’t want to touch anything political. Bob I.’s message to the troops was, “I’m the one who will stand up for decency and he’s not.” That’s when Chapek started to flip-flop and it became an unholy mess. But now look.

Matt: Yet, at least so far, Hollywood has been pretty quiet. I’ve heard some rumblings of disappointment, but notably, no public criticism from major entertainment or media figures.

Kim: I’m sure many Disney employees are upset—they tend to be progressive. What may help Iger weather this internally is that though this may screw ABC News, it doesn’t affect the creatives. That and the fact that jobs in this business are very hard to find. This does raise the question of whether Stephanopoulos will stay at ABC News. I don’t see how he does. Every time he would try to interview a Republican—well, you can see how that would go.

Matt: He makes more than $15 million a year. That’s why.

Kim: This is about more than money.

Matt: Maybe. But George is responsible for the error that caused the litigation in the first place. Your new colleague Dylan Byers has reported that George’s deal is up next year and ABC News would like to pay its GMA anchors less money, given the ratings declines. So maybe this will be a mutual parting of ways.

“I think, as you do, that their motive here is simply to monetize and to exploit the Globes brand in much the same way that the Variety brand has been globalized. They’ll develop international ‘Globes’ in various countries, owning those TV rights, hosting pay-to-play galas, etcetera. It’s a business. Probably start in London or Paris or Rome and see how it goes. In the meantime, those pesky ‘employees’… they’re excluded from the show itself, from the pre-events and parties—they exist solely to vote, and have nothing to do with the organization, or from what I can see, with being journalists.

“The $75,000 they’re ‘paid,’ I understand, is actually siphoned from their own coffers, made from the TV rights sales—so Penske’s not out of pocket. As they’re under five-year contracts, from what I read, he’s probably intending to fire the paid members/employees, not the larger group of voters, at the end of their contracts. Filing a lawsuit could prohibit him from firing them. The employees are clear they’re an endangered species. Jay and Todd have been duplicitous, hence the possible lawsuit.

“The show last year, I’m told, was The Jay Penske Show. Friends and family in the pit area, while key Hollywood studio executives who’ve never sat anywhere but in the pit were on the second tier. That went over horribly, and I suspect if he does that again this year they won’t show up.

“The irony is both Jay and Todd are smart, nice people. It wasn’t until observers saw the way they treated these people—disenfranchising them, barring them from conducting interviews, from their very livelihoods—that perception of them changed. Many of these folks have had to move, as they lost their jobs without access to celebrity interviews. It’s pretty shameless, because from my perspective they were railroaded and did not understand the details of the acquisition.

“They are told nothing by either partner, nor by their in-name-only president, Helen Hoehne, who abandoned the group for the permanent position and money. If this was a union, there would be protracted litigation, but the partners know the members cannot afford it and are dragging this out until they break. It’s pretty sad—and on Todd and Jay’s part, shameless.”

Also, one top publicist didn’t like that last week’s feedback to my column on the R&CPMK publicity firm and its lawsuit against defectors was negative toward C.E.O. Cindi Berger…

“Cindi is a strong, tough C.E.O. in a rapidly changing environment. She deserves to be applauded, not belittled for her accomplishments and survival. To diminish the impact of the damage [from the defectors] to a company’s bottom line—when carefully crafted strategies and playbooks designed to help clients achieve business goals were unlawfully taken—shows a lack of understanding of what is required in today’s environment. This work is I.P. If it didn’t have significant value, what would compel the departing employees to feel the need to take company property?”

Correction: All told, the Warner Bros. Discovery stock is slightly up for the year, not down, as I mentioned on Thursday. Apologies!

Got a question, comment, complaint, or some good Knuckles fan fiction? Email me at Matt@puck.news or call/text me at 310-804-3198.