On Wednesday afternoon, I drove from the Hollywood Hills down to the Paramount lot on Melrose to spend a couple hours in the company of Paramount Skydance chief and current media “It” boy David Ellison, his charismatic and self-assured investment partner Gerry Cardinale, his new entourage of direct reports—Jeff Shell, George Cheeks, Cindy Holland, etcetera—as well as a few dozen Hollywood journalists who’d been invited to ask on-the-record questions of the top brass and then dine with them over La Scala salads. (A tip of the hat to my partner Matt Belloni, who held Ellison’s ear for quite some time over lunch, for identifying the provenance of this culinary olive branch).