The Morning Fix: SAG Vote aftermath; Ari Emanuel rises (again); Justice Dept. reading up on Google; DreamWorks Animation on a roll
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After the coffee. Before the second pastry.
Landslide! The Screen Actors Guild voted to accept a new TV and film contract that includes a 3% pay raise and residuals for shows that are streamed online. The new deal, which was approved by 78% of voters, could boost independent production, says the Los Angeles Times. Other takes on the vote from Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, and Deadline Hollywood Daily.
It’s not personal, it’s only business. Now that the dust is settling on the Endeavor-William Morris merger (was it really a merger?), the profiles of new top dog Ari Emanuel are popping up even if he isn’t playing ball with the press right now. The New York Times weighs in with a lengthy take on Emanuel’s rise and some gossip about a recent fight with NBC Entertainment co-chair Marc Graboff. The Daily Beast’s Kim Masters also checks in on whether Ari Emanuel can become Hollywood’s next strongman or if the era of the super agent is already over.
Did he forget what his show is about? ‘Mad Men’ creator Matthew Weiner got AMC, the cable channel that carries his low-rated but critically acclaimed program to extend the hour-long show for a few more minutes in return for a few more commercial breaks. The tiff was getting ugly, especially since AMC is already paying Weiner an increased license fee for the third season. Variety
Heavy reading. The Justice Department wants to read up on Google’s deal with book publishers to make millions of books available online. The Wall Street Journal says the demands are ‘strongest sign yet that the Justice Department may seek to block or force a renegotiation of the settlement.’
More than you’ll ever want to know about Twitter and its users from HubSpot, a marketing software firm.
In today’s Los Angeles Times: DreamWorks Animation is on a roll. News Corp. is near a deal to sell its political magazine The Weekly Standard to Philip Anschutz. James Rainey on what we need to remember about two journalists held in North Korea.
-- Joe Flint