Good afternoon, everyone.
For our next Guest Lecture, paid readers can ask Harvard junior Alex Bronzini-Vender anything they want in the Feed Me chat. I’ve really enjoyed his writing about AI in schools and elite universities over the last year, and I’m excited to read his responses.
⛈️ If you or any of your friends’ weddings are being affected by this weekend’s nor’easter, I want to hear from you. Respond to this email, or shoot me a note at emily@readfeedme.com.
Today’s newsletter includes: Alison Roman’s adds Shoe Designer to her resume (multitudes…), it’s almost Thanksgiving at The Odeon, buy a $3.4 million condo in a historic New York members club, New York Magazine is playing with vertically stacking bylines in their newsletters, Teddy Kim on the Paramount-Warner Bros news, Dairy Boy is becoming the Gen Z uniform of New York, how personal cheffing for the ultrawealthy can change a person (“I’ve sent a specific brand of popcorn to a ten-year-old at summer camp via helicopter.”), and movies to see during this weekend’s storm.
Strait to streaming. By Teddy Kim.
Stay Tuned is a Feed Me guest column about film and entertainment, written by Teddy Kim. Today, wrote about David Ellison’s Paramount acquiring Warner Bros.
Last December, I wrote about what then looked like the Netflix acquisition of Warner Bros. Nine months later, David Ellison’s Paramount has won the fight for Warner Bros. Discovery after a saga that’s felt like a 10-episode miniseries involving new characters and cameos, like California AG Rob Bonta and more recently, Elon Musk. The DOJ Antitrust Division cleared the deal over the summer and this week the Writers Guild and the 12 states suing to block it settled, with the deal now expected to close in early October. Ultimately, the states didn’t force any big concessions. Faced with Paramount’s threats to leave California, they settled for promises instead: a 45-day theatrical window, both studio lots staying in LA, and an editorial board for CNN and CBS. But no job protections, no commitment to keep production in California beyond the lots, and no divestitures of significant media assets. The whole agreement only applies for five years as well, with Paramount able to petition to modify or end it after two years, and in the meantime with a force majeure clause that gives the company some outs if we experience a recession or labor strikes.