Agency Defection; New Oscar Voters; Swift Fallout; NBC Debate Poll; Who Will Play Elvis?

What's news: Who will play Baz Luhrmann's Elvis Presley? Controversy around the Academy's new members, Abrams Artists promises to give up packaging. Plus: Which debate moderator did viewers like best? And the fallout continues from the Taylor Swift-Scooter Braun feud. --Alex Weprin July 02, 2019 What's news: Who will play Baz Luhrmann's Elvis Presley? Controversy around the Academy's new members, Abrams Artists promises to give up packaging. Plus: Which debate moderator did viewers like best? And the fallout continues from the Taylor Swift-Scooter Braun feud. --Alex Weprin The ATA's First Defection ►Abrams Artists breaks ranks. The talent agency, which has 65 agents, "will agree not to seek or accept packaging fees and not to engage in affiliate production if the guild will permit its members to once again be represented by Abrams," Jonathan Handel reports. The decision is a major one, as Abrams would be the first firm to break ranks with the Association of Talent Agents (ATA), which has been representing the agencies in negotiations with the Writer's Guild of America. While other agencies, which as Verve, have signed the WGA's "Code of Conduct," they have not been ATA members. Abrams will not sign the Guild's Code of Conduct, citing other concerns, but is willing to talk through those issues with the Guild. [The story](. +Meredith Stiehm has signed with Verve. The veteran writer is on the negotiating committee for the WGA, which remains locked in a legal and compensation battle with the talent agencies over packaging fees. Verve is one of only a few agencies to sign the WGA's Code of Conduct, allowing them to continue representing their writer clients. [More](. +Meanwhile, CAA joined WME and UTA in filing an antitrust suit against the Guild, accusing the union of violating federal law by exceeding the scope of its authority to regulate agents. [The story.]( ►Meet the new Academy members. The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences [invited 842 new members]( on Monday, with an emphasis on improving the organization's diversity. 50% of the invitees were female, and 29% are people of color. The list includes a number of boldface names, including Lady Gaga and Tom Holland, as well as directors Jon M. Chu, Christopher Miller, and Phil Lord. +Of course, every year the list of invitees invites controversy. This year, Scott Feinberg notes that Nick Vallelonga, who won two Oscars for Green Book, did not make the cut. Vallelonga faced criticism for an anti-Muslim tweet he had sent in 2015, which could explain the decision, however "upon further consideration, I'm not so sure, since those branches also declined to invite Brian Currie, who shared in both of those Oscar wins," Feinberg writes. Feinberg also notes that the Academy "is increasingly inviting people to become members who, while wonderfully talented, have most distinguished themselves in another medium." [His full column](. Elsewhere in film... --The writer's of Spider Man: Far From Home[talk to Aaron Couch]( about the challenges and fun of writing the film. --Lionsgate [will launch]( its Hunger Games and Divergent-themed theme park in China on July 31. --The International Cinematographer Guild (Local 600) [announced]( its awards season timeline, with its annual ICG Publicists Awards luncheon scheduled for Feb. 7 at the Beverly Hilton. --Indie distributor GKIDS [has acquired](the North American distribution rights for animated feature Ride Your Wave. --Jeremy Steckler, who oversaw motion picture development at Condé Nast Entertainment, [is joining]( Imperative Entertainment as its president of film production. Lester Holt The Debate Favorite ►Lester Holt's debate bump. Of all the moderators NBC News had on stage at last week's Democratic primary debates, NBC Nightly News anchor Lester Holt was the favorite among viewers, according to a new Hollywood Reporter/Morning Consult survey. The survey found that among all five moderators, Holt received the most favorable response from viewers, who were polled both before and after the debate. The poll found that 67% of those surveyed said Holt did an "excellent" or "good" job, compared to only 9% who said he did a "poor" job. +The survey also found that 57% of respondents said that the moderator's ideology mattered to them, with 47% saying that they preferred a "politically moderate" moderator. [The results](. ►Who will be Baz Lurhmann's Elvis? According to Borys Kit, five actors hav tested for the part in the upcoming biopic. Miles Teller, Harry Styles, Ansel Elgort, Austin Butler, and Aaron Taylor-Johnson have all tried out. Tom Hanks is on board already, playing Elvis' manager Tom Parker. [More](. +Casting roundup: In her first major deal since The Big Bang Theory wrapped, Kaley Cuoco has [signed a major deal]( with Warner Bros. TV. Her first new project will be the drama series The Flight Attendant for WarnerMedia's upcoming streaming service... Jacob Tremblay and Awkwafina [are in talks](to join the cast of Disney's upcoming live-action The Little Mermaid remake... Sam Claflin has [joined the cast]( of Enola Holmes... NBC News has hired Alison Morris to serve as an anchor for its NBC News Now streaming service... ^Netflix's new rules. Over the last few years, Netflix has garnered a reputation as a free-spender. After all, the company is projected to spend $15 billion on content this year, an enormous sum. However, The Information's Jessica Toonkel, Tom Dotan, and Beejoli Shah [report that]( the streaming service is beginning to think more critically about its budgets (subscription required), preferring to funnel hefty budgets to projects likely to attract massive viewership, and even ordering pilots for many shows before deciding whether to pick them up, a relatively recent practice for the streamer. +Of course, just this week Netflix announced a [massive new deal]( [to pick up a series]( based on the DC comic The Sandman, so the company clearly isn't abandoning big-budget bets, even if it may be getting more selective about where it places them. +"[A]s you build a pipeline, make talent deals (Shonda! Ryan! Barris!) and grow output, you start to have real alternatives and important trade-offs to make with each greenlight," analyst Matthew Ball [wrote on Twitter]( about the story. "It's not what you can get, it's what you choose to make - which informs what you don't." +It also isn't entirely clear whether the new mandate will spread beyond the company's programming budgets. This past weekend's Stranger Things takeover of the Santa Monica Pier suggests it is still willing to go all-out to promote some of its programming. Pickups and cancelations: The third season of the HBO comedy Divorce, starring Sarah Jessica Parker, [will be the show's last](... the upcoming WarnerMedia streaming service [has picked up]( an animated prequel to the comedy Gremlins... Comedian Aziz Ansari will return to Netflix this month with a new stand-up special, Aziz Ansari Right Now, directed by Spike Jonze... Netflix has[picked up](a criminal justice documentary about Cyntoia Brown's incarceration and fight for clemency... Elsewhere in TV... --Aaron Spelling's former home, a 56,500-square-foot chateau in Holmby Hills, [has sold](for $120 million — the highest home price in L.A. County history. --Are you curious about Quibi? [Here's THR's guide]( to what it is, who runs it, and the shows and projects in development. --Cineflix Rights [has secured]( the global rights for the Israeli TV drama Tehran. --Anthony Jeselnik [talks about]( his new late night show with Seth Abramovich. --Parody show What Just Happened??! had a [soft launch]( for Fox over the weekend. Swift Fallout ►Taylor Swift was just the start. In a letter to the company's employees, artists, and partners, Big Machine CEO Scott Borchetta [said that]( following his company's sale to Scooter Braun and The Carlyle Group's Ithaca Holdings, "we’re only going to get bigger as we target more and more global opportunities." The sale sparked a firestorm after it was announced Sunday, with artists, producers, and executives taking sides to defend Taylor Swift, or Borchetta and Braun. +One of the people to weigh in with support for Braun was David Geffen, who [told The New York Times]( that "This kind of deal is neither unusual or controversial." Indeed, The New York Times [noted a number]( of other high-profile disputes between musicians and labels focused on back catalogs and masters. Meanwhile, Panic at the Disco! frontman Brendon Urie [sided with Swift]( in a video he posted online. +[What to expect]( from Scooter Braun's purchase of Big Machine Label Group. +Elsewhere in music: Spotify ended its "Direct Upload" program, in which artists uploaded their songs directly to Spotify's platform. The company will now [rely on distribution partners]( to handle the uploading of new music. ►Amazon turning to Hollywood in Prime Day push. As part of its Prime Day promotion, Amazon is turning to celebrities and YouTube personalities to create exclusive products for the online retailer. Among the products announced Tuesday morning: 22 new products from YouTube and Nickelodeon star JoJo Siwa, Jaden Smith's JUST Water, a whey protein from Mark Wahlberg, Kristin Bell's This Saves Lives snack bar, Zac Brown's DemerBox, and a hoodie from Hilary Duff. Amazon had their celebrity partners [appear in a video]( promoting their products. Behind the Screen podcast: Spider-Man: Far From Home's supervising sound editors pay tribute to Stan Lee in a conversation about the latest Spidey film in a new episode of The Hollywood Reporter's Behind the Screen podcast series. [Listen](. ►Comic-Con is coming up. With the annual confab set to take place July 18-21, panels and events are beginning to take shape. Here's the latest: The annual Musical Anatomy of a Superhero panel [will be held]( on the 18th, with the composers from Captain Marvel and Shazam participating... NBC is bringing The Good Place and Brooklyn Nine Nine to the event, while AMC is bringing The Walking Dead, Fear The Walking Dead, The Terror, and Preacher. Fox has The Simpsons, Family Guy, and The Orville making appearances, Amazon will have Carnival Row and The Man in the High Castle, Hulu will have Veronica Mars, and that is just the start. [Here are the TV panels we know about so far](. What else we're reading... --"Martin Sorrell wants to build a new advertising empire. Please don't call it revenge." [[NY Times](] --"WPP in Talks to Sell Kantar Stake to Bain Capital." [[WSJ](] --ESPN takes a gulp of competitive eater Kobayashi in new film. [[Washington Post](] From the archives... On July 2, 1997, Sony brought Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones' sci-fi comedy starrer Men in Black to theaters, where it raked in $589 million worldwide as a summer smash. [The Hollywood Reporter's original review](. Today's birthdays: Larry David, 72, Ashley Tisdale, 34, Doug Benson, 55, Erin Burnett, 43, Jerry Hall, 63, Johnny Weir, 35, Keith Morrison, 72, Margot Robbie, 29 Follow The News Is this email not displaying correctly? [View it in your browser.]( ©2019 The Hollywood Reporter. 5700 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90036 All rights reserved. [Unsubscribe]( | [Manage Preferences]( | [Privacy Policy]( | [Terms of Use]( July 2, 2019