The Hollywood Reporter

The creator boom has delivered plenty of experts in various fields offering up advice, interviews and tips on how to get ahead in careers like finance, tech, beauty, wellness and everything in between. A new series is set to launch, focused on helping creative executives succeed, and comes from those who know Hollywood well.

One of the digital platforms that defined the social media landscape of the 2010s is planning a Hollywood comeback.

A federal judge has signed off on a settlement allowing Paramount to close its $111 billion megadeal for Warner Bros. Discovery, ending a monthslong deadlock between the studio and states challenging the acquisition.

After much buzz, Paramount CEO David Ellison has officially announced Mattel exec Ynon Kreiz as co-CEO of the merged Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery company.

Sen. Tim Scott was waxing poetic about the 2003 sports drama Radio.

Naomi Bulochnikov-Paul, the head of communications for Disney Entertainment Television, is leaving the company.

I respect Ari Emanuel for his remarkable accomplishments in the face of seemingly never-ending personal and professional obstacles. I very much admire the candor and self-reflection that he shows in his can’t-put-it-down memoir. After reading it, I feel that I have a clear window into who he is. More importantly, I understand how he sees the world, particularly that state of mind that we call Hollywood and its inhabitants. However, I don’t share those views.I have been in the movie business for almost 60 years (!), including 40 years as an agent at both William Morris and CAA, where I was ultimately co-chairman. I loved agenting from the first minute that I walked into the William Morris mailroom and that feeling stayed with me until I left CAA. I have enjoyed and derived great satisfaction from being an agent and that pleasure (yes, pleasure) came from the people that I encountered: clients, executives, fellow agents, anyone whose talents at their profession made me feel that I was fortunate to be part of this business. The most gratifying facet of being an agent was guiding gifted artists through the maze of potential opportunities and pitfalls that constitute careers in Hollywood. Many times I had to convince a client to accept a lower financial offer in return for working on a project that would advance their career and increase their future earning power. I used to tell my clients that they would never be paid properly; they would always be underpaid or overpaid.I did this not with rage but with a sense of responsibility and collegiality. Hollywood is a place where money will find you if you make the right choices and have talent, the best professional advice and lots of luck. I was not in charge of my client’s finances; they have business managers for that. My task was to increase the desirability of my clients so that the money that is always out there would come to them, if that’s what they wanted, but some had other goals in mind. I had to understand what a client wanted and needed and then strategize how to get it, whether it’s an Oscar or a big payday or a way to express their art or a combination of those results. My ambition was to maximize my clients’ careers and to function at the highest level, hopefully with class and dignity that reflected back on the client. After all, I was their avatar out in the world and I took representation literally. Of course, I had to make sure that I was rewarded properly but it was the job that kept me totally engaged. My goals were to achieve what my clients’ careers needed with maximum efficiency and minimal negativity which could backfire on future negotiations for my client. My mantra throughout my career was and is “Tell the truth artfully”.

Fresh off their hit Prime Video romance The Love Hypothesis, stars Lili Reinhart and Tom Bateman are bringing another swoonworthy story to life.

What’s more scary than being a lead international correspondent at a time of multiple brutal wars and violent online rhetoric? Being a lead international correspondent when the whole future of your network is entering uncertain ownership hands.As CNN‘s chief international correspondent, Clarissa Ward may have one of the best jobs in all of media. But she also has one of the most fraught jobs in all of media. Dodging explosions in Ukraine, seeking an entree into Gaza, reporting from the Spanish-run city of Ceuta as migrants come pouring in from Morocco — Ward has been in every hotspot and then some recently. And all this before David Ellison got final approval to buy CNN along with the other assets of Warner Bros. Discovery.The Hollywood Reporter met the London-based Ward last week at a midtown Manhattan hotel on a rare recent trip to New York (she was here to see her bosses and meet with the president of Latvia, as one does). Not even 24 hours had passed since California attorney general Rob Bonta and other states settled their case against Ellison, clearing the way for him to own the cable-news giant. She had a few things to say about all of it.First, how are you feeling? About the state of the world but also the state of the news world.Oh it’s all great [laughs sarcastically]. No, I think I’m feeling really good about journalism. It’s hard, but there’s so much great work everywhere. As for the world…One of your biggest crusades has been about a place you can’t report from — Gaza. Are there signs that the Israeli government is changing its stance and will journalists have more access, as you and others have been pushing for?There’s a massive amount of pressure but not really. And we need to. What you can get now just isn’t enough. I don’t want wide shots of rubble — I want an old man in a chair telling me his story. And also I can’t report with the same moral authority if I’m not there. No one can. So that really needs to change.

The Hollywood Reporter has learned that Mattel CEO Ynon Kreiz told Mattel’s board that he was leaving the toy giant for a senior role at David Ellison’s soon-to-be-combined entertainment company.