FOCUS in talks for TIFF pic / WME adds to indie film team / PAR buys next movie project
Evenin! This is Sean McNulty (connect with me on LINKEDIN here if ya likeor email me atseanmcnultynyc@gmail.com),and here’s the Hollywood + Media news to know onSUNDAY, September 7, 2025.
Where I gotta say, I do like our new NFL streaming future.
Between streaming the season opener on PEACOCK on the way home from a party Thursday night . . . to streaming Friday’s game on YOUTUBE while out at a brewery . . . and checking outSNFlater tonight on PEACOCK while at the MTV VMAs during the commercial breaks — these are all games that I previously would have missed.
Although call me sentimental — but I chose to watch the GIANTS lose their season opener on good ol’ FOX broadcast TV on my couch this afternoon. Old habits die hard — for both myself and the GIANTS. I’m also not paying $20 a month for FOX ONE.
This was not from today, but it might as well have been. Via Giphy
THEN: Here are your**Venice Film Fest winners,led by MUBI’sJim Jarmusch** picFather Mother Sister Brother, and your**Creative Arts** Emmy winners.
ALSO: Just a little reminder on the impact of NFL programming on the TV ad biz in a new study from ISPOT on the 2024-25 season:
$6.8B in ad spend across the big 4 broadcast networks alone (does not include AMAZON PV spending or NETFLIX Christmas).
23% of all ad impressions across the big 4 during the regular season and playoffs.
Patrick Mahomes andPeyton Manning were the most-seen athletes in ads by far, followed byJJ Watt, Gronk andDavonte Adams.
Basically — thanks insurance companies! State Farm Guy was actually #2 including non-players, and the GEICO Gekko was #4 on that list.
OH: I’m not sure what ESPN did on-air with the uh,Trump appearance at the U.S. Open men’s final this afternoon . . . but here’s what it sounded like at Arthur Ashe Stadium. Thanks for giving tennis that**moment to remember**, ROLEX.
AND: ANTHROPIC AI is paying $1.5B to settle that author class action lawsuit around the company using their books to train its AI.
IMPORTANT CAVEAT: The judge in the case already ruled that ANTHROPIC could use the books to train its AI . . . if it had paid for them (i.e., that would fall under fair use) — the quirk of this case being that the company did not do so.
SO: This case isn’t saying AI companies can’t use copyrighted materials as uh, AI source material if you will — it’s just saying you gotta pay retail for it first.
AND: Authors can decline to participate in this payout and pursue their own cases.
The $1.5B will be paid in 5 installments over 2 years. The lawyers in the case will seek “no more” than 25% of the payout, which looks like a cool $375M.
OH: An interesting quirk noted by Bloomberg inMETA’s deal for that new AI data center in Louisiana that Trump touted as being**as large as (most of) Manhattan**.
First, the $26B that META helped secure for the facility is not going on its books — META has committed to a 20-year lease on the facility, which is wholly backed by an outside JV.
But what’s new/unusual here for such a deal is that META is backstopping the risk on the investment for the JV: if META terminates the lease early or decides not to renew when it’s up . . . and the value of the facility then declines below a certain financial metric, META will make up the loss difference.
So essentially, the JV owner is not wholly on the hook if technology makes the whole $26B AI endeavor largely obsolete in say 10 years, and META bails. Again reiterating that no one’s entirely sure just how much infrastructure AI is going to require.
BUT: Either way — according to this newAxios chart . . . CHATGPT is essentially the NETFLIX of AI:
ViaAxios
PLUS: I’m sure this 👇 was just like your high school experience. Nice to see the local Georgia community coming together to spend $62M on the kids’ education.
FINALLY: I’ll be at the MPA Awards tomorrow in D.C.(take that,Emmys!), so if you’re there as well and see a 6’4 guy walking around who looks like he writes a newsletter column, say hi!
WAKEUP BOX OFFICE POLL
Kudos to my fellow bulls . . . even ifThe Conjuring outperformed every possible expectation.
🎥 THE BOX OFFICE
Well, technically, Thursday afternoon, but you know Fridays are still advertised 🙄. Via Giphy