‘Euphoria’ Producer Jeremy O. Harris Calls Out David Zaslav as Writers Strike Threatens Season 3: ‘Make a Deal. It’s Easy’

warns could be used as “plagiarism machines” to craft scripts without writers. According to a WGA memo, the strike is costing Hollywood’s economy $30 million a day. Jack Kyser, the chief economist of the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation, estimated that the 2007-2008 strike cost his state $2.5 billion; this time the estimate of potential damages are likely to top at least $3 billion. Midway through the last strike, Kyser told the L.A.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Harrison Ford is taking some responsibility for the tension that developed with Brad Pitt during the making of their 1997 thriller “The Devil’s Own.” The film, which notably marked the last directorial effort from Alan J. Pakula (“All the President’s Men,” “Klute”), earned mixed reviews but grossed $140 million worldwide. Ford has often said in past interviews that it was difficult filming “The Devil’s Own.” When Esquire magazine recently asked why, Ford said it was due to creative differences he had with Pitt. “Heh. Yeah, I remember why,” Ford said. “Brad developed the script. Then they offered me the part. I saved my comments about the character and the construction of the thing—I admired Brad. First of all, I admire Brad. I think he’s a wonderful actor. He’s a really decent guy. But we couldn’t agree on a director until we came to Alan Pakula, who I had worked with before but Brad had not.”

It was Pride and Drag Queen picket day in Los Angeles, where around 300 people hit up Warner Bros. Discovery to highlight their issues as the strike marches into its second month.

Brent Lang Executive Editor The Tribeca Festival has unveiled the jury members who will select winning projects in the film, immersive, games and audio storytelling sections for its 2023 edition. It’s a collection of directors, writers, actors, producers and cultural leaders that includes Oscar winner Brendan Fraser (“The Whale”) and Oscar nominee Stephanie Hsu (“Everything Everywhere All at Once”). The A-list talent in the jury consists of actors such as Zoey Deutch (“The Politician”), Dianna Agron (“Glee”), Zazie Beetz (“Atlanta”), Kate Siegel (“Hush”), Nina Dobrev (“The Vampire Diaries”), Piper Perabo (“Covert Affairs”), Noah Centineo (“To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before”) and Chloë Grace Moretz (“Kick-Ass”). Chance the Rapper, playwright and screenwriter Jeremy O. Harris and multi-hyphenate filmmakers such Andrew Ahn, Mark Duplass, Stephen Kay and Clea DuVall are also among the jurors.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor David Leavy, a longtime confidant of Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav, was named chief operating officer of CNN Thursday, in a move that May free up CEO Chris Licht to focus on news programming, but could add a new level of scrutiny to the activities of the news giant within its corporate parent’s portfolio.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Harrison Ford revealed in a new interview with Esquire magazine that the most common question “Star Wars” fans ask him is who would win a fight: Han Solo or Indiana Jones? It’s a question that has provided fodder for many Reddit discussions and social media debates, but it’s not one Ford ever wants to entertain. As Ford said about his fans: “Well, they usually ask me, ‘If there was a fight between Han Solo and Indiana Jones, who would fuckin’ win?’ And I say [voice rising, fingers drumming], ‘Me, asshole! I don’t want to fucking make shit up like that. I mean, what are you asking me that crap for?’” Ford has played Indiana Jones in five movies, including the upcoming “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny,” while his filmography with Han Solo also consists of five movies, including an uncredited cameo appearance in 2019’s “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.” That film marked the end of his Han Solo run, while “Dial of Destiny” will mark the same for Indiana Jones. Despite these iconic characters, Ford often stresses to fans that he is Harrison Ford and not Han Solo or Indiana Jones.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director For Harrison Ford, the allure of reprising Indiana Jones for a fifth time in the upcoming “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” was all about time. Ford will celebrate his 81st birthday in July, just a few weeks after “Dial of Destiny” opens in theaters, which is not the typical age of your 2023 Hollywood action hero. That was a selling point for Ford, who told Esquire magazine that he ensured Indiana Jones looked and felt like an old man in “Dial of Destiny.” “I wanted an ambitious movie to be the last one,” Ford said about reprising Indiana Jones. “And I don’t mean that we didn’t make ambitious movies before — they were ambitious in many different ways. But not necessarily as ambitious with the character as I wanted the last one to be.”

Matt Donnelly Senior Film Writer The upper deck at France’s Hotel Du-Cap-Eden-Roc offers a stunning coastal view of nearby city Cannes, the kind that Jay Gatsby would covet to peep Daisy Buchanan. On Tuesday, at one of the hottest parties at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, that view belonged to Graydon Carter. Standing alone with a female companion, the creator of the digital publication Air Mail and iconic former editor of Vanity Fair observed not a long-lost love but a cliffside full of movie stars, auteur directors and Hollywood power players. Carter’s Air Mail co-hosted an evening celebrating the 100-year anniversary of Warner Bros. Pictures, the latter represented by Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav and his top content lieutenants. Leonardo DiCaprio, Scarlett Johansson and Colin Jost, Robert De Niro, Martin Scorsese, Lily-Rose Depp, Sam Levinson, Jason Statham and Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Rebel Wilson and more turned up to toast cinema and each other.

John le Carre’s George Smiley would have spotted the tail immediately. He would have noticed the man with an earpiece far to his left move in lockstep with the chap to his right.

Eva Longoria put Hollywood on notice during her Kering Women in Motion talk at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival. The “Desperate Housewives” alum, who was joined by University of Southern California Annenberg professor and researcher Dr. Stacy L. Smith, is making her feature directorial debut with “Flamin’ Hot,” an inspirational story about a Frito-Lay janitor who invented Flamin’ Hot Cheetos. The film won an audience award at the SXSW Film Festival. As a female director, a first-time director and a Latina director, Longoria said she “felt the weight of my community” and “the weight of every female director” when production started on “Flamin’ Hot.” Speaking with Variety chief correspondent Elizabeth Wagmeister, Longoria noted that Hollywood does not play fair when it comes to films directed by women flopping versus male directors. There can be no margin of error for a director like Longoria, as one flop could cost her another directorial gig, she says.

Amidst the rising tensions of the current Hollywood writer’s strike, Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav faced a storm of boos and angry chants as he took the stage to accept his honorary degree at the University of Boston’s commencement ceremony.

William Earl Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav felt the effect of the WGA strike while delivering a commencement speech at Boston University, getting jeered and facing chants of “pay your writers” while he was trying to speak. “Late Night with Seth Meyers” writer Mike Scollins posted a video of one moment during the address in which the chant was loud enough to make Zaslav pause in the middle of his speech. Scollins captioned the video “Zaslav getting hit with a Pay Your Writers chant in Boston. This is so good.”Zaslav getting hit with a Pay Your Writers chant in Boston. This is so good. pic.twitter.com/00pL4ahAqZ In a statement after the speech, Zaslav expressed gratitude to the university where he earned his law degree in 1985. He didn’t reference the Writers Guild of America strike at the commencement, but he did afterward.

Jeers and chants of “pay your writers” from picketers and a number of audience members greeted Warner Bros Discovery chief David Zaslav on Sunday as he delivered Boston University’s commencement address.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Lucasfilm chief Kathleen Kennedy showed support for the writers strike while attending the Cannes press conference for “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.” Kennedy has been a producer on the Harrison Ford-led franchise since its first installment. “When it comes to acknowledging the importance of writing, I think everybody up here has demonstrated that you can’t do any of this without great writing,” Kennedy said. “You can’t do any of this without great writing. All of us who create anything…I am in full support and I know most people are in full support of the writers getting what they deserve.” Kennedy said she’d like to see the strike resolved “in an environment where people can talk about what are some really complicated issues that are effecting the entire industry,” but it’s “going to take time.”

Warner Bros. CEO David Zaslav thinks consolidation is in the cards for streaming platforms, but not necessarily through traditional M&A. “There should be a consolidation, but it is more likely to happen in the repackaging and marketing of products together. That’s what I think makes sense. We have to, as industry, reach that point,” he said during a Q&A at a media conference today.

“Republicans are back on the air. Republicans weren’t on the air,” on CNN, Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav told a media conference Thursday as he said the storied brand is moving to become less of an “advocacy network” under new leadership.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav said CNN is rebuilding itself to be a news network that presents “both sides” of every issue rather than an “advocacy network” — comments coming as CNN continues to face a backlash over the town hall with Donald Trump last week. Zaslav, speaking at the MoffettNathanson Technology, Media and Telecom Conference in New York, said that previously the overall impression of CNN’s brand was “left-leaning.” That’s now changing, he said, citing a new YouGov poll finding an 11-point improvement in U.S. viewers’ trust in CNN. “Our view is, there’s advocacy networks on either side. We have the best journalists in the world. We need to show both sides of every issue,” he said.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Simon Pegg and Tom Cruise have been “Mission: Impossible” co-stars and friends since meeting during the production of J.J. Abrams’ third installment, which opened in theaters in 2006, but that doesn’t mean the two discuss Cruise’s ties to Scientology. During an interview on BBC’s “Desert Island Discs” radio show, Pegg said he does not ask Cruise about anything related to his “personal beliefs” because “that would be me abusing my privileged access that I get to him.” That means Scientology questions are off the table. So what does Pegg talk to Cruise about? Cruise’s mega-fame, for starters. “We joke about it,” Pegg said. “I mean, I always make fun of him for it, you know, about the things that he can access. We were filming in South Africa recently on this mountain and then he decided he wanted to swim with sharks. He flew us in a helicopter to this seaside part and we dived with sharks. At the end of the day we said, ‘That was a real Tom Cruise kind of day.’ He kind of appreciates the ridiculousness of it sometimes.”

Fox unveiled its 2023/24 programming slate this morning and the writers strike was front and center.

Students at Boston University will have to cross a Writers Guild picket line to attend their May 21 graduation ceremony, where Warner Bros. Discovery President & CEO David Zaslav, an alumnus of the school, will be making the commencement address.