Dawn Ostroff Latest Celebrity News & Gossip

Paramount Global CEO Bob Bakish saw his total compensation dip slightly in 2023, to $31.3 million from $32 million in the prior year.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Four members of Paramount Global‘s current 11 board of directors will step down, the company disclosed, coming as the company has stepped up talks with Skydance Media about an M&A deal. The four directors — Dawn Ostroff, former chief content and advertising business officer of Spotify; Nicole Seligman, former president of Sony Entertainment; Frederick Terrell, vice chairman of investment banking at Wells Fargo; and Rob Klieger, partner at Hueston Hennigan LLP, who had served as legal counsel to Sumner Redstone — will not stand for reelection at Paramount Global’s annual meeting, set for June 4.

BreAnna Bell There will be no new seasons of “The Horror of Dolores Roach,” “Harlan Coben’s Shelter” or “With Love” at Prime Video, the streamer announced on Tuesday. Originally created by Aaron Mark as a one-woman play, “Empanada Loca,” Mark created, wrote, and directed the original podcast and penned the pilot script for “The Horror of Dolores Roach.” The series followed the titular character (played by Justina Machado), “who returns to a gentrified Washington Heights, where she reunites with an old stoner friend, Luis, who lets her live and work as a masseuse in the basement under his empanada shop.

Meghan Markle sent Taylor Swift a handwritten invitation to appear on her now cancelled podcast but the pop superstar declined the offer.

Charna Flam Bill Simmons, the Ringer founder and head of podcast innovation and monetization at Spotify, recently ridiculed Prince Harry and Meghan Markle on his podcast, labeling the couple as “fucking grifters” Simmons’ comment follows the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s Thursday announcement that their production company, Archewell, had severed ties with the audio company. The pair inked a $20 million deal with Spotify in 2020. “‘The Fucking Grifters.’ That’s the podcast we shoulda launched with them,” said Simmons on his self-titled podcast. “I gotta get drunk one night and tell the story of the Zoom I had with Harry to try and help him with a podcast idea. It’s one of my best stories.”

The Sussexes have separated from Spotify, Deadline has confirmed.

Colman Domingo stars in the trailer for AMC’s upcoming travel series ”You Are Here.” As host of the show, Domingo shares personal and national stories as he takes viewers through four American cities: Savannah, Philadelphia, New York and Chicago. The first two episodes premiere on June 19 at 7 p.m. Domingo is an award-winning actor, writer and director. He has directed episodes of “Fear of the Walking Dead” and starred in the 2021 “Candyman.” “You Are Here” is produced by Domingo’s Edith Production and ZeroPointZero, and it was created in partnership with Johnnie Walker. Watch the trailer below.

Justina Machado stars in The Horror of Dolores Roach, the new series on Amazon’s Prime Video dropping July 7. A trailer for the eight-episode series was released (which you can see above) and it previews the capabilities of Dolores Roach’s “magic hands.”

Spotify is cutting 200 jobs, about 2% of its workforce, in a revamp of its podcast business.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Spotify is undertaking a “strategic realignment” of its podcast division, laying off about 200 staffers. Sahar Elhabashi, Spotify’s VP, head of podcast business, announced the job cuts in a memo to employees Monday that was shared publicly. The 200 employees represents about 2% of the audio streamer’s worldwide workforce. The layoffs come after Spotify cut 6% of its total headcount earlier this year and saw the exit of Dawn Ostroff, chief content and advertising business officer, who had previously headed Spotify’s podcast business “We are expanding our partnership efforts with leading podcasters from across the globe with a tailored approach optimized for each show and creator,” Elhabashi wrote. “This fundamental pivot from a more uniform proposition will allow us to support the creator community better. However, doing so requires adapting; over the past few months, our senior leadership team has worked closely with HR to determine the optimal organization for this next chapter. As a result, we have made the difficult but necessary decision to make a strategic realignment of our group and reduce our global podcast vertical and other functions by approximately 200 people, or 2% of Spotify’s workforce.”

Spotify is laying off 200 workers from its podcast division, or about 2% of its total global workforce, the company disclosed in a memo disclosed publicly Monday. Spotify VP and podcast head Sahar Elhabashi wrote that the cuts are part of a strategic shift to expand partnership efforts “with a tailored approach.”“This fundamental pivot from a more uniform proposition will allow us to support the creator community better,” Elhabashi wrote.

Blumhouse’s The Horror of Dolores Roach is set to premiere on July 7 via Prime Video.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Less than a year after Spotify acquired Heardle, the audio streamer is mothballing the music game. “Heardle is going away on May 5th,” a message on the service’s website says. “Thanks for playing Heardle, but unfortunately we have to say goodbye.” In the note to Heardle users, Spotify said that if they have statistics they would like to save, “make sure you go to your stats and take a screenshot by May 4th.” When Spotify announced its deal to buy Heardle in July 2022, the company touted it as “a tool for musical discovery,” saying that playing the game “might just help you to rediscover old tracks you may have thought you’d forgotten, discover amazing new artists, or finally put a title to that wordless melody you’ve had caught in your head forever.”

Paramount Global is shuffling its board of directors, including the addition of Dawn Ostroff, who will serve as an independent non-executive director, the company announced Friday. The filing also noted that Bob Bakish would be making $31.5 million.Ostoroff’s seat is pending a stockholder vote that will take place at Paramount’s 2023 Annual Meeting of Stockholders later this year. Bakish, who serves as Paramount Global’s president will be receiving a pay boost to $31.5 million as a result of $16 million stock awards grant.

William Earl Former Spotify, Conde Nast and CW executive Dawn Ostroff is set to join the board of directors for Paramount Global in May. Ostroff is poised to join the board as an independent director at Paramount Global’s annual meeting on May 8. Incumbent board members Candace Beinecke and Ronald Nelson will not stand for re-election at that meeting, which will bring the number of board members to 11, including Ostroff. “We are thrilled to welcome Dawn to Paramount’s Board at such an exciting moment in our evolution,” said Paramount Global chair Shari Redstone. “We believe her leadership, diverse expertise in content strategy and her long track record of driving transformation will prove invaluable as we seek to continue building on the success of Paramount’s global multiplatform strategy.”

Dawn Ostroff, a seasoned media executive who most recently served as chief content and advertising business officer at Spotify, will joining the Paramount Global board, the company announced today.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Max Cutler, one of Spotify’s most senior podcast execs, is departing the streamer after nearly four years with the company. Cutler, who has served as Spotify’s VP, head of talk creator content and partnerships, will be leaving the company to “return his entrepreneurial roots,” according to a source close to Spotify. He had joined Spotify in 2019 with its acquisition of Parcast, the scripted podcast studio he co-founded. Cutler will remain at Spotify until May 1. With Cutler’s exit, Spotify head of global podcast studios Julie McNamara is assuming leadership of licensed podcast exclusives, which include its deals with Joe Rogan, Alex Cooper (“Call Her Daddy”) and Emma Chamberlain.

“In hindsight, I got a little carried away and over-invested relative to the uncertainty I saw in the market,” Spotify CEO Daniel Ek said this morning as the company reported a jump in users but wider losses, a week after announcing a reorganization of top management and hundreds of layoffs.  

Dawn Ostroff is departing Spotify as the company’s head of content and advertising amid cutbacks affecting 6% of the company’s workforce.

BreAnna Bell Production is moving forward for Jensen and Danneel Ackles. With their latest endeavor, “The Winchesters” slated to premiere on The CW on Oct. 11, the couple recently renewed their first-look deal with Warner Bros. Television for two more years and teases there’s a few more stories they’re looking to share in the future through their production company, Chaos Machine. “We are excited to continue our relationship with Warner Bros. as it’s been our home for a long time. It feels only natural that The Winchesters would stay within the Warner Bros. family and continue on the Supernatural legacy,” said the couple in a joint statement.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Spotify has appointed new managing directors for its Gimlet and Parcast podcast studios — Nicole Beemsterboer and Liliana Kim, respectively — coming amid the company’s cancellation of 11 original podcasts from the two divisions. Spotify elevated Beemsterboer (above left), a former longtime NPR exec who joined Spotify this year, to the role of Gimlet’s managing director. She takes over for Lydia Polgreen, who left Spotify this spring to rejoin the New York Times as an opinion columnist. Prior to joining as Gimlet’s head of news and knowledge in March, Beemsterboer spent more than 15 years at NPR as a producer where she led the creation and reorganization of the public media org’s first longform podcast unit, the Enterprise Storytelling Unit. At NPR, Beemsterboer worked on shows including “Embedded,” “Invisibilia” and “White Lies.”

Mark Pedowitz is stepping down as Chairman and CEO of the CW after eleven and a half years at the helm of the broadcast network, one of the longest tenures in network television. The move comes as local TV giant Nexstar Media Group is taking over the CW, with its acquisition of 75% stake in the 16-year-old broadcast operation now completed. He will be replaced by Dennis Miller who was named President, confirming new owners’ intention to take the CW in a different direction. 

Meghan Markle unveiled the first episode of her new Spotify podcast Archetypes, welcoming debut guest Serena Williams and promising a series “where we dissect, explore, and subvert the labels that try to hold women back.”

Variety. Lauper joins Justina Machado, who will portray Dolores Roach, as well as Alejandro Hernandez, who plays Luis, Roach’s partner in crime. Marc Maron joined the show in June 2022 to play Gideon Pearlman, Roach’s landlord.Prime Video’s exclusive series will premiere in more than 240 countries and territories worldwide.

Todd Spangler NY Digital EditorThe “Batman Unburied” story will continue.Spotify, Warner Bros. and DC announced the Season 2 renewal of the hit series, with stars Winston Duke and Hasan Minhaj set to reprise their roles as Bruce Wayne/Batman and The Riddler, respectively.“Batman Unburied” premiered globally on May 3 with eight adaptations of the original English-language script for Brazil, Latin America, Italy, France, Germany, Japan, India and Indonesia.

Shirley Halperin Executive Editor, MusicSpotify has revealed its performance and panel lineup for this year’s Cannes Lions Festival, taking place Monday, June 20 to Thursday, June 23.Back for an encore is Spotify Beach, which will make its home on the Croisette daily from dusk till dawn.Performances take place each night and will feature Kendrick Lamar, DJ Pee .Wee, aka Anderson .Paak, Kaytranada, the Black Keys and Post Malone, plus an as-yet-unannounced artist.DJ Henrie, the co-host of the Spotify Original Who We Be podcast, will be spinning as Spotify’s ‘House DJ’ throughout the week.Elsewhere on Spotify’s Lions agenda, founder and CEO Daniel Ek will sit for a talk on the future of media, creators and fandom, moderated by Sara Fischer of Axios.

Todd Spangler NY Digital EditorSpotify is making management changes to bolster the leadership of its podcast content operations following the departure of Courtney Holt, who served as head of studios and video.Max Cutler, who joined Spotify in 2019 with its acquisition of Parcast, the scripted podcast studio he co-founded, has been promoted to head of talk creator content and partnerships for Spotify. In the new role, he will oversee the streamer’s emerging podcast creator ecosystem, licensed content, and work on new content initiatives. As part of his appointment, Spotify will form a “creator content” unit led by Cutler.Cutler previously was Parcast’s head of new content initiatives and managing director.

Todd Spangler NY Digital EditorSpotify is making management changes to bolster the leadership of its podcast content operations following the departure of Courtney Holt, who served as head of studios and video.Max Cutler, who joined Spotify in 2019 with its acquisition of Parcast, the scripted podcast studio he co-founded, has been promoted to head of talk creator content and partnerships for Spotify. In the new role, he will oversee the streamer’s emerging podcast creator ecosystem, licensed content, and work on new content initiatives. As part of his appointment, Spotify will form a “creator content” unit led by Cutler.Cutler previously was Parcast’s head of new content initiatives and managing director.

Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex is to host a podcast series about the common stereotypes that have historically generalized women as the first project from her and Prince Harry’s Archewell Audio after striking a multi-million dollar deal with Spotify.

Todd Spangler NY Digital EditorSpotify, aiming to juice sales of its podcasting ad biz, has acquired two companies in the space: Podsights, a podcast advertising measurement service, and Chartable, a podcast analytics platform for publishers.Financial terms of the deals were not disclosed. The addition of Podsights and Chartable will help make the audio-streaming giant a more attractive partner for advertisers and publishers to do business with, according to Dawn Ostroff, Spotify’s chief content and advertising business officer.“We believe we’re still in the early chapters of digital audio and the opportunity for advertising in this space remains significant,” Ostroff said in a statement.

Anthony and Joe Russo are the latest top-level talent to strike a major podcasting deal with Spotify.

Dawn Ostroff announced the agreement Thursday.Also Read: Podcast Studio Parcast Unionizes With WGA EastSpotify reports it has a dozen projects in development at television studios, including “The Two Princes,” a forthcoming adaptation for HBO Max, and two Amazon Prime Video series called “The Horror of Dolores Roach,” and “Homecoming.” A podcast-video adaptation is already in the works from Chernin and Spotify, who partnered earlier this year with podcast producers Pineapple Street Media to

Dawn Ostroff, Spotify’s chief content and advertising business officer, said in a statement.Warner Bros. will lead the development and production of the projects in collaboration with Spotify.

Jill Goldsmith Santa Monica-based game giant Activision Blizzard has appointe Dawn Ostroff to its board as an independent director effective immediately.The longtime entertainment executive currently oversees content and advertising at Spotify. Previously she co-founded and served as president of Condé Nast Entertainment through 2018.

Kevin Hart declared that he plans to become a media mogul. Richard Plepler promised that the premium subscription TV business is not a zero-sum game. Dana Walden explained why she took the big TV gig at Disney. Dawn Ostroff spoke about the humbling process of learning how to produce for digital platforms after a long career in TV.

LAS VEGAS — The steady rise in listenership for high-end podcasts is opening up a host of opportunities for creatives in the comedy arena, director-producer Paul Feig and internet star Lele Pons told CES attendees on Wednesday.