‘The Simpsons’ Reunion WGA Picket Highlights the Strike Stakes for Writers: ‘We Were So Lucky,’ Says Conan O’Brien

Lucasfilm isn’t hiding the fact that “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” is the final film in the franchise for Harrison Ford, and thus, Indiana Jones. But in an industry obsessed with franchises, it wouldn’t be shocking to see Lucasfilm try its best to keep the ‘Indy’ film series going strong with a new lead.

Cynthia Littleton Business Editor How do you make money in the emerging creator economy? Who better to answer this question than street-level entrepreneurs who were on duty working the show floor and environs on June 22 at Vidcon, fan convention for creators and influencers held annually in Anaheim, Calif. If you’re going to hawk a product or service all day at a convention, you’d better master the 60-second pitch. The seven street-level entrepreneurs who spoke to Variety‘s for this week’s “Strictly Business” podcast offered insights into where the opportunity is and where the market is heading for creators and influencers who aim to ply their trade largely virtually via social, streaming and e-commerce platforms. The companies represented are involved in distribution, technology and visual effects, e-commerce, marketing and promotion and matchmaking between brands and influencers.

Futurama!” The trailer has been released for Season 11 of the animated futuristic sitcom. After a decade, the series has defrosted for 10 new episodes which will be added to Hulu on July 24. Season 11 features “a whole new pandemic in town as the crew explores the future of vaccines, bitcoin, cancel culture, and streaming TV,” said the show’s official synopsis. New New York will feature the voices of John DiMaggio, Billy West, Katey Sagal, Tress MacNeille, Maurice LaMarche, Lauren Tom, Phil LaMarr and David Herman. “Futurama” was created by Matt Groening and is executive produced by Groening, Cohen, Ken Keeler and Claudia Katz.

Cynthia Littleton Business Editor Go big and go broad – that is Paramount Global’s strategy as it formally raises the curtain Tuesday on the Paramount+ With Showtime premium tier on the company’s primary streaming platform. Paramount+ will begin offering its new top tier of service that now encompasses Showtime’s large library of content for $11.99 per month. That’s up $2 from the previous top-end Paramount+ package. But it’s less than the cost to consumers today for both services, even with Paramount’s previous discounts for those who subscribed to both services. The company’s ad-supported Paramount+ Essential Plan (without Showtime) is going up from $4.99 to $5.99 per month.

John Bleasdale Guest Contributor As “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” rolls through its premiere schedule like a boulder chasing the eponymous hero, Variety spoke with Harrison Ford at the 69th Taormina Film Festival. On the terrace of Hotel Metropole, Ford looked resplendent in his black tuxedo, reminiscent of the suave version of Indiana Jones that opened “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.” Despite a curmudgeonly reputation, underlined even more by his role as the scene-stealing psychiatrist Paul in the hit Apple sitcom “Shrinking,” Ford seems to be enjoying his goodbye tour as he celebrates his fifth and final outing as the whip cracking archaeologist.

, whether you're single or partnered. That's because dirty talk stimulates our most important sexual organ: the human brain. But finding the right sounds, words, and phrases in the moment can be a stumbling block for even the most experienced lovers. “We are socialized to experience pleasure silently,” says sex educator .

Editor’s note: Bryn Mathieu lives near one of the studios, where WGA picketing and honking occurs daily. In May, law enforcement in Burbank posted an electronic sign outside of Warner Bros warning drivers that excessive horn use violates 27001 of the California Vehicle Code. The law enforces “reasonably necessary” horn blowing to insure safe operation of other vehicles. Otherwise, “the horn shall not otherwise be used, except as a theft alarm system.”

Cynthia Littleton Business Editor A federal judge in Florida has granted a preliminary injunction that bars the state from implementing a new law that seeks to severely restrict drag performances, a move that has alarmed the entertainment industry. U.S. District Court Judge Gregory Presnell issued the order on Friday that bars state officials from implementing the law passed last month that restricts the ability of businesses to offer drag performances if the venues are open to minors. The case was brought by the Orlando, Fla. outpost of the restaurant chain Hamburger Mary’s, which launched in San Francisco in 1972. “This statute is specifically designed to suppress the speech of drag queen performers,” Presnell wrote in his 24-page order. Given that factor, the legislation is “not sufficiently narrowly tailored to survive strict scrutiny.” Presnell notes in his opinion that Florida already has laws on the books that help restrict children from being exposed to lewd or obscene material, even with parental consent.

The Academy of Motion Pictures has now made it clear. A one-week qualifying run in Southern California is no longer acceptable.

Queen Charlotte to keep us going in the meantime, but we can't wait for series three of Bridgerton - especially now that Netflix have released the first-look shots of the show. We'd already been told that Bridgerton series three was set to focus on the relationship between fan favourites Penelope Featherington (Nicola Coughlan) and Colin Bridgerton (Luke Newton), but there are still so many open-ended storylines that we need some closure on.

The positive response to the Dutch reality series De Verraders has brought different versions of The Traitors to many countries, but executive producer Toni Ireland says the biggest challenge for her was to ensure that the U.S. production stood out in the crowd. Peacock’s The Traitors brings together a group of everyday people and reality TV stars in an elaborate murder-mystery competition hosted by Alan Cumming. Perhaps the biggest change in the U.S. series was in how the game ended, which led to a shocking finale where the group needed to unanimously decide to either trust their fellow finalists and split the money or call for another elimination vote if they believe a traitor is still among them.

Cynthia Littleton Business Editor Big changes are afoot for the Golden Globe Awards now that Dick Clark Productions and Todd Boehly’s Eldridge have acquired the assets of the nonprofit Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which will shutter as the awards franchise moves into a new era. The new owners will use the assets and the cash on hand from the HFPA to establish the Golden Globe Foundation, which will continue on the HFPA’s tradition of charitable giving. The awards show itself and related assets will now be part of the for-profit operations of Dick Clark Productions, which has long been allied with the HFPA for the awards show. The move out of the HFPA’s nonprofit status will allow the Globes to pursue many more commercial opportunities than were possible under the HFPA regime.

What was it that Homer once said? “Lisa, if you don’t like your job you don’t strike. You just go in every day and do it really half-assed. That’s the American way.”

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent “Forest,” an Italian eco-themed animation film about deforestation, has scored some strong pre-sales for Rome-based True Colours at the Cannes Marché du film. The still-in-production 3-D animation feature – the protagonist of which is a young mushroom named Fey – has been picked up for roughly 20 territories by Top Film Distribution which will distribute “Forest” in Ukraine, CIS, the Baltics, and Eastern European countries including former Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Poland, Czech and Slovak Republics, Romania, and Hungary.  Helmed by Luca Della Grotta and Francesco Dafano, the film is produced by Italy’s AI One, the same team that previously spawned 2020 similarly themed animation feature “Trash” that sold in more than 30 countries. 

Dave Matthews Band concerts are ever the same.Like Phish and Dead and Company before them, the jam band mixes up their set list every night much to the delight of devoted Dave-Heads.Thus, fans that attend their live shows get a one-of-a-kind performance — one that will never be seen again.And if you want to see the lively outfit unique shows on their 2023 ‘Summer Tour’ in support of their recently released “Walking On The Moon” album, you can pick up tickets for all 38 remaining concerts on the summer run.That includes gigs at Queens’ Forest Hills Stadium on June 9, Darien Center’s Darien Lake Performing Arts Center on June 14, Saratoga Springs’ Saratoga Performing Arts Center on July 14-15 and Wantagh’s Jones Beach Theater on July 19.They’ll also hit New Jersey twice too.First, the “Crash Into Me” group is set to headline at Holmdel’s PNC Bank Arts Center on July 18.Then, Dave and co. wrap the Northeast leg of the run with back-to-back gigs at Camden’s Freedom Mortgage Pavilion on July 21-22.For fans that haven’t picked up tickets yet, we’re happy to report they’re available for all remaining dates.Some are quite reasonably priced too.At the time of publication, we found seats going for as low as $34 before fees on Vivid Seats.Want to find out how much tickets cost for the show closest to you?Keep reading — we’ve got all the juicy details you need below.All prices listed below are subject to fluctuation.A complete calendar of all remaining Dave Matthews Band 2023 ‘Summer Tour’ dates, venues and links to the cheapest tickets available can be found below.Vivid Seats is the New York Post’s official ticketing partner.

Selome Hailu The Native American and Indigenous Writers committee is “one of the smallest committees in the Writers Guild, but [with] one of the loudest voices ever” according to its vice chair Aiko Little — which was evidenced by the turnout of some 100 picketers who joined the NAIWC for a strike event in front of Walt Disney Studios on Wednesday. The NAIWC’s Disney picket was the most recent of a string of of WGA strike events over the past several weeks that have gathered writers from specific marginalized backgrounds — Trans Takeover Thursday, for example — to highlight how current working conditions are affecting them while celebrating storytellers from their communities.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer HBO and Max chief Casey Bloys thinks AI has no place in the creative process at his brands. “Two things to keep in mind when I say this: One is, remember I grew up in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, which is Steel Town,” Bloys, the chairman and CEO of HBO and Max content, told Variety co-editor-in-chief Cynthia Littleton during a keynote conversation Wednesday at the Variety TV FYC Fest. “So I am very, very aware of what happens when a company does not think about the future or is not aware of the future. But also, I’ve been at HBO for 19 years and I have never tested a pilot to decide whether to pick it up or not. We just don’t use all of the things other places do, it’s just not something we do. So my take on AI, the idea that AI would be involved in any sort of development or the creative process in the kinds of shows that I do, or we do, at HBO, that’s not something I want to be a part of.

Cynthia Littleton Business Editor Producer DeVon Franklin has been cutting his own path through Hollywood for more than two decades. He’s made a career as a producer out of pursuing inspirational and faith-infused movies and now TV shows. On the latest episode of Variety podcast “Strictly Business,” Franklin explains that he is unabashedly on a mission to use movies and now TV shows to provide inspiration and uplift to the audience. He feels the faith-based genre is broadly defined enough to include his latest project, the spicy Cheetos origin story “Flamin’ Hot,” directed by Eva Longoria. The by-the-bootstraps business story from Searchlight premieres June 9 on Hulu. Franklin notes that the film’s business trajectory began as a theatrical film. When Hulu came into the picture for a streaming debut, Franklin didn’t balk.

Former Warner Bros. President of Sales and Distribution, D. Barry Reardon, passed at the age of 92 on May 27 in Vero Beach, Florida.

Cage The Elephant frontman Matt Shultz has walked away with a no-jail plea deal after being arrested for illegal possession of two loaded guns in January.Shultz was arrested at the Bowery Hotel in Lower Manhattan on January 5, the day after an employee allegedly saw him carrying a handgun into the ground floor public toilets. The prosecutors claimed Shultz appeared to be intoxicated at the time and when the police arrived at his hotel room, they found two guns and a set of 11 Polaroid photos, some of which showed the firearm in question.Following the arrest, Shultz’s lawyer Sanford Talkin told a judge that the guns were purchased legally and registered to him, but not in New York.Now, The New York Post reports that Shultz pleaded guilty to three charges of attempted criminal possession of a weapon, criminal possession of a firearm and criminal possession of a weapon.A deal was struck that would mean Shultz would avoid jail should he abide by certain conditions.