Vice Media to Be Acquired by Fortress Investment Group

Stephen Rodrick Some things are best in small doses. Cheesecake and Ketamine come to mind. The more-is-not-necessarily-better conundrum confronts the creators of “Scream of My Blood: A Gogol Bordello Story,” a Vice News documentary about the punk folk band Gogol Bordello and Eugene Hütz, the band’s charismatic lead singer. Hütz also doubles as a Ukrainian activist/raconteur/resident deep thinker. He can be a lot. Audiences’ appreciation of the doc will depend on their patience with Hütz, a man whose intentions are good even if his volume is always set to 11.  Directors Nate Pommer and Eric Weinrib have the difficult task of trying to explain a 24-year-old cult band in 99 minutes. It is very much an immigrant story. There’s an early shot of Hütz swaggering onstage with the band — a mélange of violinists, drummers and guitarists — and baptizing the audience with his beer.

Sandra Oh wants to know what her The Princess Diaries character is up to after all these years and would like to reprise her role in the third film.

Sandra Oh wants to head back into the principal’s office.

A post shared by Matthew McConaughey (@officiallymcconaughey)“Good for you guys. More parents should have this rule,” one person wrote and another called them “parent goals.” A third commented, “Love this! Made me so emotional.

Sophia Scorziello editor Velvet Hammer Media, the non-scripted production company founded by Jennifer O’Connell and Rebecca Quinn, has received a minority investment from global sports and entertainment company Endeavor. Previously known as William Morris Endeavor, Endeavor represents athletes from sports organizations like the NHL and NFL and currently owns UFC and PBR (Professional Bull Riders). VHM just recently secured series such as “The Big Bakeover” and Roku’s “Empty Nest Refresh” along with other unannounced development deals with Netflix, NBCU and other platforms. Together, O’Connell and Quinn serve as EPs on all VHM projects. The pair founded VHM earlier this year after departing their roles at Max (formerly HBO Max).

Endeavor’s investment in the non-scripted space continues.

STV Studios has acquired the 15 companies operated by “Lego Masters” company Greenbird Media for £21.4 million ($27.3 million). Israel’s Keshet International acquired 60% of Greenbird five years ago. STV Studios has now acquired 100% of Greenbird, including Keshet’s stake. Greenbird founders, Jamie Munro and Stuart Mullin, will join the STV Studios board in the roles of chief commercial officer and finance and integration director respectively, working alongside COO, Paul Sheehan, and under the leadership of MD, David Mortimer. The deal boosts the number of labels within STV Studios from nine to 24. As a result of the acquisition, STV Studios now has expanded bases in Glasgow and London, as well as offices in Cardiff, Belfast, Brighton and Manchester.

Keke Palmer's son, Leodis, had a very special meeting with Vice President Kamala Harris. Over the weekend, Palmer shared a behind-the-scenes video of her and her baby boy's trip to the White House ahead of her interview with Harris.«Thank you, @VP, for welcoming me and baby Leo to the White House.

A new carriage dispute has been initiated between Nexstar Media Group and DirecTV forcing more than 150 local TV stations to go dark.

Vice President Kamala Harris spilled the tea on her bouncy ‘do — thanks to Keke Palmer. 

EXCLUSIVE: Freestyle Digital Media, the digital film distribution division of Byron Allen’s Allen Media Group, has acquired North American VOD rights to the dramatic feature film Waiting For The Light To Change — the 2023 Slamdance Film Festival ‘Grand Jury Prize’ winner for ‘Best Narrative Feature.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Vice News has released the trailer for its documentary “Scream of My Blood: A Gogol Bordello Story,” which will be showing at Karlovy Vary Film Festival next week. The film had its world premiere at Tribeca Film Festival earlier in June and Nate Pommer, who directed alongside Eric Weinrib, was awarded a special jury mention. The jury said the film was being recognized “for the enduring use of art as a weapon against cant and authoritarianism.” The jury added: “We are grateful to the director for translating Gogol Bordello’s rebellious joy and rage at remaining human and vibrant in the face of everything time has thrown in its path.”

Meghan Markle may be striking out on her own.

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.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Carol Hanley, a six-year veteran of Whip Media, has been promoted to CEO of the company, a provider of data and analytics software to the entertainment industry. In addition, Whip Media’s board of directors elected her to the board. Richard Rosenblatt, who is stepping down as CEO after serving in the role since the company was founded in October 2014 as Whipclip, has been named the board’s executive chair. Hanley joined the company in 2017 as head of sales, after it pivoted from its original video-clip sharing business model to focus on collecting user data through the TV Time app. She was named co-president of Whip Media in April 2021 alongside Rob Gardos, former CEO of Mediamorph, the provider of entertainment content distribution and tracking services that Whip Media bought in 2019. Gardos left the company last year.

News kept on churning this week — from Sunday morning until end of Friday — on the Warner Bros. Discovery front.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Vice Studios had a new hit on its hands with the late May launch of “Bama Rush,” which the studio’s co-founder and chief content officer Danny Gabai says was Max’s most-streamed doc feature debut. But with that large viewership also came a significant discourse surrounding the extent to which “Bama Rush” director Rachel Fleit is present in her own doc about college students “rushing” to get into the sororities at the University of Alabama. That choice didn’t sit well with people who avidly followed the #BamaRush phenomenon that first swept TikTok in the summer of 2021 and again last “season” and would have preferred more behind-the-scenes content about the rush process, rather than portions devoted to Fleit’s reaction to the situation.

The New York Times reported Thursday, citing three people familiar with the matter.The report said multiple bidders had offered to acquire Vice, but only Fortress was deemed “qualified,” “meaning the others did not meet the bar Vice had set for buyers,” citing one of the sources. A bankruptcy judge must approve any deal before it goes forward.

EXCLUSIVE: British production company Youngest Media, which was behind series including NBC’s Small Fortune and MTV’s Game of Clones, is being revived as a U.S. production company.

Take That member Howard Donald has said he is “deeply sorry” after making a “huge error” by “liking social media posts that are derogatory towards the LGBTQIA+ community”. Howard, 55, who performs in the pop group alongside Gary Barlow and Mark Owen, has been dropped from playing at Groovebox’s Nottingham Pride Festival event in July.