"Ankler Agenda" breaks down the headlines, trends and creativity shaping the evolution of Hollywood, the creator economy and entertainment.
The show is hosted by Elaine Low, author of Ankler Media’s popular “Series Business” Substack newsletter, who is joined weekly by her colleagues Sean McNulty (“The Wakeup”) and Natalie Jarvey (“Like & Subscribe”) -- in addition to Richard Rushfield, the Ankler himself. Episodes will also be available every Thursday on YouTube.
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BONUS EP: 2025 Creator Economy Winners and Losers with Natalie Jarvey and Lia Haberman (00:48:37)
In a year when creators surged fully into the mainstream, ICYMI’s Lia Haberman joins Like & Subscribe's Natalie Jarvey for a Substack Live recap of the biggest highs and lows of 2025. From MrBeast going Hollywood to Ms. Rachel landing on Netflix, plus podcasts turning into video shows and YouTube cementing itself as television, they break down what changed, and what those shifts mean for the creator economy going into 2026.
Natalie and Lia also hand out totally fake (but very fun) awards to the people, trends, and storylines that defined the year. And because looking back means being honest, they also dig into stunts and terms they want to leave behind in 2025.
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He’s Just Not That Into You: How Zaslav and Ellison Fell Apart (00:34:48)
Some guys can’t take a hint. After half a dozen proposals and a hostile bid, Paramount Skydance got a definitive “no means no” from Warner Bros. Discovery’s board this week. Elaine Low and Sean McNulty break down how the tables turned on suitor PSKY, what this means for the timeline of a Netflix-Warner Bros. merger and the wild payouts David Zaslav and the WBD C-suite are getting regardless of what happens. (Contraction, schmontraction.) Then, Erik Barmack unpacks Disney’s $1B investment in OpenAI, Bob Iger’s claim that the deal poses “no threat to creatives,” and what it really means when 200 Disney, Marvel, Pixar and Star Wars characters can now be remixed into user-generated Sora videos.
Plus: Richard Rushfield on the tragic murders of Rob Reiner and his wife, Michele Singer Reiner.
Want to be featured in a future mailbag episode? Send your questions to podcasts@theankler.com!
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BONUS EP: The Oscars Go to YouTube, with Prestige Junkie Katey Rich (00:18:55)
Prestige Junkie's Katey Rich and Natalie Jarvey jumped on Substack Live to discuss why the Academy struck a deal with YouTube to air the Oscars, who might win the most in this deal, and what kind of changes we might expect for the Oscars going forward.
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BONUS EP: Remembering Rob Reiner, 'A Towering Career' (00:31:49)
Richard Rushfield, Katey Rich and Christopher Rosen taped a special Prestige Junkie episode to discuss what Richard rightly hailed as Rob Reiner's “towering career of a towering presence” in the industry. From his early days as a sitcom star on All in the Family to his remarkable 12-year run of feature films, starting with 1984’s This Is Spinal Tap and ending with 1996’s The American President — with 1986’s Stand By Me, 1987’s The Princess Bride and 1989’s When Harry Met Sally among those in between — Reiner influenced a generation.
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BONUS EP: Scoring Big: How Noah Beck and Jordan Chiles Built Fandom (and Careers) Off the Field (00:51:17)
Creator and actor Noah Beck and Olympic gymnast Jordan Chiles join Natalie Jarvey to break down how athletes are building fandom — and entire careers — beyond the field. From NIL to fashion to acting, they share how they navigate social media pressure, pursue new opportunities, and stay competitive while staying themselves.
Subscribe to Like and Subscribe for more conversations like these: likeandsubscribenews.substack.com
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Tick, Tick: The 10-Day Siege of Warner Bros. Begins (00:35:51)
Like sand through the hourglass, so are the mergers of our lives. With the Warner Bros. board now in a 10-day window to respond to Paramount’s newly hostile counteroffer, Hollywood is nearly guaranteed to be mired in this soap-operatic saga for months to come. Elaine Low, Sean McNulty and Natalie Jarvey break down the latest — including the introduction of Jared Kushner and Middle East money as the majority financial backing of the new Paramount bid, how the industry and unions are looking to fight off this merger (and whether public sentiment matters), and the likely chill this is going to have on the day-to-day business of television and film until there’s resolution. Plus, Katey Rich offers the lay of the land now that Golden Globes nominations are out: who got snubbed, who got some love and how a combined HBO-Netflix would dominate awards season.
And don't forget to take The Ankler's Hollywood in 2026 survey here!
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BONUS EP: WGA Prez’ Dire Warning on Netflix-WB: ‘We Know How This Movie Ends’ (00:31:39)
WGA West president Michele Mulroney has a message for Netflix chief Ted Sarandos and Warner Bros. Discovery head David Zaslav: “We want there to be consideration of industry workers in these conversations… We don’t believe it was inevitable that Warner Bros. needed to be sold.” The guild leader sat down with Elaine Low on Monday morning as the town was still digesting the news of Netflix’s winning $82.7 billion bid to acquire Warner Bros. studio and streaming assets, not to mention the fresh shock of Paramount’s hostile takeover bid for the entirety of Warner Bros. Discovery.In looking at the impact of past mergers (Disney-Fox, Warner Bros.-Discovery, etc.) on writers, Mulroney says, “We sadly know how this movie ends,” and that the Disney-Fox merger didn’t increase employment or content production among writers. “We are doing a lot of advocacy at the congressional level and with attorneys general to outline what we see as the dangers for our industry, and for the wider, wider economy of the U.S., and they are hearing us.” Guild leaders urge members also to reach out to their elected officials about their concerns — and to lean into their creativity to navigate the current challenges. “This is a time to dig deep and be entrepreneurial where you can try and make things happen for yourself, rather than waiting around,” Mulroney says.
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BONUS EP: Netflix-WBD Panic & Chaos in a Hollywood ‘Looking for Some Answers’ (01:01:35)
Elaine Low, Natalie Jarvey, Sean McNulty and Lesley Goldberg all gathered Friday morning for a special live episode of Ankler Agenda to break down the repercussions of potentially the most significant piece of show business news this decade: Netflix's acquisition of Warner Bros. Top-line concerns include:
The thousands of lost jobs that will worsen unemployment in the industry — already at Depression-era levels
Whether movie theaters can survive the “consumer-friendly” windows Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos referenced in a Friday call with investors
Netflix’s potential new arsenal: all-star showrunners (J.J. Abrams, Greg Berlanti and Chuck Lorre, to name a few) and a gaming vertical at last
Downstream effects on linear syndication
The future of the peerless brand HBO
“Everybody is just shell-shocked,” Elaine said of the calls and texts she fielded all day. “The main reaction that I’ve been getting is that people are scared. People are nervous.”
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Enter The Warner Bros. Thunderdome (00:38:07)
One studio to rule them all and in the darkness bind them: Netflix, Paramount Skydance and Comcast have submitted new bids to buy Warner Bros. Discovery, part or parcel. One’s got cash (Netflix), another’s got Saudi money (PSKY), but the question is: Who needs whom more? And which studio exec would be most palatable to the town as the new head of Warner Bros.’ TV and film studios — Ted Sarandos, David Ellison or Donna Langley? Elaine Low, Sean McNulty and Natalie Jarvey suss out the latest (binding) bids for WBD and which combos make the most sense for the studios and for the health of Hollywood. Plus, the battle between idealistic Patreon and heavy-hitter Substack for writers and creators, and Richard Rushfield’s take on why anyone but a Hollywood studio should buy WBD.
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How ‘Wicked’ Women Saved the Movies (00:32:58)
After ignoring weeks of theatrical disappointments, moviegoers fell under the spell of Wicked: For Good last weekend to the tune of almost $150 million in North America. Who does the industry have to thank for that total? Women, who made up 70 percent of the opening audience. Elaine Low, Sean McNulty and Natalie Jarvey examine how the fairer sex have been largely underserved at the box office this year, while Vanity Fair’s all-bro Hollywood cover boys like Glen Powell (The Running Man) and Jeremy Allen White (Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere) struggled to pull their weight as movie stars. Plus, Prestige Junkie’s Katey Rich lays out the key storylines as the Oscar race heats up — including what she’s hearing from voters (nope, they still haven’t seen all the movies) and why Warner Bros. is sitting pretty with best picture frontrunners One Battle After Another and Sinners.
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The Clock Strikes Midnight for Warner Bros. (00:34:48)
How long before Warner Bros. becomes another studio swallowed up by David Ellison? With final bids for WBD due this week, all eyes remain on Paramount Skydance — despite the Comcast and Netflix red herrings. Elaine Low, Sean McNulty and Natalie Jarvey break down why a Paramount–Warners mash-up now feels less like speculation and more like destiny. Then Richard Rushfield reveals the whispers starting to circulate within the creative community about Ellison’s cozy ties to Donald Trump and how it might push back. Plus: As Disney becomes a luxury brand and even monthly streaming bills seem like an extravagance, has the middle-class been priced out of entertainment?
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BONUS EP: ‘The Rushfield Lunch’ with Mike De Luca & Pam Abdy on Making Box Office History in the Face of ‘Surreal’ Criticism (00:56:27)
In this special bonus Ankler Agenda episode, Richard Rushfield chats with Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group co-chairs Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy about their journey to Warners, their record-breaking year at the box office and why their strategy paid off on hits from ‘Sinners’ to ‘Superman’ — all in the face of relentless negative headlines about their bold and risk-taking slate. With a combined 70 years of making movies, these two have seen it all — hits and flops, unexpected wins and surprising losses. But even now, with so many signs pointing to the contrary — and the fate of their studio in doubt, as it's officially up for sale — they both retain a sense of hope and wonder for the best that Hollywood can be.
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AI Warning Signs — and How Hollywood Invited the Enemy Inside (00:36:33)
Hollywood had its eyes on Web Summit Lisbon this week — where Tilly Norwood creator Eline van der Velden joined Ankler Media EIC Janice Min to showcase her AI “actress.” But Wild Sheep Content CEO Erik Barmack, our Reel AI columnist, tells Elaine Low, Sean McNulty and Natalie Jarvey that the fixation on Tilly misses the far more consequential story: the unmistakable warning signs of AI’s encroachment and the decades of strategic drift that have left Hollywood uniquely exposed to Big Tech’s ambitions. Which jobs remain genuinely AI-proof? Which ones are already dissolving beneath us? And what does it mean for a creative economy when the apprenticeship ladder that produces future writers, directors and executives is sawed off at the base? Barmack offers a rigorous, unsentimental map of a crisis now unfolding faster, and more decisively, than the town wants to acknowledge. Plus: David Ellison hosts Paramount Skydance’s debut on Wall Street, and Richard Rushfield charts the steady disappearance of dramatic films from America’s movie screens.
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Bari Weiss, MS Now & the Sad Battle for the Last TV News Viewer (Age: 70) (00:42:52)
Election Day had New York City’s Gen Z cheering in the streets as proud socialist Zohran Mamdani crushed the Democratic establishment (in the form of disgraced state governor-turned-flop independent candidate Andrew Cuomo) in the mayoral race. But as election results from New York, New Jersey, Virginia and elsewhere poured in Tuesday night, who was really watching TV? Elaine Low, Sean McNulty and Natalie Jarvey examine the rising tide of “newsfluencers” trumping old-school cable news as viewers get older (average age: 70-72), MSNBC becomes MS Now, and trust in media plummets. Then, Lachlan Cartwright of buzzy media newsletter Breaker joins with to relay his scoops about new CBS News chief Bari Weiss: her beefy bodyguards, the (surprisingly!) hopping NYC election night party hosted by Bari’s The Free Press and what’s actually happening inside the halls of CBS News. Plus: Richard Rushfield on the dire state of diversity in Hollywood’s film director ranks.
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Hollywood Alarm as Recession Indicators Rack Up (00:32:55)
Thousands of jobs lost at Paramount Skydance and Amazon, quiet panic on the Warner Bros. Discovery lot, shoot days in L.A. on a continued decline — all while streaming churn, anecdotally, is becoming worse than ever as subscription prices skyrocket. As Hollywood embraced the most terrifying part of the industry during Halloween week — mass layoffs — Ankler Agenda host Elaine Low, along with Sean McNulty and Natalie Jarvey, take a look at the local economic indicators and how many are pointing south as we barrel toward next year. Then, to celebrate our big flagship podcast rebrand as Ankler Agenda, Richard Rushfield debuts his new weekly segment, Rushfield’s Rant, and rings the alarm about the grim reality facing female directors.
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Coming Soon: "Ankler Agenda with Elaine Low" (00:00:51)
This Thursday, "The Ankler Podcast" relaunches as "Ankler Agenda," hosted by Elaine Low. Elaine, author of Ankler Media’s popular “Series Business” newsletter, will be joined weekly by her Ankler colleagues Sean McNulty, Natalie Jarvey and Richard Rushfield, in addition to a variety of expert guests, to break down the headlines, trends and creativity shaping the evolution of Hollywood, the creator economy and entertainment. Episodes will also be available every Thursday on YouTube.
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Emergency Pod: WBD’s Endgame Era Begins (00:33:19)
Another week, another industry-warping Hollywood shake-up. As Warner Bros. Discovery plants a “For Sale” sign in its yard, a Streaming Wars endgame is being unleashed. Is the billionaire class going to snap its fingers, Thanos-style, and squeeze the number of major studios through another round of M&A? Or is salvation coming instead for a storied studio? Elaine Low, Sean McNulty and Natalie Jarvey break down which suitors make sense, why a Paramount-Warner Bros. mashup would become the rival Netflix has never had, and which assets are most enticing, fantasy-draft style. Plus: Richard Rushfield stops by to weigh in on Zazpocalypse Now.
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The Shocking Revenge of Reality TV (00:29:35)
A show filmed in real time, airing almost daily, and pulling in billions of viewing minutes a week? Prestige TV could never. But Love Island USA and other reality juggernauts are proving America is enamored again with the once declining genre. Elaine Low, Natalie Jarvey and Sean McNulty break down the market forces leading to this TV plot twist worthy of The Traitors: the genres working, what Netflix has to do with it and why it’s thriving when scripted isn’t.
Plus: Ankler writer Matthew Frank joins to preview Crowd Pleaser, our upcoming Letterboxd collaboration, and his ambitious plan to visit more than 50 movie theaters across the country in just two weeks. And Elaine and Natalie unpack what SAG-AFTRA’s new microdrama contract could mean for the booming world of vertical video.
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10 Showrunners Shaping TV — Right as GPT-5 Rewrites Everything (00:29:48)
The strangest thing about the new iteration of ChatGPT? The sudden and full-throated embrace by once-squeamish execs and writers, says Reel AI columnist Erik Barmick (just ask around about the “GPT-5 pass”). Elaine Low, Sean McNulty and Natalie Jarvey dig into how writers and producers are using GPT-5, which jobs likely will vanish, and how guilds are gearing up for the next AI fight (after missing on the last agreement). Then, Lesley Goldberg joins to reveal the 10 most influential showrunners right now, according to top execs and agents, and the surprising names who didn’t make the cut.
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Hollywood's Gen Z Blindspot, Starring Taylor Swift (00:29:42)
Forget the government shutdown — President Trump is back to targeting entertainment, from YouTube’s $24.5 million settlement with him to a floated “100 percent tariff” on foreign-made films. Host Elaine Low, Sean McNulty, and Natalie Jarvey parse what a “Made in America” movie even is anymore, while Gen Z correspondent Matthew Frank (writer of our coming Crowd Pleaser newsletter about audience), unpacks how under-25s are actually discovering shows in the fast-twitch age of clips and feeds. And finally: Taylor Swift takes on Leonardo DiCaprio and Dwayne Johnson at the box office, exposing the industry’s Gen Z blind spot in real time.
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Kimmelgate: 6 Days That Shook Disney (00:28:21)
Six days. That’s all it took for Jimmy Kimmel to be yanked off the air by Disney under FCC pressure — and then rushed back after Hollywood revolted. Now Trump is circling, affiliates are defying ABC in a game of chicken, and Disney’s succession drama involving negotiators Dana Walden and Bob Iger is suddenly back in the spotlight. Elaine Low, Sean McNulty, Natalie Jarvey, and Richard Rushfield unpack the week that shook late night — and what it means for free speech, politics and the future of Hollywood. And no, this is nowhere close to being over.For more entertainment news, subscribe to The Ankler or apply to The Ladder, a members-only hub for early career entertainment professionals.
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Emergency Pod: The Kimmel Crisis & What’s Next (00:34:43)
Late on Sept. 17, the news broke: Disney’s Bob Iger made the decision to “indefinitely” suspend one of its marquee stars, Jimmy Kimmel of Jimmy Kimmel Live! from ABC. The news followed FCC chair Brendan Carr’s suggestion that the federal agency would move against the company if its leadership didn’t take action against the host’s remarks about Charlie Kirk. In this emergency pod, host Elaine Low is is joined by a rotation of our best and brightest to break down the shocking news and its chilling aftermath: Sean McNulty on Nexstar and Sinclair’s decision to not air Jimmy Kimmel Live on affiliate stations; Lesley Goldberg with a play-by-play on Disney’s decision to pull Kimmel off ABC; Katey Rich on the historical precedent and impact to the creative community; and Natalie Jarvey on how political creators on YouTube and elsewhere might react.
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The Netflix of Microdramas: Who Gets There First? (00:32:07)
There’s a multibillion-dollar business growing right under Hollywood’s nose: microdramas, those soapy, 60-second episodes Gen Z binges on their phones with storylines that can sound like bad 'Twilight' fan-fiction. Vertical dramas are a booming market in China, and now entertainment vets stateside like Lloyd Braun and Susan Rovner are getting in on the action. Elaine Low, Natalie Jarvey and Sean McNulty tackle the big questions for the micro-curious: How seriously should Netflix view microdramas as a rival? Can anyone actually make a profit? And will it take household names to make them succeed — or is this another Quibi-in-waiting? Plus, Richard Rushfield makes his glorious return to the podcast with tales of TIFF: the best films, the Criterion Closet and his all-important Sydney Sweeney selfie.
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Summer Duds, Fest Buzz: What the Hell is Happening to Movies (00:32:38)
From Telluride mountaintops to Toronto’s Tim Hortons, awards season is officially here. Before jetting to TIFF, Prestige Junkie’s Katey Rich joined Elaine Low, Sean McNulty and Natalie Jarvey to dissect the quirks of each fest and how they influence not just Oscar voters but box office, too. Plus: the crew autopsies a limp summer box office that fell behind last year, and looks ahead to whether Nolan, Spider-Man, Baby Yoda and even the Minions can save summer 2026 — or if movies are still stuck in a death spiral.
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Love, Loss & Drama: Swift, Netflix, Paramount (00:29:46)
And here you thought Hollywood might coast into Labor Day. Instead, summer’s final days delivered both the inevitable — Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s engagement — and the unexpected: Netflix OG veteran Peter Friedlander’s exit after 14 years. Elaine Low, Natalie Jarvey and Sean McNulty break down the business stakes of both before running through the five biggest stories of the summer you need to know into the fall, from the ongoing rise of microdramas to Paramount’s high-stakes reboot with Cindy Holland, to Gen X as Hollywood’s Rodney Dangerfield generation.
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