THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER 69 OCTOBER 16, 2019
that he was asked by a production
staffer to keep it down. “Eddie is
back and on fire,” Gianopulos says
of the reboot, one of many high-
profile titles on his slate, including
Terminator: Dark Force, the A Quiet
Place sequel (March) and Top Gun:
Maverick (June). Gianopulos, 68,
is at a disadvantage with fewer
franchises than his rivals. And
Skydance’s Gemini Man looks like a
pricey flop. But with the film studio
on track for its first profitable year
since 2014, led by Rocketman
($195 million), he also oversees TV
(Jack Ryan and 13 Reasons Why).
And he’s making movies for Netflix.
A TOP TALENT (NOT ON YOUR
PLATFORM) WHOM YOU ADMIRE
“Josh and Benny Safdie are really
original, brilliant filmmakers.”27 EDDY CUESenior vp internet
software and services
JAMIE ERLICHT AND
ZACK VAN AMBURGHeads of
worldwide video
APPLEA $5-a-month price point gives
54-year-old Cue’s Apple TV+ a
leg up among the rash of soon-to-
launch streaming options. When
the service debuts Nov. 1, 1.4 billion
users worldwide will have access to
programs that Erlicht, 50, and Van
Amburg, 48, have been develop-
ing for the better part of two years,
including The Morning Show with
Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer
Aniston and See, starring Jason
Momoa. Apple’s deep pockets — its
content budget is said to be well
above $1 billion — have helped the
Sony alums attract everyone from
Oprah to J.J. Abrams, but there’s
uncertainty about how customers
will respond to a service that lacks
a catalog of film and TV classics.
THE LAST APP SOMEONE UNDER
13 HAD TO EXPLAIN TO YOU
Van Amburg: “I could never admit
that. I work for Apple. We have an
app to explain apps.”28 RUPERT MURDOCH
Chairman
LACHLAN MURDOCH
Executive chairman/CEO
FOX CORP.See interview on page 68.
29 GREG BERLANTI
Writer-producerSetting a new industry record for a
third year in a row, the 47-year-old
scribe remains the most prolific
producer in TV history with 19
series airing across seven outlets.
It almost makes that $400 mil-
lion overall deal with Warner Bros.,
which keeps him at the studio
through at least 2024, seem like a
bargain. On top of film efforts —
see his preemptive grab at rights
to best-seller Red, White and Royal
Blue — Berlanti’s big moves include
adding a ninth series at The CW
and securing fall’s first full-season
pickup with Fox’s Prodigal Son.
THE LAST APP SOMEONE UNDER 13
HAD TO EXPLAIN TO YOU “TikTok.
Still don’t understand it and not
sure I want to.”30 DAVID NEVINS
Chief creative officer, CBS
VIACOMCBSSince rising to CCO in October
2018, Nevins, 53, no longer over-
sees just Showtime but also CBS
TV Studios, streamer All Access
and CBS’ interest in The CW.
CBS Studios produces 70 series
across platforms, including its
own streamer that will see origi-
nals climb to 12 in 2020. Showtime
saw originals output (see Escape
at Dannemora and The Loudest
Voice) jump 30 percent in 2019,
with further expansion ahead as
subscriber count outpaces industry
trends with growth to 27 million.31 JOHN LANDGRAF
Chairman FX Networks
and FX Productions
THE WALT DISNEY CO.In the wake of the Disney-Fox
merger, Landgraf, 57 — rumored
to have turned down a job running
Hulu — continues to be deeply
involved in creative decisions at
FX, delivering critical hits like Pose
and Fosse/Verdon, which helped
FX rack up five primetime Emmys.
Atlanta and Fargo both return in
2020, along with the hotly antici-
pated new installment of American
Crime Story, centered on the
Clinton-Lewinsky scandal.BEST THING ABOUT HOLLYWOOD’S
MERGER MANIA “It allows us to
compete with Silicon Valley.”
WORST THING “We have to compete
with Silicon Valley.”32 JASON BLUM
ProducerUniversal’s cancellation of
The Hunt’s release amid con-
troversy over its depiction of
gun violence barely slowed the
prolific producer’s roll: Blum,
who earned a best picture Oscar
nom for BlacKkKlansman, saw
the unspooling of M. Night
Shyamalan’s Glass, Jordan Peele’s
Us, the Octavia Spencer star-
rer Ma and Happy Death Day 2U
— and has Black Christmas still
to come. Next year, the 50-year-
old, whose Blumhouse TV was
behind HBO’s Sharp Objects and
Showtime’s The Loudest Voice,
takes on Universal’s monsters
with an Invisible Man remake.
Another priority: “I’d love to
see The Hunt get back on the
release schedule.”
YOU FIND BOB IGER’S PHONE.
WHICH CONTACT DO YOU CALL?
Aladdin.33 SHONDA RHIMES
Writer-producerTwo years after stunning the studio
landscape with Netflix’s first nine-
figure overall deal, Rhimes has
her sights set on 2020, when the
leadoff of her nine (and counting)
projects — the London-set period
drama Bridgerton — debuts. She’s
also casting the first show she’ll
personally write since Scandal
days: Inventing Anna, based on
the viral New York magazine story
of fraudster Anna Delvey. Over
at ABC, Krista Vernoff continues
to reinvigorate Grey’s Anatomy
(renewed through 2021) and has
taken on reinventing snoozer spi-
noff Station 19 as the network looks
to keep Rhimes involved as long as
possible after wrapping the Viola
Davis vehicle How to Get Away
With Murder.
YOU FIND BOB IGER’S PHONE.
WHICH CONTACT DO YOU CALL?
“His contacts? Who cares? I want to
find out what shows he’s watching
on Netflix.”We’ve launched Super
Six, which is a national
free game, which
has done incred-
ibly well. And then
you funnel people
down into the sports
betting, but that’s
done state by state
as you get licensed.
At the moment it’s
only in New Jersey
and Pennsylvania. But
as you grow and go
to more states, you’ll
improve the Fox Bets
game experience.
Do you anticipate
using sports
broadcasts to
promote your gaming
business?
You’ve got to be care-
ful. We will have some
shows around sports
betting. But you don’t
want to ruin the sports
viewing experience.
Did it annoy you
when Iger took a
swipe at the Fox film
slate recently?
No, we sold Bob some
tremendous assets.
He bought a large
business that was
operating very well.
Some have said that
if Roger Ailes were
around, he would not
tolerate the infight-
ing among the hosts
on Fox News. How
much string do you
give them?
I can’t speak to if
Roger were around
or not, but unfortu-
nately in this country
there’s less and less
civil debate. Civil
debate among our
countrymen and our
colleagues at work is
something we always
aspire to.
Interview edited for
length and clarity.
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