2019-10-16 The Hollywood Reporter

THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER 75 OCTOBER 16, 2019

73 KEVIN HART
Actor-comedian

The past year has had its upsides
(The Upside’s $108 million) and
its downsides (the Oscars host
debacle, a September car crash,
a $60 million sex video lawsuit in
October). But the future is bright
for the 40-year-old comedy pow-
erhouse, with Jumanji: The Next
Level coming out Dec. 13 and a Paul
Weitz film, Fatherhood, due in April.

74 CHRIS SILBERMANN
Managing director

ICM PARTNERS

Thanks to the multihyphenate
loophole (by which clients who also
direct, act or produce can retain
representation while still “firing”

their writing agent), ICM Partners

under Silbermann, 51, has held on

to the likes of Shonda Rhimes and

Vince Gilligan amid agencies’ battle

with the Writers Guild, alongside

longtime marquee clients from Ellen

DeGeneres to Samuel L. Jackson.

Silbermann recently reorganized

ICM’s senior management team to

free him up to focus on the agen-

cy’s growth strategy, indicating that

ICM may be making more aggres-

sive moves in the near future.

75 KELLY KAHL

President

THOM SHERMAN

Senior exec vp programming

CBS ENTERTAINMENT

The biggest challenge for Kahl,

53, and Sherman, 54 — tasked

with leading CBS out of the Leslie

Moonves era — is the loss of

ratings behemoth The Big Bang

Theory. But they have seen four

solid fall launches: drama Evil and

sitcoms Unicorn, Chuck Lorre’s

Bob Hearts Abishola and Carol’s

Second Act.

GO-TO PODCAST FOR A LONG

DRIVE Kahl: Phil Keoghan’s BUCKiT.

Sherman: Joe Rogan Experience.

76 KAREY BURKE

President ABC Entertainment

THE WALT DISNEY CO.

The former Freeform head of

originals has made big strides in her

year at ABC, weathering the Oscars’

host fiasco to a ratings uptick.

Looking ahead, Burke, 53, is making

live programming a top priority,

working with Jimmy Kimmel (who

signed to a new long-term con-

tract) and Norman Lear on comedy

events following his Emmy winner

Live in Front of a Studio Audience.

LAST BIG SPLURGE “A home gym.

Otherwise I’ll never exercise again.”

77 CHARLIE COLLIER

CEO Fox Entertainment

FOX CORP.

The former AMC president spent

his first year at Fox building up

studios. Collier, 50, teamed with

Gail Berman for scripted incuba-

tor SideCar and launched Fox

Alternative Entertainment to mon-

etize hits like The Masked Singer.

He’s also prepping for a future

without pricey hits The Simpsons

and Family Guy, teaming with Bento

Box for an in-house animation

studio. Fox now has an ownership

stake in all new programming even

as it focuses on live sports. (He’s

benefitted from an uptick in NFL

ratings and launched WWE on

Friday nights.)

IF YOU COULD CONTROL ONE PIECE

OF IP, IT WOULD BE “I. No, wait: P.”

78 SETH ROGEN AND

EVAN GOLDBERG

Directors

The 420-friendly Canucks

launched an acclaimed Amazon

series (The Boys) and an R-rated

kid comedy (Good Boys grossed

$109 million worldwide). Rogen,

37, also voiced Pumbaa in Disney’s

megahit The Lion King. Looking

ahead, Rogen sets a goal of

“obtaining more power,” while

Goldberg, 37, is focused on “obtain-

ing more power than Seth.”

79 MARK PEDOWITZ

President

THE CW

Immune from the ratings scrutiny

suffered by his broadcast peers,

Pedowitz, 65, has found a fruitful

path to launching long-running

series. His unique platform has built

a strong reputation with advertis-

ers for youth-skewing originals

(Riverdale, The Flash, newcomer

Nancy Drew). And since each series

is owned by co-parent Warner Bros.

or CBS Corp., those that don’t land

well linearly or on the ad-supported

streamer can find an audience on

the current output deal with Netflix.

But for how long?

80 JAMES WAN

Director-producer

In the past year, Wan, 42, and his

Atomic Monster label cranked out

hits The Nun, Annabelle Comes

Home and The Curse of La Llorona

for Warner Bros., where he has a rich

first-look deal, with The Conjuring 3

in post. A financing pact with

Starlight Media allows him to make

edgier fare; once he wraps indie

Malignant, he’ll focus on Aquaman,

working on the sequel to his $1.1 bil-

lion DC hit.

A TOP TALENT (NOT ON YOUR

PLATFORM) WHOM YOU ADMIRE

Naomi Osaka.

81 WILL SMITH

Actor-producer

Despite the dismal $20.6 mil-

lion domestic opening of Gemini

Man over the Oct. 11-13 weekend,

Smith, 51, has renewed his clout.

His fortunes began to turn with

Bright, for which he received a

reported $27 million payday from

Netflix. Aladdin earned a career-

best $1.13 billion globally this

summer. And he and wife Jada

Pinkett Smith launched Westbrook,

a holding company for produc-

tion banner Overbrook — whose

James Wan

UP

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