The Hollywood Reporter - 31.07.2019

Deal

of the

Week

Big

Deal

7 Days of DEALS

Who’s inking on the dotted line this week

The Report

THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER 22 JULY 31, 2019

GOODMAN: JB LACROIX/WIREIMAGE. NAGY: GEORGE PIMENTEL/WIREIMAGE. LOPEZ: TONY BARSON/FILMMAGIC. EXECS: COURTESY OF ROGERS & COWAN

. BOOK: COURTESY OF SHE WRITES PRESS. MONAE: STEVE

GRANITZ/WIREIMAGE. SCHUMER: BRUCE GLIKAS/FILMMAGIC. MARSHMELLO: PRESLEY ANN/WIREIMAGE. THOMAS: GARETH CATTERMOLE/GETTY IMAGES F

OR BFI. SCHMIDT: COURTESY OF SUBJECT.

The Nine (SHE WRITES PRESS, AUG. 20)

BY Jeanne Blasberg AGENCY April Eberhardt Lit

The topical novel tackles sexual misconduct at an elite board-

ing school and the fallout for a young male eyewitness and his

mother. As HBO’s Euphoria continues to make waves, kids dealing

with very adult issues will likely be popping up in film and TV.

Stolen Things (DUTTON, AUG. 20)

BY R.H. Herron AGENCY APA

A veteran 911 dispatcher receives a call from her own daughter,

drugged in a professional football player’s home. The novel, which

is reminiscent of crime thrillers like Searching or Dirty John, fol-

lows the dispatcher as she tries to find her daughter and the truth.

Rights Available! Hot new books with Hollywood appeal BY MIA GALUPPO

FILM

Jennifer Lopez (CAA,

The Medina Co., Hirsch

Wallerstein) will star in

and produce STXfilms’ The

Godmother, about drug lord

Griselda Blanco.

Jennifer Lawrence (LBI,

Hansen Jacobson) will

star in and produce Paolo

Sorrentino’s true-crime

story Mob Girl.

Matt Damon (WME,

Ziffren Brittenham) and

Ben Affleck (WME, Ziffren

Brittenham) will reteam

for Ridley Scott’s revenge

thriller The Last Duel.

Luca Guadagnino (WME,

GSB) is in talks to direct

Warner Bros.’ Lord of the

Flies adaptation.

Mark Wahlberg (WME,

Leverage, Sloane Offer)

will star in Paramount

Players’ true-life canine tale

Arthur the King.

Two Hollywood public-
ity powerhouses are
joining forces.
PR firms Rogers &
Cowan and PMK•BNC,
which are both part of IPG’s Octagon
Sports and Entertainment Network, are
merging into one. Together, their 500-
plus talent roster will include Michael B.
Jordan, Brie Larson, Robert Redford
and Stephen Curry, while their portfolio
of more than 30 brands will include Audi,
McDonald’s, YouTube and Verizon.
“When we realized what we were putting
together, it was epic,” says PMK•BNC chair-
man and CEO Cindi Berger, who will serve

Spin This: Two Top PR Firms Combine

as chairman for the combined, to-be-named

company, touting PMK•BNC and Rogers &

Cowan’s complementary strengths in film/

television and sports, respectively.

Berger will lead the 350-plus staff

alongside current Rogers & Cowan CEO

Mark Owens, who will retain the title

of CEO. Rogers & Cowan co-president

Alan Nierob, who has been elevated to

chairman of the entertainment division,

says that the new entity will let operations

settle before announcing further restruc-

turing plans.

Merger talks began last December,

sources tell THR. Last year, PMK•BNC

co-chair and CEO Michael Nyman left to

start an investment venture, and in recent

weeks, two other top publicists also exited:

Joy Fehily to become a manager and

consultant, and Nicole Perez-Krueger

to launch her own PR firm. Despite the

departures, the new entity will by far be

Hollywood’s biggest PR firm. — REBECCA SUN

WGA LEADERSHIP GAINS GROUND IN

AGENCY FIGHT, AS DO RIVAL CANDIDATES

After three months of standoff between the Writers

Guild of America and the Association of Talent

Agents, the agencies finally seemed to crack. On

July 22, Kaplan Stahler became the first lit-focused

ATA member to break ranks and sign a franchise

agreement with the guild. Two days later, Abrams’

lit co-heads Brad Rosenfeld and Paul Weitzman left

with fellow agent Karen Kirkland to form Culture

Creative Entertainment, a new WGA signatory

agency, followed by the Buchwald agency agreeing

to the guild’s terms the next day.

But for WGA president David Goodman, the gains

may be too little, too late. On July 26, more than 300

writers — including such top scribes as Shonda

Rhimes, Greg Berlanti and David Benioff — signed

a letter endorsing challenger Phyllis Nagy in the

upcoming September WGA election. “We believe this

present situation is best resolved in a negotiating

room and not in a courtroom,” they wrote, a refer-

ence to the state and federal lawsuits that have been

flying between the guild and the Big Four agencies,

as well as to the WGA’s June 28 antitrust cease-and-

desist letter to the ATA that ended joint talks. “Our

union is strong enough to endure honest differences

of opinion voiced by writers ... who believe there is a

different way to achieve our shared goals.”

“The only way to negotiate is to negotiate with

the major agencies,” says Nagy, whose slate includes

Craig Mazin for vp and Nick Jones Jr. for secretary-

treasurer. “Picking off [smaller] agencies is not

addressing the issue. The [Big Four] are packag-

ing with directors and actors and they will knock

writers out of primacy.” Nagy says the current WGA

strategy is laced with wishful thinking and a lack of

transparency with the membership.

“[The current leadership] hasn’t talked about

endgames. It’s kind of insane,” adds William

Schmidt, who’s running for president as an inde-

pendent, referencing his experience negotiating

during the 1981 and ’88 strikes and claiming that

Goodman told him at a meeting, “We’ll negotiate at

some point.”

Despite her high-profile support, Nagy could split

the “change” vote with Schmidt, possibly handing

Goodman a plurality. But without a finger on the

pulse of all 10,000 WGA West scribes, insiders say

it’s still a toss-up as to who can win a majority when

balloting concludes Sept. 16. “Our members are still

with us,” insists incumbent vp Marjorie David, run-

ning for re-election with Goodman (who declined to

comment) alongside secretary-treasurer candidate

Michele Mulroney. “There’s a solidarity.”

But perhaps not across party lines. Says indepen-

dent vp candidate Carl Gottlieb, who wants to stay

the course, “Phyllis and her slate are inexperien-

tially naive.” — JONATHAN HANDEL

Goodman

From left: Cindi Berger, brand division president

Shirley Hughes, Mark Owens and Alan Nierob.

Nagy

Jennifer

Lopez

Schmidt