Vanity Fair UK - 11.2019

THE
NEW HOLLYWOOD
In a world dominated by streaming, old Hollywood has gone high-tech

1

TED SARANDOS
Netflix chief content officer,
Hollywood disruptor AGE: 55
In the streaming wars,
Sarandos is a general
under siege, but with 151 million
paid subscribers, his position
appears to be strong and
defensible—for now. “We’re
betting in all the areas of
content that our consumers love,”
he has assured investors.

2

BOB GREENBLATT
WarnerMedia Entertainment
chairman AGE: 59
Richard Plepler’s successor
has promised to “increase the
volume” without spoiling
HBO’s secret sauce. Can he please
corporate boss John Stankey
without unnerving the creatives?
Greenblatt says he’s “bullish.”

3

SHONDA RHIMES &

RYAN MURPHY

Showrunners who hit the

Netflix jackpot AGES: 49, 53

Murphy turned FX into an

anthology factory. Rhimes

once owned ABC’s Thursday-

night lineup. No wonder

NetŒix o‘ered an unprecedented

$300 million for Murphy and

$150 million for Rhimes. Rhimes’s

•rst series for the streamer

begins •lming in October.

4

KATHLEEN KENNEDY &

KEVIN FEIGE

Guardians of the Star Wars and

Marvel universes AGES: 66, 46

The queen and king of America’s

two favorite franchises are

responsible for lifetime receipts

of $40 billion. Next up? Going

multiplatform with Disney+.

“It’s about truth...and

honesty and, to be frank,

entertainment.”

6

J.J. ABRAMS

Star Wars and Star Trek director,

mega-producer AGE: 53

With footholds in two

of Hollywood’s most lucrative

franchises—not to mention

Mission: Impossible—it was simple

arithmetic for Warner to

o‘er Abrams and his wife, Katie

McGrath, a nine-•gure

production deal worth between

$250 million and $500 million.

7

REESE WITHERSPOON

Actor, producer, media

entrepreneur AGE: 43

Witherspoon’s production

company, Hello Sunshine,

is crushing the Bechdel test with

5

PHOEBE

WALLER

BRIDGE

Writer, actor, fashion icon, and

professional wit AGE: 34

From Fleabag and Killing Eve

to rewriting the next

James Bond movie. “It’s about

fucking surprising people

and doing the thing that they’re

not expecting,” she’s said.

Highest-Paid

Actors of 2019

DWAYNE

JOHNSON

CHRIS

HEMSWORTH

ROBERT

DOWNEY JR.

AKSHAY

KUMAR

JACKIE

CHAN

$89.4M

$76.4M

$66M

$65M

$58M

Credit: Forbes

ƒ

Ryan

Murphy

…

Ted

Sarandos

‡

Phoebe

Waller-

Bridge

‡

Ava

DuVernay

Ž

Reese

Witherspoon

Streaming WarsDisney+ November 12, $6.99 per month | Apple TV+ November 1, $4.99 per month | HBO Max Spring 2020, $14.99 per month | Peacock April

Ê 2020, $12 per month | Quibi April 6, 2020, $4.99 per month (with ads), $7.99 per month (ad-free) | Discovery/BBC Studio 2020, less than $5 per month

86 NOVEMBER 2019

PHOTOGRAPHS: FROM LEFT, BY JENNY ANDERSON, ANDREW LIPOVSKY/NBCU PHOTO BANK, GREGG D

EGUIRE/WIREIMAGE, RACHEL MURRAY, PAUL BRUINOOGE/PATRICK M

CMULLAN, CHRIS DELMAS/AFP,

AMANDA EDWARDS, JEAN BAPTISTE LACROIX, STEVE GRANITZ/WIREIMAGE, MIKE COPPOLA, BILLY FARRELL/BFA.COM, JAMIE M

CCARTHY, FROM GETTY IMAGES £ALL EXCEPT RHIMES¤