The Business

Kim Masters talks to LA Times Awards Columnist Glenn Whipp about the Emmy nominations announced this week. Whipp thinks this was not a stellar year in television, meaning that top nominees, The Pitt and Hacks, are likely to feast at September’s Emmys. But Whipp is pleased that stand-out new shows, Widow’s Bay and Pluribus, got some nods. And he says give Harrison Ford an Emmy already!...

This week, an encore presentation of Kim Masters’ interview with Alexandria Stapleton, the DGA Award nominated director of Sean Combs: The Reckoning . The Netflix docuseries examines the rise and fall of the hip hop mogul. Stapleton discusses partnering with executive producer 50 Cent, her approach to telling the story without turning it into a hit piece, and the care required when working w...

Kim Masters talks to John Carney, who after his 2006 indie breakout film Once , has made a career of making movies about musicians making music. Generally, the ones who never got famous. His new film, Power Ballad , stars Paul Rudd as a wedding singer alongside Nick Jonas, who plays a flawed former pop star. Carney discusses his struggles to raise money for his films, and reveals what he says to -...

Kim Masters talks to screenwriter David Koepp about Disclosure Day , his latest collaboration with director Steven Spielberg. After Spielberg sent Koepp a 40 page treatment for the movie, which Koepp gave notes on, Spielberg emailed him back that “it’s your problem now.” Koepp also reveals the downside of his early success, which included writing the Jurassic Park screenplay when...

This week, Kim Masters talks to Alvaro Bedoya, a former FTC Commissioner, about why he objects to the Paramount-Warner Brothers merger. Bedoya says it will mean fewer jobs, higher subscription fees for consumers, and more censorship when the Ellison family - who own Paramount Skydance - control both CBS News and CNN. Bedoya also addresses a surprising accusation from Paramount’s Chief Counse...

This week, Eric Deggans talks to Eric Kripke, creator of the Amazon Prime series The Boys , about criticism of the show’s final season. Elon Musk went online to trash the finale of the politically provocative superhero satire, and some of the show’s less wealthy fans also didn’t care for it either. Kripke also talks about how The Boys managed to be pretty prescient about the curr...

This week, Kim Masters talks to Jack Thorne, who won all the prizes for writing the Netflix series  Adolescence , about his new series, an adaptation of the novel Lord of the Flies . They also discuss how Adolescence revealed Netflix’s stunning global reach, and why series star Stephen Graham has a co-writing credit, even though Graham doesn’t actually write. Thorne also tells Kim...

This week, Eric Deggans talks to Courtney Kemp, co-creator of the Netflix crime drama Nemesis, about the changing TV landscape, and whether she sees Hollywood standing by diversity initiatives despite the pushback from the Trump administration. She also explains how some executives who give her notes don’t necessarily grasp what matters to her audience. After signing an overall deal with Net...

Kim Masters wraps up her two-part conversation with legendary actor William Shatner and famed astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson. Shatner reflects on his deeply emotional journey to space at age 90 and Tyson shares why he isn’t picky about the show biz gigs he takes. The pair also reflect on technological disruption, including how the rise of AI inspired Shatner to record a heavy metal album...

This week, Kim Masters speaks with legendary actor William Shatner and famed astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson about their upcoming two-night live event, The Universe is Absurd . In the first installment of a sprawling two-part conversation, the pair reflect on how syndication helped solidify Star Trek as a cultural phenomenon, why studio executives don’t know what they’re doing, and...

This week, Kim Masters speaks with director Kirk Jones and actor Robert Aramayo about I Swear , the BAFTA winning film about Tourette’s advocate John Davidson. Jones talks about using his own life savings to self-finance the project after potential backers pushed him to tone down the film’s language, and how that decision allowed him to cast Aramayo in the lead without studio oversight...

This week, Kim Masters speaks with Ben McKenzie about his documentary Everyone Is Lying to You for Money , which examines fraud in the cryptocurrency world. The actor discusses leaning into his popularity as Ryan on The OC as a narrative device in the film—one that helped get him in the room for a cringe-inducing interview with now-convicted crypto figure Sam Bankman-Fried. McKenzie also exp...

This week, Kim Masters speaks with Riz Ahmed about his modern retelling of Hamlet . The actor and producer discusses the decade-long journey of adapting the Shakespeare classic and how the project evolved from a planned Netflix streaming release to securing theatrical distribution with Focus Features. He also jokes about family members misinterpreting the significance of his Oscar-nominated perfor...

This week, Kim Masters sits down with Drew Goddard to discuss adapting Andy Weir’s novel Project Hail Mary for the big screen. He reflects on how his early days writing on Buffy the Vampire Slayer , Alias , and Lost trained him to move fast, as he did when he was tasked with turning around the script for Cloverfield after Paramount greenlit the project from an outline. He also talks about be...

The Academy Awards are behind us, but we’re sharing unheard stories from Kim Masters’ interviews with some of the recently minted Oscar winners. That includes director Joachim Trier, who shares how he landed on casting Elle Fanning in his Best International Feature winner, Sentimental Value. Trier also talks about getting to a place where he can cast well-known actors who sign on to hi...

And just like that, Josh D'Amaro’s first week as CEO of The Walt Disney Company proved challenging, to say the least. From a brewing Bachelorette scandal to the abrupt cancellation of Sora by OpenAI, and fresh turmoil at Epic Games amid layoffs, Matt Belloni and Lucas Shaw unpack the challenges facing Disney’s new chief. Plus, we revisit our conversation with Daryl Hannah, who joined M...

This week, Kim talks to Diane Becker and Ted Tremper about The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist. The producers discuss how they managed to land big names in machine learning, including the CEOs of OpenAI and Anthropic. Becker and Tremper also explain how they nearly got Elon Musk—until, surprisingly, he ghosted. They also share how they kept their brains from melting while tackling...

This week, Kim talks with Tilly Norwood creator Eline Van der Velden, who defends her controversial synthetic character . Van der Velden argues that Tilly Norwood is simply another character, an extension of herself, not so different from others she’s created during her years as an actress. The Particle6 Productions co-founder explains why she believes entertainment built with generative AI...

This week, Kim talks with SAG-AFTRA president Sean Astin about stepping into the job during a tumultuous year for Hollywood. His early tenure has already included an FCC clash involving Jimmy Kimmel , the arrival of synthetic “performers,” and some wonky legal maneuvering from OpenAI . Astin discusses the most pressing issues facing the union as bargaining is underway, including wages...

This week, Kim sits down with Brazilian writer-director Kleber Mendonça Filho to discuss his Oscar-nominated political thriller The Secret Agent . A former film critic, Mendonça explains why he still reads every review of his work. He also reflects on the backlash that followed his 2016 Cannes red carpet protest against Brazil’s leadership and the fallout that complicated the O...

This week, Kim sits down with Academy Award–nominated cinematographer Autumn Durald Arkapaw, who made history with Sinners as the first woman of color nominated for the Oscar for Best Cinematography. She discusses her work on the film and how it evolved from a scrappy 16mm concept into a full-scale IMAX spectacle at the studio’s urging. She also addresses the mounting strain on crews a...

This week, Kim Masters sits down with Academy Award nominated Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi to discuss his Palme d’Or winning film It Was Just an Accident. Panahi explains why he self finances his films, bringing in partners only after he decides the work is worthy of his signature, and how he has continued to shoot in secret despite years of arrests, censorship, and government bans. He als...

This week, Kim Masters is joined by Scott Feinberg, The Hollywood Reporter’s Executive Editor of Awards, for a deep dive into the 2026 Oscar nominees. Feinberg unpacks the debut of the new Best Casting category and explains the strategy behind Warner Bros.' support for its Best Picture frontrunners One Battle After Another and Sinners .   Plus, Masters and Matt Belloni dig into the powe...

This week, Kim speaks with Alexandria Stapleton, the DGA Award nominated director of Sean Combs: The Reckoning , a Netflix docuseries that examines the rise and fall of the hip hop mogul. Stapleton discusses partnering with executive producer 50 Cent, her approach to telling the story without turning it into a hit piece, and the care required when working with the alleged victims of Combs. She als...

This week, Kim sits down with former Viacom CEO and MTV co-founder Tom Freston to discuss his memoir, Unplugged: Adventures from MTV to Timbuktu. From his vagabond youth to the birth of MTV and his years working under billionaire mogul Sumner Redstone, Freston reflects on a career spent shaping modern media, and weighs in on the Warner Bros. succession fight, arguing that Netflix may be the legacy...