Strictly Business

On today’s episode, entrepreneurs Tina Knowles and Ashley Graham explain how they have blazed trails to build powerful media and retail brands in highlights from Variety’s annual Entertainment Marketing Summit. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On today’s episode, Erik Gordon, professor at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business, breaks down the Warner Bros. Discovery sale saga as the company’s shareholders prepare to vote on the sale to Paramount Skydance. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On today’s episode,  Variety’ s Jennifer Maas reports on the return of BookCon to New York and the emergence of a new generation of romance novels – think “Heated Rivalry” -- as a creative force in Hollywood. And the entertainment industry is eager to get to know John Ternus, who will succeed Tim Cook as Apple CEO in September . See omnystudio.com/listener for pr...

On today’s episode, Variety ’s Brent Lang breaks down the weekend box office , and Lang gives us his takeaways and impressions about the state of the film industry from his time at CinemaCon last week. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Aleen Dreksler, CEO and founder of Betches Media, details the digital media brand's origin story and why it blossomed into a hub for comedy and community designed for women. The episode also features a separate conversation from the SXSW festival that highlighted  Variety's recent 10 Creators to Watch list. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On today’s episode,  Variety ’s Todd Spangler details the growing opposition within media and entertainment to Paramount Skydance’s acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery . And Marc Malkin talks to documentary filmmaker Morgan Neville about his Focus Features documentary “Lorne,” about the enigmatic “Saturday Night Live” leader. See omnystudio.com/list...

On today’s episode, Variety ’s Gene Maddaus details the Writers Guild of America’s four-year contract agreement with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers that will be sent out to members for a ratification vote on April 16. This time around, the guild’s focus was all about shoring up its health care plan. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy informatio...

On today’s episode,  Variety music mavens Jem Aswad, Chris Willman and Steven J. Horowitz unpack the first weekend of the Coachella music festival. The three discuss the experience of attending the desert festival in person versus taking it in as “Couchella” via the YouTube live stream, and they break down impressive sets from Karol G, Addison Rae, Sombr, Slayyter, Clipse, W...

On today’s episode, in our Box Office segment, Variety ’s Jack Dunn unpacks another big weekend for “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” as well as the art of analyzing Friday night box office numbers. And Marc Malkin brings us a Just for Variety interview with John Waters , the iconoclastic director who turns 80 on April 22. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On today's episode, f ilmmaker Paul Feig speaks with Variety 's Matt Donnelly about the state of moviemaking, Hollywood's great contraction and why he is an unabashed fan of popcorn pics. The conversation was held April 8 at Variety's annual Power of Law breakfast event in Los Angeles. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On today’s episode, Variety ’s Brent Lang and Elsa Keslassy analyze this year's Cannes Film Festival lineup which puts the accent on European auteur filmmakers. And top Hollywood litigator Patricia Glaser talks tough about social media, the Southern California economy, and she offers a full-throated defense of Casey Wasserman at Variety 's Power of Law breakfast. See omnystudio.com/lis...

On today’s episode, in our Cover Story segment,  Variety ’s Michael Schneider details his reporting and the incredible access he received to cover the fifth and final season of HBO Max’s beloved comedy “Hacks.” And Cindy Lin, executive director of UCLA’s Ziffren Institute for Media, Entertainment, Technology and Sports, discusses the big developments in ent...

On today’s episode, actor and singer Andra Day joins us to talk about her involvement in the Night Out for No Kid Hungry fundraiser set for April 11 at Rolling Greens in downtown Los Angeles. Day also says that she will have new music coming soon. "I haven't decided whether it's going to be a series of EPs or a full album yet," she says. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On today’s episode, in our Box Office segment, Variety ’s Rebecca Rubin breaks down the big worldwide opening for Universal and Illumination’s “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie.” The moviegoing galaxy was big enough for Amazon MGM Studios’ “Project Hail Mary” to hold on strong in week 3. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Robert Schildhouse, CEO of direct-to-consumer for BBC Studios, details the growing popularity of streamer BritBox and its loyal U.S. subscribers . "We have to earn our way into the living room like every streaming service does," Schildhouse says. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On today’s episode, in our Box Office segment, Variety ’s Brent Lang breaks down the numbers and a second-weekend sigh of relief at Amazon MGM Studios as “Project Hail Mary” hangs in at No. 1. And Michael Schneider speaks to daytime TV soap mogul Bradley Bell, the writer-producer who has launched a subscription app for diehard fans of CBS’ “The Bold and the Beau...

On today’s episode, “Strictly Business” speaks with “Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette” executive producers Brad Simpson and Nina Jacobson about the Ryan Murphy-FX drama that examines how a fairy-tale romance collided with the fearsome power of fame . The partners in the Color Force film and TV banner also assess the health of the film and TV s...

On today’s episode, Variety ’s Todd Spangler and Gene Maddaus examine why OpenAI abruptly pulled the plug on its generative AI video creation model, Sora, and why Disney insiders are relieved that the Mouse House's character licensing deal with Sora has gone away, as has Disney's plan to invest $1 billion in OpenAI. Maddaus and Spangler explain what just happened -- and why SAG-AFTRA d...

On today’s episode, we’re talking “Star Trek” and its future with Variety’ s Joe Otterson. He broke the news that Paramount+’s “Starfleet Academy” will end after just two seasons and showrunner Alex Kurtzman is likely to pass the baton as the creative steward of the franchise for TV. Otterson unpacks what’s next for the beloved space opera in T...

On today’s episode, Variety ’s Kate Aurthur details the 21-year, three-season journey that Lisa Kudrow and Michael Patrick King have been on with “The Comeback” as the offbeat comedy takes its final lap on HBO. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On today’s episode, in our Box Office segment, Variety 's Brent Lang breaks down  a big opening weekend for Amazon MGM Studios and its Ryan Gosling fantasy vehicle “Project Hail Mary.” And Naman Ramachandran reports on the mood at Hong Kong Filmart, where AI and China dominate the conversation among top Asian producers, distributors and talent. See omnystudio.com/listener fo...

On today’s episode, Variety ’s Kate Aurthur hosts a “Strictly Business Live” conversation from the SXSW Festival in Austin, Texas. Google TV hosted a Next Generation Podcast Brunch featuring a conversation with Google’s Juanjo Duran and VeYou founder and CEO Tommy Harper. The pair discuss the burgeoning business of microdramas and how Google TV is integrating the form...

On today’s episode, in our Cover Story segment, Variety ’s Ethan Shanfeld details his profile of Miley Cyrus as she embraces the legacy of “Hannah Montana," tackling stage fright and the buzz about her possibly playing the Super Bowl Halftime Show. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On today’s episode, we’ll hear from Variety’s Marc Malkin on his chat with Zendaya on the red carpet for A24’s The Drama . And Variety reporter Jack Dunn details one of his cult-favorite digital series,  Tim Heidecker's “On Cinema at the Cinema” and why it’s had such a long run with Gen Z cinephiles. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information...

On today’s episode, hear from Nancy Grace on Kouri Richins, Eva Pilgrim, producers of “Quiet on Set,” “The Fall of Diddy,” “Lost Women of Alaska,” “Wisecrack” and executives from ID, Audible, Pushkin Industries, Sony Podcasts and more in highlights from Variety’s True Crime Summit at SXSW. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy informati...