The media company Warner Bros./Discovery has been in play for months. It just accepted a bid from Netflix for $83 billion — for its production studio assets and HBO Max streaming services only. This deal may face antitrust scrutiny for consolidation in the streaming space and may not go through. Paramount/Skydance and Comcast/NBC were outbid…
You want writing in a hurry? Great! I love to work fast. This could work out well. It could also be a disaster. Here’s what I need to complete a rush job (and you’ll find this applies to most good, fast writers). I actually prefer speedy writing If all the right pieces are in place,…
Yesterday, I announced that we were releasing the results of a survey, sponsored by Gotham Ghostwriters, of 1,481 writing professionals about their attitudes about AI. From time to time, I’ll be examining and sharing data from that survey in more detail. One of the most interesting parts of the survey compared attitudes of different groups…
Newsletter 122. A deep dive into what 1481 writers told us about how they use AI. Plus, AI is a better parrot than MFAs, demystifying royalty statements, three people to follow, and three books to read. And, I’ll see you next week at the Gathering of the Ghosts — let’s connect! Key results from the…
Fifty years ago, William J. Brink, editor at the New York Daily News, wrote a front-page headline for the paper’s story on President Gerald Ford’s refusal to bail out New York City as it neared bankruptcy: Ford to City: Drop Dead With apologies to the runner up, “Headless Body in Topless Bar,” this was the…
In August and September, with the support and sponsorship of Gotham Ghostwriters, I undertook a study of writers and their attitudes about AI. The results were fascinating. This Wednesday, November 5, we’ll be releasing them in the form of a free report. While I can’t share any statistics yet, I can tell you a little…
In 1998, as Forrester’s analyst covering the television industry, I got my first peek at TiVo, the original and most promising digital video recorder. It was an amazing device that easily recorded TV programs on a hard drive and promised to free viewers from the TV schedule forever. It was instantly clear to me that…
I analyzed the media industry for 20 years. Like any large industry, it’s complicated. Despite how it feels, media companies are not run on an emotional basis. Like any big business, they’re managed for profit. How media executives think What you will read below is based my experience meeting with senior executives at CBS, CNN,…
ABC, a Disney property, recently suspended the late-night host Jimmy Kimmel and took his show off the air due to pressure from the Trump administration. Some of my friends are suggesting, knee-jerk fashion, that the right reaction is to boycott Disney. But before you do that, you should understand why Disney and ABC made this…