Film and TV Briefing: Friday 3 May 2024

In the news

Paramount Global CEO, Bob Bakish reportedly steps down as merger talks continue (The Hollywood Reporter)

Meryl Streep set to receive honorary Palme D’Or at this year’s Cannes Film Festival (Variety)

Pact’s response to Channel 4’s statement regarding nations quotas (Pact)

Ted Sarandos and the BBC, ITV and Channel 4 chiefs set to speak at RTS’s London Convention (The Hollywood Reporter)

‘Fallout’ receives 65m views in its first 16 days, the second-best start for any series on Amazon Prime (IndieWire)

Group of presenters bring legal action against the BBC over alleged sex and age discrimination and equal pay (BBC)

Paramount+ reaches 71 million subscribers (The Hollywood Reporter)

‘The Green Planet’ contributed £7.4m to the UK economy (BBC)

Emma Stone to produce film about a chess scandal with Nathan Fielder and A24 (Variety)

Free streaming platform backed by the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 is launched (The Hollywood Reporter)

Fox reportedly looks to receive $7m for each advert at the 2025 Super Bowl (Variety)

Skepta enters the film world with a short called ‘Tribal Mark’ (Variety)

Features and commentary

Could Netflix’s new scripted series on Ayrton Senna become the ‘Squid Game’ of Latin America? (IndieWire)

Sex scenes in major films decline by 40% since start of the millennium (The Guardian)

Jeff Bridges on his reluctance to become an actor (The Hollywood Reporter)

Stephen King on ‘Baby Reindeer’ (The Times; subscription required)

Industry announcements

Nicole Kidman receives life achievement award from American Film Institute (The Guardian)

The winners of this year’s BAFTA Television Craft Awards (BAFTA)

BAFTA announces more than £125,000 in grants for 69 creatives (BAFTA)

The BFI Southbank Studio is to be renamed NFT4 from June (BFI)

Resources

Pact’s upcoming sessions on diversity and inclusion (Pact)

Legal updates

Harvey Weinstein to face retrial in New York after 2020 rape conviction overturned (The Guardian)

Dan Schneider sues ‘Quiet On Set’ producers for defamation after docuseries uncovered alleged abuse and misconduct on children’s television shows (BBC)