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Middle East’s American Moves
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Warner Bros. Discovery, Paramount, Comcast, Netflix
Weighing up Warner: This week was dominated by the Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) sale. Perhaps the most intriguing element in the mix was the role Middle Eastern money could play. Throughout this month, there have been unsubstantiated local reports of various funds in Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE looking to bid for the venerable old Hollywood studio. It felt speculative until reports this week made things more concrete. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman went to the White House and pledged investments of $1T in the U.S. economy before sitting down for a formal dinner that counted Paramount CEO David Ellison – and others such as soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo, golfer Bryson DeChambeau and Elon Musk – in attendance. Speculation was rife, including reports that Paramount was forming an investment consortium with the sovereign wealth funds of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Abu Dhabi, which were firmly denied by Paramount. What did emerge was that Ellison had held talks with several key finance players in the Middle East in recent weeks, including Comcast CEO Brian Roberts. Dade Hayes ran this great rundown of events, noting how the Middle Eastern companies have been increasingly moving into the U.S., with Saudi’s Private Investment Fund recently taking a major stake in Electronic Arts and the various other interests Middle Eastern players hold. At the same time, Mel headed to the Middle East for the inaugural Doha Film Festival, which began with an emotional screening of Kaouther Ben Hania’s Gaza drama The Voice of Hind Rajab introduced by the bereaved mother of the girl at the heart of the film. For those interested in what Qatar wants to achieve with the new fest, which comes just weeks before the more established Red Sea International Film Festival in Saudi, read this scene setter and get more here, including a slew of announcements this morning – one of them for a 50% tax rebate. Back in the U.S., Paramount, Netflix and Comcast have all submitted official bids for WBD. Long way to go on this one yet.
Farewell, Edinburgh?
Fest of pure emotion: After 50 years in Scotland’s capital, the beloved Edinburgh Television Festival could well be about to up sticks and move somewhere else. On Thursday morning, the fest’s organizers announced they had begun a bidding process that will allow other cities and locations to build a case for why they should take over. Why’s it happening? Cost, mainly. While there is probably nowhere more exciting to be in the UK in August than Edinburgh, which hosts the Fringe Festival, the Edinburgh Film Festival and other cultural events throughout the month, there is also nowhere that will take the cash from your pocket faster. Booking a hotel room there for the TV fest is a hold-your-nose process, with even the poorest of accommodation setting you back $300+ per night. For a festival that prides itself on connecting up-and-coming producers, freelancers and creative talent with the biggest UK players, that’s just not economical. There have been other issues: You’ll hear delegates grumble about the lack of a ‘central hub’ for evening get-togethers (old heads yearn for the days of The George hotel bar full to bursting) and exactly what they’re discovering about the major networks and streamers in increasingly vanilla Meet The Commissioner sessions. Americans have also stopped attending quite as frequently, though the likes of Shonda Rhimes and Tina Fey brought star power this year. Still, should the festival move to a new locale in 2027, it’ll be a melancholy end of an era, and another sign of a changing international entertainment world.
Whisper It
Jake Humphrey, Sunil Patel, David Coulthard
Brady’s bunch: What do a TV executive, the host of The High Performance Podcast and a former Formula 1 champion have in common? Answer: They co-own Whisper, the Sony-backed UK production house behind Prime Video’s Tom Brady and Birmingham City FC doc series Brady & the Blues and the BBC’s The NFL Show. Max met one of the three bosses, Sunil Patel, who is among the most impressive execs working in British TV right now, to talk through the company’s future and its expansion into the States. With sports and entertainment continuing to converge, a business that was born out of sport production is taking advantage. Over in the U.S., Whisper is launching an office under Drew Masters and seeking to build out a business that can both produce locally (it has been developing a late-night syndicated show with Craig Ferguson for over two years) and take American sports to rest of the world at a lower price point than rivals. This all set to the backdrop of a company sale, with KPMG exploring options for Whisper, as its time in the Sony Pictures Television stable looks to be coming to an end.
The Essentials
Noah Jupe and Sadie Sink will star in West End ‘Romeo & Juliet’ production
🌶️ Hot One: Stranger Things star Sadie Sink is making her West End debut, per a scoop from big, bad Breaking Baz.
🌶️ Another Hot One: Gabrielle Union and Michele Morrone are starring in Prime Video Italy film Blame it On Rome.
🚨 “Jesus, Mary and Joseph and the wee donkey!”: Five years after the disappointing conclusion of BBC cop drama Line of Duty, AC-12 is back for a seventh season.
⚽ Footing the bill: Paramount splashed out $1B+ on rights for the Champions League in the UK and Germany.
🗣️ Interview: The team behind The Secret Agent talked to Ted Johnson about the Brazilian Oscar hopeful.
🌎 Globie: To French-speaking Canada for our latest Breakout, where Stewart spoke with Florence Longpré about her series Empathy.
🍐 Conference pair: Prime Video Europe’s new boss, Andrew Bennett, and Love Actually director Richard Curtis spoke at the British Screen Forum.
💃 In a Barbie world: BarbieLand is coming to London next summer through a Secret Cinema immersive experience.
🎥 Trail: For The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping, the latest in the dystopian future franchise.
🕯️ A fond farewell: To long-serving Warner Bros Television PR exec Robert Pietranton, one of the true good guys of the studio machine, who passed away unexpectedly aged 56.
International Insider was written by Jesse Whittock and edited by Max Goldbart.
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