Good morning: In today's edition of The Industry, we look at:
Paramount’s Bald Eagles, Warner Bros.’ 8th Pick, and a pearl earring.
Let’s go!
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The White Lotus Season 3 elevates the series.
Set in Thailand, it follows five stories: one that unfolds like a Greek tragedy, one of manhood hard won, one of friendship corrupted, one of riches lost, and one of revenge.
These stories are lit on fire by a cast of greats: Walton Goggins, Carrie Coon, Jason Isaacs, Parker Posey, Patrick Schwarzenegger, Leslie Bibb, Natasha Rothwell, Lalisa Manobal, and Sam Rockwell.
THE INDUSTRY TLDR
Paramount will lay off 2,500–3,000 workers beginning in November.
Paramount buys Brandon Cohen’s Bald Eagles, a workplace comedy.
Paramount lands Trevor Noah’s R-rated comedy pitch, The Island.
CNN’s Chris Wallace joins RedBird as senior advisor.
Warner Bros. acquires With the 8th Pick?, a Kobe Bryant draft biopic.
Sandler’s Happy Madison & Levy’s 21 Laps adapt Dad Camp for Netflix.
Amazon names Helen Moss Head of International Theatrical Distribution.
ABC is developing a legal procedural, The Advocate.
Vera Farmiga joins Mark Wahlberg in Apple’s Weekend Warriors.
Hayes Warner joins FX’s The Shards.
Double Oscar-nominated DP Eduardo Serra dies at 81.
Sarajevo Film Festival’s Best Feature winner is Wind, Talk to Me.
Protagonist Picks takes sales on TIFF doc Modern Whore.
IFC upgrades viral dog-POV horror Good Boy to nationwide release.
Hungarian filmmaker Dorka Vermes directs Places Half Empty. Béla Tarr EPs.
See why it has 24 Emmy nominations - click here for more info.
THE INDUSTRY NEWS
Paramount layoffs begin to take shape. We all knew it was coming with the Skydance merger now complete.
Here’s the prelim details:
Part of the plan for $2bn+ target savings
2500-3000 cuts (15% of workforce)
Departments
Theatrical
Streaming
Linear
And more…
This would also make way for some of Skydance’s staff, which sits at under 2000.
This is the second time Paramount has cut its workforce by 15%. They did the same last year to achieve $500M in annual savings.
The latest person to be brought on the rapidly forming Paramount team? CNN’s former anchor Chris Wallace. He joins RedBird (69% owner of Paramount) as a senior advisor for news investments and will advise on CBS.
The job cuts this time will happen in November.
Paramount has landed The Island, an R-rated comedy pitch from Trevor Noah, with Andrew Jay Cohen (Neighbors) set to script.
The story follows a high-powered businesswoman and a devoted high school teacher, polar opposites stranded together after a plane crash. Noah came up with the idea during COVID lockdowns. Produced through his Day Zero Productions deal at Paramount.
Producing seems like a great path forward for Noah's post-Daily Show world. Day Zero Productions apparently has over 50 projects in development, so at least he's staying busy.
Warner Bros. has acquired With the 8th Pick?, a Kobe Bryant-centered spec script. This hails from newcomers Alex Sohn and Gavin Johannsen, centering on Bryant’s 1996 draft and trade to the Lakers.
Described as Moneyball meets Air, the project goes over the two weeks leading up to the draft and Bryant's snub by the Nets, leading to a late-round pick for the Lakers, and the rest is history.
Everything, including the fairly weird title, is up in the air right now, but this is a huge project for sports biopics.
Amazon Leadership Changes:
Helen Moss, Head of International Theatrical Distribution
Previously: SVP International Distribution, Paramount (2014-2025)
Overseen releases: Mission: Impossible – Fallout, Top Gun: Maverick, and A Quiet Place
Now that Amazon will release 15 films theatrically/year (starting in 2026), Moss is the perfect candidate for their big push internationally.
Tom Lieber, U.S. as Head, Co-Production Genre Development and Current Series
Previously: Head of UK Scripted series
Overseen releases: The Rings of Power, Fallout
Kara Smith, Head, Co-Production Drama, Comedy Development, and Current Series
Previously: Head of TV Development, SVOD Co-Productions
Overseen releases: The Summer I Turned Pretty, Reacher
Smith and Lieber’s elevation tracks. Amazon will need to continue elevating folks, as they decided not to replace their head of studio, Jennifer Salke, after her Bond-related departure.
Tidbit:
Paramount has acquired Brandon Cohen (I Can See You’re Angry)’s comedy spec Bald Eagles in a seven-figure deal. It is simply described as a R-rated workplace comedy. Paramount is kind of in an interesting position. Will it go further down the edgier route that Matt and Trey are taking with South Park, or will it go a more family-oriented route less likely to piss off anyone?
Adam Sandler’s Happy Madison and Shawn Levy’s 21 Laps are developing a feature adaptation of Evan S. Porter’s novel Dad Camp, with Kevin Jakubowski (HBO’s 8-Bit Christmas) writing. The story follows a father-daughter retreat that tests their bond as she nears adolescence.
ABC is developing The Advocate, a legal procedural from writers Tawnya Bhattacharya and Ali Laventhol (My Life With the Walter Boys). It follows a brilliant attorney who opens a small firm after a traumatic brain injury reshapes her personality.
Two Obits:
Harrison Dossick, a lawyer who specialized in IP claims, has died at 65. He helped Angelina Jolie win a case that alleged her directorial debut, In the Land of Blood and Honey, was stolen from a Croatian novel.
Diego Borella, a 3rd AD on Emily in Paris Season 5, has died at 47. He was a Venice local and died of a heart attack on set.
Release dates:
Prime’s Blade Runner 2099
Release: 2026
Cast: Michelle Yeoh, Hunter Schafer
Renewals:
MGM+’s The Institute (renewed for S2)
Cancellations:
Paramount+’s Dexter: Original Sin
First look:
Focus Features’ Hamnet
Dir: Chloé Zhao
Cast: Jessie Buckley, Paul Mescal
See why it has 24 Emmy nominations - click here for more info.
THE ACTOR SPOTLIGHT
Vera Farmiga joins Mark Wahlberg in Apple’s Weekend Warriors. The film is a remake of the German sports comedy-drama Weekend Rebels (2023). Wahlberg and Farmiga will likely play the exasperated parents who find solace in their autistic son’s newfound interest: going cross-country to find his favorite NBA team (German trailer).
We’re hopeful that this isn’t a facsimile of a feel-good film. Wahlberg is exceptional (just see Boogie Nights or The Departed), but as of late, he’s been on a bit of autopilot with boilerplate cool dad saves the world roles: The Union (2024) and The Family Plan (2023).
Interestingly, some of Farmiga’s best work was also in The Departed, and although she never crossed paths with Wahlberg, her work bottling up her own feelings to manage broken cops was something bordering on profound. Watch when she finally let her patient become her therapist (NSFW).
We hope to see them at the top of their game in Weekend Warriors.
Mini Tidbits:
Singer/Musician Hayes Warner joins Ryan Murphy’s FX thriller The Shards as Debbie Shaffer, a connected prep school girl. Based on Bret Easton Ellis’ novel, The Shards follows a group of privileged high school students dealing with a serial killer.
Jerry Adler has died at 96. His career started later in life when, at 62, he was cast across from Joe Pesci in The Public Eye (1992, trailer). Adler was best known for playing Hesh on The Sopranos.
David Ketchum, comedian and voice actor best remembered as Agent 13 in Get Smart (clip), has died at 97.
See why it has 24 Emmy nominations - click here for more info.
FESTIVALS
Sarajevo Film Festival 2025 award winners:
Best Feature Film
Wind, Talk to Me
Premiere: Rotterdam
Synopsis:
After hitting a dog with his car, Stefan, guilt-ridden, decides to bring it with him to the hometown lake, where he is headed in order to complete the film about his mother who has recently passed away.
Jury statement:
“Combining elements of fiction and documentary into a film of beguiling melancholy and delicate beauty…”
Full list of Sarajevo winners here.
Protagonist Picks takes international sales rights for the TIFF doc Modern Whore. Sean Baker serves as an EP.
Synopsis:
Andrea Werhun as she portrays her past roles as escort Mary Ann, stripper Sophia, and her OnlyFans presence - all part of her Toronto sex work journey.
Directed, produced, and co-written by Nicole Bazuin, based on the book she co-authored with Werhun. This has US distribution through Quiver. Teaser.
INDIE FILMMAKER SPOTLIGHT
Another End, starring Gael García Bernal, gets picked up by Sunrise Films (Sew Torn) for US distribution.
Logline:
Two people who have loved each other, and continue to love each other, even after one of them dies.
García Bernal stated:
“We normally think that the body is not the person. The body is a disposable vessel in a way. What this film does is it challenges that notion in a very sensorial and kind of instinctive way, in an elemental way…"
If you’re a sci-fi lover, the trailer will seem intriguing. It’s hard to know if they built out the world to such a large scope that it will smother the story. But the talent power (including Renate Reinsve and Bérénice Bejo) seems so strong as to tilt it back and make this rich.
Release Sept. 19.
A Very Good Boy: IFC has upgraded Ben Leonberg’s $1M horror film Good Boy from a small October 3 release to a nationwide rollout after it went viral online.
Its trailer has garnered over 1.6M views and counting. A horror thriller shot entirely from the perspective of Leonberg’s dog Indy (the most emotive actor of his generation, regardless of species), the 72-minute film has spiked Google searches. Premiering at SXSW with strong reviews (95% on RT), this movie could end up being a breakout hit.
Watch the trailer that everyone's barking about here. In theaters Oct 3rd.
Double-Oscar-nominated DP Eduardo Serra has died at 81. He was best known for DPing Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 & 2.
But his most remarkable work came in the form of The Girl With a Pearl Earring, where he was able to recreate the soft light and saturated pastel hues of the master Dutch painter Vermeer (trailer).
His work got more dramatic as he aged (Shyamalan’s Unbreakable).
Mini Tidbits:
Fernando Lugo, acclaimed music video director, will make his feature debut with Inhuman. The psychological horror-thriller follows a psychiatrist who takes custody of a possessed teenager after a failed exorcism. Starts production next month in Miami.
Actress and filmmaker Tommy Dorfman (SXSW’s I Wish You All the Best) will adapt Detransition, Baby into a film.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
Danish film producer Per Holst has died at 86. He helped shepherd some of the best Danish voices in cinema:
The Element of Crime (1984)
EP: Holst
Dir: Lars von Trier
Pelle the Conqueror (1987)
Producer: Holst
Dir: Bille August
Winner: Palme d’Or
The Boy Who Walked Backwards (1995)
Producer: Holst
Dir: Thomas Vinterberg (his 3rd short film ever)
Holst will be missed.
Hungarian filmmaker Dorka Vermes (Dir: Venice’s Queer-Lion nominee Árni) is developing Places Half Empty, an intimate queer love story set during a repressive regime. Vermes’ mentor, the famed filmmaker Béla Tarr, joins as EP.
The second-highest-earning doc in Chinese history, Four Trails, is getting a UK release. The trailer shows the toughest endurance competition of all time, a 300km race across Hong Kong’s mountainous landscape. Oh, and participants only have 72hrs to finish. NGO U.K.-China Film Collab releases on Oct 30th in the UK.
ON THIS DAY
1930. Sean Connery born in Edinburgh, Scotland.
Written by Gabriel Miller, Spencer Carter, and Madelyn Menapace.
Editor: Gabriel Miller.
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