Paramount Skydance Deal & French Elections: International Insider

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Paramount & Skydance Getting Hitched

Sneezes and colds: When the U.S. sneezes, the world catches a cold, we are told, but things could be more complex when it comes to the Skydance-Paramount deal. Our learned business gurus in the States have been busy beavering away to bring you all the twists and turns from the proposed $8B deal over the past week or so. David Ellison, who returned to the M&A alter with Shari Redstone last week after initially pulling out, has been busy plotting a path to the future. Ellison, Jeff Shell and RedBird Capital have been looking to woo Wall Street in recent days, my colleague Jill Goldsmith writes, pointing to $2B in running cost synergies and a streaming break-even in 18 months or sooner if a partner emerges. It’s worth remembering that Paramount’s past year or so has already seen cuts and layoffs. There is technically now a few-weeks-long period where Paramount could entertain other offers but Sony will not be one of them, we just revealed. Shell will oversee the combined company under Ellison. RedBird’s $1.8B cash injection in the deal will be Gerry Cardinale firm’s biggest investment ever. Co-CEOs Brian Robbins, George Cheeks and Chris McCarthy will continue to steer the ship for now, at least on paper, while regulatory hurdles are jumped. One U.S. industry source told me that the glacial pace of regulation means that, by the time the deal clears, the landscape may once again have shifted beyond recognition. “How do you make a five-year plan when the world changes every six months?,” they queried. On record, noises so far about the deal have been quietly positive, ranging from ratings agencies, to Hollywood execs, to Top Gun star Tom Cruise.

“Global” above the door: Sources outside the States have been busy querying what this all means for the world of international. “Global” is in the name above the Paramount door, after all. Never fear. Stewart sat down with a number of analysts a few days ago to help answer the queries. These analysts are already considering what happens next given the company’s major free-TV operations in Argentina, Australia, Chile and the UK, cable nets around the world, FAST service Pluto TV, local iterations of Paramount+ and a long-established program sales business that shops the likes of the NCIS and CSI franchises around the world. That’s not to mention SkyShowtime, the Paramount/Comcast JV that has been quietly going about its business for the past couple of years and could do without interruption. Some of Stewart’s interviewees reckoned that the merger under the wing of the future-facing Ellison could prove a boon for international, but with streamer Paramount+ having failed to truly land outside the U.S. as its owner would have hoped – bit of a reminder here – things will be no doubt be tough going. “Internationally, Paramount+ does not have necessary scale to grow profitably, and the merger with Skydance does not change that,” said Enders Analysis’ Francois Godard. Dive deeper into Stewart’s story here.

Dear lord, not more synergies: As mentioned, the Skydance deal is predicated on $2B worth of running cost synergies, so things could get painful. With the ‘sneezes’ and ‘colds’ moniker still running through the mind, Paramount employees based outside the U.S. will be concerned that said synergies could more than trickle down. One only needs to look at the most recent example of a U.S. conglom merger, that of Warner Media and Discovery, to see how international can be dented by the requirement for big savings. That merger has involved non-U.S. teams being revamped along with a rather fast-swinging exit door that has seen the backs of many a talented international exec. By staff numbers, Paramount’s international footprint is smaller than WBD’s, while Skydance only has a small presence outside the States, meaning there isn’t the scope for eliminating duplicate roles in offices around the world. But nonetheless, in this tricky time beset by content cuts and streamer rowbacks, employees will be hoping and praying for BAU for as long as possible. Keep checking back on deadline.com for the latest.

France At Political Impasse

Future unknown: The French film and TV world breathed a collective sigh of relief on July 7 as a surprise win in snap parliamentary elections for the left-wing New Popular Front (NFP) alliance averted the possibility of the far-right National Rally (RN) party coming into power. While there was joy on the streets of France on Sunday night, the country has now entered political impasse. The NFP, which brings together parties from across a wide left-wing spectrum, is struggling to agree on who to designate as prime minister. In addition, the fact it lacks an absolute majority means it will have to forge alliances with centrist parties in order to rule. The CGT Spectacle union, representing workers across the arts and culture sector, put out a statement on Thursday welcoming the NFP win, but said it remained worried about state backing for live entertainment, the future of the state broadcasters, employment benefit changes impacting workers in the sector and press independence. That’s a weighty list. With just two weeks to go before the opening of the Olympic Games in Paris, the clock is ticking for political clarity. Figures from the arts want answers.

Holocaust Projects

New dimension: Jonathan Glazer’s Oscar-winning The Zone of Interest brought a new dimension to projects about the Holocaust and this appears to be continuing long into 2024. In the early hours of Tuesday morning, we revealed that Lionsgate had landed its first Israeli series, a spy drama starring Dark’s Oliver Masucci about the hunt for Doctor Josef Mengele, which will see the U.S. major team with Israel’s Yes and Gil Formats. The as-yet-untitled show will follow an alpha male on a kibbutz, played by Masucci (if you haven’t watched Netflix’s Dark then you should), who is forced by the Israeli spy agency to return to Germany and infiltrate a cell of SS veterans with the aim of locating the Nazi war criminal, who was nicknamed The Angel of Death due to the gruesome experiments he carried out on Auschwitz inmates. Deadline’s scoop preceded Stewart’s interview with Harvey Keitel, star of Sky/Peacock’s The Tattooist Of Auschwitz adaptation, which has been garnering big numbers for its co-commissioners, proving a current penchant for holocaust programing. You can read that shortly on deadline.com. Meanwhile in the Zone of Interest‘s ripples, streamer Max’s The Commandant’s Shadow debuts next week. The documentary looks at the story of the real Rudolf Höss, as his son Hans Jürgen addresses his father’s terrible legacy for the first time when he meets a woman who survived the concentration camp. The trailer is incredibly moving.

Streaming Stories From Australia

‘Angst’ offsets Offset cheer: Australia remains one of the buzziest production centers in global television, but its recent successes are being offset by fear about the future direction of the sector. Last week, the country’s Location Offset tax rebate scheme was increased from 16.5% to 30%, a move that is expected to see more Hollywood and overseas investment. There was rightly much cheer, but just a few days later Screen Producers Australia boss Matthew Deaner was calling out the government for pushing through that legislation, while allowing a deadline to set a streamer levy pass. The country’s Revive national cultural policy, announced last year, instructed Netflix, Prime Video and co to pay a portion of their local revenues towards Australian content, but nothing has happened since. Producers have been concerned all year as weeks went by with no word. They’re worried streamers are holding back spend on originals while they await their fate. But it would be unfair to say the streamers are not commissioning at all. Jesse and Stewart revealed Tuesday that Prime Video crime comedy series Deadloch would return for a second case. They also heard from Amazon MGM Studios’ Sydney-based exec Sarah Christie, who walked them through their creative approach, updated on The Office Australia and Jacob Elordi’s performance in the upcoming The Narrow Road to the Deep North adaptation. Strewth! Elsewhere in Oz, Succession actor Ashley Zukerman is among the cast of new feature Song Of Songs, which will be exec-produced by Elizabeth director Shekhar Kapur, Andreas and Mel reported. The Anita Lester-directed identity drama, developed by Screen Australia and sold by LevelK, is one of three development projects being backed by a new fund for Jewish Australian features.

Rehearsal Time For Breaking Baz

Well hey there Dolly!: Triple helping of deep dives from our roving International Editor-at-Large this week and I wanted to focus on this exclusive interview with the team behind a new West End production of Hello, Dolly! starring Imelda Staunton. Baz got to spend time watching rehearsals, which makes for a fascinating insight. The show started previews last Saturday where it was rapturously received, but the creative team knew there was still work to do before official opening night July 18, Baz writes. While marvelling at Staunton’s stamina, he was immediately shot down when he suggested her understudy may have to fill in on occasion during the 10-week run. “She’s Imelda Staunton,” producer Michael Harrison said grandly. “Imelda Staunton doesn’t have a stand-by or a cover, she does the lot!” Meanwhile, the producers and director chatted the influence of German theater, regional productions and resets. Hungry for more bites of Baz? Check out his scoop on The Teachers Lounge’s auteur İlker Çatak’s next project here and report on the Ali musical’s move to Chicago here.

The Essentials

🌶️ Hot One:  Rustin star Aml Ameen is leading feature thriller Killing of a Nation about political unrest and crime in Haiti, per Andreas.

🌶️ Also Hot: Will Forte and D’Arcy Carden have been cast in darkly comic drama series Sunny Nights for Australian streamer Stan.

🌶️ Hotter: Fremantle label The Immigrant landed show deals with Disney and Amazon.

🏎️ Pitt Stop: Brad Pitt was at Silverstone shooting ‘F1’ and the movie’s producer Jerry Bruckheimer and director Joseph Kosinski set the record straight on the budget… and Pitt’s driving.

⚽ Soccer’s coming home: The BBC & ITV have been amassing huge viewing figures for the Euros, and Gary Lineker has been shouting about it.

🏪 Setting up shop: Ex-YMU head Holly Bott with a new agency that counts Claudia Winkleman among its clients.

🔄 Restructure: Within Warner Bros. Discovery’s international kids team. Christopher Ho is out.

🏕️ Festivals latest: Deauville American Film Fest is marking its 50th anniversary with a retrospective.

🏕️ More festivals: Sharon Stone will be handed the lifetime achievement award at Taormina.

🖼️ Slate: For Prime Video Spain, including thriller feature Zeta and scripted series Cochinas.

🍿 Box office: Inside Out 2 has become Pixar’s highest-grossing film worldwide with a mind-boggling $1.25B.

🖊️ Signed: French-Algerian writer-director Emma Benestan by Black Bear.

🎥 Trail: For Nigerian-British supernatural horror feature A Song From The Dark.

Melanie Goodfellow and Jesse Whittock contributed to this week’s Insider