Featured Voices
If Other Executives Trolled Critics Like Casey Bloys…
How intense is the pressure of being CEO of HBO? You’re constantly calling Kim Cattrall, enduring the other execs at Craig’s passive aggressively asking how “Max” is going, and ever since his show ended, dealing with John Wilson filming outside your house. But the worst part of the job is that TV critics can just […]
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A Wholly Serious and Non-Exhaustive List of 74 Things Hollywood Needs to Ensure a Viable Future (Guest Column)
With the strikes lifted and the town on the verge of going back to work, The Hollywood Reporter asked The Black List founder Franklin Leonard to predict what’s next for the industry. What he came up with was less a prognostication and more a prescription to help Hollywood future-proof itself. A wholly serious and non-exhaustive […]
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“Like When a Beatle Dies”: Hollywood Unpacks Why Matthew Perry’s Loss Feels So Massive
I watched Friends when it originally aired. I was in college in the 1990s, when the sitcom launched and became a cultural phenomenon. I carved Thursday nights out of my calendar, reserving the 8 p.m. hour for my Friends obsession, refusing to go out until after my weekly visit with Ross, Rachel, Monica, Chandler, Joey and Phoebe. I was […]
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Critic’s Notebook: Three Debut Features Give Depth and Dimension to Black Mothers
A.V. Rockwell's 'A Thousand and One,' Savanah Leaf's 'Earth Mama' and now Raven Jackson's 'All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt' are revelatory dramas that shape and shade more complex screen representations of Black mothers.
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Warner Bros. Exec Recalls Casting Chandler: “It Was Magic”
Friends was and is a blessing to so many people around the world. And so was Matthew Perry. The alchemy of brilliant writing, a stellar cast, voice-of-a-generation twentysomethings, and hilarity and emotionality in abundance, made it a wonderful series in 1994 — and unbeknown to all of us, were the ingredients to continue to impact generations […]
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Maha’s Problematic Post: Can Hollywood Move On?
Last November, CAA held a town hall on antisemitism, part of a series hosted through CAA’s Amplify Presents program, described as “a network of changemakers” working toward “systemic change for communities of color.” The program was introduced by agent Maha Dakhil, who said it was “focused on fighting antisemitism and promoting allyship.” Next up was […]
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Iliza Shlesinger: “Jews Have Been Left Off the Agenda”
Innocent Palestinians are enduring a pain and tragedy that I cannot fathom. They have been born into a deeply complex region and society, and it is not right to treat their lives as expendable, or as a solution to a problem. I can’t say it’s right to treat them the way we, the Jews, have […]
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Hollywood’s AI Concerns About “Digital Replicas” Are Now Being Debated by Congress (Guest Column)
Even as the issue of protecting performers from the misuse of artificial intelligence continues to vex the labor negotiations between SAG-AFTRA and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, a second front has just opened. On Oct. 12, four U.S. Senators presented a bipartisan “discussion draft” of legislation intended to protect actors, singers and […]
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“Everyone Wants Us to Pick a Side”: Reporters Grapple With Covering Israel-Hamas War
Clarissa Ward was about to begin a top-of-the-hour CNN live shot in Sderot, Israel, when a Red Alert siren started to blare. The alert is “telling us to find shelter,” Ward said, as her crew hurried toward a bomb shelter. They didn’t make it in time. As Hamas rockets whizzed overhead and Israel’s Iron Dome […]
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‘Euphoria’ Creator Ron Leshem on Israel-Hamas Conflict: “The World Must Prevent Further Escalation” (Guest Column)
For 14 hours, on Saturday, we were texting with my aunt as she hid in her attic and begged for help that never arrived. She witnessed her neighbors, whole families with children and babies, bound and killed on their lawns. Children were shot in their mothers’ arms, then the mothers were taken hostage. Other children were taken […]
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Culture Shift: Why Is Hollywood Ignoring the Data When It Comes to Latino Representation? (Guest Column)
As a Latino, I have the privilege of understanding the rich tapestry of our culture, one woven with vibrant threads of heritage, resilience and passion. Latino culture is as diverse as the U.S. itself, a beautiful kaleidoscope of traditions, flavors, sounds and histories. We run the multicultural/multiracial gamut, including Indigenous, Afro Latinos, Asian Latinos, those […]
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Culture Shift: I’m a Writer Facing Eviction. Do I Regret the Strike? (Guest Column)
For over five months, I’ve stood shoulder-to-shoulder with my union, the Writers Guild of America. Our protest has brought a flawed industry reliant on our creativity to its knees. Our fight, and that of the performers of SAG-AFTRA, wasn’t just about insulating ourselves from AI and other disruptive technologies; we demanded recognition and fair compensation […]
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