Film and TV Briefing: Friday 13 October 2023

In the news

SAG-AFTRA and the AMPTP’s latest round of negotiations are suspended (Deadline)

WGA members vote to ratify new contract with the AMPTP, officially bringing the US writers’ strike to an end (Variety)

DreamWorks to lay off 4% of its staff (Deadline)

Netflix UK reports 12% increase in its revenue in 2022 despite slowdown in subscriber growth (The Guardian)

SAG-AFTRA accuses AMPTP-member studios of engaging in "bully tactics" (Variety)

The number of animation studios in Africa has increased (Variety)

Netflix UK's production expenditure increased by 11% in 2022, partly due to inflation (Variety)

UTA announces a round of staff layoffs (Deadline)

Netflix and Shondaland acquire distribution rights to ‘Black Barbie: A Documentary’ (Variety)

Features and commentary

Are TV schedulers becoming irrelevant? (Deadline)

Five wider crises facing the film and television industry following the end of the US writers’ strike (The Hollywood Reporter)

Industry announcements

Lowell Peterson to step down as WGA East Executive Director (Deadline)

Nominations announced for this year’s BAFTA Scotland Awards (BAFTA)

Ebony Media Group and Lionsgate launch Ebony TV, a FAST channel aimed at black audiences (Deadline)

Netflix and the European Women’s Audiovisual Network launch new accelerator programme for female-identified European producers interested in scripted television (Variety)

Resources

Channel 4 updates its legal and compliance resources for indie producers (Pact)

Submissions for Series Mania Forum’s Co-Pro Pitching sessions are open (Pact)

New Welsh language feature film fund: applications now open (Pact)

Legal updates

BBC and ITV among seven companies being investigated by the Competition and Markets Authority for possible breaches of competition law when engaging freelancers (Deadline)

Former producer of ‘60 Minutes’ sues CBS for alleged gender discrimination (Variety)