Film and TV Briefing: Friday 30 May 2025
Welcome to this week’s round-up of news, commentary and industry announcements that you may have missed from the past week.
If you are looking for advice in relation to any of the issues mentioned, please do not hesitate to get in touch.
In the news
Channel 4 moves into in-house production, targeting organic IP (The Hollywood Reporter)
Paramount offers millions to Trump to secure Skydance Merger (Deadline)
BBC’s Head of Nations announces change to commissioning of new network productions (PACT)
Netflix Founder joins board of AI giant Anthropic (The Hollywood Reporter)
Three newcomers announced as leads for HBO’s Harry Potter (The Guardian)
‘Lilo & Stitch’ dominates Box Office with $340 million opening (Deadline)
Marathi language films could threaten Bollywood’s Hindi dominance (BBC)
‘Karate Kid: Legends’ could kick off with a $25 million debut (Variety)
Mubi pushes European expansion and targets Italian market (Variety)
Warner Bros. Discovery sees credit rating slashed to Junk Bond status (The Hollywood Reporter)
Features and commentary
Will TV brands’ foray into streaming reap success? (The Hollywood Reporter)
Is the BBC taking young audiences seriously enough? (Broadcast)
Letitia Wright unveils directorial debut and notes "huge burden" of representation for black film-makers (The Guardian)
Critics review the stand-out titles from this year’s Cannes Festival (Screen Daily)
Industry announcements
AVLA licence marks new revenue stream for producers (PACT)
WGGB calls for evidence on free work requested from writers (WGGB)
Resources
PACT releases guidance on broken turnaround (PACT)
Legal updates
NPR launches lawsuit against Trump for cutting federal funding (The Hollywood Reporter)
Disney sues YouTube over allegations around poaching of leading Exec (The Hollywood Reporter)
