Film and TV Briefing: Friday 5 December 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
UK indies call commissioning process “medieval” (Broadcast)
'Wicked: For Good' leads UK's box office totalling £32million (Variety)
Guillermo del Toro to be honoured with BFI's fellowship award (BFI)
Trump’s impact on the creative industries (Broadcast)
BAFTA announces its 2025 US breakthroughs (BAFTA)
Sky/ITV takeover looks to bring competition to Netflix (Broadcast)
Netflix viewership record broken by ‘Stranger Things’ Season 5 (Guardian)
Wicked filmmaker enters into first-look deal with Paramount (Deadline)
HBO Max to launch in the UK and Ireland in 2026 (Variety)
Second bids are in for Warner Bros. Discovery (Hollywood Reporter)
‘The Celebrity Traitors’ announced as the UK's biggest show of the year (Broadcast)
AI use was banned from ‘Avatar’ films with James Cameron celebrating actors (Variety)
BAFTA hits membership diversity targets however falls short on gender (ScreenDaily)
'One Battle After Another' wins best film at New York Film Critics 2025 (Deadline)
James Cameron speaks out on Netflix's potential acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery (IndieWire)
Winners of the British Independent Film Awards 2025 announced (BFI)
Features and commentary
HBO's Casey Bloys discusses AI, ‘Euphoria’ and ‘Industry’ (Hollywood Reporter)
WGGB former president David Edgar discusses the life of Sir Tom Stoppard (WGGB)
Industry announcements
Pact and Musicians Union agreement nearing conclusion (Pact)
Scottish government publishes its independent review of Creative Scotland (Gov.Scot)
Equity to hold ballot on whether performers may be digitally scanned (ScreenDaily)
Legal updates
Matthew Perry's doctor given 30 months in federal prison (Variety)
The fraud trial commences in Netflix v Carl Rinsch (Variety)
