Next TV had originally intended to run here our "Ten Diverse Impact Makers Under 10 to Watch" issue, showcasing the youthful hitmakers, dealmakers and earth movers, of all colors, orientations and pronouns — but very, very young — shaping Hollywood into a little ball they could put in a paper cup and crush with their little bare hands. Ad sales were brisk for this little “iconography” package, and we had plenty of high chairs and booster seats lined up at a Beverly Hills luxury hotel at which we were going to stage our associated black-tie event early next year. But our legal department stopped us at the last minute. Seemed wise to let them. Lawyers, right? So we're once again filling this space with yet another one of those long-winded “Next Text” columns, featuring an industry discussion by Next TV writers Daniel Frankel and David Bloom. The way it goes …
DANIEL FRANKEL: Happy pre-holiday Friday, David. Don’t know if you have any travel plans coming up. I’m planning a Netflix-and-chill moment at the ol’ crib this weekend — Sony’s Gran Turismo just dropped, and there's a new holiday-themed Murderville Mystery with Will Arnett and Jason Bateman. I question every streaming subscription I’m paying for these days. But especially with acquisitions returning to Netflix in numbers, that’s one bill I remain just fine with paying. It’s the best business in entertainment right now … for audiences and shareholders alike. But I did get a dose of consternation this week from all the media punditry, like Kubrick’s 2001 apes, standing around Netflix’s big H1 2023 data dump, splitting the lentil in a million different ways. There were some interesting takes, don't get me wrong. But nobody came up with fundamental answers in terms of what it all means and why Netflix just gave it to us.
