Nothing Succeeds Like ‘Succession’
Cynthia Littleton
Congratulations to HBO, “Succession” creator Jesse Armstrong, team “Beef ” and to all the hardy souls who worked the line on “The Bear.” It was worth the extra-long wait for the 2023 Emmy Awards to see great shows feted and stars including Quinta Brunson, Niecy Nash-betts and Ali Wong land meaningful wins.
The pileup of awards shows and January events such as CES and the Sundance Film Festival have made for a busy start to the new year. The fact that the Emmy Awards were handed out on Jan. 15, instead of the usual mid-september, is a reminder of all the tumult of 2023 and the strikes that upended Hollywood’s traditional calendar. The hustle and bustle of the first few weeks of the year has given our editorial team ample opportunity to network, schmooze and pick up insights on the state of showbiz. We leaned on that intel to craft this week’s cover story about the mergers and acquisitions mania sweeping across Hollywood.
Bursts of M&A activity are nothing new for Hollywood. The brothers Warner, for one, scooped up a
Ramin Setoodeh
number of film companies (First National, Vitaphone) in the 1920s to build up their mighty shield. In the modern era, the industry has been in a steady cycle of consolidation for a generation, since Time Inc. and Warner Communications tied the knot in 1990. What’s new in 2024 is the dawning awareness that M&A in itself is unlikely to solve the problems that are dragging down the earning power of media and entertainment’s largest conglomerates. We illuminate why that is and what kind of deals are likely to go down (or not) in 2024.
From hard-nosed business analysis we shift to a look at the hardware taken home by top winners at the 75th annual Emmy Awards. Television’s diamond anniversary comes at a time of immense transition for the medium. No matter how much the delivery systems may be changing, the play is still the thing. At Variety, we never forget that great storytelling and talented storytellers are the precious resources that make our world go round.