The Ankler

The Ankler Hollywood's insider newsletter. Don't eat lunch in this town without it.

The Ankler is the flagship brand within Ankler Media, a new company formed in December 2021 helmed by Janice Min, CEO and editor in chief, and Richard Rushfield, editorial director and The Ankler’s Chief Columnist. One of Fast Company’s “10 Newsletters That Make You Smarter,” The Ankler newsletter launched in 2017 and quickly became the most buzzed-about voice in coverage of the entertainment indu

stry. Created by veteran reporter Richard Rushfield as a sharp-edged alternative to traditional trade reporting, The Ankler quickly became a much-passed-around open secret in the industry, greeted with relief by those who wanted to see someone asking the questions that were being swept under the rug – and doing it with wit and elan. Since its launch, Hollywood has been roiled by a series of crises – the Harvey Weinstein revelations and the reckoning that followed, the upheaval and dislocations of the streaming war, dramatic struggles about representation of people of color in the executive ranks and the COVID shutdown to name just a few. At each of these, The Ankler has proven an indispensable voice – speaking plainly about injustice and foolishness on all sides of the debate. On issue after issue, The Ankler's perspective has set the terms of the debate that has followed.

Sora 2, OpenAI’s new video engine, can now fake humans and performances so perfectly it’s poised to break the internet *...
10/09/2025

Sora 2, OpenAI’s new video engine, can now fake humans and performances so perfectly it’s poised to break the internet *and* the industry. How do you preserve what it means to be human on screen? There’s a way forward, Erik Barmack writes, but it’s going to take a lot of lawyers, and it can’t wait. Tap the link in bio for more or comment “Sora” and we’ll DM you the link to the story

Richard Rushfield asks: has Hollywood developed a death wish? The town shrugs as Paramount and Warners edge toward mergi...
10/09/2025

Richard Rushfield asks: has Hollywood developed a death wish? The town shrugs as Paramount and Warners edge toward merging, potentially gutting the business and hand even more control to power players tied to the White House. The silence may prove fatal: https://theankler.com/p/hollywoods-death-wish-starring-everyone

10/09/2025

Lesley Goldberg joins The Ankler Podcast to unpack her list of the 10 most influential showrunners. She explores how Quinta Brunson’s Abbott Elementary helped revive the mockumentary format and prove broadcast can still mint new stars: https://theankler.com/p/10-showrunners-shaping-tv-right-as

Creators have already conquered YouTube. Now they’re eyeing the living room. Natalie Jarvey reports on how MrBeast, Dhar...
10/08/2025

Creators have already conquered YouTube. Now they’re eyeing the living room. Natalie Jarvey reports on how MrBeast, Dhar Mann, and others are launching FAST (free ad-supported TV) channels to grow their brands and what dealmakers say about the real money behind it https://theankler.com/p/fast-times-and-cash-for-youtube-creators-683

The “GPT-5 pass” has gone from curiosity to mandate. Scripts, trailers, pitch decks are all being filtered through an AI...
10/07/2025

The “GPT-5 pass” has gone from curiosity to mandate. Scripts, trailers, pitch decks are all being filtered through an AI model that remembers every draft and forgets what originality looks like. Erik Barmack on Hollywood’s uneasy reset:
https://theankler.com/p/run-it-through-gpt-5-the-phrase-changing

For a decade, Hollywood has run itself like a business. That’s exactly what’s driven it into crisis. Richard sees the in...
10/07/2025

For a decade, Hollywood has run itself like a business. That’s exactly what’s driven it into crisis. Richard sees the industry’s obsession with efficiency, profit, and consolidation as stripping away the creative balance that once sustained it: https://theankler.com/p/they-dont-come-in-peace

10/06/2025

Taylor Swift’s The Release Party of a Showgirl gave the box office the shot in the arm it needed…for a weekend. Swift was able to roll out her film wide and fast only because no major studios had anything to release: a sign of how thin the movie slate has become. Watch Sean McNulty and Richard Rushfield’s take on the weekend’s box office: https://theankler.com/p/richard-and-sean-the-rock-and-a24

Female pleasure has taken center stage: Sinners and One Battle After Another are breaking boundaries onscreen, while Tay...
10/06/2025

Female pleasure has taken center stage: Sinners and One Battle After Another are breaking boundaries onscreen, while Taylor Swift’s The Life of a Showgirl amplifies the conversation in pop. Katey Rich connects the dots across this year’s cultural reckoning https://theankler.com/p/thighs-wide-open-taylor-sinners-and

From fewer network buyers to Netflix’s shift toward global “shiny floor” formats, the unscripted business is transformin...
10/06/2025

From fewer network buyers to Netflix’s shift toward global “shiny floor” formats, the unscripted business is transforming fast. Elaine Low speaks with a top unscripted TV agent about where the opportunities and landmines are now https://theankler.com/p/confessions-of-an-unscripted-tv-agent

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