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Sussing Out the Warner Bros Merger Bids w/ Laura Shapiro & Recluse
🕑 Added 2025-12-16 08:00:07 +0000 UTCMany of The Farm faithful are movie buffs, so I'm sure the recent bids to merger Warner Brothers with Netflix or Paramount has raised some eyebrows. Even if you're not a movie fan, you should be paying attention. Films and TV aren't just normal products, they shape our hopes and dreams, how we view the world, and how we relate to one another. These issues go well beyond dollars and cents, in other words.
In point of fact, Hollywood has become another front in the battle for the heart and soul of the United States. In trying to make sense of all the ins and outs of this debate, I enlisted Hollywood insider Laura Shapiro. In addition to being one of The Farm's most beloved guests, Laura has worked for two decades as a writer, producer, researcher, dramaturg, and consultant for A-list Hollywood. She has specialized in politics, history, science fiction, and the esoteric for companies including Universal, HBOMax, Lionsgate, and 20th Century Fox. In this capacity, she has worked with filmmakers such as Ed Solomon, Alex Kurtzman, Steven Soderbergh and David O. Russell. Laura has contributed to the numerous feature films and television projects, including The Mummy, Now You See Me 2, No Sudden Move, and the HBO limited series’ Mosaic and Full Circle. She recently launched her production and consulting company, Psychopomp Investigations.
We cover a range of topics in this discussion, including what makes Warner Brothers special in the first place; how Trump 1.0 and now 2.0 has been upending the media industry; the forces backing Paramount's hostile takeover, Jane Fonda's activism; and even why current WB CEO David Zaslav fancies himself the new Robert Evans. Plus, some reflections on the murder of Rob Reiner.
As always, I hope everyone enjoys.
Music by: Keith Allen Dennis
https://keithallendennis.bandcamp.com/
Comments
domi
Comparing Obama to Adam Sandler is a bit absurd, one of them used to be the president, the other is a bad comedy actor (albeit one of the highest paid). But to say that Zaslav is a bad guy because he "fired accountants" is a ridiculous understatement - the man nearly cut the animation industry in half, not to mention his attempt to can a completed feature in Coyote Vs Acme. Competing logic in Shaprio's praise of Zaslav.
Mini_Alienzz
Blacklisting, huh.. here I would implore those who agree with Shapiro (as I do) to consider if they’d hold the same stance that all of these opinions and voices have a right to be heard no matter what they’re saying, like when a certain nation in the Middle East (not a Christian or Islamic one..) is being criticized, or when certain events and people are being questioned. All this picking and choosing of when things are going “too far” is why the free speech movements quickly dissolve; most people are not as accepting of different beliefs as they seem to think they are.
