🎬 Chris Nolan Party Trick

👋 Good morning! The Library of Congress just selected 25 films for the National Film Registry—essentially the government's way of declaring "these films must survive," requiring preservation and ensuring these works remain available for future generations to study and understand American culture. Among this year's selections deemed worthy of government protection: ‘Spy Kids.’ Somewhere, Floop is feeling very validated.

Welcome aboard the Dailies. As you sip your morning brew, we’ll get you caught up with the fast-paced world of Hollywood—no need to chase down a newsstand, we’ve got everything you need right here.

🎞 Here’s what’s on the reel today:

• Hollywood’s Building Framework for AI

• Fubo vs. Venu Sports

• Netflix’s Chris Nolan Party Trick

• The Academy Drops Shortlists

• Last Looks: 👀 Bite-sized scoops on developing stories/projects

• Video Village: The latest trailers

• Martini Shot 🍸

CLOSEUP
🤖 Hollywood’s laying framework for AI…

As tech companies race to push out more AI tools, Hollywood's heavyweights are choosing their paths carefully. Here's how two major players are tackling the AI challenge:

YouTube & CAA draw the line on AI doubles…

With deepfakes becoming increasingly sophisticated and AI-generated content flooding platforms, YouTube's teaming up with CAA to tackle the identity crisis head-on.

The platform announced yesterday that it’s rolling out first-of-its-kind likeness management tech that lets CAA talent track and control AI-generated content featuring their faces. It's the latest move in CAA's growing AI protection arsenal, following their CAA Vault service that helps clients secure and control their digital identities.

The rollout starts early 2025, with CAA's impressive roster leading the charge. From Oscar winners to NFL stars, talent will get unprecedented control over their digital likenesses, including streamlined removal requests. But this isn't just about protecting the A-list—YouTube's planning to make this tech widely available down the line.

👆 Translation: They're trying to get ahead of the deepfake flood before it becomes a tsunami.

'Clean' AI video model enters the chat…

Los Angeles-based Moonvalley and Asteria Film are launching ‘Marey,’ a video model that's positioning itself as the ethical alternative to tech giants' offerings. The timing is interesting: it comes just weeks after The Atlantic revealed that AI companies have been using dialogue from more than 53,000 movies and 85,000 TV shows to train their systems, all without asking permission.

The pitch: Set to launch in early 2025, Marey is doing things differently. Instead of grabbing content from wherever they can find it, they're actually paying for all their training data. They're even filming their own original content to fill in gaps where they need more examples. It's a stark contrast to companies like OpenAI, who say it's "impossible" to train AI without using copyrighted material, or Meta, who's mixing paid-for content with whatever they can find online. For movie studios worried about legal headaches, Marey's "play it safe" approach is starting to look pretty attractive.

Looking ahead... Hollywood seems to be learning from past tech disruptions: better to build the right foundation now than patch problems later. Whether it works remains to be seen, but at least they're not sitting on the sidelines.

WIDESHOT
🎬 Fubo lawsuit, Netflix’s party trick, and shortlists…

🏛️📺 A federal judge green-lit FuboTV's lawsuit against Disney, Fox, and Warner's planned sports streaming superapp, Venu Sports. Judge Margaret Garnett's decision sets the stage for a showdown in October 2025 that could rewrite the rules of sports media distribution. The suit takes aim at a critical industry pain point: cable networks—who collectively control over half of America's pro and college sports rights—are desperately hanging onto live sports as their last reliable viewership goldmine, while streaming services crash their party. FuboTV argues that media giants are abusing their leverage by preventing TV providers from carrying popular sports channels like ESPN unless they also pay for and carry dozens of less-watched channels, artificially inflating consumer costs. The timing is particularly potent, with the NBA quadrupling its broadcast presence and streaming platforms muscling into what was once cable's exclusive territory. For media giants watching their cable empire shrink from 100M homes to just 50M, the ruling signals their long-standing bundling strategy might be living on borrowed time.

🎭🤖 Netflix's film chief Dan Lin raised eyebrows with an unconventional party trick: using AI-generated Christopher Nolan vocals to narrate the division's year-end highlights. The move hit a particularly discordant note given Nolan's well-documented stance against Netflix and streaming platforms, plus the industry's ongoing anxiety about AI technology. Lin, who took the helm amid Netflix's cost-cutting push and has faced criticism for his management style, had the AI Nolan voice lavish praise on the streaming giant's achievements. The incident captures 2024's Hollywood zeitgeist: the collision of streaming ambitions, AI advancement, and traditional filmmaking values. While Netflix confirmed the AI usage, Nolan's camp has remained silent.

🎬🏆 The Oscar race is heating up as the Academy unveils shortlists in 10 categories. Think of these shortlists as the first round of playoffs, where the Academy narrows down which films will compete for nominations. While these categories cover areas like Visual Effects and Original Song, the year's biggest races—including Best Picture, Director, and Acting categories—won't be revealed until nominations are announced. Next up, Academy members vote Jan. 8-12, 2025, with final nominees announced Jan. 17. These early picks give us our first real look at which movies might be taking home gold on Oscar night. Here are some highlights:

• ‘Emilia Pérez’ made a big splash, showing up in six categories from International Feature to Original Song, while ‘Wicked’ landed four spots in technical areas.

• Major franchise films dominated technical races, with 'Dune: Part Two', 'Deadpool & Wolverine', 'Gladiator II', and 'Alien: Romulus' all making multiple appearances.

• The shortlists showcase an even split between streaming platforms and traditional studios.

• Films from 15 countries made the International Feature shortlist, including entries from Brazil, France, Palestine, and Thailand.

• Check out the full lists here. 👈👀

INTERMISSION: A MESSAGE FROM THE DAILIES
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LAST LOOKS
Development 🗒️

• Kristen Bell returns as host for the 2025 SAG Awards. (more)

• A24 teams up with Liverpool FC for a drama series about legendary manager Bill Shankly. (more)

• Ansel Elgort teams up with director Catherine Hardwicke for ‘If You Could See Me Now,’ an adaptation of Cecelia Ahern’s novel. (more)

• Rowan Atkinson returns to Netflix in ‘Man vs Baby,’ a follow-up to ‘Man vs Bee.’ (more)

• James Wan's Atomic Monster has snagged rights to adapt the indie survival game ‘Pacific Drive’ into a TV series, with no network attached yet. (more)

• Sean Bean, Mackenzie Foy, and Odeya Rush will star in ‘The Isolate Thief,’ a Civil War-era Western about survival, betrayal, and stolen gold. (more)

• Emilia Clarke, Edgar Ramirez, and Jack Farthing will star in Drake Doremus' ‘Next Life.’ (more)

• BBC Studios and Disney have announced the first-ever ‘Bluey’ animated feature film. (more)

• Amazon MGM Studios secures ‘Stand-In,’ a new film by Rudy Mancuso and Dan Lagana, with Andy and Barbara Muschietti set to produce. (more)

• Camila Morrone and Adam DiMarco will star in Netflix’s atmospheric horror series ‘Something Very Bad Is Going To Happen.’ (more)

• Dustin Hoffman, André Holland, Alison Brie, and Tom Sturridge join psychological drama ‘The Revisionist.’ (more)

• Bob Persichetti and Justin K. Thompson will direct ‘Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse,’ the final chapter in Sony’s Spider-Verse trilogy. (more)

• CBS orders ‘Zarna,’ a multi-cam comedy pilot starring Zarna Garg, with Mindy Kaling, Kevin Hart, and Darlene Hunt producing. (more)

Renewed & Canceled ✅ ❌

• ‘A Man on the Inside’ is renewed for S2 by Netflix. (more)

• ‘Secret Level’ has been renewed for S2 at Prime Video. (more)

• ‘Silo’ is renewed for two final seasons by Apple TV+. (more)

• ‘The Kelly Clarkson Show’ is renewed for S7. (more)

• ‘Bad Monkey’ is renewed for S2 by Apple. (more)

• ‘The Old Man’ is canceled by FX after S2. (more)

• ‘Girls5Eva’ is canceled after S3 at Netflix. (more)

Business 🤝

• Aaron Korsh signs an overall deal with UCP, returning as showrunner for ‘Suits LA’ while developing exclusive new series for the studio. (more)

• The Center for American Rights files an FCC petition challenging the Paramount-Skydance merger, citing concerns over Tencent’s influence and CBS News’ alleged biases. (more)

• Marvel Studios exec Nate Moore is departing to focus on producing, staying on through ‘Captain America: Brave New World’ and ‘Black Panther 3.’ (more)

• Erin and Sara Foster ink a multi-year overall deal with 20th Television following the success of their Netflix hit ‘Nobody Wants This.’ (more)

Other News 🚨

• Ozy Media founder Carlos Watson gets 10 years for fraud, including executive impersonation and document falsification. (more)

• The Berlin Film Festival unveils its first 2025 titles, under the leadership of artistic director Tricia Tuttle. (more)

• Discover the insider techniques writer/producers rely on to craft TV pitches that sell. (more)*

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