🎬 No Middleman

👋 Good morning! When YouTube film critic Chris Stuckmann took his directorial debut to Kickstarter, 'Shelby Oaks' became the platform's highest-funded horror film at $1.4M. After Mike Flanagan signed on as EP and Neon picked up distribution, the team found a perfect way to honor their 14,720 Kickstarter backers: working every name into the official poster. The paranormal thriller arrives at the end of this month.

You made it to Friday—gold star for you. We've got your last dose of industry news before the weekend. First up, let’s dive into what people were streaming this week. 👇

TOP STREAMED
📊 This week’s top-streamed originals…

How last week’s releases are stacking up…

• 👮 Wayward: (Netflix) Most-streamed show across all platforms this week, pulling in 4M season views and 23.4M hours in its first week according to Luminate.

• 🍺 House of Guinness: (Netflix) Logged 2.3M season views and 15.4M hours in its first week. Decent start, but not really a breakout by Netflix standards.

• 🕵️ Slow Horses: (Apple TV+) S5 premiere hit 2.2M views in week 1, a nice bump from last season’s opener (1.7M views).

• 🎶 Ruth & Boaz: (Netflix) Most-streamed movie of the week across all platforms, drawing 2.3M views over its debut weekend.

Top-streamed chart (U.S.) Sep. 26 to Oct. 2. Data provided by Luminate.

CLOSEUP
🎤 Taylor Swift is bypassing distributors (again)…

Hollywood gatekeepers become irrelevant when you command 560M social media followers. As Taylor Swift's 12th album drops today, she's simultaneously launching 'The Official Release Party of a Showgirl' in theaters nationwide. It’s basically an 89-minute album release party featuring her new music video, BTS footage, and lyric videos for fans to sing along.

The deal: Most artists releasing concert films need to find and partner with a major studio for marketing and distribution. Swift took a different path:

• She called AMC CEO Adam Aron directly—no middleman, no studio cut, no three-month marketing campaign

• It's her second direct-to-exhibitor deal with AMC, following 2023's 'Eras Tour' which became the highest-grossing concert film ever at $261M worldwide

• AMC reportedly got better terms this time, though the exact revenue split remains under wraps

• This release won't match 'Eras Tour' numbers, but theater owners are still celebrating the timely boost

Some interesting Hollywood history: Until recently, this deal would've been illegal. For 70 years, the Paramount Decrees (antitrust rules from 1948) prevented movie theaters from distributing films. The government created these rules to break up studio monopolies that controlled both making and showing movies. Their 2020 repeal allows AMC to legally serve as Swift's distributor, letting her skip the studios entirely with one deal covering all their locations.

Another perk of the repeal: Swift gets to set playful ticket prices. This weekend’s release is $12 for her 12th album, while 'Eras Tour' was $19.89 as a nod to her '1989' album.

The box office weekend ahead… Swift's film is tracking for a $35-45M opening. Pretty impressive considering she announced this thing just two weeks ago. AMC is telling audiences to go ahead and sing and dance during the show (just don't stand on the seats or block the aisles).

INTERMISSION: A MESSAGE FROM OUR SPONSOR
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CLOSEUP
🔥 Spec scripts are suddenly hot again…

Remember that August spec script surge we reported on? The numbers had been trending up all summer: 23 specs sold across the summer months, with 9 in August alone (the highest monthly volume since March 2017). Many wondered if it was just a lucky streak. But recently, multiple insiders have weighed in with what they're seeing behind the scenes: this is actually part of a shift they've been tracking for the past two years. Here’s why they say we’re seeing a surge:

• Superhero fatigue: Entertainment 360's Geoff Shaevitz (on The Town podcast this week) connects it directly to Marvel's decline. When Marvel stopped being the guaranteed golden ticket, studios had to pivot.

• Studio frustration with packages: Buyers are tired of take-it-or-leave-it packages where they're stuck with whatever director and star the agency bundled together. They want clean specs they can package themselves. Plus, there's the speed factor: a finished script beats five years in development hell.

• Audience demand for originality: Warner Bros. proved the audience appetite exists, notching seven consecutive $40M+ openings this year with originals like ‘Sinners’ and ‘Weapons.’

What this looks like on the ground: Reps who wouldn't touch original scripts two years ago are now actively selling them, with several deals turning into bidding wars. We're seeing seven-figure deals without any talent attached (unthinkable in 2023). According to insiders, both studios and streamers are jumping in when the right project hits the market.

What's actually selling: According to dealmakers, high-concept thrillers and action scripts are the hot sellers, with rom-coms getting love from Netflix. Horror's cooled off a bit as indie buyers prefer thrillers now. Also, family films are benefiting from superhero fatigue.

The contrarian take: Veteran talent lawyer Linda Lichter argues "the business is healthier when people are developing." Translation: This spec boom might actually be a symptom of something broken. Studios may have slashed their development departments so severely that they now lack the infrastructure to nurture ideas from scratch. Instead of developing projects, they're buying finished scripts because they have to.

ICYMI
⚡️ Quick hits…

📺 Bari Weiss is taking over CBS News. Paramount's reportedly naming her the network's first-ever editor-in-chief after buying her site The Free Press for $150M. She'll report directly to CEO David Ellison, bypassing CBS's traditional structure. An official announcement is expected on Monday.

🎙️ The Golden Globes are doing podcasts now. They just dropped the list for their first-ever Best Podcast award, featuring the usual suspects: 'The Joe Rogan Experience,' 'Call Her Daddy,' 'SmartLess,' 'Crime Junkie' and 'The Daily.' They're picking based on who's getting the most plays on Spotify, Apple and YouTube.

🤖 So there's an AI "director" now, too. Italian producer Andrea Iervolino unveiled 'The Sweet Idleness,' which he claims was directed entirely by an AI system called FellinAI. This comes just as the industry’s collectively condemning the whole Tilly Norwood "AI actress" idea. Unsurprisingly, this one’s not landing any better.

🤝 Google and NBCUniversal struck a multi-year carriage deal that keeps NBC networks available to YouTube TV's 10M subscribers while adding NBC Sports Network this fall. The last-minute agreement avoided viewers losing access to Sunday Night Football and 'SNL's' season premiere, plus brings Peacock to YouTube's channel store.

LAST LOOKS
Film Development 🗒️

• David Harbour will co-star with Pedro Pascal in Tony Gilroy’s Searchlight film, ‘Behemoth!’. (more)

• Charlie Cox and Haley Bennett will star in Oliver Ridge’s sci-fi romance, ‘Synthetic.’ (more)

• Black Bear has landed U.S. distribution for Jason Statham’s action thriller, ‘Shelter,’ set to hit theaters Jan. 30, 2026. (more)

• Zachary Levi and Josh Duhamel’s ‘Not Without Hope’ will hit theaters Dec. 12, directed by Joe Carnahan. (more)

• Mel Gibson and Renata Notni have joined Esai Morales in Per Prinz’s border thriller, ‘Coyote.’ (more)

• Bella Thorne has wrapped her feature directorial debut, ‘Color Your Hurt,’ starring Jason Parks, Christopher Eccleston and more. (more)

• Stephan James will play Carl Weathers in Amazon MGM Studios’ Peter Farrelly film, ‘I Play Rocky.’ (more)

TV Development 📺

• Taylor Sheridan’s ‘Lioness’ has been renewed for S3 at Paramount+. (more)

• Netflix and the BBC have ordered two seasons of a ‘Peaky Blinders’ sequel series from creator Steven Knight. (more)

• Mattel and Amazon are developing a live-action ‘Shani’ series, with Janine Sabers set as showrunner. (more)

• Amazon MGM Studios is developing a YA thriller series based on Ruth Ware’s ‘The Lying Game.’ (more)

• Disney+ is developing a series adaptation of ‘Afterlife With Archie,’ from Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and Berlanti Productions. (more)

Business 🤝

• FilmLA CEO Paul Audley will retire after 17 years, as the permitting office faces a sharp drop in local production. (more)

• You know Hollywood inside out but blank on “the Fed”? Morning Brew’s newsletter translates business, finance, tech, and world news from Corporate into English—join 4.2M readers for free. (more)*

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RELEASE RADAR
📅 What to watch this weekend?

🎥 THEATRICAL

• Anemone: (Limited) Daniel Day-Lewis returns from retirement in this psychological drama directed by his son Ronan.

• Bone Lake: Horror thriller directed by Mercedes Bryce Morgan.

• Taylor Swift: The Official Release Party of a Showgirl: Album release concert event.

• The Smashing Machine: Bio-drama with Dwayne Johnson as MMA fighter Mark Kerr, directed by Benny Safdie, co-starring Emily Blunt.

• Good Boy: Supernatural horror told from a dog's perspective.

📺 STREAMING

• Chad Powers: (Hulu) Sports comedy series starring Glen Powell.

• Play Dirty: (Prime Video) Action thriller starring Mark Wahlberg, LaKeith Stanfield, and Rosa Salazar.

• Monster: The Ed Gein Story: (Netflix) True crime drama with Charlie Hunnam.

🔮 BOX OFFICE PREVIEW: Taylor Swift's 'The Official Release Party of a Showgirl' is expected to cruise to an easy #1. Bummer for A24's 'The Smashing Machine'—they had to give up some of their premium screens when Swift announced her release two weeks ago. Now they’re looking at maybe $10-15M instead of the $20M they were hoping for. 'One Battle After Another' will try to hold onto second place, aiming for $10-15M in its second frame.

VIDEO VILLAGE
📺 Latest trailers

MARTINI SHOT
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