🎬 Officially the Biggest

👋 Good morning! Tilly Norwood, Hollywood's most reliable ragebait, is back at it. The AI "actor" who had the trades running think pieces for a month straight last year has dropped a debut music video (rooftop, disco ball, blow-up flamingo, the works), and the song (AI-generated, naturally) is basically her message to the industry. The YouTube comments are not going well for her. The AI bubble has survived interest rate hikes, congressional hearings, and years of bad press, but Tilly's debut single may be what finally does it.

Happy Wednesday and welcome back to The Dailies. Grab your coffee, and we'll get you caught up on everything happening in Hollywood. 👇

🤠 SXSW kicks off tomorrow, and it's looking a little different this year. The Austin festival, one of the film industry's key premiere launchpads, has been struggling to recapture its pre-pandemic footing. Penske Media bought a controlling interest after the pandemic nearly finished SXSW off financially. Last year came the messy part: much of the longtime leadership was pushed out, including Hugh Forrest, who had been a central figure at the festival for over two decades. For 2026, the new team is running a condensed seven-day schedule with all components concurrent, and replacing the Austin Convention Center with three separate clubhouses. The film lineup spans 120 features and 90 world premieres, including franchise sequel 'Ready or Not 2: Here I Come,' Boots Riley's new satire 'I Love Boosters,' and Apple TV+'s 'Margo's Got Money Troubles' with Elle Fanning and Michelle Pfeiffer.

🎟️ Live Nation won't be broken up. The DOJ settled its antitrust case against the concert giant midway through trial. The original ask was a full breakup: force Live Nation to divest Ticketmaster, which controls roughly 80% of major U.S. concert venues. Instead, Live Nation agreed to some behavioral concessions (opening its venues to competing promoters and ticketing systems) and pay up to $280M in damages. A coalition of 26 states is pressing forward with their own case regardless. It's a softer outcome than the government originally sought, and worth noting for anyone watching the Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery acquisition or Nexstar's $6.2B grab for Tegna work their way through regulators. The cases are quite different, but the vibe is clear: big media is having a pretty good run with regulators right now.

⚖️ CAA just settled a lawsuit it probably didn't want a jury to decide. The agency agreed to pay writer John Musero roughly $500K just days before the case was set to go to trial after he alleged CAA's internal blacklists labeled him an "underperformer" and a client his agent was "getting rid of." The lists circulated inside the agency for nearly a year, and Musero had no idea he was on them. His argument was straightforward: once those lists went around, other agents stopped submitting him for work, and he says it effectively tanked his career. CAA maintained the lists were just routine productivity reviews, and said the settlement was simply cheaper than the cost of going to trial. But the settlement also let CAA sidestep the uncomfortable part: a court ruling on whether agencies can quietly shelve a client while still claiming to represent them.

You've watched the contenders. You've clocked the campaigns. You've had the same argument about Best Picture approximately eleven times since October. At some point, the only move left is to actually put something on it.

Kalshi is a prediction market where you trade on real-world outcomes (Oscars included). Best Picture, Best Actress, Best Actor, and more are all on the board. If your read is right, you get paid. The Dailies is giving readers $10 free to get started. Trade responsibly.

It's official: YouTube has dethroned Disney to become the world’s biggest media company. Financial research firm MoffettNathanson crunched the numbers and found that the Google-owned platform pulled in an estimated $62B in revenue in 2025, leapfrogging Disney's media business, which posted $60.9B (theme parks not included). Bob Iger definitely did not have YouTube circled on his threat board in 2005, but here we are. Here’s what the numbers look like:

The bigger picture: While just about every traditional media company is treading water or cutting costs, YouTube keeps accelerating. The combination of a massive creator economy, a growing pay-TV business, and AI tools that help creators produce content faster and cheaper has put it in a league of its own. MoffettNathanson says YouTube is one of the only companies that benefits from the changes hitting both media and tech right now. No traditional player can say the same.

💪 The greatest rivalry in '80s action is back, sort of. Sly Stallone's executive producing Lionsgate's 'John Rambo' prequel with Noah Centineo stepping into the role. Meanwhile, Arnold Schwarzenegger's going one better by actually starring in 'King Conan' at 20th Century Studios with Christopher McQuarrie directing.

🏢 Casey Wasserman's name is coming off the door: The talent agency rebranded to “The Team” this week as Wasserman prepares to step down following his ties to Ghislaine Maxwell, having already sold his stake in the company. The agency says it's business as usual for clients.

🗣️ Paramount's David Ellison paid his first visit to Warner Bros. Discovery Tuesday, meeting with senior leadership ahead of the $111B acquisition. He waved off layoff fears and talked up content spending, but some left underwhelmed (unlike Netflix's December visit, which staffers say left people feeling more reassured).

✍️ The WGA's making AI licensing a headline demand in next week's contract talks, arguing writers should be paid when their scripts are used to train AI models. Studios shot it down in 2023, but the guild says the logic is the same as any other reuse of their work. A strained health fund and free work protections are also on the table.

Stop borrowing your partner’s moisturizer. Men’s skin is thicker, tougher, and needs a formula built just for it. That’s why over 1 million men worldwide trust Particle Face Cream, a 6-in-1 anti-aging solution designed specifically for men. It reduces eye bags, wrinkles, and dark spots while moisturizing and soothing skin after shaving. Start today and save 20% with promo code DAILIES20. If you don’t see results in 30 days, get your money back.