Paramount & Warner Bros Impact: International Insider

Good afternoon Insiders, the summer holidays have arrived but it’s been a busy old week, and Max Goldbart is here to guide you through. After today, we’re going to take a little August break from both the International Insider newsletter and our Global Breakouts strand, but we will be back with you early September. In the meantime, our crack team will bring you the very latest news and analysis, day in, day out. For now, read on or sign up here.

WBD & Paramount Reorgs Hit International

Seismic shifts: We at Deadline International like to be on hand to tease out how major changes in the American media landscape impact international. What better week than when Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) set out its post-split leadership team and the protracted Paramount-Skydance merger moved to its next phase. WBD is forging a streaming and studios Warner Bros. division under David Zaslav, which will be distinct from the Discovery Global networks division led by ex-WBD CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels. International, for the most part, has moved under Wiedenfels, with ex-WBD Lat Am boss Fernando Medin taking on the President of International role and his sort-of predecessor Gerhard Zeiler effectively promoted to become President of Discovery Global in the U.S., UK and Germany. Yet the announcement was devoid of information about the Warner Bros. International TV Production studio, which has bases in multiple countries and makes some of Warner’s biggest unscripted hits around the world. Rather than being folded in with the rest of the American Warner studios, WBITVP will in fact become part of Discovery Global, we revealed Tuesday. There was speculation that there was a tussle between Warner Bros. and Discovery Global over where WBITVP would sit, but the latter ended up making the most sense due in part to WBITVP boss Ronald Goes’ relationship with Zeiler, who has a keen understanding of international production. So far, WBITVP employees are hopeful the split won’t lead to layoffs, which has been a concern for those working at rival Paramount’s international assets around the world as the $8.4B Paramount-Skydance merger completes. Staffers at Paramount-owned UK network Channel 5 are said to be “anxious” about what comes next. Deadline went deep to reveal more of these concerns. Change is coming in America, and as ever it’s spreading overseas.

UK Agency Shakeup

Exodus: Big shakeup in the UK agenting space this week with a whopping four out of five partners at Hamilton Hodell moving to management firm B-Side. This represents a serious exodus of senior agents. Alexander Cooke, Madeleine Dewhirst, Christopher Farrar and Sian Smyth are all joining the leadership team at B-Side from today (August 1), taking huge stars including Naomi Ackie, Aaron Pierre, Daisy Edgar-Jones, Emilia Clarke, Sophie Wilde, Leo Woodall, Anthony Boyle, Lola Petticrew, Martin Compston and Camille Cottin with them. B-Side, which already reps the likes of Daniel Kaluuya and Barry Keoghan, is no stranger to ship-jumping, having been launched four years ago by four former Troika reps who kicked off with an impressive client list. The move is just the latest to shake up the ever-bustling UK agenting space, which has been alive and busy since the UTA acquisition of Curtis Brown. It provides a reminder of the power of British talent. For now, Hamilton Hodell stays strong with at least half a dozen agents remaining with mega talent such as Tilda Swinton, Ben Whishaw and Emma Thompson. “I’m very proud of my brilliant team of agents, associates and support staff at HH and we will continue to provide the very best representation for extraordinary talent,” said CEO Christian Hodell, who has been with the agency for more than three decades.

Netflix ❤️ MBC

You know what I MENA?: Big moves in the MENA region as Netflix continues its path to world aggregation domination with a landmark deal struck with the Middle East’s MBC Group. The deal, described as “innovative” by those closest to it, will see customers of MBCNOW – MBC’s recently launched entertainment service aggregator – given access to the full Netflix service, alongside MBC’s Shahid streaming channels and linear TV channels, in one subscription. Netflix already performs well in the region but simultaneously faces stiff competition from Shahid, so this feels a case of, ‘If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em.’ The streamer has spent recent weeks unveiling these kinds of deal around the world, including the landmark TF1 tie-up, and so it appears that local aggregation now matters as much to Netflix as local commissioning. On the latter, Netflix yesterday unveiled a 10-strong slate in another priority region, Colombia, including a documentary about soccer superstar James Rodríguez. The streamer has pushed heavily into Latin American programming with the One Hundred Years of Solitude adaptation being its biggest effort out of Colombia to date.

Can’t Escape YouTube

Even the boomers love it: Ofcom’s Media Nations report spotlighting the UK TV industry’s previous 12 months always provides a bounty of talking points and this year all roads led to YouTube. The Google-owned behemoth is all the rage in TV circles and Media Nations unearthed research finding that YouTube is now the second most-watched service in the UK, behind only the BBC and ahead of the likes of ITV and Netflix. While young people no doubt love a bit of YouTube, interesting findings included a doubling of viewing from over-55s, most of which takes place on smart TV sets rather than phones. Half of the platform’s top-trending videos now more closely resemble traditional TV, including long-form interviews and game shows, Ofcom said. Chatter about how traditional broadcasters and super-indies can best leverage YouTube rather than bowing to its power will likely dominate over coming months. Upon the announcement of its half-year results, Big Brother super-producer Banijay Entertainment touted plans to “enhance our presence on YouTube specifically.” It’s not been all roses for YouTube this week, however, with Australia’s Prime Minister revealing he officially wants to include YouTube in the nation’s world-first social media ban for under 16s. Google, in response, has warned the Australian government that it could go down the legal route.

Mubi Investor In Spotlight

“Sometimes in life, you just gotta say no”: Mubi has in recent years nurtured a reputation for being an independent auteurs’ dream, but the distributor has been in the spotlight these past days for altogether different reasons. In fact, it has angered several such auteurs. On Wednesday, Mubi received pushback from a number of filmmakers with connections to the distributor – including Radu Jude, Sarah Friedland, Joshua Oppenheimer and Cherien Dabis – over a recent $100M investment it received from Silicon Valley-based private equity firm Sequoia Capital. The issue stems from Sequoia having backed a number of Israeli military technology companies since October 7. The filmmakers suggested these investments tied Mubi to the ongoing violence in Gaza, where more than 60,000 people are reported to have been killed in Israel’s retaliatory military campaign. Things got worse for Mubi when one of the letter’s supporters, Eddie Huang, said Mubi had shelved his latest project over his criticism of ties to Sequoia. “I know I did the right thing,” said Huang. “I’m not gonna be gaslit into thinking I didn’t. Sometimes in life, you just gotta say no.” Responding, Mubi has said the Sequoia partnership is there “to accelerate” its “mission of delivering bold and visionary films to global audiences,” while noting Sequoia’s investments do “not reflect the views of Mubi.”

The Essentials

🌶️ Hot One: The name’s Knight… Steven Knight has been set to pen the next James Bond movie, a “bucket list” achievement.

🌶️ Another One: Der Tiger has become the first Amazon MGM Studios Germany feature to land a local theatrical release.

🌶️ More: House of the Dragon S3 has cast Red Skies star Annie Shapero as fierce warrior Alysanne Blackwood.

🪓 Breaking Baz: Gurinder Chadha is penning a sequel to 1990s cult hit Bend it Like Beckham.

🫵 Accused: Christopher Nolan has been criticized for shooting elements of all-star epic The Odyssey in the Morocco-occupied Western Sahara.

📊 Results: In half-year earnings week, Canal+ revenue fell 3.3%, TF1 was helped along by its North American studio and ProSiebenSat. 1 was hit by economic uncertainty.

🚪 Exiting: Good Morning Britain U.S. correspondent Noel Phillips amid job cuts.

🤝 Done deal: My Octopus Teacher maker Off the Fence has been rescued from bankruptcy by Insight TV.

🏆Oscars: The International feature contest 2026 is ago with Turkey’s One of the Days When Hemme Dies from Murat Fıratoğlu.

🤖 Robots are coming: Korea’s Culture Minister nominee said he wants to better integrate AI technology into the industry.

🏕️ Festival latest: Pedro Almodóvar collaborator Esther García will be feted at San Sebastian.

🍿 Box office: Sara told us Indian Box Office hit Saiyaara has defied the odds to become the second highest-grossing Indian film of the year.

🎥 Trailer: For The Birthday Party, the Willem Dafoe-led drama headed to Locarno.

International Insider was written by Max Goldbart and edited by Jesse Whittock.