Good afternoon Insiders, Max Goldbart coming to you after a week in which the British public broadcaster fell into crisis… once again. Read on. And sign up here.
BBC In Crisis
One Scandal Too Many: BBC crises bedeck these very newsletters with alarming regularity but this time Donald Trump is involved. It was one too far this time around for Director General Tim Davie, whose resignation along with that of news chief Deborah Turness came like a bolt out the blue late Sunday afternoon. Since the dual announcement, more details have emerged about the reasons behind the sudden exits, which concern the controversial editing of a Trump doc to make it appear as if the POTUS was inciting violence on Jan 6, although this was not the only issue raised by the excoriating Prescott memo that led to Davie and Turness’ downfall. A string of BBC all-staff calls have followed (Jake’s superb coverage makes you feel you were in the room) along with a $1B (yes, you read that right) legal threat from Trump. The BBC apologized yesterday but is refusing point-blank to pay a penny in compensation, and we now await Trump’s response. For what it’s worth, it seems incredibly unlikely that he would be able to get anywhere near that figure, and numerous legal commentators have rubbished his chances of winning full stop. Davie has fought hard these past months in the face of numerous scandals but there appears to be little fight left, and in all honesty few can blame him. His legacy is a tough one to immediately discern. Scandals consistently got in the way of any overarching vision and he maybe was never quite able to execute his grand plan. His replacement will need some serious mettle.
Disney Goes To APAC
Watch on Deadline
Town Schrier: APAC is a region growing in importance to Disney, and global TV pres Eric Schrier was on hand at the Mouse House’s APAC Showcase this week to chat to Sara and dive deep into strategy alongside APAC content head Carol Choi (pictured above). Since his high-profile departure from FX, Schrier has been heavily involved with goings-on in APAC and he now wants to look beyond the content behemoth of Korea, to Japan and Australia, for the next string of Disney global hits. Sara’s interview can be found here and is well worth a read. Feeding into the Japan strategy, there was plenty of new content for Deadline to get its teeth into at the APAC Showcase. J-pop group Travis Japan will be explored in a docuseries, while Disney+ unveiled a buzzy Korea-Japan co-pro with a working title of Merry Berry Love, a romcom following a down-on-luck Korean designer and a strawberry farmer who find love on a remote Japanese island. What’s not to like. Notably, as Eric and Carol were chatting to Sara, BBC Studios was re-jigging its APAC division in order to bring Australia and Asia under one roof.
AFM Gets Up & Running
Improving hit rates: “A needle in a haystack” was the phrase used by one veteran international buyer when pondering how difficult it is to launch successful indie movies in the current climate. “There are a fair amount of projects, but there is a clear absence of big independent propositions,” added the source, who was checking out the vibes at the American Film Market (AFM), which got underway earlier this week. Anthony and Andreas were analyzing a market that was cheered by the independent distribution community because of its return to L.A. after a failed Vegas experiment last year. The industry seemed enthused about the new venue, which is in close proximity to the agencies and Hollywood. Whether projects will land is another matter. We’ve broken a few big ones through the week – including Dakota Johnson sci-fi Trudy Blue, Geoffrey Rush comedy Shearing the Love and sales for Anthony Hopkins’ Dylan Thomas adaptation A Visit to Grandpa’s – but an analysis of the previous two editions found a pretty low hit rate. Many projects weren’t made or fell away, some are still to come, and a few failed to take off. This year’s crop will need a fair bit of wind in their sails way if they want to become part of the awards conversation or make some bucks at the box office. All AFM coverage can be found here.
The Essentials
🌶️ Hot One: KPop Demon Hunters may have taken the world by storm but, despite a Netflix appeal, it will not be eligible for BAFTA.
🌶️ Another: Ben Stiller and John Lesher have boarded an Oscar-contending short from exiled Russian director Alexander Molochnikov.
🤖 Robots are coming: Beta Film has teamed with a trio of industry execs to launch artificial intelligence start-up Chapter41.
🌐 Web summit: Lisbon’s buzzy get together featured talks from Jameela Jamil, Khaby Lame and Maria Sharapova.
➡️ Begin-ing, middle, end: Jesse dove deep into the story behind Pakistan’s Begin, the nation’s newest streamer on the block.
⛪ White smoke: The great and the good of Hollywood shook hands with Pope Leo.
📖 Booker to big screen: David Szalay’s Booker Prize-winner Flesh is being made into a movie with Conclave producer House, BBC Film and Access Entertainment.
🏕️ Festival latest: Sean Baker will headline Red Sea Film Festival’s jury.
🧬 Hitler’s DNA: That oh-so-famous song they sing about the evil dictator’s private parts may in fact have a ring of truth, according to a new Channel 4 doc.
🚪 Exiting: Thomas Rabe is stepping down as CEO of RTL, replaced by WBD’s Clément Schwebig.
⚠️ Scam alert: United Agents sounded the alarm following fears its staff may have been targeted.
🎥 Trail: For The Wizard of the Kremlin about Putin’s rise starring Paul Dano and Jude Law.
International Insider was written by Max Goldbart and edited by Stewart Clarke.