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meet mark thompson, the big-brained brit with The skills to save cnn
The former bbc & nyt boss knows a thing or two about transforming legacy media companies |
In 2020, CNN's Richard Quest asked exiting New York Times CEO Mark Thompson what was next for him.
“I like big challenges, that should be fairly apparent. That might come in the shape of another big executive job,” Thompson told Quest. “I’m interested in the puzzle of how you help organizations confront the present and the future.”
When David Zaslav picked up the phone three years later, Thompson made good on his word. Just weeks after being bestowed with a knighthood by King Charles III, the former BBC director general was crowned CNN chairman and CEO, completing a hat trick of mega-media jobs.
Known as “Thommo” to his peers, he will pick up the reins at CNN next month, with insiders understood to be cautiously optimistic about his arrival after a “lost year” under Chris Licht. “The only surprise is this didn’t happen 12 months ago,” says a senior CNN journalist.
Thompson’s friends say his ability to manage up stood him in good stead with the Sulzbergers and will do the same with Zaslav. Thompson and the Warner Bros. Discover boss will have encountered each other in the past — and not always seen eye-to-eye. Two sources say the BBC’s $500M joint-venture deal with Discovery unraveled on their watch, causing “quite a bit of heartache” on both sides.
“Mark will know what he’s dealing with [in Zaslav],” says a former Discovery executive. >>>Solving Complex Problems |
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| Deadline Exclusives & Originals |
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Is The Summer Fun Sustainable? - Barbie and Oppenheimer, which together repped 22% of the summer 2023 box office, created a halo effect, finally bringing infrequent moviegoers back to cinemas after Covid. However, with the ongoing strikes upsetting the production and post-production pipelines, next summer may not be so rich. >>>2024, Week By Week
Business Lessons From 'Barbie' - Barbie’s billions will importantly impact how decision-makers frame future strategies on budget, content and promotion. The filmmaking cognoscenti may find gems at Telluride with breakthrough potential, but the fact remains that Barbie has opened up new concepts of box office commerce. To wit: Her success represents a timely refutation of the generation-long hegemony of Marvel superheroes. Who would have expected Iron Man to melt into Ken? >>> Peter Bart's Column
NBC ❤️ Amber - Amber Ruffin has another scripted project in the works with NBCUniversal. The comedian, who writes for Late Night with Seth Meyers and hosts The Amber Ruffin Show, has been developing an adaptation of You’ll Never Believe What Happened To Lacey, the book she wrote with her sister Lacey Lamar, for Peacock. It comes after her last scripted project, her Non-Evil Twin pilot, did not move forward at NBC. >>> Post-Strike Plans
Sea Change - Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea Film Foundation is investing in Johnny Depp’s Modi, Michael Mann’s Venice title Ferrari and Guy Ritchie’s WWII spy action feature The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare. The foundation, which is the parent body of the Jeddah-set Red Sea International Film Festival, is supporting the films through its Red Sea International Film Financing arm. >>>" Opportunity For Cultural Exchange"
Netflix Is Feeling Social - It’s been less than 48 hours since One Piece debuted on Netflix, but the buzz surrounding the series is already strong. To celebrate launch, Netflix held fan events in 10 cities around the globe. The streamer also hosted a TikTok live countdown that boasted a million viewers across nine countries. Those who tuned in were rewarded with the first five minutes of the series on TikTok live. >>> Trending In The UK, Brazil, Thailand, France, Spain & U.S. |
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A swarm of Supernatural fans joined the picket line at Warner Bros. in Los Angeles on Thursday to catch a glimpse of series creator Eric Kripke as well as the cast and other writers who had reunited in solidarity with the ongoing WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Amid the chaos, Kripke spoke with Deadline about some of the key issues for writers, including the importance of a large writers room, training the next generation of showrunners and more. >>> Read The Interview |
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More News
📺 Charter Communications executives say the company could soon be "moving on" from the traditional pay-TV business in light of a carriage dispute with Disney. Addressing investors on a conference call this morning, the company said Disney rejected a "new model" proposal that would have combined streaming and linear components. Nearly 15 million customers have been left without access to ESPN and 17 other Disney networks, as well as eight local ABC affiliates in key markets.
🚨 A package containing a suspicious powdery substance was discovered in the first-floor mailroom of Lionsgate’s Santa Monica headquarters Thursday, sources confirm to Deadline. The incident happened around midday, and the FBI launched an investigation, as similar suspicious packages had reportedly been delivered to about two dozen businesses within the city. Ultimately, the substance sent to Lionsgate was deemed harmless.
💡 Barry Diller advised media companies to hammer out strike resolutions separate from the streaming giants. “They should certainly get out of the room with their deepest fiercest and almost conclusive enemy, Netflix, and probably with Apple and Amazon,” Diller said on the podcast On with Kara Swisher. “Because Netflix is in one business and they are the rulers of the business they’re in. The other two, Apple and Amazon Prime, are in completely different businesses that have no business model relative to production of movies and television.”
✊ Bethenny Frankel says her pro-unionization push for reality TV performers hasn’t made her popular with Bravo. “I can tell you with great certainty that everyone at Bravo likely despises me, including Andy Cohen, because it’s very personal and because they have to protect the realm,” she said on Team Coco’s Literally! with Rob Lowe podcast. Frankel says SAG-AFTRA supports her campaign. “While we’re talking about a union and what that would look like, [SAG-AFTRA] also want to know in the short term what they could do to help."
💰 Pablo Larraín’s Maria Callas biopic starring Angelina Jolie, a mystery thriller penned by Bridgerton’s Sarah Dollard and a TV drama created by Jim Keeble and Dudi Appleton are the first projects to be backed by Fremantle and IBI Investment House’s $162.7M Scripted Fund. The four-year fund will see Fremantle label’s high-end TV and film projects funded via a bespoke model by the Israeli investor, which will “fast-track the production of each project.” |
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BY THE NUMBERS
$26 million - Presales at AMC Theatres in the first 24 hours for 'Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour,' which hits theaters in October. The tally shatters the previous record set by 'Spider-Man: No Way Home,' which racked up $16.9 million. |
| Trending  The Streamy Awards, honoring the best in content creation on social media, drew 15 million cross platform views in its first 48 hours, breaking the show’s 2021 record (9.7 million views) and more than doubling the average show viewership across 2020-2022 (6.4 million views). It therefore became the most viewed Streamy Awards of all time.
🔻 Entertainment jobs continue to disappear due to the ongoing strikes by writers and actors. While the U.S. economy added 187,000 jobs in August, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the movie and recording industries reported a loss of 16,800 to settle at 437,600. |
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OBITUARIES
🕯 Ray Hildebrand, the singer-songwriter whose duet “Hey Paula” with his friend Jill Jackson under the names Paul & Paula became a million-selling No. 1 hit in 1963, died August 18 of dementia complications at his home in Overland Park, Kansas. He was 82. 🕯 Jack Sonni, an American guitarist who played on Dire Straits’ mammoth 1985 album Brothers in Arms and was onstage with the band at Live Aid that year, has died at 68. The group shared the news on social media but did not give any details.🕯 Nancy Buirski, a PGA Award winner who produced the 2016 film Loving that was inspired by her documentary, directed several films including last year’s Desperate Souls, Dark City and the Legend of Midnight Cowboy and founded the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival, died August 29. 🕯 Tony Roberts , who spent 26 years calling games for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team, died Aug. 25 in Gainesville, VA. He was 94. In 1980, Roberts began calling Notre Dame football games. His signature call was “Touchdown, Irish!” a phrase that the successful team prompted many times. His work earned him entry into the National Radio Hall of Fame, the College Football Hall of Fame, the Indiana Broadcasters Hall of Fame, and the Holiday Bowl Hall of Fame. 🕯 Hollywood & Media Deaths In 2023: Photo Gallery & Obituaries |
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On the Radar
Fri - Telluride begins; Beyoncé kicks off SoFi run in L.A.
Sun - Special Ops: Lioness S1 finale
Mon - Labor Day
Tues - Goldman Sachs Communacopia and Technology Conference begins
Thurs - NFL season starts |
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Scene Stealer - Telluride is known for programing surprises, but this one had nothing to do with the festival's yearly last-minute lineup reveal. A bear made its way into a restaurant in the main part of town Wednesday night, sparking more than a little conversation among patrons — most of whom were there ahead of the festival. The creature wandered into the patio dining area and prompted lots of shoo-ing and shouting from patrons and staff. The bear knocked over tables before scurrying outside to topple some garbage cans. Its cameo complete, the animal eventually left the area. |
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