Media CEO Pay Soars; 'The Walking Dead' Rights Near Sale; 'Grey's Anatomy' Showrunner Q&A

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View on web New reader? Subscribe SUBSCRIBE. IT'S FREE. MEDIA CEO PAY 2025: BIG-BUCKS DEALS REIGNITE WAGE GAP DEBATE ONE ANALYSIS FOUND MEDIAN CEO PAY ROSE 23% FROM 2024 TO 2025 The Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy is gathering signatures for the Overpaid CEO Tax Ordinance, a ballot initiative that would progressively tax large businesses whose CEOs make more than 50 times what their median worker makes, with higher taxes as the gap grows more extreme. It hopes to get the measure on the November ballot. They showed median CEO pay up 11% for large-cap companies, led by media/entertainment with a median rise of 117%, according to one report from ISS-Corporate. According to recent SEC filings, Warner Bros. Discovery’s 2025 CEO pay ratio was 1,378-to-1 on chief David Zaslav’s $165 million package. Paramount’s pay ratio was 1,109-to-1 based on CEO David Ellison $63.2 million pay. >>>List Of Highest-Paid CEOs CANNES PREVIEW   EXCLUSIVE ‘Hamnet’ Stars Jessie Buckley & Paul Mescal Reuniting In “Impossible Love Story” ‘Hold On To Your Angels’ From Plan B & Rapt Film   EXCLUSIVE Allison Williams & Michelle Randolph To Star In Sci-Fi Survival Thriller ‘Homewrecker’ For ‘Under Paris’ Director Xavier Gens   EXCLUSIVE Eric Cantona Talks Alex Ferguson In First Footage From Cannes-Bound Documentary: “I Was Well Protected By Him…We Loved Him”   EXCLUSIVE AGC CEO Stuart Ford & COO Miguel Palos Re-Up Deals As Company Grows Slate With Netflix Competition Show & ‘Tinder Swindler’-Adjacent Doc Deadline Exclusives & Originals Beyond The 'Apex' - Following the success of their Netflix thriller Apex, Baltasar Kormákur and Charlize Theron have found their next project on which to partner. Kormákur is set to direct and produce Six Clean Kills for Universal Pictures. >>>Theron Producing, May Star BAFTAs Back On BBC — The BBC and BAFTA are preparing for the TV Awards this Sunday, their first major event since the Film Awards N-word debacle. New protocols are in place ahead of the ceremony, while Deadline can reveal that the contract to produce the show is about to run down. >>>"Unicorn Car Crash" The Fog Of More - Legal challenges have stalled Nexstar's hopes of becoming a broadcast behemoth through its merger with Tegna. The company is in the rather rare position of owning assets that it, under the terms of a court order, largely has to keep apart. >>>Stock Stagnant A24 Has A Summer Surprise - Backrooms from A24/Chernin Entertainment/21 Laps Entertainment/Atomic Monster just arrived on tracking and looks to do around $20M when it opens in the post Memorial Day corridor of May 29-31. That’s a great result for a movie which cost under $10M. >>>Hot With The Under 25 Set   DEADLINE SOUND & SCREEN TV   Finneas O’Connell Used Synths That Sounded Like A “Swarm Of Bees” To Capture The Stressful Sound Of ‘Beef’ ‘The Boys’ Composers Matched All The Mayhem In Final Season After Being Asked To “Blow The F*cking Doors Off” ‘The Madison’ Composer Breton Vivian Made Sure His Music Stayed Out Of Michelle Pfeiffer’s Way Gavin Brivik And Andrew Bird On Pitching And Creating The First Original Song For ‘The Pitt’ ‘Alien: Earth’ Composer Jeff Russo Blew An Aztec Death Whistle For His Xenomorph Theme David Archuleta Says ‘Only Murders In The Building’ Song “Wish That You Were Me” Was Designed To Get Under Mabel’s Skin ‘Wednesday’ Composer Chris Bacon On The First Piece Of Advice Tim Burton Gave Him For The Score Full Coverage THE DEADLINE INTERVIEW ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ EP On Teddy & Owen’s Emotional Goodbye, Why Kevin McKidd & Kim Raver Are Leaving And “Painful” Network Budget Constraints Grey’s Anatomy changed things up in Season 22. Instead of ending the finale with a cataclysmic event resulting in a life-and-death cliffhanger, this season’s closer ended with a heartfelt tribute to two longtime cast members who are leaving the series, Kevin McKidd and Kim Raver, complete with a montage of their characters Owen and Teddy’s journey on the series. In Part 1 of Deadline’s interview with Grey’s executive producer and showrunner Meg Marinis, who wrote both the Season 22 and Season 21 finales, she spoke about the decision to have both Raver and McKidd, who directed their last episode, depart after 12 (across 2 stints) and 18 seasons, respectively. >>>Q&A Related: ​​​​​​​Showrunner Meg Marinis On Surprise Proposal, Cliffhangers Leaving Characters’ Futures In Limbo & Love Triangle’s Return Kim Raver On Teddy’s Next Career Move As She Bids Farewell To ABC Medical Drama In S22 Finale Kevin McKidd On Directing His Exit From ABC Medical Drama After 18 Seasons: “It Felt Really Empowering” QUOTABLE "I just find it false and weird" - Stanley Tucci on competitive cooking shows RENEWALS, CANCELLATIONS & PICKUPS   Exclusive ‘Law & Order’ Getting Renewed For Season 26 By NBC ‘Temptation Island’ Gets A Season 3 At Netflix   Exclusive ‘Murder In A Small Town’ Renewed For Season 3 By Fox; Peter Gallagher Joins Cast History Channel Launches ‘Mission To Honor: A 250th Salute To American Veterans’ CASTING ABOUT Exclusive Jeff Daniels, Joel Edgerton, Caleb McLaughlin and Nnamdi Asomugha are set to join Rachel McAdams in the Netflix’s Untitled AI Thriller with Joseph Gordon-Levitt directing. Netflix landed the package last October with plans to go into production this summer.   Exclusive Lizzy Caplan has joined the cast of Apple TV's The Morning Show for Season 5. She will play Gwen, a passionate and uncompromising Broadway theater director.  HBO and Sky’s legal drama War has already cast its second season. It has brought in Marisa Tomei, Kelly Macdonald and David Harewood (Sherwood) to lead the next case in the returning series alongside Richard Schiff. Prime Video has assembled the main new cast of We Were Liars Season 2, which flashes back to two and a half decades before the events in the first season. Josh Dallas (Manifest), Costa D’Angelo (Tell Me Lies), Peyton List (The Rookie), Madison Wolfe (True Detective), Parker Lapaine (House of the Dragon) and Elysia Roorbach (The Pitt ) have been tapped as series regulars in the second installment. DEVELOPMENT Studiocanal Lands Rights To Forthcoming Freida McFadden Novel ‘The Divorce’ For Feature Adaptation With Working Title   EXCLUSIVE Germany’s Flimmer Adapting Cambridge University Secret Society Bestseller ‘The Club’ MORE NEWS 🧟 The Walking Dead is approaching a lucrative new licensing deal – or possibly a set of multiple agreements across linear TV and streaming. AMC Global Media CEO Kristin Dolan told Wall Street analysts this morning the company is looking to keep a co-exclusive on the cornerstone zombie series, with several "large and enthusiastic" bidders in the mix. 🤖 In new eligibility rules, the use of AI or GenAI “does not automatically disqualify” submissions from eligibility for the Golden Globes, “provided that human creative direction, artistic judgment, and authorship remain primary throughout the production process.” ⛰️ Paramount Pictures and Warner Music Group have closed a multi-year, first-look deal that will see both companies partnering on theatrical films, drawing on the lives and music of WMG’s roster of artists and songwriters. ✊ Crew has walked off the California set of CoComelon: The Melon Patch over multiple labor disputes that arose from “deteriorating working conditions” on the production. In a social media post, IATSE said that "Rather than provide fair wages and benefits to the crew the producer is trying to hire scabs."  OBITUARIES 🕯️ Jake Hall, who previously featured on ITV reality show The Only Way is Essex, has died in Spain. He was 35. 🕯️ 2026 Deaths Photo Gallery ON THE RADAR Sat - Apple x Deadline Casting Panel; WNBA season tips off Sun - BAFTA TV Awards Mon - Upfronts begin in New York; Webby Awards Tue - Cannes Opening Ceremony Wed - YouTube Brandcast closes out upfronts Thu - Global Citizen Now Summit; Welcome to Wrexham S5 premiere; SVU S27 finale PHOTO OF THE DAY No Joke - A Mount Rushmore of comedy showed up for a brunch at Ted Sarandos’ house to celebrate this year's Netflix Is a Joke fest. Attendees included Eddie Murphy, David Letterman, Jerry Seinfeld and Chris Rock. This email was sent to punjabsvera@gmail.com by Deadline. Please add email@email.deadline.com to your address book to ensure delivery to your inbox. 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