Latest / Studio Signal / Studio Signal — Monday, April 13, 2026
Transcript
- Good morning, I'm Kai Rivers and this is Studio Signal — your daily M&E intelligence briefing, brought to you by Harkins Capital. Let's get into it. Alright studio fam, the ripples from that massive Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery merger proposal are turning into waves. And now, one of Hollywood's biggest creative voices is sounding the alarm. According to TheWrap, Damon Lindelof, the mind behind Lost and The Watchmen, gave a pretty stark warning about what this deal could mean for the industry's backbone. He said, and this is a quote, that Hollywood is a "blue-collar town" full of thousands of grips, gaffers, drivers, and caterers. He warns that if this merger goes through, the iconic Warner Bros. lot in Burbank could become a "ghost town." It’s a powerful reminder that consolidation isn't just about corporate synergies and stock prices... it's about real jobs and the creative ecosystem that makes Hollywood run. We spent all last week talking about the high-flying financials of this 110-billion-dollar deal... Lindelof's point brings it right back down to earth. And the pressure isn't just coming from inside Hollywood. The UK's top regulator, the Competition and Markets Authority, has officially waded into the conversation. TheWrap is also reporting that the agency is now inviting public comment on how the mega-merger might impact competition. Now, they haven't launched a full-blown investigation yet, but this is always the first step. It shows that regulators across the globe are watching this deal very, very closely. From the studio lots to the multiplexes... there's a little bit of a different vibe coming from theater owners. Cinema United's chief lobbyist, Michael O'Leary, is out there talking about winning the so-called "windowing battle." In a new interview with TheWrap, he sounds incredibly confident about the state of movie theaters, even with this massive consolidation wave threatening to reshape the studios. It’s a fascinating dynamic... while the studios are in chaos, scrambling to merge and survive, the exhibition side of the business feels like they’ve found their footing and are holding the line on keeping movies in theaters first. And speaking of finding a home, a bit of good news for an indie comedy series. Variety reports that 'Everyone Is Doing Great,' from 'One Tree Hill' alums James Lafferty and Stephen Colletti, has officially landed at Netflix. The streamer picked up the first two seasons, which is a huge win for a show that started out as an independent project. It’s another classic Netflix play... find a project with a built-in, nostalgic audience and give it a massive global platform. Finally, we have to mark the passing of a true creative legend. Sid Krofft, the producer and creator behind iconic kids' shows like 'H.R. Pufnstuf' and 'Land of the Lost,' has died at the age of ninety-six. If you grew up at a certain time, his work was your entire Saturday morning. His puppetry and wildly imaginative worlds were unlike anything else on television. A huge loss for the industry. Alright, let's take a quick look at the markets before we go. It's a pretty strong day for the M&E sector, with about nineteen companies up and only eleven down. The big leader today is CoreWeave, continuing its incredible run, jumping up another eight and a half percent. The AI infrastructure play is just white-hot. Following that, we have a whole cluster of companies up around five percent... Adobe is up more than five percent, Roblox is up about five percent, Spotify is trading over five hundred dollars a share after gaining more than five percent, and Unity is also up about five percent. It’s a tech-heavy group leading the charge today, signaling a lot of bullish sentiment in that part of the M&E world. That's your signal for today. I'm Kai Rivers — thanks for tuning in, and I'll see you tomorrow.