Todd Spangler: Last News

Todd Spangler NY Digital EditorNetflix is acquiring Australian animation studio Animal Logic, which is producing films for the streamer including “The Magician’s Elephant,” directed by Wendy Rogers, and “The Shrinking of the Treehorns,”  directed by Ron Howard.Animal Logic has about 800 employees, mostly based in Sydney and Vancouver. The acquisition “will help us accelerate the development of our animation production capabilities and reinforces our commitment to build a world-class animation studio,” Netflix said in its Q2 letter to shareholders.Click here to sign up for Variety‘s free Strictly Business newsletter covering earnings, financial and investment news, and more.The company did not disclose the purchase price for Animal Logic but said it will fund the acquisition from cash on hand.

Todd Spangler NY Digital EditorQuinta Brunson channels her inner talk-show host to portray Oprah Winfrey in Roku’s “Weird: The Al Yankovic Story,” starring Harry Potter himself, Daniel Radcliffe, as the frizzy-haired musical parodist.The movie is billed as “the unexaggerated true story about the greatest musician of our time.” “Weird,” which has a runtime of 108 minutes, is slated to premiere on the free, ad-supported Roku Channel this fall.Brunson is the latest cast member announced for “Weird,” which in addition to Radcliffe stars Evan Rachel Wood as Madonna; Rainn Wilson as radio broadcaster Dr. Demento; and Julianne Nicholson and Toby Huss as Yankovic’s parents, Mary and Nick.Brunson recently made Primetime Emmy Awards history with three nominations — for comedy series, lead actress in a comedy and writing for a comedy series — for ABC’s “Abbott Elementary,” which she created, executive produces and stars in.

Todd Spangler NY Digital EditorTrailblazing trans actor Hari Nef will headline “Lina’s Song,” a new scripted podcast from executive producer Mark Duplass, set in the ’80s punk scene of East Berlin.“Lina’s Song” is set to premiere on Spotify and Apple Podcasts on Aug. 19.

Todd Spangler NY Digital EditorStudio71 has dramatically stepped up Facebook video distribution efforts — with the digital content studio and network claiming its efforts have already produced more than 1 billion views on the platform.In addition, the company announced that it has signed several top creators to its roster, including Whitney Port; Epic Meal Time, the cooking show hosted by Harley Morenstein; and drag queen Trixie Mattel.Historically focused on YouTube, Studio71 last year formed a dedicated Facebook division. The company says it’s been publishing more than 1,000 videos per month on its creators’ Facebook pages, which have amassed over 50 million followers.Whitney Port, a vlogger, fashion designer, entrepreneur and an alum of MTV’s “The Hills,” has a bigger following on Facebook (430,000-plus followers) than on YouTube (178,000 subscribers).

Todd Spangler NY Digital EditorNetflix has tapped longtime finance executive Ken Barker in a new role as principal accounting officer, assuming the duties from CFO Spencer Neumann.Netflix revealed the hiring of Barker in an SEC filing Monday. Barker starts at Netflix on June 27, reporting to Neumann, who continues to serve as the company’s chief financial officer and principal financial officer.Barker, 55, comes from games company Electronic Arts, most recently as senior VP finance since August 2021, and as SVP and chief accounting officer from June 2003 to August 2021.

Todd Spangler NY Digital EditorElon Musk is getting a little help from billionaire friends for his $44 billion Twitter takeover.According to an SEC filing Thursday, Musk has secured $7.14 billion in new financing commitments for the Twitter bid, including $1 billion from Larry Ellison. Ellison, co-founder and CTO of software giant Oracle, also sits on the board of Tesla, which Musk heads as CEO.In addition, Prince al-Waleed bin Talal of Saudi Arabia committed to retain the equity he owns in Twitter — his 35 million shares are worth $1.9 billion at Musk’s buyout offer — instead of receiving a cash payout, per the filing.Musk “will continue to have… discussions with certain existing holders” of Twitter stock, including ex-CEO Jack Dorsey, to contribute their shares toward his bid, according to the filing.

Todd Spangler NY Digital EditorRoku is super-sizing its cooking entertainment lineup.The streaming platform announced co-production deals with Marquee Brands and Milk Street Studios to develop seven original series starring lifestyle and culinary personalities Martha Stewart, Emeril Lagasse and Christopher Kimball.The new programming was unveiled as part of Roku’s 2022 NewFronts presentation for marketers. The shows, to premiere exclusively on the Roku Channel, are “Martha Cooks,” “Martha Holidays” (working title), and “Martha Gardens” from Martha Stewart; “Emeril Cooks,” “Emeril Tailgates” from Lagasse: and “Milk Street’s Cooking School” and “Milk Street’s My Family Recipe” from Christopher Kimball.In addition to the all-new original series, the deals will bring complete past seasons of Martha Stewart, Emeril Lagasse and Christopher Kimball series to the Roku Channel — comprising more than 3,000 episodes from the vault for free.

Claudia Eller Co-Editor-in-ChiefWhat a whacked-out couple of weeks this has been!When I began writing this editor’s letter about the onslaught of news, I wasn’t even planning to mention Elon Musk’s pursuit of Twitter because a deal looked dead in the water. Then we got whiplashed this past weekend when suddenly the acquisition appeared imminent.

Todd Spangler NY Digital EditorPeople has a new top editor: Liz Vaccariello, formerly editor in chief of Real Simple magazine, is taking over the reins of the entertainment and human interest title.Vaccariello takes over for Dan Wakeford, who is leaving after three years as EIC.The change at the top of People’s masthead comes after Meredith’s magazine group was acquired by IAC’s Dotdash in a $2.7 billion deal. Earlier this month, the resulting Dotdash Meredith shuttered print editions of six magazines, including InStyle and EW, and laid off about 200 employees.Dotdash Meredith also announced the promotion of Zoë Ruderman to VP and GM of People’s digital operations.

Todd Spangler NY Digital EditorMoonbug Entertainment is expanding its kid-vid footprint by snapping up Little Angel, a big producer of YouTube videos and songs for preschoolers.Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed. The acquisition is Moonbug’s first since it was bought in a $3 billion deal by Candle Media, the next-generation media roll-up venture headed by former Disney execs Kevin Mayer and Tom Staggs and backed by private-equity firm Blackstone.

Todd Spangler NY Digital EditorMeta, Facebook’s parent company, forecast slower growth in the first quarter of 2022, citing “headwinds to both impression and price growth” in its ad business, sending the stock into a nosedive.In addition, CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s high-stakes gambit to turn Facebook into a “metaverse” company — burning billions of dollars — led to a rare earnings miss for the company in Q4.Meta’s stock dropped more than 22% in after-hours trading.In the current quarter, “On the impressions side, we expect continued headwinds from both increased competition for people’s time and a shift of engagement within our apps towards video surfaces like Reels, which monetize at lower rates than Feed and Stories,” the company said in announcing Q4 2021 results. On the ad pricing side, growth will be hurt by several factors, including greater impact from Apple’s iOS privacy changes and “we anticipate modestly increasing ad targeting and measurement headwinds from platform and regulatory changes,” Meta said.Click here to sign up for Variety’s free Strictly Business newsletter covering earnings, financial news, and more.For the fourth quarter of 2021, Meta reported ad revenue of $32.64 for its core social apps, including Facebook and Instagram, an increase of 20%.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorAhead of Spotify’s earnings call for its second-quarter results, the company’s cofounder and CEO Daniel Ek and CFO Paul Vogel got on the phone for a short call with Variety’s Jem Aswad and Todd Spangler.

Todd Spangler NY Digital EditorIt’s all water under the bridge, apparently: Chris Cox is coming back to Facebook as chief product officer, after his sudden departure in March 2019 over an apparent dispute with his boss, CEO Mark Zuckerberg, over strategy.Cox, in announcing his return to Facebook in a post Thursday on the social network, said “it’s a different world now.”“Facebook and our products have never been more relevant to our future,” Cox wrote.