Hollywood news banter: Netflix quarterly report disappoints investors

Netflix announced on Thursday that Chief of Content Ted Sarandos has been promoted to co-chief executive. He will share the position with Reed Hastings, the co-founder and current CEO of Netflix.

In a call with investors, Hastings said that the promotion is “part of a long process of succession planning,” and that he did not expect the day-to-day running of Netflix to be affected.

Also on Thursday, Netflix reported that 10 million subscribers had joined the service in the second quarter.

Despite a promising second quarter earnings report, Wall Street reacted negatively to projections of a slower third quarter, as the production shutdown will begin to affect their release schedule in 2021.

The company also reported strong streaming numbers for many of its recent projects, including Mindy Kaling’s “Never Have I Ever,” Spike Lee’s “Da 5 Bloods,” and Steve Carell’s “Space Force.”

Also, the Writers Guild of America has struck a deal with the United Talent Agency, breaking a longstanding deadlock. UTA has agreed to cap their interest in production companies at 20%. Other major Hollywood agencies, including William Morris Endeavor Entertainment, are not expected to broker a deal with the WGA.