The Business

This week, Van Dyke Parks sits down with The Business Showrunner Joshua Farnham to look back at a career that stretches from childhood acting to collaborating with Brian Wilson, and scoring films for Jack Nicholson. He also recalls his first arranging job, The Bare Necessities for Disney’s The Jungle Book, and how Harry Nilsson talked him into spending five months in Malta for Robert Altman’s Popeye.

Plus, Kim Masters and Matt Belloni sort through who’s in and who’s out at Skydance. They discuss the unceremonious dismissal of Warner Bros. film chiefs Mike De Luca and Pamela Abdy, who’s taking their jobs, and the company’s promises for paying down its mountain of debt.

This week, Kim Masters speaks with actor Malcolm McDowell about his six-decade career and the long journey to finally making his latest film, the western Last Train to Fortune. McDowell reflects on his friendship with mentor and director Lindsay Anderson, shares stories from the set of Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange, and looks back at the chaotic production of Caligula, including how Penthouse founder Bob Guccione took control of the film and added unsimulated material in post production.

Plus, Masters and Matt Belloni share the latest WarnerMount updates, including former Mattel CEO Ynon Kreiz joining David Ellison to run the new studio, Cindy Holland’s departure as Casey Bloys prepares to lead its streaming division, and the latest questions surrounding the fate of CNN.

This week, Kim Masters speaks with Sharon Horgan about her HBO series Youth. The writer, actor and producer reflects on taking control of her career by creating her own material, building the production company Merman, and working across broadcast networks and streaming platforms. Horgan also explains why she returned to the idea for Youth after years spent making Bad Sisters, and how a brief pitch to HBO quickly turned into a green light.



Plus, Masters and Matt Belloni process California Attorney General Rob Bonta’s decision to settle the antitrust suit involving Paramount Skydance. With a major wave of layoffs looming, the banter partners look at what could come next for the proposed Warner Bros. Paramount merger.

This week, Kim Masters reports on the newly formed U.S. Film and Television Production Coalition and its push for a federal tax incentive to stem the loss of production overseas. Members representing studios, producers and unions lay out the industry’s unusually unified campaign, the backing of President Donald Trump, and the details that still have to survive Congress.

Plus, Masters and Matt Belloni give a brief update on the rollout of Bari Weiss’s new 60 Minutes. Spoiler: the early ratings are not good. The banter partners also turn to a pair of surprises from the documentary world, including reports that Universal considered holding back Alex Gibney’s upcoming Elon Musk documentary from a global theatrical release, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu escalating threats against the directors of NAZA following the film’s Venice debut.

As CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss prepares to unveil a new era of 60 Minutes, questions are mounting over what America’s most-watched news program will look like under her leadership. Following the exits and firings of several correspondents and senior producers since Weiss arrived at the network, newly installed executive producer Nick Bilton faces the challenge of reshaping the show without alienating its loyal audience. Matt Belloni and Lucas Shaw examine what the next chapter could look like for the CBS News institution.

Plus, we revisit a conversation between Kim Masters and Lance Oppenheim, director of the HBO docu-series Ren Faire. He talks about honing his intimate, uniquely collaborative style of filmmaking, and his interest in subjects who become “entombed” by their own fantasies. The filmmaker also shares how he cold emailed his way into director Darren Aronofsky’s inner circle.