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MSCHF is afoot. Calling all bee artists — eclectic and enigmatic as ever, MSCHF is back at it again with its latest project: The Free Movie. Say hello to a hand-drawn, crowd-pirated, frame-by-frame recreation of the entire The Bee Movie. With 65,244 frames in total, what are you waiting for? Pitch in here.
Speaking of mischief, it seems we took a little time-traveling adventure in yesterday’s issue — we mistakenly mentioned the LALA x The Wolf of Wall Street drop was taking place on June 25th, which (*checks watch*) already happened. The correct date? July 25th. And now, back to your regularly scheduled, future-focused reporting.
In other news… Peak TV strains Hollywood, Microsoft officially acquires Activision, and Jeopardy! comes to Roku.
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ENTERTAINMENT
Peak TV has Hollywood pooped
The Future. The TV ecosystem is crumbling under the weight of unsustainable forces: overworked, underpaid writers and a lack of profits for companies in the streaming era. The writers strike and potential actors strike have put a spotlight on these issues. When the dust settles, expect TV to potentially look very different — smaller, more cost-conscious, and from fewer outlets.
Supply and too much demand
Per Variety, TV writers are tired of carrying the streaming gold rush on their backs… and the streamers aren’t even seeing the gold they expected.
TV writers are forced to piece together several mini-room jobs a year to make a living and rarely go to set to produce episodes (a key learning opportunity).
Creators now routinely shoulder an unprecedented amount of free development to sell projects, putting more risk on the writers if the project falls apart.
Meanwhile, studios and streamers are billions in debt after spending wildly to compete in the streaming era — making 599 shows last year (only 288 were made in 2012).
That’s led companies to pull back spending and make fewer projects, which shrinks the number of jobs and potentially irks viewers who are accustomed to more viewing options.
J.D. Connor, associate professor of cinematic arts at USC, believes when the “hot labor summer of 2023” is over, several smaller companies may have no choice but to merge or sell in order to survive the brave new world.
For TV writers, the conditions may be much better, but there may be far fewer slots to fill.
GAMING
Dropping into Microsoft // Courtesy of Activision Blizzard
Microsoft gets the greenlight to acquire Activision Blizzard
The Future. A federal judge is allowing Microsoft’s $75 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard to go through — a huge blow to the Lina Khan-led FTC fight against corporate consolidation. If the deal officially closes, Microsoft may suddenly be the leader in mobile gaming (Activision makes Candy Crush, along with many other money-making titles) and boost its cloud-gaming operations to become the de facto market leader.
Target acquired
A judge has ruled it’s “game over” for the FTC.
US District Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley denied the FTC’s request for an injunction on the deal, disagreeing with the agency’s argument that the acquisition would limit access to Activision’s games.
The court instead argued consumers would get even more access to titles, such as Call of Duty.
Having no more legal obstacles in the US, that means the deal will go through on the July 18th deadline… although, the FTC can always appeal.
Microsoft still needs to contend with merger approval in the UK, but things are looking positive there too, with the country’s Competition and Markets Authority saying it was ready to consider a new proposal. Either way, a hold up there may not stop the sale from going through.
It seems no deal is too big to fail.
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ENTERTAINMENT
Courtesy of Volley
Roku makes the audience a Jeopardy! contestant
The Future. Jeopardy! is coming to Roku as an AI-enabled, voice-controlled game. That’s right, screaming game show answers into your remote is now officially encouraged. And it’s not just Roku’s first dip into gaming — it’s potentially a sneak peek into the company’s desire to become the operating system for your future smart home.
Scream away
Counting 20 million weekly viewers, Jeopardy! wants to make each of them its newest contestant via their remote.
Roku is debuting a version of the game on its platform where users can respond to clues with their voice via their remote.
It’s available as a single-player game where you have to answer pre-recorded questions that were submitted by other players.
At the end of each game, a leaderboard shows how you measured up to other players.
The game was developed by voice-enabled AI-game developer Volley, which has already made games, including many adaptations for smart speakers like Amazon Alexa and Google Home.
The only issue is, if you want to play Jeopardy!, you have to pay $9.99/month for the Volley app, which only has this one game for Roku… though more are in development. That may be too big a bet for most would-be players right now.
Highlights
The best curated daily stories from around the web
Media, Music, & Entertainment
The SAG-AMPTP negotiation is getting dramatic as the clock winds down, and there seems to be no agreement on AI, with federal mediators getting called in, publicists being told strike rules, and SAG meeting with 300 agents to try to find a way to avoid a complete shutdown of Hollywood. Read more → deadline
With “vampire,” Olivia Rodrigo has become the youngest artist at 20-years-old to debut three songs at the top of the Billboard Hot 100. Read more → variety
Skydance continues to fly high, scoring a five-year, $1 billion credit facility with JPMorgan Chase — double its last deal with the bank. Read more → deadline
Fashion & E-Commerce
In October, the Brooklyn Museum will exhibit over 300 objects from Spike Lee’s personal collection that trace his career trajectory. Read more → hypebeast
The hottest new beauty trend in China is “athletic skin care” for men. Read more → bof
Louis Vuitton’s new editions of its travel photography series, Fashion Eye, are hot off the presses, exploring the Italian Riviera and Tahiti through the lens of a fashion photographer. Read more → hypebeast
Tech, Web3, & AI
According to a new survey from Pew, 59% of Americans believe TikTok poses a threat to national security. Read more → variety
A study from The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development posits 27% of jobs in the US and Canada run a “high risk” of being disrupted by AI. Read more → forbes
Google is testing a medical AI chatbot, called Med-PaLM 2, with research hospital Mayo Clinic. Read more → wsj
Creator Economy
Meta intends to roll out branded content tools on Threads, bringing monetization to the platform even as ads are still not allowed. Read more → axios
Speaking of Threads, if you try to search for specific Threads content on Twitter, you’ll be greeted by a rubber chicken. Read more → theverge
Ryan Trahan has traded in some pennies for $400,000 for Water.org. Read more → tubefilter
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Today’s email was written by David Vendrell. Edited by Melody Song. Copyedited by Kait Cunniff. Published by Darline Salazar.