IP Finds🔎: If You Like 'Nip/Tuck', 'Band of Brothers' and 'Cheer'...
➕ An influencer's journey out of Instagram is 🔥, and an activist à la 'Less Than Zero' in L.A.
Welcome to The Optionist! As always, thanks for reading. Like all of you, I’ve been puzzling over how the changes at Warner Bros. Discovery and Netflix will impact the entertainment industry. That is one of the reasons I’ve found myself turning to Sean McNulty’s Wakeup newsletter first in the mornings to get a rundown on the day’s news. It’s one of the best aggregations of news I’ve come across (and this is a completely unsolicited endorsement). Between Sean’s column, Richard’s analysis in The Ankler and the insights of the Entertainment Strategy Guy, I feel like I have great perspective of what’s shaping the decision-making at the top that will ripple through Hollywood’s creative community.
I’ve been wondering if I need to tweak what’s in The Optionist because of the recent upheaval. But the more I think about it, the more I see opportunities in this moment rather than problems. Take Warners’ pullback from family programming. Maybe that’s a short-term negative, but kids shows always have been and always will be popular. If Warner Bros. pulls back, someone else will step in. (I notice that Apple is building on its programming in that area.) And there will always be a market for adult dramas. Nature abhors a vacuum. As companies pull back in some areas, others will move to fill the void. It’s why I think in a moment of change, something like The Optionist is more valuable than ever before. Those who prosper will be those who track lots of different material and are ready to spring at the right moment.
Now on to this week's picks:
a great classic science-fiction novel by one of the true giants, for which the option has become available again.
a story about heroic Japanese-American soldiers who helped win World War II.
a dishy novel about a college dropout inspired to activism by a police killing of a Black suspect.
a fantastic look at what happens when you age out of your influencer life.
an unexplored cutthroat high school world.