Hollywood
Animated Dolby film ‘Silent’ wins two Daytime Emmy Awards
MUMBAI: Dolby Laboratories’ short animated film Silent won two Daytime Emmy Awards at the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences’ Daytime Creative Arts Emmys ceremony.
Created in conjunction with Moonbot Studios and CAA Marketing, a division of entertainment and sports agency Creative Artists Agency (CAA), Silent represents the evolution of film technology from the silent-film era to the present day. The three-minute film celebrates how storytellers, inventors, and technology work together to create magic in the cinema.
Silent won a Daytime Creative Arts Emmy in Outstanding Special Class Animated Program (executive producers: William Joyce and Vince Voron; producers: Lampton Enochs, Trish Farnsworth-Smith, and Angus McGilpin) and Outstanding Directing in an Animated Program (directors: Limbert Fabian and Brandon Oldenburg)
“We’re elated that Silent was recognized so richly by the Academy, and we celebrate this achievement with our partners at Moonbot Studios and CAA Marketing,” said Dolby Laboratories vice president and executive creative director Vince Voron.
Silent is an animated short film featuring Morris Lessmore from Moonbot Studios’ 2012 Academy Award winning short film The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore. In Silent, Lessmore and his fellow street performer, The Kid, dream of bringing their picture-and-sound show to life. When they discover a magical contraption inside an old theatre, they embark on a cinematic adventure of sight and sound, traveling through movie history to find the audience they have always wanted.
The two Daytime Creative Arts Emmy Award wins mark a first in the creative category for Dolby.
Hollywood
Paramount Skydance secures financing for Warner Bros Discovery deal
Debt syndication and new loans push $111 billion merger closer to close
WASHINGTON: Paramount Skydance has taken a major step towards its planned acquisition of Warner Bros Discovery, securing fresh financing and completing the syndication of its bridge loan facility.
In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the company confirmed that the bridge facility has now been distributed among a group of 18 banks, reducing total commitments to $49 billion from an earlier $54 billion. The move spreads risk across lenders and signals growing confidence in one of the year’s largest media deals.
Alongside this, the company has finalised permanent financing arrangements, including $5 billion in senior term loans and a $5 billion revolving credit facility. A previously planned $3.5 billion credit line has been dropped as part of the restructuring.
The loans are secured against key assets, including Paramount Global, Skydance Media and Warner Bros post-merger, underlining the scale and complexity of the transaction.
The financing push follows a competitive bidding process earlier this year, which saw interest from players such as Netflix before Paramount Skydance emerged as the frontrunner. The deal, valued at $111 billion, is expected to close in the third quarter, subject to regulatory approvals.
Adding to the momentum, the company has also secured significant equity backing, including investments from Middle Eastern funds, with support from billionaire Larry Ellison, who has guaranteed the equity portion of the transaction.
Commenting on the development, Paramount Skydance chief strategy officer Andy Gordon said, “Our successful debt syndication and new debt facilities represent another important milestone towards the completion of our acquisition of Warner Bros Discovery.”
Once completed, the combined entity is expected to carry net debt of just under $80 billion, reflecting the sheer scale of the merger.
As Hollywood continues to consolidate in the streaming era, this deal could reshape the competitive landscape, with Paramount Skydance betting big on scale, content and financial muscle to take on global rivals.
