English Entertainment
GRB brings Disney docu to UK & Japan, slate of docus to Germany
MUMBAI: GRB Entertainment has announced the sale of several of its top-selling docs to broadcasters in the UK, Germany, and Japan.
Channel 5 in the UK and Fujisankei Communications Japan both acquired WALT: The Man Behind the Myth, the official biography of Walt Disney, sanctioned by The Walt Disney Family Foundation. Celebrate Disney’s life and career with exclusive footage and over 50 interviews with celebrities, directors, and animators. Presented by Diane Disney Miller, Walt’s daughter, and narrated by Dick Van Dyke, this film is filled with never-before-seen color home movies shot by Walt himself.
Docs de Cologne in Germany took four documentaries. Until Proven Innocent: The Hannah Overton Story is an investigative doc about the mysterious death of a four-year-old from Texas named Andrew Burd who died of salt poisoning. His foster mother, Hannah Overton, was charged with capital murder and sent to prison for life. But was this churchgoing young woman a vicious child killer? Or had the tragedy claimed its second victim?
Babies Behind Bars highlights the lives of female inmates at Washington Corrections Center in a remarkable program allowing them to raise their babies while they serve time. Follow Kristie Ebey, a newly incarcerated mother, as she fights to get into the program and Margaret Taggert who is just leaving the program with her toddler, facing the outside world for the first time as a single mother.
Confessions of a Superhero follows the lives of three mortal men and one woman who make their living working as superhero characters on the sidewalks of Hollywood Boulevard. This deeply personal view into the daily routines of these characters reveals their hardships, and triumphs, as they pursue and achieve their own kind of fame.
A dog has been called man’s best friend for centuries, but with today’s modern technology, animals can stick around much longer than their standard life expectancy. I Cloned My Pet chronicles a group of dedicated pet lovers who lost their loyal canines, but go to extremes to bring them back to life, spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to clone their pets, alienating family members, and risking other meaningful relationships along the way.
“GRB is fortunate to represent a large portfolio of top-notch docs in addition to our factual and scripted series. The Walt Disney doc features some of the most exclusive footage ever recorded on the iconic man — home movies that give a rare look at his private life. Our crime docs are sure to start conversations around the world and Confessions of a Superhero delves into the world of shattered Hollywood dreams,” said GRB SVP – international distribution Michael Lolato.
English Entertainment
Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders approve Paramount deal
Investors wave through a $111 billion megamerger but deliver a stinging, if toothless, rebuke over half-a-billion-dollar goodbye packages
NEW YORK: The shareholders said yes to the deal. They said no to the cheque. At a virtual special meeting on Thursday that lasted barely ten minutes, Warner Bros. Discovery investors voted overwhelmingly to approve Paramount Skydance’s $111 billion acquisition of the company — and then turned around and voted against the lavish exit pay packages lined up for chief executive David Zaslav and his fellow outgoing executives.
Not that it will make much difference. The compensation vote is purely advisory and non-binding. The Warner Bros. Discovery board can, and almost certainly will, pay out as planned.
But the symbolism stings. It is the second consecutive year that WBD shareholders have voted against the executive compensation packages, and this time they had good reason. Zaslav’s exit deal is, by any measure, extraordinary. Under the terms filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, he is set to receive $34.2 million in cash severance, $517.2 million in equity in the combined company, and $44,195 in continued health coverage — a total of at least $550 million. On top of that, Warner Bros. Discovery has agreed to reimburse Zaslav up to $335 million for taxes assessed by the Internal Revenue Service on his accelerated stock vesting, though the company says that figure will decline depending on when the deal closes. As of March 11, Zaslav also held $115.85 million in vested WBD stock awards — and last month sold a further $114 million worth of WBD shares.
Shareholder advisory firm ISS recommended voting against the compensation measure, citing “problematic” tax reimbursements to Zaslav and the full vesting of his stock awards.
Zaslav will be bound by a two-year non-competition covenant and a two-year non-solicitation of customers and employees after the deal closes.
His lieutenants are not walking away empty-handed either. J.B. Perrette, chief executive and president of global streaming and games, is in line for $142 million, comprising $18.2 million in cash severance and $123.9 million in equity. Bruce Campbell, chief revenue and strategy officer, will receive an estimated $121.5 million, including $18.8 million in severance and $102.7 million in equity. Chief financial officer Gunnar Wiedenfels is set for $120 million, made up of $6.6 million in cash severance and $113.1 million in equity. Gerhard Zeiler, president of international, will get $82.6 million, including $11.9 million in severance and $70.7 million in equity.
The deal itself, clinched in February after Netflix declined to raise its bid for Warner Bros., still needs regulatory clearance from the Justice Department and European authorities. Several state attorneys general are also weighing legal action to block it.
Senator Elizabeth Warren, Democrat of Massachusetts, was unsparing. “The Paramount-Warner Bros. merger isn’t a done deal,” she said after the shareholder vote. “State attorneys general across the country are stepping up to stop this antitrust disaster. We need to keep up this fight.”
If it does go through, the combined entity would be a formidable beast, bringing together Paramount Skydance’s stable — CBS, CBS News, Paramount Pictures, Paramount+, BET, MTV and Nickelodeon — with WBD’s portfolio of HBO, Max, Warner Bros. film and TV studios, DC, CNN, TBS, TNT, HGTV and Discovery+. Paramount has said it expects $6 billion in cost savings from the merger, which is Wall Street shorthand for mass layoffs on a significant scale.
The ten-minute meeting was presided over by chairman Samuel Di Piazza Jr., with Zaslav, Campbell, Wiedenfels and chief communications officer Robert Gibbs in virtual attendance. Di Piazza was bullish. “We appreciate the support and confidence our stockholders have placed in us to unlock the full value of our world-class entertainment portfolio,” he said. “With Paramount, we look forward to creating an exceptional combined company that will expand consumer choice and benefit the global creative talent community.”
Zaslav echoed the sentiment. “Over the past four years, our teams have transformed Warner Bros. Discovery and returned the company to industry leadership,” he said. “Today’s stockholder approval is another key milestone toward completing this historic transaction that will deliver exceptional value to our stockholders.”
Paramount Skydance struck a similar note. “Shareholder approval marks another important milestone towards completing our acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery,” it said in a statement, adding that it looked forward to “closing the transaction in the coming months.”
The shareholders have spoken on the merger. On the pay, they were ignored before the vote was even counted.
