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☆ Why the producers of 'Queer Eye' and Peacock's 'Swedish Death Cleaning' show believe they're 'in a really good position' to ride out a Hollywood writers' strike
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-01 | by ( Lucia Moses | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

"Queer Eye" creator Scout Productions is betting its time is now, with a Hollywood writers' strike looming. It's working with Kristen Stewart on a "super-gay ghost hunting" reality series, as the star touted it on Instagram. It's also plotting a return to its scripted content roots. "They are very Scout shows in our storytelling process, but they're also shows that fit, that can be international, they can be domestic only. Joel Chiodi, head of documentaries and SVP of strategic development, contended that Scout's content "may not be broad, but we're enough in the mainstream, just pushing a little more."

☆ 'Queer Eye' producers are diving into the world of professional mermaiding for new Netflix doc series
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( Lucia Moses | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The producers of "Queer Eye" explore underwater performers in a new docu-series, "MerPeople." Scout Productions executive-produced it; Oscar-winning Cynthia Wade directed. The creators of "Queer Eye" are turning their lens on the world of underwater performers for a new docu-series on Netflix, "MerPeople." Executive producers were Scout Productions' Michael Williams, David Collins, Joel Chiodi, and Rob Eric, along with photographer Andréanna Seymore; Roland Ballester, known for "Halston" and "30 for 30"; and Wade. Scout Productions has become known for richly shot, inclusivity-themed unscripted TV projects like ballroom competition series "Legendary" and streetwear design contest "The Hype" on HBO Max, in addition to "Queer Eye."

☆ ‘Big George Foreman’ Review: Not the Biopic a Two-time Champ Deserves
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( Glenn Kenny | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The former boxer George Foreman’s late-20th-century popularity as a television pitchman for a line of cooking products has enabled a collective amnesia. Boxing has given us many fighters who have won world champion titles more than once. But Foreman won his first heavyweight title bout in 1973. Too bad “Big George Foreman,” directed by George Tillman, Jr., is so shockingly flat. George, who can wallop like no other boxer, almost obliviously moves from strength to strength.

☆ Joel Embiid Says He Can ‘Do Anything’ on the Court. Let Him Show You.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-20 | by ( Scott Cacciola | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

“I think he thinks he is a guard,” 76ers shooting guard Tyrese Maxey said of Embiid. Embiid was not always so comfortable handling the ball. At the time, Rivers said, he heard from fans who wanted Embiid to stop drifting to the perimeter. But Rivers said he resisted their pleas to shape Embiid into more of an old-school center. Get him on the post!’ ” Rivers recalled in an interview.

☆ From 'Queer Eye' to gay ghost hunters, Scout Productions execs reveal how they built a reality TV powerhouse that's well armed for a Hollywood writers' strike
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-18 | by ( Lucia Moses | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

Reality TV powerhouse Scout Productions is betting its time is now, with a Hollywood writers' strike looming. It's working with Kristen Stewart on a "super-gay ghost hunting" reality series, as the star touted it on Instagram. The company also revealed to Insider that it's developing an unscripted series with Janelle Monáe and her production company, Wondaland. It's also plotting a return to its scripted content roots. "They are very Scout shows in our storytelling process, but they're also shows that fit, that can be international, they can be domestic only.

☆ This Uber Eats driver only accepts high-value orders in the hope of getting big tips. He says it's 'like gambling,' but 'very exciting.'
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-10 | by ( Sam Tabahriti | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

An Uber Eats driver told The New York Times that only accepting high-value orders is like "gambling." He told the newspaper he felt delivery drivers were now considered "the bottom of the barrel." After delivering the orders, he waited an hour to learn from the Uber Eats app how much his tips were worth. "It's like gambling," Bush told The Times about his "very exciting" big tips. Uber told The Times it had improved its app to reduce "verification confusion" for high-value tips and added measures to encourage better tipping.

CNN —Tennis great Boris Becker says he’s grateful just to be alive as he reflected on spending time in prison in an interview with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour. Soon after his release, Becker told German broadcaster Sat 1 that a prison “inmate tried to kill” him during his incarceration. “It feels great [to be out],” Becker told Amanpour. “Prison life is a very dangerous place. In tennis, as in life, thing were “never easy” and “always a bit of a struggle,” Becker recalls.

☆ Twitter and Apple are cracking down on return-to-office mandates. Other tech companies will likely start too.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-27 | by ( Diamond Naga Siu | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Major tech companies are taking in-person work pretty seriously. They were early return-to-office tech companies. So their crackdowns give a glimmer of how tech companies issuing similar mandates now will enforce them going forward. Amazon, Oracle, Salesforce, and many other tech companies recently announced the end to remote work. Check out our list of major companies with return-to-office mandates — they could eye policy enforcement soon.

☆ Help! I got ghosted by HR 'after going through a million rounds' of job interviews
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-24 | by ( Hanna Howard | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Dear Work It Out,What do you do when you're in the running for a new job and HR ghosts you after going through a million rounds? A HR person had reached out to me to interview for a job at a website I was really interested in, so I met with the editor who would be managing the open role. The interview went well, and I was cautiously optimistic that I'd soon have a job that would cover my health care. I received an email from the hiring manager that acknowledged she had received it. The hiring manager could have moved on to another position or gone on parental leave.

☆ Anheuser-Busch is launching an entertainment division with help from Oscar-winning producer Michael Sugar in a push to reach consumers who don't watch ads
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-22 | by ( Lucia Moses | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Anheuser-Busch is building an entertainment division, Insider has learned, the latest big marketer to turn to Hollywood to reach consumers who are increasingly glued to ad-free streaming services. The AB InBev effort is under a new, unannounced entity called draftLine Entertainment, a part of its internal ad agency, draftLine. DraftLine Entertainment is being run by AB InBev marketer Lauren Denowitz as global studio head, reporting to VP Fábio Baracho. The world's biggest brewer, AB InBev is well known for its marketing. In the case of AB InBev, entertainment is a way to promote the beer category at large over any individual brand.

☆ US declines to force lower price on cancer drug Xtandi
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

WASHINGTON, March 21 (Reuters) - The U.S. government will not force Pfizer Inc (PFE.N) and Astellas Pharma Inc (4503.T) to lower the price of their prostate cancer drug Xtandi using its emergency "march-in" authority, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) said on Tuesday. Patient group the Union for Affordable Cancer Treatment first filed a petition calling on the NIH to use its authority to lower the drug's price in March 2016. The NIH said in a letter made public on Tuesday that its analyses in response to the petition found the prostate cancer treatment was widely available. "NIH does not believe that use of the march-in authority would be an effective means of lowering the price of the drug," the letter said. Progressive lawmakers in the Democratic Party have been calling on President Joe Biden's administration to use its march-in authority to lower drug prices.

☆ Here's the method Chick-fil-A workers use to keep their cool with angry customers
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-21 | by ( Nancy Luna | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

At Chick-fil-A, a doc says employees are trained to show compassion to "recover unsatisfied guests." Workers are told to focus on de-escalating tough situations using the HEARD model. This training document tells Chick-fil-A workers how to "recover" unhappy customers. Insider sourceArthur Greeno, one of the few multiunit Chick-fil-A franchisees in the US, wrote a LinkedIn article about the HEARD model in 2021. Are you a Chick-fil-A insider with insight to share?

☆ Fact Check-Poster seeking ‘pure’ Ukrainian blood donations is a fake
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-17 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

An image of a fake poster that appears to be seeking blood donations from “pure-blooded Ukrainians” has been circulating online. From March 31, 2023, blood donations will be accepted only if you are a pure-blooded Ukrainian. In a Facebook post published on March 1, Liski said the company was contacting the police about the fake poster (here ). Legislation covering donations reads: “A blood and/or blood components donor can be any legally capable citizen of Ukraine, foreigner or person without citizenship who has a permanent residence permit on the territory of Ukraine” (here ). The appeal for blood donations from “pure-blooded” Ukrainians is fake.

☆ Blackface, booze, and blurred lines at the $2 billion tech firm Rokt
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-16 | by ( Jack Newsham | Madeline Stone | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +25 min

A cropped version of an image shared with Rokt employees at the 2020 meeting. Buchanan told Insider. "We think it's important that we stand up and fight it," he told Insider when asked about that message. In an email, Viles told Insider that he hasn't had any day-to-day involvement with Rokt since 2020, when he did some contract work. Mert Alper Dervis/Anadolu Agency via Getty ImagesOne employee told Insider they were encouraged to post the photos and proclaim 2023 to be Rokt's "best year yet."

☆ PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan on Players Championship and Netflix effect from "Full Swing” doc
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-10 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailPGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan on Players Championship and Netflix effect from "Full Swing” docJay Monahan, PGA Tour commissioner, joins CNBC's "Squawk Box" to discuss the upcoming Players Championship and the effect from Netflix's "Full Swing" series.

☆ Bridgewater's new executive team is already making big changes. But was it all part of Ray Dalio's master plan?
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-02 | by ( Dan Defrancesco | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

On tap, we've got stories on the top VCs in Texas, more headaches for Blackstone's BREIT, and why boomers stink. Maybe it's just the fear of facing your own mortality and realizing that life, in fact, will go on without you. As Rebecca Ungarino reports, the world's largest hedge fund is making a slew of new changes less than six months after billionaire founder Ray Dalio stepped aside. Bridgewater, which was founded in 1975 from Dalio's two-bedroom apartment, is arguably just as well known for its culture as its size. Edited by Jeffrey Cane (tweet @jeffrey_cane) in New York and Hallam Bullock (tweet @hallam_bullock) and Nathan Rennolds (tweet @ncrennolds) in London.

☆ Starboard Value wants Salesforce to hit over 30% profit margins, closer to Oracle and Microsoft. Salesforce is working on it, leaked draft of a planning document shows.
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-24 | by ( Ellen Thomas | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Activist investor Starboard Values wants Salesforce to grow its adjusted operating margins above 30%. In September, Salesforce announced a goal of 25% adjusted operating margins by fiscal 2026, up from a target of 20% for fiscal 2023. Starboard found Salesforce's mix of operating margins and revenue growth averaged much lower than its peers, including Microsoft and Oracle. Starboard showed Oracle at a 10.7% increase in revenue with adjusted operating margins of 43.3% for its current fiscal year. It showed Microsoft's at a 10.9% increase in revenue and 46.6% increase in operating margins, Starboard said.

☆ Former Google staffer says she's gone from viewing the company culture as 'paradise' to 'quite grim'
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-23 | by ( Grace Kay | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Ex-Googler Claire Stapleton said her perspective on Google's culture has shifted dramatically over the years. Stapleton said she was once a "cheerleader" for Google, but now she sees its culture as "quite grim." In 2018, Stapleton, organized a protest, walking off the job along with about 20,000 Google workers in response to the company's handling of sexual harassment allegations. Now nearly four years later, Stapleton says she sees Google's culture as "quite grim," especially since the company laid off about 12,000 employees in February. Stapleton is one of several former Google workers to speak out against the company in recent months.

☆ Not so quiet on the BAFTA front as anti-war remake tops the billing
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-19 | by ( Marie-Louise Gumuchian | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/5] Albrecht Schuch, Edward Berger, and Malte Grunert arrive at the world premiere of "All Quiet on the Western Front" at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) in Toronto, Ontario, Canada September 12, 2022. REUTERS/Mark Blinch/File PhotoLONDON, Feb 19 (Reuters) - A German remake of anti-war classic "All Quiet on the Western Front" leads the contenders at the British Academy Film Awards on Sunday, the country's highest accolade for the industry. "Banshees", about two feuding friends on a remote island off the coast of Ireland, and "Everything Everywhere" each have received 10 nominations. Bill Nighy ("Living"), Paul Mescal (Aftersun") and Daryl McCormack ("Good Luck to You, Leo Grande") complete the leading actor nominees list. BAFTA Chief Executive Jane Millichip said while Grozev would not attend the ceremony, the film's nominated producers would.

☆ Netflix exec reveals sports ambitions and what's next for live sports as golf series 'Full Swing' debuts
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-15 | by ( Elaine Low | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Formula 1 racing saw a boost in TV viewership and fandom since Netflix began streaming docuseries "Drive to Survive." Amid a boom in sports docs, the streamer has tennis series "Break Point" and golf-centered "Full Swing." Netflix unscripted TV head Brandon Riegg spoke to Insider about the streamer's ambitions in live sports. "I wouldn't be surprised," Netflix VP of unscripted and docuseries Brandon Riegg told Insider ahead of the "Break Point" premiere. Also in the works are series on the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar and the Six Nations rugby tournament.

☆ Perfectionism can be your biggest enemy—but it’s simple to fix, says mental health author
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-12 | by ( Natasha Piñon | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Mental health author Morra Aarons-Mele disagrees. Too many people think that "if we don't give 100%, if we're not perfect, it's a judgment on us," she adds. Unlearning the most painful parts of your perfectionist tendencies can start today, Aarons-Mele says. Learn how to recognize the signsThere's a reason you've been clinging onto perfectionist tendencies this long, Aarons-Mele says: They probably seem to work for you. Longer term, perfectionism usually leads people down one of two paths, neither of which are good for you, Aarons-Mele says.

No one thought LeBron James would overtake Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to become the N.B.A.’s career scoring leader when he came to the league as an 18-year-old. The line for LeBron James is just past the 38,387 points scored by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Table showing the scoring totals for Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Lebron James, broken down by type of shot. Career points by age for top 250 scorers Line chart showing career points for the top 250 scorers in N.B.A. The line for LeBron James is just past the 38,387 points scored by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

☆ One of Jeff Bezos' secrets to success: The boss should always talk last in meetings
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-04 | by ( Tom Huddleston Jr. | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

If you ever find yourself taking a meeting with Jeff Bezos, don't expect the billionaire Amazon founder to speak first. There's a reason Bezos thinks managers should always speak last in business meetings, for example. "I hold a lot of meetings, and I would talk first in a meeting, and [Bezos] goes, 'No, no, no. Similarly, Bezos recommends keeping the meetings themselves as short as possible once the reading period is over, Sanchez said: "Keep meetings under an hour, if you can." Bezos' meeting method is favored by other tech executives, too.

☆ Laid-off Google employees are turning to a Discord server with nearly 18,000 members for emotional support and financial advice
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-04 | by ( Kate Duffy | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Laid-off Google employees have flocked to Discord to vent and seek financial advice. Almost 18,000 people are currently on the Discord server called "Google Post-Layoffs." Laid-off engineers told Insider Discord gave them a way to communicate with their ex-colleagues. "Google Post-Layoffs" has more than 17,800 members, comprised of laid-off Google staff, current employees, former workers who left prior to the job cuts, recruiters, and journalists. On top of the Discord server, employees have created a Google doc spreadsheet where they track who was laid off and which departments were affected the most, ex-staff told Insider.

☆ How the boom in sports documentaries on streaming is opening up a new path for athletes as content creators
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-02 | by ( Elaine Low | Ashley Rodriguez | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

A boom in sports documentaries has offered athletes more ways to be on screen and build their brands. Players and their agents are looking for hits like Netflix Formula 1 doc series "Drive to Survive." Being featured in a sports doc can dramatically raise an athlete's profile, giving them more fans and more branding power. Netflix's "Drive to Survive" was credited with doing wonders for F1 fandom, particularly stateside, where American interest has historically been scarce. "These people can go on the air and broadcast their own content and they can capture and keep their own content," said Octagon VP of content and development Jason Weichelt.

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