The Business

Listen to a special preview of Kim Masters’ conversation with Joachim Trier about his film Sentimental Value.

Kim Masters talks with Tim Blake Nelson about his wide-ranging career in entertainment. Best known for his breakout role in O Brother, Where Art Thou?, Nelson is also a director, screenwriter, and playwright, and he’s now out with a second novel, Superhero—a black comedy about the making of a big-budget comic-book film that follows executives, cast, and crew caught in the pressure cooker of a chaotic production. He also shares his perspective on the Warner Bros. sale and explains how his fascination with the entertainment business informed the book. Meanwhile, Warner Bros. has once again formally rejected Paramount’s latest offer, favoring a deal with Netflix. As the streamer moves closer to acquiring the legacy studio, theatrical exhibitors have taken their protest to Congress, warning the sale would have a “direct and irreversible negative impact on movie theaters around the world.” Masters and Matt Belloni break down the latest developments in the battle for Warner Bros.

Kim Masters rings in the new year with Matt Belloni and Lucas Shaw to forecast what 2026 could hold for Hollywood. The trio debates Disney’s long-simmering succession question, the impact of Trump administration tariffs on the industry, and YouTube’s growing ambitions in original programming. Plus, we revisit a conversation between Masters and Jesse Eisenberg about his award winning film, A Real Pain. The writer, director, and actor talks about the challenges of capturing the complicated feelings of the descendents of holocaust survivors while still including humor. They also talk about the special relevance that Majdanek–the concentration camp the two cousins visit in the film–has for Masters.

This week, Kim Masters is joined by Matt Belloni and Lucas Shaw for a year-end Megabanter, looking back at a messy 2025. From the devastating Los Angeles fires to the shadow cast by the Trump administration over Hollywood, the trio digs into the Skydance-Paramount deal, a surprise Warners-Netflix upset, and Disney’s move to partner with OpenAI.

This week, Eric Deggans speaks with Vince Gilligan about his new series, Pluribus. The creator of Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul explains how he felt being at the center of his first-ever bidding war, and how a long-standing partnership with Sony ultimately brought the project to Apple. Gilligan also reflects on why the days of writing episodic television on The X-Files shaped his love of serialized storytelling. And after years of explaining his work to fans and critics alike, Gilligan shares why he’s learning to let audiences decide what his shows mean for themselves. Plus, with the Academy set to bring the Oscars to YouTube in 2029, Hollywood’s biggest night is moving to a very different kind of stage. Kim Masters and Matt Belloni unpack why the Academy made the deal—and what it reveals about how the industry is rethinking where, and how, audiences show up.