Ankler Agenda

Hayden Panettiere’s Child-Star Tragedy; Bonta on Paramount ‘Playing Cute’

Hayden Panettiere worked in Hollywood since she was 11 months old, and by the time Heroes made her a household name at 16, she was already navigating the darker side of child stardom. The Wall Street Journal‘s Esther Zuckerman joins Elaine Low to reflect on Panettiere’s life, career and exploitation — including a top NBC exec kissing her on the lips when she was a teenager, and an Oscar winner who exposed himself — and the extreme emotional toll of growing up in front of the camera. Then, California Attorney General Rob Bonta tells Elaine he is ready to talk to Paramount, a slight shift from his earlier hard-line posture. “Let there be no doubt here, now, or anywhere for any time. It has always been our position that coming to the table is always on the table,” he says, adding, “We prefer to resolve cases in the boardroom instead of the courtroom.” So what’s stopping them? Bonta accuses Paramount of “playing cute” and mounting a PR campaign instead of offering the structural remedies the state AGs want. He’s equally dismissive of Paramount’s threat to move and request for a $1.9 billion bond: His argument is that Paramount voluntarily agreed to the ticking fee it faces — and now wants California taxpayers to pick up the tab for a problem it created for itself. “It’s revealing the weakness of their position. It looks desperate,” Bonta says. Elaine and Sean McNulty break down her chat with the California AG, as Hollywood guilds plead for resolution and the town lingers in uncertainty. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Private Equity Has Billions Ready for Hollywood. Who Gets It?

“Everyone has dry powder for sports,” Ashley Cullins heard while reporting her recent look at the private equity firms circling Hollywood. It’s a truism Bob Iger and Josh Kushner‘s Thrive Capital proved, buying the Los Angeles Lakers for $12.5 billion. But sports is only part of the story. With billions in undeployed capital sitting on the sidelines, where else is private equity looking to spend — and what kinds of Hollywood companies still look attractive amid lofty valuations, delayed exits and fears of an AI bubble? Ashley joins Elaine Low and Sean McNulty to break down the biggest players, the sectors they’re chasing and the deals that could come next — plus the bigger question hanging over all of it: Is private equity actually good for Hollywood? Plus: David Ellison turns up the pressure in the Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery fight, threatening to move the company out of California as Rob Bonta calls it “blackmail” — even as both sides signal there may still be a path to a negotiated settlement. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How Zendaya & Tom Holland Won Summer; Ellison on the Defensive

It’s been a while since Hollywood has seen a power couple quite like Zendaya and Tom Holland. With Spider-Man: Brand New Day and The Odyssey, the newlyweds helped drive more than $2 billion (and counting) at the box office this year. What makes them so bankable to Gen Z in a volatile theatrical landscape? And how much does the audience’s parasocial investment in them help sell tickets? Elaine Low, Sean McNulty and Natalie Jarvey break down what each star gets right in an era of fractured attention. Meanwhile: David Ellison breaks his silence! Paramount’s chief took to the New York Times to defend his planned acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery. The crew parses what he really means (“Unfortunately, I can’t give anyone a view into my heart and mind”) — and what he’s trying to signal to Hollywood as his company heads to trial in 2027 amid increasingly long odds and states unwilling to show mercy to “kings and oligarchs.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Waiting Game at WBD; SpaceX’s L.A. Mansion Rush

What a difference a month makes. With Paramount’s bid to buy Warner Bros. Discovery now in limbo, 35,000 Warners staffers have plenty of time to reconsider their options. Could HBO chief Casey Bloys or WBTV head Channing Dungey be tempted by more stable pastures? Is Warners still a haven for top showrunners? As confidence in the deal crumbles, Hollywood is taking sides. (Case in point: Ari Emanuel‘s WSJ op-ed dismissing the state AGs’ lawsuit as “trash.”) The Ankler’s Lesley Goldberg joins Elaine Low and Sean McNulty to break down the quiet panic inside WBD, and why anyone senior at the company who hasn’t spoken with David Ellison yet might want to be looking for a new job. Then, Degen Pener pops by to talk about the 4,000 newly minted SpaceX millionaires in L.A. and the luxury real estate they are about to snap up. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

BONUS EP: California AG Rob Bonta on the Coming Paramount Trial: 'We're Not Talking Settlement'

What could Paramount Skydance do to make a dozen attorneys general drop their lawsuit against the Warner Bros. Discovery merger? Sell off CNN? Paramount Pictures? According to California Attorney General Rob Bonta: not much. “We’re not talking about settlement. We’re going to be telling the judge when we want a trial date,” he tells Elaine Low on Friday, shortly after Paramount announced it would delay the merger until June 2027 or until a pair of antitrust lawsuits against it work their way through the courts — whichever comes first. “We’re not going to have oligarchs or kings in the economy,” says Bonta. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices