NGL, it’s getting more and more difficult to find something upbeat to muse about. Forget about the otherwise immaterial nuisances that the Mets have lost eight in a row (including an anemic performance I endured in person Tuesday night) and the Heat were heartbreakingly ousted from any chance at the NBA post-season via a schizophrenic performance from Charlotte enigma LaMelo Ball. They are joining their South Florida brethren, the two-time and now ex-champion NHL Panthers, on the sidelines during the inexorable playoff gauntlet ahead. And yeah, at least for a moment forget that we actually somehow have someone in charge of nuclear codes who somehow has been lead to believe he’s a better healer than Jesus Christ.
I’m talking about the news I saw on LinkedIn early yesterday morning that yet another trusted and nuanced peer who was still leading a team of dedicated researchers has reached, as he put it, “the end of a chapter”. He’s devoted 40 years to the profession and we were once actual colleagues, staying close and a phone call away ever since. In recent years, that increasingly rare quality of personal integrity and willingness to help even when there’s little in it for them has been all the more cherished on this end, and while I’m genuinely happy he’s in a place in life where he’s able to exit stage left on his own terms, I’m all the more distraught that yet another example of someone smart, passionate and dedicated will no longer be in a position to hold marginal or incompetent data peddlers accountable, yet alone properly train the next generation of leadership to follow his lead. In the wake of companies like Disney wiping out entire marketing teams, with increasing rumblings that Warnermount may soon echo that, it’s a grim reminder that the skill sets we have possessed and thrived with are rapidly joining the landline telephone and public television in respect and relevance.
So I’m actually stoked that later that day THE ANKLER’s Lesley Goldberg–one of their actual reporters that doesn’t spend her time trying to turn it into the media equivalent of RAW STORY–dropped this feature on a media company that still apparently embraces passion and is willing to stick up for their visions:
Not long ago, while in production on Apple TV’s Margo’s Got Money Troubles, David E. Kelley mentioned a book that he was interested in adapting to an executive at A24. That was on a Friday. By Monday, the indie studio’s TV team had read Chris Whitaker’s We Begin at the End and told the showrunner they were working to obtain the rights. By the end of that same week, I can exclusively reveal that A24 had won a bidding war for the title and attached Kelley to co-write the script.
In an industry where projects can take months — even years — to move from conversation to contract, that kind of speed isn’t just unusual. It’s increasingly the way to win. Though its reputation was built on its film darling bona fides, A24 has quietly become one of the most aggressive — and disruptive — players in the television business, pairing lightning-fast dealmaking with a willingness to spend when it matters. The result: a studio that agents love, creators prioritize and competitors are struggling to keep up with.
Goldberg went into a deep dive for how broad and prolific the studio’s TV division has been and intends to be. It’s a pretty damn impressive list. 22 at this point, including the generation-defining EUPHORIA that gave us another ray of hope earlier this week., plus the increasingly acclaimed BEEF and the aforementioned MARGO series that dropped yesterday. And familiar titles and names like TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE, Paris Hilton, CRYSTAL LAKE, Lena Dunham and Nicole Kidman waiting in the wings. Spread out among six different streamers, pretty much the only ones willing to invest dime one in any sort of original scripted content that isn’t a franchise spin-off or a lame attempt to leverage pre-existing IP and trying to shoehorn it into relevance for today’s target demo (kinda looking right atcha, you folks hell-bent on rebooting THE ROCKFORD FILES).
And while Goldberg was heaping praise on the TV division toppers Sam French and Ravi Nandan it’s important to note that they are being empowered by two equally driven and dedicated entrepreneurs who helped found the company–the otherwise camera-shy Daniel Katz and David Fenkel. A September 2025 profile authored by THE OBSERVER’s Andy Meek shone a rare spotlight on them:
Katz, a numbers man who previously led the investment firm Guggenheim Partners’ film finance arm, teamed up with David Fenkel, the co-founder of Oscilloscope Laboratories, a New York distributor and film company, and John Hodges, who led production and development at Big Beach, the studio behind Little Miss Sunshine. Katz and Fenkel still lead A24 today. Katz oversees project green-lighting, talent relations and strategic deals, while Fenkel manages financing and distribution. Hodges has since moved on and now serves as head of film at Jax Media.
Meek brought receipts for how their formula has paid off:
All of this has fueled a run of dominance. In 2023, A24 became the first studio ever to sweep all six major Academy Awards in one night, with Everything Everywhere All at Once and The Whale winning Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress. The studio now has 21 Oscars to its name.
But it was Goldberg’s anecdote about a somewhat less higher-profile show and the tactics the team employed to keep it alive that rang particularly strongly with moi:
Multiple sources point to the renewal of Amazon’s Overcompensating, the semi-autobiographical comedy inspired by comedian Benito Skinner’s coming out process in conservative Idaho, as an example of how strongly A24 prioritizes its creators. The series, which boasts a 94 percent score among critics and 82 percent rating with viewers on Rotten Tomatoes, was considered “dead” before Nandan, French and TV exec Alli Reich fought for the LGBTQ-themed show, sources say.
“If there’s not somebody fighting for that, nobody at Amazon — with all that was going on there — was going to bring it back and stick their neck out for that. Unless you’re a big creator, you need more people fighting for the cause,” says the second producer. “They’ve given ambitious young execs from larger organizations who don’t get to do much the ability to run with projects and act like producers.”
I frequently cited and defended the Sony team I was part of that was the most prolific and determined supplier of more different content to more different networks and platforms than any other media entity. It not only provided me with a unique lens and opportunity to directly deal with a myriad of different KPI metrics but it also allowed me to educate and be educated by these sorts of ambitious execs. It was a series of symbiotic and for me rejuvenating relationships. It helped continue to make me feel that what I did actually mattered to people who will be carrying the creative torch into future generations there’s scant little chance I will ever experience.
Very much like what my friend and one-time colleague Tom Ziangas, the now-departing SVP Revenue and Strategic Research at Crown Media Family Networks,expressed in his LinkedIn post that kicked off yesterday’s roller coaster:
I want to thank my Research team for all the collaborative and strategic initiatives we accomplished during my time there. Special thanks to my direct reports Laura, Megan and Brian, we set out a course and you all managed to navigate and solve the tasks at hand. Big thanks to Ed Georger, Steve Handler and Chris Ward as we all re-united from our Family Channel days in the 90’s. I wish you all success in this ever changing media landscape.
I most def should have been similarly complimentary to my teams and colleagues at my various stops along my own journey, especially Sony. In my defense, I didn’t have the luxury of choice or the soft landing of a supportive and loving family when those decisions were being made for me. I still don’t. Were it indeed still possible to do so expeditiously , I’d express it at this point to those who exemplified the qualities and produced a similar track record to what the A24 team does now during our terms. But for the most part they’re as long gone as I am. As are the accolades I used above that are now much more appropriate to apply to A24.
So to anyone who might indeed know Daniel, David, Sam, Ravi et al: My hat’s off to you all. And people like myself and Tom Ziangas are readily available to help you get more of that impressive list into the win column. You might have to sweeten the offer to tear him away from his options, but I assure you I’m an easier get.
Until next time…