Todd Spangler

That works out to about 1,000 jobs from Netflix's global employee base of 16,000.

My colleague Todd Spangler reports that the cuts will come from across the employee base, but probably hit hard in Netflix's product, technology, legal, and HR teams.

AI has become an issue in the California governor's race, but maybe not in the way you think.

Specifically, there's been a little tempest over whether Democratic candidate Javier Becerra used AI to write his policy statement on film and entertainment as presented on Becerra's campaign website.

My colleague Jean Mattis reports that the AI detection firm Pangram says the policy statement appears to be entirely AI-generated.

Becerra's campaign has strongly denied that this was the case to Mattis.

This is one of those meta moments that belongs on Curb Your Enthusiasm.

[laughs] Speaking of layoffs, I have to, I have to keep moving through this 'cause there's a lot to get to.

This comes from Variety written by Todd Spangler.

Uh, "Skydance CEOs Acknowledge Layoffs Will Be Coming After Paramount/Warner Bros Merger.

Read the Full Memo." Uh, they w- I g- oh, surprise, surprise, we were fucking lied to.

Whoever came up with that, who's the writer of this story? Todd

Spangler? Todd Spangler, man.

Congratulations, Todd.

That's a great lead.

All right, without further ado, let us talk about the headline of the week.

Today's story is brought to you by Gene Mattis and Todd Spangler from Variety, as well as Adam Conover and his video essay titled The Paramount WB Merger is a Disaster.

Okay, so on Monday we found out that the attorney generals blocking this merger have finally settled with Paramount.

Presumably, the deal has gone through because Paramount has made several structural changes to this deal.

I have a slew of stories to get through.

It's written by Todd Spangler.

What's in the Paramount settlement with states? Commitment to not sell studio lots, additional 300 million yearly investment in U.S.

film production, CNN oversight, and more.

He powered through this settlement on the morning of the most solemn holiday in the Jewish religion, Yom Kippur.

My Variety colleagues, Matt Donnelly, Gene Mattis, and Todd Spangler, canceled what had been planned to be a day off to cover all of these developments.

Gene Mattis even ran out of his house unexpectedly for a 10 a.m. news conference in downtown L.A. at the office of California State Attorney General Rob Bonta.

That was Bonta you heard in the cold open.

Who are the real winners and losers? This forceful effort from the dozen state attorneys general generated a lot of support from industry insiders who feel strongly that the merger is a mistake.

Actor Mark Ruffalo was among the loudest voices in the Block the Merger coalition.

Bonta addresses that issue during his news conference, and that is followed by my conversation with Variety's Matt Donnelly, Gene Mattis, and Todd Spangler.

I know there are a