In this week’s episode of The Screen Podcast, we analyse three huge film industry stories from the past week: the future of the Berlin film festival and its director Tricia Tuttle, Paramount Skydance’s acquisition of Warner Bros Discovery, and the continued fallout from the Bafta Film Awards ceremony.

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Screen’s contributing editor Wendy Mitchell is joined by editor-in-chief Matt Mueller and deputy editor Louise Tutt to analyse the developments.

Starting with the Berlinale, they look at the outpouring of industry support for Tricia and what kind of open letter is helpful.

“[Tuttle staying] is fantastic news for the Berlinale because I think it would have been very bad news if they had lost her,” says Mueller. “If she had left, I think it would have been hard for them to secure another high-calibre person.”

“I’m pretty sure that Tricia was questioning her future,” adds Tutt. “Who would want to put themselves through that? There was an open letter in the middle of the festival that seemed to question whether it was a place for free speech. That was probably not the best idea.”

The team discusses the continued fallout from the Tourettes incident at the Baftas, and what questions need to be asked by the comprehensive review launched by the arts charity.

“I’m interested in how Bafta handled it in the room, both in advance and at the time,” says Tutt. “I don’t know if Bafta [explained John Davidson’s presence and condition] to any of their nominees and potential presenters. Were they made aware of this until Alan Cumming and the stage manager made their comments?”

Finally, the podcast team gives their initial reaction to David Ellison and Paramount Skydance winning the battle for Warner Bros Discovery after Netflix dropped out, and what could happen next. 

“Whatever Paramount claims in terms of what they’re going to preserve from Warner Brothers, it’s still combining two giant companies into one,” says Mueller. “We saw that with Disney and Fox – merging did not create a benefit to the industry. It basically took Fox completely out of the picture as a studio and it’s a shadow of its former self. So that was not a case of one plus one equals two. That was just a removal of an entire studio from the ecosystem. And I think that’s ultimately what is going to happen with Warner Brothers being absorbed into Paramount.”

The Screen Podcast is produced and edited by Ellie Calnan, with Wendy Mitchell serving as editorial director. New episodes every Thursday.

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