Episodes
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Alex Gibney’s ‘Musk’ and the politics of getting a movie seen
This week, Kim Masters sits down with Oscar-winning documentarian Alex Gibney to talk about his new film, Musk. Gibney explains how the project grew from two hours to nearly four as Elon Musk aligned himself with Donald Trump, and the unexpected difficulties he faced when major social media...
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Inside the great Netflix shakeup
It’s official: Bela Bajaria and Dan Lin are out at Netflix, and Peter Rice is in as the streamer’s new chief content officer. Kim Masters and Matt Belloni break down the shakeup, how Rice landed the top job, and who he might recruit to oversee Netflix’s future projects. Plus, we’re sharing some...
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Veteran marketing executive Gerry Rich on surviving Hollywood’s worst bosses
This week, Kim Masters sits down with veteran Hollywood marketing executive Gerry Rich to talk about his memoir, Chasing Hollywood. Rich recalls the nightmare of working for Harvey Weinstein at Miramax, helping launch Iron Man before Marvel became part of the Disney empire, and getting a crash...
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Van Dyke Parks on Brian Wilson, Hollywood, and the authority of failure
This week, Van Dyke Parks sits down with The Business showrunner Joshua Farnham to look back at a career that stretches from childhood acting to collaborating with Brian Wilson, and scoring films for Jack Nicholson. He also recalls his first arranging job, The Bare Necessities for Disney’s The...
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Malcolm McDowell on the director who changed his life
This week, Kim Masters speaks with actor Malcolm McDowell about his six-decade career and the long journey to finally making his latest film, the western Last Train to Fortune. McDowell reflects on his friendship with mentor and director Lindsay Anderson, shares stories from the set of Stanley...
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Sharon Horgan finds the comedy in 'Youth'
This week, Kim Masters speaks with Sharon Horgan about her HBO series Youth. The writer, actor and producer reflects on taking control of her career by creating her own material, building the production company Merman, and working across broadcast networks and streaming platforms. Horgan also...
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Hollywood goes to Washington for a tax break
This week, Kim Masters reports on the newly formed U.S. Film and Television Production Coalition and its push for a federal tax incentive to stem the loss of production overseas. Members representing studios, producers and unions lay out the industry’s unusually unified campaign, the backing of...
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How new will the new ‘60 Minutes’ feel?
As CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss prepares to unveil a new era of 60 Minutes, questions are mounting over what America’s most-watched news program will look like under her leadership. Following the exits and firings of several correspondents and senior producers since Weiss arrived at the...
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Lilly Wachowski remembers 30 years of ‘Bound’
This week, Kim Masters talks to Lilly Wachowski about making Bound, the directorial debut she co-directed with sister Lana. Wachowski recalls the wild experience of working with legendary producer Dino De Laurentiis, and how she and Lana went from living paycheck to paycheck as carpenters to…
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After ‘Tiger King,’ Eric Goode goes deeper into the reptile world
This week, Kim sits down with filmmaker Eric Goode to talk about his HBO documentary series, Monsters of God. Goode discusses how he pivoted from a successful career in New York’s hospitality world to making documentaries about the extinction crisis, exotic reptile smuggling, and eventually, a...
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Desi Lydic ‘Foxsplains’ her rise to the top of fake news
Eric Deggans speaks with Desi Lydic, a longtime correspondent on Comedy Central’s The Daily Show. She talks about how a pandemic-era segment satirizing Fox News evolved into her Emmy-nominated digital series Desi Lydic Foxplains. Lydic also shares how The Daily Show’s post-Trevor Noah rotation of...
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How Hannah Einbinder hacked it out in Hollywood
Kim Masters talks to Hannah Einbinder, who is up for another supporting actress Emmy for Hacks. But her role in the new film Teenage Sex And Death At Camp Miasma takes her far from the lavish Las Vegas home of Deborah Vance, to a weird and gory place. Einbinder tells Masters about coming-of-age…
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Lilly Wachowski reimagines the studio system (Pt 1)
Kim Masters talks to Lilly Wachowski, co-creator of The Matrix movie franchise, about her new artist-owned, non-profit studio. They discuss how Lilly juggled multiple international film and TV productions while she was transitioning, why she stepped away from the business, and how she’s working…
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The quirky alchemy of Widow’s Bay
Eric Deggans talks to Hiro Murai, lead director and executive producer of the Apple TV horror-comedy series Widow’s Bay. They discuss how Murai helped maintain the tricky tone of the Emmy-nominated series, his work with Donald Glover on the FX series Atlanta, and how he keeps the initial spark of...
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Hunting for the next hit YouTube IP
Kim Masters talks to Kori Adelson, whose company produced Backrooms, and Roy Lee, producer of Weapons, about the hunt for the next hit YouTube IP. Adelson and Lee share their observations about the effect movies like Backrooms, Obsession, and Iron Lung have had on what studios are looking for…
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Documentary filmmakers facing the threat of litigation
Kim Masters talks to Dale Cohen, special counsel to PBS's Frontline, and director of UCLA Law School's Documentary Film Legal Clinic, about the threat of litigation filmmakers face from the wealthy and powerful people they choose to cover, such as Donald Trump. Cohen laments that so few...
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Emmy nominations surprises and predictions
Kim Masters talks to LA Times Awards Columnist Glenn Whipp about the Emmy nominations announced this week. Whipp thinks this was not a stellar year in television, meaning that top nominees, The Pitt and Hacks, are likely to feast at September’s Emmys. But Whipp is pleased that stand-out new…
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Alexandria Stapleton on chronicling the rise and reckoning of Sean Combs
This week, an encore presentation of Kim Masters’ interview with Alexandria Stapleton, the DGA Award nominated director of Sean Combs: The Reckoning. The Netflix docuseries examines the rise and fall of the hip hop mogul. Stapleton discusses partnering with executive producer 50 Cent, her…
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John Carney on pop stars, movie stars, and Power Ballad
Kim Masters talks to John Carney, who after his 2006 indie breakout film Once, has made a career of making movies about musicians making music. Generally, the ones who never got famous. His new film, Power Ballad, stars Paul Rudd as a wedding singer alongside Nick Jonas, who plays a flawed former...
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David Koepp on trying to ‘not screw up’ Disclosure Day
Kim Masters talks to screenwriter David Koepp about Disclosure Day, his latest collaboration with director Steven Spielberg. After Spielberg sent Koepp a 40 page treatment for the movie, which Koepp gave notes on, Spielberg emailed him back that “it’s your problem now.” Koepp also reveals the...
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Former FTC Commissioner wants to stop the Paramount-Warner merger
This week, Kim Masters talks to Alvaro Bedoya, a former FTC Commissioner, about why he objects to the Paramount-Warner Brothers merger. Bedoya says it will mean fewer jobs, higher subscription fees for consumers, and more censorship when the Ellison family - who own Paramount Skydance - control...
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Eric Kripke responds to critics of the ‘The Boys’ finale
This week, Eric Deggans talks to Eric Kripke, creator of the Amazon Prime series The Boys, about criticism of the show’s final season. Elon Musk went online to trash the finale of the politically provocative superhero satire, and some of the show’s less wealthy fans also didn’t care for it…
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Jack Thorne on ‘Adolescence,’ ‘Lord of the Flies,’ and his autism
This week, Kim Masters talks to Jack Thorne, who won all the prizes for writing the Netflix series Adolescence, about his new series, an adaptation of the novel Lord of the Flies. They also discuss how Adolescence revealed Netflix’s stunning global reach, and why series star Stephen Graham has a...
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Courtney Kemp on Netflix series ‘Nemesis’ and diversity in Hollywood
This week, Eric Deggans talks to Courtney Kemp, co-creator of the Netflix crime drama Nemesis, about the changing TV landscape, and whether she sees Hollywood standing by diversity initiatives despite the pushback from the Trump administration. She also explains how some executives who give her...
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William Shatner & Neil deGrasse Tyson think ‘The Universe is Absurd’ (Part Two)
Kim Masters wraps up her two-part conversation with legendary actor William Shatner and famed astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson. Shatner reflects on his deeply emotional journey to space at age 90 and Tyson shares why he isn’t picky about the show biz gigs he takes. The pair also reflect on...
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William Shatner & Neil deGrasse Tyson think ‘The Universe is Absurd’
This week, Kim Masters speaks with legendary actor William Shatner and famed astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson about their upcoming two-night live event, The Universe is Absurd. In the first installment of a sprawling two-part conversation, the pair reflect on how syndication helped solidify…
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Kirk Jones and Robert Aramayo on the making of ‘I Swear’
This week, Kim Masters speaks with director Kirk Jones and actor Robert Aramayo about I Swear, the BAFTA winning film about Tourette’s advocate John Davidson. Jones talks about using his own life savings to self-finance the project after potential backers pushed him to tone down the film’s...
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Ben McKenzie’s Crypto Warning: ‘Everyone Is Lying to You for Money’
This week, Kim Masters speaks with Ben McKenzie about his documentary Everyone Is Lying to You for Money, which examines fraud in the cryptocurrency world. The actor discusses leaning into his popularity as Ryan on The OC as a narrative device in the film—one that helped get him in the room for a...
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Riz Ahmed on bringing 'Hamlet' into the modern world
This week, Kim Masters speaks with Riz Ahmed about his modern retelling of Hamlet. The actor and producer discusses the decade-long journey of adapting the Shakespeare classic and how the project evolved from a planned Netflix streaming release to securing theatrical distribution with Focus...
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Drew Goddard shoots for the stars with ‘Project Hail Mary’
This week, Kim Masters sits down with Drew Goddard to discuss adapting Andy Weir’s novel Project Hail Mary for the big screen. He reflects on how his early days writing on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Alias, and Lost trained him to move fast, as he did when he was tasked with turning around the…
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Oscar winners victory lap: Autumn Durald Arkapaw & Joachim Trier
The Academy Awards are behind us, but we’re sharing unheard stories from Kim Masters’ interviews with some of the recently minted Oscar winners. That includes director Joachim Trier, who shares how he landed on casting Elle Fanning in his Best International Feature winner, Sentimental Value.…
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A demanding first week for Disney CEO Josh D’Amaro
And just like that, Josh D'Amaro’s first week as CEO of The Walt Disney Company proved challenging, to say the least. From a brewing Bachelorette scandal to the abrupt cancellation of Sora by OpenAI, and fresh turmoil at Epic Games amid layoffs, Matt Belloni and Lucas Shaw unpack the challenges...
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A human conversation with the producers of ‘The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist’
This week, Kim talks to Diane Becker and Ted Tremper about The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist. The producers discuss how they managed to land big names in machine learning, including the CEOs of OpenAI and Anthropic. Becker and Tremper also explain how they nearly got Elon Musk—until,...
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Tilly Norwood creator defends her controversial synthetic character
This week, Kim talks with Tilly Norwood creator Eline Van der Velden, who defends her controversial synthetic character. Van der Velden argues that Tilly Norwood is simply another character, an extension of herself, not so different from others she’s created during her years as an actress. The...
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A check-in with SAG-AFTRA president Sean Astin
This week, Kim talks with SAG-AFTRA president Sean Astin about stepping into the job during a tumultuous year for Hollywood. His early tenure has already included an FCC clash involving Jimmy Kimmel, the arrival of synthetic “performers,” and some wonky legal maneuvering from OpenAI. Astin...
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Kleber Mendonça Filho on ‘The Secret Agent’ and taking a stand
This week, Kim sits down with Brazilian writer-director Kleber Mendonça Filho to discuss his Oscar-nominated political thriller The Secret Agent. A former film critic, Mendonça explains why he still reads every review of his work. He also reflects on the backlash that followed his 2016 Cannes red...
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Oscar-nominated cinematographer Autumn Durald Arkapaw on ‘Sinners’
This week, Kim sits down with Academy Award–nominated cinematographer Autumn Durald Arkapaw, who made history with Sinners as the first woman of color nominated for the Oscar for Best Cinematography. She discusses her work on the film and how it evolved from a scrappy 16mm concept into a…
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Palme d’Or winner Jafar Panahi on ‘It Was Just an Accident’ and returning to Iran under legal threat
This week, Kim Masters sits down with Academy Award nominated Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi to discuss his Palme d’Or winning film It Was Just an Accident. Panahi explains why he self finances his films, bringing in partners only after he decides the work is worthy of his signature, and how he…
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Steamrollers, record breakers, and late surges: Inside the 2026 Oscar nominees
This week, Kim Masters is joined by Scott Feinberg, The Hollywood Reporter’s Executive Editor of Awards, for a deep dive into the 2026 Oscar nominees. Feinberg unpacks the debut of the new Best Casting category and explains the strategy behind Warner Bros.' support for its Best Picture…
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Alexandria Stapleton on chronicling the rise and reckoning of Sean Combs
This week, Kim speaks with Alexandria Stapleton, the DGA Award nominated director of Sean Combs: The Reckoning, a Netflix docuseries that examines the rise and fall of the hip hop mogul. Stapleton discusses partnering with executive producer 50 Cent, her approach to telling the story without...
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Tom Freston on building MTV during cable’s wild west years
This week, Kim sits down with former Viacom CEO and MTV co-founder Tom Freston to discuss his memoir, Unplugged: Adventures from MTV to Timbuktu. From his vagabond youth to the birth of MTV and his years working under billionaire mogul Sumner Redstone, Freston reflects on a career spent shaping...
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‘Sentimental Value’ director Joachim Trier is begging Netflix to embrace movie theaters
This week, Kim Masters sits down with writer-director Joachim Trier to discuss his Cannes Grand Prix–winning film Sentimental Value. Trier explains how he structures his financing to preserve creative control while allowing for longer shooting schedules — and still delivering returns for his...
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SPECIAL PREVIEW: Joachim Trier on 'Sentimental Value'
Listen to a special preview of Kim Masters’ conversation with Joachim Trier about his film Sentimental Value.
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Tim Blake Nelson on balancing acting, directing, writing, and his novel ‘Superhero’
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...
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Hollywood in 2026: Disney’s next CEO, industry tariffs, and Netflix vs. YouTube
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.…
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Megabanter 2025: Hollywood’s unraveling year of crises, consolidation, and AI
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...
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Vince Gilligan wants the audience to decide what ‘Pluribus’ is about
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.…
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Everything you need to know about the Warner Bros. sale (so far)
With Netflix’s bombshell move to acquire Warner Bros. still reverberating through the town, Paramount has gone fully hostile–bypassing Warner leadership and taking its case straight to shareholders. Matt Belloni and Lucas Shaw break down the latest maneuvering in a saga that seems to sprout new...
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Celine Song on confronting the cost of love in ‘Materialists’
Producer’s note: This week’s banter segment was recorded before news broke of Netflix acquiring Warner Bros. This week, Kim Masters sits down with writer-director Celine Song to talk about Materialists, her rom-com that became a surprise commercial hit worldwide. Song explains how a stint as a…
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Digging into ‘Wake Up Dead Man’ with Rian Johnson and Ram Bergman
This week, Kim Masters talks to writer-director Rian Johnson and producer Ram Bergman about their latest Knives Out installment, Wake Up Dead Man. Johnson opens up about leaning on his producer when he panics during the writing process—and why, oddly enough, he never hit that wall on The Last…
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About this show
Lively banter about entertainment industry news and in-depth interviews with directors, producers, writers and actors, hosted by award-winning journalist Kim Masters of The Hollywood Reporter.
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