Podcast Summary: Pablo Torre Finds Out

Episode: "The Bizarro Sporting Class: How to Buy a Hollywood Studio"

Date: December 12, 2025
Host: Pablo Torre
Guests: Mike Schur (Showrunner, WGA Negotiating Committee Member), Joe Mande (Writer, Actor, Comedian)

Overview

This episode plunges into the bizarre, high-stakes world of Hollywood mergers and the possible sale of Warner Brothers. With trademark wit, host Pablo Torre, along with guests Mike Schur and Joe Mande, unpack what it means when legendary studios like Warner Brothers are passed between tech titans, investment groups, and disruptor platforms like Netflix. The episode juxtaposes sports capitalism with Hollywood’s current existential anxiety—especially for creators—amid industry consolidation, AI threats, and the quest for cultural dominance by a handful of vast companies and personalities.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Setting the Stage: The Absurdity of Hollywood Power Games

• [02:53] Joe Mande and Mike Schur, both insider veterans of the entertainment business, return for a tongue-in-cheek, behind-the-scenes look at who truly pulls the strings in Hollywood today: "Should we say more beyond that? We're going to make Mike guess what is stitched into it." (Pablo Torre)
• The opening banter draws a comedic analogy between sports-business podcasts and their intent to provide a “bizarro” perspective on Hollywood’s ownership saga.

2. The State of the Industry: Mergers, AI & Labor

• [06:25] Mike Schur describes serving on the WGA Negotiating Committee during the pivotal 2023 strikes. He details the existential threat AI poses to creative labor:
  • “We had to step in and declare ... that writers are human beings. That's actually part of the MBA [contract] now, which is an incredible thing to have to actually legislate." [07:45]
• [09:26] Joe Mande on the cyclical stupidity of relying on AI to pitch shows and summarize creative presentations: "At some point, it's just computers talking to each other. I don't know. It's a dumb time."
• The group discusses the massive contraction of Peak TV and the increasing obsession of studios with cost-cutting and "efficiency," often at the creative class’s expense.

3. Who Wants to Buy Warner Brothers? The Billionaire Sweepstakes

• [14:21] Joe Mande gives a satirical explanation of Warner Brothers' legacy ("three siblings that live in a water tower"), as the conversation segues to the real-life power contest over the studio.
• [15:23] Mike Schur introduces Larry Ellison (Oracle billionaire, serial buyer of Hawaiian islands) and his son David Ellison (succession-style Hollywood aspirant) as key movers in the current bidding.
  • "He owns, among other things, Hawaii … He bought Lanai, which … is a good one." [15:48–15:51]
  • Surreal details emerge: Larry’s $160M superyacht boasts a basketball court and a man hired solely to retrieve lost balls. [16:41]
• [18:22] The conversation veers into geopolitics with references to the Saudi and Qatari Sovereign Wealth Funds, and even Jared Kushner and Donald Trump’s facilitating roles, painting an outlandishly corrupt, monarchy-like corporate court.

4. Enter Netflix: Disruption on a Global Scale

• [21:08] Mike Schur draws analogies between Amazon’s and Netflix’s disruption: both started with narrow focuses (books, DVD rentals) before pursuing planet-wide dominance and establishing themselves as “the only store … the only entertainment company that exists in the world.”
• [24:31] The Downside of Mergers — For Everyone
  • “When companies at this level in this industry merge, it is bad for everyone, and I literally mean everyone… less stuff will get made and ... [what does] get made will be the same as all the other stuff.” (Mike Schur) [24:31–26:02]
  • "It is terrible for consumers ..." A clear warning that variety and creativity suffer as media monopolies grow.

5. Satirical, Yet Ominous Predictions for Audiences

• [28:54] Joe Mande delivers withering, surreal humor on the possible future of content mergers:
  • “Imagine if Fred Flintstone was also a character in the Red Notice cinematic universe.”
  • “There will be a function where we could watch House of Cards, but Fred Flintstone instead of Kevin Spacey.” [29:07–29:17]

6. The Food Chain of Hollywood: Netflix as Apex Predator

• [41:39] Discussion crystallizes around what artists lose:
  • “If you have Joe’s job or my job, you know, you have an idea for a TV show or a movie, there’s what, half a dozen places that can buy it, and when two of them merge, that means there’s only five places ... Now there’s 16% less opportunity …” (Mike Schur)

7. A Love/Hate Relationship with Hollywood’s Real Powers

• [32:10] Mike Schur discusses the paradoxical affection many billionaires and tech CEOs genuinely feel for Hollywood’s glamour and creativity, even as their methods threaten its essence.
• The group points out that, historically, human programming and a willingness to take creative risks (e.g., with shows like "Hacks" or "The Wire") have produced the industry's greatest work—a process now imperiled by mergers and algorithms.

8. The Case Study of HBO

• [42:42] What future for HBO under new owners?
  • “What happens if Netflix buys this? Does HBO disappear forever? … Do they get to keep Casey Bloys and all the folks at that company who have been responsible for some of your favorite shows?” (Mike Schur)
• The very processes that make work like "The Wire" or "I May Destroy You" possible—a greenlight from human judgment—are at risk when everything must pass through algorithmic or overly business-driven filters.

9. The Sporting Parable: What Sports Can Teach Hollywood

• [45:34] Pablo Torre invokes Lina Khan’s regulatory emphasis: competition is the lifeblood of a functioning market, in sports and in entertainment alike.
  • “Competition is the thing that we have forgotten as this priority for what it means to have even a vaguely functioning capitalist system.”

10. Coda: Humor, Hope, & One-of-a-Kind Art

• [53:54] The promised “big reveal”: Joe Mande unveils an embroidered Minnesota Timberwolves hat with the word "Chemtrails" stitched into it, offering satirical commentary on the intersection of art and commerce.
  • “The word is chemtrails. So you were kind of off because I ...” (Joe Mande) [56:11]
  • The hat is auctioned for charity, rebuking algorithmic culture with something undeniably handmade and singular—a metaphor for the conversation’s core message.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• The AI labor crisis:
  • “We had to step in and declare ... that writers are human beings. That's actually part of the MBA now, which is an incredible thing to have to actually legislate." (Mike Schur, 07:45)
• On mergers and creativity:
  • "When companies at this level, in this industry, merge, it is bad for everyone, and I literally mean everyone." (Mike Schur, 24:31)
• Satire of the future:
  • “Imagine if Fred Flintstone was also a character in the Red Notice cinematic universe.” (Joe Mande, 29:01)
• On Hollywood's love affair with itself:
  • “This class of person... genuinely, at some level, love Hollywood.” (Mike Schur, 33:14)
• The problem with consolidation:
  • “If we lose the ecosystem that allows both the Big Bang Theory and I May Destroy You to exist … then we're losing Hollywood and we're losing storytelling.” (Mike Schur, 50:23)
• Plea for human creativity:
  • “That's a good lesson for whoever wins the merger—think about the artist and let the artist do their thing.” (Mike Schur, 56:30)

Timestamps for Important Segments

• [02:53] Guest introductions & show’s “bizarro” angle
• [06:25] Mike Schur on WGA strikes, AI, and labor threats
• [15:23] Who are Larry and David Ellison? Succession, yachts, and basketballs
• [18:22] Foreign money, geopolitics, Trump’s overt involvement
• [21:08] The rise of Netflix and the “apex predator” analogy
• [24:31] Why mergers hurt everyone (especially creators and audiences)
• [28:54] Satirical visions: “Red Notice” x “Flintstones” and AI mishaps
• [32:10] The paradox: Billionaires genuinely love movies—so why are they killing them?
• [42:42] The HBO dilemma: Can quality survive tech consolidation?
• [45:34] Lina Khan, anti-trust, and Hollywood’s need for competition
• [53:54] Joe Mande’s “Chemtrails” hat: handmade art vs. algorithmic culture

Final Takeaways

This episode is a wide-ranging, humor-drenched, yet deeply sobering meditation on how the machinery of late capitalism, tech monopolism, and algorithmic thinking endanger the human core of Hollywood creativity. Both guests lament how consolidation shrinks opportunity and originality in entertainment, warning that while rulers may love the culture they’re buying, their methods risk destroying its magic.

Action:
The episode ends on a note of hope—auctioning a one-of-a-kind art object for charity—reminding listeners: the irreplaceable stuff of culture is made by real people and can’t be mass produced or replaced by code.

For more, visit ptfo.betterworld.org to support St. Jude and check out the one-of-a-kind “Chemtrails” Timberwolves hat.