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Starmer Resigns, Reflecting Pool Fiasco, and Amazon Dumps OpenAI Movie
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Amazon Dumps the OpenAI Biopic — Hollywood Retreats from Big Tech
At 32:12 · chapter starts 27:40
The Sam Altman movie — already $40 million deep, tested in four markets, with a release date in sight — is suddenly homeless. Netflix passed, other studios passed, and Amazon, its backer, dropped it the moment a $50 billion OpenAI investment was announced. Kara has read the script and found it factually loose and dramatically flat; Scott points to a broader trend. He connects it to his own experience: a Netflix show about Big Tech with Rosamund Pike attached, developed by Scott Burns (Bourne Identity) and Rez Media (The Morning Show), was bought in the room — Netflix committed to the entire first season — and then quietly fell apart over script disputes and cast issues. He says Occam's razor probably explains it, but the timing of the Amazon cancellation feels less coincidental. The creative community, Scott argues, has decided America is tired of Big Tech stories — and the second-order risk of angering powerful executives or the president is simply too high. Both hosts agree this is a mistake: the real stories of Bezos, Musk, and Sandberg are more complex and dramatic than anything in Succession, which was only about News Corp — a footnote compared to Big Tech.
Bezos told Trump that the Washington Post was his worst investment; Zuckerberg sent a child's letter praising a Trump slogan. Scott Galloway says this isn't just embarrassing — it's a structural shift from pay-for-play democracy to a mob protection racket where even quarter-trillion-dollar fortunes require paying tribute to the president.
Amazon's studio killed a film about Sam Altman despite spending $40 million, testing it in four markets, and having Andrew Garfield attached. The decision came just as Amazon announced a $50 billion investment in OpenAI. Netflix passed; so did others. Hollywood is quietly backing away from Big Tech stories.
