International Insider: CAA Sizes Up UK; Prime Video Webnovel Love-In; Netflix’s French Connection
Giddy up, jingle-horse, pick up your feet… because the holiday season Insider is here. Jesse Whittock with you as we head nearer the festive period. This will be the last Insider of the year, but we’ll be back on Friday, January 9, 2026. For the final time this year, let’s go. Sign up to the newsletter here.
CAA Sizes Up UK
L to R: Amelia Dimoldenberg, KSI, Jolie Sharpe
Samir Hussein/WireImage / James Fearn / Stuart C. Wilson/Getty for AELTC
All-powerful creators: For a number of years, L.A. super-agency CAA bas been assessing quite what it wants to do in the UK, where the language is shared but the business is done very differently. In the wake of UTA buying Curtis Brown, senior execs closely considered a similar move, but it never emerged and instead the company has focused on signings for CAA Sports Media, which reps the likes of Jolie Sharpe, and spreading the profile of British stars such as Amelia Dimoldenberg and KSI in the States. This week, Max revealed CAA’s digital media chief Brent Weinstein was in London a few weeks back taking meetings with managers and reps of several creator talents. Not only that, but the M&A play might be back on: The agency is mulling whether to hire a small number of agents in the UK capital or if it should acquire a boutique British agenting business. The former sounds much more likely in the short term, with a focus on signing more creator stars, as the influencer space continues to offer traditional TV and film companies new opportunities. Glenn Miller leads CAA’s work in the UK, and it sounds like his stock is rising. “Growing the team around Glenn in London is absolutely a priority and one we are heavily focused on for fiscal year ’26,” Weinstein told Deadline. With around 500 staff working at CAA in the UK already in a variety of functions and more potentially joining, the busy London agenting scene looks set to get even more crowded.
Prime Video‘s YA Phase Continues
‘Follow My Voice‘
Prime Video
Webnovel approach: On Tuesday came the news that Prime Video’s latest YA title, Follow My Voice (Sigue Mi Voz), would launch on January 2, 2026. I spoke with Amazon MGM Studios Spain’s María Contreras about the announcement and Prime Video’s close association with the young adult genre. “We’ve seen how hungry viewers are for content in this space – the response to Culpables or The Summer I Turned Pretty proved that,” she said. The film, which we first revealed news of more than two years ago, will follow a young woman (Berta Castañé), who begins to wonder if she is in love with voice she constantly listen to on the radio. Execs from Webtoon Productions were on hand to explain how the story, originally a webnovel from A Través writer Ariana Godoy, had been adapted into a movie and why Wattpad continues to be a major supplier of source material for the likes of Netflix and Amazon. “It comes from creators from all around the world with such unique voices who are not listening to the traditional mandates of Hollywood, CAA or HarperCollins on what works and what doesn’t work,” Webtoon Productions’ Global President of Film, Jason Goldberg, told me. For more on the webnovel world, you can also dig into this interview with Wattpad rival Manta from last week.
Ted’s French Connection
Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos at the premiere of ‘Emily in Paris’ Season 5 in Paris on Monday
France televisions: It was all glitz and glamor in Paris this week, where pay-TV giant Canal+ held a showcase to outline everything from its latest theatrical movies (Les Miserables and Asterix titles among them) and TV shows (e.g. Apollo Has Fallen and Shaka iLembe) with stars such as Tewfik Jallab, Nomzamo Mbatha and Tahar Rahim. Undoubtedly the standout moment was, however, when Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos made for the stage for an interview with Canal+ CEO Maxime Saada. The two men – in fact, the two companies – have been on good terms for many years, and Saada made a startling statement when he said, “you convinced the French to pay” for TV. Before Netflix made its entry in 2014, Saada recalled how pay-TV penetration in the famously high-cultured, cinema-loving country was just 30%, but that the seductive offer of high-quality original series and U.S. studio fare available at the press of a button changed minds. Sarandos – in town for the Emily in Paris Season 5 premiere – graciously accepted the compliment and said Netflix was aware it “had to make television” worth paying for. Talking of paying for things, Sarandos used the impromptu chat to reiterate Netflix would respect theatrical windows and release Warner Bros. movies if and when it completes its $83B takeover of the studio… and talking of studios, Sarandos was back in Burbank later in the week getting a tour of the Warner Bros. lot alongside Netflix co-CEO Greg Peters, with Warner Bros. Discovery President and CEO David Zaslav playing tour guide. Well, they had to get to know their potential new digs at some point, right?
The Essentials
Jonathan Bailey and Ariana Grande
Michael Buckner for Deadline/Getty
🌶️ Hot One: Wicked’s Ariana Grande and Jonathan Bailey are in the early stages of reuniting in a revival of Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s musical Sunday in the Park With George, per the one and only Breaking Baz.
🌶️ Another One: Sky landed UK and Ireland rights to zeitgesty hockey drama Heated Rivalry days after I revealed the show had secured a second season.
🔫 Starting pistol: The early stages of the next charter renewal negotiations are nearing at the embattled BBC, which started the week by officially being sued for $10B by President Donald Trump.
🤖 Column: Jake’s Rendering column explored how animators feel about Disney’s shocking OpenAI deal.
✊ People power: Members of Equity have voted overwhelmingly to say they would refuse to be digitally scanned in a landmark indicative ballot held by the UK performers’ union.
🗣️ The big interview: I sat down with CME chief exec Sam Barnett to discuss European broadcasting, streaming and making friends with Czech celebrities.
🪲 Mind they don’t bite: The Cinémathèque Française, one of France’s most prestigious film institutions, will reopen its cinemas on January 2, after a five-week closure to deal with a bed bug infestation.
👋 Parting ways: Indian talent house Dharma Cornerstone Agency split after five years, with Karan Johar relaunching his portion of the venture as Dharma Collabs Artists Agency.
⬇️ Stepping down: Rowan Woods, after two years as Creative Director of the Edinburgh Television Festival.
⛺ Line-up: For the 2026 International Film Festival Rotterdam, with Charlotte Glynn’s The Gymnast among the titles in competition.
🍿 Box office: The global B.O. is estimated to reach $35B in 2026, per Nancy’s story from Gower Street projections.
🕯️ RIP: Susie Figgis, the popular casting director who worked on everything from Gandhi to The Killing Fields, and The Full Monty to Harry Potter. She passed away aged 77.
🎄 Happy Holidays from the International Insider team. We will return on January 9, 2026. 🎄
