TMC
07-10-2025, 07:21 PM
https://strikegeist.substack.com/p/shes-back-cindy-holland-at-new-paramount
"After joining Netflix during its DVD-by-mail days, Holland ushered the streaming giant into the world of scripted originals with prestige players like House of Cards and Orange Is the New Black," says The Ankler's Lesley Goldberg. "That disruption, in turn, pushed the television industry into the Peak TV era as legacy media companies Disney, Warner Bros., Comcast and Paramount spent with reckless abandon and launched their own direct-to-consumer platforms in a bid to compete with Netflix. Now, Holland (presumably) is less than 90 days away from climbing another mountain: Paramount. The woman who led Netflix’s charge away from its red envelopes and into pricey original hits (Stranger Things) and a wave of landscape-shifting overall deals (Shonda Rhimes, Game of Thrones creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss), is, sources tell me, excited by the challenge of reinventing Paramount+. Holland officially has been working for David Ellison as a consultant on his Skydance deal to acquire Paramount Global, but when and if the merger closes, the well-regarded executive is expected to be given oversight of Paramount+, where insiders say she will build the platform around such pillars as its Taylor Sheridan slate, Alex Kurtzman’s Star Trek franchise and CBS originals. For the rest of the TV industry, the impending return of Holland — a savvy, artist-friendly exec and dealmaker — should be considered a boon for the town’s sagging mood and perhaps its business as well."
"After joining Netflix during its DVD-by-mail days, Holland ushered the streaming giant into the world of scripted originals with prestige players like House of Cards and Orange Is the New Black," says The Ankler's Lesley Goldberg. "That disruption, in turn, pushed the television industry into the Peak TV era as legacy media companies Disney, Warner Bros., Comcast and Paramount spent with reckless abandon and launched their own direct-to-consumer platforms in a bid to compete with Netflix. Now, Holland (presumably) is less than 90 days away from climbing another mountain: Paramount. The woman who led Netflix’s charge away from its red envelopes and into pricey original hits (Stranger Things) and a wave of landscape-shifting overall deals (Shonda Rhimes, Game of Thrones creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss), is, sources tell me, excited by the challenge of reinventing Paramount+. Holland officially has been working for David Ellison as a consultant on his Skydance deal to acquire Paramount Global, but when and if the merger closes, the well-regarded executive is expected to be given oversight of Paramount+, where insiders say she will build the platform around such pillars as its Taylor Sheridan slate, Alex Kurtzman’s Star Trek franchise and CBS originals. For the rest of the TV industry, the impending return of Holland — a savvy, artist-friendly exec and dealmaker — should be considered a boon for the town’s sagging mood and perhaps its business as well."