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Amazon Delays Full RTO for Some Staff Due to Workspace Shortages

  • Amazon is delaying full RTO for some employees due to office capacity issues.
  • The policy required employees to work from the office five days a week, beginning January 2.
  • Amazon has encountered workspace capacity issues in the past.

Amazon is delaying the start of its strict new RTO policy for some employees because the company doesn’t have enough office space in certain locations, Business Insider has learned.

The company’s real estate team recently started notifying employees that they can continue following their current in-office guidance until workspaces are ready with delays stretching to as late as May, according internal Amazon notifications viewed by BI.

Impacted locations include Atlanta, Houston, Nashville, and New York, the notifications showed. An Amazon spokesperson said buildings will be ready for the majority of Amazon employees by January 2.

Earlier this year, Amazon ordered employees to start working from the office five days a week. beginning January 2. The company has said this will improve collaboration and bring other benefits. CEO Andy Jassy, in a memo announcing the mandate, said Amazon the decision to « further strengthen » its culture and teams.

Some staff were upset by the change and have argued that remote work provides more flexibility. The policy five-day-a-week policy is stricter than at some Amazon rivals and, by some accounts, stricter than Amazon’s office-work policy before the pandemic.

This isn’t the first time office capacity constraints have delayed Amazon’s RTO plans. When the company last year ordered employees to start working in the office at least three days a week, many of its buildings weren’t ready to accommodate all of those employees.

In internal guidelines viewed by BI, Amazon told employees when the new five-day RTO policy was first announced in September that they should plan to comply by January 2 whether or not they have assigned workspaces.

« For the vast majority of employees, assigned workspaces will be available by January 2, 2025, » the guidance stated. « If your assigned workspace isn’t ready by January 2, we still expect everyone to begin fully working from the office by that date. »

Are you a tech-industry employee or someone else with insight to share?

Contact reporter Ashley Stewart via the encrypted messaging app Signal (+1-425-344-8242) or email (astewart@businessinsider.com). Use a nonwork device.



2024-12-16 20:42:59

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How Ads Took Over Streaming TV and What They’ll Look Like in 2025

  • Advertising took over the streaming-TV experience this year, and it’ll only get bigger next year.
  • Interactive ads that try to get viewers to shop or take other actions are gaining traction.
  • This article is part of « Transforming Business, » a series on the must-know leaders and trends impacting industries.

It’s back to the future in Hollywood.

Streaming is starting to look like the TV days of old. Entertainment for the masses is back. Bundles are making it easier to consolidate subscriptions.

And ads seem to be everywhere.

Netflix, Disney+, and Max — which all started ad-free — now have cheaper ad-supported tiers. Amazon turned on ads in Prime Video this year, making advertising de facto for more than 100 million viewers in the US in one fell swoop.

EMARKETER expects streaming advertising to reach half of linear-TV advertising’s size in 2024 and approach parity with it in 2027.

According to the analytics firm Antenna, these cheaper versions are gaining traction with viewers, too. In May, most new paying subscribers to five major streamers were choosing ad-supported tiers — a year earlier, this was true for only two streamers.

On Disney’s latest earnings call, execs said that about 60% of new subscribers in the US were opting for its ad-supported tier, which accounted for 37% of its total US subscribers.

Ad-supported TV viewing also is on the rise through free services like Fox’s Tubi, Paramount’s Pluto TV, and The Roku Channel. According to Nielsen, those services plus YouTube made up 14.8% of viewing in July, up from 12.5% a year earlier.

« What’s old is new again, » said Jonathan Miller, a veteran media executive and chief executive of Integrated Media Co., which invests in digital media.

Miller sees ad tiers as a validation of the dual revenue streams that long supported cable. « Advertising and subscriptions have always been a successful model, » he said.

Streaming ads are here to stay because — along with bundling, cheaper programming, and password-sharing crackdowns — they’re one of the ways streamers can help make themselves sustainable.

Ads have also begun to directly shape the content streamers offer. Streamers are showing more sports and other live programming because of the big audiences and advertisers they attract.

For example, Netflix’s highly anticipated Mike Tyson-Jake Paul fight on November 15 was a win for the streamer despite some tech glitches. Why? Because it showed Netflix’s ability to draw huge audiences at once; it said that as many as 60 million households tuned in. That large audience bodes well for Netflix’s NFL games on Christmas and its live WWE programming set to debut in January.

Viewers’ tolerance for ads will be increasingly tested

Streamers that dipped a toe in the ad space are looking to wade in.

The ad load — or ad volume per hour of entertainment — has crept up over the past year, according to the measurement firm MediaRadar. There was an average of six minutes of ads per hour in September across eight leading ad-supported streamers, up by 9% from January 2023, when Netflix and Disney had just entered the ad-supported game. That’s still far lower than cable, where ad loads can push an eye-watering 15 minutes or more an hour. Viewers are also more likely to tolerate ads in live sports because people are used to them being part of that content.


Ryan Fitzpatrick, Charissa Thompson, and Tony Gonzalez host Amazon Prime Video’s « Thursday Night Football. »

Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images for Amazon



Amazon and Warner Bros. Discovery recently said they’d start showing more ads to their streaming viewers in 2025, while emphasizing that their ad loads were lower than their competitors.

« On the ad-load side, we are light, » WBD’s streaming chief, JB Perrette, said of the streamer Max during the company’s third-quarter earnings call. « We have a very light ad load compared to everyone else in the market, so there’s room to grow on the capacity side. »

The industry consensus is that streaming ad loads won’t become a throwback to cable, though — at least not anytime soon.

For one thing, it’s a buyer’s market. Amazon flooded the market with ad inventory, which depressed ad prices for everyone. Streamers aren’t incentivized to add too much more ad inventory because it’ll just drive the price down more. Some advertisers are also wary of annoying viewers who are still getting used to seeing ads in streaming.

« The supply has grown significantly over the last few years, » said Maureen Bosetti, the chief investment officer for Mediabrands. « It’s created a marketplace for marketers. »

Makers of streaming video ads are also becoming more ambitious. It’s not enough for an ad to be seen — they’ll try to get viewers to take action, whether by clicking a QR code or dropping a featured product in their shopping cart. These interactive ads could get higher price tags at a time when streaming ad prices have come down.

« As a consumer, I’m seeing more of them, » Jessica Brown, a managing director of digital investment at GroupM, said of interactive streaming ads. « We’re getting more pitches from the streaming partners. You can measure success in a different way. »

Warner Bros. Discovery recently rolled out two such formats. « Shop with Max » identifies items in TV shows and films and matches them with relevant advertiser products that viewers can shop while they watch. « Moments » uses AI to figure out themes, sentiments, and on-screen elements that line up tonally with the advertiser’s message.

Fubo recently announced four ad formats, including ones that show trivia questions or polls and product carousels. Fubo said such ads made people 47% more likely to purchase something compared with standard video ads.

« A big objective we have is to make a majority of ads have some form of interactive or engaging feature, » Krishan Bhatia, an NBCUniversal exec who was hired by Amazon to lead its Prime Video ads push, said at a recent event. « What brands love about it is not just the fact that you generate a potential purchase off it but people are spending more time with your brands. »



2024-12-16 20:45:50

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Business News

Donald Trump Is Threatening the Press. Take Him Seriously.

  • Donald Trump said he’s planning on suing a newspaper over an election poll he didn’t like.
  • It’s in keeping with a flurry of recent threats — and suits — Trump has filed against the media.
  • That can create a landscape where publishers will have to be extra careful about what they say.

A pretty good journalism rule of thumb: Someone threatening to sue someone isn’t news.

Literally anyone can say they’re going to sue someone, for any reason. But many people who say they’re going to sue someone don’t follow through. So, the argument goes, you should wait until they actually file a suit, for real, to report on it.

Then there’s Donald Trump. He also threatens to sue people — and the press specifically — all the time. But sometimes, he goes ahead with the threat. He’s also going to be the most powerful person in the world, again, starting next month.

So. When Trump announces that he’s going to sue journalists and news organizations — like he did Monday, when he suggested he would sue pollster Ann Selzer, or The Des Moines Register, or both, for publishing a poll that showed him losing Iowa in the 2024 election — should we take him seriously?

I think so.

That’s in part because Trump, who has a long career of threatening media organizations, seems to be ramping up his legal energy. Over the weekend, he extracted a $15 million settlement from ABC News over a George Stephanopoulos interview from March that Trump said was defamatory. He’s also filed a suit against CBS over the way its « 60 Minutes » program handled an interview with Kamala Harris, claiming the network is guilty of election interference.

Plenty of legal experts think Trump has no chance of defeating CBS in court — « The First Amendment was drafted to protect the press from just such litigation, » attorney Floyd Abrams told CNN this fall. But that same cohort didn’t think much of Trump’s chances against ABC.

Just as important: The threats Trump is making— along with those made by others in his circle, like Kash Patel, Trump’s nominee to run the FBI, who has promised to « come after the people in the media who lied about American citizens who helped Joe Biden rig presidential elections » — seem to be a strategy.

As The New York Times’s David Enrich notes, those suits and threatened suits seem like the « latest sign that the incoming Trump administration appears poised to do what it can to crack down on unfavorable media coverage. »

It’s true that the First Amendment makes it hard to win suits against journalists, and everyone else in the United States, over what they say or write. Even more so when the person filing the suit is a public figure. And Donald Trump may be the most public figure there is.

But fighting lawsuits — even those without much chance of winning — can be very costly. (For its part, The Des Moines Register’s parent company has said a lawsuit would be without merit.) And while it’s possible for publishers who win suits Trump files against them to charge him for their legal fees — like The New York Times successfully did this year — you still have to have the money, and willpower, for the fight.

Perhaps just as important: It’s one thing to fight Donald Trump in court when he’s a private citizen. It’s quite another when he’s the president of the United States and can make life difficult for you or your company regardless of what happens in the courtroom.

All of which is something you now have to think about if you’re in the business of journalism. Not just when Trump, or someone in his circle, complains about your reporting — but before you publish or air it. That seems to be what Trump would like.

So yeah. That’s a story.



2024-12-16 21:46:37

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Business News

Jim Carrey, 62, Says He’s Not Really Retired, Just ‘Power-Resting’

  • Last week, Jim Carrey said he came out of retirement to star in « Sonic the Hedgehog 3 » because of money.
  • A day later, he clarified to Comicbook.com that he wasn’t really retired, just « power-resting » between projects.
  • More older Americans are unretiring — either out of financial necessity or to stay active.

Jim Carrey, 62, walked back on his comments about coming out of retirement because he was strapped for cash.

At the London premiere of « Sonic the Hedgehog 3 » on December 10, Carrey told the Associated Press that he signed on for the new film because « I bought a lot of stuff, and I need the money, frankly. »

In an interview with ComicBook.com published a day later, on December 11, the actor clarified that « it’s not really about the money. I joke about the money. »

While he acknowledged that he previously spoke about retiring, he added, « You can’t be definite about these things. »

« I said I’d like to retire, but I think I was talking more about power-resting. Because as soon as a good idea comes your way, or a group of people that you really enjoyed working with and stuff, it just — things tend to change, » he said.

Carrey added that with the « right idea, » he’s even open to reprising his role in sequels to « The Mask » or « How the Grinch Stole Christmas. »

While doing a press tour for « Sonic the Hedgehog 2 » in April 2022, Carrey told Access Hollywood that he was « fairly serious » about « retiring. »

« If the angels bring some sort of script that’s written in gold ink that says to me that it’s going to be really important for people to see, I might continue down the road, but I’m taking a break, » Carrey said.

« Sonic the Hedgehog 3 » is Carrey’s first film since then.

Carrey isn’t the only Hollywood celebrity who has spoken about retirement.

Last week, David Letterman, 77, told GQ he wasn’t ready to retire because « retirement is a myth.« 

« Retirement is nonsense. You won’t retire. The human mechanism will not allow you to retire, » Letterman said.

In response to the interviewer’s point that people do retire, the former late-night host said, « But what do they do? Sit there and wait for — give me the name of a show — ‘Judge Judy‘ to come on? »

The average retirement age in the US is 63. But the sudden transition from a 9-to-5 job to having endless leisure time can leave retirees feeling restless.

Edelman Financial Engines’s 2024 Everyday Wealth in America survey found that 37% of the 3,008 respondents aged 30 and above say they want their post-working life to be different from previous generations, with many saying they are seeking a more active and adventurous lifestyle.

As such, some older Americans end up unretiring after some time, either to stay active or due to financial necessity.

A representative for Carrey did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent by BI outside regular hours.



2024-12-17 04:22:14

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Business News

TikTok Ban: Details on When and How It Could Happen, Trump’s Options

  • TikTok could be pulled from US app stores as early as January 19.
  • Without a last-minute sale or presidential or Supreme Court intervention, TikTok’s US future is dim.
  • Business Insider is tracking TikTok’s battle for survival as its US divestment deadline nears.

TikTok could soon be gone from the US.

Congress passed a law in April that set a nine-month deadline for TikTok’s owner, ByteDance, to divest from the app or be booted from US app stores. The US government is on track to force the app out on January 19, the day before Donald Trump takes office. There’s a possibility that President Joe Biden could extend that deadline by 90 days, but he hasn’t said he will.

So will a TikTok ban actually happen?

Many of the app’s stakeholders are acting as if it won’t. TikTok employees, business partners, and creators are going about their business largely as usual, even with a divestment deadline looming. Some may expect the ban attempt to fail, as it has in the past.

Read more about why TikTok’s main constituents aren’t panicking about a ban.


TikTok did not address the prospect of a ban at its Los Angeles creator summit in November.

Amanda Perelli/Business Insider



TikTok has faced threats of banishment at both the state and the federal level before, and judges have repeatedly struck down ban attempts following legal challenges.

It challenged the divest-or-ban law in the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, but the three-judge panel ruled against the company in December. That outcome was expected, as September oral arguments didn’t go well for the company and judges in the DC Circuit tend to be deferential to Congress on issues of national security, even in cases where Americans’ First Amendment rights are at stake, legal experts previously told Business Insider.

« The First Amendment exists to protect free speech in the United States, » the ruling says. « Here the Government acted solely to protect that freedom from a foreign adversary nation and to limit that adversary’s ability to gather data on people in the United States. »

While there is bipartisan support in Congress for a TikTok ban, support for a ban is fading among the American public. In a Pew Research Center survey of US adults from July and August, about one in three respondents (32%) supported a government ban, down from 50% in March 2023.

If the courts don’t save TikTok, will Trump?

On December 9, TikTok filed an emergency motion for an injunction to stop the ban until its « appeal of the decision by the Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit is heard by the US Supreme Court. » That motion was denied on Friday by the court, leaving it to the Supreme Court to decide TikTok’s fate.

On Monday, TikTok filed an emergency request to the Supreme Court for an injunction against enforcement of the law. Besides the Supreme Court, TikTok may have another path to survival.

Trump has said he would try to save TikTok once in office, a flip-flop from his position during his first presidential term. He said during a December 16 press conference that he would « take a look at TikTok » and had « a warm spot in my heart for TikTok. »

Legal experts previously told BI that Trump could try a few tactics to keep TikTok around, including telling his Justice Department not to enforce the divest-or-ban law or attempting to skirt it through strategic interpretations of its text. Both strategies would be tough to pull off, however.

« Because the law was enacted by Congress, I’m not sure how much wiggle room a future Trump administration would have to ignore it, » G.S. Hans, a clinical professor of law at Cornell Law School, previously told BI.

Read more about the obstacles facing Trump if he decides to try to rescue TikTok.


TikTok’s supporters have rallied in Washington, DC, to keep the app around.

Nathan Posner/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images



Trump could also try to broker a sale of TikTok’s US assets to a non-Chinese company, a remedy prescribed in the divest-or-ban law. ByteDance has previously said it wouldn’t sell TikTok, but it could be the simplest option for keeping the app around in the US.

A TikTok sale seems to be the preferred path forward among some members of Congress. Rep. John Moolenaar, the chair of the House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party, told BI in a statement that the Trump administration « will have a unique opportunity to broker an American takeover of the platform, allowing TikTok users to continue to enjoy a safer, better version of the app free from foreign adversary control. »

The Chinese government may block ByteDance from selling TikTok’s US assets, and a TikTok sale could become a bargaining chip in larger US-China trade negotiations.

Why TikTok is a main character in the US-China trade wars

Government officials have been worried about TikTok’s growing influence in the US for years.

Its owner, ByteDance, is based in China, a country the US has deemed a foreign adversary. This has sparked fears among some officials that the company could be compelled to hand over sensitive US user data from TikTok to the Chinese Communist Party. Some members of Congress have raised concerns that TikTok could be used as a CCP propaganda tool.

TikTok has previously said that it does not share information with the Chinese government and that its content-moderation efforts are run by a US-based team that « operates independently from China. »


Chew has testified before Congress.

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images



Other companies may also become targets of the divest-or-ban law

TikTok may not be the only company under threat come January.

ByteDance owns several other apps, such as its video-editing tool, CapCut, and Pinterest-like app, Lemon8, that could also be subject to the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act.

The bill’s text specifically names TikTok and ByteDance as covered companies. But its language is fairly broad and could affect any company that is owned by a foreign adversary and permits a user to « create an account or profile to generate, share, and view text, images, videos, real-time communications, or similar content » (i.e., social media).

The bill’s framework excludes platforms where users « post product reviews, business reviews, or travel information and reviews, » however, which suggests that the Chinese e-commerce platforms Shein and Temu would remain safe.



2024-12-16 21:49:03

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Business News

Trump Hush-Money Conviction Survives Immunity Challenge

  • A NY judge Monday denied Trump’s demand that his hush-money case be dismissed on immunity grounds.
  • Judge Juan Merchan said the SCOTUS immunity decision found a president is not above the law.
  • Any use of official-act evidence in the case would be « harmless in light of the overwhelming evidence of guilt, » he also wrote.

Donald Trump’s 11th-hour bid to toss his hush-money case prior to Inauguration Day — on presidential immunity grounds — was rejected Monday by a Manhattan judge.

The decision now kicks the ball back to Trump. His lawyers have previously promised to quickly appeal, to the US Supreme Court if necessary, in hopes of voiding his sole criminal conviction.

An attorney for Trump did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Merchan’s decision.

How the decision will impact Trump’s sentencing — which has been delayed three times and currently remains without a scheduled date — remains unclear. Prosecutors have urged that the conviction stand, even if that means Trump is sentenced after his second term.

New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan made no mention of sentencing in Monday’s strongly worded, 42-page rebuff, which was centered on presidential immunity.

Presidential immunity does not apply to the hush-money case because the case hinged on « decidedly personal acts, » Merchan found, agreeing with arguments by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.

« The Trump Court was careful to acknowledge that ‘The President, charged with enforcing federal criminal laws, is not above them,' » Merchan wrote, quoting from the landmark June SCOTUS decision granting presidents broad immunity from prosecution.

Lawyers for Trump have repeatedly challenged the case on presidential immunity grounds, without success, since his April 2023 indictment on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records.

The indictment alleged that Trump conspired throughout 2017, his first year in office, to alter 34 checks, invoices, and vouchers in order to retroactively hide a $130,000 hush-money payment that silenced porn actress Stormy Daniels less than two weeks before the 2016 election. A jury found him guilty on all counts in May.

« This case involves important federal questions, » Trump’s lawyers argued just one month after his indictment, because the charges related to conduct « committed while he was President of the United States » and acting within « the color of his office. »

Last month, his lawyers argued that his new status as president-elect has strengthened their argument for dismissal. The orderly transition of power is at stake, they said in their most recent dismissal motion. They also argued that presidential immunity, as bestowed by SCOTUS in June, extends to presidents-elect.

But Merchan wrote Monday that even in granting presidents broad immunity from prosecution, SCOTUS set some limits.

He rejected Trump’s argument that the hush-money indictment and conviction should be tossed because Manhattan prosecutors, in their presentations to both grand jurors and trial jurors, used the kind of official-act evidence now retroactively barred by SCOTUS.

That evidence included trial testimony by Trump’s former White House communications director, Hope Hicks, who described to jurors a conversation she had with Trump in the Oval Office in 2018. Trump had told Hicks that he was relieved that news of the hush-money payment only leaked after the election.

Some of Trump’s 2018 tweets about the hush-money scandal were also « official, » his lawyers had argued.

But the judge found that no official-act evidence entered the case. And even if it had, he wrote, « such error was harmless in light of the overwhelming evidence of guilt. »

Also Monday, Merchan left undecided a series of letters between the defense and prosecutors, not yet made public, that he said address defense claims of « juror misconduct. »

Prosecutors want these communications sealed in their entirety, and the defense wants them released to the public in redacted form, Merchant wrote.

The judge said he is continuing to review the defense allegations and a related bid by Trump’s lawyers to have the case dismissed in the interest of justice.



2024-12-17 01:59:04

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Business News

TikTok CEO Met With Trump As Fight to Delay Ban Heads to Supreme Court

  • TikTok CEO Shou Chew met Trump at Mar-a-Lago Monday, multiple outlets reported.
  • TikTok is trying to avoid an impending ban of the app.
  • Trump has said he is opposed to the TikTok ban, saying he has a « warm spot » for the app.

TikTok CEO Shou Chew met with President-elect Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago on Monday as the popular video-sharing app fights to avoid an impending ban, multiple outlets reported, citing a person familiar with the meeting.

Earlier on Monday, TikTok asked the US Supreme Court to block the law that requires the app to be sold by January 19 or be shut down. TikTok, which is owned by the Chinese company ByteDance, argued the ban violates the First Amendment rights of the millions of Americans who use the app. The request came after a panel of federal judges earlier this month upheld the ban.

Representatives for Trump and TikTok did not respond to requests for comment from Business Insider.

Details of the meeting were unclear. Trump has spoken out against the TikTok ban, which was passed by Congress and signed by President Joe Biden earlier this year.

« We’ll take a look at TikTok, » Trump said at a press conference earlier on Monday. « You know, I have a warm spot in my heart for TikTok. »

Trump also said at the press conference that company executives have been more open to meeting with him ahead of his second term and that during his first term they were « hostile. »

« Everybody was fighting me, » he said. « This term, everybody wants to be my friend. I don’t know. My personality changed or something. »

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.



2024-12-17 02:08:49

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Business News

Yellowstone’s Rip and Beth: Relationship Timeline From Pilot to Finale

  • Beth and Rip’s relationship was a cornerstone of Paramount Network’s « Yellowstone. »
  • The couple, played by Kelly Reilly and Cole Hauser, are rumored to be reuniting for a spinoff show.
  • Here’s a complete timeline of the pair’s passionate relationship from the pilot to the finale.

Since the very beginning, Beth Dutton and Rip Wheeler’s relationship has been considered the beating heart of Paramount Network’s « Yellowstone. »

The series, co-created by Taylor Sheridan and John Linson, wrapped up its fifth and final season on Sunday evening with a supersized episode that saw the ranch at the center of the show returned to the Native American community who once owned the land.

In the end, Beth (Kelly Reilly) and Rip (Cole Hauser) decided to buy a new, smaller ranch for themselves where they could live together peacefully.

However, it’s suspected that it’s not the last audiences will see of the pair. Speaking in November, Hauser told The Hollywood Reporter that he felt there was more to explore with Beth and Rip.

« You can go on forever about these two. There’s no walls when it comes to them, no limits, » he said. « And as long as Taylor wants to write something special, I know Kelly and I would be interested to do it. »

Days before the finale aired, Deadline broke the news that Reilly and Hauser would reprise their roles to star in a » Yellowstone » spinoff series, according to sources close to production. The as-of-yet unnamed show, will likely star other actors reprising their roles from the main series, Deadline said.

Network representatives did not respond to Business Insider’s request for comment.

As we anticipate more news on the spinoff, BI looks back on Beth and Rip’s unforgettable, passionate, tumultuous, and decades-spanning love story as it played out on « Yellowstone. »



2024-12-17 02:04:37

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Business News

‘Dune: Prophecy’ Star Jessica Barden on Playing Valya in Season 1 Episode 3

  • ‘Dune: Prophecy’ star Jessica Barden filmed one of her most intense scenes at the edge of a real cliff.
  • Barden plays the younger version of Valya Harkonnen, leader of the Sisterhood, on the prequel series.
  • In episode three, Barden stood in the freezing rain for hours to film her big scenes.

Jessica Barden may play one of the most inscrutable characters on « Dune: Prophecy, » but in real life, she’s more than happy to share whatever’s on her mind. And when it came time to film one of her most intense scenes, that was: Why am I doing this?

Barden plays young Valya Harkonnen, the vengeful and ambitious young woman who becomes the leader of the Sisterhood (a group that would eventually become the superhuman-powered Bene Gesserit by the time of the Denis Villeneuve « Dune » films).

She shares the role with Emily Watson, who plays an older Valya secure in her position of leadership over the group. In the flashbacks that center on Barden, though, Valya is still doggedly climbing that ladder to achieve more power, which, at one point involves standing in the freezing rain for hours.

« It was our second day of filming as well, » Barden told Business Insider of the tough scene. « It was also December in Hungary. »


Jessica Barden in « Dune: Prophecy » season 1 episode 3.

Attila Szvacsek/HBO



The scene in question takes place during « Dune: Prophecy » season one, episode three. It delves into Valya and her sister Tula Harkonnen’s backstories, and it’s Barden’s biggest episode yet. At one point, Valya and the other acolytes are standing out in the rain as a trial.

Barden said that camaraderie was the key to braving the cold during filming. « The crew was amazing. They make a hot tent, and they bring you tea, and a towel, and stuff. And when you’re together it’s fun, and you’re just laughing like, ‘Why are we doing this? This is crazy,' » Barden told BI. « But then, when you’re by yourself, you’re just like, ‘Why am I doing this? This is crazy.' »

Once Barden was on her own, she asked episode director Richard J. Lewis not to cut filming short if he felt bad for her standing out in the cold — if she was going to do this, she wanted it to look good. Lewis agreed and even gave her the feedback that she looked « too cold » at some points and needed to tone it down.

« I’d be like, ‘I’m going to kill you. I’m literally going to kill this man,' » Barden joked. « But I was really proud of myself when I did it, when it was over. »

Later in the episode, Valya experiences the Spice Agony, a potentially fatal rite of passage required of all Reverend Mothers, at the edge of a cliff on the Harkonnens’ home planet. Turns out, none of that landscape was CGI — they were filming on location at a real cliff at 5 a.m.


Jessica Barden and Emma Canning in « Dune: Prophecy » season 1, episode 3.

Attila Szvacsek/HBO



« It was a sheer drop, » Barden said. « And my eyes would close, and act in this agony, and Richard would be like, ‘Okay. Imagine it’s going through your veins.’ And the whole time I was like, ‘Oh my God. I’m going to fall off the cliff.' »

The « Dune: Prophecy » season finale airs Sunday at 9 p.m. ET on HBO and streams on Max.



2024-12-16 21:55:12

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Business News

The Hardest Part of Divorce Is Not Being With My Kids During Holidays

  • The hardest part of divorce was being without my kids, especially during the holidays.
  • I felt overwhelmed with pressure to compensate by making them extra special.
  • Relaxing on what I thought the holidays were supposed to look like has allowed us to start new traditions.

I sobbed as I sat surrounded by the remnants of Christmas morning — half-eaten cinnamon rolls, discarded wrapping, and little piles of presents my 3 and 6-year-old daughters stacked up before they left to spend the rest of Christmas break with their dad.

I was still getting used to sharing custody, and the hardest part was being without them, especially during the holidays.

This was my new normal

It felt so wrong, but it was our new normal, thanks to a divorce and custody order specifying that we would only spend every other birthday and major holiday together.

I was devastated, my mom guilt was in overdrive, and I felt overwhelmed with pressure to make the holidays better than ever, to compensate for my children’s suffering, our lack of time together, and what I perceived as my failure to fix everything.

I set unreasonably high standards for myself in the hopes of making every Christmas better than the one before — more gifts, extravagant decorations, and fun, memorable experiences. It was exhausting, I never felt good enough, and I was spending money I couldn’t afford as a single parent raising two kids in one of the nation’s most expensive cities.

In my quest to make up for what we’d lost, I’d unwittingly turned half the year — from Halloween through their first-quarter birthdays — into my own unwinnable marathon of misery.

I was setting a poor example for them

It took me a while to understand that our enjoyment of these special days was inversely proportional to the size of my ever-growing to-do list, but once I did, there was no going back. Especially when I realized what a poor example I was setting for my daughters by reinforcing the patriarchal message that women, especially mothers, are responsible for everyone else’s joy, even when it means abandoning our own.

Moving forward, I decided to change my approach and relax my death grip on what I thought the holidays were supposed to look like. Most importantly, this meant reducing the number of items on my to-do list so I could spend more time just being with my kids and savoring their easy, childlike joy.

This may sound simple, but it’s just not. The expectation that moms create an abundance of magic is so ubiquitous that we’re not often aware of how we surrender to it.

I changed how I did things

So instead of spending time I didn’t have putting up lights I couldn’t afford, we packed into the car and drove around listening to cheesy Christmas music while admiring our neighbor’s decorations and drinking to-go cups of hot chocolate — not the kind you film yourself making from scratch at an Insta-worthy cocoa bar with 10 toppings, but the kind you buy for $3, mix with warm milk, and call it good.

Instead of competing with my ex-husband to buy the best gifts, I finally admitted to myself that I would never be able to match his budget and decided that it was in fact a win to let him buy the laptops, smart phones, and sneaks, while I focused on more affordable and traditional gifts like books, music, and pajamas.

As I began to prioritize my own needs, I realized that the religious holidays my ex-husband favored were less important to me than nature-based ones like spring equinox and winter solstice, which relieved even more competitive pressure. This was also an important reminder that holidays are just an arbitrary day on the calendar, and we could celebrate anytime.

Later, when my daughters were in high school, I gave them cash for birthdays and Christmas instead of spending hours searching for the perfect gifts. They loved being able to buy what they wanted, and I loved saving myself the time, effort, and worry that they wouldn’t like my selections.

As a single mom of two daughters, the freedom to adapt and reimagine the holidays on our own terms was the gift we needed to truly enjoy them.



2024-12-17 00:34:01

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