A settlement has cleared another major hurdle for the proposed Paramount–Warner Bros. combination, with conditions covering news operations, studio structure and annual theatrical output.

But how meaningful are those concessions?

Adam looks at the requirement to release thirty movies per year, the decision to maintain Paramount and Warner Bros. as separate operations and the difference between a merger remedy that sounds significant and one that actually changes corporate behavior.

Franchise secrecy has created an entire economy around knowing information before everyone else. But what happens when access to that information becomes leverage over the people being covered?

Adam looks at the controversy surrounding Jeff Sneider’s public threat to publish damaging rumors about an actress if her team would not cooperate with him, and uses it to examine the larger ethical problems surrounding scoop culture, access journalism and the artificial scarcity of information around major franchises.

The issue isn’t whether insiders sometimes get things right. It’s what journalists are willing to do with the power that access gives them.

Only two movies made the August field, but one earns its place in the MWPNews Best of the Year tournament.

Adam ranks The End of Oak Street and Coyote vs. Acme, revisiting the unused potential of Oak Street's suburban sci-fi premise and explaining why Coyote vs. Acme becomes even more interesting when viewed alongside the real-world corporate battle that nearly prevented its release.

The eighth automatic qualifier for the Best of the Year tournament is officially locked.