Paramount/Warner Bros. merger deal put on hold until next June. Here's a quick summary of where things stand: The Deal Paramount Skydance is acquiring Warner Bros. Discovery in a $110 billion mega-merger announced February 27, 2026. Paramount is paying $31/share in cash for all WBD shares, backed by the Ellison family and RedBird Capital Partners.[paramount] What Happened This Week On July 14, a coalition of 12 state attorneys general led by California's Rob Bonta (and including New York's Letitia James) filed an antitrust lawsuit to block the deal, arguing it would "extinguish competition" in film, television, and streaming.[latimes] On July 20, U.S. District Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín in Oakland granted a 14-day temporary restraining order, saying the merger "raises serious questions" about antitrust violations. The order blocks the companies from closing or taking any integration steps.[usnews] The companies had been targeting a July 22 close. On July 22, the European Commission approved the merger (with conditions that Paramount exit its Universal distribution partnership in Europe), and the U.S. DOJ had already cleared it.[variety] What Happens Next - August 3: A hearing on the states' request for a preliminary injunction, which could extend the hold for months. - The states are seeking a trial date in April 2027. - Paramount has until June 4, 2027 to close the deal under its merger agreement. - If the deal hasn't closed by September 30, 2026, Paramount must start paying a "ticking fee" of roughly $7 million per day to WBD shareholders. If the deal is ultimately blocked entirely, Paramount could owe a $7 billion termination fee.[economictimes]

For those who don't know, EDLs out of Avid default to being ALL CAPS. This goes back to spec compliance with CMX3600 and GVG EDLs. Nowadays, this is less important as most conform systems are computer based and not as strict. It also used to be that most camera manufacturers always created tape names that were all caps, so it was a none issue. E012C0021_250902_X01534 is an example of a tape naming convention that is fine. For those who don't know what this tape name is, I'll break it down. E012C0021 means, Cam Roll E012, Clip 21. 250902 is the shoot date: 09/02/2025 X01534 is unique identifier which is usually an abbreviation of the camera serial number. That said, there is a new camera naming convention that I've been seeing used lately and it in includes one lower case character. An example of this is A_0165C007_250911_095758_h1EGB You can see that the last h is lowercase. If you use the EDL Importer to create plates as ALEs, this will create problems because ALEs are case sensitive. Because Avid defaults to converting all EDLs to uppercase, it will display this name as: A_0165C007_250911_095758_H1EGB However, it is possible to change this. There are template files for each EDL that you can modify. You'll find these templates at this location on your computer: /Applications/Avid Media Composer/SupportingFiles/EDL_Manager_Templates/ I always modify both the File32 and File129 template. To do this, first close Avid if it is open and right click on those files one at a time and I open them with BB Edit. At Line 20, you should see toupper_conversion TRUE * Convert all comments and titles. Change TRUE to FALSE and save the file. Now when you export EDLs, your markers, reel names and all other text will be the normal case as it was entered. If you find the EDL Importer is giving you errors with using ALEs for subclips, this should be the first step in trouble shooting. Here is a link to Avid's help forum if you need additional help https://community.avid.com/forums/t/185759.aspx

Quick heads up: The certification quizzes for Feature Film Assistant Editor Immersion are live again. If you’re enrolled in the full course and want your Certificate of Completion, you’ll find the link to all the quizzes in the Module 1 → “Before You Begin” section under "Resources" at the bottom of the page. There are 131 questions total, and you need an 80% overall score to pass. You can take them however you like. One at a time, all at once, in any order. You can also retake quizzes as many times as needed. NOTE: Passing is required for Editors Guild reimbursement, if that applies to you. Thanks for your patience while we got this together. Onward to the big edit bays! 🎬✂️