From KCRW, I'm Kim Masters, and this is the business.

Sean Levy has racked up the kind of box office and streaming record that most directors can only dream of.

His advice to fledgling filmmakers, just go one project at a time.

It's okay to just make one movie well and not have it launch anything more than that one movie. Now I meet young filmmakers

and they come in with a pitch and they're like, this is a franchise and I'm always like,

well, you don't know that. How about you make one thing as perfectly as you can? Do that job,

because that's your job. Levy takes a short break from the London shoot of his Star Wars film

to talk about the final season of Stranger Things, including Netflix's surprise decision to give the finale a limited theatrical release.

He also weighs in on his work from Night at the Museum through Deadpool versus Wolverine, and he shares his bittersweet feelings about an industry that's undergoing very painful contraction.

But first we banter. Stick around. It's the business from KCRW.

I am joined by my partner in banter, Matt Bellany. Hello, Matt.

Hi there. So we're a little awkwardly situated. We're talking before all the news has come out about who is bidding for what in terms of Warner Brothers Discovery.

We know that Paramount has made a few bids already and plans to be back for more with very, very big money bags.

We believe that Netflix is coming in, trying to buy the studio and the streamer, not interested in the cable channels.

We think that Comcast has to come in because if they don't, they become the melting ice cube.

And, you know, they're left in this position that Paramount was in before the Ellison's took over and could be in again if somehow they don't get Warner Brothers.

So this is a fraught moment and everything we say is maybe shaded in five minutes by a leak from somewhere.

It looks as though the Ellisons have the advantage just in terms of money.

Certainly, we've already seen some saber rattling from Capitol Hill in terms of Netflix and how much market share

they would get in the streaming world if they get this deal. And we don't know how serious Netflix

is really. And then there's a question of, you know, Trump hating Comcast very openly. And if you're

on the Warner Brothers Discovery Board, you have to think, you know, will they find a way the administration to hold this thing up in Washington if we approve a deal with them?

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