‘One Battle After Another’ Dominates Oscars & David Protein Lies About Calories?
Episode
28 min
Read time
2 min
Topics
Startups, Design & UX, Sales & Revenue
AI-Generated Summary
Key Takeaways
- ✓Hollywood Production Flight: Zero of the 10 Best Picture nominees were primarily filmed on a Hollywood sound stage or studio lot. Film LA recorded a 16% decline in Los Angeles shooting days in 2025, nearly half the 2018 peak. Productions are relocating to lower-cost regions including Atlanta and overseas locations like Ireland to reduce expenses.
- ✓David Protein Bar Controversy: A class action lawsuit alleges David bars contain 83% more calories and 400% more fat than the 150-calorie, 28-gram-protein label claims. Founder Peter Rahal attributes the discrepancy to EPG (esterified propoxylated glycerol), a synthetic fat substitute that passes through the body undigested, meaning bomb calorimeter lab readings overstate absorbable calories.
- ✓Dick's Sporting Goods Growth Strategy: Dick's reached $14.1B in 2024 revenue, doubling over the past decade, by centering on America's $40B annual youth sports market. Its House of Sport megastores feature batting cages, climbing walls, and golf simulators to maximize customer dwell time, while its data-driven app optimizes inventory across regions and seasons.
- ✓AI-Assisted Cancer Treatment: An Australian engineer with no biology background used ChatGPT, Grok, and Google's AlphaFold to design a custom mRNA vaccine for his dog's cancer, paying $3,000 for DNA sequencing. The tumor shrank roughly 50% after the first injection in December. The process required a 100-page ethics document taking three months to complete.
- ✓Youth Moviegoing Trend: Despite North American theater attendance running at roughly half the rate of a decade ago, 59% of children born after 2013 prefer watching films on the big screen. YouTuber Mark Fishback's self-made film Iron Lung cost $3M and grossed $51M, demonstrating that creator-driven content can convert online audiences into theater ticket buyers.
What It Covers
One Battle After Another wins six Oscars including Best Picture while Hollywood faces declining theater attendance, fleeing production, and studio consolidation. David protein bars face a class action lawsuit over calorie mislabeling claims. Dick's Sporting Goods hits $14.1B in sales riding America's youth sports boom.
Key Questions Answered
- •Hollywood Production Flight: Zero of the 10 Best Picture nominees were primarily filmed on a Hollywood sound stage or studio lot. Film LA recorded a 16% decline in Los Angeles shooting days in 2025, nearly half the 2018 peak. Productions are relocating to lower-cost regions including Atlanta and overseas locations like Ireland to reduce expenses.
- •David Protein Bar Controversy: A class action lawsuit alleges David bars contain 83% more calories and 400% more fat than the 150-calorie, 28-gram-protein label claims. Founder Peter Rahal attributes the discrepancy to EPG (esterified propoxylated glycerol), a synthetic fat substitute that passes through the body undigested, meaning bomb calorimeter lab readings overstate absorbable calories.
- •Dick's Sporting Goods Growth Strategy: Dick's reached $14.1B in 2024 revenue, doubling over the past decade, by centering on America's $40B annual youth sports market. Its House of Sport megastores feature batting cages, climbing walls, and golf simulators to maximize customer dwell time, while its data-driven app optimizes inventory across regions and seasons.
- •AI-Assisted Cancer Treatment: An Australian engineer with no biology background used ChatGPT, Grok, and Google's AlphaFold to design a custom mRNA vaccine for his dog's cancer, paying $3,000 for DNA sequencing. The tumor shrank roughly 50% after the first injection in December. The process required a 100-page ethics document taking three months to complete.
- •Youth Moviegoing Trend: Despite North American theater attendance running at roughly half the rate of a decade ago, 59% of children born after 2013 prefer watching films on the big screen. YouTuber Mark Fishback's self-made film Iron Lung cost $3M and grossed $51M, demonstrating that creator-driven content can convert online audiences into theater ticket buyers.
Notable Moment
A non-biologist engineer built a working cancer vaccine for his dog using only AI tools and a $3,000 DNA sequencing service. Regulators required three months of paperwork before the shot could be administered — longer than the vaccine development itself took.
Episode Transcript
Managing media plans for multiple clients can feel like herding cats. Disney campaign manager is built for fast moving agencies looking for one simple ad buying solution to handle all of their streaming TV campaigns across Disney plus, Hulu, and ESPN. Set flexible budgets, adjust on the fly, and optimize for total campaign control across every buy all in one platform. Get started today at disneycampaignmanager.com. That's disneycampaignmanager.com. Good morning for your daily show. I'm Neil Freiman. And I'm Toby Howell. Today, the Oscars minted movie royalty with dark clouds gathering over Hollywood. Ben, is your favorite protein bar Regina Georging you? It's Monday, March 16. Let's ride. Good morning, and welcome back to the week. Nasty winter weather isn't done with us yet. Today, what AccuWeather calls a triple threat March megastorm is affecting nearly two hundred million people across The United States, dumping feet of snow in the Upper Midwest and threatening Mid Atlantic cities like Baltimore and Washington DC with high winds and possibly tornadoes. And that's before an Us unprecedented heat wave bakes the Western United States later this week, which weather analyst Colin McCarthy said ranks among the most extraordinary heat waves The United States will ever see. Palm Springs is forecasted to hit 111 degrees this Friday, seven degrees warmer than any other March day Palm Springs has ever seen. Glad they finished up the tennis tournament yesterday. I know. Congrats to Sabalenka. I want to keep it close to home because that's where we live. According to New York Metro Weather, there's actually way more than four seasons in New York. There's winter, and then there's first fake spring. Then it's cold and cloudy, which is where we are right now. Then there's second fake spring. Then there's winter in April, which is still coming down the pipeline until you finally reach the great pollinating and then rain clouds rain, clouds, and mud before you get actual spring for one hour. All that to say, I'd rather experience that than what the West is going through right now. What do you mean Denver has had more 60 degree days this winter than Myrtle Beach has? Hope you like skiing on mud and rocks. And now a word from our sponsor, LinkedIn ads. Toby, do you ever think you've seen a billion of something all at once? Yes. I eat a lot of rice. I think you're severely underestimating how much is in a billion. For example, LinkedIn ads has a network of over 1,000,000,000 professionals and 130,000,000 decision makers. That's a lot. You can target your buyers by job title, industry, company roles, seniority, skills, company revenue, so you can stop wasting budget on the wrong audience. Plus, LinkedIn ads generates the highest b to b, that's business to business, ROAS of all online ad networks. Spend $250 on your first campaign on LinkedIn ads and get a free $250 credit for the next one. Just go to linkedin.com/mbd. That's linkedin.com/mbd. Terms and …
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Books, tools, and gear mentioned in this episode
SignalCast may earn commission on purchases via these links. As an Amazon Associate, SignalCast earns from qualifying purchases.
Tools
by Google DeepMind
“An Australian engineer with no biology background used ChatGPT, Grok, and Google's AlphaFold to design a custom mRNA vaccine for his dog's cancer.”
“An Australian engineer with no biology background used ChatGPT, Grok, and Google's AlphaFold to design a custom mRNA vaccine for his dog's cancer.”
by OpenAI
“An Australian engineer with no biology background used ChatGPT, Grok, and Google's AlphaFold to design a custom mRNA vaccine for his dog's cancer, paying $3,000 for DNA sequencing.”
Products
“David protein bars face a class action lawsuit over calorie mislabeling claims. A class action lawsuit alleges David bars contain 83% more calories and 400% more fat than the 150-calorie, 28-gram-protein label claims.”
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