Lesley Goldberg is Ankler Media's foremost television business analyst, currently driving coverage for their Series Business newsletter. Based in Los Angeles, she specializes in:
"Television isn't dying - it's fractalizing. Our job is to map each splinter."
With multiple Southern California Journalism Awards and a Webby to her name, Goldberg continues shaping how the industry understands its own transformation. Her work remains essential reading for studio heads, agents, and anyone invested in the future of scripted content.
We've followed Lesley Goldberg's work as she navigates the tectonic shifts in television journalism. With over two decades of experience, Goldberg has cemented herself as a preeminent voice in entertainment reporting, blending investigative rigor with an insider's grasp of Hollywood's creative and business machinations.
Goldberg's career began in the early 2000s at The Hollywood Reporter, where she rose from copy editor to West Coast TV Editor. Her tenure there (2009-2024) established her reputation for:
In February 2025, she joined Ankler Media's Series Business newsletter team, reuniting with former THR editor Janice Min. This move positioned her at the forefront of analyzing television's transformation during the peak streaming consolidation era.
This manifesto-style piece dissects television's evolution through four lenses: the collapse of pilot season, AI's impact on writers' rooms, franchise fatigue, and the rise of "mid-tier" streaming originals. Goldberg combines historical analysis (tracing trends from the 2007 writers' strike) with fresh data on development slates, revealing a 63% drop in scripted series orders since 2022. Her access shines through in verbatim quotes from anonymous studio heads debating the viability of $20M/episode budgets.
Goldberg's deep dive into "MBW" (Modified Blind Write) deals exposes how studios use this contracting mechanism to hedge against streaming uncertainty. Through 14 interviews with showrunners and agents, she documents a 300% increase in MBW agreements since 2023, arguing they've become "the WGA's new battleground." The piece's impact was immediate - three days after publication, the WGA West issued new guidance on MBW negotiations.
This exclusive tracks the decade-long journey to revive the cult franchise, revealing how Joss Whedon's exit in 2020 nearly derailed the project. Goldberg obtained internal Hulu memos showing executives' debates over modernizing the Slayer mythology versus preserving canon. Her analysis of test screening data proves particularly insightful, demonstrating how Gen Z audiences rejected initial "woke" iterations in favor of nuanced gender exploration.
Goldberg prioritizes structural changes over star-driven stories. A successful pitch might examine how below-the-line crew unions are adapting to virtual writers' rooms, supported by data from her March 2025 Strikegeist analysis of IATSE's new remote-work guidelines. Avoid superficial talent features unless they tie to larger business trends.
Her Buffy revival piece demonstrates how to marry proprietary data with narrative storytelling. PR professionals should come armed with authenticated metrics - for instance, Parrot Analytics demand curves for reboots compared to original IP. Goldberg particularly values datasets that contradict industry assumptions, like her 2024 exposé on "secret" completion rates for prestige dramas.
While Goldberg interviews C-suite executives, her best work (like the MBW deal analysis) often sources development VPs and showrunners' representatives. A compelling pitch might offer access to a showrunner navigating first-look deals across multiple streamers, mirroring her 2023 THR piece on Kenya Barris' unprecedented cross-platform contracts.
