He may be unhappy with how it all shook out, but David Zaslav can’t be that upset with the Paramount deal—it reportedly tripled his pay to US$165 million last year. The revelation comes as media and entertainment CEO pay in general rose 117%, a tough stat to hear for many in a struggling industry. Of course, these are numbers for the big, publicly-traded behemoths—our loyal readers tend to be a bit more down to earth.

Speaking of which, here are some more relatable winners this week.

Disney and BBC: What’s better than a representation milestone? Two of them, of course! First up, Disney released three musical numbers from its recent films re-animated with the characters using American Sign Language, giving deaf kids a chance to experience bops like “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” for the first time. The Mouse House partnered with performers from the Deaf West Theatre, who served as models for the new animation. Then in the UK, the Beeb lined up Tiny Tunes, the first-ever CBeebies show to feature deaf kids. Like Disney’s music-driven initiative, this series translates rhymes and songs into British Sign Language. Here’s to more top-notch inclusivity efforts on both sides of the pond! 

Epic Games: This is the way. After a Death Star-sized round of layoffs in March, some commentators had a bad feeling about the Fortnite developer’s partnership with Disney—but if anything, the Mouse House found our lack of faith disturbing, and the drama only drew the two companies closer together. Now Fortnite will host games and assets from one of Disney’s most valuable IPs—Star Wars—and premiere a piece of the new Mando movie before it hits the rest of the galaxy. Plus, Fortnite is providing tools for developers to make Star Wars-themed experiences themselves—giving Disney a swing at the UGC it lost out on when its Sora deal fell down a Sarlacc pit. It remains to be seen whether this partnership represents a new hope for Fortnite, but right now, the Force is with Epic Games.

Spin Master: Talk about revved up and ready. Spin Master will continue building on its Monster Jam consumer products success for a long, long time. The company has renewed its master toy licensing agreement with Feld Motor Sports’ monster truck franchise for another 10 years, with plans to grow the brand into new categories and play experiences. When you look at Spin Master’s data, it’s easy to see why this collab didn’t want to slow down—Monster Jam was the number-one license and second-biggest property overall in the vehicles category last year. Oh, and did you know Spin Master’s Monster Jam products have been on a seven-year streak of sales growth? Maybe we’re biased, but that’s even more impressive than a consecutive backflip.

Wizards of the Coast devs: A group of developers behind mobile game Magic: The Gathering Arena have voted to form a union with CWA, marking the first unionization effort at Wizards of the Coast. Wizards and digital gaming was the only segment that grew at Hasbro last year, mightily lifting the whole company’s FY 2025 numbers—but these workers say this success isn’t making its way to them in the form of better pay and protections. (WotC, for its part, says its “employees are the lifeblood of what make us great, and we are committed to fostering a workplace where every person feels heard, valued, and supported.”) With unions becoming a growing force in the kids industry, here’s to a team that knew how to strike when the iron was hot.  

So who had the best week in the bunch? Vote before 8 a.m. ET on Monday to let us know what you think:

Want to pitch us a Gold Star nomination? Send an email to submissions@kidscreen.com by noon on Thursdays. And check back every Friday for our next batch of nominees. Hope to see you on the list!