Donna Langley relayed a message of resilience to Hollywood creatives and executives ahead of Sunday’s Golden Globes and the launch of the greater 2026 awards season.
During a Friday night speech at an industry event at Hollywood’s Mother Wolf, the NBCUniversal Entertainment chairperson addressed the challenges the creative community has faced the last 12 months, including last year’s devastating wildfires in Pacific Palisades and Altadena.
However, Langley encouraged that, with continued “perseverance” and “creativity,” the industry would survive these current hardships.
“You just have to look back at the last year and look at all of the extraordinary work that was done for our company, all of the bravery, the innovation, the brilliance, the passion that was put into every story told across every medium,” Langley told the crowd. “That doesn’t happen by accident, and that doesn’t go away just because things are changing. It really doesn’t.”
As Langley went on, she toasted “the brilliant people, innovators, the creators [and] the storytellers.” Among the people in the room were “Wicked” director Jon M. Chu, “Bugonia” filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos, actor Mark Hamill, UTA CEO David Kramer and all of Universal’s top executives.
“We are going to prevail,” she added. “We are going to continue and tell stories that matter. You know, we don’t make content. We we make cinema, we make television. We make things that matter, and we deliver them to the audience globally in a way that is meaningful, in a way that has impact. “
Langley’s speech comes on the heels of a rollercoaster year for the industry, which saw box office wins and losses, restructuring at multiple studios and media companies, a greater embracement of AI, major M&A announcements and more.
Sharon Waxman contributed reporting to this story.
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