What a Deal

Longtime Montecito resident Dick Wolf, the creator of Law & Order and the multi-TV show Chicago franchise for NBC, has become the network’s $1 billion man.

Wolf, 73, has signed a new five-year deal to stay with NBCUniversal, his studio home for the past 36 years, which includes three-year renewals for Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Chicago Fire, Chicago Med, and Chicago P.D.

The deal is said by the website Deadline to be somewhere in the nine-figure range, which, along with Wolf’s other nine-figure deal for his entire catalog of shows for the NBCUniversal Peacock streaming service, are both said to be worth $1 billion combined.

The mega-deal also includes multiple series commitments for other unspecified shows all over NBC’s different platforms.

Law & Order: SVU is now on its record 24th season, making it the longest running live-action primetime program in TV history.

Pandemic Paranoia

Montecito actress Gwyneth Paltrow admits she is “paranoid and panicked” amid the killer coronavirus outbreak that is rapidly sweeping the globe.

The Oscar winner, 47, has taken to Instagram revealing she was wearing a face mask on her flight to France for Paris Fashion Week in a bid to keep herself safe from infection.

Paltrow also poked fun at her ill-fated role in the 2011 medical action thriller Contagion, in which her character succumbs to a deadly disease.

Alongside a selfie in her mask, she penned: “En route to Paris. Paranoid? Prudent? Panicked? Placid? Pandemic? Propaganda?… Stay safe. Don’t shake hands. Wash hands frequently.”

More than 80,000 people globally are said to be infected by the virus, which has caused 2,700 deaths.