The CBC says it will eliminate 79 design jobs, from set builders and costume makers to makeup artists and hairstylists in Toronto. “We’re sad about this. It is an end of an era. For 50 years, there has been in-house design at CBC, and now there is not going to be.”
Blog
Naked Audience? Too Much
A group called Males au Natural said it planned to strip naked in the audience during a New York play’s graphic rape scene, “supposedly to show solidarity with the underdressed actors.” But the actors union Equity says it won’t require actors to perform if they do.
Roberts – Bad Reviews, But A Chance For Tony?
Reviews for Julia Roberts’ Broadway debut weren’t kind. So will she withdraw? Well, it depends on the Tonys. “There are two schools of thought, and where theater people fall depends on whether they think she’s got a shot at a Tony Award nomination – which, if she were to get one, would be the raw steak she can slap on her black eye.”
EMI: Download Sales Soar
Recording giant EMI says its sales of digital downloads has increased by 150 percent in the last year. “The world’s third largest record company predicted that the jump would help its annual profits rise by 12%.” Downloading sales now account for 5.5 percent of the company’s music sales.
Harry Potter – Banned In Atlanta?
Some Atlanta area parents are leading a campaign to have the Harry Potter books banned from local school libraries. “People who love the books say they are happy that kids are reading the books as much as they are. They say that the books are ultimately about good versus evil. But opponents say that the books with their magic wands and spells are all about evil.”
Music Of The Street
Street musicians – buskers – in New York can make $200 a day and up. “It’s interesting to see what the street looks like from this angle. You enter a new world when you put yourself out like this. In a club there’s an invisible wall between you and the audience. Here, there’s not.”
The Great American Screen Play
There has been an explosion in the number of screenplays jockeying for attention. “Last year, some 40,000 screenplays were registered by the Writers Guild of America, and, since relatively few screenwriters go to the trouble to seek this early-stage copyright protection, the officials there reckon this figure represents only the tiniest tip of the iceberg.”
Studios Increasingly Ignore Critics
“This year, more and more films have been withheld from the press prior to opening day perhaps because studios have calculated that they can attract audiences regardless of whether the films have been reviewed beforehand. While it’s not unprecedented for film companies to nix such previews, the recent trend underscores the extent to which the industry’s changing business model relies less on critics for promoting certain types of mainstream fare.”
Are Movie Critics Losing Their Clout?
“Aggregation and indexing have also had the unintended consequence of flattening the hierarchy of movie critics: Inevitably, The New York Times or Chicago Tribune reviewers are taken off their perch when their sound bites appear next to Movie Mom at Yahoo! Movies, Ericsnider.com, or (our favorite) Hollywood Bitchslap. Even worse, their opinions are devalued when they become just one datapoint in an average score.”
FCC Investigates Radio networks For Payola
The FCC is investigating four radio giants for payola. The FCC “requested documents from Clear Channel Communications Inc., CBS Radio Inc., Entercom Communications Corp. and Citadel Broadcasting Corp. over allegations that radio programmers had received cash, checks, clothing and other gifts in exchange for playing certain songs without revealing the deals to listeners, a violation of federal rules.”