Heads of large media companies meet for a weekend conference to plot the future. “How traditional media interact with Internet powers like Google, Yahoo and Microsoft Corp.’s MSN network is one of the most compelling strategic questions facing the media giants. For the first time, media companies recognize their power, and not just their financial power but also their ability to move huge amounts of advertising time and people. The media guys need to find ways either to partner with them or compete against them.”
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Your Odds Of making It As A Writer
What are the odds of making it as a successful writer? “1 in 380. Or, if you tweak the numbers to allow for a range of error, 1 in 200 to 1 in 500. You’ve gotta admit those aren’t exactly encouraging. Would a pharmacist go to school if the odds were less than 1 in 100 they would get a job when they get out? Writers have it worse than Division 1 college football players vying for slots in the pros, and “way worse than (the odds) Miss America contestants face. And they get to flaunt cleavage.”
A Year of Shakespeare
The Royal Shakespeare Company reveals details of its ambitious plans to produce the entire stage works of Shakeseare in a single season. “The year-long festival will see every word ever written by the playwright performed in Stratford-upon-Avon from April 2006. The Complete Works will embrace film, new writing and contemporary music as well as a comprehensive survey of theatre artists currently interpreting Shakespeare worldwide. It will be the first time all 37 plays, sonnets and long poems have been presented at the same event.”
Want To Get Published? Win A Prize
Writing prizes are on the increase. “Last week, Kirkus Reviews launched an annual competition for unpublished first novels and short-story collections with the winner receiving a book contract with the prestigious publisher Little, Brown. In May, two arts groups in the United Kingdom announced the New Writing Ventures Awards that, each year, will distribute $104,000 in prize money to unpublished authors. Some $9.8 million in prize money was awarded last year in the U.S., U.K. and Canada, an increase of more than $900,000 from the previous year.”
Public Broadcasting’s Next Battle (Round 2)
“Today’s Senate subcommittee hearing takes up the question of how much money to give CPB, an agency set up in the 1960s to funnel federal dollars to public TV and radio stations and theoretically act as a shield between politics and programming. Last month, a House subcommittee tried to strip $100 million from the 2006 budget and revoke its entire $400 million grant by 2008. The full House restored the cuts after howls of protest from supporters who brought Clifford the Big Red Dog and other beloved characters from PBS kids’ shows to the Capitol.”
Classical Spectacular Worldwide
Promoter Raymond Gubbay has made a fortune with his “Classical Spectacular” productions. Now his empire is spreaqding to Australia. “The formula is simple. Take the world’s most popular classical pieces – from Nessun Dorma to the Swan Lake Finale, Blue Danube Waltz and the Can Can theme. Engage a 90-piece symphony orchestra, 100-piece choir, military band and soloists to perform them. Package it with synchronised lasers, lights and fireworks. Put them on stage in an arena packed with 10,000 people, and your bank manager will be popping champagne and whistling the 1812 Overture.”
Canadians Listening Less To Radio
“The report says that Canadians spend 90 fewer minutes per week tuning in to their favourite stations compared to a decade ago. It found that the average person spends 19.5 hours a week listening to the radio. Despite the overall decline, people are listening to the radio more in their cars and at work. In 1995, people spent 56 per cent of their listening time at home; that number has now fallen to 49 per cent.”
The Day Theatre Went Dark In London
“For the first time since the Blitz during the Second World War, every West End theatre cancelled its performances that day. Several shows that were due to perform matinee performances cancelled those first; then, as the police urged everyone to stay away from central London, evening performances were cancelled, too. All public subway and bus transport in central London was suspended in the immediate wake of the attacks, making it impossible for performers or audiences alike to get to the theatres in any case. Some theatres, like the Royal Court, automatically refunded all patrons who had booked. Others are seeking to exchange tickets for future performances.”
Surprise – Hollywood Has An Up Week
The comic book movie Fantastic Four has snapped Hollywood’s losing streak. “The flick about a quartet of dysfunctional superheroes earned an incredible $56 million, leading the box office to its first up weekend after a record 19 straight downers, according to preliminary studio figures Sunday. If estimates hold the top 12 movies will have grossed $140.9 million, a 2.2 percent gain over this time last year when fellow Marvel do-gooder Spider-Man 2 headlined the lineup.”
Why Do Mamet’s Progeny Sound Like Sendups?
“The language they use to show their smarts and their cool is the language that all of Mamet’s men use: R-rated and graphic. They rattle off four-letter words the way a jazz pianist does blue notes — to spice up a performance that might otherwise be too bland. The problem is that Mamet’s followers in all the narrative arts have made that language mainstream. As a result, the first-act tableaux in a Chinese restaurant, spiels in which three of the salesmen jockey for power, have lost their outrageousness and now seem more like sendups of Mamet.”