Not, argues David Sims, that you could tell from the big New York Times package on the future of movies. We need to keep in mind that “Netflix is still a young company, one that’s sitting on a mountain of debt and creating new film and TV at a rate that feels unsustainable,” that studios are building their own streaming services to compete with Netflix, and that last year’s box office grosses from actual cinemas were the biggest ever. – The Atlantic
Category: AUDIENCE
In The Age Of Amazon, The Few Queer Bookstores Left Are Lifelines For Queer Teens
Even as the number of LGBTQ stories told in young adult literature keeps growing, there are still many teens whose libraries don’t offer it and who don’t feel comfortable asking for that subject matter in a regular bookstore. Giovanni’s Room, Philadelphia’s LGBTQ bookstore, is still in business; Abbey White visits it and talks to some teens about why it’s important to them. – The Philadelphia Inquirer
New York City’s Public Libraries Drop Access To Streaming Movie Service
The Brooklyn, Queens, and New York Public Library systems began offering cardholders free access to the well-regarded service Kanopy in 2017, and last year about 1% of cardholders used the service. Now the libraries have said that rising costs (Kanopy charged the libraries $2 per view) have made offering the service “unsustainable.” – The New York Times
How “Hamilton” Changed The Broadway Touring Business
The 2018-19 touring season that just ended set records in box office ($1.6 billion) and attendance (18.5 million). “Hamilton” had a clear hand: There are now four productions beyond New York, up from three the previous season. The total number of “Hamilton” weeks on the road sprang from 121 to 177, according to Charlotte St. Martin, president of the Broadway League. – Washington Post
Report: Radio Still Rules As Most Ubiquitous Medium, Millennials Listen To The Most Music
Across the board, the Ipsos-iHeartRadio survey found that radio reaches more consumers than any other audio channel, with 85 percent of consumers listening to a radio broadcast at least once per week, outpacing social media at 68 percent and live television at 56 percent. On a daily basis, radio has more than twice the listenership of audio streaming services, with 69 percent of consumers tuning in to the radio at least once a day compared to streaming’s 34 percent. – Ad Age
Reviving Northern Ireland’s Poetry Scene [VIDEO]
As in other countries, poetry sales rose by double-digit amounts last year in Northern Ireland, with the bulk of that purchasing coming from people under 34. Why? Let a poet explain. – BBC
What’s The Future For Arthouse Films In China?
Wang Jingchun, who won the Best Actor award at Cannes, says, “The rising box office is a really good thing. At its worst, we hardly had a box office to speak of. There also used to be a problem with content: The subjects and perspectives were too old. Now we need new concepts, and young people coming up now are bringing all sorts of new ones to the table, new kinds of cinematic thinking. Also, foreign and Hollywood films have come in, and everyone’s seen everything. . … Audiences have these needs, and theaters have at least started to provide a platform for them to see this stuff.” – Variety
How To Avoid A Sexist Tax On Tampons? Sell Them In Books
In order to avoid the unreasonably high VAT on tampons in many European countries, a startup in Germany (where the tax is 19%!) has started packaging 15 tampons with a 46-page booklet about menstruation as a book (taxed at 7%). The Tampon Book’s first printing sold out in a day, the second within a week. What’s more, it just won the Grand Prix in PR at the Cannes Lions festival for advertising professionals. – Melville House
Can Public Radio And TV Help Bring A Sharply Divided America Together? Should It?
Andrea Smardon: “To answer these questions, I talked with innovative producers who are working on projects that attempt to bridge political and cultural divides. This work is going on across public broadcasting — at local stations, by independent producers and at national organizations such as NPR and StoryCorps. Few journalists view themselves as ‘healers,’ but everyone I talked with agreed that public media does have a unique role to play in this moment.” – Current
With Everything In The Film Business Changing, Will There Even Be Movies As We Know Them In Ten Years?
“24 major Hollywood figures peer into the future, including: Ava DuVernay (on audiences), Jason Blum (on producing), Octavia Spencer (on acting), Kumail Nanjiani (on comedy), Lena Waithe (on black filmmakers), J.J. Abrams (on blockbusters), Jon M. Chu (on diversity), Jessica Chastain (on dramas), Elizabeth Banks (on female filmmakers), Barry Jenkins (on the Oscars) and Joe and Anthony Russo (on two-hour narratives).” – The New York Times