Category: media

“Why have the studios walked away from the negotiating table? Although it seemed hard to believe at first, the evidence is overwhelming that they never had any serious intention of making a fair deal, at least the kind of deal that, as Lew Wasserman might have put it, would’ve allowed both sides to come away declaring victory.”

“The big achievement for the year — record revenue — was offset by uncertainty as the Writers Guild of America went on strike over scribes’ desire to get in on the ground-floor of whatever revenue might result from Internet programming.”

“In the past five days, five groups — the National Board of Review, the Boston Society of Film Critics, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, the Washington. D.C. Film Critics Association and my crowd, the New Yorkers — have convened to choose the most notable movies and moviemakers. And it all starts here, with critics fighting over which hardly seen movie they want to call the best of the year.”

Attention is being focused on FCC chairman Kevin Martin and how the influential agency makes telecommunications policy. “He is a lone operator. Sometimes even his own staff doesn’t really know what he’s thinking and what’s he’s going to do next.”

“If the strike lasts another four to six weeks, it could spell the end for 2008 pilot production. The most-circulated scenario in that case involves the networks renewing all their existing series for next fall, producing their pilots in the summer and launching their new crop of shows in midseason 2009.”

Should economically depressed Michigan jump on the trend of providing tax breaks and incentives to lure Hollywood filmmakers? Author, columnist, and Detroit native Mitch Albom says there’s no question about it.

The writer behind the hottest indie film of the season (“Juno”) is a 29-year-old former stripper and phone sex operator from Minneapolis. Somewhere along the line, Diablo Cody started to blog about her unusual life, and in the kind of rags-to-riches story that isn’t supposed to happen in real life, a Hollywood producer happened across the blog and asked Cody to write a movie.

Think the writers’ strike hasn’t really damaged your TV viewing all that much? Just wait – January is going to be brutal. “Almost none of the most popular shows on prime time television will be offering new episodes to viewers after the first of the year,” and a flood of quick-and-dirty reality shows will likely test viewer patience.

With the TV world’s comedy writers on strike, there’s arguably never been a better time to be a politician in America. “Political analysts are scrambling to sort out what this could mean for the candidates themselves, and suggesting that the humor void could change the way the public views the still-wide-open race.”

“Talks between Hollywood’s striking writers and producers collapsed amid acrimony on Friday night, even as the sides braced for the likely appearance of a third party — the Directors Guild of America, whose own contract is up next June.” There are no plans to resume talks in the near future.