Category: media

“Malaysia has raided a laboratory capable of churning out $52 million worth of pirated DVDs a year in the nation’s biggest such raid this year… High on a U.S. piracy watchlist, Malaysia has sharply stepped up the battle against copyright pirates since it began negotiating a free-trade pact with the United States.”

“There are rumours that Hollywood may be calling time on the chick flick. The new money-makers are ‘dick flicks’ such as Knocked Up and Superbad – where the female characters are at best sketchy and often misogynist.”

“Most all of competitive awards went to United Kingdom productions, which took seven of the nine prizes including best drama series for Granada Television’s The Street and best comedy for the BBC’s Little Britain Abroad.”

“New copyright legislation could be introduced in Canada within the next few weeks… The new legislation, which is likely to make it illegal to download or share songs on the internet without paying a fee, was promised in the Conservative government’s fall throne speech.”

It was only a matter of time after US TV writers went on strike before you knew that Hollywood would begin looking elsewhere for programming. Canada’s always a good bet, and shows like “Corner Gas” and “Little Mosque on the Prairie” could begin popping up on US networks soon.

The writers’ strike represents a rare and potentially industry-changing opportunity for writers with an entrepreneurial bent. “This is all everybody is talking about on the line. They’re not talking about healthcare. They’re going, ‘Wow, is there a different way to get our movies and TV shows made?'”

“Many other shadowy sides of human behavior–formerly hidden from public view because they were regarded as either aberrant or just plain shameful–are now freely recorded and exposed for everyone to witness, often with considerable attention by the participants to mise en scène.”

Hollywood is working to enhance the movie theatre expeience. “There are new opportunities with 3-D such as having the audience feel the same claustrophobia of the onscreen character trapped in a dank dungeon.”

The new service plans to offer viewers the ability to download anything they want to a computer from channels they pay for on a monthly basis. “Subscription fees range from $2 to $4 per month per channel. Shows will also be offered for sale at $2 per episode.”

British children’s television used to lead the pack. But now the schedule is dominated by imports. “We are very concerned because we think it’s going to have a huge impact on children in the future if they are only able to watch imported programmes that bring different values, a different language, reflect a different environment and culture; it’s going to affect the way those children grow up.”