Category: media

The effect of the six-week old CBC lockout on Canadian culture as a whole is broadening, and with some broadcast facilities shut down as a result of the work stoppage, a long-planned festival of art and culture created by disabled Canadians is on the verge of being canceled. In addition, Canada’s prestigious Giller Prize for literature is coming up, and if CBC isn’t back up and running, the ceremony could go un-broadcast for the first time in memory.

“The New Montreal FilmFest was touted as a glitzy new film showcase designed to make everyone forget the past few years of controversy that have dogged the rival World Film Festival. But half-way through the inaugural edition of the city’s newest film fest, there are far more glitches than glitz. The event, backed by $2 million in government funding, just lost its highest-profile film, many movies are screening to near-empty theatres, and the fest’s star program director is telling anyone who’ll listen how much he dislikes L’Equipe Spectra, the Montreal company running the festival. In short, it’s hard to imagine how things could be going any worse at the festival.”

There are few reality series on American TV’s fall schedule. “Scripted shows are hot right now, with drama on a real roll and sitcoms poised to make a comeback. Given a choice, the networks would always prefer to develop a scripted hit, which could have a long life in syndicated repeats and pay off for years or even decades to come. But the networks also reined themselves in because so many of last season’s reality shows failed.”

Film employment in the UK was down by 20 percent last year. “In 2004, 24,816 people were employed in the movie and video production sector, compared with 31,264 in 2003. The decline reflects the fact fewer films were being made in an industry hit by uncertainty over UK tax changes.”

The lockout at the CBC has dragged on into its sixth week. And there seems to be no progress in negotiations. “This is nuts. The longer the conflict drags on, the less the chance the sides will come up with a mutually face-saving compromise. Meanwhile, public broadcasting is further imperilled as more and more Canadians learn to live without it. Frankly, I don’t know who is sicker about all of this.”

Jeffrey Skoll is a self-described “filmanthropist.” The billionaire invests in movies that have a strong message of social change. “The movie is just the beginning. Key to the company’s approach is that every film it makes must have a corresponding ‘social-action’ campaign and an on-line group that people can join, linking them to social-activist groups. All of this makes particular sense in an era where cross-marketing is so popular.

National Public Radio has doubled its audience to 26 million in six years. “While the radio world has contracted in upon itself through consolidated ownership and copycat formats, public radio has only become more distinct, important and valuable. It looms ever larger on the U.S. dial simply as guardian of its niche. It’s expanding its news operation at a time when most others are cutting back. It’s in the midst of a $15 million, three-year plan to add 45 staffers and open new bureaus, including one in West Africa. But more important, listen to an NPR program for 30 seconds and you know you’re listening to NPR.”

“Every time a name was called you thought: Oh. Him/her again. How are these things voted on? If these Emmys opened with actors reflecting on their first Emmys, it was dominated by series producers and costars reflecting on the Emmys they’d won yet again. For the most part the more interesting new faces of TV were glimpsed more than seen, which contributed to the overall feel of a rote Emmys, an Emmys that could be happening any old year.”

Movie writers and directors charge that their respective unions aren’t doing enough to get them foreign payments due them. “Unlike television residuals, which producers and studios have been obligated to pay since the 1950’s, foreign levies stem from VCR, DVD and Internet technology. While American viewers can tape programs from their television sets free of charge, in other nations people pay taxes like one on blank videocassettes and DVD’s, or assessments on cassette rentals so the copyright holders can be compensated. It is this revenue into which the three Hollywood guilds began tapping as early as 1990, on behalf of members and also of others who had a stake in films but did not belong to the unions.”

Hollywood movie studios, more and more at the mercy of technology, have decided to join forces and build a lab to explore technology on their own. “The lab is modeled after CableLabs, which since 1988 has spearheaded pivotal innovations in the cable television industry – hastening the adoption of fiber optics, cable modems, telephony and digital video. Hollywood’s version will begin with a more modest mandate, said Dan Glickman, chairman of the Motion Picture Association of America. It will focus principally on piracy prevention, though it will be given some flexibility to expand its mission later, he said.”