Category: media

Writing Off The Movies

“’ Product,’ the old Hollywood moguls used to call the movies they made. Most of them were main-chance Jewish operator types who ran their studios on the factory model. They were aware that the right actors and actresses were crucial and were what people paid their money to see. Directors who knew how to get the best out of these actors were also important, as were producers with a talent for organization and for keeping all these temperamental characters in line. But without writers there was nothing; the game could not even begin until writers had put the ball in play. And yet writers, as everyone knows, have always been thought the most dispensable element in the Hollywood equation.”

Public Broadcasting Plan To Teach History Stirs Commercialization Fears

America’s Corporation for Public Broadcasting announced a plan to increase middle school and high school students’ awareness of history. “But an emphasis by corporation officials on how corporate investors could profit from the project has provoked controversy about the role commercial interests will play in the initiative and hints at new areas of conflict in public broadcasting’s reliance on private-sector support.”

Hollywood Slump – The Best Thing That Could Happen?

Hollywood is frustrated by this year’s movie box office slup. “But what if the slump lingers? That could turn out to be the best thing that’s happened to Hollywood in years. Maybe the powers that be would be forced to take chances once again. Studio heads might begin to think smaller and therefore be more willing to risk giving fresh voices with new ideas a chance to express themselves. It’s a path that may be fraught with peril, but that’s always been how the greatest and most enduring Hollywood movies have come into being. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to have a Hollywood like the one in the ’70s…”

In Cleveland: A Public Broadcasting Partnership Struggles

It’s been four years since Cleveland’s powerhouse public radio station WCPN joined forces with public TV station WVIZ in an attempt to forge a new multimedia empire. But so far the partnership doesn’t seem to have worked out well for radio side. “Several radio insiders who have a lot of respect for WCPN lament the deflating of a once-soaring news operation at a station they say is increasingly besieged by hiring freezes, overloaded reporters and lousy morale. ‘The feeling was that TV management, which basically took over, didn’t understand how public radio was done successfully’.”

Online Films Are Finally Finding An Audience

“While movie studios panic over declining theater attendance, Web sites such as Ifilm and Bay Area-based AtomFilms are growing an audience in search of an alternative to Hollywood. TV networks and film production companies in the United States and abroad scan the sites. Film festivals, such as Cinequest of San Jose, now use similar technology to screen movies online. Analysts say the growing Internet film industry is far from changing how mainstream America views movies — but the business is starting to pay off for filmmakers.”

Smiley: Left, Right And Center? Public Broadcasting Debate Misses The Point

The current debate about the political balance of public broadcasting is the wrong debate to be having, writes Tavis Smiley. “Why isn’t the debate over how public broadcasting can become more inclusive of folk of different ages and national origins, of various ethnic groups, faiths and cultures — over how it can be used to introduce Americans to new ideas, and to each other? I know that’s an incendiary question these days. But if the core of our discussion on the future of public broadcasting is about shifting content in one direction or the other on the political spectrum, the medium is doomed to fiscal and intellectual bankruptcy.”