Category: media

“In the days leading up to the movie industry’s most glamorous night, the Oscars, the word heard frequently around Hollywood this year is not glitz, or hype, or excitement. It is fatigue. Strange, perhaps, and unexpected. The same millions of dollars as in years past have been spent on pitched Oscar campaigns, with their color, full-page newspaper advertisements and their earnest television spots. The same publicity muscle has been put into cocktail parties and question-and-answer sessions led by Oscar nominees at the guilds and the movie industry’s home for the aged. But the fatigue is palpable nonetheless.”

You’d think, given that they’re in the entertainment business, Oscar winners would put some effort into making their acceptance speeches less cringe-inducing. “If you are a movie star making $20 million per movie, it’s flat out annoying to suggest to people that you don’t know how to speak in public,” says one media trainer. “A highly paid professional should be able to do this.” But how? Experts offer their advice.

They may not have the AIDS drugs they need, they may not have potable water in many small villages, and they may be beset by dictators, wars, and economic blight, but all is not so bleak in Africa. As of this month, Africa has its very own MTV.

Awards shows are becoming big TV ratings losers. “The Grammys, broadcast this month on CBS, attracted roughly 19 million viewers, a 28 percent decline from last year. Even the Oscars have been steadily dropping in viewership. The 1998 telecast, when “Titanic” won 11 awards, was the last big success, with more than 87 million viewers in the United States. Last year about 43.5 million watched.”

What will the Weinstein’s’ new production company look like after they leave Miramax? “Some things seem evident about the Weinsteins’ future company: It will be an independent production company that will more than likely have a distribution arm. Many industry insiders believe that another partnership with a large studio for distribution is unlikely, considering their tumultuous relationship with Disney. Their financing—which will probably come from a Wall Street backer, or several—will be big enough so they can continue to finance pictures like Gangs of New York, Cold Mountain and The Aviator, while acquiring foreign and small independent movies. It may not be Miramax, but it will be close enough to be Maxamir.”

The broadcast decency bill overwhelmingly passed by Congress last week contains hefty fines for individual performers judged to engage in indecency. But this provision might go away when the Senate and the House reconcile their bills. Performers’ unions are strongly opposed to the bill: “These fines are for any American, not just creative artists and broadcasters. Radio callers, politicians, virtually any individual is potentially subject to these outsized fines. While most speak about this subject as it relates to ‘Hollywood,’ John Q. Public has as much at risk as do our members.”

More ads are showing up in movie theatres – “what might be called ad creep. According to the Cinema Advertising Council, $356m was spent on cinema ads in 2003, an increase of nearly 40% on the year before and way above the growth rates in the rest of the advertising industry.”

Saying the FCC overstepped its authority, “a U.S. appeals panel on Tuesday challenged new federal rules requiring certain video devices to have technology to prevent copying digital television programs and distributing them over the Internet.”

Podcasting “promises a future where anyone can make radio, instead of just listen to it. The biggest podcast audiences now number in the mere tens of thousands. Yet real radio, the kind with bona fide mass audiences, is starting to use the technology to make its shows available for download. Several US public radio stations, as well as the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and the BBC, are experimenting with the medium. … Given that podcasting didn’t exist nine months ago, this adoption curve is impressive. Podcasting – unregulated, low-cost, on-demand radio – is heading for a tipping point.”

New York web designer Jason Kottke has quit his financial-services day job to devote himself full-time to blogging. Kottke’s financial plan for his blog — and thus for himself — does not include advertising, which he fears would be a barrier between his readers and himself. Instead, he is following prominent journalist and blogger Andrew Sullivan’s lead and calling on those readers to support him with donations.