Category: media

“Every year, about 50,000 screenplays are registered with the western division of the Writers Guild of America, with nonmembers paying $20 and members paying $10. Only a few hundred of those are bought or optioned by studios, producers and production companies – usually for relatively paltry sums. Of the screenplays that find a home, a mere fraction end up as finished motion pictures and then, more often than not, only after they have been eviscerated and rewritten by a succession of writers known as script doctors. Nevertheless, an industry has blossomed around the notion that anyone with a good idea and the right skills can rack up a hit.”

CBS has appealed a $550,000 fine levied against it by the FCC for the Janet Jackson Superbowl show last January. “No one at the network knew, or had reason to suspect, that the halftime show would end with a glimpse of nudity,” CBS said in its hefty filing with the FCC.

Boston University has released results of an investigation of management of public radio station WBUR (which it owns) a month after general managers Jane Christo resigned amid allegations of mismanagement…

A growing number of filmmakers have been complaining that movie trailers and ads before movies are too loud. “As a consequence, the Cinema Advertising Council is putting together its first set of sound standards to govern the loudness of commercials and preshow entertainment.”

Canada’s CBC is facing a government-mandated $10 million cut in its budget. “The CBC is already dealing with other financial pressures, including rising production and health-care costs, renewed contributions to the CBC pension plan and a massive loss of advertising revenue as a result of the NHL lockout (estimated to be about $50-million).”

These days there are plenty of low-budget movies. But how many movies with a $750,000 budget can field a professional symphony orchestra for the score? And the Vancouver Symphony, for that matter? “I guess it is a low-budget film. But for anybody who has come from the subsidized art world, the strictures of being frugal and using your resources well are very familiar. I’m trying not to think about the budget and focus on the creativity.”

Regardless of what the Canadian film board might tell you, Toronto does not look like New York. Nor does it look like Chicago, L.A., Seattle, Boston, or any of the other cities that Canadian cities have been standing in for in Hollywood films over the last decade. A new documentary makes the case for on-location shooting, and claims that moviegoers can easily tell the difference between accurate depictions of a city and generic stand-ins.

The indie films and B-movie flicks that once constituted the bulk of the American presence at foreign theaters are rapidly being replaced by big-name Hollywood movies. “As [DVD] sales have been replacing video rentals, globe-spanning media conglomerates have begun using ‘specialty’ film wings like Disney’s Miramax, Sony’s Screen Gems, News Corporation’s Fox Searchlight and Warner Independent Pictures to fill the demand of foreign markets with their own products, leaving less room both for independent sellers and for the small local distributors.”

Robert Rabinovitch has been reappointed as CBC president for another three terms. Prime Minister Paul Martin stalled making the appointment until just 10 days before Rabinovitch’s five-year contract was to expire.

Movie studios say they will begin suing people who illegally download movies online.
“People who have been stealing our movies believe they are anonymous on the internet and wouldn’t be held responsible for their actions. They are wrong. We know who they are, and we will go after them, as these suits will prove.”