Category: media

When Troy Niemans scored a job editing a big-budget Bollywood film, he thought his career was finally taking off. But after less than a month in India, the Canadian editor found himself unpaid, unwanted, and eventually jailed for supposedly stealing from the film company. India’s film industry is infamous for its heavy-handed tactics and alleged ties to gangsters and organized crime, but Niemans never suspected that he would become enmeshed in it all.

Why have younger viewers switched off the TV this fall? The ratings are down. So down, in fact, that network execs have begun blaming Nielsen, the ratings company. Now Nielsen has produced a report attempting to explain the dropoff. “The report from Nielsen, which has stoutly defended its data since the complaints from the networks began, found that changes in Nielsen’s methodology that started as long as a year and a half ago are partly – but not wholly – to blame for the decline in viewership of network series among men ages 18 to 34.”

“In 2001 only 15 of the 250 top-grossing films were made by women. The reasons for this are mystifying. People suggest that women are less good at the kind of hustling needed to get a movie off the ground; perhaps it is related to the way filmmaking requires an obsessive dedication over a period of years; maybe female directors take time out to have children – and a year off is equivalent to death in the industry.”

Ever since Hollywood banned the use of “screeners” – advance copies of films distributed to critics on DVD – movie folk who make their livings outside the world of big corporate studios have been crying foul. This week, the small-timers fought back, filing a lawsuit to overturn the industry ban. “More than a dozen companies joined in the lawsuit against the movie studios’ trade group in U.S. District Court in Manhattan Monday, saying the partial ban will ‘chill the financing of independent films’ by limiting the awards they can receive.”

“The new Cat in the Hat movie makes fun of infomercials and product placement, but the joke rings a bit hollow because the movie has no fewer than 16 corporate sponsors. All Dr. Seuss needed to create one of the most exciting and hilarious stories in the history of literature was 225 vocabulary words, four colors and some imagination. But it takes a zillion-dollar budget to make The Cat in the Hat into a movie, and movie studios do not want to spend any more than they have to… That’s why one of this year’s biggest and most avidly anticipated holiday releases has turned Seuss’ simple story into a marketing bonanza.”

“For the first time in the 55-year history of prime-time television, no single new network series can be called a hit. Already – only two months into the season – some analysts are characterizing 2003-2004 as The Year of the Flop.”

“An extraordinary cartoon drawn by Salvador Dalí for Walt Disney in 1946 is now being screened for the first time in 57 years at film festivals around the world. “Destino”, a six-minute cartoon that was abandoned by Disney before its completion, has already won the grand prize for best short film at the Melbourne International Film Festival.”

With traditional over-the-air radio fast becoming just another tool of the global corporate music industry, music fans are looking to new technologies to replace the predictable playlists of their local radio stations. The phenomenon of Internet radio, in particular, is becoming increasibly popular, thanks to its easy accessibility and diversity of content. In addition, a savvy webcaster can personalize the content of his stream for listeners in specific regions, which can result in a global webcast that sounds more local than your local radio station.

“The perception is that the standard of Australian feature films, and television drama is, in general, slipping. Where are the films with international appeal? Where’s the meaningful TV? The drama isn’t dramatic, some industry insiders point out, and the comedy isn’t funny. Feature film and TV drama production is falling, and local expenditure is down. The TV networks are obsessed with cheap and faddish reality and renovation TV.”

It’s been a tough year for Australian films. But is the movie industry in crisis? “Yes, at this stage, it’s been nearly 30 years since the so-called ‘film renaissance’ of the mid-’70s, and we should be producing many more audience-friendly films and far fewer box-office dog whistles, arthouse indulgences and turkeys. Australian film needs to break out of its boutique mentality; its invasion of the multiplex is long overdue. But arrested development does not qualify as a crisis. Not in our book. Not yet.”