Category: media

Hollywood is getting tough. This week, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, which hands out those little gold Oscar statues each spring, announced new rules designed to prevent studio executives from “overzealously” campaigning for a particular film, director, or actor to win a high-profile award. In the past, the AMPAS had employed a set of “guidelines” for such purposes, but many studios openly flouted them, so the hope is that the more stringent code will cause execs to think twice. Penalties for breaking the rules include losing one’s seat at the Oscar ceremony, and, for voting members of the Academy, suspension or expulsion from that position.

BBC1 has a new arts show. It’s not very good, writes Patrick Wright. Perhaps it’s because Alan Yentob the BBC exec is also Alan Yentob the producer and Alan Yentob the presenter. Is this too much Yentob around which to build an arts franchise?

Are some movie studios paying theatres to run trailers of their movies? “Studios historically have been adamant in refusing to pay for trailer placement, arguing that the previews are as beneficial to theaters as they are to distributors. But exhibitors are on the hunt for new revenue streams as they regain their financial footing following the massive screen build-outs of the past few years — and the large cash outlays that made such expansion possible. While no studio would go on record as admitting to attempts at trailer placement, the subject has generated enough buzz around town to indicate that it is worth examining.”

The proposed merger of the Screen Actor’s Guild and the American Federation of Television & Radio Artists has crumbled, after proponents of the plan failed to reach the 60% approval threshold necessary from the membership of both unions. AFTRA approved the merger by a wide margin, but only 58% of SAG members voted yes, scuttling the deal. The merger has been the source of much controversy among actors and TV/radio personalities, with several high-profile individuals all but staking their careers as union activists on its success.

“We live at that moment in history when someone who has made a lot of money in the ad biz refers to fortune cookies as ‘a new marketing medium’ and ‘one of the last branding frontiers.’ And he is completely serious. His name is Mark Hughes. He is the CEO of Buzz Marketing, a firm specializing in that most desirable and elusive form of publicity – word-of-mouth, people talking to one another about your product. In a word, buzz.”

Tv media giants may be dominating the airwaves, but they sure haven’t figured out how to find a winning formula for programming. “While it’s taken for granted that TV’s oligopoly wants to further consolidate its power, it’s equally clear that networks aren’t any more adept at tapping into the public zeitgeist when production stays all in the family. In fact, the ratio of shows that stick around at least four seasons — generally the cutoff to be deemed a hit, ensuring there will be enough episodes to run in perpetuity — has consistently stayed around one in six since the early 1990s. Although a hit can pay for a lot of flops, that percentage wouldn’t exactly qualify for the hall of fame, or even the Dodgers’ batting order.”

A Scottish school whose students were hired as extras for the next Harry Potter movie have been forced to turn over their wages to the school. “Warner Brothers hired 14 children from Lochaber high school, in Fort William in the Scottish Highlands, to appear in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, due for release next year. They earned STG35 ($A86) a day for a four day shoot, but under school rules their earnings had to go straight into a fund used to pay for school activities.”

In a year dominated by sequels, movie box office is down. “Box-office revenues for the year are down 4% and movie attendance is off 8%. The past three weekends are also down compared to last summer.”

If your film gets an N-17 rating (no one under 17 admitted) in America, it’s the kiss of death. “The rating board’s inscrutable, often infuriating judgment calls about sexual content are legend. No one, not even maverick Lions Gate, will release an NC-17 film — and with good reason. Key theater chains might not book it; many TV and newspaper outlets would refuse to advertise it; and once it went to video, where the real profits are for most films, major chains such as Blockbuster wouldn’t stock it. ‘American film is being horribly infantalized. If you want to see something adult, you have to stay home and watch HBO’.”

Finally, a comprehensive plan to improve and stabilize Canadian TV. But “statistics show that Canadians aren’t watching as much Canadian-made TV as they once did. ‘Well, you have to ask, what came first? Was it a decline in the amount of Canadian programs or a loss of interest? If there are fewer Canadian-made programs on the air, then there is less for the audience to watch. We have heard loud and clear that Canadian drama is in suffering. We have also heard that people want to see it.”