Category: media

Holly wood movie studios and electronics companies are meeting to find ways to stop illegal copying of movies. “The new group will explore ways to use electronic watermarks and other signaling techniques that could remain embedded in a program after it’s converted to analog. Many DVD recorders already incorporate one such technology, which hides copying restrictions within an unused portion of a standard TV picture.”

Is it important to read the book that a movie is based on before seeing the movie? Not at all. In some cases, knowing the book may make it difficult to enjoy the adaptation. “A film may be well able to stand on its own without comparison to its source. To dwell on changes from the origin can load the film with obligations that may be aesthetically irrelevant.”

Hollywood, trying to encourage producers to stay in the US to shoot their movies, have proposed legislation to give producers tax incentives. But last week, to try to keep producers coming to Canada, the Canadian government said it would increase production tax credits from 11% to 16% for foreign producers shooting there. Hollywood is protesting.

“The practice of showing commercials before the start of movies defrauds the public and should be stopped, according to lawsuits filed in Chicago against two movie-theater chains. The on-screen commercials delay the start of films beyond the posted times, which deceives theatergoers, the lawsuits claim.” The plaintiffs appear to be treading on very shaky legal ground, but it’s a good bet that they’ve got a fair amount of public sentiment on their side.

The Disney company has lost an important legal battle in its fight against a British company which claims it is entitled to a share of the profits from the “Winnie-the-Pooh” franchise. Disney acquired the rights to Pooh and the rest of A.A. Milne’s famous characters in 1961, but a judge ruled that the company had been evasive, and destroyed crucial documents relating to the true nature of the franchise ownership. Marketing of the Pooh characters nets Disney $1 billion per year in profit.

“Director Roman Polanski’s The Pianist has won six prizes at the Cesars – France’s version of the Oscars – including best picture.
Polanski also won the award for best director while US actor Adrien Brody won the best actor prize for the English-language film… Last year the film won the prestigious Palme d’Or award at the Cannes Film Festival and has been nominated for six awards at next month’s Oscars ceremony.”

Canada has always made a point of keeping its culture distinct from its neighbor to the south, and even has laws to ensure that it stays that way. So it’s no surprise that this week’s federal budget, which appears to allow greater American incursion into the Canadian TV marketplace, is taking no small amount of flak from producers, critics, and the public. The government insists that the new plan will bring great economic benefit to Canada’s entire cultural community, but John Doyle disagrees: “If you, the viewer, think that the federal government’s new screw-you tactic on Canadian TV production will matter little in terms of content or culture, you’re dead wrong.”

In Francs, as in most countries, American movies dominate the theatres. “But a number of French critics are attacking Hollywood movies for what they see as a poverty of ideas, which in turn is having an adverse effect on the country’s children. If the technology is controlling us, it will transform us into stupid children, and in a way, part of the American cinema does that.”

Canadian TV producers are apoplectic over a 25% budget cut handed down by the federal government this week. The cuts came as the nation’s TV industry prepares to select which funding proposals for new and existing shows will actually get the money they need for production. Additionally, the government is offering new financial inducements designed to attract even more American production crews to Canada, leading Toronto-based TV execs to complain that Ottawa is favoring foreign media interests over domestic ones.