Category: media

Each year the claim is made that the annual Oscar telecast is watched by billions of people worldwide. Is it true? Not even close. “These numbers are hopelessly exaggerated, usually the product of adding together each broadcast-licensed nation’s entire population, rather than an estimated, Nielsen-like figure approximating actual viewers. Even if the Academy Awards were to be broadcast in China and India – which, as of press time, they were not to be this year – it certainly would not mean that every citizen from Bombay to Beijing would be able to tune in the program. Or even give a crap.” – Salon 03/22/00

All except one of this year’s Oscar nominations for foreign language films were set outside the director’s native country; scriptwriting and financing are commonly becoming multinational ventures; and filmmakers are finding the freedom to explore and adopt foreign countries as their own. What does all this signify? The “internationalization of the national film.” – Los Angeles Times 03/22/00

Last week the American magazine Variety polled four dozen filmmakers to see what they thought about film critics. It wasn’t a happy report. Most lament a decline in review standards, saying many critics had turned into little more than “blurbmeisters.” – The Guardian 03/22/00

Cyber movie theaters (showing “everything from Hong Kong action flicks to artsy films”) and a growing number of comic Webzines are “making it possible for Koreans to see movies and read comics with just a click.” One 24-hour site plans to show online film festivals, and Korea’s filmmakers are starting to release “for-cyber-theater-only” movies. No one, from here to Seoul, is sure whether the computer monitor will ever truly replace the big screen, but “there’s no denying that the internet is turning the industry upside down.” – Korea Herald 03/21/00

The missing 55 Oscar statues are found in an LA garbage can. “My foot hit one. It was heavy and I opened it up. Everybody knows who Oscar is,” said the trash recycler who found them. He filled the trunk of his car with the boxes and called his 22-year-old son. Willie Fulgear said he had no idea the Oscars were missing. – Boston Herald (AP) 03/20/00

Seems like a great time to be an independent filmmaker. New markets, lots of attention, plenty of innovation. Sure, but there’s a downside, too. Seven prominent indie filmmakers get together to talk about the biz. – The Nation 03/20/00

“Arthur,” the animated series based on the best-selling books, is PBS’ top-rated children’s show, and by PBS calculations, the most-watched children’s show on television. The Canadian company that produces the show is ensnared in a mess of financial woes, and late last week, three Canadian government agencies suspended their funding of the company, pending answers to questions, including the issue of an unauthorized investment of $122 million. PBS is nervously watching the fortunes of its star franchise. – Los Angeles Times 03/20/00   

The case of the missing Oscar statuettes is… positively cinematic. There’s got to be a movie in there somewhere. – Washington Post 03/19/00

• What do Oscar-winners do with their Oscar statuettes? Why dress them up – in Barbie clothes, of course. – San Francisco Chronicle 03/19/00

Until it closed last month, the 84-year-old Universal Studios Research Library was the oldest and largest collection of its sort in Hollywood – a remarkable resource for screenwriters, producers, art directors and set designers who relied on its books, magazines and indexed images to give their projects factual and atmospheric credibility. Now the library has been closed to save money, and its users worry about the fate of its collections. – San Francisco Chronicle 03/19/00

This week yetis (that’s Young Entrepreneurial Techies) from all over will gather in Hollywood for the first Online Film Festival. There’s some irony here, though. “The technical ideology thing is way ahead of the technical practicality.” – Philadelphia Inquirer 03/19/00