We both worked together on buying DVDs from the studios, negotiating revenue share and deals. On the side, we were always finding cool projects, documentaries, foreign films, little indie films that we would then put on DVD. That was one of the things we really appreciated about each other when we first met — that love of independent films and documentaries and foreign films. “Hey, did you ever see this one or that one?”
Category: media
Blockbuster Podcast ‘S-Town’ To Be Adapted Into Feature Film (Is This A Good Idea?)
The hit seven-episode audio documentary by the producers of Serial and This American Life will be adapted for the screen and directed by Tom McCarthy, who won two Oscars in 2015 for Spotlight, about the Boston Globe investigation into sexual abuse by Catholic priests. But will S-Town translate? Hannah Verdier considers the potential pitfalls and pluses.
A Brief History Of The TV News Ticker
“Versions of the TV news ticker date all the way back to the 1950s, but they didn’t become truly ubiquitous until September 11, 2001. … The same way a Twitter feed today can transfix people during a crisis, the nation had its eyes glued to the scroll, waiting for the next update. The TV news ticker is a descendent of the stock ticker and grandchild of the ‘zipper’ news on buildings in Times Square. At the very least, it’s also Twitter’s neurotic uncle.”
How The Puppeteer For ‘Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt’ Made A Talking Backpack So Emotional
“In the fourth season of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, we learn that Kimmy had a secret friend in the bunker [where she was held captive]: the purple Jansport backpack that she lost at a dance club way back in the very first episode.” Kimmy named the pack Jan S. Port, which is played puppeteer by Stephanie D’Abruzzo (of Sesame Street and Avenue Q. “D’Abruzzo spoke to Vulture about auditioning to play an inanimate object, why Jan is like ‘a canned ham,’ and her character’s near-death experience under the dragon cloud.”
It’s Begun: Comcast Makes Bid For Fox, Competing With Disney
The U.S. cable giant made an all-cash offer of $65 billion to acquire much of Fox’s film and television assets, its international holdings and its stake in the streaming service, Hulu. The $35 per share offer represents a 19% premium on Disney’s $52.4 billion all-stock offer for the same assets.
‘Couch Shows’ Vs. ‘Phone Shows’: Why We Need More And Shorter TV Episodes
“Consumers are now, often unconsciously, sorting every media product — from podcasts to magazine stories to video — into three categories: intentional, interstitial, and invisible. The implications of these changes are huge, especially for the people who create what we watch.” Daniel H. Pink makes the case for intentional content (“couch shows” that you make a point to sit and watch) and interstitial content: “programming we use to fill the spaces in our lives — 10 minutes in a grocery store line, 5 minutes waiting to pick up a kid at practice, 35 minutes on a train or bus.”
After ATT/Time Warner: Let The Media Mergers Begin
AT&T argued that acquiring Time Warner will help it compete with streaming video companies like Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon, all of which have invested in original programming that they don’t have to license to competitors. The decision will likely be seen as good news for other pending and potential mergers
Exploring The Depopulated Ruins Of ‘Second Life’
“Residents and businesses began fleeing for more popular social networks long ago. Vast acres of land are abandoned or sparsely populated by the few remaining diehard users. … Digital worlds don’t typically rot or become overgrown with foliage, after all. They exist for a time, and then someone shuts them down. Right now, Second Life resembles a city swiftly evacuated following a radioactive threat.” Just seven months after The Atlantic ran a feature on the communities (notably the disabled) who are still thriving on the 15-year-old virtual-world platform, Joe Veix writes about how empty Second Life now appears compared to the days (a decade ago) when it had millions of users.
An AI Made A Movie. And The Results Are… Impressive
The director of the film, who goes by “Benjamin,” was not available for comment. Benjamin is an AI—one that created Zone Out in a matter of 48 hours, piecing it together out of thousands of hours of old films and green-screen footage of professional actors. The resulting movie, created for a two-day AI filmmaking challenge, is not going to win awards. But it’s still impressive.
At Video Game Conference, Real World Issues On Display
A smattering of the games at E3, whether intentional or not, increasingly reflect our often divisive, confusing and stressful political and social climate. Large publishers have long emphasized that their games were solely about play — not politics — and no doubt throughout the course of E3 many developers will shy away from questions about real-life concerns. But the answers are in the games themselves as the line between fact and pixel-based fiction is more blurred than ever.