Category: media

“Not yet 30 when he founded Relativity Media in 2004, [Ryan Kavanaugh] very quickly became not only a power player in Hollywood but the man who might just save it … having come up with a way to forecast a famously unpredictable business by replacing the vagaries of intuition with the certainties of math.”

“Amazon will bring on a theatrical distributor and many suitors are circling. The move follows a trend this Sundance of streamers stepping up with huge offers and outbidding traditional theatrical distributors.”

“In fancasting, imagination is alive and well. In fact, that’s all it is: fans imagine their dream cast for the movie version of some media they love—think comics, books, video games, etc.—on social media to share with their fellow fans.”

“Female characters, while still not the norm, are becoming more prevalent in top-shelf video games. And at USC, there’s been a dramatic rise in the acceptance of women into the game design program. In 2011, USC admitted 15 men into its graduate track and five women. In 2015, those numbers were nearly reversed with 12 women and seven men.”

Is the future of comedy writing by actual humans sort of doomed, or what? (Hint: Probably not.)

“This protest is not simply about counting faces and looking for an accurate representation of the world, although that would be a start. It’s about whose experiences count. Whose stories get told? Whose emotions in the movie theatre are validated and amplified by awards, and whose are rejected or ignored? Creative awards like the Oscars aren’t based on merit. They never have been. Oscars are based on visibility and resonance.”

The board said its goal was to double the number of female and minority members by 2020.

“The idea of boycotting the Oscars is an attractive show of solidarity; but it is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg as it pertains to racial biases in Hollywood. Non-white actors and filmmakers continually face further marginalization and fewer opportunities; and if anything, the Oscar backlash is proof that fans and contributors are remaining vigilant in their scrutiny of Hollywood.”

“Comcast’s failed $45 billion merger with Time Warner Cable collapsed last year under pressure from regulators, who found that the combined company would have had both the power and incentive to inhibit the future of streaming video. Now, as rival Charter Communications seeks approval for its $67.1 billion takeover of Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks, critics point to the same potential for harm.”

“We’ve reached a point where directors and audiences no longer derive authenticity from what looks ‘real’ but from what looked real in seventies, eighties, and nineties blockbusters. And real is an awfully flexible word. … It’s as if directors – especially the reboot generation – have finally become self-conscious about C.G.I.”