Category: media

‘Tiger King’, The Most Watched TV Show In The U.S., Is An Ethical And Moral Dumpster Fire

“[The series is] the latest and most acute iteration of a Netflix trend toward extreme storytelling; the more unfathomable and ethically dubious, the better. The point is virality — content so outlandish that people can’t help but talk about it. … America right now, in the midst of a pandemic, is reliant on collective behavior, adhering to rules, and taking sensible precautions to avoid danger. Tiger King is the TV equivalent of licking the subway pole.” – The Atlantic

Why The Hollywood Reporter’s Editorial Director Abruptly Walked Out

“Matthew Belloni resigned as editorial director of The Hollywood Reporter due to intense conflicts with Modi Wiczyk and Asif Satchu, the co-CEOs of the trade’s owners, Valence Media, over their attempts to meddle with the publication’s editorial independence” — in particular, pressure to generate positive coverage and avoid negative coverage of people and projects in which Valence is involved. – Variety

This Indie Movie About Abortion Access Opened Three Days Before Theatres Shut Down

How can a film like Never Rarely Sometimes Always get an audience in the age of social distancing and sheltering in place? Well, contemporary events might actually help. “Given that multiple states have moved to further restrict access to abortions during the pandemic, the timeliness of Never Rarely Sometimes Always is indisputable. … Its rent-on-demand release is a milestone of sorts, providing instant national access to an indie movie that might never have received such attention through a traditional release.” – The Atlantic

Is It Great Or Terrible That Quibi Is Launching In The Middle Of The Pandemic?

Quibi – whose ads you’ve likely seen if you’ve been online at all in the past four months – was meant to be a short-form video platform that people watched in moments of their commute or at quickly grabbed coffee breaks. Meg Whitman thinks people stuck at home will take breaks from screens with, uh, screens: “‘People have said, ‘I’m stuck in the house, I’m home-schooling, I need a break,’’ Whitman, the former CEO of eBay and Hewlett-Packard told me on a Zoom conference call with [co-founder Jeffrey] Katzenberg the other day. ‘‘I’m trying to keep everyone glued together and I need a 10-minute break. And by the way, I might watch three, four, five, six episodes of something that you have to offer.’ So I think people are going to come in new ways.'” – The Atlantic

Hollywood’s Costumers Are Still Sewing, But Now It’s Face Masks For Survival

Tens of thousands of Hollywood and theatre workers are out of work right now. But they’ve found a rallying cause: “With no end in sight to the crisis, costumers — whose job is to create and fit costumes for actors on sets — are plying their sewing and design skills to help address the very real shortages of face masks and other protective clothing among medical workers.” – Los Angeles Times

Chinese Film Industry Restarts, If Slowly

Given strict health controls by the production teams, including quarantines for the entire film crew, “studios have reopened in Ningbo, Shanghai, Qingdao and Xi’an, and TV series such as Legend of Fei and Like a Flowing River have resumed production. High-profile film shoots, including Zhang Yimou’s Impasse, are also reported to have begun filming again.” – The Guardian (UK)