Category: media

“Best actor award went to French performer Jean Dujardin for the silent film The Artist and Best actress went to actress Kirsten Dunst for her role in the apocalyptic psychodrama Melancholia.”

“It’s Spanish-language network Univision, which began as a small TV station in San Antonio in 1961. Now, with millions of viewers tuning in each week, it’s growing faster than any other broadcast network on television.”

“As long as the Fox karaoke juggernaut refuses to make the voting results transparent, the suspicion will persist that Idol is fixed. This week’s semifinals brought a record 95 million votes. And how do we know?”

“An analysis of advertising estimates from those outlets shows that the revenue stream now tops more than $3 billion annually, driving the gossip industry to ferret out salacious tidbits on a scale not seen since the California courts effectively shut down the scandal sheets of the 1950s.”

“This is more evidence, not really needed, that a majority of modern big-studio releases are marketing decisions yoked however reluctantly to creative ideas somewhere farther down the food chain.”

The screen adaptation of Salman Rushdie’s much-awarded novel is being directed by the only somewhat less controversial Deepa Mehta, whose lesbian-themed film Fire inspired riots and cinema burnings in India. (“He’s got the Muslims, and I’ve got the Hindus,” says Mehta.) Filming in Sri Lanka seemed safe, at first …

Among the many notes the screenwriter wrote to himself as he was creating his scenario and screenplay: “[Americans] don’t want jolly, happy family type shows like Eye Witness News … the American people are angry and want angry shows.” He had initially planned to write a comedy, but “the only joke we have going for us is the idea of ANGER.”

“Though the share of minorities working in television — 10% — rebounded to 2005 levels, the earnings gap between minorities and white writers more than doubled since 2007. The minority share of employment in feature films declined to the lowest level in a decade, falling to 5% from 6% in 2007, the last year surveyed by the guild.”

“With international moviegoers now accounting for up to two-thirds of a blockbuster’s total receipts, movies are more than ever being crafted with overseas audiences in mind — from story to casting to setting. Some animated films even substitute vocal talent, characters and jokes country by country.”

As well as dispensing with red carpet photocalls, there will not be a closing night film or use of the Fountainbridge cinema multiplex. There will be more discussions and more debates, apparently, to rebrand the festival as “the brain” of the UK film industry.