“Movie location shoots around Los Angeles fell to 4,976 days last year, down 29.9 percent from 2008 and off 64.4 percent from a peak of 13,980 days in 1996, according to FilmL.A., which monitors film permits in the area.”
Category: media
Artist Screens Travel Doc Made For Audience Of Potted Plants
Jonathon Keats, the conceptual artist who built a temple for the worship of science and founded the First Bank of Anti-Matter, has made his second film aimed at the vegetal demographic. The first was pornography (close-ups of bees pollinating flowers); the new release enables plants “to travel vicariously by showing them a selection of foreign skies.”
Late-Night Shocker: Woman Lands Letterman Writing Job
“The writers’ rooms on several late-night shows — including Mr. Letterman’s, Jay Leno’s and the one for Conan O’Brien’s ‘Tonight Show’ — were described as male enclaves in recent reports about the male dominance among comedy writers.” Letterman’s new writer has been a staffer since 2001.
Teens Don’t Tweet
“Think of the millions of text messages that teens send. Think of their endless hours on Facebook. Twitter has not caught on in nearly the same way — and experts suggest the difference is that most teens want to socialize with their friends and peers, not broadcast to the larger world.”
The Odd Situation Of The Best Foreign-Language Film Oscar
Gone are the days when high-profile movies from the likes of Fellini and Bergman won the statuette. “Some Oscar-nominated foreign titles from the past decade will leave even committed art-house audiences drawing a blank.” Due to the Academy’s Byzantine nominating process, the category has also become notorious for glaring omissions.
A Lost Tati Script Arrives On Screen At Last
“An unfilmed Jacques Tati screenplay, L’illusionniste, will finally make it to the screen after 54 years, when director Sylvain Chomet’s animated version has its premiere at the Berlin Film Festival, Berlinale, next month. But the occasion threatens to be overshadowed by a story of pain and scandal from the real life of the French comedian.”
On YouTube, Prop. 8 Trial Reenactments Fill A Video Gap
“Frustrated by a Supreme Court decision barring broadcast of the trial, two Los Angeles film types are translating the courtroom testimony into elaborate YouTube re-enactments, complete with professional actors, realistic sets and a budget that might buy you lunch.”
Groundbreaking Oscar Nods Don’t Indicate Wider Trend
“In terms of both box office and public awareness, 2009 might seem a particularly fruitful year for women directors,” but one expert says that “the percentage of women directors has been virtually unchanged since 1987, at 7% to 9%. … For African Americans, the percentage is even smaller, about 4%, according to the DGA….”
Kathryn Bigelow Is Poised For A Hollywood First
“Because it’s so rare that the DGA winner doesn’t go on to win an Academy Award – only six times in 61 years – odds are Bigelow could be the first woman director in the Academy’s 82-year history to crash the celluloid ceiling. … But I’m skeptical that Bigelow’s … possible win will represent any substantive change for women in Hollywood.”
Miramax May Yet Rise From The Dead
As Disney shops the remains of the label, “initial discussions indicate a price of over $700 million for the Miramax name and its 700-film library…. Harvey Weinstein and Bob Weinstein, who founded Miramax in 1979, are not among the bidders — so far.”