Category: media

“[A] consortium of powerful ad agencies and TV networks [is] pressuring Nielsen to evolve along with the habits of television consumers, who don’t just watch shows on their television sets, but also on their laptops and other mobile devices. Right now, advertisers must cobble together data from a number of sources.”

“[T]he lead character … is usually played by a jaw-droppingly attractive star, who wins positive press for being willing to subvert her beauty in order to portray one of the great unwashed doing whatever it is they do out there in the dull diabetic landmass between Los Angeles and New York City. (Hiring ugly people to play working class is a job best left to the English.)”

“Between Google alerts and Twitter, [a non-attendee] can get immediate feedback on his iPhone about what films and performances are generating buzz. More films than ever are quietly traded on DVD in Los Angeles before or during the festival, or screened outright for distributors in Hollywood. … [E]ven some of the bold-face names who had films screening at this year’s festival were absent.”

“RealScreen said that press would be confined to a press room, and any attempt to take cameras or recording equipment outside of it ‘will be monitored and any instances of transgression will be met with expulsion from the event.’ Further, reporters ‘will not be permitted to chase potential subjects down in the halls — that too will lead to expulsion.'”

“More than 70% of cinema screens in Catalonia, one of the richest regions in Spain, were dark Monday as exhibitors staged a one-day strike in protest against the regional government’s move to force them to screen more films in the Catalan language.”

“Diamond encrusted phones, pink fairy princess laptops, pink headphones… The list goes on. … So why do technology companies still think the way to attract women is to ‘pink it and shrink it’? How do we put an end to the genderisation of technology?”

“Of the top 25 grossing films of all time on Hollywood.com’s U.S. box-office ranking, 18 were released in the past decade. Adjust the totals for higher admission prices mainly due to inflation, and “Avatar” would be the only one of those 18 to make the list–at No. 24, as of Thursday.”

“Writer/director Debra Granik’s mystery-tinged tale about an impoverished teenager (Jennifer Lawrence) searching for her missing, meth-cooking father in the wooded Missouri Ozarks, won both the grand jury prize in the U.S. dramatic category and the prestigious Waldo Salt screenwriting award.”

“[Even] as the studio-indie model disintegrates, a new nonstudio model appears to be emerging from the rubble. In recent years, for instance, novice filmmakers and longtime independent insiders have begun experimenting, and finding some success, with new approaches to releasing movies, including self-distribution.”

“Because it makes them seem powerful. In Western culture, we read from left to right, and we watch theater and television that way, too. … In the theory of stagecraft, it’s understood that a rightward placement telegraphs royalty. So no matter how famous the guest may be, sitting to the left makes him or her seem subservient.”