Media

The boom in streaming has led to massive content demands – and nowhere is that more obvious than “in Denmark, where thanks to years of rising demand, there are many more critically-praised series and movies being made than ever before. But what there isn’t, in this country of just 5.6 million people, is enough skilled professionals to produce them all. Help-wanted ads are popping up all over industry Facebook groups. Certain shows have had to postpone production by six months, or indefinitely.” – The New York Times

Jones, who played the Anansi-inspired character Mr. Nancy, posted the video to Twitter. He said that new showrunner Charles Eglee, who is white, “thinks that Mr. Nancy’s angry get-shit-done is the wrong message for black America.” – Slate

Among stations with annual membership income above $4 million, the median change in fees is a 9% increase, according to NPR; among stations with income below $250,000, an 8% decline. – Current

Brazilian cinema – put on the map by global hits such as City of God and Aquarius – has suffered a succession of blows since Bolsonaro took office in January, from a general lack of interest in the arts to more pointed attacks on films dealing with themes such as sexual diversity and race. – The Guardian

Films such as Greta Gerwig’s Little Women, Melina Matsoukas’s Queen & Slim, Lulu Wang’s The Farewell, Olivia Wilde’s Booksmart, and Lorene Scafaria’s Hustlers have been nearly shut out of the Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild nominations. Reporters Nicole Sperling and Brooks Barnes look into the reasons. – The New York Times

“In recent weeks, hundreds of TV and film assistants … have begun to speak out about their experiences on the bottom rung of the industry, mounting a fight for better pay and fair treatment.” Many of those assistants are paid only $12 and hour, California’s minimum wage, and the stories of bizarre demands and mistreatment by bosses are legion. – The Guardian

The scene comes from Avengers: Endgame, when Thanos says “I am inevitable” and snaps his fingers in an attempt to destroy all existing life in the Universe, only to discover his gauntlet no longer has the power. The responses on Twitter included one from historian and author Kevin M Kruse, who noted: “You’ve made Trump a supervillain and depicted him in the scene where his plan to kill everyone in the universe falls apart due to his arrogance and incompetence.” – BBC

NPR has kept speaking with many voices that would sound out of place on the air anywhere else. Many, if not most, have been female. As hosts and anchors, correspondents and reporters, women have played a key role in giving NPR its distinctive sound. – The Conversation

“A recent study by Northwestern University … found that 26% of independent Arab filmmakers are women … In Morocco, Tunisia and Lebanon, 25% of all new directors are women. In Egypt, this year’s Cairo International Film Festival became the first Arab festival, and second African festival, to pledge 50-50 gender parity by 2020.” – BBC

“Ana Subeliani arrived at the film premiere for And Then We Danced by foot, but left in an ambulance, blood running down her face. … Before screenings in November, far-right protesters and members of the Georgian Orthodox Church, some holding religious icons aloft, tried to stop moviegoers entering theaters” screening the film, which depicts a romance between two male members of the country’s national dance troupe. – The New York Times

The Clint Eastwood film looks at the media circus that broke out around Jewell, a security guard who came under suspicion for orchestrating the Centennial Olympic Park bombing before being exonerated. Scruggs, an employee at the paper, broke the story that Jewell was under investigation by the FBI. The film shows Scruggs, portrayed by Olivia Wilde, sleeping with an FBI agent (Jon Hamm) to get the story. Scruggs died in 2001 at the age of 42. The paper has maintained that there is no evidence that Scruggs slept with anyone involved in the Jewell investigation. – Variety

It was a crowning moment for Netflix, and not just for the jeweled one on Queen Elizabeth’s head. The streaming service, which dominated the Globe nominations overall, edged out HBO to win the most TV nods on Monday. Netflix got 17 TV nods, to go with its 17 on the movie side. HBO was a close successor at 15. – Washington Post

Sacha Baron Cohen, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and Killing Eve received nominations this chilly L.A. morning, as did the apparent final season of Amazon’s Emmy-winning Fleabag and the first season of the star-studded The Morning Show on AppleTV+. – Deadline

Justin Chang is prepared for the inevitable backlash over some of the choices the LAFCA made. Prepared, but not pleased: “I’ve always been struck by the recurring phenomenon of LAFCA and other critics’ groups getting attacked online for the elitist snobbery of their allegedly out-of-the-box choices. To accuse us of snobbery, I think, gets the situation exactly wrong; championing work that falls outside the usual awards-season conversation, informed by the fact that we spend 52 weeks a year watching and writing about new movies from all over the world, strikes me as a pretty good definition of egalitarianism in action.” – Los Angeles Times

And not just any blog is closing, but Feministing, one of the only remaining feminist blogs from the heyday of the 2000s. One of the site’s former editors says, “It was unclear how we could have such a ferocious audience and not be onto something. … Many of us involved in the feminist blogosphere are now in mainstream media, and that’s exciting. That said, we need independent media because they’re an important check.” – The New York Times

And Greta Gerwig’s new movie version of it makes an attempt to reflect that. “We may these days … be surrounded by books containing extraordinary girls – Lyra, Hermione, Katniss – but it is striking that they are exceptions, and often alone; groups of girls in, say, the Gossip Girl books are toxic and destructive. Little Women is about ‘a world of women, of value in and of itself.’ It is also, Gerwig has said, ‘one of the few books about childhood that isn’t about escape. There is bravery, but it’s a hero’s journey contained inside the home.'” – The Guardian (UK)

This isn’t the why, but a result: “Guy Williams and his fellow visual-effects artists have spent so much time staring at Will Smith’s face, they’ve practically memorized his every pore. ‘We joke sometimes that we probably know his face better than his wife does,’ Williams told me in September, laughing. ‘I can tell you exactly how he forms a smile. I can even tell you the 12 different flavors of Will Smith’s smile and the subtleties of each one. It gets pretty obnoxious.'” Indeed. – The Atlantic

Ironically, the New York Film Critics Online meet in person to vote on the awards. (Also awarded: Lupita Nyong’o, Joaquin Phoenix, Laura Dern, and Joe Pesci.) – The Hollywood Reporter

Films and filmmakers from Africa and the Middle East have had a good year at A-list film festivals, including Mati Diop and her Atlantics, which won the Grand Prix at Cannes. “The ‘new wave’ of Arab and African cinema includes a small group of films that explore links with genre cinema – including fantasy, sci-fi and horror – which is related to a broader trend in literature and the contemporary arts in the Arab world that is exploring dystopias and fantasy settings.” – Variety

The styling is in the ties. And there are … let’s say a lot of different ties in this movie. Says one of the costume designers, “The language of how the tie greets the shirt greets the belt; the cut of the suit and how that translates across the years for each of these men, that was a real joy for me.” – The New York Times

Rachel Brosnahan, who plays Midge Maisel, says that season three changed things for her – and made the actor a better comedian too. “While the first and second season, most of the major stand-up was born out of something she was experiencing in her real life in real time, this new season takes me on the road. She’s a working comic now. And she’s having to learn to be a technically better comic, to write tighter jokes, to write jokes for different audiences who won’t necessarily understand or relate to what’s going on in her life.””- Los Angeles Times

The 72-year-old public radio and network television veteran has been alongside creator Jad Abumrad at the center of the popular podcast/radio series for 15 years. “No end date has been announced, with Krulwich hinting to one episode being finalized for ‘next week’ and an eventual super-sized episode about ‘a world population puzzle’ as his remaining Radiolab duties.” – Ars Technica

“For millennia, Indigenous Australian communities have been passing down histories, knowledge, language and customs, largely through oral storytelling. But in a world of digital addiction, where even the most remote parts of the country are being infiltrated by smartphones, telling stories via screens is the new necessary: a way to both preserve tradition and reach out to the young.” – The Guardian

“How is it possible that those of us raised on — or perhaps more accurately, raised by — Mister Rogers could have turned out to be so disengaged and sarcastic? Well, for starters, maybe because we are not as disengaged as we’re often described. (We are definitely as sarcastic.) But I think it’s also because the lessons Mister Rogers imparted are often placed, especially on the internet, into a general kindness and goodness box that doesn’t fully capture what he accomplished.” – New York Magazine

During its 11-year run, “unadorned” has been the name of the game at Tiny Desk Concerts, whose appeal lies in the nakedness of its setup: no backing tracks, no Auto-Tune, no frills. The resulting performances — each taking place at Boilen’s actual desk inside NPR’s Washington, D.C. headquarters — offer viewers an intimate look at artists both emerging and major. – Billboard