Netflix Becomes A Movie Player Netflix isn't just about renting DVDs any more. "Ironically, the little Los Gatos Internet upstart that relies on the first-class postage stamp to deliver its discs has become the player to beat. It now finances films. It scours independent festivals to procure movies that the studios miss. It's even begun exploring video on demand." Christian Science Monitor 09/01/06

Short Stuff - New Attention For Short Films With technology advances and falling prices for equipment, the number of people making and distributing short films has exploded. "In all, there are more than a hundred short-film festivals worldwide. And if you figure in the feature festivals that include short-film competitions, the number could be in the thousands." Los Angeles Times 08/31/06

Videos And The New Video Stars MTV hasn't been all about music videos for some time now. Now fans are making the videos. "So what do music fans do when they have cheap cameras and an easy way to share their work with other fans? They sing cover versions of their favorite songs, or show off their lip-synching skill, or do silly little dances. On YouTube this means that artists sometimes end up competing with their own fans." The New York Times 08/31/06

Senate Won't Consider Second Term For Tomlinson A US Senate committe says it will not take up confirmation for a second term of Kenneth Tomlinson as chairman of the Broadcasting Board of Governors after a highly critical government report that said he used the office for personal gain. Yahoo (Reuters) 08/30/06

Emmy Ratings Droop Against Pirates "The annual trophy-fest drew 16.2 million viewers on NBC. It was the Emmy show's second smallest audience since 1990, when it aired on Fox, which was in its infancy and not available in some parts of the country. Opposite the Emmys, ABC's Sunday telecast of "The Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl" drew nearly 10 million viewers to become the most watched theatrical film on television this year." Washington Post 08/30/06

Investigation Cites Ex-Corporation For Public Broadcasting Chief Kenneth Tomlinson has been head of CPB until a previous damning investigation last year. He is still chairman of the Broadcasting Board of Governors. "A year-long State Department investigation has found that the chairman of the agency that oversees Voice of America and other government broadcasting operations improperly used his office, putting a friend on the payroll and running a 'horse-racing operation' with government resources." Washington Post 08/30/06

Flood Of Pirate DVDs Only Grows "According to industry figures, Toronto is the source for 90 per cent of pirated discs sold in Canada. Last week, police shut down an operation that was capable of manufacturing three million discs a year. It was just one of 51 similar busts countrywide this year. In an effort to stem the tide of illegal copying, motion-picture industry officials have been pushing for aggressive enforcement and stiffer penalties for copyright violators, but they were dealt a blow yesterday when the federal Justice Department said it has no plans to change laws." The Globe & Mail (Canada) 08/30/06

Canada Also Taxing Swag Like other big celebrity events, the Toronto Film Festival gives swag bags full of gifts to celebrities who attend. And like American authorities, Canadian tax officials are hovering. "Those receiving gift bags must pay tax on the fair market value of such items. It's up to the individual to declare each and every gift on their personal income tax return. We will be conducting reviews and audits of income tax returns to ensure compliance with the tax legislation." The Globe & Mail (Canada) 08/30/06

The Movie Festival For Those Who Love Movies The Telluride Festival is a serious place for movies. "Sundance has swag, Cannes has yachts, Toronto stars. Telluride has class. Because it's a holiday weekend, and because it's virtually impossible to get to — it's easier to get to Cannes than it is to Telluride — the people who go to Telluride are truly die-hard movie fans. Everyone is there to see movies. There is no other agenda, there are no deals. It's a place to discover movies." Los Angeles Times 08/30/06

Hackers Conquer Media Copy Protection Hackers have broken Microsoft's digital rights protection. "The program apparently strips Windows Media audio (wma) files of Microsoft's DRM 10 or 11 protection, removing any usage restrictions. A post on the forum said: 'This program is only designed and intended to enable fair-use rights to purchased media'." BBC 08/29/06

EFF To Barney: Back Off! The owners of the Barney brand have been extremely aggressive in going after anyone they think is infringing on their copyright. "On Wednesday, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a digital rights group based in San Francisco, filed a lawsuit in Federal District Court in New York against Lyons Partnership of Allen, Tex., which owns the Barney brand. The group’s aim is to bring an end to what it characterizes as the partnership’s relentless harassment of Web site owners who parody the Barney character, chiefly through threatening cease-and-desist letters from Lyons’s law firm in New York, Gibney, Anthony & Flaherty." The New York Times 08/28/06

Canadians Are Watching More Movies They're buying more theatre tickets. "They're watching just as many movies at home, mainly on DVD, which accounts for 77 per cent of home video sales, said the report released Monday. About 70 per cent of Canadian households owned DVD players in 2004. But revenues from film distribution to cinemas rose sharply, up 16.6 per cent to $446.3 million." CBC 08/28/06

Cruise/Redstone Feud A Fraud? Was the verbal war between Paramount's Sumner Redstone and Tom Cruise and his agents at CAA just a show? "Such wars of words can leave lasting scars. Yet the mudslinging between Redstone and CAA may be largely a show for each side's power base. Their interdependence is underscored by the dozen movie projects involving CAA clients pending at Paramount." Los Angeles Times 08/28/06

24, Office, Win At Emmys "HBO emerged with the most Emmys — 26, including the awards given out at last week's creative arts ceremony for technical and other achievements. NBC, struggling in the ratings, got a shot in the arm with its cumulative 14 awards, the most for any broadcast network." Yahoo! (AP) 08/27/06

The Biggest IMAX Movie Ever (But Now What?) "Edutainment funded by Lockheed Martin doesn't sound like box-office gold, but The Dream Is Alive is the top-grossing movie in IMAX history. It has earned more than $150 million since its 1985 debut, putting it several million dollars ahead of such competitors as 1998's Everest and 1991's Antarctica. Yet for all its success with such films, the IMAX Corp. dislikes being thought of as a purveyor of mega-sized documentaries. It now wants to show Hollywood blockbusters on its trademark six-story screens—a strategic shift that seems to have caused the company considerable trouble." Slate 08/25/06

Why Do We Care How Much Money A Movie Makes? "These days, the summer moviegoer has two things vying for control of his imagination: the movies and the box-office receipts. Each operates according to an outsized, cartoonish aesthetic. Even for those of us who chuckle at the notion that summer blockbusters are special-effects abominations that have "ruined" the movies, it's striking that the numbers should exert such a hold over us." Slate 08/25/06

Video Games Crank Up Their Music Offerings Music for video games is getting a big upgrade, with more sophisticated quality. "The game itself is interactive, the story line is interactive, so to the extent that you can make it work, and it doesn't mess up the experience, the music should be interactive as well." Yahoo! (Reuters) 08/26/06

How To Fix The Emmys Emmy-bashing is high sport. "So why should viewers care? After all, like every entertainment award, the Emmys are as much a commercial creature as an artistic one. The broadcast and cable networks support them because they generate free publicity and Emmy-boasting promotions. Yet for all their flaws, the Emmys are still the medium's most important public recognition of good work — and that should matter to any viewer who wants to see good work encouraged." USAToday 08/25/06

Instantaneous Buzz (So What Do You Do?) "Movie studios once felt confident they had at least two weekends to sell as many movie tickets as possible before toxic buzz would undermine their multimillion-dollar marketing campaigns. Hollywood executives now say that the proliferation of movie-related e-mail, Internet blogs and text messaging has reduced that window to mere hours, as the quick decline of last weekend's heavily promoted 'Snakes on a Plane' proved." Los Angeles Times 08/25/06

NY Man Arrested For Broadcasting Hizbollah Channel American police have arrested a man for broadcasting a Hizbollah channel that the US Treasury Department has classified as a terrorist ntity. "Javed Iqbal, 42, was arrested on Wednesday on allegations that his Brooklyn-based company HDTV Ltd. was providing New York-area satellite customers with the Hizbollah-operated channel, federal prosecutors said in a statement on Thursday." Yahoo! (Reuters) 08/24/06

AOL To Offer Movies AOL will begin selling movies online, in a deal with major studios. "The partnerships, announced Thursday, represent AOL's latest efforts to become the destination for online video as the company tries to offset revenues it expects to lose from a recent decision to drop subscription fees for many high-speed customers." Yahoo! (AP) 08/24/06

A Bad Summer For TV "However you look at it — by ratings, quality or excitement — this was a dismal summer for your TV set. Hot-weather hits were few, and even shows that could be classified as hits didn't exactly set summer on fire." USAToday 08/24/06

A Serious New Home For Toronto Film Fest Construction of a new $173 million home for the Toronto Film Festival is expected to begin next year. "Festival Centre -- its official name will be determined in the next 12 months -- will contain five theatres, the largest containing 548 seats, the smallest 80... as well as a soaring lobby, a library, a ticket office, an art gallery and an education centre, among other services. 'Ours will not be a multiplex, though we thought a lot about them, what they do well and what they don't do well'." The Globe & Mail (Canada) 08/24/06

Is The Age Of Star Clout Waning? Stars still sell movies. "But the traditional — and often extreme — deference shown A-listers is changing along with the economics of Hollywood, as demonstrated by Tuesday's public eviction of Tom Cruise from Paramount Pictures' back lot. The Internet is growing fast as an entertainment channel, and the cost of producing blockbusters is rising almost as quickly. That emboldens studio chiefs working for publicly traded companies to challenge the fickle power of the most popular stars." Los Angeles Times 08/24/06

Iran's Movie Theatres Thriving Iranian movie theatres are enjoying a boom, "fueled largely by a greater number of homegrown romantic comedies, which have lured people back to the big screen. Movie theaters took in more than $2 million between March and May this year, up 100 percent from the same period last year, the state cinema authority Farabi reported." (the tickets cost only $1). The NewYork Times 08/24/06

Was Pac-Man The High Water Mark Of Video Gaming? Twenty-five years ago Pac-Man was a pop culture phenomenon. "There have been other pixilated paragons: the Mario Bros., Donkey Kong, Lara Croft, Sonic the Hedgehog. But none have had the cultural tunami effect of the Pac-meister. Pac-Man provided an entirely new way of interfacing with technology: an emotional one." So why hasn't the video game industry been able to replicate Pac-Man's success? CBC 08/23/06

Hollywood - A Better Summer Than Last Movie box office revenues are expected to be up 7 percent over last summer, generating $3.9 billion. "Ticket revenues for 2005's summer were $3.6 billion, which was down 8.5 percent from summer 2004's record $3.95 billion, making it the worst box-office showing in four years. Attendance, the number of people buying tickets, for summer 2006 is estimated at just over 582 million, up nearly four percent from last year's 564 million, which was off a whopping 11 percent from the previous year." Yahoo! (Reuters) 08/22/06

UK Takes Up Digital TV The UK is on pace to lead the world in adopting digital TV. "Around 95% of UK households will have digital TV, compared to 66% in the US and 50% in Germany, according to market analyst Datamonitor." BBC 08/22/06

Online Music Sales' Latest Victim: Tower Records "Tower Records has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, its second such filing in less than three years. ... The company admits 'intense' competition has hurt its business. 'The brick-and-mortar specialty music retail industry has suffered substantial deterioration recently,' Tower said in court papers. Industry observers say the chain could have a tough time finding a buyer willing to keep its stores operating in an industry increasingly dominated by online music purveyors and big-box retailers." Chicago Tribune (Dow Jones) 08/22/06

A Split Unsettles Spanish-Language TV Market "The unhappy divorce of the top U.S. Spanish-language network, Univision Communications Inc., and Latin America's biggest producer of hit shows, Grupo Televisa SA, was a plot lifted directly from the telenovelas that made both wildly successful. Now Telemundo, once relegated to a supporting-actor role, is trying to win over viewers and emerge ahead of bigger rival Univision. U.S. Spanish-language programming is a market that has grown to more than 35 million Hispanics who make up at least 14 percent of the U.S. population and are driving the nation's population growth." Chicago Tribune (AP) 08/22/06

YouTube Moves To "Ads Within Ads" "After attracting millions of eyeballs with video clips of dancing cats and lip-syncing coeds, YouTube hopes to cash in on its popularity with online infomercials. Starting today, the video-sharing site plans to let advertisers create 'channels' filled with clips they produce themselves — and then in turn sell sponsorships to other advertisers. Among the first: a channel created by Warner Bros. Records devoted to Paris Hilton's new album.... Fox Broadcasting Co. will advertise on the Paris Hilton Channel to promote the fall season of the television show 'Prison Break.'" Los Angeles Times 08/22/06

Warner Straight To DVD Warner says it is launching a new division that will produce movies directly for DVD, skipping theatres. "The new division, called Warner Premiere, annually will produce up to 15 original titles made by well-known filmmakers, starring recognized actors and, in some cases, based on earlier feature films that played in movie houses." Yahoo! (Reuters) 08/21/06

Los Angeles Loses Its Last Country Music Station "KZLA's sudden and unannounced demise leaves America's two most populous cities, Los Angeles and New York, without country music stations. In Los Angeles, longtime country fans and station employees wondered at the logic of ending country radio in their city, which ranks in the top two for album sales and where concerts for big-name country artists repeatedly sell out." Yahoo! (AP) 08/20/06

Treating Movies Like Rock Music "Future Cinema is about approaching film in a multi-faceted way, treating it like music, which has always been paired with performance art and live theatrics. Fabien Riggall's view is that if bands get to take their gigs out of stadiums and into bars, clubs and galleries playing alongside other kinds of artists, why shouldn't films?" The Scotsman 08/20/06

Critical Choice (And That Is?) There's been a lot of chatter lately about whether movie critics still matter and whether they have any impact on movie box-office success. But "no critic in his/her right mind believes that a bad review will have any major impact on the box office performance of a motion picture whose introduction to thousands of theaters has been preceded by months of entertainment coverage and marketing promotions. We don't assume that readers look to reviews for an absolute gladiatorial go-ahead, either. Most of us have heard of the Internet and are aware of the phenomenon of word-of-mouth." Los Angeles Times 08/20/06

Hollywood's Animation Writers Want More Of A Share "Writers of live-action features get royalties when their work is repackaged and sold. But writers of animation don't. Their 'ancillary profit participation,' as it's known, is paid in multiples of zero." That means "live-action" writers can get rich, while writers for animation don't. Now the animation writers want a share... Los Angeles Times 08/20/06

The Revolution Is Being Televised "YouTube (slogan: 'Broadcast Yourself') isn't the Internet's only video-sharing service. But it's the reigning brand, the talked-about phenomenon, and a mighty good example of the multiple roles now greeting yesterday's couch potato. These are get-up-and-do-something roles as artist, journalist, pundit, self-promoter, exhibitionist, prankster, weirdo and wag. Now you, too, can be a TV producer and a TV programmer." Seattle Post-Intelligencer (AP) 08/19/06

Star-Crossed Critic While readers often note the number of stars a critic gives a movie in a review, most critics dislike the star system. "If I give the animated film "Cars" and the global-warming documentary "An Inconvenient Truth" three stars each, are they equally good? Am I comparing them to each other? Or am I comparing them to other animated and documentary films?" Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel 08/18/06

Edinburgh Fest Tussles With Israeli Movie The Edinburgh International Film Festival has got itself some controversy after planning to show and Israeli movie, then reportedly canceling and returning some Israeli funding... OpinionJournal 08/15/06

Wait. Hollywood Stars Pay Taxes? Those increasingly valuable gift bags that are handed to Hollywood celebrities attending awards shows are certainly extravagant, but the IRS would like to remind the recipients that they are most decidedly not tax-free. Like any other gift, their value is taxable, and thanks to the horde of entertainment reporters in attendance at any awards show, the IRS knows exactly what the gift bags are worth, and who got one. "The value of the gifts must be reported on a celebrity's tax return. They count as income because the IRS does not believe the gifts are given 'solely out of affection, respect or similar impulses.'" The Globe & Mail (AP) 08/18/06

Study: TV As Anaesthetic A new study says that TV has a numbing effect on children. "Researchers confirmed the distracting power of television - something parents have long known - when they found that children watching cartoons suffered less pain from a hypodermic needle than kids not watching TV. Especially disturbing to the author of the scientific study was that the cartoons were even more comforting than Mom." My Way News (AP) 08/17/06

Are We Better Off When Critics See Movies With The Rest Of Us? Hollywood is offering fewer and fewer pre-screenings for critics these days, especially with films that have the potential for big box office success, but not much in the way of artistic merit. Some critics are furious at being shut out, but William Arnold says that moviegoers may actually be better served. "Before the mid-'80s, films usually opened on Wednesday, and reviews were spread out through the following week... Films were not faced with a make-or-break opening weekend, and a landmark film like Bonnie & Clyde could be saved by an outbreak of enthusiastic reviews well into its run." Seattle Post-Intelligencer 08/17/06

Get Ready For A Lot More Shameless Plugging A new report says that product placement in films, TV shows, and even song lyrics may triple by 2010. "The practice, where firms pay to have their products featured in the media, was worth $2.21bn last year... Product placement is common on US television, but it is banned in the UK." The biggest impetus for the product placement explosion is the increasing prevalence of digital video recorders, which allow viewers to skip through commercial blocks. BBC 08/17/06

New York To Get $1.2 Billion Movie Studio New York's city council has approved plans by a movie studio to build a $1.2 billion studio complex in Queens. "The complex calls for 18 movie studios as well as 1,150 apartments, including 150 units of low-income housing. New York City's production industry employs 100,000 New Yorkers and generates $5 billion for the city annually." Bloomberg.com 08/16/06

FCC Looking Into Fake TV News The FCC is investigating the proliferation of fake new clips being run on TV newscasts. "Video news releases are packaged stories paid for by businesses or interest groups. They use actors to portray reporters and use the same format as television news stories. The FCC has mailed letters to at least 42 stations asking station managers about agreements between the station and the creators of the video news releases." CBC 08/16/06

Merger For XM, Sirius? Will XM and Sirius, the two American satellite radio services, merge? Their stock prices have been languishing and losses have mounted. "Some observers have speculated that time is of the essence if the two are thinking of merging -- both companies declined comment for this report -- because a Republican president and Congress would be more open to such a scenario than Democrats would be if they take power in upcoming elections." Yahoo! (Reuters) 08/16/06

Movies Lose Out In Baghdad Baghdad's movie theatres have fallen on hard times. "Most of the city's once-popular movie theaters have shut down for lack of business. Those that remain open save money by replaying the same films. As with art and music and theater in Baghdad, going to movies is a cultural luxury losing out to the daily killing." Washington Post 08/15/06

Fox Jumps Into TV, Movie Downloads Fox plans to start selling movies and TV shows for downloading. "Movies will sell for about $20 and TV shows for $1.99 an episode. Apple Computer Inc.'s iTunes Music Store already sells many television shows, including "24" and others from Fox, for $1.99 apiece, but those can only be played on the company's market-leading iPod devices or through its iTunes software on a computer." Backstage 08/14/06

Study: For Some, Games Beat TV A growing number of people say they prefer playing video games to watching TV. The study reports "that 31 percent of the over-18 set preferred the games to TV for whiling away a spare hour. Watching movies at home fared better, with 21 percent choosing games instead, but going to the movie theater did slightly worse with 35 percent." Yahoo! (Reuters) 08/14/06

Is Satellite Radio Selling Out? When satellite radio was launched several years back, providers XM and Sirius crowed that they would fill the void left by increasingly consolidated corporate radio, featuring formats and genres virtually ignored on the terrestrial dial. And for a while, that's exactly what they did. But lately, Sirius and XM have begun to sound suspiciously alike. More alarming is the fact that each service has been quietly dropping music formats that fail to garner a large audience - exactly the sort of pandering to the masses that satellite was supposed to alleviate. Washington Post 08/13/06

The Fine Line Between Sharing And Stealing What constitutes music theft? As it turns out, the legal reality of copyright enforcement is miles away from what most younger consumers believe to be stealing. Many consumers who would never think of downloading music without paying for it believe that there's nothing wrong with copying a few songs for a friend. But the law says otherwise, and that disconnect worries the recording industry. Chicago Tribune 08/13/06

People Don't Want 3" Movies? You're Kidding! What do the kids want? Answer that question, and a world of marketing consultants and entertainment execs will beat a path to your door. In fact, it can be so difficult to judge the preferences of the young that those manufacturing the cutting edge entertainment devices of today frequently discover tomorrow that no one cares. Case in point: the rush to release all manner of TV shows, movies, and other viewable media in a form viewable on cell phones and iPods. As it turns out, young people just aren't interested. Chicago Tribune 08/13/06

Beijing Bans Foreign Cartoons In an effort to promote homegrown productions, the Chinese government has banned foreign-made cartoons from prime-time television schedules. "Foreign cartoons, especially from Japan, are hugely popular with China's 250 million children and the country's own animation studios have struggled to compete. Communist leaders are said to be frustrated that so many cartoons are foreign-made, especially after efforts to build up Chinese animation studios." The Globe & Mail (Canada) 08/12/06

AMPAS Grant Goes To SF Film Fest "The San Francisco International Film Festival, approaching its 50th anniversary, has received a three-year grant from the Academy Foundation of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The grant, totaling $150,000, has been awarded to only two festivals in past years: the Los Angeles Film Festival and the Telluride Film Festival." San Francisco Chronicle 08/12/06

Gaming Seeks Broad Appeal Video games have largely replaced violent movies and rap music as the primary target for groups intent on protecting children from what they see as damaging influences. Worse, when gaming isn't being blamed for everything from obesity to school shootings, the mainstream media largely ignores it entirely. So how can the industry remake its image and appeal to the wider culture? "That reflects the biggest, broadest problem facing the game industry today: in the United States, at least, playing video games just isn’t normal." The New York Times 08/12/06

9/11 Film Scores With Moviegoers Oliver Stone's World Trade Center opened strong in the U.S. on Thursday, taking in $4.4 million in box office receipts despite renewed terror fears. "Meanwhile the movie's marketing plans will not be changed, despite the alleged plot to blow up US airliners. Studio executives had considered scaling back advertising for the film in light of the news, but decided against it." BBC 08/11/06

TV Could Use A Good Palate Cleanser Is TV so bad that it's headed for total cultural irrelevance? Kira Cochrane thinks it might be. "Not only has crap TV become much, much worse, it is no longer interspersed with the necessary quality TV, a vaguely classy amuse-bouche to savour before heading back to the sea of rubbish... While I have never agreed with the argument that TV is inherently depressing, I have started to suspect that it leads you to depression through a slightly circuitous route." The Guardian (UK) 08/11/06

You're Either Online, Or You're Out The internet has changed the media landscape, and a new UK study shows that, for a generation that has never known a world without connectivity, the web is fast outstripping all other forms of entertainment and intellectual pursuit. That's good news for media companies with a significant online presence, but it presents an interesting challenge for TV, newspapers, and other traditional media. The Guardian (UK) 08/11/06

Subversive Cartoons Animation for adults is old hat in some countries, but in Hollywood, it's still considered a daring and risky step. "In the right hands, animation is the perfect vehicle for subversion, but in the economic landscape of movie-making, the only way to make animation profitable is to pitch it broad... But costs have started coming down and it's becoming possible to target niche audiences again. " The Guardian (UK) 08/11/06

It's 2006. Do You Know Who Your Children Are? Teen movies used to focus on prom night, nerd abuse, and the trials and tribulations of puberty. But these days, movies about teenagers are dark as night, with suicide, drug use, and endless violence where the innocent growing pains used to be. Is Hollywood just reflecting the increasingly dangerous reality of youth culture, or are the movies projecting adult fears on a new generation? The Age (Melbourne) 08/11/06

Girl Muppet Shatters Glass Ceiling, Alights On "Sesame Street" "After almost 40 years with Oscar the Grouch, Cookie Monster and the androgynous Big Bird, 'Sesame Street' is getting a fresh injection of estrogen. When the PBS Kids series kicks off its 37th season on Monday ... it will introduce the program's first new lead character in 13 years. And it's a girl." New York Daily News 08/10/06

Poll: Young People Not So Interested In Mobile Video Video producers say the next big thing is video for phones and handheld devices. But "about half of young adults and 4 in 10 teenagers said they were uninterested in watching television shows or movies on computers, cellphones or hand-held devices such as video iPods, the poll found. While more than 2 out of 5 teens and young adults indicated they were open to viewing this kind of content online, only 14% of teenagers said they wanted to watch television on a cellphone, and 17% said they would view programs on an iPod." Los Angeles Times 08/10/06

Censor This (Or Not) America's Ratings System Explained "The American ratings system is hugely inconsistent. It focuses too much on sexuality and not enough on violence. Their stock response to criticism of the way they operate is that the current system is 'best for parents'. But the system which is best for parents would be one that gave them real information, not just a letter rating and a description of five or six words." New Statesman 08/14/06

Chicago Public Radio Is Out To Reinvent Public Radio "Hosts will be in charge of two-hour blocks of radio time, and they’ll be free to play whatever strikes their fancy that day. Maybe a host is still thinking about last night’s episode of America’s Next Top Model, so he cues up a field report from a recent casting call for the show. Next might come a slam poet’s musings on commercial beauty, then three of the fiercest songs off of a local band’s new LP, followed by a spoof remix of James Blunt’s “You’re Beautiful,” then an interview with a fashion photographer. Or maybe a bunch of music, or a lot of commentary. The point is, pretty much anything goes. But—and here’s the major innovation—there’s a communal element, too." Time Out Chicago 08/09/06

Emmy Nomination Under Fire The Emmys are facing questions about nomination procedures "after Ellen Burstyn was nominated for a best supporting actress Emmy for a 14-second performance. Burstyn appeared briefly in the HBO movie Mrs. Harris, playing a former lover in a flashback scene reminiscing about Scarsdale diet doctor Herman Tarnower. She spoke two lines, totalling 38 words, according to The Hollywood Reporter, which measured her on-screen time." The Globe & Mail (Canada) 08/08/06

That Movie... Over And Over Again There are so many versions of movies floating around on DVD these days, it's getting difficult for the real fan. "Anyone who really loves a particular film is going to want to own every nook and cranny of it, which means that, in some cases, you'll have to buy the same title three or four times. At $10 to $50 each, that represents some serious bucks." Los Angeles Times 08/09/06

Teens: Entertain Us, But Do We Have To Leave The House? "For decades, the movie business has followed an inflexible formula: Produce features, show them first in theaters, release them on video, then broadcast them on television." But a Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll shows that young people, though still hungry for films, aren't interested in following the old rules about how and when they see them. "If teens and young adults are steering clear of movie theaters, where are they going? If you're reading this story online, you're staring at the answer: a personal computer." Los Angeles Times 08/08/06

Why Aren't We All Watching TV On Computers? "In theory, TVs and PCs were supposed to converge and spawn one hybrid media device. In practice, they touch on the couch without breeding. TiVo buffs up your TV with PC-style software that ends the pain of VCR programming. YouTube delivers a searchable trove of instant-play clips to your computer screen. But when you plunk down on the couch to relax, you probably don't want to search YouTube with a remote wand." Slate 08/07/06

Hollywood Increasingly Depends On The World More and more, Hollywood is depending on foreign box office for its revenues. Why? Take a look at revenues for "The Da Vinci Code" this year: Domestic box office so far: $217 million. Foreign box office so far: $528 million." The New York Times 08/06/06

Hollywood Tries To Tap China American business are looking hungrily at China and its huge market. Hollywood is right in there. "Following the remarkable worldwide success of the Ang Lee's Chinese-language 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon' in 2000, Hollywood has been anxiously trying to cultivate the Asian talent pool and market. A variety of American talent agencies and studios have recently set up outposts in China." Los Angeles Times 08/06/06

Great Expectations - How Hollywood Judges Success A Hollywood movie might make tons of money, but whether it's seen as a success or depends on whether the project beat expectations about it. "The process is similar to evaluating a football team's performance not on the outcome of the game but on whether it beat the point spread set by oddsmakers. An amorphous group of Hollywood executives and box-office pundits mulls over how much a film should gross. Hollywood buzz then sets a line of demarcation defining success." Los Angeles Times 08/06/06

Outcry Over PBS Firing Of Kids' Show Host "The Public Broadcasting Service has weathered recent criticism from free-speech advocates saying that the network is being overly cautious in a new policy to censor foul language in nonfiction programs by digitally obscuring the mouths of speakers. But the outcry has been dwarfed by the thousands of complaints, mostly from parents, over the PBS Kids Sprout network’s firing of Melanie Martinez, the host of 'The Good Night Show,' after learning that she appeared years ago in two videos spoofing public service announcements advocating teenage sexual abstinence." The New York Times 08/06/06

Bamiyan Afghans See Their First Movie A filmmaker who made a movie about the destruction of the Bamiyan Buddhas in Afghanistan takes his movie back to the scene of the crime to show local people, many of whom had never before seen a movie, the story of the destruction. Toronto Star 08/06/06

Just Testing Before a movie or TV show gets to paying customers, it is extensively tested with audiences. "The graph tells the story the clients want to know - who likes what (actors, relationships, dialogue, setting, etc). Within two minutes, more than two-thirds of the women in the group had changed the channel. Most of the men, however, hung in to the bitter end. Not surprisingly, women in bathing suits score higher with men. Women's scores, by contrast, tend to rise when characters develop relationships (because women like to watch that sort of interaction)." Christian Science Monitor 08/04/06

Meet The World's Biggest Movie Star "Shah Rukh Khan (also known as "King Khan") has been in more than 50 Hindi films and has won 13 Filmfare awards, regarded as the "Bollywood Oscars". He is the biggest star in Hindi cinema and this means billions of fans (Bollywood has a global audience of 3.6 billion; Hollywood has 2.5 billion)." The Guardian (UK) 08/04/06

Why An Unregulated Internet Is Better For Consumers "It’s tempting to believe that government regulation of the Internet would be more consumer-friendly; history and economics suggest otherwise. The reason is simple: a regulated industry has a far larger stake in regulatory decisions than any other group in society. As a result, regulated companies spend lavishly on lobbyists and lawyers and, over time, turn the regulatory process to their advantage." The New York Times 08/03/06

YouTube Seeks To Translate Popularity Into Profit "YouTube, the popular but unprofitable video-sharing site, is going after the big ad dollars. The Internet phenom has inked deals with major advertisers from Hollywood studios to sneaker makers and is busy lining up more in a bid to become a viable business." New York Post 08/03/06

Spike Lee Documents Katrina Stories After Hurricane Katrina hit, Spike Lee took his cameras to New Orleans to make a four-hour HBO documentary about the disaster. "Like him or not, Mr. Lee, 49, is an artist many people feel they know. People, black and white, approached him and the 'Levees' crew here, he said, imploring: 'Tell the story. Tell the story.' 'It becomes like an obligation we have, he said. Mr. Lee’s reputation helped get his camera crew into the city’s water-soaked homes, he said. It allowed him to stretch out a complex story, with themes of race, class and politics that, he said, have too often been sensationalized or rendered in sound bites." The New York Times 08/03/06

How Illegal File-Sharers Give Themselves Away "A wealthy software executive named Shawn Hogan has vowed to fight a copyright-infringement lawsuit in court rather than settle with the Motion Picture Association of America. According to the MPAA, Hogan made the film 'Meet the Fockers' available for download through a BitTorrent file-sharing network. Hogan denies that he did anything of the sort. How do investigators find their targets? They join the networks." Slate 08/01/06

For Women, Blogging Equals Social Connection "We've seen how blogs affect politics and public opinion. In the blogosphere, Daily Kos and the Huffington Post are just as esteemed as the New York Times and the Washington Post. Newspapers, once too haughty to even acknowledge the presence of blogs (let alone the power), have carved out a respectful reciprocal relationship: Newspapers provide information, bloggers play the watchdog role, we all have the opportunity to listen, communicate and contribute to this marketplace of ideas." And female bloggers, it turns out, often blog to build community. Philadelphia Inquirer 08/02/06