Good Morning,
A new GAO report finds 85% of U.S. museums dealing with deferred maintenance, and 77% with at least one structural issue that could put collections at risk (ARTnews). The buildings are failing. So are the businesses around them: LA’s family-run prop houses, florists, and craft shops — the literal hub-and-spoke of Hollywood production — are closing after the post-pandemic slump (Los Angeles Times). A working TV writer puts it more bluntly: the market has structurally reduced the number of jobs, and no amount of talent compensates (New Story).
Meanwhile at the top, the view is sunnier. Warner Music posted a $1.73 billion quarter (Music Business Worldwide) and turned around to announce a multi-year Paramount deal for a pipeline of artist biopics (MBW). A24, now valued at $3.5 billion — more than ten times rival Neon — has a hit restaurant and a hip theatre in NYC to go with its film slate (Hollywood Reporter). And what looks like organic buzz online increasingly isn’t: a new piece on “trend simulation,” the practice of paying people to fake-endorse bands so algorithms inflate them (The Atlantic). The middle is where the cracks show first.
All of our stories below. See you toimorrow.
