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Actors Unions Make Deal with Video Game Producers After Strike Over AI

With the strike, the union took a stand against proposed AI terms that leaders claimed would have allowed companies to undercut members and their position in the workplace. - The Hollywood Reporter

The Great Unwinding: Warner Discovery Will Break Up

The decision to split is a major about-face from the conventional wisdom in the industry when Warner Bros. Discovery was created three years ago — that media companies needed to get bigger to compete with streaming giants like Netflix. - The New York Times

How Irving Thalberg Helped Create Hollywood’s Golden Age

Thalberg produced some three or four hundred movies in his years at M-G-M, ranging from big pictures like “Mutiny on the Bounty” to the Marx Brothers’ late-career hit, “A Night at the Opera,” though he left his name on almost none. - The New Yorker

Federal Judge Rules That Corporation For Public Broadcasting Is Independent And Trump Cannot Unilaterally Sack Its Board Members

While the U.S. District Court didn’t explicitly and directly reverse Trump’s removal of three CPB board members, it affirmed that Congress created CPB to be an independent, private nonprofit free of executive branch control. The Corporation’s CEO subsequently confirmed that board membership remains as it was. - Inside Radio

After Two-Year Struggle, Disney Buys Full Control Of Hulu (For Far Less Than Comcast Wanted)

In December 2023, in an initial payment toward the Hulu purchase, Disney agreed to give Comcast/NBCUniversal $8.61 billion — one-third of the $27.5 billion guaranteed floor value for Hulu as of 2019. Following arbitration, Disney is paying a further $438.7 million — less than one-tenth of the valuation Comcast was seeking. - Variety

Rural America Will Be The Loser If Congress Defunds Public Broadcasting

“This would disproportionately harm rural areas and smaller communities, where public media really is a lifeline,” said Tim Richardson of PEN America. - The Guardian

Why Are There So Many TV Shows Now About Rich People?

Lately, most of television seems stuck in the same mode. Virtually everything I’ve watched recently has been some variation of rich people pottering around in “aspirational” compounds. - The Atlantic

Why Hollywood Left Los Angeles

“As the labor of making movies and shows splinters across far-flung cities and countries, Hollywood has become dislodged from its physical home.” - Vulture

Inside The Whisper Campaign To Unseat The Bear

“What happened to take The Bear from Emmy battering ram to awards also-ran in the span of only a few months? According to multiple writers on various comedy series, it seems like an undercurrent of industry resentment toward The Bear played a part.” - Vulture

How, And Why, Emmy Nominees Ply Their Trade

Javier Bardem: "This is a job, and you just do the job as good as you can with your own limitations. You put everything into it when they say, ‘Action,’ and when you’re out, you just leave it behind. Otherwise, it’s too much.” - Los Angeles Times (MSN)

Scorsese Is Finished With Cinemas

And that’s thanks to us, the great unwashed movie audience: He "explained that he found himself too distracted by the chat and mobile-phone disturbance from the audience to concentrate on the film.” - The Guardian (UK)

Idris Elba Wants To Build An “African Odeon” Of Cinemas Across The Continent

“There’s a crazy number across the entire continent: less than about 3,000 cinemas, actual cinemas,” said the actor. “I would love to be able to tackle some of that, because I believe that the cinema experience that we all have gone through should be experienced by a new generation.” - Variety

UK House Of Lords Rejects New AI Copyright Rules. Wants More Protections For Artists

The Lords, who are looking for more protections for artists from AI, rejected the latest amendment to the Data (Use and Access) Bill on Monday. Peers backed calls for greater transparency after musicians such as Sir Elton John warned of the threat to creative industries. - BBC

Kari Lake Wants To Reduce Voice of America’s Staff From Over 1,000 to 81

The former conservative media star and sore-loser Arizona candidate for governor and senator, who now heads the agency overseeing VOA, says Trump had directed her “to reduce the performance of its statutory functions and associated personnel to the minimum presence and function required by law.” - AP

Why “Requiem For A Dream” Still Upsets People After 25 Years

“The film-makers set out to deliver a sensory bombardment that would mimic the experience of addiction. But they ended up doing much more, touching off serious debates about the free will of the addict, the line between compassionate observation and exploitative voyeurism, and the toxic siren call of the American Dream itself.” - BBC

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