Media

Launched in April 2020, Quibi has raised about $1.75 billion from major studios and other investors and has banked dozens of original series from Hollywood A-listers. The major question is who, exactly, would be interested in acquiring the struggling Quibi venture, given its untested business model and weak subscriber traction to date. – Variety

Maïmouna Doucouré: “Some people have found certain scenes in my film uncomfortable to watch. But if one really listens to 11-year-old girls, their lives are uncomfortable. We, as adults, have not given children the tools to grow up healthy in our society. I wanted to open people’s eyes to what’s truly happening in schools and on social media, forcing them to confront images of young girls made up, dressed up and dancing suggestively to imitate their favorite pop icon.” – The Washington Post

The pact between the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (the studios) and the unions IATSE, SAG-AFTRA, DGA, Basic Crafts, and the Teamsters includes mandatory testing protocols and other safety measures as well as arrangements for paid sick leave and quarantine pay. – Variety

That’s partly because of the presenters. “Essential workers, including a USPS delivery person, a rancher, two doctors, a teacher, a truck driver and a nurse practitioner, served as presenters. But before introducing categories such as supporting drama and comedy actor, they spoke about what they’ve been doing in their respective jobs to keep the country running during the COVID-19 pandemic.” – Los Angeles Times

Nomadland also won the Golden Lion in Venice, making it the first (and, so far, only) film to win both the Lion and the People’s Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival. “In a plea to the audiences who had watched Nomadland remotely and at a drive-in screening, [the director] added, ‘Please, please keep going because we cannot do this without you. We’re so grateful and we hope we’ll see you all down the road.'” – Variety

And the realities, too. “That kind of convenience, of course, comes at a price, especially in an artistic medium that always works best when it achieves your wholehearted surrender. And by surrender I mean actively putting aside your convenience, putting aside your phone, your work, your tiredness, your phone, your competing thoughts, your other appointments, your phone. I saw some very fine TIFF movies this year, though even the best ones left me wondering how much better I’d have liked them if I’d seen them as they were meant to be seen, on an enormous glowing screen in a crowded (and coronavirus-free) theater.” – Los Angeles Times

The Creative Arts Emmys wrapped with an awards snafu after five nights of awards, but Primetime Emmys are coming to the screen, or screens, on Sunday night. Picture 130 video feeds at once, many of them operated remotely or by the nominees. “It’s honestly pretty nifty, but it contains the potential for so, so much chaos.” – Vox

Julie Cohen and Betsy West spent years making the documentary RBG. Cohen learned a lot: “When you think of power and toughness, you expect that you’re talking about a big, loud, forceful man and Justice Ginsburg was none of those things. … She was tiny, she had a soft voice, she was an introvert. And yet there was just no question that she had power and that power came both from the wattage that was her brain but also from her level of determination.” – Los Angeles Times

And it’s not, despite the hysteria of an orchestrated backlash, pedophilia. “What I found was a film about rage. That sudden, inchoate, unidentifiable female fury that rises in so many girls, often self-destructively, when they realize that certain rules are not about protecting them but controlling them.” – Los Angeles Times

“Eric Malmberg will no longer be a DJ on The Current,” said a statement from MPR President Duchesne Drew. “Our hosts have to be able to attract an audience that wants to listen to them and trusts them and over the last 36 hours those conditions have changed for Malmberg.” – The Star-Tribune (Mpls)

Marianne Combs claimed that MPR News’ legal team cleared her story, but the editors still refused to air it. “They described him as ‘a real creep,’ but worried that airing a story about his behavior would invite a lawsuit,” she said. – The Star-Tribune (Mpls)

The cuts represent a loss of 18% of the NPR affiliate’s staff, reducing it to 127 full- and part-time employees. It comes less than two years after the station began moving into its $38-million media center on the campus of Santa Monica Community College. – Los Angeles Times

Two senior executives at the Washington, DC public radio station lost their jobs — general manager J.J. Yore had to resign, and former chief content officer Andi McDaniel had to give up the position she was about to start in, general manager at WBEZ in Chicago — after it came out that WAMU traffic reporter Martin Di Caro was kept on for over two years after violating the first of what would be two “final warnings” over wildly inappropriate behavior towards female colleagues and associates. Newly leaked documents show that Yore and other execs at the station tried to fire Di Caro and were overruled by the Human Resources department and General Counsel at the station’s license-holder, American University. – DCist

“Throughout the nation, one American town after another is struggling to figure out how to pay overtime for the city workers who disinfect public transit plus come up with funds so that schools can buy laptops for children learning remotely. Many officials have concluded that streamers should be contributing more for local government services and are shirking legal obligations by not doing so.” – The Hollywood Reporter

“The U.S. Commerce Department said it will issue an order Friday that will bar people in the United States from downloading Chinese-owned messaging app WeChat and video-sharing app TikTok starting on September 20. Commerce officials said the ban … could be still rescinded … before it takes effect late Sunday as TikTok owner ByteDance races to clinch an agreement over the fate of its U.S. operations.” – Reuters

“TV broadcast has been our friend right through that whole period. It’s brought us together. … Let’s celebrate the role it’s had in our lives, as well as the people who made it, who are so extraordinarily talented.” – Washington Post

“Hundreds of millions around the world rely on closed captioning to be able to understand what they’re watching on TV. While the idea seems simple — just add words to relay the dialogue and describe any sounds — it took decades to mandate processes for making entertainment accessible to the deaf and hard of hearing community, as well as the elderly.” Here’s an overview of how that happened — and at how captioning happens today. – Quartz

“YouTube Shorts will provide a number of tools to allow creators to make [15-second] videos on their mobile devices. It will consist of a ‘multi-segment camera’ that can combine separate clips, as well as speed controls and a timer and countdown so you can create videos without needing to hold your phone. Its most TikTok-like feature? The library of music you can use to record with.” – Mashable

“[Andi] McDaniel, 39, a [Chicago-area] native who spent the last five years as chief content officer at WAMU-FM, Washington’s NPR station, was set to take the helm at WBEZ Sept. 28. … During the interim, her former station was rocked by allegations of sexual harassment by a former reporter, and complaints about the station’s workplace culture.” – MSN (Chicago Tribune)

The coronavirus pandemic and stay-at-home orders have crowned a host of unlikely winners catering to bored audiences. But watching livestreams of chess games? Could one of the world’s oldest and most cerebral games really rebrand itself as a lively enough pastime to capture the interest of the masses on Twitch? Turns out, it already has. – The New York Times

Perhaps predictably, the announcement received backlash on social media, particularly from right-wing circles. Many, inside and out of these circles, accused the Academy of stifling creativity or promoting tokenization. However, many others say that the rules are far less onerous than they’re perceived to be—and that most films won’t have to change their approach at all. – Time

The drama stars Frances McDormand as a woman living as a nomad across America after the recent recession. It is based on the book by the journalist Jessica Bruder. – The New York Times