In the greater Appalachia region, the newsroom will bring together six public media outlets in Kentucky and Tennessee, with the possibility of adding more. - Inside Radio
The tracking company found that production in the United States was down about 40% in the second quarter of 2024 compared to peak-TV levels of filming activity during the same period in 2022. For nearly two years, Hollywood has suffered a stark decline in film and TV shoots. - Los Angeles Times
"Film isn’t reality, no matter how it’s shot. … I guess people are so afraid of being tricked or manipulated that they feel if they impose a set of rules, somehow they don’t have to be afraid anymore. I would like to assure them that they still need to be afraid." - Nieman Lab
"When studio grip Rico Priem, 66, died on the freeway after pulling two 14-hour overnight shifts in a row on the Pomona set of the TV series 9-1-1 in May, a common refrain among crew members became, 'That could've been any of us.'" - Los Angeles Times (MSN)
The raise is intended to boost its already existing locations (425 theaters across the country) with enhancements like luxury recliners and other amenities. - The Hollywood Reporter
"CEO Mark Thompson outlined his digital vision in a lengthy memo to staff Wednesday morning, announcing plans to build a flurry of digital products. … Thompson did emphasize that rather than the text-based experience it currently leans on, CNN will focus more on video in digital going forward." - The Hollywood Reporter
“Covid, and industry issues that impacted Hollywood product flow, have ushered a period of growth for local and regional films, in some cases with record-breaking results." - The Guardian
As the conservative kingdom loosened up, Abdulaziz Almuzaini's show Masameer (often likened to South Park) got a fan base and he was feted as a star of Saudi Arabia's nascent entertainment industry. Yet he was convicted of promoting the very extremism that the series satirizes. - The New York Times
I think a lot of my aesthetics were shaped by the Broadway shows that my mom took us to in Baltimore. Those old-school shows like “Fiddler on the Roof,” which start off funny and then get more serious, and then, by the end, they’re tragedies about something big and sad. - The New Yorker
David Ellison of Skydance finally persuaded Shari Redstone “to let go of the entertainment company her family has controlled for nearly four decades. The sweetened deal also paid the Redstone family about $50 million more than what had been proposed in early June.” - Los Angeles Times (MSN)
Sure, she won an Oscar for The Hurt Locker, but don’t forget Point Break: "Keanu Reeves and Patrick Swayze are perfectly cast as the undercover FBI agent and surfing criminal whose throbbingly homoerotic relationship plays out amid crashing waves, tumbling freefalls and breathtaking chase sequences.” - The Guardian (UK)
Marketers are leaning in. Wicked and Gladiator II, both releasing November 22, don’t seem to have the same built-in opposition, but they do have the bare minimum: A musical adored by women and gay men, versus the Roman Empire. - San Francisco Chronicle
“This country has endured quite a bit of trauma in recent years, but we are not doing ourselves any favors by continually leaping from ‘problem’ to ‘end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it catastrophe’ about everything.” - Los Angeles Times
That’s right, physical media. DVD sales are down, true - but Blu-Ray sales are climbing, and after Paramount axed the entire Comedy Central website, people may be more interested in ever than owning their own movies and TV shows. - Slate
Kids’ movies, of course. Well … of course, except last year it was Barbie and (in deep, deep second place) Oppenheimer. And in years before the pandemic, superhero movies. Now? It’s Inside Out 2 and Despicable Me 4. - Vulture
