Media

The province used to have a cap “that limited film and television productions to a maximum $10-million tax credit claim.” That cap is now gone. – CBC

The streamers battled it out with crates of artisanal food, top-drawer scotch, and other gifts to draw voters’ attention to their movies. When Nomadland “premiered” (or rather re-premiered) on Hulu, for instance, “Fox Searchlight announced a virtual global premiere. … Invitees to the event were sent the aforementioned crate—stuffed with gourmet cheese, ‘humanly raised’ salami, and trail mix—to enjoy while watching the film.” – Fast Company

Amazon Prime Studio’s use of a fictional woman (“a complete piece of tosh, invented by a 19th century Romantic”) to bring Leonardo and his life to the small screen isn’t just fiction, it’s flat-out wrong. Suggestion: “Why not go to the National Gallery when it reopens and look at Leonardo’s Virgin of the Rocks. The most hypnotic figure in it is an angel whose long curly hair matches Vasari’s description of Salaì and whose tender pale face is magically androgynous. This angel is the most beautiful and most queer bit of painting in Britain. The Leonardo I want to see on screen is the man who painted this.” – The Guardian (UK)

Yikes: “India Eva Rae, who joined Bafta’s Elevate programme in 2019, told the BBC that a casting director told her she was an ‘exotic talent,’ and that they ‘can’t understand the English coming out your mouth.’ Rae also said that she had been told not to report the incident by a ‘mentor’ on the scheme: ‘This mentor told me and other members of the group that we will never work again if we speak up.'” – The Guardian (UK)

Some of the fashion world is really not happy with the guidelines for the in-person Oscars. One fashion writer, echoing many stylists who enjoyed their freedom: “Honestly, all it’s done is make me wish that all the invitees would show up en masse in flannel nightgowns and Ugg slippers, just to thumb their noses at it.” – The Guardian (UK)

And, they say, it’s past time for a change. Netflix has been particularly good at offering changing depictions this year, but the history of Asian women’s depictions in Hollywood is far from fixed. Film scholar Celine Parreñas Shimizu: “The notion of a self-sacrificing, suicidal, servile, suffering, sexually available Asian woman is a prison from which we need to be liberated. … I’m looking forward to the vast expanse of other characters and other stories we can see.” – Washington Post

The U.K.-based company also said it has secured binding commitments for $213 million in additional cash via a bond to boost its financial flexibility “in the event of continued disruption as a result of COVID-19.” The funding and an expected $200 million U.S. CARES Act tax refund “will provide the group with a liquidity runway to year-end in the event that cinemas remain closed,” it said, but it also warned of continued challenges and questions marks caused by the pandemic. – The Hollywood Reporter

“Even in the world of podcasting, Google Podcasts … stands alone among major platforms in its tolerance of hate speech and other extremist content. A recent nonexhaustive search turned up more than two dozen podcasts from white supremacists and pro-Nazi groups, offering a buffet of slurs and conspiracy theories. None of the podcasts appeared on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher.” – The New York Times

Producers and engineers have come to rely on specialized apps, and they’ve developed workarounds for the shortcomings of Zoom’s recording functions, among other solutions. – Current

But the window between theatre debut and release to streaming will be shortened. The shortened theatrical window matches recent changes from other studios instigated by the COVID-19 pandemic’s devastating effects on the film business. – The Verge

“While the pandemic overturned the lives of workers industrywide, those just beginning to establish their careers in an industry that is notoriously difficult to break into were disproportionately impacted. The production shutdowns in L.A. and New York eradicated on-set gigs that PAs and extras rely upon, while furloughs and layoffs at agencies decimated entry-level office jobs.” – The Hollywood Reporter

“With more people home and glued to their streaming services, many of which don’t allow advertising, companies are finding they need to be creative about the ways they get in front of audiences no longer seeing 30-second commercials. More are turning to traditional Hollywood production companies like Imagine to partner on feature films like The Day Sports Stood Still, which is infused with Nike’s ethos but carries none of the traditional branding audiences are used to seeing.” – The New York Times

“[Here are] the results of an industrywide survey we conducted to answer one simple question: who are the most memorable character actors working today? To find out, we polled nearly 60 directors, showrunners, casting directors, and critics — and when we tallied the results, 32 names had emerged from a field of more than 300 suggestions.” (The only problem: anyone who has been nominated for an Oscar or won an Emmy was disqualified, thus leaving out the likes of J.K. Simmons and Melissa Leo.) – Vulture

“‘People are fooling themselves if they think we’re going back to a pre-pandemic work lifestyle,’ says Arianna Bocco, president of IFC Films. … To get a sense of the new contours of a business that has been battered by the pandemic, Variety spoke with dozens of entertainment industry players, almost all of whom predicted that the nature of office life and how movies and television shows are made, marketed and distributed will be fundamentally changed.” – Variety

How “democratic” are these streaming Oscars when they’re almost impossible to find, and expensive to subscribe to, in the UK? The coronavirus, and attendant openings and lockdowns, is mostly to blame, of course, but also: “Streaming infrastructure in the UK is less well-established than in the US, so outside major players such as Netflix, Amazon, Disney+ and Apple, distributors do not have the deals in place for straightforward online premieres.” – The Guardian (UK)

At Netflix, Bridgerton (at least the first season) succeeded beyond executives’ wildest dreams. But the Shondaland production team wants a lot more than just Netflix success. No surprise, they need a lot more content, at all times. Podcasts, articles, behind the scenes snippets, TikToks, Instagram Stories, rebranded books (since the series comes from a book series). Welcome to 2021.- Variety

It’s not easy for film and TV production location scouts at the moment. There’s a lot of digital photography, and a lot of after-the-big-Zoom-meetings adaptation. One location manager “wonders if she’ll soon be using her new iPhone 12, which has Lidar light detection and ranging capability, to scout locations.” – Variety

The final pre-9/11 Oscars (can that be real?), the Oscars where Gladiator beat Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, and where Marcia Gay Harden won (deservedly! but perhaps cursedly?) for Pollock … what else should, or could, have happened? – Los Angeles Times

The intense responses to the R. Kelly, Britney Spears (who, unlike the others on the list, is not portrayed a predator but rather a woman much preyed upon), Michael Jackson, and Woody Allen documentaries have surprised filmmakers – after all, most of the info was already part of the public record. One producer: “The loudest and most impactful documentaries … [have] something that can connect to the viewer on a personal level, which makes all the difference.” – Washington Post

Even weeks after the Golden Globes, Hollywood isn’t relenting; this reckoning has been a long time coming. “Now, with the very survival of the Globes hanging in the balance, some in Hollywood remain unconvinced that the insular and notoriously fractious group has the capacity, or perhaps even the self-awareness, to undertake the sort of transformational reforms it has vowed.” – Los Angeles Times

Is the binge better? Or is it OK to let episodes marinate for a week before returning to a story? When Netflix first dropped entire seasons, it blew everyone’s mind. But now, perhaps, the choices are simply “one more set of storytelling tools — like shooting in front of a studio audience, or not — creatively suited to different kinds of stories.” – The New York Times

Start with an “electrostatic disinfectant sprayer,” add in a seat buffering system, and don’t forget prepackaged condiments for your popcorn. (But … what about air flow and vaccine requirements? Hm.) – Variety

The effort, dubbed the Hollywood Skyway, would have cost the studio an estimated $100 million. The tramway would have taken visitors on a six-minute ride more than 1 mile up the back of Mt. Lee to a new visitors center near the sign, with pathways to a viewing area. – Los Angeles Times