"(Back) when networks would commission a season of 22 episodes of a sitcom or drama, these rooms would often boast a dozen or more writers. … Today, with the rise of streaming platforms, studios increasingly rely on so-called mini-rooms with just four or five writers to create shows, often with fewer episodes." - The Guardian
For winter and spring 2024, box office was down 30% from the previous year. So the fact that this summer was down only 10% is seen as good news. But it also raises the question of whether the U.S. film business can maintain its momentum coming into the fall and then 2025. - Variety
In a world that’s bleak enough already, feel-good, heartfelt comedy feels like more of a salve; earnest sitcoms seem to counteract the vitriol of the real world. But the dark comedies, by their very nature, feel truer to life than their more wholesome peers. - The New York Times
"ESPN and other Disney-owned channels have gone dark on DirecTV" — on the first weekend of college football season and halfway through US Open tennis — "after the sides failed to come to terms on a new carriage agreement, (an impasse reflecting) the broader economic pain spreading throughout the pay TV sector." - Variety
We live in the era of the “explainer movie” — a creation like those in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Dune ecosystem, Star Wars constellation and, on the television side, the Game of Thrones series that has sweeping and sophisticated fictional worlds, extensive background lore and complex (or, at least, many) narrative arcs. - Washington Post (MSN)
"The rain-soaked video game on (lead designer and writer Dhruv Jani's) computer screen, Folds of a Separation, is just one of many that Studio Oleomingus has created about India’s postcolonial history and its contemporary political climate." - The New York Times
Fmovies launched in 2016 and racked up 374 million monthly visits more than 6.7 billion visits from January 2023-June 2024. Data from SimilarWeb ranked Fmovies as the 280th most visited website in any category and the 11th most popular TV, movies and streaming website. - Engadget
"Embedded in the newsroom throughout the year, the person will aim to 'ratchet up our ‘joy’ quotient across platforms,' according to an internal memo." - Bloomberg
Since the 2018 blockbuster “Crazy Rich Asians” became a box office hit, Asian and Asian American stories and characters have proliferated in American pop culture. And after decades of degrading, often emasculating portrayals, Asian and Asian American men like Booster have been at the center of the new work. - The New York Times
"In a world that’s bleak enough already, feel-good, heartfelt comedy feels like a salve; earnest sitcoms seem to counteract the vitriol of the real world. But the dark comedies, by their very nature, feel truer to life than their more wholesome peers. … They plumb humor from everyday tragicomedy." - The New York Times Magazine
CBCbooks, the division behind Canada Reads, is readying a new consumer-facing one-hour national literary program, Bookends With Mattea Roach. - Publishing Perspectives
Georgian anti-Putin drama The Antique, which was due to premiere in Venice parallel section Giornate degli Autori (GdA), has had its screenings suspended following the issuing of an emergency decree on behalf of Russian and Croatian producers claiming copyright issues with the screenplay. - Deadline
"AB 2642 would require explicit permission from performers (or their representatives) to use AI software to create digital replicas. … The bill will now return to the California Assembly, which must approve changes made in the state senate. If passed there as expected, it will then be sent to Gov. Newsom." - TheWrap
"The decision came as the clock ticked down on the time frame within which his group had to finalize a firm offer" — last week he bid $4.3 billion, then raised it to $6 billion — "that could be a viable alternative to Skydance Media’s pending ($8 billion) takeover agreement." - Variety
