A real surprise: "The festival’s top award is rarely given to a documentary, and in his acceptance speech, a clearly surprised asked the jury members if they were 'crazy'" - ironic, since his film is about a floating Parisian barge that treats mentally ill patients. - The New York Times
“Effective immediately Netflix is to drop monthly subscription pricing in more than 100 territories globally,” but not in North America and Western Europe where average revenue per user is higher." - The Hollywood Reporter
As Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey has shown, even if the movie isn’t a critical success, it can still make a hefty profit. Indeed, not only has a Winnie the Pooh sequel already been announced. - Fast Company
In "The New Vermeer," "two professional painters and dozens of amateur artists compete to reinvent the lost works of the 17th-century master. The results are judged by Vermeer experts from the Rijksmuseum ... and from the Mauritshuis, a collection of old masters in The Hague." - The New York Times
"Called an effort to 'protect' the integrity of Kentucky's public television broadcaster, a bill passed unanimously (in) a Senate committee Wednesday that would disband the current board for Kentucky Educational Television and require future appointments by the governor to the board be confirmed by the Republican-controlled state Senate." - Kentucky Lantern
"Less than 1 percent of movies released in 2022 feature a sex scene. ... When audiences have been conditioned to want only sexless Marvel movies, fully clothed Christopher Nolan epics, chaste action thrillers, and possibly cocaine bears, why take a chance on love?" - MSN (The Atlantic)
A report released by Digital Citizens Alliance in August 2020 found that pirated streaming subscription services are used by an estimated 30 million individuals in the U.S. alone, generating over a billion dollars in revenue annually for the criminal enterprises operating these services. - The Hill
"National Public Radio will reduce its workforce by 10 percent as it grapples with what CEO John Lansing says is a 'sharp decline' in sponsorship revenue. ... More than 700 employees work at the public media firm." - The Hollywood Reporter
There's a hit podcast, three primetime TV specials, three documentary series, and the livestream of the trial. (Scripted dramas are coming, no doubt.) Says one local reporter, "It's a point of critical mass for a storyteller. You'll live your whole life and never get another one like this." - Yahoo! (Los Angeles Times)
The distinction between hard and soft products helps explain the controversy about changes Netflix is making to its streaming service—along with many other changes in the internet-enabled service economy. - The Atlantic
"Scott, who has reviewed more than 2,200 films for the Times over the last 23 years, will shift to The New York Times Book Review, where he will 'write critical essays, notebooks and reviews that grapple with literature, ideas and intellectual life.'" - The Hollywood Reporter
"Baldwin still faces one count of involuntary manslaughter, a fourth-degree felony that carries a sentence of 18 months in prison. But prosecutors have removed what's known as a firearm enhancement, a part of the criminal code that extends prison sentences when firearms are involved in the commission of a crime." - NPR
"By the end of the night," wrote one journalist covering the awards, "when it slowly sank in that every single winner was white, you could practically feel the BAFTA team's heads sink into their hands as they braced for yet another social media storm." They weren't wrong. - BBC
"The news program, which launched in 2008 as an alternative to NPR's Morning Edition, has seen declining carriage and audience, according to leaders at WNYC, which co-produces the program, and distributor PRX. … The show airs on 241 stations, ... (but) carriage has declined by about 13% over the past several years." - Current
