"Five years almost to the day after it began, Hollywood’s evangelistic fervor for streaming has been extinguished this week by the Batgirl imbroglio." - Variety
Said the CEO and president of global streaming and games for Warner Bros. Discovery, "At the end of the day, putting all the content together was the only way we saw to make this a viable business." - Variety
A Los Angeles judge affirmed an arbitrator's award of damages to the producers of the series: after Spacey was fired for sexual harassment on set, the entire sixth season had to be rewritten and reshot, with the number of episodes reduced from 13 to eight in order to meet deadlines. - Variety
"The arbitrator ruled that writers on original Netflix productions should be paid on the same level as the licensing fees the streamer pays for third-party titles, ... meaning that 216 writers for (140) films will receive $42 million in unpaid residuals." - The Wrap
A study last November found that four out of five viewers aged between 18 and 25 said they use subtitles “all or part of the time” compared with only a quarter of those aged between 56 and 75. - The Guardian
"Batgirl was a casualty of new corporate strategy from Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav, who opted to shelve the project in order to take a tax write-down on the $90 million film," which would recoup more money than releasing the film would. - The Hollywood Reporter
In honor of Batgirl, Ernie Smith remembers a group of other films — seven of which are from since the turn of the millennium, and most of which featured some major talent — that were canned rather than released, sometimes for surprising reasons. - Tedium
Following reports that the Burbank studio giant will no longer offer the movie on its streaming platform or in theaters, filmmakers Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah issued a joint statement Wednesday expressing their disappointment. - Los Angeles Times
Canadians performing well against Americans isn’t a new concept in sports, but the recent onscreen successes raise the obvious question: Are Canadians just better at reality TV? - Toronto Star
Producer Janet Yang brings a deep well of experience within the film industry and in the academy itself. Her producing credits include “The Joy Luck Club,” “The People vs. Larry Flynt” and the Oscar-nominated 2020 animated feature “Over the Moon.” - Los Angeles Times
David Treuer (Ojibwe) meets the creators and writers of Reservation Dogs and explains the ways in which the FX series is wildly, blessedly different from just about every other depiction of Indians ever seen on American screens before. - MSN (The Atlantic)
"A recent wave of Thai dramas known as 'boys' love' (BL) ... has attracted a large following across Asia," especially among women around age 30. "As Thailand tries to rebuild its travel industry, the country's tourism authority has sought to capitalise on their popularity." - The Observer (UK)
“Mark last week as the end of the social networking era, which began with the rise of Friendster in 2003, shaped two decades of internet growth, and now closes with Facebook’s rollout of a sweeping TikTok-like redesign.” - Fast Company
Pseudo-monopolies of this type cannot last forever. The past decade has been good for these social-media giants, but the sudden ascent of TikTok might turn out to be the disruption that finally ends their reign. - The New Yorker
It’s hard enough to find top-tier showrunners, editors and cinematographers. But less obvious roles are equally difficult to fill. Need a good production accountant? Good luck. - Los Angeles Times
