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How Biden’s Antitrust Attitudes May Affect TV Deals

It's almost like a media long-tail development: "The sudden chill in the regulatory climate may fan the flames of another significant business trend. There’s a growing crowd of investors and private-equity groups ... waiting to pounce on small pieces of old empires." - Variety

Not Many Famous Children Grow Up OK, So How Did This One Manage?

Gaby Hoffman's public life began when she was five, and stepmom Cindy Sherman took photos of her dressed as the Devil. She had her own sitcom at 12. But somehow - by dint of taking years off - she still loves acting. - The Guardian (UK)

Labor Unrest Grows: Near-IATSE Strike Is Sign Of Things To Come

Union members have grown impatient with worsening working conditions and IATSE’s long tradition of avoiding nationwide walkouts. IATSE members in October overwhelmingly supported a strike authorization vote for the first time in its history. - Los Angeles Times

Nope: Tolkien Estate Blocks Crypto Coin “JRR Token”

The developer said in response that JRR Token was intended to reference “a unique form of digital currency”, rather than the late fantasy author, and that the fact that the domain name “brings to mind” the name JRR Tolkien is parody rather than bad faith. - The Guardian

The Problem With Piling Prosthetics On Actors To Make Them Look Like The Famous Real People They’re Playing

"These inspired-by-real-life prosthetics are meant to bring authenticity, but they have a perverse way of achieving the opposite. … Playing people as heavily televised as Bakker and Ball seems to make prosthetic tweaks irresistible, yet the result usually lands the actor in the uncanny valley." - New York Magazine

Japan’s Grand Old Man Of Anime Is Making One Last Film

Hayao Miyazaki of Studio Ghibli said in 2013 that he was retiring. Now, aged 80, he's back at work, the film titled How Do You Live? "I am making this movie," he says "because I do not have the answer." - T — The New York Times Style Magazine

Why Did An Australian TV Network Pay $1 Million For An Interview With Adele?

The answer is we got there via a thousand cuts, incremental concessions that have contributed to, and reinforced, the idea that mainstream media is often little more than another marketing arm of the global entertainment industry. - The Age (Melbourne)

After George Floyd And Breanna Taylor, Do We Need TV Cop Shows To Change?

"The ways in which Brooklyn Nine-Nine and NCIS: New Orleans reacted to a changing cultural and political environment were rudimentary: some timely references inserted into scripts and plotlines touching on contemporary issues. Going forward there are deeper issues to confront, in redressing key elements of the genre." - BBC

Grandmaster Sues Netflix Over “Queen’s Gambit” Portrayal

The complaint accuses Netflix of disparaging Nona Gaprindashvili's achievements to make for a more dramatic story and dismissing her earlier allegation of defamation without issuing a public apology or retraction. - NPR

Kevin Spacey Ordered To Pay ‘House Of Cards’ Producers $31 Million

At the end of a confidential two-year process, an arbitrator ruled, and an appeals panel confirmed, that Spacey is liable for breach of contract for violating the production company's sexual-harassment policies. - Variety

How Saturday Night Live Turned Itself Into The Internet

"Given the anxious state of the world today, watching the show has started to feel uncannily like doomscrolling through a social-media feed." That's mixed with daffy bits, of course - just like Twitter. - The Atlantic

This Year, Says The Palme D’Or Winner, Women Kicked ‘Serious Ass’ In Film

The winner at Cannes, Julia Ducournau is excited "about the current boom in female horror; she particularly rates British films by Rose Glass (Saint Maud) and Alice Lowe (Prevenge)." Women, she says, have a special relationship with horror. - The Observer (UK)

The Documentary Effect

In recent weeks, documentaries about R. Kelly, Britney Spears, Malcolm X's killers, and Julius Jones appear to have had real-world effects. Why now? Theory: Unscripted content is cheaper; there's more of it; and social media exists. - Washington Post

Professional Armorers Say Guns Belong On Film Sets

One armorer: "You can’t keep hiring people who aren’t qualified just to get your movie made because you have a time constriction. ... Getting rid of the guns is not going to get rid of the problem." - Los Angeles Times

The Best Set For A Teen Comedy Is A High School You Bought For Yourself

At American High, "the school has not had actual students in the halls for years, but it is once again home to high school drama of the sort generally captured in R-rated teenage comedies." - The New York Times

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