MEDIA

"This is a discerning audience, and they are looking for added value, but they're listening to podcasts, their habits have changed." - BBC

It set the stage for the rise of empowering culturally rich narratives in the decade that followed. Subsequent hits included the strongly female-centric Moana (2016), Encanto (2021), and Turning Red (2022), marking a new era in animated storytelling celebrating different kinds of voices and perspectives. - The Conversation

All these movies are awards contenders, and each of them, in a different way, is enthralling. What they add up to is the glorious resurgence of a form that never went away but is reaching a new peak of influence. Yet you might well ask: Why the biopic, and why now? - Variety

The federal government had estimated earlier this year that Google's compensation should amount to about $172 million. Google estimated the value at $100 million. - CBC

Jeremy Hobson, the creator of the weekly evening show called The Middle, "found much of modern public radio’s heavily produced, pre-recorded nature grating, as it appeared the hosts were too scripted, sounded unnatural, and pandered to a single worldview." - The Daily Beast

The network is nearly entirely funded by listener donations after its budget was slashed by state lawmakers and the Iowa Board of Regents discontinued funding the station in 2020. - Inside Radio

"Marfa Public Radio Puts You to Sleep, a pledge-drive special released in October, features station staffers reading snooze-worthy documents related to public broadcasting and the details of running a radio station. Featured texts on the show’s 10 episodes ... included NPR’s style guide and the 1967 Public Broadcasting Act." - Current

"The deal will give SPE’s film and television production groups, which include Columbia Pictures, TriStar, Screen Gems and 3000 Pictures as well as TV operations …, development rights to The Guardian’s current and developing news stories, as well as the paper’s archive, reaching back 200 years." - The Hollywood Reporter

Well, yes … more or less. They are home-baked by Muppet wrangler Lara MacLean and contain entirely edible ingredients. Mind you, that doesn't mean they taste good (to humans). Flavor is not their most important quality. - The New York Times

While the current legacy-I.P. production boom is focused on fictional characters, there’s no reason to think it won’t, in the future, take the form of beloved real-life entertainers being endlessly re-presented to us with help from new tools. - The New York Times

"No longer does the phrase 'British independent film' instantly bring to mind a particular sort of gritty, miserable social-realist drama." Instead, think psychosexual dramas, delightful rom-coms, and much, much more. - The Observer (UK)

Otherwise, where would the money for other movies come from? - Variety

"In 1999, French investigating judges assigned sole responsibility to the driver," not paparazzi. But on the other hand, why didn't he princess have police protection? - Washington Post

One casting director says it depends on the cast, of course - and he loves "finding these untapped, undiscovered stars." - Slate

Or something equally weird and compelling - and international, because "60% of Netflix’s global audience has watched Korean content, while 70% of its viewers are outside the U.S." - Time