"This is the world of internet-famous tough guys and celebrities clinging to relevance, of manufactured beefs and emotional arcs plotted via training videos and podcast appearances. … What’s more entertaining: an eight-round heavyweight qualifier or watching family vlogger Austin McBroom knock out TikTok frat bro Bryce Hall?" - The New York Times Magazine
"Meet 'Alfaz-e-Mewat,' a community radio station that offers a mix of group therapy, education, women’s empowerment and entertainment. … In this region — which has some of the country’s lowest female literacy rates and where violence against women is the norm — the station is the voice of change." - The New York Times
Just as streaming isolates and aggregates its users, so it dissolves movies into content. They don’t appear on the platforms so much as disappear into them, flickering in a silent space beyond the reach of conversation. We can watch them whenever we want. We can watch something else. It doesn’t matter. - The New York Times
"Hollywood writers have voted almost unanimously to approve the contract agreement reached by their union leaders that ended a strike after nearly five months, while actors remain in negotiations to find a way out of their own strike." - AP
“These platforms are fundamentally rooted in users being able to get value, not just from the platform but from each other. If the platform starts getting in the way of users being able to get value from each other and their connections and community, then that fundamentally eats away the core value of the platform.” - The Atlantic
She says it's time to retire: "The emphasis becomes not on the art or the artist or the storytelling. It becomes about satisfying your stockholders." - Los Angeles Times
Tired of bemoaning a lack of Latin@ folks in Hollywood, he "decided to create a pipeline for training California elementary and high school students to pursue careers in cinema: a nine-month, twice-weekly, 90-minute immersion program." It's working. - Los Angeles Times
Perhaps understandably, the heads of the two organizations who put on the biggest award shows in the film world have put up a solid defense about the value of the ceremonies and the awards themselves. - The Hollywood Reporter
Jack Fisk is also one of the most difficult to recruit, going years (and, at one point, two decades) between films. And once a producer does recruit him, his work will be expensive, labor-intensive, and very, very detail-oriented. It will also be brilliant. - The New York Times Magazine
"The latest WIF survey found 59% of respondents agreed the culture around sexual abuse, harassment and misconduct in Hollywood workplaces had improved in the (past) year. … At the same time, 46.2% of respondents said they or someone they knew had experienced abuse or misconduct … in the last year." - The Hollywood Reporter
"Following controversy surrounding (The Drew Barrymore Show's) return to production amid the writers’ strike — a choice that Barrymore said she 'owned' — Chelsea White, Cristina Kinon and Liz Koe have opted not to return to their former gig." - TheWrap
David Zucker: "We saw what was out there at the time, Woody Allen and Mel Brooks, and they were great, and we thought we could do that and be as funny." Jerry Zucker: "We were too naïve to know we couldn't get any of that stuff." - Salon
"Pushkin Industries is laying off over 30% of its staff and shaking up its leadership team as the broader podcast industry continues to recalibrate after years of expensive deals and over-ambitious growth plans." - MSN (Bloomberg)
The streaming service is discussing raising prices in several markets globally, but will likely begin with the U.S. and Canada, according to people familiar with the matter. - The Wall Street Journal
