” How much should actors get paid for appearing on iPod screens instead of television? The [Screen Actors Guild] maintains that studios should pay actors for digital content. Studio bosses, saying that Webisodes are promotional material, want actors to appear for less than their usual fee… Actors still regret agreeing to a low pay scale during the advent of VHS; they have been stuck with the same rate since the 1980s.”
Author: sbergman
Regan Fired From HarperCollins
Judith Regan, the powerful editor at the center of the recent firestorm over O.J. Simpson’s pseudo-confessional book, has been fired from HarperCollins. “Ms. Regan’s publishing unit and its staff [will] continue as part of the HarperCollins General Books Group, but it is unknown whether that group would remain in Los Angeles, where Ms. Regan moved it from New York earlier this year.”
Where Others Saw Divisions, He Saw Opportunity
Ahmet Ertegun, the immigrant founder of influential Atlantic Records who died this past week, was a fascinating study in both business acumen and a pure, all-consuming love of the music of others. He was “an outsider, from Turkey no less, who loved African-American music so much that he became a major force in pop history. Points of friction in American culture — class, ethnicity, race, religion — mostly provided him with sparks.”
GAO Signs Off On Smithsonian/Showtime Deal
The federal government’s General Accountability Office has announced that it could find no evidence that the Smithsonian Institution’s controversial deal with the Showtime cable networks was hampering the abilities of other researchers to access those same materials. “The GAO review, begun last June, said its inquiry had prompted the Smithsonian and Showtime to make clear that researchers’ ideas do not have to be presented first to Showtime to gain Smithsonian access.”
Smithsonian To Make Film Deal Details Public
“The Smithsonian Institution has agreed to develop a system to document and explain its decisions about why television and film producers are granted or denied access to its collections outside of a widely criticized contract the institution entered into with Showtime Networks.”
Who Was That Tenor In The Black Jeans?
Lost in the hullabaloo that followed Roberto Alagna’s huffy departure from the La Scala stage last week has been the role of the stand-in who finished Alagna’s aborted performance that night. Antonello Palombi, the 45-year-old Italian tenor who dashed onto the stage in his street clothes just in time to save the show, was happy for the exposure, but not necessarily for the circumstances under which it arrived.
L.A. Schools Get A Big Boost From LA Phil Musicians
Members of the Los Angeles Philharmonic banded together with Fidelity Investments this week to donate $80,000 worth of band and orchestra instruments to four L.A.-area public schools. “The professional musicians came up with the idea when they first began volunteering at local public schools several years ago.”
Career Killer: Focal Dystonia On The Rise
While it may not be as well-known as crippling conditions like Parkinson’s, focal dystonia is wrecking the careers of a growing number of professional musicians. The terrifying disease, which causes musicians to forget the muscle movements necessary to play their instruments, “ended the careers of pianist Gary Graffman, Tokyo String Quartet violinist Peter Oundjian and Chicago Symphony Orchestra oboist Alex Klein.” There are treatments, but no guaranteed fixes, and the condition frequently worsens when victims, ashamed of their deteriorating skills and unaware of the cause, fail to report the problem to a doctor.
Canuck Conductor Conundrum
Canada has given the world countless great artists and musicians, but somehow, it hasn’t yet produced many world-class conductors. William Littler says that it’s a bigger problem than it might appear to be: “However well intentioned, conductors from abroad who direct our orchestras tend to be short-term visitors with less of a commitment to Canadian music… Investing in our own conductors is tantamount to investing in our own music.”
Study Ranks San Fran #1 For Arts
The Urban Institute, a Washington-based think tank, has released a study ranking 60 U.S.cities by the cultural vitality they display. San Francisco came out on top, followed by New York, and then a collection of other arts hubs such as Boston, L.A., Nashville, Seattle, and Minneapolis.