Category: media

“U.S. Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai said he’ll leave the agency Jan. 20, eliminating the possibility of a holdover Republican majority at the agency that could have temporarily stymied changes sought by the incoming Biden administration. Since being elevated to the chairmanship by President Donald Trump in 2017, Pai, a Republican, has led the commission in dismantling net neutrality regulations.” – Bloomberg

Effective Immediately, “twenty percent of all on-screen talent and production teams must come from a Black, Asian or minority ethnic (BAME) background; have a lived experience of a disability; or be from a low-income background.” – The Hollywood Reporter

Who would write this twist into the series? Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden “is expected to write Netflix a formal request that a label is added to the beginning of each episode, clearly stating that the series is fictionalized. Dowden’s demands echo worries that the series will do lasting damage to the image of the British monarchy.” Ahem. – Variety

As nearly every reviewer has noted, the movie is bad – and the movie is bad because the book was bad. “The film and book need Appalachia to be poor, broken, and dirty, because they depend on us believing that the mountains are somewhere we want Vance to escape. They need to frame poverty as a moral failing of individuals—as opposed to systems—because they have to imply that something about Vance’s character allowed him to get away from his hillbilly roots. Hillbilly Elegy has to simplify the people and problems of Appalachia, because it has decided to tell the same old pull-yourself-up-by-your-bootstraps narrative that so many of us reject.” – The Atlantic

Only connect, perhaps? Yes, Animal Crossing and Among Us are still popular, but “Just Chatting, which features people talking on camera about food, technology and other topics.” (And then there’s All Bad Cards, like an online version of Cards Against Humanity.) – Los Angeles Times

But the two women who run the documentary division at the behemoth aren’t worried. “Audiences’ appetite for nonfiction has grown as new funding sources like Kickstarter have emerged, and new formats, like podcasts. At the same time new and affordable technology has helped democratize the medium, and competition has exploded among deep-pocketed platforms hungry for documentary content.” And then there’s Netflix. – The New York Times

Sure, Hollywood has been predicting its own demise since TV made it big. Every subsequent innovation – larger TVs! color TVs! The internet! DVD rentals! Streaming! – has the industry thinking it will die soon. But this time, well. “In the 110-year history of the American film industry, never has so much upheaval arrived so fast and on so many fronts, leaving many writers, directors, studio executives, agents and other movie workers disoriented and demoralized — wandering in ‘complete darkness,’ as one longtime female producer told me. These are melodramatic people by nature, but talk to enough of them and you will get the strong sense that their fear is real this time.” – The New York Times

Or perhaps that’s just in the U.S. and other countries that can’t seem to get the coronavirus under control. “Up until now, Hollywood has refused to show its biggest movies first to audiences in Asia, Australia and New Zealand – where many cinemas are open again – partly due to piracy fears … [but] Wonder Woman 1984 will have a full theatrical release in China a week before the film is released in the U.S.” – BBC

To many Latinos working in Hollywood, it seems that every gain is soon followed by a loss, a continuous ebb and flow that never feels rectified. – The New York Times

A.O. Scott and Manohla Dargis: “We are in a golden age of acting — make that platinum — as we realized when we decided to select our favorite film performers of the past 20 years. There’s no formula for choosing the best (just squabbling), and this list is both necessarily subjective and possibly scandalous in its omissions. … And while there are certainly stars in the mix and even a smattering of Oscar winners, there are also character actors and chameleons, action heroes and art-house darlings.” – The New York Times