Tag: 01.15.20

Hollywood Talent Agencies Face Uncertain Times

Agencies are under growing pressure “to scale up and adapt to a changing media industry. The rise of streaming and the expected decline of TV packaging — where agencies collect fees for packaging talent on shows — combined with the effects of the longstanding writers boycott, have squeezed talent agencies, some of which have weathered high-level executive turnover, laid off workers and cut back on overtime pay for assistants.” – Los Angeles Times

How To Save The Oscars From The Academy

At the moment, the Oscars reflect the Academy, but the Academy reflects nothing but its august name; plausible deniability and the shunning of responsibility are built into the current system. Paradoxically, counting only votes from members with a stake in the image of the industry put forth by the industry would cast onto the Oscars the sharp light of accountability, would be, in effect, a truth-in-awards program.” – The New Yorker

Podcasts Are Getting Book-Group-Like Fan Clubs — And, Like Book Groups, They’re About More Than Just The Material

“Though they are ostensibly meant for conversation about the shows themselves, actual episodes are seldom discussed. Instead, members get sidetracked and end up on tangents, talking about their failed marriages, sharing parenting advice and helping each other pick outfits for first dates.” – The New York Times

Putin Enlists Major Cultural Leaders To Rewrite Russian Constitution

Wasting no time, the Kremlin on Wednesday posted a list of 75 members of a working group appointed to draft the constitutional amendments, including a range of political and cultural figures. Among them are Mikhail Piotrovsky, the director of the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, and Zelfira Tregulova, the director of Moscow’s State Tretyakov Gallery, both seasoned political players. Both were among the public figures who served as his 2018 presidential campaign confidants. – The Art Newspaper

Audible And Publishers Settle Lawsuit Over Captioning

“In July, the audiobook company owned by Amazon announced Captions, an additional function for the existing app that would allow customers to read the text as it was read, as well as looking up words and translating them. … Seven publishers, including the ‘Big Five’ – Penguin Random House, Hachette, Simon & Schuster, HarperCollins and Macmillan – sued Audible in August, a move that was also backed by bodies representing authors and agents,” all of whom maintained that the captioning was unauthorized reproduction of the printed text. – The Guardian

Betty Pat Gatliff, Who Pioneered Practice Of Forensic Sculpture, Dead At 89

“Ms. Gatliff developed a new method for facial reconstruction in the late 1960s, then spent nearly five decades refining her technique and teaching it to hundreds of students, including at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Va. … Using little more than modeling clay and a set of soft, eraser-like dowels, Ms. Gatliff transformed unknown skulls into eerily lifelike busts. Her work helped identify murder victims, catch killers and give solace to grieving families.” – The Washington Post

Carnegie Library’s Ex-Archivist And His Fence Plead Guilty To Stealing And Selling Rare Books

“Between 1992 and 2017, archivist Greg Priore smuggled some 300 documents worth more than $8 million out of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, where he served as sole manager of the rare books room. … He then delivered the items to bookseller John Schulman, who subsequently re-sold them to unsuspecting clients. On Monday, the two men pleaded guilty … [and] will be sentenced on April 17 of this year.” – Smithsonian Magazine