Tag: 01.31.20

Making The Leap From Documentary To Feature Film Takes Way, Way Too Long For Women

Liz Garbus and Todd Phillips both won Sundance awards for documentaries in 1998, and they’ve both been working filmmakers ever since. But Phillips is about to go to the Oscars with an obscene number of nominations for The Joker while Garbus opens her first feature at Sundance. “‘I don’t know Todd’s trajectory, and if he tried to make more docs’” said Garbus. ‘But I had a script I was carrying around in my pocket for a long time after The Farm that I couldn’t get made. So why are there more female documentary filmmakers? Because the pay is less. The threshold for entry is less. The budgets are less. I don’t think women are inherently better documentary filmmakers.'” – Los Angeles Times

Mary Higgins Clark, Queen Of Suspense, Has Died At 92

All 56 of her books were bestsellers, according to her publisher. “In her memoir, Kitchen Privileges (2002), Ms. Higgins Clark described herself in her younger years as ‘aching, yearning, burning’ to write, certain that she would succeed but needing guidance. She eventually found it in a writing class at New York University. The professor suggested that his students seize upon a situation that they had experienced or read about and begin by asking the questions ‘Suppose …?’ and ‘What if …?'” – The New York Times

Study: Diversity In US Publishing Industry Hasn’t Changed In Four Years

The authors welcomed a drop in the proportion of white executives from 86% in 2015 to 78%, “since true change in company culture almost always requires buy-in from the very top”. But the numbers of white people in editorial roles increased from 82% to 85%, “so, even though more diverse books are being published now, it’s fair to assume that the majority of them are still being acquired and edited by white people”. – The Guardian

Boris Johnson Review Of BBC Funding Will Blow A Budget Hole

The review comes at a perilous time for the BBC, with insiders and industry observers worried that the broadcaster is facing an existential crisis. As well as a hostile government, which is skeptical about the BBC’s funding model and unhappy with its coverage on Brexit, the broadcaster is dealing with a tsunami of disruption from U.S. streaming services and having to make savings £800M. Head of news and current affairs Fran Unsworth told staff this week that she can’t remember another time in her 40-year BBC career when the broadcaster has been so under threat from external forces. – Deadline

Amsterdam’s Van Gogh Museum Is Hugely Popular. Here Are The Challenges As A New Director Takes Over

The museum is highly dependent on the tourist market. A huge 85% of its visitors are from abroad, many of whom come during the summer season. In the Netherlands, Van Gogh is widely regarded as a “tourist artist”. The challenge for Gordenker will be to woo more Dutch visitors, particularly during the winter. She also feels it is important to make the museum more inclusive, attracting young and old and those from the substantial immigrant community in the Netherlands. – The Art Newspaper