“That virtually unnoticed 1990 decision, by the guild’s board of directors, to funnel more than 90 percent of American writers’ foreign earnings to big studios and other fat cats, mirrors an old practice struck between screenwriters, actors, directors and the studios in the 1940s shortly after the WGA, Directors Guild of America and Screen Actors Guild were born — and conceded authorship of the movies they created to the studios.”
Tag: 05.03.07
DC’s Radio Royalty Now Includes El Zol
The fastest-rising radio station in Washington DC is a Spanish-language station called El Zol. “El Zol seems to benefit from favorable demographics, limited competition and a big signal. People of Latino descent compose only about 11 percent of the area’s potential radio audience (Arbitron measures only people 12 and older), but El Zol nearly has this market to itself.”
Congress Calls Universities On Mat Over Downloading
“A bipartisan group of House of Representatives lawmakers said Wednesday that they had written the presidents of 19 colleges and universities asking their officials to complete an expansive survey on the use of their campus networks for illegal downloading of copyrighted music, video or other digital content. The institutions were singled out because they had received the largest number of copyright infringement notices from the recording and movie industries.”
Theatre – The Tony Blair Years
“How has theatre fared in the Blair decade? On the whole, surprisingly well. And for two main reasons: one intentional, one not. The injection of new money has rescued regional theatres from near-bankruptcy. At the same time, the disastrous Iraq invasion has galvanised political theatre. This is the ultimate irony of the Blair years: that extra cash has enabled British theatre to resume its traditional oppositional role.”
What The Venice Biennale Is All About
“Venice is not a competition, and I think most artists couldn’t care less about the prizes, although it is, like everything else to do with the art world, a stew of competitiveness. And then there are those rare, brilliant moments that remind you what the point of it all actually is.”
UK Architecture: Did Flashy Buildings Make Better Cities?
The Blair government has invested in high-profile architecture. “I don’t doubt that many cities have enjoyed a renaissance. Much attention has been given to showpiece design and architecture but I do worry about the way that the architecture of the less well-off, of the everyday, of our sprawling new suburbs and car-bound rural housing estates is in a very sad, and unsustainable, state indeed.”
Public Art “Borrowed” By Companies For Money?
A UK car company gives Arts Council England an “undisclosed” amount of money and in return gets to borrow 25 pieces of art for the company’s headquarters. “But isn’t there something uncomfortable about a private individual borrowing state-owned artworks?”
Investors Perk Up Over Movie Theatres
The movie theatre business has been lagging for several years. But suddenly there seems to be business interest in investing in theatres. “The financial community’s strong interest reflects confidence in the long-term growth of the theater business. In the short term it’s always cyclical, but in the long run this is a growth industry.”
How Chess Became Domesticated (Is That Good?)
“In one sense, what has happened over the past 35 years could be described as the domestication of chess: the transformation of an abstruse game allied with innate brilliance (and madness) into an educational tool for training mental skills and attitudes. The new guise goes against the Bobby Fischer image–the temperamental, egocentric high-school dropout who cultivated his American rebel aura. It may even be that the mainstreaming of the game contributed to driving the chess monomaniac underground.”
State Encourages Teachers To Teach W/ Comic Books
The State of Maryland is encouraging teachers to use comic books as part of its reading program. “The state worked with Disney Publishing Worldwide and its educational division last year to develop a pilot project to put Mickey and Donald in eight third-grade classrooms. Disney took Maryland’s reading standards and created comics-based lesson plans, incorporating skills students needed to learn, such as how to understand plot and character. The kids loved it, educators said.”