Bloomberg (March 6)
“However California’s next monumental blaze begins, the toll will be vast. People will be injured, some will die. Thousands of homes will be destroyed. When the smoke clears, the most populous US state, home to Hollywood, Silicon Valley and a real estate market worth more than $9 trillion, will be ground zero for a sweeping financial crisis.”
Tags: $9 trillion, Blaze, California, Destroyed, Die, Ground zero, Hollywood, Homes, Injured, Monumental, Real estate market, Silicon Valley, Smoke, Toll, U.S., Vast
Bloomberg (September 14)
“A government campaign to slash the influence of China’s celebrities” will also hinder the industry’s ability to compete with Hollywood. “China’s filmmakers, already struggling, will have trouble competing at home, let alone abroad, if they’re forced to use dull, ideologically pure actors and storylines. If China really wants to challenge Hollywood on a global stage, it’s going to have to let its biggest stars shine.”
Tags: Actors, Celebrities, China, Dull, Filmmakers, Government, Hollywood, Ideologically pure, Influence, Storylines, Struggling
The Economist (June 30)
Netflix content now “consumes 20% of the world’s downstream bandwidth.” Once a DVD rental service, Netflix has become “the world’s first global TV powerhouse. This year its entertainment output will far exceed that of any TV network; its production of over 80 feature films is far larger than any Hollywood studio’s.” Netflix plans to spend an additional $3 to $4 billion on content this year. “That extra spending alone would be enough to pay for all of HBO’s programming—or the BBC’s.”
Tags: Bandwidth, BBC’, Content, Feature films, HBO, Hollywood, Netflix, Powerhouse, Studio, TV network
LA Times (November 12)
“Until women are once again directing, writing and producing the same number of films as men, and until they’re earning the same salaries, Hollywood’s power imbalance—and its sexual predator problems—won’t be solved.”
Tags: Directing, Films, Hollywood, Men, Power imbalance, Producing, Salaries, Sexual predator, Women, Writing
Philly.com (October 15)
“The predictably ever-worsening scandal surrounding the Hollywood sexual predator Harvey Weinstein” was not a surprise. In the business, his indiscretions were an open secret. “Another open secret–one that’s more widely known and of even more consequence than Weinstein and his prey” is that “Donald Trump is clearly not fit–temperamentally, intellectually, or, it seems increasingly clear, psychologically–to continue serving as president of the United States…. It’s all but guaranteed there will come a day for Trump, exactly like the moment we’re experiencing this weekend with Harvey Weinstein, with a flood of people suddenly going public with their behind-closed-doors Trump stories that things were even worse than anyone imagined.”
Tags: Hollywood, Open secret, Predictable, Scandal, Sexual predator, Trump, Unfit, Weinstein
The Economist (August 17)
“The web is beginning to fit into the media world’s oldest script: a new technology rides into town, the moguls try to destroy it, but it survives and becomes part of the town’s future. Hollywood loathed the VCR (comparing it to the Boston Strangler); the networks hated cable TV; sheet-music publishers feared the phonograph…. Yet nearly always two things happen: the old media survive (people are still buying vinyl records and even the odd printed magazine), and the new media expand the market.”
Tags: Cable, Hollywood, Magazine, Market, Music, Networks, New media, Old media, Phonograph, Print, Publishers, Records, Technology, TV, VCR, Vinyl, Web
Los Angeles Times (January 20)
The digital revolution “could mean lights out for many of the nation’s 368 surviving drive-ins.” At their peak, over 4,000 drive-ins accounted for a quarter of U.S. movie screens. Today, it’s less than 2% and the future does not look bright. Due to cost, “Hollywood is expected to stop distributing 35-millimeter film prints to all U.S. theaters later this year.” That would save studios about $1,300 on making and shipping each 35-mm print, but going digital cost theaters money. Most indoor theaters “have already converted to digital projectors, but 90% of drive-ins have not, according to an industry trade group. Conversion costs of $70,000 or more per screen could be too expensive for many drive-ins.”
Tags: Digital revolution, Drive-ins, Hollywood, Movie screen, U.S.
