"The first decade or so of the 2000s wasn't exactly a time of artistic evolution for the special, but the rapid increase in special-making created an audience aware of the form's traditional tricks, tropes, and trappings — primed to get the joke when comedians started having fun with the form." - Vulture
"One word consistently used by virtually everyone when describing Langella's behavior" on set for Netflix's The Fall of the House of Usher "was 'toxic' as they recalled (wildly) inappropriate comments and behavior. ... People who worked with Langella on the Netflix series provided more detail about some of the incidents." - Deadline
Filmmakers from 44 countries submitted films to the competition, all between 30 seconds and three minutes in length. The top prize was shared between two directors... - The New York Times
"Despite the festival’s public posturing ... Russian buyers are meeting with top sales agents at the Marché du Film. Their numbers are substantially down, but there’s no question that Putin’s Russia is open for business on the French Riviera." - Variety
During a crackdown over general protests about food prices, the government has arrested or threatened many documentary filmmakers. The government take credit for filmmakers' success abroad - but wants to control them at home. - The New York Times
The boom is for high-end streamers, really, and "has created a scarcity of resources, from crew and soundstages to generators and actors (one agent even told Variety productions were struggling to find Winnebagos to accommodate their clients on set)." - Variety
And not just of any town, but of Oak Bluffs, Massachusetts, where the movie was filmed. "Decades ago, a young Searle played one of the pranksters with a cardboard fin." - NPR
Perhaps it's the higher cost of living and inflation, but as Netflix's subscriber base drops, the ad-supported streamers rise. Streamer Tubi's chief: "The business model of free is working quite well." - Los Angeles Times
"A few days after the city itself fell to invading Russian forces, Kvedaravičius’ fiancée Hanna Bilobrova fought back tears as she introduced the film, which she completed after smuggling the footage out of the country." - Slate
An analysis by Contributor Development Partnership of March pledge results reported a 24% decline in the number of gifts year-over-year, a nearly 5.5% drop in the number of new donors and a 7.5% slide in the percentage of sustainer gifts. - Current
One study estimated that the Newark project could bring as many as 600 long-term jobs and a constellation of new business opportunities to the city, the state’s largest with a population of 312,000 and a median household income of less than $38,000. - The New York Times
“The difficulty is that TikTok is a marketing-focused company and fails to understand creators and their independence…They kept asking me for reports on our progress, even though we hadn’t even seen each other,” he said. - Deadline
"Today, as metaverse engineers, designers, and architects map out the look of digital future experiences, for some, smell has become a key part of the puzzle. Whoever defines the smell-o-verse first will lead this nascent category, meaning the smell-off is ON." - Fast Company
A staff memo from Gimlet Media chiefs said that "the decision to end this iteration of the show" was made as the series's two hosts, Alex Goldman and Emmanuel Dzotsi, were leaving. The move comes after a turbulent 18 months at Reply All, Gimlet, and parent company Spotify. - The Verge
