Media

The 1991 project was believed to be lost. “But after Tolkien fan clubs urged the broadcaster [Channel Five] to scour the archives of its Soviet predecessor, Leningrad Television, workers for Channel Five managed to find the footage last year” – and to put it online for all of us to enjoy in late March. – The New York Times

Chloé Zhao won another directing award for Nomadland, which also won best film on the second night of the mostly online awards. Anthony Hopkins was a surprising win for The Father; at 83, he’s the oldest male actor to win a BAFTA. Promising Young Woman and Emerald Fennell also came in for surprising wins, and Youn Yuh-jung’s win for Minari capped a late surge for the actor. – The Guardian (UK)

Zhao, director of Nomadland, is the first woman of color and only the second woman ever to win the DGA award. Though director David Fincher didn’t win for Mank, he had a great line: “Directing … is a bit like trying to paint a watercolor from four blocks away through a telescope, over a walkie-talkie, and 85 people are holding the brush.” – The New York Times

To keep actors safe – and, of course, to cover their own liability – some productions are now employing intimacy coordinators. But contracts can go farther, and the #TimesUp group has suggested that “a so-called ‘nudity rider’ or ‘simulated sex waiver’ should be in place before filming begins.” – BBC

The easiest part of being an extra, ahem, a background artist, is that you just have to be there. “Being an extra requires no experience, no acting talent and no talking.” – Los Angeles Times

In 2016, 25 queer women characters on TV died on scripted TV and streaming shows. But Wynonna Earp promised to be different. With the choices the writers’ room and showrunner made, viewers saw “an acknowledgement of — and a direct rebuke to — a hurtful trope.” They rewarded the producer with trust and increased interest. – Los Angeles Times

Ma Rainey, Mank, and others win on the first night of the British Academy Film and Television Arts awards, when mostly the crafts are recognized. – Variety

“After seeing yet another situation where a longstanding Yahoo-owned website [Yahoo Answers] is shutting down, I’m left to wonder if the problem is that the motivations for maintaining sites built around user-generated content simply do not favor preservation, and never will without outside influence. How can we change that motivation? Today’s Tedium, in a follow-up to the post we wrote as Yahoo Groups was getting shut down, ponders the issue from the corporate perspective.” – Tedium

Sony and Netflix also inked a first-look deal for movies made exclusively for streaming, boosting the slate of Netflix originals. Sony said those films will represent increased output on top of its theatrical slate, which was about 25 films in 2019. The deal also gives Netflix first look at licensing movies from Sony’s library. – Indiewire

“It will now no longer be possible to block the release of a new film or demand edits for moral or religious reasons. Filmmakers will instead classify their own movies based on the age of the audience. Their decisions will be verified by a new commission made up of 49 members chosen from the film industry, but will be experts in education and animal rights.” – Yahoo! (AFP)

“In some countries, such as Hungary and Poland, illiberal governments are turning them into mouthpieces for the ruling party. In others, such as Germany and Sweden, populist movements accuse them of bias in favour of the establishment and the left. Modelled on Britain’s BBC (now facing political pressures of its own), Europe’s public media were set up to anchor democracy by providing citizens with objective reporting. But in an age of polarisation and disinformation, that is getting harder to do.” – The Economist

“The Indian federal government has passed an order that scraps the Information and Broadcasting ministry’s Film Certification Appellate Tribunal, the first avenue of appeal if a filmmaker disagrees with a certification decision. Instead, filmmakers will have to go to court.” – Variety

“Right now, a streamed concert that sells well will just about cover the cost, and we have to proof every second of the video. Even once live performances come back, I highly doubt we could offer livestreams because of our small staff.” – Chicago Tribune

“The producers of The Shape of Water will no longer have to contend with a copyright lawsuit that claims that Oscar-winning Guillermo del Toro film infringed the work of Pulitzer Prize-winning author Paul Zindel. On Friday, Disney’s Fox units, Guillermo del Toro and other defendants filed court papers indicating that the parties in the litigation had reached an agreement to dismiss the case.” – The Hollywood Reporter

Let’s talk about the Burns Method: the frowning pan across the blotchy manuscript page, the dreamy plunge into the old photograph, the smatters of ambient sound, the talking head who is not so much a talking head as a deeply invested witness. How do you dramatize the interior life? How do you dramatize writing? If you’re Ken Burns, by talking to writers, by watching their faces and bodies register the Hemingway-shocks. – The Atlantic

Or are Chloé Zhao, Emerald Fennell, and others just getting their due like their young male counterparts? Hm. “Marvel, DC and co have awoken to the viability of female-led stories, which has meant a demand for women to direct them. Patty “Wonder Woman” Jenkins was an early example, but there are others. Cate Shortland, purveyor of thoughtful, female-centred stories such as Somersault and Berlin Syndrome, has directed Marvel’s Black Widow. Cathy Yan went straight from her promising Chinese-language debut Dead Pigs to DC’s Birds of Prey. Similarly, Nia DaCosta, who made a striking debut with 2018’s Little Woods, is currently on Captain Marvel 2.” – The Guardian (UK)

With 43 to choose from, which movie will win? And which one can best be described as “self-conscious Scorsese imitation”? – Los Angeles Times

Kinda live, except pre-recorded, with a lot on the cutting room floor. In any case: All of the winners! Right here. – Variety

Listen up, Bridgerton fans, blame streaming (and the focus switch of each Bridgerton book, from which the series draws). At Netflix and other streamers, “the goal is to draw paying subscribers and there’s little incentive to extend even the most popular shows for more than a few years. In that case, Soltman said, it wouldn’t be surprising to have a one-year contract for a limited series or a show with a plan to focus on different characters in each go-round.” – Los Angeles Times

Like the so-called “pivot to video,” a lot of the industry was built on a house of cards that one might, with some justification, call lies. Starting new publications seemed so easy on the internet. “From the start, though, there was a problem. The super-low costs of entry and the lack of geographic limitations that were key to the explosive growth of digital journalism were also key to its undoing. These new publications had no way to recreate the profitability and stability that the old regional monopolies had made possible.” – The Atlantic

The diversity is a silver lining of the awards season’s weirdness. “A deeper, post-Covid existential crisis is on the cards. What is the point of awards, after all? Are they about recognising artistic excellence and the importance of culture? Or are they about showbiz glitz and beautiful people? How much impact do they have? And who gets to do the judging, anyway? Covid has given the whole awards game a shake-up, and maybe that’s what it needed.” – The Guardian (UK)

“The decades-long interdependence of PBS decision-makers, philanthropists, and corporate funders with one white, male filmmaker highlights the racial and cultural inequities perpetuated by this system. The amount of broadcast hours, financial support (from viewers like who?), and marketing muscle devoted to one man’s lens on America has severed PBS from its very roots,” said Grace Lee. – The Hill