Last week, the Hollywood Reporter and Variety – and IndieWire, and Deadline, and Rolling Stone, and Billboard, and a whole lot of other brands – merged and people barely noticed. Technically, the owners of these entities formed a couple of joint ventures, but it was pretty clear that Penske is now in control of the leading film publications. You would think that even in a crazy news cycle, a bit more would be written about the implications of such a deal, especially in Hollywood, but most outlets just seemed confused (these were the hardest hitting articles I could find). The staff of each publication, while publicly silent, were not confused – as panic set in, apparently.
I predicted we’d see some major trouble in trade land back in April. While every publication relies on some mix of advertising and subscription revenue in the main, among some other trickles of income, the trades are especially reliant on one type of advertising – and that’s ads for the Oscars and other awards shows. I don’t know the exact mix, but you can bet that something like 90% of their revenue comes from such advertisements – "For Your Consideration;" "Congrats to So and So," and so forth. That’s also why none of the trades have ever done much investigative reporting and have pretty much printed press releases verbatim, because no one bites the hand that feeds.
In theory, we should still have the front facing brands – there are some nuances between the look, feel and reporting of each trade. But you can definitely expect a lot of consolidation on the back-ends – you don’t need multiple teams selling those ads, or figuring out the logistics of publishing, shipping and digital marketing. That means a lot of job cuts, office consolidations, and general “blood in the streets” type stuff that you really love to see at the heights of a dual crisis like a pandemic hitting in the midst of the general implosion that was hitting publishing already. Where do these people get rehired? Who rents their empty offices? Two words – Amazon & Netflix, I guess, at least for the real estate (definitely not for the people; they make too much).
It also means that as we head into what will likely be the era of greater media consolidation and integration than ever before, and as the media/music/film/content businesses transform into something completely new, we’ll have less chance of any real scrutiny and a lot of duplicative cheerleading of whatever the new bosses say we should cheer. And by bosses, I mean the owners of the companies PMRC (the new name) will cover; Penske will just make sure those ads keep coming. The tricky part is that the other joint venture, run by MRC who make a lot of good shows like Ozark, “will be tasked with creating intellectual property from across the publications for new TV, film and live events.” So PMRC will be promoting its own shows, and its own brands, in a NYT-esque, branded-content media venture. No potential conflicts of interest there.
Perhaps the crickets were caused by the fact that everyone knew the trades weren’t doing much actual news reporting anyways. Or perhaps because everyone is holding their breath hoping that no one in DC notices this merger. Or maybe because, well, most of the reporting on this would normally be done by one of their new sister publications, who now can’t say much of anything. IndieWire's coverage didn't even mention they are owned by PMC or what it means for them! The Wrap, now one of the few/only independent trades, reported on it, but behind a paywall – ensuring more silence (I’m not sure if this is because it’s behind a paywall, or because no one pays to get inside that wall??!?).
I'm friends with many people at a few of these publications - so I am biased, and one part of me just hopes that the good editors/writers keep their jobs and that the consolidation helps keep this part of the industry alive. Another part of me thinks the silence around this merger - by another name - just shows how far Hollywood's head is in the sand about the massive changes that just hit the business. A decade or two of change was just accelerated by the Covid-match, and if these trades have to merge to stay afloat, so will many of the parts of the industry they cover - from the studios on down to the indies, and everyone in between. As those cuts, deaths and mergers happen, there just might not be anyone left to analyze what it all means. Luckily, there will be someone there to print the press release painting the rosy picture, and to take the Amazonian sized ad of a spandex-costumed actor nominated for some award, sponsored by the same company bringing you all of the above. Can't wait.
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Film
Where Does Indie Documentary Go From Here?: Hyperallergic asks that question of filmmakers Cecilia Aldarondo and Robert Greene, and... it seems they are not sure, either, but know what parts aren't working. They see a tough landscape and a "Wal-Mart-ization" of the field, and hold out some hope for more radical models. But as Cecilia says at the end: "Before COVID, the US media landscape was already pushing us to devolve from being artists to being “content creators.” This is what capitalism does: It flattens nuance, numbs our senses, and convinces us to sit back and accept the new normal. I hope I’m wrong. But right now, I feel like I’m standing at a precipice, and I will honestly admit that I do not know where to go from here." I agree, but would answer that with a cliche - it's darkest before the dawn. Let's hope that's true, because maybe something better can be built on top of the charred remains of this dumpster fire!
Honest Trailers - Every Streaming Service - A must watch take-down of the madness that is SVOD overload. A hilarious take on just how bad the situation has become, with special attention to Netflix, Disney, Apple, Hulu and Peacock. It's funny - funnier than Friends, funny.
Do Film Critics Punish Films with Bigger Budgets? Asks Stephen Follows, and the data shows... probably not (not statistically significant). But what is interesting is which publications and which critics tend to give worse (and better) scores to big budget films, which he also analyzes. Check it out here.
The Social Dilemma's Misinformation Manipulation of Manipulated Misinformation: TechDirt tears apart The Social Dilemma pretty ruthlessly, but not as deeply as Pull Request does, for making a crappy film about Facebook and social media misinformation, by pointing out that the film is about as manipulative and full of misinformation as you can get. Don't fall for the easy retort from the filmmakers that it's just sour grapes from the tech industry. I don't know if I've watched a film that was as poorly made, as full of poor creative decisions and - yes, as full of misinformation and manipulation - as this one in decades. Watching it was more anger-inducing than watching the debates last night (!). It really sucks too, because there is a great documentary to be made about the problems with social media, but when you make one this artless and misleading it can call in to question the validity of your earlier work too; and in both places, we need well-reasoned, rock-solid attacks, not a house of cards.
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Branded Content
CNN Closes Great Big Story Big news, as reported by Variety and then others - CNN has "pulled the plug" on Great Big Story, it's attempt at being like Vice or Buzzfeed, so they say. I'd say it's just another example of a good attempt at making a short form destination that just didn't work. Or couldn't work during covid. Lots of good branded content came out of GBS, but I never felt like it built an identity. That said, it was a valiant attempt, and I knew quite a few good people there.
HP Launches Dear Future Me: What letter would you write to your future self? What letter might you have written to your future 12th grade self when you were in 6th grade? The latter is the premise of the great new short series, Dear Future Me, from the Garage by HP. Check it out here. I'm friends with the team, but think they did a great job on this short form, barely branded content.
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Miscellany:
David Zwirner Gallery's Dialogues Podcast features R. Crumb and Art Spielgelman in conversation - "Two icons of the comics world—and old friends—tell their cartoonist origin stories, from the psychedelics-fueled breakthroughs of the 1960s to finding their singular styles and the generational divide among the comics cognoscenti today. R. Crumb is one of the founding fathers of the alternative comics movement, and Art Spiegelman is equally influential, having authored the Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic novel Maus. " Listen here.
Citizen Brain by Josh Kornbluth - LIVE - Many of you know I was a producer on the Kornbluth brother's Love & Taxes film, and many others might know them from Haiku Tunnel, or Jake's work on Inequality for All or Inequality Media. Many of their joint works are based on Josh Kornbluth's live performances, which are based on his life, and are always incredible. I've been waiting for this new piece for awhile, and he's doing live online performances in conjunction with Shotgun Players. Here's the description: "At the Global Brain Health Institute, Josh Kornbluth immersed himself in the study of brain disease and wondered if our society was suffering from political dementia. The discovery of the “empathy circuit” in the brain might be the cure. Can a neurotic storyteller, who flunked every science class, spark a science-based revolution of empathy?" Check it out here, and performances run Oct 16-Nov 8th.
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