I like to pretend that my art has nothing to do with me. | | | | "Wu-Tang Clan: Of Mics & Men" on Showtime now. It's totally something to f*** wit.
(Showtime) | | | | | | “I like to pretend that my art has nothing to do with me.”
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| | rantnrave:// The first lesson you learn when you start working in HOLLYWOOD is that everyone you know has an opinion to offer on the content. I know I do. It’s unlikely that Netflix’s development executives offer advice on the company’s encoding technologies, or that HBO’s casting directors have suggestions about AT&T’s 5G rollout, or that APPLE’s line producers offer derivative trading strategies to their banker friends. But the reverse is almost always true. Few people know about encoding, 5G or derivatives – but everyone has opinions on TV and film; it’s the most intensely and widely consumed medium on the planet. And given the opportunity, few can resist weighing in. Distributors of content tend to be evaluated on the basis of their content. But focusing on Netflix's "quality" is a mistake. Not only does the notion barely exist, it mistakes Netflix's "job to be done". MATT BALL dives in on "'Quality' Is a Distraction – If It Exists at All (Netflix Misunderstandings, Pt. 6)"... Because Netflix operates as a content business, it tends to be assessed principally on its content. This leads many to think that Netflix is perpetually on the precipice of being crushed or squeezed out of the market. Netflix-killer, Qu'est-ce que c'est. For a plethora of reasons: Its content is rented. Or competitors are coming. Or the best stuff is produced by third parties. Or they spend too much money. Yadda yadda yadda. Well, Netflix has faced many challengers over the past decade, but growth hasn't slowed. Many more are about to come. But the effects are likely to be neutral at worst. "Netflix's Competitive Resiliency Is Here to Stay (Netflix Misunderstandings, Pt. 7)"... I’ve been eager to see what video service QUIBI (meaning: quick bites), led by MEG WHITMAN and JEFFREY KATZENBERG, would do in the content arena. They've got lots of talent and content deals booked. They've got sizeable budgets ($100k/minute) and unusual creator ownership deals, both magnets for them. The hypothesis? Long-form content told in serialized short-form chapters that ultimately add up to a length of a movie. I talk a lot about how important product is to video start-ups and yet that was an area I didn’t inquire about in the past. So, I went to see the head of product TOM CONRAD last week. I wasn’t surprised but I was impressed. Yes, you’ll see the familiar yet very sleek interface and video navigation. But the things that really moved me? They’re thinking about the form factor of the phone and how that translates into new ways of creating and displaying content. They use the horizontal and vertical orientations of the phone to change the layout of news content without losing anything in the frame. Directors like DOUG LIMAN are shooting and editing specifically for each orientation. Again, without losing anything. The coolest thing I saw was a pilot following a sinister package delivery man and the victim he is trying to get to inside the house. All from the POV of the victim's phone, the RING video doorbell and applications like FACETIME. The POV of the narrative is controlled by the orientation of the phone. It was so well done that you lose sight that you’re not in the narrative because the interface is so familiar. You can spend 30 minutes changing the POV and thus revealing more of the story and different scenes that were not available in one or the other. The medium is respected and not just edited for. Much of what they are working on will likely be adopted and standardized by creators within a year of launch. Very, very cool stuff. Normally, you'd look at a company like this and see the common strains between differentiated cultures of HOLLYWOOD and SILICON VALLEY show up in the product. Just not on the same page. I saw a two-way street here where both were considered and both influenced the other. Maybe something to do with Meg and Jeffrey melding? Good start… Happy Birthday to PAUL GREENBERG, AMANDA CUTTER BROOKS, MICHAEL ALEX, BRIAN GARRITY, STEVE MUMMOLO, ETHAN BEARD, and DAVID AARON. Belated to KYLE HELLER, JAMES ANDREWS, ZACH SIMS, DEREK BROES, JULIA SCHULHOF, RALPH DAVIDSON, MATTHEW HILTZIK, LYNDA MURRAY, KATERINA HANTAS, MICHELE JAMES, JAMIE HOROWITZ, JENNY GALLUZZO, JESSICA LESSIN, DAVID KINES, and YVETTE ALBERDINGKTHIJM. | | | - Jason Hirschhorn, curator |
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| Disney+ will not be a 'Netflix killer' because at this point, nothing can kill Netflix | | |
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| Distributors of content tend to be evaluated on the basis of their content. But focusing on Netflix's "quality" is a mistake. Not only does the notion barely exist, it mistakes Netflix's "job to be done." | | |
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| Netflix has faced many challengers over the past decade, but growth hasn't slowed. Many more are about to come. But the effects are likely to be neutral at worst. | | |
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| Regulating social media is more important than breaking up Facebook. | | |
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| Facts: The iconic red Swingline stapler was made specifically for "Office Space." Jon Heder couldn't wash his hair for "Napoleon Dynamite's" entire 22-day shoot. After watching "Cruel Intentions," Selma Blair's mother wondered if maybe she'd used too much tongue in that famous kiss. Straight talk from casts and crews. | | |
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| In 2001, a smugglers’ yacht washed up in the Azores and disgorged its contents. The island of São Miguel was quickly flooded with high-grade cocaine -- and nearly 20 years on, it is still feeling the effects. | | |
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| A half century later, Stanley Kubrick’s “2001: A Space Odyssey” is still shaping our future. With no help from CGI, the movie predicted private space travel, artificial intelligence and half of Apple’s product line. It showed the promise and perils of technology and explored life’s biggest mystery: Are we alone in the universe? | | |
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| A culture change is happening in Hollywood as old-school networking and technology are making television lit reps obsolete and tipping the WGA-ATA fight in favor of the writers. | | |
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| When I asked Sean about his hobbies, I wasn’t prepared for what he said. | | |
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| KABUL (Reuters) - Zabihullah Mujahid, the Taliban's chief spokesman and editor-in-chief of the insurgent group's daily news bulletin, starts every day by collecting reports of overnight fighting with U.S. and Afghan forces. Mujahid says he gets his team of writers to cross-check facts shared by some of the hardline Islamist groups fighters, who double as reporters in the 34 provinces across the country. | | |
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| | | has gone hollywood blockbuster |
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| MCU directors Anthony and Joe Russo go over some of their favorite moments in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and discuss what went into building their epic conclusion in "Avengers: Endgame." | | |
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| They’re seeking a better deal after they missed the rise of the social video platform and sold music rights for a flat fee. | | |
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| Can the Vermont senator win over Trump voters and harness his grassroots army to transform the Democratic Party? | | |
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| As the decline of brick and mortar retail rolls on, commercial real estate developers are left with massive abandoned properties. Who will fill that underutilized space? A series of recent acquisitions by associates of Amazon in Northeastern Ohio provides some clues. | | |
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| Dylan Collins, CEO of SuperAwesome, describes how his six-year-old company is hitting a growth spurt by leading the charge on digital privacy for children. | | |
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| If you’re over 30, and you don’t spend much time on the platform, it’s almost impossible to explain how central it is to young people’s media consumption. YouTube far outranks television in terms of where teens spend their time. It’s foundational to how young people -- and plenty of not-so-young people -- form their politics. | | |
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| Apple's News+ subscription service threatens to kill the open web's surveillance advertising clickbait model of fake news engagement to save journalism. Why would Apple want or care to do that? Here's a look. | | |
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| The Restorative Justice Project arranges meetings that can change the lives of both victim and convict. | | |
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| "Here, try it on!" the punk poetess Patti Smith urged me. Together with the photographer Dennis Morris and her guitarist Lenny Kaye, we were sifting the racks of a Japanese store, unusual for the times, in West London's Notting Hill Gate. (Excerpted from "Revenge of the She-Punks: A Feminist Music History from Poly Styrene to Pussy Riot," by Vivien Goldman.) | | |
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| Wojcicki talks about her new book, "How to Raise Successful People," on the latest episode of Recode Decode with Kara Swisher. | | |
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| The acclaimed N.B.A. writer on her days as the only woman in the locker room, and the evolving challenge of reporting on sports. | | |
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| FTC must pave the path to competition. | | |
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| © Copyright 2019, The REDEF Group |
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