Category: The Business of Production

According to Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes, Game of Thrones being the most pirated is better than an Emmy.

Yes, in response to a question about whether the network kinda-sorta regards the extensive theft of HBO’s flagship show, Game of Thrones, as a compliment, Bewkes said, “I have to admit it, I think you’re right.” The much-discussed fantasy series is HBO’s most popular, and “if you go to people who are watching it without subs, it’s a tremendous word-of-mouth thing,” the exec told investors. “We’ve been dealing with this for 20, 30 years—people sharing subs, running wires down the backs of apartment buildings. Our experience is that it leads to more paying subs. I think you’re right that Game of Thrones is the most pirated show in the world,” he said. “That’s better than an Emmy.”

 

The Wall Street Journal reports that NBC are going to focus on “live” and “event focused” broadcasts, which is reasonable since that’s pretty much all they have left!

After six blockbuster movies this summer  are looking like complete flop is it time to reconsider the type of movie “Hollywood” is making? Is a $200 million “Blockbuster” the only movie that should be produced? When even Variety says it’s time for studios to “end their Mega-budget obsession” perhaps it is time to rethink the Hollywood output.

Although I want to believe change will happen, experience tells me that change happens much more slowly than I generally expect. So I don’t expect much short-term change to the “Hollywood” studio model, but I do see that there’s a lack of direction. Sequels and franchises borrowed from elsewhere, to push the tentpole model, isn’t the creative industry it can be. (Many, many very creative people make these films, but the ideas seem repetitive.)

Well, Erik Lokkesmoe wonders Is Hollywood Worth Saving?

In a recent post commenting on Marissa Mayer’s “Professional Photography is dead” statement, Chuq Von Rospach posted Why Marissa Mayer was really right, even if you hate hearing that fact. Essentially the argument is that, because modern cameras make it easier to take a decent/good picture there’s less need for the professional.

I think we could replace “Professional Photographer” in that article, with “Professional Videographer” because the issues are very similar.

Given how few people are full time professional video editors, and how many seats of NLEs have been sold, there are clearly a lot of people “in between”: people who edit professionally, but not all day, every day. Here are a couple of examples from my recent reading.