Showbiz Sandbox 212: Should There Be An Oscar For Casting Directors?
November 4, 2013
Last week Woody Allen wrote an “open letter” to the film industry pointing out that casting is the only single card credit at the beginning of a movie which is not honored by the Academy Awards. Like many before him, the filmmaker argued casting directors are crucial to any good movie, especially his. Should the Oscars consider adding a category for casting directors to recognize them alongside editors, cinematographers and other craftspeople?
Meanwhile, a film that hasn’t started the casting process in earnest is “Star Wars: Episode VII”. The movie doesn’t even have a script yet, which is why its filmmakers have been trying to convince Disney to push its release date back a year to 2016.
In the television world there was bad news for Time Warner Cable last week. Their dispute with CBS which led to a month-long blackout of the network cost the company over 300,000 subscribers. This likely means other cable providers will be afraid to pick fights with broadcasters over the rising cost of programming. Digital rights, however, are an entirely different battle.
Of course, we also cover the week’s top entertainment news stories including why “slow TV” is such a hit in Norway, the rising cost of the “Hunger Games” franchise and the Jonas Brothers officially call it quits.
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The International Fate of ‘12 Years’
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/29/business/media/steve-mcqueens-film-is-a-box-office-test-case.html
Cinemark Breaks Its NC-17 Ban for ‘Blue Is the Warmest Color’
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/cinemark-breaks-nc-17-ban-651987
Woody Allen Pens Rare Open Letter to Hollywood
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/woody-allen-pens-rare-open-651493
Why ‘Hunger Games: Catching Fire’s’ Budget Ballooned to $130 Million-Plus
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/why-hunger-games-catching-fires-651660
Star Wars: Disney CEO Bob Iger’s Firm 2015 Date Leaves ‘Episode VII’ Team Scrambling
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/star-wars-episode-vii-disney-651482
Pixar Digs Up Old-School Editing Supplies to Save Ken Loach’s Final Film
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/pixar-digs-up-old-school-651506
Twitter #Music Will Live Despite Planned Demise Of Mobile App
http://www.hypebot.com/hypebot/2013/10/twitter-music-lives-despite-planned-demise-of-mobile-app.html
The Jonas Brothers Have Broken Up ‘For Now’
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/29/jonas-brothers-break-up_n_4173301.html
Panasonic Announces an End to Plasma TVs
http://www.electronichouse.com/article/panasonic_saying_goodbye_to_plasma/
James Blake Wins Mercury Prize
http://pitchfork.com/news/52837-james-blake-wins-mercury-prize/
Is Norway’s Slow TV Phenomenon The Future Of Reality Programming?
http://www.deadline.com/2013/11/slow-tv-norwegian-phenomenon-continues-with-9-hour
Wynton Marsalis to Lead Jazz Studies at Juilliard
http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/10/28/wynton-marsalis-to-lead-jazz-studies-at-juilliard/
La Scala To Lose Conductor Daniel Barenboim
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/culture/la-et-cm-la-scala-barenboim-20131029,0,6510981.story
FCC May End Blackout Rules, But Games May Still Be Blacked Out Online
http://gigaom.com/2013/11/01/fcc-may-end-blackout-rules-but-games-may-still-be-blacked-out-online/
Time Warner Cable Lost 306,000 Video Subscribers, Mostly In CBS Fight
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/cotown/la-fi-ct-twc-cbs-customers-20131101,0,7921743.story
Disney and Dish Wrangle Not Over Broadcast Fees, But The Future of TV
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/04/business/media/disney-and-dish-wrangle-not-over-broadcast-fees-but-the-future-of-tv.html
Netflix Starts Testing 4K Videos, Wants To Launch Ultra HD Next Year
http://gigaom.com/2013/11/01/netflix-starts-testing-4k-videos-wants-to-launch-ultra-hd-next-year/
Now Star Wars has a firm release date of Dec 18, 2015! Nothing like rushing one of the most valuable franchises in history. On the other hand, maybe Disney should have hired Terrence Malick instead of that slow poke JJ Abrams. Malick has three movies coming out in 2014 ALONE!!