Showbiz Sandbox 391: For Your Consideration – Grammy Marketing Campaigns
December 4, 2017
Hip-hop artists lead the nominees for this year’s Grammy Awards with Jay Z and Kendrick Lamar the front runners for Album Of The Year. Steve Knopper, a contributing editor for Rolling Stone and author of several books about the music industry, joins us to explain how musicians have taken a lesson from Hollywood and begun mounting marketing campaigns to snag music’s highest honor.
Accolades for the year’s best movies have also begun to be doled out with critics groups announcing their picks. “Call Me By Your Name,” “The Florida Project,” and “Lady Bird” seem to be the big favorites as we head into awards season.
Meanwhile, allegations of sexual misconduct continue to pile up against entertainment and media personalities. Just when we thought it couldn’t get much worse, “Today” anchor Matt Lauer was fired by NBC News over sexual harassment and famed Metropolitan Opera conductor James Levine was suspended over accusations of sexual abuse.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment news including how Stephen Colbert continues to win the late night wars, director Bryan Singer disappears from the set of “Bohemian Rhapsody,” and why Disney is suing Redbox.
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Showbiz Sandbox 390: The Government Takes Aim At Media Mega Mergers and Net Neutrality
November 27, 2017
The Justice Department filed suit to block the merger of AT&T and TimeWarner. Since President Donald Trump promised to oppose the deal and repeatedly complained about CNN news coverage many see this as political payback. Ironically, however, many impartial observers agree with the Trump administration’s stance, just not for the same reasons. They see the merger as a questionable convergence of media power and vertical integration.
At the same time the Ajit Pai, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission wants to kill net neutrality regulations that he claims are crippling the internet. Pai’s proposal, which is certain to pass in December, is despised by consumer groups, tech companies and just about everyone other than the handful of giant telecommunications companies it is aimed to help.
Meanwhile, the number of sexual harassment allegations against power players in Hollywood, the media and politics continues to grow, though now we’re calling it sexual misconduct. We’ll touch on the latest entrants to the list including journalist Charlie Rose and Pixar’s John Lasseter.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment news including Netflix’s first Colombian production, Time Inc. gets a new owner, and the nominations for this year’s Spirit Awards.
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Showbiz Sandbox 389: The Ever-Growing List of Hollywood’s Sexual Harassment Accusations
November 20, 2017
Six weeks after allegations of sexual abuse and harassment against media mogul Harvey Weinstein were first reported by the New York Times, there seems no end to the number of Hollywood players being accused of misconduct. Kevin Spacey and Louis C.K. may be the biggest stars to have their careers upended thus far, but they won’t be the last as everyone from actor Jeffrey Tambor to talent agents to politicians and even journalists are having similar claims made against them.
The unanswered question is how the entertainment industry will implement changes to ensure sexual harassment will come to an end. Instead, there is concern of a backlash should the public grow tired of hearing about the latest offense to come out of Hollywood’s ranks.
Meanwhile, suing someone these days as become the industry’s second favorite past-time, right after wondering whose vile behavior will finally come back to haunt them. The hit TV show “Supernatural” is apparently losing money after years on the air, while director George Miller says “Mad Max: Fury Road” did not go over budget and he’s suing Warner Bros. to prove it.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment news including some new FCC media ownership rules, Sony nabs Quentin Tarantino’s next movie and the NFL is still proving attractive to advertisers.
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Showbiz Sandbox 388: Contemplating A Fox In The Mouse House
November 13, 2017
The Walt Disney Company reported earnings for the past year fell 1% as media networks help drag down profits. With revenue from its sports network ESPN declining, the entertainment conglomerate is now looking to get even bigger through acquisitions that will bolster its streaming media service. Specifically, Disney has been eyeing key assets of 21st Century Fox’s film and television holdings.
As the media landscape shifts, becoming more fractured, so too have the ways in which content such as movies and television shows is monetized. In an age where new entrants make their money selling electronic devices (Apple) or other products (Amazon) it would appear that size matters. Thus the reason investors are bullish on a deal between Disney and Fox.
Once again we can not avoid discussing the sexual harassment allegations that have erupted in Hollywood and started to spread into other industries, even politics. With each passing week another celebrity or power player sees their life fall apart amidst accusations of misconduct. The latest is comedian Louis C.K. who says the claims against him are all true.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment news including Taylor Swift’s latest album shattering sales records, Jennifer Anniston starring in Apple’s first scripted television series and Vanity Fair names a new editor-in-chief.
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Showbiz Sandbox 387: Has Star Wars Turned Disney Into The Evil Empire?
November 6, 2017
Last week it was released that Disney would be charging movie theaters a record high percentage of box office and a minimum guaranteed run in order to book “Star Wars: The Last Jedi.” At the same time, the studio has blacklisted the Los Angeles Times from reviewing and covering its films. We’ll explain why.
In television news, the Nielsen ratings company is giving us a peek into viewership for the Netflix series “Stranger Things.” And the BBC is opening up its digital platform to different sports leagues so more games can be seen for free by more people.
We also continue to provide updates on the sexual harassment allegations that have plagued the entertainment and media industries over the past month. The rap sheet of people fired or quitting over revelations they’ve been sexually harassing and assaulting people for years grows longer and longer…starting with Kevin Spacey, who has seen his life collapse in just one week.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment news including discussion of a “Lord of the Rings” television series, how YouTube has become a leading music curation platform and the Country Music Awards try and squelch the debate over gun control.
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Showbiz Sandbox 386: Keeping Up With Hollywood Sex Scandals Becomes A Full Time Job
October 30, 2017
October has been a particularly horrific month for Hollywood this year, and not just because of the run up to Halloween. After a record setting September, North American box office dropped to a ten year low in October as major releases failed to attract audiences. Then there was the flood of industry-wide sexual harassment claims, an ongoing story with no end in sight.
What started with egregious allegations against indie-mogul Harvey Weinstein has led to actors and actresses coming forward with more stories of harassment, including one against two-time Oscar winner Kevin Spacey, who has been accused of making sexual overtures to a 14-year-old boy over 30 years ago.
Meanwhile, the publishing industry has some good news about book sales and we’ll explain why lists announcing the best books of 2017 have already been compiled by trade publications, two months before the year is over.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment news including how the Disney Channel is introducing a gay storyline, a virtual reality project wins a special Oscar and the latest Star Trek series will get a second season.
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Showbiz Sandbox 385: Hollywood Finally Addresses Concerns Over Sexual Harassment
October 23, 2017
The recent and voluminous sexual harassment claims against mega-producer Harvey Weinstein have ignited a firestorm of similar allegations by women against numerous professionals throughout the industry. It has grown into a day of reckoning that is reaching directors, agents and executives in Hollywood, to encompass the music, publishing and video game industries too.
Last week it was revealed that filmmaker James Toback sexually harassed upwards of 38 women over a course of decades. At the same time Nickelodeon fired Chris Savino, the creator behind one of its most popular series, over harassment claims and the head of amazon Studios stepped down under a cloud of similar accusations.
Meanwhile, Ticketmaster may have finally found a way to squelch scalpers from buying up all the best seats at live events. Its Verified Fan program is getting great, albeit expensive, tickets into the hands of actual fans. Now all they have to do is work on the technology to make it work more effectively.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment news including Netflix continues to expand its subscriber base, Justin Timberlake will perform at the Super Bowl halftime show and HBO will bring its international productions to the United States.
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Showbiz Sandbox 384: NBC Has A Big Megyn Kelly Problem
October 16, 2017
NBC forked over millions of dollars to steal Megyn Kelly away from Fox News and then realized they had nowhere to put her. First the network gave Kelly a primetime news show opposite the ratings powerhouse 60 Minutes. When that move prove disastrous NBC shoehorned Kelly into the third hour of their hit morning program, “Today,” only to see the shows ratings plummet.
Marc Berman, the editor-in-chief of Programming Insider, joins us to analyze what went wrong with bringing Kelly to NBC, why putting a former political news anchor into a morning show was a bad fit, and what the network can do to save the “Today” show before Kelly brings down ratings any further. Berman believes if NBC doesn’t act soon, they could get lapped by the likes of CBS.
Speaking of public implosion swof media fixtures, the Harvey Weinstein scandal has moved beyond the movie mogul himself to encompass a culture of sexual harassment that pervades Hollywood. We’ll discuss a plausible idea that Hollywood could take toward ending such behavior.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment news including how Spanish language network Telemundo is gaining ground on its rival Univision, why the ratings of a CW show were significantly boosted by binge viewing on Netflix and YouTube views may soon be included in determining Billboard’s weekly music charts.
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Showbiz Sandbox 383: The Fall of Harvey Weinstein
October 9, 2017
When The New York Times reported that movie mogul Harvey Weinstein has been paying off women accusing him of sexual harassment for decades, it didn’t come as much of a surprise to many in Hollywood. Many of those that worked in and around the legendary indie movie producer, including a number of movie stars, were victims of Weinstein’s behavior, had direct knowledge of it, or had been warned about his reputation.
Reporters spent years trying to uncover the story, but only recently was enough evidenced gathered to conclusively document the repeated harassment. Within days of the story being published, and with more actresses leveling accusations, Weinstein was fired from his position as head of The Weinstein Company. Whether Weinstein could ever work in Hollywood again is difficult to fathom and the future of his former company is tenuous at best.
Meanwhile, the much anticipated sequel to the classic sci-fi movie “Blade Runner” was finally released to disappointing box office returns. Was it the 35-year wait between movies, the nearly three hour running time or simply a confusing marketing campaign that kept audiences away?
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment news including who won the Nobel Prize for literature, Netflix raises its prices and the this year’s nominees for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
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Showbiz Sandbox 382: Safety On Hollywood Sets Thrust Into Spotlight
October 3, 2017
When the star of a popular television series was involved in a car accident after a 14-hour day of production it prompted an investigation into the safety of the show’s performers. It also called attention to the simmering issue in Hollywood over on-set safety, which in recent weeks has included the death of a stunt person arguably not trained for the stunt they tackled and the possible murder of a location scout.
In the United States last summer’s box office might have been down, but popcorn sales are up. That’s not enough to keep independent movie theater owners happy. They’re suing the chain Landmark on antitrust grounds. Coincidentally, Landmark sued Regal over the very same issue a few years ago.
Meanwhile, an audit conducted by the MPAA of Chinese revealed that movie theater operators in the country are consistently underreporting ticket sales costing the studios millions of dollars in grosses. Fixing the problem can be a long political process.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment news how Hulu is outbidding Netflix on library content, the reboot of “American Idol” rounds out its judges panel and the big lawsuit between two TV ratings aggregators.
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