News
January 9, 2015
January 9th News Report from your Los Angeles Representative
Weekly Update from Kelly Graham-Scherer, Los Angeles Representative
Happy New Year everyone!
It's great to be back and I feel full of confidence that 2015 will be an excellent year for our jurisdiction. The low dollar finally seems to be on everyone's radar and by all accounts it, coupled with our reputation for reliability and stability, will result in an extremely busy next few quarters.
Awards season is in full swing in Los Angeles and much of the industry media is currently focusing on that. The articles in this week's report are concerned with the analyses of what happened in 2014 and predictions of which trends will concern industry stakeholder in 2015 and beyond.
The Sony hack precipitated by the feature film The Interview dominated headlines at the end of the year and right into January. Political implications aside, there was much speculation as to whether the film's ultimate simultaneous release in theaters and VOD might signal a shift towards future future day-and-date theatrical and VOD releases. An analysis in the Hollywood Reporter below casts doubt on whether the Interview scenario will upend traditional releasing strategies.
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/sony-hack-interviews-vod-strategy-761463
It turns out that 2014 was not a great year at the box office. As detailed in the Los Angeles Times below, the box office reached an estimated $10.3 billion in 2014, down about 5.2% from 2013's record of $10.9 billion and industry experts expect attendance at theaters to be down a similar amount.
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/cotown/la-et-ct-box-office-20150103-story.html
The trend towards streaming made a lot of headlines in 2014 and it is likely to do so this year as well. As reported in Home Media Magazine below, seven in 10 viewers in broadband households have streamed full-length TV programs in the past six months, according to a new joint research study released at the Consumer Electronics Show.
http://www.homemediamagazine.com/streaming/study-shows-seven-10-tv-viewers-stream-programming-34962
According to Variety Hollywood is still struggling to adapt to the streaming trend. Variety published a year-end look at what it asserts is the industry's failure to accommodate change with regards to the digital atmosphere.
http://variety.com/2014/voices/columns/hollywood-isnt-very-good-at-learning-from-its-mistakes-1201379336/
Finally this week - Was 2014 the beginning of the end for reality television? According to a year-end feature in the Los Angeles Times, unscripted programming is mired in an unexpected slump.
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/tv/la-et-st-reality-television-20141228-story.html#page=1
Warmest regards,
Kelly Graham-Scherer
Los Angeles Representative
Toronto/ Ontario Film Office