News
September 4, 2018
August 31st News Report from your Los Angeles Representative
Happy Friday everyone,
Labour Day approaches and box office receipts are expected to
provide Hollywood its best summer in years. As detailed in the Los
Angeles Times below, ticket sales in
the U.S. and Canada from the first weekend of May through Labour Day are
expected to hit $4.4 billion in 2018, up 14% from the same period last
year, when a string of costly bombs raised alarm that theatrical movies had
ceded their cultural relevance to shows on Netflix, HBO and Hulu.
http://www.latimes.com/business/hollywood/la-fi-ct-summer-box-office-20180830-story.html
Diversity has continued
to be a hot button issue during the past year and I feel strongly that
filmmakers and screen-based stakeholders who sincerely work towards ensuring all people have equal opportunity will
be best positioned to succeed.
There were several
articles published this week which reflect how the industry is addressing
diversity, including one from the LA Times below which reports
that more than 3,000 people, including multiple
prominent actors, directors and producers, have signed an open letter calling
on the entertainment industry to end what activists describe as a vast pay gap
between male and female production workers.
http://www.latimes.com/business/hollywood/la-fi-ct-hollywood-pay-equity-20180824-story.html
The Wrap reported this week that influential movie review
site Rotten Tomatoes is adjusting its
critics criteria for its Tomatometer rating system, allowing for a wider and
more diverse pool of critics.
https://www.thewrap.com/rotten-tomatoes-adjusts-criteria-to-include-more-diverse-critics/
And a study released by
the Directors Guild of America this week indicates that strides towards
diversity may be paying off. As reported in Deadline below,
the DGA found that the pool of first-time
episodic TV directors is more inclusive than ever, with women and minorities
seeing dramatic employment gains and setting record highs for the second year
in a row.
https://deadline.com/2018/08/dga-study-women-minority-first-time-episodic-tv-directors-more-diverse-than-ever-1202454464/
We all know that the
amount of content being created right now is unprecedented and many of the
articles in this space over the past few years have related to ways in which
various jurisdictions, including Ontario, are struggling to accommodate demand
for production-related services. Variety this week reports
that the U.K.'s Pinewood Shepperton Studios will undergo a US $640 million redevelopment and expansion, which will
increase its stage space by around 465,000 square feet.
https://variety.com/2018/film/news/shepperton-studios-pinewood-expansion-plans-640-million-1202911464/
Louisiana is another
region that has enjoyed enormous growth the last several years: local TV
station 4WWL reports that the state will capitalize on that
success with a new Movie Trail, which leads visitors on a tour of 25 sites
where their favorite movies were filmed. As reported below, the Louisiana Office of Tourism estimates that 9 percent
of visitors were influenced by viewing productions filmed and set in Louisiana
and the state's Lieutenant Governor will introduce the Trail to an emerging
international travel market in China this weekend.
https://www.wwltv.com/article/entertainment/want-to-see-where-your-favorite-movie-was-filmed-in-louisiana-now-you-can/289-588364148
Finally, this week, the
Ottawa Film Office and studio operator TriBro Studios have unveiled a
proposal to build a $40-million sound stage campus and creative hub in the
nation's capital. As detailed in Playback below, public consultation hearings are set to begin Sept.
5th and more specific details about the proposal will be unveiled in the coming
weeks.
http://playbackonline.ca/2018/08/29/ottawa-film-office-tribro-unveil-proposal-for-soundstage-campus/#ixzz5PZnWRwuY
Warmest regards,
Kelly Graham-Scherer
Los Angeles
Representative
Toronto/ Ontario Film
Office