News & Updates
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Lack of Color in Oscar Nominations Frustrates Academy President
Posted by NALIP on January 15, 2016
Associated Pressby Pete Hammond @ Deadline
Academy president Cheryl Boone Isaacs was diplomatic but clearly disappointed when I spoke to her at this morning’s Oscar nominations about the omission of African American-driven films like Straight Outta Compton, Concussion and Beasts Of No Nation. “Of course I am disappointed, but this is not to take away the greatness (of the films nominated). This has been a great year in film, it really has across the board. You are never going to know what is going to appear on the sheet of paper until you see it,” she told me, while acknowledging the Academy’s very public efforts at diversity are moving too slowly. “We have got to speed it up.”
Already the #OscarsSoWhite hashtag from last year’s glaring lack of diversity in the acting nominations is back in action, and you could see at this morning’s announcement for the 88th Annual AcademyAwards that officials were bracing for another tsunami of bad press regarding the lack of diversity on the list, especially regarding black artists. And despite Ang Lee’s and Guillermo del Toro’s presence in reading the nominations today, there was little to cheer about in the Asian and Latino communities also (with the BIG exception of last year’s big Oscar winner Alejandro Gonzalez Iñárritu’s presence with The Revenant).
This is despite big efforts by all concerned to deliver those missing nominations. Netflix, for instance, put a huge campaign behind Idris Elba for Beasts, and Will Smith gave arguably the finest performance of his career in Concussion. Recent National Society Of Film Critics Best Actor winner Michael B. Jordan, star of Creed, was even passed over, even as his co-star Sylvester Stallone was nominated in the Supporting Actor race. Creed‘s young director Ryan Coogler was also overlooked in the directing contest.
The cast of Compton also failed to break through. In fact Compton — produced, directed and starring a strong African American team — received only one nomination, Original Screenplay for Jonathan Herman and Andrea Berloff, S. Leigh Savidge & Alan Wenkus — who are all white. Universal, which distributed the film, also did a very costly print and television campaign for the film aimed at getting into the Best Picture race. It didn’t happen.
Is it fair to blame the Academy for this? Voters have certainly handed Oscars to many black performers in the past and just two years ago gave the Best Picture prize to 12 Years A Slave and Supporting Actress to Lupita Nyong’o. It wasn’t long ago when Denzel Washington and Halle Berry won the top two acting prizes in the same night. And the organization has really tried to shake things up in the membership, with many minorities, not just African Americans, gaining entrance to the exclusive club in recent years — particularly since Boone Isaacs became president and Dawn Hudson got the CEO job.
Boone Isaacs today pointed out the aforementioned presence among Latinos in today’s nominations with Gonzalez Iñárritu’s Revenant leading all movies with 12 nominations, as well as the high number of women producers and writers on the list this year. But there is no question the headlines hurt. And can the Academy really do anything about a democratic vote in which more than 6,000 members cast a private ballot?
Much of the lack of nominees of color often is said to lay more at the hands of the industry and its employment practices and green lights for movies, rather than the Academy, which really is at the end of the filmmaking process and looking to honor quality wherever they may find it. I have to say I was impressed earlier in the fall when I participated in an all-day event at the Academy designed to encourage largely minority filmmakers in their efforts to break into the business. So this year then is particularly heartbreaking in this quest because the quality was clearly there on screen. This morning someone was overheard saying, “Perhaps this year’s Oscar shows theme line ‘We all dream in gold’ should be changed to ‘We all dream in white’. ” Ouch. And certainly not really fair.
Academy’s Board Of Governors in November gave quintessential black director Spike Lee an Honorary Oscar; Boone Isaacs is the first black president of the group and only the third woman to lead it; Chris Rock is back for his second stint hosting the Oscars this year; and one of its producers (with David Hill) is Reginald Hudlin, who, while also expressing enthusiasm for many of the nominees, told me this morning he was also disappointed.
Check this out at Deadline.com -
Fred Armisen Talks Bringing Latino Comedy To The Mainstream With Launch Of Más Mejor
Posted by NALIP on January 13, 2016
Some people just get it, and others miss. For all the crap we give him for not having any sort of Latino representation on Saturday Night Live and for letting that red-haired-ignorant-fool-running for the highest office in our country host, Lorne Michaels gets it. He gets business, he gets comedy, and finally he gets us. Today, Michaels’ media company, Broadway Video launched Más Mejor, a premium digital comedy content studio powered by Latino voices. What does “powered by Latino voices” mean, exactly? It means that all content, written, and performed is actually created by Latinos, by funny Latinos. Not by some gringo sitting in a network’s writing room pitching jokes for a Latino actor based on what his grandfather told him about West Side Story. Más Mejor promises “more stories, more better.” Seriously, that’s the platform’s tagline.
How are they going to do that exactly? By uploading weekly content that includes topical sketches, political satire, and original web videos that refrain from pandering to Latinos (take a cue Hillary) but are instead reflective of the creator’s own experience. Does that include sketches in Spanish? Yes, it does. Oh, and did I mention that the talent is led by Fred Armisen and Horatio Sanz? (Armisen’s mother is Venezuelan and Sanz was born in Chile.) Killer, I know.
In addition to the former SNL alums, as of launch, the Más Mejor team is comprised of 26 Latinos, including refreshingly odd ducks like Julio Torres and Melissa Villaseñor. Mexico City’s What a Bear Productions and Lemon Films (Casa de mi Padre) are producing and talent sourcing partners while NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises, POPSUGAR Latina, and Batanga Media are distribution partners. The content will also be available on their website and YouTube channel.
Read more at Remezcla.com
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Norman Lear Reviving ‘One Day at a Time’ with Cuban-American Spin at Netflix, Rita Moreno to Co-Star
Posted by NALIP on January 11, 2016
Netflix has nabbed the “One Day at a Time” reboot from exec producer Norman Lear, Variety has learned. Rita Moreno is the first star to be cast.
Before landing at the streaming giant, the revival of the 1970’s-’80s family sitcom had been in the works for quite some time, and Lear has spoken about developing the project over the past year.
Described as a reimagining of the classic, the modernized multi-camera comedy will center around a Cuban-American family. The heroine is a recently separated, former military mom navigating a new single life while raising her radical teenage daughter and socially adept tween son with the help of her old-school Cuban-born mom (played by Moreno) and a friends-without-benefits building manager named Schneider.
“Men of a Certain Age” co-creator and “Everybody Loves Raymond alum Mike Royce will co-write the series with “How I Met Your Mother” and “Devious Maids” writer/producer Gloria Calderon Kellett. The scribes will also serve as exec producers with Lear and Michael Garcia (“Devious Maids”). Brent Miller will serve as a co-exec producer.
Netflix’s “One Day at a Time,” which landed a 13-episode order, hails from Act III Productions, Inc., Snowpants Productions, Small Fish Studios and Sony Pictures Television.
Last summer at the Television Critics Association press tour, Lear talked about his desire to remake his show with a diverse family. “I just love the idea because I don’t see enough of that representation on the air in any place I don’t mean to say it doesn’t exist — I don’t see it any place. There isn’t enough of it, and I think it’s a rich idea,” Lear said of Latino families on TV.
At that same event last year, Lear also teased the new version of “One Day at a Time” would feature a son and a daughter — rather than two daughters, who in the original were played by Mackenzie Phillips and Valerie Bertinelli — and a grandmother. “I want her to have a mother so there are three generations of Latino women,” he said of the new matriarch.
Moreno, who will be playing the grandmother, was first reported by Deadline.
For Netflix, “One Day at a Time” marks the latest series remake, following the “Full House” follow-up“Fuller House,” which premieres next month.
Just last week, original “One Day” cast member Pat Harrington Jr. died at the age of 86.
Check this out at Variety.com
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Mexico’s TV Azteca Struggles to Keep Up With Changing Media Landscape
Posted by NALIP on January 08, 2016
Mexico’s broadcast industry has fallen on hard times, but no network is facing a tougher challenge than TV Azteca. Caught in the whipsaw of the country’s rapidly changing media landscape, with laws designed to break the TV duopoly market leader Televisa and Azteca have enjoyed for decades, the network’s outlook is worsening amid plunging ad revenues, soaring costs and stinging competition.
The ailing broadcaster, Mexico’s second-largest, saw nine-month earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization plunge 50% as a slumping peso increased production costs. Domestic ad spending has fallen 10% amid a sluggish economy, further unnerving investors, who sent Azteca’s shares down 57% last year.
The TV giant also has new leadership: Billionaire owner Ricardo Salinas (whose fortune was halved last year) appointed his 32-year-old son Benjamin Salinas as CEO in October.
Benjamin has been responsible for such short-lived programs as gameshow “Asgaard,” which features costumed contestants vying for prizes in a show colored by Norse mythology; sci-fi-tinged drama “Drenaje Profundo” and action series “La Teniente.”
Unam U. sociology professor Raul Trejo says Benjamin Salinas “has a history of leading very bad programming.” His track record has not inspired confidence in his ability to jump-start innovative content, which TV Azteca desperately needs.
Notes Jorge Bravo of industry consultant Mediatelecom in Mexico City: “It’s been a very difficult year for both Azteca and (rival broadcaster) Televisa, but especially for Azteca. They are not growing, telenovela production is stalled, they don’t have a pay-TV distribution platform, and while they are working to improve news, it’s not enough.”
Azteca posted a $127 million nine-month loss compared with a $6.5 million profit over the same period a year ago.
A weakening peso hiked international content and production costs to 71% of revenues from 60% year over year. Azteca imports a large chunk of its content for flagship Channel 7 from Disney, Fox and Sony. Its other channel — Channel 13 — airs mostly local soaps.
Meanwhile, Mexico’s 2013 telecom and broadcasting reform will bring new digital rival Cadenatres to the fore this year, further pressuring Azteca’s domestic sales, which account for the bulk of its revenues.
“Cadenatres is not going to affect Televisa’s dominant position, but it could start denting Azteca’s,” Bravo adds, noting that the digital network is expected to account for 8% of the TV audience in five years.
Azteca’s main problem seems to be its snail-like reaction to a rapidly changing market, which the reform laws have shaken up through monopoly-busting regulations, new digital channels and an analog-to-digital switchover — the so-called Apagon Analogico, which was scheduled to take effect Jan. 1, though that action has been delayed.
Analysts say Azteca is moving too slowly to take on rising pay-TV competition from much-nimbler Televisa — the world’s largest Spanish-language broadcaster — and growing favorites like Netflix. For instance, Azteca’s Totalplay pay-TV unit has so far drawn just 45,000 users, generating only 10% of group revenues; Televisa has 10 million pay-TV subscribers.
“There is a huge opportunity to grow Totalplay, as well as Azteca’s fiber-optic Internet and pay-TV businesses,” Bravo says, but adds that the network needs to invest $400 million by 2018 to flesh out Totalplay. “Televisa has 62% of the pay-TV market, followed by Megacable,” and there is rising competition from Cablevision and Axtel. According to Bravo, Azteca has less than 1% of the pay-TV market, even though it controls 30% of the open-air spectrum. Televisa, in turn, controls 70% of the open-air market.
Read more at Variety.com
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Sneak Peak of VH1’s Hit The Floor with the WGAW
Posted by NALIP on January 08, 2016
VH1
PANEL AND PREMIERE SNEAK PEAK OF VH1’s HIT THE FLOOR
Monday, 1/11, 7:00 – 10:00 p.m. WGAW 2nd Floor, Multipurpose Room, Info: (323) 782-4589
The Writers Guild of America, West’s Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender (LGBT) Writers Committee and Committee of Women Writers, in conjunction with VH1, present a special panel event and premiere sneak peek screening to launch Season Three of VH1’s series Hit The Floor. Chronicling the behind-the-scenes drama of the wild world of professional basketball and the elite L.A. Devil Girls dance team, VH1’s popular, highly rated scripted series Hit The Floor returns for its third season on Jan. 18. The series is notably diverse in front of and behind the camera, with a writers’ room that’s 50% women and an unexpected LGBT storyline. Panelists to appear include: Hit The Floor Creator/Showrunner/Executive Producer James LaRosa, Holly Henderson (Co-EP) Judalina Neira (Story Editor), and Senior Vice President of VH1’s Scripted Programming and Production Maggie Malina, as well as cast membersKimberly Elise (“Sloane”), Taylour Paige (“Ahsha”) and Adam Senn (“Zero”). The panel will be moderated by LGBT Writers Committee Chair/screenwriter Gary Goldstein (Politics of Love, Hitched for the Holidays). A food and drink reception will follow.
7:00 P.M. Season 3 Premiere Episode Screening
7:45 P.M. Panel Discussion
8:45 P.M. Reception
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Starz Targets Latino Viewers with Hispanic-Themed Development Projects
Posted by NALIP · January 08, 2016
Starz is looking to boost its profile with Latino viewers. The premium cabler has set three development prospects revolving around Hispanic themes and creative auspices that include Televisa USA and “The Blair Witch Project’s” Haxan Films.
The focus on Hispanic audiences comes after Starz has found broad success with shows rooted in African-American experiences, including the drama “Power,” which ranks as Starz’s most-watched original series, and comedy “Survivor’s Remorse.”
Starz CEO Chris Albrecht has been vocal about the void in premium cable programming featuring diverse casts and creative teams. The Hispanic initiative was unveiled Friday morning during Starz’s presentation at the Television Critics Association’s winter press tour in Pasadena, Calif.
Starz has teamed with Televisa USA, an offshoot of Mexican media giant Grupo Televisa, to develop an English-language rendition of telenovela “El Malefico,” about a powerful businessman who makes a pact with the devil. The sudser ran for 320 episodes in Mexico in 1983-84.
Mauricio Katz will serve as showrunner and co-write the first episode of the drama with Chilean director Pedro Peirano. Katz is a prolific TV writer and producer who co-created the drama “Nino Santo,” which was recently developed for the U.S. at A&E Network. He also worked on FX’s “The Bridge.”
“Starz’s stamp of quality together with Mauricio and Pedro’s tremendous vision and intimate knowledge of the format will ensure an impactful return of this iconic series,” said Chris Philip, head of production and distribution for Televisa USA.
Haxan Films’ Eduardo Sanchez has teamed with Cuban writer-director Alejandro Brugues for the supernatural drama “Santeria,” revolving around undercover agents investigating a strange murder against the backdrop of the Cuban faith tradition of Santeria. Brugues is known for his comedy “Juan of the Dead.” Sanchez and Brugues are exec producers with Haxan’s Gregg Hale.
“Pour Vida” is based on a short story by Richard Villegas Jr. that follows twin sisters who inherit a building in East L.A. They attempt to open a wine bar in a gentrification effort but wind up adopting their neighborhood as their own. Marc Turtletaub, Dan Pasternack and Erin Keating are exec producers of the half-hour dramedy.
“Marc Turtletaub, Dan Pasternack and Erin Keating, along with our partners at Big Beach TV, brought to us a story that has yet to be told on television,” said Carmi Zlotnik, managing director of Starz. “There is heart and humor in capturing the first-generation experience.”
Starz already has been developing an adaptation of the Havana-set detective novels by Cuban writer Leonardo Padura. Albrecht said he feels the Hispanic audience is one that Starz can draw “if we lean in to them a little bit and show them that Starz has them on their minds.”
Starz hopes to shoot the “Havana Quartet” series in Cuba, although the feasibility of doing so may depend on “who’s going to be the next president of the United States.”
The most important thing is to find “genuine” fresh voices to deliver distinctive material, although that’s challenging because those creators don’t have the depth of experience needed to run a TV series. Marriages of young writers with seasoned showrunners can be tricky, which is why Starz focused on working with established source material and production entities with track records in the arena.
“I think the biggest obstacle to more diversity in programming is that there aren’t the diverse voices that are allowed to put forth their work,” Albrecht said.
In other tidbits from the session:
- “American Gods,” the anticipated adaptation of the Neil Gaiman novel from Bryan Fuller and Michael Green, is expected to begin production later this year in Toronto.
- Starz is in discussions with producer Chris Moore for another season of filmmaking reality series “The Chair” but with a different concept.
- The first script for “Ash vs. Evil Dead’s” second season is in and looking good. “The second season is so important for a series,” Albretch said.
Check this out at Variety.com
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Enter Guy Ritchie's Instagram Short Film Competition
Posted by NALIP · January 07, 2016
By Zack Sharf | Indiewire
Guy Ritchie, Josh Berger and Lionel Wigram will judge the global film competition.
Brompton Bicycle, the UK’s largest bike manufacturer, is celebrating the second special edition production release of its iconic Black Edition by launching a global film competition with the help of director Guy Ritchie. Entitled "#MyUnseenCity," the competition is an "urban movie challenge" centered around 15-second short films exhibited on Instagram.
The competition will inspire entrants to create a short 15-second film of their own "unseen" city, showcasing its hidden gems and what makes city living so unique and exciting to them.
Using the hashtag #MyUnseenCity, the competition is open to anyone with an Instagram account. The winner will be announced at the end of March 2016. All of the films uploaded as competition entries will be available to view on Instagram and through Brompton’s own channels via its global web page and Facebook.
The 10 most liked films will then be viewed by the Brompton Bicycle judging panel, which includes Ritchie, Josh Berger and Lionel Wigram and Will Butler-Adams. Visit the Brompton website for more information.
Check this out at IndieWire.com
“Of course. I thought there was anextraordinary amount of Oscar-worthy work by black artists and they all got overlooked,” he said. “That’s a lot, so it’s very disappointing. But that doesn’t change the fact that those movies are there, those movies are great, audiences love them and they were some of the biggest boxoffice of the year. So America’s clear, the world is clear as they are celebrating them. I hope they are not being punished for their success.”
Of course they are also in good company today with directing snubs for Ridley Scott and Steven Spielberg along with the likes of Johnny Depp, Aaron Sorkin and on and on. One person close to process recently predicted to me, “a lot of people will be disappointed on nomination morning.” He was right, but there always are those who get overlooked. You can’t help it.
Even the year’s biggest movie, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, was blown off the Best Picture list and received just a handful of technical nominations despite Academy efforts to get more popular movies on the list, while the second biggest movie of the year, Jurassic World, was blanked completely. There’s only so much you can do with a slow-moving organization that hands out memberships for life. Still the issue of diversity is one that isn’t going away this year, despite the Academy’s efforts to effect significant change and make the list of nominees look more like the world around us.