Tuesday, March 27, 2018

Worth a Look

Here are a few posts from last week's Greenpage that might be worth your time...

Game developers push for unionization amid insecure positions, excessive OT

Ars Technica: Going into the Game Developers Conference this week, you could foresee some of the hot topics that would be consuming the world’s largest gathering of game makers: stuff like real-time raytraced graphics, fantastical blockchain-based business schemes, and how to design games for augmented reality. But another surprising issue has overtaken many of the discussions in the Moscone Center hallways this week: that of unionization.
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Bethel Park changes stagehand policy after parent raises issue of blackened faces

TribLIVE: Stagehands at Bethel Park's high school switched from blackened faces to black ski masks after a concerned parent contacted the district, said Vicki Flotta, spokeswoman for the Bethel Park School District.
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‘Midnight Rider’ Case: Director Randall Miller’s Ask For Leniency Denied By Judge

Deadline: Midnight Rider director Randall Miller, serving a sentence for involuntary manslaughter in the 2014 on-set death of 27-year-old crew member Sarah Jones, was denied having his supervision removed by the judge overseeing the case since its beginning.
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Music Copyright 101: Sampling, Covers, Mixtapes & Fair Use

theproaudiofiles.com: You’ve seen the words “All Rights Reserved” contained in the liner notes of a CD or in the purchasing agreement of an iTunes file. What rights do those words give the copyright holder?
You would probably be able to identify some of them: that the music and the recording are protected by copyright, that the owner of the copyright reserves the right to copy the music, distribute and sell the music, allow others to pay to use the music, and prevent others from making unsanctioned copies of the music.
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Best of Slow TV

Cool Material: Slow TV is a wildly successful phenomenon in its home country of Norway and it’s something we can totally see exploding in popularity here in the states. Essentially, Norwegian television crews strap cameras to various forms of transportation or insert them into activities and record hours-long programs. There’s no plot, cast, or season premieres and finales. Yet millions of people tune in to watch.
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Worth a Look - Time's Up

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When Will Women Lead Storytelling in Hollywood?

www.clydefitchreport.com: “Look around, ladies and gentleman,” McDormand instructed us. “Because we all have stories to tell and projects we need to have financed. Don’t talk to us about it at the parties tonight. Invite us into your office in a couple days — or you can come to ours, whichever suits you best — and we’ll tell you all about them.”
McDormand ended her speech with two words that ignited a Google search frenzy: inclusion rider. A contractual stipulation in which actors and actresses can demand that as much of 50% of the onscreen talent and off-screen crew will be comprised of women and people of color. So far, Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Paul Feig and others have publicly stated that their future projects will contractually impose inclusion riders.
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Sexual assault in Hollywood: Four women share their Me Too stories

www.usatoday.com: The office was small and dingy, a two-room space with a reception area, across the freeway from Universal Studios in North Hollywood.
Toy action figures and a jumble of movie paraphernalia covered nearly every surface.
But Megan Densmore didn’t dwell on the bachelors-left-to-their-own-devices feel of the place.
When you’re trying to land your first acting job, the 22-year-old Oregon transplant thought, you don’t start in shiny corner offices of Los Angeles’ biggest talent agencies.
You start small. And you’re thankful for what you get.
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Reports Lay Bare Gender Pay and Bonus Gaps in British TV

Variety: ITV revealed Tuesday that its male employees earn, on average, 16.4% more than female employees – the latest British media and entertainment company to publicly acknowledge its gender pay gap. The BBC, Channel 4 and ITN have also reported figures showing that, across the board, men collect significantly bigger paychecks and bonuses on average than their female counterparts.
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For Women Behind The Camera, Sexual Harassment Is Part Of The Job

HuffPost: When David offered Mary a job on the set of a major feature film in 2016, it seemed like a golden opportunity. She’d moved to Vancouver the previous year to start her dream career and, at 28, found herself working 100 hours a week on various gigs across production sites. Now, David, in his 40s, an assistant location manager with a great reputation, was offering her a job she couldn’t pass up: production assistant in the location department of a big-budget production.
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#MeToo -- What should I do?

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: With a barrage of revelations in recent months about sexual harassment by high-profile men in the worlds of media and entertainment, local attorneys and advocates aimed to provide information and support to women at a panel discussion Sunday.
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Sunday, March 18, 2018

Worth a Look

Here are a few posts from last week's Greenpage that might be worth your time...

The Bruno Mars Controversy Proves People Don’t Understand Cultural Appropriation

thegrapevine.theroot.com: The furious debate about Bruno Mars and whether or not he is a cultural appropriator has bubbled beneath the surface of his career for a while. It existed before he remade Earth, Wind & Fire’s “Uptown Funk” or Bell Biv DeVoe’s “Finesse.”
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Broadway Director Kenny Leon Talks Children of a Lesser God Revival and How Racism Reaches Broadway

www.theroot.com: When Kenny Leon’s production of Children of a Lesser God opens on Broadway next month, fans of the original production from 40 years ago will definitely notice a few changes. But according to the Tony Award-winning director, the changes in the racial and political messages will hopefully bring more people into the theater.
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Latinx Advocacy Group Threatens to Boycott Hollywood Studios

Colorlines: Ahead of the 90th Academy Awards, The National Hispanic Media Coalition (NHMC) targeted Hollywood exclusion of Latinx artists at a pair of protests. Now, the media advocacy organization sets its sights on six of the biggest entertainment studios, which it says ignore Latinx people both on- and off-camera.
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Amplifying Civic Engagement Through #TheatreActionGunControl

HowlRound: I started Protest Plays Project because I wanted to create a space for socially-minded artists to meet. As a playwright, my first step was to reach out to other playwrights. What started as a gathering place soon became a place for planning action: I wanted to activate theatres and theatremakers to put all of these passionate scripts to use.

Now here we are, a little over a year later, and Protest Plays is no less ambitious. Our current goal? To put #TheatreActionGunControl plays in theatres across the nation in support of the #Enough walk-out and #MarchForOurLives march on DC and in cities around the country.
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Westworld SXSW Park Review - Westworld's SXSW Park Was a Mindf*ck of a Social Experiment

www.esquire.com/entertainment: I was already experiencing the subversive psychological manipulation of HBO’s Westworld experience at SXSW. Typically I’m jaded, if not outright hostile, to such preposterous displays of expendable marketing wealth. Yet, out of curiosity, I boarded the bus with dozens of other target audience tourists to ride 30 minutes outside of Austin to a pop-up theme park in the style of Westworld. I was alone, of course, because no one else I knew visiting SXSW had four hours to kill going to a version of Westworld without any of the disgusting thrills depicted on the TV show.
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Worth a Look - Time's Up

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Why Hollywood's 'Inclusion Rider' Mania Could Hurt the Equality Cause

Hollywood Reporter: When Frances McDormand uttered the words "inclusion rider" in her acceptance speech at this year's Oscars, Google lit up with folks searching the term. Even the entertainment industry's savviest lawyers had to ask around for the exact meaning and derivation, although most could guess that it had something to do with ensuring diversity through contracts. Two weeks later, an increasing number of production companies are saying they will adopt inclusion riders, while WME co-CEO Ari Emanuel announced inclusion riders have become "imperative."
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Sexual Misconduct in the Music Industry Addressed at SXSW Panel

Variety: In a frank, freewheeling and intense hour-long discussion, the subject of Sexual Misconduct in the Music Industry took center stage at SXSW on March 15. The talk came on the day that panelist Andrea Domanick, west coast editor of Noisy, published a two-years-in-the-making article on the subject culled from interviews with dozens of women in the business.
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Ben Affleck and Matt Damon adopt Frances McDormand's proposed inclusion rider.

slate.com/culture: Changes are brewing in Hollywood. Movements like #OscarsSoWhite and #TimesUp have thrown down the gauntlet for broader representation in the entertainment industry, both on screen and off. Both A-listers and fans want to see the industry, which has been historically dominated by white men, employ more women and people of color. Frances McDormand voiced such a request during her Best Actress acceptance speech, which she concluded by saying, “I have two words to leave you with tonight, ladies and gentlemen: inclusion rider.”
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Paul Feig Adds Inclusion Rider in Feigco Entertainment Productions

Variety: Director-producer Paul Feig has adapted the inclusion rider as part of all the feature film and television productions at his Feigco Entertainment.
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IATSE New Mexico Boss Facing New Harassment Allegations; 2nd Woman Comes Forward

Deadline: A second woman has come forward with allegations that Jon Hendry, the boss of IATSE Local 480 in Santa Fe, NM, sexually harassed her. Hendry, who until recently was one of the most powerful labor leaders in the state, was ousted as president of the New Mexico Federation of Labor AFL-CIO on Monday after Christa Valdez, the local’s former outside public relations rep, sued him last week for sexual harassment.
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Sunday, March 11, 2018

Worth A Look

Here are a few posts from last week's Greenpage that might be worth your time...

The Arts Contribute More Than $760 Billion to the U.S. Economy

NEA: New data released today by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) and the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) offers an insightful picture of the impact the arts have on the nation’s economy. The arts contribute $763.6 billion to the U.S. economy, more than agriculture, transportation, or warehousing. The arts employ 4.9 million workers across the country with earnings of more than $370 billion. Furthermore, the arts exported $20 billion more than imported, providing a positive trade balance.
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Trump budget is a death warrant for the arts

The Boston Globe: FOR THE SECOND budget cycle in a row, Donald Trump is attempting to eliminate the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities. This should not be surprising, from an administration that has shown disregard — even hostility — for government’s responsibility to provide essential human services as well as agencies that ensure the general welfare, for everything from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health to the Environmental Protection Agency.
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Coalition of Broadway Unions and Guilds Unanimously Elects New Leadership

www.broadwayworld.com: The Coalition of Broadway Unions and Guilds (COBUG) on Wednesday elected Laura Penn of Stage Directors and Choreographers Society (SDC) and D. Joseph Hartnett of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) to be Co-Chairs. They replace longtime Chair Anthony DePaulo of IATSE, who is retiring this week. Additionally, Lawrence Paone, President of the Treasurers & Ticketsellers Union, IATSE Local 751, was elected Secretary-Treasurer.
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UPDATE: ROCKTOPIA Responds to AEA on Arrangement for Choir's Wages

www.broadwayworld.com: While Rocktopia gets ready to take its first official Broadway bow, its producers are under fire for offering its chorus members low wages. An official statement from the Actors' Equity Association reads:

"Rocktopia" is a live performance that combines rock songs and classical music, and it's starting previews on Broadway in two weeks. Producers are advertising this as a Broadway show and charging Broadway ticket prices - but their Broadway Chorus isn't being offered an Equity contract. In fact, we've heard from members who have reported being offered as low as $215 for a week of Chorus work.
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Costume curator helps preserve Las Vegas’ showgirl past

Las Vegas Review-Journal: Karan Feder has always been fascinated by fashion.

“I was literally one of those girls who made her own Barbie doll outfits,” she notes. “I’ve totally always loved it.”

But it wasn’t until her first job — working with legendary costume designer Bob Mackie for musical star Mitzi Gaynor — that Feder realized her true love wasn’t fashion design but costume design.
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Worth a Look - Time's Up

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90th Oscars dance between honoring and correcting the past

Chicago Sun-Times: Held one year ago, the 90th Academy Awards would have very likely been a rose-colored nostalgia fest.

But this year, with a culture-wide reckoning over decades of sexual misconduct, a film business in decline, a volatile political climate and the fact that last year the esteemed show couldn’t even manage to present its biggest award correctly, the film academy and host Jimmy Kimmel on Sunday staged a complex and sometimes incongruous dance of attempting to both honor and atone for the past.
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Hollywood Desperately Needs More Women Cinematographers

themuse.jezebel.com: The number of women working in the field of cinematography has always been, and remains, remarkably poor.

In a piece about the historically low number of women DPs in Hollywood, The Washington Post notes that membership in the American Society of Cinematographers has grown “painfully slow,” with only 18 women out of roughly 375 members.
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Michael B. Jordan’s production company will adopt inclusion riders

The Verge: Michael B. Jordan posted on Instagram last night that his film production company, Outlier Society Productions, will adopt inclusion riders for all their forthcoming projects. An inclusion rider is a clause in an actor’s contract where they can set out baseline diversity requirements for the cast and crew before the actor commits to a project. The concept was mentioned by Best Actress award-winner Frances McDormand during her acceptance speech and quickly went viral.
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David Arquette and others sign #AskMoreOfHim open letter ahead of Oscars.

slate.com: Ahead of the 90th Academy Awards, men in the film industry and beyond are joining a new campaign to fight sexism and sexual misconduct. David Arquette, Justin Baldoni, David Schwimmer, Don McPherson, and Matt McGorry are among the signees of an open letter in support of #AskMoreOfHim, a movement that encourages men to promote women’s rights and to help end sexual harassment and violence.
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Suit accuses NM union leader of sexual harassment

Albuquerque Journal: One of New Mexico’s most prominent union leaders has been accused of harassment and discrimination by a former employee, who also alleges that the state’s largest film industry union abetted his behavior.
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Monday, March 05, 2018

Worth a Look

Here are a few posts from last week's Greenpage that might be worth your time...

Are you surprised that the young leaders of the Never Again movement are theatre kids? I’m not.

Intimate Excellent: They are young. They are bold and self-confident. They are articulate. They are passionate. They are leading a national movement. And they are theatre kids.

A fiercely dedicated band of teen survivors of the horrific shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, this week are earning international attention through social media for speaking out on gun control in a movement they call Never Again.
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Disability Community Deserves More Visibility in Hollywood

Variety: Diversity and inclusion are two important cultural topics gaining attention and focus by employers nationwide, including Hollywood. And yet, disability is almost always overlooked in this conversation. This award season, in looking across the many films and television shows honored, why are there so few that represent our country’s most diverse population — the disability community?
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Reminder: "Dressing Up" as a Latinx for Acting Work Is Not OK

The Mary Sue: A word of advice to any aspiring actors out there who come to Hollywood and are looking for additional acting training: Stay far away from Lesly Kahn and Co. Not only does Ms. Kahn not know what she’s talking about when talking about the industry in which she supposedly works, but she apparently loves to sprinkle all of her classes with a light dusting of racist comments.
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From Blackface to Bad Scripts, Former 'Token' Black Actors Open Up About Hollywood Racism

Colorlines: Hollywood casting practices force many Black actors into portraying caricatures at some point in their careers. The Undefeated talked to eight thespians who played “token” Black characters on predominantly White ’90s television shows for an article published yesterday (February 26).

“For some of the most visible Black actors coming of age in the 1990s, it’s clear that along with the triumphs came isolation, blatant racial stereotyping and biased casting calls,” journalist Keith Murphy writes in the introduction.
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How Mad Should I Be About the Whitewashing in Annihilation?

www.vulture.com: Get out your TI-89 outrage calculators, because it’s time to calibrate the proper amount of emotion to expend on another instance of Hollywood whitewashing. On the docket is Annihilation, a trippy, LSD-infused sci-fi film by Ex Machina’s Alex Garland starring Natalie Portman as a biologist exploring a top-secret zone called Area X. The movie is an adaptation of a Jeff VanderMeer book of the same title, the first part of the Southern Reach Trilogy.
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Equity's code should be applauded, but it is respect for the arts that will provoke change

WhatsOnStage.com: The theatre union Equity has just released a sensible report, called Agenda for Change, which seeks to use the Harvey Weinstein moment and the #MeToo campaign to establish, once and for all, safe spaces for its 43,000 members to work in, free of sexual and other harassment, bullying and abuse.
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The Problem With Broadway Revivals: They Revive Gender Stereotypes, Too

The New York Times: Billy Bigelow hits Julie Jordan. Henry Higgins molds Eliza Doolittle. Fred tames Lilli. And Edward rescues Vivian.

Amid a national reckoning with sexual harassment and misconduct, Broadway is mounting a cluster of musicals this season and next that, some theatergoers already contend, romanticize problematic relationships between women and men.
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Love-struck hero or creepy harasser? Suddenly we’re seeing our favorite rom-coms in a new light.

The Washington Post: Two years ago, film critic Sara Stewart sat down to re-watch “Sixteen Candles,” one of her favorite 1980s John Hughes comedies. She was mortified. One scene, played for laughs — the ostensible hero gifting his drunk girlfriend to another boy — seemed like a manual for rape. Stewart wrote a column about the offensive aspects of the movie, and was met with vitriol. Readers accused her of being humorless, of ruining something beloved.

“But if I wrote that column now,” she speculates, “I feel like people might be in agreement with me.”
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Female TV Writers in the U.K. Demand a Better Shot at the Top Series

Variety: A group of 76 female TV writers has sent an open letter to drama commissioners in Britain, asking that women be given greater opportunities to write, and write for, the biggest shows.
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Director Lynne Ramsay: ‘I've got a reputation for being difficult – it's bullshit’

Film | The Guardian: I’m not sure what I think film directors look like (Do they wear visors? Carry a loudhailer?), but I am very sure Lynne Ramsay doesn’t look like one. In her big beanie hat and jumper, her jeans and boots, Ramsay is a dead ringer for an art student bunking off lectures. Before she sees me, I spot her smoking a roll-up at a table outside the west London cafe where we’re meeting. She’s making notes in an exercise book; she looks perfectly happy.
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