Breaking Tidbits from the World of Filmmaking, Commercialmaking, Television and Entertainment Production Updated Throughout the Week
April 20, 2012
German court rules against YouTube in rights case
BERLIN (AP) — A German court has ruled that online video platform YouTube must install filters to prevent users from uploading some music videos whose rights are held by a music-royalties collecting body.
German news agency dapd reported that the Hamburg state court on Friday mostly sided with Germany’s GEMA, which represents about 60,000 German writers and musicians.
GEMA took Google Inc.’s YouTube unit to court over 12 temporarily uploaded music videos for which no royalties were paid.
YouTube has maintained that it bears no legal responsibility for the uploaded content — saying it checks and sometimes blocks content when users alert the firm about alleged violations of laws.
It was not immediately clear whether the ruling will be appealed.
Director admits inflating movie costs in Massachusetts, faces prisonBOSTON (AP) — A movie director charged with inflating expenses in his application for Massachusetts film tax credits has pleaded guilty and will be sentenced to up to 3 years in state prison.
Daniel Adams had initially pleaded not guilty to 10 charges including larceny and making a false claim against the state. He has also been ordered to pay nearly $4.4 million in restitution to the state.
A judge ordered Adams released Thursday on $10,000 bail until the start of his sentence on May 10. Adams was also ordered to surrender his passport and wear a GPS tracking device.
Attorney General Martha Coakley’s office had accused Adams of exaggerating expenses for two films shot on Cape Cod, “The Golden Boys” and “The Lightkeepers,” resulting in about $4.7 million in tax credit overpayments.
Johnny Jensen, Albert Brenner to get Lifetime Achievement at Riverside FF
LOS ANGELES – The Riverside International Film Festival Lifetime Achievement Award for Cinematography will be presented to Johnny Jensen. Jensen has four decades of experience. Early in his career he worked on such films as The Godfather, Altered States and An Officer and a Gentleman. Among his credits as director of photography are Grumpy Old Men, Rosewood, Rambling Rose and The Ladies Man. He has received two Emmy nominations. Jensen is currently Professor of Cinematography at Chapman University’s Dodge College of Film and Media.
The festivals’ Lifetime Achievement Award for Production Design will be presented to veteran production designer Albert Brenner. He received Oscar nominations for his work on Beaches, 2010, California Suite, The Turning Point and The Sunshine Boys. Other films he designed include Pretty Woman, The Princess Diaries and Backdraft. Brenner received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Art Directors Guild in 2003.
The two men were chosen as part of the outreach programs of the International Cinematographers Guild and the Art Directors Guild to inform consumers of the work their members do.
Internet ad revenue hits record $31B in US in 2011NEW YORK (AP) — Revenue from Internet advertising in the U.S. hit a record $31 billion last year, according to a study released Wednesday.
That’s up 22 percent from $26 billion in 2010, the previous record.
The Interactive Advertising Bureau, an industry group, conducted the quarterly study with PricewaterhouseCoopers.
About half of the ad revenue, $14.8 billion, came from the search category. Those are the text-based ads that are sold by Google and others and that are targeted to search terms and other keywords.
The fastest-growing category was mobile, with revenue of $1.6 billion in 2011, more than double the $600 million a year earlier. It’s still a small part of overall Internet advertising, however.
David Silverman, a partner with PricewaterhouseCoopers, said the growth in mobile should continue given its ability “to deliver timely, targeted, relevant and local advertisements in a manner that was not previously possible.”
According to the study, retail advertisers were the largest spenders, accounting for 22 percent, or $7.1 billion, of the total last year.
Internet ad revenue in the final three months of 2011 totaled $9 billion, a 20 percent increase from the same period in 2010. That’s also a record, beating the $7.8 billion in the third quarter of 2011.
Brandon Geary Joins Blast Radius As Sr. VP of Strategy
SEATTLE–Global strategic digital agency, Blast Radius, has hired Brandon Geary as sr. VP of strategy, a newly created position at the shop. Geary will be based in the Seattle office, where he will be responsible for leading the agency’s growing strategy practice in North America, working with new and existing clients such as Starbucks, Nike, Bacardi and Levi’s.
Geary joins Blast Radius from Razorfish, where he served as head of strategy. Blast is a member of the Wunderman Network and WPP Group of Companies.
YouTube, Google Play add 600 MGM movies for rent
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Google is adding 600 movies from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to the titles it has available for rent on YouTube and also Google Play, its digital content store for Android-powered mobile devices.
MGM, whose film library includes classics like “Rocky” and “Rain Man,” joins five other major studios offering movies for rent through Google: Viacom Inc.’s Paramount, Comcast Corp.’s Universal, Sony Corp.’s Sony Pictures, Time Warner Inc.’s Warner Bros. and The Walt Disney Co.
Several smaller studios including Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. and The Weinstein Co. also rent movies online through Google.
YouTube is available on computers and mobile devices, as well as on Google TV, an Internet-connected TV platform available on certain Sony televisions and Blu-ray players and the Logitech Revue set-top box.
Google Inc. is based in Mountain View, Calif.
‘Shrek’ studio joins Wal-Mart disc-to-digital plan
LOS ANGELES (AP) — DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc., the maker of “Shrek,” ”Madagascar” and “Kung Fu Panda,” is teaming up with Wal-Mart Stores Inc. to help people convert their old DVDs into an online movie library.
Jeffrey Katzenberg, DreamWorks’ chief executive, says that the new “Disc to Digital” service will help consumers adapt to technological change. The service launches Monday at Walmart stores nationwide.
DreamWorks joins five other participating studios: Viacom Inc.’s Paramount, Sony Corp., Comcast Corp.’s Universal, News Corp.’s 20th Century Fox, and Time Warner Inc.’s Warner Bros.
Consumers who bring in physical DVDs and Blu-ray discs can pay $2 per disc to be able to access the movies through Wal-Mart’s Vudu online movie service on computers, mobile devices, Internet-connected TVs and game consoles. To start, 4,000 titles are convertible.
Heat Taps Filippelli As Group Account DirectorSAN FRANCISCO–Ad agency Heat has hired Marina Filippelli as a group account director. She brings more than a decade of advertising and public relations experience and an expertise in Hispanic markets.
Filippelli will work with the client services team at Heat to build and grow the Hispanic offerings at the agency for current and new clients. Filippelli is coming to Heat from Hispanic PR agency Conexión, where she developed an internal structure that integrates public relations, social media, and traditional and online advertising. She will be responsible for transitioning the Hispanic marketing portion of the Bank of the West account, as it moves from Conexión to Heat. Heat is Bank of the West’s agency of record.
“The Hispanic market is one of the fastest growing consumer segments in the US,” said John Elder, president, Heat. “As Hispanics continue to integrate into the mainstream, these changes affect the fabric of American culture. Taking Hispanic sensitivities into account will continue to be essential in capturing not just the next generation of U.S.-born and acculturated Hispanics, but the new ‘general market’.”
In order to succeed during cultural and demographic change, brands must reexamine the conversations they have with customers in new cultural contexts. Elder continued, “By successfully aligning brand communications, and from that starting point executing targeted messaging, companies will build stronger foundations among their Hispanic consumer base.”
Filippelli graduated from University of Miami, and has lived and worked in Buenos Aires and Mexico City, in addition to Miami and LA. She has worked with Miami’s Zubi Advertising and LA-based Conexión and La Agencia de Orcí on projects and campaigns for clients including American Airlines, M&M/Mars, Bank of America, and Allstate.
3-D release steers ‘Titanic’ past $2 billion mark
LOS ANGELES (AP) — James Cameron has shored up his position as king of the worldwide box office.
Cameron’s 1997 blockbuster “Titanic” sailed beyond the $2 billion mark in lifetime ticket sales, thanks to a 3-D re-release of the film that was timed to the centennial of the ship’s sinking.
Only one other movie has topped $2 billion, and it’s also Cameron’s. His 2009 sci-fi smash “Avatar” earned $2.8 billion worldwide.
The “Titanic” reissue took in about $100 million this weekend — $11.6 million domestically and a whopping $88.2 million in 69 overseas markets. That included a $58 million debut in China and put the re-release total worldwide at $190.8 million.
Added to the film’s $1.84 billion haul in its original release, “Titanic” now stands at $2.03 billion worldwide.
Review: Malcolm Washington Makes His Feature Directing Debut With “The Piano Lesson”
An heirloom piano takes on immense significance for one family in 1936 Pittsburgh in August Wilson's "The Piano Lesson." Generational ties also permeate the film adaptation, in which Malcolm Washington follows in his father Denzel Washington's footsteps in helping to bring the entirety of The Pittsburgh Cycle — a series of 10 plays — to the screen.
Malcolm Washington did not start from scratch in his accomplished feature filmmaking debut. He enlisted much of the cast from the recent Broadway revival with Samuel L. Jackson (Doaker Charles), his brother, John David Washington (Boy Willie), Ray Fisher (Lymon) and Michael Potts (Whining Boy). Berniece, played by Danielle Brooks in the play, is now beautifully portrayed by Danielle Deadwyler. With such rich material and a cast for whom it's second nature, it would be hard, one imagines, to go wrong. Jackson's own history with the play goes back to its original run in 1987 when he was Boy Willie.
It's not the simplest thing to make a play feel cinematic, but Malcolm Washington was up to the task. His film opens up the world of the Charles family beyond the living room. In fact, this adaptation, which Washington co-wrote with "Mudbound" screenwriter Virgil Williams, goes beyond Wilson's text and shows us the past and the origins of the intricately engraved piano that's central to all the fuss. It even opens on a big, action-filled set piece in 1911, during which the piano is stolen from a white family's home. Another fleshes out Doaker's monologue in which he explains to the uninitiated, Fisher's Lymon, and the audience, the tortured history of the thing. While it might have been nice to keep the camera on Jackson, such a great, grounding presence throughout, the good news is that he really makes... Read More