Peter Gabriel To The Academy: Unplugged

Here is the full text of the letter…
“I was delighted when Down to Earth was nominated for an Oscar. I was also pleased to have been asked to perform the song in the Oscar ceremony. However, in recent discussions with the Producers, it became clear that despite there being only three nominees, only 60-65 seconds was being offered, and that was also in a medley of the three songs. I don’t feel that is sufficient time to do the song justice, and have decided to withdraw from performing.
I fully respect and look forward to the Producers’ right to revamp the show. Even though song writers are small players in the film making process, they are just as committed and work just as hard as the rest of the team and I regret that this new version of the ceremony is being created, in part, at their expense.”
I still very much look forward to attending the ceremony”.

The Politics Of E-Journalism 2009

Added, Friday 2/13, 11a – Now Sharon Waxman, extending the circle of fun for another day, defended herself against “my friend” (her tag) Patrick Goldstein. See… she was cautious in her language… so being wrong was okay. And she gets to slam the LAT for not PRINTING IN THE PAPER their piece on the audio press conference, even though nothing really came out of it, when her coverage has never and will never be on paper.
People need to decide, at least for themselves, what they think the rules are and stick by them for at least a full 72 hour cycle.
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Amidst all of the economic bloodshed in recent months and muted hoopla around the Oscars, one “real” story has emerged. The Motion Picture & Television Fund being forced – their take on it – to shut down long-term care and hospital operations in Woodland Hills is a real loss with a direct effect on real people.
The problem is terrible, in terms of how it affects many needy people. It is not remotely shocking under the current economics. And the attitude, as it too often is, that somehow Hollywood should just throw money at it, is as simple-minded as some of the coverage. How many more employees of companies already laying off people – with more cuts to come – should be fired to keep the Motion Picture Home fully operational? After Katzenberg and his friends kick $20 million into this problem, where else should they be spending their money? Please… tell us!
But I digress…
Easily the highest profile piece on the closing was in the LA Times yesterday, written by Richard Verrier, and published hours before an audio press conference. It was the LAT’s third paper story on the closing since the announcement on January 14. (Top News, 1/15) and Business, 1/23) There have also been a number of blog entries along the way, including the initial announcement and a Patrick Goldstein slam back in January.
But since the January 14 announcement, the driving reporting has been done on the web, in a combination of news and gossip.
Nikki Finke took on the story in her inimitable fashion… first being sent by Sitrick to slap at Allan Mayer… then having Jeffrey Katzenberg calling to try to correct the Mayer problem, essentially selling his side of this story in full directly to the gossip columnist yet being laid out for ridicule by demanding not to be quoted directly which. for Nikki, meant the failure use of actual quotes as she burned yet another person willing to talk to her directly… and then running a couple (1 | 2) e-mails…
On Sunday, freelancer Andrew Gumbel, writing for Sharon Waxman’s new venture, The Wrap, wrote up a a thorough and blistering piece on the economics of the MPTF, following it up a few hour later with Part 2.
This led to Nikki trying to top his piece, citing her own contribution to it and correcting an alleged error after someone told her otherwise in an e-mail.
A couple more e-mails posted on Tuesday (1 | 2), the second being “super secret,” but not really showing how they could have changed the course of events, as posited by Finke. Quite the opposite. The report actually breaks down why they felt compelled to take the action that was taken..
All of this drama led to a Wednesday audio news conference, for which TheWrap immediately (and repeatedly) took public credit. (Nikki Finke, no doubt, should get credit for it being an audio press conference, since she would never attend a public press conference in person. Gumbel also gets credit, as the MPTFers apparently refused to speak to him directly and were, rather, happy to have the format that gave them more control.) This was preceded, as these things often are, by the story in the major media outlet in town, The Los Angeles Times.
Around noon, there was also, to no one’s surprise but Nikki Finke’s, a press release defending the MPTF’s positions from Gumbel’s accusations, that was written before the audio press conference.
At 1:14p , Gumbel reported on the audio press conference.
At 1:40p, Nikki attacked the LA Times and The Trades for not asking questions at the press conference.
2:17p – Variety’s Dave McNary writes up a report on the audio press conference and the press release, which has a different Katzenberg quote than the TheWrap story.
At 2:45p, TheWrap took the release personally, as it should have, and responded to the MPTF’s responses to Gumbel’s reporting, including a few comedic defenses of the overhype on the front page of the site (“MPTF residents despondent; six have died since closure announced.”)
By 4:22p Patrick Goldstein was taking his Katzenberg shots without even mentioning his own paper’s coverage.
At 4:35p, TheWrap decides to memorialize Nikki Finke

Wack-keen On Dave

It’s beyond description… here’s a link

Another BYOB

Truth is… most of my impulse to write today was to explain why other stories were wrong or silly, whether it was positioning opinion as fact or a writer screaming about everyone else being silly and then participating in a circle jerk about the Oscars… there were some serious things too… but really, I am sick of being part of the circle myself.
As long as I am writing about others and not primarily the ideas, I am failing.
And so, your space to run with…

Why The Trades Are Fading: Reason 237

How many online surveys – a form that legitimate surveying companies don’t seem to be able to comprehend is much less reliable than old school outcalling surveying – have we seen come and go over recent years?
And who sees The Hollywood Reporter as an investagative organization, seeking deep insight into Hollywood’s future?
And who – outside of Wall Street firms who are often equally or more clueless – is going to drop $950 to read what they have to say about it all?
You have to know what your brand is… and what it is not.
The problem these days is – and not just with the trades – is that being what you are may no longer be enough to stay in business.

BYOB

Been obsessing on building a DP/30 video blog most of the day… my apoogies…
Here is some space for non-Watchman discussion.

Watching The Watchmen Bottom Line

The question has been floating around for a while…
Once we got past the very real drama of Fox

BAFTA As Predictor

I don’t want to spend too much time on this, but…
All four acting slots that won BAFTA the last two years won Oscars.
In both of those last two years, only one of the four slots was really a surprise of any kind… Tilda last year and Alan Arkin the year before. Huzzah – even though guessing the Oscars is not really the point – for them.
Before that, they were about .500 predicting acting wins.
No other categories are reliable in any way.
Thank you for your momentary attention.

Today's Sucker Bet

I am terribly amused by all the “you shouldn’t have f-ed with Ron Meyer… you won’t like Ron Meyer when he gets angry” stuff that is being rolled out to the nattering nabobs and dutifully being repeated as The Gospel across the blogosphere today.
If that’s DreamWorks biggest problem in the next years, they will be dancing in the streets.
It

Images From A Season

I was really struck by a quick reaction shot of David Fincher at BAFTA yesterday… his face seemed to say it all… “how did we become an also-ran?”…
Thing is, Fincher and everyone at Paramount has been nothing but gracious as the year that was supposed to be theirs became the Year of the ‘Dog. In the end, there is nothing more (or less) that they could have done. In the end, in this year as in almost every other one, it is the movies that guide the awards’ final destination. And for all the magnificent craft of BB, it seems the awards world’s heart belongs to Danny.
Sigh…

Frosty Cold Nixina

To answer someone’s question from last week… Frost/Nixon is Ron Howard’s lowest career grosser (leaving out Grand Theft Auto, for which an accurate gross is elusive).. more than $5 million behind the previous low, the 1982 perceived-hit, Night Shift ($21.1m).
Aside from a lovely party the other night, Universal has basically bailed on the film, dumping 2/3 of the screens it added after nomination week. They cut 57% of its screen count this weekend, leading to the estimated 47% drop in gross (a good hold under the circumstance, really). $20 million domestic is not looking likely at this point.
Besides the obvious – the movie should have opened in Peter Morgan territory, early October – I have say that I have never seen Universal miss the mark on a movie this solid with awards play. It’s going to do less than half of what The Queen did in America, which really makes no sense.
I would argue, gently, that political fatigue hurt the get-out-the-audience effort for this film. And when the many who just decided not to bother with this film end up seeing it on their TV, they will wonder how they missed it.
Even Munich did $47 million!
In 1993, In The Name of the Father did $25 million.
You have to go all the way back to 1983, to Tender Mercies, to find a Universal BP nominee that did a number this low ($8.4m).
Frost/Nixon is not a game changer… but it is a really solid piece of drama, with strong comedy moments and insight into the human condition as much as politics, with great performances and material for which Ron Howard found just the right tone. It really is a shame that more people didn’t see it.

DP/30 – Rachel Getting Married's Demme & Lumet

Jonathan Demme and Jenny Lumet sit down to discuss their film, Rachel Getting Married.

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BAFTA Has Spoken…

Okay… here is a list of winners…
I will comment – 100% SPOLIERS – after the jump…

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BAFTA Rolls Along…

The Guardian is live-blogging the event from inside the theater.
Oh, how I hate live-blogging.
It’s funny… when I talk to people about Blu-ray BD-Live features, like IMing during a synced movie, they almost always get a vomitty look on their face. But for me, I consider that in that case, kids have almost invariably seen the film over and over again on the Blu-ray or regular DVD and that the interaction is, indeed, of some value. Like a director

Weekend Estimates by Klady

A very interesting set of estimates, which either suggest that Friday’s guesses were way off or that Saturday’s number popped enormously for some unknown reason.
Most notable was that the only films in Friday’s estimates by Klady that didn’t do better than 3x Friday were newcomers HJNTIY and Push.
And here is the Oscar breakout for the weekend…