Felix Salmon at Reuters has a succinct explanation of why Netflix stock is crashing. (Note to non-investors: a stock and a company are two different things. A stock looks at not only current value but future growth potential. Thus, a good company with a healthy but slowly growing business can be worth less than a similarly sized company that might be losing money but is expected to grow into larger earnings.) In a post titled “Why Netflix Stock is So Volatile,” he explains that Netflix’s meteoric rise to a $300 share price drove short sellers from the stock. Then, when […]
by Scott Macaulay on Oct 25, 2011The world of indie filmmaking is forever colliding with the larger worlds of technology and giant media conglomerates, regulatory and legal developments, non-profit groups and a fickle consumer who loves indie film and other indie media. “Media Current” is a monthly heads-up tracking these developments. It’s a big — and forever getting bigger – world out there, so readers are encouraged to e-mail me stories I’ve missed or something they believe is important for others in the indie community. I can be reached at drosennyc AT verizon.net. Shrinking Universe One of the important, if least appreciated, developments of the independent […]
by David Rosen on Aug 2, 2011I always feel odd holed up in my hotel room watching DVDs while at a film festival. After all, a film festival is supposed to be festive, and that means audiences, excitement, buzz. But invariably, once you’ve missed a screening those DVD screeners that weren’t available pre-fest are suddenly pressed into your hands by anxious publicists. Or, maybe you just meet a cool filmmaker on the shuttle bus and agree to watch HIS short that night. If you’re doing your job as a journalist, at least some of your festival stay will be spent watching DVDs in your room, perhaps […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jul 29, 2011It’s an idea that has been swirling around the Filmmaker Magazine office for quite a while and today it became a reality with the launch of our Video On Demand calendar. Every month we will unveil a curated list of independent film titles that we feel are worth checking out through On Demand cable providers and streaming services. You’ll find some titles we’ve already covered online or in the magazine when they played theatrically, while others are festival favorites that are premiering on VOD. We also give our “VOD Pick of the Month” and note if a title is available […]
by Jason Guerrasio on Mar 9, 2011Today we, along with seemingly everyone else in the film blogosphere, announced Criterion’s exclusive deal with Hulu, which will see some 800 Criterion titles stream to viewers on the Hulu Plus service. And, like everyone else, we had to add a small update when we realized that Hulu’s gain is Netflix’s loss. The Criterion titles we Netflix subscribers are used to watching (just last week, for example, I saw Agnes Varda’s Cleo from Five to Seven) will soon be leaving the service. Over at Hulu, Criterion President Peter Becker launches a blog with this declaration of love for the label’s […]
by Scott Macaulay on Feb 15, 2011Beginning today The Criterion Collection has made available over 150 titles from its library on Hulu’s paid service, Hulu Plus. Known best as a destination for streaming the latest in popular TV series (as well as full runs of some TV shows), with the Criterion deal (only available in the U.S.) Hulu is trying to grab the attention of movie buffs, while keeping pace with it’s biggest competitor, Netflix. UPDATE: A spokesperson for Criterion confirms that Hulu will exclusively stream Criterion titles by year’s end. With today’s launch you can stream some of the Criterion essentials: The 400 Blows, The […]
by Jason Guerrasio on Feb 15, 2011A quick, commentary-lite version… Joseph Conrad wrote a science-fiction novel. “Young and Restless Never Gets Old” — Dennis Lim in the Times on Gregg Araki. Big tech news this week: Google announces that it won’t support the H.264 codec and the HTML5 video tag in its Chrome browser in favor of its own WebM codec. It’s all very complicated and tech-y, but Google’s argument is that they’re supporting “open standards” by backing a codec without royalty issues. Problem is, Apple’s Safari and Microsoft’s IE both use the H.264 format and the short-term victor is likely to be Adobe, whose Flash […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jan 16, 2011Here are some articles of interest I’ve sent to my Instapaper this week. At Script Shadow, Carson Reeves lists the 10 ways he knows he’s reading an amateur script. All of these are quotable, but here’s one: BORING ON-THE-NOSE DIALOGUE – This is probably the biggest clue that you’re dealing with an amateur. The dialogue is really straightforward and boring. Characters say exactly what they mean: “You make me so angry!’ Characters get way more specific than people in real life would: “I’m going to head over to get a cheeseburger at Portillo’s and then call my mom.” (instead of […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jan 9, 2011A press release from distributor Drag City today claims that Netflix has apparently dubbed Harmony Korine’s latest, Trash Humpers, to be beyond the pale for its automated DVD service centers. From Drag City: America’s video rental service of choice has all the previous Korine films – Mister Lonely, julien donkey-boy and Gummo. They offer the film he wrote the script for, Kids. They’re also making available the following films: Antichrist, Irreversible, Emmanuel in America, Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer and all the Jackass films. What do all these films have in common? They all feature more full-frontal nudity, on-screen […]
by Scott Macaulay on Oct 20, 2010Apple Insider has a revealing article posted that signals Apple’s intentions with regards to an iTunes Movie Store. The article references a survey undertaken by Apple that tests the concept of a subscription-based movie download service on consumers. From the piece: A survey distributed this week through Coyote Insight, a Fullerton, Calif.-based market research firm, asked that participants answer a series of questions related to a potential “iTunes movie service” that would provide on-demand access to movies that could be downloaded to a computer or iPod. “This iTunes service would provide access to 1,000 movies on demand which can be […]
by Scott Macaulay on Mar 2, 2006