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December 13, 2006
Slowing Down...
Yes, Virginia, it's one of those days...
Feel free to talk amongst yourselves, but here are a couple of small topics...
The Loss Of Peter Boyle.
He hasn't been in great shape for a while. But it is still sad when someone wonderful is gone. Both Frankenstein and His Bride went too early.
Great Stocking Stuffer
Casting vets Janet Hirshenson and Jane Jenkins have a book out called "A Star Is Found: Our Adventures Casting Some of Hollywood's Biggest Movies" and it's a very easy, fun read with a lot of interesting info. The style - ghosted by Rachel Kranz - is a topic for every chapter and each woman offering a few hundred words on the subject, followed by the other, then back, and so on. There is plenty of inside stuff on films from Harry Potter to Parenthood to films from this year like Poseidon, The Da Vinci Code and The Holiday. They do pull punches and don't name actors who might be embarrassed by some stories, but there is enough here for any civilian and really, people in the biz who are not just looking for a nasty exchange. The back and forth format is sometimes distracting, as it will cut one of the women off mid-story and then you have to catch up when it starts again. But it is a cover-to-cover read and that is a high compliment from me indeed.
Dinosaurs Gather To Look At Their Reflections In The Tar And Complain About The Discovery Of Fire
Horn, Goldstein, Waxman, and Holson got together at some event to talk about "their" beat for a cultural group called Zocola. It's unfortunate that the organizers didn't have the balls to include some of us who kick their asses up and down the beat week after week... and I'm not just talking about snarky headlines. This way, neither team was challenged in any way to explain how the floor is dissolving below them with anything other than the same old fine whines.
Patrick Goldstein, who I have long said is smarter than the work he's been doing lately (the Irwin Winkler Academy honor push that was manifested in yesterday's kiss-up column didn't take at the Academy Board meeting last night... boo hoo), said something I agree with completely:
Goldstein: "It is almost impossible to beat the Internet at straight news" — arguing for newspapers to push depth and analysis on the Hollywood beat.
Now, let's see them do it. Because neither paper scoops much of anything anymore. And the perspective work has been rare to date.
And Patrick, by mistake, also explained one big reason why both papers are currently in the toilet with their industry coverage:
Goldstein: "If you really want information in Hollywood you go have lunch with agents. They are collectors of early breaking information."
This is why both papers offer the paranoid, manipulative, self-involved perspective of agents... and why I have always stayed 95% out of the "listen to the agents" business. Want to know who had the sky falling on theatrical box office? Agents. Who desperately wants to squeeze studios with the idea that someone will actually watch TV on a cell phone or iPod? Agents. Who is sounding the alarm that something is WRONG with studios deciding not to continue raising the roof on salaries and budgets which have already put two majors out of business in the last few years? Agents.
In the old days, when these two papers were alone on the top of the mountain, no one questioned these spun stories publicly. And the repetition of a lie still leads to a lot of people thinking it's true. But time and truth will out. And then we get the stories about why the old, bad reporting wasn't so bad... which is even worse.
Yes, agents do know what's going on. But as the LAT and NYT prove daily, these "Scoops" are rarely printed. Why? Because they are basically gossip. And that is where things seem to be going.
The LA Times almost got into the full gossip by agents business when they launched "Scriptland" with a "review" of Charlie Kaufman's script that Kaufman made clear was being printied against his will. The paper got its hand slapped and now "Scriptland" is basically a promo column for a few writers each week... which is better than nothing about screenwriting, but not of any weight. These major papers need to find the middle. They don't need to be Defamer - Sharon Waxman's favorite role, with stories from the "anti-Arab" Kingdom of Heaven to the "anti-Semetic" Borat - but they don't need to be People Magazine with a news edge either.
I almost spit out my coffee when I read: "On Pellicano, Horn said "The New York Times kicked our ass on that story. David Halbfinger and Allison Hope Weiner did incredible enterprise reporting."
It's true that the NYT kicked the LAT's ass on this story. But what our esteemed panel seems to forget is that the story was a non-starter and the enterprising and “scooping” NYT got their asses kicked by The Truth... which was that the whole thing was a process of using the NYT to float shit and try to get someone to turn state's evidence... which never happened (though there is now a low end player who may have flipped).
This is one big problem with this arena... people measure scoops in the moment and not in perspective. And three of the four people on that panel have been the most often spun (not really Horn) important entertainment journalists in the country this year. They write fluff and attack... and neither usually turns out to be worth very much. And that is a shame.
But the look inside the bubble of the NYT and LAT, who clearly don’t understand how bad their industry news coverage (which doesn’t include Claudia, Carr, and others at both papers) has become – the fluff is fine on both coasts – is scary. And their fear is well earned. But hey… those agents love ‘em!
(Sheigh Crabtree offered up the link at Risky Blog and more coverage of the event is at LA Observed)
Posted by poland at December 13, 2006 10:50 AM
Comments
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Posted by: mutinyco ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.mcnblogs.com/thehotblog/nav-commenters.gif)
at December 13, 2006 11:39 AM
))>((
Posted by: mutinyco at December 13, 2006 11:39 AM
Your typepad thingy sucks. I did that Me and You symbol twice -- typed it properly -- but when it showed up as a comment one of the characters was deleted.
Posted by: mutinyco at December 13, 2006 11:41 AM
God Bless Peter Boyle.
He was one of those wonderful actors that we seem to take for granted. Obviously his 'Monster' seems to be his set piece performance, but he was also great as the original Archie Bunker (of a sort) in Joe and he even made me laugh in The Dream Team.
He will be missed.
Posted by: Nicol D at December 13, 2006 12:00 PM
Does MCN fill the void left behind in the wake of the floor dissolving beneath traditional media? Without links to stories in traditional media, places like MCN, HE and Risky Biz would be worthless.
Posted by: T.Holly at December 13, 2006 12:22 PM
Well, that would be an evolutionary issue.
I'm not saying that Traditional Media has no value. What I am saying is that that group, with the exception of Horn, almost never break any news at all. And perspective, which has become their job, is steeped in bad sourcing, manipulation, and the belief that because they are at major papers, they don't get endlessly played.
The reality remains - as it has been for as long as I've been around - that there is very little actual news in entertainment news. If they feel the trades don't break much news then these two papers NEVER break any news.
There is no question that these papers, given their resources, could kick all of our asses if they had any focus. And I have no doubt that given half their resources, there are a lot of small players in the world right now that could grind them into meaninglessness.
Posted by: David Poland at December 13, 2006 12:28 PM
I'm being endlessly played right now by this already broken, but too good to keep to myself, news.
http://www.concertfordiana.com/newsarticles/interview.asp
Posted by: T.Holly at December 13, 2006 01:18 PM
It seems pretty obvious that these two young men are not as closely related to each other as they should be.
Posted by: jeffmcm at December 13, 2006 01:26 PM
Not particularily regal, are they?
Posted by: Wrecktum at December 13, 2006 01:52 PM
I dunno, Jeff. William resembles his mother, while Harry reminds me of his uncle, the Earl Spencer. Siblings often look quite unlike each other.
God help the monarchy if Harry ever becomes the heir apparent. He's such a football hooligan.
Posted by: Blackcloud at December 13, 2006 01:57 PM
"Not particularily regal, are they?"
What's that they say about the apple not falling far from the tree?
Posted by: Blackcloud at December 13, 2006 01:59 PM
Concert for Diana? Screw that. I'd rather donate to Lapdance for Prince William. His Royal Highness the Hotness! HRHH!
Coming soon ... lapdanceforwills.com
Posted by: little_miss_moonshine at December 13, 2006 02:30 PM
I thought Harry resembled James Hewitt. It's especially striking because William so clearly looks like a male version of his mother.
Posted by: jeffmcm at December 13, 2006 02:34 PM
Anyone else agree that Me and You and Everyone We Know is one of the worst movies of the past few years?
Posted by: Melquiades at December 13, 2006 02:54 PM
I wouldn't say 'worst' but I'd definitely say 'most overrated'.
Posted by: jeffmcm at December 13, 2006 02:57 PM
Irwin Winkler as a director - "At first Sight", "Life as a House", "De-Lovely" and this new Iraq movie.
Pass. Though "The Right Stuff" is one of my all time favorite movies.
Why hasn't there been more ink on "Children of Men", which is easily the movie I'm most excited about seeing (after catching Apocalypto).
Posted by: Hopscotch at December 13, 2006 03:08 PM
I'm also very enthused about Children of Men -- have been since I saw Cuaron's presentation on it back in July. I don't know why it's not getting more attention.
Posted by: Lynn at December 13, 2006 04:18 PM
I loved LIFE AS A HOUSE (and as a rule I loathe terminal-illness movies) and DE-LOVELY, as well as GUILTY BY SUSPICION and the NIGHT AND THE CITY remake. Irwin's more than okay in my book.
Feel free to pile on me.
Posted by: Cadavra at December 14, 2006 11:29 AM
Sorry: De-Lovely reminded me of that Star Trek episode in which the aliens tried to put an injured human back together, even though they'd never seen a human before (and therefore botched the job). That is, it appeared to be the work of someone who had not only never made a musical before -- he'd never even SEEN a musical before. De-Lovely made Beyond the Sea look like Singin' in the Rain. (On the other hand, I liked Guilty By Suspicion a lot.)
Posted by: Joe Leydon at December 14, 2006 11:45 AM
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