What is happening to Second Unit Directors?

[Stephen Follows]

Hi At a time when the industry is visibly changing in some dramatic ways, it can be easy to overlook the smaller, slower changes under the surface. One such change is a mystery I discovered last year but still don't have a satisfying explanation for. Namely, the steady decline in Second Unit Directors. You can read what I found, and add your own theories as to why it's happening, at https://stephenfollows.com/what-is-happening-to-second-unit-directors Until next week, Stephen FROM THE ARCHIVES AT STEPHENFOLLOWS.COM What is happening to Second Unit Directors? Something strange is happening to the role of second unit director… and I don’t know why. I have crunched the data in a number of different ways and spoken to a fair number of industry insiders but I remain none the wiser as to what’s causing the trend we’ll see today. https://stephenfollows.com/what-is-happening-to-second-unit-directors FILM DATA DIGEST Articles, reports and news from the past seven days What the Media’s Most Powerful Execs Were Paid in 2020: Did Pandemic Pay Cuts Have an Impact? Do media barons believe in shared sacrifice? When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020, several CEOs made headlines by voluntarily cutting their take-home pay or forgoing salaries. After all, the global health crisis had closed movie theaters and theme parks and brought film and television production to a standstill, forcing companies to lay off or furlough thousands of workers. "Everything stopped. Everything closed down," says Bertha Masuda, a partner in Compensation Advisory Partners. "I don’t think there has ever been an event for these businesses as catastrophic as COVID." https://variety.com/2021/biz/news/hollywood-executives-disney-netflix-fox-1234962314/ Movie dubbing sucks. One filmmaker is using AI to fix that. This attention to the small things, Mann says, proved all for naught when the movie was released in non-English-speaking territories. The culprit: bad dubbing. "The dubs effectively removed the way [De Niro] made character decisions, by changing dialogue to fit his facial movements, instead of adapting the script and staying true to his performance". So Mann set out to find a solution. After three years working together, he and cofounder Nick Lynes, who has a background in software development, today are formally unveiling their company Flawless, which employs AI to dub films into any language. https://www.inputmag.com/culture/movie-dubbing-flawless-scott-mann-ai-neural-network The "New Normal" for Moviegoing Post-Pandemic May Be the "Premium" Experience Like IMAX, Upscale Dining "Movie theaters are dead" has been a common refrain during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Or at least, many suggested the pandemic accelerated the death of theaters, with many cinemas shuttering for over a year and studios turning to streaming to debut their once-theatrical releases. After all, who would want to return to theaters when they could simply watch a movie from the comfort of their home? https://www.slashfilm.com/moviegoing-post-pandemic-premium/ Actor Arrested for Ignoring COVID-19 Protocols to Film Movie The coronavirus pandemic in India has continued to worsen, leading state governments there to take major steps to try to slow the spread. Over the weekend, Punjabi actor Gibby Grewal and his crew were arrested for violating lockdown orders in order to film his next movie in a village near Patiala, Punjab. Police said over 100 people were gathered at the set, reports India's Tribune News Service. Grewal and his crew were released on bail. https://popculture.com/celebrity/news/actor-gibby-grewal-arrested-ignoring-covid-19-protocols-film-movie-india/ Justice League: When People Turned Off The Snyder Cut Viewing figures may have improved for Zack Snyder's Justice League - but here's when people turned off. The competition is heating up between different streaming services, but in truth, it's difficult to properly figure out how the various rivals are performing. Viewing figures are valuable data, and the companies rarely disclose them so as not to tip their competitors off in strategic terms. Consequently, to factually understand how a TV show or movie has performed for a streaming service, it requires going to a third-party analytics company. https://screenrant.com/justice-league-snyder-cut-turn-off-scenes-when/ This email was sent to studionort...@gmail.com Click here to unsubscribe. Click here to provide feedback or just reply to this email © Stephen Follows, Erroneous Wit, Somerset House, London, WC2R 1LA, United Kingdom