Film and TV Briefing: Friday 3 September 2021
Welcome to this week’s round-up of news, commentary and industry announcements that you may have missed from the past week.
If you are looking for advice in relation to any of the issues mentioned, please do not hesitate to get in touch.
In the news
Paramount sues its insurers over alleged failure to cover Covid-related production costs (Guardian)
“Candyman” director makes box office history in the US (BBC)
ITV to add youth-focused factual programming to ITV2 and ITV Hub (Televisual)
Spike Lee’s 9/11 series re-edited amidst controversy over feature of “truthers” (Guardian)
Francis Ford Coppola willing to use $100m of his own wealth to fund passion project “Megalopolis” (IndieWire)
Release of “Top Gun: Maverick” and “Mission: Impossible 7” films delayed amid US Covid surge (BBC)
Set for upcoming Netflix film to be designed by Queen of Denmark (Guardian)
Ofcom dismisses complaints over Piers Morgan’s Meghan Markle comments (Broadcast)
Star of “The Crown”, Vanessa Kirby signs deal with Netflix for female-focused films (ScreenDaily)
Popularity of Wales as a filming location has led to a shortage of crew (BBC)
“The Fresh Prince of Bel Air” reboot “Bel-Air” lead announced (Deadline)
US broadcasters gain legal win over ‘Locast’, a network TV streaming app (The Hollywood Reporter)
Mobile cinema takes the magic of film to Spanish villages (Guardian)
Adverts for “Naked Attraction” removed from London buses following criticism (BBC)
Features and commentary
Tracing the history of Black horror films (BFI)
The estate conflict in the background of documentary on TV artist Bob Ross (Guardian)
Industry announcements
Partnership between the BFI and The Open University offers short courses in film and media (BFI)
Hillary and Chelsea Clinton announced as speakers at the RTS Cambridge Convention 2021 (RTS)
Resources
Information and resources from ScreenSkills (ScreenSkills)
WFTV upcoming events (WFTV)
Legal Updates
Government to consult on protections for UK audiences while watching VOD services (gov.uk)
Increased cap on industry contributions to the High-end TV Skills Fund comes into force (Pact)
BBC licence fee to rise by less than the rate of inflation as government negotiations draw to conclusion (The Times – subscription required)
