ACORN TV
Programming from several countries, including Australia, Canada, France, Italy, Ireland, New Zealand, and UK. AMC Networks chief Josh Sapan told The Hollywood Reporter that Acorn TV has "among the lowest churn" among major services owing to its focus as well as viewers' "dedication and affinity" for its content.

“If I can show up to collect an Oscar when you’re honoring me, I can certainly show up to collect a Razzie when you say, good try, but do better. I always learned that if you can’t be a good loser, then you don’t deserve to be a good winner. So I went there and made fun of myself. I had a great time and then I set that thing on fire. That’s what I did!” Oscar winner Halle Berry ...

As Hollywood constantly looks to novel forms of funding, the special purpose acquisition company or Spac, has found new popularity over the past couple of years. Besides being a welcome source of funding, these blank-check investment vehicles look to energize the lightly populated middle of the corporate ecosystem in the media, entertainment, sports and digital sectors. SPACs (blank-check transactions are also called blind pools and reverse mergers) enable entertainment companies to go public while bypassing the traditional IPO route. They work by raising capital through their own IPOs, becoming publicly traded entities for the specific purpose of acquiring an existing operating company. The SPACs are streamlined publicly traded entities that are stuffed with cash but operate no business at the time they mount their IPOs. Their plans are to later merge with a yet-to-be-selected private operating business....

Ron and Russell Mael didn’t intend for 2021 to be the year they conquered Hollywood, but there’s serendipity in what wound up happening. The brothers, known for their longtime work in the band Sparks, found themselves overcoming decades of false starts in the movie business with not one but two highly acclaimed films. First up was Edgar Wright’s documentary “The Sparks Brothers,” detailing their rise from an obscure duo to influencing some of today’s most significant artists – all the while avoiding super stardom. Shortly thereafter came the Cannes premiere of “Annette,” a musical film which is based on the duo’s screenplay and features their music. Annette,” is the Maels’ first produced screenplay, but they have been working on films for quite some time. They discuss working on a movie musical with French director Jacques Tati in the 1970s: “It’s just a pity that it didn’t happen,” Russell says. “It’s the sad truth that, you know, some visionaries have trouble getting money – financing to make their movies.”...

A new study from the advocacy group Collectif 50/50 surveying French films from 2019 has revealed that 62% of local film protagonists are perceived as white, highlighting the underrepresentation of visible minorities in French cinema. Out of the 115 highest-budgeted and highest grossing French films of 2019, the survey showed that only 13% of leading characters are perceived as non-white; 49% are perceived as white males; 23% as white females; 6% as non-white females; 7% as Black; 8% as Arab and 1% as Asian...

The Thai government is considering increasing the value of its production rebate scheme in order to improve the country’s competitive position in the race for international film and TV shoots. The current scheme was introduced in 2017 and offers a 15% rebate against location spending for those projects spending a minimum of THB50 million ($1.49 million) on services in the country. The current rebate can be increased to a total of 20% of local spending, if the film hires Thai crew in key positions (3%) and is considered a benefit to national tourism promotion (2%). The rebate is capped at THB75 million ($2.24 million). Earlier this month Danucha Pichayanan, secretary-general of the National Economic and Social Development Council, said the Centre for Economic Situation Administration was considering increasing the production incentives to 30% for productions spending THB50 million to THB100 million ($1.49 million – $3 million) spending range...