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.

The major entertainment studios spoke out against Georgia’s “heartbeat” abortion bill in 2019, saying they would “rethink” their production plans in the state if the law ever went into effect. So far, no entertainment studio has said what it will do if that happens. Warner Bros. Discovery and Sony declined to comment. A Netflix representative could not be reached for comment. A Disney spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment. The Motion Picture Association also declined to comment...

TUnited Talent Agency has promised to reimburse its employees for travel expenses relating to reproductive health services that are not accessible in their states of residence, according to a memo obtained by Variety. In the memo, UTA CEO Jeremy Zimmer wrote, “We’re doing this to support the right to choose that has been a bedrock of settled law for almost half a century. Several states have already introduced restrictive legislation, and the draft Supreme Court ruling leaked yesterday, if it comes to pass, could make abortion illegal in more than half of the country.”...

Stage Fifty‘s Wycombe Film Studios, a new eight-stage 295,000 sq ft boutique studio, will kick off with a major Hollywood feature film that will start shooting in 2022. Temporary planning applications have been submitted to Buckinghamshire Council to support the as-yet-unnamed feature film, and approval to build one stage and workshops has been granted. An application for a permanent studio will follow later this year, transforming a 26-acre site located just off the highway to the southwest of High Wycombe, 34 miles from London, into a sustainable film studio. Stage Fifty, which also operates studios in Farnborough and Winnersh, estimates that the Wycombe studio will generate create around 750 full-time direct jobs and support 450 indirect jobs in the supply chain, once fully operational. And Wycombe Film Studios will offer 25 apprenticeships annually through Stage Fifty’s Academy of Creative and Technical Arts...

The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures announced on Wednesday the details of the first exhibit of its upcoming season, “Regeneration: Black Cinema 1898–1971.” Opening August 21, the exhibition explores the history of Black performers and filmmakers in the United States, from Sidney Poitier to Josephine Baker. Co-curators Doris Berger and Rhea Combs said, “It has been a great honor for us to curate ‘Regeneration,’ a project that challenged us to do justice to the lives and work of nearly a century of Black filmmakers and the audiences they served. The legacies explored in these galleries were important in their own time, though too often neglected and marginalized, and remain vital today. We hope to heighten awareness of these films and film artists and encourage an appreciation of the many, many contributions that Black Americans have made to cinema.”...

300-year-old violin, reputed to have been played on the Oscar-winning “Wizard of Oz” score, will go on the auction block next month and could fetch as much as $20 million. The rare Stradivarius belonged to Odessa-born Toscha Seidel, widely considered one of the greatest violinists of the 20th century, famed for his rich tone and emotional intensity. Estimates are that the violin could bring between $16 million and $20 million at auction, partly because of its excellent condition and partly because of its history. There are about 600 Stradivarius violins in existence worldwide; the highest price paid for a Strad was $15.9 million in 2011, so the Seidel instrument could mark a new world record...

Berkeley, California-based visual effects and animation production company Tippett Studio, helmed by two-time Oscar winner Phil Tippett, is expanding into Canada with its first satellite office in Toronto, which will be called Tippett Canada. The company’s recent projects include “The Book of Boba Fett,” Season 2 of “The Mandalorian,” Marvel Studio’s “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier,” all three on Disney+, and Season 2 of “Locke and Key” on Netflix. Tippett’s Toronto operation, which will house a fully functioning post-production studio, will be headed by Gary Mundell, president of Tippett Canada, and current COO of Tippett Studio. Tippett Canada will be servicing clients including Marvel Studios, Lucasfilm, Disney, Showtime, New Line and Legendary, including “The Toxic Avenger.”...

In 2020, there were CEOs who made a show of forgoing their base salaries in solidarity with their workforces, many of which had to undergo furloughs or layoffs as the pandemic shuttered movie theaters and caused production snarls. In 2021, with theaters reopened, production back on track (with some lingering COVID headaches, such as higher costs), and the streaming services that most of these companies launched in recent years in full swing, the lavish pay packages of yore returned with a vengeance. Discovery’s David Zaslav and Endeavor’s Ari Emanuel scored nine-figure compensation packages, a Day-Glo illustration of the lengths that board rooms go to reward the men (and it is exclusively men) at the top. Those gaudy figures came largely in the form of stock options, which means the take-home pay could shrink if the market takes a nosedive, but both men are still among the most richly remunerated in this or any industry. And they’re not alone: Disney’s Bob Iger ($45.9 million), Netflix’s Reed Hastings ($40.8 million) and Fox’s Rupert Murdoch ($31.1 million) all enjoyed big paydays, even though shareholders and critics have grown more vocal about their concerns that these business leaders are being too generously compensated...

The Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, one of Europe’s oldest and finest film fests, began to tease elements of its 56th edition — which will take place in its eponymous Czech city from July 1-9. In a show of support for nearby Ukraine, KVIFF announced that it will host the Works-in-Progress program of the Odesa International Film Festival, which cannot be held due to that nation’s ongoing war with Russia. “Broad solidarity with war-afflicted Ukraine must also include support for the country’s cultural life, which at this moment has come almost to a halt,” Hugo Rosák, the head of KVIFF’s Industry Department, said. “As a film festival, we have tried to find ways of supporting Ukrainian cinema, and we are glad that we have managed to work with the Odesa film festival to find a meaningful form of cooperation.” Added Anna Machuh, OIFF’s general director, “We are honored to have this opportunity to show Ukrainian cinema, talent and culture to the world.”...