Showbiz Sandbox

Episodes

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  Showbiz Sandbox 147: TV Networks Are Upfront About Their New Schedules

  5/15/2012

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  Duration: 57:39

  It’s the time of year when North American television networks put on big presentations to introduce their fall lineups to major advertisers; a process referred to in the industry as “the upfronts”. It’s also the time when TV audiences find out which of their favorite shows are sticking around for another season and which have [...]

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  Showbiz Sandbox 146: High Frame Rate Hijinks On “The Hobbit”

  5/8/2012

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  Duration: 1:11:32

  Movie theater owners were abuzz after seeing the first extended footage of “The Hobbit” a few weeks ago at CinemaCon. Most however didn’t have anything positive to say about Peter Jackson’s highly anticipated prequel to his “Lord of the Rings” franchise. The filmmaker decided to shoot the film at 48 frames per second, twice the [...]

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  Showbiz Sandbox 145: Rise of Playlisters Marks The Death of Music Blogs

  4/17/2012

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  Duration: 1:34:35

  Last week Doug Freeman, a music critic for the Austin Chronicle, wrote an opinion piece in response to a Hypebot interview in which Sean Adams, the founder of Drowned In Sound, suggested music blogs are no longer influential. Freeman joins us to explain that if blogs were simply gateways to new music discovery, then the [...]

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  Showbiz Sandbox 144: Measuring Media Proves Difficult In The Digital Age

  4/10/2012

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  Duration: 1:20:44

  Whether trying to figure out how many users the streaming music actually has or why audiences have abandoned television shows in the ten o’clock hour, it turns out keeping track of media metrics often requires fuzzy logic. In one instance the ratings for CNBC in the 18 to 49-year-old demographic plummeted when three people included [...]

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  Showbiz Sandbox 143: “Mommy Porn” Is Hollywood’s Hot New Trend

  4/3/2012

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  Duration: 1:16:12

  Hollywood studios spent this past week waging a bidding war for a book derived from fan fiction stories on “Twilight” websites. Universal Pictures wound up paying an estimated $5 million for E.L. James’ “Fifty Shades of Grey”, an erotic novel that has become a best selling phenomenon despite only being published as an e-book. Producers [...]

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  Showbiz Sandbox 142: Is The MPAA Rating System Broken?

  3/27/2012

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  Duration: 1:28:13

  Though the MPAA often rates more than 700 films per year, the number of rating disputes rarely reaches the double digits. This year however eight films have already appealed their ratings and it’s not even April. Has the MPAA lost touch with modern culture or are filmmakers beginning to push the boundaries with edgier content? [...]

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  Showbiz Sandbox 141: Mike Daisey Learns The Difference Between Journalism and Art

  3/20/2012

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  Duration: 1:27:07

  Monologist Mike Daisey began performing his one-man show, “The Agony and Ecstacy of Steve Jobs”, hoping to highlight the poor working conditions suffered by workers who make Apple products in Chinese factories. When it was learned that Daisey made-up most of his accounts of meetings with factory employees, it stirred up a debate over the [...]

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  Showbiz Sandbox 140: Nollywood Love – Inside The Booming Nigerian Film Industry

  3/14/2012

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  Duration: 1:31:59

  Oil rich Nigeria may be best known for political upheavals and brutal civil wars, though over the past twenty years the country has given birth to a thriving film industry. New York Times Magazine contributing writer Andrew Rice explains that what started out as a surplus of blank VHS tapes has grown into what is [...]

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  Showbiz Sandbox 139: Why The Music Industry Is More Brutal Than Ever

  3/6/2012

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  Duration: 1:24:17

  With nine different streaming services there are more ways than ever to listen to music these days. With the likes of Spotify, Rhapsody, Rdio, Mog and Pandora all competing for our attention and media dollars, some have argued that there is too much competition in the market and is primed for a major consolidation. Which [...]

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  Showbiz Sandbox 138: Lessons Learned At This Year’s Oscars

  2/28/2012

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  Duration: 1:10:32

  Predicting who will win Academy Awards each year isn’t as easy as it looks. Just ask IndieWire’s Anne Thompson. She managed to pick 19 out of 24 winner’s at this past weekend’s Oscar ceremony, but there were a few categories which had everyone guessing. Thompson takes us backstage on Oscar night and explains how easy [...]

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  Showbiz Sandbox 137: A Revealing Look At Who Votes For The Oscars

  2/21/2012

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  Duration: 1:22:14

  The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has never published a complete list of the 5,765 members who cast ballots for their annual Oscars. Despite the secrecy surrounding the Academy’s membership, Nicole Sperling worked for months with her colleagues at the Los Angeles Times to confirm 5,100 members. Sperling explains the method behind the Times’ [...]

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  Showbiz Sandbox 136: Crafting A Story For The Grammys Through Triumph and Tragedy

  2/14/2012

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  Duration: 1:23:48

  Los Angeles Times entertainment reporter Geoff Boucher was on assignment at the Grammy Awards when he heard about the the sudden death of pop star Whitney Houston over the weekend. While still covering music’s biggest night, Boucher was given two hours to write Houston’s obituary for the Sunday paper. At the same time, David Wild [...]

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  Showbiz Sandbox 135: Is The SAG-AFTRA Merger Good For Hollywood?

  2/7/2012

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  Duration: 1:19:32

  After years of humoring the idea it looks as if two of Hollywood’s largest labor unions may actually merge. Detailing the history of SAG and AFTRA, Jonathan Handel, a contributing editor at The Hollywood Reporter and an entertainment attorney, explains the reasons behind why the unions might want to merge and what it all means [...]

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  Showbiz Sandbox 134: Video-On-Demand Rides To The Rescue At Sundance

  1/31/2012

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  Duration: 1:22:53

  This year’s Sundance Film Festival came to a close last weekend awarding top prizes to a wide range of movies. Independent film industry veteran Michael Tuckman sizes up this year’s festival and highlights some of its most noteworthy movies. Tuckman explains how video-on-demand has become a big part of the distribution strategy for such films, [...]

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  Showbiz Sandbox 133: Oscars Celebrate The Past; Sundance Discovers The Future

  1/25/2012

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  Duration: 1:15:24

  This year’s Oscar nominations have finally been announced and they are full of surprises. Actors and actresses which seemed like shoe-ins for a nomination were completely overlooked. Films that nobody thought would be considered for Best Picture wound up in the list of nine nominated titles. Meanwhile up in Park City, Utah this year’s Sundance [...]

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  Showbiz Sandbox 132: Moviegoing Is Alive And Well In The Modern Age

  1/17/2012

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  Duration: 1:15:32

  According to mainstream media, nobody goes to the movies anymore. However news about the death of movie theaters has been greatly exaggerated according to John Fithian, President of the National Association of Theater Owners. In fact, statistical trends for the last three decades show that movie attendance is actually on the rise. In a discussion [...]

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  Showbiz Sandbox 131: Broadway Flops Find New Life On The Road

  1/10/2012

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  Duration: 1:18:24

  Even the worst Broadway flops can wind up turning a profit once they begin touring in cities throughout the world. Patrick Healy, the theater news and features reporter for the New York Times, explains how sometimes it doesn’t matter if you make it big on the Great White Way, provided you’re a hit in Buffalo. [...]

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  Showbiz Sandbox 130: It’s The Data, Stupid (or Why Live Nation Bought BigChampagne)

  12/20/2011

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  Duration: 1:23:16

  As 2011 comes to an end mainstream media companies continue to struggle with how to distribute their content through the Internet. That was never more apparent than this week as concert promoter Live Nation acquired BigChampagne, a media tracking and technology company. Joe Fleischer, Big Champgne’s chief marketing officer, explains why a live-event company is [...]

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  Showbiz Sandbox 129: Ticket Masters – The Rise of the Concert Industry and How the Public Got Scalped

  12/13/2011

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  Duration: 1:09:25

  Anyone who has ever tried to get good tickets to see their favorite band in concert knows how frustrating it can be. Josh Baron and Dean Budnick, two editors of Relix magazine, spent three years speaking to hundreds of industry veterans to research the history of modern ticketing. Their book, “Ticket Masters: The Rise of [...]

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  Showbiz Sandbox 128: Have Yourself A Movie Little Christmas

  12/6/2011

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  Duration: 1:21:17

  Tis the season for holiday movies and there is no shortage of Yuletide titles to choose from. Thankfully film critic-at-large Alonso Duralde comes to the rescue by sifting through decades of Christmas movies in his book “Have Yourself A Movie Little Christmas“. He highlights some of the classic, and not-so-classic, films worth watching during the [...]

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  Showbiz Sandbox 127: Has NBC Lost Touch With Its Community?

  11/29/2011

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  Duration: 1:11:59

  When NBC removed the quirky sitcom “Community” from their mid-season schedule the show’s cult following went berserk. Fans launched petitions via Twitter and Facebook and in an ironic twist, got the show selected as TV Guide Magazine’s second annual Fan Favorites winner. In a desperate effort to find success with their primetime programming, NBC has [...]

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  Showbiz Sandbox 126: Foot In Mouth Disease Sweeps Through Hollywood

  11/15/2011

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  Duration: 1:08:50

  Getting publicity in Hollywood can be a very difficult task. If you are an A-list director like Brett Ratner or a hot actor like Ashton Kutcher however, all you need to do is make a bigoted statement or fire off an ignorant Twitter post and you’ll get more ink than you ever wanted. Ratner’s homophobic [...]

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  Showbiz Sandbox 125: Are Radio D.J.’s A Thing Of The Past?

  11/8/2011

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  Duration: 1:14:54

  Radio listenership has eroded over the past several years as consumers have adopted streaming music services such as Spotify and Pandora.  To stay competitive and survive, Clear Channel, the nation’s largest radio station operator, shocked the industry this past week by firing dozens of local D.J.’s and replacing them with a national programming team.  Indie-label [...]

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  Showbiz Sandbox 124: UltraViolet Is A Solution In Search Of A Problem

  11/1/2011

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  Duration: 1:23:08

  More than 75 companies have teamed up to form UltraViolet, a new service that promises to give consumers the freedom to watch movies and television shows wherever and whenever they want. However, early adopters have discovered that untethering content from physical media such as DVDs can be a tedious and confusing process. As the entertainment [...]

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  Showbiz Sandbox 123: DVR Data Can Save TV Shows From Cancellation

  10/17/2011

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  Duration: 1:28:25

  It turns out your DVR can be helpful beyond just recording your favorite television shows. Examining which commercials you skip past might be able to help predict box office flops and monitoring which shows you watch can save a borderline series from being canceled. We’ll debate whether television networks and movie studios can benefit from [...]

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  Showbiz Sandbox 122: The Real Story Behind Steve Jobs And Pixar

  10/11/2011

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  Duration: 1:15:17

  Millions mourned the loss of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs this past week when the innovator behind the Macintosh computer,  the iPod and others died at the age of 56. Though the endless eulogies of Jobs always mention Jobs Pixar tenure, they rarely provided any real detail. Truth is Jobs lost money with Pixar for ten [...]

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  Showbiz Sandbox 121: Why 3D Movie Tickets Are About To Get More Expensive

  10/4/2011

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  Duration: 1:28:37

  As moviegoers grow more skeptical over paying premiums to see 3D movies you would think now would be a bad time to raise ticket prices yet again. However, if Sony Pictures has their way that’s just what may happen. Last week the studio told exhibitors they would no longer pay for 3D glasses after May [...]

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  Showbiz Sandbox 120: Netflix Must Adapt To A Hollywood It Helped Create

  9/27/2011

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  Duration: 1:17:40

  Ryan Lawler has spent the last two years writing about online video and digital media trends for GigaOm, a beat he’s covered for a number of publications. Who better to help us sort out what’s been going on with Netflix over the past two weeks? Despite a plunging stock price, slower subscriber growth and increased [...]

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  Showbiz Sandbox 119: Thompson On Toronto and Telluride

  9/20/2011

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  Duration: 1:21:33

  The Toronto International Film Festival has become a mandatory stop for studios opening awards contenders in the fall. The last four best picture winners at the Academy Awards, including The King’s Speech, all played in Toronto. Along with the smaller, cozier Telluride Film Festival, Toronto is where some films first start picking up awards buzz. [...]

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  Showbiz Sandbox 118: Mr. Television Rates This Year’s New Shows

  9/13/2011

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  Duration: 1:11:59

  There’s a good reason Marc Berman is known as Mr. Television. As the man behind MediaWeek’s daily television newsletter The Programming Insider his commentary on the medium reached more than 50,000 readers per day. Berman recently launched TV Media Insights, a new online destination for television and media with its own newsletter, forum and podcast. [...]

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  Showbiz Sandbox 117: Crunching The Numbers Behind Summer’s New Box Office Records

  9/7/2011

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  Duration: 1:09:17

  Big budget sequels and super hero movies helped push the bar on summer box office records slightly higher. North American grosses rose to $4.4 billion as overseas markets improved to $8.2 billion in receipts. But how much did all those blockbusters actually cost to produce and market? After all the money is counted, how profitable [...]

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  Showbiz Sandbox 116: Will Hollywood Miss Steve Jobs?

  8/31/2011

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  Duration: 1:11:04

  Last week’s news that Steve Jobs was stepping down as the CEO of Apple caused headline writers all over the world to work overtime. Sure Jobs became a household name by helping revolutionize personal computing, but he also helped shape the modern entertainment industry with products such as iTunes, the iPod and the iPad. And [...]

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  Showbiz Sandbox 115: Record Industry Wages A Quiet War Over Song Rights

  8/16/2011

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  Duration: 1:06:34

  When the United States copyright law was revised in the mid-1970′s a little-known provision was included that lets musicians and songwriters reclaim ownership of their recordings after 35 years. Artists such as Bryan Adams, Bob Dylan, Loretta Lynn, Tom Petty and Tom Waits are set to regain control of their recordings starting in 2013 thanks [...]

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  Showbiz Sandbox 114: Hollywood Overflows With Streaming Content Deals

  8/2/2011

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  Duration: 1:15:49

  Digital distribution of television shows, movies and music has become quite trendy in Hollywood. Not a week goes by that companies such as Netflix, Spotify, Hulu and others aren’t in the news cutting some sort of deal with a big studio, television network or record label. This past week retail giant Amazon and online video [...]

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  Showbiz Sandbox 113: Hollywood Studios Think Twice About Comic-Con

  7/26/2011

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  Duration: 1:17:52

  Attendance at this year’s Comic-Con was higher than ever. Geoff Boucher of the Los Angeles Times and Alex Billington of First Showing were in San Diego last weekend sitting in on, if not moderating, panel discussions with the likes of Steven Spielberg, Peter Jackson, Francis Coppola and “Game of Thrones” cast members. In filling us [...]

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  Showbiz Sandbox 112: Why Netflix Had To Raise Its Prices

  7/19/2011

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  Duration: 1:17:59

  You would have thought the world was coming to an end last week after popular movie streaming service Netflix raised its prices by 60%. The company’s customers took to blogs and social networks in revolt, threatening to cancel their subscriptions. However, between the cost of mailing DVDs and paying increased licensing fees for content, a [...]

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  Showbiz Sandbox 111: Can Paste Magazine Ignite A Digital Publishing Revolution?

  7/12/2011

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  Duration: 1:06:42

  Less than a year after ceasing publication of their print edition Paste Magazine has revived itself in a new digital format. The popular music and culture magazine shunned the traditional print medium and relaunched as a weekly web periodical chock full of long-form features, downloadable music and multimedia content. Editor Josh Jackson reveals how the [...]

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  Showbiz Sandbox 110: “Transformers” Proves Mediocrity Makes Money

  7/7/2011

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  Duration: 1:03:44

  When “Transformers 3: Dark of the Moon” hit theaters over the Fourth of July holiday weekend fans of the franchise were relieved to discover it wasn’t nearly as bad ad the second film. That seems to be a fairly common response to Michael Bay’s latest critic-proof popcorn blockbuster. The highly anticipated movie made nearly $400 [...]

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  Showbiz Sandbox 109: Making Grammar Fun (And F*cking Funny)

  6/28/2011

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  Duration: 1:14:49

  When Chris Baker isn’t working on Madison Avenue for a big advertising firm, he is creating some of the world’s most exclusive websites… literarily.  TheWorldsMostExclusiveWebsite.com only lets verified celebrities and big wigs past the home page. His website M. Night School is crowd-sourcing enough funds to send director M. Night Shyamalan back to film school. [...]

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  Showbiz Sandbox 108: China Becomes Hollywood’s New Best Frenemy

  6/21/2011

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  Duration: 1:13:47

  Hollywood movie studios have been raking in the yuan at the Chinese box office over the past year. This despite China missing the most recent World Trade Organization deadline to open its market to more foreign films. Forced to work through government sanctioned monopolies, studios have been aggressive about getting their movies in front of [...]

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  Showbiz Sandbox 107: The Pros And Cons Of Cloud Music Services

  6/14/2011

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  Duration: 1:19:27

  After months of rumors and speculation Apple finally announced their cloud music service last week. Aptly named iCloud, the new service joins similar offerings from both Amazon and Google. Though each of the services has their benefits, no two are exactly alike. Amazon and Google stream music over the Internet and require you to upload [...]

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  Showbiz Sandbox 106: A Tony Awards Preview Of Broadway’s Billion Dollar Year

  6/6/2011

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  Duration: 1:11:34

  Even without all the news surrounding the troubled production of “Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark”, Broadway gave us plenty to talk about over the past year. This season brought more critically acclaimed (and financially successful) productions than during any time in recent memory. Brian Scott Lipton, editor-in-chief of TheaterMania.com, tells us who he thinks will [...]

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  Showbiz Sandbox 105: The Dark Truth About Digital Cinema

  6/1/2011

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  Duration: 1:03:22

  When Ty Burr, film critic for The Boston Globe, noticed that the films he was seeing didn’t appear as bright as they usually do he did a little investigating to figure out why. What he discovered, and documented in a recent front page article, is that some major theater chains are leaving moviegoers in the [...]

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  Showbiz Sandbox 104: ‘Pirates’ Proves The Importance Of A Global Box Office

  5/24/2011

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  Duration: 57:39

  Despite earning more than $90 million in North America during its debut weekend, the opening of “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides” did not live up to many industry insiders lofty expectations for the movie. However, considering the film made an additional $260 million in more than 100 international territories, its impossible to consider [...]

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  Showbiz Sandbox 103: Midnight In Cannes – This Year’s Fest Sparks Fireworks

  5/17/2011

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  Duration: 1:04:32

  Woody Allen’s film “Midnight In Paris” opened the 64th annual Cannes Film Festival last week, but it was Terrence Malick’s long awaited “Tree of Life” which everyone was eager to see.  The film divided audiences with some booing loudly and others proclaiming it a masterpiece.  We provide all the highlights from this year’s festival, including [...]

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  Showbiz Sandbox 102: Why Music Videos Matter (Again)

  5/9/2011

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  Duration: 1:05:59

  Music videos rose to prominence in the 1980s to become on of the most important promotional vehicles for new music. As fans grew tired of watching their favorite musicians lip sync their way through elaborate videos MTV and the like stopped showing them. However, with the advent of inexpensive production equipment and the ability to [...]

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  Showbiz Sandbox 101: How Jay-Z Went From Street Corner To Corner Office

  5/3/2011

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  Duration: 1:06:59

  Starting out on the streets of Brooklyn, New York as a drug dealer in the late 1980s, hip-hop star Jay-Z has transformed himself into a recognizable brand encompassing music, clothing, restaurants, nightclubs and an NBA basketball team. Our guest this week is Forbes staff writer Zack O’Malley Greenburg who tells the improbable story of how [...]

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  Showbiz Sandbox 100: In Showbiz, As In Life, Size Matters

  4/26/2011

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  Duration: 1:12:32

  It’s hard to believe we’ve recorded 100 episodes of Showbiz Sandbox. It’s also hard to believe that a 3D porno (okay, an erotic comedy) could ever smash a box office record set by “Avatar”. But that’s exactly what happened in Hong Kong, where “Sex and Zen: Extreme Ecstasy” opened to USD $2.19 million. The producers [...]

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  Showbiz Sandbox 99-B: The Special Excuse Episode

  4/18/2011

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  Duration: 4:48

  The dog ate our homework!  Here we were, all prepared to fill you in on the week’s top entertainment headlines during this week’s episode, when unexpected travel plans got in the way. Entertainment journalist extraordinaire Michael Giltz was hoping to talk about daytime soap operas “All My Children” and “One Life To Live” being canceled [...]

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  Showbiz Sandbox 99: How To Fix Hollywood’s Obsolete Residual Payments System

  4/12/2011

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  Duration: 1:07:00

  Labor and contract negotiations are a constant concern in Hollywood. Entertainment attorney Jonathan Handel is a contributor to The Hollywood Reporter and has written a book about the industry’s labor disputes,  “Hollywood on Strike!: An Industry at War in the Internet Age“. The book grew out of his coverage of the labor unrest that began [...]

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  Showbiz Sandbox 98: Why New Distribution Models Terrify Hollywood

  4/4/2011

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  Duration: 1:21:19

  Movie studios, television networks and record labels still haven’t updated their business models to account for video and music streaming services like Netflix and Spotify. Now companies such as Amazon, Google and Apple plan on introducing a whole new group of media subscription services. With premium video-on-demand on the horizon it’s no surprise the entertainment [...]

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  Showbiz Sandbox 97: What The Failure Of “Mars Needs Moms” Means For Hollywood

  3/23/2011

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  Duration: 1:08:55

  When Disney’s animated film “Mars Needs Moms” flopped at the box office, film industry insiders struggled to pinpoint a possible cause.  Was it the motion-capture animation style?  The lackluster storyline?  Are multiplexes saturated with too animated family films?  Have higher 3D ticket prices caused moviegoers to become more picky?  We are joined by New York [...]

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  Showbiz Sandbox 96: Why Facebook Is Becoming Your Friendly Neighborhood Video Store

  3/15/2011

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  Duration: 1:06:27

  In their never ending quest to replace declining DVD revenue movie studios have begun renting movies on Facebook. Such partnerships are focused on more than just sales, or finding a Netflix competitor, they are also about marketing. As Facebook users rent and purchase movies they’ll be transformed into a social marketing army. Mel Gibson made [...]

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  Showbiz Sandbox 95: The Media Is Charlie Sheen’s Worst Enabler

  3/8/2011

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  Duration: 1:17:36

  It’s hard to believe that we’re writing headlines about Charlie Sheen for the second week in a row. Alas, the actor went on a whirlwind media campaign let the world know he was ready to go back to work on his hit sitcom. Mainstream media reveled in an endless supply of Sheen’s erratic and manic [...]

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  Showbiz Sandbox 94: Charlie Sheen Is More Entertaining Than The Oscars

  3/2/2011

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  Duration: 59:42

  The 83rd Annual Academy Awards are finally over and, as expected, “The King’s Speech” took home most of the top prizes, including Best Picture. IndieWire’s Anne Thompson gives us her take on all the winners and losers, not to mention the poorly received Oscar telecast. One day before the Oscars Anne was at the Independent [...]

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  Showbiz Sandbox 93: A Film Festival Fit For An iPhone

  2/22/2011

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  Duration: 1:06:46

  Innovative filmmakers have taken a liking to iPhones and Flip cameras that can record HD video. They’ve begun churning out creative pieces shot entirely on the tiny devices. Ruben Kazanstev co-founded the iPhone Film Festival to promote some of this new work. He is surprised at how popular the festival has been explains how the [...]

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  Showbiz Sandbox 92: The Awards Otherwise Known As The Grammys

  2/13/2011

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  Duration: 59:27

  Indie rock darling Arcade Fire provided an upset at this year’s Grammy Awards by taking home the prize for Album Of The Year. Rolling Stone contributing editor David Wild helped write the Grammy telecast and he provides an insider’s perspective on the show as well as a peak backstage. Unfortunately, nobody can explain why Lady [...]

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  Showbiz Sandbox 91: Super Bowl Ads Suffer Their Own Recession

  2/9/2011

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  Duration: 59:59

  More than 111 million people watched this year’s Super Bowl telecast; more viewers than any broadcast in U.S. television history. That’s great news for companies that spent big money to run ads during the game. Unfortunately, most of the usually entertaining commercials were downright dreadful. Whether praiseworthy or offensive, we give you the low down [...]

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  Showbiz Sandbox 90: Pick Up Artists Score At Sundance

  2/1/2011

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  Duration: 59:32

  The Sundance Film Festival was held in Park City, Utah over the past two weeks and word is that this year’s official selections were well worth the trip. Just back from the festival, Anne Thompson of IndieWire’s Thompson On Hollywood blog fills us in on all the buzzworthy films and why so many of them [...]

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  Showbiz Sandbox Special Episode: Dissecting This Year’s Oscar Nominations

  1/25/2011

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  Duration: 24:17

  The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced this year’s Oscar nominees yesterday and we were happy to see there were a few surprises. While “The Social Network” has been a favorite among critics, Academy voters favored “The King’s Speech”, nominating the historical drama for 12 awards including Best Picture. Even the Coen Brothers’ [...]

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  Showbiz Sandbox 89: The Rising Fortunes Of Lady Gaga

  1/25/2011

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  Duration: 1:02:09

  Lady GaGa may be well on her way to earning more than $100 million dollars this year. With a new album and a world tour, Zack O’Malley Greenburg, a staff writer at Forbes, believes the pop star has the potential to become one of 2011′s highest paid musical performers. Greenburg stops by to help us [...]

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  Showbiz Sandbox 88: How Many Producers Does A Movie Need?

  1/18/2011

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  Duration: 1:01:52

  Other than some pointed barbs from comedian Ricky Gervais this year’s Golden Globe Awards were truly predictable. Nicole Sperling of the Los Angeles Times attended the ceremony and tells us all about it. She also explains why the Academy Awards only allow three producers to be nominated for each Best Film nominee. Relativity’s Ryan Kavanaugh [...]

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  Showbiz Sandbox 87: The Oscars Have A Mommy Complex

  1/10/2011

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  Duration: 1:08:59

  It seems as if this year’s supporting actress awards are being overrun by a handful of horrible mothers. “The Fighter” and “Animal Kingdom” feature just the kind of evil matriarchs Oscar voters have reward in the past. Stephen Farber of the Daily Beast and Hollywood Reporter discusses the evolution of flawed movie mommies from “Mildred [...]

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  Showbiz Sandbox 86: Why TV Viewing Is Rising As Moviegoing Declines

  1/4/2011

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  Duration: 59:05

  On more than a few occasions during 2010 one could hardly fault moviegoers for feeling as if they’d been duped as they left theaters. Movieline journalist and author Alonso Duralde believes that in at least seven instances films were misrepresented by their marketing campaigns. He discusses, among others, the arthouse movie that was sold as [...]

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  Showbiz Sandbox 85: How To Save The Movie Business

  12/28/2010

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  Duration: 57:18

  In an age of video on demand and mobile computing, the traditional method for releasing films doesn’t seem to be working. As ticket prices rise, moviegoing and ticket sales are declining. Even worse, the fastest declining segment of moviegoers is young adults who can’t find movies that speak to their generation. Independent producer Cotty Chubb [...]

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  Showbiz Sandbox 84: A Black List Every Screenwriter Wants To Be On

  12/21/2010

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  Duration: 1:08:19

  Since 2005 Hollywood studio executive Franklin Leonard has compiled an annual list of the industry’s “most liked” unproduced screenplays. Dubbed The Black List, past selections have gone on to win Academy Awards (“Juno”) or be turned into critically acclaimed films (“The Social Network”). Leonard talks about the project he began on a whim and how [...]

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  Showbiz Sandbox 83: The Social Network Tops Critics Year-End Picks

  12/14/2010

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  Duration: 59:24

  Even the latest “Chronicles of Narnia” film can’t steal the spotlight from “The Social Network”. David Fincher’s little Facebook movie is the toast of critics groups throughout the country with most selecting it as the year’s best film. “Blue Valentine” may be getting overlooked when it comes to top awards, but the MPAA decided to [...]

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  Showbiz Sandbox 82: Training For The Awards Season Marathon

  12/7/2010

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  Duration: 1:07:05

  The end of the year always has more “best of” lists and awards show news than any media outlet knows what to do with. Over the past week nominees were announced for the Independent Spirit Awards, the Grammys and the Annies (for animated films). In Europe, they’ve already started holding awards ceremonies, with “The King’s [...]

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  Showbiz Sandbox 81: Kanye West Spins His Own Hype

  12/1/2010

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  Duration: 1:06:47

  The week of Thanksgiving is usually slow when it comes to entertainment news, but not this year. There was a horse race at the box office as Disney’s 50th animated feature nearly toppled the seventh Harry Potter film at the box office. “Tangled” received positive reviews and earned an impressive $69 million over the four [...]

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  Showbiz Sandbox 80: Disney Dumps Fairy Tales For Original Stories

  11/23/2010

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  Duration: 59:12

  As “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1″ debuted to $125 million in its opening weekend, Disney prepared to release its 50th animated feature film less than a week later. However, despite building a multi-billion dollar empire based on stories that feature princesses, according to Dawn C. Chmielewski of the Los Angeles Times “Tangled” [...]

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  Showbiz Sandbox 79: A New Social Music Chart To Rival Billboard?

  11/16/2010

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  Duration: 1:06:44

  Media measurement company BigChampagne believes that ranking songs and musicians based on radio airplay and record sales is an antiquated method. Joe Fleischer, the company’s Chief Marketing Officer, explains how they’ve added social platforms such as YouTube, Facebook and Pandora into the mix to create the Ultimate Chart, a new music chart giving industry heavyweights [...]

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  Showbiz Sandbox 78: The Fight Over Streaming Television Online

  11/9/2010

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  Duration: 1:12:09

  As if broadcast and cable networks didn’t have enough to worry about with online streaming offerings from Apple and Google, they now have startups such as ivi.TV to contend with. The company recently launched an online service that retransmits signals from broadcast television stations in New York and Seattle with more cities coming online soon. [...]

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  Showbiz Sandbox 77: It’s Official – Hollywood To Make Nothing But Sequels

  11/1/2010

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  Duration: 1:02:43

  With the seventh installment of the Saw franchise and Paranormal Activity 2 topping this week’s box office, it’s not hard to see why Hollywood studios have been greenlighting sequels and prequels. They range from high profile titles such as “The Hobbit” and “Avatar”, to questionable projects such as “Top Gun 2″. Don’t even get us [...]

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  Showbiz Sandbox 76: Taking On The Hobbit And Ticketmaster Down Under

  10/25/2010

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  Duration: 1:01:37

  Our friends Down Under generated a lot of entertainment news this past week. In New Zealand a union boycott of “The Hobbit” may cause Warner Bros. to relocate the production to another country. Director Peter Jackson has publicly opposed such a move, but as the Hollywood Reporter’s Jonathan Handel explains, this may just be Warner [...]

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  Showbiz Sandbox 75: Hollywood Stunned By A Jackass (And It’s Not Perez Hilton!)

  10/18/2010

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  Duration: 58:10

  Everyone expected the latest installment of the low-rent “Jackass” franchise to bring in a few bucks, especially since it was filmed in 3D, but nobody expected the movie to take in $50 million in its debut weekend and set records for an October opening. Another surprise from this past week came when gossip blogger Perez [...]

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  Showbiz Sandbox 74: Showbiz News Gets A Reboot

  10/12/2010

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  Duration: 1:08:20

  Anne Thompson of Thompson On Hollywood discusses her new role at IndieWire and the recent shuffle of entertainment journalists between media outlets. She gives us her take on the future of IndieWire and the current state of entertainment news coverage. The Social Network continues to clean up at the box office and if a recent [...]

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  Showbiz Sandbox 73: Handicapping This Season’s New TV Shows

  9/29/2010

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  Duration: 1:05:13

  With the new television season already underway our hosts debate which of the new series will get a full season order from the networks and which won’t make it to October. Will the revival of “Hawaii Five-O” make the cut? What will be the first show to get canceled? Let the arguments begin. Oliver Stone [...]

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  Showbiz Sandbox 72: Grading The Toronto and Venice Film Festivals

  9/21/2010

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  Duration: 58:00

  After attending both the Venice and Toronto Film Festivals over the past month Anne Thompson of IndieWIRE may need a little time off. But since Thompson is entering the hectic Oscar season there’s no rest for the weary. She stops by to tell us about all the great films she saw in Venice and Toronto, [...]

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  Showbiz Sandbox 71: Missing Good Movies In Toronto, Eh?

  9/14/2010

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  Duration: 51:50

  Trying to record a podcast when your hosts are half a world apart in three different time zones is no easy task, but still we persevered. We even managed to land Megan Garvey from the Los Angeles Times as a special guest. She tells us all about the Times’ new iPhone app which provides an [...]

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  Showbiz Sandbox 70: Digital or Bust – The Future of Reading

  9/7/2010

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  Duration: 1:09:24

  It seems a new electronic reading device is released every week. It’s no wonder the sale of e-books has begun to outpace traditional print copies. Ryan Chapman, the online marketing manager for publisher Farrar, Straus and Giroux, talks about how the industry is dealing with the new technology and in certain instances, using it to [...]

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  Showbiz Sandbox 69: The Emmys Shine In Google TV’s Shadow

  8/31/2010

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  Duration: 1:02:47

  Host Jimmy Fallon helped pump some energy into this year’s Emmy Awards where a lot of new names and shows walked away with trophies.  Rick Porter, staff editor at Zap2it, provides some details about who won and who lost.  And the Emmy telecast received rave reviews.  One of the shows writers was David Wild, a [...]

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  Showbiz Sandbox 68: Who Said Jennifer Aniston Was A Movie Star?

  8/23/2010

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  Duration: 59:48

  Who would have guessed that in this day and age a Sylvester Stallone movie could top the box office for two straight weeks. But Sly’s “The Expendables” finished first with $16 million beating out five new releases including the Jennifer Aniston vehicle “Switched”. The dramedy opened to a disappointing $8.1 million prompting entertainment pundits like [...]