Showbiz Sandbox 511: The Emmys and TIFF Pull Off the Virtual
September 22, 2020
When COVID-19 shut down the worldwide entertainment industry many wondered how it would affect annual events such as awards shows as well as film and music festivals. While the pandemic led to the cancelation of the Cannes Film Festival, the Emmy Awards honoring excellence in television and the Toronto International Film Festival both managed to hold virtual events that were received quite positively.
Anne Thompson, Indiewire’s Editor at Large, has been attending and covering TIFF for decades, though this year she didn’t have to leave her home to do so. She fills us in on what it was like to attend TIFF virtually, what the standout films were, how they will likely get released in theaters and which ones will be up for (a virtual) Oscars next year.
Of course we also cover some of the week’s top entertainment headlines including complete coverage of the Emmy Awards, a new music video for a beloved Louis Armstrong song and Madonna will direct her own biopic.
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Showbiz Sandbox 249: Why Film Festivals Are More Important Than Ever
September 16, 2014
Anne Thompson, an editor at Thompson on Hollywood and Indiewire, just spent the past two weeks at the Telluride and Toronto Film Festivals before she heads off to the New York Film Festival. Thompson takes us through some of the noteworthy films we’ll be seeing in coming months and discuss the important role festivals play in creating buzz before a movie’s commercial release.
The competition for landing premieres of noteworthy titles has become so fierce that Toronto switched up its programming this year to give less prominence to any film screening a week earlier at Telluride. One aspect of each festival which is unlikely to change is their reputation for selecting films that go on to win Best Picture Oscars.
While fall festivals might be the talk of the film industry, television executives have been preoccupied with their over-the-top strategies. As audiences switch to OTT offerings from Amazon to Roku, networks are experimenting with direct-to-consumer offerings while contending with increasingly meaningless overnight ratings.
Of course, we also cover the week’s top entertainment news stories including opting-out of a free U2 album, Microsoft picks up “Minecraft” and Netflix’s invasion of Europe.
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