Showbiz Sandbox 622: Actors and Writers Agree That AI Ain’t So Smart
July 11, 2023
The Writers Guild of America members have been on strike for over two months now and might soon be joined by the Screen Actors Guild. When it comes to artificial intelligence however both guilds agree; when their members’ work is used to train AI, actors and writers should be paid. Some writers are now taking matters into their own hands and filing lawsuits against companies for training their A.I. models using their work without permission.
Meanwhile, we’ve known how big music streamers have become on a global level, but now the National Music Publishers Association announced it has cracked the code on figuring out how many subscribers each major service has in the United States.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including how a movie that Disney dumped five years ago beat out Indy 5 at the weekend box office, NBCUniversal promotes some senior executives and Elton John finally wraps up his farewell tour after earning $900 million.
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Showbiz Sandbox 93: A Film Festival Fit For An iPhone
February 21, 2011
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 project has taken on a life of its own.
Maybe in the future big theater chains such as AMC and Regal will wind up playing movies shot on iPhones. They are taking on the studios by forming a joint venture to acquire and distribute independent films, but is such a move legal?
Charlie Sheen continues to make headlines for his erratic behavior. Many industry watchers are questioning the decision to allow the actor to return to work on “Two And A Half Men” before he tackles his substance abuse problem.
We discuss all the top entertainment news, including this year’s Bonnaroo lineup, Borders’ bankruptcy filing and plans for a Robocop statue in Detroit. During Inside Baseball we discuss how LCD Soundsystem hopes to beat scalpers selling tickets to their upcoming farewell concerts.
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Showbiz Sandbox 75: Hollywood Stunned By A Jackass (And It’s Not Perez Hilton!)
October 18, 2010
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 Hilton told the world he would no longer “bully” or “out” celebrities on his popular website. Hilton has left everyone wondering if he is being honest, or just trying to grab a few headlines.
In television news, the big story was all about the Chilean miner rescue which drew huge ratings for cable news networks. As for some of the season’s new shows, we provide an update on which ones seem to be fairing well and which may be headed into a permanent hiatus.
The nominations for the American Music Awards were announced, though instead of pulling names from Billboard’s Hot 100 chart, the show relied on the Ultimate Chart published by BigChampagne.
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