Showbiz Sandbox 545: Writer Paul Rudnick On The Royals, Romance And Rudin

June 15, 2021

When multi-hyphenate Paul Rudnick isn’t writing hit movies or award winning plays he is working on Broadway musicals with the likes of Elton John or busy writing novels. Rudnick joins us for a detailed and humorous conversation about his work and his latest novel, “Playing the Palace.”

We’ll also take a look at the final ratings figures for the primetime television season. Only four network shows increased in total viewers out of over 120 programs that aired during primetime. The numbers for key demographics don’t look much better.

Of course we also cover some of the week’s top entertainment headlines including how Sony Music is changing up how they pay royalties to artists, country singer Morgan Wallen returns to radio and North Korea bans all things K-Pop.

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Showbiz Sandbox 493: Rebooting Film and TV Production Won’t Be Easy

May 12, 2020

When most of the global entertainment industry shut down in March due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it wasn’t just movie theaters, concert halls and amusement parks that were affected. The sudden lockdown forced film and television productions of all kinds to be suspended, no matter what stage they were in. What has yet to be determined is how to start filming new shows and movies while keeping cast and crew safe.

Questions remain over everything from how to shoot love scenes moving forward, whether cast and crew should sequester themselves during production to how often everyone on set should be tested to how meal breaks should be handled. There are concerns over every aspect of a production, including craft services.

Of course we also cover some of the week’s top entertainment headlines including an increase in cord-cutting among cable subscribers, why a major Hollywood talent agency is struggling to survive the industry’s lockdown and how the Fox network is making their upcoming television season coronavirus-proof.

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Showbiz Sandbox 407: Beyoncé Delivers A Higher Education To Coachella

April 17, 2018

Though Beyoncé was unable to headline Coachella last year due to being pregnant with twins, she more than made up for it this year with a performance that music critics are rightly hailing as the best live music event in decades. In a two hour set that included more than 100 performers from dancers to musicians, even a full marching band, Beyoncé put on a spectacular show that managed to be technically brilliant as well as socially relevant to the times. We were there and provide first hand reporting from this year’s Coachella.

Another festival making news is Cannes, which announced the films in this year’s competition, leaving out many of the event’s favorite auteurs. The festival also parted ways with Netflix, not inviting films produced by the streaming giant since they won’t be released in movie theaters.

Speaking of Netflix, a shareholder has sued the company for what they allege to a scheme which assured senior management and board members performance bonuses. The complaint accuses Netflix of using the performance bonuses to avoid paying taxes, rather than for any actual performance gains.

Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment news including the kurfuffle over Apu, an Indian character on “The Simpsons,” Kendrick Lamar wins a Pulitzer Prize for his latest album and Fleetwood Mac parts ways with its longstanding guitarist Lindsey Buckingham.

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

April 16, 2012

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 streaming playlister is the new music blogger. New influencers and kingmakers will emerge in a shifting editorial landscape.

We also take you to the first weekend of this year’s Coachella Music Festival where more than 150 acts strutted their stuff to an more than 100,000 attendees. Headliners such as Radiohead and The Black Keys proved to be big hits, but Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg stole the show by performing with a picture perfect hologram of the late Tupac Shakur.

“The Hunger Games” continues to feast on the North American box office, but the number one movie in the world this past weekend was “Titanic 3D” thanks to a record breaking opening in China.

We also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including Mel Gibson’s public fight with a screenwriter, an extended run for “Game of Thrones” and an anti-trust lawsuit against major publishing houses.

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