http://www.kcrw.com/etc/programs/bb Four minutes from the heart of Hollywood from Matt Holzman, producer of “The Business,” public radio’s show about the business of show business. hourly 1 2011-01-01T08:00:00Z http://www.kcrw.com/etc/programs/bb/bb_335x120.jpg http://www.kcrw.com/etc/programs/bb http://www.kcrw.com/etc/programs/bb/bb100322the_iraq_movie_surge <p> The $100 million action thriller Green Zone opened the weekend before last, and so far it's brought in an unimpressive $24 million domestically. But perhaps even before executives at Universal green-lit Green Zone, they had to have known that it wasn't going to make a lot of money... </p><a target="_blank" href="http://www.kcrw.com/media-player/mediaPlayer2.html?type=audio&id=bb100322the_iraq_movie_surge">Listen</a>&nbsp;<a href="http://download.kcrw.com/audio/272359/bb_2010-03-22-201606.6929.mp3">Download</a><br/><embed src="http://www.kcrw.com/etc/programs/bb/bb100322the_iraq_movie_surge/embed-audio" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="424" height="268"></embed> application/x-shockwave-flash 424 268 transparent http://www.kcrw.com/etc/programs/bb/bb100322the_iraq_movie_surge Mon, 22 Mar 2010 16:44:00 -0700 KCRW 2010-03-22T23:44:00Z Show http://www.kcrw.com/etc/programs/bb/bb100315trade_wars <p> For years and years, the business has been the happy battle ground of two trade papers – Variety and the Hollywood Reporter. But in recent years, the fight has stopped being between the two rivals, and turned into a fight for survival... </p><a target="_blank" href="http://www.kcrw.com/media-player/mediaPlayer2.html?type=audio&id=bb100315trade_wars">Listen</a>&nbsp;<a href="http://download.kcrw.com/audio/267941/bb_2010-03-15-181215.6929.mp3">Download</a><br/><embed src="http://www.kcrw.com/etc/programs/bb/bb100315trade_wars/embed-audio" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="424" height="268"></embed> application/x-shockwave-flash 424 268 transparent http://www.kcrw.com/etc/programs/bb/bb100315trade_wars Mon, 15 Mar 2010 16:44:00 -0700 KCRW 2010-03-15T23:44:00Z Show http://www.kcrw.com/etc/programs/bb/bb100308distribution_is_mark <p> I'll spare you the Oscar talk; I’ll just report that it looks like ratings for the telecast are up and James Cameron got smacked down, so all is right in Hollywood. Instead I want to talk about movie distribution.... </p><a target="_blank" href="http://www.kcrw.com/media-player/mediaPlayer2.html?type=audio&id=bb100308distribution_is_mark">Listen</a>&nbsp;<a href="http://download.kcrw.com/audio/263627/bb_2010-03-08-182903.6929.mp3">Download</a><br/><embed src="http://www.kcrw.com/etc/programs/bb/bb100308distribution_is_mark/embed-audio" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="424" height="268"></embed> application/x-shockwave-flash 424 268 transparent http://www.kcrw.com/etc/programs/bb/bb100308distribution_is_mark Mon, 08 Mar 2010 16:44:00 -0800 KCRW 2010-03-09T00:44:00Z Show http://www.kcrw.com/etc/programs/bb/bb100301water_cooler_talk <p> In 1994, 204 million Americans watched the winter Olympics in the picturesque Norwegian town of Lillehammer. The games that just ended in Vancouver had an 8% smaller audience. Which seems even worse considering that there are something like 20% more Americans now than there were in 1994. </p><a target="_blank" href="http://www.kcrw.com/media-player/mediaPlayer2.html?type=audio&id=bb100301water_cooler_talk">Listen</a>&nbsp;<a href="http://download.kcrw.com/audio/258851/bb_2010-03-01-172831.6929.mp3">Download</a><br/><embed src="http://www.kcrw.com/etc/programs/bb/bb100301water_cooler_talk/embed-audio" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="424" height="268"></embed> application/x-shockwave-flash 424 268 transparent http://www.kcrw.com/etc/programs/bb/bb100301water_cooler_talk Mon, 01 Mar 2010 16:44:00 -0800 KCRW 2010-03-02T00:44:00Z Show http://www.kcrw.com/etc/programs/bb/bb100125rating_the_raters <p> Nielsen, by far the biggest of the media ratings companies, proudly announced last week that they will start counting on-line and DVR-TV watching this fall. To which I say to Nielsen, "Welcome to 2008..." </p><a target="_blank" href="http://www.kcrw.com/media-player/mediaPlayer2.html?type=audio&id=bb100125rating_the_raters">Listen</a>&nbsp;<a href="http://download.kcrw.com/audio/235553/bb_2010-01-25-183305.6929.mp3">Download</a><br/><embed src="http://www.kcrw.com/etc/programs/bb/bb100125rating_the_raters/embed-audio" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="424" height="268"></embed> application/x-shockwave-flash 424 268 transparent http://www.kcrw.com/etc/programs/bb/bb100125rating_the_raters Mon, 25 Jan 2010 16:44:00 -0800 KCRW 2010-01-26T00:44:00Z Show http://www.kcrw.com/etc/programs/bb/bb100118black_blockbuster <p> As the nation celebrates the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, the name of President Obama is coming up an awful lot. But the folks in Hollywood are not talking much about the remarkable fact that their most bankable movie star these days is also black. They're just not sure what to do with that reality... </p><a target="_blank" href="http://www.kcrw.com/media-player/mediaPlayer2.html?type=audio&id=bb100118black_blockbuster">Listen</a>&nbsp;<a href="http://download.kcrw.com/audio/230837/bb_2010-01-18-235916.6929.mp3">Download</a><br/><embed src="http://www.kcrw.com/etc/programs/bb/bb100118black_blockbuster/embed-audio" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="424" height="268"></embed> application/x-shockwave-flash 424 268 transparent http://www.kcrw.com/etc/programs/bb/bb100118black_blockbuster Mon, 18 Jan 2010 16:44:00 -0800 KCRW 2010-01-19T00:44:00Z Show http://www.kcrw.com/etc/programs/bb/bb100111everybody_hates_jay <p> If you've just woken from an extended bout of unconsciousness, you may not have heard that NBC moved Jay Leno to 10pm last fall, and that now that grand experiment in prime-time is over. Well, fear not. You'll have plenty of opportunity to catch up on the juicy details as the debacle is dissected with great glee over the next few weeks after all, this is not only a major story, but a delicious opportunity for schadenfreude. But I would say that schadenfreude could be as costly to the TV business as a whole as the grand experiment could be costly to NBC... </p><a target="_blank" href="http://www.kcrw.com/media-player/mediaPlayer2.html?type=audio&id=bb100111everybody_hates_jay">Listen</a>&nbsp;<a href="http://download.kcrw.com/audio/225947/bb_2010-01-11-170640.6929.mp3">Download</a><br/><embed src="http://www.kcrw.com/etc/programs/bb/bb100111everybody_hates_jay/embed-audio" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="424" height="268"></embed> application/x-shockwave-flash 424 268 transparent http://www.kcrw.com/etc/programs/bb/bb100111everybody_hates_jay Mon, 11 Jan 2010 16:44:00 -0800 KCRW 2010-01-12T00:44:00Z Show http://www.kcrw.com/etc/programs/bb/bb100104the_new_entertainmen <p> "Nobody knows anything." That's the line lifted from William Goldman's 1983 Hollywood memoir adventures in the screen trade that has famously come to describe the entertainment industry. It's become a cliché, but it's a cliché, of course, because its true. And if it was true then and it was imagine how true it is now, as the entertainment industry does the herky jerky into a wildly uncertain future. I thought I'd outline some of the terrifying thoughts that are going through the heads of show biz bigwigs as they go back to work in the new year... </p><a target="_blank" href="http://www.kcrw.com/media-player/mediaPlayer2.html?type=audio&id=bb100104the_new_entertainmen">Listen</a>&nbsp;<a href="http://download.kcrw.com/audio/221487/bb_2010-01-04-181909.6929.mp3">Download</a><br/><embed src="http://www.kcrw.com/etc/programs/bb/bb100104the_new_entertainmen/embed-audio" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="424" height="268"></embed> application/x-shockwave-flash 424 268 transparent http://www.kcrw.com/etc/programs/bb/bb100104the_new_entertainmen Mon, 04 Jan 2010 16:44:00 -0800 KCRW 2010-01-05T00:44:00Z Show http://www.kcrw.com/etc/programs/bb/bb091214how_is_400_million_l <p> Avatar is finally coming out this week. At a cost of $300 or $400 million, James Cameron's sci-fi action epic is one of the most expensive movies ever made. At the same time, a studio is talking about starting up a new division to make movies with budgets of less than $100,000. Kind of makes Hollywood look like a cartoon character running towards a fork in the road and trying to go both ways at once. And yet Avatar has more in common with a tiny movie like Paranormal Activity than you might think... </p><a target="_blank" href="http://www.kcrw.com/media-player/mediaPlayer2.html?type=audio&id=bb091214how_is_400_million_l">Listen</a>&nbsp;<a href="http://download.kcrw.com/audio/212839/bb_2009-12-14-192823.6929.mp3">Download</a><br/><embed src="http://www.kcrw.com/etc/programs/bb/bb091214how_is_400_million_l/embed-audio" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="424" height="268"></embed> application/x-shockwave-flash 424 268 transparent http://www.kcrw.com/etc/programs/bb/bb091214how_is_400_million_l Mon, 14 Dec 2009 16:44:00 -0800 KCRW 2009-12-15T00:44:00Z Show http://www.kcrw.com/etc/programs/bb/bb091207tortoise_and_the_har <p> Slow and steady wins the race is the moral of the famous fable about the tortoise and the hare, but the folks in Hollywood clearly aren't big on Aesop. A better analogy might actually be baseball. The studios like the home runs, even though a lot of singles are arguably a safer and surer way to score points... </p><a target="_blank" href="http://www.kcrw.com/media-player/mediaPlayer2.html?type=audio&id=bb091207tortoise_and_the_har">Listen</a>&nbsp;<a href="http://download.kcrw.com/audio/208987/bb_2009-12-07-191529.6929.mp3">Download</a><br/><embed src="http://www.kcrw.com/etc/programs/bb/bb091207tortoise_and_the_har/embed-audio" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="424" height="268"></embed> application/x-shockwave-flash 424 268 transparent http://www.kcrw.com/etc/programs/bb/bb091207tortoise_and_the_har Mon, 07 Dec 2009 16:44:00 -0800 KCRW 2009-12-08T00:44:00Z Show http://www.kcrw.com/etc/programs/bb/bb091130speak_up_hollywood <p> Before she came to Hollywood and before she became host of the business here on KCRW, Kim Masters covered politics for the Washington Post. She told me that it was easier to get people in government to speak frankly and on the record about substantive policy issues than it is to get a studio exec to say their latest action flick flopped – even when the box office numbers are printed in the paper for everyone to see... </p><a target="_blank" href="http://www.kcrw.com/media-player/mediaPlayer2.html?type=audio&id=bb091130speak_up_hollywood">Listen</a>&nbsp;<a href="http://download.kcrw.com/audio/200123/bb_2009-11-30-181816.6929.mp3">Download</a><br/><embed src="http://www.kcrw.com/etc/programs/bb/bb091130speak_up_hollywood/embed-audio" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="424" height="268"></embed> application/x-shockwave-flash 424 268 transparent http://www.kcrw.com/etc/programs/bb/bb091130speak_up_hollywood Mon, 30 Nov 2009 16:44:00 -0800 KCRW 2009-12-01T00:44:00Z Show http://www.kcrw.com/etc/programs/bb/bb091116the_digital_revoluti <p> Yahoo has launched a nice new ad campaign with messages of digital empowerment like "now the Internet has a personality – yours." But one of their slogans has got to be causing Hollywood severe angina... </p><a target="_blank" href="http://www.kcrw.com/media-player/mediaPlayer2.html?type=audio&id=bb091116the_digital_revoluti">Listen</a>&nbsp;<a href="http://download.kcrw.com/audio/193221/bb_2009-11-16-184752.6929.mp3">Download</a><br/><embed src="http://www.kcrw.com/etc/programs/bb/bb091116the_digital_revoluti/embed-audio" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="424" height="268"></embed> application/x-shockwave-flash 424 268 transparent http://www.kcrw.com/etc/programs/bb/bb091116the_digital_revoluti Mon, 16 Nov 2009 16:44:00 -0800 KCRW 2009-11-17T00:44:00Z Show http://www.kcrw.com/etc/programs/bb/bb091109back_from_the_boondo <p> The story of Troy Duffy's rocket-ride to success and equally dramatic plummet back to Earth is combination of Hollywood legend and Greek tragedy; call it Icarus meets Narcissus meets William Morris. But now, it appears that his saga is far from over... </p><a target="_blank" href="http://www.kcrw.com/media-player/mediaPlayer2.html?type=audio&id=bb091109back_from_the_boondo">Listen</a>&nbsp;<a href="http://download.kcrw.com/audio/189489/bb_2009-11-09-192548.6929.mp3">Download</a><br/><embed src="http://www.kcrw.com/etc/programs/bb/bb091109back_from_the_boondo/embed-audio" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="424" height="268"></embed> application/x-shockwave-flash 424 268 transparent http://www.kcrw.com/etc/programs/bb/bb091109back_from_the_boondo Mon, 09 Nov 2009 16:44:00 -0800 KCRW 2009-11-10T00:44:00Z Show http://www.kcrw.com/etc/programs/bb/bb090921which_way_emmys <p> Last night was the 61st prime-time Emmy Awards, the television industry's biggest night, and the question has to be: who cares? I'm not trying be provocative, I'm asking the question the TV academy has got to be asking itself: who really cares about the Emmys? Who is our audience? </p><a target="_blank" href="http://www.kcrw.com/media-player/mediaPlayer2.html?type=audio&id=bb090921which_way_emmys">Listen</a>&nbsp;<a href="http://download.kcrw.com/audio/162083/bb_2009-09-21-195156.6929.mp3">Download</a><br/><embed src="http://www.kcrw.com/etc/programs/bb/bb090921which_way_emmys/embed-audio" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="424" height="268"></embed> application/x-shockwave-flash 424 268 transparent http://www.kcrw.com/etc/programs/bb/bb090921which_way_emmys Mon, 21 Sep 2009 16:44:00 -0700 KCRW 2009-09-21T23:44:00Z Show http://www.kcrw.com/etc/programs/bb/bb090914tyler_perrys_house_o <p> In 2004, a guy from New Orleans named Tyler Perry showed up in Hollywood. He had the temerity to suggest that the studios might want to turn his wildly popular stage productions into movies. And they all said no. Perry then hooked up with indie studio Lions Gate, and five years later, he continues to beat the big boys at their own game. His low-budget, big profit movies have grossed something like $400 million so far, and that doesn't even include I Can Do Bad All by Myself. His seventh and latest came in first at the box office this past weekend with $24 million – it probably cost half that... </p><a target="_blank" href="http://www.kcrw.com/media-player/mediaPlayer2.html?type=audio&id=bb090914tyler_perrys_house_o">Listen</a>&nbsp;<a href="http://download.kcrw.com/audio/158011/bb_2009-09-14-194454.6929.mp3">Download</a><br/><embed src="http://www.kcrw.com/etc/programs/bb/bb090914tyler_perrys_house_o/embed-audio" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="424" height="268"></embed> application/x-shockwave-flash 424 268 transparent http://www.kcrw.com/etc/programs/bb/bb090914tyler_perrys_house_o Mon, 14 Sep 2009 16:44:00 -0700 KCRW 2009-09-14T23:44:00Z Show