Michael Gubbins
FeaturesEmpowering Audiences is Cross-Media Mission
Michael Gubbins looks at some of the main conference themes discussed at the Power to the Pixel London Forum.
- News
Screen opinion: the film industry's zero-sum game
Economist Richard Bronk makes a fascinating case this week for the reasons why economists failed to predict the downturn. 'Economists and bankers,' he suggested, 'assume they can reduce uncertainty to measurable risk based on systematic regularities in the past that can tell you what is going to happen in the ...
- News
United Kingdom - Sustainable development
London-based Film and Music Entertainment (F&ME) is a business on the move. It doesn't have a great deal of choice in one respect - the company's Tottenham Court Road offices are to be demolished to make way for a new rail network.
- News
Screen opinion:Film industry must dodge thesucker punch
Don't worry,' a reassuring senior financier mentioned this time last year, 'the thing with film is that there will always be another sucker at the table.' The hedge funds might dry up and the dodgy tax loopholes close but in true Micawber fashion, he remained confident that 'something would turn ...
- News
Screen opinion:Time to get real
Could 2009 be the year we all get real' The thought springs to mind in contemplating the Alice In Wonderland aspects of the last few months. There has, of course, always been a surreal aspect to the industry but rarely has so much of the business seemed to be out ...
- News
In Focus - European film finance unveiling this season's model
A year ago, Screen's European Film Summit in Berlin was already focused on the dark clouds on the horizon - the terms 'credit crunch' and 'sub-prime' permeated almost all the discussions. Few, however, were predicting the abrupt ending of a credit boom would lead to the kind of downturn we ...
- News
Screen opinion: film must marry magic and business
As befits these recessionary times, there has been a noticeable shift of tone at the business end of the industry recently. New emphasis has been placed on the search for scientific, transparent, bona fide facts and figures that might impress an investor or bank manager. With risk-aversion now set in ...
- News
Screen opinion: What's in a name'
'For the first time in 20 years, no-one wants to venture a guess about what will happen this year,' Universal Pictures International president David Kosse told Screen this week.
- News
Carl Clifton takes up key roles at The Works
Former HandMade COO and head of sales Carl Clifton has started work in his new role as executive director of UK-based international film company The Works Media Group. He is also managing director of the company's sales agency, The Works International, whose current slate includes James Marsh's Man On Wire ...
- News
Screenopinion:Film must look to reinvention
In the middle of the fake souk in the hotel complex where the Dubai International Film Festival is based, there is a Santa's grotto blaring out Frosty The Snowman.
- News
2008 Review of the Year - Crunch time
This has been the year of the reality check. Over the last few years, there has been reason for confidence about strong growth. Globalisation was opening or reopening territories, with vast populations seemingly all demanding to be entertained. New technologies were promising to crash through the limitations of the physical ...
- Features
Europe - breaking the deadlock
Given the slow pace of change in European digital cinema, there is a danger in over-hyping any kind of movement. But a $56m investment in leading UK and France-based D-cinema business Arts Alliance Media (AAM) may prove significant.
- News
Profile: Arts Alliance Media eyesD-cinema breakthrough
The conversion of the world's cinemas to digitalequipment wasalways much more thana simple upgrade of theatre equipment. The industryhad been built ona single standard - 35mm film- and, for all its glaring inefficiencies, it worked in its own way.
- News
Screen opinion: Transparency is key issue for film
The much-touted notion of recession-proof cinema can look like a bad joke for much of the business. The queues that have been exciting attention at theatres in large parts of the world are a million miles from the experience of most of the industry.
- News
Are there upsides to the downturn for film'
'The film market needs to change. I have been told it will never change but two years ago the same thing would have been said about the financial markets.'
- News
Arts Alliance Media gains $56m boost to D-cinema ambitions
Arts Alliance Media's (AAM) ambitions for digital conversion of Europe's cinemas hasreceived a $56m (Euros 43m)boost with the signing of a financing agreement with European services company Econocom and various private investors.
- News
In focus - Distribution - Facing Europe's digital dilemma
Europe's film industries walk a complicated line between art and commerce that can sometimes seem surreal. And that has never been truer than at this month's major conferences of European independent exhibitors and distributors against a backdrop of serious business concerns.
- Features
United Kingdom - Indies find the Sky's the limit
UK satellite broadcaster BSkyB has not enjoyed the same recognition for its influence on film as it has on sport, which has been revolutionised by its multi-channel offering.
- News
Screen opinion: animated film rises above the waves
Just think back to a couple of years ago and you will recall that we were on the brink of the theatrical documentary boom. If one counts the number of documentaries made, there's an element of truth there. On the other hand, the number of even first-class docs that ever ...
- News
The Rainmakers
High School Musical 3: Senior Year set a new opening record for a musical in the US with a three-day debut of $42m. Internationally, it opened number one in 22 countries with a new October opening weekend record of $40m, led by $13.5m in the UK, $6m in Germany, $5m ...