Category Archives: The Mediascape

CAPTCHA frustration film wins 2025 Oscar best live action short

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I’m Not a Robot, a 2023 Dutch-language short science fiction drama written and directed by Victoria Warmerdam, has just won the 2025 Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film.

It stars Ellen Parren as a woman who has an identity crisis after failing a series of CAPTCHA tests.

Watch the full short film here.

See trailers for all fifteen Oscar-nominated short films.

Check out more great short films in The New Yorker Screening Room.

My take: Great concept! And great production! Watching it, I wondered how they’d execute the “jumping” scene. (A oner with a quick pan away to substitute the stunt performer.) I accomplished something similar with edits only in dust2dust. Can’t wait to see what additional themes Victoria tackles in the feature-length version!

The problem with independent film exhibition in Canada

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…is Cineplex.

Writing in This Magazine, Jake Pitre lays bare the stark truth facing the movie-going public in Canada:

“Cineplex’s role in Canada is, without a doubt, a monopoly. It runs 158 theatres with over 1,630 screens, and it controls approximately 75 percent of domestic box office. By contrast, no one company in the U.S., the UK, or Australia controls more than 30 percent.”

The Network of Independent Canadian Exhibitors (NICE) reports in its The State of Independent Film Exhibition in Canada that 60% of independent film exhibitors
operated at a loss at the end of their most recent fiscal year and highlights two policy suggestions that would improve the exhibition of films in Canada:

  1. Limit studio Clean Run demands: An overwhelming majority at 81%
    of independent film exhibitors are impacted by the “clean
    runs” required by major studios.
  2. Eliminate Zones: 53% of independent film exhibitors must
    wait for the Cineplex in their “zone” to finish playing a new
    release before they are allowed to show it.

Curiously, a new book on corporate monopolies in Canada, The Big Fix, digs into the history of film exhibition in Canada and reveals that Cineplex was the upstart challenger in the 1980s!

My take: this situation can only be addressed with government intervention, as Cineplex has a vested interest in maintaining its monopoly. It’s a pity because competition is actually good.

How to create a TV Pitch Deck

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Australia’s Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) has a great Scripted Pitch Guide.

SBS Scripted is looking for the same things all broadcasters are:

“We want to hear pitches for TV series that thrill us…. Great stories, brilliantly told. Entertaining, culture defining, fresh and unique. Bring us a show we have not seen before. Bring us a show that is brilliantly crafted; a show that has characters that audiences will fall in love with; a show with a propulsive narrative that starts with a bang and keeps audiences deeply engaged.”

That’s why I believe their pitch deck format will work for almost all broadcasters.

My take: download their PDF, start reading from Page 13 and then go back and study everything! Great for all your media projects too.

Funding + Screening, together now

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Brian Welk reports on IndieWire that From Film Funding to Distribution, This Partnership Gives You Control: ‘Anyone Can Do This’.

The partnership in question is between Seed&Spark and Kinema.

Unlike other crowdfunding platforms Seed&Spark is purpose-built for film & TV projects. They have a phenomenal 82% success rate.

“Kinema is a tech platform that enables non-theatrical exhibition — what you may call grassroots screening tours — of films in person and online. We make it easy and rewarding for anyone, anywhere to organize moving showings and share in the proceeds.”

Brian states:

“Those who fund programs on Seed&Spark get a dedicated Kinema account manager and custom distribution consultations. Fees are waived for filmmakers with over 500 followers or over 1,000 campaign backers.”

But hey, if you want to DIY, at least check out their free online resource The Distribution Playbook.

My take: well worth further investigation!

Riffusion generates full songs effortlessly

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Riffusion has just opened a public beta and it rocks!

Riffusion is the brainchild of Hayk Martiros and Seth Forsgren.

“Our goal is to make everyone into a musician and bring a future where music is interactive and personalized.”

TechCrunch reported their $4M seed funding in October 2023.

My take: damn! Not only will this create full songs, it will also create stems you can download for further modification in your DAW of choice.

Indie TV: self-financing your own series

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Elaine Low writes on The Ankler that Indie TV is a viable model to self-finance shows.

She writes:

“In Park City for the (Sundance) festival is Cooper Raiff, the writer and director of Cha Cha Real Smooth, which just three years ago was a festival competition title that got snapped up by Apple TV+ for $15 million. This year, he’s shopping Hal & Harper — not an indie film, which would be a tough enough sell in 2025, but rather an independently financed TV series, whose path is even less clear.”

Zack Sharf quotes Raiff on making Hal & Harper in Variety as saying:

“(Selling your second movie for $15 million to Apple) makes you too confident. Because of that deal, I thought, ‘Let’s just do it with television.’ That’s what I told everyone. We’re really braving the storm with the series. ‘Cha Cha’ was sold on the backs of so many indie movies. With this, we’re trying to sell this show… so it has to be this undeniable thing to these streamers and these networks. But it made me too confident.”

See the Collider review.

Wikipedia info.

My take: this seems extremely risky, unless your budget is practically zero, you have all the locations, and everyone is volunteering their time. Or, you’ve made so much, you need write-offs? I mean it’s a great way to keep total creative control — until Season Two, that is.

AI feature filmmaking

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AiMation Studios has released the first feature fully made with AI on YouTube, Where the Robots Grow.

It took the crew of nine ninety days to create it. They used Wonder Dynamics to motion capture actors, replace them with assets, and then skin the assets, backgrounds and skies with AI generated replacements.

Haydn Rushworth interviewed Tom Paton, the director, in Coventry, England. Here he explains how he finances all his self-described “shitty” movies:

Watch Part One, Part Two, Part Three and a bonus studio tour.

My take: the feature definitely has some rough spots. But the democratization of production using AI to assist in all areas is something only those with vested interests will resist.

Why so many movies are shot in British Columbia, Canada

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Edward Vega posts on Vox “Why your favourite movies fake their locations and why so many of them are shot in Vancouver.”

It all boils down to money.

Some of the reasons he points out:

  1. Locations: Vancouver has got it all: downtowns, suburbs, rural areas, mountains and forests, all within easy travel times
  2. Infrastructure: officials, crews and the general public are film-friendly and eager to make movies
  3. Tax incentives: provincial and federal dollars are readily available as tax rebates.

btw, the whole video is sponsored by Destination Vancouver.

See also:

My take: Another reason is that British Columbia and California share the same time zone. And a further reason is the exchange rate — the Loonie is worth 69 US cents, so every dollar Hollywood spends automatically goes over 40% further north of the border. (btw, you get even more tax incentive to film in Victoria or on Vancouver Island!)

TV in Canada in 2025

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Alex Nino Gheciu of The Canadian Press reports that TV seasons are getting shorter. Canadians who rely on the industry are nervous.

In summary: the Canadian television industry is experiencing a significant downturn, with domestic TV production falling 13% and foreign production dropping 36% between April 2023 and April 2024. The industry faces multiple challenges, including shorter season orders and smaller writing teams. This transformation is affecting employment opportunities for Canadian creative professionals and raising concerns about the future of Canadian storytelling.

He quotes ‘Murder in a Small Town‘ series creator Ian Weir as saying:

“Most Canadian shows used to have at least five writers on staff, now the norm is the showrunner plus one other full-time writer.”

He also quotes ‘The Sticky‘ co-creator Brian Donovan as saying:

“Everybody in this environment is looking for less and less risk. Money is tight and people don’t want to throw out huge orders because it’s really expensive.”

My take: The challenges facing Canadian television mirror trends in the United States, where average season lengths have also decreased. However, Canada faces unique pressures due to our regulatory environment and smaller market size. And yet the situation in the UK offers an interesting contrast, as British television has historically operated with shorter season orders (often 6 to 8 episodes) but has maintained strong creative output through robust public funding and clear content quotas. (See Understanding the UK’s TV Production Sector.) Canada’s attempt to implement similar protective measures through the Online Streaming Act faces resistance from major streaming platforms, leaving our industry in a more precarious position. Stay tuned!