Hollywood vs. Tilly Norwood

Posted on October 8, 2025 by Michael Korican

Lily Ford of The Hollywood Reporter reports that the Creator of AI Actress Tilly Norwood Responds to Backlash: “She Is Not a Replacement for a Human Being”.

A new AI-generated actress named Tilly Norwood has caused a stir in Hollywood, with her creator, Eline Van der Velden of the company Particle6, claiming talent agencies are interested in signing her.

The news has sparked a fiery backlash from human actors, who see the creation as a threat to their livelihoods and the integrity of their craft.

In a response on Instagram, Van der Velden defended Tilly as a work of art and a new creative tool, not a replacement for human performers.

“To those who have expressed anger over the creation of my AI character, Tilly Norwood, she is not a replacement for a human being, but a creative work—a piece of art.”

Van der Velden argued that AI characters should be judged as their own genre, much like animation, puppetry or CGI, and could coexist with traditional acting.

The Screen Actors Guild (SAG-AFTRA), however, disagrees, stating, “To be clear, ‘Tilly Norwood’ is not an actor, it’s a character generated by a computer program.”

My take: Still less robotic than some of the Transformers cast.

Cinema Under Fire: Ideology Threatens Expression

Posted on October 1, 2025 by Michael Korican

Ed Meza reports on Variety that Hostile Political Climate Threatening Cinema, Industry Representatives Warn at Zurich Summit.

Zurich Film Festival‘s Zurich Summit 2025‘s Politics in Entertainment panel was held on September 27, 2025 and featured:

Moderator: Melanie Goodfellow – Senior International Film Correspondent Deadline
David Unger – CEO Artist International Group
Kathleen Fournier – Head of Production & Lead Producer Charlotte Street Films
Nathanaël Karmitz – Chairman of the Board mk2
Stephen Follows – Film Data Researcher and Consultant

To summarize —

Political Risks for Filmmakers: Filmmakers face mounting personal and professional danger when tackling politically sensitive material. Kathleen Fournier recounted moving her family and editing team to Berlin to finish her “Six Billion Dollar Man” documentary about Julian Assange, fearing U.S. and U.K. laws allowing footage seizure. As she put it, “There is substantial risk sometimes involved for me and my team personally.”

Erosion of Press Protections: Even nations with reputations for civic freedoms are showing cracks. Fournier’s relocation to Germany initially felt safer, but ongoing conflicts highlighted ideological pressures on journalists. “It was very interesting to see journalists challenged there in real time and to react to that,” she noted, underscoring the fragility of journalistic protections worldwide.

Far-Right Online Influence: The political climate extends into online discourse, where far-right voices dominate platforms like X. Nathanaël Karmitz warned this agenda seeks to undermine cultural institutions. “The far-right has become the major voice discussing cinema on X,” he said, pointing to organized criticism of mk2 events and ongoing attacks on French cultural bodies like the CNC. He asked, “How do we organize to fight back?”

Changing Media Landscape: The rise of streaming platforms has narrowed the opportunities for politically charged documentaries. Fournier observed that nuanced, complex stories struggle to get onto digital platforms, replaced by safer choices such as true crime or historical retrospectives. “The sort of documentaries you now find on streaming platforms tend to be historical… or very personal stories,” she explained.

Industry Courage and Activism: Panelists argued that today’s film industry often lacks the bravery of past decades. Stephen Follows criticized its timidity, calling it “fundamentally, as a business and as an ecosystem, risk averse and scared and cowardly.” He insisted courageous agitation is essential, reminding that movements like Me Too only emerged after activists forced accountability.

My take: do you feel a chill too?

Average Film Festival Fees

Posted on September 24, 2025 by Michael Korican

Stephen Follows has determined How much is the average film festival submission fee?

He checked out 4,631 film festivals and discovered that over half of them have more than 15 categories and hence fee levels. Reducing his scope to just Length (Shorts and Features) and Submission Deadline (Early, Regular, Late and Final,) he calculated that:

“The average submission fees for short films are between $30 and $55.“

“For features it’s between $47 and $87.“

Why do festivals charge filmmakers submission fees? Stephen believes:

Because running a festival is expensive. The majority are non-profits, both in the sense that they are registered charities and that they typically lose money each year.
Because they know filmmakers will pay. A more cynical view of submission fees is that festivals are charging money based on the hopes and dreams of filmmakers.

Stephen concludes, “there’s no doubt that there are more than a handful of festivals outright exploiting filmmakers’ hopes and dreams via exorbitant submission fees.”

Figures are USD, btw.

My take: yes, these estimates feel correct. My conclusion is that, if only because shorts are on average one quarter (or less) the length of features, feature filmmakers are getting a break. Another way of looking at that is that short-filmmakers are subsidizing feature-filmmakers. (And no, I’m not taking about how tall filmmakers are — but it might be interesting to graph filmmaking success to height to confirm or deny a height premium. lol.)

Demographics drive the Affinity Economy

Posted on September 17, 2025 by Michael Korican

Evan Shapiro, the Media Cartographer, says that “Traditional, Streaming, and Creators” no longer nearly suffice as descriptors for what’s happening in Media today.

He says the “Affinity Economy” has supplanted that:

“It’s a complex, multi-layered, infinitely-fragmented biosphere that generates value from engagement and passion rather than reach and frequency.”

And it’s driven by demographics (and corresponding technological behaviour).

Evan points out that Boomers and Gen X account for 29% of the global population whereas Gen Z and Gen Alpha total 48%…

…which matters because younger people consume online media, whereas older folks watch legacy media. (Digital Natives will become the majority before 2035.)

He propounds that Broadcast Media should not live in the past and to remain relevant needs to “entertain and inform audiences (and fans) of all ages and generations — Boomers on The Telly, Gen Z on The YouTube, and Gen A on The TikTok.”

My take: this is kinda obvious — but nice to see someone on the inside shake the cage. I’m actually surprised that thirty years in, Big Business hasn’t locked down the Internet yet. Anyone can post to YouTube and TikTok — for now..

Netflix confirms 14 day theatrical run for Knives Out 3

Posted on September 10, 2025 by Michael Korican

Jack Dunn in Variety reveals that ‘Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery’ Sets Two-Week Theatrical Release Before Netflix Rollout.

The third instalment in the ensemble mystery franchise featuring Daniel Craig’s Benoit Blanc will screen in selected theatres globally for 14 days starting November 26 before streaming on Netflix on December 12, 2025.

In 2022, “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery” played in 600 cinemas for one week one month before streaming.

My take: kudos to Rian Johnson for putting this in his Netflix contract. Could this become their new norm, after Netflix’s success with its two-day KPop Demon Hunter theatrical release?

Make features, not shorts, says distribution consultant

Posted on September 3, 2025 by Michael Korican

Film Courage asks Zac Reeder, an Emmy-nominated producer’s rep and distribution/financing consultant, “What is it that 99% of filmmakers don’t understand about distribution?”

He says people spend too much and don’t cast recognizable actors.

And, “A lot of people would be shocked if they saw the real numbers.”

But he also says:

“I encourage people not to just make short films, but to make features because if you can make a short, I think you can make a feature, because you’re almost there. It’s a little bit more money, but a feature is much better; it has some marketability.”

Zac’s company, Lucky 27, provides Financing & Distribution Strategy, Producer’s Representation, Negotiation and Deal-Making and Marketing and Promotion services.

My take: having made over 60 short films, I totally agree. There is no money to be made making shorts. Features, technically, have a market. Of course, what’s distinctly missing here is what the market is looking for, how to attract those known actors and how to raise the money. Guess that’s where the consulting services come in.

Netflix scores big by going back to theatres

Posted on August 27, 2025 by Michael Korican

65 days after releasing the animation on its worldwide streaming platform on June 20, 2025, Netflix has raked in over $19M at the box office with the KPop Demon Hunters Sing-Along Event.

That’s over $11,000 for each of 1,700 theatres over two days.

Further, it has become Netflix’s most watched movie ever.

And the soundtrack has had four songs in the Hot 100’s Top 10.

My take: this is a perfect example of what I call Niche Concentration — in this case, Animation (a niche) multiplied by K-pop (a second niche) multiplied by Musical (a third niche.) You’d think that the audience would diminish each time you add a niche, but there seems to be an inverse effect as the concept becomes increasingly concentrated.

Use Moonvalley Marey on fal.ai

Posted on August 20, 2025 by Michael Korican

If you’ve been dying to try out Moonvalley, fal.ai has just made it happen.

See Image2Video, Text2Video, Motion Transfer, and Pose Transfer, all at 1080p.

Not cheap, but cheaper than some other ways of getting that shot.

My take: CGI and VFX are being automated, like weaving and typesetting and other lost jobs.

KPop Demon Hunters connections with Canada

Posted on August 13, 2025 by Michael Korican

Netflix‘s massive global hit KPop Demon Hunters has many connections to Canada.

Co-director Maggie Kang is a Korean-Canadian who grew up in Toronto.
Kang studied animation at Sheridan College.
Ahn Hyo-seop who voices Jinu is Canadian.
KPop Demon Hunters was largely animated by Sony Pictures Imageworks in their Vancouver and Montreal studios.
The film has tax credit money from Quebec, British Columbia and Canada — see the end credits.

Note there will be a KPop Demon Hunters Sing-Along limited theatrical event for one weekend only in the US and Canada on August 23 and 24. See SingKPopDemonHunters.com for more.

My take: kudos to Netflix for bankrolling this production.

Over 70 Canadian Distributors!

Posted on August 6, 2025 by Michael Korican

Telefilm Canada has just released a report titled “Exploring the Futures of Distribution – Strategic Visions for the Canadian Audiovisual Industry“.

The PDF report by La Société des demains opines, somewhat existentially:

“To resolve distribution issues in a sustainable manner, it is essential to tackle the structural problems throughout the entire value chain, both upstream and downstream of distribution.“

My take: this is a fascinating, if depressing, report on the state of film distribution in Canada. The best part, in my estimation, is the exhaustive list of (almost) every distributor in Canada, found in Appendix A on Page 25.

Michael Korican Thinks

Thoughts on Independent Filmmaking and the Emerging Economic System