Streamlined Insights
Like many writers around the world right now, I’ve been distracted in recent weeks by playing with GPT-4, the technology that is making many creative types start thinking about retirement or a second career. But I’ve also been researching the K-pop industry, which led to an
Streamlined Insights
This edition of Streamlined marks exactly one year since I launched this newsletter to summarise and analyse events in the film & streaming content industries across Asia Pacific, Africa and the Middle East. I haven’t managed to keep to a weekly schedule, especially since joining Deadline, and haven’t
Streamlined Insights
Back to India, where there has never been so much content being made, and perhaps never been so many complex political and commercial factors impacting that content. It feels as if the pandemic never happened in India, as the country is producing a staggering range of films and television – from
Streamlined Insights
I’m not sure why I thought that compiling a list of upcoming projects from Southeast Asia, and looking at recent tweaks to the region’s funding programmes, would be a quick and easy job to do. It has taken weeks to compile, and while I finally stopped at 30
Streamlined Insights
Let’s face it – even with Avatar: The Way Of Water bringing some much needed year-end box office cheer, 2022 has been a bit of a depressing year. The roaring ‘20s post-pandemic recovery we were promised has yet to materialise. So I’m going to end the year
Streamlined Insights
Two seemingly unrelated stories I reported on for Deadline this week reflect the worrying direction of travel in post-pandemic India. On Monday evening, Berlin Golden Bear-winning filmmaker Nadav Lapid, head of the competition jury at the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in Goa, stood alone on stage
Streamlined Insights
The extraordinary journey of Pakistan’s Oscar submission Joyland last week – going from banned in its home country, to still qualifying for the Oscars via a French release, to having its ban reversed, all within the space of a week – illustrates yet again some of the issues faced by the
Streamlined Insights
After six weeks on the road, I’ve heard a lot, watched a lot, learned a lot, and just had to buy a new MacBook Air after my old one decided to die of exhaustion. Although I’m not far behind it, I’m sharing a few thoughts on what
Streamlined Insights
Streamlined is a bit late this week as I’m in Mumbai and spent most of last week bouncing off the back seat of taxis and rickshaws. I’m learning a lot here, but Mumbai traffic didn’t get any better during the pandemic (in fact seems to be much
Streamlined Insights
Another box office themed newsletter this week. As in Europe and North America, summer box office revenues in East Asia’s biggest markets – China, Japan and South Korea – have given some cause for optimism. I recently wrote a report on post-pandemic box office recovery for the Hong Kong Trade
Streamlined Insights
This week I’m looking at two separate box office phenomena – the opening of what is being billed as the Hindi film industry’s biggest ever film, Brahmastra: Part One - Shiva, and whether it can stem the tide of flops that Bollywood has endured this year, and the surprise success
Streamlined Insights
This has taken much longer than intended, but I’m attempting to bring Streamlined back as a weekly newsletter to shine a light on the many film and TV industries outside of ‘the West’, which the international industry often regards as ‘the Rest’, even though these are the regions that
Streamlined Insights
A few friends will know that I left Cannes film festival early because my father, who had a long illness, reached the end of that journey and I went to sit with him and my mum for his final few days. While I’m obviously heartbroken, I’m also extremely
Streamlined Insights
Chinese cinema is conspicuous by its absence at this year’s Cannes film festival, with only a few short films announced across the official selection and parallel sections. Directors Fortnight said last week that the Asian “surprise film” that it was hoping to announce, was a Chinese film, that it
Streamlined Insights
While Streamlined doesn’t want to focus too much on any one market, there are several questions swirling around China that impact the global content industries and would be good to address before Cannes gets underway. This week’s edition of Streamlined will touch on two of these issues – Beijing’
Streamlined Insights
And what was normal anyway? These were some of the big questions being debated at Focus Asia, the industry platform of Far East Film Festival (FEFF, April 22-30) in Udine, Italy, which has turned out to be one of the first major in-person interactions between the Asian and
Streamlined Insights
Another busy week with Netflix’s shock news of declining subs, more Cannes announcements, the Warner Bros Discovery international restructure and another big global hit from India. Next week, Streamlined will be reporting from the Far East Film Festival in Udine, Italy, which is shaping up to be one of
Streamlined Insights
This year’s Cannes official selection has something for everyone – leading arthouse auteurs and former Palme d’Or winners; new talents and discoveries; US studio movies including Top Gun: Maverick, and many other films that will pepper the red carpet with big stars. It feels like a return to business