Question du Jour: How Will YOU Remember Ben Gazzara?

Ferris Bueller’s Middle Aged Day Out

I miss Alan Ruck and Mia Sara… even if they had just done cameos at the ball park or something.

DP/30: The Descendants, editor Kevin Tent

(note: opening tease is out of sync)

DP/30 @ Sundance: Ai Wei Wei: Never Sorry, director Alison Klayman

Errol Morris’ “El Wingador”

Netflix Q4

I am not looking to bury Netflix. But when I saw the stories about the quarterly upswing all over the place today, loaded with “Netflix says,” I thought I would simply take a look at their investor letter.

One popular pull from the letter was…
“Domestically,  we  grew  faster  than  expected  in  streaming  members  (up  220k  to  21.67  million)  in  Q4.”

But in the last page of the letter, the numbers are broken down in more detail…

As you can see, Domestic PAID subscriptions are down about 350,000 in the last quarter. And FREE subscriptions are up about 581,000. Until those Free Subs convert in Q1 2012, I don’t see this as a big win. I see it as a loss.

Internationally, Paid Subscriptions are way up… by 458,000. And Free Subs are actually down. But the corner hasn’t been turned on international on costs… so still no big win there.

What really strikes me odd is now Netflix continues to sell the idea of being in direct competition with HBOGo, which is currently a free service, and is based on a business of original content which HBO has developed as a brand over more than a decade.

Meanwhile, there was no mention of Lionsgate’s announced deal with Starz. According to the LA Times, films will be available to Starz after their Epix window. This suggests yet another Starz-like situation where the content on Netflix will be in relentless flux.

And of course, there is the bomb that drops this month, as Starz falls off the Netflix streaming system altogether, leaving the company only Paramount, Lionsgate, Open Road, and Relativity as studio providers for now, with DreamWorks Animation landing next year. The made-for Netflix programming should start landing this summer. But as competition comes from others looking for $8 a month streaming (or cheaper), will that package work for existing and potential new subscribers?

And on a completely different tack… it strikes me as I write this that as a DirecTV subscriber who has all the movie packages, I haven’t seen a recent Paramount release in a long time. EPIX is not offered on the satellite service. And if I were to think about it, I’d miss some of those films. But with as much content as is always available… it hasn’t struck me as a loss on a daily basis.

I start to wonder… in a future of easily accessed material, does it help a studio to be narrowcasting their post-theatrical content? Will there be a negative – or non-positive – effect on sequels/franchises? Will I be as psyched for JJ Abrams’ Star Trek II if I haven’t stopped and watched its predecessor in full or in pieces for the year or two before its release?

I have over 1000 dvds in my home, including (I think) Star Trek. I don’t think I have ever watched the movie outside of the movie theater. I would like to have watched it again. I would like to have lingered in some of its sequences. But not enough to stop the flow of other content and throw the DVD/Blu-ray in the machine. I’d much rather run into Star Trek or The Expendables or even a Saw sequel than The Boondock Saints 2. But I don’t. And I am too overwhelmed to notice.

I know there are people who have Netflix as part of their daily lives. I don’t. Hulu-Plus has actually deteriorated – aside from the Criterion Collection – since it started. That’s a couple of hundred more dollars out of my pocket each year for occasional use. Would I stay with them if it weren’t for my interest in the industry? Less and less likely. Conversely, I have to wonder whether I need all the premium movie/original channels.

What keeps hitting me in the forehead about this changing universe of acquiring content is that, yes, we all want to be able to watch what we want to watch when we want to watch it at the maximum level of quality. But is there a big part of “us” that wants to watch a show on the same night as our friends, that likes to talk about movies on opening weekend, that needs to be drawn to content in numbers that can sustain the cost of new programming?

Just a thought.

BYOB – Brain Damaged

My head feels like the hydrant, before it’s been opened.

To be fair, I did get it together enough today to shoot 3 more Oscar nominees… whose interviews will be up soon.  but I thought I had escaped Sundance without harm… until I got home to a head full of warm tapioca.

I should have a look at the Netflix numbers up tonight… which I know will THRILL many of the commenters in here.

God speed.

Par’s 3 Joke Super Spot For The Dictator (1 new/2 cut-down)

And You Can Tell Your Grandkids That You Were There In 2012 When They Did A :10 Teaser Ad For An 2 Minute Ad

Bingham Ray on Bingham Ray

Joey Xanders posted this on YouTube… Bingham telling a tale of Bingham… going to work for David Puttnam…

”

And RJ Cutler’s segment on Bingham, telling the tale of Secrets & Lies…

How Did Bravo Get These Movie Stars To Star In Their New Hair Styling Reality Show?

Back in LAaaaaaah

I was in the land of show for about an hour before booking 3 Oscar nominees for DP/30 shoots and having conversations with 3 studio reps about their Oscar chances in picture and other top categories. So much for the indies!

I’ll be writing about the season again soon enough (tomorrow), but I will offer a simple, “Someone has to demand their Oscar” if anything is going to change from the status quo of the last month.

I don’t get the impression that I missed a g-d thing of note while I was gone. Did I?

Heading To Eccles

The Library Snow Ebert

Exiting Park City

Best NYT Correction Ever?

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:

Correction: January 29, 2012

An earlier version of this article incorrectly described imagery from “The Shining.” The gentleman seen with the weird guy in the bear suit is wearing a tuxedo, but not a top hat.

Weekend Estimates By The Klay

Friday Estimates by Grey Klady