Latest news with #SlyLives!
Yahoo
19-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Join IndieWire and Disney for ‘Abbott Elementary' Panel with Quinta Brunson in Attendance May 20
IndieWire and Disney are ready to 'Pass the Remote' once again. Our TV FYC screening series has returned to the Vidiots Foundation in Los Angeles's Eagle Rock neighborhood for more lively conversations with top industry talent. On Tuesday May 20, we'll be welcoming Quinta Brunson and members of the creative team of 'Abbott Elementary' for a panel discussion and a screening. More from IndieWire How Fragrances Helped Cynthia Erivo Find Her Way Through Five Characters on 'Poker Face' USG University and IndieWire Present a Celebration of TV Craft in Los Angeles on May 22 Two-time Emmy winning creator/executive producer/star Brunson will be joined on stage by executive producers Justin Halperin, Patrick Schumaker, and Brian Rubeinstein for a conversation with IndieWire's awards editor, film & TV, Marcus Jones. Tuesday, May 206:00pm – Doors Open7:00pm – Panel and Discussion8:00-9:00pm – Beer/Wine ReceptionOur most recent event was on May 3 and featured a screening of 'Sly Lives! (aka The Burden of Black Genius)' followed by a panel conversation with its Oscar-winning filmmaking team, the director and executive producer Ahmir 'Questlove' Thompson and producer Joseph Patel. Both won the Best Documentary Feature Academy Award for 2021's 'Summer of Soul.' With 'Sly Lives!' they've made an extraordinary cinematic portrait of Sly Stone and his work with Sly and the Family Stone. 'We love hosting these screenings with our partners at Vidiots Foundation and Disney,' said Dana Harris-Bridson, senior VP and Editor-in-Chief at IndieWire. 'The IndieWire moderators are excellent, the panelists are even better, and the audience tells us how much they appreciate hearing first-hand stories from the people who make their favorite shows. It's becoming a great tradition.' 'We're very excited to partner again with Disney on the Pass The Remote series at our favorite LA theater, Vidiots Foundation,' said IndieWire Senior VP & Publisher James Israel. 'We made a lot of magic together last Emmy season with screenings of 'Abbott Elementary,' 'Reservations Dogs,' 'Jim Henson Idea Man,' and top talent from FX, Hulu, Nat Geo, Disney, and ABC. The programming this year is even better.' Register for the 'Abbott Elementary' with Quinta Brunson on May 20 here. Awards Voters and Industry Professionals can apply to attend this series. LIST OF EVENTS THAT HAVE ALREADY TAKEN PLACETUESDAY APRIL 1Disney Casting PanelAttending casting directors: Tiffany Little Canfield, 'Paradise,' 'Only Murders in the Building,' 'Doctor Odyssey'; Wendy O'Brien, 'Abbott Elementary'; Danielle Aufiero, 'Good American Family'; Seth Yanklewitz, 'Deli Boys'; Julie Ashton ('Mid-Century Modern'); Josh Einsohn ('Paradise') TUESDAY APRIL 15 Disney Music PanelAttending composers: Siddhartha Khosla, 'Only Murders in the Building,' 'Paradise'; The Newton Brothers, 'Daredevil: Born Again'; Michael Paraskevas, 'Agatha All Along'; Ariel Marx ('Dying for Sex')Attending music supervisors: Tiffany Anders ('Good American Family') and Jen Ross ('English Teacher'). SATURDAY MAY 3'Sly Lives!' Screening and PanelWith director and executive producer Ahmir 'Questlove' Thompson and producer Joseph Patel in attendance. Launch Gallery: IndieWire Celebrated the Art of Casting and TV Music at 2025 Vidiots Panel Series Best of IndieWire Guillermo del Toro's Favorite Movies: 56 Films the Director Wants You to See 'Song of the South': 14 Things to Know About Disney's Most Controversial Movie The 55 Best LGBTQ Movies and TV Shows Streaming on Netflix Right Now
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Ahmir 'Questlove' Thompson On The Genius Of Sly Stone And Rock Star's Precipitous Fall
The great rock-funk-soul band Sly and the Family Stone didn't just make hits in the 1960s and '70s, they made 'culture-changing hits,' in the words of no less a figure than record mogul Clive Davis. Hits like 'Everyday People,' 'Stand!', 'Dance to the Music,' 'Family Affair' and 'If You Want Me to Stay.' But if the group released so many incredible songs, why do we remember them now mostly for the personal troubles of bandleader, composer and multi-instrumentalist Sly Stone? That question underpins the Emmy-contending documentary Sly Lives! (aka the Burden of Black Genius), directed by Oscar winner Ahmir 'Questlove' Thompson. More from Deadline 'Sly Lives!' Filmmakers Questlove And Joseph Patel On Sly Stone's Genius And That Revealing Encounter With Maria Shriver – Contenders TV: Documentary, Unscripted & Variety 'Sly Lives! (AKA The Burden Of Black Genius)' Review: Questlove's Passionate Doc Pays Long Overdue Homage To The Black Elvis – Sundance Film Festival 'Good American Family' Scores Third Biggest Finale Audience To Date For A Hulu Original Questlove joins the latest edition of Deadline's Doc Talk podcast to share his observations on what made Sly Stone great and what impelled him to tumble from the mountaintop of rock stardom. It's got much to do with crushing expectations placed on Black genius (hence his film's subtitle). Sly's still alive – he turned 82 last month – but Questlove says in some respects the musician belongs in the '27 club' – rock stars like Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and Amy Winehouse who died at that young age. Such is the precipitous fall and virtual disappearance of Stone from the music scene. Questlove gets personal in our conversation, speaking about his own journey in life and music (including an early, awkward encounter with Prince), and that infamous moment at the Oscars when Will Smith struck presenter Chris Rock – the 'slap' coming just before Rock announced Questlove's documentary Summer of Soul as the winner of the Academy Award. The filmmaker-drummer-Roots band member says some deep introspective work helped him avoid the trope of self-sabotage that perhaps did in Sly Stone. In the episode, you'll also hear how Sly and the Family Stone came on the scene 'wearing wigs and fuzzy boots, like [something out of] Star Wars' and how an interview Sly did with a young Maria Shriver, then a 22-year-old journalist, became key to the documentary. That's on the new episode of Doc Talk, hosted by Oscar winner John Ridley (12 Years a Slave, Shirley) and Matt Carey, Deadline's documentary editor. The pod is a production of Deadline and Ridley's Nō Studios. Listen to the episode above or on major podcast platforms including Spotify, iHeart and Apple. Best of Deadline The Best 7 New Movies On Netflix In May 2025 From 'Past Lives' To 'The Wild Robot' Everything We Know About The 'We Were Liars' Show So Far Everything We Know About Celine Song's 'Materialists' So Far
The Guardian
05-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
From Prince to Michael Jackson: why are the most controversial documentaries getting canned?
It can be a painful thing, acknowledging that our heroes are both human and flawed, but Ezra Edelman spent five years doing just that. The film-maker behind 2016's sprawling, Oscar-winning OJ: Made in America, was at work for Netflix on what, by all accounts, would have been the definitive Prince documentary: a nine-hour behemoth drawing upon dozens of interviews with the late icon's associates and rare access to his personal archive. The film – according to the few who've seen a rough cut – built a layered portrait of Prince's immense genius and complexities, including a darker side concealed by his playfully eccentric persona: his allegedly cruel treatment of girlfriends and female proteges; his demanding ruthlessness as a bandleader. 'We're asked to sit with Prince's multiplying paradoxes for many hours, allowing them to unsettle one another,' wrote Sasha Weiss, of the New York Times Magazine, after viewing it. We won't, unfortunately, get that opportunity. In February, Netflix scrapped Edelman's documentary after executors of Prince's estate, reportedly upset by its content, fought for months to block its release. The streaming platform plans to develop 'a new documentary featuring exclusive content from Prince's archive.' In other words: a watered-down take, to placate the powers that be. This dispiriting saga reveals much about the bleak state of the celebrity documentary complex in 2025: they are plentiful on streaming platforms yet increasingly indistinguishable from sponsored content. In raw numbers, documentaries are more popular than ever, but they also feel more toothless and risk-averse. Netflix's capitulation lays it all out in the open, reflecting a climate in which dull, sanitised celebrity docs flood the marketplace while distributors balk at complicated and/or unauthorised films providing complex portraits of their subjects. The Book of Prince frightened Prince's estate because they couldn't control it. But some of the most compelling music docs in recent memory are animated by singular directorial perspectives, not transactional access. That includes Questlove's fascinating Sly Lives!, which uses the rise and fall of enigmatic funk legend Sly Stone as a vehicle to explore cultural pressures on Black pop stars. By comparison, the band-authorised Becoming Led Zeppelin feels like a work of sheer legacy-minded mythmaking. The performance footage is electric, but interviews with the surviving members steer away from squirmy subjects, like plagiarism charges or underage groupies; complicating wrinkles are smoothed over. There's a blurring line between journalism and PR fluff in documentaries lately. It is increasingly common for celebrities to produce, or play a significant behind-the-scenes role, in documentaries about themselves. If the gold standard for this category is Beyoncé's concert films, then Netflix's Harry & Meghan, a six-hour exercise in brand management, made with their own production company, may represent the nadir. As Edelman put it, viewers are 'being served slop'. In 2020, Hulu released a four-part series on Hillary Clinton, obscuring the fact that Clinton had chosen the production company and had input over the editing process. Similarly, Taylor Swift selected the director of 2020 documentary Miss Americana, a fitfully revealing glimpse behind the scenes of the Swift empire, then went on to make 2023's massively successful Eras Tour movie through her own production company. The problem isn't that such films exist; it's that they suck up all the oxygen – and money – from documentary distribution. In recent years, streaming services have filled up with docs about beloved celebrities, some quite worthwhile (2020's Zappa, 2021's Tina), others blandly reverential (Albert Brooks: Defending My Life, Thank You, Goodnight: The Bon Jovi Story). Entertainment companies gobble up fawning documentaries about public figures, but won't touch anything controversial. Consider that Leaving Neverland, HBO's bombshell 2019 film investigating child abuse allegations against Michael Jackson, has effectively disappeared. It was permanently removed from Max after a lawsuit from Jackson's estate – a troubling omen, as Slate's Sam Adams argues, 'at a time when media access is under the near-total control of streaming conglomerates'. (A sequel, Leaving Neverland 2, hit YouTube recently to minimal fanfare.) A similar dynamic threatens to spread to the literary world. Last year, the influential rap group De La Soul denounced a book about them by music journalist Marcus J Moore and claimed to be 'exploring all of our legal options'. In a higher-profile case, Meta recently sued to block promotion of a tell-all memoir from a former employee, an effort that backfired deliciously. It will be an impoverished world where authors fear to publish unauthorised biographies because they can't afford to be sued by the subject. The corporate culture of capitulation has only worsened since Trump's re-election. In December, ABC News agreed to pay $15m to settle what some consider a frivolous lawsuit from Trump. In April, the executive producer of 60 Minutes resigned, saying his journalistic integrity had been compromised by corporate higher-ups, who have been considering their own Trump settlement. Sign up to Film Weekly Take a front seat at the cinema with our weekly email filled with all the latest news and all the movie action that matters after newsletter promotion No wonder film companies fear releasing anything that might upset the tweeter-in-chief. Consider that last year's sleazily gripping Trump biopic The Apprentice struggled to find a domestic distributor until a small company, Briarcliff Entertainment, stepped in. (Briarcliff's founder argued that the bigger studios had spurned it 'strictly based on cowardice'.) Consider, too, that the remarkable documentary No Other Land, which won an Oscar for its wrenching depiction of Palestinian life in the occupied West Bank, still doesn't have a proper US distributor. Meanwhile, Amazon Prime (whose parent company recently donated to Trump's inauguration, which its CEO Jeff Bezos personally attended) is spending $40m to make a Melania Trump vanity documentary, from which the first lady will reportedly profit. Projects like that are closer to propaganda than journalism, and this one's being bankrolled and legitimised by one of the largest and most powerful streaming companies in the entertainment industry. Documentaries ought to challenge and hold power to account more than they flatter. Instead, in a landscape where a few streaming companies owned or run by billionaires dominate the documentary market in the US, viewers are paying the price.
Cision Canada
29-04-2025
- Business
- Cision Canada
NETWORK MEDIA GROUP ANNOUNCES 2025 FIRST QUARTER RESULTS
VANCOUVER, BC, April 29, 2025 /CNW/ - Network Media Group Inc. (TSXV: NTE) (OTC: NETWF) ("Network" or "the Company") today reported financial results for the first quarter ended February 28, 2025 ("Q1 2025"), including revenues of $1,494,458 (Q1 2024 – $2,128,816), net income of $293,709 (Q1 2024 – net loss of $605,971), and Adjusted EBITDA 1 of $475,963 (Q1 2024 – Adjusted EBITDA loss of $354,968). On a per-share basis, the Company reports earnings of $0.02 per share (Q1 2024 – loss of $0.03), and an Adjusted EBITDA of $0.03 per share (Q1 2024 – loss of $0.02). The financial statements and related Management's Discussion and Analysis ("MD&A") can be viewed on SEDAR+ at Network President Curtis White stated: "This quarter demonstrates the strategic value of our proprietary content and our continued focus on cost-efficiency. With multiple high-profile projects now in post-production and a compelling development slate, we are well-positioned to sustain growth through 2025 and beyond. The success of Sly Lives! and the delivery of I Am Luke Perry represent the kind of premium content we are proud to bring to global audiences." Key metrics for Network's three months ended Q1 2025 include the following highlights: Total revenues of $1,494,458 (Q1 2024 – $2,128,816); Net income of $293,709 – $0.02 per share (Q1 2024 – Net loss of $605,971 – $0.03 per share); Adjusted EBITDA of $475,963 – $0.03 per share (Q1 2024 – Adjusted EBITDA loss of $354,968 – $0.02 per share); Contracted future production revenues ("backlog" 2) of $9.7M with $6.2M expected within the next six months and $3.5M beyond six months. Operational highlights for the quarter include: Sly Lives!, directed by Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson, premiered at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival and launched globally on Hulu/Disney+ in February; Delivery of I Am Luke Perry, a feature-length proprietary documentary, in Q1 2025; Continued production on two feature-length documentaries, commenced production on another feature-length documentary, and a five-episode documentary series. 1"Adjusted EBITDA" is calculated based on EBITDA (known as earnings/loss before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) plus share-based payments expense, finance costs (income), foreign exchange gain (loss), and losses and other items of an unusual nature that do not reflect ongoing operations. EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA are commonly reported and widely used by investors and lenders as an indicator of a company's operating performance and ability to incur and service debt, and as a valuation metric. EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA are not an earnings measure recognized by IFRS and therefore do not have a standardized meaning prescribed by IFRS. Therefore, EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA may not be comparable to similar measures presented by other issuers. 2 The Company uses the non-IFRS measure "backlog", which is defined as the undiscounted value of signed agreements for production services for work that has not yet been performed, but which the Company expects to recognize revenue in future periods. The extent of eventual revenue recognized in future periods may be materially higher or lower than this amount, depending upon assumptions and expectations that include, but are not limited to the following: the terms of the contracts will not be altered; delivery of the Company's products will occur as scheduled; the purchasing party will make payment as and when due under the contract, and will comply with all payment terms; the US-Canadian currency exchange rates remain stable (assumed to be 1.35 USD-CDN for the purposes of the estimates made herein); no unforeseen event interrupts business in the ordinary course; and the purchasing party will pay, or has paid, Network on a pro-rata to percent completed for a film or episode that is in progress. Should conditions change, the revenue estimates may not be met and actual results may differ, perhaps materially. About Network Media Group / Network Entertainment Network Media Group is the parent company of Network Entertainment Inc. Network Entertainment is a creatively driven, boutique film, television, and digital content production company that creates, finances, and produces award-winning programming for television, digital platforms, and movie audiences around the world. The Network premium brand of content delivers world-class casts and features visually cinematic, richly crafted storytelling. The Company's productions are consistently embraced by both audiences and critics alike, garnering awards, record ratings, and unparalleled media coverage for Network and its partners. For additional information, visit: Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Cautionary Statement on Non-IFRS Financial Measures and Forward-looking Information In addition to results reported in accordance with IFRS, this news release refers to certain non-IFRS financial measures as supplemental indicators of the Company's financial and operating performance. These non-IFRS financial measures include EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA and Future Contracted Production Revenue (commonly referred to as backlog). The Company believes these supplemental financial measures reflect the Company's on-going business in a manner that assist the reader's meaningful period-to-period comparisons and analysis of trends in its business. Except for historical information contained herein, this news release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. These statements are necessarily based upon management's perceptions, beliefs, assumptions and expectations, as well as a number of specific factors and assumptions that, while considered reasonable by management of the Company as of the date of such statements are inherently subject to significant uncertainties and contingencies that could result in the forward-looking information ultimately, perhaps materially, being incorrect. All forward-looking information in this news release involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that are beyond the control of the Company and may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. Except as required pursuant to applicable securities laws, the Company will not update these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof.
Yahoo
26-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Sly Lives!' Filmmakers Questlove And Joseph Patel On Sly Stone's Genius And That Revealing Encounter With Maria Shriver – Contenders TV: Documentary, Unscripted & Variety
How's this for a hot 45? In 1969, Sly and the Family Stone released the song 'Stand!' as an A-side. On the B-side: 'I Want to Take You Higher.' A and B are considered two of the greatest rock songs ever. Most people have lost sight of the astonishing brilliance of the band and its driving force, the enigmatic, original, incredibly creative Sly Stone. His genius has been obscured by his slow-motion implosion, as Sly became known more for drug addiction and erratic behavior than for his musicianship. But the impact of Stone and his group is restored and examined in Sly Lives! (aka the Burden of Black Genius), directed by Ahmir 'Questlove' Thompson and produced by Joseph Patel, Oscar winners for Summer of Soul. More from Deadline Deadline's Contenders Television: Documentary, Unscripted & Variety Ready For Liftoff Deadline's Contenders Television Streaming Site Launches As Sean Combs Faces Trial, 'The Fall Of Diddy' Uncovers Alleged Shocking Pattern Of Abuse - Contenders TV: Documentary, Unscripted & Variety The new film, from Onyx Collective and streaming on Hulu, shows how Sly Stone innovated in multiple facets of music-making: in production, in style – fusing rock, soul, funk, psychedelia, gospel – and in forming a band that was integrated both in terms of race and gender. '[Sly] just happened to be at the helm creating the language and the alphabet for which even to this day, we are still using his tools and his tricks of the trade to express ourselves through music. But it's also extremely, it's very possible for all of that to get lost to history,' Questlove sad as he and Patel appeared on a panel for Deadline's Contenders Television: Documentary, Unscripted & Variety event. 'And that's kind of what this is about … What Joseph and I want to know is why would you get to the mountaintop and then just walk away from it? So, that's pretty much the 10 trillion-dollar question.' The documentary opens with Sly being interviewed, decades ago, by a young Maria Shriver. 'In the beginning when she's restating his accomplishments, you see him sort of white-knuckling the corner of the sofa,' Patel observed. 'There's a sweetness to him, but there's also a caginess and coyness and really a sort of unease with his success. And we liked that bite to start the film because it shows a few things. It shows 1, his accomplishments; 2, how uneasy he is with them; and 3, sort of the audacity of her to [tell] him, 'And then you blew it.' And so to us, it really struck a chord for some of the themes that we wanted to get into in the film right at the very beginning.' Sly Lives! explores the intense pressure Stone faced after the band rocketed to fame. Unlike white artists (David Bowie, for instance) who could shape-shift at will and dabble in politics if they liked, Sly was expected to resolve the contradictions between the objectives of the civil rights movement (integrationist in nature) and the emerging Black Power movement (to some extent, separatist in nature). He carried the weight of the world on his shoulders. 'On one side, you have to cross every 't' and dot every 'i' and represent and speak for yourself and your entire generation and your people,' Questlove said. 'And then on the other side of that pressure, it's, 'Okay, you're representing us, so don't mess up and don't embarrass us. Don't do anything that will make us look at you in shame.' So, there's pressure coming from both sides.' Questlove continued, 'Is the burden real enough to stop him from progressing or is all of this stuff self-inflicted? And that's what we investigate not only with him, but practically this is for every artist, myself included.' What does Sly – 82 now, and sober as of several years ago – think of the film? 'We heard that he loved it,' Patel said. 'The part that I was told was his favorite was seeing his kids in it… His kids have every reason to hate him, every reason to disassociate from him, but they love him, they adore him.' Check back Monday for the panel video. Best of Deadline Everything We Know About The 'Hunger Games: Sunrise On The Reaping' Movie So Far Everything We Know About Netflix's 'The Thursday Murder Club' So Far TV Show Book Adaptations Arriving In 2025 So Far
