last updated April 28, 2024Comments? Send email to: fny@freenewyork.net
Episode #988: It's A Movie
First Broadcast: 4/29/24
This year, 2024, marks the 25th anniversary of the release of the movie The Blair Witch Project, which captivated audiences worldwide with its then-unique take on the "found footage" film concept, ultimately raking in $248 million at the box office--which was quite the haul for a film that was initially shot with an estimated $60,000 budget. However, despite the film's massive success, the three principal actors in the movie--Heather Donahue, Joshua Leonard and Michael Williams--only earned $300,000 each as a result, and even that was only after their ownership points were bought back from them, forfeiting any other profits they might have been entitled to receive. So, when Lionsgate--the current owner of the "Blair Witch" property--recently announced plans to reboot the franchise, the three actors who were considered synonymous with the film that started it made a public plea for "retroactive" residuals for their past work and "meaningful consultation" on any future work that might make use of their likenesses--a plea endorsed by the original film's directors and producers, no less. Will they succeed in getting a larger piece of the Blair Witch pie? It would be nice if they did! Also: Did you know Microsoft has developed an A.I. program that can generate video and synced audio of a person based on a single still photo and one audio clip of their voice? They aren't releasing it to the public (yet) because of concerns that "it could still potentially be misused for impersonating humans" (check out how they made the Mona Lisa come to life, as an example), which is only slightly comforting, because it begs the question: What happens when this technology does reach the public? What's to stop any number of people from using software like this to damage reputations, manipulate elections, or even instigate armed conflict? I ran out of time to discuss this concept at length, but considering how scary those hypothetical scenarios are, perhaps that's for the best.
So, what is Free New York anyway? The simple answer is that it's a
this neat little
public access TV show on
Manhattan Neighborhood Network which I co-produce with the
tremendous help of my camerawoman/editor/everything else,
Kim. The complicated answer
is that it's a project of mine to broadcast opinions and events which
don't always appear within "the mainstream media" (like The New York Times,
the major networks, local radio, etc.), and so far I think it's been working.
If you think I'm doing a good job--or not--and you feel
like sending me snail mail, the address is:
Free New York
P.O. Box 20945
Tompkins Square Station
New York, NY 10009
You can also email me at fny@freenewyork.net, which should get to me a lot faster than the snail mail.
last updated April 28, 2024
Comments?
Send email to: fny@freenewyork.net