Landis: Revoking Broadway's License to Thrill?

The Wrap reports that filmmaker John Landis, currently suing Michael Jackson for his share of the profits connected to the "Thriller" video, expanded his suit in L.A. Superior Court to block the proposed Broadway musical based on same.

HOUSE APPROVES NEA FUNDING: The House approved President Obama's stimulus package yesterday, and in it is $50 million in additional funding for the NEA. The measure still has to pass in the Senate, but it's a good first step. The bad news is there are people out there like Brian Riedl of the Heritage Foundation--you know, the people who brought you the Iraq war, at a cost of $10 billion a month--who think this is a waste of money.

"Government policies that make people and workers more productive will increase productivity," he told NPR this week. "But simply borrowing money out of the economy in order to transfer it to some artists doesn't increase the economy's productivity rate. It doesn't help workers create more goods and services, and it won't create economic growth."

Actually, for every $1 of federal, state, and local government funding that the nonprofit arts community receives, it helps to generate $7 in tax revenue, according to a report from the advocacy group Americans for the Arts; the same report states that the NPAC represents 5.7 million jobs and $166 billion in economic activity every year.

The NEA, meantime, has a record of planting healthy seeds. According to a recent internal study, every dollar of NEA grant money "is associated with an additional $12 from individual donors, $1.88 from businesses, and $3.55 from foundations." Even if those numbers are inflated--and there's no evidence to suggest that they are--Americans for the Arts says the NEA generates at least $7 in additional giving for each dollar it grants.

This $50 million isn't a heedless giveaway to "some artists" (which we guess Riedl sees as self-indulgent, half-baked baristas reinterpreting Strindberg with finger puppets). It's an investment in proven winners who give back much more than they receive. And if Merrill Lynch, Bear Stearns, and Lehman Brothers were generating a 7:1 rate of return, we wouldn't be having this conversation.

UPDATE: The NEA releases a set of talking points here.

FOX IS FOR 'LION': Speaking of money and conservatives' flights of fantasy, it seems Fox will produce the next film adaptation of C.S. Lewis' series The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.

CHANGING VIEWS: A new study states that three-quarters of young people (14-25) see their computer as more of an entertainment device than their television. Not exactly shocking, but the report is worth a glance. Though TV remains the top choice in five countries for viewing, they increasingly use the Web and hand-held devices for video, and want the ability to move that content seamlessly among platforms.

--Andrew Salomon

Comments

[Rachel Boltz]

Actually, for every $1 of federal, state, and local government funding that the nonprofit arts community receives, it helps to generate $7 in tax revenue, according to a report from the advocacy group Americans for the Arts.