Blog Stage - Acting in Film, TV, Theatre - Backstage

YouTube Emulating TV; Daytime President Leaving

• YouTube has given itself a redesign. The makeover includes categorized channels, similar to those on TV, and the website plans to include more original content from big names, like Jay-Z and Madonna. Check it out at CNN.

• Brian Frons, ABC daytime president who played an instrumental part in the decision to cancel "All My Children" and "One Life to Live," is leaving the alphabet network in January. In light of Fron's departure, ABC has decided to merge its daytime and syndicated development into one unit named Times Square Studio. Read the story at Deadline.

• Hulu will make available all the seasons and most recent episodes of  "Community" on Hulu Plus, according to The Wrap. The NBC comedy has been receiving some attention due to its upcoming absence from the network's mid-season schedule. Though NBC has said it has no plans to cancel the comedy, Hulu may be thinking ahead and setting up a core audience of people who come to Hulu for its "Community" fix. More non-TV networks are seeking to have original content. Netflix just agreed to air new episodes of the cancelled Fox series "Arrested Development."

• Edwin Judd Woldin, a musical composer best known for working on the Tony Award-winning musical "Raisin," an adaptation of "A Raisin in the Sun," passed away. He was 86 years old. Read his obituary at Playbill.

New EP for 'General Hospital'; Web Killed the TV Star

• Jill Farren Phelps, Emmy Award-winning executive producer of "General Hospital," has been replaced with Frank Valentini, former showrunner of the cancelled soap "One Life to Live," reported Vulture. The soap opera business has not exactly been booming, especially given the recent cancellations of "All My Children" and "One Life to Live." Still, ABC is apparently trying to give "General Hospital" a chance to stay on the air by hiring Valentini. He was able to boost the ratings of "One Life," albeit not enough, before its demise. Vulture also cites that Valentini has been known for keeping his shows under budget, which definitely appeals to ABC. Much of the reasoning behind replacing soaps with alternative daytime programming, such as the cooking and talk show "The Chew," is that the latter is cheaper to produce.

• For the first time in Nielsen's 41-year survey history, the number of households with a TV set will decline. The decrease is likely related to the struggling economy and more people using the Internet to view content. Entertainment Weekly and Yidio sound off on Nielsen's findings.

• Broadway's "The Mountaintop" will allow people 30 years old or younger to purchase $30 tickets to the December 7 show at 8 pm. The production, which stars Samuel L. Jackson and Angela Basset, is the third show to take part in 30 for $30, a special intitivative from NY1 and Playbill.

• Judy Lewis, former actress who penned a memoir about her life as the illegitimate daughter of Hollywood legends Clark Gable and Loretta Young, passed away. She was 76 years old. Read her obituary at The New York Times.

Pictured: Jill Farren Phelps (Photo: Getty Images)

Indie Movies Focusing on VOD to Stay Afloat

Indie movies may have found hope, but not salvation, by buying into the trend of video-on-demand (VOD). "For most independent movies, video-on-demand will be far and away the largest source of revenue in the future,” co-owner of Magnolia Pictures, Mark Cuban, told The Wrap.

Gotham, NYFCC Award Winners; CBS Stars on Stage

• "Beginners" and "The Tree of Life" both won best feature at the 21st Annual Gotham Independent Film Awards. Check it out at Back Stage and Deadline. Also, "Margin Call" was named best first feature by the New York Film Critics Circle, which announced its award winners via Twitter feed. 

• Just like Netflix, Microsoft is looking to break into the scripted television industry, reported Deadline.

• Two emmy-winning CBS stars will be headlining shows in New York next year: Jim Parsons of "The Big Bang Theory" will portray Elwood in the Broadway revival of "Harvey" this spring and Alan Cumming of "The Good Wife" will play every role in a National Theater Scotland production of "Macbeth." According to The New York Times, the one-man show will come to Lincoln Center from July 5 through 14.

• Entertainment Weekly discusses a new book about Hedy Lamarr, a beautiful actress from the 1930s and 1940s who was also a brilliant scientist.  I'm calling that there will be a movie based on this book within five years and may actually be good.

Pictured: Jim Parsons (Photos: Getty Images)

Strike Threat Looms Over 2012—Or Does It?

Will a strike shut down the film and television industry next year? You would think so, if you read The New York Times last weekend. Citing statements made to members of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees at a series of town hall–style meetings, the Times asserts that IATSE and allied craft unions covering behind-the-scenes personnel are facing a $500 million pension and health shortfall by 2015. The unions, which will bargain jointly on pension and health issues in the spring, are already tossing around tough talk about next year’s negotiations. “We’re going to be asking for a lot of money, lots of it,” the Times quotes IATSE president Matthew Loeb as telling Los Angeles Local 80 members in September.

Subscription TV Can't Compete Against Internet

Paying for television subscriptions is slowly becoming a way of the past, reported Deadline. According to a Credit Suisse-commissioned survey, young adults who have grown up, or are growing up in the digital age, don’t feel the need to purchase TV packages anymore since the Internet has proved that it can give them something familiar for free.

City Ballet Media Suite Collecting Dust Since 2009

Even after a $107 million renovation, a part of New York City Ballet’s David H. Koch Theater sits unused? That’s right.  A media control room, which was planned to help increase audience attendance, make footage easily accessible on-line, and aid the company in recording performances for archives and broadcasts, has been collecting dust since 2009, according to The New York Times.

'Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark' Celebrates One Year

Everyone thought “Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark” would be dead after two shakes of a lambs tail. Yet here it is, a year later, still earning its Broadway keep.

At $75 million, “Spider-Man” is the most expensive Broadway production in history (most musicals on the Great White Way only cost between $5 million and $15 million). And, in celebration of its one-year anniversary, "Spider-Man" producers told The New York Times, they’re going to try something new: adding new scenes and maybe even a musical number to “Spider-Man” every year, to make it very similar to a new comic book.  This would all be in an effort to keep fans buying tickets and encouraging them to keep coming back for more.

The producers also plan on expanding their radio campaign to all 50 states as well as trying for overseas licensing. Looks like “Spider-Man” isn’t going down without a fight.

Pictured: Reeve Carney, who plays Peter Parker/Spider-Man in "Spider-Man" (Photo: Getty Images)

Broadway Invests in a New Ticket Pricing Strategy

Just like when the price of airline tickets increases during times of high demand (i.e. Thanksgiving), Broadway producers have begun raising the cost of seat tickets based on the popularity of a show – for the first time ever (well, except during the Holidays). This practice has been growing in application in the New York performance scene. For instance, American Ballet Theater began raising prices during its spring season and will continue to do so this season.

'Twilight' Causes Seizures; Buy Dunder Mifflin Paper

•"Twilight" causes seizures? That’s right! According to The New York Times, two reported cases of "black outs" and "epileptic attacks" occurred after viewers watched “Breaking Dawn." The cause seemed to be flashing strobes on the screen during the famous "'child-birth scene," in which Bella (Kristen Stewart) delivers her husband’s vampire baby.

•The filmmaker and writer of “Women in Love” and “The Devils,” died this Sunday at the age of 84. Ken Russell was known for his controversial views and his thirst to breach the limits of "good taste" as much as possible. Read his obituary at The New York Times.

•If you like “The Office” and perhaps own an office yourself, you can now buy supplies on-line from Dunder Mifflin. Staples' Quill.com recently struck a deal with NBC to be able to market merchandise under the Dunder Mifflin name. Check it out at The Wall Street Journal.

•The producer of “Paranormal Activity” Jason Blum opened up to The LA Times regarding his career and low-budget strategy, particular not taking "no" for an answer.

Pictured: Robert Pattinson (Photo: Getty Images)