January 30, 2018: How #MeToo Is Changing Film Festivals, North Korea Withdraws From Joint Pre-Olympics Cultural Event, Grammy Ratings Hit Nine-Year Low

1. HOW #METOO IS CHANGING FILM FESTIVALS: The latest edition of the Sundance Film Festival, which featured a multitude of films focused on everything but the default male narrative, showed how the #MeToo movement is changing the content and programming at film festivals. Wired: "The fest also became home to scores of discussions about the roles of women in Hollywood, and the recalibration that comes with a new reality. 'It’s an uncomfortable time,' actress Octavia Spencer said during the 'Women Breaking Barriers' panel. 'It’s uncomfortable, but we have to allow this process to happen. If you think that this is a female-versus-male movement, it’s not. Empowered women aren’t anti-male, we’re just empowered.' After years of pronounced disparity in men's and women's directing and acting roles (and pay), Hollywood found itself under a brighter spotlight in 2017; reporting about alleged sexual harassment by Harvey Weinstein—once the king of Sundance power moves—led to an outpouring of stories about sexual misconduct by powerful men in the industry. Those revelations turned into a reckoning in multiple industries, united under a resurgence of Tarana Burke’s #MeToo movement online, wherein many women came forward to share their own stories of harassment and assault. Women in Hollywood then united to start Time’s Up—a legal defense fund to combat harassment and inequality in the workplace. That wave of activity makes many hopeful for serious, long-lasting change—especially in the entertainment world. 'Sundance is a cultural phenomena and if it’s elevating not only women, but really making such a serious effort at diversity across the board, that will have an impact,' says Roberta Grossman, one of the directors of Seeing Allred. 'It will ripple beyond this festival. I think that what’s happening now with the #MeToo movement, women and men in Hollywood are going to take this more seriously now. Not just sexual abuse but the opportunities for women filmmakers. I hope that things will really move forward—that there won’t just be a commission or two and a couple speeches at award shows.'" http://bit.ly/2EoFumr

2. NORTH KOREA WITHDRAWS FROM JOINT PRE-OLYMPICS CULTURAL EVENT: North Korea has backed out of a pre-Olympic cultural event it was supposed to host with South Korea. Associated Press: "In a message sent over a cross-border communication channel, South Korea demanded the North to fulfill mutual agreements over a set of conciliatory gestures to mark the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, Seoul’s Unification Ministry said. North Korea on Monday night sent a message saying it won’t hold a joint cultural event at the North’s Diamond Mountain on Feb. 4, which was one of two pre-Olympic events in North Korea the countries had agreed to. Ministry officials said they expect a joint training session between the countries’ non-Olympic skiers at a North Korean ski resort to go on as planned this week. The ministry cited North Korea as saying it has no other option but to cancel the cultural event because of South Korean media reports that it says defamed its 'sincere' measures for the Olympics. The North also accused South Korean media of picking a fight over an unspecified domestic festival in North Korea, according to the ministry statement. The North didn’t say which media reports were at issue. But some reports had criticized the North’s plan to stage a major event to mark the 70th anniversary of the founding of its military on Feb. 8, just one day before the Olympics’ opening ceremony. South Korean officials have said the North plans a massive military parade on the anniversary." http://bit.ly/2rPz5hL

3. GRAMMY RATINGS HIT NINE-YEAR LOW: The 60th Grammys on Sunday drew 19.8 million viewers on CBS, hitting a nine-year low and a 24 percent decrease from last year's telecast. Los Angeles Times: "The live program from Madison Square Garden in New York, with 'The Late Late Show' host James Corden as emcee, drew its smallest audience since 2009, according to Nielsen data. The rating among viewers ages 18 to 49—the group important to most advertisers—hit an all-time low, with 5.9% of that audience tuned in compared with 7.8% last year. The decline in viewership is the latest indication of how awards shows are grappling with dwindling audiences as younger audiences consume highlights online. Other big awards events such as the Oscars and the Golden Globes have seen losses among younger viewers in recent years as well. Some viewers may have been turned off by the highly political and often somber nature of the evening, which included speeches and performances recognizing the Time's Up movement and criticizing the Trump administration's stance on immigration. A tribute to victims of last year's mass shooting at a country music concert in Las Vegas and two numbers saluting Broadway—included to note the Grammy ceremony's return to New York after a 15-year absence—contributed to a preponderance of slow ballads on the program. olitical humor pieces are rare at the Grammys, but several artists—and Hillary Clinton—participated in a segment in which they auditioned to record an audio version of Michael Wolff's Trump White House tell-all book 'Fire and Fury.'" http://lat.ms/2DPzpmc

* LOCAL NEWS *

DALLAS/FORT WORTH:  The Fort Worth Convention & Visitors Bureau will announce a Destination Master Plan to increase the impact of tourism, based on six months of community-wide input, at an event on February 28 at the Omni Fort Worth. 

LAS VEGAS:  Miami nightlife mogul David Grutman will deliver the keynote “To Dominate, The David Grutman Experience," at the Nightclub & Bar Convention and Trade Show on March 28. The event runs March 26-28 at the Las Vegas Convention Center. 

LOS ANGELES:  CoffeeCon Los Angeles, a consumer coffee festival, will take place February 3-4 at the Reef. 

For information on upcoming events in Los Angeles, visit Masterplanner: http://www.masterplanneronline.com/losangeles

MIAMI/SOUTH FLORIDA:  South Florida Business Journal: “With its plans for a casino hotel on hold, Genting subsidiary Resorts World Miami signed a multiyear deal with Loud and Live to hold events on the former site of the Miami Herald in downtown Miami. The 14.6-acre site at 1 Herald Plaza hosted the inaugural Art Miami and Context Art Fair in early December, during Art Basel. Genting cleared the waterfront site and paved it to hold the event. Resorts World Miami hopes to stage more events there – such as music, entertainment and sports—using temporary structures." http://bit.ly/2nn6dbR

NEW YORK:  Cal Nathan, a principal partner of Ideko Productions and NYFF Events, has divested from tent and event rental company New York Tent and sold his interest to Kuzari Group, an owner of lower-middle market businesses in the U.S.

For information on upcoming events in New York, visit Masterplanner: http://www.masterplanneronline.com/newyork

TORONTO:  The 2019 Juno Awards will take place March 17 at the Budweiser Gardens in London. The show will be broadcast live on CBC, and will be preceded with a week of festivities in London. 

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With contributions from Claire Hoffman in Los Angeles and Beth Kormanik, Michele Laufik, and Ian Zelaya in New York.

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