How Streaming Changed Award Eligibility
For most of the Academy Awards’ history, the definition of a movie was administrative rather than philosophical: to compete for an Oscar, a film…
Gay-Friendly Las Vegas: Shows, Bars and Resorts
Las Vegas never grew a Castro or a Boystown, and the reason is revealing. In most American cities, gay culture built its own district…
The Casino as a Film Set: From Ocean’s to Uncut Gems
Few locations do as much narrative work for a filmmaker as a casino floor. The space explains itself instantly: money is present, risk is…
How In-Play Betting Changed Football Broadcasting
For a stretch of the 2010s, the most recognisable face at half-time in British football was not a pundit but Ray Winstone, floating above…
Why Reality TV Finales Still Draw Big Ratings
Television audiences have scattered across a dozen streaming platforms, appointment viewing has largely collapsed, and yet one format keeps producing genuinely large live numbers:…
Residency Economics: What Headliners Actually Sign
In the summer of 1969, Elvis Presley opened at Kirk Kerkorian’s International Hotel on a deal reported at $100,000 a week, an arrangement Colonel…
A History of Betting on the Oscars
Betting on the Academy Awards is an odd proposition when examined closely. The result is not uncertain in the way a football match is…
The Economics of the Music Biopic
In the autumn of 2018, a Queen biopic that had lost its original director mid-shoot and drawn lukewarm reviews became one of the most…
A Short History of Online Gambling
Online gambling is old enough to have a proper history now, one that runs from a software house on the Isle of Man to…