THE PURPOSE OF THE TRADEVINE IS TO ENCOURAGE THE ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY TO READ THEIR TRADES: VARIETY, HOLLYWOOD REPORTER, BACK STAGE, ETC. ENJOY LEARNING ABOUT YOUR INDUSTRY.

EACH FRIDAY, THE TRADEVINE SEEKS OUT A FEW OF THE INFORMATIVE TRADE ARTICLES YOU MAY HAVE MISSED. VISIT THE TRADE, ITSELF, FOR THE ENTIRE ARTICLE.

Hello everybody, I’m Mary Jo Gruber of the Actors Reporter and welcome to the TradeVine. Danika Quinn is on assignment The entertainment industry is full of ups and downs and ins and outs, so how do you keep track of the trends? Well, every Friday the TradeVine is here to help because we know your time is important. We’ve selected some of the more interesting articles you shouldn’t miss. Our goal here at the TradeVine is to help you stay informed and to keep up with the trades, such as The Hollywood Reporter, Daily Variety, and Backstage.

Back Stage, June 16th-22nd, 2011 – Stand up for stand-ins, by Jessica Gardner. The pros and cons, perks and demands of this deceptively difficult job. A stand-in is a person who literally stands in for an actor to help the camera department light the set and focus the camera. The stand-in watches the actors during rehearsals to see what they do and then recreates it while the principals are busy in hair and make up or wardrobe. A good stand-in saves time, which saves the production money. The job of a stand-in requires professionalism. You are around people who need to maintain their focus and a stand-in has to remain focused as well. However, because of the long hours, being a stand-in can make it extremely difficult to pursue your own acting career, especially if you are standing-in on a regular basis for a principal role. However, as a stand-in, you are in a privileged position. You get to listen in on conversations between the director of photography and the director talking about how they want to shoot the film or TV show. That’s knowledge you can’t pay for. So, if you have the opportunity to be a stand-in, pay attention and you’ll learn tricks of the trade that you won’t learn anywhere else.

The Hollywood Reporter, June 24th, 2011 – Hollywood’s coming growth spurt, by George Szalai. A new study predicts big gains by the year 2015. Right now, the box office might be down and studios are laying off people in their home entertainment divisions, but the five-year outlook for the global entertainment and media industry is downright enthusiastic. According to PricewaterhouseCoopers’ annual study, worldwide spending for entertainment jumped by 5.7 percent. Box office spending will be boosted by the expansion of 3D theatres around the world, which will raise ticket prices (including a whopping 13.3 percent in 3D obsessed China). Also, people have been more willing to pay for the convenience of experience, so video-on-demand services will do well in future. I guess we’ll just have to see if the quality of the Hollywood product stays strong.

Daily Variety, Monday, June 20th, 2011 – Unions take merger step, By Dave McNary. Hollywood’s performers unions have taken a first formal step towards hammering out a merger plan that could be in place by this time next year. Reps of SAG and AFTRA met last weekend in Silver Spring, Maryland, at the National Labor College in the first of four confabs with the aim of delivering a merger plan by January to their respective national borads. The next meeting will take place in New York in August. No date has been set yet for the vote by the 70,000 members of AFTRA or the 120,000 members of SAG. This should be interesting to see how the merger works out, if in fact, it ever happens.

Well, that’s it for the TradeVine this week. I’m Mary Jo Gruber. Thank you very much for watching. And remember, You heard it through the Tradevine!