In The News

Heather Hemmens says her off-the-grid childhood helped her get the roles she has now, in Hallmark Channel’s ‘Christmas in My Heart’ and on the CW Network series ‘Roswell, New Mexico.

Lots of people can recite lines from their favorite holiday special or movie that they watched on TV every year growing up. That’s not the case for Maine-born actress Heather Hemmens, even though she’s now starring in one.

Hemmens, the lead actress in Hallmark Channel’s “Christmas in My Heart,” grew up in the woods of Waldo, a small town near Belfast, in a house that was off the grid. So her family had no electricity and no television, meaning there were no Christmas movie repeats. But Hemmens feels the discipline and focus she learned from her childhood in Maine have contributed to her success as an actress. So, in a way, her lack of TV helped her get on TV.

Disney says it will spend $8B more on content in 2022 than 2021, mostly on shows and movies for its streaming platforms.

The Walt Disney Co. is planning to turbocharge its content spending in its fiscal 2022 calendar year, which began Oct. 1.

According to the company’s annual report, which was filed with the SEC Wednesday afternoon, Disney plans to spend approximately $33 billion on content over the next year, inclusive of its streaming programming, linear programming and sports content.

That is an $8 billion increase from fiscal 2021, when the company says it spent approximately $25 billion on content.

The workplace equity nonprofit is letting go of all but three of its 25 staffers at year’s end, a move that one critic of the organization calls “callous.”

Time’s Up has completed its reform effort’s first phase concluding that muddled origins, as well as the unanticipated events of 2020, contributed to the dysfunctional dynamics and communication failures that have led to the organization’s downfall.

The report released Friday followed an examination of the current state of the organization by independent consultant Leilani M. Brown, who interviewed 85 individuals — including current and former employees, governing board members and survivor advocates.

Thanksgiving has taken on a poignant edge these past few years. A holiday that’s all about togetherness has found us trying to pretend that family group Zoom calls are as good as the real thing. A holiday that’s about being thankful for what you’ve got has, for so many of us, become a wrenching annual reminder of what we’ve lost, and what we’re still missing after nearly two full years of a devastating pandemic. 

Well, Thanksgiving is still coming, and, dammit, we here at the Indie Film desk are bound and determined to not let the still-lingering disruption of a worldwide pandemic rob us of our annual tradition of publicly appreciating those hardy (but not foolhardy) Maine film folks who’ve weathered this unprecedented storm with ingenuity, courage and even a little grace in the face of a deadly and dangerous pandemic. 

Unionized film production workers have narrowly agreed to new contracts, removing the threat of a strike that could have brought production to a halt nationwide.

The deals cover technicians, artisans and craftspeople who perform a wide variety of non-acting and non-directing jobs for feature films, television shows and streaming programs. Had the 63,000 union members covered by the contracts gone on strike, it would have been the largest private-sector work stoppage since 2007.

The pair of contracts fulfilled many of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees’ (IATSE) negotiating demands — but there was enough opposition that the deals were nearly rejected. The narrow vote is another indication of the current discontent among many workers, both organized and non-union, over the state of their jobs.