RIP World Screen. After 40 years, the indie TV trade publication forced to close
Every day I scroll through a solid number of websites to source stories for the Always Be Watching newsletter. A reliable source of news stories from the UK and Europe has been the website World Screen.
It was disappointing to see today that World Screen is going dark today. President and Publisher Ricardo Guise announced that the closure is effective immediately.
We regret to inform you that after 40 years of covering the international television business, World Screen will cease publishing today.
For four decades, we’ve had the privilege of chronicling the evolution of our industry—from the early days of international program sales to today’s global streaming landscape. This journey would not have been possible without the trust, collaboration and support of our partners, advertisers and readers around the world. We are profoundly grateful to each of you.
While our publishing activities will conclude, the company will continue operating through the transition period to collect all outstanding invoices and process refunds for any prepaid long-term online campaigns. Our team remains committed to fulfilling these obligations and ensuring a smooth conclusion to our business relationships.
It’s good to see that the company will be facilitating payment of invoices and other payment issues. It’s more than can be said of certain previous publisher employers I’ve had who went under.
World Screen was also responsible for running the annual FAST Festival, among a number of other TV industry-focused events. Presumably each of those events, based around verticals published by World Screen, will also be shuttering.
It’s sad to see a legacy publisher like this close up shop. But expect a lot more of this over the coming year or two as web traffic continues to slow. The emergence of AI search and Google’s embrace of AI summaries on its search listings pages are putting the squeeze on a large number of publications.
RIP World Screen. It was a valuable resource, covering a lot of the valuable news that never got a look in from larger US trade publications like the Penske sites.
RIP Robo-Olaf
On March 29, Disney unveiled a hyped Olaf robot at its parks. He is about three feet tall, which Polygon says is “the exact size the character was in the Frozen films and is covered in fluffy fabric to give the perfect snow effect”.
The robot apparently is supposed to just wander the park and, excepting any Itchy & Scratchy Land-like horrors where the robots go rogue, the animatronic Olaf is seen as the next evolution in what is possible at Disney parks. There’s a realism that can come to life with some of these characters as robots that simply isn’t possible with a person in a suit. That said, part of the charm of a person in a costume is that it speaks to the idea of a heightened reality, which is what makes theme parks fun.
Maybe it’s my dislike of all things Frozen. Maybe it is my inner-human enjoying seeing one of our future techno-overlords perish, but I was delighted by this footage taken just the day after Olaf was unveiled:
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News Desk
Jack Whitehall and Jorja Smith have been confirmed as the guest and musical act for week four of SNL UK, which airs April 11 ahead of a one week break. I wonder how far the viewership will have dropped by the then. Read: Radio Times
Australia’s ABC has commissioned an adaptation of children’s book series The Treehouse, from author Andy Griffiths and illustrator Tony Denton. Read: C21
An hour-long interactive experience blending physical space and VR based on Black Mirror will open in May in Montreal. Read: THR
South Park’s Trey Parker and Matt Stone have been quietly building their own ethical AI VFX company Deep Voodoo. Read: THR
RIP cinematographer James Pergola. One of the greats, he was responsible for the look of the first eight seasons of Baywatch and also DP’d the spin-off Baywatch Nights and feature film Police Academy 5: Assignment Miami Beach. Read: THR
Adam Redfern, a writer on the very, very good Adventures of Paddington cartoon show is the new show showrunner of the quite painful Peppa Pig. Read: Variety
250 episodes of Sesame Street from 1967-2007 will be made available on Tubi (presumably just the US). Read: thefutoncritic
Screen Producers Australia (SPA) has named ABC head of documentary and specialist Susie Jones as its 2026 Commissioner of the Year. I worked with Susie for a while… a damn fine human being. Read: IF
HBO Max is partnering with Alamo Drafthouse for US cinema screenings of The season 2 finale of The Pitt. Like the Stranger Things finale screenings in US AMC cinemas, tickets are free, but require the purchase of a $10 foor and drink voucher. The additional wrinkle here is that this is being framed as screenings for healthcare professionals past and present. The final episode of the season is very good, but at just under an hour, it’s not the most substantial trip out to the cinema. (Mind you, I’d still do it). Read: thefutoncritic
Trailer Park
Masters of The Universe, which is really based on a toy line, but is so closely identified with the 80s animated TV show that I’m including it here, debuts in cinemas June 5. It looks dumb as heck, but might be fun to watch on a Saturday morning at the cinema.
Cape Fear debuts on Apple TV June 5.
Inspired by the 1991 remake directed by Scorsese and produced by Spielberg, a storm is coming for happily married attorneys Anna (Adams) and Tom Bowden (Wilson) when Max Cady (Bardem), the notorious killer they are responsible for putting behind bars, is let out of prison - and he wants vengeance.
Avatar: The Last Airbender returns for season 2 June 25 on Netflix.
American Gladiators debuts on Prime Video April 17.
Son In Law debuts on Netflix May 1.
José Sánchez becomes a feared political operator after a rough patch, but this time neither his memorable mustache nor his sharp tongue will be enough.
That’s the newsletter for the today.
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