At press time (3/21), the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) had stopped accepting applications for new H-1B visas this current fiscal year. That’s because the INS reached the annual allotment of 115,000 such visas. The allocation was supposed to last a full year, from October 1999 through this September. Two years ago, the allocation was raised from 65,000 to 115,000 H-1Bs to help U.S. high-technology firms—including visual effects and CG houses—cope with a shortage of qualified American workers. Talk has begun on Capitol Hill regarding drafting new legislation that would further increase the number of available high-tech visas….Bicoastal Cylo, with an office in London, has signed director Mark Valentine….Curious Pictures, bicoastal, inked a deal to represent Stockholm-based animation studio Filmtecknarna F. Animation (directors Jonas Odell and Jonas Dahlbeck) in North America….Colin Brown has been named CEO of Cinesite, worldwide, and COO of its European subsidiary, Cinesite (Europe) Limited, based in London. He has headed Cinesite (Europe) since it was founded in ’94. Additionally, Ruth Scovil, who was formerly in corporate strategic planning at DreamWorks, has become president and COO of the U.S. subsidiary, Cinesite Inc., based in Hollywood. Cinesite is the digital motion imaging division of the Eastman Kodak Company….Robin Shenfield has been appointed CEO of London-headquartered The Mill Group, which encompasses post/effects facility The Mill, effects shop Mill Film and Mill Motion Control. Shenfield was one of the original founders of The Mill….
BBC Faces Leadership Crisis After News Bosses Quit Over Trump Speech Edit and Claims Of Bias
The BBC was facing a leadership crisis and mounting political pressure on Monday after its top executive and its head of news both quit over the editing of a speech by U.S. President Donald Trump. The resignation of BBC Director-General Tim Davie and news chief Deborah Turness over accusations of bias was welcomed by Trump, who said the way his speech had been edited was an attempt to "step on the scales of a Presidential Election." BBC chairman Samir Shah apologized Monday for the broadcaster's "error of judgment" in editing the speech Trump delivered on Jan. 6, 2021, before a crowd of his supporters stormed the Capitol in Washington. "We accept that the way the speech was edited did give the impression of a direct call for violent action," Shah said in a letter to lawmakers. The hourlong program — titled "Trump: A Second Chance?" — was broadcast as part of the BBC's "Panorama" documentary series days before the 2024 U.S. presidential election. It spliced together three quotes from two sections of the 2021 speech, delivered almost an hour apart, into what appeared to be one quote in which Trump urged supporters to march with him and "fight like hell." Among the parts cut out was a section where Trump said he wanted supporters to demonstrate peacefully. In a resignation letter to staff, Davie said: "There have been some mistakes made and as director-general I have to take ultimate responsibility." Turness said the controversy was damaging the BBC, and she quit "because the buck stops with me." As she arrived Monday at the BBC's central London headquarters, Turness defended the organization's journalists against allegations of bias. "Our journalists are hardworking people who strive for impartiality, and I will stand by their journalism,"... Read More