Nikki Finke’s Deadline Hollywood Daily

 

The quote by Joni Mitchell seemed appropriate.....HSM

"Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got
Till its gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot"

WHAT A DAMN SHAME! 20th Fox To Close Second-To-Last Studio Research Library

UPDATE: I'm receiving a lot of emails and comments from Hollywood folks who say that, contrary to 20th Century Fox's claims, the studio's film research library was constantly in use by both Fox personnel and outsiders. I hear Clint Eastwood is unhappy, too, because considerable research for his Flags Of Our Fathers was done there.

EXCLUSIVE: I have confirmed that 20th Century Fox is very quietly shutting its film research library after 85 years in existence, the second-to-last such facility at a Hollywood studio making available books, drawings, photographs, scrapbooks, samples, and other one-of-a-kind materials. (The other studio libraries have been closed or sold off except for the Samuel Goldwyn Research Library, owned and managed by Lillian Michelson, and housed on the DreamWorks Animation lot.} "This is film history used and recycled everyday and also Los Angeles history," an insider tells me. "Once this goes, it's gone." I'm especially surprised by this decision not only because Fox Filmed Entertainment chairman Tom Rothman considers himself something of a film historian, but also because I'm told the cost of keeping the library open is negligible. But what the film community loses is priceless access to archive material by art directors, costume designers and film historians. "I cannot tell you how serious this is to the below-the-line people and creatives around town," another source tells me. "There used to be wonderous film reference libraries at each studio. A designer could walk in, ask about damask curtains and get reams of data. Now there is none. I implore you to take up this matter." Still another insider complains, "I guess Fox has to tighten its belt -- or is it a noose?" However, 20th is claiming that the library is not used enough to justify its cost, and its "contents should be transferred to a more public resource so these materials are available to the entire film community rather than just confined to those on the Fox lot".

Nikki Finke’s Deadline Hollywood Daily