Search Results for: “Maher”

EMMYS: ‘Modern Family’ Scribes

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Monday June 17, 2013 @ 9:01pm PDTTags: Emmys, Modern Family, Steven Levitan

Diane Haithman is an AwardsLine contributor.

Modern FamilyHow many writer-producers does it take to make an Emmy-winning comedy? In the case of Modern Family, it’s a staff of 12 including co-creators/executive producers Steven Levitan and Christopher Lloyd. Like many series creators, Levitan and Lloyd mostly tapped colleagues from comedies they had either created or worked on to assemble a writers room where the team speaks the same language. Before creating Modern Family, Levitan and Lloyd worked on three comedies together: Wings, Frasier and the short-lived Back To You, which the pair co-created. Most members of Modern Family’s creative family are descendants of those three shows and/or two other comedies created by Levitan: Just Shoot Me and Stacked. AwardsLine has ventured deep into sitcom history — stripping the banana peel all the back way to 1990 — to trace the writing roots of Modern Family. Please note that this is not intended to represent each writer-producer’s complete, or necessarily best, credits. It covers only comedy series that have at some point included two or more Modern Family writer-producers on staff (as writer-producers unless otherwise noted).

Related: EMMYS: Comedy Series Overview

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EMMYS: Category For TV Variety Series

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Thursday June 13, 2013 @ 8:15pm PDTTags: Daily Show With Jon Stewart, Emmys, Real Time With Bill Maher

Cari Lynn is an AwardsLine contributor.

Ah, to be victorious—at losing. Susan Lucci was famous for it. So was Angela Lansbury. But the dubious crown of distinction now graces Bill Maher, host and executive producer of HBO’s Real Time With Bill Maher, the reigning champ with 29 Primetime Emmy nominations and 0 wins. Both Real Time (15 total Emmy noms, 0 wins) and its predecessor, ABC’s Politically Incorrect (8 variety series noms, 0 wins), have garnered noms every single year they’ve been on the air, going back to 1995. But they’re in good losing company. In what’s become an odd phenomenon in the variety series category, Real Time annually goes neck and neck with Comedy Central’s The Daily Show With Jon Stewart and the newer fake newsguy, The Colbert Report (which also has received consecutive nominations since 2006)—only to see The Daily Show sweep the Emmys for a solid decade. Read More »

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HBO Renews ‘VICE’ For Second Season

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Thursday June 13, 2013 @ 10:11am PDTTags: HBO, Vice

One day before its freshman-season finale, irreverent news magazine VICE has been picked up for a second 12-episode season by HBO. Check out the release here:

LOS ANGELES, June 13, 2013 – HBO has renewed the news magazine series VICE for a 12-episode second season, with debut set for 2014, it was announced today by Michael Lombardo, president, HBO Programming. Hosted by Shane Smith, founder of the revolutionary new media company of the same name, VICE smashes barriers of decorum to cover the kinds of stories often overlooked by mainstream media outlets.

“VICE’s fearless, irreverent style of news coverage has produced a uniquely provocative show,” noted Lombardo. “We look forward to more of their groundbreaking reporting in season two.”

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Stumping For Emmys, ‘Mad Men’s Matthew Weiner Talks 7th And Final Season

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Sunday June 9, 2013 @ 10:08pm PDTTags: AMC, Emmys, Mad Men, Matthew Weiner

Ray Richmond contributes to Deadline’s TV coverage.

Tonight’s event honoring AMC’s Mad Men at the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences headquarters in North Hollywood – organized by AMC and designed to generate some Emmy season heat for a drama perceived to be past its awards prime – was perhaps most noteworthy for who wasn’t in attendance rather than who was. First, the list of those castmates who couldn’t make it: Jon Hamm (shooting a movie in India), Alison Brie (shooting a film in Toronto), Vincent Kartheiser (rehearsing a play in Minnesota), Christina Hendricks (shooting a movie in Detroit), John Slattery (prepping a film in New York), Aaron Staton (shooting a film “out of town”) and Rich Sommer (featured in a play in New York). While they still have air travel in every area where the seven no-shows were stationed, it’s perhaps understandable that they wouldn’t rush back to stump for more Emmy attention. Read More »

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‘The Arsenio Hall Show’ Taps Leon Knoles As Director

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Friday June 7, 2013 @ 10:35am PDTTags: Arsenio Hall, CBS Television Distribution, Leon Knoles, The Arsenio Hall Show

Leon Knoles will serve as director for CBS Television Distribution‘s syndicated late-night talker The Arsenio Hall Show, which debuts September 9. The move was announced today by executive producers Arsenio Hall, John Ferriter and Neal Kendall. Knoles began his career as a technical director on such shows as American Idol, Last Comic Standing, The BET Honors, and the Comedy Central Roast as well as stints on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Real Time With Bill Maher, The Late Late Show With Craig Kilborn, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Live With Kelly and The Wayne Brady Show. He segued to directing with Damon Wayans’ comedy special Way Out for Comedy Central. He has directed several specials for PBS including The National Tree Lighting, The Tenors Lead With Your Heart, Country Music: In Performance At The White House, Michael Feinstein: The Sinatra Legacy, Gloria Estefan: The Standards and The Motown Sound: In Performance At The White House.

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Specialty B.O. Preview: ‘Much Ado About Nothing’, ‘Dirty Wars’, ‘Évocateur: The Morton Downey Jr. Movie’, ‘Violet & Daisy’, ‘Wish You Were Here’, ‘Hey Bartender’, ‘Hello Herman’, ‘Tiger Eyes’

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Thursday June 6, 2013 @ 5:39pm PDTTags: Evocateur: The Morton Downey Jr Movie, Joss Whedon, Much Ado About Nothing, Specialty Box Office

Brian Brooks is a Deadline contributor.

It may be blockbuster season, but the Specialties are parading a number of new titles into theaters this weekend. After ruling the box office last year, Joss Whedon‘s modern take on Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing will open in limited release. Similar to many of this weekend’s new offerings, the title does not have high-named stars. Sundance and Tribeca docs Dirty Wars and Évocateur: The Morton Downey Jr. Movie join the fray Friday along with Precious writer Geoffrey Fletcher’s Violet & Daisy. Joel Edgerton stars in Australian film, Wish You Were Here, opening Stateside via eOne, while Freestyle Releasing will bow two features, Hello Herman and Tiger Eyes. And SXSW doc competition film Hey Bartender will also straddle up for a shot at the box office.

Much Ado About Nothing
Director: Joss Whedon
Writers: William Shakespeare (play), Joss Whedon (screenplay)
Cast: Amy Acker, Alexis Denisof, Fran Kranz, Clark Gregg, Reed Diamond
Distributor: Roadside Attractions/Lionsgate

Roadside’s Howard Cohen is returning to a Shakespeare he knows well, having been involved with Kenneth Branagh’s 1993 version two decades ago. The latest, which debuted at last year’s Toronto International Film Festival is a black and white re-telling of the story with a modern edge. “It has a great combination of upscale art house appeal and fun modern, hipster vibe,” noted Cohen. “The actors are Americans doing Shakespeare. Joss breathes a fresh air into Shakespeare. People love Shakespeare, but you have to breathe new air to re-invent 400-year-old plays.” Shot over 12 days at Whedon’s Santa Monica home while taking a short break filming The Avengers, the undertaking was something of a passion project for Whedon who used actors that have participated in Shakespeare readings at his home. “There’s a real purist aspect to it. It’s not like he randomly decided to do a prestige movie. It’s aspirational because it’s Shakespeare, but it’s with actors he works with,” added Cohen. Read More »

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Cannes: Weinstein Co Acquires Keanu-Reese Sci-Fi Pic ‘Passengers’ In Splashy Deal

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Tuesday May 21, 2013 @ 9:23am PDTTags: Big Deals Film, Cannes Film Festival, Cannes Wrap-Up, Keanu Reeves, Passengers, Reese Witherspoon, The Weinstein Company
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: The Weinstein Company has won the bidding for the Keanu Reeves-Reese Witherspoon sci-fi romance movie Passengers. I’m hearing the distributor has committed to a multi-million dollar minimum guarantee and a P&A commitment in the $25 million range for a wide release in 2014. I understand FilmDistrict and Open Road were in the mix here in Cannes for the project, which was written by Prometheus scribe Jon Spaihts and will be directed by Game Of Thrones and Reese Witherspoon ArrestBoardwalk Empire helmer Brian Kirk in his major feature film debut. Wayfare Entertainment is financing and producing the pic. The plot: A spacecraft transporting thousands of people to a distant colony planet has a malfunction in one of its sleep chambers. As a result, a single passenger (Reeves) is awakened 90 years before anyone else. Faced with the prospect of growing old and dying alone, he eventually decides to wake up a second passenger (Witherspoon), marking the beginning of what becomes a unique love story. The script was developed by Stephen Hamel and Reeves at their production shingle Company Films. Hamel is producing with Wayfare CEO Ben Browning. Start Media’s Michael Maher and Lynwood Spinks are executive producing. CAA repped domestic sales rights; Exclusive Media has international rights.

Related: Hammond: Weinstein Shows Off 2013 Oscar Contenders

The Weinsteins have been major players at Cannes, having already won the first big bidding battle of the festival by acquiring the Judi Dench movie Philomena — directed by Stephen Frears and co-starring Steve Coogan — based on seven minutes of footage shown to buyers. In addition, TWC landed U.S. and other territories for Suite Française, based on Irene Nemirovsky’s novel about a young woman who lives with her controlling mother-in-law in Nazi-occupied France and ends up falling for a German officer. Michelle Williams, Matthias Schoenaerts and Kristin Scott Thomas star. The company’s alt-distribution label Radius-TWC meanwhile picked up North American rights to Blue Ruin, one of the few U.S. titles screening in the Directors’ Fortnight section. Read More »

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Cannes: Brian Grazer, Ron Howard Introduce Imagine 2.0; A Pele Pic On The Croisette, A Crowd-Funded ‘Friday Night Lights’, ‘Dark Tower’, Jay-Z And One Angry White Whale

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Thursday May 16, 2013 @ 7:22am PDTTags: Brian Grazer, Cannes Film Festival, Cannes Wrap-Up, Friday Night Lights, Imagine Entertainment, Pele, Ron Howard, The Dark Tower
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE:When Imagine Entertainment partners Brian Grazer and Ron Howard re-upped in their 26th year at Universal in early 2012, like all studio term producers they watched the deal get smaller. They also went from exclusive to first look and while that might have humbled less energetic founders who’d made 50 films for the same studio, Grazer and Howard took it as license to tap into new avenues of distribution and funding to be more productive than ever.

Consider that while Howard tinkers with the finished Formula One drama Rush and casts the Warner Bros adaptation of the Nathaniel Philbrick novel In The Heart Of The Sea with Chris Hemsworth, Grazer is on the Croisette, beating the drum for a Pele biopic to be directed by The Two Escobars helmer Jeff Zimbalist and his brother Michael. Grazer and production president Kim Roth called the film a close cousin to the search for genius depicted in 8 Mile, only here it’s a dirt-poor kid’s journey from being part of the Shoeless Wonders (a band of soccer wunderkinds too poor to afford shoes) to a phenom who at 17 led Brazil to the World Cup. Grazer and his partners will have the film ready by the time the world is whipped into a frenzy for World Cup action next year.

* While they’ve temporarily halted the move to turn Jack Bauer loose in a 24 feature, they’ve instead decided to bring him back in a limited series, this after selling an Arrested Development revival directly to Netflix. Grazer tells me they are absolutely moving forward with a movie version of another Imagine series, Friday Night Lights, and they will likely use crowdfunding to directly tap the rabid fan base of that drama for some of the budget. “We made a terrific feature with Pete Berg, turned it into a terrific TV series and will now make a movie from that series,” Grazer said. “I’m not sure such a thing has been done before.” Read More »

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Oscars Outdoors 2013 Summer Lineup

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Wednesday May 15, 2013 @ 2:45pm PDTTags: Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Oscars Outdoors

After a successful launch last year, the 2013 Oscars Outdoors summer movie season kicks off Wednesday, June 5, with Joss Whedon’s Much Ado About Nothing. Stars Amy Acker, Alexis Denisoff, Clark Gregg, Nathan Fillion, Fran Kranz and Sean Maher will be there and join Whedon for a post-screening Q&A moderated by KCRW’s Matt Holzman. The lineup, which runs through August 24th, also includes such classics as Big, Rushmore and Cinema Paradiso. Screenings will take place at the Academy’s open-air theater in Hollywood. Morgan Neville’s music docu Twenty Feet From Stardom will screen on June 6 in Hollywood and June 8 in partnership with Rooftop Films Series in New York City, ahead of its June 14 release. And Academy Nicholl Screenwriting Fellow Destin Cretton’s Short Term 12 is also slated for an advance screening on July 20 in New York City. Click over for the complete 2013 Oscars Outdoors schedule: Read More »

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Cannes: ‘28 Weeks Later’ Helmer Juan Carlos Fresnadillo And Shia LaBeouf Take ‘Villain’ Turn

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Tuesday May 14, 2013 @ 10:15am PDTTags: Cannes Film Festival, Cannes Wrap-Up, Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, Shia LaBeouf, Start Motion Pictures, Villain
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: Start Motion Pictures has set 28 Weeks Later helmer Juan Carlos Fresnadillo to direct and Shia LaBeouf to star in Villain, a psychological thriller written by Robocop remake scribe Josh Zetumer. Villain follows two brothers who mysteriously re-connect in an unforgiving wilderness. The role of the other brother will be set shortly. Start Motion Pictures’ Ben Browning, Sarah Shepard and Jeremy Kipp Walker will produce, and Michael Maher will executive produce with Zetumer. Start will also finance. Wild Bunch will be selling the film in Cannes, alongside their other titles that include the Nicolas Refn-directed Only God Forgives, James Gray’s The Immigrant and Guillaume Canet’s Blood Ties. Read More »

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Cannes: Wayfare Entertainment Re-Branded Start Motion Pictures

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Thursday May 9, 2013 @ 5:00pm PDTTags: Ben Browning, Cannes Wrap-Up, Start Motion Pictures, Wayfare Entertainment
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: New York-based Wayfare Entertainment is being re-branded Start Motion Pictures, as part of an ongoing effort of parent company Start Media LLC to unify the branding and operations of it’s growing portfolio of entertainment and media holdings. Set up five years ago by Ben Browning and Start Media CEO Michael Maher, Wayfare Entertainment has produced and fully financed films that have grossed over $130 million worldwide. Wayfare’s past films include Universal’s Sanctum produced with James Cameron, the Focus Features’ drama Its Kind Of A Funny Story, Neil Jordan’s Ondine, and the upcoming Sebastian Cordero-directed space thriller Europa Report to be released by Magnolia Pictures in summer 2013. Upcoming Wayfare projects include an adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book for Disney; the recently announced Passengers, which will star Keanu Reeves and Reese Witherspoon; and a development slate including Josh Zetumer’s Villain, an adaptation of Matt Westrup’s award winning creature short The Gate and the Princess Diana conspiracy thriller Inquest.

“It is very exciting to be able to grow within a larger organization as ambitious and forward thinking as Start Media,” said Wayfare CEO Ben Browning. Said Michael Maher, CEO of Start Media “With all of the changes occurring in content generation and distribution the benefit of integrating a best-in-class engine for film content into our larger operation became overwhelmingly clear. Ben and his team at Wayfare have demonstrated an expertise in and appreciation for the realities of the independent film business, … Read More »

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Cannes: Exclusive Media Acquires Sales Rights To ‘Passengers’ With Keanu Reeves And Reese Witherspoon Starring

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Tuesday May 7, 2013 @ 11:27am PDTTags: Big Deals Film, Cannes Film Festival, Cannes Wrap-Up, Exclusive Media, Keanu Reeves, Passngers, Reese Witherspoon

Reese Witherspoon ArrestEXCLUSIVE: Exclusive Media has picked up international rights to Passengers, the sci-fi romance starring Keanu Reeves and now Reese Witherspoon that Game Of Thrones and Boardwalk Empire director Brian Kirk is directing in his major feature film debut. Wayfare Entertainment is financing and producing the pic from a script by Prometheus scribe Jon Spaihts. The story follows a spacecraft transporting thousands of people to a distant colony planet that has a malfunction in one of its sleep chambers. As a result, a single passenger (Reeves) is awakened 90 years before anyone else. Faced with the prospect of growing old and dying alone, he eventually decides to wake up a second passenger (Witherspoon), marking the beginning of what becomes a unique love story. The script was developed by Stephen Hamel and Reeves at their production shingle Company Films. Hamel will produce the pic with Wayfare CEO Ben Browning. Start Media’s Michael Maher and Lynwood Spinks will executive produce. CAA is repping domestic rights to the pic.

Related: ‘Passengers’ To Star Keanu Reeves, With Brian Kirk Directing Read More »

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Cannes Briefs: Farmiga, Hawke, Harris Join LaBute’s ‘Geography’; The Exchange Boards ‘Supremacy’; Content Sells ‘He Who ‘Dares’

By NANCY TARTAGLIONE, International Editor | Thursday, 2 May 2013 15:27 UKTags: Cannes Film Festival, Cannes Wrap-Up, Ethan Hawke, Vera Farmiga

Refresh for latest…
Ethan Hawke, Ed Harris and Vera Farmiga are attached to star in Neil LaBute’s crime thriller The Geography of Hope. London-based Salt Pictures is handling international sales on the movie that’s due to start shooting in early 2014 in Puerto Rico. French actress Emmanuelle Devos is also attached. LaBute wrote the script and will direct the 1970s era pic that takes place at a resort where two small time crooks meet two vacationing women and a catastrophic series of events is set in motion. Producers are Stefan Nowicki, Joey Carey, Trace Sheehan and Tim Harms. Read More »

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Sci-Fi Pic ‘Passengers’ To Star Keanu Reeves, With Brian Kirk Directing And Wayfare Entertainment Producing

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Thursday April 18, 2013 @ 11:13am PDTTags: Big Deals Film, Brian Kirk, Jon Spaihts, Keanu Reeves, Passengers, Wayfare Entertainment
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: Game Of Thrones and Boardwalk Empire director Brian Kirk has just been set to helm Passengers in his major feature film debut. Wayfare Entertainment has come aboard to finance and produce the sci-fi pic that will star Keanu Reeves in a script by Prometheus scribe Jon Spaihts. The story follows a spacecraft transporting thousands of people to a distant colony planet that has a malfunction in one of its sleep chambers. As a result, a single passenger (Reeves) is awakened 90 years before anyone else. Faced with the prospect of growing old and dying alone, he eventually decides to wake up a second passenger, marking the beginning of what becomes a unique love story. That second passenger, a female, has yet to be cast. Read More »

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Donald Trump Pulls Plug On $5M Bill Maher Lawsuit

By DOMINIC PATTEN | Monday April 1, 2013 @ 3:31pm PDTTags: Bill Maher, Celebrity Apprentice, Donald Trump

Well, it’s April 1st and we have our fool. After all his huffing and puffing, Donald Trump has unsurprisingly withdrawn his $5 million lawsuit against Bill Maher. The Celebrity Apprentice host had his lawyers file the request for dismissal with prejudice in LA Superior Court on March 29. Trump, whose NBC show hit a season low last night, first filed the breach of contract suit back in early February against the HBO host. He said that Maher broke a written promise that he’d give $5 million to the charities of Trump’s choice if The Donald could prove he wasn’t “the spawn of his mother having sex with an orangutan.”

Related: Maher On Trump Lawsuit: “Suck It Up” – Video Read More »

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Paramount To Co-Produce CBS’ ‘Beverly Hills Cop’

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Monday March 4, 2013 @ 3:06pm PSTTags: Beverly Hills Cop, Big Deals TV, CBS, Paramount
Nellie Andreeva

Eddie Murphy in Beverly Hills CopOn the heels of Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman’s remarks this morning that Paramount will be returning to TV production, Paramount Pictures chairman and CEO Brad Grey just announced that the company is joining Sony TV as co-producer on CBS‘ Beverly Hills Cop pilot and potential series, based on the hit Paramount movie franchise. Dauman earlier today teased Paramount’s Beverly Hills Cop involvement, noting that the company plans to “get back, with very little investment, into the television production business.” Sony TV put the project, written by Shawn Ryan and exec produced by Ryan and Eddie Murphy, together and sold it to CBS where it has gone to pilot directed by Barry Sonnenfeld. As part of Sony TV’s rights deal with Paramount, the movie studio had the opportunity to join in, something which it is now doing. (Though the co-production deal is not official yet.)

Paramount used to have one of the largest TV studios, Paramount Network Television, which went to CBS in the 2005 split of Viacom, where it was merged with CBS Prods. Grey has plenty of experience to guide Paramount’s return to TV — he comes from a TV producer background as the head of Brad Grey TV, whose slate has included HBO’s The Sopranos and Real Time With Bill Maher and NBC’s Just Shoot Me!. Here is Grey’s memo:

FROM:  Brad Grey

TO:  All Staff

I would like to share some exciting news about a new Paramount project.

We have entered into an agreement with Sony Pictures Television to co-finance and co-produce a one hour pilot of “Beverly Hills Cop” for the CBS Television Network.  If the pilot is picked up, we will continue to work with Sony TV on the series.  As you know, “Beverly Hills Cop” is a highly successful Paramount film franchise which stars Eddie Murphy and was launched in 1984.

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Nikki Finke’s Oscar Live-Snark: Four Hours Of Unfunny Seth MacFarlane; Unnecessary Michelle Obama; ‘Argo’ Wins Best Picture

By NIKKI FINKE, Editor in Chief | Sunday February 24, 2013 @ 5:34pm PSTTags: Nikki Finke, Oscars

Oscars 2013 CoverageI’m live-snarking the 85th Oscars for the outstanding film achievements of 2012 starting at 5:30 PM PT tonight. Comments will open when the show starts inside the Dolby Theatre. Come for the cynicism. Stay for the subversion. Add your opinion. WARNING: Not for the easily offended or ridiculously naive.

To understand the Academy Awards is to understand that Tinseltown is fueled by the green-eyed monster. Envy and spite will determine the winners. Because best productions or performances have nothing to do with the 24 categories awarded tonight. The negatives, not positives, will decide this year’s Oscars. That’s par for the course in Hollywood, where nastiness rules and niceness gets rolled. How else to explain why the horrible Harvey Weinstein is trying for his 3rd straight Best Picture?

Everything in Hollywood is agenda driven. That’s why I always say, when it comes to its biggest awards, what’s important are the scars, not the Oscars. Here’s how to handicap them: just look for whomever is envied most by members of the Academy Of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences and bet those names probably won’t get called onstage tonight. That’s why few think Steven Spielberg has any real shot at Best Director or his Lincoln at Best Picture. Of course he thinks he deserves both. But when you’ve been moviedom’s legend for seemingly forever, the Academy voters can’t wait to knock you off your pedestal. OK, I’ll say it; Hollywood actually hates … Read More »

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OSCARS: Who Went Where This Weekend

By NIKKI FINKE AND MIKE FLEMING JR | Sunday February 24, 2013 @ 1:20am PSTTags: Hollywood agencies, Oscar Parties

4TH UPDATE: An eclectic mix of current and former moguls, executives, producers, directors, and of course actors attended the marquee pre-Oscar parties as well as famed artists, museum directors, fashion designers, music icons, and star athletes. Barry Diller’s luncheon for Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter Saturday was smaller than usual. That night, Jeffrey Katzenberg’s ‘Night Before’ Oscar MPTF fundraiser avoided a union picket line. The agency parties dominated Thursday and Friday nights. CAA‘s was bigger than in past years when 200-300 guests crowded Bryan Lourd’s home. This time about 500 gathered at luxe Greystone Mansion for Old Hollywood glamour with men dressed ascots (well, Bryan Lourd) and women given gardenia corsages. WME‘s was held at Ari Emanuel’s home as usual and UTA‘s at Jim Berkus’ house again. ICM Partners‘ was held at the home of agent Hildy Gottlieb. Few of these names need introductions and most are in random order:

Harvey Weinstein’s Oscar Pre-Party Saturday night: Jennifer Lawrence, Zoe Kravitz, Lisa Bonet, Jamie Foxx, Leonardo DiCaprio, Bradley Cooper, Lukas Haas, Emmy Rossum, Joaquin Phoenix, Amy Adams, Salma Hayek, Robert De Niro, Chace Crawford, Ian Somerhalder, David O Russell, Dermot Mulroney, Julia Stiles, Crispin Struthers, Nina Garcia, Kerry Washington, Don Johnson, Quentin Tarantino, Christoph Waltz, Russell Simmons, Matthew Morrison, Chris Tucker.

Jeffrey Katzenberg’s ‘Night Before’ Oscar MPTF Fundraiser Saturday night: Robert Iger, Jim Gianopulos, Brad Grey, Rupert Murdoch, Wendi Murdoch, Ryan Kavanaugh, David O Russell, Brett Ratner, Chris Albrecht, Jerry Bruckheimer, Ari Emanuel, Jim Berkus, Ron Perelman, Ron Meyer, Steve Tisch, Ron Burkle, Brian Grazer, Alan Horn, Amy Adams, Bradley Cooper, Bryan Cranston, Chris Evans, Hugh Jackman, Ed Helms, Ed Westwick, Emily VanCamp, Eric Stonestreet, George Clooney, Will Smith, Jean Dujardin, Jennifer Garner, Ben Affleck, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Jessica Chastain, Jim Parsons, Kristin Davis, Liam Hemsworth, Michael Keaton, Michael Strahan, Octavia Spencer, Robin Thicke, Rita Wilson, Samuel L. Jackson, Jack Black, Theresa Palmer, Viola Davis, Aaron Paul, Adrien Brody, Ahna O’Reilly, Alexander Skarsgard, Alyssa Milano, Amy Poehler, Andy Samberg, Nathan Fillion, Anna Faris, Chris Pratt, Anna Paquin, Stephen Moyer, Armie Hammer, Brittany Snow, Camryn Manheim, Carla Gugino, Chace Crawford, Christoph Waltz, Daniel Day Lewis, Don Johnson, Emily VanCamp, Ellie Kemper, Emma Watson, Paul Rudd, Gerard Butler, Henry Cavill, Jacki Weaver, James Marsden, James Spader, John Hawkes, Judy Greer, Julie Bowen, Kate Capshaw, Steven Spielberg, Kerry Washington, Laura Dern, Malin Ackerman, Marcia Gay Harden, Marisa Tomei, Matthew Morrison, Michael Chiklis, Michael Sheen, Nina Dobrev, Olivia Munn, Patrick Stewart, Robert DeNiro, Rebel Wilson, Rashida Jones, Russell Crowe, Salma Hayek, Samuel L. Jackson, Sam Rockwell, Sean Hayes, Seth Rogan, Taylor Lautner, Tommy Lee Jones, Zooey Deschanel

Disney/Pixar Celebration Saturday night: John Lasseter, Mark Andrews, Katherine Sarafian, John C. Reilly, Jack McBrayer, Kevin McKidd, Alan Bergman, Robert Iger, Steve Purcell, Alan Horn, John Ratzenberger.

Sony Pictures Classics Dinner Saturday night: Pablo Larrain, Michael Barker, Dror Moreh, Tom Bernard, Michael Haneke, Gael Garcia Bernal, Antonia Zegers, Malik Bendjelloul

Zavala-Kahane-Sugar-Wald Party Saturday night: Jean Dujardin, Emma Watson, Joaquin Phoenix, Eric Stonestreet, Diablo Cody, Russell Brand, Greta Gerwig, Chris Terrio, Tobey Maguire, Pamela Anderson, Michael B. Jordan, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, John Krasinski, Chris Pratt, Taylor Lautner, James Schamus, Ed Westwick, Russell Brand, Emma Watson, Liam Hemsworth, Johnny Galecki, Adam Scott, Joel Kinnaman, January Jones, Felicity Jones, Nicholas Jarecki, Michael Sucsy, Wolfgang Hammer, Jim Stern, Jeb Brody, Edgar Wright, Sean Avery, Steve Gaghan, Ari Graynor, Lizzy Caplan, Nick Kroll, Ben Barnes, Kimba, Emile Hirsch, E.L. James, Morrissey, Adrianne Palicki, Miranda Cosgrove, Imogen Poots, Anna Faris, Sue Kroll, Greg Silverman, Joel Madden, Ryan Coogler, Baron Davis, Michael Bacall, Lorene Scafaria, Kelli Garner.

Barry Diller’s Party Saturday luncheon: John Burnham, Russell Simmons, Tom Brokaw, Fran Leibowitz, Andy Lack, Les Moonves, Jeffrey Katzenberg, Michael Eisner, Ron Perelman, Eric Schmidt, Penny Marshall, Brett Ratner, Rupert Murdoch, Wendy Murdoch, Irwin Winkler, Quincy Jones, Larry Mark, Steve Gaghan, Kevin McCormick, Jim Berkus, Joel Silver, Jim Brooks, Steve Martin, Jane Fonda, Richard Perry, Terry Semel, Bob Daly, Valentino, Jonathan Dolgen, Larry Gordon, Jim Wiatt, Brian Grazer, Scott Berg, Rick Rubin, Warren Beatty, Jeremy Thomas, George Hamilton, Donald DeLine, Dawn Hudson, Eric Fellner, Brad Grey, Ron Meyer, Tobey Maguire, Stacey Sher, Philippe Dauman, Gus Van Sant, Mitch Glazer, Steve Tisch, Harvey Weinstein, Tom Freston, Bryan Lourd, Kevin Huvane, Bob Evans, Vivi Nevo, Kelly Lynch, Tom Hooper.

WME Party Friday night: Charlize Theron, Michael Moore, Russell Simmons, Ben Affleck, Viola Davis, Ryan Coogler, Ahna O’Reilly, Michael B. Jordan, Harvey Weinstein, Gael Garcia Bernal, Chris Tucker, Dermot Mulroney, Catherine Zeta Jones, Shawn Levy, Joel Silver, Emma Watson, Jake Hoffman, Dustin Hoffman, Lara Spencer, Amber Heard, Morrissey, Kenny Sharpe, Mark Bradford, Jeffrey Deitch, Adam Scott, Molly Simms, Taylor Lautner, Larry David, Diablo Cody, Jay Roach, Tyra Banks, Amy Adams, Chloe Moretz, Benh Zeitlin, Tom Shadyac, Albert Brooks, Liam Hemsworth, Jeffrey Katzenberg, Garrett Hedlund, James Marsden, Michael Bay, Jack Black, Jonah Hill, Anna Paquin, Stephen Moyer, Les Moonves, Julie Chen, Brian Grazer, Tom Thayer, Joaquin Phoenix, Rob Riggle, Kelsey Grammer, Tracey Ullman, Conan O’Brien, Octavia Spencer, Tom Brady, Gisele Bundchen, Tobey Maguire, David Spade, Hugh Jackman, Jenna Elfman, Armie Hammer, Joel McHale, Emile Hirsch, John C Reilly, Shepard Fairey, Philipe Dauman, Brad Grey, Lupe Fiasco, Russell Brand, Neill Blomkamp, Jeff Robinov, Jennifer Garner, Casey Affleck, Allen Hughes, Patrick Stewart, Joel McHale, Randall Emmett.

UTA Party Friday nght: Daniel Radcliffe, John Gatins, Stephen Gaghan, Will Forte, Neve Campbell, Mark Ruffalo, Amy Pascal, Brian Grazer, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, Naomi Campbell, John Gatins, Paul Rudd, Kirsten Dunst, Joachim Ronning, Espen Sandberg, Brad Grey, Jeffrey Katzenberg, Kevin Tsujihara, Adam Goodman, Lorne Michaels, Jeffrey Deitch, David Ellison, Sean Bailey, Brad Bird, Philippe Dauman, Paul Walker, Joel Kinnaman, Olivia Munn, Mike White, Li Bing Bing, Tom Freston, Jerry Bruckheimer, Les Moonves, Rashida Jones, Noomi Rapace, Stephen Gaghan, Sue Naegle, Steve Levitan, Will Forte, Scott Burns, Jai Courtney, Lake Bell, John Krokidas, James Ponsoldt, Juno Temple, Michael Angarano, Reid Carolin, Jack Rapke, Greg Silverman, Steve Tisch, Jerry Weintraub, Robert Kyncl, Darren Star, Jeff Robinov, Victor Garber, Vivi Nevo.

CAA Party Friday night: Lorne Michaels, George Clooney, Bill Maher, J.J, Abrams, Vivi Nevo, Les Moonves, Philippe Dauman, Brad Grey, Alexander Payne, Jason Statham, Madonna, Graydon Carter, Jim Gianopulos, Jennifer Lawrence, Robert Downey Jr, Madonna, Gerard Butler, Valentino, Eric Schmidt, Naomi Watts, Anne Hathaway, Robert De Niro, Matt Weiner, Helen Hunt, Chris Pine, Amy Adams, Sandra Bullock, Tommy Lee Jones, Sally Field, Bradley Cooper, Leonardo DiCaprio, Ellen Barkin, Barry Diller, Bob Daly, Harvey Weinstein, Jeff Robinov, Jessica Chastain, Jane Rosenthal, Jerry Bruckheimer, Emma Watts, Tom Rothman, Elizabeth Gabler, Greg Silverman, Kevin Tsujihara, Donna Langley, David O Russell, Harvey Weinstein, Reese Witherspoon, Eva Longoria, Chris Paul, Valentino, Tom Ford, Diane von Furstenberg.
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Big Media Stock Buybacks: Shrewd Strategies, Or Bribes And Manipulation?

By DAVID LIEBERMAN, Executive Editor | Thursday February 21, 2013 @ 11:14am ESTTags: Big Deals Film, Big Deals TV, Big Media, CBS, Comcast, Time Warner

With apologies to Bill Maher, here’s a New Rule for Big Media CEOs when they decide to raise their dividends or announce a major new stock-repurchase initiative. They have to stop insisting that it’s a sign of confidence and strength in cases where they’re just bribing investors to keep them from fleeing.

This thought struck me in the Q4 earnings season that’s wrapping up. Just about every big company that fell even a little short of Wall Street’s expectations had a new plan to return cash to shareholders. The explanations were consistent. After CBS missed analysts’ revenue and earnings targets, CEO Les Moonves said his accelerated $1B share repurchase reflects “the great confidence we have in our businesses.” At Time Warner — which missed revenue forecasts but beat on earnings — CEO Jeff Bewkes said that it was able to authorize an additional $4B share repurchase and an 11% dividend increase because “we’re at an even stronger position today than we were a year ago.” Then there’s Comcast, which just slightly missed revenue and earnings expectations but raised its dividend by 20% and agreed to repurchase $2B of stock, while announcing that it will pay $16.7B for General Electric’s 49% of NBCUniversal. The moves demonstrate “confidence and optimism in the future of all our businesses,” CEO Brian Roberts said. 

Related: Did Les Moonves’ Salesmanship Help CBS Shares Hit A Record High Today?

They’re right in this sense: Most Big Media companies are part of pay TV oligopolies that still have scandalous power to set and raise prices — mostly by requiring people who want to keep up with the national conversation to pay for dozens of channels that they never watch. Execs also had encouraging reports about current concerns. Generally speaking, ad sales picked up in Q4, and TV viewers returned to the major broadcast networks after the dismal opening weeks of the fall primetime season. 

But if executives are so bullish about their companies, then why do they consider it such a great thing to give cash to investors to spend elsewhere? Wouldn’t they demonstrate their faith more persuasively if they used the funds to expand — you know, create jobs — or buy assets in complementary or growing fields? It’s not like we’re still in the depths of the recession when media stocks were such a bargain. CBS shares are more expensive than they’ve been since the end of 2005 when it separated from Viacom. Time Warner’s at a five-year high. And Comcast is at its all-time best. If the investment strategy is to buy assets when the price is high, all I can say is, folks, don’t try this at home. Read More »

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