FINAL MGM BIDS DUE FRIDAY: So Who's In And … 
Action Comedy TV: Showrunner Matt Nix 
SAG National Board Approves Joint Bargaining … 
BBC Drama Unfreezes Development Money; … 
Lionsgate Board Rejects Icahn's $6/Share 
Is Betting On Box Office Good For Films? 
Marvel Still Looking For Captain America 
'Sopranos' Creator To Film Rock Drama 
LIVE-SNARKING THE 82ND OSCARS... 
'ALICE' IS A MONSTER! $116.3M Blows Past … 
Oscar Not-So-Thriller: Diller Mogul Picnic 
'Precious' Sweeps 25th Indie Spirit Awards 
Howard Stern Won't Be Next 'Idol' Judge 
Justin Theroux Readying 'Zoolander 2' For … 
Mickey Rourke Wooed For Two Big Roles, … 
The reaction from independent film distribution vets to Tribeca Enterprises' plan to distribute its festival films on Video On Demand (VOD) is most politely described as skeptical. The biggest hurdle facing Robert De Niro, Jane Rosenthal, and Geoff Gilmore? Erasing the lingering perception that when a movie bypasses theatrical distribution for VOD, it’s DOA. Tribeca has secured VOD distribution on such cable providers as Comcast, Cablevision, and Verizon FIOS, but naysayers feel these cable giants often treat VOD as an after-thought, and don’t provide the promotional care and feeding that traditional distributors feel is vital to specialty film releases.
Tribeca’s chief creative officer Geoff Gilmore told me that he and the Tribeca team have carefully considered the pitfalls and have smoothed out a distribution road that has been as bumpy as the cobblestone streets that surround Tribeca's downtown headquarters. Gilmore believes the festival's growing momentum creates a high awareness level among specialty film lovers for a dedicated Tribeca VOD channel. That effort will be helped by promotional clout provided by longtime festival sponsor American Express, which signed on to become Founding Partner of Tribeca’s VOD distribution program, as well as a separate online venture that will show short films and broadcast filmmaker panels during the fest's run from April 21-May 2.
While it’s not exactly clear yet how much promotional might Amex will bring, one thing is for sure: promotional spends won’t be deducted from the film’s revenues the way traditional P&A costs are. ... Read More »
Film Independent just announced that comedian Eddie Izzard will serve as Master of Ceremonies for the 25th Film Independent Spirit Awards. "Izzard’s tangential, absurd, bizarre, and surreal comic narratives are lauded for their creativity and wit, which suits the irreverent, laid-back style of the Spirit Awards." This year's Spirits will be a late-night show on March 5, 2010 at LA Live’s event deck in downtown Los Angeles and shown live and uncut on IFC. 
EXCLUSIVE: The auction ended late Friday night and I've been putting together what happened ever since. Certainly you'll recall the big cool quotient around Machete, that famously fake trailer by Robert Rodriguez from Grindhouse. It was considered the single best thing about that Weinstein Co double-feature flop that also included Quentin Tarantino's pic. Rodriguez' fake trailer hinted at a good story (Mexican day laborer is set up, double-crossed, and left for dead -- then starts everyone's worst nightmare) and carried an even better catchphrase ("They just fucked with the wrong Mexican.") Machete's YouTube 
All six interested studios screened about 15 to 30 minutes of footage. Newman's proposal was for $9 million upfront, no P&A commitment but the guarantee of a wide release, and a big backend gross participation for Rodriguez. (I'm told in the 10%-12% neighborhood.) Both Fox and Paramount said yes, and then, in an unusual move, Newman went back to the two studios and asked for more gross percentage and an overall production deal for Rodriguez.
Which leads me to one of the most interesting aspects of this behind-the-scenes. Since The Weinstein Co had first-look on Machete, why didn't it do the deal? After all, when Harvey and Bob started their successor company to Miramax, they did it on the back of their longtime relationships with Tarantino and Rodriguez. And they're making Spy Kids 4 with Robert. "I really don't know why. That's for Harvey to answer," one insider tells me. Rival studios are speculating TWC couldnt come up with the $9M. Yet a Weinstein Co insider claims it could have scooped up the pic for just $3.5M but didn't because "we saw the footage and it's not very good at all." Sounds like sour grapes amid the indie studio's layoffs, pic pushbacks, money woes. (
While Sundance buyers try to hook Catfish, two other docus that came with distributors unveil today and tomorrow, and I found them great viewing. Alex Gibney has a 6 PM premiere today for the competition entry Casino Jack And The United States Of Money, about disgraced Washington DC lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Tomorrow, PR mogul-turned-filmmaker Dan Klores unveils Winning Time: Reggie Miller vs. the New York Knicks, which like Catfish is part of the Documentary Spotlight program.
In the indie pre-sale world where Nu Image/Millennium Films operates, it’s often hard to discern fact from fiction. So when reliable sources tell Mike Fleming that co-CEO Danny Dimbort hasn’t been in the office since December 10 and plans to exit, should it be surprising that co-founding partner Avi Lerner says it’s hogwash? Dimbort issued a no comment on exit talk that came out of disagreements with Lerner. Avi made it sound like one of their typical quarrels. “Yes, we argue and have different opinions on which movies to make,” Lerner said. “He wants to do bigger movies and I want them smaller in a market that is getting worse and worse. But that doesn't mean he's leaving. I love Danny and without him, I wouldn’t exist. Nu Image/Millennium wouldn’t exist.”
PARK CITY, UT – Sundance Institute announced today the lineup of films selected to screen in the U.S. and World Cinema Dramatic and Documentary Competitions for the 2010 Sundance Film Festival. In addition to the four Competition Categories, the Festival presents films in five out-of-competition sections to be announced on December 3. The 2010 Sundance Film Festival runs January 21-31 in Park City, Salt Lake City, Ogden and Sundance, Utah.
Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire, and The Last Station. which opens Friday, each received the most 2010 Film Independent Spirit Awards nominations this morning with five each. (FYI, The Hurt Locker can't be nominated because it was put forward last year before it had a distributor.) The Messenger took four. Fox Searchlight and Sony Classics tied with seven each. As usual, the nominations are a harbinger of things to come for the Oscars.
The alien apartheid film likely to snag one of the newly expanded 10 Best Picture Oscar nominations did it in worldwide box office this weekend -- $115M domestic and $85M international so far (with China and Japan to come). And, remember, this indie prod's negative cost was only $30M. By the way, not only does QED Intl have dibs on the franchise, but Sony has first opportunity to lock down the sequel for their territories. Which is why Sony is pushing for a District 9 sequel since the studio is lacking in fresh franchises. But those close to producer Peter Jackson and director Neill Blomkamp say only it may happen "at some point" when the duo "figure out what the story is and organize their respective schedules". (Peter is booked, and Neil is very much in demand now.)
I can't believe UTA is making yet another big hire in the past six months. (Are Berkus and Zimmer and Sures et al printing money in the basement of their Beverly Hills offices?) Rena Ronson is highly regarded in indie film finance circles (in fact, people were really surprised when she and Cassian Elwes, who together ran WMA's formidable independent division, were not asked to stay after the Endeavor takeover). This could give a big boost to UTA's film finance and foreign sales business which have been run by motion picture lit partner Rich Klubeck who himself has been doing double duty repping many of the agency's big name filmmakers and corporate clients. It's interesting that UTA would bring on a high profile indie person like Ronson during a time when the business is getting tougher and tougher every day. (Look at what just happened to Miramax which used to be the industry's flagship specialty division). But UTA insiders tell me that this area is a big priority for the agency which has always championed independent filmmaking, and especially now as it get harder to get films financed. I hear that Ronson's first move for the agency will be traveling to the Abu Dhabi Circle Conference that begins today where she will represent her new agency to the international film community. 
"I was asked to address you this morning with my observations on the present as well as the future state of Independent Production.
EARLY DEADLINE: Monday, September 14, 2009
The former William Morris agent turned independent film executive spent the last 12 years as president of the completion bond company cineFinance. Most recently, he was involved with Terry Gilliam’s Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus working to save the film after Heath Ledger’s death in mid-production. The insurance companies wanted to pay off the claims, write off the loss, and abandon the film. But Milstein got them to change their mind, then worked to make sure Gilliam had the money to actually finish the film with Johnny Depp, Colin Farrell and Jude Law completing Heath's role.
Loading ...