Carl Icahn Now Wants ALL Of Lionsgate 
Action Comedy TV: Showrunner Matt Nix 
SAG National Board Approves Joint Bargaining … That's the word from sports media outlets. Henry Thomas is a big deal: he's #12 on HoopsHype's agent rankings. He'll be added to CAA Sports' basketball division headed by Leon Rose. Thomas is is reportedly taking all his clients with him, bringing the three biggest stars of the NBA's 2010 free agent class under one roof: Raptors forward Chris Bosh (Thomas), Heat guard Dwayne Wade (Thomas) and Cavaliers forward LeBron James (Rose). Thomas also reps Devin Harris and Udonis Haslem. The rumor that Thomas was joining CAA was first reported by industry Web site HoopsHype, and then added to by Sports Business Daily. Today, HoopsHype confirmed the purchase. CAA Sports already has three other mature divisions: football headed by Tom Condon and Ben Dogra, baseball led by Casey Close, and hockey topped by Pat Brisson and J.P. Barry.
More Details Emerging About Futures Of MPTF Acute & Long-Term Care Patients
IATSE's International Cinematographers Guild Local 600 just sent out this email and accompanying "Setting The Record Straight" fact sheet to members about the Motion Picture & Television Fund and Foundation's unexpected announcement about the closure of the acute care hospital and long-term care nursing home. There are additional details here. (Though, like most everything IATSE, Poster puts the best spin possible on the bad situation.) I have more MPTF stories in coming days...
From: ICG Local 600
Date: January 23, 2009
Subject: Motion Picture Hospital and Longterm Care Facility UpdateJanuary 23, 2008
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
A number of members have asked the Local questions about the recently announced closing of the Motion Picture Television Fund Hospital (the "hospital") and the Long Term Care (skilled nursing) facility, which is commonly referred to as a "nursing home."
First, let me explain that the Motion Picture Television Fund (MPTF or "the Fund") is a completely separate entity governed by a completely separate board than that of the Motion Picture Industry Pension and Health Plans. The Fund is a charity completely dependent upon donations.
Second, the Hospital and Long Term Care (LTC) facility are not to be confused with the Motion Picture Home. The independent and assisted living residents of the retirement community on The Wasserman Campus are not in jeopardy. In fact, plans are underway to do some renovations to upgrade the Country House, the Ray & Fran Stark Villas, the Frances Goldwyn Lodge and hopefully to expand the facilities in the future. The Saban Center is fully functioning.
Having said this, let
... Read More »
HUH? Grazergate Now Turns Into Litigate
Well, this is bizarre. Fired Los Angeles Times editorial pages editor Andrés Martinez today sued his ex-girlfriend Kelly Mullens of the entertainment PR firm 42West over Grazergate from March 2007. (My thanks to LAObserved's Kevin Roderick for alerting me...) 
Tonight, Mullens' lawyer told me that Martinez, who now works for a Washington DC think tank, had been threatening this LA Superior Court lawsuit for some time, all the way back to April when Mullens obtained a temporary restraining order against Martinez earlier this year. (See below for why she felt the need for it...)
Martinez in the lawsuit says he and Mullens dated from September 2005 until they broke up in July 2007 after Grazergate, then reconciled, then broke up again in December 2007. But his complaint focuses on Mullens' insistence on publicizing mega-producer Brian Grazer's short-lived stint as the guest editor of the Sunday Currents section. Martinez alleges that he asked Mullens not to get involved, and she agreed, because of the seeming impropriety of his selecting one of her clients at the same time they were having a romantic relationship. But Martinez is claiming she went back on her promise to him. A bad situation for him turned even worse when Martinez lost his job at the LA Times. Now folks at Grazer's Imagine Entertainment, which fired 42West because of the embarrassmen to the producer, will probably be deposed. An unhappy insider said this to me about the lawsuit, "Martinez should get a therapist, not a lawyer."
Even though Martinez has the very prestigious firm Mitchell Silberberg & Knupp on board, I still feel the ... Read More »
What A Waste Of A Tree...
UPDATE: I warned you that talent agency tally was going to be a waste of time, and it was. Especially regarding actors, directors, or writers who recently left their talent agencies. Because the old tenpercentery that booked the job, and therefore gets the money, should get the credit. Not the new agency with no financial stake. Duh...
A Meaningless L.A. Times Film Survey...
UPDATE: I warned you the article was going to be a waste of time, and it was. Especially regarding actors, directors, or writers who recently left their talent agencies. Because the old tenpercentery that booked the job, and therefore gets the money, should get the credit. Not the new agency which doesn't have a financial stake. Duh...
Hollywood agencies have been wondering why the Los Angeles Times is suddenly surrounding itself in secrecy for a story about their biz. 
So I'll tell you what's going on. The newspaper's Calendar writer John Horn is all hush-hush because he's surveying the 25 major summer releases and toting up which tenpercenteries represent the most top actors, directors and writers. Exactly what this is supposed to reveal new about the agencies I can't fathom, especially since everyone already knows that CAA has far and away the dominant market share of "A" and "B" list talent, with probably Endeavor and UTA doing well considering their boutique status, and giants William Morris and ICM somewhere lower on the list. But it's also just one season. What a meaningless waste of a tree set to publish Thursday. But why all the secrecy? Because the agencies make reporters' lives miserable whenever we try to do these kinds of metrics. For instance, after the TV upfronts in May, I tried to do a schematic showing which agency had the most pilot pickups. Oh, the tenpercentery shrieking! Worse, no agency could agree on across-the-board figures, either. (But Endeavor was #1.)
Los Angeles Press Club Awards...
Last year the Los Angeles Times' Patrick Goldstein graciously handed off the Los Angeles Press Club's Entertainment Journalist Of The Year title for print, broadcast or online to me, and now I fittingly hand it off to the L.A. Times' John Horn after Saturday's 2008 awards night. My sincerest congratulations. (I received Honorable Mention this year in that category and, to my surprise, an Honorable Mention in Print Entertainment Hard News behind the Los Angeles Times' coverage of the writers strike. I did wind up winning First Place for the Online Entertainment News/Feature/Commentary category.) At the 50th Annual Southern California Journalism Awards, here were the first-place wins for entertainment coverage:
ENTERTAINMENT – Print, Broadcast or Online
1st Place: John Horn, Los Angeles Times
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PRINT: DAILY/WEEKLY NEWSPAPERS (Over 100,000 Circulation)
ENTERTAINMENT REVIEW/CRITICISM/COLUMN
1st Place: Tim Rutten, Los Angeles Times
Judges’ comments: Rutten’s reviews offered style, wit and insights into both substance and form, drawing readers to books they otherwise might not have considered.
&
ENTERTAINMENT, HARD NEWS
1st Place: Staff, Los Angeles Times, “Hollywood Writers’ Strike”
Judges’ comments: This comprehensive package revealed behind-the-scenes mechanics of the strike, plus its effects on everyone from television-show workers to dog walkers. Well-sourced and tightly written.
&
ENTERTAINMENT, FEATURE
1st Place: Judith Lewis, LA Weekly, “The Way He Lives Now”
Judges’ comments: Well written and interesting to the end, this story presented a perfectly hewn subject matter and angle.
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PRINT: DAILY/WEEKLY NEWSPAPERS (Under 100,000 Circulation)
ENTERTAINMENT REVIEWS/CRITICISM/COLUMN
1st Place: Luke Y. Thompson, OC Weekly, “Rock ‘Em, Sock ‘Em”
Judges’ comments: An easy, fun read. Thompson brings a knowledge of the genre ... Read More »
Reason #257 Why L.A. Times Sucks...
Chalk up yet another instance of the Los Angeles Times losing its journalistic integrity and credibility. The latest example comes today when the newspaper changed a Letter To The Editor in order to edit out direct criticism of Calendar staff writer Rachel Abramowitz. Long considered yet another weak link in the LAT's already lightweight movie coverage, Abramowitz on June 4th inserted an inappropriately flippant remark about ex-Hollywood P.I. Anthony Pellicano in an article on an unrelated subject. And it pissed off four targets of the now convicted criminal -- Anita Busch, Bernie Weinraub, Jude Green and Pamela Miller -- and they decided to complain.
The original letter they sent to the newspaper ended with: Yet, Ms. Abramowitz lightly tosses off "Where is Anthony Pellicano when you need him?" Maybe Ms. Abramowitz would change her tune if she was on the receiving end of a late night death threat phone call. By publishing this, the L.A. Times has sent a message to its readers that what Pellicano did was not only okay, but preferable to fighting legally through the court system.
But what the newspaper printed for the finish was: By publishing the line "Where is Anthony Pelicano when you need him?" the L.A. Times has sent a message that what Pellicano did was not only OK but preferable to fighting through the court system.
The point is that the editors could have decided not to run the letter at all. So, tragically, here's yet another section of the Los Angeles Times ... Read More »
Ex-ABC Susan Lyne Exits Martha Stewart
News reports say Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia announced today that Susan Lyne has resigned as CEO of the media and licensing company, whose stock has slumped in recent years. Lyne is best known for developing ABC Entertainment's current big hits like Desperate Housewives, Lost and Grey's Anatomy despite the objections of Bob Iger (who ultimately axed her and Lloyd Braun). She had been Martha Stewart's CEO since 2004.
If You Liked the Los Angeles Times' Awful WGA Strike Coverage, Then You'll Love...
...The newspaper's announcement today that Sallie Hofmeister is the new Business Editor. She'd overseen entertainment and technology stories, including the Los Angeles Times' embarrassingly weak coverage of the writers strike which new editor Russ Stanton effusively praises in this memo about her appointment. So let me clarify: reporting late on that strike's many news developments, or ignoring altogether those that showed the Hollywood moguls in an unflattering light, is how to get ahead there.
As I reported during the strike, to the LA Times, the Michelin restaurant ratings were more important news than WGA strikers. 
There was, for example, no Page One news article or photo of the 4,000-person WGA strike rally, the biggest in the guild's history. The WGA march on Fox was reduced to a 655-word story on page 2 in the Business section. And the paper used an unofficial estimate of 3,500, not the WGA's estimate of 4,000 or the LAPD's estimate of 5,000. I've read articles three times as long about French wine-making. Instead of a photo of the strike on Page One, there was a generic shot of Benazir Bhutto, an article about Rudy Giuliani and Bernard Kerik, and a really urgent piece about Michelin ratings and LA chefs. And for the life of me, even seven paragraphs in, I still can’t figure out what the Column One story about “A Pioneer Refuses to Fade Away” was about.
I kept carping about the LA Times' incredibly slanted coverage of this producers v writers dispute. But jeez -- a business article ... Read More »
Anatomy Of A Showbiz News Inaccuracy: How Reputable Reporters Screwed Up...
UPDATE: A Fox spokesperson issued a public denial tonight. "The Defamer.com story about the Studio banning CAA from the Fox lot, is categorically untrue. The exchange, which took place well over a year ago, between a Fox executive and a CAA agent -- that supposedly triggered the 'ban' -- never at any point escalated to the level and language as reported on Defamer.com."
The gossip website Defamer today is running word-for-word with a CAA-Fox story which an anonymous tipster emailed me two weeks ago. But the website failed to do what I did: I checked it out exhaustively, and, even though I've come down harder on CAA than any media outlet over the years, I found that the facts weren't anything like the story which the tipster was passing along. In fact, the truth was not newsworthy. (I'm not linking because the Defamer blogger who wrote it gets paid by the page view. So don't reward someone for inaccurate info...) 
That's also the same gossip website and blogger that recently reported erroneously that Tracey Jacobs was leaving United Talent when she wasn't. Yes, reporting on Hollywood agents would be so much easier if only pesky facts didn't get in the way. But here's what really annoys me: supposedly reputable news outlets and reporters are now picking up erroneous information from gossip websites like Defamer. This is wrong on so many levels that I'm dismayed. Which is why I've decided to go behind-the-scenes of one such egregious and recent example of a showbiz reporting inaccuracy:
Back on April 9th, I broke the somewhat stunning news here that superstar ... Read More »
David Geffen Goes After LA Times Again? Is He In "Serious Discussions" With Zell? Or Have They Not Spoken In Months?
I've written here again and again how much David Geffen wants to own the Los Angeles Times and put it back under local control as well as make it a real must-read. 
But the Hollywood mogul was rebuffed first by the Tribune Co's CEO Dennis Fitzimmons and then by current owner Sam Zell. Now Geffen may be looking for a third chance to buy the paper. I'm told by a source that Geffen and Zell are "in serious discussions" regarding a sale. It's all very hush-hush, but my source tells me: "Cash flow is not being met for the bankers, revenue is in freefall, and the potential liability on the Combs story is huge. Sam feels he bought a bill of goods. Geffen is back in the mix and he's going to get it for a deep discount. They're in serious discussions."
UPDATE: However, Geffen has been on his yacht vacationing in the South Pacific for weeks. And a Geffen insider insists that the DreamWorks partner and Zell haven't spoken in months.
Some background is needed. I've reported previously that, not long before Dean Baquet became the LA Times editor in July 2005, Jeffrey Katzenberg sought a meet-and-greet to announce that Geffen really wanted to buy the newspaper. Baquet was shocked. “How’s he going to feel the first time we review a movie or music produced by ... Read More »
New AP National Showbiz Photo Editor
Guinevere Smith has been appointed National Entertainment Photo Editor for The Associated Press. Smith had been with Getty Images since 1999, most recently as North American manager for field editing. Based in Los Angeles, Smith will direct, develop and enhance AP's entertainment photo coverage in the United States. She succeeds Dan Becker, who was named AP director of entertainment content in January. (See my previous: AP Planning Massive Celebrity Coverage)
Getty Images Sold To Private Equity Firm
Because of our sick obsession with images of celebrities, it's one of the fastest growing categories in the visual content business. Getty Images, the world’s leading creator and distributor of visual content and other digital media including so many glitzy Hollywood photos, announced today that it has agreed to be acquired by private equity firm Hellman & Friedman LLC for $2.4 billion. Getty Images stockholders will receive $34 in 
cash for each outstanding share of common stock they own, or a premium of 55% over the closing price on January 18. The Board of Directors of Getty Images has approved. Completion of the transaction is subject to shareholder approval. The deal is expected to close in the second quarter of 2008. Interestingly, almost a year ago to the day, Getty Images purchased WireImage, one of the leading creators of entertainment and event imagery, for approximately $200 million in cash.
UPDATE: Is WGA-Mogul Deal About Done?
As you know, I've been ill with bronchial flu and a fever but also reporting for days now that the informal talks have been productive and progressing. Now sources are telling me the WGA and moguls are at the point where they may reach a final settlement very soon after overcoming major hurdles. The New York Times is reporting this also and quotes sources saying "a tentative agreement" may come "as early as next week". This means a settlement to end the strike and put Hollywood back to work could also come soon enough to hold a real Oscars. As the news spread, cautious optimism spread, too.
2ND UPDATE: The Los Angeles Times reports that "Guild negotiators Young, Verrone and Bowman on Monday are expected to brief the union's 17-member negotiating committee and board of directors on the proposed contract."
UPDATE: United Hollywood, the unofficial website for WGA info, says: "UH has confirmed from off-the-record sources that progress is indeed being made in the informal talks, and that creative solutions to the biggest differences between the AMPTP and the WGA have gotten the tentative and cautious approval of both sides. This does not mean there is a deal in principle yet. It means we may, finally, be very close to one -- as close as days away. And while we're cautiously optimistic about what we're hearing, it comes with a real caveat. Just as happened with the DGA deal, points that are agreed to in ... Read More »
UPDATE: Harvey Weinstein Says WGA Side Deal "Gives Me A Competitive Edge"
So now Harvey Weinstein will be in the same enviable position as United Artists executive VP of production Jeff Kleeman who I'm told has scripts "pouring" into his office after UA just competed its side deal. As Harvey told me just now, "I did it because it gives me a competitive edge." I reported last Sunday that The Weinstein Co was negotiating a side deal with the striking Writers Guild similar to the one that UA made. Today Harvey Weinstein confirmed that he would formally announce an agreement as soon as tomorrow. (See my previous, Rumors Upon Rumors Of WGA Side Deals.)
Harvey right now is in Los Angeles doing a media blitz via back-to-back breakfasts with the Los Angeles Times and The New York Times and other reporters. Sure the Big Media CEOs are saying he needs to do a WGA side deal to shore up his financially struggling production company. But Harvey tells me, "We are currently a making a shitload of money. All our movies are making money off their videos and DVDs. My flights of fancy are turning out to be oil gushers."
Still, it's hilariously ironic about Weinstein, who's made screenwriters' lives miserable throughout his career with his iron-fisted management style, now befriending the striking scribes. Weinstein told me he's working with the WGA to "try and be a good citizen" because every crack in the producers' armor can be considered a victory for the WGA and a defeat for the Big media companies who refuse to meet with the WGA negotiators. "This ... Read More »
Winner Is The Writers By A Landslide!
Well, this is certainly surprising. Instead of Rupert Murdoch, Google, and even Perez Hilton, the 2007 Media Person of the Year is (drumroll, please): Writers on Strike. IWantMedia.com announced this morning that the striking scribes received the most votes -- 56% -- of all the 10 candidates in its week-long online 6th annual poll. (Rupe only received 13%.) Said site editor/founder Patrick Philips, "One suspects that some of the striking writers, with lots of spare time on their hands, may have done some voting for themselves." Background here.
To LA Times, Michelin Ratings More Important News Than WGA Strikers
Where do Los Angeles Times editors live? Why no Page One news article or photo of Friday's 4,000-person WGA strike rally, the biggest in the guild's history?
As you’re all aware, over the past few days there’s been a lot of criticism of the LA Times strike coverage. (And The New York Times', which ignored the protest which is somewhat understandable since it's based in a different city. And Variety's and The Hollywood Reporter's, but they've never been objective anyway.) After all, massing on Avenue Of the Stars is the equivalent of 4,000 protesters on Madison Avenue. But that may be the problem: it had to occur in NYC for the LA Times to cover it.
Ordinarily, an event like this strike – something that affects all socio-economic levels of what in many ways is still a Company town – drives newspaper sales, and sends circulation skyrocketing. Even people who don’t ordinarily read the paper will go out and buy it for an overview as well as for specific reporting and analysis about how this affects their lives and could cripple the local economy. (By comparison, DHD isn't aimed at a general audience. DHD is focused on the entertainment industry for the entertainment industry. I report and write as if I'm speaking only to insiders.)
Still, the front page of this morning’s LA Times raises a larger issue: Namely, the continuing myopia on the part of LAT editors about the city their readers live in. The WGA march on Fox was reduced ... Read More »
Just When They Thought It Safe To Do PR
I'm told there are two tough Hollywood business pieces in the works: the Los Angeles Times is looking at The Weinstein Co, and The New York Times is working on an MGM article. Interesting how every weekend MGM gripes not-so-privately about having to distribute Harvey & Bob's box office crap -- except for hits 1408 and Halloween, of course. And also fascinating how Harvey recently chose one of his lap dog media outlets, the New York Post, to keep reassuring Wall Street and Hollywood that his company isn't in the serious trouble many people think it is. Meanwhile, TWC isn't helping Harv's "counter the negativity" campaign 
by seeming to dump rather than distribute those losers which the indie movie company is contractually on the hook to release on its own. (Examples of this keep coming to me by email... Oy vey.) But eerie how the problems of the two companies are so similar: both releasing way too much bad product, both caught in the credit crunch, both unable to recapture the magic that made them legendary.
He's Milked That Wm Morris Email Enough
I always knew the Los Angeles Times Calendar section never had an original thought. Today it profiles that debauched/drunken agency assistant Shai Sternberger whose email bidding goodbye to William Morris I posted here last weekend. At least the newspaper credited me. Here's what he looks like in case you were wondering. KCRW is also going to interview him. I declare Shai's 15 minutes officially over now.
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