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Claire Danes Leaves ICM For WME; Also, ICM's … 
Talk about the end of an era since the comedy producer was there for 30+ years. But I'm told that Lorne Michaels has just left Brillstein Entertainment Partners because his long-time manager and producer partner Bernie Brillstein died this summer. So Lorne has "decided to move on," an insider tells me about the relationship that included Saturday Night Live since its inception in 1975. Michaels is not seeking another manager. Instead, he'll stay parked with his agency CAA and his law firm Loeb & Loeb.
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Lorne Michaels Exits Brillstein Managers
UPDATE: Reality TV Sale Price $500 Mil? Mark Burnett "Seriously" Talking To IMG; Already IMG Execs Fawning All Over Him
FRIDAY UPDATE: I just heard from a knowledgeable source that the Mark Burnett-IMG deal may be as rich as $500 million -- $250M upfront, the rest earned out...
EXCLUSIVE: I chased a rumor from a month ago that Mark Burnett might be starting his own network. Now I've learned what the already rich reality TV czar (Survivor, The Apprentice, Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader?) is really up to: making even more moolah. An insider tells me Burnett is negotiating to sell his company to the entertainment and sports management and production behemoth IMG and come on board. I understand Burnett is "in very serious conversation" with IMG chairman Teddy Forstmann, 
whose Wall Street private equity firm Forstmann Little back in 2004 acquired IMG which was founded by his legendary friend Mark McCormack. Forstmann keeps looking for Tinseltown deals so when the LBO prince was spotted having lunch in as public a venue as NYC's Michael's a month ago, it sparked that rumor about Burnett starting his own network. 
Plus, remember that last September Teddy brought HBO's fired Chris Albrecht to IMG as the president of global media and IMG entertainment, made him a special limited partner in Forstmann Little, and gave him a $250 million fund for showbiz content investments. It'll be interesting to see how much bigger Burnett's deal will be. And here's why IMG considers him so valuable: I'm told that, at a Beverly Hills entertainment conference just ... Read More »
SAG Leaders Lobby 50 Personal Managers
Personal manager Rick Seigel sent this email around Hollywood today:
To all personal managers:
This morning some fifty Los Angeles-based personal managers listened to Doug Allen (SAG executive director) and Alan Rosenberg (SAG President) talk about their current labor negotiations at the Guild’s Wilshire Avenue headquarters.
Obviously, of most concern was the potential of a strike. While they will not assure us that striking is off the table, Doug and Alan both made it clear they are trying to do everything they can to accomplish their objectives without a work stoppage.
They voiced hope that the proposed AFTRA contract will be rejected, believing that plot twist would provide them more leverage in their talks with the producers.
My belief is that every personal manager should support them in that effort, and here’s why:
AFTRA contracts have historically been less beneficial to the Actors, that’s not news. But what’s changing, because of the new production and distribution technologies, is jurisdiction.
Jurisdiction determines which union the producers work under. According to what SAG told us today, currently 95% of scripted television and 100% of films are done under SAG contracts.
But just as they used the changing technologies to make inroads with basic cable, AFTRA can use the new technologies to compete for jurisdiction for new projects in virtually every arena.
And who will pay more to SAG when they can get the same actors for less money with AFTRA?
No one. Let me give you an example of the import of this vote. I had a client who starred in
... Read More »
Building A Better Screenwriter: Behind The Scenes At The 2008 Sundance Labs
Go behind the scenes at Robert Redford’s Sundance Institute which plays host to eight Fellows, handpicked from a pool of more than 2,000 applicants, for the coveted 5-day Sundance Screenwriters Lab. The guiding idea behind the program is to create a protective environment that’s free of external pressures and vested interests. Sundance will not produce or finance the films that come out of the Lab, though advisers and Fellows will stay in touch afterward, and some Fellows who continue on to the monthlong Directors Lab in June will benefit from a grants program funded by the Annenberg Foundation. If their films get produced with a budget of more than $1 million, the Institute asks for a “tiny” percentage of the budget, which it funnels back into supporting the Labs, otherwise funded by a combination of corporate and festival financing. The Institute has just added a new fellowship for producers, which has always been part of Redford’s dream — and has doubtless become a more urgent priority in a glutted market of independent films whose profits have significantly dropped in the last few years. Here's an excerpt from the exhaustive look by my LA Weekly colleague, film writer Ella Taylor:
"Anyone who’s been to summer camp could recognize the instant intimacy that springs up in a group of hermetically sealed people rubbing shoulders round the clock in pursuit of the same mission — in this instance, the perfecting of screenplays the Fellows have brought with
... Read More »
Brad Grey Brings 'Sopranos' David Chase To Paramount To Write/Direct/Produce
UPDATE: Well, this is interesting. I just heard that, in the event a Sopranos movie does happen, it does not have to go to Warner Bros/HBO. So this deal that Brad Grey made today for Paramount with his former Sopranos producing partner David Chase could be even more lucrative than I previously thought. We all knew Brad Grey's former career would come in handy at the studio some day. And even if there's never any Sopranos film, no one can doubt that Chase has a lot of franchises in him waiting to come out. Here's the announcement:
HOLLYWOOD, CA (May 8, 2008) -- David Chase, the seven time Emmy® award-winning creator of The Sopranos, has signed a deal with Paramount Pictures to write, direct and produce his first feature film, an original drama.
Chase has a long-standing relationship with Paramount Studios chairman Brad Grey, his producing partner on The Sopranos.
“Brad has always been adventurous as a producer and looked for different ways of doing things,” said Chase. “I look forward to once again working with him, and now his team. For years, Brad has been a great partner, who helped enable me to do what I need to creatively.”
“David is one of the great storytellers of our time, and his debut as a filmmaker is both highly anticipated and long overdue,” said Brad Grey, Chairman and CEO of Paramount Pictures. “In truth, David
... Read More »
Horrific 'Prom Night' Slays Keanu For #1
SUNDAY AM: Sony and Fox dominated a modest weekend box office populated by mostly mediocre movies. The Friday-through Sunday domestic gross crowned Sony/Screen Gems' horror flick Prom Night as the box office king with $22.7 million from 2,700 theaters. That's exactly what rival studios thought the pic would earn, even though Sony execs were trying to lower expectations to high teens. The PG-13 young-skewing slasher film, a contemorry remake of a cult classic, cost a dirt cheap $20M and was critic proof. For 47% of females under age 25, Prom Night was their first choice. "That's who drives those PG-13 horror movies. Plus, it's prom season," noted a rival studio marketing maven who praised the P&A campaign orchestrated by Screen Gems' head of marketing Mark Weinstock for such a disgusting film. The marketing campaign included interactive in-theater promotional standees that were so novel, they were the subject of a feature in The New York Times.
That other newcomer, Fox Searchlight's Street Kings, based on the James Ellroy dirty cop story/script, was a distant #2 with $12 million this weekend from 2,467 venues, even though the R-rated drama starred Keanu Reeves, Forest Whitaker and Hugh Laurie. But they were wasted in this poorly reviewed film (only 31% positive on Rotten Tomatoes). Its gross was decidedly less than the mid-to-high teens my box office gurus had predicted.
A three-week holdover, Sony's casino caper pic 21 is showing some legs by clinging to 3rd place with $11 million this weekend from 2,736 sites. Its new cume totals $62.2 mil.... Read More »
UTA Defectors Took Key Clients With Them To Endeavor: Whither Apatow?
I'm told these are the clients who immediately followed those three UTA talent agents -- UTA co-owner Nick Stevens and his partners Sharon Sheinwold and Lisa Hallerman who together left a week ago -- to Endeavor. Listed in no particular order: Ben Stiller which I previously reported, Jack Black, Jason Lee, John C. Reilly, Jason Segel, Jonah Hill, Jason Schwartzman, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Amy Poehler, Fred Armisen, Amy Heckerling, Rob Letterman, David Wayne, Frank Coraci, Tom Dey. Even though Endeavor won't confirm this list, it's firm.
UTA is still staking its claim to Owen Wilson, Patrick Dempsey, Jason Bateman, Paul Rudd, Steve Coogan, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, and Saturday Night Live cast members Bill Hader, Kristen Wiig, Will Forte, Andy Samberg, Casey Wilson. But things are definitely very fluid so stay tuned.
What happens with Judd Apatow, however, is anybody's guess. True, the movie mogul is self-generating when it comes to projects and doesn't think he needs an agent right now. But Apatow's manager and producer Jimmy Miller has systematically put many of his UTA clients with CAA in recent years because of friction with Stevens who has repped Apatow for seemingly forever. However, Miller is a close pal of Endeavor's Ari Emanuel who has mutual client Sasha Baron Cohen. So it will be interesting to watch where Judd goes, if anywhere.
Vince Vaughn Fires Agency And Manager
UPDATE: Vince Vaughn Signs With CAA
EXCLUSIVE: I've confirmed that Vince Vaughn has axed both his manager Eric Gold and his agency United Talent. Someone close to Vince just told me he did it by cell phone. He's still with his attorney Debbie Klein. He'd been a UTA client since 1993 (three years before his breakout Swingers, which was partly filmed in the apartment of an agency assistant) and a Gold client since 2005's Wedding Crashers. Vaughn's last movie, Fred Claus did little business. A $20 million a pic star, he recently pacted for a two-year, first-look producing deal with Universal and his Wild West Picture Show Productions which is run by his sister.
UPDATE: Vaughn is telling people today that he made the moves because his manager and his agency "didn't get along at all" and it was too much drama in his life. However, I've heard from a lot of moguls in Hollywood that Vaughn was quite adept at making his own off-camera drama on nearly every recent movie he did.
WHAT A MORNING! Garry Shandling Gives Brutal Testimony About Brad Grey And Bert Fields At Pellicano Wiretapping Trial
Hollywood feuds were front and center at the Pellicano trial today. Accusations were flung about former Hollywood manager Brad Grey, now the chief of Paramount, and his pitbull entertainment attorney Bert Fields, during comedian Garry Shandling's testimony this AM. The prosecution succeeded in showing why Grey chose to hire Hollywood private investigator Anthony Pellicano while at the same stirred the pot by encouraging Shandling (file photo, right) to make a lot of nasty allegations not just about defendant Pellicano but also Grey and Fields, neither of whom are accused of any wrongdoing by the government. Late night threatening phone calls, smear campaigns in the press, forged signatures on contracts, financial hanky-panky over TV shows, phones that were bugged, illegal background checks using government databases -- these are some of the accusations which Shandling leveled. But Pellicano also scored some points when he cross-examined the comedian.
ThURSDAY 2 PM UPDATE: Brad Grey just issued this statement: "I am extremely saddened by Garry’s recollection of events dating back more than a decade. His representation is very different than what I remember and what I know to be true. Garry and I had a long personal and professional relationship, which frankly ended when he hired [Washington DC litigator] David Boies, and sued me and Brillstein Grey [the Hollywood management and production company] for $100 million. His actions forced us to hire our own lawyer -- Bert Fields -- and our friendship was overtaken by a legal process that was
... Read More »
Oscar Winner Jennifer Connelly Exits ICM For CAA; Risa Shapiro Now Her Manager
Her long time agent, ICM's Risa Shapiro, will now be Jennifer Connelly's manager. (See my previous, ICM's Shapiro Leaves Agency To Partner With Client David Duchovny's Manager.) Last October, Jennifer's husband Paul Bettany left ICM for CAA, prompting rumors that she would be next to jump. But she has been with Risa Shapiro since the actress was 14 years old... Meanwhile, I heard some days ago that ICM veteran agent Eddy Yablans lost My Name Is Earl star Jamie Presley to CAA.
Is Endeavor Playing Into IMG's Hands?
The story behind the story of the Ari Emanuel-brokered move by the scandal plagued ex-HBO head Chris Albrecht to IMG is that it conceivably puts the Endeavor talent agency in play again. 
A lot of speculation is sizzling around Hollywood that Ari could finally broker a deal for Endeavor to cash out or bulk up now that his big buddy has that big job as head of the global media unit at the sports /fashion /entertainment /media marketing and management giant. (See my Ari Emanuel Defends Fired Chris Albrecht.) No one here has forgotten that, back in 2004, the ink wasn't even dry on private equity firm Forstmann Little's $750 mil acquisition of IMG when financier Teddy Forstmann and Emanuel held talks about acquiring or investing in the 12-year-old boutique talent agency. Nor is it a secret that Endeavor for some time has been considering some kind of merger while Forstmann has been scouting a Tinseltown deal. After all, Albrecht will also be a special limited partner in Forstmann Little and he and Teddy will raise a $250 million fund for investments in media and entertainment content. I'm told that after Albrecht was pushed from HBO last May, Emanuel called Forstmann, the chairman of IMG, to set up a meeting inside of a month. 
"They actually had their lunch at Wimbledon," an insider told me. (IMG ... Read More »
One Last Limato Follow-Up, Promise...
Richard Konigsberg was among the Ed Limato protégé agents summarily dismissed by ICM (and by the way, he did "turn off the lights"). On August 25th, I reported that Konigsberg was going to Paradigm. In fact, he wound up changing his mind and started his own management company, RKM. "For 12 years I received a priceless education working at ICM for and with my mentor Ed Limato. I then had the opportunity to sit down with Sam Gores, another kind of visionary," Konigsberg emails me. "It struck me after meeting over at Paradigm that I wanted to be in control of my own destiny. So here I sit. RKM is open for business." He says that Limato, the William Morris Agency, and ICM have all embraced his new venture. Nice to know that someone could bring those folks together.
Pad-O-Moguls, Hollywood Halfway House
So you're a mogul, and you and the wife have split. She stays in the big Brentwood or Beverly Hills home with the kids. You could bunk at the Malibu manse but that's an awfully long commute from Broad Beach or Point Dume. So if you're Paramount boss Brad Grey, United Talent Agency chairman Jim Berkus, actor / writer Larry David, music producer David Foster, and manager / producer on hiatus Brian Medavoy, you move into Santa Monica's Pad-O-Moguls, better known as The Hollywood Halfway House. That white building on Ocean Avenue right near Wilshire Blvd -- I'm withholding the exact address -- is an apartment house specializing in short-term rentals. Short-term because these guys are recently separated or divorced and have put off buying a new house. "It's just a bunch of rich guys walking around a very expensive, well-run place right on the ocean," one of them tells me. "We don't hang out. I wish I could say we even do a lot of business together, but I don't see a lot of them. I go in and up the elevator straight to my apartment." There aren't wild and crazy parties even though NBC Universal Entertainment co-chairman Ben Silverman, who's famously single, also lives there. "I must not live next door to Ben. I don't hear the water gurgling from his bong," one of them told me. Meanwhile, I'm told that when Larry David moved in after splitting with his ... Read More »
EXCLUSIVE: ICM & Ed Limato Call It Quits
Limato/ICM: D-Day Is August 1st
2ND UPDATE: I'm told it's all over between ICM and co-president and uber motion picture talent agent Ed Limato. It was made fairly clear to me for the past two weeks that this was not going to be resolved. Right now, I hear attorneys for the tenpercentery and for Limato are negotiating his exit. Very acrimoniously, I need to add. (See below) Technically, Limato is still under contract with ICM until everything, especially his clients' current and future commissions, are worked out at an arbitration session slated for August 1. Limato's attorneys served ICM with legal papers but there won't be any lawsuits because Ed's contract calls for arbitration.
Well, that was quick: because of my bombshell posting, ICM just issued a statement since both chairman Jeff Berg and co-president Chris Silbermann are rubbing elbows with the moguls at Camp Allen: 
"As part of a restructuring of ICM’s motion picture department to deliver long-term growth, ICM stated today that Ed Limato is no longer co-president of the agency. Mr. Limato will continue as a motion picture agent at the company. 'ICM is restructuring the business to ensure that we develop the most innovative projects for our clients,' said Jeffrey Berg, chairman and CEO of ICM. 'As part of this process, the agency is making fundamental changes throughout the ... Read More »
Brillstein-Grey Rebrands ...Without Brad
The renamed talent management and movie/TV production entity will continue to pay homage to Bernie Brillstein, who founded the firm and mentored many of its executives and remains active. “It’s been a pleasure seeing this company evolve over the past 38 years,” Brillstein says in the press release. So as of today Brillstein-Grey Entertainment will be known just as Brillstein Entertainment Partners to "embrace the company’s roots while recognize the team that now guides it." The announcement was made by partner/CEO Jon Liebman and partner Cynthia Pett-Dante, who together acquired the company from former owner Brad Grey in July 2005 after Grey left to become chairman/CEO of the Paramount Motion Picture Group. Bernie founded The Brillstein Company in 1969 and renamed it Brillstein-Grey Entertainment in 1991.
One 'Sopranos' Rumor Down, More To Go
I can report there's no truth to the very specific rumor sweeping Hollywood that HBO/Warner Bros. and series creator David Chase will jointly announce a Sopranos movie tomorrow. I just checked with Sopranos' executive producer Brad Grey (now Paramount's chief), who tells me that Chase is living in France and "just taking time off. There is absolutely no discussion of the movie."
Previous: THAAAT'S What We Were All Waiting For?
Primetime Pilot Panic: Upfront Events
This will be updated throughout the day. These are restricted invitation-only.
Sunday, May 13th
9:00pm: United Talent/American Eagle Outfitters Upfront Party @ Marquee
Monday, May 14th
9:00am: Museum of Television & Radio annual upfronts breakfast @ The MT&R
3:00pm: NBC Upfront Presentation @ Radio City Music Hall - Sales
Reception to follow @ The Summer Garden at Rockefeller Plaza
7:00pm: William Morris Agency Upfront Party @ The Four Seasons Restaurant
8:30pm-11:30pm: ICM private function @ Level V
9:00pm: NBC Party @ Buddakan
Tuesday, May 15th
4:00pm: ABC Upfront Presentation & Reception @ Lincoln Center
7:00pm: Telemundo Upfront Presentation @ Radio City Music Hall
9:00pm: Entertainment Weekly Party @ The Box
9:00pm: New York Television Festival Party @ Strata
9:00pm: Endeavor private dinner @ Peter Luger Steakhouse
10:00pm: 3 Arts Party @ The Grand
Wednesday, May 16th
11:00am: Univision Upfront Presentation @ Time Warner Center
4:00pm: CBS Upfront Presentation @ Carnegie Hall
Reception to follow @ Tavern on the Green
7:00pm: People en Espanol 50 Most Beautiful Party @ Splashlight Studios
9:00pm: Maxim Hot 100 Party @ The Gansevoort
Thursday, May 17th
11:00am: CW Upfront Presentation & Reception @ Madison Square Garden
4:00pm: FBC Upfront Presentation @ City Center
Reception to follow @ Walman Rink in Central Park
Is Marty/Leo Manager Rick Yorn In Play?
On Wall Street they talk about a company being "in play" when a battle for ownership is about to wage. That's the buzz in Hollywood tonight regarding Rick Yorn, the manager/producer who represents major AAA-list talent like Leonardo DiCaprio, Marty Scorsese, Cameron Diaz and Benicio Del Toro. I'm figuring the reason is that Yorn's deal with The Firm is up in June, sources say. This week, the talk was that Yorn is "definitely" leaving Jeff Kwatinetz's company where he has been a principal since an internal restructuring in 2005 when Kwatinetz and Yorn renewed and extended their partnerships. Then, tonight, Yorn had to deny the rumor sweeping Hollywood that he was headed to Endeavor talent agency, where Scorsese is repped. (Leo doesn't have an agent and for years has just parked himself with Yorn and attorney Steve Warren of Hansen Jacobson Teller Hoberman Newman Warren & Richman.) Another tie to the agency is that Rick also throws a private Oscar party with Endeavor's Patrick Whitesell. 
I know that Yorn has been telling everyone, including tenpercenteries who have been trying to sweet-talk him on board, that he doesn't want to become an agent. I repeat, does NOT want to become an agent. This, after working for management companies Addis/Wechsler, and then Michael Ovitz's Artists Management Group, and then The Firm's Kwatinetz, who's trying to knock down the buzz by telling Hollywood tonight that Yorn is "solid" with his ... Read More »
Primetime Pilot Panic: The Rumors Begin
Making the rounds of the agencies and managers is an email that's got the first real pilot gossip. But a trusted source who passed it along cautions me: "I think this email is a crock. I am hearing that some of these haven’t even been screened yet. Thought you might be interested none the less." Here it is, but you've been warned:
"FBC: New Amsterdam is "slow" (assuming that's a negative). Nurses looks good.
NBC: Lipstick Jungle, Fort Pit and Journeyman look good. Chuck isn't getting much heat. Bionic Woman not so good.
ABC: Dirty Sexy Money looks amazing. Jon Feldman, Pushing Daisies and Suspects all look good.
CBS: Babylon Fields and Viva Laughlin look good. Demons doesn't look so good.
CW: Gossip Girl, Reaper and Wild At Heart will all probably go."
When I have time later, I'll post info about each of these pilots.
See here for the early renewals.
H'wood Attends These Local Film Festivals
There's more to indie marketing than just Sundance and Toronto. Just because that rotten actor Arnold Schwarzenegger is the state's governor is no reason not to enter or attend one of Southern California's many film festivals. Sponsored by corporate donors and produced by local nonprofit film societies and volunteers, these usually grassroots events have a better-than-average chance of getting your indie or documentary seen by people who matter in the motion picture industry. Sure, A-list movie stars and directors sometimes show up, but so do development people and studio executives and top tier agents if for no other reason than that they live nearby. Here are 14 local film festivals listed according to the calendar and touted by local filmmaker David Geffner in the latest Westways magazine.
1. Palm Springs International Film Festival (early January): launched in 1990 by the late Sonny Bono, this desert fest 2 1/2-hours outside LA is held at multiple venues in the city of Palm Springs. Lately, big name actors have attended the Gala Awards because of timing so close to Oscars. (A healthy percentage of Academy voters live out here.) Entries include 250 films from 74 countries.
2. Santa Barbara International Film Festival (late January): Everything's in walking proximity. A lot of films here go on to earn Oscar nods. Big-name actor always honored. Top thesps also hold audience conversations.
3. Pan African Film & Arts Festival (mid-February): Global event showcases about 150 films about people of African descent. Runs during Black History Month in the U.S. based at the Magic Johnson Theaters and the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza in Los Angeles.
4. The Other Venice Film Festival (March 15-18): Showcases local work from the eclectic Venice Beach arts and music scene in LA. Lots of celebs and dealmaking.
5. Malibu Film Festival (April 13-16): Indies, shorts and documentaries debut from around the world. A lot of major players who live in the neighborhood stop by. Read More »
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