December 9, 2011
Mass.: Director inflated costs for film tax creditBOSTON (AP) – A movie director has been charged with inflating expenses in his application for Massachusetts film tax credits, resulting in about $4.7 million in overpayments.
The state attorney general’s office says Daniel Adams was arrested Thursday in Boston. He was arraigned in Boston Municipal Court on Friday on charges of larceny and making a false claim against the commonwealth.
In one instance, prosecutors allege Adams reported paying Richard Dreyfuss $2.5 million, when the actor actually was paid $400,000.
Adams pleaded not guilty and was held on $100,000 cash bail.
Adams is accused of inflating expenses for two films, “The Golden Boys” and “The Lightkeepers.” Both were shot on Cape Cod. >Read more
Deutsch NY Promotes Five Group Creative Directors to EVP LevelNew York — Deutsch NY Partner and Chief Creative Officer, Greg DiNoto, announced the promotions of five Senior Vice President, Group Creative Directors to the level of Executive Vice President.
Morgan Carroll and his creative partner, George Decker, have worked together at Deutsch for over eight years. Carroll consistently delivers big, entertaining ideas that are smartly executed. The duo has successfully made great work for clients like DIRECTV, Degree, and Kodak, among others.
Liz Gumbinner creative work for clients including Epiduo, J & J, and Aruba. She is consistently tapped to work on new business efforts.
Paul Kekalos has become the lead on several major accounts including PNC Bank, and Microsoft Private Cloud and Azure.
Jeff Vinick leads the creative development for PNC Bank and, under his guidance, the Agency has created integrated work, including innovative online experiences with one of the first iPad iAds.
Blackmagic Design Buys Teranex SystemsOrlando, FL – Blackmagic Design Wednesday said it acquired Teranex Systems Inc., a manufacturer of high performance video processing products for the post production and broadcast industries. Teranex, headquartered in Orlando, Florida, is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Blackmagic Design.
“Teranex is a strategic acquisition for Blackmagic Design,” said Grant Petty, Blackmagic Design CEO. “Its technology, solutions and market complement our own efforts and its high quality video processing technology enables us to provide our customers with even higher levels of video quality — extending Blackmagic Design’s product range for the broadcast, feature film and high end post production markets.”
Teranex will continue to support its customers and expand its sales channels with the added strength of the Blackmagic Design organization. Teranex will also continue developing video processing platforms based on its patented SIMD architecture.
Adele is Billboard’s top artist of 2011NEW YORK (AP) – If there is a “best-of” list for music this year, it’s a safe bet to put Adele on top.
Billboard has declared her the No. 1 artist of 2011. Rihanna was No. 2, followed by Katy Perry, Lady Gaga and Lil Wayne. The list, announced Friday, takes into account album sales, charting singles, radio airplay and other factors.
Rounding out the list was Bruno Mars at No. 6, Nicki Minaj at No. 7, Taylor Swift at No. 8, Justin Bieber at No. 9 and Chris Brown at No. 10.
Adele’s album “21” was the best-selling of the year with 4.8 million sold. Following “21” on the list: Swift’s “Speak Now,” Gaga’s “Born This Way,” Jason Aldean’s “My Kinda Party” and Susan Boyle’s “The Gift.”
Adele also had the most popular song with “Rolling in the Deep.” LMFAO’s “Party Rock Anthem” featuring Lauren Bennett and GoonRock was No. 2, Perry’s “Firework” was No. 3, her “E.T.” with Kanye West was No. 4 and Pitbull’s “Give Me Everything” featuring Ne-Yo, Afrojack & Nayer was No. 5.
Adele was the top female artist. Lil Wayne was the top male.
Oscars tap Zimmer, Williams as music consultantsLOS ANGELES (AP) – An Oscar-winning composer and Grammy-winning rapper will handle the music at the 84th annual Academy Awards.
Producers said Thursday that Hans Zimmer and Pharrell Williams will serve as the show’s music consultants. Neither musician has worked on the Oscars before.
Zimmer won an Oscar for the original score for 1994’s “The Lion King.” The 54-year-old composer has another eight nominations for scoring films such as “Inception,” ”Gladiator” and “Rain Man,” among others.
Williams is a rapper and producer who has recorded with Jay-Z, Ludacris, Britney Spears, Snoop Dogg, Gwen Stefani, Justin Timberlake and Beyonce. The 38-year-old has won three Grammy Awards.
Oscar telecast producers Don Mischer and Brian Grazer called the pairing of Zimmer and Williams “an exciting and prestigious collaboration.”
The Academy Awards will be presented Feb. 26, 2012.
NY Occupy protest shuts down ‘Law & Order’NEW YORK (AP) – A protest by about 100 Occupy Wall Street members in New York City shut down production of an episode of “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.”
The Daily News (http://nydn.us/s0QDN6 ) reported Friday that the protesters arrived around midnight at Foley Square in Lower Manhattan. The show was making an episode with an “Occupy” theme.
About 100 police officers appeared as the protesters roamed around the park, inspecting tents and signs built by the production company.
Protester Drew Hornbein of Brooklyn Heights said the movement is “not part of corporate TV America.”
The newspaper says a police officer with a bullhorn announced that the city had rescinded the film permit, which drew cheers.
Arrests were threatened, but the crowd dispersed and the set was dismantled.
Jerry Robinson, Batman’s Joker artist, dies in NYBy Verena Dobnik
NEW YORK (AP) – Comic book industry pioneer Jerry Robinson, who helped create Batman sidekick Robin the Boy Wonder and their arch-nemesis The Joker, has died at age 89.
An editor and friend, Charles Kochman, said Robinson was different from most artists in the field because he worked on every kind of comic genre, from political cartoons to theater illustrations.
Robinson not only used his fame and position in the industry to serve as its ambassador but also fought on behalf of other artists and creators – especially to win credit for their work, including the Superman series. Initially, in the 1930s and ’40s, publishers owned the rights and would discard drawings after they were used.
Robinson died in his sleep Wednesday at a hospice in New York where he lived. He was a native of Trenton, N.J. He was only 17 when he was hired by Batman creator Bob Kane. The two had met by chance at a resort in the Catskill Mountains, where Robinson had a summer job selling ice cream. Kane noticed Robinson because he was wearing a white jacket decorated with his own illustrations.
In the early 1940s, Robinson “illustrated some of the defining images of pop culture’s greatest icons,” said Jim Lee, co-publisher of DC Entertainment Inc., the parent company of Batman publisher DC Comics.
While Robinson is credited by many comic enthusiasts as the primary creator of The Joker for issue No. 1 of Batman, he and Kane clashed over who was first to dream up the caped crusader’s arch-enemy. In a 1994 interview, Kane said he and writer Bill Finger had come up with the idea and Robinson then produced a joker playing card for inspiration.
Robinson was hired away from Kane’s shop by the Batman publisher, for which he drew many of the most striking covers from the golden age of comics, such as that of “Batman” No. 13, showing the caped crusader parachuting down.
In the 1950s, he started drawing newspaper comic strips, political cartoons and cover illustrations for Broadway’s “Playbill.”
Later in life, Robinson taught at New York’s School of Visual Arts and was president of the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists and the National Cartoonists Society.
Andie MacDowell’s daughter named Miss Golden Globe
By Sandy Cohen, Entertainment Writer
WEST HOLLYWOOD, Calif. (AP) – The Hollywood Foreign Press Association has named its newest Miss Golden Globe.
Rainey Qualley was introduced as the 2012 honoree at a news conference Thursday at Cecconi’s restaurant in West Hollywood. She’s the daughter of Golden Globe-nominated actress Andie MacDowell.
Miss Golden Globe is traditionally the child of a celebrity who is invited to assist during the awards ceremony. Previous honorees include Rumer Willis, Laura Dern, Melanie Griffith and Joely Fisher.
The 21-year-old Qualley is an aspiring actress and musician.
The announcement was to be followed by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association’s starry Night of Firsts party, held to celebrate the start of Hollywood’s awards season.
Nominations for the 69th annual Golden Globe Awards will be announced next week. The ceremony is slated for Jan. 15.
Questlove: NBC clearing Roots songs for Fallon
By Mesfin Fekadu
NEW YORK (AP) – NBC is now checking the songs the Roots play on “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon” after the band performed an off-color song during Michele Bachmann’s show appearance last month.
Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson of The Roots says now he’s “gotta clear a lot of the song choices” with the network.
“It’s still a comedy show, so they promise not to step on my toes or that type of thing, but they definitely want to know the title of the song, the subject matter of the song, can it be seen as an insult?” he said in an interview Thursday.
When the Republican presidential candidate appeared on the Nov. 22 show, house band The Roots played a snippet of a 1985 Fishbone song called “Lyin’ Ass B—-.” A day later the Minnesota congresswoman received a personal letter from NBC’s vice president for late night programming, Doug Vaughan; Fallon also apologized.
“It was kind of wrong for me to throw (NBC) under the bus without telling them what it was, so I understand from a business standpoint,” Thompson said.
The drummer and frontman of The Roots said after the incident, he heard from members of Fishbone. The veteran rock band is the subject of a recent documentary, “Everyday Sunshine: The Story of Fishbone,” so for them, the controversy likely helped.
“They have a movie out so I guess for them at least the stars were aligned,” he said. “They’re one of my favorite bands, like I tip my hat to those guys.”
Blur to receive BRIT career awardLONDON (AP) – Blur are to be honored at the 2012 BRIT Awards with a prize celebrating two decades of influence on British music.
21 years since the release of their debut album “Leisure,” the band was announced Thursday as the 2012 winner of the Outstanding Contribution to Music award.
Formed in the late 1980s, Blur were hailed as leading lights of the 1990s Britpop scene, and released seven studio albums.
Damon Albarn, Graham Coxon, Alex James and Dave Rowntree reunited for a number of concerts in 2009, including a headline performance at Glastonbury Festival.
Previous winners of the award include Paul McCartney, U2, Paul Weller, Oasis, Sting, The Who, Fleetwood Mac, Van Morrison and Queen.
The 2012 BRIT Awards will be held on Feb. 21, 2012.
Iowa to dismiss charges against filmmakerDES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Iowa wants to dismiss charges against a California filmmaker who received state tax credits in a program aimed at building Iowa’s film industry.
Attorney General Tom Miller filed a motion Wednesday to drop charges against Donald Borchers, a Beverly Hills producer and director.
Borchers was charged in Polk County with theft and fraudulent practices. He was accused of submitting inflated cost claims for the remake of the 1984 horror film “Children of the Corn” and of accepting state tax credits based on inflated expense claims.
Borchers told a judge during a November hearing that it was an accounting error. Miller says Borchers provided prosecutors with information that addressed the state’s concerns.
The film program was shut down in 2009 after a state audit showed millions of dollars were awarded improperly.
Fonda, stars of ‘The Help’ honor Hollywood womenBy Sandy Cohen, Entertainment Writer
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) – For the 20th consecutive year, Hollywood’s most powerful women came together to break bread and celebrate their achievements in entertainment.
Jane Fonda and the late filmmaker Laura Ziskin were honored at the breakfast ceremony Wednesday at the Beverly Hills Hotel, held by the Hollywood Reporter in concert with its annual Power 100 ranking of the entertainment industry’s most powerful women.
“This list matters,” said Janice Min, the magazine’s editorial director. “Acknowledging the achievements of women in a town where only 16 percent of all powerful, behind-the-scenes jobs are held by them – and that number is declining – is important.”
Chelsea Handler, who ranked 97th on the list, welcomed guests including Nancy Grace (ranked 86th) and reality star Bethenny Frankel (No. 100 on the list), along with actresses Kate Bosworth and Emmy Rossum and the ubiquitous Kim Kardashian.
Actress Kirsten Dunst and Sony Pictures co-chairman Amy Pascal (No. 2 on the Power 100 list) presented a tribute to “Spider-Man” producer and Stand Up To Cancer founder Ziskin, who helped raise more than $180 million for cancer research before succumbing to the disease in June.
Former Paramount Pictures chief Sherry Lansing lauded her friend Fonda for her pioneering work in film, fitness, philanthropy and activism, presenting the 73-year-old actress with the Sherry Lansing Leadership Award.
Lansing said she idolized Fonda and credited the actress with teaching her to have faith in her ideas and stand up for herself. Lansing shared a story from early in her career when she worked with Fonda on “The China Syndrome.”
Executives wanted to change the film’s title, and rather than argue, Lansing dutifully passed word along to Fonda.
“She said to me, ‘Are you a corporate tool?'” Lansing recalled as the audience exploded in laughter. That exchange, Lansing said, taught her to “never let the numbers or the research cause me to go against my instincts … that my instincts and my passion were more valuable than anything else.”
Lansing went on to say that Fonda has “led us artistically and made us question our lives politically.”
“I still idolize you, Jane, and you still inspire me,” the former studio chief said.
“Did I really say corporate tool? No wonder people didn’t like me,” Fonda quipped as she accepted the crystal trophy, “which I guess is made out of a chunk of the glass ceiling that Sherry Lansing broke through.”
Fonda said that while women have made strides in front of and behind the camera, the entertainment industry needs more female decision-makers.
“Until more women wield the power to decide what movies and TV shows get made, Hollywood culture won’t really yield all the fascinating complexities that are the realities of women’s lives,” she said. “Until then, we’re accepting supporting roles in an industry many of us have devoted our lives to.”
The next generation of female leaders also participated in the annual Women in Entertainment breakfast. “The Help” author Kathryn Stockett and stars Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer introduced 12 Los Angeles-area high school juniors who will be mentored by female entertainment executives for the next year through a program launched in 2009 by the Hollywood Reporter and Big Brothers Big Sisters.
The full Power 100 list, which also includes the cast of “Bridesmaids” at No. 44, can be found online and in a special issue out this month. Anne Sweeney, co-chairman of Disney Media Networks, tops the list.
Tom Cruise’s mission in Dubai stunts: Not fallingBy Adam Schreck
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) – Tom Cruise may seem larger than life on-screen. But when it came to stunts on the side of the world’s tallest tower, his thoughts were definitely down to earth.
Asked Wednesday about his biggest fear during scenes outside the half-mile (828-meter) high Burj Khalifa, Cruise was quick with an answer: “Falling.”
The actor is in Dubai for the world premier of “Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol” at the city’s annual film festival.
Cruise said filmmakers had to monitor temperatures on the spire’s sun-baked facade so he wouldn’t get burned. That wasn’t the only challenge. The actor says he didn’t anticipate the cross winds.
“I had to figure out, actually, how to fly,” he told reporters on the 124th floor observation area of the Burj Khalifa, which rises dozens of stories higher. “I had to figure out how to use my feet as a rudder … The first couple of times I was slamming into the building.”
Cruise said he spent months training on a four-story structure to practice his moves on the Burj. Most of the shots on the actual building were done in the shade to protect Cruise from high temperatures, as the facade heated up in sunlight.
His first thought as he launched outside the building for the first time? “I hope I don’t fall,” he said.
Cruise said his wife Katie Holmes is supportive and accustomed to him taking risks on stunts. But that didn’t make it any easier to watch.
Director Brad Bird said Holmes watched Cruise do a couple of takes on the side of the Burj before declaring: “OK, we’re done.”
“When you see it and he’s out there, it’s nerve-racking,” Bird said.
Cruise was joined in Dubai with co-stars Paula Patton, Simon Pegg and Anil Kapoor.
The film – the fourth installment in the “Mission” series – has been shown at selected “fan screenings” around the world, but Dubai marks the general audience premier.
Smithsonian Channel uncovers film from King murderBy David Bauder, Television Writer
NEW YORK (AP) – Some forward-looking college professors enabled television’s Smithsonian Channel to offer a look at the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. from the time in which it occurred.
The network said Wednesday it will air a documentary in February culled primarily from local news footage in Memphis, Tenn., where the civil rights leader was murdered on April 4, 1968. Most of the footage hasn’t been seen on television since it originally aired.
Many such moments are lost since local television stations usually taped over old broadcasts or threw away film reels, said David Royle, executive producer at the Smithsonian Channel. But some University of Memphis professors sensed in March 1968 that civil rights history was happening with a strike of local sanitation workers, the event that drew King to Memphis, and they collected footage of the events through King’s murder and its aftermath.
“What they were doing was absolutely visionary – and very unusual,” Royle said.
It enabled the production of a documentary with a vivid, “you-are-there” feel and the uncovering of some fascinating moments.
Royle said he was drawn, for instance, to coverage of King’s famed “mountaintop” speech at the Mason Temple the night before the assassination. Cameras followed King after the speech to where he slumped in a chair, and viewers could sense the man’s fragility.
The producer said he recognized how the existence of such film was unusual when he researched an older documentary on Sam Ervin, the North Carolina senator who chaired the Watergate investigative committee in the 1970s. Royle said he traveled across North Carolina and could find only a minute and a half of tape of Ervin in his home state.
Another stroke of luck for Tom Jennings, who produced “MLK: The Assassination Tapes,” was finding Vince Hughes, who was a 20-year-old Memphis police dispatcher on his second day of work when King was killed. Hughes kept audiotapes of police calls on that day and crime scene photos from where King was shot, and the material was made available for the film.
Jennings also went to radio station WDIA to collect interviews from black Memphis residents at the time. The white-owned and operated TV stations at the time had little such material, Royle said.
“This (documentary) plunges you into the immediacy of the period and allows you to absorb it the way people at the time absorbed it,” Royle said. “There’s something that’s electric about that. It gets you to sit up and pay attention.”
Smithsonian plans to air the special on Feb. 12.
‘Rango,’ ‘Puss,’ ‘Tintin’ earn Annie nominationsLOS ANGELES (AP) – Johnny Depp’s “Rango,” Anne Hathaway’s “Rio,” Antonio Banderas’ “Puss in Boots” and Steven Spielberg’s “The Adventures of Tintin” are among movies competing for best-animated film at the Annie Awards.
The 10 nominees announced Monday also include James McAvoy’s “Arthur Christmas,” Owen Wilson’s “Cars 2,” Jack Black’s “Kung Fu Panda 2” and three overseas contenders: “A Cat in Paris,” ”Arrugas” and “Chico & Rita.”
Cast members earning voice-acting nominations for the Annie Awards include “Arthur Christmas” co-stars Bill Nighy and Ashley Jensen, “Kung Fu Panda 2” co-stars Gary Oldman and James Hong and “Puss in Boots” co-star Zach Galifianakis.
Presented by the International Animated Film Society, the Annie Awards will be handed out Feb. 4 at a ceremony in Los Angeles.
