March 8, 2013
Content Partners buys 50 pct. stake in ‘CSI’NEW YORK (AP) — Entertainment finance firm Content Partners has purchased a 50 percent stake in the “CSI” television franchise from a Goldman Sachs affiliate.
Terms were not disclosed.
This is Content Partners’ largest buyout to date and expands on its catalog of entertainment properties, which includes interests in 119 movies and five TV series.
Content Partners LLC said Thursday that the deal makes it an equal stakeholder with CBS Corp., which owns the other 50 percent interest.
Content Partners and CBS will each own half the rights of the franchise, which include the television series “CSI,” ”CSI: New York” and “CSI Miami.” CBS will control all domestic and international distribution rights to the series.
Bank of America Merrill Lynch and J.P. Morgan provided financing for the transaction.
Amazon orders 6th children’s series pilotNEW YORK (AP) — Amazon.com Inc. is continuing its push into producing original children’s series, ordering its sixth pilot of shows aimed at kids.
The online retailer announced Wednesday that it will make a test pilot for “Sara Solves It,” an animated math-focused mystery developed by WGBH and Out of the Blue Enterprises. The show is the sixth pilot geared for kids by Amazon Studios, the retailer’s original movie and series production arm.
Launched in 2010, Amazon Studios is moving toward presenting its pilots on its Prime Instant Video service. Amazon says it will choose which series to greenlight for a full season based on viewer reaction. The pilots are expected to be posted this spring.
Amazon also has comedy pilots and movies in development.
Disney working on standalone Star Wars moviesPHOENIX (AP) — Star Wars fans have more than just Episodes 7, 8 and 9 to look forward to.
Disney CEO Bob Iger said at the annual shareholders meeting in Phoenix on Wednesday that the company is developing “some standalone movies” featuring Star Wars characters.
The news is likely to set off a new round of speculation about what’s in store for the Lucasfilm franchise. The buzz has been at fever pitch levels since The Walt Disney Co. said in October it was acquiring the studio for $4 billion.
Iger didn’t say which characters might be featured in the standalone films. Some Star Wars characters such as bounty hunter Boba Fett have been given bigger treatments in comic books.
George Lucas proposes museum in San FranciscoSAN FRANCISCO (AP) — “Star Wars” creator George Lucas wants to build a museum dedicated to visual storytelling in San Francisco’s Presidio that would house an art collection he amassed over more than four decades.
The filmmaker said he has long sought to showcase his collection of 150 years of populist art, which includes illustrations by Norman Rockwell and Maxfield Parrish, comics and digital technology.
Lucas, 69, said he doesn’t have enough wall space at his 6,000-acre Skywalker Ranch in Marin County, so he wants to invest up to $300 million of his own money to build the museum.
“At this scale, there’s nothing that has ever been done like this,” he said in a recent interview with the San Francisco Chronicle.
Lucas submitted a 20-page proposal to the Presidio Trust last week, one of 16 bids to occupy the former commissary site at Crissy Field, the newspaper reported.
Lucas’ obsession with visual art began when he was a child and would visit the M.H. de Young Memorial Museum in Golden Gate Park.
He grew up in Modesto, where his family owned an office supply store and a walnut farm, but Lucas dreamed of being an illustrator. He loved adventure books and the era’s popular magazines, which often featured Rockwell covers.
His art collection began with his first acquisition, an Uncle Scrooge comic book page by Carl Barks, for which Lucas said he paid $25.
“As a popular artist, I hit the same chord with people that Rockwell hit, that Michelangelo hit, that the people who painted on caves in France hit,” Lucas said. “I relate to art more as an emotional experience than as an intellectual experience.”
If his museum bid is accepted, the Lucas Cultural Arts Museum would receive a $400 million endowment upon opening and another when he dies, he said.
In December, Disney acquired Lucasfilm Ltd., which is already housed in the Presidio, a one-time military base turned national park overlooking the San Francisco Bay and the Pacific.
Among the other proposals for the Presidio commissary site are a color lab that would allow visitors to explore what color means to them; a museum to honor former University of California, Berkeley chancellor Michael Heyman; or a space to focus on the New Deal’s achievements in the wake of the Great Depression.
The trust is displaying all the bids on its website, where the public can comment on the proposals submitted for an economically viable “cultural institution of distinction” that would offer cross-disciplinary programs and engage the community.
Craig Middleton, the trust’s executive director, said finalists will be announced in April and a decision will be made this year or next.
“The proposals are imaginative and creative and speak to the site, which inspired people to think big,” Middleton said. “We’re very excited at George Lucas being one of them.”
Sam Mendes says no to next James Bond film
LONDON (AP) — Never say never again? Sam Mendes says he won’t be directing the next James Bond film — but may work on the series again in future.
Mendes has been praised for his work on “Skyfall,” the first Bond film to rake in more than $1 billion in revenue.
But Mendes says he has made the “very difficult decision” to focus on other projects, including upcoming London stage productions of “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” and “King Lear.”
In comments published Wednesday by movie magazine Empire, Mendes said he was honored to have been part of the Bond family, “and very much hope I have a chance to work with them again.”
Mendes worked in theater before turning to film. He won an Academy Award in 2000 for “American Beauty.”
Smucker’s signs on with US Olympic Committee
By Eddie Pells, National Writer
DENVER (AP) — Champagne? Nah. U.S. Olympians might prefer to celebrate their gold medals next year by downing an old-fashioned peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
The U.S. Olympic Committee signed a deal Tuesday with J.M. Smucker, bringing the maker of Smucker’s jelly and Jif peanut butter into the Olympic fold for the Sochi and Rio de Janeiro Games.
USOC chief of marketing Lisa Baird told The Associated Press the deal came out of Smucker’s long relationship with U.S. Figure Skating, which pushed the jelly maker over to the USOC. The USOC helps underwrite training, travel and other expenses for American Olympic athletes.
“This is the kind of market-leading brand we love,” Baird said.
Financial details of the Smucker’s deal were not disclosed. The agreement lasts through 2016.
Smucker’s will combine with Procter and Gamble, Coke, Budweiser and Kellogg’s in an Olympic-themed promotion that wraps several of their products together under the red-white-and-blue banner of Team USA.
The promotion, called “The Power of …,” brings products from some of the world’s largest and most competitive companies together in displays at Targets, Wal-Marts, Safeways and other grocery chains. Their common bond is supporting the U.S. Olympic team.
“This works both ways,” Baird said. “We have things we want sponsors to support. But this is one where they really win when they combine to get the most out of the value of our marks, our ideas, our athletes into their environment.”
The USOC has been looking for innovative ways to increase revenue from the sponsorship side, which generated $78 million in 2011. (The amount is almost always higher in Olympic years.)
Baird came from Procter and Gamble, and that was one of the first big sponsors she landed after taking the USOC job.
The idea behind “The Power of. …” promotion first took hold for the Vancouver Games in 2010 with a single retailer, Safeway. The number grew to 24 for the London Games and the participants were impressed.
Often, event-based promotions give sponsors about a week to take advantage of the hype surrounding that event; the run-up to the Olympics and the Games themselves provides months.
‘Django,’ ‘Ted’ lead MTV Movie Awards nominees
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A bloody Western and the comedic tale of a trash-talking teddy bear lead nominees for the 2013 MTV Movie Awards.
MTV announced Tuesday that “Django Unchained” and “Ted” each have seven bids at the annual kudo-fest, set to air live on April 14 from the Sony Pictures lot in Culver City, Calif.
“Silver Linings Playbook” earned six nominations and “The Dark Knight Rises” collected five. Other top nominees include “The Avengers,” ”Skyfall,” ”Pitch Perfect” and “The Perks of Being a Wallflower.”
Fans can vote online for the winners in all categories, including the two newest ones: Best shirtless performance and best musical moment.
Double nominee Rebel Wilson will host the show. She’ll be joined by Will Ferrell, who will receive MTV’s inaugural Comic Genius Award.
Stewart taking ‘Daily Show’ break to direct film
NEW YORK (AP) — Comedy Central says Jon Stewart will take a break from “The Daily Show” starting in June to direct and produce his first feature film.
The network said Tuesday that correspondent-writer John Oliver will host the fake news show for the eight weeks of original episodes scheduled during Stewart’s hiatus. The British-born Oliver has been a “Daily Show” regular since 2006.
Stewart is expected back in the anchor chair shortly after Labor Day, Sept. 2.
The film, titled “Rosewater,” was written by Stewart and is based on a book by Iranian journalist Maziar Bahari.
London resident Bahari was falsely accused of being a spy and imprisoned by the Iranian government in 2009 while covering Iran’s presidential election. Before being jailed, he was interviewed in Iran by “Daily Show” correspondent Jason Jones.
HELLO!, Paranoid Enter Into Strategic PartnershipLOS ANGELES–Production houses HELLO! and Paranoid, while remaining wholly independent entities, have entered into a strategic partnership for increased global brand recognition and continued expansion. Both companies expect to see returns on their affilation in multiple arenas including music, TV and independent film.
Per the deal, Paranoid exec producer Jamie Miller takes on an additional EP role at HELLO!, working with fellow HELLO! EP Mike Brady. Miller will also remain at Paranoid, continuing to oversee talent management and production duties for the company, working in close concert with owner/EP Claude Letessier. Paranoid will be based at the HELLO! offices in Hollywood, additionally relocating its postproduction facilities there.
This new cooperative arrangement will see Paranoid develop long form projects with Lenny Beckerman, head of HELLO’s Film & Television development department, as well as expand more fully into music videos and digital content. Further, with an eye to a broader international presence, HELLO! and Paranoid will partner globally to offer their directors access to other international markets, with both sales and production support.
Both companies will announce new signings within the coming weeks.
Giffords ad urges support for background checksBy Nedra Pickler
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords is urging key senators to support expanded background checks for gun purchases in a new television ad that is to begin airing Tuesday in Arizona and Iowa.
Americans for Responsible Solutions, the gun control group started by Giffords and husband Mark Kelly, said it is spending six figures on the ads in two states with strong gun traditions. The Senate Judiciary Committee is scheduled to take up tougher firearm regulations Wednesday.
“There are solutions we can agree on, even gun owners like us,” Giffords says in the commercial over a closeup of her and Kelly looking directly into the camera. “Take it from me, Congress must act. Let’s get this done.”
The ad opens with black-and-white images from vigils after high-profile mass shootings at a Colorado movie theater, a Wisconsin temple, a Connecticut elementary school and the attempt on Giffords’ own life outside an Arizona grocery store, which also left 12 others wounded and six dead.
“We have a problem,” she says, “where we shop, where we pray, where our children go to school.”
The ad says the overwhelming majority of people in the respective states — eight of 10 in Arizona and nearly nine of 10 in Iowa — support universal background checks and urges viewers to contact their senators to ask them to support the measure as well. It targets two Republicans on the Judiciary Committee who have an A rating with the National Rifle Association — the top Republican, Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, and Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona — along with Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who has indicated he’ll probably support background checks. It also mentions Iowa Democratic Sen. Tom Harkin, who supports expanded background checks.
Giffords also plans a news conference Wednesday in her hometown of Tucson, Ariz., with others who survived the shooting rampage two years ago at one of her constituent meetings.
RogueFlix.com to debut “FREELANCERS” webseries
LOS ANGELES–RogueFlix, the new young-male driven action lifestyle network, will release the medieval webseries, “FREELANCERS,” on March 8. Written, directed, and produced by Ignatius Fischer, the stylized comedic adventure set in a fantasy landscape features Caitlin Geier, Nicholas Givanio, and Ivan Borntrager.
“This is an exciting time for our growing digital distribution platform, we are also currently developing several webshows and feature length movies in-house to be released exclusively on RogueFlix,” stated Larry Rodriguez, co-founder and COO of RogueFlix. “The majority of the people visiting the site are young males between the ages of 13 and 30 and that is the primary focus of our action genre content.”
Bryan Duran, co-founder, CEO and general counsel of RogueFlix, said of the company’s teaming up with Fischer and his team at Witness Pictures, “After reviewing the teaser trailer and other materials for “FREELANCERS,” I was impressed with Ignatius’ storytelling and directing abilities. I knew right away that I wanted to feature FREELANCERS on RogueFlix and quickly struck a deal with Ignatius poolside at the Loews Hotel during the American Film Market memorialized on a napkin.”
Prior to RogueFlix, Duran had worked as an entertainment attorney for Starz Media/Anchor Bay Entertainment and as a senior financial analyst at Warner Bros. and NBC Universal. He also worked in creative development at Fox Studios.
Actress Geena Davis critical of Oscar host
By Laura Olson
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Academy Award winner Geena Davis on Monday waded into the ongoing controversy over this year’s Oscar ceremony by saying host Seth MacFarlane’s routine was disrespectful to women, particularly the performers who were being honored.
The “Thelma & Louise” star said MacFarlane’s much-criticized routine last month overshadowed the win of an animated film with a strong female character.
“It’s a shame that that triumph was enveloped in an awards ceremony containing disrespect for women,” Davis told members of the California Assembly during a ceremony in Sacramento. “But it helps illustrate how tone-deaf we can still be regarding the status of women.”
She commended “Brave,” which won best animated picture, as setting a positive example for girls.
Davis, who won a best supporting actress Oscar for “The Accidental Tourist” in 1988, was in the state capital as one of 11 California women honored for their achievements.
She is chairwoman of state Commission on the Status of Women and Girls and founded a nonprofit that promotes gender equality in the media.
Last week, two female state lawmakers sent a letter to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences asking it to condemn MacFarlane’s quips about nude scenes and the attractiveness of several female actresses as degrading toward women.
The academy issued a general statement defending MacFarlane and saying the award show is about “creative freedom.”
Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson, a Santa Barbara Democrat who co-authored the letter, said Monday that she was disappointed the academy did not address her concerns.
Koehler resigns due to family health issues; Lim succeeds him at Film Society of Lincoln Center
NEW YORK–The Film Society of Lincoln Center today announced the departure of Robert Koehler, and the appointment of critic and programmer Dennis Lim as director of Cinematheque programming. Koehler will step down immediately and return to Los Angeles to focus on personal matters and requests that his family’s privacy be respected.
Film Society of Lincoln Center’s executive director Rose Kuo said, “Bob brought a lot of fresh new ideas and innovation to the Film Society during his tenure and we are sorry to see him go. We wish him and his family well and send him our support during this challenging time. We will continue to move forward in a new direction while maintaining our commitment to excellence with the appointment of Dennis Lim as the new director of Cinematheque Programming. Dennis’ knowledge about our organization, his important contributions to film writing and his talent as a programmer make him an ideal partner and leader in the organization’s development and growth.”
On his departure Robert Koehler noted, “I am leaving the position of director of programming both with a sense of regret, particularly the feeling of personal separation from a wonderful staff and programming team, as well as absolute confidence, given the entrance of Dennis Lim, who has been a friend, colleague and fellow cinephile for several years and whom the Film Society is extraordinarily fortunate to have in a leadership role. I believe that we have laid a foundation for a new and exciting era at Film Society, and I also look forward to contributing in numerous capacities to the Film Society’s growth.”
As director of programming for the Cinematheque, Lim will oversee the year-round retrospectives, festivals and screening series. He will officially begin his new role at the Film Society on April 1st. Kent Jones, director of programming for the New York Film Festival, will expand his current duties and oversee all programming in the interim.
Lim has been a frequent contributor to The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times since 2006. His writing has also appeared in Artforum, Cinema Scope, and The Village Voice, where he was the film editor from 2000 to 2006. He is the founding editor of Moving Image Source, the online magazine of the Museum of Moving Image in New York, where he has also organized film series and retrospectives. He teaches in the Cultural Reporting and Criticism graduate program at New York University’s Journalism Institute, was the programmer of the 2010 Robert Flaherty Film Seminar, and served on the New York Film Festival selection committee from 2009 to 2011. Lim is also completing a book for Amazon Publishing on David Lynch.
“Accountability” is the Top Concern for Marketers per ANA Survey
NEW YORK–The most important issue that senior marketers face in 2013 is accountability, according to a new survey by the ANA (Association of National Advertisers). Integrated marketing communication and aligning the marketing organization with innovation ranked second and third.
Bob Liodice, ANA, president and CEO said earlier this year that accountability is at the heart of the industry’s agenda and ANA’s. ANA brings continued emphasis and attention to industry accountability and measurement through 3MS (Making Measurement Make Sense), brand specific commercial ratings, Ad-ID and the ascension of the Media Ratings Council as the centralized, standard setting measurement body. Additionally, ANA will be adding important training and development courses to its School of Marketing portfolio later this year.
The following is ANA’s ranking of marketers’ top ten issues:
1. Accountability
2. Integrated marketing communication
3. Aligning the marketing organization with innovation
4. Building strong brands
5. Media proliferation
6. Globalization of marketing efforts
7. How to get great advertising creative that achieves business success
8. Attracting and retaining top talent
9. Consumer control over what and how they view advertising
10. Growth of multicultural segments
The top four issues of concern to marketers have remained constant since 2006, although their precise ranking has shifted over the years.
The survey was taken by 155 marketing executives online in December 2012 and January 2013. Survey respondents have an average of 18 years of experience in the marketing / advertising industry. The last time ANA conducted this survey was 2010.
Madonna to present GLAAD award to Anderson Cooper
NEW YORK (AP) — Gay advocacy group GLAAD says Madonna will present CNN’s Anderson Cooper with an award for openly gay media professionals.
GLAAD told The Associated Press on Saturday that the singer has been chosen to give Cooper the Vito Russo Award at the 24th annual GLAAD Media Awards in New York City on March 16.
GLAAD President Herndon Graddick says Madonna and Cooper are longtime friends who have both used their careers to support lesbian, gay and transgender people.
Cooper declined to speak publicly about his sexuality for years. But last July he gave blogger Andrew Sullivan permission to publish an email in which Cooper said he was gay and “couldn’t be more happy.”
Russo helped found GLAAD and wrote a book about gay people in the movies called “The Celluloid Closet.”
Italian composer of Rome theme song dies at 95By Frances D’Emilio
ROME (AP) — Armando Trovajoli, an Italian who composed music for some 300 films and whose lush and playful serenade to Rome is a much-requested romantic standby for tourists, has died at age 95.
The city’s mayor, Gianni Alemanno, mourned Trovajoli’s passing, saying in a statement that “the voice of Rome has been extinguished.” The Italian news agency ANSA said widow Maria Paola Trovajoli announced the death Saturday, saying her husband had died a few days before in Rome but declining to give the exact date.
Roman by birth, Trovajoli began his musical career as a pianist, playing jazz and dance music. He appeared with many jazz stars, among them Duke Ellington, Miles Davis, Chet Baker, Louis Armstrong, Stephane Grappelli and Django Reinhardt.
In the 1950s, his prolific relationship with the film world took flight. Travojoli composed for many of Italy’s hit movies of the next decades, especially comedies.
He wrote the music for two of Sophia Loren’s most famous films, “A Special Day” and “Two Women,” which won her an Oscar. Others included the neorealist classic “Riso Amaro (Bitter Rice)” and “Marriage Italian Style,” another Loren film.
Among the directors turning to him were some of Italy’s best in the decades following World War II, including Ettore Scola, Vittorio De Sica, Dino Risi and Luigi Comencini.
But it the lushly orchestrated “Roma nun fa’ la stupida stasera” written for the 1962 stage musical “Rugantino” that became Trovajoli’s most famous song.
The title, translated from the Roman dialect, literally means “Rome, don’t act silly this evening.” Composed as a duet, it is sung by would-be suitors who beg the city to put on its magic so romance might bloom.
The first performance was sung by Nino Manfredi and Lea Massari, and it is featured on a recently released Andrea Bocelli album of pop favorites.
