OCTOBER 27, 2000
Stephen Dickstein has filed suit in Los Angeles Superior Court against his former employer, bicoastal/international Propaganda Films, and three other defendants. Dickstein, who’s credited with playing an integral role in the success of Propaganda Films’ commercial operation at its president, was fired from the company last year. Regarding that termination, the lawsuit alleges fraud, breach of an employment contract, breach of contract to terminate only for good cause, and failure to provide severance pay….Director Thom Higgins has left bicoastal RSA USA after two and a half years to join bicoastal M-80, part of the Stoney Road family of commercial production companies owned by Michael Romersa….Comedy director Tom Schiller has signed with bicoastal Coppos Films for exclusive commercial representation in the U.S….
OCTOBER 27, 1995
Director Michael Gersh, a co-founder of production house Big Picture, New York, has departed that company for start-up commercial and music video house Sweet Dreams, New York….Rhythm & Hues, Los Angeles, has shifted Lisa O’Brien, executive producer overseeing computer graphics for commercials, to a newly created position: executive producer of the company’s interactive division….The Cutting Vision, New York, has hired filmmaker Abraham Lim as an Avid editor to handle its growing list of commercial editorial and interactive multimedia assignments….Production house Creative Film Management, New York, has hired James Kadonoff as its new executive producer, replacing Jane Bostedt, who has gone freelance….
Alec Baldwin Urges Judge To Stand By Dismissal Of Involuntary Manslaughter Case In “Rust” Shooting
Alec Baldwin urged a New Mexico judge on Friday to stand by her decision to skuttle his trial and dismiss an involuntary manslaughter charge against the actor in the fatal shooting of a cinematographer on the set of a Western movie.
State District Court Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer dismissed the case against Baldwin halfway through a trial in July based on the withholding of evidence by police and prosecutors from the defense in the 2021 shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of the film "Rust."
The charge against Baldwin was dismissed with prejudice, meaning it can't be revived once any appeals of the decision are exhausted.
Special prosecutor Kari Morrissey recently asked the judge to reconsider, arguing that there were insufficient facts and that Baldwin's due process rights had not been violated.
Baldwin, the lead actor and co-producer on "Rust," was pointing a gun at cinematographer Halyna Hutchins during a rehearsal when it went off, killing her and wounding director Joel Souza. Baldwin has said he pulled back the hammer — but not the trigger — and the revolver fired.
The case-ending evidence was ammunition that was brought into the sheriff's office in March by a man who said it could be related to Hutchins' killing. Prosecutors said they deemed the ammunition unrelated and unimportant, while Baldwin's lawyers alleged that they "buried" it and filed a successful motion to dismiss the case.
In her decision to dismiss the Baldwin case, Marlowe Sommer described "egregious discovery violations constituting misconduct" by law enforcement and prosecutors, as well as false testimony about physical evidence by a witness during the trial.
Defense counsel says that prosecutors tried to establish a link... Read More