YouTube boosts upload limit to 15 minutes
NEW YORK (AP) – In case 10 minutes isn’t enough to show off your guitar solo skills or Lady Gaga impersonation, YouTube has raised the limit it places on video uploads to 15 minutes.
The video website, owned by Google Inc., said in a blog post Thursday that the longer upload time was the single-most requested feature that its users have been asking for.
YouTube says it’s raising the limit now because it believes its “Content ID” technology, which automatically removes copyright violations by digitally sifting through the site’s archives, is working.
“Because of the success of these ongoing technological efforts, we are able to increase the upload limit today,” wrote Joshua Siegel, YouTube product manager for upload and video management in the post.
Hollywood Foreign Press gives away $1.5 millionSandy Cohen, Entertainment Writer
LOS ANGELES (AP) – The Hollywood Foreign Press Association is giving away money.
The group behind the Golden Globe Awards presented $1.5 million in grants to nonprofit film organizations at a star-studded luncheon Wednesday at the Four Seasons Hotel.
Eva Longoria Parker helped HFPA president Philip Berk hand out checks to film schools and groups that support film promotion and preservation.
The actress acknowledged she was slightly star-struck as she read from a script to present the various checks.
“This is hard for me, this teleprompter, because Nicole Kidman is sitting right behind it,” Parker said as she struggled with the transparent panels that flanked the podium. She decided to read from the screen away from Kidman’s table.
Kidman was among the stars who accepted the grants on stage, along with Bryan Cranston, Jane Lynch, Ryan Phillippe, John Slattery, Matthew Fox, Aaron Sorkin, Carla Gugino, Jim Parsons, Kaley Cuoco and A nnette Bening.
Recipients included Outfest, FilmAid International, the Museum of Modern Art, American Cinematheque, the American Film Institute, Inner-City Arts and 11 universities.
Berk says HFPA has given more than $12 million in grants to date.
The 68th annual Golden Globe Awards will be presented Jan. 16.
Sony Pictures Imageworks and Industrial Light & Magic Join Forces on ‘ALEMBIC’
LOS ANGELES – At SIGGRAPH, here this week, visual effects houses Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) and Sony Pictures Imageworks announced a co-developed open source project titled Alembic. At its core, Alembic is a computer graphics interchange format focused on efficiently storing and sharing animation and visual effects scenes across multiple software applications. It was designed to handle massive animation data sets often required in high-end visual effects, which are routinely developed and produced by companies such as Imageworks and ILM. The code base for Alembic is available for download on the project’s Google Code site and more information can be found online at: http://www.alembic.io.
Disney To Buy Ad Supported Social-Gaming Site Playdom
BURBANK, Calif. (AP) – The Walt Disney Co. is buying online social-gaming company Playdom for $563.2 million, the latest sign the company is becoming a formidable player in the video-game industry.
Disney said Tuesday it is buying Playdom to strengthen its digital-gaming portfolio. The purchase will help bring Disney’s characters, stories and brands to customers in new ways, through Facebook and MySpace.
Playdom, which is based in Mountain View, Calif., has about 42 million monthly active users, who play games such as “Social City” and “Sorority Life.”
In addition to the purchase price, Playdom shareholders may also earn another $200 million if the company meets certain financial targets.
The deal comes less than a month after Disney announced it bought Tapulous, the maker of the popular iPhone music game “Tap Tap Revenge.” And Disney bought the popular online kids hangout Club Penguin for $350 million in 2007.
Disney is snapping up Playdom amid a boom for online social games, which are played for free by millions of people and make money through ads and, more importantly, sales of virtual goods for small amounts of money.
The leader in the space, by far, is privately held Zynga, which boasts more than 235 million monthly users who play its “Farmville,” ”Mafia Wars” and poker games in Facebook and elsewhere online. Another social game developer, Playfish, was snapped up by Electronic Arts Inc. late last year for $275 million.
NYC Photographer Sues ‘Fela!’ ProducersNEW YORK (AP) — A New York City photographer claims one of her images is being used without her consent as a backdrop in the Tony award-winning Broadway musical “Fela!”
Marilyn Nance is asking $150,000 for copyright infringement. She’s filed a lawsuit in Manhattan federal court against the show’s producers.
The photo is of musician Fela Kuti’s nightclub in Lagos, Nigeria. The musical is about the late Afro-beat Nigerian superstar.
Nance’s photo also appears on the show’s souvenir material.
The producers include Jay-Z and Will and Jada Pinkett Smith.
Their spokesman says they’ve tried but weren’t able to resolve the dispute.
Spokesman Richard Kornberg says they’re in the process of replacing the image.
Traverse City Film Festival Honors John Hughes
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — The late writer and director John Hughes is being honored at the Traverse City Film Festival.
The Lansing native died last year at the age of 59 and is this year’s recipient of the Michigan Filmmaker Award. It’s given to Michigan natives for their contributions to the art of cinema.
Jeff Daniels and Christine Lahti are past recipients.
The award is to be dedicated posthumously to Hughes during the festival’s opening night on Tuesday.
His wife Nancy and sons James and John III say they “appreciate the opportunity to acknowledge how Michigan … helped shape his humor and storytelling.”
Hughes’ films include “The Breakfast Club,” ”Sixteen Candles” and “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.”
Online: http://www.traversecityfilmfest.org
Technicolor Receives a Binding Offer From Francisco Partners for Grass Valley Broadcast Business
PARIS–Technicolor has received a fully documented binding offer from Francisco Partners for the acquisition of the Grass Valley Broadcast business. This disposal process contributes to the strategic refocus around its content creators and network service providers customer base, initiated by the Group in 2009.
As announced early 2010, the Grass Valley perimeter has been reorganized in three distinct activities: broadcast, transmission and head-end, and is undergoing a social restructuring launched end of March 2010. The Broadcast activity provides professional equipment and related services to broadcasters and teleproduction companies. With 1,457 employees (as of 30 June 2010) operating in 23 countries, this activity recorded revenues of about 272 million Euros in 2009 and an operating loss of about 52 million Euros, and consumed about 49 million Euros of cash (excluding changes in working capital). In 2009, the Broadcast activity accounted for 72% of the total Grass Valley perimeter revenues and 59% of the operating loss.
Key Elements of the Offer
– The scope of the offer includes all assets and employees of the Grass Valley Broadcast business. It also includes the transfer of patents and a license agreement related to the professional broadcast equipment field of use. Retirement liabilities related to the active employees included in the perimeter of the sale will be transferred to the buyer.
– The offer values the Broadcast business at 100 million US Dollars.
– The offer made by Francisco Partners comprises the following:
– A 80 million US Dollars promissory note issued to Technicolor with a six-year maturity and bearing a capitalized interest of 5% per year. The amount of the note represents the value of the business minus the present value of retirement liabilities transferred.
– The transfer by Technicolor of a net amount of 20 millions Euros of cash required for the ongoing management of the activity.
– The right for Technicolor to receive additional consideration from the buyer based on the potential future remuneration of the new owners of the disposed entity.
– Based on the book value of the assets, the Group expects to register a loss for this disposal in his 2010 financial statements.
– Given the structure of the offer, Technicolor will not receive cash proceeds from this disposal which can be applied to the company’s Disposal Proceeds Notes.
– The transaction is expected to close before the end of 2010, subject to the relevant customary regulatory administrative approvals and consultations.
NBC Unveils Combined Online Advertising PlatformNEW YORK (AP) — NBC Universal on Monday unveiled an advertising network that pools together ad inventory for all of its 21 websites. The move means advertisers now can buy ads to target certain audiences, instead of by website.
NBC Universal, a unit of General Electric Co., said its Universal Audience Platform will compile display ad inventory for its sites which collectively reach nearly 60 million individual users each month.
Audience profiles include demographic information, location and behavior patterns. NBC Universal may supply additional internal data about the audience.
The platform will start with inventory from at least 20 of its sites, including NBC.com, USANetwork.com, Telemundo.com, BravoTV.com, NBCSports.com and others.
In a joint venture with GE, Comcast Corp. is buying a 51 percent stake in NBC Universal for $13.75 billion in cash and assets.
BMW, USOC Make 6-year Sponsorship Deal Official
Rachel Cohen, Sports Writer
NEW YORK (AP) — A German automaker sponsoring American athletes? BMW and U.S. Olympic Committee officials see nothing contradictory about that in this global economy.
The two organizations made their six-year deal official Monday at a news conference at a BMW dealership in Manhattan. A person familiar with the contract told The Associated Press in May that it’s worth about $24 million.
BMW will be the first foreign carmaker to sponsor the USOC and will fill a void left when General Motors decided not to renew its deal following the 2008 Olympics.
“All of our research shows that our fans really respect Olympic sponsors, because they know that’s the way we bring the team to the games,” USOC chief marketing officer Lisa Baird said.
BMW will also work with the American governing bodies for four sports: track and field, swimming, speedskating, and bobsled and skeleton. Speedskater Apolo Anton Ohno, who noted he’s a BMW owner, was on hand for the announcement.
“Part of our company’s ethos is to really become part of the culture” of countries where it sells cars, said Jack Pitney, vice president of marketing for BMW of North America.
BMW plans to use its engineers to help the USOC improve technology for its athletes, such as designing helmets that are more aerodynamic. It will also aid the USOC with fundraising.
BMW will be the USOC’s “official mobility partner,” a purposely broad term that ensures the company will be the sole sponsor for multiple forms of transportation, including those that haven’t even been invented yet.
BMW sponsors the German bobsled and luge team but not the country’s Olympic committee. The automaker has supported American athletes before as a sponsor of the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.
The new deal runs through the 2016 Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro.
AP National Writer Eddie Pells contributed to this report.
Gilliam To Direct YouTube Webcast of Arcade Fire
NEW YORK (AP) — Terry Gilliam will direct the live webcast of Arcade Fire’s concert at New York City’s Madison Square Garden.
The Arcade Fire show kicks off “Unstaged,” a new online concert series being launched by American Express and streamed on YouTube. The Montreal-based band will live stream their Aug. 5 concert at 10 p.m. EDT, the second of two shows at MSG.
Gilliam, whose films include “Brazil” and “12 Monkeys,” last released “The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus” in December.
The concert will stream on the Google Inc.-owned YouTube via Vevo, the music video site owned by Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment and Abu Dhabi Media Co.
It’s the first in a planned series of five live streamed concerts, with John Legend and the Roots to follow. Others will be announced later.
Online: http://www.youtube.com/arcadefirevevo
‘Motor City’ City Council Fears TV Show’s Focus on Stereotypes
Corey Williams
DETROIT (AP) – Members of the City Council are concerned the content of an upcoming crime drama will feed negative stereotypes of Detroit’s crime legacy.
The board wants producers of ABC’s “Detroit 1-8-7” to attend a Tuesday meeting.
Shot in Detroit, the drama set to air in September involves a documentary crew shadowing city homicide investigators.
The “1-8-7” in the title refers to the commonly known former California police code for homicide.
More than 700 people were murdered in 1974, earning Detroit the nickname “Murder City.” Detroit’s homicide rate still is among the highest in the country.
Michigan tax breaks are luring moviemakers to the state and Detroit.
Mayor Dave Bing’s office says it’s unrealistic for the city to micromanage the creative process of productions being filmed in Detroit.
Taymor’s ‘The Tempest’ To Close Venice FestivalMILAN (AP) – The Venice Film Festival says this year’s edition will close with Julie Taymor’s adaptation of Shakespeare’s “The Tempest.”
The movie by the American director will make its world premiere at Venice, which runs Sept. 1-11.
The Venice Film Festival director Marco Mueller called the production “unique and exhilarating,” and said in a release Monday that Taymor uses “trademark visual flair and creative direction.”
Prospera is portrayed by Oscar winner Helen Mirren.
Taymor worked with Anthony Hopkins and Jessica Lang in her debut film, “Titus,” and her 2002 film “Frida” earned six Academy Award nominations and won two.
Samuel L. Jackson Announces ‘Avengers’ CastSAN DIEGO (AP) – Comic book fans no longer have to imagine what it might be like to see all their favorite superheroes in one place.
They got the chance Saturday at Comic-Con, when the cast of the forthcoming “Avengers” film took the stage. Samuel L. Jackson surprised some 6,000 fans gathered for a Marvel Studios presentation when he stepped out just as it was ending and started introducing the cast of “The Avengers.”
Jackson brought out stars Clark Gregg, Scarlett Johannson, Chris Hemsworth of “Thor” and Chris Evans of “Captain America.”
He then introduced another surprise guest, Robert Downey Jr., who brought out the rest of the all-star cast, including Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye and Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner.
“The Avengers” is based on the comic book series of the same name, which brings various Marvel superheroes together. The film is due in 2012.
Favreau, Ford, Craig Surprise Fans at Comic-ConSandy Cohen, Entertainment Writer
SAN DIEGO (AP) – It was as though Han Solo himself had stepped into the San Diego Convention Center.
Harrison Ford made a surprise appearance at Comic-Con Saturday, and the crowd of some 6,000 sci-fi and comic book fans greeted him with a sustained standing ovation unmatched by any other during this year’s event.
Two security guards playfully brought him out in handcuffs.
The “Star Wars” hero smiled bashfully, seemingly moved by the warm welcome.
“I just wanted to make a living as an actor,” he said. “I didn’t know about this.”
Ford was on hand to help present his new film, “Cowboys & Aliens,” joining a panel that included co-stars Daniel Craig, Sam Rockwell, Olivia Wilde and director Jon Favreau.
The film looks like an old-fashioned Western when suddenly a spaceship arrives. Favreau said he aimed to balance the two genres without relying on too many computer-generated effects.
“The take was make a by-the-book Wes tern right down the middle … and mix it with the type of sci-fi movie I grew up with, before they had CG when it was verging on horror,” he said. “Then just use GCI to do what they couldn’t do back then.”
“Cowboys & Aliens” is set for release next summer.
