Infomercial King Holds Audition for Next Big Thing
By John Rogers
LOS ANGELES (AP) – There wasn’t a bottle of Oxiclean or a ShamWow anywhere. But there was Dawn Stephens’ nifty new, all-in-one toilet-bowl-cleaning brush.
“We don’t have to look for the cleaning liquid and the brush. The cleaning liquid is right inside the brush!” the chirpy, singsongy Stephens shouted in delight as she pitched her invention Wednesday to a panel of judges that included infomercial king AJ Khubani.
Khubani, founder of the Telebrands “As Seen on TV” products company, has made a fortune hawking products like the Ped Egg (to trim calluses off your feet) and has spent the better part of three decades looking for the next hot thing to sell to insomniacs hooked on late-night TV.
But in this era of endless reality TV and get-rich-and-famous-quick schemes, Khubani is changing his entrepreneurial approach. Instead of trotting the globe looking for the next Thighmaster or inviting inventors to his New Jersey headquarters to show him a next-generation Clapper that he can sell for a cut of the profits, he’s assembled an “American Idol”-like panel of judges and taken them on the road.
The group plans stops at several other, still-to-be-determined cities, and it is unclear how many inventors they will pick to promote. There is no reality show yet, but television cameras are filming – in case Khubani strikes a television deal.
Khubani’s first stop was Los Angeles, where Stephens found herself with nearly three dozen other inventors from around the country, each waiting for five minutes to make their pitch to Khubani and his fellow judges, who included his wife, Poonam.
As they passed the time waiting to be called, many kept busy pitching their products to one another.
Khubani has a proven track record in picking the next big product. The little map that holds the quarters from each state? That was his. So was the Smart-Mop Shammy, the Jack LaLane Mini Stepper and the Windshield Wonder. (He uses that latter product himself, he says, to reach those hard-to-get-to places on his car’s windshield.)
He was also skeptical of the all-in-one toilet bowl brush that Stephens had waved like a wand.
Everyone on the panel, however, was impressed by Stephens’ flair. The Gilbert, Ariz., woman’s delivery was part infomercial, part snake-oil sales spiel.
“Mark her down as a potential pitch person,” Khubani said after Stephens left the room.
YouTube Turns on Captions on Millions of Videos
SAN BRUNO, Calif. (AP) – YouTube is adding captions to millions of Internet videos.
The feature unveiled Thursday expands upon speech-recognition technology that YouTube began using to make captions available on a limited number of videos late last year.
YouTube’s audience will be able to request captions at the press of a button. Video producers will also be able to download the automated captions and improve upon them.
For now, YouTube’s captioning tool will only work on videos with English audio, although there are plans to include more languages. The English audio, however, can be translated into 50 different languages.
YouTube, owned by Google, is the Web’s most popular video site. Its users upload about 28,800 hours of video each day.
Berlin Festival Protests Panahi Arrest
BERLIN (AP) – The Berlin film festival is criticizing the arrest of acclaimed Iranian director Jafar Panahi.
Panahi has backed his country’s opposition. He was taken into custody in Tehran on Monday accused of committing unspecified offenses.
Berlin festival director Dieter Kosslick said Wednesday: “We are concerned and dismayed that a director who has won many international prizes has been arrested due to his work as an artist.”
Panahi’s “Offside,” a film following girls who disguise themselves as boys to sneak into a football match in Tehran, won a runner-up Silver Bear award at the Berlin festival in 2006.
He was denied permission to leave Iran last month to attend a panel discussion at this year’s festival.
Hulu Losing ‘Daily Show,’ ‘Colbert Report’
Jake Coyle, Entertainment Writer
NEW YORK (AP) — The popular video Web site Hulu is losing two of its most popular offerings: “The Daily Show” and “The Colbert Report.”
Hulu announced Tuesday that Comedy Central was pulling its shows from the site beginning March 10. Both “The Daily Show” and “The Colbert Report consistently rank among Hulu’s most watched programs.
Comedy Central, which is owned by Viacom Inc., was a relatively late arrival to Hulu, which is co-owned by NBC Universal, Fox Entertainment Group and the Walt Disney Co. (which owns ABC). When “Colbert” and “The Daily Show” were added in June 2008, some technology blogs such as Techcrunch.com said it signified Hulu’s arrival as the pre-eminent provider of TV programming on the Web.
In a blog post on Hulu, Andy Forssell, senior vice president of content and distribution at Hulu, offered a “fond farewell” to the Comedy Central shows, lamenting their exit.
But Forssell also said that Hulu and Comedy Central continue to talk about “a number of opportunities” and that he was confident Hulu will be working with them “in multiple ways in the future.”
Comedy Central issued a statement that said its agreement with Hulu had “concluded,” but the channel also suggested an amicable parting.
“We had a great experience with Hulu, and we hope to work with its team again in the future,” said Comedy Central.
Viacom hasn’t been shy about offering its programming on Web sites it owns. Full episodes of “The Daily Show” and “Colbert” are still offered by Comedy Central on each show’s respective Web site. The shows were the first late-night talk programs to offer full-episode streaming online.
The exit by Comedy Central is a blow to Hulu, which has been increasingly gaining programming, not losing it, since it was launched in early 2007. The site has grown to feature more than 14,000 hours of original programming. More than 1 billion videos were viewed on the site in December, according to ComScore.
AP Television Writer Lynn Elber in Los Angeles contributed to this report.
Bomb Disposal Expert: ‘Hurt Locker’ Based On Him
Mike Householder
SOUTHFIELD, Mich. (AP) – A bomb disposal expert who served in the Iraq war plans to sue the makers of “The Hurt Locker,” claiming the film’s lead character is based on him and that they cheated him out of “financial participation in the film,” his attorney said.
Attorney Geoffrey Fieger said at a news conference Wednesday that he plans to file the multimillion-dollar lawsuit in New Jersey court on behalf of Master Sgt. Jeffrey Sarver.
Sarver claims the film’s screenwriter, Mark Boal, was embedded in Sarver’s unit and that the information he gathered was used in the film, Fieger said in a news release. The film is nominated for nine Academy Awards, including best original screenplay.
Sarver says the main character, Will James, is based on him and that James’ call signal, “Blaster One,” was his during his tours of duty, Fieger said. Sarver also says he coined the phrase “The Hurt Locker.”
Fieger said Boal’s embedded reporting led to an a rticle in Playboy magazine about Sarver, and that story later was adapted by Boal for “The Hurt Locker” screenplay.
The movie’s U.S. distributor, Summit Entertainment, issued a statement saying it hopes “for a quick resolution to the claims made by Master Sgt. Sarver.”
“The film is a story about heroes depicting a fictional account of what brave men and women do on the battlefield,” the company said. “We have no doubt that Master Sgt. Sarver served his country with honor and commitment risking his life for a greater good, but we distributed the film based on a fictional screenplay written by Mark Boal.”
It’s been a rough start to the week for “The Hurt Locker.” On Monday, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences penalized one of the film’s producers because of e-mails he sent urging academy members to vote for his movie.
‘Hurt Locker’ Producer Barred From Oscars
LOS ANGELES (AP) – A producer of the war story “The Hurt Locker” will not be allowed to attend the Academy Awards because of e-mails he sent urging academy members to vote for his movie. But he will receive an Oscar if his film wins best picture.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced the action Tuesday against producer Nicolas Chartier, who violated Oscar rules that prohibit mailings promoting a film by disparaging another.
Chartier sent e-mails seeking support for “The Hurt Locker,” ”not a “$500 million film” – an obvious reference to best-picture contender “Avatar.” Chartier apologized in a subsequent e-mail.
While Chartier cannot attend Sunday’s ceremony, he would receive his Oscar later if “The Hurt Locker” wins.
Man Agrees To Remove Huge Ad from Hollywood Site
Jacob Adelman
LOS ANGELES (AP) – A Los Angeles businessman who was arrested for investigation of draping a building with a massive movie billboard near the site of the upcoming Oscars agreed to remove the sign Monday in exchange for a drastic reduction of his bail.
Superior Court Judge Mildred Escobedo accepted the deal between Kayvan Setareh’s lawyers and the city attorney’s office, which dropped his bail from $1 million to $100,000 after Setareh agreed to have a crew begin removing the eight-story ad by Monday night.
Authorities said Setareh arranged for the ad for DreamWorks Animation LLC’s upcoming movie “How to Train Your Dragon” to be hung on a Hollywood Boulevard building he owns near the Kodak Theatre, the site of Sunday’s Academy Awards.
He was accused of posting the unpermitted sign despite repeated warnings that it would violate city safety codes and the ban passed last year by the City Council on supergraphics.
DreamWorks Animation referred questions to Paramount Pictures, which was handling marketing for “How to Train Your Dragon.” Paramount said in a statement that it had been assured that the site had all appropriate permits .
A spokeswoman did not respond to an e-mail seeking details about the advertising contract and asking whether the sign was supposed to have remained through the Oscars broadcast, where it could have been visible to TV cameras covering the event.
Book Optioned By ‘Avatar’ Director Is Halted
Hillel Italie, National Writer
NEW YORK (AP) – Publication has been halted for a disputed book about the atomic bombing of Japan that “Avatar” director James Cameron had optioned for a possible film, The Associated Press has learned.
Publisher Henry Holt and Company, responding to questions from the AP, said Monday that author Charles Pellegrino “was not able to answer” concerns about “The Last Train from Hiroshima,” including whether two men mentioned in the book actually existed.
“It is with deep regret that Henry Holt and Company announces that we will not print, correct or ship copies of Charles Pellegrino’s ‘The Last Train from Hiroshima,'” the publisher said in a statement.
Doubts were first raised about the book a week ago after Pellegrino acknowledged that one of his interview subjects had falsely claimed to be on one of the planes accompanying the Enola Gay, from which an atom bomb was dropped by the United States on Hiroshima in 1945. Holt had i nitially promised to send a corrected edition.
But further doubts about the book emerged. The publisher was unable to determine the existence of a Father Mattias (the first name is not given) who supposedly lived in Hiroshima at the time of the bombing, and John MacQuitty, identified as a Jesuit scholar presiding over Mattias’ funeral
“I read a number of books on this period of time and none of them mentioned Mattias or MacQuitty. I knew there was no way those people could have been omitted if they were real,” said history professor Barton Bernstein of Stanford University.
Pellegrino’s own background was also questioned. He sometimes refers to himself as Dr. Pellegrino, and his Web site lists him as receiving a Ph.D. in 1982 from Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. But in response to a query from the AP, the school said it had no proof that Pellegrino had such a degree.
Holt publicist Nicole Dewey said 18,000 copies of the book, published in January, were in print. The publisher “will issue full credit to wholesalers and retailers who wish to return the book. Consumers who seek a refund should return to the retailer from whom they purchased the book,” Monday’s statement said.
As of Monday afternoon, “Last Train” was ranked at 244 on the Amazon.com best-seller list. According to Nielsen BookScan, which tracks around 75 percent of industry sales, the book has sold 7,000 copies.
The book’s fate not only means the likely demise of the film deal with Cameron, who provided a blurb for “Last Train,” but complicates the long history of collaboration between the director and Pellegrino, who served as an adviser for “Avatar,” the box-office champ that has been nominated for nine Academy Awards.
Cameron wrote introductions for Pellegrino’s “Ghosts of the Titanic,” published in 2000, and for the controversial 2007 release “The Jesus Family Tomb,” co-authored by Pellegrino and strongly questioned by scholars for its assertion that a tomb discovered in Jerusalem contained the remains of Jesus and possible family members.
“The Last Train from Hiroshima” had received strong reviews, including a rave from The New York Times’ Dwight Garner, who called it a “sober and authoritative new book” and a “gleaming, popular wartime history.” Pellegrino first acknowledged flaws in the book when he told the Times last month that he had been misled by Joseph Fuoco, who had claimed he was a last-minute replacement for flight engineer James R. Corliss.
New ‘Shrek’ Film to Open Tribeca Film Festival
NEW YORK (AP) – The Tribeca Film Festival will open with the world premiere of “Shrek Forever After” on April 21.
The annual New York film festival, co-created by Robert De Niro, announced the selection Monday.
“Shrek Forever After” is the fourth film in DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc.’s “Shrek” series. It stars Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz and Antonio Banderas.
The film is being advertised as the “final chapter” in the “Shrek” series. It’s also the first “Shrek” released in 3-D.
The ninth annual Tribeca Film Festival runs through May 2. The rest of its slate will be announced in the coming weeks.
On the Net: http://www.tribecafilm.com/festival/
“A Prophet” Nabs Cesar; Wins French Film Indy Top PrizePARIS (AP) – The French film industry has showered honors on director Jacques Audiard’s Oscar-nominated “Un Prophete” (“A Prophet”), giving the movie France’s coveted Cesar award for best movie.
Audiard was named best director and star Tahar Rahim best actor at Saturday’s awards ceremony.
Isabelle Adjani received the best actress award for her role in “La journee de la jupe” (“The Day of the Skirt”).
“A Prophet,” which was nominated for an Oscar in the best foreign-language film category, collected nine awards in the annual French film industry competition. The movie won the second-place prize at last year’s Cannes Film Festival.
The prison drama tells the story of an illiterate inmate who educates himself. During his six-year incarceration, he becomes involved in drug and smuggling circles. Rahim, a young Frenchman of North African origin, plays the film’s main character, Malik.
Clint Eastwood’s film “Grand Torino” won the Cesar for best foreign film.
Iranian Filmmaker Who Backed Opposition Detained
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) – The Tehran prosecutor says an internationally acclaimed Iranian filmmaker has been detained as he hosted guests at his home.
The state IRNA news agency says Jafar Panahi was taken into custody late Monday.
The Tuesday report quotes Prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dowlatabadi as saying the detention was not political. He said another person was arrested with Panahi.
The prosecutor did not elaborate but said the case is under investigation.
Panahi backed the opposition after the disputed June presidential election. He was briefly detained last summer when he visited the gravesides of the victims of Tehran’s post-election unrest and later banned from traveling abroad.
Panahi, who is 49, has won awards at the Chicago, Cannes and Berlin film festivals.
