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    STREET TALK

    By SHOOT StaffUpdated:No Comments1493 Views
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    Negotiations for a new Writers Guild of America (WGA) film and TV contract broke off last week, increasing the possibility that there will be a writers’ strike when the WGA’s current contract with producers expires May 1. A strike could have ripple effects on the spot production business. Some fear that the delay of the new fall season—or its start without a full slate of new programming to sponsor—might cause advertisers to curtail their spotmaking activity. Also, an increasing number of feature filmmakers are looking at commercials as an alternate source of work if a strike comes to pass. This would add to what is already a glut of directors competing for ad assignments….Bruce Martin has joined Los Angeles-headquartered Scream as co-executive producer in charge of marketing and sales. Also coming over with him from his former roost, Los Angeles-based No Prisoners, is director Brian Scott Weber. Scream is headed by founder/executive producer Charles Salice…. Word is that director Marc Chiat is headed to Hollywood-based Orbit Productions for spots. Orbit has also secured feature filmmaker Bruce Beresford (Driving Miss Daisy, Breaker Morant, Tender Mercies, Double Jeopardy) for commercial representation….Director Mike Wang has joined Cognito Films, a Santa Monica-based shop headed by executive producer Alan Landau….Actor Michael Imperioli (The Sopranos) has signed with Perretti Productions, New York, for exclusive representation as a spot director….Storyville Pictures, a Venice, Calif.-based production company launched in January by executive producer Dirk Detweiler, has signed its first director: Glen Owen, who was most recently represented by Wall to Wall Films, New York. It is expected that Storyville’s roster will grow to include four directors. Detweiler has worked as a freelance line producer for the past 10 years…. Rocket Productions, Dallas, has signed the directorial team of Brad Murano and Steve Miller for spot and corporate work….

    Category:Street Talk



    Review: Writer-Director Mark Anthony Green’s “Opus”

    Tuesday, March 11, 2025

    In the new horror movie "Opus," we are introduced to Alfred Moretti, the biggest pop star of the '90s, with 38 No. 1 hits and albums as big as "Thriller," "Hotel California" and "Nebraska." If the name Alfred Moretti sounds more like a personal injury attorney from New Jersey, that's the first sign "Opus" is going to stumble.

    John Malkovich leans into his regular off-kilter creepy to play the unlikely pop star at the center of this serious misfire by the A24 studio, a movie that also manages to pull "The Bear" star Ayo Edebiri back to earth. How both could be totally miscast will haunt your dreams.

    Writer-director Mark Anthony Green has created a pretty good premise: A massive pop star who went quiet for the better part of three decades reemerges with a new album — his 18th studio LP, called "Caesar's Request" — and invites a select six people to come to his remote Western compound for an album listening weekend. It's like a golden ticket.

    Edebiri's Ariel is a one of those invited. She's 27, a writer for a hip music magazine who has been treading water for three years. She's ambitious but has no edge. "Your problem is you're middle," she's told. Unfortunately, her magazine boss is also invited, which means she's just a note-taker. Edebiri's self-conscious, understated humor is wasted here.

    It takes Ariel and the rest of the guests — an influencer, a paparazzo, a former journalist-nemesis and a TV personality played by Juliette Lewis, once again cast as the frisky sexpot — way too much time to realize that Moretti has created a cult in the desert. And they're murderous. This is Cameron Crowe's "Almost Famous" crossed with Mark Mylod's "The Menu."

    It's always a mistake to get too close a look at the monster in a horror... Read More

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