Feature film (Laurel Canyon, High Art) and episodic TV (Push Nevada) director Lisa Cholodenko has signed with Palomar Pictures, Los Angeles, for representation in all areas, including commercials….Fearless Music, under the aegis of owner/composer Jamie Lamm, has gone bicoastal. The longstanding New York company has opened a Los Angeles office. Signed for the newly christened Fearless Music West are recording industry vets, composers/producers/musicians….Bob Kulick and Billy Sherwood….Sound designer Taso Ekonomou has joined Ultra Sound—the audio division of New York-headquartered The Napoleon Group….Editor Erin Norstrom has joined Venice, Calif.-based The Big House. She most recently cut the documentary I am Trying to Break Your Heart, featuring rock band Wilco. Previously, she edited in-house for agency Ground Zero, Marina del Rey, Calif…. U.K.-headquartered Cintel International, known for such fare as its C-Reality telecine line, has purchased key assets and intellectual property rights of another U.K.-based telecine manufacturer, Innovation TK (ITK). Stuart Hunt, who’s been responsible for much of the technology to come out of ITK in recent years, joins Cintel as technical director. He will work closely with Cintel’s R&D team and plans to ensure the continuity and support of ITK’s Millennium and Millennium Lite telecines, as well as its Y-Front, Twigi and Scan’dal machines….Michael Cook, formerly co-owner of The Film Business, Sydney, has been named CEO/exec producer of Filmgraphics, the Sydney house launched in 1964 by director David Denneen. As a spot helmer, Denneen is repped stateside by bicoastal Anonymous Content….Director/cinematographer Carolyn Chen—whose spot roost is bicoastal/international Believe Media, received the Kodak Vision Award during last week’s Women In Film Crystal & Lucy Awards 2002 in Los Angeles. The Vision Award recognizes outstanding achievement in cinematography and directing as well as Chen’s collaboration with and assistance to women in the entertainment industry……Director Marcus Nispel is again available for spots at bicoastal/international Morton Jankel Zander after principal photography was wrapped on his feature directorial debut, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. New Line Cinema is slated to release the film on Oct. 31……
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