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Wednesday, Mar. 5, 2014

Cinematographers to hold candlelit walk and memorial for Sarah Jones on Friday

LOS ANGELES --

The International Cinematographers Guild (IATSE Local 600) will hold a candlelit walk and memorial on Friday, March 7 for 27-year-old Sarah Jones, the assistant camerawoman who was tragically killed on February 20, while on location in Georgia. Starting at the Directors Guild of America, 7920 Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles at 7:00pm, Local 600 members will join fellow union and guild members and members of the production community in a walk to the memorial service at ICG's national offices, 7755 Sunset Boulevard.

Sarah’s parents, Elizabeth and Richard Jones, will fly in from South Carolina to attend.

Steven Poster, ASC, president of the guild, said, “I hope that the lesson the industry takes from this awful tragedy is that there can be no short cuts in the workplace. A person’s life is infinitely more important than a production’s schedule or budget. Safety has to be the number one priority in our More

Wednesday, Mar. 5, 2014

Calif. production company moves to NY to anchor new hub for nano industries

SYRACUSE, NY (AP) --

A California-based film and television company is moving its operations to a suburban Syracuse complex that will specialize in providing advanced visual production research.

Onondaga County Executive Joanie Mahoney and Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced the plan Tuesday night during Mahoney’s state of the county address in Syracuse.

Los Angeles-based Film House will be the first tenant at the DeWitt complex that will be led by the State University of New York’s College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering. Cuomo says the new hub will focus on using nanotechnology in film and TV production.

The governor says the company will move its headquarters, production and other operations to DeWitt. The project is expected to create 350 new high-tech jobs and 150 construction jobs.

Construction is set to start by April 1, with completion scheduled by October.

Wednesday, Mar. 5, 2014

“The Ellen DeGeneres Show” breaks ratings records

BURBANK, Calif. --

Monday’s live post-Oscar episode of “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” was the highest rated episode in the series’ 11-year history, averaging a 4.8 Household rating/11 share in the overnight markets, a full ratings point higher than the series’ previous high 3.8, earned a decade ago (1/26/04). The episode was the highest rated with women, 18-49 (2.1/11) and women, 25-54 (2.7/13) in the LPM Era (which began in the 08-09 season) (NSI WRAP Overnights, Weighted market average, Live +SD where available).

DeGeneres also set records across the daytime talk show’s social media channels following her Oscar hosting duties on Sunday, March 2nd as the ultimate selfie temporarily shut down Twitter:
• The record-breaking selfie was retweeted 3.14MM times, a Twitter record previously held by @BarackObama with 782K retweets (Twitter).
• “Ellen” added 2.7MM new followers after the tweet, making for a total of 27.4MM Twitter followers (Twitter analytics). More

Tuesday, Mar. 4, 2014

Conan O'Brien to host MTV Movie Awards

In this Dec. 12, 2013, file photo, talk show host Conan O'Brien arrives for the Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences awards in Moffett Field, Calif. (AP Photo/Ben Margot, file)

LOS ANGELES (AP) --

Conan O'Brien will be serving up buckets of golden popcorn.

O'Brien announced Tuesday on his TBS talk show "Conan" that he's hosting this year's MTV Movie Awards. The annual movie celebration that honors winners with popcorn-shaped trophies is scheduled for April 13 at the Nokia Theatre in downtown Los Angeles.

"After eight years of intense negotiations, I am honored to announce I am hosting MTV's second most prestigious awards show," the comedian joked in a statement.

It marks the first time O'Brien has hosted the MTV Movie Awards. He previously hosted the Primetime Emmy Awards in 2002 and 2006.

Past hosts of the MTV Movie Awards have included Jimmy Fallon, Aziz Ansari, Russell Brand, Rebel Wilson and Sarah Silverman.

Tuesday, Mar. 4, 2014

Ex-Skype CEO, marketing officer out at Microsoft

REDMOND, Wash. (AP) --

Microsoft says former Skype CEO Tony Bates and Chief Marketing Officer Tami Reller are leaving the company.

New CEO Satya Nadella announced the news in a blog post Monday. It's his first big move since he took over from outgoing CEO Steve Ballmer last month.

Chris Capossela was promoted to executive vice president and chief marketing officer, while executive vice president of advertising and strategy Mark Penn was named chief strategy officer.

Nadella says in the post that the company needs to "drive clarity, alignment and intensity across all our work."

He said Microsoft's goal is to work in harmony like a team of rowers, citing a passage from "The Boys in the Boat," a book about the 1936 U.S. men's Olympic gold medalist eight-oar rowing team.

Tuesday, Mar. 4, 2014

Comcast to buy ad tech firm FreeWheel for $320M

By Ryan Nakashima, Business Writer

LOS ANGELES (AP) --

Comcast is buying online ad technology firm FreeWheel Media for about $320 million in a move that supports both its media content and cable businesses.

That's according to a person familiar with the matter, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the deal isn't final.

The purchase will help Comcast Corp. make money from ads placed on its content over a variety of platforms as FreeWheel technology evolves and gets better.

FreeWheel will also continue to help other media companies profit from their own digital content, which encourages them to make more shows available on demand and on other platforms that Comcast offers to its subscribers.

The person says San Mateo, Calif.-based FreeWheel will continue to operate independently. Its current investors include Disney's Steamboat Ventures and Time Warner's TBS.

Tuesday, Mar. 4, 2014

Post-Oscar sales jump for '12 Years a Slave' book

Director Steve McQueen, left, celebrates with the cast and crew of "12 Years a Slave" as they accept the award for best picture during the Oscars at the Dolby Theatre on Sunday, March 2, 2014, in Los Angeles. (Photo by John Shearer/Invision/AP)

NEW YORK (AP) --

"12 Years a Slave" is getting a post-Oscar bump — for the book it was based on.

The 19th-century memoir by ex-slave Solomon Northup jumped from No. 326 on Amazon.com before Sunday night's Academy Awards ceremony to No. 19 on Monday afternoon.

The film was directed by Steve McQueen and stars Chiwetel Ejiofor (CHOO'-ih-tel EHJ'-ee-oh-fohr). It was among last year's most highly praised releases and won the Oscar for best picture. It was the first film directed by a black person to win for best picture.

The book and the movie tell of how the free-born black Northup was kidnapped and forced into slavery. Thanks to the movie's success, interest in the book has been revived and public high schools are starting to add it to course lists.

Tuesday, Mar. 4, 2014

False alarm 'Olympus' movie ad draws $1.9M fine

LOS ANGELES (AP) --

It turns out that using emergency warning tones in a TV commercial with images of the White House blowing up and the flashing words "THIS IS NOT A TEST" is frowned upon by the government.

The Federal Communications Commission said Monday it was fining three media giants $1.9 million for using the official warning tones in an ad for the movie "Olympus Has Fallen" that had some complainants jumping out of bathtubs and racing to the TV screen.

The companies have 30 days to contest the fines or pay up.

The ad aired 108 times on Viacom Inc. networks like BET and Comedy Central, 38 times on NBCUniversal channels like USA and SyFy and 13 times on The Walt Disney Co.'s ESPN in March 2013.

Viacom said in a statement it "regrets the airing of the advertisement" and is no longer accepting ads that use the signal, which is part of the nationwide Emergency Alert System. ESPN said it is assessing the More

Tuesday, Mar. 4, 2014

Oscars draw 43 million viewers

Ellen DeGeneres hosts the Oscars at the Dolby Theatre on Sunday, March 2, 2014, in Los Angeles. (Photo by John Shearer/Invision/AP)

NEW YORK (AP) --

An estimated 43 million people watched the Academy Awards, the most-watched audience for the show in a decade and most popular entertainment event on television since the "Friends" finale in 2004.

The Nielsen company said Monday that Oscar viewership was up for the third straight year and is considered yet another example of how social media is helping to drive up the ratings for big television events. The Oscars last year were seen by 40.4 million people.

Ellen DeGeneres was host of the Academy Awards for a second time, replacing the edgy Seth MacFarlane, who had the job last year.

The Oscars, which aired Sunday, are usually the second most-watched television program of the year in the United States, after the Super Bowl.

Sunday, Mar. 2, 2014

French filmmaker Resnais dies at 91

In this May 21, 2012 file photo, director Alain Resnais listens during a press conference at the 65th international film festival, in Cannes. (AP Photo/Joel Ryan, File)

PARIS (AP) --

Alain Resnais, the French filmmaker whose cryptic "Last Year at Marienbad" extended its influence across generations, has died at 91.

Resnais was editing drafts of his next project even from his hospital bed, according to producer Jean-Louis Livi, who was working on the film with him.

Resnais, who died Saturday, was renowned for reinventing himself during each of his full-length films, which included the acclaimed "Hiroshima Mon Amour" in 1959 and most recently "Life of Riley," which was honored at the Berlin Film Festival just weeks ago.

"He was a man of the highest quality, a genius," Livi told France Info radio on Sunday, confirming Resnais' death with "enormous sadness, accompanied by enormous pride."

French President Francois Hollande said France had lost "one of its greatest filmmakers."

"He received all the recognition and prizes. But what counted for him was always his More