Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Triple Trouble
Albert and Lucy fall madly in love, got married, this will let you daughter Casey. Things are wonderful, till success running a business draw attention away from Albert and Lucy from one another and Casey. They soon divorce and begin fighting so Casey beats sues to divorce her parents, to visit accept the maid that has been being careful of her. Themedia includes a area day, that is only making things worse.Watch Movie For Free
Monday, August 29, 2011
Two for the Road
Joanna is in a touring girl's choir and Mark is a struggling architect. when they first meet on the road in Europe. The film follows their life together --- through courtship and marriage, infidelity and parenthood --- all on the road in a variety of cars through a score of time-shifting vignettes.
Thursday, August 25, 2011
'Friday Night Lights' team tackles NBC Western
NBC and Universal Media Studios are reassembling a team from "Friday Night Lights" to tackle another genre: the Western."Lights" executive producers Peter Berg and Sarah Aubrey are saddling up with Liz Heldens, a co-executive producer on the recently retired football series, who will write the script for what is being described as a Western from a female point of view. NBC entertainment chairman Robert Greenblatt is said to be keen on trying to revive the genre if the right project comes together. Though no one has put a Western in primetime since HBO's "Deadwood," AMC is set to give it a shot next with its upcoming drama "Hell on Wheels." NBC tried last year with Peter Horton-produced pilot "Reconstruction," but it didn't make air.Berg is already back on NBC this fall as EP of "Prime Suspect." In addition, he will oversee upcoming HBO series "On Freddie Roach."Heldens moved on from "Lights" to other NBC series that didn't last as long, including executive producer duties on "Mercy," which she created, and co-executive producer on "Love Bites." She signed a two-year overall deal with UMS in 2009. Before that she was under an overall deal at 20th Century Fox TV, where she worked on the WB series "Pepper Dennis" and Fox's "North Shore." Contact Andrew Wallenstein at andrew.wallenstein@variety.com
Friday, August 19, 2011
WME Signs Production Co. BermanBraun
EXCLUSIVE: Gail Berman and Lloyd Braun's production company BermanBraun has signed with WME for representation. At the agency, the company's entertainment division will be handled by co-CEO Ari Emanuel and head of the TV department Rick Rosen. The move formalizes BermanBraun's existing relationship with WME as Berman and Braun are long-time very close friends with Emanuel and Rosen, and the agency has been unofficially handing the production company in its deals. (BermanBraun hasn't had official agency representation until now.) On the TV side, BermanBraun, which has had a first-look TV deal with NBC Universal, has the series Alphas on Syfy. It produced 2 pilots this past season, drama Weekends at Bellevue at Fox and the Dan Goor comedy at NBC. On the film side, BermanBraun has several projects in development, including comedies Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus, based on the book, and Rentaghost, which has Russell Brand attached to star. Additionally, the company has a strong digital division that is behind several celebrity/lifestyle sites with MSN, including Wonderwall and GLO.
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
'Childrens Hospital' Renewed for Fourth Season
Adult Swim has renewed Childrens Hospital for a fourth season. Production on 14 episodes of the one-time web series have been ordered, with production beginning later this year for broadcast in 2012. Rob Corddry created and stars in the ensemble series as Blake Downs, a doctor who sports clown makeup and believes in the healing power of laughter over medicine. The series, which Adult Swim picked up last year, has gradually grown in episode orders from five to 12 and now 14 episodes. Distributed by Warner Bros. Television and produced and written by Jonathan Stern and David Wain, Childrens co-stars Malin Akerman, Lake Bell, Erinn Hayes, Rob Huebel, Ken Marino, Megan Mullally and Henry Winkler. "I'm very pleased and honored by this announcement," Corddry said in a statement announcing the renewal Tuesday. "I'm also very surprised, given that I write this show when I'm very, very drunk. Season four promises to be a cry for help." The series has continued attract an all-star roster of guest stars, including Jon Hamm, Michael Cera and Nick Offerman, among several others. Check out a clip featuring Corddry below. Email: Lesley.Goldberg@thr.com; Twitter: @Snoodit Adult Swim
Friday, August 12, 2011
Bouchareb slates trio of English-lingo pics
French-Algerian filmmaker Rachid Bouchareb has lined up a trio of English-language films with Arabic sensibilities, including pics toplined by Forest Whitaker and Sienna Miller. Bouchareb, whose "Outside the Law" was nominated for the foreign-language Oscar last year, will produce the three films with partner Jean Brehat through their American company Taghit, which was formed in 1999. First pic will be the American production "Just Like a Woman," which will star Miller and Iranian actress Golshifteh Farahani ("Body of Lies") as two women from different backgrounds who embark on a journey of self-discovery after escaping from broken marriages. Miller's character pursues a passion for belly-dancing after catching her husband cheating, while Farahani plays an Arab immigrant to Chicago who works at a supermarket and is berated by her mother-in-law for not having produced any children. Charles Cohen ("Frozen River") is also producing "Woman." The second film will be "Belleville's Cop," which Bouchareb co-wrote with Larry Gross ("48 Hrs."). Pic, which will begin filming in late summer 2012, is a fish-out-of-water comedy about a French-Arabic cop sent to work alongside a LAPD policewoman. Whitaker is attached to star in the untitled third pic, which is set in Arizona along the Mexican border. Whitaker will play a Muslim parolee released from prison after a 10-year stint who takes up residence in a small city full of paranoia about outsiders. Story focuses on his relationship with his parole officer and the town's sheriff, who's convinced that terrorists are crossing the border along with illegal immigrants. Production is skedded for 2013. Cinema Libre Studio will release Bouchareb's "London River" later this year. Set in London of 2005, pic stars Brenda Blethyn and Sotigui Kouyate as strangers in search of their son and daughter, who have been missing since the underground terrorist bombings. Contact Variety Staff at news@variety.com
'Office' Writer-Producer Justin Spitzer Signs Overall Deal With UMS
EXCLUSIVE: The Office writer-producer Justin Spitzer has signed a two-year overall deal with the studio behind the NBC comedy, Universal Media Studios. Under the seven-figure deal, Spitzer's first, he will continue on The Office while also developing new series projects. Spitzer's only previous stab at development was selling a comedy spec to ABC six years ago. Spitzer's career path so far has been determined by two spec scripts. A Scrubs spec he wrote got to the show's creator/executive producer Bill Lawrence eight years ago and became his first produced script. Then the spec he sold to ABC got in the hands of The Office executive producer Greg Daniels who, based on it, hired Spitzer on The Office at the beginning of Season 3. Spitzer has gone through the ranks and is being upped to a co-executive producer for next season. On the development side, Spitzer, repped by ICM and attorney Jared Levine, is working on a comedy project with UMS-based producer Peter Traugott who, six years ago, produced Spitzer's ABC spec through Brillstein Entertainment.
Sunday, August 7, 2011
Q&A With UK Journalist Who Uncovered News Corp Scandal: Rupert Murdoch Likely To Outlast James Who's In "A Tight Corner"
James Murdoch could lose his job as News Corp's deputy COO or BSkyB's chairman as soon as this fall. That's the informed prediction ofThe Guardian's Nick Daviesin an exclusive interview with me.The journalism muckrakersays there's "every chance" that the Parliamentary committee investigating the News Of The World phone hacking and police bribery scandal will conclude that James misled them about a key question in the case: Did James pay $1.4M in hush money in 2008 to a hacking victim who could have disclosed that NOTW's violationswere more extensive than the company publicly admitted? James says he didn't. But 3 former News International executives dispute his testimony. If Parliament decides James iswrong then "that's a severe development," says Davies. His predictions matter.Because Daviesis the reporter who broke open the Murdoch scandal and has led the coverage at every turn. He's also writing a bookabout the case, due in late 2012, called Hack Attack: How the Truth Caught up with the World's Most Powerful Man. On a visit to the U.S. this week looking for new dimensions to the story, he spoke to me about where things stand -- and where the tale could lead. DEADLINE: How high do you think the scandal will go? DAVIES: In terms of criminal charges at the moment there's no reason to think it will go higher. You've got to the level of RebekahBrooks, the former chief executive of News International -- and it's in relation to her function as an editor [of News Of The World]. You've got Andy Coulson, a former (NOTW) editor and Prime Ministerial right-hand man. So at the moment that's as high as the criminal stuff goes. Ethical questions go higher. Clearly James Murdoch is in a tight corner because there's every chance that the select committee is going to produce a report during September or October which will say that he has misled them. First of all, in reputational terms, that's a severe development if the committee says youve misled Parliament. That matters in British politics. The second thing is in the detail: What they would be saying is that back in May 2008 he was shown evidence of criminal activity by reporters at News Of The World and he didn't do anything about it. Investors have lost a small fortune as the shares have died.I think those shareholders may react to that committee report and say, 'Well, you've got to go'. DEADLINE: Do we basically know the contours of the story? Is it just a matter now of filling in the blanks -- or could this grow much bigger? DAVIES: In theory the story could break out in lots of different directions. There are other private investigators, we could find out about them. There are other newspapers in Britain that are hiring private investigators to do the same illegal things. We could bring in the other papers. There are other illegal techniques: It's mostly focused on hacking voicemail and getting access to confidential databases. But there has been a lot of e-mail hacking, getting inside of computers, and there has been some burglary. There has also, to a smaller extent, been live tapping of phone calls. Then you might overflow into other countries. It is interesting to ask whether anything similar has been happening in the United States or Australia. At the moment I wouldn't claim to know the answer to those questions. That's what I'm looking for. DEADLINE: Have you heard anything to suggest that any of Rupert Murdoch's U.S.-based news organizations the New York Post or Fox News might be pulled into the story? DAVIES: The short answer is no. I hear a lot of bickering. I talk to people who really hate some of Murdochs' news organizations here people who are prepared to believe a lot of bad things. But so far not one of them has come up with a single concrete example of illegal activity by a private investigator acting on their behalf. Although you certainly have private investigators in this country who do illegal things very similar to the British set up the nature of your news organizations is different. You don't have a national newspaper market where a dozen or more national newspapers are fighting each other over 60 million readers. You have city-based newspapers competing with one or two competitors. You don't have the same level of ruthlessness. So I wouldn't claim to know the whole truth about this. But at the moment, at this rather early stage, I'm tempted to conclude that the U.S.-based news organizations are not using the private investigators in the promiscuous way that their British counterparts have been. But that's a temporary conclusion until I can dig deeper. DEADLINE: Have you been able to develop sources inside News Corp? DAVIES: There's always been a very important network of journalists who used to work there, who know exactly where the bodies are buried. They've been extremely helpful in guiding me through the stories. But almost all of them have stayed off the record because they still work in the industry and don't want to make it impossible for themselves to earn a living. Separately there's always been one or two people currently within News International whove been helpful. You get good people working in bad organizations. DEADLINE: Have you had any response to your stories from the Murdochs? DAVIES: No, I've had no direct contact with them at all. I sat in [Parliament's Culture, Media and Sport] select committee room eight feet away while they were giving their evidence [on July 19]. That was the best theater in London. It was absolutely riveting particularly for me because I know the whole story. So when they're giving their answers I know all of the things they're not saying. So I found it completely fascinating watching them. DEADLINE: Does Rupert Murdoch still have the power to help his friends and hurt his enemies? DAVIES: It's a good question because there's a school of thought that says he's damaged forever and will no longer ever have the kind of access that he used to have. Personally, I don't think that's right. As long as he continues to own mass media organizations politicians will always want to compromise with him for fear of what those news organizations could do. Even though temporarily he is not being invited to all the best parties and people don't want to be seen as his allies, I suspect things will move on. It's always possible that in the background the Murdochs role as a family within the news organizations may change. But the power of news organizations to put pressure on politicians to compromise with them, I would think that that remains a part of the landscape.
Saturday, August 6, 2011
'Alien' territory: an economics lesson
The blah opening of "Cowboys & Aliens" provided an appropriate metaphor for the state of Hollywood's tentpole industry. The main problem with the movie was that it wasn't much fun -- either for the filmgoers or the financier.This summer was supposed to mark the triumph of tentpoles, the moment when superheroes would bury their rivals on screens worldwide. And certainly the established franchises -- the Potters, the Pirates and the Transformers -- delivered the goods. On the other hand, the process of staking new tentpoles proved hazardous -- witness the flickering "Green Lantern." And meanwhile, romantic comedies like "Bridesmaids," or the anti-romcoms like "The Hangover Part II," kept getting in the way.Hollywood is always complaining about the risk of producing midbudget movies, but the reality is that these films delivered the audiences this summer, even when the tentpoles quivered. Surprisingly, filmgoers overseas were embracing raunchy comedy with ever-growing enthusiasm so that a film like "Bad Teacher" may potentially gross nearly $200 million worldwide.Talk to the studio hierarchs, however, and they'll complain that both the tentpoles and the romantic comedies cost too much money to produce and to market. The explanations are sharply divergent, of course: The superhero budgets implode because of special effects -- the attitude is to throw everything at the screen and pray for the best.The economics of the midbudget films are more challenging to analyze. Even without effects, and usually without stars, they tend to come in at between $30 million and $50 million -- acceptable numbers when compared with tentpoles but still downright tumescent when compared with the budgets of the past.Setting aside the work of the digital wizards, the tools of filmmaking have remained essentially the same -- cast, crew, cameras, etc. -- since the heyday of the studio system. Yet a film like "The Godfather" in 1972 cost $7 million while the same film today might cost $170 million. I co-produced a comedy titled "Fun With Dick and Jane," which cost $5 million in 1977, then found my name on a remake that came in at $115 million-plus three years ago.There are many explanations for this escalation, but, as one veteran producer puts it, "It all comes down to the attitude and experience of the filmmaker." The filmmakers who came into prominence in the '70s had worked in live television or on Broadway and understood the rigors of decision-making. Steven Spielberg testifies that the most valuable element in his cinematic education was directing series television in his early days at Universal.Today's young filmmakers, lacking that experience, preside over sprawling production schedules. They need more time to shoot and to edit, and then often go back for re-shoots.I was discussing this phenomenon the other day with William Friedkin, who brought in his classic "French Connection" for $1.8 million in 1971 and felt bad because he was $300,000 over budget. Friedkin, of course, has had his adventures with megabudget projects, but his gripping new film, "Killer Joe," starring Matthew McConaughey, came in at $4 million -- it was invited to the Venice Film Festival. For Friedkin, "Killer Joe" was an exercise in discipline -- and attitude.The success of this summer's midbudget films such as "Horrible Bosses," "Crazy Stupid Love," "Bad Teacher," "Bridesmaids" and even Woody Allen's "Midnight in Paris" (OK, we've got to throw in "The Smurfs") serves as a reminder that Hollywood cannot pin its future on the superhero genre alone. At the same time, the midbudget fraternity has to become as aggressive with its budgets as it is with its raunch in order to gain a bigger role in the party. Contact Peter Bart at peter.bart@variety.com
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