Tuesday April 8, 2008

PROJECTS ANNOUNCED

• Screen Gems is planning a hip-hop musical reimagining of Jane Austen’s classic novel “Emma” for the bigscreen. Chris Bender and J.C. Spink will produce via their Benderspink banner. Contemporary-set tale, which takes place at an inner-city high school, revolves around a stepbrother and stepsister. Film will include at least 15 song and dance numbers. Tyger Williams penned the screenplay. Screen Gems topper Clint Culpepper said he came up with the idea for “Emma,” which will likely be redubbed “Emme,” after watching the musicvideo “Lipgloss” by Lil Mama.

• Lakeshore Entertainment and France’s TF1 Intl. will co-produce a film based on Jean-Christophe Rufin’s bestselling eco-spy novel “Le Parfum d’Adam” (The Scent of Adam). Story centers on a young activist who frees lab animals from a research facility in Poland and unwittingly finds herself at the heart of the eco-terrorist movement and a conspiracy of global proportions. Producers are out to writers to adapt.

PROJECT UPDATES

• Robert De Niro, Drew Barrymore, Kate Beckinsale and Sam Rockwell are set to star in the Kirk Jones-directed “Everybody’s Fine.” Miramax Films acquired worldwide rights on the film that will begin shooting in Connecticut later this month. The remake of the Giuseppe Tornatore film “Stanno tutti bene” was written by Jones. He came aboard when the redo was first set up by Hollywood Gang Prods. and Cecchi Gori USA (Daily Variety, March 16, 2006).

• United Artists and MGM have pushed back the release of Bryan Singer’s Tom Cruise starrer “Valkyrie” from Oct. 3 to Feb. 13. Move marks the second date change for the WWII actioner and another delay for the revamped label headed by Cruise and Paula Wagner. The new UA’s debut pic, the war-themed drama “Lions for Lambs,” proved to be a box office disappointment last year, generating $15 million domestically and $42 million overseas.

• Scribe Tracy Letts nabbed the 2008 Pulitzer for drama for his play “August: Osage County,” currently logging strong sales on Broadway in a glowingly reviewed production. Christopher Shinn’s “Dying City,” which played Lincoln Center Theater last spring, and David Henry Hwang’s “Yellow Face,” at the Public last fall, were named finalists for the kudos, announced Monday. Pulitzer potential for “August” had been buzzed about since the show preemed at the Steppenwolf in Chicago last summer. A sprawling drama with 13 characters, three acts and a running time of close to 3½ hours, “August” is the kind of ambitious fare that, with its focus on the American family, seems a no-brainer for the award.

• Rob Bowman (”The X-Files”) has signed to direct the ABC pilot “Castle,” while two other pilots have added cast members. “Castle,” from ABC Studios and Armyan Bernstein’s Beacon Television, centers on a horror novelist who consults for the NYPD. Andrew Marlowe wrote the pilot and will exec produce with Bernstein and Laurie Zaks.

• “Family Guy’s” Seth MacFarlane and Alex Borstein are bringing their hit stage show to Los Angeles. MacFarlane — the show’s creator, and voice of Peter Griffin — and Borstein — the voice of Peter’s long-suffering wife, Lois — will appear at the Ahmanson Theater on Saturday, May 10, reprising an ecelectic revue that played to soldout auds at Carnegie Hall. “Freakin’ Sweet! An Evening of Music and Comedy” features MacFarlane and Borstein as they perform 26 unusual tunes described as a “musical tour through the alphabet.” They’ll be joined by Walter Murphy, Rich Ruttenberg and the “Family Guy” Orchestra. Comedian Janeane Garofalo is set to open the show. Event benefits the Center Theater Group’s New Play Production Program.

• Jackie Chan and Ziyi Zhang have been enlisted to sing the theme song for “The One,” a film about China’s first Olympian, sprinter Liu Changchun, who represented China at the 1932 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, despite the efforts of Japanese occupation forces in Manchuria to stop him. Four top Chinese-speaking celebs — Chan, Zhang, Lee-Hom Wang and Stefanie Sun — will sing “Stand Up” on the pic’s soundtrack, producer Wang Zhebin told the Beijing Times. Movie is being made as a tribute to the 2008 Beijing Games, and each singer will represent a different Chinese group: Chan, Hong Kong; Wang, Taiwan; Zhang, the mainland; and Singaporean Sun repping overseas Chinese.

BUSINESS NEWS

• NBC and Bravo aren’t letting “Project Runway” hop the catwalk to Lifetime without a fierce fight. Peacock has filed suit in New York Supreme Court against “Project Runway” producer the Weinstein Co., asserting the shingle violated NBC and Bravo’s right of first refusal. Lifetime announced Monday that TWC has signed a five-year deal with the femme-centric cabler to take over the show — cable’s top-rated reality skein — effective November. As a result, Heidi Klum and company will say “auf wiedersehen” to NBC’s Bravo cabler after one final season this summer.

• The Mouse House is building new wings all over the world and discovering fresh ways to dice up its cheese. Disney execs unveiled Monday a raft of deals at Mip TV that spanned the globe and underlined the company’s increasingly international focus. The pacts include the following: * A deal with Colombian broadcaster RCN to produce Spanish-language versions of ABC hits “Grey’s Anatomy” and “Brothers & Sisters.” * A multiyear licensing deal with Russian broadcaster CTC Media. * A renewal of its free-to-air output agreement with Germany’s powerhouse ProSiebenSat1 Group. * A deal to license reality skein “The Fashionista Diaries” to U.K. broadcaster Five’s digital channel the Fiver. * Acquisition of Aardman Animations’ stop-motion kidvid series “Timmy” for Disney Channel outlets in North America, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and the Asia-Pacific region. What’s more, Disney’s top brass said the flurry of activity unveiled Monday only scratches the surface of the company’s long-term plans for expansion into international markets. The emerging territories most on Disney’s radar: Russia, Turkey, Africa and the Middle East. But Disney wasn’t the only U.S. major making headlines on the opening day of Mip. Warner Bros. Intl. Television and HBO unveiled a first-of-its-kind deal to license pics to France Telecom’s newly announced premium pay TV platform Orange Cinema Service.

• CBS News and CNN execs have recently been in talks to explore the possibility of sharing resources in a way that would help the bottom lines of both newsgathering outfits. But insiders at the two companies downplayed a report posted on the New York Times’ website Monday afternoon suggesting that CBS was considering a deal to “outsource” most of its newsgathering operations to CNN. Insiders acknowledged that top execs from CBS News and CNN have recently had discussions about the feasibility of sharing behind-the-scenes resources in far-flung news hotspots like Baghdad. But several people close to the situation cautioned that those talks were narrow in scope and ended with no concrete agreement. CBS and CNN have long flirted with the idea of a merger or alliance that would help both better manage the significant costs of newsgathering, particularly in foreign locales. CBS Corp. chief Leslie Moonves has made no secret of his interest in acquiring CNN from parent Time Warner, were it for sale at the right price, but talks have bogged down in the past over issues of control, rights and how much exposure CBS’ marquee news stars would receive on the all-news cabler.

• Warner Bros. Intl. TV and HBO have inked exclusive multiyear deals to be first-off U.S. suppliers to France Telecom Orange’s Orange Cinema Service, a premium pay TV service unveiled Monday at Mip TV. OCS is expected to launch in the fourth quarter. Deal is just one of many for Orange, a highly ambitious cable, IPTV and mobile TV operator in France, as it seeks to tap exclusive content to lure subscribers to what is looking like a more modestly priced rival to Canal Plus’ Le Bouquet, a package of six premium channels.

• Pay TV platform Premiere looks set to flex its newfound muscle with an expansion into free TV and is eying Sat.1 for a possible takeover. Premiere topper Michael Boernicke told German financial daily Hanelsblatt Monday the addition of a free TV web would help bring the paybox forward, adding that the group is looking to double or even triple overall revenue from its current 1 billion euros ($1.57 billion). Such a move would create a third major free TV player in Germany besides ProSiebenSat1 and RTL, provide Premiere with the necessary growth and help pull the paybox out of the red.

• U.K.-based sales company Lumina Films has renamed itself the Salt Co. to reflect its sharpened focus on packaging and financing international films. Salt, a part of the Intl. Film Collective, will continue to be run by Samantha Horley as managing director, with Robert Bevan and Cyril Megret continuing as directors. Originally founded in Spain as the sales arm of Latin American shingle Buena Onda, also part of the Intl. Film Collective, Lumina Films relocated to London in 2005. Since then the company, while still specializing in Latin American features such as Sergio Machado’s steamy 2005 love triangle pic “Lower City,” diversified its slate to take on projects from around the world, including the U.K.

• The Odeon and UCI Cinemas Group has teamed with Entertainment Enterprises Group to acquire five multi-screen theaters in Ireland from Storm Cinema. Under the deal, EEG will own the cinemas, which Odeon UCI will manage and operate. The theaters will remain under the Storm name until Jan. 1, 2009, when they will adopt the UCI brand. In 2003, Odeon UCI sold its Irish subsid to EEG. This deal means Odeon UCI now operates and manages 61 screens across eight theaters in Ireland. Odeon UCI is the market leader in the U.K., Italy and Spain, and the third largest exhib chain in Germany.

STRIKE NEWS/ LABOR ISSUES

• In a move designed to pressure the Screen Actors Guild into making a deal, the majors have told the performers union to forget about asking for sweeter terms than those secured by the WGA and DGA. In an open letter issued Monday by the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers, the congloms sent a clear signal to SAG leaders not to expect special treatment at the bargaining table. Though it used a moderate tone, the AMPTP underlined that it won’t break the pattern set in the recent deals with writers and directors. SAG’s talks start April 15, and AFTRA — which split off from the Screen Actors Guild late last month — begins April 28. “We hope that our negotiations with SAG and AFTRA will bolster this new economic framework, enabling all of us to share equitably in the success of new media and to respond with creativity and swiftness to market changes,” the AMPTP said. “If our industry relies on this new framework, we can all avoid more harmful and unnecessary strikes.” The missive is designed to warn SAG that its leaders’ plans to seek improvements in new media and DVD residuals are non-starters. It arrives as the town remains unnerved by the assertive tone of SAG’s approach and its strong alliance with the WGA during the 100-day writers strike, sparking worries a second work stoppage may be in the offing after SAG’s feature-primetime contract expires June 30.

INDUSTRY MOVES

• Fireworks Intl., the TV distribution arm of ContentFilm, has made three sales appointments as it beefs up its factual programming. Kathryn Kozanczyn and Smiljka Baljozovic have joined Fireworks’ Toronto office as sales directors responsible for worldwide sales of the factual entertainment catalog. Both join from Canadian Broadcasting Corp. Intl., where they oversaw worldwide sales. In addition, Patrick O’Connor-Read has joined Fireworks’ London-based digital division as digital sales manager. He will be responsible for the development of digital distribution for ContentFilm and Fireworks Intl. across IP, VOD and mobile platforms, with a particular focus on Asia Pacific (a region he knows well due to a previous stint at Martial Arts TV).

• One day after Endeavor staged a coup by luring away UTA agents Nick Stevens, Sharon Sheinwold and Lisa Hallerman, the agency got punk’d. Ashton Kutcher, creator of the MTV prank show “Punk’d” and the force behind a number of other reality and scripted skeins, left the agency after 10 years. He’s expected to land at CAA.

TECHNOLOGY/ MULTI-PLATFORM CONTENT NEWS

• Film and TV library owners are getting a new way to sell their buried treasures. Ascent Media Group, a subsid of John Malone’s Discovery Holding Co., is launching an online marketplace to help rights owners sell and deliver their library titles to distribs worldwide. Site, dubbed Ascent Global Media Exchange (GMX for short), is skedded to come online at the beginning of the fourth quarter. Ascent has 74 facilities around the globe providing post-production and other technical services. Malone has a controlling interest in Discovery and is its chairman and CEO. Company hopes to give rights holders a cost-effective way to market downlist movies, TV shows or other video content to cable or broadcast outlets and web publishers. “Not ‘long-tail’ content,” Ascent CEO Jose Royo told Variety, “but content that has been valuable at some time in the past but hasn’t been generating revenue because of the cost of distribution and fulfillment.” GMX will allow content owners to put samples from their libraries online, list terms if they choose and conduct blind auctions. Buyers acquire the rights online and choose their delivery format. That would trigger Ascent (or another post house) to transfer the show and prep it for delivery. While other online marketplace sites have been attempted, Ascent claims GMX will be the first site offering both acquisition and fulfillment worldwide. Company is banking on its extensive relationships and reputation to encourage use of the site.

• Continuing its acquisition spree and making its first purchase in Asia, Disney Interactive Studios has acquired Chinese videogame developer GameStar. Six-year-old company, which has 90 employees in Shanghai and Wuhan, has done outsourcing work for several vidgame companies, including Disney Interactive. The Mouse House’s videogame unit initially plans to use GameStar to support projects at its five other developers, as it has done in the past on a contractual basis. As it grows, however, GameStar may start to develop its own titles, most likely ones aimed at the fast-growing Chinese market.

• U.S. sports entrepreneur Stan Kroenke has paid £22.7 million ($44.9 million) to Brit terrestrial web, ITV, for a 50% stake in the English soccer web operation, Arsenal Broadband. The holding will be owned by Kroenke’s vehicle, KSE, and follows his purchase of a 10% stake in the top flight Premier League soccer club from ITV a year ago, for which he forked out around $80 million. For the British web, the sale reps its final off-loading of its interests in English soccer clubs. ITV’s commercial and acquisitions director Tom Betts said: “This completes the sale of our football assets which has seen us successfully raise £101 million ($200 million) in just over a year.”

• Yahoo is partnering with the TBS network to webcast a talkshow about primetime TBS drama “Rookies” as the drama airs. Yahoo will webcast the talkshow live starting April 19 with the first “Rookies” episode — a two-hour special. The show will begin 30 minutes before the 7 p.m. bow and continue until it ends two hours later. Guests will include “Rookies” actors and staff who will provide behind-the-scenes commentary as the drama unfolds. “Rookies” is based on a popular comic about a high school baseball team that has sold 12 million copies in paperback editions since its debut in 1998.

WEBSITES TO WATCH

http://www.ifl.tv/Video.html

NeuLion struck a deal with the International Fight League to deliver live ad-supported Mixed Martial Arts fighting matches from the IFL network on ifl.tv. NeuLion will also provide the IFL with billing services to support PPV, registration and future subscriptions.

http://www.mylifetime.com/sweeps/ewfc/submit.php

Lifetime Movie Network and partners are once again asking women filmmakers to submit original works to the Every Woman’s Film Competition. This year the contest, comprised of 3-5 minute video shorts, is open to all women who will compete for cash prizes and exposure of their work on LMN.tv and Lifetime Movie Network.

http://www.imeem.com/

Music-themed social network Imeem acquired DRM technology provider Snocap for an undisclosed amount. Imeem is interested in the content identification platform/digital registry system Snocap built for unsigned artists to manage online distribution of their music on MySpace and other sites.

http://lab.wgbh.org/open-call/election2008

The WGBH Lab and American Documentary Inc.’s P.O.V. are asking filmmakers to submit short videos related to the upcoming Presidential election. Selected films submitted by April 7 will receive $2,000 in funding and will be featured on Lab.wghb.org as well as on PBS.

http://www.modernfeed.com/welcome.htm

When Modern Feed founder J.D. Heilprin started making the rounds looking for Angel investors to fund his online video aggregation site a year ago, many wondered if there was enough professionally produced online video out there to build a robust site around. Now, of course, the problem is that there is way too much to keep up with. Modern Feed has built an intuitive, easy to use interface to help users navigate the legitimate sources of video available in the U.S., including broadcast & cable network sites, web production sites and magazine portals. The site doesn’t actually serve the video. It’s more of a Tivo device for the web, recommending programs, scheduling season passes and identifying shows optimized for WiFi-enabled iPods and iPhones. More important, a team of TV fanatic “Feeders” make editorial recommendations to push the good stuff forward; in the sea of internet video, users need a port in the storm.

SOURCES:

www.variety.com
www.cynopsis.com