UPDATE: The IATSE General Executive Board this afternoon unanimously named Matthew Loeb to be president after today’s retirement of Tom Short. (See my previous, TOLDJA! Tom Short Retires From IATSE.) According to the IATSE announcement, Loeb said, “I enter into the position of International President with the deepest…

For crissakes! Like TV viewers haven’t been bombarded enough with NBC promos about the August 8th start of the Beijing Summer Olympics, now moviegoers to sister company Universal’s product will be equally assailed. I’m told that the choice of setting The Mummy 3: Tomb Of The Dragon Emperor in China was made to include…

UPDATE: News reports say today’s 10 AM Los Angeles City Hall meeting about proposed new restrictions on paparazzi included reps from West Hollywood, Malibu, the Screen Actors Guild, and LA County Sheriff Lee Baca. But no members of the LAPD were present at the hearing.  That’s because Chief William Bratton has…

UPDATE: Matt Loeb Elected New IATSE President As I first reported on Tuesday (see my previous, Is IATSE Prez Tom Short Stepping Down?), the four-term union president has announced his retirement. Short stated: “IATSE has been such an important part of my life. As hard as it is for me to believe that this time has…

UPDATE: LAPD Skips Today’s Confab On Paparazzi: Chief Blames Britney, Paris And Lindsay I consider this public obsession with celebrities in our culture to be a sickness. So I see the photographers who cover them just a manifestation of the underlying disease. Now officials from celebrity enclaves like Beverly Hills…

I’m told that the DreamWorks financing deal with India’s media and entertainment conglomerate Reliance ADA — for at least $500 million — is almost completed and will be announced in the next week to 10 days. The Reliance people were in Los Angeles last week meeting with DreamWorks. I hear they also met with Jeffrey…

UPDATED: I’m told that Mike Myers has started writing Austin Powers 4 which will be an homage to his late father. “It’s very personal with a father and son theme loosely based on his own life,” an insider tells me. As Myers has previously said, this fourth installment of the super spy spoof movie series will focus on…

The Hollywood Reporter‘s annual “Leadership” issue features Ron Meyer tomorrow — and the usual sycophantic gushing about his 13 years as prez/COO of Universal Studios all the while equating the release of Bruce Almighty with curing cancer. Geez, I always thought the 63-year-old former marine was one of those rare…

EXCLUSIVE: I’m hearing that longtime IATSE president Tom Short may be leaving his position with an announcement coming as soon as this week. The union won’t confirm or deny, but below-the-liners are telling me they got word from their Union BAs starting last Friday that this was happening. Short is right now in San…

Coming… I’m only one person, remember… I’ve got lots of info to post on this story, and SAG-AMPTP, and Endeavor agency, and my Dark Knight contest winner…

After years of complaining about partner Rick Nicita, CAA’s original Young Turks have pushed him out of the agency and foisted him onto Morgan Creek where he’ll be co-chairman and chief operating officer. It must have been a desperate situation for the 63-year-old Nicita who, after years of rumors that he’s on the…

Their first choice was Amy Winehouse. But she was too busy doing drugs. Instead, the theme song for the latest James Bond movie Quantum Of Solace will be the first duet in 007 history of 22 films. Sony/MGM announced today that artists Jack White  of  the  rock band The White Stripes, and Alicia Keys, have…