Fox TV Studios, division of News Corp.’s 21 Century Fox and a sister company of Fox News, is in discussions with NBC about coming on board to produce the network’s recently announced 4-hour miniseries Hillary, about Hillary Clinton, that has Diane Lane attached to star as the former First Lady and Secretary of State. I hear the talks, first reported by the New York Times, are preliminary, with the two sides far apart. The economics of TV movies and miniseries are challenging, which is why very few production companies take on such programs these days. That includes NBC’s own studio, Universal TV, which would not produce NBC’s longform projects, including Hillary. The Clinton mini, to be written by Courtney Hunt, already has become a lightning rod of controversy, with Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus threatening to yank primary debates from NBC and NBC News Chief White House Correspondent Chuck Todd calling the mini “a total nightmare” for the news division.
Fox TV Studios In Talks To Produce NBC’s Controvercial Hillary Clinton Miniseries
Dish Network And Raycom Media Resolve Retransmission Dispute
The companies say that Raycom stations will be back on Dish Network “overnight,” and didn’t provide any details about the agreement. The broadcaster owns or controls 53 stations in 36 markets including ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC, CW, and MyNetworkTV affiliates in cities including Cleveland, Toledo, Honolulu, Tucson, Baton Rouge, West Palm Beach, Louisville, and Memphis. The stations went dark on Dish on August 1 when the previous carriage contract expired. Dish accounts for about 15% of Raycom’s viewers, according to data from SNL Kagan.
Fox Buys Romantic Detective Drama From Hart Hanson & Jason Horwitch
EXCLUSIVE: From the creator of Bones, a new crime drama procedural with a romantic twist is coming to Fox. The network has put in development, Noone, a drama project from Bones‘ Hart Hanson and Rubicon and Medical Investigation creator Jason Horwitch. Written by Horwitch, Noone is described as a story of redemption, martial arts and romance set in San Francisco; a character-driven show that follows a female police detective and her unlikely ally. 20th Century Fox TV, where Hanson is under an overall deal, is producing the project, which has received a script commitment. In addition to running Bones, which enters its ninth season this fall, WME-repped Hanson has drama pilot Backstrom, starring Rainn Wilson, which is still in contention at CBS. Horwitch is with CAA and the Shuman Co.
All3Media America Restores Studio Lambert USA, Hires Creative Executive To Run It
When Britain’s All3Media in December exercised its option to buy out Stephen Lambert’s Studio Lambert after backing it financially at the 2008 launch, it launched All3Media America. All3Media America absorbed the Eli Holzman-run Studios Lambert USA, which ceased to exist as a separate company. (UK-based Studio Lambert remained autonomous, becoming an All3Media company whose US programming was to be produced by All3A, now headed by Holzman as president with Lambert serving as chairman.) The plan was to split Studio Lambert USA into two groups rebranded as AllMedia America. The producing and business infrastructure would be shared by all the different All3-owned production companies when they produce in the U.S., including Studio Lambert, with direct creative guidance from format originators and creative executives at each individual All3-owned outfit. Holzman’s former Studio Lambert USA creative team, headed by Aaron Saidman, took over the creative aspects, overseeing all shows, both Stephen’s UK formats produced in America and home-grown series and pilots, including CBS’ Undercover Boss and NBC’s upcoming Million Second Quiz.
However, under that arrangement, on the creative side, Studio Lambert UK didn’t have anyone on the ground in the U.S. coming up with new shows that Studio lambert would own, as the team that used to do that was All3Media’s and no longer under Studio Lambert’s management. That’s why a decision was made to hire someone to create American Studio Lambert shows once again, with Greg Goldman, formerly of … Read More »
Om Puri Joins Helen Mirren In Lasse Hallstrom’s ‘The Hundred-Foot Journey’
The Indian actor has been cast in DreamWorks‘ adaptation of Richard C. Morais’ best-seller. Om Puri has starred in dozens of films but is best known stateside for East Is East (1999). The Hundred-Foot Journey follows an Indian family that moves to France and opens an Indian restaurant a hundred feet across the street from a Michelin-starred French restaurant. The ensuing battle between the eateries tests the power of family, loyalty and love. Helen Mirren, Manish Dayal, Charlotte Le Bon also star in director Lasse Hallstrom’s film, which is produced by Steven Spielberg, Oprah Winfrey and Juliet Blake. Steve Knight wrote the script. Disney will release the pic in the US on August 8, 2014.
Broadcast Drama Marketplace Off To Very Slow Start: Where Are The Pitches?
Note to up-and-coming writers with good drama spec scripts lying around: now is your time. We’re heading into mid-August, and the network drama marketplace is still very sluggish. While there have already been several bidding wars and big commitments on the comedy side which traditionally gears up after drama — three pilot production commitments and one put pilot — things have been slow in drama save for the bidding frenzy over the sci-fi spec Extant by novice writer Mickey Fisher. I hear there is a sense of quiet panic at some of the networks over the dearth of drama pitches. Word is some of them, like NBC, have only bought about a couple so far, with a couple more in the deal-making process. Besides Extant, which is headed to next summer with a series order at CBS, there has been only one significant commitment to an hourlong project so far this season, Fox’s put pilot buy of Michael Green’s adaptation of League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen right after Independence Day. There is fear that there may not be too many other marquee projects from seasoned showrunners this year as many of them are tied up in staff jobs. With the proliferation of scripted programming — the broadcast networks expanding their slates with limited, summer and more in-season series and more and more new players entering the drama space, like Netflix, WE TV, WGN America, … Read More »
UPDATE: SAG-AFTRA Reveals More Local Election Results
UPDATE, 4:36 PM: A week from now the merged union will have its first elected National President and Secretary-Treasurer. That’s then but there are results to be had now as well. With SAG-AFTRA‘s announcement today of the winners in the New Mexico local, 17 of the 25 local elections have been now been completed. Six more locals will have their results announced before August 15 when the NY and LA mega-local winners are revealed along with the National officers. In the Land of Enchantment, only one of the 10 winners faced a balloted election with the rest running unopposed. Roy Costley defeated Cliff Gravell 132 – 66 in their mutual bid for the local’s National Board Member position. New Mexico’s local exceeded the approximately 23% return rate that this election has averaged so far with 198 or 29.51% of the 671 ballots mailed being returned.
Related:
SAG-AFTRA Increased Exec Director’s Pay & Union’s Funds In Trust In Fiscal ‘12
SAG-AFTRA Fires Back In $110M Foreign Residuals Lawsuit
SAG-AFTRA Announces Full List Of Eligible Candidates For Election
Check out the New Mexico local results below. The balloted winner is indicted by a *
Read More »
Josh Greenbaum’s Kid Golfing Docu ‘The Short Game’ Set For Sept. 20 Bow
Phase 4 Films and Samuel Goldwyn Films will jointly release The Short Game on September 20. Directed by Josh Greenbaum, The Short Game won the SXSW 2013 Audience Award for Best Documentary Feature. It tells the story of eight of the best 7-year-old golfers in the world as they train for and compete in the World Championships of Junior Golf. The cast includes Allan Kournikova, Anna Kournikova’s 7-year-old brother. Greenbaum also produces. John Battsek (The Imposter, Searching For Sugar Man) and David Frankel (The Devil Wears Prada, Hope Springs) are exec producers.
Fox Files For New Dish Network Hearing In Hopper Ad-Zapping Case
Despite another rejection last month of its last attempt to pull the plug on Dish Network’s Hopper, 21st Century Fox is stepping back into the legal fray in its battle against the ad-jumping DVR service. The broadcaster filed a brief with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals earlier this week requesting a brand new review of the July 24 ruling to be heard by all the court’s judges. The previous ruling shut down Fox’s aim for an injunction against the Hopper. Perhaps more importantly, the panel from the Ninth Circuit also said that the provider itself was not infringing on copyright because the services’ users are actually the ones making copies of the programming in question and that’s OK under fair use. For Fox, that was an error and raised the stakes even higher. “The panel announced two unprecedented rules of law that threaten the creation and licensing of television shows, movies, books, software, or other copyrighted content,” said the August 7 filing.
Related: Fox Loses Latest Effort To Block Dish Network’s Hopper Ad-Zapping DVR Read More »
Deadline Big Media With David Lieberman, Episode 46
Listen to (and share) episode 46 of our audio podcast Deadline Big Media With David Lieberman. Deadline’s executive editor talks with host David Bloom about a week filled with explanations from media executives regarding the many challenges to their lucrative business models, including whether cord-cutting is accelerating; if Aereo is a threat or a gimmick; whether Dish and DirecTV are facing a shotgun marriage forced by investors; and why Time Inc. is staying at Time Warner for a little longer.
Deadline Big Media, Episode 46 (MP3 format)
Deadline Big Media, Episode 46 (MP4a format) Read More »
EMMYS: FX Heats Up The Race, Going For Major ‘Louie’ Win
FX is turning up the heat as Emmy voting kicks into high gear with a large campaign war chest designed to show off their prime contenders American Horror Story, which leads all shows with a whopping 17 nominations in the movie/miniseries categories, and Louie which nabbed 6 nods including Best Comedy Series. Last Friday FX and Fox TV threw a summer barbeque and cast and crew conversation on the Fox lot for American Horror Story Asylum, and last night FX rented out the TV Academy’s Goldenson Theatre for a screening of Louie and a rollicking on-stage conversation with Louis C.K. and moderator, comedian David Steinberg. The place was packed to the rafters, presumably with Emmy voters though in this phase of voting members sign up for specific panels and at-home viewing, so exactly how many of the 600 or so who crowded into the theatre can actually help the Emmy chances of Louie is questionable.
None of that seems to matter to FX President John Landgraf who told me at the lavish post-reception the hefty outlay of funds for billboards, trade and newspaper ads and events like this is worth it, not only because they might be hitting some of those relatively few mystery voters (he estimates there could be about 1000-plus who vote for Best Comedy Series) but also to make a public and industry statement that FX is indeed a major player now in the Emmys and proud of their shows. Certainly AHS which also nabbed 17 nominations last year too and Louie would seem to confirm that. Incidentally FXX, the brand new spinoff network is the broadcast partner for the Academy’s Creative Arts Primetime Emmy show this year and Landgraf is glad they landed it. Read More »
Leno’s Last ‘Tonight Show’ To Air Feb. 6; Staff Paid Until September
EXCLUSIVE: Jay Leno-hosted Tonight Show will air its last episode on February 6, and, per terms of his show exit deal with NBC, the cast and crew will be paid until his contract expires in September. Tonight EP Debbie Vickers made the announcement today to staffers at the show, informed sources report. It’s unclear how many crew and staff were at the meeting on the show’s Burbank lot. At one point it was reported Tonight had about 170 total staffers, including some contract workers. NBC declined comment on today’s news.
The announcement isn’t a total surprise. At NBC’s Upfront presentation to advertisers in May, the network officially announced that Jay Leno would end his 22-year run on Tonight Show during the week leading up to the 2014 Winter Olympics — which start February 7. NBC also announced Jimmy Fallon would replace him on Monday, February 24, the night after the closing ceremony, followed by the debut of Late Night With Seth Meyers at 12:30 AM. Fallon’s Tonight Show will be broadcast from New York City; Lorne Michaels is exec producing, and Fallon’s Late Night writer Amy Ozols has been named producer. Read More »
Juliette Lewis To Co-Star In M. Night Shyamalan’s Fox Series ‘Wayward Pines’
EXCLUSIVE: Juliette Lewis is set to co-star opposite Matt Dillon in the Fox event series Wayward Pines, from M. Night Shyamalan. Based on a best-selling novel, Wayward Pines is an intense thriller about Secret Service agent Ethan Burke (Dillon), who arrives in the bucolic town of Wayward Pines, ID, on a mission to find two missing federal agents. But instead of answers, Ethan’s investigation only turns up more questions as he faces the terrifying reality that he may never get out of Wayward Pines alive. Lewis, repped by UTA and Untitled, will play Beverly, a warm and approachable small-town bartender who doesn’t mince words. Ethan quickly learns that Beverly is just as wary of Wayward Pines as he is.
D23: Disney Announces New Movies And Big Voice Castings, Offers Details On ‘Finding Nemo’ & ‘Planes’ Sequels
Diane Haithman is a Deadline contributor.
A new Disney Animation movie, big-name voice castings, a new Mickey Mouse short, details on the Finding Nemo and Planes sequels, two new Tinkerbell pics – there was no shortage of news during day 1 of Disney’s annual D23 expo at the Anaheim Convention Center. John Lasseter revealed Zootopia, due in 2016. It’s described as being in the tradition of Mr. Toad, where animals wear human clothes. “I loved those movies,”
Lasseter said. Director Byron Howard and writer Jared Bush described Zootopia as “a buddy action film” in which the animal characters inhabit in a world where “humans never existed.”
Lasseter and company unveiled some boldfaced voice talent for a handful of upcoming projects. Pixar’s The Good Dinosaur will feature Raising Hope‘s Lucas Neff as star dino Arlo, John Lithgow as Poppa and Frances McDormand as Momma. Arlo’s siblings will be voiced by Hader, Judy Greer and Neil Patrick Harris. Lasseter said a new Monsters University short film, Party Central, will premiere ahead of Good Dinosaur when it’s released next summer. Fans at today’s panel got a sneak peak at the short, about what happens when the monsters try to throw a frat party.
Mel Gibson, Antonio Banderas Join ‘Expendables 3′
I’ve confirmed that Mel Gibson and Antonio Banderas have joined The Expendables 3, the Millennium Entertainment pic that already picked up Harrison Ford to add to the cast that has begun to resemble the Old Timers Day game held annually at Yankee Stadium. Sylvester Stallone continues to bring in aging action muscle for the franchise he hatched back in 2010. Why Stallone and Millennium continue to ignore Jeff Speakman and Brian Bosworth is beyond me, and they seem to be about the only action heroes who haven’t joined the beefcake brigade. Is Sly saving them for a fourth movie?
R.I.P. Publicist Eddie Michaels
One of the premier PR men of his generation, Eddie Michaels, succumbed last night in his lengthy battle with brain cancer and died at age 49. Michaels was surrounded at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center by a coterie of industry friends, clients, his wife Lorin and his children, 7-year-old Matthew and 11-year-old daughter Dylan. To see a good guy go so young is heartbreaking to me today. I met Eddie when I had just moved over from Weekly Variety to Daily Variety. I was the Long Island kid who had upset the order of things by breaking film stories that were ordinarily the domain of L.A.-based trade reporters. He called me, riled about some story I’d broken on Allen and Albert Hughes, who didn’t want the details on a project out there because it was not at the studio where they’d made an overall deal, or at least that’s how I remember it. The phone call started out testy — me saying something arrogant like “you can work with me or just get out of my way” — but by the end, I could tell this guy was going to be important to me. And boy, was he ever.
Eddie was something of a throwback to what I imagined those old publicists to be. He ran his own shop, Insignia, forever. He was trustworthy, knew exactly what I needed, or what Claudia Eller needed at the LA Times, or Bruce Orwall at the Wall Street Journal, or any number of other journalists whose jobs he made easier. Our relationship evolved to a shorthand. He also knew exactly where and when to put his clients, not for volume placement, but where a strong piece served them best. He was a calm voice when one of them had a crisis. Read More »
Joy Behar Bids Farewell To ‘The View’ (VIDEO)
Elisabeth Hasselbeck was notably missing as the last of Barbara Walters’ original Ladies of The View bid the show adieu today in a mostly-older-star-strewn, pre-recorded episode. Joy Behar was feted for her more than 16 seasons on the daytime gab-fest that’s undergoing major re-casting as it competes with a slew of copycats. Among those putting in appearances, in person or via recorded message on the episode: Mario Cantone, Joan Rivers, Nathan Lane, Jane Lynch, Steve Martin, Carol Burnett, Debbie Reynolds, Toni Bennett (who performed his standard, The Good Life), and Regis Philbin, who as Babs told it, took her to hear Behar’s nightclub act, which led to Behar’s hire. “For years she has been proving how right I was” for the decision…I discovered Joy Behar!” Babs said — Of course she did! Read More »
Is CNN Showing Dead Bodies For Ratings?
I was surprised to see CNN this morning air a gruesome dead body for around 30 seconds. Not famous or infamous, her face and wounds blocked out, the woman was on the floor splattered in blood. Before showing the photo, the CNN host anchor warned viewers “if you have kids in the room, get them out” then the news network lingered on the pic for half a minute. The case involves a South Florida man who turned himself in to Miami-Dade police today after allegedly killing his wife and posting a confession and the photo of her blood-stained body on his Facebook page. That was the pic CNN showed. Twitter response was swift and outraged. “A man murdered his wife & posted it on FB. CNN then posts its shock, along with the photo of the dead woman. Classy.” “wolfblitzerCNN has gone too far showing the picture of the murdered woman that was posted on Facebook. Most disturbing before lunch.” While gruesome gangland murders have long been a staple of TV news, it’s interesting to note that last month MSNBC showed a photo of Trayvon Martin’s dead and bloody body on air. MSNBC host Tamron Hall later apologized for the depiction on her show, calling it “an awful mistake”. But CNN is not apologizing — yet. Read More »
FCC Chief Says She’ll Act If CBS And Time Warner Cable Don’t Resolve Dispute
UPDATE, 1:15 PM: Reactions are starting to come it to FCC Acting Chairwoman Mignon Clyburn’s warning that she might step in if the stalemate between CBS and Time Warner Cable continues. The cable company says it agrees that “consumers are being adversely affected,” and hopes that CBS “soon will come to a reasonable agreement with us.” A coalition of cable programmers and distributors, the American Television Alliance, says the FCC “has sat on the sidelines for too long” to fix a system that is “clearly broken.” But Medley Global Advisors’ Jeffrey Silva says Clyburn probably won’t do more than jawbone. “Lawmakers tend to think twice before getting into a scrap with broadcasters, finding their presence in Washington and their home states/districts a potential existential threat.”
PREVIOUS, 11:32 AM: It’s still a vague threat, but FCC Acting Chairwoman Mignon Clyburn told reporters today that she’s ”ready to consider appropriate action” if CBS and Time Warner Cable don’t settle the weeklong contract dispute that has left millions of TWC subscribers unable to watch CBS and Showtime. “Quite frankly I am deeply disappointed that the parties seem to be unable to reach a retransmission agreement,” Clyburn said according to Broadcasting & Cable. “I am really distressed that consumers and viewers are being adversely affected, and my primary concern remains with them. We will continue to … Read More »
-
-
Marketplace
News/Opinion Poll
Loading ...
Box Office Poll