EXCLUSIVE: The rumors have been around for months and months, and I know some phone calls were exchanged after the end of the writers strike a year ago. But the reality is that these deals aren't done overnight: like everything in Hollywood that involves ego and money, they're complicated because they combine different agency cultures as well as partners and personnel. (Who else remembers back to 1992 when William Morris acquired Triad? The two agencies had been talking for 17 months; and, even when those chats became very serious, the deal points took five months. And let's not forget the back story behind the ICM-Broder merger.) But lately talks have heated up between upstart Endeavor and venerable William Morris to the point where I'm being told the odds are "70/30" that the two agencies will do a merger deal. Endeavor's Ari Emanuel has been on the prowl: he even had a meal recently with ICM's investor Rizvi Traverse but that didn't go anywhere. I think Endeavor-WMA is a great fit: William Morris has a powerhouse music division but a motion picture talent department needing more marquee names and a flagging television department except for unscripted fare. Endeavor, on the other hand, is signing marquee names and packaging primetime series galore and would love that music money. One agency is strong where the other is weak. But the problem is what it's always been: the alpha male owners of major agencies always want to be in charge. I hear Ari Emanuel may run the combined agency as long as Jim Wiatt gets a fancy title and an uber-lucrative contract. Besides, if Wiatt doesn't make this move now, then WMA will turn into a music agency and he could get sidelined. Whether this deal comes to fruition will be fun to watch...
New York, February 17, 2009 - Tribeca Enterprises today announced that it has hired Geoffrey Gilmore as its Chief Creative Officer. Gilmore's move to Tribeca comes after a 19-year career at Sundance that culminated in his role as Director of the iconic Sundance Film Festival. He will be responsible for Tribeca's global content strategy and lead creative development initiatives and expansion of the brand. Gilmore will also join the Board of Directors of Tribeca Enterprises. Tribeca Enterprises is the New York-based media company founded by Jane Rosenthal, Robert De Niro and Craig Hatkoff that owns and operates the Tribeca Film Festival, Tribeca Film Festival International, Tribeca Cinemas and other branded-entertainment businesses and initiatives.
TUESDAY AM: These are 4-day numbers for what was the biggest Presidents Weekend in Hollywood history -- $226 million and up 35% over last year... I don't know which is worse: that moviegoers flocked to horrific Friday The 13th 2009 from New Line/Warner Bros because it's Friday the 13th. Or that they also saw a machete-wielding psycho killer with a loved one on Valentines Day. It's turning into the best-ever R-rated 4-day opening -- amazing for a retread. Hollywood anticipated high $30sM for the 4-day holiday, but the film reach $43.7M from 3,105 theaters. On Friday, it opened to a huge $19.3 million, then expectedly fell 26% Saturday to $14.2M. With Sunday estimates, that's a $40.7M three-day weekend. Sensing there was more mayhem in the murder franchise, Michael Bay asked New Line to give his production company a chance to revive it. Then he brought Paramount into the mix to handle international. The pic did well because of young females and young males, with older males not far behind.
New Line/Warner Bros had the weekend's top two films. Holdover He's Just Not That Into You grabbed 2nd place with $5 million (-50%) Friday and $9.4M Saturday (+91% thanks to a Valentines Day bump) for what was a $19.6M three-day weekend and a $22.4M four-day holiday. And 20th Century Fox's thriller Taken was in 3rd place with $4.6M Friday and $9M Saturday (+95%) for a $19M three-day weekend and a $21.8M four-day holiday.
I'd been curious how Disney's Confessions Of A Shopaholic would fare in this lousy economic times. Would females see the film as wish fulfillment or just wishful thinking? What looked to be a sure-fire hit when it was conceived some time ago now looks like a so-so performer. For one thing, it's the 3rd female-skewed appeal movie released in the last 6 weeks, and it follows by just one week last weekend's strong No. 1 film, He's Just Not That Into You. But while that film had a marquee ensemble cast, Shopaholic stars relative unknown Isla Fisher but also director P.J. Hogan (from that hit, My Best Friend's Wedding). Given the subject matter, this pic was hard to predict. On Friday, it opened only 4th among the Top 10 with $4.4 million from 2,507 dates then fell to 5th on Saturday with $6.4M. It finished the three-day weekend with $15.1M and ended the four-day holiday with $17.8M.
Focus Features' animated Coralinecontinues to show the strength of 3-D by jumping into 5th place with $4M Friday and $6.6M Saturday for what was a $14.8M three-day weekend and an $18.8M four-day holiday. Sony's low-cost runaway hit, Paul Blart: Mall Cop, went over $100M Friday and is in 6th place with an $11M three-day weekend and a $13.7M four-day holiday.
Movie analysts weren't expecting much for The International from Columbia/Sony. They told me it was aptly named and would under-perform domestically because this Clive Owen thriller with banks as the bad guys had shown only weak interest among older males. So it wasn't a surprise that The International opened to only $2.6 million Friday and $4.4M Saturday from 2,364 venues and dropped to 7th place. It reached just $9.4M for the three-day weekend and $10.7M four-day holiday.
2ND UPDATE: Who know when, or if, this will ever pass...
That $100 million in tax incentives annually for 5 years for movie studios to film in California, known as the runaway film production credit, is still in the state's budget package. The Legislature were scheduled to vote on it Saturday, but it may take the entire weekend because of arm-twisting among lawmakers.
DreamWorks Animation SKG, Inc. today announced that it will voluntarily transfer its stock exchange listing from The New York Stock Exchange to The NASDAQ Global Select Market, an exchange of The NASDAQ OMX Group Inc. The Company currently expects that its Class A common stock will commence trading on the NASDAQ on February 26, 2009 and will continue to be listed under the ticker symbol "DWA."
It's been brought to my attention that hedge fund meister Mark Rachesky now controls about 17% of beleaguered Lionsgate through his MHR Fund Management. He previously had almost 16% but just bought 1.7 million shares over the past few days to up his ante. Why should Hollywood care? Because Rachesky was Icahn's chief investment officer from 1990 to 1996, and they are pals. (Rachesky is often described as Icahn's former protégé, and I'm told the pair are "very aligned".)
So... if you included his 17% share, and added Carl Icahn's 10.5% share, then this twosome owns 27% of Lionsgate. And that's almost enough to take control of the whole company -- if they want. (Not that Icahn has been shy about telling the public companies he invests in what to do: he wanted to oust Time Warner management and break up the troubled media giant.)
There also may be a 3rd act to this shadow play. I'm told that Michael A. Steinberg's Steinberg Asset Management also has a very large position in Lionsgate now -- 14.72% as of October 2008. Then there's also this Lionsgate stakeholder: Gordy Crawford's Capital Research Global Investors, which has held its 9.5% a long time. Now, Crawford has almost always been supportive of the managements of the media companies in which he invests. But, last summer, Crawford was thinking of siding with Icahn during the Yahoo mess.
So why all this interest? Well, that Lionsgate library is a very valuable property. As the mini-major itself says about it to investors: "With nearly 12,000 titles, including such evergreen hits as Dirty Dancing, Reservoir Dogs, Terminator 2, Basic Instinct, Total Recall, The Blair Witch Project, the Saw franchise, Crash, Monster's Ball, the smash television series Weeds and the Tyler Perry catalogue, the Lionsgate library generates more than $250 million annually in recurring revenue and approximately $90 million a year in positive free cash flow, covering the Company's corporate overhead and serving as a foundation for the disciplined growth of its core businesses. The stability and reliability of library cash flow differentiates Lionsgate from its independent competitors and provides the Company with the foundation for continuing to grow its motion picture pipeline without taking the larger budget risks common throughout the industry."
Let's face it, each of these really rich barbarians at Lionsgate's gate -- separately or together -- could exert tremendous control. "But what can they do to change things in a realistic manner?" one of my financial sources wonders. "They can make Jon Feltheimer's and Michael Burns' lives miserable. But I'm not sure they have a strategic answer to the problems at Lionsgate. Lionsgate ain't Time Warner."
Every so often there's a Hollywood feeding frenzy for a New York Times "trend" story that captures the momentary zeitgest. Such is the case with the newspaper-of-record's recent report on the charter members of "Dating A Banker Anonymous" -- a support group and blog founded in November to help women dating or married to men in the banking industry cope with the inevitable relationship fallout from all the lousy financial news and related layoffs. Immediately, an NPR commentater opined on air that the NY Times got punk'd. So you won't be surprised to learn that the "DABA Girls" -- Laney Crowell and Megan Petrus -- now have signed with United Talent in all areas and will be co-repped in books by Janklow Nesbit out of NYC. (I can sense you're grinding your teeth already.) It seems UTA partner and board of director Jay Sures was up at 5 AM reading the article and jumped on the DABA website and emailed that he'd like to rep them. (The fact that these were all good-looking gals didn't hurt, obviously.) They saw the message and vetted Jay through a mutual friend at Lionsgate. Next thing they knew, every agency was chasing them: not just UTA but also CAA, Endeavor, ICM (who reps the NY Times and was really fighting hard), and WMA. But the Daba Girls chose Sures. Now there's going to be a book, and maybe a movie, and maybe a TV series. (I'm now starting to see the spittle forming around your mouth.)
The Los Angeles Times is laying off 70-plus editorial staff on Monday Thursday, so I don't want to get anyone fired. But why did it take two Business section staffers to write the same Chernin-hasn't-signed-a-new-contract story today that I posted back on January 30th (see my Peter Chernin's Contract Negotiation Now Hurting News Corp Stock On Wall Street) -- complete with the same analyst's report? Not only did the pair of LA Times reporters (and I use that term loosely) fail to advance the story, but they see some deep dark meaning in the fact that Rupert Murdoch is now in Los Angeles for regularly scheduled Fox business planning meetings. Hilarious. Of course, it has nothing to do with the fact that Fox Searchlight is going to win a coupla Academy Awards for a little film called Slumdog Millionaire on February 22nd, and Rupe is planning on enjoying the Oscars party circuit.
Charter shareholders will get the shaft now that Charter Communications has reached a deal in principle to restructure and file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy by April 1. This new announcement follows Charter's January warning that it could not make a $74 million interest payment on some debt. Now it has negotiated breathing room with certain bondholders and plans a pre-packaged bankruptcy that will help it reduce debt by $8 billion. None of this is a surprise. Unless you're a Charter shareholder because common stock will be cancelled. But don't worry about billionaire Paul Allen, Charter's chairman and majority owner: he'll continue to be an investor in the company and retain the largest voting stake in the company. Of course, he bought Charter in 1998, combined it with his existing cable assets, and saddled the company with a huge debt burden by going on a major acquisitions spree. Since then, it's been the most leveraged publicly traded cable operator. These days, Charter provides 5.5 million customers with cable, Internet and phone service.
I hear CAA has been cutting overtime and even kicking people out of the building so they don't work past 8 hours a day. This is for the assistants to lower-level agents, not for the partners’ assistants, of course.
The latest rival to California for film/TV production is North Carolina where the EUE/Screen Gems Studios in Wilmington is investing $15 million right now to construct a 37,500-square-foot "Dream Stage 10" scheduled to open this spring. It's an expansion to the largest film and relevision lot east of California. Recently, it hosted The Secret Life of Bees and Nights in Rodanthe. And last week EUE/Screen Gems COO and co-principal Chris Cooney and his team visited top Hollywood movie studio execs to personally lobby them to throw more productions North Carolina's way. Louisiana, Michigan... The list goes on and on.
We'll see if the new administration has a sense of humor when that Queen Of Mean (and that's a compliment), Wanda Sykes, is going to be mocking Barack Obama. That's the tradition at the White House Correspondents Association annual media-politics-showbiz schmoozefest in Washington DC where Sykes will be performing May 9th. "The first thing I did when they asked me to do this gig -- I made sure my taxes were paid," quipped Sykes (unlike a lot of Democrats). The openly gay co-star of CBS' The New Adventures of Old Christine who's also an outspoken Democrat and Obama supporter (and BFF of Jane Fonda) was chosen by the Association "because of her fresh style and engaging stage presence". I just hope C-SPAN has a 7-second delay button.
This upcoming feature documentary, The People vs George Lucas, intrigues me because it features so many Industry types talking about Lucas in a negative way as they debate his legacy. (Like calling him the "anti-Christ" and "evil genius of marketing"....) Those interviewed include Lucas intimate and producer Gary Kurtz, Sandy Lieberson (former head of production at 20th Century Fox), Dale Pollock (author of Skywalking), producer Anthony Waye, and David Prowse (aka Darth Vader). But also, sadly, second-rate film reviewers and writers. Presumably, the top ones were too scared to diss George. The documentary comes out in 2010:
The biggest problem with Joaquin Phoenix's act right now is that it's not helping the Magnolia movie coming out Friday. Yes, I know people say that all publicity is good publicity. But film marketing is a craft, and there's nothing crafty about Joaquin squandering PR opportunities like his media interviews or his mute appearance on David Letterman last night. (See my previous, Joaquin Phoenix Ends Career...On Dave?) His Two Lovers director James Gray spoke to Phoenix after his appearance on The Late Show. "He said, 'Oh it was good, it was really good.' I watched it this morning... I don't know what to say." Because who wants to see the romance film if the talented actor has turned into such a jerk? Grey doesn't seem to know if this is a hoax, and the joke's on all of us, and the actor is just goofing for Casey Affleck's mockumentary on him and his supposed foray into the rap music biz. On the other hand, Gray says Phoenix has built a music studio in his home. Gray is telling ABC News Radio he's baffled by Phoenix's behavior. "If it is an act, it's the most committed act I've ever seen in my life."
Gray said Phoenix's fatigue with acting was obvious while filming Two Lovers. "Toward the end of the shoot, he kept saying, 'Oh I'm so tired, I'm so tired.' You hear that kind of thing and you think it's a joke. I just ignored it." So when Gray, who also worked with Phoenix on 2000's The Yards and 2007's We Own the Night, found out via the Internet that Phoenix had vowed never to act again, "I drove up to his house because his phone was disconnected. 'I don't want to act anymore, I've been doing it for 30 years and if you did something for 30 years, you'd want to quit too.'" Now, Gray wonders if he's responsible for Phoenix's decision to quit acting and take up rapping. Two Lovers features an awkward freestyle rap performance by Joaquin, and Gray believes the actor is imitating him. "I had an obsession with doing that sort of thing as a teenager. It turns out that Joaquin is imitating me in a lot of the movie. He said, 'I want to do that, I want to steal from that, I want to do the rap that you used to do.' I said, 'OK.' And now I'm seeing him do this thing, and I feel like I've ruined Joaquin Phoenix for the world. I don't want to be the guy that destroyed Joaquin Phoenix's acting career."
Under the newly negotiated terms contained in the bipartisan plan to close the state's $42 billion revenue shortfall, film companies would get tax breaks totaling $100 million annually to keep their productions in California even though funding for schools, colleges, and public transportation would be cut back. As you know, everyone in Hollywood from Iron Man director John Favreau to studio heads who donated heavily to his reelection campaign have been personally lobbying Arnold Schwarzenegger to keep his promise to the entertainment biz and find financial incentives. But for a long time, the state legislature has opposed showbiz tax breaks, and The Governator has backed down each time. The proposed California measure differs from previous tax credits in that it does not address above the line personnel but doesn't go into effect until 2011. Let's see if it passes.
Votes in the Assembly and state Senate are planned as soon as Friday. It is unclear whether the required 2/3s of legislators will support the proposal. One problem is that the new budget blueprint, negotiated in secret between Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders, also contains other budget-busting tax breaks for corporations which Republicans fought for and won. These would deprive the state coffers of $690 million annually. There's an argument raging over whether this creates jobs or not. As a result, it's uncertain how legislators will view the tax breaks aimed specifically at the entertainment business.
Lobbying for California tax breaks heated up after the ABC hit show Ugly Betty last spring became the first TV series to announce it was leaving Los Angeles after New York passed new 30% tax breaks (and NYC an extra 5%) to lure showbiz productions and 20,000 jobs. And who got the blame? Schwarzenegger, because he has done less than zero to stop runaway production or enact incentives to lure TV shows and films back to California and even Los Angeles. Besides New York, other states like Louisiana and Michigan (where a big full-frills production studio is being built) are offering state tax breaks. No wonder California's proposal is called the Ugly Betty Production Credit.
But now New York State just announced it has run out of money for its tax credit program for showbiz. That could impact the California legislature's decision to finally match such programs. Maybe the lawmakers won't feel the heat as much. As one New York producer just emailed me to say, "It doesn't matter if California passes the tax break legislation. Because it won't last. New York went through a 5-year allocation totalling almost half a billion dollars in only 10 months. How long do you think $100 million will last in LA? It won't save or create jobs. It's just another present for Big Media, who will get the money first with their existing shows."
UPDATED: So let's start with William Morris losing its head of Digital, Lewis Henderson, at the end of the month because he wants to do something different and new after 17 years there. He plans to get entrepreneurial which he can't do as an agent. (His wife, Julie Henderson, is News Corp No. 2 Peter Chernin's mouthpiece.) It's all very amicable. Big loss. (WMA signs below...)
UTA has signed actress-producer Raven-Symone away from Endeavor in film, television, branding & endorsements. (ICM say it reps her in music.) She's a Disney brand after starring in That’s So Raven and The Cheetah Girls for TV and College Road Trip for film. UTA also signed director Daniel Minahan away from CAA for television and features. Minahan recently completed directing the Season 2 premiere of HBO's True Blood as well as episodes of Six Feet Under, Big Love, and Deadwood. On the feature side, he wrote I Shot Andy Warhol and made his directorial debut with Series 7: The Contenders. Another new client is NFL star Dhani Jones for representation in entertainment and branding & licensing. The Cincinnati Bengals player is the star of his own Travel Channel series entitled Dhani Tackles The World premiering March 16th. UTA also has signed the comedy writing duo of Mike Lisbe & Nate Reger who most recently wrote Untamed for Warner Bros. They were previously at ICM and continue to be managed by Category 5.
ICM has signed Mark Richard, the writer of Stop Loss, who was previously at WMA; Academy Award nominated writer/director Marty Brest (Scent Of A Woman); writer/director George Gallo -- Wise Guys, Midnight Run, and the upcoming Middle Men -- from CAA; and Götz Spielmann, the director, writer and producer of the Oscar nominee for Foreign Language Film, Revanche. Among competitive Sundance signings, ICM snagged hotly pursued filmmakers Adam Salky and Tommy Wirkola. Also ICM signed actor Greg Grunberg, currently a series regular on NBC’s Heroes; took away from WMA the Grammy-winning singer Brandy, whose 5th studio album, "Human," debuted at No. 5 on Billboard's Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart in December; took from Endeavor showrunner Bob Lowry, the creator and exec producer of the TV series Huff; and took from Gersh director/producer/actor Bob Balaban, who was nominated for a PGA, DGA, Emmy and Golden Globe for HBO's Bernard & Doris which he helmed and produced. ICM also signed away from William Morris the leading UK independent production company, Zig Zag Productions.
Paradigm has signed away from Endeavor actor Mark-Paul Gosselaar, the star of TNT's Steven Bochco legal series Raising The Bar which goes into its 2nd season in March, and Haley Joel Osment, who's grown up a lot since he starred in M. Night Shyamalan’s The Sixth Sense opposite Bruce Willis. He'd been on a hiatus from acting for the past couple of years in order to attend NYU, and, with one semester left, is ready to pursue acting full-time again. Paradigm has signed Poppy Montgomery, the lead in CBS' Without A Trace; Megan Park, who co-stars in the ABC Family series, The Secret Life Of The American Teenager, which is a Paradigm package and just received an order for 24 more episodes; and A.J. Annila and closed a deal for the director and his writing partner Iiro Kutner to rewrite Adrift at Dimension with Annila attached to direct.
William Morris has signed the following clients: Sharon Horgan, the British actress/writer who won Best Comedy Actress at the British Comedy Awards last December; an American version of her UK television show Pulling was just picked up to pilot at ABC; the Maloofs for film, TV and digital production; Jessica Simpson, signed away from CAA for acting and endorsements; writer Donick Cary (The Simpsons, Late Show With David Letterman) from UTA;Jamie Denbo, star and co-creator of the Showtime pilot Ronna & Beverly; actor Toby Kebbell (Rock N' Rolla); actress Parminder Nagra (ER). Former Secretary Of State Condoleeza Rica; Chris Marcil & Sam Johnson (executive producers of Frasier) from CAA; writer Shannon Goss (ER); actor Bian Hallisay (Privileged); actor Craig Olejnik (The Listener).
The Gersh Agency signed comedian Bill Bellamy, host of NBC’s Last Comic Standing, away from ICM; actor and stand-up comic Anjelah Johnson who recently completed a pilot for TBS and made EW’s list of “A Dozen Comedians To Watch" in November; Paul F. Tompkins, host of VH-1’s Best Week Ever with Paul F. Tompkins away from CAA for personal appearances only; Paul Gilmartin, host of TBS’ Dinner & A Movie from APA for personal appearances only; Tony award-winner Brian Stokes Mitchell away from WMA; actor Scott Cohen, who appears in the upcoming film 17 Photos of Isabel, away from WMA; Sundance filmmaker Jay DiPietro, the writer and director of Peter and Vandy; and filmmaker Allison Anders (Mi Vida Loca, Gas Food Lodging) who also has directed episodes of Sex And The City and Cold Case.
Veteran interactive marketing and integrated promotions executive Gordon Paddison today announced the launch of his new global marketing firm Stradella Road, which will provide entertainment, and corporate clients a wide range of innovative marketing solutions targeting consumers and communities of influencers worldwide. Stradella Road has signed a multi-year pact with Peter Jackson's Wingnut Films for digital brand strategy on all Wingnut entertainment products. The relationship was structured by Paddison with Jackson's manager Ken Kamins. “Gordon's stewardship of the online social dialogue and new media campaign for The Lord of the Rings trilogy was very impressive and contributed to the movie's eventual success," Jackson said in the press statement. "He has the utmost respect for our fans and I'm looking forward to continuing that relationship on our future projects." As founder and principal, Paddison is a 14-year Industry vet and former head of New Media and Integrated Marketing at New Line Cinema.
AMPAS announced today that John Singleton directed the new trailer promoting the 81st Academy Awards. Uh, guys, how about making that trailer available.
EXCLUSIVE: I'm told that Peter Gabriel just pulled out of performing at the Academy Awards show. In a letter to the Academy Of Motion Picture Arts And Sciences, the co-writer and performer of Wall-E's "Down To Earth" says he doesn't think the nominated songs, and their writers and performers, are getting enough respect during this year's Oscars telecast. That's because the show's producers, Larry Mark and Bill Condon, have reduced the song segment to a medley of the three songs nominated for "achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original Song)" -- "Down to Earth” from WALL-E (Walt Disney), with music by Gabriel and Thomas Newman and lyric by Gabriel; “Jai Ho” from Slumdog Millionaire (Fox Searchlight) with music by A.R. Rahman nd lyric by Gulzar; and “O Saya” from Slumdog Millionaire (Fox Searchlight) with music and lyric by A.R. Rahman and Maya Arulpragasam. I'm told the producers have slotted 90 seconds in the medley for each song sung by its original performer. But Gabriel said in his letter that he was only being offered 65 seconds for his song. "I don't feel that is sufficient time to do the song justice, and I have decided to withdraw from performing," Gabriel informed AMPAS. "I fully respect and look forward to the producers' right to revamp the show. Even though song writers are small players in the filmmmaking process, they are just as committed and work just as hard as the rest of the team, and I regret that this new version of the ceremony is being created in part at their expense." I'm told that the medley is the brainchild of the producers in their attempt to get the Oscar show's running time down to 3 hours -- which, frankly, would be a miracle given that it usually runs more than 4 hours. No word yet on whom the producers will choose to sing in place of Gabriel.
UPDATE: Here is the text of Peter Gabriel's letter:
"I was delighted when "Down to Earth" was nominated for an Oscar. I was also pleased to have been asked to perform the song in the Oscar ceremony. However, in recent discussions with the Producers, it became clear that despite there being only three nominees, only 60-65 seconds was being offered, and that was also in a medley of the three songs. I don't feel that is sufficient time to do the song justice, and have decided to withdraw from performing.
I fully respect and look forward to the Producers' right to revamp the show. Even though song writers are small players in the film making process, they are just as committed and work just as hard as the rest of the team and I regret that this new version of the ceremony is being created, in part, at their expense."
I still very much look forward to attending the ceremony."
I know Joaquin Phoenix has said he's quitting acting. Well, he just put in a career-ending performance tonight on David Letterman. (That's Joaquin below, looking like he just joined ZZ Top...) The guy is way too talented to be behaving like this when he's supposed to be promoting his latest movie Two Lovers. Or else the joke's on us -- and he's just goofing for Casey Affleck's mockumentary on him and his supposed foray into the music biz. I've learned that Casey was indeed backstage at the show. But Dave and the rest of the staff truly thought this was for real. Was it?
and I know some phone calls were exchanged after the end of the writers strike a year ago. But the reality is that these deals aren't done overnight: like everything in Hollywood that involves ego and money, they're complicated because they combine different agency cultures as well as partners and personnel. (Who else remembers back to 1992 when William Morris acquired Triad? The two agencies had been talking for 17 months; and, even when those chats became very serious, the deal points took five months. And let's not forget the back story behind the ICM-Broder merger.) But lately talks have heated up between upstart Endeavor and venerable William Morris to the point where I'm being told the odds are "70/30" that the two agencies will do a merger deal. Endeavor's Ari Emanuel has been on the prowl: he even had a meal recently with ICM's investor Rizvi Traverse but that didn't go anywhere. I think Endeavor-WMA is a great fit: William Morris has a powerhouse music division but a motion picture talent department needing more marquee names and a flagging television department except for unscripted fare. Endeavor, on the other hand, is signing marquee names and packaging primetime series galore and would love that music money. One agency is strong where the other is weak. 
But the problem is what it's always been: the alpha male owners of major agencies always want to be in charge. I hear Ari Emanuel may run the combined agency as long as Jim Wiatt gets a fancy title and an uber-lucrative contract. Besides, if Wiatt doesn't make this move now, then WMA will turn into a music agency and he could get sidelined. Whether this deal comes to fruition will be fun to watch...
I'd been curious how Disney's Confessions Of A Shopaholic would fare in this lousy economic times. Would females see the film as wish fulfillment or just wishful thinking? What looked to be a sure-fire hit when it was conceived some time ago now looks like a so-so performer. For one thing, it's the 3rd female-skewed appeal movie released in the last 6 weeks, and it follows by just one week last weekend's strong No. 1 film, He's Just Not That Into You. But while that film had a marquee ensemble cast, Shopaholic stars relative unknown Isla Fisher but also director P.J. Hogan (from that hit, My Best Friend's Wedding). Given the subject matter, this pic was hard to predict. On Friday, it opened only 4th among the Top 10 with $4.4 million from 2,507 dates then fell to 5th on Saturday with $6.4M. It finished the three-day weekend with $15.1M and ended the four-day holiday with $17.8M. 
It's been brought to my attention that hedge fund meister Mark Rachesky now controls about 17% of beleaguered Lionsgate through his MHR Fund Management. He previously had almost 16% but just bought 1.7 million shares over the past few days to up his ante. Why should Hollywood care? Because Rachesky was Icahn's chief investment officer from 1990 to 1996, and they are pals. (Rachesky is often described as Icahn's former protégé, and I'm told the pair are "very aligned".)
So... if you included his 17% share, and added Carl Icahn's 10.5% share, then this twosome owns 27% of Lionsgate. And that's almost enough to take control of the whole company -- if they want. (Not that Icahn has been shy about telling the public companies he invests in what to do: he wanted to oust Time Warner management and break up the troubled media giant.)
Every so often there's a Hollywood feeding frenzy for a New York Times "trend" 
The latest rival to 
We'll see if the new administration has a sense of humor when that Queen Of Mean (and that's a compliment), Wanda Sykes, is going to be mocking Barack Obama. That's the tradition at the White House Correspondents Association annual media-politics-showbiz schmoozefest in Washington DC where Sykes will be performing May 9th. "The first thing I did when they asked me to do this gig -- I made sure my taxes were paid," quipped Sykes (unlike a lot of Democrats). The openly gay co-star of CBS' The New Adventures of Old Christine who's also an outspoken Democrat and Obama supporter (and BFF of Jane Fonda) was chosen by the Association "because of her fresh style and engaging stage presence". I just hope C-SPAN has a 7-second delay button. 
The biggest problem with Joaquin Phoenix's act right now is that it's not helping the Magnolia movie coming out Friday. Yes, I know people say that all publicity is good publicity. But film marketing is a craft, and there's nothing crafty about Joaquin squandering PR opportunities like his media interviews or his mute appearance on David Letterman last night. (See my previous, 
Gray said Phoenix's fatigue with acting was obvious while filming Two Lovers. "Toward the end of the shoot, he kept saying, 'Oh I'm so tired, I'm so tired.' You hear that kind of thing and you think it's a joke. I just ignored it." So when Gray, who also worked with Phoenix on 2000's The Yards and 2007's We Own the Night, found out via the Internet that Phoenix had vowed never to act again, "I drove up to his house because his phone was disconnected. 'I don't want to act anymore, I've been doing it for 30 years and if you did something for 30 years, you'd want to quit too.'" Now, Gray wonders if he's responsible for Phoenix's decision to quit acting and take up rapping. Two Lovers features an awkward freestyle rap performance by Joaquin, and Gray believes the actor is imitating him. "I had an obsession with doing that sort of thing as a teenager. It turns out that Joaquin is imitating me in a lot of the movie. He said, 'I want to do that, I want to steal from that, I want to do the rap that you used to do.' I said, 'OK.' And now I'm seeing him do this thing, and I feel like I've ruined Joaquin Phoenix for the world. I don't want to be the guy that destroyed Joaquin Phoenix's acting career."
Under the newly negotiated terms contained in the bipartisan plan to close the state's $42 billion revenue shortfall, film companies would get tax breaks totaling $100 million annually to keep their productions in California even though funding for schools, colleges, and public transportation would be cut back. As you know, everyone in Hollywood from Iron Man director John 
Votes in the Assembly and state Senate are planned as soon as Friday. It is unclear whether the required 2/3s of legislators will support the proposal. One problem is that the new budget blueprint, negotiated in secret between Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders, also contains other budget-busting tax breaks for corporations which Republicans fought for and won. These would deprive the state coffers of $690 million annually. There's an argument raging over whether this creates jobs or not. As a result, it's uncertain how legislators will view the tax breaks aimed specifically at the entertainment business.
But now New York State just announced it has 
UTA also signed director Daniel Minahan away from CAA for television and features. Minahan recently completed directing the Season 2 premiere of HBO's True Blood as well as episodes of Six Feet Under, Big Love, and Deadwood. On the feature side, he wrote I Shot Andy Warhol and made his directorial debut with Series 7: The Contenders. Another new client is NFL star Dhani Jones for representation in entertainment and branding & licensing. The Cincinnati Bengals player is the star of his own Travel Channel series entitled Dhani Tackles The World premiering March 16th. UTA also has signed the comedy writing duo of Mike Lisbe & Nate Reger who most recently wrote Untamed for Warner Bros. They were previously at ICM and continue to be managed by Category 5.
and Götz Spielmann, the director, writer and producer of the Oscar nominee for Foreign Language Film, Revanche. Among competitive Sundance signings, ICM snagged hotly pursued filmmakers Adam Salky and Tommy Wirkola. Also ICM signed actor Greg Grunberg, currently a series regular on NBC’s Heroes; took away from WMA the Grammy-winning singer Brandy, whose 5th studio album, "Human," debuted at No. 5 on Billboard's Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart in December; took from Endeavor showrunner Bob Lowry, the creator and exec producer of the TV series Huff; and took from Gersh director/producer/actor Bob Balaban, who was nominated for a PGA, DGA, Emmy and Golden Globe for HBO's Bernard & Doris which he helmed and produced. ICM also signed away from William Morris the leading UK independent production company, Zig Zag Productions.
He'd been on a hiatus from acting for the past couple of years in order to attend NYU, and, with one semester left, is ready to pursue acting full-time again. Paradigm has signed Poppy Montgomery, the lead in CBS' Without A Trace; Megan Park, who co-stars in the ABC Family series, The Secret Life Of The American Teenager, which is a Paradigm package and just received an order for 24 more episodes; and A.J. Annila and closed a deal for the director and his writing partner Iiro Kutner to rewrite Adrift at Dimension with Annila attached to direct.
TV and digital production; Jessica Simpson, signed away from CAA for acting and endorsements; writer Donick Cary (The Simpsons, Late Show With David Letterman) from UTA; Jamie Denbo, star and co-creator of the Showtime pilot Ronna & Beverly; actor Toby Kebbell (Rock N' Rolla); actress Parminder Nagra (ER). Former Secretary Of State Condoleeza Rica; Chris Marcil & Sam Johnson (executive producers of Frasier) from CAA; writer Shannon Goss (ER); actor Bian Hallisay (Privileged); actor Craig Olejnik (The Listener).
host of VH-1’s Best Week Ever with Paul F. Tompkins away from CAA for personal appearances only; Paul Gilmartin, host of TBS’ Dinner & A Movie from APA for personal appearances only; Tony award-winner Brian Stokes Mitchell away from WMA; actor Scott Cohen, who appears in the upcoming film 17 Photos of Isabel, away from WMA; Sundance filmmaker Jay DiPietro, the writer and director of Peter and Vandy; and filmmaker Allison Anders (Mi Vida Loca, Gas Food Lodging) who also has directed episodes of Sex And The City and Cold Case.
Veteran interactive marketing and integrated promotions executive Gordon Paddison today announced the launch of his new global marketing firm Stradella Road, which will provide entertainment, and corporate clients a wide range of innovative marketing solutions targeting consumers and communities of influencers worldwide. Stradella Road has signed a multi-year pact with Peter Jackson's Wingnut Films for digital brand strategy on all Wingnut entertainment products. The relationship was structured by Paddison with Jackson's manager Ken Kamins. “Gordon's stewardship of the online social dialogue and new media campaign for The Lord of the Rings trilogy was very impressive and contributed to the movie's eventual success," Jackson said in the press statement. "He has the utmost respect for our fans and I'm looking forward to continuing that relationship on our future projects." As founder and principal, Paddison is a 14-year Industry vet and former head of New Media and Integrated Marketing at New Line Cinema.
EXCLUSIVE: I'm told that Peter Gabriel just pulled out of performing at the Academy Awards show. In a letter to the Academy Of Motion Picture Arts And Sciences, the co-writer and performer of Wall-E's "Down To Earth" says he doesn't think the nominated songs, and their writers and performers, are getting enough respect during this year's Oscars telecast. That's because the show's producers, Larry Mark and Bill Condon, have reduced the song segment to a medley of the three songs nominated for "achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original Song)" -- "Down to Earth” from WALL-E (Walt Disney), with music by Gabriel and Thomas Newman and lyric by Gabriel; “Jai Ho” from Slumdog Millionaire (Fox Searchlight) with music by A.R. Rahman nd lyric by Gulzar; and “O Saya” from Slumdog Millionaire (Fox Searchlight) with music and lyric by A.R. Rahman and Maya Arulpragasam. I'm told the producers have slotted 90 seconds in the medley for each song sung by its original performer. But Gabriel said in his letter that he was only being offered 65 seconds for his song. "I don't feel that is sufficient time to do the song justice, and I have decided to withdraw from performing," Gabriel informed AMPAS. 
"I fully respect and look forward to the producers' right to revamp the show. Even though song writers are small players in the filmmmaking process, they are just as committed and work just as hard as the rest of the team, and I regret that this new version of the ceremony is being created in part at their expense." I'm told that the medley is the brainchild of the producers in their attempt to get the Oscar show's running time down to 3 hours -- which, frankly, would be a miracle given that it usually runs more than 4 hours. No word yet on whom the producers will choose to sing in place of Gabriel.
