Win a Date With Tad Hamilton

DreamWorks Pictures is offering you a chance to "Win a Date With Tad Hamilton."  The studio has acquired the comedy spec from scribe Vic Levin in a preemptive deal potentially worth $1.5 million, reuniting DreamWorks with "Gladiator" producer Doug Wick -- who'll produce with partner Lucy Fisher via their Red Wagon Prods.

The story follows what happens when a pretty young grocery clerk wins a contest for a date with Hollywood's hottest, wealthiest and most eligible bachelor. She leaves West Virginia for Hollywood on what should be a perfunctory PR meet and greet, but sparks fly and she find herself in the middle of a love triangle: When the A-lister arrives on her doorstep to pursue a romance, her longtime platonic best friend finds the courage to declare his amorous feelings, too.

"It really winds up as a contest between the richest, most famous movie star in the world and a guy who bags groceries," said Levin, who most recently served as showrunner on NBC's "Mad About You" for its sixth and seventh seasons.

Southpaw Media, One Thousand White  Women: The Journals of May Dodd

Southpaw Media has optioned feature film rights to two new properties "One Thousand White  Women: The Journals of May Dodd" and "We Are Children Just the Same," the latter in partnership with Gregg Fienberg's Fearless Films.

""One Thousand White  Women: The Journals of May Dodd," published by St. Martin's Press and to be adapted by Jim Fergus from his book of the same name, is a historical novel about the unusual "Brides for Indians" program, suggested by Cheyenne Chief Little Wolf to President U.S. Grant in 1874. Novel, published in 1998, imagines the government offered pardons or release to women in jails, penitentiaries, debtors prison and mental institutions on the condition the women actually went to live among the so-called "savages" (in exchange for an equal number of horses). Project tells the story of the unjustly institutionalized May Dodd, who seeks to be reunited with her child after participating in the program. 

From Kirkus Reviews Long, brisk, charming first novel about an 1875 treaty between Ulysses S. Grant and Little Wolf, chief of the Cheyenne nation, by the sports reporter and author of the memoir A Hunter's Road (1992). Little Wolf comes to Washington and suggests to President Grant that peace between the Whites and Cheyenne could be established if the Cheyenne were given white women as wives, and that the tribe would agree to raise the children from such unions. The thought of miscegenation naturally enough astounds Grant, but he sees a certain wisdom in trading 1,000 white women for 1,000 horses, and he secretly approves the Brides For Indians treaty.

He recruits women from jails, penitentiaries, debtors' prisons, and mental institutions offering full pardons or unconditional release. May Dodd, born to wealth in Chicago in 1850, had left home in her teens and become the mistress of her father's grain-elevator foreman. Her outraged father had her kidnaped, imprisoning her in a monstrous lunatic asylum. When Grant's offer arrives, she leaps at it and soon finds herself traveling west with hundreds of white and black would-be brides. All are indentured to the Cheyenne for two years, must produce children, and then will have the option of leaving.

May, who keeps the journal we read, marries Little Wolf and lives in a crowded tipi with his two other wives, their children, and an old crone who enforces the rules. Reading about life among the Cheyenne is spellbinding, especially when the women show up the braves at arm-wrestling, foot-racing, bow-shooting, and gambling. Liquor raises its evil head, as it will, and reduces the braves to savagery. But the women recover, go out on the winter kill with their husbands, and accompany them to a trading post where they drive hard bargains and stop the usual cheating of the braves. Eventually, when the cavalry attacks the Cheyenne, mistakenly thinking they're Crazy Horse's Sioux, May is killed. An impressive historical, terse, convincing, and affecting. -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

"We Are Children Just the Same," is a compilation of short stories, poems and artwork created by a group of 13- to 15-year old Jewish boys in the Terezin concentration camp during World War II. The boys secretly published these works in a magazine called "Vedem" (In the Lead) that playwright (and Czech Republic president) Vaclav Havel describes in his foreword as "not only a memento of the horrors of the ghetto and of war, but an inspiration to live." The compilation is being adapted by Susan Nanus.

Milo Addica To Write An Untitled Revenge Thriller For Warner Bros

Hot off his Oscar nomination for co-writing "Monster's Ball," screenwriter Milo Addica has been tapped to write an untitled revenge thriller for Warner Bros. and studio-based Section Eight that's being developing as a directing vehicle for Don Cheadle.

The project is based on an original idea by Oscar-winning director Steven Soderbergh, who founded Section Eight with actor-helmer George Clooney. The script is about a man who takes the fall for a crime and goes to jail. Upon his release, he seeks to exact revenge on those who framed him.

The thriller is being developed for Cheadle to direct. It is unclear if the actor will also star in the film. Soderbergh and Clooney will produce.

The project reteams the trio, who worked together on "Out of Sight" and "Ocean's Eleven." Soderbergh and Cheadle also worked together on "Traffic."

Warners senior vp production Lionel Wigram is overseeing the project on behalf of the studio.

Addica, repped by ICM and Nine Yards Entertainment's Aaron Ray, co-wrote and co-produced "Monster's Ball" with Will Rokos. The duo earned a Writers Guild of America Award nomination and an Independent Spirit Award nomination for their work on "Monster's."

Cheadle, repped by CAA and Liberman Zerman Management, is taking an active step toward a directing career. He also is attached to helm and possibly star in a big-screen version of Elmore Leonard's novel "Tishomingo Blues" for Film Four.

Actors in 'Gosford Park' Take Top SAG Award

Hollywood's Oscar race entered its home stretch on Sunday with the five nominees for best picture clustered as close as ever after the Screen Actors Guild selected the cast of "Gosford Park" as the top performers in a film. SAG, with some 98,000 member actors and actresses, picked Russell Crowe as the top male actor in "A Beautiful Mind," in which he plays genius mathematician John Forbes Nash, who battled schizophrenia throughout his life.

The night's big surprise winner was Halle Berry, who claimed the SAG award for best female actor.

Berry won for her portrayal of a down-and-out waitress in the rural south in "Monster's Ball," besting Sissy Spacek, who grabbed many earlier critical and industry honors for her portrayal of a grieving mother in "In the Bedroom."

The gritty role was a departure for Berry, and she took a big chance with her career in one sexually explicit scene with co-star Billy Bob Thornton. Berry acknowledged the riskiness of her business, but said "it has paid off, big time."

The SAG honors are the last major film awards before the Oscars on March 24 which are the industry's highest honors.

SOMETHING TO CROWE ABOUT

Each year, shows like the SAG's give an indicator of who might take home Oscars, but this year's early honors have split widely "Beautiful Mind," "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring," "Moulin Rouge," "In the Bedroom" and now "Gosford Park" all winning various critics' and industry honors.

On Saturday, "Beautiful Mind" director Ron Howard was named best director by the Directors Guild of America, which often foreshadows a best picture Oscar. But "Moulin Rouge" producer/director Baz Luhrmann took the film producers' award, another Oscar indicator.

"Gosford Park" and "Beautiful Mind" split the Writers Guild of America's awards for best screenplays.

Backstage, Crowe talked up the fact that a movie with a complicated story about mental illness has resonated so well with audiences. "I'm pleased the movie has gotten the attention it has ... Everything after that, we're just enjoying it."

Britain's Ian McKellen of "Lord of the Rings" was named best supporting male actor in a film. He portrays Gandalf, the wizard who aids the hobbit Frodo as he seeks to destroy a powerful ring whose owner could rule middle-Earth.

WELL-OILED WEST WING

Along with film awards, SAG names winners in television, and broadcast network NBC proved to be the big winner with five of six TV series awards with White House drama "The West Wing" and comedy "Will & Grace".

For the second straight year, "West Wing" swept the drama categories from its closest rival "The Sopranos."

"West Wing," a show that depicts the inner workings of the White House of fictional President Josiah Bartlett, claimed the honor of best ensemble cast in a television drama.

"We're a well-oiled machine," the show's John Spencer told reporters backstage. "I'm always better depending on who I'm dancing with, and these are the best partners I've ever had."

Martin Sheen, who plays President Bartlett, won the award for best male actor in a drama, and Allison Janney was named best female actor in a drama for her portrayal of White House press secretary C.J. Cregg.

Sean Hayes and Megan Mullally were named best male and female actor in a comedy series for playing the best friends of Will and Grace in that sitcom.

The award for best ensemble cast in a comedy series went to HBO's "Sex and the City ".

In made-for-TV and miniseries categories, Sir Ben Kingsley claimed the award playing Otto Frank in ABC's "Anne Frank".

Judy Davis was named best female actor in a TV movie or mini-series for "Life With Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows."

Actors Union Re-Elects Melissa Gilbert President

Former child star Melissa Gilbert won a resounding second victory early Saturday as president of the Screen Actors Guild, repeating her defeat of veteran actress Valerie Harper in a rerun of last fall's nullified elections.

The outcome, reaffirming support for Gilbert's moderate posture over the comparatively militant stance of her opponent, climaxed weeks of acrimony and argument in one of the most divisive campaigns in the 69-year history of the famously fractious actors union.

Gilbert, 37, best known as pioneer girl Laura Ingalls on the 1970s TV series "Little House on the Prairie," garnered 21,351 votes out of nearly 38,000 ballots cast, while Harper, 61, the former star of "Rhoda," received 12,613 votes. The remainder of the votes went to two lesser-known candidates.

"Our membership has once again spoken. I'm honored to have been trusted by the SAG membership," Gilbert said in a prepared statement announcing the results. "With the rerun of the election now behind us, I welcome focusing on the crucial issues at hand."

In a brief concession statement, Harper thanked her supporters and added, "In this election, rerun in a fair and uniform manner, the real winner is the democratic process."

Two Harper allies also won repeat victories to national office -- "MASH" film star Elliot Gould as recording secretary and Kent McCord of the 1960s cop show "Adam 12" as treasurer.

Turnout was high by SAG standards, with 41.4 percent of more than 91,000 ballots returned, the highest level on record for a SAG presidential race.

By comparison, just under 28,000 ballots were cast in the election last November, with Gilbert edging out then-presumed front-runner Harper by fewer than 1,600 votes.

But Harper and her supporters contested that outcome, saying the race was tainted by balloting irregularities, and a union committee subsequently ordered a new election for president, secretary and treasurer.

That decision plunged the union into one of the most bitter spasms of infighting ever seen in Hollywood's labor movement, replete with accusations of corruption and even a probe by the Labor Department.

Allies of Gilbert charged that Harper was seeking to hijack the election by challenging the results on the basis of minor infractions that would not have altered the outcome. Harper insisted she was motivated strictly by the desire to ensure that a fair, clean political process prevailed.

At stake was the balance of power between two sharply divided wings of the union. Gilbert's camp espouses a more moderate stance toward studios, advertisers and talent agents, while Harper and her allies favor the tougher line advocated by former president William Daniels at the bargaining table.

The new vote also was seen as a bellwether for the fate of a landmark deal recently negotiated by Gilbert's administration with talent agents that the rank-and-file still must ratify.

Harper has criticized provisions in the tentative accord that would permit talent agencies to buy stock in, and receive investments from, advertising firms. She argued such a change would diminish long-standing conflict-of-interest safeguards aimed at preventing talent agents from having an ownership interest in the companies for which their clients work. (Copyright Steve Gorman)

Howard wins Directors Guild award

"A Beautiful Mind" director Ron Howard claimed the top filmmaking honor Saturday night from the Directors Guild of America, considered one of the most accurate barometers of Oscar success.

Howard also won the DGA award in 1996 for his direction of "Apollo 13" and was nominated in 1985 for "Cocoon."

"A Beautiful Mind" tells the story of Nobel laureate John Forbes Nash Jr., a Princeton mathematics professor who struggled to overcome schizophrenia. It has a total of eight Oscar nominations, including best actor for Russell Crowe and supporting actress for Jennifer Connelly.

In the 54 years since the guild began distributing its prize, the winner has gone on to win the best director Academy Award all but five times. But Howard wasn't even nominated for an Oscar the last time he won the DGA honor; it went to Mel Gibson for "Braveheart" instead. Backstage on Saturday night, he discounted its reliability.

"I don't know if that connection holds any more," he said. "It's been so erratic the past few years that I just don't know if it holds up."

Last year, Ang Lee picked up the DGA award for "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" while the Oscar went to Steven Soderbergh for "Traffic."

There's a chance of disconnect again this year, since the Academy Awards' other two directing nominees — Robert Altman for "Gosford Park" and David Lynch for "Mulholland Dr." — weren't included in the DGA competition.

Howard competed for the award with two other Oscar contenders: Peter Jackson for the fantasy film "Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring," and Ridley Scott for the true-life military drama "Black Hawk Down."

Other DGA nominees included Baz Luhrmann for the frenetic, anachronistic musical "Moulin Rouge" and Christopher Nolan for "Memento," a thriller told in flashback about a man with no short-term memory trying to solve a crime.

Howard, 48, started his career as a child actor, playing Opie Taylor on the sitcom "The Andy Griffith Show" and later teen-ager Richie Cunningham in the 1950s-based comedy show "Happy Days."

He turned to feature film directing in the late 1970s, with credits including "Grand Theft Auto" (1977), "Splash" (1984), "Parenthood" (1989), "The Paper" (1994) and "Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas" (2000.)

Despite tremendous critical and box-office success, the director has never before been nominated for an Oscar.

In the television categories, Todd Holland claimed a comedy award for directing an episode of Fox's "Malcolm in the Middle", while Alan Ball got the dramatic series award for the pilot episode of HBO's "Six Feet Under."

Co-directors Joel Gallen and Beth McCarthy-Miller won in the musical/variety category for the multiple-network Sept. 11 telethon "America: A Tribute to Heroes."

The Academy Awards are scheduled for March 24 at the new Kodak Theatre in Hollywood.

Germany's Kirch Group Faces Make-Or-Break Week

German media baron Leo Kirch faces a showdown with creditors this week that may force him to give up most of the empire he built over the last five decades to stave off bankruptcy.

Insolvency experts, brought on board to decide whether Kirch can survive its $5.7 billion debt pile, are expected to propose a range of radical restructuring plans that leave no asset untouched when they deliver their findings on Monday.

But Kirch's 75-year-old founder will fight to keep his core television and rights business intact as creditors hold board meetings on Tuesday to decide their next step.

"At this stage, the creditors are in loss-minimalization mode," said Simon Wallis, analyst at WestLB Panmure.

Kirch is facing the prospect of having to cough up cash it does not have as shareholders and creditors demand their money back after the group over-stretched itself in an acquisition spree and an expensive foray into pay television.

Shareholder Axel Springer threw a new spanner in the works on Saturday, saying it would take legal action unless Kirch honored a 770-million-euro ($675 million) option to buy out the German publisher -- a deal Kirch says is not binding.

But key creditors, which include many of Germany's major banks as well as international houses, have so far been unwilling to pull the plug, aware they would be hit hard in Kirch's wake if the group was forced into bankruptcy.

Insolvency experts presented a preliminary report to Kirch's board last week. But calculating the true value of Kirch's complex web of assets is proving tough, and sources said the experts would not propose a comprehensive solution on Monday.

"I think the (insolvency) consultants are going to present a pretty wide-ranging proposal, in which nothing is sacrosanct. After that the banks will make a decision on the general direction in which they want to go," said Friedrich Schellmoser, media analyst at HypoVereinsbank in Munich.

SELLING OFF CROWN JEWELS

Outsiders note the sums do not seem to add up to a rescue. But few in Germany believe Kirch will file for bankruptcy protection for the whole group.

However, some believe this may be an option for parts of Leo Kirch's empire -- such as the loss-making pay TV unit -- if multiple cross-links between the business units can be cleaned up.

Kirch has so far outlined plans to sell off stakes in Springer and Spanish broadcaster Telecinco and to find a new long-term partner for its hugely loss-making pay television business to replace Rupert Murdoch, who wants out.

Kirch's right-hand man Dieter Hahn also conceded last Monday the group may also have to sell its stake in Formula One motor racing, a move which together with the other asset sales could scale back its debt to a more manageable 3.5 billion euros.

"The goal of the meeting (on Monday) is to show ways to reduce the debt burden by asset sales," one source said.

Kirch remains adamant it will not part with its jewel -- Germany's top broadcaster ProSiebenSat1. However, it may have little choice with creditors now calling the shots.

Even Leo Kirch appeared more fatalistic last week, playing up the threat that the group could end up in the hands of an outsider like Murdoch, whose BSkyB has a 1.7-billion- euro option to sell back his Kirch pay-TV stake in October.

"If it should become necessary I will offer him anything. He'll eat me then. The Lord gives, the Lord takes away," devout catholic Kirch told German magazine Der Spiegel.

JEWEL ASSET -- PROSIEBEN

However, Murdoch and other U.S. media groups see only one asset of any worth in the crumbling empire -- ProSiebenSat1.

U.S. media groups have been sizing up ProSieben in the event that Kirch is forced to sell it, sources say.

"Personally, I expect ProSieben to end up with Axel Springer in the hands of the German banks as an intermediary step before heading for the secondary market," one analyst said. "A U.S. or European broadcaster could then take shares."

But creditors have yet to announce a sole mediator to represent them in negotiations, a sign of ongoing wrangling.

For example, Deutsche Bank, Germany's largest bank, lent 700 million euros but has less to lose in a break-up as its loan is backed by the valuable Springer stake.

Conversely, top creditor, BayernLB, has lent Kirch 1.9 billion euros but it is backed by more volatile assets such as film rights and the virtually worthless pay TV.

The optimistic believe those problems will be resolved.

"Kirch has always found a solution by deferring things. Admittedly he's at a peak right now but there's too much at stake for the banks," said one analyst in London. Copyright By Boris Groendahl and Merissa Marr