• Damon and Affleck play Pygmalion to movie newcomer
• Don Gregory Is Producing The Remake Of Harvey
• Static, Ending A Bidding War
• Mike Newell will direct Runaway Jury With a Smile
• Chip and Keisha's Wedding
• Barry Levinson and Paula Weinstein Set To Produce Skeletons of the Zahara
• The Ant Bully Animated For Tom Hanks
• The Third Witch optioned
• Wes Craven Have Signed With The WMA From ICM
• Action Movies, Propelled TBS
• Venevision International And Spain’s Admira Have Launched A 50/50 Joint Venture
• Bollywood: India's Film Industry On The Rise.
• South Korea's Cinema Service A New Source Of Film Financing.
• The Los Angeles Film School's New Owner Expand Its Mission
• Vicky Miller Promoted At Turner
• U.S. court rules in favor of studios in DVD case

• Previous Days

  • Monday Nov 26
  • Tuesday Nov 27
  • Wednesday Nov 28

Damon and Affleck play Pygmalion to movie newcomer

Los Angeles resident Pete Jones, 31, was once just an aspiring film-maker but thanks to Matt Damon and Ben Affleck his dreams have been fulfilled and he is directing a film for US giant Miramax.

Jones was one of the 10,000 people who sent a script to Project Greenlight, a competition set up by the Oscar winners to discover new movie talent, and this Hollywood fairy tale was due to end with winner Jones getting to make his film, Stolen Summer, a coming-of-age story set in 1976 that Miramax will release in the United States in February.

However, this is now not the end of the matter as HBO are chronicling the making of the film in Project Greenlight, a 12-part documentary that is also the brainchild of Hollywood buddies Damon, 31,and Affleck, 29. The candid series will not end until the film's release when TV audiences will find out how cinemagoers react to the film.

The Good Will Hunting and Dogma co-stars were delighted to have enabled someone's dream to come true. Affleck said: "You could say it's an exercise in selfishness in a way for us, because it made us feel good, absolutely, to provide an opportunity for somebody. We got a lot out of that."

The acting duo persuaded Miramax to fork out $1m for the project and also managed to convince studio chief Harvey Weinstein that Jones deserved extra cash when he went over budget. In a scene from Project Greenlight, Affleck is seen charming Weinstein into releasing more money for Jones. Affleck admits: "I've done eight or nine movies for Miramax, and there was probably some part of me that took pleasure in seeing 'OK, let's see if they say no to me now.'"

Jones' experience was clearly an eye-opener for him. "There's more to being a film-maker than being on set, saying 'action' and 'cut.' I used to be in sales and every sale was a battle and I used to dream of making films, where it's art and it's the pursuit of the best film. But I realized it's the same battle making movies as in sales - being able to get the right cast, figure out the budget.''

Jones managed to cast such celebrated actors as Aidan Quinn, Kevin Pollak and Brian Dennehy to the film, although Sean Penn declined to take a role. The most satisfying moment for Jones? It's simple. "It was lying in bed the night before shooting started. I had lain in bed so many years, thinking about ever having this chance.'' The first of the 12-part HBO series screens this coming Sunday in America.

Don Gregory Is Producing The Remake Of Harvey

Dimension Films has signed Craig Mazin to script its remake of "Harvey," the company's adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Mary Chase play. The picture is a co-production with MGM.

The scribe recently adapted Philip K. Dick's "Short Happy Life" for the studio. He also rewrote "Slackers" for Columbia, where he's scripting a cooking comedy for producer Neal Moritz.

In the original version in which James Stewart stars as Elwood P. Dowd, a wealthy alcoholic whose sunny disposition and drunken antics are tolerated by most of the citizens of his community. That is, until Elwood begins to claim that he has a friend named Harvey who is an invisible six foot rabbit. Elwood's snooty socialite sister, Veta, determined to marry off her daughter Myrtle to a respectable man, begins to plot to keep Elwood's lunacy from interfering.. Tony-winning producer Don Gregory is producing the remake of the 1950 picture.

Static, Ending A Bidding War

Ending a bidding war, Columbia Pictures has acquired the gang-themed "Static," a spec script from tyro scribe Brad Gann in a mid-six figure buy.

The studio has scheduled the picture for a production start skedded for next summer. Neal Moritz, who just delivered "Not Another Teen Movie" for Columbia, will produce.

"Static" is described by Moritz as an amalgam of '70s actioners "The Warriors" (1979), about a gang crossing rival turf to get home, and "The Gauntlet" (1977), about a cop escorting Sondra Locke to trial while corrupt officials are determined to stop them.

"It's the best of the 'B' movies," maintained Moritz, who ought to know about such things: His "The Fast and the Furious" has topped $144 million in domestic box office gross.

In "Static," the indicted leader of L.A.'s toughest street gang must do battle with rival gangs on his way across town to testify against corrupt members of the city's constabulary. Casting, which Moritz describes as "highly multi-ethnic," is expected to begin shortly. No director is attached.

Mike Newell will direct Runaway Jury With a Smile

If all goes as planned, Mike Newell ("Four Weddings and a Funeral") will direct two of the country's top actors in back-to-back pictures.

He's in discussions to take the helm of "The Runaway Jury," based on the John Grisham legal thriller, which Will Smith may star in; and he is also in advanced negotiations to shoot Julia Roberts in "Mona Lisa's Smile." Up first will be "Runaway Jury," which is expected to start production in March 2002.

"Mona Lisa's Smile" was to begin filming in the spring and be Roberts' next project, but Newell won't be able segue to it until next fall or winter, after "Runaway Jury." That leaves open the question of which film Roberts will make her next. She will likely choose between "Project X," a reunion with "The Mexican" director Gore Verbinski, and "Perfect Stranger," which Philip Kaufman will direct. Both pictures are set up at Sony-based Revolution.

In "Mona Lisa," Roberts will play a free-spirited Berkeley graduate who goes to Wellesley in 1953 to teach.

Chip and Keisha's Wedding

Fox 2000 and producer John Davis have made a mid-six-figure buy of "Chip and Keisha's Wedding," a romantic comedy by scribes Brad Kaaya and Jeff Franklin. The romantic comedy is about a mixed-race couple facing the shock of meeting their in-laws for the first time.

Kaaya is best known for writing "O" and has projects at Danny DeVito's Jersey Films and Will Smith's Overbrook Entertainment. Franklin is best known for creating the long-running sitcoms "Full House" and "Hangin' With Mr. Cooper." He also wrote and directed "Love Stinks."

Barry Levinson and Paula Weinstein Set To Produce Skeletons of the Zahara

In a deal worth a mid six figures, Intermedia Films has optioned "Skeletons of the Zahara," a true story of American sailors shipwrecked in Africa in the 19th century. Baltimore/Spring Creek producers Barry Levinson and Paula Weinstein will produce.

The project is based on a book that Dean H. King is writing for Little, Brown, which outbid several publishers for North American rights in the spring. Doug Miro and Carlo Bernard, who wrote "The Great Raid," a picture John Dahl ("The Last Seduction") is directing for Miramax, are adapting.

"Skeletons" concerns a group of sailors kidnapped and sold into slavery by Berber Tribesmen while attempting to cross the Sahara after their ship ran aground off the African coast. The book explores the relationship of the white slaves and their Muslim captors.

Historic shipwrecks have lately become a popular book and film genre. Two separate pictures based on Ernest Shackleton's Antarctic odyssey are now playing in art house and giant-screen theaters.

King, an expert in naval history, is also writing about the shipwreck and his own recent trek to Africa for National Geographic.

The Ant Bully Animated For Tom Hanks

Universal has optioned "The Ant Bully," a picture book by John Nickle, for Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman's Playtone Co.

The studio plans to make "Ant" as a computer animated feature. It joins an expanding slate of animated projects under development at Universal, including "Where the Wild Things Are, " another Playtone co-production, and "Curious George," which the studio is producing with Imagine Entertainment.

Published by Scholastic in 1999, "The Ant Bully" is the story of a boy who is shrunk to ant-size after soaking an ant colony with his squirt gun. Tried and sentenced to hard labor in the colony, the boy learns the value of teamwork, fights off a wasp attack and tries to return to normal size.

Review From Kirkus Reviews (Buy This Book) Bullies always find someone smaller than they are to pick on, so when Sid the bully picks on Lucas, Lucas bullies ants, drenching them with his squirt gun. An ant wizard shrinks Lucas, who then goes to work with the rest of the ants, hauling leaves, finding food, and fighting off an attack of wasps. The queen ant strikes a bargain with Lucas; if he will bring her a Swell Jell candy, he will be freed. Lucas's mission is successful, and when he returns to normal size, there's a bonus the ants downsize Sid. Large, colorful acrylic paintings somewhere in the artistic vicinity of Ms. Spider's neighborhood carry the tale; Nickle uses shifting perspectives to accentuate height, creating giants out of children and mountains out of ant hills; these shifts help convey Lucas's own changing attitudes. (Picture book. 4-7) -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

The Third Witch optioned

 Gotham-based Solaris Entertainment has optioned the Rebecca Reisert novel "The Third Witch," recently published by Pocket Books.

Solaris, which holds a first-look feature pact with New Line and a TV deal with New York TV, is run by Greg and Gavin O'Connor, the filmmakers behind the Fine Line-distributed "Tumbleweeds."

"Witch" reimagines Shakespeare's "Macbeth" through the eyes of the youngest of the play's three witches, who is a mysterious young girl on a dangerous quest for vengeance

Book Description (Buy This Book) Rebecca Reisert's mesmerizing first novel re-imagines Macbeth, Shakespeare's classic tragedy of power and madness, through the eyes of a mysterious young woman on a dangerous quest for vengeance.

For the girl called Gilly, life in the wilds of Birnam Wood is little more than a desperate struggle for survival. Seven long years have passed since she was first taken in and sheltered by Nettle and Mad Helga, the hut-dwelling wise-women whose inscrutable powers of alchemy and prophecy are feared and reviled throughout good King Duncan's kingdom. Living under the threat of deadly persecution by witch-hunting villagers, the threesome ekes out a life by peddling potions and elixirs, scavenging for food, and robbing the bloodied corpses of Scotland's battle-scarred hills for precious metals and weapons.

But Gilly is haunted by recollections of a much brighter life. She clings to fading memories of a time when she was contented and adored -- until tragedy swept all that happiness away and young Gilly's life was changed forever.

I have made my life an arrow, and His heart is my home. I have made my heart a blade, and His heart is my sheath....Obsessed with avenging her loss and putting out the fire that still rages in her heart, Gilly has dedicated herself to destroying Macbeth, the boundlessly ambitious man who took away her childhood, and his goading wife. Disguising herself as a poor servant boy, she insinuates herself into their lives and, as she bears horrified witness to Macbeth's violent path to power, Gilly subtly begins to take a hand in the forces governing his fate. But as the culmination of her revenge draws near, Gilly finds her own life at risk when she confronts the troubling legacy of a long-concealed heritage.

The Third Witch is a brilliantly imagined, wonderfully satisfying novel. In a riveting story of ruthlessness and revenge, debut author Rebecca Reisert demonstrates a profound understanding of the Bard's timeless drama -- and of the real-life Macbeth upon whom Shakespeare's incarnation is modeled.

Wes Craven Have Signed With The WMA From ICM

"Scream" director Wes Craven and longtime producing partner Marianne Maddalena have signed with the William Morris Agency. The duo had been represented by Intl. Creative Management.

Craven, whose "Scream" trilogy grossed more than $350 million at the domestic box office, and Maddalena have an overall deal at Miramax/Dimension. Craven's credits include "Music of the Heart," "A Nightmare on Elm Street" and "Vampire in Brooklyn."

The next picture Craven is likely to direct is "Pulse" for Dimension, based on a Japanese ghost story from which Craven will develop a script.

Action Movies, Propelled TBS

Action movies, highlighted by "Lethal Weapon 4" and Steven Seagal's "Fire Down Below," propelled TBS to an atypical first-place finish in the November primetime sweeps.

With guns blazing, TBS harvested an average 1.7 million primetime households for the month, eclipsing women's cable network Lifetime -- the standard bearer during recent Nielsen books -- which wound up averaging 1.6 million homes in November.

But Lifetime shot up by 26% over its rating in November 2000, while TBS climbed a modest 8%. ESPN finished third for the month, averaging 1.55 million homes, but the network was off by 2% from the previous November. Fourth-place USA averaged 1.4 million homes, growing by 3% from November 2000.

Rounding out the top 10, in order, were Nickelodeon (down 1%), TNT (up 6%), Cartoon (up 6%), Fox News (up 27%), CNN (down 15%) and Discovery (down 2%).

Among programming achievements, ESPN's Nov. 25 cablecast of the Chicago-Minnesota pro football game wound up delivering 7.44 million homes, the network's highest-rated NFL contest of the season. It was basic cable's highest-rated individual program for the month.

TBS's "Lethal Weapon 4" on Sunday, Nov. 11, was basic cable's highest-rated movie of the month, with 7.4 million households.

Three other Sunday movies on TBS finished in the top 50 programs for the month: "Fire Down Below" (5.9 million homes), "Pretty Woman" (5.5 million) and the made-for-TV movie "Invincible" (4.5 million).

Venevision International And Spain’s Admira Have Launched A 50/50 Joint Venture

Spain’s Admira (formerly Telefonica Media) and Miami-based Venevision International have launched a 50/50 joint venture to produce telenovelas and other TV content for the Latin American and US Spanish-speaking markets.

The joint venture follows similar moves by Admira into the Mexican and Brazilian TV markets. In August, Admira holding Endemol Entertainment and Brazilian heavyweight TV Globo launched Endemol Globo, and in September Endemol created a joint production venture with Mexico’s Televisa.

The Admira-Venevision pact aims to move new product across all Latin America as well as the Spanish, Portuguese and US Hispanic markets, and simultaneously strengthen the partners’ individual catalogues. Venevision is part of Miami-based conglom the Cisneros Group.

The new agreement was signed by Admira general manager for strategic alliances Ele Juarez and Venevision president Luis Villanueva. In a statement, Juarez suggested the agreement could lead to further "collaboration between the two companies, which share a common market and philosophy of innovation and quality."

Bollywood: India's Film Industry On The Rise.

Studio revenues in India are predicted to double over the next five years as the territory begins a period of rapid growth, both in terms of cinema infrastructure and production investment.

According to a new report, Bollywood: India's Film Industry, from UK-based industry analysts Dodona Research, production investment will rise 70% over the next five years, Indian film industry export revenues will climb 120% over the same period and foreign films' theatrical rentals in India will also rise steeply.

Dodona’s confident predictions come as the Indian government moves to corporatize the film industry in line with other sectors such as IT and telecommunications. In 2000, the country produced over 800 films for a total cost of around $300m.

The government has also been improving access to bank finance and reforming taxation laws to encourage exports, which have already seen a gradual improvement in recent years to markets such as the UK, the US and the Gulf states, among others.

The country’s exhibition sector is also set for explosive growth after some false starts from overseas operators such as Warner Bros. and United Cinemas International.

The government is encouraging modernization of the country's 9,000 permanent cinema sites (there are also 3,000 mobile cinemas) with the reduction of the punitive entertainment taxes, especially for new builds, and to attract international investment, the cutting of import duties on cinema equipment.

The Dodona report also warns that despite its population - and 3 billion annual cinema admissions - India does not necessarily lend itself to a megaplex culture. With urban congestion, multi-screening of existing halls and the development of smaller multiplex cinemas are more viable options in most locations.

Local operators are already refurbishing and upgrading venues, and although screens are not expected to grow rapidly, box office is expected to rise in line with the higher ticket prices being introduced by modernized venues. Dodona predicts that gross box office will jump from $1.67bn in 2000 to $2.64bn in 2006.

Changes in the market will mean that foreign - predominantly US - films will benefit disproportionately. Against theatrical rentals of $20 million in 2000, by 2006 foreign films' rentals in India could reach $44 million.

"Part of the opportunity is not only to sell films but also to make them," said Dodona MD Karsten-Peter Grummitt. "Sony and Fox are already looking to become good corporate citizens, and feed their satellite channels. In the long run India is going to be a much bigger market, and companies that integrate themselves into the local industry will benefit most."

South Korea's Cinema Service A New Source Of Film Financing.

South Korea's Cinema Service is poised to tap into a new source of film financing with the launch of a public film investment fund by Hana Bank. The $7.8m Hana Cinema Trust Fund No. 1, which kicks off on Dec 3, marks the first ever involvement of the banking sector in Korean film finance.

In recent years, film investment in Korea has been dominated by venture capital, with so-called "netizen funds" also playing an increasing role in raising cash from private individuals over the internet. The Hana Cinema Trust Fund takes the concept of netizen funds to a higher level, allowing any interested party to invest between $15,000 and $40,000 in a special trust which will be used to finance, produce and distribute 10-15 films over the next two years. Neither Hana Bank nor Cinema Service will contribute directly to the funds.

The trust fund, conceived by Hana Bank, was developed in partnership with Cinema Service and Locus Holdings, the entertainment giant which owns Cinema Service, Sidus Corp. and other companies in the entertainment field. Since regulations require that the trust's funds be invested in a publicly listed company, disbursements will pass through Locus Holdings before being utilized by Cinema Service.

A special commission made up of one fund manager each from Hana Bank, Cinema Service, and Locus Holdings will decide together with honorary fund manager, actor Ahn Sung-ki which films will receive funds. At the end of the two-year period, dividends will be paid based on the performance of all films which received investment.

Investors will receive a dividend within a range of between 0.5% to 19%, with Locus Holdings making up the difference if the fund loses money.

"The Hana Cinema Trust Fund is the first instance of a bank providing a means for the public to invest in films," says Locus Holdings CEO Park Byung-moo. "It is a sign of the Korean film industry's maturity that it has been able to win this level of trust from the banking sector." Further, similar funds are to be issued by the bank in the future.

With local interest rates at their lowest level in years and economic prospects gloomy, investors of all kinds have been keen to invest in the film industry. Over the past 5 years Cinema Service has averaged a staggering 35% return on the films it has released.

The announcement of the new fund has caused a major stir in the local industry, with other banks quickly showing interest in creating similar initiatives. On the morning of November 28^th, prior to the signing ceremony between the three companies, Cinema Service's website crashed under an onslaught of visitors requesting more information.

The Los Angeles Film School's New Owner Expand Its Mission

The Los Angeles Film School (LAFS), recently acknowledged as "... one of the best-equipped private learning centers in the country" by the Hollywood Reporter, announced a multi-faceted expansion. Husband-and-wife team Diana Derycz-Kessler and Paul Kessler acquired full ownership of LAFS in April 2001.

Paul Kessler, one of the original founders of LAFS, is a successful financier who will continue to develop key business relationships for the school. Diana Derycz-Kessler is a Harvard-trained attorney and a Stanford graduate. With a history as a successful business woman, Derycz-Kessler acts as the school's CEO, overseeing day-to-day operations.

Said Derycz-Kessler: "My husband and I have enjoyed the growth and development of the school over the past two years as minority investors. However, we are committed to providing even more tools and resources to our students, and we felt the best way to accomplish this was to acquire full ownership of the school."

In addition to acquiring full ownership of LAFS, the Kesslers have formed the production company 1st Chance Films. The company will provide funding as well as production and post-production resources to a number of independent feature films each year.

Said Derycz-Kessler: "1st Chance is an entity separate from the school itself. However, our dream is for the two companies to work in conjunction with one another. We hope that some, if not all, of the films produced through 1st Chance will be selected from the crop of feature films developed within the Los Angeles Film School classrooms. In short, we hope to give some of our students their 1st Chance at feature filmmaking."

On the horizon for 1st Chance Films are potential co-production relationships with existing production companies or distributors. 1st Chance plans to partner with existing high-profile production companies that have developed a track record for successful feature film projects.

Said Paul Kessler: "We have a great deal of confidence in the talent and ability of our alumni. I know that there are business people in Hollywood who will jump at the chance to work with our student talent pool."

Vicky Miller Promoted At Turner

Vicky Miller has been named to Turner Broadcasting System's top financial post as executive vice president and chief financial officer.

Taking the place of Wayne Pace, who earlier was promoted to CFO of parent company AOL Time Warner, Miller will oversee all Turner financial operations, including news, entertainment, sports, sales and distribution.

A 10-year Turner financial executive promoted from CFO of the entertainment group, she is based in Atlanta and reports to Jamie Kellner, TBS chairman and chief executive. She is expected to name her successor at Turner Entertainment Group in the coming weeks. Read More….

U.S. court rules in favor of studios in DVD case

In a major victory for Hollywood movie studios, a federal appeals court Wednesday barred a Web site from revealing how to make unauthorized copies of digital video discs (DVDs), saying such restrictions did not interfere with free speech.

The Second Circuit Court of Appeals in New York ruled that the controversial 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) does not infringe on the free speech protections of the U.S. Constitution.

There were actions in two other DMCA-related cases on Wednesday. A federal judge in Trenton, New Jersey, dismissed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the DMCA filed by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF).

In that case, a group of scientists claimed they were coerced by the recording music industry not to publish their research on flaws in technology that prevents pirating of digital music.

In California, the San Francisco-based EFF asked a Superior Court judge to dismiss a lawsuit filed against a group of Web publishers who had posted DVD descrambling software online.

In the movie studio case, a three-judge panel of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals issued a 71-page decision affirming the ruling by a federal district court judge.

The lower court ruling, issued August 2000, prohibited Eric Corley from posting DVD descrambling software on the 2600 magazine Web site he publishes, or linking to Web sites that post it.

The software, called DeCSS for Decoding Content Scramble System, can be used to decode the technology safeguards embedded in DVDs to prevent piracy.

DECSS LIKE A SKELETON KEY

The appeals court said online publishing of DeCSS and linking to sites that publish it are not protected by free speech provisions of the First Amendment because the underlying software for those actions is "content-neutral" and serves a function.

The court likened CSS to a lock on a door and a combination to a safe.

DeCSS "is like a skeleton key that can open a locked door, a combination that can open a safe, or a device that can neutralize the security device attached to a store's products," the court said.

"Once the DVD is purchased, DeCSS enables the initial user to copy the movie in digital form and transmit it instantly in virtually limitless quantity, thereby depriving the movie produce of sales."

The case was the first major challenge to the DMCA, which strengthened the protection of copyrighted material in digital format by outlawing the manufacture and distribution of technology or services that circumvent technical protection measures that prevent copying of copyrighted works.

Free speech advocates and scientific researchers have argued the law goes too far in limiting the fair personal use of copyrighted material.

The decision is expected to have sweeping ramifications for copyright law and publishing in a digital age where everything from music to movies can be easily and quickly distributed to an unlimited audience.

The lawsuit was filed by eight major motion picture studios fighting what industry advocates had called the video equivalent of Napster, the popular music swapping technology that was shut down by the music recording industry.

MOVIE PIRATING IS BURGEONING PROBLEM

While attorneys for the defense could not be reached for comment, representatives from the other side were jubilant.

"We couldn't be happier that the court of appeals in a major decision has completely vindicated the DMCA and thereby enabled content companies to enjoy the security for their creative works that Congress meant them to have," said Charles Sims, lawyer for the movie studios, who works at Proskauer Rose LLP in New York.

Already there are pirated copies of films circulating over the Internet, said Rich Taylor, vice president of public affairs at the Motion Picture Association of America.

"It is a burgeoning problem that will only get bigger as far as movies are concerned," Taylor said.

Corley's lawyers can seek a rehearing by the full Second Circuit Court or take the case to the U.S. Supreme Court, Sims said.

A Norwegian teenager, Jon Johansen, and two others developed DeCSS in September 1999 and it subsequently spread to hundreds of Web sites. Johansen said he created it to allow people using the Linux operating system to use DVDs, which work with Windows but not its freely available rival.

Middle Island, New York-based Corley publishes a print and online version of 2600 magazine, which is notorious for giving tips on how to break into telephone and computer networks. He was sued after posting the DeCSS code on his Web site two years ago.

The studios filing the lawsuit were: Universal City Studios Inc., a unit of French media giant Vivendi Universal; Paramount Pictures Corp., a unit of Viacom Inc.; Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc.; Time Warner Entertainment Co., a unit of AOL Time Warner Inc.; Disney Enterprises Inc., a unit of The Walt Disney Co.; Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp., a unit of Fox Entertainment Group Inc.; Tristar Pictures Inc. and Columbia Pictures Industries Inc., both divisions of Sony Corp..