SAG/AFTRA Merger Passes: It's Now SAG-AFTRA

SAG/AFTRA Merger Passes: It's Now SAG-AFTRA



Jonathan Handel

Eighty years later, two Hollywood unions are one. Both approve the merger by more than 80 percent.

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The Bureaucracy of Videogames: Why San Andreas Had to Tone Down the Sex

The Bureaucracy of Videogames: Why <cite>San Andreas</cite> Had to Tone Down the Sex

Having already pushed the envelope with violent content in previous Grand Theft Auto games, Rockstar wanted to bump up the sex in its anticipated San Andreas. But the outlaw developer had a problem: The videogame ratings boards around the world all had vastly different standards for what was and was not acceptable.

Dolby Discussing Naming Rights on Oscar Venue

Dolby Discussing Naming Rights on Oscar Venue (Report)



Alex Ben Block

The former Kodak Theater will be re-named but but first the facility must resolve its future with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

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A Film Buff Buffet: The Academy Acquires 70,000 Vintage Movie Production Stills

A Film Buff Buffet: The Academy Acquires 70,000 Vintage Movie Production Stills



The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced its acquisition of over 70,000 photographs from film historian Marc Wanamaker's private collection today. Are you salivating yet, movie buffs? City News Service brings us this cinematic news, noting that the "extraordinary" collection documents "nearly every facet of film production between 1909 and the present day, focusing on the first half of the 20th century," according to Ric Robertson, chief operating officer of the film academy. [ more › ]

Microsoft Unveils Free Backup Storage for New Windows Server

Microsoft Unveils Free Backup Storage for New Windows Server

Microsoft will offer a new cloud backup service with the next version of Windows Server. This week, the company released a free preview of the service.

The Problem With Bully

The Problem With Bully

What do you say about a documentary that could do some good—and also a lot of harm? That’s how I feel about Bully, the new documentary by Lee Hirsch that has already received a lot of attention because the MPAA gave it an unwarranted R rating, on account of a few curse words. (The movie is now being released unrated, and at least one major exhibitor has said it will admit children under 17 if they bring a note from their parents.) I was prepared to love this movie for offering an in-depth take on a difficult problem that I’ve been covering for a few years. And I did love parts of it—the parts about children who face troubles from their peers but also show inspiring resilience. But the movie’s depiction of two boys who committed suicide is utterly one-sided, factually questionable, and could pose a real risk to some vulnerable young viewers.

Fall TV: Axed, renewed, or limbo?

Fall TV: Axed, renewed, or limbo?

Lynette Rice and James Hibberd look at every 2011-12 network show's fate -- many sealed, some up in the air

Will Ferrell Announces 'Anchorman' Sequel on 'Conan' (Video)

Will Ferrell Announces 'Anchorman' Sequel on 'Conan' (Video)



Daniel Miller

UPDATED: The actor will reprise his role as lovable news anchor Ron Burgundy in the sequel from Paramount.

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Google’s Grand Plan

Google’s Grand Plan

In a typical month, David Lawee meets two dozen founders of new companies. He grills them on their businesses, their ambitions, their funding, and their clever ideas for the future. Every once in a while—maybe every 10th meeting—Lawee will encounter someone who blows him away. “They’ll come in, and it’ll be so obvious,” he says. These brilliant founders will have identified some magnificent solution to a problem that ails the world and have proven adept at knocking down all the hurdles along the way to their dream. “When I meet someone like that it’ll just make my whole week,” Lawee says. “I’ll even tell the guy or the woman, ‘Thank you, you’ve just made my week.’ ”

Going Hollywood Wasn't Easy for Grand Theft Auto

Going Hollywood Wasn't Easy for <cite>Grand Theft Auto</cite>

Rockstar co-founder Jamie King wanted to recruit big-name stars to play the characters in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, but found that working with Hollywood talent was full of challenges. In this excerpt from the new book Jacked: The Outlaw Story of Grand Theft Auto, Rockstar creators King, Navid Khonsari and Dan Houser recount the tales of working with actors Ray Liotta, Jenna Jameson and Burt Reynolds.

Television Show Longevity by Network

Television Show Longevity by Network

Taking an analysis of television's "Golden Age" a step further, mathematician and Social Dimension blogger Samuel Arbesman shows how a TV show's longevity has become a zero-sum game.

Has the Music Business Turned a Corner? RIAA Reports First Revenue Increase in 7 Years

Has the Music Business Turned a Corner? RIAA Reports First Revenue Increase in 7 Years



Erik Pedersen

The 2011 gains are modest but encouraging; digital accounts for half of overall revenue for the first time ever.

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Lorax Statue Stolen from La Jolla Home of Late Dr. Seuss

Lorax Statue Stolen from La Jolla Home of Late Dr. Seuss



The two-foot-tall, 300-pound bronze Lorax statue that once stood in the backyard of the late Dr. Seuss' La Jolla mansion has been heisted. The theft occurred over the weekend, but property manager Carl Romero and Dr. Suess' widow, Audrey Geisel, did not discover the absence of their valuable friend until Monday morning during a walk in the garden. [ more › ]

The Re-Birth of Showtime

The Re-Birth of Showtime



Lacey Rose

First, Bob Greenblatt brought the heat. Then newbie David Nevins supersized it with a surprise slate of anti-artsy hits charged with action, sex, currency -- and, yes, even awards -- that have the town talking.

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Computers in the Living Room: Xbox Has Never Been A Game System

Computers in the Living Room: Xbox Has Never Been A Game System

The living room is not a game center, but an experiment in a redefinition of personal computing.

Microsoft Unveils New Plan to Speed Up the Web

Microsoft Unveils New Plan to Speed Up the Web

First Google proposed the SPDY protocol for a "speedier" web. Now Microsoft wants in on the fun. The company has proposed an alternative to the SPDY protocol which it calls HTTP Speed+Mobility. The details of Microsoft's plan are still unclear, but with two brain trusts now contributing maybe we'll get a faster internet sooner rather than later.

How Linus Torvalds Helped Bust a Microsoft Patent

How Linus Torvalds Helped Bust a Microsoft Patent

Linus Torvalds just can?t help but be a thorn in Microsoft?s side.

Tenacious D Return With New Video, Announce Album and Tour

Tenacious D Return With New Video, Announce Album and Tour (Video)




Jordan Zakarin

Jack Black and Kyle Gass launch their first major project since 2006's "The Pick of Destiny."

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Apple's Biggest Hater Apologizes for Foxconn Fibs

Apple's Biggest Hater Apologizes for Foxconn Fibs

Monologuist Mike Daisey apologized on his personal blog on Sunday for what he calls "violating audience trust," as well as not clearly acknowledging which portions of his one-man show, The Agony and Ecstasy of Steve Jobs, were real, and which were fabricated.

Newly Discovered Trove of Rare Movie Posters Fetches $503,000 at Auction

Newly Discovered Trove of Rare Movie Posters Fetches $503,000 at Auction



Andy Lewis

A collection of rare '30s posters discovered in Berwick, PA included a "Dracula" that sold for $143,400 and a "Cimarron" that went for $101,575.

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'Bully' to go unrated

'Bully' to go unrated

Documentary about children victimized by classmates was given an R rating by MPAA for language

The Reign of the Doltish Dad

The Reign of the Doltish Dad

From the moment I started writing about advertising, I've fielded complaints—always from men—about how fathers and husbands get portrayed in TV commercials. Ad after ad makes doltish Dad the butt of all jokes. He's outwitted by his children. He's the target of condescending eye rolls from his wife. He's a dumb, incompetent, sometimes even selfish oaf—but his family loves him anyway.

Living on a Stream: The Rise of Real-Time Video

Living on a Stream: The Rise of Real-Time Video

I just made a long bet with a friend. The friend: Kevin Kelly, a co-founder of Wired and adherent of the ?Long Bet,? whereby people on opposite sides of a prediction put money down to back up their hunches. The bet: If within 10 years, more than half of all video watched is live, I win. I'm not worried.

AMC releases that French song from Mad Men as a single

TV: Newswire: AMC releases that French song from Mad Men as a single

Following last night’s Mad Men premiere, the Internet mirrored the offices of Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce in its dissection of Megan’s surprise burlesque serenade for Don Draper—a bit of social media gossip that quickly transformed the song “Zou Bisou Bisou” into a trending topic, and lit up Twitter with demonstrations of appreciation for Megan that were only slightly more restrained than Harry Crane’s. Cleverly, AMC predicted that watching a leggy brunette perform an erotic rendition of a maddeningly catchy French pop song might resonate with viewers: Today it’s released “Zou Bisou Bisou” as both a ...

Jimmy Kimmel to Host 2012 Emmy Awards

Jimmy Kimmel to Host 2012 Emmy Awards







Jordan Zakarin



The ABC host will emcee a telecast executive produced by Don Mischer.



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'Shameless' Music Supervisor on the Show's Devotion to Indie Rock

'Shameless' Music Supervisor on the Show's Devotion to Indie Rock: 'It's Rare That We Use Anything From a Major Label' (Q&A)

Colin Stutz

In seeking out songs that are "messy, rebellious and different," the Showtime series is giving scores of under-the-radar bands valuable synchs.

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'Hunger Games' opens huge: $155M

'Hunger Games' opens huge: $155M

Best debut ever for a non-sequel, and third best overall behind ''Deathly Hallows -- Part 2'' and ''Dark Knight''

The Web Needs to Get Ready for the High-Resolution Future

The Web Needs to Get Ready for the High-Resolution Future

The new iPad is just the first in a coming tidal wave of high-resolution screens. Today we have hacks, but what the web needs are new standards and new tools to make sure developers are ready for the high-resolution future.

Clerks: The Animated Series could return in 2013

TV: Newswire: Clerks: The Animated Series could return in 2013

Kevin Smith may be retiring from filmmaking after his upcoming hockey comedy Hit Somebody, yet not even this is enough to stop Smith from revisiting Clerks at least one more time. According to his Twitter feed (as picked up by MTV), Smith is currently working with the slowly rebuilding Miramax on possibly resurrecting the quickly canceled yet still cultishly adored Clerks: The Animated Series for another batch of episodes in 2013. “Miramax 2.0 and I are hoping to give you new eps weekly next year,” Smith said of reviving the pop-addled show that lasted only two episodes on ABC ...

Variety Parent Puts Trade Paper Up for Sale

Variety Parent Puts Trade Paper Up for Sale



Alex Ben Block

Last of the Reed entertainment business publications goes on the block.

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How One Response to a Reddit Query Became a Big-Budget Flick

How One Response to a Reddit Query Became a Big-Budget Flick

With a just handful of posts about a hypothetical time travel scenario, James Erwin went from web commenter to screenwriter.

The House GOP Plan to Gut the FCC

The House GOP Plan to Gut the FCC

You'd think that Congress would want to have an empowered regulator able to do something to protect the country from the rational, profit-seeking depredations of our new generation of monopolists. Instead, House Republicans are going in exactly the opposite direction. They're lining up big-company support to push legislation early next week on the floor of the House that would gut the FCC.

R.I.P. Tonino Guerra, screenwriter who worked with Fellini, Antonioni, and many others

R.I.P. Tonino Guerra, prolific Italian screenwriter who worked with Fellini, Antonioni, and many others

The screenwriter Tonino Guerra—who scripted some of the most famous works by Italian directors such as Federico Fellini and Michelangelo Antonioni—died yesterday at his home in central Italy, after a long illness. He was 92.

Guerra, who began writing during his time as a World War II concentration camp prisoner, was also a poet, painter, and sculptor. But he was best known for his collaborations with most of the greatest Italian film directors of the twentieth century, many of whom he outlived. After breaking into the business in 1956 by co-writing Man And Wolves with Elio Petri ...

The Hunger Games' Katniss Everdeen: The Heroine the World Needs Right Now

<cite>The Hunger Games'</cite> Katniss Everdeen: The Heroine the World Needs Right Now

In The Hunger Games, Katniss Everdeen embarks on a hero?s journey armed only with her bow, her arrow and her wits: She must survive a televised death match against 23 other young people if she?s to return home and continue hunting to provide food for her family. But in the real world, the character Katniss Everdeen faces an even greater challenge: Proving that pop culture will embrace a heroine capable of holding her own with the big boys. It?s a battle fought on two fronts. First, The Hunger Games must bring in the kind of box office numbers that prove to Hollywood that a film led by a young female heroine who?s not cast as a sex symbol can bring in audiences. And second, for Katniss to truly triumph, she must embody the type of female heroine ? smart, tough, compassionate ? that has been sorely lacking in the popular culture landscape for so very long.

Today in History: RCA SelectaVision Spins (Briefly) Into Stores

March 22, 1981: RCA SelectaVision Spins (Briefly) Into Stores

RCA's long-awaited videodisc system, essentially a vinyl record that played video, hits stores in the U.S. The company spent 15 years and $200 million developing it, only for the system to flop and slip into obscurity, nearly taking its creator down with it.

Mike Daisey: Trouble with 'true' lies

Mike Daisey: Trouble with 'true' lies

Anthony Breznican on discovery that ''Steve Jobs'' monologue played with facts: ''counterfeit truth'' is a lie

Adventures in bad directing

Adventures in bad directing

Staying on yesterday’s topic of directing…

For years movie directors had to deal with their films being converted from intended widescreen dimensions to the standard 4:3 ratio of conventional television sets. A method called “Pan and Scan” is used to make the adjustment, cropping sometimes up to 45% of the original picture. You could see why directors might not take too kindly to this. There’s also “Tilt and Scan” and “Reverse Pan and Scan” (but I think that one is actually a sexual position).

Movies used to have similar aspect ratios to television until the ‘50s when Cinemascope, Vista Vision, Jumbo Whizbang, and other big screen formats were introduced. So those old classics like CASABLANCA and ABBOTT & COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN transfer to the small screen and the now-outdated VHS formats rather faithfully. But epics like LAWRENCE OF ARABIA, when adjusted for TV became LAWRENCE OF THE BORDER OF ARABIA.

Thus the letterbox format to preserve a big screen’s original composition. The trouble there was that on a standard TV you were wasting part of the screen and large-screen scenes were intact but shrunk.  Epic battle scenes became the blue ants vs. the red ants. 

Now that High-Definition TV is pretty much standard with it’s 16:9 aspect ratio movies are once again seen as they were intended. That’s fine for David Lean if he weren't dead. But a few years ago it was problematic for us TV directors.

There was that long transition period where we had both HD television and the old standard. Not every show was even offered in HD. In fact, most weren’t. If a sporting event was in HD that was a big deal. I’m sure a lot of local newscasters dreaded the flip to HD because it brought out every wrinkle. HD probably shortened the career of many news anchors by five years.

Back in the ‘90s I was directing a lot of multi-camera shows. They were done on 35 mm and adhered to the standard 4:3 ratio. I would have four monitors (one for each camera) and would use those to compose my shots. In the early ‘00s shows began converting to HD. The four monitors were upgraded as well. They were now in the HD 16:9 ratio with an outline of the 4:3 ratio inside the screen. I had this on a number of shows including BECKER.

I was asked to frame my shots to accommodate both standard and HD formats. The trouble is many times if you framed right for one the other was weird. A shot would look good on HD but the bottom of someone’s head was cut off in standard. So you’d widen the shot to include the person’s head on the standard screen but on HD the shot was now so wide you could see a boom shadow in the top of the screen. Or worse, you could see off the set. So the picture would look fine on regular TV’s but on HD you’d think only Ed Wood could compose a shot that shoddy. If I tried to compromise, both shots looked awful.

So on those occasions I had to make a decision – one or the other. At the time most TV’s were still standard and BECKER going into syndication was not a certainty. So I opted for the standard option. Plus, I figured, if HD does take off the questionable shots could be fixed optically down the line. Consulting a lot of other multi-camera directors, they made the same decision as me.  I should have asked James Cameron. 

Well, HD did take off. BECKER did go into syndication. It’s probably showing somewhere right this moment. I’ve seen a few of my episodes on HD and every so often there will be a bad shot, a master so wide you can see tape on the floor for marks, the tip of a boom shadow, and in one case the edge of the set. When I first saw that I was pissed. How could the post production technician miss that? Jesus, doesn’t anybody take any pride in their work anymore?

Yeah… like it’s his fault.

The next time there’s a format change I’m going with the new one, even if the new ratio is 26:1. I’ll put it in 3D, 4D, Smartphone, postage stamp, IMAX, whatever. It took seven or eight years to complete the transition to HD. The next format – whatever it is – the transition will probably be the time it takes to go to the commissary for a burrito.

When you watch BECKER episodes that I directed in HD would you please do me a tiny favor?  Can I ask you to put black tape on the screen to crop it?   It'll only take you about ten minutes.  Thank you.

Google Again Opposes Movie Industry in a Copyright Fight

Google Again Opposes Movie Industry in a Copyright Fight



Eriq Gardner

The MPAA says that Hotfile is like Megaupload, but Google says Hotfile deserves the same legal protections as YouTube.

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Will the DGA's New Awards Date Alter 2013 Oscar Race?

Will the DGA's New Awards Date Alter 2013 Oscar Race?



Tim Appelo

The Directors Guild of America moved the date of its annual awards to Feb. 2, 2013, a move that could change the dynamics of the Oscar race.

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Marc Maron's WTF sitcom gets picked up by IFC

TV: Newswire: Marc Maron's WTF sitcom gets picked up by IFC

In news that should serve as enrapturing, positive reinforcement for comedian Marc Maron were he capable of enjoying such feelings, Laughspin reports that IFC has given the green light to 10 episodes of the WTF host’s semi-autobiographical, single-camera comedy, ordering it straight to series after screening the pilot. Maron, of course, stars on the show, playing a guy who records a podcast in his garage, tries to keep a relationship together with his younger girlfriend, and has comically tense interactions with the guests on his show. It’s fiction, sort of. The pilot (which first screened last fall at ...

Pixels, Music and Projections: When Art and Technology Collide

Pixels, Music and Projections: When Art and Technology Collide

Forget paint brushes and molding clay. Today's avant garde uses technology -- computers, software code and wireless signals -- for all modes of artistic expression.