Hollywood studios

Saturday, December 23, 2023

SAG-AFTRA members are celebrating the holidays with a new contract

SAG-AFTRA members are enjoying the benefits of a new three-year contract this holiday season. The union ended a brutal 118-day strike against the studios after reaching a tentative deal last month. However, the membership needed to give its approval. That became a done deal earlier this month. On December 5, the union announced its members nationwide approved new, three-year agreements […]
Friday, September 29, 2023

Hollywood writers prepare to vote on a tentative agreement

Hollywood writers are getting ready to vote on a tentative agreement reached by the Writers Guild of America and the major studios last weekend.  After months of acrimony, false starts and weeks of painful silence negotiations finally got serious and moved at lightning speed. The talks restarted on Wednesday, September 20.  They went on every day until a deal was […]
Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Students offered free tickets to see Oscar-nominated “Selma”

A movement offering more than 300, 000 free tickets to the Oscar-nominated film, “Selma,” is sweeping the country.  The first of its kind program started in New York City with some African American business leaders creating a fund to send 27,000 students to see the critically acclaimed drama. The demand was so great that the fund grew to support 75,000 students.Then, […]
Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Super Bowl 2014: $4 million TV ads and opera singer Renee Fleming

Now that the playoffs are over and the Seattle Seahawks and Denver Broncos are headed to Super Bowl 2014, there is a lot of chatter on the Internet about other aspects of that big game. Those Super Bowl commercials are always popular and are costing more than ever. Fox is televising the event and  has sold out all the TV […]
Thursday, May 30, 2013

Internet star cat gets movie deal

Is this the face of a movie star? Well, some Hollywood producers think so. Grumpy Cat, as she is known, has landed a movie deal for a Garfield-like flick, according to Deadline. Grumpy Cat, who’s real name is Tartar Sauce, is an Internet star. The feline has more than 900,000 likes on her Facebook page. Also, the sour-faced critter has […]
Friday, March 30, 2012

Script sales and deals: Action screenplays sell for big money

“White House Down” — Huge payday for hot screenwriter James Vanderbilt. In fact, the $3 million dollar script deal is being called the biggest so far this year. The  action spec script is described as a cross between “Die Hard” and “Air Force One.” Apparently there was some heated bidding for the script with Sony Pictures finally closing a deal […]
Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Movie studio executive-turned-author gives advice to script writers

Columbia Pictures Vice-President, DeVon Franklin, leads a double life and he’s proud of it. Franklin is a devote Christian and a minister as well as studio executive.  Franklin has incorporated his faith into a business model, which he talks about in his new book “Produced by Faith: Enjoy Real Success without Compromising Your True Self.” Franklin is the executive who brought […]
Monday, May 31, 2010

City Buzz

A final exit for actors Dennis Hopper & Gary Coleman Photo:  Mark Boster/ Los Angeles Times — A frail Dennis Hopper gets a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, March 26, 2010 A legendary Hollywood  “Bad Boy” Veteran actor and co-star of the cult classic motorcycle/road film, “Easy Rider” (1969), Dennis Hopper, died last Saturday, May 29, at the age […]
Monday, February 22, 2010

Major spec script sale for new agency Verve

 The newly-minted Verve Talent and Literary Agency closed a huge script deal with Lionsgate over the weekend that included big paydays for the screenwriter, Shawn Christensen, and hot teen star, Taylor Lautner. The Internet has been buzzing with chatter about the studio bidding for this project for nearly two weeks now. Nikki Finke’s deadline.com/ Hollywood launched a play-by-play of the auction, who’s in and […]