LesMoonves Tagged Articles at Cinematical
The Write Stuff: The Strike is Over!
Filed under: RumorMonger », Scripts », Politics », The Write Stuff »
It's the end of the strike as we know it, and I feel fine!
Yes, writers across America are heading back to work today. The strike started on November 5th of last year, and has lasted over three months. The WGA and the AMPTP have been building toward a conclusion for a couple weeks now, so the wrap-up doesn't come as a huge surprise. Still, it sure is great to see an official announcement, isn't it?
Members of the WGA voted on the issue, and the decision was a landslide. 3,775 ballots were cast, and 3,492 of those voters checked "yes." That's a total of 92.5% in favor of ending the strike. So, a few holdouts -- 283 to be exact -- but by and large Guild members are very happy with the new contract. The official ratification of the deal is slated for February 26th.
WGA East President Michael Winship announced that "We're (now) receiving a percentage of the distributor's gross, which is very real money, as opposed to what people refer to as creative or Hollywood accounting."
CBS to Set Up New Movie Studio
Filed under: Executive shifts », Paramount »
Now that CBS is no longer part of Viacom (it happened early this year, where you been?), and thereby no longer affiliated with Paramount Pictures, it needs a movie studio of its own. The company's CEO, Les Moonves, discussed this need at a PricewaterhouseCoopers event on Wednesday, stating that they are looking into the prospect, which would consist of either the acquisition of another already existing company or the establishment of a brand new entity. The one thing that is for certain is that the studio will start off fairly small with 6-8 productions a year with lower budgets of $20-30 million each. No blockbusters just yet.
As surprised as I was about Viacom's split, I have been mostly curious about the CBS Corp. half of the deal being without a film division. After all, no media corporation is complete without one. CBS only came away from the split with the CBS and UPN networks (which will soon no longer exist, but CBS will own half of the new CW channel), the television studios of CBS, Paramount and King World, and the Paramount Parks. I guess with nothing but TV experience, Moonves might not be the greatest new hope for film production, but every time there's talk of a new studio, I always dream that it can become a saving grace for the quality of new movies. I imagine something along the lines of the Robert Evans era at Paramount, of course. Instead we're likely to get Survivor: The Movie.
Jeremy Renner Wants To Be An Avenger
Directors We Love: Jim Jarmusch
Indie Roundup: 'Sweetgrass,' 'Clarkworld,' 'Broken Embraces'
Shelf Life: Fight Club_thumbnail.jpg)
Watch: Famous 'Matrix' Scene Re-Created with LEGOs
_thumbnail.jpg)
