Innholdsfortegnelse for August 16, 2017 i The Hollywood Reporter

Box Office Cool Summer Domestic grosses to hit 15-year low p. 14 Deals Shonda and Chill Why Netflix bet big on ABC’s Rhimes p. 20 Toby Emmerich The Warner Bros. film chief scores with a $35 million bow for Annabelle: Creation, the summer’s third breakout (after Wonder Woman and Dunkirk) for the studio. Roman Polanski The exiled filmmaker is accused of sexual assault by a third woman, months after a Los Angeles judge denied his bid to end his decades-old statutory rape case. Jenji Kohan The prolific showrunner scores a second-season renewal for Netflix’s GLOW in the same week her Lifetime drama American Princess is ordered straight to series. Naomi Watts Her pricey Netflix series Gypsy is canceled mere weeks after its debut, one of the quickest demises in the…

SHONDA’S SIMPLE ALLURE FOR NETFLIX: BECOME AN OWNER, NOT A RENTER Deal of the Week Four years after entering the high-end scripted originals business, Netflix continues to disrupt the television industry — only now it may be more focused on ownership than bidding wars. On Aug. 13, the streaming giant revealed that it had lured prolific showrunner Shonda Rhimes away from her 15-year home at ABC Studios with a four-year overall deal that one industry observer estimates could be worth $100 million. Under the pact, the Grey’s Anatomy and Scandal mastermind will create new projects for Netflix, which will now be the exclusive home to Rhimes’ Shondaland. Additionally, Rhimes, 47, will score a rare percentage of the backend on programming she creates for Netflix. (She will remain involved in pre-existing…

Big Number Lionsgate has renewed its slate deal with CBS Films for another three years. Katie Holmes (ICM, Untitled, Sloane Offer) will star in Hitch director Andy Tennant’s adaptation of self-help best-seller The Secret for Covert Media. Deadpool’s Tim Miller (WME, Anonymous, Bloom Hergott) will direct Fox’s Neuromancer adaptation, with Simon Kinberg producing. Jennifer Garner (CAA, Management 360, Sloane Offer) is in talks to star in Lakeshore’s revenge thriller Peppermint. Phillip Noyce (WME, Australia’s Cameron’s Management, Fineman, Ziffren Brittenham) will helm World War II action thriller The Devil’s Brigade. Daredevil’s Deborah Ann Woll (CAA) will star in Sony thriller The Maze. RLJE Films has acquired North American rights to the Vince Vaughn starrer Brawl in Cell Block 99. TELEVISION Ryan Seacrest (CAA, Hansen Jacobson) has inked a multiyear overall deal…

T he meal-delivery trend has reached Hollywood’s under-3 set with Yumi, launched this summer by former private-equity exec Angela Sutherland (wife of producer and industry scion Angus) and former reporter Evelyn Rusli. Think of it as Blue Apron meets Postmates for babies, serving up such haute organic recipes as rosewater overnight oats and blueberry chia seed pudding (plans start at $35 a week). Industry fans include Molly Sims, Yael Cohen Braun (wife of Scooter), Caitriona Balfe and CAA’s Roeg Sutherland, an investor (with dad Donald) in his sister-inlaw’s startup. “I don’t have a baby, but god do I love their food,” he admits. “I steal snacks all the time!”…

“I am not going to allow you or your client to make it seem like this is in any way my fault because it isn’t.” TAYLOR SWIFT The pop star, testifying in court against radio DJ David Mueller, who filed a $3 million suit against Swift claiming that her 2013 groping claim cost him his job. The judge dismissed his case, and Swift won her countersuit for assault and battery. “I thought I’d last longer than a carton of milk.” ANTHONY SCARAMUCCI The former White House communications director, talking to Stephen Colbert about being fired from the position 10 days after he was hired. “I enjoy a nicely manscaped partner.” JENNIFER ANISTON The actress, telling Refinery29 that she prefers that husband Justin Theroux shave his private parts. “If I don’t…

For more than a decade, a team of employees at CAA has been working to address the agency’s (and Hollywood’s) dearth of female and nonwhite voices. Led by Christy Haubegger, these agents and executives realized that in order to change the industry, it had to start from within — and at the bottom. Today, 44 percent of the agency’s motion picture department is female, and 22 percent are people of color, while the TV department is 46 percent female and 18 percent diverse. Nine of the 15-member core multicultural business development team gathered for a conversation with THR about the lessons, successes and roadblocks so far. When did you first realize that there was a problem to be solved? MAHA DAKHIL, MOTION PICTURE LITERARY AGENT Mellody Hobson said something at…

H ard to miss on the BHHS grounds is a 150-foot-tall oil rig covered in flowery art that precedes the school’s 1927 construction. For 90 years, the rig extracted black gold and provided the school with income (rumor has it that at one point, 85 percent of the teachers’ salaries were paid by the well). In 2003, Erin Brockovich, made famous by Steven Soderbergh’s 2000 film, took up the cause of BHHS alumni who believed toxins from the well caused their cancers. The case was dismissed in 2006 for lack of evidence. Last year, a Beverly Hills City Council vote finally mandated that the derrick cease operation, which it did, then owner Venoco went bankrupt. “It is upsetting that the bankruptcy court has allowed Venoco to escape its obligations to clean up the…

For decades, stars have created painfully polished images — publicists invent biographies, red carpet PDA covers up empty marriages and shrinks secretly remain on speed dial. That was until the Kardashians burst onto the scene and redefined the business of celebrity as the focal point of one of TV’s longest-running reality shows, in the process amassing vast (and growing) net worth. So how exactly have they done it? To start, America’s top-earning reality stars are relentless innovators. Take the Kim Kardashian: Hollywood mobile game — an almost real-time way for fans to experience Kim’s life that has been downloaded 45 million times and has made more than $100 million. Or the Kimoji app, which crashed the Apple store after its December 2015 launch because so many people downloaded it. The…

The Archer School for Girls LOCATION Brentwood TUITION $37,025; plus up to $8,550 in additional fees STUDENT-TEACHER RATIO 8-to-1 ACCEPTING Grades 6-12 Kennedy/Marshall Co. founders Frank Marshall and Kathleen Kennedy sent their two daughters to this A-list all-girls campus popular with industry parents. “The curriculum is looking forward rather than back,” says Marshall. “There’s a terrific STEM [Science, Tech, Engineering, Math] program and Chinese and coding classes.” Adds Kennedy (who was the keynote speaker at this year’s Archer Film Festival; J.J. Abrams served last year): “The idea of single sex education is really important — that option needs to be available, certainly in a community as large as Los Angeles.” Kennedy and Marshall also serve on the board along with Grey’s Anatomy executive vp Mark Gordon, Ann Gianopulos (wife of…

Campbell Hall (K-12) Valley elementary Laurence sends more of its grads here than anywhere else. CEE recently has carved a path thanks not so much to a shared educational approach as to a Hollywood one: Bob Iger and Willow Bay are big donors to both. Children’s Circle, Fountain Day and Montessori Shir-Hashirim are feeder preschools. Crossroads (K-12) The widest entry point is kindergarten, where preschoolers from Circle of Children, Crestwood Hills, First Presbyterian, Temple Isaiah and Wagon Wheel jockey for one of 52 spots. Or they go to Willows (K-8) first. Harvard-Westlake (7-12) Nearly half of John Thomas Dye graduates matriculate to Harvard-Westlake, comprising about 10 percent of its incoming seventh-grade class. Carlthorp, CEE, Curtis, Laurence and Mirman send plenty of students, too. A second option from these schools is…

The Buckley School LOCATION Sherman Oaks, San Fernando Valley TUITION $33,935 (K-5); $39,915 (6-12) STUDENT-TEACHER RATIO 8-to-1 While Buckley, founded in 1933, is known for being a place where the mothers are “perfect” and you need to “carry the right bag,” as several moms put it, Melanie Fields, wife of TV and film producer Simon Fields, thinks that rep is overplayed. “I don’t find it to be snobby, and the people like that are gone now,” says Fields. Both she and her daughter, who just graduated, attended. Some things haven’t changed. “Buckley is probably stricter than most schools. The kids come out as ladies and gentlemen with great values and work ethics,” says Fields. The 830-student school is known for its top-notch academics, with particular strength in writing, and the…

On a recent June evening at L.A.’s famed Roxy Theatre — which has hosted U2, Springsteen and Prince — a band performed whose extensive pedigree suited the venue. Members included a former drummer for Bon Jovi, a professional opera singer and an accomplished saxophonist. The bassist and guitarist had toured extensively; their chops were tight. Who was this killer group? None other than local preschool parent band The MutherFathers. My introduction to L.A.’s parent band scene began four years ago with an email from my son’s preschool: “Talented musicians needed.” It was like they were speaking directly to me, except for the talent part. But why would I need it? Wasn’t this just a bunch of harried moms and dads reliving their high school glory days? I could hang. And…

When Reed Morano was first approached to helm not only the pilot, but also episodes two and three of Hulu’s dystopian drama The Handmaid’s Tale, her representatives suggested she hold a beat. “You don’t need to do all three,” they told her. “You do one, and then you get out of there.” To the delight of the series’ now-rabid fan base, Morano, 40, didn’t heed their advice; instead, the firsttime pilot director, whose prior credits include the 2015 indie film Meadowland (which Handmaid’s star Elisabeth Moss also appeared in), signed on for the initial trio and began crafting the nearfuture world of Gilead, which is as distinct for its nightmarish beauty as for its harrowing conditions. “I know what it’s like when you go on a show: You leave after…

It’s been a time of great highs and one very notable low for the American Film Institute and its half-century-old Conservatory. Shortly after celebrating wins in all three of the top categories at the 2015 Student Academy Awards — and just a year before the success of graduate Patty Jenkins’ Wonder Woman — the Conservatory was thrown into chaos by a faculty rebellion against its dean, Jan Schuette, who agreed to resign in November before departing in June. Now AFI has a new dean, onetime Miramax Films exec Richard Gladstein, 56, whose producing credits include The Hateful Eight and The Cider House Rules. He and AFI president and CEO Bob Gazzale, 52, sat down with THR on campus, on the fringes of Griffith Park, to discuss the challenges ahead. What…

The Young Turks Network, riding high on a new $20 million funding round from investors including Jeffrey Katzenberg’s WndrCo., is seeking to expand its portfolio of shows. The progressive political outlet will have a 16-episode show run exclusively on the Verizon streaming service go90, THR has learned. The show, called True North and hosted by John Iadarola, is a docuseries slated to debut this fall “that provides a unique point of view into the impact of global climate change,” says Ivana Kirkbride, go90’s chief content officer. Episodes will be 11 minutes long, the companies say, with shorter clips pegged to the news cycle to air weekly on HuffPost. Steven Oh, chief business officer at TYT, says the network had the idea for the show and found the right partner in…

Will other cable networks follow WGN America’s exit from prestige TV? To replace its canceled slate of high-end scripted originals, the Tribune-owned cabler announced Aug. 8 the pickups of three low-cost dramas: Canada’s Pure and Shoot the Messenger and Sweden’s 100 Code, starring Dominic Monaghan and the late Michael Nyqvist. They join the Canadian Anna Paquin starrer Bellevue, acquired July 31. “We’re going to see much more of this type of gamble,” University of Virginia media analyst Christopher Ali tells THR, noting the difficulty of competing with high rollers like HBO and Netflix. “Broadcasters have to be creative, and optioning foreign content is a good example.” Big Deal In no longer trying to outspend rivals, “this move is designed to deliver additional value for our advertising and distribution partners and…

Mark Wahlberg lunched at Jean-Georges. … David Benioff had breakfast at Little Dom’s. … Beyonce and Jay Z were at Sushi Park. … Ellen DeGeneres lunched at Soho House. Troy Carter sat nearby. … Chelsea Handler and Jennifer Garner dined at Giorgio Baldi. … Drake checked out Jon & Vinny’s. … Over at Mr Chow, David Puttnam sat with Terry Semel and Bob Daly. … Shaquille O’Neal was at the Beverly Hills Hotel’s Cabana Cafe. … Scott Baio had dinner at The Palm. … Kristen Schaal popped by Salazar. … Justin Bieber was at Cecconi’s for dinner. Meat on Ocean The Quick Pitch Ignore the cringeinducing name out of an SNL skit. From the Water Grill folks, this chophouse with views of the Pacific is serious about its sourcing, its…

(1) After producing Spanglish (below) and Chasing Papi, Haubegger, who founded Latina magazine, joined CAA in 2003. (2) In 2005, CAA began a campaign to recruit diverse students from elite schools, historically black colleges, women’s colleges and those with high Latino populations. (3) Nearly half of CAA’s interns worldwide are women; about 40 percent are people of color. (4) Interns recruited through CAA’s multicultural outreach have gone on to work at Ryan Murphy Productions, Bad Robot and Warner Bros. (5) Writers’ Boot Camp is an annual workshop for midlevel TV writers. (6) ICM-repped Michelle MacLaren was tapped to helm Wonder Woman before CAA’s Patty Jenkins took the reins. (7) This 2014 NYC Fashion Week photo sparked a viral social media post imagining a Rae-penned, DuVernay-helmed heist pic starring Rihanna (left)…

Guest Column Disney’s surprise announcement of a new streaming entertainment service — anchored by Disney, Disney Animation and Pixar films as well as new original content and TV shows from the Disney Channel, Disney Junior and Disney XD — could have vast implications for the way movies are distributed. Not only is this decision a major strategic shift for Disney, it’s not inconceivable that a movie like Toy Story 4, Frozen 2 or the live-action The Lion King might be released in theaters and on the Disney streaming service on the same day. Beginning in 2019, Disney and Pixar films (the jury is still out on Marvel and Lucasfilm movies) will be available to watch only on the yet-to-launch Disney service in the so-called “pay 1 window,” the period in…

The Center for Early Education LOCATION West Hollywood TUITION $20,710 (pre-K); $29,480 (K-5); $31,520 (grade 6) STUDENT-TEACHER RATIO 8-to-1 Considered the 800-pound Hollywood gorilla of L.A. pre- and elementary schools, CEE combines a unique mix of serious star power with a diverse student body and secure urban campus. The school offers a developmental curriculum — emphasis is placed on play; a nurturing, inclusive environment; and student readiness — that gets increasingly challenging over time. Alumni include Jake and Maggie Gyllenhaal and Jonah Hill as well as children of Jack Nicholson, Denzel Washington, Leslie Moonves, Bob Iger and Michael Eisner. Former Disney COO Thomas Staggs and Will Ferrell’s wife, Viveca Paulin-Ferrell, serve on the board of trustees. But perhaps the biggest names are Beyonce and Jay Z, whose daughter attends. Queen…

When hopeful parents began contacting Ad Astra vice principal Dan Lakis in droves after the launch of Tesla co-founder Elon Musk’s by-invitation-only school in 2014, Lakis removed his LinkedIn. (It’s now back up again.) With Ad Astra (the name means “to the stars”), there’s no website, phone number, application or tour, but, surmise school experts, there are confidentiality agreements. “This is by far the most secretive private school,” says Christina Simon, co-author of Beyond the Brochure: An Insider’s Guide to Private Elementary Schools in Los Angeles, of the institution that initially was composed of Musk’s five sons and, as of September 2015, some 15 other children; the head of school, Joshua Dahn, was poached from Mirman School for Highly Gifted Children. The site has moved from SpaceX in Playa del Rey…

NOAH HAWLEY FARGO (FX) “The Coen brothers are two of the best writers but also two of the best filmmakers of our generation. It’s never enough to do a script for this show. By seasons two and three, the question was how to be true to their vision but also express myself. I had to become a filmmaker to tell the stories I wanted to tell.” MIKE JUDGE SILICON VALLEY (HBO) “It does help when you were there in the writing of a scene so that you understand all the intentions and motivations. If there is a scene [I’m directing] that I wasn’t in the writers room for, I find myself going back and saying, ‘What were you guys thinking when you wrote this?’ It’s good to be a part…

Source: The week’s most active and talked-about entertainers on leading social networking sites Facebook, Google Plus, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube for the week ending Aug. 8. Rankings are based on a formula blending weekly additions of fans as well as cumulative weekly reactions and conversations, as tracked by MVP Index.…

The Last Laugh (SARAH CRICHTON, JULY 3) BY Lynn Freed AGENCY WME Think The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel crossed with Grace and Frankie: Three self-identified “old bags” find their yearlong Greek vacation disturbed by past lovers and pesky family members who won’t leave them alone. The Wanted (HOLT, 2019) BY John Tayman AGENCY UTA The best-selling author’s history of the evolution of the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted list from a 1949 newspaper publicity stunt to a real crime-fighting tool, told through seven cases, is being eyed as a possible multiplatform property.…

H ollywood is always a sucker for a special effect, and one of nature’s most spectacular — a total solar eclipse — is coming Aug. 21. Angelenos will see a partial eclipse, peaking at 10:21 a.m., with 60 percent of the sun’s surface blocked by the moon. But only those in the “path of totality,” a 70-milewide swath that begins in Oregon and cuts down to South Carolina, will get the full effect. HBO’s Mara Mikialian is among several industry media relations pros who will travel to see the show: She’s heading to Nashville, which, her former NASA employee husband, Robert, has assured her is “strongly in the path of totality, with a promise of more than two minutes of complete darkness.” WME’s Marie Sheehy will be in Idaho, and 20th…

I ♥ NY While NYC’s subway has always been a place for unsettling sights — a rat once crawled on Molly Shannon’s foot, Carrie Coon saw a man harassing women in hijab, Katie Aselton witnessed a suicide attempt and Dark Tower scribe Akiva Goldsman saw a dead body (“The ’70s were different”) — commutes have gotten even grimmer (and more pungent) with summer’s over-the-top crowding and constant delays. Industry loyalists remain: Hamlet player Keegan-Michael Key says his ride to The Public Theater has been “relatively unscathed,” adding, “The worst I’ve had it was looking at the train, stopped for some reason, 15 yards away from the platform.” Foxcatcher producer Tom Heller, who spotted Steven Zaillian on a recent ride, is also a fan. “Just last week, I found myself sitting…

Weddings Primary Wave Entertainment manager Isabel Frost married David Gerhardt, supervising house manager at the Geffen Playhouse, on July 22 in front of 160 guests at the Malibu West Beach Club. The couple, who met on a blind date, will honeymoon in France, Estonia and England. Births Brian Dow, an APA board member, and his husband, entrepreneur John Kanell, welcomed twin sons Lachlan and George on May 10 via surrogate. Raj Raghavan, a television agent at CAA, and husband Thomas Donovan, senior vp and director of strategy at MullenLowe, welcomed son Arthur Donovan Raghavan on July 12 at Kaiser Permanente Hospital in Roseville, California. Congrats Mark Shuken was hired as president of the Pac-12 Networks on Aug. 14. Kevin Smith was named senior vp business development and partnerships for Dick…

Since 2015, CAA has taken a 90-minute presentation about its most promising diverse clients to top execs. ‘We can’t make studios hire them,’ says Haubegger, ‘but we can make sure they saw them’ 2015-16 Sofia Boutella Within seven months of signing the Kingsman breakout in May 2015, CAA landed the ex-dancer in The Mummy and Atomic Blonde. Eiza Gonzalez From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series was her only credit in English; then she booked Baby Driver and Fox’s upcoming Alita: Battle Angel. Barry Jenkins The director was featured in a road show nearly a year before the Telluride premiere of his Oscar-winning sophomore film, Moonlight. Jordan Peele CAA touted the Key and Peele star’s prospects as a director when he was just beginning production on his debut, Get Out. CLASS OF…

KIM KARDASHIAN Kim has earned about $45.5 million in the past year, according to Forbes, from her app, website, Kimoji emojis and endorsements. Her KKW cosmetics sold 300,000 contour and highlight kits, bringing in $14.4 million the first day. KYLIE JENNER Based on the success of her lip kit, Kylie Cosmetics launched in 2016 and racked up $420 million in sales in its first 18 months; it’s on track to become a billion-dollar brand by 2022, reports WWD. Her spinoff, Life With Kylie, premiered Aug. 6. KENDALL JENNER She reportedly earns $370,000 for each paid Instagram post, and she’s No. 3 on Forbes’ highest-paid models list, earning $10 million in 2016 from deals with Calvin Klein, Marc Jacobs and more. She also has a clothing line with Kylie. KRIS JENNER…

We used to have all these green tarps covering the fence around the school perimeter, like at a golf club, so that you can’t see in,” explains Clara-Lisa Kabbaz, president of top private school Le Lycee Francais de Los Angeles. “But those were quickly replaced by Brad Pitt when his kids started years ago. He said, ‘If you’re a paparazzi, your lens can come right up and see through.’ So now we have completely opaque fence covers. Every time I look at them, I think of him.” Given L.A.’s high volume of private schools catering to the offspring of Hollywood icons (and students with their own celebrity), a canny paparazzo might envision these institutions as easy photo pickins. But security is becoming as integral as STEM courses. John Thomas Dye…

Beyonce strutted across the stage, belting out “I Will Always Love You.” It’s no shock that the evening at the Shrine in March 2016, hosted by Will Ferrell and Billy Crystal, received a ton of buzz. What is surprising — unless you’re familiar with L.A.’s private-school fundraising arms race — is that it was an elementary school benefit. The Center for Early Education’s 75th Anniversary gala may have been L.A.’s biggestever school fundraiser (“They got a little grief because it was so showy,” says one insider; CEE head of school Mark Brooks counters that performances can garner “lots of talk, but the purpose is to raise money so students can have better programs”) — yet it’s barely out of the ordinary for the annual galas and auctions, which cost $100…

Comedy DONALD GLOVER AND STEPHEN GLOVER ATLANTA (FX) ALEC BERG SILICON VALLEY (HBO) DAVID MANDEL AND BILLY KIMBALL VEEP (HBO) Drama JOEL FIELDS AND JOE WEISBERG THE AMERICANS (FX) GORDON SMITH BETTER CALL SAUL (AMC) PETER MORGAN THE CROWN (Netflix) BRUCE MILLER THE HANDMAID’S TALE (Hulu) ROSS AND MATT DUFFER STRANGER THINGS (Netflix)…

LIMITED JUDY DAVIS FEUD (FX) The three-time Emmy winner and double Oscar nominee held her own as gossip columnist Hedda Hopper among the series’ stellar roster, which included Jessica Lange, Susan Sarandon and Alfred Molina. ALEXANDER SKARSGARD BIG LITTLE LIES (HBO) The actor powerfully played a guy viewers hated: an abusive husband who (spoiler alert) also turned out to be the man who years earlier raped another character and fathered her child. DRAMA DAVID HARBOUR STRANGER THINGS (NETFLIX) The Duffer brothers sent their script to Harbour just as he was ready to quit the biz (upon the cancellation of his NBC series, State of Affairs). It’s a good thing he gave Detective Jim Hopper a shot. THANDIE NEWTON WESTWORLD (HBO) Her prostitute host, Maeve, has the most startling arc on HBO’s…

There was once a glamorous myth that you could attend Hollywood High School, get discovered and become a movie star. Lana Turner was the girl who turned that myth into reality. The Hollywood Reporter’s part in this was founder Billy Wilkerson, then 47, doing the discovering. In early 1937, Judy Turner (director Mervyn LeRoy later encouraged the change to “Lana”) skipped typing class to have a Coke with friends at the nearby Top Hat Malt Shop. Wilkerson had walked from his THR office for the same reason. He saw Turner, a stunningly beautiful and by all accounts self-possessed 16-yearold, and told the cafe manager that he’d like to speak with her. Turner was suspicious, agreeing only reluctantly and telling the manager, “Well, if you say so. But stay close.” (That…