Innholdsfortegnelse for Sep-04-15 i The Hollywood Reporter

COMCAST, THE $140 BILLION CABLE OPERATOR, Internet service provider, broadband backbone company and NBCUniversal parent, has endured two humiliating setbacks this year: the FCC’s vote in favor of net neutrality and the Justice Department’s scuttling of its $45 billion deal to buy Time Warner Cable. Both of these events make it more difficult for Comcast to use its broadband infrastructure to expand its central business from cable television into the dominant force in Internet video delivery. Still, if the road is tougher for Comcast, the company yet remains the primary link between Internet video — occupying fully 70 percent of U.S. broadband use — and you. That’s a business opportunity that it remains determined to exploit — getting around regulatory obstacles is standard operating procedure for a cable company. Equally,…

The Eternal World (William Morrow) BY Christopher Farnsworth AGENCY ICM Partners The novelist’s latest, about Spanish conquistadors whose 500-year-old lives are threatened when the Fountain of Youth they discovered in Florida in 1527 dries up, has been compared to Michael Crichton’s best work. A Window Opens (Simon & Schuster) BY Elisabeth Egan AGENCY CAA Glamour’s books editor finally has penned her own debut novel, about a mother of three who struggles to have it all when she jumps from journalism to working at an Amazon-like company. It already has generated lots of heat thanks to positive reviews and a glowing profile in The New York Times.…

TAKE NOTE With more than 400 original scripted series in production, breaking out is no easy feat these days. But as the TV industry heads into its busiest season, this dossier of 10 up-and-comers, 35 and under, is poised to cut through the clutter. Their shows already are generating buzz (see Quantico), critical anticipation (The Late Show With Stephen Colbert) and a whole lot of viral traffic (hello, Supergirl) PRIYANKA CHOPRA ABC’s Quantico DOB July 18, 1982 HOMETOWN Mumbai, India REPS CAA, Anjula Acharia-Bath The Bollywood megastar, who boasts a combined 27 million Facebook and Twitter followers, picked the FBI thriller for her U.S. series debut when a talent deal with ABC Studios presented her with a pile of scripts. She’s new to American audiences, but Chopra already has starred…

ALLERGY & IMMUNOLOGY Sheldon Spector California Allergy & Asthma Medical Group 11645 Wilshire Blvd. Los Angeles 90025 310-966-9022 CANCER/ONCOLOGY M. William Audeh Medical oncology Cedars-Sinai Samuel Oschin Comprehensive Cancer Inst. 8700 Beverly Blvd. Los Angeles 90048 310-423-1188 James Berenson Medical oncology Institute for Myeloma and Bone Cancer 9201 W. Sunset Blvd. West Hollywood 90069 310-623-1222 Linnea Chap Medical oncology Beverly Hills Cancer Center 8900 Wilshire Blvd. Beverly Hills 90211 310-432-8900 Rowan Chlebowski Medical oncology UCLA Health System 1000 W. Carson St. Torrance 90509 310-222-2217 Warren Chow Medical oncology City of Hope Nat’l Medical Ctr. 1500 E. Duarte Road Duarte 91010 800-826-4673 Marwan Fakih Medical oncology City of Hope Nat’l Medical Ctr. 1500 E. Duarte Road Duarte 91010 800-826-4673 Charles Forscher Medical oncology Cedars-Sinai Samuel Oschin Comprehensive Cancer Inst. 8700 Beverly…

In April, only two weeks after famed aesthetic dermatologist Fredric Brandt committed suicide in the garage of his Miami home, his patients received a letter from Laser & Skin Surgery Center in midtown Manhattan, where he had established his New York office. Signed by center director Dr. Roy Geronemus, the note said the staff was “shocked and saddened by his sudden passing” and that it knew patients were “feeling the pain of his loss as well.” It continued: “Please be advised that our physicians provide all of the services that Dr. Brandt performed.” The war over Brandt’s patients was on. He had one of the most enviable practices in New York. His intensely loyal following (“He had a database of thousands,” says Geronemus) was an awe-inspiring group of socialites and…

While producers often display outward confidence, they seek therapy for anxiety issues and a sometimes crippling sense of over-responsibility, heightened in Hollywood because of its competitive nature and uncertain stream of income. Producers fear losing face from a project bombing or sending out a script that someone might think is bad. They can become so nonfunctioning that they avoid calls or stop going to industry gatherings because they’re afraid of getting a panic attack. They often have popped Xanax for years. I also see a lot of marijuana used to avoid anxiety. Short-term meds they take are usually Klonopin or Ativan; long-term, an antidepressant like Lexapro. It’s not surprising that anxiety is exacerbated in Hollywood. Anxiety is basically making negative predictions about the future. And being dependent on what happens…

I’ve seen dozens of agents over my two-plus decades as a therapist. A lot come in because of relationship issues and stress, but the agents don’t even realize that what they’re coming in for is a Hollywood version of “caretaker fatigue.” People think of agents as being assholes. (This doesn’t seem to bother them.) But agents are caretakers. They’re finding people jobs, dealing with problems, babysitting, handholding, escorting on the red carpet, taking care of people’s feelings. When most people in this town have a problem, they call me — the therapist — or their agent. Agents are the problem solvers. The symptoms that I see in “agent caretaker fatigue” are agitation, anxiety, depression, burnout. Agents can get very burnt out by the constant crisis management. They’re seen as assholes…

A RAP CAME ON THE HOTEL ROOM door. It was our head of security — a big, sweating, burly man — who said our security detail had abandoned us because my cameraman, Ashoka Mukpo, had tested positive for Ebola. Three weeks before our arrival in Liberia, eight members of an Ebola outreach team, several journalists among them, had been hacked to death by machete-wielding villagers in Guinea. “You have 30 minutes to get out of here,” he said. “People have heard you’re the Americans with Ebola. They’re coming to get you.” Then he left. I’d covered rough spots before. When I was with ABC News, I reported live from Mogadishu. I was with Charlie Gibson reporting from Desert Shield. I’ve been on the front lines in Jordan and Beirut covering…

KEN HOWARD The SAG-AFTRA president wins a fourth two-year term, but his narrow 54 percent of the vote over Patricia Richardson suggests his moderate stance might be losing favor. GREG MALINS The showrunner exits Fox’s Rob Lowe comedy The Grinder before it premieres in another example of behind-thescenes drama on several network shows this season. JEREMY ZIMMER The UTA chief brings in Jeffrey Ubben, founder of San Francisco’s ValueAct Capital, as a minority investor with money to back purchases like the Aug. 20 deal for music power The Agency Group. CRIS CARTER The ESPN football analyst apologizes amid outcry over footage showing him advising NFL rookies to designate a “fall guy” to take blame should they get into legal trouble. SHOWBIZ STOCKS $1.26 (+1%) CUMULUS MEDIA (CMLS) A rare winner in…

COUNTING ON ZOMBIES TO PROTECT YOU from a global financial apocalypse might seem an odd strategy, but AMC is betting its walkers can save the company as the stock market teeters. Fear the Walking Dead, the companion series to AMC’s horror hit, premiered Aug. 23 on the U.S. channel to more than 10 million same-day viewers and, within 24 hours, had aired in 125 countries. It was the largest day-and-date broadcast for a drama series and the biggest test yet of whether AMC can take its brand global. “Its success is critical [for AMC] given current concerns around the TV bundle and the sustainability of AMC Networks’ outsized growth/content cycle,” wrote analysts Amy Yong and Andrew DeGasperi of Macquarie Research in a recent investors note. International returns for Fear could…

AS OSCAR SEASON BEGINS, THERE IS PANIC within the awards community about a lack of screening rooms in New York, where many voters and tastemakers are based. A rash of closures and listings has made the shortage worse than at any other time in recent memory, say insiders. The Broadway Screening Room, which operated out of Midtown’s Brill Building, closed in 2013. The Varick Room, operated by Tribeca Cinemas since 2003, shuttered in July. And Sony is moving out of its Madison Avenue high-rise in early 2016, leaving behind its seventh-floor screening room. (Paramount, Universal and Warner Bros. also have Midtown facilities, but they are used sparingly and are not for rent.) Even the Academy has been affected: Lighthouse International, which had leased the organization its 220-seat basement theater on…

FORGET DYSTOPIA — YA ADAPTATIONS ARE getting real. Since Fox’s teen cancer drama The Fault in Our Stars earned $307.2 million worldwide last summer, studios and producers have been clamoring for young-adult books about sickness, death, loss and love. Sources say MGM has scooped up the latest: Nicola Yoon’s debut novel, Everything, Everything, out Sept. 1 via Random House’s Delacorte. The tale follows a teen with a rare disease that makes her allergic to practically everything. After 17 years in hiding, she falls in love with the boy next door. J. Mills Goodloe (UTA, Goodloe Law), who wrote Blake Lively starrer The Age of Adaline and Fox’s upcoming plane crash survivor tale The Mountain Between Us, will adapt and Les Morgenstein and Elysa Dutton of Alloy Entertainment Features (Alloy repped…

Why Matthew Perry Sold His Rehab Site Matthew Perry is still committed to providing services for recovering addicts — just not in Malibu, where he operated a sober-living facility from a 5,500-squarefoot beach compound known as The Perry House. The Odd Couple star sold the property overlooking the Malibu pier in February for $10.65 million. “That was a Malibu beach house, and it was too expensive to run and the business didn’t really work,” says Perry, who runs the facility with addiction specialist Earl Hightower. (Malibu rehab centers like Promises can run up to $80,000 per month.) “So we’re looking at smaller places in Santa Monica and Studio City. I’m keeping the business going because I like it; it’s a good way to help alcoholics.” Ashley Madison, the Made-for-TV Movie…

1. Lee Jones The Australian newcomer, 32, plays the titular executioner, whom he describes as a former knight who ultimately is unsuccessful in trying to escape a life of violence. The part required extensive research along with horse and fight training. As for the forthcoming profile boost, he laughs: “People just keep saying, ‘Get ready, it’s going to be crazy!’ ” 2. Kurt Sutter The creator has selected another severely deformed part for himself — the Dark Mute, a burn victim — which probably is fodder best reserved for his therapist, though Sutter offers a theory: “I always feel like I need to bury myself deep into something that’s not me … just because there is such a close association with the show,” he says. “But I’m sure there’s some…

Growing up, I only ever wanted to be a doctor. There was never a thought I’d go into acting. I never even did theater in high school. I was the popular nerd: “There’s happy Ken. I’ll spare him a beating!” In my senior year, there was a mock male beauty pageant, and I was voted to be a contestant. For the swimsuit competition, I posed like a serious bodybuilder and got a standing ovation. It was my Napoleon Dynamite moment. I felt like the most popular kid ever. I was pre-med at Duke, but my A in organic chemistry changed to a C when I decided to take an acting class and do musical theater my sophomore year. My parents were worried. I was only 18 — I’d skipped a…

THE WEST SIDE’S ‘AFFLUENZA’ AND ITS CANCER ANOMALIES When it comes to cancer, Los Angeles has been pretty lucky: California’s cancer rate ranks as the eighth-lowest in the country, and L.A.’s rate is even lower than the state average. But in 2003, a series of Beverly Hills High School lawsuits in which alumni sued energy companies, claiming that oil-well toxins near the campus caused Hodgkin’s lymphoma, drew the attention of USC’s L.A. Cancer Surveillance Program. The cases were dismissed as the CSP found that social class factors, not environmental ones, contribute more to the correlation between above-average incidence rates of Hodgkin’s disease and higher-income neighborhoods. Call it a kind of affluenza: Breast cancer rates also are higher in Beverly Hills, Pacific Palisades and Palos Verdes, where women are bearing children…

The pressures are different for male and female executives. The guys I’ve worked with recently have father issues, which means they had very powerful fathers, so there’s an aspect of living under the father’s shadow. In one week, I had three guys come in and say, “My father’s the most powerful man in Hollywood.” In certain cases, they had really Great Santini abusive fathers. They’ve got this inner dialogue that’s really their father’s voice saying, “You’re not good enough.” The women who have made it to the top still have to be in a room full of the good ol’ boys when decisions are made. Think Donald Trump. You put a woman in there and they make really, really sexist jokes, and they don’t respect her. The women work harder,…

I had been in Liberia four weeks before joining Nancy’s crew. Prior to that, I had lived there for two years. I just felt some kind of compulsion to go back because of the Ebola epidemic. On the way to interview someone from the CDC, I started to feel achy and rundown, so I asked the driver to drop me at my apartment to do a temperature check. That was the beginning of the fun. I will go to my grave not knowing how I caught Ebola. All these journalists were doing the same things I was doing, and most of them were going into containment units. Nancy did that day: She wore a biohazard suit and went into an Ebola ward. I refused to do those things. With Ebola,…

LAURENCE OLIVIER (1948) Directing himself in this film adaptation, Olivier highlights the prince’s mopey narcissism and incestuous feelings for his mother, Gertrude. The post-Freudian interpretation won four Oscars, including best picture and actor. RICHARD BURTON (1964) Wearing modern dress, Burton plays Hamlet at a booming pitch, virile and muscular yet bitter and sardonic. Directed by John Gielgud on a stark stage, the hit production gave Hamlet its longest Broadway run before becoming immortalized on film. DANIEL DAY-LEWIS (1989) In a brooding performance, Day-Lewis played Hamlet opposite Judi Dench’s Gertrude in Richard Eyre’s National Theatre production in London. He quit the run early following an onstage meltdown during which he apparently hallucinated, seeing his dead father. MEL GIBSON (1990) Critics sniffed, but Gibson’s Hamlet is full of swagger and conviction in…

In 1980, a Celeb Doctor’s Slaying Stunned THERE ARE FEW SHOT-DEAD doctors who’ve gotten less sympathy from Hollywood than Dr. Herman Tarnower, author of the 1979 best-seller The Complete Scarsdale Medical Diet, a precursor to low-carb fad diets like Atkins and The Paleo Diet. Two TV movies were made about the celebrity cardiologist’s murder at the hands of spurned lover Jean Harris, and both echo the lyrics of the “Cell Block Tango” number from Chicago: “He had it coming.” Harris, then 56, had been Tarnower’s lover for 14 years when the suddenly rich and famous 69-year-old lifelong bachelor decided to leave her for his office assistant, Lynne Tryforos, 38. On March 10, 1980, Harris drove from Virginia, where she was the headmistress of an elite girls school, to Tarnower’s 6-acre…

ACQUISITIONS Verizon AOL $4.4 BILLION (May) The telecom giant paid a premium for AOL’s ad technology and content network (Huffington Post). Verizon is launching a streaming service. Disney MAKER STUDIOS $500 MILLION (March 2014) The YouTube network gives Disney access to online stars. Otter Media FULLSCREEN (September 2014) joint venture bought a majority stake in the YouTube network for an undisclosed price. INVESTORSNBC Universal VOX MEDIA $200 MILLION (August) BUZZFEED $200 MILLION (August) NBCU will collaborate on Olympics coverage. A+E Television Networks VICE MEDIA $250 MILLION (August 2014) After negotiations with Time Warner hit a snag, A+E swooped in to take a 10 percent share of the millennial media company (which previously sold a small stake to 21st Century Fox). CO-INVESTORS Scripps Networks REFINERY29 $50 MILLION (April) The owner of…

ARI EMANUEL’S kingdom isn’t quite big enough. The WME co-CEO and partner Patrick Whitesell are launching a venture capital fund, sources tell THR, and hiring a full-time manager to run it. The move to raise what a source pegs at about $150 million would allow WME and its majority owner, private-equity fund Silver Lake (which together gobbled up sports and fashion behemoth IMG for $2.3 billion in early 2014), to formalize their startup-backing strategy. Investments during the past few years include Uber, reservations app Reserve, valet parking company Luxe and live broadcasting app Meerkat. A WME rep declined comment about the new fund. During recent years, talent agencies have placed an emphasis on investing to diversify their portfolios. CAA Ventures, CAA’s investment arm run by Michael Yanover, has backed startups…

KA-CHING! WHO’S INKING ON THE DOTTED LINE THIS WEEK DEAL OF THE WEEK NEARLY A decade after his last “mockumentary” filmmaking outing in For Your Consideration, Christopher Guest is getting the gang back together again — well, most of them, anyway. Netflix said Aug. 11 that it had signed Guest, 67, to write and direct Mascots, which will premiere in 2016 on the streaming service. What Netflix wouldn’t divulge is which of Guest’s usual repertory of regular actors would return to the fold. But sources tell THR that Jane Lynch, Parker Posey, John Michael Higgins, Jennifer Coolidge and Bob Balaban are in various stages of negotiations to headline Mascots, set in and around the world of sports mascots. All of these actors were featured in Guest’s past three films —…

“Don’t be a pretentious f—face.” ANNA KENDRICK The Pitch Perfect actress, joking about what her motto would be if she decided to adopt one. “There was this huge elephant there, and every journalist agreed not to address it. Why? You’re just a PR person at that point. Shame on you.” PAUL HAGGIS The Show Me a Hero director and former Scientologist, scolding the media for not asking Tom Cruise about the religion and the critical HBO documentary Going Clear as he promoted the fifth Mission: Impossible film this summer. “That would have been subversion on a massive level, if I could have subverted Bond.” QUENTIN TARANTINO The Hateful Eight writer-director, recounting how he tried to convince producer Albert Broccoli to let him take over the James Bond franchise during the…

In of late at Craig’s: Jeffrey Katzenberg, Irving Azoff, Sidney Poitier, CAA’s Richard Lovett and Michael Kives, Larry Flynt, Russell Simmons (with four blondes), Diane Warren, Apostle Management’s George Heller and Maker Studios’ Ross Siegel. … Robert Evans dined at The Palm. New Regency’s Brad Weston also has been in. … Harvey Weinstein broke bread at Ago. … In at Mr Chow: Ryan Kavanaugh with Avi Lerner, Bob Daly, Shawn Levy, producer Tom Pollock and WME’s Dave Wirtschafter. … Josh Brolin joined his fiancée at Sauce on Hampton in Venice. … Amazon’s Roy Price joined Woody Allen, Soon-Yi Previn and ICM’s John Burnham for the second time in a week, this time at e.baldi. … New parents Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel joined friends at Santa Ynez’s S.Y. Kitchen. ……

GENTLE CLEANSER Avene Tolerance Extreme Cleansing Lotion offers a nonirritating, no-rinse formula to substitute for face wash after cosmetic surgery, peels and laser treatments; $32, at Robertson Blvd Medspa, Beverly Hills NOT RED IN THE FACE Dr. Brandt Save Our Skin Comfort Cream has anti-inflammatory plant extracts (including red algae and pumpkin seed) to soothe skin and reduce redness after lasers and injections; $55, at Sephora TOTALLY INCOGNITO Oxygenetix Oxygenating Foundation offers gel-based (therefore anti-bacterial) coverage for surgical scars and redness from lasers; $66, at Lift MD Aesthetics, Beverly Hills BANISH BRUISES Jane Iredale Corrective Colors palette has four shades to conceal the post-op stages of bruising; $24, at Planet Beauty, Beverly Hills KEEP CALM, CARRY ON BeautyRx Soothing Moisture Cream with willowherb calms skin after glycolic peels; $60, beautyrx.com…

Ava Cardoso-Smith, the 14-year-old daughter of Showtime publicity executive Trisha Cardoso and Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith, had to quit dancing a year ago due to debilitating back pain. The cause? A severe case of scoliosis, an abnormal — and sometimes fatal — curving of the spine. “It was hard for her to even sit in classroom chairs,” says Cardoso, who took her daughter to see David Skaggs, the chief of Children’s Hospital Los Angeles’ Orthopaedic Center. “When scoliosis gets to a certain point, it’s like the Leaning Tower of Pisa; it just keeps going, and she got to that point,” says Skaggs, who closely monitored Cardoso-Smith’s condition for two years before performing spinal-fusion surgery on her — using a new method he pioneered — in February. Despite…

At hospitals like Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, scientists have been conducting potentially breakthrough research on repairing injured knees and elbows and other joints by injecting stem cells into the cartilage of goats and mice. But here in L.A., doctors are much further along, injecting the stuff into more exotic animals — like Charlie Sheen. “In addition to immediate relief, the long-term benefits are mind-blowing,” says the 49-year-old actor, a patient of Dr. Bal M. Rajagopalan — or “Dr. Raj” — an orthopedic surgeon with offices in Beverly Hills and Dubai (Sheen gets house calls for follow-ups). Dr. Raj’s stem cell cocktail is somewhat different than the Johns Hopkins methodology; he simply removes a dab of bone marrow from the patient in what he describes as a “minimally invasive procedure,” aspirates…

There’s a misconception that actors are narcissists. Yes, there’s a subgroup of people who love being in the limelight and it’s often born out of wanting attention. But for the majority of my clients, acting is driven by a deep creative need. If they become successful stars, though, fame may collide with the work itself. They may get overwhelmed by Hollywood politics or by fans who idealize them. The pressure to live up to expectations — to be funny, attractive, young, stylish — can be exhausting. Often they don’t feel safe going out. People try to find out where they live or follow them. They may have false lawsuits thrown at them and dangerous exploitation. People project their anger and envy, and that can be disorienting. It’s hard for people…

Asphyxiashunned Suffered by agents who are escorted out of the building by security after jumping ship to another agency. Chit-Chatiosis The condition that causes a development executive to spend the first half of your pitch meeting discussing who you know in common and what great people they are. Directorial Dysmorphia A director believing he’s attractive to women because they pay attention to him during production, only to be brought down to Earth at the wrap party. Letscirclebackonthisitis When the mechanisms for actually committing to a decision or plan of action cease to function. Male Tight Sweater Syndrome Many a superhero has been stricken with tight sweater syndrome. Tight SS can result in big egos, pushed to limit yarns and circulation issues. There is no cure. Meaningitis The capacity for someone…

In each of the following pairs, choose the one that you MOST AGREE with. Mark your answer by writing EITHER A or B in the space provided. Only mark ONE ANSWER for each attitude pair. Jean M. Twenge, Ph.D., professor of psychology at San Diego State University, is the author of Generation Me and co-author of The Narcissism Epidemic. SCORING: Questions 3, 5, 7 and 10: Give yourself 1 point if you answered A. Questions 1, 2, 4, 6, 8 and 9: Give yourself 1 point if you answered B. 0-3 points: You have scored low in narcissism. 4-5 points: You have scored about the same in narcissism as the average college student. This is a slightly above-average score for someone older than 40. 6-7 points: You have scored above…