Innholdsfortegnelse for Wednesday, December 9, 2020 i The Hollywood Reporter

For many in the movie business — producers, directors, stars and their representatives — Dec. 3, 2020, is a day that will live in infamy. That morning, Ann Sarnoff — whose ungainly title is chair and CEO of WarnerMedia Studios and Networks Group — and Warner Bros. film studio chairman Toby Emmerich called the heads of the major agencies to drop a bombshell: Warners was about to smash the theatrical window, sweeping its entire 17-picture 2021 film slate onto its faltering HBO Max streaming service, debuting each film on the same day it would open in whatever theaters could admit customers. Surprisingly to some in the industry, sources say that the idea was the brainchild of Warner Bros. COO Carolyn Blackwood, who, looking at a relatively weak 2021 slate, saw…

Early on Nov. 26, police in northern England arrested a man U.S. officials believe to be the so-called “Con Queen of Hollywood,” a scammer who became infamous within the industry after he was the subject of a July 2018 THR investigation. Hargobind Tahilramani, a 41-year-old Indonesian man and convicted felon, was arrested near downtown Manchester, ending a years-long investigation by agents from the FBI and private investigators from K2 Integrity (formerly K2 Intelligence), a New York-based corporate security firm. After THR broke the arrest news Dec. 2, victims of the scam reacted with relief. “Undoubtedly, every one of his victims are happy to have him facing justice, and I am glad to have played my part,” says Gregory Mandarano, an aspiring screenwriter from New York whose family lost upward of…

We have made the decision to temporarily close, effective March 13, 2020,” reads a sign taped to the door of TMZ Celebrity Tours’ Hollywood Boulevard headquarters. Nearly nine months later, one of the city’s premier tour bus companies remains shut, having missed out on a typically lucrative summer tourist season amid the novel coronavirus pandemic. TMZ is not alone, as Guideline Tours, Ultimate Hollywood Tours and Access Hollywood Tours (which reopened Oct. 29) also have been shuttered for most of the year. The handful of tour companies that have returned face a new world, now bringing in just 5 to 6 percent of the revenue they saw at the same time last year. StarLine Tours — one of Los Angeles’ biggest tour groups — restarted its stars’ homes tour and…

“I got honest. I got clean. You can too,” says an intense Danny Trejo in a new TV ad for CRI-Help, an L.A.-based nonprofit treatment center. The spot debuts on the eve of the center’s 50th anniversary during the holidays, a time that challenges those struggling with addiction — and now there’s a pandemic. Says COO Brandon Fernandez, “We want people to know that we are here to help.” In the spot, Trejo fights his demons — literally and figuratively — in and out of a boxing ring. He appears alongside four CRI-Help counselors (and onetime clients), all nonactors. “Casting former clients who are now role models at CRI-Help … reinforces the value of one addict working with another,” CRI-Help board member and Emmy-winning producer A.J. Lewis says of the…

Jaci Hays was advising European soccer teams on how to become media companies when an investor in esports and media organization FaZe Clan called her about a job. She’d never heard of the company, but the pull of its 230 million social media followers was hard to ignore. “FaZe is like the world’s team,” says Hays, who has become well versed in the power of gaming influencers since assuming the role of FaZe Clan COO in January. Launched in 2010 after its three founders began making a YouTube series featuring their Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 gameplay, FaZe Clan has come to define a new type of media organization, one that makes the gaming lifestyle trendy through its digital programing and branded hoodies. The Hollywood company, which counts Offset,…

A mid a wider conversation within the entertainment industry about representation, the past year has seen some signs of change in its animation sector, both onscreen and off. From the recasting of biracial characters with BIPOC voice actors on Netflix’s Big Mouth and Apple TV+’s Central Park, to recruiting more diverse animation artists via Instagram, efforts to be more inclusive have increased in 2020. But what has been the impact? To answer this question, THR invited creative and executive professionals within the animation community to a group discussion conducted remotely Nov. 2. This included veteran actor and director Cree Summer, whose credits include Inspector Gadget and Rugrats; actor and writer Ayo Edebiri, who recently assumed the role of Missy in Big Mouth after Jenny Slate chose to step aside; Karen…

JON FROSCH Isn’t it weird to think that the last time we did this was just a few months before the pandemic hit, scrambling our lives and the art and industry we cover? Much has changed about our job — including the way we experience actors and acting. Taking in a performance on a laptop or TV, no matter how big, just isn’t the same; there’s something to be said for getting lost in a face as it looms large before you on a movie screen — and for feeling the power and pleasure of great acting collectively, with others giggling, gasping, sniffling or craning their necks alongside you. In a way, though, acting and actors have become even more meaningful since COVID-19 struck — a source of comfort, catharsis…

Amid Hollywood’s racial reckoning this year, Native and Indigenous creatives and advocates are speaking out about new instances of misrepresentation. Since November, approximately 225 tribes and First Nations have protested ABC’s David E. Kelley-produced Big Sky — about an investigation into a series of abductions in Montana — for failing to tackle the outsized number of Native and Indigenous women who go missing in the state each year. In September, HBO faced criticism for a Lovecraft Country depiction of an Arawakan Two-Spirit character who suffered a violent death in the same episode in which they were introduced. (Showrunner Misha Green said the show’s portrayal “failed.”) The same month, the Writers Guild of America West’s Native American and Indigenous Writers Committee published an open letter stating that the community is “often…

Big Deal In what could be the biggest deal ever for a single songwriter, Universal Music Publishing Group said Dec. 7 that it had bought Bob Dylan’s catalog of songs — more than 600 compositions dating from 1962 to the present — from Dylan himself. Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed, but the buy includes both publishing rights and Dylan’s “writer’s share,” which would be worth at least $100 million and perhaps several times that. This year, the market for publishing deals has kept heating up. The deal with Dylan follows Primary Wave Music Publishing’s disclosure Dec. 4 that it has acquired a majority stake in the catalog of singer-songwriter Stevie Nicks. A boom in streaming, as well as low interest rates, are making acquisitions more appealing. During the early…

Arts Scene No sector of the entertainment industry may have been hit harder than live theater during the pandemic. While most have relied on streaming performances, the Geffen Playhouse has rolled out a series of sold-out interactive shows, including its summer Zoom hit, The Present. Extended three times, it starred illusionist Helder Guimarães and was directed by renowned producer Frank Marshall. Now, its sequel, The Future — which runs Dec. 4 to Jan. 31 — already is selling out many showings at $95 a ticket. Guimarães performs from his Glendale apartment, while Marshall returns, directing remotely from his Brentwood home. “We’re a humming machine. We went through this once already, where we just scrambled and we didn’t know what we were doing. We learned a lot about how Zoom works,”…

Engagements Precious star Gabourey Sidibe got engaged to Brandon Frankel, who oversees strategic partnerships at Cameo, at their Los Angeles home Nov. 8. Frankel was assisted in the proposal by the couple’s new kitten, Derrell Jermaine Dupree Sidibe-Frankel, who wore a “Will you marry my daddy?” tag on his collar. Weddings Nick Kroll married artist Lily Kwong in Big Sur, California, on Nov. 19. Births David Edwards, senior vp global marketing strategy at Lionsgate, and Katrina Stagg, senior producer of brand innovation at Unity Technologies, welcomed Windsor Rose Edwards on Sept. 5 at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. Congrats Karey Burke was named president of 20th Television, with Craig Erwich taking over as president of Hulu originals and ABC Entertainment, on Dec. 1. Arianna Bocco was upped to president…

In late November, after he was named People’s sexiest man alive, Michael B. Jordan announced during an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! that his next move was to “use my body for good” by joining subscription social media site OnlyFans and donating all the proceeds to charity. The 4-year-old service is best known for proffering racy to pornographic content from adult entertainers for a small monthly fee, so naturally the proclamation generated headlines. Though it appears Jordan was only joking — as of press time, he had yet to create an account — it was a fitting cap to a big year for OnlyFans that included Beyoncé name-checking the company in a verse on the remix of Megan Thee Stallion’s “Savage” in April. “That was a pretty frantic morning in…

When asked to describe the current market for a starter home in Los Angeles, The Agency’s Nick Sandler has one word — “treacherous.” His partner Bennett Hirsch is even more frank. “Your home purchase might also come with the need for a therapist,” he says. “It’s just so insane.” This means many young families wanting to enter into homeownership must look to areas like the San Fernando Valley — which is particularly hot right now — and pay more for a standard family home than they would have just a few years ago. “In prime Sherman Oaks,” says Hirsch, “you could have gotten a four-bed, four-bath with a yard for $1.4 million 10 years ago, which now would, depending on upgrades and architecture, be at least over $2 million.” But…

ON A BRIGHT SEPTEMBER DAY, Jeff Robinov is sitting in his Santa Monica kitchen, the remnants of a hectic morning barely visible. His 11-year-old daughter, Devan, drifts into the Zoom-call frame as she chases after a barking Yorkie named Chloe. The former Warner Bros. Pictures Group president just prepared breakfast for Devan and her 14-year-old sister, India, and their remote school day already is in session. Robinov is overseeing their academics while juggling a videoconference with potential financiers for his Studio 8 and some calls with writers and directors. Somewhere in between, he’ll run Devan to the orthodontist. “I’ve been a single parent for a while,” he explains. “Make breakfast, make their lunches for school, make dinner at night. We all figure out what they want for dinner the night…

On Dec. 5, a Los Angeles County-based restaurant owner went viral after posting a video of herself showing off her outdoor dining area, which she was forced to shut down after November orders from California Gov. Gavin Newsom. In the clip, the woman, Pineapple Hill Saloon & Grill owner Angela Marsden, pans away from her patio, its picnic-style table and chairs situated 7 feet apart to comply with COVID-19 restrictions, to reveal a series of large white tents with similarly distanced seating a mere 50 feet away. But the second outdoor dining area wasn’t for another restaurant. It was the catering setup for the NBC series Good Girls, which was shooting near her Sherman Oaks eatery. “Tell me that this is dangerous but right next to me, as a slap…

The Last Last-Day-of-Summer (VERSIFY, JUNE 2019) BY Lamar Giles AGENCY WME Ideal for streamers looking for high-concept kids content, the story follows two adolescent sleuths who, with the help of strangers and strange creatures, must track down a mysterious man who has a camera that literally freezes time. Waiting for the Night Song (FORGE BOOKS, JAN. 2021) BY Julie Carrick Dalton AGENCY UTA Like Where the Crawdads Sing (set up at Sony), this debut novel tackles themes of climate change and immigration through a nature-centric murder mystery, with Dalton’s two estranged childhood friends reuniting in the forests of New Hampshire.…

With an estimated 850 million active users worldwide, it’s no surprise that philanthropies with strong ties to Hollywood like St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital are turning to the social media app for the next generation of fundraising. “This is all about meeting people where they are, and younger people are on TikTok,” says Rick Shadyac, president and CEO of ALSAC, St. Jude’s fundraising and awareness arm. Since connecting with the platform in April, Shadyac lauds the “immediacy and authentic storytelling” of the shortform video format to relate the journeys of young patients at St. Jude, which treats children with cancer and other life-threatening diseases and does not charge for their care. “Some of our kids have incredible personalities, and they really shine through,” he adds. A video with one young…

Mariah’s Next Move: Adapting (Directing?) Memoir for Screen Mariah Carey snagged a spot on The New York Times best-seller list in October with The Meaning of Mariah Carey, a warts-and-all memoir that detailed major life traumas like being drugged as a child by her sister and offered to a pimp and backstory on her troubled marriage to former Sony Music honcho Tommy Mottola. She tells THR that she’s in talks to adapt the autobiography into a limited series or feature, which she might even want to direct. “Me, and a secret friend of mine, are talking about what it would look like,” says Carey, 50, whose life already has loosely inspired a big-screen version in 2001’s poorly received Glitter. “People have been reaching out to me about it,” she says…

Few places have been as hard hit by the novel coronavirus pandemic as New York City. Broadway is shuttered indefinitely and music acts won’t be filling stadiums anytime soon — but that doesn’t mean there’s been a shortage of work for New York’s Power Lawyers. The Hollywood Reporter is spotlighting 20 attorneys with specialties in theater, fashion, media and music litigation who’ve been tasked with creating new deals in an unsteady landscape (cue the livecapture craze) and fighting cutting-edge courtroom battles via Zoom. Lisa Alter  Alter Kendrick & Baron New York Univ. School of Law CORPORATE Despite major blows to touring and live performances, “business is booming” for Alter, a prolific dealmaker in the music publishing space. “We are in a golden era of music transaction, and I think that’s…

There are good movies, there are bad movies, and then there are good bad movies. Flash Gordon, which debuted Dec. 5, 1980, falls squarely in the third camp — with an emphasis on “camp.” George Lucas originally hoped to remake the 1930s Flash Gordon movie serials, based on the Alex Raymond comic strip. But Italian producer Dino De Laurentiis had held the rights to Flash since the 1960s and refused to relinquish them, leading Lucas to instead create the massively successful Star Wars. By 1979, the world had space-opera fever, and De Laurentiis put Flash into motion. He first offered directing duties to the great Federico Fellini, who passed. He then went to Nicolas Roeg, who labored on a script for a year. De Laurentiis hated Roeg’s abstract take —…