Category: International

MUMBAI: History is launching an animation contest for its People Speak project; the winner gets a development deal.

The network will team with online animation community Aniboom, challenging animators to create interpretations of 10 readings and musical performances in History‘s upcoming film The People Speak.

Animators will attempt to bring to life readings by such actors as Matt Damon, Sandra Oh, Josh Brolin and Morgan Freeman, who are giving voice to the experiences of Americans who have changed the course of history.

The competition will be in two stages, beginning with a call for entries starting July 15 based on 10 celebrity recordings in the film. Five finalists will be granted a chance to further develop their entries and might have their work featured on History. The grand-prize winner will receive additional on-air promotion, a cash prize and a development deal with the network.

History has dabbled in animation before, but the Aniboom project represents a potential for a notable increase in the use of the medium to bring historical events to life.

MUMBAI: Academy Award and Emmy-winner Karl Malden expired at the age of 97 on Wednesday.

Malden‘s family informed the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences of his death. Malden served as the Academy‘s president from 1989-92.

Malden won a best supporting actor Oscar for his role as Mitch in A Street Car Named Desire, but he may have been best known for uttering the famous tagline for the American Express card: “Don‘t leave home without it.”

He made his screen debut in the 1940 film They Knew What They Wanted and starred as Detective Mike Stone in the 1970s TV series The Streets of San Francisco with Michael Douglas.

MUMBAI: As per the multi-year output deal announced today, Central European Media Enterprises‘ (CME) PRO.BG will become the new Bulgarian home for TV series, feature films and animated series from Warner Bros. International Television Distribution (WBITD that includes the hit shows Fringe and The Mentalist.

The Bulgarian broadcaster has already made good amount of investment in its content slate, picking up the rights to key sporting events such as UEFA‘s Champions League and Europa League, as well as the local Bulgarian A league.

With the WBITD deal, effective this month, the channel scores the rights to J.J. Abrams‘ Fringe, CBS‘s hit drama The Mentalist, Jerry Bruckheimer‘s new show Dark Blue and John Wells‘ latest NBC show, Southland. On the movie

front, PRO.BG will be able to air The Last Samurai, Ocean‘s Eleven, Training Day and Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, among others.

“After six months of very competitive negotiation, we are extremely glad to have landed the most important and biggest deal on our market,” said Liliana Slavova, the program director at the channel.

“PRO.BG is going to air more than 900 hours of programming per year from Warner Bros. The latest hit films and TV series from Warner Bros. will be available soon for Bulgarian viewers, only on PRO.BG, and our viewers will be happy to learn that we have acquired the rights to the series involved “for life,” meaning that whenever a new season of a particular program has been made, in Bulgaria it will be aired on PRO.BG, she added.”

“This deal positions PRO.BG to become the Bulgarian home for our highly sought-after Warner Bros. programming, and is a great fit for the channel‘s audience,” said Warner Bros. International Television president Jeffrey R. Schlesinger.

MUMBAI: The Wanted will premiere on 20 July at 10 p.m. with specialists in counter-terrorism, foreign intelligence, war crimes and investigative journalism profiling suspected international terrorists.

NBC News has scheduled its controversial To-Catch-a-Terrorist investigative programme in which an elite team hunts war criminals. “We hope this programme sheds light on an overlooked story,” said David Corvo, executive producer at NBC News. “It is surprising how many people with serious accusations against them are living openly and avoiding any sort of judicial process.”

The Wanted is about seeking justice for the many victims of terrorism and atrocity around the world,” said David Crane, a former US intelligence official. “It will start a national conversation, an important dialog about war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide, and international terrorism, as well as the indifference and political cynicism that hampers international criminal law and the quest for justice.”

The premiere will follow Mullah Krekar, the leader of an internationally designated terrorist organisation who has been living free in Norway. The second episode is set in Germany, where purported Al Qaeda supporter Mamoun Darkazanli remains free.

“It‘s like nothing you‘ve ever seen on TV before,” promised executive producers Charlie Ebersol and Adam Ciralsky in a statement adding “the pairing of rigorous investigative journalism with high-end production values has resulted in a fast-paced show which we hope will leave viewers wanting more.”

MUMBAI: In a bid to cut costs, Paramount Pictures is said to be considering the merger of its home-entertainment operations with that of 20th Century Fox or Sony Pictures Entertainment.

One of the plans being considered would have Fox or Sony handling physical distribution, while Paramount would pay for and market the products.

The talks are, however, at a preliminary stage. The news comes following a round of cost cuts at Paramount, including a new streamlined management team.

The move could save the Viacom-owned studio millions of dollars every year, published reports indicate. The worldwide home-entertainment market is in the decline, both due to the economic downturn and to the emergence of popular VOD and streaming services.

MUMBAI

: The funeral of Michael Jackson has been scheduled for 10 a.m. on 7 July at Los Angeles‘ Staples Center. The family of Jackson is in plans to have a memorial service and funeral for Michael Jackson there.

Under this scenario, which the source said is still very much in the planning stages, a public ceremony at Staples Center would be followed by a procession to Neverland Ranch in Santa Barbara County. The source said that once there, friends, family and members of the music industry would participate in a memorial service on the grounds.

Sources in local law enforcement said they have not heard about a memorial in Los Angeles.

Lt. Butch Arnoldi of the Santa Barbara County Sheriff‘s Department said the agency has not been approached by any members of the Jackson family about a memorial at Neverland.

MUMBAI: Piper Perabo has been tapped to play the lead in USA Network‘s spy thriller Covert Affairs. The project, which has been quietly casting two major roles for the past month, hasn‘t received a firm pilot order, but a green light is expected within a couple of weeks.

Written by Matt Corman and Chris Ord, the film centers on Annie Walker (Perabo), a CIA trainee who speaks six languages and excels at any endeavor she undertakes.

Walker joins the CIA while still reeling over a mysterious ex-boyfriend who appears to be of particular interest to her new bosses. She vows never to let herself be hurt again, but that proves to be a tall order.

With the lead role cast, attention now shifts to finding an actor to play Auggie Anderson, a blind tech expert who assists Walker in her assignments.

Affairs from Universal Cable Prods. has been executively produced by Dutch Oven‘s Dave Bartis and Doug Liman, with Corman and Ord serving as co-executive producers.

The spy thriller genre has been a successful one for USA, which scored a hit with Burn Notice.

Perabo, a feature actress who rarely has ventured into TV, recently guest-starred on the USA series Law & Order: Criminal Intent.

Having just completed a Broadway run in the Tony-nominated Reasons to Be Pretty, she next stars opposite Chris Pine in Paramount Vantage‘s Carriers.

MUMBAI: A news poll in South California has found that nearly a third of its residents own some sort of Michael Jackson memorabilia. Collectors have been snapping up signed record albums, clothing and other merchandise owned by the late singer.

Dave Elkouby owns Starworld, a celebrity memorabilia store on Hollywood Boulevard. After this weekend he is left with just a small collection of Jackson items, and the prices are going up.

“They used to be like $20 for things, and now they‘re like $45 and up,” said Jackson memorabilia collector Andrew Robles.

In Las Vegas a Michael Jackson auction was held on Friday. The 21 items on sale were expected to bring $10,000, but that estimate was before Jackson‘s unexpected death. The final figure was more than $200,000.

A black fedora worn by Michael Jackson that‘s been signed by Jackson is probably worth anywhere from $2,500 to $3,000. You can find plenty of Jackson merchandise on eBay and Craislist, but be careful, not everything you see is authentic.

MUMBAI: Etan Cohen (Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa and Tropic Thunder) will receive the comedy writer of the year award at the Just for Laughs Comedy Conference in Montreal, while Todd Phillips (The Hangover) is to receive the award for comedy director of the year.

Cohen will also participate in a panel titled Comedy‘s Next Generation of Writers: A Look Ahead along with Tami Sagher (30 Rock), Jeremy Garelick (production re-write on The Hangover, writer/producer of The Break-Up) and Dan Sterling (Sarah Silverman Program).

The conference is also hosting The Web: Comedy‘s New Wild West with speakers such as Mike Farah (Funnyordie.com) and Avi Rothman (creator of The Inappropriate Yoga Guy).
In Breaking New Ground: Adult Animation Grows Up, animated show creators will discuss what‘s now possible in the genre, how the rules for writing animation are different and what they think works in animated comedy.

Other panels and sessions booked for the Comedy Conference include Producing Great Comedy: The Secret Sauce, The Business of Comedy on Television: What‘s Up? and Late Night: In the Writers Room.

The Montreal Just For Laughs Festival takes place from 3 to 26 July.

MUMBAI: George Gallo, the writer behind action comedies such as Bad Boys and Midnight Run, will direct the indie thriller from a script he co-wrote with Kevin Pollak, who has also a role in the film as well.

Selma Blair, Amy Smart, Jason Lee and Giovanni Ribisi also star in Circle. Oxymoron Entertainment‘s Christopher Mallick and Blue Star Entertainment‘s William Sherak and Jason Shuman, who exec produced Universal‘s comedy breakout Role Models will produce.

Circle centers on a reclusive heiress (Blair) in an upscale Manhattan apartment building who is brought face-to-face with her fears when a detective (Ribisi) shows up to investigate a homicide next door and a new couple (Smart and Lee) moves in to that apartment. Pollak plays the building‘s concierge and one of the heiress‘ few friends. Jason Antoon has also been cast in the film.

Shooting starts later this month in Los Angeles.