ITV

Tag: Los Angeles

  • Stand up comic Tushar Singh to produce and host ‘Peacock Comedy’

    Stand up comic Tushar Singh to produce and host ‘Peacock Comedy’

    MUMBAI: Stand up comedy in India is going through an amazing revolution. In 2009 there were only a handful of active comedians in the country with only a couple places to perform.  Since then there has been a boom in the number of comedians, venues and audience members. Now for the first time Rooftop Comedy in association with Audible.com is producing the first live audio comedy album to be released for an International audience, tapping into the top comedians India has to offer.  

    Producing and hosting these shows is Tushar Singh, a stand up comedian, host and producer from Los Angeles, CA who has recently moved to Mumbai to be part of the scene.  Since starting in New York in 2005, he has performed at various clubs, colleges, festivals and private shows across the country.  

    Upon moving to Los Angeles in 2012, Tushar co-created Unnecessary Evil, a weekly stand up comedy showcase at the Westside Comedy Theatre in Santa Monica. In May of 2015 he was featured on the Fox television show Laughs with a performance at the Hollywood Laugh Factory. He is also the subject of feature length documentary called American Hasi that explores the emerging stand up comedy scene in India. The movie is set to release in 2016.

    Here is a blurb about the show.

    Rooftop presents Peacock Comedy, a live album recording to showcase the top comedy talent in India – performing in English for an international audience. Join for two very special nights in Mumbai’s famed Canvas Laugh Club to be part of this unique and hilarious stand-up comedy event hosted by Tushar Singh. Limited seating available for the 10:30 pm shows on Friday, 25 March and Saturday, 26 March.

    Lineups:

    Friday, March 25:

    Abish Mathew Live, Addy Mitzy, Ashish Dash, Aamer Peeran, Sanjay Manaktala, Azeem Banatwalla, Kan Surka, Anuvab Pal!

    Tickets: https://in.bookmyshow.com/mumbai/events/peacock-comedy-25th-march/ET00039579

    Saturday, March 26:

    Kanan Gill, Kunal Rao, Sundeep Rao, Karunesh ‘C’ Talwar, Rohan Danger Desai, Kunal Kamra!

    Tickets: https://in.bookmyshow.com/mumbai/events/peacock-comedy-26th-march/ET00039582

     

  • Rentrak acquires Hollywood Software

    Rentrak acquires Hollywood Software

    MUMBAI: Rentrak has acquired Hollywood Software, Inc. (HSI), a Los Angeles-based company that develops enterprise software for managing key elements of the digital movie distribution and exhibition industries.

     

    Rentrak’s acquisition of HSI advances its mission to provide highly valuable, never-before-seen analytic tools to the motion picture industry. By combining Rentrak’s movie and television intelligence—including Video on Demand viewing information—with Hollywood Software’s studio and theater planning systems, this partnership will give movie studios an enhanced scope of a film’s success and revenue streams by providing a more comprehensive understanding of a film’s total viewership over its lifespan.

     

    “Rentrak’s acquisition of Hollywood Software advances our commitment to the movie industry by continuing to provide products that enable studios and theaters to drive movie attendance and provide an enhanced movie-going experience,” said Rentrak’s worldwide movie measurement business president Ron Giambra.

     

    “I am excited to join the Rentrak team to help develop new systems that optimise the talents of both market-leading companies,” said Hollywood Software’s David Gajda.

     

    Hollywood Software’s Theatrical Distribution System (TDS) is installed in more than 30 studios in the US and Canada including 20th Century Fox, Universal Pictures and Lionsgate. Its Digital Cinema Theatre Management System (TCC) product is currently used to manage more than 15,000 screens worldwide.

  • Rentrak acquires Hollywood Software

    Rentrak acquires Hollywood Software

    MUMBAI: Rentrak has acquired Hollywood Software, Inc. (HSI), a Los Angeles-based company that develops enterprise software for managing key elements of the digital movie distribution and exhibition industries.

     

    Rentrak’s acquisition of HSI advances its mission to provide highly valuable, never-before-seen analytic tools to the motion picture industry. By combining Rentrak’s movie and television intelligence—including Video on Demand viewing information—with Hollywood Software’s studio and theater planning systems, this partnership will give movie studios an enhanced scope of a film’s success and revenue streams by providing a more comprehensive understanding of a film’s total viewership over its lifespan.

     

    “Rentrak’s acquisition of Hollywood Software advances our commitment to the movie industry by continuing to provide products that enable studios and theaters to drive movie attendance and provide an enhanced movie-going experience,” said Rentrak’s worldwide movie measurement business president Ron Giambra.

     

    “I am excited to join the Rentrak team to help develop new systems that optimise the talents of both market-leading companies,” said Hollywood Software’s David Gajda.

     

    Hollywood Software’s Theatrical Distribution System (TDS) is installed in more than 30 studios in the US and Canada including 20th Century Fox, Universal Pictures and Lionsgate. Its Digital Cinema Theatre Management System (TCC) product is currently used to manage more than 15,000 screens worldwide.

  • Disney names Martha Welborne as SVP – real estate & global facilities

    Disney names Martha Welborne as SVP – real estate & global facilities

    MUMBAI: The Walt Disney Company has appointed Martha Welborne as senior vice president – real estate & global facilities.

     

    She will report to Walt Disney Company senior executive vice president and CFO Christine M. McCarthy.

     

    In this role, Welborne will drive the company’s overall real estate strategy while overseeing all real estate development, design, construction, asset management, portfolio management, and facilities support and services.

     

    “Welborne’s proven track record of bringing multiple stakeholders together on large scale projects makes her especially well-suited to her new role at Disney. Her experience positions her perfectly to lead our real estate strategy, working with various Disney businesses and external providers to deliver best-in-class service,” said McCarthy.

     

    Welborne most recently served as chief planning officer for countywide planning for the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). Before joining the MTA, she was managing director of the Grand Avenue Committee.

  • Media mogul Rupert Murdoch gets engaged to Jerry Hall

    Media mogul Rupert Murdoch gets engaged to Jerry Hall

    MUMBAI: At a time when divorce rates are sky rocketing and the current generation is increasingly shying away from marriage as an institution there is one person who has proved his faith in the holy union quite strong. At the age of 84, media mogul Rupert Murdoch has announced his engagement to actress and model Jerry Hall, who turns 60 in a year.

    The couple, who were seen together in Los Angeles last weekend while attending Golden Globe Awards, had declared this happy news in births, marriages and deaths section in the Times newspaper.

    This will be News Corp executive chairman Murdoch’s fourth marriage, while for Hall this will be her first under the law. Hall had a 23-year long  relationship with Mick Jagger with whom she has four children — Elizabeth, now aged 31, James, 29, Georgia May, 23, and Gabriel, 17. Jagger and Hall did have a marriage of sorts, which was later declared invalid by the High Court in London in 1999.

    On the other hand, Murdoch has six children from his three previous marriages namely James, Lachlan, Elisabeth, Chloe, Grace and Prudence. He divorced his third wife Wendi Deng, 46, in 2013.

    Murdoch was previously married to Patricia Booker, a former flight attendant from Melbourne, and then to Scottish journalist Anna Torv.

  • India’s Marathi film ‘Court’ out of Oscar race

    India’s Marathi film ‘Court’ out of Oscar race

    MUMBAI: The National Award winning Marathi film Court, which was India’s official entry to the Oscars, is out of the Best Foreign-Language Film category for the upcoming 88th Academy Awards.

     

    Nine features will advance to the next round of voting in the Foreign Language Film category for the 88th Academy Awards. A total of 80 films had originally been considered in the category.

     

    The nine films that have made the cut for the Best Foreign-Language Film category are as follows:Belgium’s The Brand New Testament directed by Jaco Van Dormael; Colombia’s Embrace of the Serpent directed by Ciro Guerra; Denmark’s A War directed by Tobias Lindholm; Finland’s The Fencer directed by Klaus Härö; France’s Mustang directed by Deniz Gamze Ergüven; Germany’sLabyrinth of Lies directed by Giulio Ricciarelli; Hungary’s Son of Saul directed by László Nemes; Ireland’s Viva directed by Paddy Breathnach and Jordan’s Theeb directed by Naji Abu Nowar.

     

    Foreign Language Film nominations for 2015 are being determined in two phases.

     

    The Phase I committee, consisting of several hundred Los Angeles-based Academy members, screened the original submissions in the category between mid-October and 14 December. The group’s top six choices, augmented by three additional selections voted by the Academy’s Foreign Language Film Award Executive Committee, constitute the shortlist.

     

    The shortlist will be winnowed down to the category’s five nominees by specially invited committees in New York, Los Angeles and London.  They will spend 8 January through 10 January, viewing three films each day and then casting their ballots.

     

    The 88th Academy Awards nominations will be announced live on 14 January, 2016 at the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills.

  • AXN to launch ‘Ray Donovan’ on 7 December

    AXN to launch ‘Ray Donovan’ on 7 December

    MUMBAI: AXN is gearing up to launch the American television series Ray Donovan on 7 December. 

     

    The series will be aired from Monday to Friday at 11 pm.

     

    Ray Donovan stars Liev Schreiber as the lead. He is portrayed as a guy who makes the problems of the city’s celebrities, superstar athletes, and business moguls disappear.

     

    The show also stars Jon Voight, who portrays the role of Ray’s father named as Mickey Donovan. 

     

    The series narrates the story of Ray Donovan who is a professional fixer for the rich and famous of Los Angeles. The character is portrayed as a cool and sophisticated person but at the same time is shown quite ruthless. Ray continues to seek balance between the demands of his family, including his volatile relationship with Mickey and his adamant and attractive Hollywood clients.

     

    The channel has planned a 360 degree campaign including on-air, social media and on-ground to promote the show. The channel also aims to further strengthen its core consumer engagement beyond television.

  • Star World Premiere HD to launch Crazy – Ex Girlfriend

    Star World Premiere HD to launch Crazy – Ex Girlfriend

    MUMBAI: English entertainment channel, Star World Premiere HD, will launch a new show titled as Crazy – Ex Girlfriend. The show premieres on 19 November at 10 pm.

     

    Crazy – Ex Girlfriend stars Rachel Bloom played by Rebecca Bunch, as an unhappy lawyer who quits her job and moves across the country in search of love, with her inner monologue providing irreverent musical interludes. Rebecca’s contagious, sometimes delusional enthusiasm begins to stir the citizens of West Covina, California, shaking them up and giving a new soundtrack to their lives. 

     

    Successful and driven, Rebecca Bunch seemingly has it all at an upscale apartment in Manhattan and a partnership at a prestigious law firm, but she feels like something is missing. After a chance meeting with a former romantic interest, Rebecca impulsively decides to give up her life in New York and relocate to a Los Angeles suburb, she hopes will be the perfect home base as she embarks on a quest for love, adventure and true happiness.

     

    Speaking about how people will relate to her character, Rachel said, “It first sounds like the show is going to be from a male point of view. But actually it’s from the point of view of a woman and deconstructing how do you get to this place where you are stalking someone? How do you get to the place where you move from New York to West Covina? And I think that women will really connect with the emotional highs and lows and the desperation of someone who is otherwise very intelligent doing something that a moron would do.”

  • Star India snaps up broadcast rights to Sachin-Warne’s Cricket All-Stars

    Star India snaps up broadcast rights to Sachin-Warne’s Cricket All-Stars

    MUMBAI: Star India has snapped up the broadcast rights of the much awaited venture of Sachin Tendulkar and Shane Warne namely The Cricket All-Stars T20 tournament, featuring cricket legends from across the globe.

     

    Confirming the development to Indiantelevision.com a source close to the development said, “The rights are with Star and we all are looking forward to the tournament.”

     

    While Master Card has been roped in as the title sponsor of the tournament, negotiations are on with a few more brand. The source adds, “We are in the last phase of proceedings and will soon reveal many more developments.”

     

    The Cricket All-Stars T20 tournament is set to unfold on 7 November, 2015 in New York. The tourney will then move to Houston on 11 November and to Los Angeles on 14 November.

     

    Virender Sehwag, who recently retired, has also joined the roster, which has former Indian greats like Sourav Ganguly, VVS Laxman and Ajit Agarkar. While Warne confirmed his participation in the tournament a few days back, the master blaster Tendulkar was also spotted sweating it out in the nets yet again. Some of the others former cricketers who are a part of the league are Kumar Sangakkara, Jonthy Rhodes, Wasim Akram, Glen Mcgrath and Ricky Ponting.

     

    His recent tweets read : 

     

    Had fun at the nets today. #ComingToAmerica, see you in New York in 10 days.. #CricketAllStars2015 @T20AllStars

     

     

    Welcoming Sehwag and beginning the countdown, Telndulkar tweeted: Welcome my friend and a batsman with distinct style …………………. #10daystogo

     

     

    Senior cricket expert Hemant Kenkre said, “It’s a delightful opportunity for the average American cricket fans to see the legends playing in front of them. The initiative is nice. I remember something similar was done in Brabourne Stadium long back. From cricket’s perspective, it remains to be seen how fit the players are, it’s been long since many of them retired and no one knows how much cricket they have been playing. But overall Wasim Akram bowling to Lara or Sachin facing Warne again would be a worthy sight for cricket lovers.”

     

    A sports media planning veteran added, “Sachin, Sourav, Sehwag, Warne in one pitch again can take viewership to a different level, recently we saw in Wankhede how the entire stadium was chanting Sachinnnnn! Sachinnnnnn! Having said that, the matches are to be played in America so the timing will be an issue for the Indian audience. Moreover, how competitive the matches are, will be another factor to look at. Overall the first three matches will be an experiment and the quality of those will determine the future.”

     

  • Discovery to premiere documentary on AR Rahman – ‘Jai Ho’

    Discovery to premiere documentary on AR Rahman – ‘Jai Ho’

    MUMBAI: Jai Ho – a documentary on music maestro AR Rahman, which has been screened at a few international film festivals earlier this year, is all set to have its television premiere in India on Discovery Channel. The channel will air the documentary on 26 October at 9 pm. 

     

    Jai Ho, which has been directed by Umesh Aggarwal, will take viewers through the unseen and unheard story of one of the finest musicians the world has ever known.

     

    Speaking to Indiantelevision.com about the documentary, Rahman says, “It’s an understated documentary. It’s not the kinds that makes a big fuss and that’s what I like about it. It has its own humour. It is about the music and its making and not just about me. Jai Ho has eminent people taking about me and it is fascinating to listen to them. I am lucky to have done a song on Jai Ho (for Slumdog Millionaire). It’s like a mantra for India, which has always been there. It fell in the place at the right time and the whole world has a portrayal of it. I am very proud of it.”

     

    Discovery Networks Asia-Pacific EVP and GM – South Asia Rahul Johri adds, “We are always looking for content that has the ability to surprise the audience. That’s our primary criteria and first preference when deciding on the channel’s content. We want people to acclaim, ‘Ohh wow, where did they get this idea from?’ And this show has that. It is different from all our other shows.”

     

    The documentary enables a window for the viewers into the personal life of Rahman from him leaving his education at a tender age to support his family to winning an Oscar as well as a Grammy. The programme depicts Rahman’s journey from working with Mani Ratnam forRoja to his first commercial break in Bollywood with Rangeela to his outstanding work in award winning movies.

    Throwing light on how he was on Rahman’s trail for almost six months to pitch the documentary idea to him, Aggarwal says, “I was in touch with his staff and I was told that Rahman would call me at 2:30 am. It was frustrating because I wasn’t getting an answer from him. So one fine day, I went to his office and met his sister. I explained the concept of the documentary to her. Precisely after five minutes, I met the man that I was trailing all this while. It took me six months to reach him and less than five minutes to talk to him about my content.”

     

    The documentary imparts details about Rahman’s personality, career, life, his love for music and his past life from the perspective of formidable personalities who have worked and observed his work and growth.

     

    The factual is shot across the world including Los Angeles where Rahman resides, London, Mumbai and Chennai which is his birthplace. When questioned about casting Rahman as the centre point of the show, he says, “He being the glory of India is just one peg. Whatever is spoken about him, it’s always a third party outlook. Rahman himself has never shared much on his own. This entire story comes from him as he narrates it and you get to know him as a person. This was my prime motive behind making this film. I think people should know that those who have reached to the top, don’t do so overnight. It takes time and that is what inspired me.”

     

    The channel has unleashed various promotional activities across its bouquet of 11 channels as well as created buzz on social media platforms.

     

    “We had started with eight channels in five languages. That is the trajectory we are on and we will speeding up our growth process. There has been a lot of localisation on our channels and going forward there will be more local and relevant content on the channel,” adds Johri.

     

    As was reported earlier by Indiantelevision.com, Jai Ho was recently screened at the 20th Busan International Film Festival (BIFF). It was also screened at the Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles (IFFLA) in April this year.