ITV

Tag: Oprah Winfrey

  • Lindsay Lohan forays into television, once again

    Lindsay Lohan forays into television, once again

    MUMBAI: The highly anticipated Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN) documentary series Lindsay, directed by Emmy-nominated filmmaker Amy Rice (By the People: The Election of Barack Obama), follows movie star and media sensation Lindsay Lohan (Mean Girls, Liz & Dick) on her journey through recovery following a very public period of crisis.

     

    Lohan became an instant fan favourite and earned widespread critical acclaim when she was cast as the lead role of twin sisters Hallie and Annie in the Disney remake of The Parent Trap. She went on to star in several feature films including her mega hit Mean Girls, which cemented her movie star status. Lohan is no newcomer to television, having guest starred in pop culture favourites Ugly Betty, Glee and Anger Management, and is one of few actors to have appeared multiple times as the host of Saturday Night Live. 

     

    Having had her career and personal life sidelined by her public struggles, Lohan is strikingly candid about her life and is more determined than ever to get back on her feet. The series is produced with OWN by Pilgrim Studios and is executive produced by Craig Piligian, Nicholas Caprio and Johnny Gould. Amy Rice, Ralph Wikke and Mitch Rosa are co-executive producers.

     

    In this honest, no-holds-barred account, viewers will see an intimate, unflinching look into the life of one of the world’s most sought-after celebrities.

     

    Cameras follow Lohan as she returns to New York, reunites with friends and family, and attempts to build a new life. As she works to stay on track amid the demands and pitfalls of fame, she opens up as never before, discussing everything from her emotional recovery process to her exhausting run-ins with the paparazzi.

     

    Soon after Lindsay, Lohan will be seen in the hit comedy series, 2 Broke Girls as Claire Guinness, a soon-to-be-bride who asks Max and Caroline to make her wedding cake. As Max and Caroline get to know her, it quickly becomes clear that Claire has trouble making decisions.

  • Oprah Winfrey to be honoured at Santa Barbara Film Festival

    Oprah Winfrey to be honoured at Santa Barbara Film Festival

    MUMBAI: It is going to be a proud moment for all Oprah Winfrey fans. The famous anchor of the Oprah Winfrey Show will honoured at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival which commences from 30 January 2014.

     

    Winfrey, 59, will be given the ‘Montecito Award’ in recognition of her critically-acclaimed performance in Lee Daniels’ The Butler. The ‘Montecito Award’ is traditionally bestowed to stars who have given standout acting performances throughout their careers.

     

    Last year, Lincoln star Daniel Day-Lewis was honoured with the ‘Montecito Award’.

     

    The festival will conclude on 9 February 2014.

  • ‘Lee Daniels’ The Butler’ hits $100 million

    ‘Lee Daniels’ The Butler’ hits $100 million

    MUMBAI: The independent historical drama – headlining Forest Whitaker and Oprah Winfrey – took in $5.4 million in its fifth weekend for The Weinstein Co, pushing the movie’s North American total to a stellar $100 million.

     

    Daniels becomes one of only a handful of black directors to have a film clear that mark, not accounting for inflation.

     

    One reason for The Butler’s success is that it is playing to all audiences, according to Harvey Weinstein’s team. On opening weekend, 52 per cent of ticket buyers were black; now, 67 per cent of the audience is white. The Butler is also becoming a family play.

     

    The Butler opened in mid-August, hoping to mirror the success of The Help, another civil-rights themed drama. The Butler isn’t likely to match The Help’s lifetime domestic gross of $169.7 million, but The Help was different in featuring both black and white lead actors.

     

    In the film, Whitaker plays a White House butler who serves through eight presidential administrations, a character inspired by the real-life story of the late Eugene Allen.

     

    Winfrey, who plays the butler’s wife, has provided an enormous marketing boost for the movie because of her avid fanbase. The Butler already is considered an awards contender, particularly for Whitaker and Winfrey’s performances.

  • Om Puri joins Helen Mirren in Lasse Hallstrom’s ‘The Hundred-Foot Journey’

    Om Puri joins Helen Mirren in Lasse Hallstrom’s ‘The Hundred-Foot Journey’

    MUMBAI: The Indian actor has been cast in DreamWorks’ adaptation of Richard C Morais’ best-seller. Om Puri has starred in dozens of films but is best known stateside for East Is East (1999).

     

    The Hundred-Foot Journey follows an Indian family that moves to France and opens an Indian restaurant a hundred feet across the street from a Michelin-starred French restaurant. The ensuing battle between the eateries tests the power of family, loyalty and love.

     

    Helen Mirren, Manish Dayal, Charlotte Le Bon also star in director Lasse Hallstrom’s film, which is produced by Steven Spielberg, Oprah Winfrey and Juliet Blake. Steve Knight wrote the script. Disney will release the pic in the US on 8 August 2014.

  • Oprah gets DVF Awards honour

    Oprah gets DVF Awards honour

    MUMBAI: Oprah Winfrey has been honoured with a “Lifetime Leadership” award at the third annual DVF Awards.
     
    Winfrey, 58, was hugged by long-time friend, designer and humanitarian Diane von Furstenberg, as she took the stage to accept the accolade on Friday night, Channel 24 reported.

    Von Furstenberg called Winfrey the “most formidable person I have ever met in my life”. The famous chat show host spent much of her speech honouring another of the night‘s award winners, Jaycee Dugard, who was abducted when she was 11 and held against her will for 18 years.
     
    Dugard took the stage soon after and got emotional as she thanked her mother for never giving up hope of finding her. She also spoke about her JAYC Foundation, which supports families dealing with abduction and other tragedies.

  • ‘There is significant increase in competition from companies and countries from Asia and LA’ : Iatas president and CEO Bruce Paisner

    ‘There is significant increase in competition from companies and countries from Asia and LA’ : Iatas president and CEO Bruce Paisner

     

    The International Emmy Awards have been growing in strength from year to year. These recognise the best in television from around the world. This time around The International Academy of Arts and Sciences (Iatas) wants India to be a bigger part of the awards and the Academy. With that aim in mind Iatas president and CEO Bruce Paisner is coming down to India next month to meet with the top television industry professionals. He will be assisted in this by Anil Wanvari a member of the Academy.

     

    In an interview with Indiantelevision.com, Paisner talks about the role the Academy plays in recognising the best of global television, country participation, the importance of having digital media awards.

     

    Excerpts:

     

     What role does The International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences play in facilitating awareness of global television programming?
    We award International Emmys in ten categories as well as digital and news categories. During the year we run panels and forums to stay at the cutting edge of developments in international programming. We set the standard for excellence in television programming. Performances and nominations and wins are carefully followed by industry professionals, television fans and the media at large.

     

    We pride ourselves in offering every year, a unique cultural showcase of the best television currently produced around the world. When a producer or broadcaster enters a programme or performance into our competition, they open themselves up to many wonderful opportunities: being nominated or winning an Emmy of course, but also, having their programme watched by jurors from all over the world.

     

    Additionally, our network of over 600 Members from 50 countries who represent all sectors of the television industry including mobile and Internet, plays a major role in promoting our activities and the importance of entering into our competition.

    In light of this, we are doing more activities with our Members and more international outreach.

     

    How has your flagship event, The International Emmy Awards, grown over the past five years?
    The International Emmy Awards Gala has grown in both prestige and attendance. It also has grown in the number of countries represented that night in the room. Last November, we had over 50 countries represented. The International Academy’s goal is to make the experience in the room better for our guests every year. People convene to New York for the International Emmy Awards and The International Emmy World Television Festival and we strive to offer them a full 3-day programme which includes both business and social events.

     

    The buzz around the awards has grown. Last year we gave Special Awards to Lorne Michaels and Simon Cowell. Past award recipients in the last five years have included Steven Spielberg, Al Gore and Oprah Winfrey. The global publicity and excitement around the event is rising every year and we are thankful to our Gala Partners, Phoenix Satellite Television, TV Globo, Microsoft, Dori Media Group, Ascent Media, Ernst & Young, Variety, Mip TV and Sofitel Luxury Hotels for their continued support.

     

    How does the selection process work? Has country participation increased?
    It is important to understand that The Academy does not select programmes; the producers and broadcasters need to enter their programmes into the competition. All the rules and entry information are on our website www.iemmys.tv.

     

    We have a total of 15 programme categories. Nominees are selected through a lengthy and rigorous judging process which takes place over a period of six months and three rounds of judging. Over 720 independent jurors, who are selected because they are experts in their category, participated in this process in 2010. There are four nominees in each category that make it to the final round

     

    Regarding increase in country participation, in the past five years we’ve seen significant increase in participation in the competition from companies and countries from Asia and Latin America. Entries from Latin America have doubled and those from Asia, the Middle East and Africa have grown by more than 50 per cent. Unfortunately, India’s quality programming is vastly underrepresented so far. We look forward to that changing.

     
     
    What kind of marketing do you do to create awareness among broadcasters about the awards?
    We have ad campaigns that run in trade magazines throughout the year, throughout the world. We are present at the leading trade shows such as Natpe, MIPTV and Mipcom. We distribute our publication, The International Emmy Almanac, at those events where we also advertise about membership and entries into the competition.

     

    We also have a quarterly newsletter that goes to over 10,000 industry contacts worldwide and a Facebook and Twitter following. And as you know, since you have been hosting a semi-final round of judging for us for several years, we are present in over 15 countries every summer with local semi-final rounds of judging events organised by member companies. These events are strategic in creating awareness about the competition because they involve content producers directly. Once they see how the competition works, they are more likely to enter their programmes.

     

    “India is such a prominent player in the television industry and unfortunately, this is not reflected in the International Emmy Awards competition. We hope more Indian television professionals will get involved with us“

    You added the digital Emmys a few years back. Was that done to acknowledge changes happening in a rapidly changing media landscape?
    Definitely, as The International Academy we need to reflect the developments in our industry. Multiplatform content is the norm now, and audiences’ viewing patterns are leading the growth in the digital sector.

     

    The International Digital Emmy Awards recognise excellence in programming and content created and designed for viewer interaction and/or delivery on a digital platform (i.e. mobile, internet, interactive TV, etc.) originating outside the United States. We have three categories: Fiction; Non-Fiction and Children & Young People. The competition has been growing over the past five years and we’re looking forward to more entries every year.

     
    The aim for you is to stay one step ahead of developments in the industry. What steps were recently taken to achieve this?
    This is a very good question. Of course, we need to stay one step ahead so that our members can stay one step ahead. To that end we organise industry forums and panels that address the central challenges and opportunities our industry is facing.

     

    Our competition also stays one step ahead. One example is the digital Emmy awards, with the three categories which have evolved over the years and the presentation of a Pioneer Prize, which recognizes the outstanding contributions of an individual or organisation to the field of digital entertainment. Another example is separating the news categories to News & Current Affairs and presenting them at a separate News Emmy awards ceremony presented by the National Academy in New York.

     

    Also, the Telenovela category was created three years ago because of the global nature of the phenomenon and the need for our competition to recognise this important genre became imperative.

     
    Could you talk about the scope The International Academy sees in India for content producers and channels to be a part of The International Academy?
    First of all, we encourage Indian content producers and broadcasters to enter their programmes into the International Emmy Awards competition. The entry deadline for this year is February 20th, all the information is on our website www.iemmys.tv. It’s very simple to enter, and also important to enter as many categories as possible.

     

    Also, if you are involved in international television, you should consider becoming a Member. Our team in New York will be happy to help with any questions regarding Membership, they can email iemmys@iemmys.tv.

     

    India is such a prominent player in the television industry and unfortunately, this is not reflected in the International Emmy Awards competition. We hope more Indian television professionals will get involved with us and thanks to the wonderful platform offered by Indiantelevision.com and Anil Wanvari, we hope this will be possible.
  • Oprah is America’s favourite TV personality for fifth year in row

    Oprah is America’s favourite TV personality for fifth year in row

    MUMBAI: For the fifth year in a row, Oprah Winfrey has topped a Harris Poll in the US which asked people who their favourite television personality is.

    Jon Stewart who hosts the satirical new show The Daily Show is in second place for the second year, while Fox News anchor Bill O’Reilly moves up one notch to third place.

    Next is a newcomer to the list — Hugh Laurie whom stars in the television show House who debuts in fourth place. He won a Golden Globe for his role last week. Veteran late night talk show host David Letterman drops from number three to fifth place.

    Letterman’s arch rival, Jay Leno, is number six on the list (dropping from 2005 when he was tied for fourth place). In the Harris Poll 1,162 US adults were surveyed online from 12-18 December, 2006 by Harris Interactive.

    Besides Laurie, there are two other new TV personalities who make it into the top 10 list, one for the first time and one from previous years. Ray Romano returns at number seven while the star of 24 Kiefer Sutherland, who plays counter terrorism agent Jack Bauer makes his debut on the list, tied for eighth place. Rounding out the top 10 are Ellen DeGeneres who will host the Oscar Awards and Conan O’Brien, who are also tied for eighth place on this list.

    DeGeneres dropped from number six while O’Brien dropped from number seven. Three people dropped off the list: Jerry Seinfeld , George Lopez and comedian Tim Allen. Interestingly, the list lost three sitcom stars and gained two drama stars and one sitcom star. This might be an indication of what types of television shows viewers are watching.

    Not surprisingly, there are differences in favourite television personality when it comes to some demographic breaks. Women cite Oprah as their top television personality, but men choose O’Reilly. There are also interesting age breaks: Echo Boomers (ages 18 to 29) say that Conan O’Brien is number one. GenXers (ages 30 to 41) turn away from talk shows and say that Laurie is their favorite television personality. Baby Boomers (ages 42 to 60) say that Oprah is their favourite while Matures (ages 61 and over) say that it is O’Reilly.

    Finally, even with television stars, political boundaries are drawn. Conservatives say that O’Reilly is number one while liberals say that Stewart is their favourite.

  • Oprah tops ‘Forbes’ list of richest women in entertainment

    Oprah tops ‘Forbes’ list of richest women in entertainment

    MUMBAI: The annual Forbes magazine list has put out its list of the wealthiest women in entertainment and there are no new surprises on who occupies the top spot.

    U.S. talk show host and media mogul Oprah Winfrey tops the list with an an estimated $1.5 billion during her career. JK Rowling, who is finishing the seventh and final instalment in her boy wizard series Harry Potter, ranks second with $1 billion. Martha Stewart another talk show host is third with $638 million.
    Madonna ranks fourth with $325 million, followed by Celine Dion ($250 million), Mariah Carey ($225 million), Janet Jackson ($150 million), Julia Roberts ($140 million), and Jennifer Aniston and Jennifer Lopez (both $110 million).

    Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, the twin actresses who started out on the ’80s comedy Full House and created a multimedia empire, Dualstar Entertainment Group, are No. 11 with an estimated “combined net worth at around $100 million,” Forbes said. They’re followed by Britney Spears, Judge Judy Sheindlin of TV’s Judge Judy, Sandra Bullock, Cameron Diaz, Gisele Bundchen, Ellen DeGeneres, Nicole Kidman, Christina Aguilera and Renee Zellweger. Forbes stated that to make its top-20 list these female megastars needed a minimum net worth of $45 million amassed over the course of their careers.

    Oprah Winfrey, $1.5 billion

    J.K. Rowling, $1 billion

    Martha Stewart, $638 million

    Madonna, $325 million

    Celine Dion, $250 million

    Mariah Carey, $225 million

    Janet Jackson, $150 million

    Julia Roberts, $140 million

    Jennifer Lopez, $110 million

    Jennifer Aniston, $110 million

    Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, $100 million

    Britney Spears, $100 million

    Judge Judy Sheindlin, $95 million

    Sandra Bullock, $85 million

    Cameron Diaz, $75 million

    Gisele Bundchen, $70 million

    Ellen DeGeneres, $65 million

    Nicole Kidman, $60 million

    Christina Aguilera, $60 million

    Renée Zellweger, $45 million

  • Oprah Winfrey to foray into reality series on ABC Entertainment

    Oprah Winfrey to foray into reality series on ABC Entertainment

    MUMBAI: Talk show host Oprah Winfrey plans to enter into the reality space with two shows tentatively tilted Oprah Winfrey’s The Big Give and Your Money or Your Life. This announcement was made jointly by Harpo Productions and Disney owned ABC Entertainment.

    To be rolled out as eight-episode show, Oprah Winfrey’s The Big Give will challenge 10 people to take the money and resources they are given and multiply them to come up with the most powerful, sensational, emotional and dramatic ways to give to others.

    An official release stated that each week the group will face a “big catch” that will test their nerve, drive, ingenuity and passion. The stakes will get higher, with one person ultimately being chosen to have his/her wildest dream come true for making the biggest impact. The series will center on the drama, emotion and magic of making a difference in peoples’ lives.

    In addition, the two companies are also developing the primetime series Your Money or Your Life. Each week will feature families facing a life crisis. They will need to make drastic and immediate changes before they are consumed by disaster. In every episode, an expert action team will move in and viewers will watch a dramatic total money and life makeover.

    “Less than 100 days since we launched our new television development group, we’re delighted to be announcing our first two primetime series,” said Harpo Productions president Tim Bennett.

    “Oprah Winfrey getting into series TV is monumental. Our relationship with Harpo has been wonderful for us, and this latest partnership takes it to a phenomenal new level,” said ABC Entertainment president Stephen McPherson. “These two shows are a perfect fit for our alternative brand with their focus on wish fulfillment and making lives better. I can’t wait to get started.”

  • Spielberg to get 2006 International Emmy Founders Award

    Spielberg to get 2006 International Emmy Founders Award

    MUMBAI: Steven Spielberg is to recieve the 2006 International Emmy Founders Award at the 34th International Emmy Awards Gala. The event will be held on 20 November in New York City. Last year’s recipient was Oprah Winfrey.

    This Award is presented for outstanding work that crosses cultural boundaries and reflects the commonality of the human experience.

    International Academy president and CEO Bruce Paisner said, “Steven Spielberg has a long and distinguished career in television. As in his movies, he has the ability to move us and entertain us in equal measure. The International Television Academy takes great pleasure in recognizing his contributions and his creative genius with our 2006 International Emmy Founders Award.”

    Spielberg’s began his career, working on Night Gallery, Marcus Welby, M.D., The Name of the Game and Columbo, among others. His TV movie Duel was released theatrically in some international markets, and his feature film career took off with the release of Jaws.

    He however continued to work in TV, creating the weekly anthology series Amazing Stories, Band of Brothers, Taken and Into the West.

    Future projects include a long-form production about World War II in the Pacific, the sci-fi production Nine Lives and On the Lot, an unscripted series that will allow aspiring filmmakers to vie for a studio development deal at DreamWorks.

    Spielberg’s philanthropic causes include the Righteous Persons Foundation and the Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation, and he is the chairman emeritus of the Starlight Starbright Children’s Foundation.