MUMBAI: Sony Pictures has announced that it will be making a 3D film showcasing London-based boy band One Direction. The behind the scenes footage will be directed by documentary filmmaker Morgan Spurlock (of the Super-Size Me fame) and will be released by TriStar Pictures on 30 August.
Spurlock, Ben Winston, Simon Cowell, and Adam Milano will produce the film while the executive producers on board will be Richard Griffiths, Harry Magee, Will Bloomfield, Matthew Galkin, Jeremy Chilnick and Doug Merrifield with Columbia Pictures president of production Hannah Minghella and Columbia Pictures vice president of production Lauren Abrahams will oversee production for the studio.
"This is an incredible opportunity and an amazing moment in time for the band," said Spurlock. "To capture this journey and share it with audiences around the world will be an epic undertaking that I am proud to be a part of."
Syco Records founder Simon Cowell said, "I‘m delighted we‘re making this film and Morgan is the perfect person to give that access-all-areas, behind-the-scenes look into what it‘s like to be One Direction today. What the band have achieved is incredible, they and their fans have made history around the world – this is for them."
One Direction – Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, Liam Payne, Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson – were discovered by Simon Cowell on the U.K.‘s "The X Factor" in 2010. The band quickly became one of the competition‘s all-time most popular acts, finishing in the final three and garnering a gigantic and loyal fanbase along the way. In March 2012, One Direction‘s debut album, "Up All Night," made U.S. history, as it was the first time a U.K. group‘s debut album entered the U.S. Billboard 200 chart at No. 1. The band has sold over 13 million records worldwide. Today, One Direction released their sophomore album, "Take Me Home," which includes the No. 1 single, "Live While We‘re Young."
Spurlock emerged in 2004 with his Academy Award nominated feature Super-Size Me, in which he subjected himself to eating only at McDonald‘s for 30 days. He has since gone on to produce other documentary features such as Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden?, The Greatest Movie Ever Sold, and Comic-Con Episode IV: A Fan‘s Hope, as well as non-fiction TV series including FX‘s30 Days and CNN‘s upcoming Inside Man. He was nominated for an Emmy Award and Writers Guild Award in 2010 for the Fox TV Special The Simpsons 20th Anniversary Special: In 3-D! On Ice.
Tag: Simon Cowell
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Sony Pictures to produce 3D movie starring One Direction
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‘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.
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Fox News seeking better subscription value for its content
MUMBAI: News Corp will look for higher programming fees in the upcoming negotiations with pay TV contributors for its Fox News channel.
News Corp COO Chase Carey said that the conglomerate‘s content will be available to new clients only if it gets paid a “fair value”. He was speaking at the 38th Annual UBS Global Media and Communications Conference on Wednesday.
Chase asserted that though both the channels are equally important, Fox News gets a very small percentage when compared to the fees that ESPN reaps.
“[Fox News] in the cable world is right there with ESPN, as important a channel as exists out there,” said Carey.
He averred that his team‘s motto will be: “If we don‘t get fair value, we shouldn‘t be selling it.”
Priced at $4 per subscriber per month, currently ESPN is one of the highest priced cable channels in the US. Fox News is priced at $1 per subscriber per month; however this was negotiated in 2006.
Although Chase declined to discuss about the terms of deals News Corp reached with Cablevision Systems and Time Warner Cable, however he did mention that “we were looking to what we thought was fair and we stuck to our guns. It takes two to make a deal… we achieved what we set out to achieve.”He added that Fox “should be our most important channel. It should be our most profitable channel. That‘s what we‘re looking to achieve.”
Carey said that Fox believes it has rejuvenated its most important franchise ‘American Idol‘.
“It‘s a dominant franchise. We can take advantage of a new, fresh and different panel [of judges]” he said.
This time the panel won‘t include Simon Cowell, but Cowell will be bringing his new show, ‘X Factor‘, to Fox next season.
“We will have year-round franchises with Idol and ‘X Factor‘ in the fall with Simon,” he said.
According to Chase, News Corp‘s other cable channels also have opportunities to increase their subscription fees when compared with their competitors.
He said, “Our channels are pretty new compared to a lot of their peers,” and that “If we make every channel a leader in its category, we‘ve got a lot of room to grow.”
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‘American Idol’ sets a ratings record on Fox
MUMBAI: American Idol is going from strength to strength.
The sixth season premiere of US broadcaster Fox’s music based reality show was the most-watched in its six-year history, drawing an estimated 37.3 million viewers according to preliminary ratings from Nielsen Media Research. In India the show airs on Star World.
This represents a five per cent increase over last year’s record premiere audience of 35.5 million, making it the best debut for the show ever for Fox.
As has been the case in the past American Idol, which gives viewers the chance to pick the finalists and winner, began as usual with scenes from nationwide auditions. The early rounds feature both promising singers and those who serve as targets for acerbic judge Simon Cowell before they are booted out.
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New season of ‘American Idol’ to hit Star World on 17 January
MUMBAI: Star World is set to kick off a brand new season of the musical talent hunt show that has become a worldwide phenomenon, American Idol on 17 January. Slated to premiere excusively on the channel, the first episode will see a two night, four hour event beginning, direct off satellite at 8 pm.
Apart from the standard trio of judges, guest judges for the first leg of auditions will include Olivia Newton John, Carole Bayer and Jewel. The show will air every Wednesday and Thursday at 8 pm and Thursdays and Fridays at 1:30 am and 10 am, respectively.Judges Randy Jackson, Paula Abdul and Simon Cowell will be back once again to bring their brand of expert advice to participants. From thousands of hopefuls, and a grueling audition process, only 24 will be picked to go onto the semi- finals, and eventually, only one can win a much sought after record contract and the title of American Idol.
Auditions for the competition began in August and swept through seven cities across the United States. Tens of thousands of would be idols from across the country showed up for what was the biggest audition so far, and the preliminary reports are that the talent this year will definitely not disappoint, informs an official release.
With just under 43 million viewers and over 63 million votes during last year’s finale, American Idol was America’s number one rated show for the second year in a row. With local spin-offs in 30 different countries, the Idol phenomenon has taken the world by storm, each year gaining more momentum and fanfare as it determines the next big icon in music, adds the release.
American Idol Alumni have also received Grammy nods with eleven Grammy nominations within the past three years, two of which were won by the first American Idol winner, Kelly Clarkson.
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Simon Cowell becomes Britain’s highest paid TV star
MUMBAI: Simon Cowell is going from strength to strength. The acerbic judge of American Idol has signed a £20 million-a-year deal with UK broadcaster ITV to continue hosting the music based reality show The X Factor.
Cowell will host the show for three years. He says, “After two and a half years of The X Factor, I’d pondered whether we were going to carry on. But this series has been fantastic… I think there is even more we can do with The X Factor. I couldn’t be happier.”
Media reports add that Cowell will also produce and star in a series of prime-time ventures. His company, Syco Tv, has finalised an extended five-year deal to appear on American Idol.
Cowell also stipulates in his contract that his record company, Sony BMG, is allowed to release records by the winning contestants.
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Fremantle to go to Natpe with dramas
MUMBAI: At the television trade event Natpe next year in Las Vegas television format creator and distributor FremantleMedia Enterprises (FME) will offer big brand shows and drama programming.
Kicking things off will be The Janice Dickinson Modeling Agency with Janice Dickinson making an appearance at the Mandalay Bay to showcase this series.
On the show she endures the trials and tribulations of setting up her own modelling agency. After five seasons as the ‘Simon-Cowell-of-modelling’ judge on America’s Next Top Model, Janice is now taking the reigns as both star and producer of this hit new show which has already made waves around the world.
Live From Abbey Road makes its Natpe debut, with the likes of Snow Patrol, Massive Attack, LeAnn Rimes and the Red Hot Chili Peppers celebrating the 75th anniversary of London’s legendary Abbey Road recording studios. Both new and established artists offer a unique insight into the world of the musician as they rehearse, discuss their work, and build towards the final exclusive performance at the home of music.
Series three of Project Runway is available, hosted by supermodel Heidi Klum. This wildly popular series from The Weinstein Company was nominated for three 2006 Emmy awards and screens in 21 territories worldwide. Series three sees fifteen new fashion designers battling it out for the chance to show their designs in front of the global fashion community in New York and be displayed in the pages of Elle magazine. A hot property, the series three finale of Project Runway recently achieved a record-breaking 5.4 million viewers – the highest rated programme ever on Bravo.
The Martha Stewart Show makes a return to NATPE, featuring celebrity-studded and informative segments, with the spotlight on Martha Stewart’s sense of humour and love of fun. Having recently been renewed for a further series on NBC, each episode features movers and shakers, headline makers, A-list celebrities plus everyday people who’ve accomplished extraordinary things.
With guests such as Russell Crowe, Jamie Oliver, Olivia Newton-John, Jessica Alba, Harrison Ford, Sharon Stone, Jason Biggs, Paul Walker and the cast of Desperate Housewives, season one of The Martha Stewart Show received five Emmy nominations and scooped one award.
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Fox to kick off sixth season of ‘American Idol’ in January
MUMBAI: US broadcaster Fox has announced that the sixth season of its music based reality show American Idol returns for its sixth season in a special two-night, four-hour season premiere on 16 January 2007.
In India the show will air on Star World.
The search for the next superstar began last summer, as the show travelled to several cities in the US. Over 100,000 people turned up at the auditions for the sixth season.The show’s host Ryan Seacrest is back, and judges Paula Abdul, Simon Cowell and Randy Jackson return to lend their professional expertise, personal comments and sometimes tough criticism to a new crop of aspiring singers. Some will get the judges approval and others will hear the cold, hard truth!
Guest judges Olivia Newton John, Carol Bayer Sager and Jewel also joined the road trip this season. Viewers will find out what these celebrity judges had to say about the talent around the country and who gets the gold ticket to Hollywood.
Last year’s season culminated in the crowning of Taylor Hicks as the fifth American Idol. Hicks joined previous winners Kelly Clarkson, Ruben Studdard, Fantasia and Carrie Underwood as holders of the coveted title. In total, American Idol artists have sold 10 million singles and 23 million albums since the show first aired in 2002. Now the stage is set to turn a sixth singer’s dream into reality. -
NBC’s new reality show celebrates American talent
MUMBAI: US broadcaster NBC will kick off a new show America’s Got Talent from 21 June 2006.
The series will feature a colourful array of hopeful future stars. Singers, dancers, comedic performers and unique acts of all ages will have a chance to strut and perform in front of a panel of judges who will determine, which acts advance to the final rounds. The winner walks away with a million dollars in cash.
The idea comes from FremantleMedia and Simon Cowell who also do the huge hit American Idol on Fox. The show will be hosted by Regis Philbin who has also hosted Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.
NBC Entertainment president Kevin Reilly says, “Regis is one of America’s most recognisable and beloved TV personalities. I couldn’t be more pleased to have him as the host of America’s Got Talent working alongside Simon Cowell and the excellent team of producers.”Philbin said, “For years I’ve thought about hosting a variety show on television but I could never put it together in my mind. Finally, here it is and I’m thrilled to be a part of it.”
Cowell says, “I am delighted that Regis has agreed to host America’s Got Talent. Regis is just the best, and I am really looking forward to working with him.”
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Tim Bowen is Sony BMG Music Entertainment COO
MUMBAI: Tim Bowen has been named chief operating officer of Sony BMG Music Entertainment. The announcement was made by the company’s CEO Rolf Schmidt-Holtz. Bowen will be based in New York and will report to Schmidt-Holtz.
Bowen will work closely with Schmidt-Holtz in overseeing all aspects of the global music company’s operations. This will include direct responsibility for Sony BMG’s international operations, as well as the company’s global digital business, strategic marketing, legacy,
masterworks and sales enterprise divisions. Bowen will also direct the company’s expanding audio-visual and TV interests on a worldwide basis and oversee human resources.
“Tim brings to this role a deep understanding of both the creative and
business aspects of the music industry. He has extensive experience with both of the companies that came together to form Sony BMG, and the dedication, passion and vision that are necessary to lead the joint venture into the future. He is clearly the right choice for this key post, and it is a true pleasure to announce his appointment,” said Schmidt-Holtz.“I’m delighted to have been given this opportunity. With a dynamic roster of current artists, a catalogue that includes an incredible number of legendary recordings, and impressive capabilities in the areas of marketing, distribution and digital initiatives, we have everything we need to establish Sony BMG as the clear leader in the global marketplace. I look forward to continuing my close working relationship with Rolf, as well as with managing directors from around the world and the entire Sony BMG team, as we realise the full potential of the joint venture,” added Bowen.
Most recently Bowen served as chairman, UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, for Sony BMG Music Entertainment International, a post he had held since February of 2004. He joined BMG in 2002 when he was appointed COO, BMG Europe by Schmidt-Holtz and carried out a number of international assignments before he was appointed chairman, BMG UK and Ireland in 2003. In the role of chairman he handled the operations of BMG and Zomba in the UK and Ireland and SYCO, Sony’s TV production company with Simon Cowell.
Prior to joining BMG, Bowen worked for Universal Music International as senior vice president of marketing and business affairs and following the merger of Polygram and Universal Music he became executive vice president of Universal Music International.