NEWS
1/8/08
NBC Cancels Golden Globe Awards
In a move that shocked television audiences, the official ceremony for the annual Golden
Globe Awards has been cancelled. The culprit? The writer's guild strike that has shut
down most production in Los Angeles and most other production hubs as well.
The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) announced on Friday that its members would not cross the
writer's picket line that would have been set up outside the taping of the show. The
writers are currently locked in a bitter dispute with film and television producers over
future royalties to be paid for new media broadcasting of their programs.
SAG's decision immediately called into question plans for the black-tie dinner and awards
presentations which are normally televised live on NBC.
The plan now is for the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) to announce the
winners in a televised press conference instead of the usual ceremony.
Hollywood screenwriters have been on strike since November 5 after the WGA and the
Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) failed to agree on terms for
a new contract that expired in October.
The strike is now in month 2 and has forced the suspension of numerous television
series and the delay of work on several Hollywood films.
____________________________________________________
1/8/08
DGA Announces Year's Best Directors
The Directors Guild of America on Tuesday announced the five best directors of 2007.
The guild nominated Paul Thomas Anderson for "There Will Be Blood," about the rise to
wealth of an oil prospector, and Sean Penn with his wilderness adventure "Into the Wild."
Also brothers Joel and Ethan Coen for their gritty crime drama "No Country for Old Men,"
Tony Gilroy for his directorial debut with legal thriller "Michael Clayton" and, finally,
painter-turned-director Julian Schnabel for "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly."
"What makes this award truly meaningful to directors is the knowledge that only this one
is decided by their peers," Directors Guild President Michael Apted said in a statement.
The DGA awards are a key indicator of which films may compete for the Oscars, with
most DGA 'Best Directors' going on to take the Oscar. Since 1949 only 6 directors who
have won a DGA Award haven't won the Oscar as well.
Since the DGA began giving awards for film directing in 1949, only six winners have
failed to claim the Oscar as best director in the same year, and the Oscars have a history
of giving their top honor, best picture, to the winner of the best director Oscar.
This year's DGA Awards will be Jan. 26 at Los Angeles' Hyatt Regency Century Plaza
Hotel.
____________________________________________________
UNITED ARTISTS REACH DEAL WITH WGA
1/7/08
“United Artists has lived up to its name. UA and the Writers Guild came together and
negotiated seriously. The end result is that we have a deal that will put people back to
work,” WGA West president Patric Verrone said in a statement.
The Writers Guild of America said Monday that it has reached an interim deal with United
Artists, the production almost single handedly revived by Tom Cruise and Paula Wagner
(Cruise/ Wagner Productions) in 2006 after the two were fired from their deal at
Paramount.
According to the guild, the agreement encompasses residuals for content distributed
online and through other new-media channels, the question of which has posed the
biggest obstacle to a mutually satisfying contract between scribes and the studios, which
are represented by the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.
The UA-WGA deal, the first arrangement with big-screen producers since the writers'
strike began Nov. 5, both echoes the one struck last month with David Letterman's
Worldwide Pants Inc., which owns The Late Show, that allowed the host to return to work
with his writing staff intact, and paves the way for similar deals with other independent
companies.
Contracts with the Weinstein Company and Lionsgate, among others, are also reportedly
in the works.
“This agreement is important, unique, and makes good business sense for United
Artists," Wagner said in a statement. "In keeping with the philosophy of its original
founders, artists who sought to create a studio in which artists and their creative visions
could flourish, we are pleased to have reached an agreement with the WGA.”
__________________________________________________
2007 National Society of Film Critics Awards Announced
1/6/08
* Best Picture: There Will Be Blood
* Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis, There Will Be Blood
* Actress: Julie Christie, Away from Her
* Supporting Actor: Casey Affleck, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert
Ford
* Supporting Actress: Cate Blanchett, I'm Not There
* Director: Paul Thomas Anderson, There Will Be Blood
* Screenplay: The Savages
* Cinematography: There Will Be Blood
* Documentary: No End in Sight
* Foreign Film: 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days
LAST WEEK'S STORIES
1/8/08
NBC Cancels Golden Globe Awards
In a move that shocked television audiences, the official ceremony for the annual Golden
Globe Awards has been cancelled. The culprit? The writer's guild strike that has shut
down most production in Los Angeles and most other production hubs as well.
The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) announced on Friday that its members would not cross the
writer's picket line that would have been set up outside the taping of the show. The
writers are currently locked in a bitter dispute with film and television producers over
future royalties to be paid for new media broadcasting of their programs.
SAG's decision immediately called into question plans for the black-tie dinner and awards
presentations which are normally televised live on NBC.
The plan now is for the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) to announce the
winners in a televised press conference instead of the usual ceremony.
Hollywood screenwriters have been on strike since November 5 after the WGA and the
Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) failed to agree on terms for
a new contract that expired in October.
The strike is now in month 2 and has forced the suspension of numerous television
series and the delay of work on several Hollywood films.
____________________________________________________
1/8/08
DGA Announces Year's Best Directors
The Directors Guild of America on Tuesday announced the five best directors of 2007.
The guild nominated Paul Thomas Anderson for "There Will Be Blood," about the rise to
wealth of an oil prospector, and Sean Penn with his wilderness adventure "Into the Wild."
Also brothers Joel and Ethan Coen for their gritty crime drama "No Country for Old Men,"
Tony Gilroy for his directorial debut with legal thriller "Michael Clayton" and, finally,
painter-turned-director Julian Schnabel for "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly."
"What makes this award truly meaningful to directors is the knowledge that only this one
is decided by their peers," Directors Guild President Michael Apted said in a statement.
The DGA awards are a key indicator of which films may compete for the Oscars, with
most DGA 'Best Directors' going on to take the Oscar. Since 1949 only 6 directors who
have won a DGA Award haven't won the Oscar as well.
Since the DGA began giving awards for film directing in 1949, only six winners have
failed to claim the Oscar as best director in the same year, and the Oscars have a history
of giving their top honor, best picture, to the winner of the best director Oscar.
This year's DGA Awards will be Jan. 26 at Los Angeles' Hyatt Regency Century Plaza
Hotel.
____________________________________________________
UNITED ARTISTS REACH DEAL WITH WGA
1/7/08
“United Artists has lived up to its name. UA and the Writers Guild came together and
negotiated seriously. The end result is that we have a deal that will put people back to
work,” WGA West president Patric Verrone said in a statement.
The Writers Guild of America said Monday that it has reached an interim deal with United
Artists, the production almost single handedly revived by Tom Cruise and Paula Wagner
(Cruise/ Wagner Productions) in 2006 after the two were fired from their deal at
Paramount.
According to the guild, the agreement encompasses residuals for content distributed
online and through other new-media channels, the question of which has posed the
biggest obstacle to a mutually satisfying contract between scribes and the studios, which
are represented by the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.
The UA-WGA deal, the first arrangement with big-screen producers since the writers'
strike began Nov. 5, both echoes the one struck last month with David Letterman's
Worldwide Pants Inc., which owns The Late Show, that allowed the host to return to work
with his writing staff intact, and paves the way for similar deals with other independent
companies.
Contracts with the Weinstein Company and Lionsgate, among others, are also reportedly
in the works.
“This agreement is important, unique, and makes good business sense for United
Artists," Wagner said in a statement. "In keeping with the philosophy of its original
founders, artists who sought to create a studio in which artists and their creative visions
could flourish, we are pleased to have reached an agreement with the WGA.”
__________________________________________________
2007 National Society of Film Critics Awards Announced
1/6/08
* Best Picture: There Will Be Blood
* Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis, There Will Be Blood
* Actress: Julie Christie, Away from Her
* Supporting Actor: Casey Affleck, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert
Ford
* Supporting Actress: Cate Blanchett, I'm Not There
* Director: Paul Thomas Anderson, There Will Be Blood
* Screenplay: The Savages
* Cinematography: There Will Be Blood
* Documentary: No End in Sight
* Foreign Film: 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days
LAST WEEK'S STORIES
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