Today In Entertainment FEBRUARY 04, 2021
What's news: Amazon Studios chief Jen Salke talks Golden Globes and Jeff Bezos, CNN chief Jeff Zucker expects to depart at the end of this year, Netflix acquires Sundance hit Passing, Bill Clinton starting a podcast with iHeartMedia, a slew of CW renewals, U.S. streamers bulk up on foreign fare, the first batch of WGA Award noms. Plus: THR's critics pick the best films of Sundance, and Gary Baum investigates "The guru of Toluca Lake." --Alex Weprin Amazon and the Golden Globes ►Amazon Studios chief Jen Salke talks film strategy, Jamie Tarses' legacy and Jeff Bezos. After generating attention primarily through TV series since its move into original content, Amazon Studios is enjoying some good news on the film front — care of Wednesday’s Golden Globe Awards nominations. Of the streamer’s 10 total nominations, seven come courtesy of feature ventures. “It’s a real signal that we're going to continue to invest in our film strategy moving forward,” Salke says to Michael O'Connell, “both original movies produced by Amazon, but also in acquiring and creating partnerships with artists.” --As for Bezos: “[Jeff] is going to be around for a long time,” said Salke. “He’s a huge fan of our business and I'm genuinely really excited for him. Andy Jassy is an executive with such deep roots within Amazon. We feel nothing but like excitement and confidence about the future.” The interview. +THR awards columnist Scott Feinberg doesn't hold back in analyzing the Globes film noms, which he calls "a complete and utter embarrassment. Not just the announcement of them, which was poorly handled. But the list itself... In a year in which no stars will actually be attending their shindig in-person, one might have thought that the Hollywood Foreign Press Association would set aside its worst impulses and pick its nominees more on the merits than usual, not less." The column. +About that Music nomination: The feature film earned a nod for best picture—musical or comedy, while its star Kate Hudson also picked up a best actress nomination. The film wasn't on awards experts' lists as a contender for major awards this season and it currently has a 29 percent freshness rating on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes. More. +Here's how late night covered the Globes noms: "Once again Black filmmakers get the shaft," Stephen Colbert said. More. +Writers Guild Awards: The Writers Guild has announced its first batch of nominees for the 2021 WGA Awards. On Wednesday the guild unveiled its nominees in the television, new media, news, radio/audio and promotional writing categories. The full list of nominees. +BAFTA longlists: For the first time in its history, the British Academy has released longlists across all categories for its film awards. The final nominations lists will be announced March 9, with the ceremony — postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic — now due to take place April 11. The lists. Hollywood's False Prophet? ►The guru of Toluca Lake: Acolytes allege a Hollywood acting coach became a false prophet. Gary Baum reports: To her devotees, Candace Silvers — daughter of comedian Phil Silvers — is a brash mentor leading a breakthrough self-improvement movement. But for dozens of former followers, she's something far more troubling: "People are being poisoned emotionally." --"She brainwashed us," says Jessica Sutta, who met Silvers in 2006, as her pop group, The Pussycat Dolls, crested its fame. "In it, you're drunk in love. Out of it, you're just like, 'Holy shit, how did I fall for that?' " Sutta, who remained with Silvers for five years, says that "she manipulated you, fed on your insecurities, knew how to control you. She makes it feel like you can't live without her." --Silvers declined to be interviewed for this story, but her representative provided a statement in which she rejects many of the claims against her. "[The allegations] have been concocted by a small, disgruntled group of former clients, many of whom have started copy-cat businesses using my syllabus and other proprietary teaching methods to compete against me," she wrote. "These adversaries represent less than 1 percent of the more than 5,000 clients I have worked with during the past 30 years." The story. ►Just in: Jeff Zucker will remain at CNN through the end of 2021. The CNN president and head of WarnerMedia News and Sports told staff Thursday that he will stay with the company through the end of his contract, but expects to leave at the end of the year. --Rumors of tension between Zucker and WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar percolated in 2020, raising the possibility that he could leave early, but Kilar told The New York Times in December that “the two best things that ever happened to CNN were Ted Turner and Jeff Zucker.” On the call Thursday, Zucker acknowledged that tension, telling staff "The truth is, back in November and December I had basically decided that it was time to move on," but added that he decided to continue in his role for now. The story. ►Bill Clinton is starting a podcast. Why Am I Telling You This? will feature Clinton in conversation with some of the experts across a wide range of topics that interest him. The first episode features a sit-down with jazz artist Wynton Marsalis, who discusses his life and recent works The Ever Fonky Lowdown and The Democracy! Suite. Clinton was known for playing the saxophone during his presidential campaign. The story. Best of Sundance ►The best films from Sundance 2021: THR critics pick 15 favorites. A crowd-pleaser about a majority-deaf family, a drama about race in 1920s Harlem and docs about COVID-19, "Black Woodstock" and the underwater photographer behind Jaws are among the standouts from the (virtual) fest, as chosen by David Rooney, Sheri Linden, Jon Frosch, Daniel Fienberg, Leslie Felperin, and Jourdain Searles. The list. +Netflix has acquired the worldwide rights to splashy Sundance title Passing, the directorial debut of Rebecca Hall that stars Tessa Thompson and Ruth Negga. Sources peg the deal as being north of $15 million. Based on the novel by Nella Larsen, the movie follows two African-American women who can pass as white and choose to live on opposite sides of the color line in 1929 New York. The story. ►The third Fantastic Beasts film has shut down its shoot in the U.K. after a member of the production testing positive for COVID-19. “A team member from Fantastic Beasts 3 has tested positive for COVID-19," Warner Bros. told THR in a statement, without confirming the team member's identity. "The diagnosis was confirmed as a result of required and ongoing testing that all production employees receive, and the team member is currently in isolation. Out of an abundance of caution, Fantastic Beasts 3 paused production and will be back up in accordance with safety guidelines.” More. ►U.S. streamers bulk up with non-English-language shows. In a rush to build libraries with originals — and with an eye to rolling out services worldwide — platforms are increasingly buying finished shows off the shelf, Scott Roxborough reports. --"Just five to six years ago, if you had a non-English show, in Europe for example, your market was basically limited to the dubbing territories, so Germany, Italy, Spain, and Eastern Europe. Now you can sell it anywhere," says Jens Richter, CEO of International at Fremantle, which did deals with Hulu for No Man's Land — a series with French, Kurdish, English, and Arabic dialog — and with HBO for The Investigation, a Danish true-crime drama. "The advantage with the streamers is there are no broadcast 'slots'" notes Richter, "there is no limit to real estate. So the platforms can experiment." The story. ►The CW handed out a slew of early renewals as it firms up what its 2021-22 season will look like. As the network plots a return to business as usual during the pandemic, The CW has picked up a dozen series for additional seasons: Newcomer Walker and veterans All American, Batwoman, Charmed, Dynasty, The Flash, In the Dark, Legacies, Legends of Tomorrow, Nancy Drew, Riverdale and Roswell, New Mexico. Five of those (Dynasty, The Flash, In the Dark, Legends and Roswell) have yet to premiere this season. --That leaves only first-year shows Superman & Lois, Kung Fu and The Republic of Sarah — which also haven't debuted yet — on the bubble as the Mark Pedowitz-led network, a joint venture between Warner Bros. TV and CBS Studios, awaits more information on them. The story. ►The National Football League has agreed that a blockbuster antitrust case examining the way its games get televised will commence on Feb. 20, 2024. Although that date (pending a federal judge's approval) is more than three years away, it may loom over the league's coming negotiations with TV networks and streamers for new rights packages. --The lawsuit comes from bars, restaurants and other retail establishments who say that they are paying supracompetitive prices for DirecTV's "Sunday Ticket." But for alleged collusion and other restrictions, these plaintiffs believe that the NFL's 32 teams might compete with each other by streaming out-of-market games to fans. More competition, they argue, would result in greater output (multiple versions of a telecast) and lower prices. The NFL responds that cooperation among teams is necessary for everything from kickoff time to the rules of the game. They defend the system of pooling rights for games as pro-competitive. The story. Revolving door: Disney is launching an in-house production unit for unscripted programming and has tapped ABC's Rob Mills to lead it... Bill Shine, the former Fox News producer-turned executive, who later served as White House communications director under President Trump in 2018-2019, is consulting on Nexstar's NewsNation cable channe... In other news... --Morgan Wallen is facing the consequences after a video emerged on TMZ of the country star yelling expletives, including the N-word. In light of the video, the Academy of Country Music is deeming him ineligible for this year's awards, and the country singer's recording contract with Big Loud Records has been suspended. --Vertical Entertainment has nabbed the U.S. rights to the animated film Panda vs. Aliens from Arcana Studio. --NBCUniversal will launch a new annual event to bring together the company's advertising partners, media buyers and clients, with developers and technologists building the next generation of content and advertising solutions. The inaugural event, dubbed "One21," will be held (virtually, of course) on March 22. --The Miami Film Festival is set to go ahead with a hybrid 2021 edition in March with physical theater and online screenings amid the pandemic. --Migos have dropped their suit against longtime talent lawyer Damien Granderson. --Spend on film and high-end TV production in the U.K. fell just 21 percent in 2020 compared with 2019, according to official figures released by the British Film Institute. --Nine cameras, 25-minute takes: How Chicago Fire pulled off its bottle episode. --The cost-cutting at top-rated Canadian broadcaster Bell Media has quickened with the loss of another 210 jobs. --Gaming and entertainment news network VENN on Thursday unveiled its original programming plans for the new year. What else we're reading... --"Reddit’s WallStreetBets founder sells life story to movie producer RatPac Entertainment" [WSJ] --"CBS grapples with racism claims at WCBS-TV Channel 2 in New York" [LA Times] --"Mudrick Capital gains $200 million on AMC, GameStop bets" [Bloomberg] --"The problem with Dr. Oz guest hosting Jeopardy!" [The Ringer] Today's birthdays: Hannibal Buress, 38, Alice Cooper, 73, Oscar De La Hoya, 48, Lawrence Taylor, 62, Eric Garcetti, 50.
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