Tag: THE DEADLINE TEAM

Ray Richmond contributes to Deadline’s TV coverage.
(SPOILER ALERT! This report outlines news events that are covered Season 2 of HBO’s The Newsroom.) Creator-showrunner Aaron Sorkin took the wraps off a chunk of the forthcoming second season of his controversial HBO journalism drama tonight as a gift to voting members of the TV Academy, hoping that a little sneak peek will help win them over just as Emmy balloting gets underway. During an event at the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, Sorkin described that clip of The Newsroom as the first 15 minutes of the new campaign. “When I was wondering which clip to show, our costume designer said, ‘Well, you know nothing ever really happens in the first 15 minutes of everything you write’,” Sorkin quipped. That convinced him that he wouldn’t be leaking too many spoilers in what the packed house saw. However, it did reveal one or two.

SPOILER ALERT! The new season kicks off with a present-day deposition involving the lawyer portrayed by Marcia Gay Harden in a guest turn and features Jane Fonda returning as the CEO of the show’s fictional network parent company. It then flashes back to Aug. 23, 2011, and the beginning of Mohammar Gadhafi’s fall in Libya. If possible, the pacing is even faster rat-a-tat-tat and adrenalin-infused than it was in its inaugural season. Sample dialogue: Lawyer: “Fourteen months after you went on the air, you called the Tea Party ‘The American Taliban.’ What happened?” Anchor: “The Taliban resented it.”

Related: TV TEASER: HBO’s ‘The Newsroom’

Sorkin — appearing onstage with cast members Jeff Daniels, Emily Mortimer, Thomas Sadoski, Sam Waterston, Alison Pill, Olivia Munn, Dev Patel and John Gallagher Jr. — admitted right off the top that everyone was feeling “a little bit punchy” because they had just wrapped principal photography on Season 2 some 48 hours earlier. The season, which premieres July 14, will be framed by a lawsuit indicated by the deposition seen at the beginning of the clip, which is “our version of the present day.” The time frame covered in the second season will be Aug. 23, 2011, through Election Night 2012 — about 14 1/2 months.

Sorkin had said during a PaleyFest event in March that the events being tackled in season two would include “the Tea Party/American Taliban; the general election including the primaries and conventions; Trayvon Martin; the Affordable Care Act; and drones.” And with the season ending in November 2012, there would be no coverage of the Sandy Hook tragedy. SPOILER ALERT! But another real-life news story that will be covered slipped out courtesy of Mortimer, who praised Sorkin’s “incredible foresight” in having one of the season’s main themes surround chemical weapons warfare. Of course, it came out just this week that Syrian rebels have been charged with using exactly that in their conflict. “It’s frustrating because Aaron wrote that months ago,” Mortimer said, “but it will now seem as if he was simply following that story.” Sorkin emphasized, however, that the show is “hardly ever driven by a news event, anyway.”

At one point, a debate erupted among the panelists – spurred by castmate Sadoski – regarding the occasional irresponsibility exercised by real-life news organizations. Sadoski’s beef was specifically with CNN for early on misidentifying the Boston Marathon bomber and failing to apologize for it. “Is there any consequence for getting it wrong?” he asked “I certainly haven’t heard an apology that felt remotely sincere.” Sorkin chimed in, “And in the name of what? Being first? I’ve never gotten a good answer to the question of what the value is in being first, other than bragging rights.”

But at the same time, Sorkin denied that he has any sort of anti-journalist agenda on The Newsroom, despite what many journalists and critics have written. “I know there are real journalists who feel the show is an attack on them,” he said, “but that’s the last thing that’s intended.” He added that there’s an episode during season two that is “an absolute love letter” to the job reporters do. “I’m as infatuated by what reporters do as I am public servants,” he said.

Related: Constance Zimmer To Recur On Aaron Sorkin’s HBO Series ‘The Newsroom’

via Deadline.com http://www.deadline.com/2013/06/the-newsroom-aaron-sorkin-and-his-cast-tip-plot-lines-for-season-2-during-atas-event/

The country’s No. 2 cable service is considering taking a piece of the ad-supported streaming-video service, Bloomberg reports. Slower growth in the pay-TV sector has the NY-based Time Warner Cable paying more attention to its broadband operations lately. Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal says “at least two” cablers are eyeing Hulu. Disney, News Corp and Comcast own about a third each of the 6-year-old service, which recently topped the 4 million-subscriber mark.

via Deadline.com http://www.deadline.com/2013/05/time-warner-cable-hulu-stake/

A day after Zach Braff took to the web in defense of his use of Kickstarter to finance his next project, the founders of the crowdfunding site posted a missive whose title asked a simple but controversial question: Who is Kickstarter for? Perry Chen, Yancey Strickler and Charles Adler note that their “mission is to help bring creative projects to life,” and they argue that goes for anyone. The trio deflected criticism aimed at their service — along with Braff and Veronica Mars creator Rob Thomas — saying that high-profile projects merely “bring new backers to other projects.” Agree or not, the trio is in spin-control mode amid the backlash as crowdsourcing continues to be the latest cyber-Wild West. Watch Braff’s lengthy video on why he loves Kickstarter below:

Related: Zach Braff’s ‘Wish I Was Here’ Kickstarter Hits $2 Million Goal In 3 Days

Related: ‘Veronica Mars’ Movie Kickstarter Closes Out At $5.7M

via Deadline.com http://www.deadline.com/2013/05/kickstarter-founders-defend-zach-braff-veronica-mars/

UPDATE: Nikki Finke, who’s ill, reports that CAA is not apologetic for the party.

PREVIOUS: Now it’s clear why CAA doesn’t invite the media to its annual Sundance talent agency event. The Hollywood Reporter’s Matt Belloni is reporting that CAA’s Sunday night packed party featured “a team of pole-shimmying, barely-dressed burlesque dancers. At least one of them upped the ante by dancing with a strap-on penis, which sources say she used during an extended routine to tease the photo-snapping crowd of CAA clients, film executives and other festival-goers. Two dancers also performed what was described by a source as a simulated sex act on a bed in the party space… The act was too suggestive for at least one female party-goer who tells The Hollywood Reporter she was offended and left the event… ’The performance by Simon Hammerstein’s The Act LV was more explicit than intended,’ a CAA rep tells THR. ‘We regret if this created an uncomfortable setting for any of our guests.’” The risque revue is based at the Palazzo Hotel in Las Vegas. The CAA event was held at the Claim Jumper on Main Street on a night when major several agencies were vying for major Hollywood players. Here is an Internet photo of CAA principal Kevin Huvane, CAA’s Chris Andrews, and movie producer Harvey Weinstein attending the party where guests according to THR were busy snapping photos of the women performing. Hard to believe this is 2013 and grown men still act like this.

via Deadline.com http://www.deadline.com/2013/01/thr-caas-explicit-sundance-party-features-strap-on-penis-and-simulated-sex-agency-apologizes/

via Deadline.com http://www.deadline.com/2012/10/the-hobbit-first-tv-spot/

TORONTO – Sept. 13, 2012 – Tribeca Film has acquired U.S. rights to Bert Marcus Productions’ How to Make Money Selling Drugs, which had its world premiere on Friday night at the Toronto International Film Festival. The provocative documentary offers an in-depth look at the high-stakes world of drug dealing and drug enforcement by blending authentic reportage with pop culture references. Directed by Matthew Cooke, the film reunites producers Bert Marcus of Bert Marcus Productions and Adrian Grenier (HBO’s Entourage), the team that created the breakout hit Teenage Paparazzo. Tribeca Film plans a 2013 theatrical release day and date with on-demand platforms, where it will be available in more than 40 million homes through a variety of video-on-demand offerings, as well as iTunes, Amazon Watch Instantly, VUDU and Xbox.

How To Make Money Selling Drugs offers a captivating glimpse into the lives of those on both sides of the “war on drugs,” delivering a diverse and unique perspective on the controversial subject through interviews with 50 Cent, The Wire producer David Simon, Arianna Huffington, Woody Harrelson, Eminem and Susan Sarandon, as well as infamous drug kingpin “Freeway” Rick Ross. Presenting a shockingly candid examination of how a street dealer can rise to cartel lord with relative ease, the documentary reveals how public policy and government drug enforcement have struggled to creatively adapt to and effectively disincentive Americans from dealing drugs. Bert Marcus Productions was granted unprecedented access from top‐ranking government officials, from the U.S. Drug Czar to the Drug Enforcement Agency, all providing unique and honest viewpoints on this pervasive global topic.

The deal was negotiated for Tribeca Film by Nick Savva, Director of Acquisitions, and by ICM Partners and Lawrence Kopeikin on behalf of the filmmakers.

via Deadline.com http://www.deadline.com/2012/09/how-to-make-money-selling-drugs-documentary-acquistion-tribeca-film-toronto-film-festival/