Nancy Tellem at Microsoft? The Inside Dirt on Whether She Can Succeed
September, 19, 2012 7:38 am | Comments On #Media, Microsoft, Nancy Tellem, Television, xboxCBS veteran Nancy Tellem’s leap to Microsoft, where she will head up entertainment content, was more like an inching, tortoise-like crawl, individuals close to the situation told TheWrap.
Negotiations have been dragging on for most of this year, and I’m told reliably that the press release for her to be president of entertainment and digital media, which went out on Monday, was first prepared back in July.
Why the slow-go? Apparently Tellem was not sure she wanted the gig, and Microsoft was forever recalibrating its own excitement about a content-creating strategy.
The lack of enthusiasm on both sides may not bode well for Tellem’s new tenure at a Redmond, Wash.-based technology company, with its very different culture from the hard-charging, fast-lane broadcast world of CBS.
Also read: ...
Read MoreMuslim Innocence: Facebook Revolution, Meet the YouTube Counter-Revolution
September, 16, 2012 3:14 pm | Comments On #Innocence of Muslims, Media, nakoula basseley nakoula, social mediaIf the ‘Innocence of Muslims’ started as an amateur film shot in California’s inland empire, it ended as a subject of international violence, requiring the U.S. Secretary of State herself to denounce it.
It’s the flip side of the sea change that social media tools have brought to modern culture and politics – the dark side of Facebook, YouTube and Twitter.
We have watched how social media has empowered individuals shut out of power in dictatorships, and this historic shift, made possible by the likes of Mark Zuckerberg, Chad Hurley and Jack Dorsey, has been a stunning thing to observe.
When it came to the Facebook revolution in Egypt, social media allowed for a handful of people to amplify their long-simmering anger toward their government and leverage that into a revolution that toppled the reign of Hosni Mubarak.
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Read MoreTom Rothman Dismissed by Chase Carey After Seeking Ron Meyer’s Job, Say Sources
September, 14, 2012 5:47 pm | Comments On #Fox, Movies, ron meyer, tom rothman, universalWhat is the reason for Tom Rothman’s abrupt dismissal after 18 years of service at Twentieth Century Fox?
Individuals close to the situation said that the Fox chairman went after Ron Meyer’s job as head of Universal Studios, and ended up losing the job he has had for more than a decade.
“He went to (News Corp. COO) Chase Carey and overplayed his hand,” said one insider close to the situation.
News Corp. declined to comment. Executives close to the situation insisted the separation was "amicable."
Rothman stepped down on Friday as the chairman and CEO of Fox Filmed Entertainment, leaving his long-time partner Jim Gianopulos...
Read MoreToronto Film Fest: Robert Redford, Will Smith, Soho House and Somali Pirates
September, 10, 2012 7:40 am | Comments On #Movies, Robert Redford, soho house, TIFF, toronto, Will SmithThe Toronto International Film Festival chugs along with more film gems and movie stars than it has a right to. Will Smith and Jada Pinkett-Smith showed their glitter on Sunday at an event for an Angela Davis documentary they produced a day after Johnny Depp showed up for his pal, Damien Echols, out of prison after 18 wrongful years.
Paul Haggis (pictured with me) hung out at Soho House with Trudie Styler – where Madonna had a reservation -- and implored the glitterati to attend his Haiti fundraiser. (He’ll shortly go back to Rome, where he’s shooting a love story with an all-star cast.) Jason 
Reitman seems ubiquitous.
There are endless cocktail parties and elbow-rubbing soirees,...
Read MoreTheWrap Launches Culture Coverage - Yup, We’re Growing
August, 31, 2012 4:10 pm | Comments On #culture, Lisa Fung, thewrap, verticalCulture fanatics, we have heard you.
TheWrap today launches its Culture vertical because we just can’t ignore that all of culture -- high and low -- is connected.
Increasingly Hollywood, the driving economy behind popular culture, intersects with the world of theater, music and art.
Also read: TheWrap's Culture Coverage
Movie adaptations now regularly head to Broadway and stages across the country as a matter of course. And Hollywood producers such as Scott Rudin, Marc Platt, Harvey Weinstein and Paula Wagner are the force behind more theatrical productions, their names becoming as commonplace on the Great White Way as traditional theater veterans.
Film and television actors and actresses are increasingly involved in theater, music, architecture, books and art...
Read MoreBarack Obama Tweets Response to Clint Eastwood RNC Empty Chair Speech
August, 30, 2012 10:17 pm | Comments On #Barack Obama, chair, Clint Eastwood, rnc, Television, twitter
President Barack Obama tweeted a cheeky response to actor-director Clint Eastwood, who mocked the president’s record in the form of a debate with an empty chair at the Republican National Convention on Thursday night.
“This seat's taken,” the president -- or someone in charge of his Twitter account -- tweeted, attaching a picture of himself in a chair. The president's Twitter account, used to press his reelection message, has 19 million followers.
Also read: Clint Eastwood Holds Weird One-Sided Debate With Obama's Empty Chair (Video)
Eastwood...
Read MoreClint Eastwood Was ‘Ad-Libbing’ In Odd Convention Appearance, Says Romney Campaign
August, 30, 2012 9:06 pm | Comments On #ad-libbing, appearance, Clint Eastwood, Convention, Mitt Romney, odd, rnc, Television
The Romney presidential campaign distanced itself from Clint Eastwood’s odd appearance at the Republican National Convention on Thursday night, saying his conversation with a phantom President Obama amounted to “ad-libbing” and a joke.
“Judging an American icon like Clint Eastwood through a typical political lens doesn’t work,” a Romney spokesman said in response to a question from MSNBC. “His ad-libbing was a break from the political speech-making, and the crowd enjoyed it.”
Read MoreLosing Patrick Goldstein: a Blow to the L.A. Times' Credibility in Hollywood
August, 23, 2012 10:04 am | Comments On #John Corrigan, L.A. Times, Media, Patrick Goldstein
With the departure of Patrick Goldstein, the Los Angeles Times loses an authoritative, insider’s voice covering the entertainment industry, diminishing its relevancy in a brutally competitive news space.
Curious choice for a paper that spends a good deal of energy selling itself to Hollywood advertisers as a trade. Curious for a paper whose editorial ambition has long been to “own Hollywood.”
Why would they do that?
I’ve no doubt that Goldstein -- a friend and colleague for many years but who declined to be interviewed for this piece -- may not be the easiest customer in a newsroom. He likes to work from home. He is not...
Read MoreDax Shepard Brings It in 'Hit and Run' - 'The Hangover' on an Indie Budget
August, 21, 2012 12:22 pm | Comments On #Brad Cooper, Dax Shepard, hit and run, Kristen Bell, MoviesIt’s about time. A hilarious new voice emerges from the morass of thudding summer blockbusters this week in “Hit and Run,” a car-chase comedy with echoes of “The Hangover” by writer-director-actor Dax Shepard.
Dax who? He’s some quirky guy who you might know from his regular role on the TV show “Parenthood,” but make no mistake -- Shepard is a serious talent who puts it all on display in this tiny movie from fledgling distributor Open Road.
They sneaked the movie in Santa Monica on Saturday night, and I can’t wait to tell you: it’s a movie with a heart, and a voice and a brain and it ought to be a hit.
Shepard stars as Charlie Bronson, a guy living in the California countryside under witness protection with his professor-girlfriend Kristen Bell (Annie). When Annie gets a...
Read MoreTony Scott Death Rips a Hole in the Fabric of Hollywood
August, 20, 2012 7:25 pm | Comments On #bridge, death, Movies, suicide, Tony Scott, Vincent ThomasTony Scott went to work at Scott Free Productions last Thursday and ran a staff meeting without giving the slightest hint that three days later he would drive to the Vincent Thomas Bridge in the Los Angeles Harbor, park his car, climb the fence and leap 180 feet to his death in the sparkling waters below.
So it’s little wonder that shock from the director’s dramatic death on Sunday spread Monday through the entertainment industry, throwing projects into question and leaving people shocked, saddened and reflective.
Those who knew Scott -- those who worked closely with him -- were especially stunned.
“There was a life force pulsating through his movies, and suddenly he’s ripped away – how could that be?” asked producer Paula Wagner, who was Tom Cruise’s agent during both “Top Gun” and “Days of Thunder....
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Description
Sharon Waxman's take on life on the left coast, high culture, low culture and the business of entertainment and media.
Follow me on Twitter @sharonwaxman and follow TheWrap @thewrap!
Sharon is also the author of two books, Rebels on the Back Lot and Loot.
