Gordon Crawford Retires – Hollywood Loses a Great One

December, 19, 2012 12:38 pm | Comments On #Capital Global, Capital Research and Management, Gordon Crawford, investor, Lionsgate, Media, Movies, Television

Hollywood should take a moment to regret the retirement this week of Gordon Crawford of Capital Research and Management, one of the wisest, most influential and most successful investors in media and entertainment of the past several decades.

Crawford (pictured above with Rupert Murdoch and below with Peter Chernin) sent out a note to friends on Wednesday -- on which were copied a Who’s Who of leaders in entertainment and technology (no, I’m not sharing) -- titled “My Retirement,” in which he writes with typical understatement:

“This Friday, December 21, I head down the elevator for the last time at Capital. I have been blessed to spend 41 years...

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Why Rupert Murdoch's iPad Paper, ‘The Daily,’ Failed

December, 03, 2012 4:46 pm | Comments On #digital media, Media, rupert murdoch, The Daily

The demise of Rupert Murdoch’s “The Daily” says as much about the unforgiving state of digital journalism as it does about the iPad-only news daily Murdoch launched less than two years ago.

"New times demand new journalism," Murdoch said in February 2011, upon The Daily’s launch.

Getty ImagesSo it does. It just doesn’t demand the kind of journalism done by The Daily: general news, updated once a day, offered on a single platform, with beautiful graphics, available by subscription only.

Also read: News Corp. Shutters The Daily

We’ll get back...

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Francis Ford Coppola Returns to Paramount Lot, Home of ‘Godfather’ Series (Exclusive)

November, 29, 2012 11:08 am | Comments On #1970s, filmmaker, Francis Ford Coppola, Godfather, Movies, Paramount

Legendary filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola is moving back to his creative stomping ground of the 1970s, taking offices on the Paramount lot starting next year, TheWrap has learned.

“As of 2013, Francis Ford Coppola will open offices and work out of the Paramount lot. He and Paramount go way back, and he is thrilled to be back there,” said his publicist Leslee Dart in an exclusive statement to TheWrap.

An individual close to Coppola said he was looking to get “creative” and would be moving into the Lubitsch building on the lot. Studio chief Brad Grey welcomed an overture to bring Coppola back to the lot, the individual said.

Also read:...

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The Secrets of an Awards-Season Influencer

November, 28, 2012 7:10 pm | Comments On #Awards, Movies, oscars

Lisa Taback is on a roll.

After years toiling in the trenches of Oscar campaigns, the sought-after awards consultant has in the past two years helped The Weinstein Company secure 29 Oscar nominations and win back-to-back Best Picture Oscars -- the first for "The King’s Speech" and the second for that unlikely winner earlier this year, the black-and-white non-talkie "The Artist."

That track record, plus a reputation for quiet, unrelenting pursuit and savvy strategic moves, has cemented her status as the person to hire if you want to win an Oscar. 

More Secret "Oscar Whisperers": 7 Oscar Campaign Managers You Should Know

“I know no tricks, I know no black magic,” she told TheWrap....

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What Will Peter Liguori Do With Tribune Once He's CEO?

November, 19, 2012 1:56 pm | Comments On #bankruptcy, Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, Media, peter liguori, tribune

With the Tribune Company nearing the end of its interminable bankruptcy and Peter Liguori poised to become its new CEO, the question arises of what he will do with the reborn media company.

From what my sources tell me, most likely he will oversee much of its dismantling.

An insider close to Tribune leadership tells me that Liguori has for some time been designated as the CEO-in-waiting, reporting to Edgar Lee of the private equity firm Oaktree Capital Management, the creditor who is now running the show.

They have a plan, I'm told. ”They’re going to liquidate as much as they can,” said this senior insider.

Also read: FCC Approves Tribune Co. Bid to Transfer Print/TV Ownership (Updated)

On Friday, the...

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TheWrap Wins Top Honors at 2012 National Entertainment Journalism Awards

November, 19, 2012 10:51 am | Comments On #2012 National Entertainment Journalism, eszterhas, gibson, Media, Movies, waxword

TheWrap won top awards at the 2012 National Entertainment Journalism Awards on Sunday, for best online news reporting for its coverage of the Mel Gibson-Joe Eszterhas controversy and for best entertainment column.

TheWrap won best news reporting for its coverage of screenwriter Eszterhas accusing the already-controversial Gibson of making anti-Semitic remarks and threatening violence against his ex-wife.

In recognizing the story titled “Mel Gibson Vs. Joe Eszterhas on Maccabee Movie” the judges commented:Sharon Waxman's objective investigative piece on the Mel Gibson- Joe Eszterhas tiff over the Maccabee script earns her kudos for effective online reporting.”

Second prize went to Michael White &...

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Filmmaker Alex Gibney Accuses Pope: 'Sexual-Abuse Scandal Goes to the Top of the Vatican'

November, 16, 2012 1:55 pm | Comments On #Alex Gibney, catholic church, mea maxima culpa, Movies, pope, scandal, sexual abuse

Alex Gibney is ready to take on the Pope in his new documentary, "Mea Maxima Culpa:  Silence in the House of God," which opens this weekend.

Gibney, who has taken on hot topics from lobbyist Jack Abramoff to biking champion Lance Armstrong to Enron, digs into a new aspect of the sexual-abuse scandal in which deaf children in Catholic boarding schools were preyed upon by pedophile priests.

One of those children, now grown, has sued the Pope. The film raises the tantalizing question of whether private individuals can sue the Vatican, which is a sovereign country. 

"So you can understand the magnitude of this scandal, it’s a concerted systematic...

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IDF-Hamas Gaza Twitter War: the Spin in Real Time

November, 15, 2012 2:30 pm | Comments On #Gaza, Hamas, idf, Media, Middle East, twitter, war

Real-life war always has its propaganda machine, and now Israel and Hamas have taken to Twitter to press their cases as violence mounts in their very dangerous part of the world.

Each has its own style. The Twitter feed for the Israel Defense Force, @IDFSpokesperson, is a cross between Rambo and your grandmother. 

“Good morning to our friends in #America," went the @IDFSpokesperson. "While you were sleeping, 3 Israelis were killed when a rocket hit their house.”

...

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Election Results 2012: A New Normal Hollywood Has Dreamed Of

November, 07, 2012 2:09 pm | Comments On #election, Election 2012, Media, Movies, Television

Hollywood should be euphoric today. The entertainment industry woke up to election results that reflect a country a lot more like the fictional place they’ve been depicting on screens large and small for decades: more ethnically diverse, more gay-friendly, with powerful women and where it’s just fine to light up a spliff.  

Yes, our black president won re-election decisively, but not only that. Todd Akin went down. Elizabeth Warren got in. Maine approved same-sex marriage. The first Wisconsin woman and the first openly-gay person -- Tammy Baldwin -- was elected to the U.S. Senate. A record number of women were voted into the Senate. Latinos voted for Obama by an overwhelming 75-to-23-percent margin, while Asian voters came out at 73-26. Marijuana legalization passed in two states – two!

...

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The 2012 Election: Will California Kill the Death Penalty?

November, 04, 2012 9:20 am | Comments On #capital punishment, death penalty, election, Election 2012, Media, Movies, the thin blue line

This weekend I got to vote against the death penalty. Prop 34 was one of the big reasons I drove an hour to Norwalk to exercise a civic duty early, since California’s choice for president is not going to be swayed by me.

But on the death penalty, every vote can make a difference.

The proposal itself, offering to replace capital punishment with life without parole, is a moment to celebrate. It is a chance to consider what to do about a 35-year-old penalty that is both brutal and wasteful, senseless and, far too often, error-ridden. Oddly, I haven’t heard anyone talking about it.

Have we lost interest in this issue as a society? For decades we have debated the moral dilemma posed by the death penalty in newspapers, on talk shows, on television cop dramas and movies from “Dead Man Walking” to "Conviction" to “The Green Mile....

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