Studios behind Harry Potter films to undergo 400,000 sq ft expansion by 2027, in boost to struggling industry
The Warner Bros studios behind the Harry Potter film series are to undergo a major expansion, creating 4,000 jobs and providing a boost to Britain’s beleaguered film and TV production industry.
The development in Hertfordshire, expected to be complete in 2027, will add 400,000 sq ft (37,000 sq metres) to Warner Bros Studios Leavesden (WBSL).
Continue reading...Director attacks ‘extremes’ of movement while promoting Coup de Chance, his 50th film, at Venice film festival, as well as addressing persistent interest in historic allegations against him
Woody Allen has voiced his support for the #MeToo movement while promoting his new film, adding that he sometimes finds cancel culture “silly”.
The director’s career has lately been mired by a recent refocusing in social media on an allegation made against him in 1993, when his adopted daughter, Dylan Farrow, said he had sexually assaulted her in an attic at the time of the custody battle between Allen and Dylan’s adoptive mother, Mia Farrow.
Continue reading...Negotiating committee of Writers Guild of America says it is evaluating offer in substantial step forward
Hollywood TV and film writers represented by the Writers Guild of America are evaluating a counterproposal from studios that would end their ongoing strike of more than 100 days, marking a substantial step forward in negotiations.
“Your Negotiating Committee received a counterproposal from the AMPTP today,” the guild’s negotiating committee said in a statement referring to the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. “We will evaluate their offer and, after deliberation, go back to them with the WGA’s response next week.
Continue reading...Company lists highly paid machine-learning project manager role while actors and executives at odds over future of AI in Hollywood
As actors and writers strike over fair compensation and protections from the encroachment of artificial intelligence, Netflix has listed a position for a machine learning product manager that will compensate somewhere between $300,000 and $900,000 a year. According to the Screen Actors Guild (Sag-Aftra), 87% of the guild’s actors make less than $26,000 per year.
The use of AI in the production of film and television – either to write scripts, generate actors’ likenesses, or cut corners in paying creative work, has been a major point of contention in negotiations between the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) and Sag and the Writers Guild of America (WGA). Writers have been striking since May; the actors joined earlier this month. The first joint strike since 1960 threatens to bring Hollywood to a complete standstill.
Continue reading...Sprawling Cinecittà complex is in demand again thanks to tax breaks and boom in film and TV production
Walk through the 1930s-built, dusty pink gates of Cinecittà, the legendary film studios in Rome, and the magic of its golden era is immediately palpable. This is where Charlton Heston rode to victory in his chariot race in Ben Hur, which went on to win 11 Oscars. It is where the real-life love affair between Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton played out on the set of Cleopatra, and where Federico Fellini produced classics including La Dolce Vita and Amarcord.
The sprawling Cinecittà was opened with great pomp by Benito Mussolini in 1937, in part to make films promoting the dictator’s fascist propaganda. During the second world war it was first occupied by the Nazis and later became a refuge to the thousands made homeless by the allied bombing of the Italian capital.
Continue reading...The Nanny star turned Sag-Aftra union president wins praise for her passion as performers join writers in action expected to halt majority of US film and TV production
Fran Drescher has blasted Hollywood studios in a fiery speech after talks between the actors’ union and studios failed to avert a strike, calling them “disgusting” for claiming “they’re losing money left and right when giving hundreds of millions of dollars to their CEOs”.
In a speech that was widely circulated on Thursday – particularly among many who did not know The Nanny star was heading up Sag-Aftra, Hollywood’s biggest union – Drescher said actors were being “marginalised, disrespected and dishonoured” by a business model that has been drastically changed by streaming and artificial intelligence.
Continue reading...Simultaneous strikes by WGA and Sag-Aftra are expected to halt the majority of Hollywood’s film and TV production
The union representing Hollywood actors formally announced a strike on Thursday, expanding the standoff between Hollywood workers and studio executives over wages, AI technology and how to divide the profits of the new digital streaming era.
The strike by the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (Sag-Aftra) marks the first time in 63 years Hollywood writers and actors are striking simultaneously.
Continue reading...Shooting for House of the Dragon, Andor and Gladiator 2 will be delayed and many award shows and premieres will be postponed
After negotiations between studio representatives the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) and the US actors’ union Sag-Aftra (Screen Actors Guild–American Federation of Television and Radio Artists) failed to make a breakthrough, Hollywood actors are going on strike.
The decision means that actors will be joining writers on the picket lines, marking the first time in over six decades that both unions have taken simultaneous strike action.
Continue reading...Mattel says the Barney movie will be inspired by Charlie Kaufman, while Barbie director Greta Gerwig is planning two Narnia movies for Netflix
The Daniel Kaluuya-produced movie featuring Barney the Dinosaur will be an “adult”, “surrealistic” and “A24-type” film inspired by Charlie Kaufman and Spike Jonze, it has been revealed.
In a wide-ranging report on the film-making plans of toymaker Mattel in the New Yorker, Mattel Films executive Kevin McKeon said of the project: “We’re leaning into the millennial angst of the property rather than fine-tuning this for kids. It’s really a play for adults. Not that it’s R-rated, but it’ll focus on some of the trials and tribulations of being thirtysomething, growing up with Barney – just the level of disenchantment within the generation.”
Continue reading...White House denies cover-up, but critics say Eva Longoria-helmed Cheetos docu-drama distorts the true story of the spicy snack
When Joe Biden welcomed actor-director Eva Longoria to the White House for a screening of her Flamin’ Hot drama-documentary last week, the president hailed the story of the Mexican-American one-time janitor Richard Montañez as a tale of “courage”.
“When I think about tonight’s movie, I think about courage. So many of you, your ancestors left behind all that they knew to start a new life in the United States,” Biden told the crowd, before the president gave the Desperate Housewives star a hug and made an incomprehensible joke about when she was 17 and he was 40.
Continue reading...Almost £150m to be spent on research labs to help future-proof industry and lift creative economy
Ministers are seeking to future-proof the UK’s multibillion-pound film and TV production industry by investing almost £150m in a network of research labs across the country tasked with developing the next generation of special effects using tech such as artificial intelligence.
The scheme aims to build on Britain’s reputation for producing hi-tech hits from Star Wars to Harry Potter, and is part of wide-ranging plans to drive the UK creative economy. The government has earmarked millions to support grassroots music venues hammered by the Covid pandemic, and is tripling a fund designed to find and support the next generation of homegrown superstars like Adele and Ed Sheeran.
Continue reading...Agreement comes as writers remain on strike and actors are currently holding a strike authorization vote
The Directors Guild of America (DGA) which represents film and television directors announced late on Saturday that it had reached a tentative agreement with Hollywood’s major studios, averting a possible work stoppage.
The development comes as Hollywood writers are currently on strike and actors represented by the Sag-Aftra union are currently holding a strike authorization vote.
Continue reading...Writers Guild of America calls first work stoppage in 15 years as industry grapples with streaming boom
Hollywood productions have ground to a halt after thousands of film and television writers went on strike following the breakdown of last-minute pay talks with major studios.
The Writers Guild of America (WGA) called its first stoppage in 15 years after failing to reach an agreement on higher pay, pitting its 11,500 screenwriters against old-guard companies, such as Universal, Paramount and Walt Disney, as well as tech newcomers, such as Netflix, Amazon and Apple.
Continue reading...Writers Guild of America could call stoppage as early as Tuesday if pay agreement is not reached
Negotiators for Hollywood writers and film and television studios are engaged in 11th-hour talks in an effort to avert a strike that would disrupt TV production across an industry grappling with seismic changes.
The Writers Guild of America (WGA) could call a work stoppage as early as Tuesday if it cannot reach a deal with companies such as Walt Disney and Netflix. A strike would be the first by the WGA in 15 years.
Continue reading...In speech to Bafta, Chariots of Fire producer says industry must invest ‘far more’ to close yawning skills gap
The Oscar-winning producer David Puttnam has issued a rallying cry to the film industry to address its yawning skills gap and grow audiences before the UK is eclipsed as a cinematic powerhouse.
In a speech to Bafta on Tuesday, Puttnam – the president of the Film Distributors’ Association (FDA) and a former peer – urged the industry to “invest far more” in its workforce to retain international competitiveness.
Continue reading...Former Superman star Henry Cavill linked to project, and agreement includes film and merchandise plans
Amazon has struck a deal with the high street games chain Games Workshop to create a series based on its hit franchise Warhammer, the science-fiction fantasy miniature war game, potentially featuring the former Superman star Henry Cavill.
The London-listed Games Workshop, which has a £2.7bn market value and runs about 530 stores, has struck a deal with Amazon to develop the company’s intellectual property into film and TV productions as well as sell merchandise.
Continue reading...Big releases with usually bankable male stars criticised for formulaic storylines as audience taste evolves
The opening of a new big-name Bollywood film was once a national event across India, greeted by weeks of fanfare, long queues outside cinemas and halls packed to the rafters with audiences cheering and singing along.
But this year, with 77% of releases flopping at the box office, cinema halls have been left eerily quiet and Bollywood’s once unshakeable domination of the Indian film industry has begun to look uncertain.
Continue reading...Ruling on Maya Bay, on Ko Phi Phi Leh, comes decades after local authorities filed lawsuit over environmental harm
More than two decades after the Hollywood film The Beach was shot at Thailand’s glittering Maya Bay, the kingdom’s supreme court has ordered officials to press ahead with environmental rehabilitation work.
The 2000 adventure drama, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, drew criticism for the impact of the shoot on the once pristine sands of the bay, located on the island of Ko Phi Phi Leh in southern Thailand.
Continue reading...Indie productions struggling to compete with well-financed, studio-backed projects, research shows
There are serious questions about the long-term viability of independent film-making in Britain, the British Film Institute (BFI) has said.
Making Oscar-winning films such as The King’s Speech and Slumdog Millionaire has become all the more difficult, with “significant challenges” putting the sector on a downward trend, research shows.
Continue reading...Miles Teller, who stars alongside Tom Cruise in the hit action blockbuster, says he is keen, but ‘it’s all up to Tom’
Top Gun: Maverick actor Miles Teller has said he is “having conversations” with the film’s producer-star Tom Cruise about a sequel to the hit action blockbuster.
Speaking to Entertainment Tonight at a charity golf event, Teller was responding to a question about the likelihood of a third Top Gun film. “That would be great, but that’s all up to [Tom Cruise]. It’s all up to Tom. I’ve been having some conversations with him about it. We’ll see.”
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