LOS ANGELES (Feb. 22, 2012) – The American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, AFL-CIO – a national union of more than 70,000 performers, recording artists and broadcast professionals – today announced that AFTRA members have approved an agreement with the four major television broadcast networks (ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox) and other producers on terms for a successor agreement to the AFTRA National Code of Fair Practice for Network Television Broadcasting, aka, the “Front of the Book.” AFTRA Members passed the agreement 96% in favor, achieving their primary objective in this negotiation: a 1% increase in employer contributions to the AFTRA Health & Retirement Funds upon ratification, which will bring the total H&R contribution rate to 16.5%. The three-year agreement will run retroactively from Nov. 16, 2011 through Nov. 15, 2014. Other highlights include:

• Increase wages by 6% over the term of the agreement (2% each year) for most categories
• Increase minimum hazard pay for dancers from $80 to $100 per day, and from $100 to $125 per program
• The $37.50 overtime rate for singers will be paid starting at the 7th instead of the 9th hour
• Increase the minimum work day for stand-ins who work on primetime variety and award shows, which will increase the minimum daily rate by 20% to 67%
• Improved contract language to increase equal employment opportunities for union performers, including an agreement to prohibit discrimination based on a member’s gender identity.

“I am proud our members overwhelmingly voted in favor of ... Read More »

EXCLUSIVE: American Beauty‘s Mena Suvari and My Boys alum Kyle Howard are set to co-star in NBC’s untitled Hilary Winston single-camera pilot, from Sony TV and Fanfare. It centers on Agnes, a shy, focused woman who, after being dumped by her fiance, leans on her co-workers to help her come out of her shell and plot her revenge. Suvari will play one of the chemists on Agnes’ team who is a hard partyer and unabashedly promiscuous. Howard will play another chemist on the team, a former high school football player. The project reunites Howard with Sony TV and Fanfare, which produced TBS’ My Boys. He recently recurred on Royal Pains. Suvari will next be seen reprising her American Pie role in American Reunion. Michael Raymond-James (True Blood) has landed a lead role in NBC’s drama pilot Midnight Sun. The thriller, based on an Israeli format, follows the mysterious disappearance of Midnight Sun, a group living on a cult-like commune in Dugan, Alaska, and a female FBI cult specialist leading the investigation that uncovers a larger conspiracy. Raymond-James, repped by Talentworks and Sanders.Armstrong.Caserta., will play the second-in-command of the Dugan Police Department, an Alaskan lawman. Daytime Emmy-winning General Hospital actor Jonathan Jackson has been cast in ABC’s musically-driven drama pilot ... Read More »

Will Sacha Baron Cohen’s ‘The Dictator’ Walk The Oscar Red Carpet? UPDATED 5:30 PM WITH MORE DETAILS EXCLUSIVE… BREAKING 3PM… The Academy Of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences has pulled actor Sacha Baron Cohen‘s tickets from the 84th Academy Awards. This means he is banned from attending the Oscars even though he is an Academy member and one of the stars from Hugo, Paramount’s 11-nominated movie and Best Picture contender. “Unless they’re assured that nothing entertaining is going to happen on the Red Carpet, the Academy is not admitting Sacha Baron Cohen to the show,”  Paramount just told me. The reason is that a proposal reached the Academy for Baron Cohen to strut the Red Carpet in full costume as his title character in the upcoming Paramount comedy The Dictator. UPDATE AT 5:30 PM: Later today, faced with all the bad publicity resulting from its action, the Academy tried to parse what it did when questioned by some media outlets. But the fact is that, this morning, the Academy’s Managing Director Of Membership Kimberly Rouch phoned Paramont’s awards staff to say Baron Cohen’s tickets had been pulled unless he gives the Academy assurances ahead of time promising not to show up on the Red Carpet in costume and not to promote the movie on the Red Carpet. The Academy made it clear that, without those assurances, it would not issue him the tickets. So he’s banned.* Of course, the next best thing ... Read More »

EXCLUSIVE: It’s The Greg Show! Heroes alum Greg Grunberg has been cast in CBS’ untitled comedy pilot from Greg Berlanti and Greg Malins. The Warner Bros./Berlanti Prods. project, also known as Oh Fuck It’s You, centers on Nick, a notorious womanizer who, after surviving a health scare, realizes that “The One” he has never found is actually his best friend of 15 years, Wendy (JoAnna Garcia). The problem is that Wendy is engaged to a guy Nick likes; she and Nick own a business together; and their attempt at dating back in college was a disaster. Grunberg will play Wendy’s brother Charlie, beaten down by life, outrageously acerbic and in the midst of a bitter divorce. He went to college with both Wendy and Nick and is Nick’s best guy friend. He was there when they dated, knows what a horrible couple they were, and warns Nick about the dangers his confession could bring. The casting stems fro the talent holding deal Grunberg signed with Warner Bros. TV in October. This marks a rare venturing into half-hour comedy for Grunberg, repped by ICM and Mosaic, who got his break on the WB’s Felicity. His only regular comedy series gig to date was on the 2002 sitcom The Jake Effect. 

The deal with Disney Media Distribution follows a similar one with Lionsgate’s Asian arm Celestial Tiger Entertainment and continues the ramp-up of the service, which already boasts a deal with Warner Bros. Here’s the release:

NEW YORK, Feb. 22, 2012 — YOU On Demand Holdings, Inc.’s (OTCBB: CBBD / CBBDD) PRC joint venture, a leading Pay-Per-View (PPV) and Video On Demand (VOD) content service provider, today announced that it has signed an agreement with Disney Media Distribution, a distribution arm under The Walt Disney Company (NYSE: DIS), to distribute officially approved Disney films for both Transactional Video On Demand (TVOD) and Subscription Video On Demand (SVOD) throughout the People’s Republic of China. As a result of this deal, YOU On Demand will now be adding Disney’s extensive library of titles, ranging from current hits like “The Help” and “Cars 2″ to Disney classics such as “The Lion King,” “Mary Poppins” and “Beauty and the Beast” to the wide variety of Hollywood hits in YOU On Demand’s offerings. “We are very proud to work with The Walt Disney Company in bringing the best in home entertainment to China,” said Shane McMahon, Chairman and CEO of YOU On Demand. “Disney films define quality family entertainment and we’re thrilled that YOU On Demand will be their showcase to the world’s largest television audience.”

We have three new posters to share with you: Wanderlust - One last poster before the Paul Rudd/Jennifer Aniston comedy hits theaters this Friday, February 24. Starlet - A smoky shot of Dree Hemingway to promote the SXSW premiere. 2 Days in New York - The French one-sheet for Julie Delpy's follow-up to 2 Days in Paris; in addition to directing, Delpy stars opposite Chris Rock. Hit the jump for the posters and more information on each project. Wanderlust I liked the last collaboration between Rudd and director David Wain, Wanderlust.  The supporting cast is great, too: Justin Theroux, Alan Alda, Malin Akerman, Ken Marino, Joe Lo Truglio, Kathryn Hahn, Lauren Ambrose, Jordan Peele, Kerri Kinney.  But there's nothing about this particular material that draws me in, so I have been eagerly awaiting the first reviews.  They are starting to come in, and thank god, it's good. Official synopsis: George (Rudd) and Linda (Aniston) are an overextended, stressed out Manhattan couple.  After George is downsized out of his job, they find themselves with only one option: to move in with George's awful brother in Atlanta. On the way there, George and Linda stumble upon Elysium, an idyllic community populated by colorful characters who embrace a different way of looking ...

Morgan Spurlock took his camera to Comic-Con in 2010 and joined forces with geek icons Stan Lee and Joss Whedon to turn the footage into the documentary Comic-Con Episode IV: A Fan's Hope.  The trailer was released tonight.  I was struck by the fact that, unlike Spurlock's other docs, he doesn't appear on screen in this one.  If the trailer is any indication, Spurlock instead assigned the dominant voice to Kevin Smith, likely as official an authority on Comic-Con can be. The massive cultural phenomenon is obviously ripe for exploration.  And Spurlock seems most drawn to the aspects of the convention that I as a movie blogger have little exposure to, like the intense costumes or the actual comic industry dealings.  Most of the reviews from festival premieres have been positive, save our own.  All in all, early signs suggest A Fan's Hope lives up to the title.  Watch the trailer after the jump. Via Apple: Official synopsis: Have you ever imagined a place where Vulcans and vampires get along? Where wizards and wookies can be themselves? Welcome to Comic-Con San Diego. What started as a fringe comic book convention for 500 fans has grown into the pop culture event of the year that influences every form of entertainment, now attended by over 140,000 strong. COMIC-CON EPISODE IV: A FAN'S HOPE- a film by Morgan Spurlock explores this amazing cultural phenomenon by following the lives of five attendees as they descend upon the ultimate geek mecca ...

Although it’s been two years since The Weinstein Co. picked up the Swedish thriller, Snabba Cash, the movie finally has a release date of July 27th. Directed by Daniel Espinosa (Safe House), the film (being released as Easy Money) is based on a novel by Swedish author Jens Lapidus and follows a taxi driver (Joel Kinnaman) in Stockholm who gets caught up in a drug-running operation. The novel itself was at the heart of the film’s release delay because the English translation is only just arriving on American shores this April. Pointing to the success of the Stieg Larsson (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) books and banking on the box-office magic of Espinosa’s Safe House, Harvey Weinstein hopes the wait will be worth it. Hit the jump to see what he had to say. The LA Times reported on Snabba Cash/Easy Money’s new release date. The film had previously gone to the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival, but then disappeared without further progress. In regards to the delay, Weinstein had this to say: “We love the movie, but we needed the book to be out here. We were getting mixed messages on the publishing.” It doesn’t hurt that Safe House is currently experiencing a successful box office run and Weinstein will be able to use that fact in marketing Easy Money: “Audiences that see Safe House don’t necessarily go to  see a Scandinavian-subtitled movie. But we still feel the movie could do well for a foreign-language picture. It could make four or five ...

Film News: Swedish pic to hit U.S. theaters as 'Easy Money'

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Film News: WB to re-release kudos favorite for bigger box office bump

Breaking from the awards season pack in a pretty significant way, the International Cinephile Society announced that Asghar Farhadi's "A Separation" led the winners of their 9th annual awards.  "A Separation" took prizes for best picture, best ensemble, best screenplay and best film not in the English language. Other major winners included Terrence Malick, who took best director for "The Tree of Life," and actors Tom Cullen ("Weekend"), Brad Pitt ("The Tree of Life"), Anna Paquin and J. Smith-Cameron (both for "Margaret"), who each took a top honor in an acting category. Formed in 2003, the International Cinephile Society is an online group made up of approximately 80 accredited journalists, film scholars, historians and other industry professionals who cover film festivals and events on five continents. Each year the ICS honors the finest in American and international cinema. Complete list of winners...

The 84th Academy Awards  have begun finalizing the list of announced presenters for this year's ceremony. So far, the list includes a considerable amount of Hollywood's biggest stars, including Tom Cruise, Cameron Diaz, Tom Hanks and Angelina Jolie, as well as the cast of "Bridesmaids," including Kristen Wiig and Oscar nominee Melissa McCarthy. The Oscar presentation also will be televised live in more than 200 countries worldwide.The complete list of announced presenters is below, and will be updated in the days leading up to the ceremony. You can also check out Indiewire's full list of predictions here. Halle Berry Rose Byrne Bradley Cooper Tom Cruise Penelope Cruz Cameron Diaz Michael Douglas Will Ferrell Tina Fey Kermit the Frog Tom Hanks Angelina Jolie Ellie Kemper Melissa Leo Jennifer Lopez Melissa McCarthy Wendi McLendon-Covery Miss Piggy Chris Rock Maya Rudolph Emma Stone ...

The DIY movement may have a new champion with the launch of Tugg, a crowdsourced exhibition site whose partners include Alamo Drafthouse Cinemas and AMC Theaters, and with Richard Linklater, Ben Affleck and Terrence Malick as board members. Launched by "The Tree of Life" producer Nicolas Gonda and marketing executive Pablo Gonzalez, Tugg is designed to allow anyone the opportunity to book a film screening through one of the partner cinemas. If you want the theater to screen a film that's part of Tugg's library, you drive users to express their interest at Tugg.com. Once the numbers hit a threshold, the screening's on. Tugg will handle the details with the theater, including print and theater rentals and ticketing; your viewers then pay only the ticket price. Now in beta, Tugg's official launch will take place during SXSW; at that point, they plan to announce their intial distribution partners. Tugg will also have their own execs on the ground...

The Big Picture is joining forces with 24 Frames.

Movie stars really do know how to read: Audible is ready for its Hollywood close up

Was that a shocking 'Moneyball' ending to the regular baseball season?

Zak Kadison’s Blacklight Transmedia has struck a deal with publisher Author Solutions (ASI) and its new production company FuseFrame as part of the launch of HollywoodPitch.com.

The key exclusive relationship between the studio and J J Abrams’ production company will now run through December 2015.

The session will be hosted by Screen’s editor Mike Goodridge with panelists including Big Talk MD Matthew Justice, Bankside Films’ Stephen Kelliher and British director Iain Softley.