Extremely devastating news: MGM and United Artists Releasing distribution boss Erik Lomis died suddenly Wednesday at his home in Santa Monica, we have learned from sources. No details were provided in regards to his death. He was 64. Lomis was a towering figure behind many filmmakers’ hits including those from Quentin Tarantino, Paul Thomas Anderson, Adam McKay, Sylvester Stallone, Ryan Coogler, David O. Russell, Lee Daniels and Tom Hooper to name a few, and most recently Michael B. Jordan with Creed III . In the wake of Amazon’s purchase of MGM, Lomis, who made the jump, becoming an entrusted consigliere to Amazon Studios head Jennifer Salke as the streamer looks to capitalize on more big-screen hits. Lomis gave Amazon a big taste of the box office with its first theatrical hit Creed III, which opened to more than $100 million worldwide and is currently grossing to $225M-plus at the global box office. It was Lomis’ bold decision to move Creed III out of … [Read more...] about Erik Lomis Dies: Veteran MGM Distribution Chief Was 64
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‘When Calls The Heart’ Producer Motion Picture Corporation Of America Hires Two Senior Execs, Re-Ups A Third
Motion Picture Corporation of America , the Brad Krevoy -led producer of shows like Hallmark Channel’s When Calls The Heart , has hired two senior executives and re-upped a third. Jennifer Provencher , a former Netflix exec, has been named SVP of Business Affairs. She will focus on business and legal affairs for MPCA films and series. In addition to her post as Director of Business & Legal Affairs at Netflix, Provencher was previously VP, Business and Legal Affairs for Shine America, now known Endemol Shine North America. Courtney Colman has been appointed Chief Financial Officer. She has been CFO at multiple companies, among them XPRIZE Foundation, Mob Scene and Gold Circle Films and before that was SVP Finance & Business Development at CBS Films and VP Participations at Sony Pictures Entertainment. As CFO of MPCA, she will oversee strategic planning, accounting, finance, budgeting and forecasting, Veteran producer Amy Krell has also re-upped at MPCA … [Read more...] about ‘When Calls The Heart’ Producer Motion Picture Corporation Of America Hires Two Senior Execs, Re-Ups A Third
Nashville Shooter Gunned Down By Hero Cops, Graphic Body Cam Footage Shows
Nashville Police Department Nashville Police have released graphic body cam footage from the elementary school mass shooting ... and the video shows hero cops racing up the stairs and gunning the shooter down. Nashville Police Department The intense clip was released Tuesday morning, showing multiple officers clearing classrooms and bathrooms on the first floor of The Covenant School before rushing upstairs where 28-year-old Audrey Hale was shooting at cops outside the building. The police officers find Hale near a window, and officer Rex Engelbert , a 4-year veteran, fires multiple shots at Hale, putting the shooter on the ground. -- a second officer, Michael Collazo , a 9-year veteran shoots Hale again. As we reported, Hale entered the building with 3 weapons -- a 9MM semiautomatic and 2 assault-type rifles. Hale fatally shot a total of 6 people, including 3 9-year-old children. Nashville Police Department Video … [Read more...] about Nashville Shooter Gunned Down By Hero Cops, Graphic Body Cam Footage Shows
Longtime UTA Agent Bec Smith Joins Anonymous Content
EXCLUSIVE : Anonymous Content has hired longtime literary agent and former UTA partner Bec Smith as a partner and manager in their Los Angeles-based lit team. We revealed Smith’s impending exit from UTA last month. The respected veteran has amassed a client roster including directors and writers such as Coline Abert, Levan Akin, Jane Anderson, Benedict Andrews, Emily Atef, Anthony Chen, Eva Husson, Ellen Kuras, Katrin Gebbe, Sebastian Junger, Julia Leigh, Phillip Noyce, Joshua Oppenheimer, Jennifer Peedom, Maria Schrader, Tali Shalom-Ezer, Dawn Shadforth, Kirsten Sheridan, Goran Stolevski, Warwick Thornton and Max Werner. The 16-year UTA veteran had been a partner in the Motion Picture Literary department but also worked closely with the UTA Independent Film Group. She worked on the packaging of projects including I Feel Pretty, Mary Magdalene, Brigsby Bear, The Circle, Diary of a Teenage Girl, Margin Call, The Spectacular Now, The Skeleton Twins, In a World, … [Read more...] about Longtime UTA Agent Bec Smith Joins Anonymous Content
Matthew Antonucci, Who Helped Restart Production After Covid Lockdown, Promoted To SVP Safety At Contract Services
Matthew Antonucci , who played an instrumental role in restarting film and TV production after the early days of Hollywood’s Covid lockdown, has been promoted from VP to SVP Production Affairs & Safety at Contract Services . Contract Services is the entertainment industry trust fund that administers the safety, training and roster provisions of the collective bargaining agreements between the AMPTP and IATSE’s West Coast studio locals, Teamsters Local 399 and the Basic Crafts. Antonucci, who also serves as management’s co-chair of the Industry-Wide Labor-Management Safety Committee, oversaw its special Task Force in the drafting the White Paper that got the industry back to work in early June of 2020. Presented to government and public health agencies across the country, the White Paper enabled the industry to secure approval to return to work and paved the way for the companies and the industries’ guilds and unions to negotiate their Return-to-Work Agreement. … [Read more...] about Matthew Antonucci, Who Helped Restart Production After Covid Lockdown, Promoted To SVP Safety At Contract Services
Netflix Unveils 2023 Polish Slate Putting Accent On Local Stars At Warsaw Event
Netflix unveiled its slate of Polish-language series and films due to hit its service in 2023 in a “See What’s Next” event in Warsaw on Tuesday. Since arriving in Poland in 2016, the platform has steadily ramped up production of local content and has gotten behind 40 original local Polish films and series to date The 2023 offering is topped by eight Polish features, including four new titles: Kiss, Kiss!, Phenomenon , Soulcatcher and Squared Love Everlasting , as well as three series Absolute Beginners , Infamy and Feedback , about an alcoholic former rock star and adapted from the Polish best-seller of the same name by Jakub Żulczyk. Spanning romantic comedies, thrillers and sci-fi and coming-of-age dramas, the feature slate taps into a raft of popular local acting talent. Kiss, Kiss! features top actor Mateusz Kościukiewicz ( The Informer , Mug ) as a womanizer who decides to test his powers of seduction by pursuing a woman who is about to marry … [Read more...] about Netflix Unveils 2023 Polish Slate Putting Accent On Local Stars At Warsaw Event
As WGA & AMPTP Talks Kick Off, Details Emerge Of DGA’s Attempt To Reach Under-The-Radar Deal With Studios
EXCLUSIVE: First among Hollywood unions this year, the WGA is going face-to-face with the studios starting Monday in what’s expected to be contentious negotiations for a new overall contract. However, the atypical pole position for the hard-hitting scribes this labor round is a consequence of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers’ rebuke of the DGA efforts to strike a pact a few months ago. In November 2022, the Directors’ Guild sought to spark an early dialogue with the AMPTP by sending over “pre-conditions,” as one studio source called them, for early negotiations. Over the past decade and more, the DGA has gone ahead of the WGA and SAG-AFTRA in contract talks with the Carol Lombardini-led group. In that context, talks before official talks are nothing new in Hollywood labor circles. However, unlike the past three contract sit-downs, the DGA had some more weighty than usual caveats it wanted dealt with before it would agree to settling on a date … [Read more...] about As WGA & AMPTP Talks Kick Off, Details Emerge Of DGA’s Attempt To Reach Under-The-Radar Deal With Studios
Dramatic New Video Shows Nashville Mass Killer Shooting Way Into School
Nashville Police Department Dramatic new video captured the Nashville mass murderer blasting their way into an elementary school and roaming the halls with an assault weapon before fatally shooting 6 people, including 3 children. Check out the security footage, released late Monday by the Metropolitan Nashville PD, showing Audrey Hale driving through a parking lot at Covenant Church/School with 2 assault-type rifles and a 9MM semiautomatic. Nashville Police Department After parking a Honda Fit, Hale walked up to the school entrance and opened fire at the doors, shattering the glass windows. The shooter then crouched down to slip through one of the shot-out windows to enter the school. Nashville Police Department Hale then maneuvered through the hallways with their rifle, wearing military fatigues and a red baseball cap turned backward. Hale opened several doors and entered rooms looking for prey. Throughout the video, you can … [Read more...] about Dramatic New Video Shows Nashville Mass Killer Shooting Way Into School
‘Dope Girls’: BBC Lines Up Bad Wolf Drama About Female Crime Boss In Soho’s Criminal Underworld
EXCLUSIVE: The BBC is delving into the history of Soho’s criminal underworld for its next big-budget drama series. Dope Girls will be a six-part series from His Dark Materials producer Bad Wolf for BBC One. Our sources say the BBC sees Dope Girls as a spiritual successor to Peaky Blinders , and Bad Wolf is understood to be in early stage discussions with U.S. co-production partners and global streaming services. Polly Stenham ( The Face , The Neon Demon ) and Alex Warren ( Eleanor ) are writing Dope Girls , which is inspired by Marek Kohn’s non-fiction book Dope Girls: The Birth of the British Drug Underground . Full plot details haven’t been revealed but we understand it follows the birth of the nightclub scene in London’s Soho. The series will mix elements of the fact-based research of Kohn’s book with fictional characters and storylines, exploring all aspects of the criminal world of Soho in the early 20th Century. We hear it’s partly based … [Read more...] about ‘Dope Girls’: BBC Lines Up Bad Wolf Drama About Female Crime Boss In Soho’s Criminal Underworld
APX Group Hires Anthony Buckner To Head Up New Distribution & Acquisition Arm
EXCLUSIVE: American-European media fund APX Group has appointed film industry veteran Anthony Buckner as Director of Film and Television Distribution and Acquisition, to head up a new department created as it continues its international expansion drive. This new department will operate from APX Group’s head office in Twickenham Film Studios in London, with Buckner working alongside CEO Shelley Hammond, who also heads up its UK production subsidiary Herd International Productions. Buckner was previously Head of Sales at Mel Gibson and Bruce Davey’s Icon Entertainment International and then Kaleidoscope Film Distribution and has also worked with companies such as Magnolia Pictures and GFM Films. In 2021, he launched his own company Buckstop Films. The first project to be handled by Buckner and his team is Wish Dragon 2 , the sequel to Sony Pictures Animation and Tencent Picture’s Shanghai-set 2021 film Wish Dragon which debuted internationally on Netflix in 2021. … [Read more...] about APX Group Hires Anthony Buckner To Head Up New Distribution & Acquisition Arm