Small firm management

A parade of media and tech companies are apparently owed money by FTX along with hundreds of other creditors, according to an extensive list that runs from banks, insurers, hedge funds, airlines and hotels to universities, federal agencies and every state in the nation from Alabama to Wyoming. Creditors run 116 pages of small print in a bankruptcy filing in Delaware by the collapsed cryptocurrency exchange. Media and entertainment names include Netflix, Fox, CAA Sports, WME Entertainment, Turner, Bleacher Report, Bloomberg, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Sirius XM and the Coachella Music Festival. Other creditors run the gamut from Amazon to Apple, Amtrak and AT&T, Comcast to Conde Nast, Google to Goldman Sachs to Gamestop, Meta to Marriott to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to Mercedes Benz to the Miami Heat Charitable Foundation. Twitter is there, Time Magazine and Thompson Reuters. There’s Peloton, The Container Store, the Nasdaq, U.S. Department of Labor, the … [Read more...] about Netflix, Fox, Bleacher Report, Coachella Music Festival On Very Long List Of FTX Creditors In Crypto Firm Bankruptcy

Well, the mostly predictable Oscar nominations arrived Tuesday morning with no disasters or truly egregious missteps. Even the snubs were fairly routine: no female directors, though women won the directing award in the past two years ; James Cameron and Joseph Kosinski, both with Best Picture nominees , were left out too. Such normalcy is too bad. And I mean that in the nicest possible way. It’s a weird but undeniable fact of Hollywood life that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and its pet awards ceremony feed on their own mistakes. Let things go well or follow an expected path, and the Oscars turn into a yawn. But screw something up, and suddenly it’s the Greatest Show on Earth all over again — back on the pedestal, just waiting to be knocked off by the howling crowd. Errors are an asset. Gaffes are gold. The Academy is never so interesting as when it is just, plain, obviously wrong. This is not a casual mechanism. By and large, average … [Read more...] about The Film Academy And Its Oscars Manage To Feed On Their Own Mistakes

Stubborn and iconoclastic as always, Jean-Luc Godard has passed to another realm –and by his own choice–at age 91. Ever impudent and exasperating, forever pushing boundaries but remaining elusive, and an artist in every fiber of his being, Godard always did exactly what he wanted to do; for a few years many followed him ardently, and for lots of us in the 1960s he led the way into a vastly exciting and personal form of cinema. Thereafter he went entirely his own way, losing most of his audience but remaining at the forefront of exploring what cinema is, could be, and, sometimes, what it absolutely shouldn’t be. The official obituaries and tributes will certainly convey Godard’s importance and influence through the 1960s, the way he helped liberate cinema from its literary and orderly appearance to something far more energized, unexpected, jarring and often exhilarating. Although Godard consumed and brilliantly wrote about the existing cinema as a young critic, he … [Read more...] about Godard Is Gone: A Remembrance Of The Stubborn & Iconoclastic Film Director

French studio Pathé and film and TV financier and producer Logical Pictures have announced a three-year co-production and co-financing deal. The operation involving Logical Content Ventures, a new fund operated by Logical Pictures, will see Pathé open up the financing of its films to private investors for the first time in its history. Under the deal with Pathé, Logical Content Ventures will contribute to the financing of all films produced and acquired by Pathé between 2022 and 2024. The aim is to co-finance and co-produce more than 20 pictures together with the first projects being released as soon as Spring 2023. The first films included in the agreement are Dany Boon’s Life for Real (Pathé – 26DB Productions), Just Philippot’s environmental thriller Acid (Pathé – Bonne Pioche), starring Canet and Laetitia Dosch, and Kirill Serebrennikov’s English feature debut Limonov: the Ballad of Eddie (Pathé – Chapter 2 – Wildside – Fremantle) starring Ben Whishaw. … [Read more...] about Pathé & Logical Pictures Team On Slate Financing Deal As French Studio Targets Big Budget Local & European Tentpoles

Beyond Rights CEO David Smyth is leaving the UK-based distributor following its parent’s sale to Banijay . Industry veteran Smyth joined Beyond International’s sales arm in December 2021, selling shows such as Mythbusters around the world. Banijay swooped to buy Beyond International in October last year and completed the circa-$30M deal early this month. Banijay has its own sales arm, Banijay Rights. A Banijay Rights spokesman confirmed his exit. “David Smyth, CEO, Beyond Rights, will be leaving the business, with his last day being January 31,” he said. “He joined Beyond Rights in December 2021 and made a significant contribution to the company through his strong and effective leadership. We’d like to thank him for his hard work and commitment to the business and wish him all the best with his future endeavours. “The move comes as Banijay embarks on integrating Beyond International Limited into its existing group.” Upon taking full control of Beyond, Banijay … [Read more...] about Beyond Rights CEO David Smyth Is Leaving After Banijay Takeover

The Berlinale ’s European Film Market (February 16-22) has unveiled a pioneering initiative offering a phone and laptop-free “safe space” where delegates can reflect and decompress. Called the Room Of Stillness, the space is situated in the Documentation Centre for Displacement, Expulsion, Reconciliation, which is a five-minute walk around the corner from the market’s main Gropius Bau hub. “It’s a space where you can recharge, reflect, even just take a minute to calm down,” explains EFM director Dennis Ruh. “It’s part of our campaign around mental health and life balance in the film industry which we began some years ago.” The Documentation Centre, which opened in the summer of 2021 with a focus on politically, ethnically and religiously motivated forced migrations in the 20th Century, will host most of EFM’s industry talks and conferences this year. In addition to the Room of Silence, the EFM will also offer an event bannered “Monday For Mindfulness”, exploring … [Read more...] about Berlin’s EFM Launches “Room Of Stillness” For Mental Health Awareness, May Team With Other Festivals & Markets

Carol Welch is leaving Odeon Cinemas Group. The cinema chain’s Managing Director, UK and Ireland, and Commercial Officer, Europe, has resigned after six years. She is moving to become CEO of AF Blakemore, a large family-owned retail and food distributor in the UK. Odeon has decided to revert its commercial leadership to a standalone position following her exit. Chris Bates, Commercial Director UKI & Europe, has been promoted to the role of Chief Commercial Officer. This extends his current remit as European Commercial Director and he will also be joining Odeon’s Executive Committee. The appointment of a new Managing Director UK & Ireland is in its “final stages,” the group said, adding it would “provide a further update once the position has been filled.” Mark Way, Managing Director Odeon Cinemas Group, said: “While very sad to see Carol leave, we are delighted for her, and I would like to congratulate her for everything she has achieved at Odeon over the … [Read more...] about Odeon Cinemas Group UK & Ireland Boss Carol Welch Exits To Join Retail Company

SPOILER ALERT: This post contains details from the first four episodes of Peacock ’s Poker Face . Natasha Lyonne is a casino waitress with an uncanny ability to tell when people are lying in her latest collaboration with Rian Johnson , Peacock’s Poker Face . She’s not reading their faces or their body language. It’s “just a feeling,” her character Charlie explains in the first episode, which debuted Thursday along with three additional episodes. As the premiere unfolds, Charlie agrees to help her boss take down a high-profile gambler, only to realize that he had previously been responsible for murdering her co-worker to keep her silent about the sins of that very same gambler. Rather than stick around and meet her own demise, Charlie goes on the lamb. Along the way, the finds herself embroiled in a series of small-town murder mysteries in each place she stops. “I’ve learned that this is a character who just really can’t stand bullsh*t. She just really … [Read more...] about ‘Poker Face’: Natasha Lyonne Breaks Down Debut Episodes & Discusses Collaborating With Rian Johnson For Peacock Series

Multi-platinum selling recording artist, producer and philanthropist Zayn Malik has inked with UTA for representation across music, film and television, among other areas. The most recent album release for the British artist, who rose to fame as a member of the boy band One Direction, was 2021’s acclaimed Nobody is Listening . His debut solo album, Mind of Mine (2016), made him the first UK male solo artist to simultaneously chart at #1 on the UK and US album charts in the first week of release, with his lead single “Pillowtalk” hitting #1 in 68 countries around the world and being certified 5x platinum by the RIAA. Malik’s sophomore solo effort, the gold certified Icarus Falls , was released in 2018. The artist known for his hybrid style of pop and R&B, who is currently at work on his fourth studio album, was with One Direction from 2010-2015. It was his time with that group that launched his career into the stratosphere, with Malik contributing to its hit … [Read more...] about Zayn Malik Signs With UTA

EXCLUSIVE: Kurt Wimmer’s redo of Stephen King ’s Children of the Corn has been picked up by RLJE Films and AMC network’s horror streaming service Shudder . The movie will hit theaters on March 3 in an 18 day theatrical window before hitting demand and digital on March 21. Based upon the short story by the horror author, and adapted by Wimmer, Children of the Corn follows a 12 year old girl in Nebraska who is possessed by a spirit in a dying cornfield. She recruits the other children in her small town to go on a bloody rampage and kill all the adults and anyone else who opposes her. A bright high schooler who won’t go along with the plan is the town’s only hope of survival. Pic stars Elena Kampouris ( Before I Fall ), Kate Moyer ( Station Eleven ), Callan Mulvey ( The Gray Man ) and Bruce Spence ( The Road Warrior ). “We’re thrilled to work with Kurt Wimmer and bring his vision of this classic Stephen King story to new audiences,” said Mark Ward, Chief … [Read more...] about Stephen King ‘Children Of The Corn’ Remake Acquired By RLJE & Shudder