The Writers Guild of America is taking on the robots. The guild has clarified its position on the use of artificial intelligence in the writing process as it’s in the third day of negotiations with the AMPTP . The WGA highlighted AI , which has been on the rise as a result of services such as ChatGPT, in its Pattern of Demands , saying that it plans to “Regulate use of material produced using artificial intelligence or similar technologies”. The union has now gone further following reports that it would allow writers to use AI to write scripts. “The WGA’s proposal to regulate use of material produced using artificial intelligence or similar technologies ensures the Companies can’t use AI to undermine writers’ working standards, including compensation, residuals, separated rights and credits,” it noted. The guild added that AI can’t be used as source material to “create MBA-covered writing or rewrite MBA-covered work, and AI-generated text cannot be considered … [Read more...] about WGA Takes On AI & Lays Out Position As AMPTP Talks Continue
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Gordon T. Dawson Dies: ‘Walker, Texas Ranger’ & ‘Rockford Files’ Scribe, Sam Peckinpah Pal Was 84
Gordon T. Dawson , a costume designer-turned-screenwriter who worked on multiple movies with Sam Peckinpah and wrote on TV hits The Rockford Files and Walker, Texas Ranger among other films and series, died March 6 of pulmonary disease in West Hills, CA, his family announced. He was 84. Dawson had worked as a fireman and had moved to working with costumes when Peckinpah used him to age costumes for his 1965 film Major Dundee . He would reteam with the director as wardrobe supervisor on 1969’s The Wild Bunch , then as associate producer (and uncredited writer) on 1970’s The Ballad of Cable Hogue and 1972’s The Getaway , and co-writer with Peckinpah on 1974’s Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia . He also has a small role as a Pinkerton agent in The Wild Bunch and later appeared unbilled in Peckinpah’s 1973 Western Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid , starring James Coburn, Kris Kristofferson and Bob Dylan. By then Gordon had begin writing full time for TV, … [Read more...] about Gordon T. Dawson Dies: ‘Walker, Texas Ranger’ & ‘Rockford Files’ Scribe, Sam Peckinpah Pal Was 84
UK Asian Film Festival Sets Programme For 25th Anniversary Edition
EXCLUSIVE: The UK Asian Film Festival celebrates its 25th anniversary this year, and today, Deadline can share the official lineup for the jubilee edition, running at venues across the UK from May 4 — 14. The running theme for this year’s edition is ‘Celebrating Our Stories,’ which will see the festival screen a series of films that center on the British Asian experience. The festival will open with the UK Premiere of the Hindi-language pic Sanaa at BFI Southbank. The film follows the eponymous Sanaa, a 28-year-old financial advisor working in Mumbai, who discovers she is pregnant. Clear on her decision to terminate her pregnancy, the process of getting the abortion forces Sanaa to re-evaluate her life and if the choices she has been making have really been her own. Lead actor Radhika Madan ( Pataakha ) and director Sudhanshu Saria ( Loev ) will attend the screening. The festival’s closing gala takes place on May 13 at the Kiln Theatre in North West London with the … [Read more...] about UK Asian Film Festival Sets Programme For 25th Anniversary Edition
‘Glee’ Alumna Amber Riley Signs With ColorCreative For Management
EXCLUSIVE: SAG Award-winning and Grammy-nominated actor and singer Amber Riley has signed with ColorCreative for representation. Known for her breakout role as Mercedes Jones on Fox’s musical comedy series Glee , Riley most recently starred in the Lifetime movie Single Black Female and won Season 8 of The Masked Singer. Riley made her West End debut in 2016 as Effie White in Dreamgirls for which she received the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical and the Evening Standard Theater Award for Best Musical Performance. In 2020, Riley released her debut EP Riley and is currently recording a second EP with Grammy-winning producer Harmony Samuels . Born and raised in Compton, Riley most recently became the first celebrity to win both Dancing With the Stars and The Masked Singer . “Amber Riley brings a powerhouse talent to the table with her incredible voice and just as strong acting skills,” said Raj Raghavan, Head of Talent at … [Read more...] about ‘Glee’ Alumna Amber Riley Signs With ColorCreative For Management
PR Firm DKC Opens Doors On New L.A. Headquarters
DKC , the public relations, digital communications and content production agency, has officially moved into its new West Coast headquarters in Century City. The firm, which specializes in music, TV, film, talent, consumer brands, culture, sports/esports, technology, social media, influencer and event production, spent the past 10 years in its offices in West Hollywood. The new offices, located on the ground floor at 1801 Century Park East, feature open-concept workspaces and multiple high-design meeting rooms. There is also a product showroom, viewing lounge, barista bar, 30-foot floor-to-ceiling glass walls and a landscaped outdoor terrace. The 6,021-square-foot space was built and designed from the ground up with input from the DKC teams. The L.A. team is led by executive director Wendy Zaas, with her group including EVP Ivy Mollenkamp heading the entertainment division focused on film, TV, music and production; EVP Taryn Owens overseeing the consumer brand … [Read more...] about PR Firm DKC Opens Doors On New L.A. Headquarters
Aaron Sorkin Had Stroke Last November Before ‘Camelot’ Rehearsals: “A Loud Wake-Up Call” For Lifelong Smoker
Aaron Sorkin , whose adaptation of the musical Camelot opens on Broadway next month, has revealed that he suffered a stroke last November. “Mostly it was a loud wake-up call,” Sorkin said in an interview with The New York Times . “I thought I was one of those people who could eat whatever he wanted, smoke as much as he wanted, and it’s not going to affect me. Boy, was I wrong.” The West Wing creator and To Kill A Mockingbird adapter has largely recovered from the incident, which he says occurred in November two months before Camelot rehearsals were scheduled to begin. Sorkin says he woke up one night and, on his way to the kitchen, stumbled into walls. The next morning he noticed he was having difficulty holding his orange juice without spilling. After a doctor visit that day, he was told his blood pressure was so high that he was “supposed to be dead.” The 61-year-old Sorkin slurred his words and had difficulty typing for a month, but his only lingering … [Read more...] about Aaron Sorkin Had Stroke Last November Before ‘Camelot’ Rehearsals: “A Loud Wake-Up Call” For Lifelong Smoker
Paramount+ Greenlights Italian Version Of ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’
Italy has become the latest territory to jump on the RuPaul’s Drag Race hype. Paramount+ has greenlit a version in the West European nation shortly after the unveiling of editions of the World of Wonder smash in Brazil, Germany and Mexico plus a Global Drag Race All Stars. The show will launch on Paramount+ in Italy before being rolled out to the U.S. and Latin America. “ Drag Race has become a global phenomenon and we were honored to be there from the beginning with the incredibly talented team of RuPaul and World of Wonder,” said Chris McCarthy, President/CEO of Showtime, MTV Entertainment Studios and Paramount Media Networks. “As we expand Paramount+’s global footprint, it was important to recapture Drag Race in key international markets and also build an interconnected competition series – with a new Global Drag Race All Stars – it’s like a global Super Bowl for Drag.” World of Wonder CEOs Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato said the Italian version will … [Read more...] about Paramount+ Greenlights Italian Version Of ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’
Matt Klasco Joins Adventure Media As Manager
EXCLUSIVE: Adventure Media , the artist-driven management and production company launched last summer by ICM Partners veterans Chris von Goetz and James Robins Early and producer Aaliyah Williams, has made its first manager hire. Matt Klasco is joining the company, reuniting with former ICM colleagues von Goetz and Robins Early. Klasco began his career in 2016 in the ICM mailroom, working his way to the Agent Trainee program, before transitioning into management as a Literary Coordinator at Odenkirk Provissiero Entertainment. For the past three years, he ran his own boutique literary management and production company, Klasco Entertainment. In joining Adventure Media, Klasco brings his roster of clients, including Dan Brier ( Sweethearts, Heathers ), Shawn Parikh ( Night Court , Just for Laughs), and Sam Blakesberg ( The Long Shot ). Additionally, he serves as a producer on multiple projects in development. ‘On behalf of Aaliyah, James, and myself, we are … [Read more...] about Matt Klasco Joins Adventure Media As Manager
‘Only Murders In The Building’: Jeremy Shamos, Linda Emond & Wesley Taylor To Recur In Season 3
EXCLUSIVE: Hulu ’s Only Murders in the Building has added Jeremy Shamos , Linda Emond and Wesley Taylor to its Season 3 cast in recurring roles. The trio joins series stars Steve Martin, Martin Short and Selena Gomez, as well as Season 3 additions Meryl Streep, Paul Rudd, Jesse Williams and Ashley Park. Details regarding their roles are being kept under wraps. The comedic murder-mystery series follows three strangers (Martin, Short and Gomez) who share an obsession with true crime and suddenly find themselves wrapped up in one. In Seasons 1 and 2, the trio helped solve two murders inside the Arconia, their exclusive Upper West Side apartment building. Season 3 will step outside the comforts of home as they follow the latest murder , that of Ben Glenroy (Rudd), the lead actor in Oliver Putnam’s ( Short ) Broadway play who falls dead onstage just as the curtain flew up signaling the show to begin. Just seconds prior to that, Ben had a peculiar interaction … [Read more...] about ‘Only Murders In The Building’: Jeremy Shamos, Linda Emond & Wesley Taylor To Recur In Season 3
Tony Award Nominations: ‘Mean Girls,’ ‘SpongeBob’ And ‘Harry Potter’ Lead New Crop; ‘Angels,’ ‘Carousel’ Top Revivals
This morning’s Tony Award nominations favored the familiar, with Mean Girls and SpongeBob SquarePants leading the field with 12 nods apiece. The American debut of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child paced new plays with 10 nominations, and the revival of Angels in America had a strong showing with 11 nominations, most in Tony history for a play. (See the full list below.) Other shows posting impressive tallies included The Band’s Visit , with 11 nominations going to the original musical based on a 2007 Israeli film. An acclaimed revival of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Carousel also scored 11 nominations, including one for Renée Fleming, who is better known for her career as one of the opera world’s most venerable stars. Lincoln Center’s posh reboot of My Fair Lady garnered 10 nominations, and the Denzel Washington-starring revival of Eugene O’Neill’s The Iceman Cometh received eight. Frozen , the latest Disney adaptation to head to Broadway , joining The … [Read more...] about Tony Award Nominations: ‘Mean Girls,’ ‘SpongeBob’ And ‘Harry Potter’ Lead New Crop; ‘Angels,’ ‘Carousel’ Top Revivals