News

Keep up with the wild and wooly world of indie film acquisitions with our weekly Rundown of everything that’s been picked up around the globe. Check out last week’s Rundown here.

– Bleecker Street has secured U.S. distribution rights to Gabriela Cowperthwaite’s true-life story, “Megan Leavey.” The film is based on the life of Leavey (Kate Mara), a young marine corporal in the K9 unit whose unique discipline and bond with her military combat dog saved many lives during their deployment in Iraq.

Bleecker Street will release the movie on June 9, 2017.

Read More: Film Acquisition Rundown: Samuel Goldwyn Films Picks Up ‘Youth in Oregon,’ The Orchard Buys ‘Monkey Business’ and More

The film co-stars Edie Falco, Ramon Rodriguez, Bradley Whitford, and Common. Directed by Cowperthwaite (“Blackfish”), the movie was written by Pamela Gray, Annie Mumolo and Tim Lovestedt and produced by Mickey Liddell, Pete Shilaimon and Jennifer Monroe.

The Other Half, a romantic drama starring Tatiana Maslany and Tom Cullen, has gotten a release date in the U.S.

Brainstorm Media will release the feature from writer-director Joey Klein on March 10, both in theaters and on VOD.

The Other Half tracks the relationship of a grief-stricken man (Cullen) and a bipolar woman (Maslany).

JoBro Productions’ Jonathan Bronfman, Motel Pictures’ Nicole Hilliard-Forde and Joey Klein produced the film, with Prodigy Pictures' Jay Firestone executive producing.

Cullen and Maslany also executive produced, along with David Miller, Mark Gingras, John Laing, Hussain Amarshi, Julia Sereny, Jennifer Kawaja and Andra Gordon.

American Entertainment Investors negotiated...

Four episodes were provided prior to broadcast.

There isn’t much hand-holding in the opening hours of HBO’s insane new epic Westworld. Like the guests in the show’s western theme park, there isn’t a helpful guide to show you around, or a succinct orientation video with a dancing DNA strand to fill you in on bits and pieces of how the park even started. As one of Westworld’s robot “hosts” says to a nervous guest early on, “figuring out how it works is half the fun.”

Truer words couldn’t be spoken about the first four hours of Westworld, which is both a terrifying disaster-in-slow-motion and a rollicking adventure, all rolled into a plot that has so many levels of storytelling you’ll be obsessed with its nascent mythology by the end of the pilot’s goosebump-inducing opening scene. But it’s never obtuse, never needlessly highbrow,...

Opening remarks

It’s not even February and, already, 2014 is shaping up to be a massive year for television. True Detective announced itself as the year’s first new stand-out series. Against all odds, Dan Harmon and Community returned and are putting together a respectable comeback season. FX’s fantastic and hard-working Justified continues to solidify its place among the greats of the past decade. And Girls‘ unique blend of comedy and drama is once again pushing the narrative boundaries of the half-hour series in its third season.

One series, though, is leading the charge at the beginning of the year. The most unlikely of heroes, Cinemax’s Banshee, in just a matter of three weeks, has matured into something truly special – something a lot of TV writers refer to as “appointment viewing” when describing other series. With limited experience dabbling in co-produced original programming, Cinemax released Banshee – its first...

Infinity #1 was an impressive start to Jonathan Hickman’s sci-fi event, but once tie-ins and other related materials start hitting the shelves a cohesive event can start to fall apart. While there are multiple tie-ins, the main ones every month are Avengers and New Avengers, as they run with the main throughline. So I will be including these in my monthly wrap up of Infinity, and you can look at the cool-looking checklist that comes with the issues below the post to get an idea of the flow. Let's get started with Avengers.

Avengers #18:

Written by: Jonathan Hickman

Art by: Leinil Francis Yu

Inker: Gerry Alanguilan

Thanos isn’t the only one with a council, and half of this issue deals with the Avengers accepting the Skrulls (you know, those hated green guys that infiltrated the superhero community a few years back) into their ranks, as they have all...

As I mentioned in the preface to the first part of my Wavelengths preview (the one focusing on the short films), there are significant changes afoot in 2012. Until last year, the festival had a section known as Visions, which was the primary home for formally challenging cinema that nevertheless conformed to the basic tenets of arthouse and/or “festival” cinema (actors, scripting, 70+minute running time, and, once upon a time, 35mm presentation). This year, Wavelengths is both its former self, and it also contains the sort of work that Visions most likely would have housed. While in some respects this can seem to result in a kind of split personality for the section, it also means that Wavelengths, which has often been described as a sort of “festival within the festival,” has moved front and center. Films that would’ve occupied single slots in the older avant-Wavelengths model, like the...

Dick Clark, chairman and CEO of Dick Clark Productions, best known for hosting the classic musical variety show "American Bandstand" for more than three decades, as well as ringing in the New Year on "Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve," died today in Los Angeles after suffering a massive heart attack. He was 82 years old.

Clark was born and raised in Mount Vernon, New York, on November 30, 1929, to Julia Fuller and Richard Augustus Clark. He had one older brother, Bradley, who was killed in World War II. At the age of 16, Clark got his first job in the mailroom of WRUN, a radio station in Utica, New York, which was owned by his uncle and managed by his father. He worked his way up the ranks and was promoted to weatherman before becoming a radio announcer.

After graduating from Syracuse University with a degree in business administration, Clark began working at several radio and television stations before landing at WFIL radio in 1952. While working at the station, Clark became a substitute host for Bob Horn's Bandstand, an afternoon program where teenagers danced to popular music, broadcast by WFIL's affiliated television station. In 1956, Horn was arrested for drunk driving, giving Clark the perfect opportunity to step in as the full-time host.

After acquiring nationwide distribution the newly reformatted program, now titled "American Bandstand", premiered on ABC on August 5, 1957. In addition to the name change, Clark added interviews with artists (starting with Elvis Presley), lip-sync performances, and "Rate-a-Record," allowing teens to judge the songs on the show -- and giving birth to the popular phrase, "It's got a good beat and you can dance to it." Clark also established a formal dress code, mandating dresses and skirts for the women and a coat and tie for the men. But perhaps the most impactful change that Clark made to the show was ending "American Bandstand's" all-white policy, allowing African American artists to perform on the show.

Under Clark's influence, "Bandstand" became one of the most successful and longest-running musical programs, featuring artists including Chuck Berry, the Doors, the Beach Boys, Pink Floyd, and Smokey Robinson. Sonny and Cher, The Jackson 5, Prince, and Aerosmith were among the influential artists and bands that made their TV debuts on "Bandstand," which is also credited with helping to make America more accepting of rock 'n roll.

With the success of "American Bandstand," Clark became more invested in the music publishing and recording businesses, and began managing artists, hosting live sock hops, and arranging concert tours. But in 1960, when the United States Senate began investigating "payola," the practice in which music producing companies paid broadcasting companies to favor their products, Clark became caught up in the scandal. The investigation found he had partial copyrights to over 150 songs, many of which were featured on his show. Clark denied he was involved in any way, but admitted to accepting a fur and jewelry from a record company president. In the end, the Senate could not find any illegal actions by Clark, but ABC asked Clark to either sell his shares in these companies or leave the network so there was no conflict of interest. He chose to sell and continue on as host of American Bandstand, which was unaffected by the scandal.

In 1964, Clark moved Bandstand from Philadelphia to Los Angeles and became more involved in television production. Under his company Dick Clark Productions, he produced such shows as "Where the Action Is," "TV's Bloopers and Practical Jokes," and more recently, "So You Think You Can Dance," as well as made-for-television movies including Elvis, The Birth of the Beatles, Wild Streets, and The Savage Seven. Clark also hosted TV's $10,000 Pyramid, TV Bloopers and Practical Jokes (with co-host Ed McMahon), Scattergories, and The Other Half. Clark also had several radio programs, including "The Dick Clark National Music Survey", "Countdown America", and "Rock, Roll & Remember."

In 1972, he produced and hosted the very first edition of "Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve," a musical program where Clark counted down until the New Year ball dropped in Times Square, featuring taped performances from musical artists. "New Year's Rockin' Eve" soon became a cultural tradition, airing on ABC every year with Clark as host (except in 1999 when ABC aired "ABC 2000Today," a news milestone program hosted by Peter Jennings). In December of 2004, Clark suffered a minor stroke and was unable to host, so Regis Philbin stepped in as a substitute. The following year, Clark returned as co-host alongside primary host Ryan Seacrest. Many were worried about Clark due to his slurred and breathless speech, and he admitted on-air he was still recovering but that he wouldn't have missed the broadcast for the world. The following year, Seacrest became "New Year's Rockin' Eve's" primary host, but Clark always returned for the countdown.

Clark has received several notable awards including four Emmy Awards, the Daytime Emmy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1994, and the Peabody Award in 1999. He was inducted into the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1976, The Radio Hall of Fame in 1990, Broadcasting Magazine Hall of Fame, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Hall of Fame.

Clark is survived by his wife, Kari Wigton, to whom he was married since 1977, and three children from two previous marriages: daughter Cindy and son Duane from his marriage to Loretta Martin, which lasted from 1962 until 1971, and another son, Richard Augustus, from his first marriage to his high school sweetheart Barbara Mallery, which lasted from 1952 until 1961.

-Michelle Bryant...

Taraji P. Henson plays tough-as-nails Detective Carter on the CBS drama "Person of Interest," but her turn on the small screen follows an eclectic movie career, from her roles in movies like "Hustle & Flow" to her Academy Award-nominated turn in "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button."

The 41-year-old single mom spoke to The Huffington Post about the show, working with Brad Pitt and what she thinks is the best birth control out there.

On "Person of Interest," you play the tough cop who yells, "I need those reports now!"

Yeah, she's pretty tough. She's seen some things, done two tours, but she's one of the good cops. I know sometimes cops can have bad reputations but there are good cops that exist and she's one of them.

This show is about vigilante justice. Do you agree with it?

As long as no one's getting hurt and as long as it's safe.

Trevor Nunn's latest Shakespeare doesn't impress the critics much – even with a movie star at the helm (although they do at least like Ralph Fiennes's Prospero)

This again: Shakespeare made marketable with the presence of a movie star. On the specials board today – Ralph Fiennes as Prospero in a Trevor Nunn Tempest. But wait! Here's a turn-up. Fiennes is actually the best thing about this production, in the view of half the critics. The other half – actually more like three quarters – would say he is the only good thing it has.

"Oh, that this Tempest were a monologue!" Karen Fricker declaims to the groundlings at Variety. "While Fiennes is a major artist in full command of his powers, once-great helmer Nunn is currently sucking fumes." I'll leave you to speculate on what that last bit actually means.

The Standard's Henry Hitchings, to everyone's relief, is not a man...

Among the women who have played gay for pay, Amber Benson is one I dearly wish were also gay for play.

It’s purely selfish, because Benson’s character Tara on Buffy the Vampire Slayer is half of one of the best couples ever to grace the small screen. (The other half, of course, was Alyson Hannigan’s Willow, in case you were born yesterday or something.)

But even though Benson is coupled with Adam Busch, who played Warren on Buffy (and yes, Warren killed Tara, but let’s try to forget that, mm-kay?), she has been a strong supporter of the lesbian fan base she developed during her Tara years — and we love her for it. Besides, she’s gorgeous.

So when I learned that Benson and Busch would be at a free screening of their movie Drones at Dallas’ USA Film Festival, I happily waited in line.

Parking-lot-style...

Russell and the Villains alliance or Amanda and the Heroes alliance? That was the question Sandra and Candice found themselves debating on last night's episode of Survivor.

Our Survivor Round Table writers couldn't wait to answer that question as well as talk about Parvati's phenomenal eye roll at tribal council and Courtney's hilarious jury antics. As always, reader feedback is encouraged.

Did Sandra and Candice pick the right side?

Kakdaddy: No. I was surprised Candice was willing to sell-out so easily when Sandra was so willing to be there fifth. She was in a much better spot there than she is with the Villains where all hell is about to break loose. Sandra is only in it one vote at a time and literally anything can happen when Russell is involved. I'm guessing Candice was nervous that Russell would give his idol to Parvati since she was the...

was murder and sex, which you can see on pretty much every show on TV.” —Zach Gilford talking about Friday Night Lights to The Los Angeles Times No murder tonight and if anyone had sex it happened between scenes. Even Coach Taylor and Mrs. Coach Taylor (or should we start calling her Principal Taylor out of respect?) couldn’t redirect their usual day-to-day friction into passion. They failed to see eye-to-eye on anything—the barbecue, her changing position within the community—and ended the episode with a public humiliation to match their private defeat. This was an episode in which nobody got what he or she wanted. Not that they didn’t try. In another scene that Gaius Charles should consider sending to every casting agent he can think of, Smash...

September Films, a leading producer and distributor of reality programming and entertainment formats in the United Kingdom, continues its expansion into the U.S. market with the appointment of Alan Winters as president of September Films USA. An American television veteran, Winters most recently was president of Fisher Entertainment, the production arm of broadcaster Fisher Communications. Winters was the creator and executive producer of the daily talk show The Other Half for NBC Enterprises and the primetime reality series The Last Resort for ABC Family.

In years past, the syndication arena might have been scattered by now with the bodies of dead shows. But this year, it's certainly not business as usual. As such new syndie shows as The Robb Nelson Show and The John Walsh Show head into the November sweep today, it's even questionable whether the frame will be as critical to the survival of some syndie shows as in previous seasons. "It's just not business as usual anymore," said Robb Dalton, Twentieth Television president of programming and production, referring to the fact that many shows this season have been developed by major syndicators with their own sister stations. Added Bill Carroll, vp development of programming at Katz Television in New York, "With synergy, there is a greater vested interest on the part of the stations to support a project in which they were part of the development and which is being produced by their sister production entity." An example of what Carroll is talking about came Wednesday with an announcement from NBC Enterprises that it will continue to produce syndie sophomore talker The Other Half for the remainder of the 2002-03 season. The show is averaging a 0.7. Additionally, the strip, cleared on the NBC stations, is getting an upgrade from noon to 3 p.m. on KNBC Los Angeles.