Show Business

Inspired by Cinespia at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences formally unveiled their new outdoor screening venue and “Oscars Outdoors” summer series.

Located at the Academy Hollywood campus on 1341 Vine Street, screenings will be held every Friday and Saturday starting June 15. Tickets are $5 for the general public and $3 for students and Academy members.

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Casting director Sarah Monson (pictured), who blogs as The Bitchlorette and contributes to various online outlets, is reaching out to would-be reality TV show contestants in an unusual way. She has authored a new e-book titled Me on TV: The First Ever Kick-Ass Guide to Get You on Any Reality Show, officially released today.

The price for this 130-page tome is relatively steep – $47. But Monson, whose credits include Blind Date, The Bachelor and Survivor, insists she has personally put her methods to the test:

“I’ve even gotten myself cast on a few reality shows and game shows, including Who Wants To Be A Millionaire and How Do I Look? I’ve tested this stuff and it absolutely works.”

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At one end of Tom Kane’s voice-over actor resume, there are credits like announcing the 78th Annual Academy Awards. At the other, as revealed in today’s LA Times piece by Joe Flint, is some very strange subbing for an actor who was a presenter at that very ceremony:

Kane has found work imitating celebrity voices so ad agencies can use his impersonation to sell clients on the idea of using the real actor for a commercial. “I’ve actually gotten Morgan Freeman a number of jobs,” he said.

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Yauch, also known as MCA, died today, May 4, after a lengthy battle with cancer. He was 47.

Yauch is best known as a founding member of the trailblazing rap trio the Beastie Boys.

The news was announced on Global Grind, a web site run by music mogul Russell Simmons. It was Simmons’ Def Jam Records that in 1986 released the Beastie Boys’ legendary first album, “Licensed to Ill.”

In 2009, Yauch was diagnosed with a a cancerous tumor in his salivary gland. Soon after his diagnosis, he released a video announcing the news to his fans.

Yauch was a filmmaker as well as a musician, Under the pseudonym “Nathanial Hörnblowér”, Yauch directed many of the Beastie Boys’ music videos. In 2002, he founded the film production company Oscilloscope Laboratories.

Joel Kotkin, executive director of newgeography.com, has a thought-provoking piece about the booming film and TV production scene in Louisiana. Like Hollywood in the 1920s, Greenwich Village in the 1950s, Haight-Ashbury in the 1960s and Seattle in the 1980s, he suggests that New Orleans is the new go-to U.S. city for priced-out entertainment industry workers still looking for arts and culture excitement.

Kotkin talked to Wingate Jones, son of a former manager of LA’s Western Costume Company (John Golden), about why the former chose to open a similar business in New Orleans in 2010. The operator of Southern Costume Company raves about NOLA’s cheaper food, housing and culture, but it is the article author who shares the most intriguing aspect of New Orleans’ show business resurrection:

Ironically, Hurricane Katrina provided the critical spark for this transformation. It devastated the torpid, corrupt political and business culture that viewed the arts as quaint and fit only as a selling point for tourists. In its place came more business-minded administrations in New Orleans and in Baton Rouge, the state capital.

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Following Los Angeles’ lead, the Simi Valley city council passed a law Monday night requiring porn actors to wear condoms. But unlike in LA, the new ordinance was not motivated by concerns for worker’s safety so much as a desire to keep the porn industry out of Simi Valley. The fear is that in the wake of the LA’s new condom mandate, adult filmmakers will flee to neighboring cities to shoot their smut.

But if a porn is shot in Simi Valley, the boys in blue are going to get an eyeful. KCAL 9 reports:

Under the new law, producers have to submit unedited copies of their adult films to the Simi Valley Police Department for review.

KCAL 9 reassures viewers that the law makes an exception for films made for “personal use.” Meaning you don’t have to show your sex tapes to the cops.

Hat tip Huffington Post.

At any given moment, there is typically one must-read Tinseltown feature article gracing one of the marquee east coast glossy monthly magazines. The latest item to claim that distinction can be found in the May issue of GQ and, as of this morning, on the publication’s website.

David Kushner’s “The Man Who Hacked Hollywood” offers a fascinating and detailed look at how an unassuming 290-pound Florida resident cracked the email accounts of top celebs, filmmakers and producers. In doing so, Chris Chaney was able to access all kinds of info besides nude pictures like the bathroom self-portrait taken by Scarlett Johansson:

After hacking the account of one producer, Chaney saw the entire filmmaking process, from start to finish. The producer was working on In Time, a film starring Justin Timberlake, Olivia Wilde, and Amanda Seyfried. Chaney breezed through copies of the script, set in a dystopian future where people die at age 26 unless they can afford to buy another day.

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Film Independent just released the preliminary gala schedule for this year’s LA Film Festival. Focus Features’ Seeking a Friend for the End of the World, Fox Searchlight’s Beasts of the Southern Wild, and AFFRM and Participant’s Middle of Nowhere are the latest films added to roster. Beasts and Middle of Nowhere have already earned acclaim after debuting at Sundance. Seeking a Friend for the End of the World–with Steve Carell, Keira Knightley, Rob Corddry, and Patton Oswalt, among others–will be making its world premiere.

Woody Allen‘s To Rome With Love will kick off the festival on June 14. More films should be announced shortly.

Rich Ross is out as chairman of Walt Disney Studios following last month’s flop of box office bust John Carter.

“I no longer believe that the Chairman role is the right professional fit for me,” Ross told his staff via email Friday. “The best people need to be in the right jobs, in roles they are passionate about, doing work that leverages the full range of their abilities. It’s one of the leadership lessons I’ve learned during my career, and it’s something I’ve been giving a great deal of thought to as I look at the challenges and opportunities ahead.”

Ross joined the Disney family in 1996 as a programming and production executive for the Disney Channel and was eventually promoted to president in 2004. In 2009, Ross was hired as Disney Studio chairman, despite any prior film experience.

“For more than a decade, Rich Ross’ creative instincts, business acumen and personal integrity have driven results in key businesses for Disney. … I appreciate his countless contributions throughout his entire career at Disney and expect he will have tremendous success in whatever he chooses to do next,” Disney CEO Bob Iger said in a statement.

The Three Stooges remake has caught the attention of at least one person out there.

Catholic League president Bill Donohue isn’t too fond of the Peter and Bobby Farrelly movie, raising objection to Kate Upton‘s nun bikini (Have you seen Ms. Upton, Bill?) and Larry David‘s role as Sister Mary-Mengele:

The Stooges are depicted seeking to raise money for their orphanage; it is run by habit-wearing, stereotypical nuns. One of the sisters is played by swimsuit model Kate Upton; she is shown wearing a “nun bikini” with a large rosary around her neck. Another nun, Sister Mary-Mengele, named after the Nazi war criminal, is played by Seinfeld creator Larry David.

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