Sony Pictures - FishbowlLA

Alex Trebek Returns to Jeopardy!

Marcus Vanderberg — Tue, 24 Jul 2012 14:39:47 +0000

One month after suffering a mild heart attack. Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek returned to work on Tuesday at the Sony Pictures Studios in Culver City.

According to Sony publicist Phil Zimmerman, Trebek is “in good health and already planning home improvement projects.. The 29th season of Jeopardy! begins on Monday, Sept. 17.

Glad to see Trebek back at work. I can’t imagine who would host the nightly trivia show if something were to happen to him.

Photo: Courtesy of Jeopardy Productions, Inc.

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Jeopardy! Opens Hall of Fame at Sony Pictures

Marcus Vanderberg — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 15:15:29 +0000

Tuesday marked the grand opening of the Jeopardy! Hall of Fame, located inside Stage 10 at the Sony Pictures Studios in Culver City.

In attendance for the ribbon cutting ceremony included past Jeopardy! contestants, legendary announcer Johnny Gilbert and host Alex Trebek, who is still recovering from a ruptured achilles tendon suffered during a failed hotel robbery in July. (Find out more on Trebek’s health in our interview later today.)

Some of the standout items from the Hall of Fame include all 29 Daytime Emmys Jeopardy! has won throughout the years, Trebek’s flight suit from his 2007 visit to Kadena Air Force Base in Okinawa, Japan and an actual contestant podium featuring the famous buzzer.

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Former Studio Executive John Calley Dies at 81

Marcus Vanderberg — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 10:26:26 +0000

Former studio executive and producer John Calley died Tuesday at the age of 81 after battling cancer.

During his 50-year career, Calley was the chairman and chief executive of Sony Pictures Entertainment and studio chief at MGM/United Artists and Warner Bros.

Sony Pictures will hold a memorial service in his honor. Further details will be announced.

Calley is survived by his daughter Sabrina Calley and step-children Emily Zinnemann, David Zinnemann and Will Firth from his marriage to Meg Tilly.

Below is an obit from Sony Pictures Entertainment:

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Columbia Pictures VP Devon Franklin: ‘If You Write a Good Script, We’ll Find It’

Donya Blaze — Tue, 24 May 2011 12:45:31 +0000

It’s Devon Franklin‘s job as VP of production for Columbia/Sony Pictures to buy film scripts and see them through the development and production process. So, how can aspiring scribes keep their work out of the slush pile? Take a screenwriting class, enter film competitions, and polish your drafts until they’re perfect.

“Do everything you can to work on these ideas,” Franklin, the man behind Jumping The Broom, explained in our @mediabeat interview. “And I promise you — people think this is crazy — we need good scripts in Hollywood. So, if you write a good script, even if you’re in Nebraska, Ohio — you could be in the most remote part of the world — if you write a good script, I promise you somehow we’ll find it.”

Franklin applied the same principles of diligence and faith in his own life, which he details in his new book Produced By Faith: Enjoy Real Success without Compromising Your True Self (Simon & Schuster).

“The book is a metaphor for your life as a movie, and every movie starts with a big idea,” the author and motivational speaker explained. “My whole big idea for my life is to inspire and encourage, and God has called me to use film as part of a way to do that.”

Part 1: Jumping The Broom Production VP Brings Spirituality to Hollywood

Part 3: Columbia Pictures VP Devon Franklin Talks Netflix, Social Media

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Citibank Getting Burned In Studio Confusion

Dan Cox — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 05:53:05 +0000

Citibank, trying to bring some financial acumen to the Hollywood cesspool, is now the target of lawsuits from Ryan Kavanaugh’s Relativity Media, while Citibank is simply saying back-at-ya, according to the trades.

A legal battle has erupted between Kavanaugh’s Relativity Media and banker Citigroup Global Markets over a multi-million-dollar financing deal to invest in as man as 45 films produced or acquired by Sony Pictures, including Adam Sandler’s awful clunker “You Don’t Mess With The Zohan.”

They may have the money, but nobody says they’re critics.

Relativity filed suit Tuesday in Manhattan federal court against Citigroup, claiming breach of contract. Citigroup filed its own lawsuit in New York Supreme Court in Manhattan the same day.

Will Smith Is No Spiderman so Sony drops 31%

Dan Cox — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 15:24:53 +0000

Sony Pictures declared a nightmare downtick in its revenue and stock today. The studio reported a 31% drop in year-on-year sales to $1.5 billion. That was because last year, the Spiderman-led studio was breaking records, while this year, even though “Hancock” cleared more than $500 million worldwide, the studio still fell back to Earth.
“Hancock” had enormous prints and advertising costs, which have not been offset by any future films.
Sony executives were sheepish about the drop.
“The losses that you see in the first quarter, again, you have to look at the pictures business holistically over the course of the year,” Rob Wiesenthal, chief financial officer, said during a conference call with analysts.
If it’s any solace, the tech division fell too, so the film side wasn’t fully to blame for Sony’s suffering.
Sony reduced its net profit forecast for fiscal 2008, which ends in March 2009, going from a May figure of $2.69 billion down to $2.23 billion. It has also dialed back its operating profit outlook from $4.83 billion in May to $4.37 billion, citing a tough environment for electronics sales, off-setting a depreciating yen.
You can’t blame it all on Will Smith.

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FBLA Goes To the Party: E! Entertainent Holiday Party

Greg — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 10:52:56 +0000

Whether you think Snoop Dogg is a loveable children’s role model, a talented rapper, or a criminal with a drug problem, there is no denying that he’s a friggin’ cool co-worker.

Unlike Ryan Seacrest and Kim Kardashian, Snoop Dogg showed up to the E! Holiday Party last night at the Sony Pictures lot in Culver City to eat mini-cheeseburgers (when is this comfort-food-as-haute-cuisine trend going to end?) and gossip with his colleagues. Except, of course, that none of his colleagues could get near him. Standing on an elevated V.I.P. section (in what appeared to be a woman’s fur coat), Snoop had a majestic view of the party.

He even deigned to wave when a too-excited D.J. Clinton Sparks gave Snoop a shout-out and started mixing a medley of his songs. But security was too tight around the D-O-Double-G for any lowly segment producer to get close, and he mostly kept to his posse (for anyone keeping track: He seemed to be rolling about 20 deep).

As he left, surrounded by a crush of security, FBLA overheard one E! employee say, “That’s as close to Snoop as you’re ever going to get.”

“That’s close enough,” his friend replied.

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Madelyn Hammond Rejoins Variety

Greg — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 07:00:04 +0000

Variety Entertainment Group announced a new job — and a former hire. Former Associate Publisher of Variety, Madelyn Hammond, has been plucked to become Variety’s Chief Marketing Officer, a position the company has never had.

The press release explains it all:

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Nikki Finke Explains What’s Wrong With Across the Universe

Kate — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 10:09:05 +0000

Just the other day, David Carr in the NY Times admitted what we already knew: New Yorkers don’t understand show biz all that much. And today, Hollywood’s own Nikki Finke tears into Sharon Waxman’s version of events surrounding art-chick Julie Taymor’s battle with Joe Roth over some musical romance movie called ~~Who Signed Off On This?~~, Across the Universe.

The musical uses songs by the Beatles, now owned by Michael Jackson and Sony. Sony Pictures is distributing the movie. Waxman didn’t bother to mention this little detail, but does go on about Taymor’s MacArthur grant.

Finke points out that Taymor’s movies haven’t been (a) very good and (b) profitable. Joe Roth, who Finke thinks should have known better with a girl like Julie, cut his own version of the movie, and it’s not all that hot either. And the songs aren’t performed by the Beatles, they’re covered by the actors, including Evan Rachel Wood and Jim Sturgess. With puppets. And Eddie Izzard as Mr. Kite. Taymor even cast Selma Hayek. Did we mention the puppets?

Is this Ishtar for the new millenium? Is it Heaven’s Gate for the YouTube set? One of the IMDB commentors says:

an advertisement for LSD

We’re betting Peter Travers uses that line as his blurb.

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