Nat Faxon Lands Title Role In Fox Comedy Pilot Ned Fox Is My Manny

Nat Faxon is on the hot streak. The actor-author, who just won an Oscar on Sunday for co-writing The Descendants together with his writing partner Jim Rash and Alexander Payne, just arrived the title role opposite Abby Elliott in Foxs single-camera comedy pilot Ned Fox Is My Manny (formerly Ben Fox Is My Manny), directed by Mike Kasdan. The project, from author Dana Fox, 20th TV and Chernin Entertainment, focuses on an uptight single mom Kate (Elliott) whose aimless older brother Ned (Faxon) moves directly into help raise her daughter (Maggie Johnson). Co-starring within the pilot is Lucy Punch. Faxon, repped by Innovative and Principato-Youthful, is really a familiar face (and voice) at Fox. He co-starred around the network’s short-resided comedy Happy Hour and it has voiced figures on animated comedies The Cleveland Show and Allen Gregory. Faxon’s writing partner Rash is also on the primetime comedy series, he co-stars on NBC’s Community.

BOX OFFICE: Act Of Valor #1 With $24.7M Weekend, Good Deeds $16M, Wanderlust And Gone Explosive device

SATURDAY PM/SUNDAY AM, second UPDATE:Properly enough for Academy awards Sunday, it’s another up weekend for that eighth straight week this year.General moviegoingis at $135M, the industry whopping +24% over this past year.Obviously, Hollywood is ecstatic (though not in the prospect at sitting with the interminable Oscars simply to watch Harvey Weinstein gloat). Relativity’s R-ratedAct Of Valor has stayedNo. 1all weekend. It’s the the Bandito Siblings’ individually funded low-budget U.S. Navy fighting pressure taleusing actual Closes from an authentic script by Kurt Johnstad (300). (FYI, there is a novelization of this script, Tom Clancy Presents Act of Valor, compiled by Dick Couch and George Galdorsi and launched in paperback by Clancys writer. Relativity acquired the privileges towards the project last June for $13 million along with a $$ 30 million in prints and advertising commitment -the greatest money taken care of a finished film by having an unknown cast in those days.But Relativity didn’t spend $30M on P&A. That might have been the studio’s minimum legal commitment however it spent much more. Ryan Kavanaugh et al got 4 wildely costly Super Bowl game day advertisements. Yes, 4. That cost between $12M-14M alone (though Relativity claims it had been $6.5+M). Educated guess is they spent $45M-$50M total to hawk this actioner. Yes, they acquired domestic privileges for affordable and strongly pre-offered foreign. And, yes, your budget was just $12K. Appears like Relativity will recoup. Marketing-smart, Relativity released a hostile 400 screening enter in over 40 marketplaces included in amulti-pronged strategy that spoke to players, action fans, sports fans, ethnic audiences, new bands fans, patriots, military, women, and also the belief-based community. It had been about person to person then and today: audiences are submission by providing it an ‘A’ CinemaScore. Also getting an ‘A’ CinemaScore from audiences was Lionsgate’s beneficial romantic dramaGood Deeds. It makes sense middling for that Tyler Perry movie — does he clone them? — that was only playing by 50 percent,132 locations. Butthen individuals films where he doesn’t crossdress as Madea (and offendwith that stereotype) earn less. However it’s right consistent with Lionsgate anticipation and, besides, your budget was just $15M. Like them or otherwise, this really is yet anotherof author, director, producer Perry’ssoap operas specific to his core fans. But is Tyler a fascinating enough thesp tocarry a film virtually by themself or perhaps a large enough draw to feature only himselfon the film poster? Not necessarily.(And I only say this fearing his approaching portrayal of imaginary crimefighter Alex Mix.) Universal’s alleged comedyWanderlustbombed worse than the studio expecte: lousy trackingfor this R-ranked nonsense had indicated the film would open below $10M.Audiences gave it an average’B-’ CinemaScore. The mixture of Jennifer Aniston and Paul Rudd demonstrated toxicto moviegoers. FYI: this greenlight was the studio’s payback to Heroines director David Wain and and the creative partner Ken Marino and mogul/producer Judd Apatow. Regrettably your budget was $30M that is cheap by any standard except whenever a pic flops this badly.Sad, really, because Aniston’s flack-from-hell Stephen Huvanepulled out all of the nauseating stops by taking advantage of her personal existence — as always. Also tanking is Summit’snot-so-thrilling Gone starring Amanda Seyfried which gained merely a ‘C+’ CinemaScore.This is actually the latest consecutively of stinkers for your studio that is now a part of Lionsgate.The only real great news is the fact that, in line with the structure from the cope with producersLakeshore Entertainment and Sidney Kimmel Entertainment andother parties, the studio includes a internet chance of only $two million. Keep in mind that kids around the New England lost of faculty a few days ago so family holdovers Warner Bros’ Journey 2 and Disney’s The Key Existence Of Arrietty held strong — a minimum of until Universal/Illumination’sDr. Suess toon The Lorax opens next weekend. The new sony’s The Vow passed the $100M domestic mark this 3rd weekend out because the first Screen Gems film to ever hit $100M. Here’s the very best Ten (order based on weekend grosses): 1. Act Of Valor (Relativity) NEW [3,039 Theaters] Friday $9, Saturday $9.4, Weekend $24.7M 2. Tyler Perry’s Good Deeds (Lionsgate) NEW [2,132 Theaters] Friday $5.3M, Saturday $6.7M, Weekend: $16M 3. Journey 2 three dimensional (Warner Bros) Week 3 [3,350 Theaters] Friday $3.2M, Saturday$6.4M,Weekend $13.4M,Cume $76.7M 4. Safe House (Universal) Week 3 [3,052 Theaters] Friday $3.1M, Saturday $5.0M, Weekend $11.3M, Cume $98M 5. The Vow (Screen Gems/The new sony) Week 3 [3,038 Theaters] Friday $3.2M, Saturday $4.5M,Weekend $10M, Cume $103M 6. Ghost Driver 2 three dimensional (The new sony) Week 2 [3,174 Theaters] Friday $2.3M, Saturday $4.1M,Weekend $8.8M (-60%),Cume $37.8M 7.What This Means Is War (Fox) Week 2 [3,189 Theaters] Friday $2.7M, Saturday $3.9M,Weekend $8.5M (-51%),Cume $33.5M 8. Wanderlust (Universal)NEW [2,002 Theaters] Friday $2.1M, Saturday $2.9M,Weekend $6.6M 9. Gone (Summit)NEW [2,186 Theaters] Friday $1.6M, Saturday $2.1M,Weekend $5.0M 10. Secret Realm Of Arrietty (Disney)Week 2 [1,522 Theaters] Friday $1M, Saturday $2.1M,Weekend $4.5M (-30%),Cume $14.6M

Foreign Titles Dominate 41st New Directors/New Films Festival

An anticipated event on the annual festival circuit in the U.S. the Film Society of Lincoln Center and the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) unveiled the full lineup for the New Directors/New Films series taking place March 21 – April 1 in NY. The 41st edition of the event will spotlight 29 features and 12 shorts by emerging talent. Foreign titles are heavily represented in this year’s lineup with only a few Americans making the cut. Sony Classics’ Where Do We Go Now? by Nadine Labaki join the large group of foreign titles this year. Adam Leon’s Gimme The Loot, Sundance ’12 titles How To Survive A Plague by David France and An Oversimplification Of Her Beauty by Terence Nance are among the new U.S. offerings this year. ND/NF will break some precedent this year, hosting a screening of Stanley Kubrick’s Fear And Desire, twenty years older than the festival itself. Also new for the closing night is a surprise screening that will be revealed as the curtain raises April 1st. The 41st New Directors/New Films features selections include: THE AMBASSADOR (Ambassadren) (2011) 94min Directed by Mads Brgger Country: Denmark The consummate agent-provocateur–his method fittingly described as Graham Greene meets Borat–Brgger (THE RED CHAPEL, NDNF 2010) shocks and mightily entertains by performing an artistic intervention in reality using role-playing and hidden cameras to expose an awful truth about life in central Africa. BREATHING (Atmen) (2011) 90min Director: Karl Markovics Country: Austria The remarkably assured directorial debut from veteran Austrian actor Karl Markovics (THE COUNTERFEITERS) creates a slipstream between the perilousness of youth and the inevitability of death as it tells the story of an inmate at a juvenile detention center whose last hope of parole rests on his ability to hold down a job…as a morgue assistant. A Kino Lorber release. CRULIC: THE PATH TO BEYOND (2011) 73min Director: Anca Damian Country: Romania Anca Damians documentary utilizes hand drawn, cutout and collage animation techniques, combined with some very dark humor to create a striking documentary about a young Romanians hunger strike in a Polish jail. DONOMA (2011) 133min Directed by Djinn Carrnard Country: France Rumored to have been shot for about $200, DONOMA announces the arrival of an intriguing new talent on the French scene, Haitian-born, Paris based Djinn Carrnard. Devised, shot (often guerrilla-style) and edited over a period of years, the film is a choral piece that chronicles the romantic destinies of three women, offering a fresh, funny portrait of an emerging French generation. FEAR AND DESIRE (1953) 72min Director: Stanley Kubrick Country: USA Directed, photographed, and edited by the talented and ambitious 24-year-old Kubrick, FEAR AND DESIRE was written by his high school classmate, Howard Sackler, who would go on to win the Pulitzer Prize in playwriting.Some Kubrick scholars see this wartime drama of five soldiers behind enemy lines and their encounter with a native woman as a dry run for PATHS OF GLORY; others see it as the original to the second half of FULL METAL JACKET. A Kino Lorber release. 5 BROKEN CAMERAS (2011) 90min Directors: Emad Burnat and Guy Davidi Countries: Palestine/Israel/France Emad Burnats and Guy Davidis documentary began five years ago in the Palestinian town of Bilin when Burnat bought a camera to record the birth of his son Gibreel. Gibreels arrival, however, coincided with a period of great unrest in the area, which is witnessed by five video cameras, each subsequently damaged by bullets or rocks. A Kino Lorber release. FOUND MEMORIES (Historias Que So Existem Quando Lembradas) (2011) 98min Director: Julia Murat Country: Brazil The original title, which translates as “stories that only exist when remembered,” beautifully expresses the theme and core sentiment of Julia Murat’s poetic rendering of the fictive town of Jotuomba. A magical confluence of generations and cultures is occasioned by the visit of Rita, a young photographer, to this place where time has seemingly stood still and life is rooted in the fixed roles of tradition soon to be rendered obsolete. A Film Movement release. GENERATION P (2011) 116min Director: Victor Ginzburg Country: Russia Ginzburgs GENERATION P could be described as a metaphysical Mad Men from the go-go 1990s – a wonderland of images and ideas that emerged from the rebirth of a nation as a marketers paradise. The film offers a view of post-Communist Russia as the arrival of democracy and Pepsi-Cola brought the advance of capitalism with all of its mechanisms and fuzzy messages. GIMME THE LOOT (2012) 81min Director: Adam Leon Country: USA In his feature film debut, Adam Leon has created a raucous, car-less road trip that is an homage to street-smart kids and NY City. Malcolm and Sofia, two determined teens from theBronx, are the ultimate graffiti writers. When their latest masterpiece is wiped out by a rival gang, they must hustle, steal and scheme to get spectacular revenge and become the biggest graffiti writers in the city. GOODBYE (B omid didar) (2011) 104min Director: Mohammad Rasoulof. Country: Iran In his latest film, celebrated Iranian director Mohammad Rasoulof creates a dramatic and tense tale set in Tehran, where a young woman is desperately attempting to acquire a visa to leave the country. The beautifully shot film uses the confinement of space to cinematically express claustrophobia, its precise framing catching every subtle expression on the face of the astonishing Leyla Zareh, who plays the disbarred human rights lawyer, Noora, looking for a way out. HEMEL (2012) 80min Director: Sacha Polak Country: The Netherlands/Spain Sacha Polaks HEMEL features Hannah Hoekstra as a strong-willed, complicated, and vulnerable heroine who longs (perhaps too much) to connect with her elusive father and ultimately find herself.The film is a powerful investigation of a sexually-empowered woman and her search for physical and intellectual intimacy. HOW TO SURVIVE A PLAGUE (2012) 109min Director: David France Country: USA David Frances immersive moving-image document chronicling the rise of AIDS activism shows a movement though the lenses of those who captured it firsthand.Desperate people leveraged the skills they hadsome wrote, some lobbied, many marched, and all mobilizedto flight a plague that vast swaths of society saw as just punishment for immoral actions.A Sundance Selects release. HUAN HUAN (2011) 90min Director: Song Chuan Country: China Song Chuans first feature captures the dreams and desires, disappointments and regrets, of a life not fully lived via the title character. In a rural Chinese village, a young woman who is the local doctors mistress struggles against her family, government bureaucracy and social mores to move away and create a life for herself. IT LOOKS PRETTY FROM A DISTANCE (Z daleka widok jest piekny) (2011) 77min Directors: Anka and Wilhelm Sasnal Country: Poland Anka and Wilhelm Sasnals film is set in a Polish village effectively cut off from civilization, where rough and impassive Pawel makes a living scavenging for scrap metal. Theres bad blood between him and the community (a more spiteful collection of individuals would be hard to imagine), and when he goes AWOL his neighbors loot and vandalize his home. What if he returns? A brooding, almost wordless drama vision of a world in an advanced state of entropy. LAS ACACIAS (2011) 85min Director: Pablo Giorgelli Country: Argentina One of the discoveries of the 2011 Cannes Critics Week, Pablo Giogellis road movie with a difference takes a 900-mile trip from Asuncin in Paraguay to Buenos Aires in the company of Rubn, a gruff, taciturn truck driver and the two illegal immigrantsa young woman, and her new-born daughterhe is reluctantly transporting. THE MINISTER (Lexercice de ltat) (2011) 115min Director: Pierre Schller Country: France Pierre Schllers political thriller focuses on a cabinet minister (Olivier Gourmet) in charge of national transportation who believes himself to be a man of the people. He wants both to be and do good, but in order to get anything done he must, given the exigencies of compromise, cajole, bend and even betray. NEIGHBORING SOUNDS (O som ao redor) (2012) 124min Director: Kleber Mendona Filho Country: Brazil A thrilling debut from a breakout talent, Kleber Mendona Filhos NEIGHBORING SOUNDS delves into the lives of a group of prosperous middle-class families residing on a quiet street, close to a low-income neighborhood. A private security firm hired to police the street becomes the catalyst for an exploration of the neighbors discontents and anxieties, which are exacerbated by a palpable sense of unease over their societys troubled past and present inequities. NOW, FORAGER (2012) 93min Directors: Jason Cortlund and Julia Halperin Countries: USA/Poland A quiet tale about the search for integrity and the perfect mushroom, Jason Cortlunds and Julia Halperins NOW, FORAGER followsLucien and Regina, an urban couple living off the land foraging for fungi in upstate NY with a dream of following the seasonal emergence of exotic varieties across the country.That is, until Reginas decision to take a job in the kitchen of a hip restaurant offers a more solid opportunity, even as it betrays Luciens off-the-grid ethos. OMAR KILLED ME (Omar ma tuer) (2011) 85min Director: Roschdy Zem Country: France Actor-turned-director Roschdy Zems OMAR KILLED ME tells a story of racism, politics, and injustice with the clarity of a documentary and the pacing of a thriller. When a rich widow was murdered in the south of France 20 years ago, her Moroccan gardener was convicted and jailed with no evidence; it took a committed journalist to try to unravel the rush to judgment that laid bare the racism that was hidden in the French justice system. OSLO, AUGUST 31ST (2011) 96min Director: Joachim Trier Country: Norway Daylight lingers at the end of August in Oslo, but sunlight is not a friend to Anders, a semi-recovered addict, facing a new life, which may not be appealing without former habits. Adapted from the same novel as Louis Malle’s THE FIRE WITHIN (1963), Joachim Triers OSLO, AUGUST 31ST follows Anders as he tries to adjust – making love, wandering through Oslo, having a job interview, seeing old friends, and trying to get comfortable with his situation. A Strand Releasing Film. AN OVERSIMPLIFICATION OF HER BEAUTY (2011) 95min Directed by Terence Nance Country: USA Frank, funny, and bracingly contemporary, visual artist Terence Nance gleefully bends the cinematic rules for his personal meditation on love in the new millennium with his film, AN OVERSIMPLIFICATION OF BEAUTY. Passages of live action sequences and direct-to-camera interviews are accented with a wide variety of animation styles as Nance analyzes his amorous history as well as his current circumstances. PORFIRIO (2011) 101min Director: Alejandro Landes Country: Colombia Paralyzed from the waist down by a stray police bullet, the title character in Alejandro Landes’ remarkable film spends his days selling minutes on his cell phone when not flirting with his comely neighbor, and secretly plotting his revenge. Landes worked on the film for five years, creating a tale that joined the most intimate details of Porfirio’s day-to-day life with an astonishing re-creation of his attempt to hijack an airplane. THE RABBIS CAT (Le chat du rabbin) (2011) 89min Director: Antoine Delesvaux Countries: France/Austria Adapted from the graphic novels by Joanne Sfar, THE RABBIS CAT is a vivid, lively, and imaginative animated film co-directed by Sfar and Antoine Delesvaux . Set in 1920s Algiers, a widower rabbi lives with his voluptuous and dutiful daughter and their pesky cat who swallows a parakeet and begins to speak, driving everyone crazy and moving the plot ahead by insisting on having a bar-mitzvah. THE RAID (2011) 100min Director: Gareth Huw Evans Countries: Indonesia/USA In Gareth Huw Evans sensational thriller, THE RAID, a police SWAT team storms a housing project ruled by gangsters and inhabited by machete-wielding lowlifesbut the mission has been leaked, the tables are turned, and a dwindling band of elite fighters find themselves massively outnumbered in a lethal game of cat and mouse. What ensues is a relentless and savage succession of close-quarters shoot-outs and punishing martial-arts combat sequences, each jaw-dropping smackdown unbelievably topping the previous one. This film is wild! A Sony Pictures Classics release. ROMANCE JOE (Ro-maen-seu Jo ) (2011) 115min Director: Lee Kwang-Kuk Country: South Korea In his playful first feature, Lee Kwang-Kuk expertly weaves several narrative strands into an elegant web and a meditation on storytelling. A teasing and pleasing portrait of a filmmaker in search of a story to tell, ROMANCE JOE begins as a young, self-possessed barmaid in a remote inn recalls the time she met the title character. TEDDY BEAR (2012) 92min Director: Mads Matthiesen Country: Denmark Mads Matthiesen’s character-based and understated comedy, TEDDY BEAR tells the story of a gentle giant of a body builder who self sculpts his muscles by day and lives quietly at home with his mom at night. But at 38, he really wants a proper girlfriend, and despite his mother’s resistance (she is a master of emotional manipulation) and his own profound awkwardness, he draws up the courage to find one–even if he has to leave Denmark to do so. TWILIGHT PORTRAIT (2011) 105min Director: Angelina Nikonova Country: Russia TWILIGHT PORTRAIT is a powerhouse collaboration co-written and co-produced by Angelina Nikonova, who directed, and Olga Dihovichnaya, who stars in this very dark, provocative and constantly surprising debut feature film. In a modern Russian city where corruption, apathy and class warfare are the norm, a woman is raped, rather casually, by the police. What follows explodes the conventions of sexual politicsand will certainly have filmgoers talking. WHERE DO WE GO NOW? (2010) 100min Director: Nadine Labaki Countries: France/Lebanon/Italy/Egypt Labakis film focuses on a group of women of different religions in a remote Lebanese village that band together and invent schemes to prevent their men from killing each other in the intractable religious conflict that surrounds their community. This entertaining and unlikely near-musical tears down stereotypes of women in the Middle East and uses humor to explore serious subjects, with one eye toward Aristophanes Lysistrata and the other toward Bollywood. A Sony Pictures Classics Release.

WGA Awards (Live): Modern Family, Homeland, Colbert Report, Cinema Verite, Too Big To Fail

BREAKING… Refresh for latest… Los Angeles and NY The Writers Guild of America, West (WGAW) and the Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE) are announcing the winnersfor outstanding achievement inwriting for the screen during 2011. Winners will be honored at the 2012 WritersGuild Awards tonight during simultaneous ceremonies at the Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles and at B.B. King Blues Club in NY City. The writers of Modern Family wonforComedy Series, andSteve Levitanexclaimed, “We are concerned that people are sick of us [winning]. Perhaps youcan focus your backlash elsewhere. As such, we asked our writers to each say whythey don”t feel like winners tonight.” At which point a number of Modern Family scribes described their deepest regrets: “I worry about the future happiness of my children, particularly the fat one.” “I write a show about relationships, half my money goes to myfirst wife, the other goes to the second.” “I have 2 years left in this business, especially afterthey find out my real age.” Levitan capped off, “I created the show STAT and have to live with that.” At the LA event, a who’s who of the film and TV industry arruved.”Welcome to Nerd Prom,” host Zooey Deschanel greeted the guests. “Male writers, you are so hot with your minds and plaid shirts.Hit on me.”Presenters included Tom Selleck, Lisa Kudrow,Mad Men creator Matt Weiner, Desperate Housewives creator Marc Cherry. In front seats areLuck creator David Milch, Oscar-nominated writer John Logan also up for a WGA nom for adapted screenplay of Hugo, Mission: Impossible 4 director Brad Bird, and Young Adult star Patton Oswalt fresh from his hosting duties last night at the ACE Eddie Awards. And Deadline Hollywood got a shout-out. “Get ready for a bunch of F-bombs: it’s the Children’s Episodic Award” saidDeschanel introducing the pair of presenters of the award, “Mad Men” Creator Matt Weiner andthe show’s child star Kiernan Shipka. Shipka toldWeiner that she wants to “sink her teeth into meatier roles,” and then killedthe crowd with Faye Dunaway’s “No wire hangersEVER” monologue from MommieDearest.After she ended the speech to laughter and applause, Weiner remarked to her,”Where were you when I was on Becker?” Amy Poehler from Parks and Recreation and the show’s creator Michael Schur,presented comedy variety series. The two, who met on SNL, recalledtheir ‘woeful’ writing experiencesthere — how they spent hours doing Lorne Michaels imitations and crying how their parents never respected their life decesions. The Honorary Service – Morgan Cox Award went toPatric M. Verrone. “I don’t need to tell you who he is,” said Michael Reiss of The Simpsons writing staff. “Pat is a 2-time WGA president. Thanks tohim, he got me in the union, a health pension, and a copy of Written By which Iread from the mailbox to the trash can. He is a gifted artist and goes tochurch every Sunday. Which is more than you creeps.”Best known as the leader during the WGA strike, Reiss notedhowVerrone “looks like Hitler”. Verrone picked up on the jokeduringhis acceptance speech.”I want to thank the anonymous commentators on Deadline Hollywood who comparedme to Hitler,” Verrone said. “To them I want to say –well, I don’t want to say.” The Help screenwriter-director Tate Tayloraccepted the Special Achievement -Paul Selvin Award and politely spokeout against those naysayers who criticized him and The Help book author Kathryn Stocket – two white people — for writing a story about the African American experience of 1963. “It is a person’s right to tell a story,” said Taylor. “The Help was directed at those women in our lives. My desire to write The Help,came from my love of Carol Lee, the [African American]woman who helped raise mewith my broke mother. I wrote The Help for them. When someone writes from love, truth, and honor, they have a right to tell astory. We lose if we give into society’s criticisms.” Following a thirtysomething clip, Marshall Herskovitz and Edward Zwick accepted the Special Achievement – PaddyChayefsky Award and warmly recalled the joys of writing together,having first worked on the ABCshow Family. Herskovitz reflected,”When you are a 27, you can’t imagine a career. And at 57 you can’t remember it.” Zwick said, “There’s a lot to be said about writing with someone else. It has allowed us to do together what we are afraid to do alone.” MOTION PICTURE WINNERS Coming… TELEVISION WINNERS COMEDY SERIES Modern Family, Written by Cindy Chupack, Paul Corrigan, Abraham Higginbotham, Ben Karlin, Elaine Ko, Carol Leifer, Steven Levitan, Christopher Lloyd, Dan OShannon, Jeffrey Richman, Brad Walsh, Ilana Wernick, Bill Wrubel, Danny Zuker (ABC) EPISODIC COMEDY Caught in the Act (Modern Family), Written by Steven Levitan & Jeffrey Richman (ABC) NEW SERIES Homeland – Written by Henry Bromell, Alexander Cary, Alex Gansa, Howard Gordon, Chip Johannessen, Gideon Raff, Meredith Stiehm (Showtime) LONG FORM ORIGINAL Cinema Verite – Written by David Seltzer (HBO) LONG FORM ADAPTED Too Big To Fail – Written by Peter Gould, Based on the book written by Andrew Ross Sorkin (HBO) COMEDY / VARIETY (INCLUDING TALK) SERIES The Colbert Report, Writers: Michael Brumm, Stephen Colbert, Rich Dahm, Paul Dinello, Eric Drysdale, Rob Dubbin, Glenn Eichler, Dan Guterman, Peter Gwinn, Jay Katsir, Barry Julien, Frank Lesser, Opus Moreschi, Tom Purcell, Meredith Scardino, Scott Sherman, Max Werner (Comedy Central) COMEDY / VARIETY MUSIC, AWARDS, TRIBUTES SPECIALS After the Academy Awards, Head Writers: Gary Greenberg, Molly McNearney; Writers: Tony Barbieri, Jonathan Bines, John N. Huss, Sal Iacono, Eric Immerman, Jimmy Kimmel, Jonathan Kimmel, Jacob Lentz, Danny Ricker, Richard G. Rosner (ABC) ANIMATION Homer the Father (The Simpsons), Written by Joel H. Cohen (Fox) DAYTIME DRAMA General Hospital, Written by Meg Bennett, Nathan Fissell, David Goldschmid, Robert Guza, Jr., Karen Harris, Elizabeth Korte, Mary Sue Price, Michele Val Jean, Susan Wald, Tracey Thomson (ABC) CHILDREN’S EPISODIC & SPECIALS Hero of the Shadows (Supah Ninjas), Written by Leo Chu, Eric S. Garcia (Nickelodeon) NEW MEDIA NOMINEES ACHIEVEMENT IN WRITING ORIGINAL NEW MEDIA Episode 1, Episode 2, Episode 4, Episode 5, Episode 6 (Aim High), Written by Heath Corson & Richie Keen (cambio.com/aim-high) ACHIEVEMENT IN WRITING DERIVATIVE NEW MEDIA A New Day, Family Matters, Neighborly Advice, Step Mom, Everything Dies (The Walking Dead), Teleplay by John Esposito, Story by John Esposito and Greg Nicotero (amc.com) VIDEOGAME NOMINEES VIDEOGAME WRITING Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception, Written by Amy Hennig (Sony Computer Entertainment) (*There were no nominees this year in the following WGA categories: Childrens Long Form or Special and Television Graphic Art.) Feature films eligible for a WGA Award were exhibited theatrically for at least one week in Los Angeles during 2011 and were written under the WGAs Minimum Basic Agreement (MBA) or under a bona fide collective bargaining agreement of the Australian Writers Guild, Writers Guild of Canada, Writers Guild of Great Britain, Irish Playwrights & Screenwriters Guild or the New Zealand Writers Guild. Theatrical screenplays produced under the jurisdiction of the WGA or an affiliate Guild must have been submitted for WGA awards consideration. Documentaries eligible featured an onscreen writing credit and were exhibited theatrically in Los Angeles or NY for one week during 2011. Credited documentary writers were required to join the WGAWs Nonfiction Writers Caucus or the WGAEs Nonfiction Writers Caucus to be considered, but scripts need not have been written under WGA jurisdiction for consideration.

Pals, family remember Houston

HoustonClapping hands and swaying to gospel hymns inside the chapel where Whitney Houston's effective voice once impressed her congregation, the finest names in entertainment sang along with the choir to bear in mind the pop celebrity at her hometown funeral Saturday."We are here today, hearts broken but with God's strength we celebrate the presence of Whitney Houston," the Rev. Joe A. Carter told the packed New Hope Baptist Chapel following a choir behind him sang "The Master is My Shepherd."The surviving including singer Jennifer Hudson and Houston's mother, gospel singer Cissy Houston, was, swayed and clapped along inside the lanes as gospel entertainers BeBe Winans as well as the Rev. Kim Burrell grew to become part of with celebs like Alicia Secrets in needing to pay tribute for the 48-year-old pop celebrity who first began singing inside the Newark chapel."Waiting for voice such as this for existence,Inch mentioned music mogul Clive Davis, who shepherded Houston's career for several years.Others were more mournful singer Ray J., who remained with Houston throughout her last days, eliminate crying. His sister, singer Brandy, put her arm around him. Cissy Houston and Houston's daughter, 18-year-old Bobbi Kristina, clutched each other at the front in the row.Actor Kevin Costner, her co-star in "The Bodyguard" that produced her finest hit, appreciated a celebrity who was simply uncertain of her fame, who "still wondered, 'Am I sufficient? Am I pretty enough? Would they at all like me?AInchInchIt have been the duty that made her great as well as the part that triggered her to stumble ultimately," Costner mentioned.Filmmaker Tyler Perry recognized Houston's "sophistication that ongoing moving her completely through, the identical sophistication introduced her completely up charts. She sang for presidents."Stevie Question and also the famous host the famous host oprah Winfrey were among the finest names collected to mourn Houston, along with Hudson, Monica, Brandy and Jordin Sparks -- representing a period of huge-voiced youthful entertainers who had been elevated emulating her. Houston's voice, a recording of "I'll Always Thank You,In . wound up being to shut the funeral.Houston's mother was aided with a couple on both sides of her as she walked in and sitting along with her daughter together with other family to begin the service. Houston's ex-husband, Bobby Brown, briefly came out at her funeral, going to the casket, touching it and walking out. Pads mentioned Brown was upset he will have to sit individually within the people he turned up with, and left. A Brown representative didn't immediately comment.The surviving fell quiet as three cops escorted Houston's casket, engrossed in white-colored roses and crimson lilies. White-colored-robed choir people began to fill the pews round the podium. Since the band carried out softly, the choir sang in the hushed voice, "Whitney, Whitney, Whitney."Close family friend Aretha Franklin, whom Houston lovingly referred to as "Aunt Ree," happen to be prone to sing within the service, but she was too ill to visit. Franklin mentioned inside an email for the Connected Press they have been up a lot of the evening with leg spasms and sent best of luck for the family. "May God bless and every one of them,Inch she written.A training course getting an image of Houston searching skyward read "Praising the presence of Whitney Elizabeth Houston, a youthful child of God." Pictures of Houston just like a baby, along with her mother and daughter filled the program.InchI never stated that whenever you're born, the Holy Spirit described that you would Not with me at night extended," Cissy Houston written her daughter in the letter launched inside the program. "Which I fortunately for your beautiful flower he allowed me to enhance and cherish for 48 years.""Relaxation, my young girl in peace," the letter finishes, signed "mommie."The service marks 7 days after Houston, among music's all-time finest stars, is discovered dead in the Beverly Slopes hotel in California. A adding step to dying has not been determined.All over the world, Houston was the pop full while using perfect voice, the dazzling diva with regal beauty, a troubled celebrity battling with addiction and, finally, another victim in the gloomy of fame.To her family and pals, she was only "Nippy." A nickname presented to Houston when she will be a child, it associated with her through the adult years and, later, would finish up being the title of just one of her companies. On their behalf, she will be a sister, a pal, a daughter, together with a parent.InchShe always had the benefit,In . Jackson mentioned outdoors chapel Saturday. "You'll be able to tell when some kids have that which you call a distinctive anointing. Aretha had that whenever she was 14. ... Whitney cultivated might needed it with a higher level.InchA few fans collected 'life was imple' several hours just before the service as near simply because they could reach the chapel, some from so far as Washington, D.C., and Miami. Bobby Brooks mentioned he came from from Washington "only to be among the relaxation in the fans.""Only to celebrate her existence, not just her dying," mentioned Brooks, "only to sing and dance using those who love her."Others were more business, creating card tables to promote silk-examined T-t t shirts with Houston's image and her Dvds. Just the requested would get near the chapel streets were closed for the public for blocks in every single direction. However presence was felt across the chapel, getting an enormous shrine of heart-created balloons and messages that covered the street corner across the chapel entrance.Houston's dying marked the best chapter for your celebrity whose fall from sophistication while shocking was years inside the making. Houston had her first No. 1 hit when she was 22, a flurry of No. 1 tunes and multi-platinum records.Over her career, she offered greater than 50 million records within the united states . States alone. Her voice, an ideal combination of energy, sophistication and wonder, made classics from tunes like "Saving My Passion For You," ''I Will Almost always Thank You,In . ''The Finest Adoration for All" and "I'm Every Lady." Her six Grammys were only a part of her many honours.But one of the fame, a turbulent marriage to Brown and her reliance on drugs broken her image. She increased to become lady failing as you're watching world.Her last album, "I Use You," first demonstrated on the top from the charts if the was released this past year with strong sales, but didn't hold the endurance of her previous records. An trip the year after was condemned by cancellations because of illness and sub-componen performances.Still, a comeback was ahead: She wound up being to star inside the remake in the movie "Sparkle" and was concentrating on audio. Her family, pals and hard-core fans were hopeful.The funeral is ideal for requested site visitors only. Houston is going to be hidden alongside her father, John Houston, in nearby Westfield, N.J. Contact the number newsroom at news@variety.com

Cable casts wider 'net'

Growth in Internet, or over-the-top viewing (OTT) may not topple multichannel distribution platforms, but at the same time, revenues of traditional distribs are not likely to see strong growth.Despite some recent upbeat news from cable MSO's (Comcast reduced subscriber losses from 135,000 in Q4 of 2010 to 17,000 in Q4 of 2011), there's been little overall sub growth lately. SNL Kagan reports that total U.S. multichannel households numbered 98.5 million in 2010, up only 200,000 from the previous year, and still 100,000 below the 2008 peak.The weak economy may be partly to blame, but the fact is that most people who want service already have it.Even so, Moody's Investors Service sees revenue growth for cable MSOs as they respond to rising demand for broadband service.Right now, broadband reaches about 68% of U.S. households. "There's definitely room for the U.S. to keep growing high-speed data penetration," says Karen Berckmann, a Moody's analyst who penned a report on the topic in December. "And the cable pipe is still a very good solution," she adds. What's more, Berckmann notes that cablers will have more pricing power as data transmission speeds are boosted. Contact the Variety newsroom at news@variety.com

Can You Pay to look at March Madness Online?

The autumn TV months are materializing. Systems have purchased a large number of new aircraft pilots starring familiar faces including Zachary Levi, Mindy Kaling, Mandy Moore and Sarah Silverman, and from proven producers like Josh Schwartz, J.J. Abrams, Greg Berlanti and Kevin Williamson. Also creating a comeback this season: Legendary figures including Eco-friendly Arrow, Barbara Bradshaw, A Virtual Detective and sweetness and also the Animal. To keep an eye on who's doing what, read our complete list of all of the series projects in contention and appearance back for updates on their own status. Listed here are the CBS aircraft pilots: (Get more information at ABC, CW, Fox and NBC.) Find Out More > Other Links From TVGuide.com FelicityThe West WingJonny Lee MillerMandy MooreSarah SilvermanKevin WilliamsonGreg BerlantiZachary LeviToni TrucksJ.J. AbramsJennifer LevinJosh SchwartzSherri CooperBrothers & SistersEli StoneRobert DohertyKevin FallsMindy KalingJamie TarsesCovert AffairsHappy Being

Pat Buchanan Officially Out At MSNBC

Pat Buchanan and MSNBC have officially parted ways. The veteran conservative commentator had not appeared on the network since October when he began promoting his book Suicide of a Superpower: Will America Survive to 2025?. An MSNBC spokesman said, “After 10 years, we’ve parted ways … We wish him well.” Buchanan joined MSNBC in 2002 after two decades as a rotating host of CNN’s Crossfire. In the years since then MSNBC has tilted much further to the left. In January MSNBC president Phil Griffin said the ideas expressed in Buchanan’s book put forth “arent really appropriate for national dialogue, much less the dialogue on MSNBC. Buchanan wrote today in an essay on the website for The American Conservative magazine, which he co-founded: In the 10 years I have been at MSNBC, the network has taken heat for what I have written, and faithfully honored our contract. Yet my four months absence from MSNBC and now my departure represent an undeniable victory for the blacklisters.

Laurence Fishburne Heads Towards The Colony

Cannibal thriller with Kevin ZegersIf you discover that the idea of cannibals inside a snowy, advanced landscape dredges up unhappy reminiscences of Highlander: The Origin, there's hope available. Just like a employee at Rekall, Laurence Fishburne will replace that memory for you personally, as he works out for that Colony, that is nearly to begin shooting in Toronto.It is a sci-fi thriller about several ragged children trying to sit down out an ice age, while fending off attacks from feral cannibals. Believe that bit within the Road with Garret Dillahunt, then reimagine it as being a sci-fi comic, and you'll have something. Oh, wait, this is the Book Of Eli.Fishburne's specific role has not occurred obvious, but it is searching likely that he'll be became a member of in the publish-apocalyptic hobbies by Kevin Zegers (Wrong Turn, Transamerica, Frozen).The director is Shaun Renfroe, who formerly made the horror mystery Some Point with Udo Kier, Lance Henriksen and Bruce Payne, and edited the completely wonderful Anvil. Renfroe can also be certainly one of four credited authors around the film, others being Patrick Tarr (a collection dresser and production designer by trade, that has copious writing credits on TV's Murdoch Mysteries), and Pascal Trottier and Svet Rouskov, each of whom are moving up to and including full-featured after several short films.Toronto's Alcina PIctures is behind the project, that is being referred to being an indie, but has handled a not uncommon budget of $16m. If shooting goes based on plan, The Colony ought to be within the can through the finish of March.

Paywalls enforced on March Madness

Some facets of March Madness will require audiences needing to pay a $3.99 fee instead of the online with free streaming utilization of all games which has been in place since 2006.Time Warner and CBS Corp. are switching with a zone defense with this particular year's multiplatform coverage in the NCAA men's basketball tournament.Some facets of March Madness will require audiences needing to pay a $3.99 fee instead of the online with free streaming utilization of all games which has been in place since 2006. For your second consecutive year, CBS and Turner Sports are splitting the 67 games, coverage which begins March 7.Hoops fans who would like to watch games online that are scheduled to air on participating cable systems TNT, The very best spinner's and TruTV will need to provide a password verifying they subscribe to cable, satellite or telco services. People wanting to check out the knowledge on wireless items like the iPad will have to give the fee regardless of whether they have been multichannel monthly monthly subscriptions or else. Monthly monthly subscriptions aren't needed to check out online any games survive CBS.The paywall obstacles certainly are a reflection in the growing momentum behind the industry's embrace of TV Everywhere, a movement to enhance the requirement for multichannel monthly monthly subscriptions that counts Time Warner Boss Rob Bewkes among its finest advocates. Cable operators and satcasters leaned on designers to curtail the free ease of access to programming online thinking about their new readiness to cover retransmission consent costs, a billion-dollar revenue stream that didn't exist only a few years back.The paywall impeding mobile and tablet items regardless of authentication signifies how rights to TV programming typically work, without getting-of-home viewing not technically covered under existing affiliate agreement.Just a year ago, March Madness is created around the iPad the first time totally free. However, this year marks the first time wireless availability will probably be extended to items run by Google's Android operating-system.CBS and Turner may be gambling that even if paywalls lower the quantity of eyeballs that can come for the games across platforms, they'll still monetize people audiences inside a greater rate in comparison as to the they'd through advertising alone. A year ago, March Madness averaged 2.6 000 0000 daily unique site site visitors and contains acquired 100s of vast amounts in ad revenue lately, which causes it to be most likely probably the most lucrative video encounters online because time. The paywall technique is not unequalled, however. CBS charged $15 for online utilization of March Madness for just about any three-year period beginning in 2003.March Madness will be the finest profile test yet for your convenience in the authentication experience, that's been belittled due to not user-friendly. The correct change will come in the second year from the massive 14-year pact in which the companies ponied up an thought $11 billion. The games, which was formerly known to as March Madness If Needed, are actually re-named this year as March Madness Live. Contact Andrew Wallenstein at andrew.wallenstein@variety.com

China toon production up 18%

BEIJING -- China continues to push the domestic toon biz and last year produced 435 toons, some 261,224 minutes of animated material, a rise of 18% on the previous year, official data showed. China has been fighting a battle to push homegrown toons over foreign imports, especially manga and U.S. rugrat fare, and the country's broadcasting watchdog, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT), believes that is paying off. "The growing production and trade of Chinese-made animation has largely enriched TV programming at all levels and generally meets the needs of teenagers," SARFT said in a circular, which was carried by local media. A report in July last year showed that China was the world's biggest toon-maker, but it suffers from worthy and dull fare that children do not go for, and has long suffered to compete against the Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network offerings. The government has responded with major subsidies and calls for better quality. SARFT said that 27% of animated content last year was made by national animation bases. Contact the Variety newsroom at news@variety.com