HOLLYWOOD - Wall Street showed little reaction Monday to the settlement reached on Friday between the Writers Guild of America and the Association of Motion Picture and Television Producers, the Los Angeles Times observed Monday. Noting that if a strike had materialized, most TV and film studios would have been able to lower their production costs, Merrill Lynch analyst Jessica Reif Cohen told the newspaper, "If there had been a strike, it would have been a short-term positive for some of the companies." Nevertheless, UBS Warburg analyst Christopher Dixon noted that investors were able to breathe "a great sigh of relief" when the agreement was announced. Referring to the potential of an actors' strike, Dixon added, "We still don't know whether we'll have actors, but we do have scripts that will be written, and that's a first step."
DOBBS VOWS TO BEAT RIVALS IN 12 MONTHS
Preparing to make his return as anchor of CNN's Moneyline on Monday, Lou Dobbs has told the Wall Street Journal that his aim is to overtake the show's rivals within 12 months. "I'm anxious to compete," he told the WSJ. "We will put considerable pressure on ourselves to do as well as possible, as soon as possible." The newspaper said that Dobbs' resurrection -- he resigned in 1999 after a bitter dispute with former CNN President Rick Kaplan -- will be accompanied by a strong marketing push, including one print ad that reads: "On May 14, investor confidence returns. Lou Dobbs returns to CNN. (You're welcome, Mr. Greenspan.)"
CBS MOVIE HELPS NET WIN SUNDAY NIGHT
CBS, proving that the TV movie is far from being a goner, scored strong ratings for its Follow the Stars Home movie Sunday night, helping it to win an important sweeps night. The movie averaged a 10.7 rating and a 16 share, peaking in the 10 p.m. half-hour with an 11.3/18. Combined with a strong performance by 60 Minutes (11.2/20) at 7 p.m., followed by Touched By an Angel at 8 p.m. (10.6/17), the network wound up well ahead of its rivals, including ABC, which challenged with Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, which earned the best numbers of the night (13.0/19).
FIVE TOP DIRECTORS MAKE SHORTS FOR BMW
BMW has hired five major directors to make a series of short movies featuring BMWs. The company said that it plans to link the films together under the banner "The Hire" and display them on the internet <http://www.BMWfilms.com>. The directors include John Frankenheimer (The Manchurian Candidate), Ang Lee (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon), Guy Ritchie (Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Snatch), Wong Kar-Wai (In the Mood for Love) and Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu (Amores Perros). One film, running 5 minutes, 43 seconds, called The Ambush has already been posted on the site, which is being produced by director David Fincher (Seven). It was not clear whether BMW intends to release the films on television.
WHICH NETWORK WILL BE THE TOP DOG?
Two other networks have joined NBC in bidding for the BBC quiz/game show Dog Eat Dog. The London Daily Mail reported Tuesday that ABC and Fox are also attempting to land the hit show, said to be a kind of combination Survivor/Weakest Link. They apparently also want to sign up the show's BBC host, Ulrika Jonsson, according to the Mail. Colin Jarvis, director of BBC Worldwide, the commercial arm of the British public broadcaster, told the newspaper: "Discussions for Dog Eat Dog are ongoing with the major networks. There has been a tremendous interest because of The Weakest Link, with them all wanting to know what is the next big thing coming out of the BBC market place."
EX-"REPORTER" WRITER SAYS "CANCER" WAS SPREADING AT TRADE PAPER
Former Hollywood Reporter
labor writer David Robb charged Monday that the trade paper's publisher placed protection of the paper ahead of journalistic principles when he quashed Robb's story raising questions about the conduct of the paper's gossip columnist. Appearing on the CNN program Reliable Sources, Robb sidestepped a question by Washington Post media critic Howard Kurtz asking him why he thought the publisher, Robert Dowling, had chosen to make the matter "so personal" by accusing Robb of having "an agenda" and assailing his journalistic ethics. He replied: "I think Bob Dowling is a good man. He was a good publisher. I think he wants to protect the paper. But, I think he failed in his oversight responsibilities. When there's a cancer, you have to address it early on or it will spread. And that's what happened in this case." Robb did not elaborate about how he thought "the cancer" had spread at the trade paper.
"THE PRODUCERS" SETS TONY AWARDS RECORD
Mel Brooks' The Producers, based on the 1968 AVCO Embassy movie, received a record 15 Tony Award nominations Monday, beating the previous record set by the 1970 Stephen Sondheim musical Company, which received 14 nods. The 55th annual award ceremony, set to be televised by CBS from New York's Radio City Music Hall on June 10, is fast taking on the appearance of an infomercial for the Producers. It is due to be hosted by Matthew Broderick and Nathan Lane, the two stars of the show, who will also be competing against one another for the award for best performance by a leading actor in a musical.
QANTAS TO INTRODUCE UNEDITED MOVIES ON FLIGHTS
Australia's Qantas Airlines says that the installation of individual seatback screens in all of its long-haul flights starting next month will enable it to provide a choice of at least 12 channels, thereby doing away with the necessity of cutting films with violent or sexual content, according to the Sydney Morning Herald. The airline's inflight entertainment executive, Michael Freedman, told the newspaper that it is likely that Qantas will now show all movies in their unedited, original versions. It will also be able to give parents the ability to ask flight attendants to block any channel on the seatback sets in front of their children. Freedman will still have the ability to cast away certain films, however. He told the newspaper, "Anything that dwells on, or is explicit in terms of an airline crash, or something that is likely to raise the anxiety levels of our passengers, we avoid."
DRUG BUST OF INDIAN STAR TOUCHES OFF DEBATE IN BOLLYWOOD
Saturday's arrest of rising Bollywood star Fardeen Khan on charges of cocaine trafficking has sparked a debate within the Indian film industry about drug use, with many filmmakers coming to the actor's defense. Tuesday's Times of India quoted director Mahesh Bhatt as remarking, "You cannot wish away drugs. ... It almost enjoys a tacit legitimacy in the Indian context, since we are used to sadhus and fakirs [Hindu monks] having substances like ganja [marijuana]." Veteran Bollywood actor Rishi Kapoor told the newspaper: "What is the big thing about him having banned stuff? Why don't the agencies focus on the addicts on the streets? Just because Fardeen is a big name, this matter has gone out of hand." On Monday, authorities dropped the trafficking charges against the actor on the grounds that he was not carrying a large amount of cocaine at the time of his arrest.