So I post my blog entry, go out to the Karaoke bar for a glass of merlot at a Rick Astley song, and when I get back, Richard Cheese has responded.
As I expected, he’s a thoughtful and well-spoken guy. I won’t quote the letter in full but I will give you this, because it’s important.
i [...]

You’re at home, trying to enjoy your new post-2009-ready digital TV. But what you’re seeing is something like slow-motion crash test footage. The major networks are slowly– excruciatingly slowly– being crunched into shapelessness by the WGA strike. Sure, “American Idol” is back on (and you’re welcome to it), and God help us the revived [...]

Yesterday was a big day for either freedom of speech or the right to offend, depending on how you look at it.
Here in America the 2nd Circuit court (there are two circuits, in case one blows) ruled that a new Federal Communications Commission policy penalizing accidentally aired expletives was invalid, saying it was “arbitrary and [...]

Just a quick note - the long and enormously entertaining trial over creative rights to the movie SAHARA has been solved, and the novelist Clive Cussler is the loser to the tune of $5 million.
A Los Angeles jury decided he acted in bad faith by slating the film, arguing over the script and inflating his [...]

Max Mutchnick and David Kohan, the creators of WILL AND GRACE, have dropped their suit against NBC Productions after a whirlwind civil trial which was complicated and featured an interesting twist. Let’s put it this way - Mutchnick and Kohan were winning with a $48 million settlement on Thursday morning, but by the end of [...]

I’m making none of this up.
Dateline AP — Warner Music Group, said on Tuesday it will receive $110 million from Bertelsmann AG, after agreeing to settle claims related to Bertelsmann’s relationship with the original Napster in 2000/2001.
The companies said the settlement covers the resolution of the legal claims of Warner Music’s recorded music and music [...]

The SAHARA trial continues. As you may recall, novelist Clive Cussler is suing producer Phil Anschutz over breach of contract because Anschutz wrested creative control from away from him. The Anschutz defense has been that Cussler’s version of the script was just too awful to film. In any screenplay, you have to address the most [...]

TOM GREEN CELEBRATES 112TH EPISODE OF WEB SERIES
One of my most treasured memories as an editor was the occasional gig I had putting together a segment for a local Japanese-language entertainment news show. We’d do a segment on a movie, using the “electronic press kit” provided by the studios, excerpting whatever interview footage and clips [...]

How many times have you gone into an Apple Store to pick up some Beatles albums, only to discover that they have nothing but computers and MP3 players? And how often have you bought a Beatles record, hoping it would include software to include your iPod, only to learn that the record predates that technology [...]

The great thing about showbiz is no matter how much money is involved and how important the property is, it always comes down to the egos of a couple of people. Whether it’s two former business partners releasing competing Lambada movies on the same day, or the Rolling Stones holding back a TV special for [...]