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Robert Downey Jr.’s life reads like a Hollywood script – it is about second chances, redemption, and proving that no matter how far you fall, a resurgence may very well be right around the corner. Born in 1965 to underground filmmaker Robert Downey Sr. and actor Elsie Downey, Robert Jr. was exposed to the thrills and ills of show business from an early age. Along with Hollywood glamour came an early exposure to substance abuse. His father introduced him to drugs when he was just eight years old, and by his 20s and 30s, Downey Jr. was heavily addicted to alcohol, cocaine, and heroin.

Robert Downey Jr. in a still from Sherlock Homes (2009) | Credits: Warner Bros.

From a promising young actor turned spiraling addict to the face of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), Rdj’s transformation is, honestly, quite remarkable. He went from struggling to get insured for film roles to...

For the first time since they introduced the In Memoriam segment, the Academy Awards is giving us a reason to tune in: the 2025 Oscars host is Conan O’Brien.

Yes, we have high hopes for the former late-night comedian who brings at least a small chance of talking about butthole gerbils before an audience of self-congratulating millionaires. Certainly, O’Brien doesn’t need our advice for mastering his first-ever time hosting the Academy Awards, but if he did want to take inspiration from anyone, he should look to the King of Late Night himself: Johnny Carson.

Carson hosted the Academy Awards five times — and nearly back-to-back-to-back-to-back-to-back — in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s. Many of his jokes have remained fairly relevant, too. Exhibit A: When he greeted his celebrity audience in 1979 with, “I see a lot of new faces — especially on the old faces.”

However, given the standard topicality of the Academy Awards,...

Looks like Donald Trump’s second term in the White House is sadly and truly going to be a lot like his first.

As great swaths of Los Angeles are destroyed from multiple wildfires and harsh winds, the 45th and soon to be 47th Potus made his tried and true tactic of taking to social media to find someone to blame — in this case, Trump’s old West Coast nemesis California Gov. Gavin Newsom.

LA County is under a state of emergency, tens of thousands of acres scorched, at least two people dead and thousands of homes and buildings destroyed by fires in Pacific Palisades, Altadena, Pasadena and now parts of Malibu. Newsom is currently receiving a briefing with President Joe Biden from officials on the current state of the tragedy.

Trump being Trump decided to make it personal.

In a post this morning on his Truth Social, the President-elect...

Gov. Gavin Newsom unveiled a proposal on Sunday to increase California’s film incentive to $750 million, responding to calls to boost the struggling industry.

At an event at Raleigh Studios in Los Angeles, Newsom said it was important to “send a statement” by more than doubling the subsidy, which is currently set at $330 million.

“We needed to be big and bold,” Newsom said, flanked by supporters from labor. “We’re in a position where we can afford this, and we need to do this.”

The increase must be approved by the Legislature next year, and would take effect in July 2025.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass applauded the proposal, saying it would make a “huge difference” in making the state competitive with tax incentives in New York and Georgia.

“Just like we need to do in the World Series, we have to make sure we stay ahead of New York,” Bass said.

When people ask “where is the film industry going?”, they usually mean in general terms. Increasingly, though, that question centers literally on location: Where are film and TV productions shooting? Last week, FilmLA president Paul Audley sounded the alarm that there were even fewer shooting days in Los Angeles this summer than there were during the strike summer of 2023.

Audley will join IndieWire’s “Filming Outside Hollywood” panel at our Future of Filmmaking Summit in Los Angeles on November 2 to discuss that startling statistic and why productions have been not only leaving L.A. but also the U.S., and what it will take to lure them back.

Purchase Early Bird Discount Tickets for the Future of Filmmaking Summit

Tax incentives and rebates to lure productions have been a major part of Hollywood economics and budgeting for almost 25 years, but we’ll look at how these programs have evolved and...

Willie Brown, the former mayor of San Francisco, denied ever having faced a near-death experience with former President Donald Trump in a helicopter “emergency landing.”

Trump claimed this incident happened while speaking to reporters at the Mar-a-Lago press conference on Thursday.

“I know Willie Brown very well,” the former president stated. “I went down in a helicopter with him. We thought maybe this is the end. We were in a helicopter going to a certain location together, and there was an emergency landing. This was not a pleasant landing, and Willie was – he was a little concerned. So I know him – I know him pretty well. I mean, I haven’t seen him in years.”

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Trump went on to claim that Brown said disparaging things about Vice President Kamala Harris, who reportedly dated Brown,...

Robert De Niro ranted. Bette Midler blared about “autocracy.” Lea DeLaria declared war. But Donald Trump, though convicted in New York and shot in Pennsylvania, is still marching toward Milwaukee, where the Republican National Convention begins tomorrow.

Meanwhile, George Clooney called for a new Democrat nominee. Rob Reiner seconded the motion. Damon Lindelof went all in, calling for a donor strike. But their forsaken champion, Joe Biden, is still slouching toward Chicago, intent on securing his party’s nomination at the Democratic convention next month.

When this mess resolves—as it must, sooner or later—Hollywood might want to rethink its political habits. Because the current approach clearly isn’t working.

Hysterical displays on social media or the red carpet don’t win votes. More, they become click-bait for right-leaning sites like Breitbart.com, which has made a cottage industry of logging and highlighting celebrity political tantrums.

Getting De Niro,...

With a mission wholly unique at the time, make money while inspiring social change through entertainment, Participant Media managed to rewrite the rules of Hollywood during its all too short 20-year run. The studio singlehandedly proved to the world that you can produce unbelievably great films that have an impact, and audiences will go see them. Most studios and filmmakers working today owe a debt of gratitude to Jeff Skoll and his team of visionaries. That’s why the announcement that the studio will be shutting its doors felt like a gut punch, especially at a time when Hollywood is feeling a bit limp and lifeless.

Amidst the backdrop of faltering democracies, news and information channels that appear polarized, a marathon pandemic, and the proliferation of streaming, entertainment media still stands king as a unifier, capable of bringing together broad swathes of audiences. So, while Participant’s award-winning documentary “He...

A California judge has been accused of bizarre sexual behavior, using cocaine, and demeaning a colleague as a “Jewboy” in a sweeping complaint filed by the state’s Commission on Judicial Performance.

Greg Kreis is an elected judge from Northern California, having served on Humboldt County Superior Court since 2017. (He was initially appointed by then-Gov. Jerry Brown.) He is up for reelection this year, touting “a commitment to public service.” But the charges lodged earlier this month allege Kreis has engaged in “willful misconduct in office” as well as “conduct...

Cari Beauchamp, the widely respected historian and author of several books on Hollywood who often appeared on Turner Classics Movies programming and at the network’s annual TCM Classic Film Festival, has died. She was 74.

TCM posted a tribute to Beauchamp on its Twitter/X page Friday.

“We are saddened to hear of the loss of one of our TCM family, trailblazing historian Cari Beauchamp,” the network wrote today. Without her invaluable work, many female creatives would be lost to history. We are grateful for her many contributions to our network over the years.”

Beauchamp’s work focused on the role of women in Hollywood, including in her books Without Lying Down: Frances Marion and The Powerful Women of Early Hollywood and Adventures of a Hollywood Secretary: Her Private Letters from Inside the Studios of the 1920s. She also wrote Joseph P. Kennedy Presents: His Hollywood Years, edited Anita Loos...

I lost a friend this week, Cari Beauchamp, who left us too soon at age 74. I treasured her as someone who not only shared my passion for cinema and Hollywood history, but also deep-seated values.

Cari and I had much in common. Our roots were in the freewheeling ’60s and ’70s, when we protested the Vietnam War, wore our brown hair long and our skirts short. We both started out in publicity, but I worked for the studios and she was California Governor Jerry Brown’s press secretary.

She had more husbands than I did, and two sons to my one daughter, of whom we were equally proud. We shared holiday meals, long phone calls, evening wine and cheese amid the scarlet roses on her patio, and countless poker games. She loved to garden, and to smoke cigarettes (which she eventually gave up), and to swim. The last time I...

Cari Beauchamp, the respected film historian who put readers and viewers in close touch with the early days of Hollywood through her painstaking research as an author, editor and documentary filmmaker, died Thursday. She was 74.

Beauchamp died of natural causes at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, her son Jake Flynn told The Hollywood Reporter.

She was unable to attend an Oct. 28 event at the Tcl Chinese Theatre that celebrated authors represented on THR’s recent unveiling of “The 100 Greatest Film Books of All Time.”

Beauchamp is on the exclusive list thanks to Without Lying Down: Frances Marion and the Powerful Women of Early Hollywood. First published in 1997, it centers on Marion, who became the highest-paid screenwriter, man or woman, in Hollywood by 1917 before receiving Oscars for The Big House (1930) and The Champ (1931).

Beauchamp then wrote and produced for TCM a 2001 documentary based on the book, earning a WGA nomination along the way.

Documentarian Marina Zenovich is adept at exploring the lives of complicated men. From Lance Armstrong to Roman Polanski to Robin Williams, the two-time Emmy winner has tackled subjects who have summited the heights of their professions and endured the humiliating depths as well. Her latest protagonist, former California Gov. Jerry Brown, fits the bill precisely, having done what no other politician has done — lead the country’s most populous and economically vital state over four terms.

But Brown had his failures too. The progressive Democrat fell short three times as a presidential candidate including a contentious bid for White House in 1992 that saw him politically bludgeoned by the more moderate Clintons. With ‘Jerry Brown: The Disrupter,’ which bows tonight on PBS, Zenovich takes the viewer through the California icon’s improbable arc, first elected governor at 36 years old and again at 72 with an Oakland mayor stint in between. The director...

On Friday, September 15, 2023, at 9:00 Pm on PBS, “American Masters” will feature an episode titled “Jerry Brown: The Disrupter.” This episode delves into the life and career of Jerry Brown, the longest-serving governor in California’s history.

The show explores Jerry Brown’s remarkable political and personal journey, focusing on his significant contributions to critical issues such as climate change and inequality. Viewers will gain insights into his disruptive approach to governance and how he tackled pressing problems during his tenure.

This episode of “American Masters” offers a unique opportunity to learn about the impact of a prominent political figure and his work on shaping the landscape of California and addressing global challenges.

For those interested in politics, environmental issues, and social justice, this episode provides a comprehensive look at Jerry Brown’s legacy and the issues he championed.

Release Date & Time: 9:00 Pm Friday 15 September 2023 on PBS

American Masters...

As we approach another anniversary of August 9, those who participated in “the decision” are all but gone.

But the reminders are with us, thanks to a new book by Evan Thomas, “Road to Surrender,” the forward for which reads “To save lives, it was necessary to take lives — possibly hundreds of thousands of them.” And, of course, Christopher Nolan’s epic portrait of the man who was never allowed to forget, Robert Oppenheimer.

We can’t hide under our desks anymore, but we can view ten other works that scared the hell out of us.

“On the Beach” (United Artists)

“On the Beach” (1959)

As a little girl in 1959, I found my parents watching this black and white film on TV. Excited, I asked if it was the latest with Annette and Frankie Avalon. Uh, no. They allowed me to stay, and two hours later, I was shaken to the core.

Leslie Van Houten, who in 1969 participated in a double murder at the direction of Charles Manson, was released from prison on Tuesday morning. Nancy Tetreault, a lawyer for Van Houten, confirmed her release to Rolling Stone and said the prison had kept the exact date and time confidential. “She is safely in her transitional living facility and doing well,” Tetreault says.

Van Houten, 72, was granted parole after five failed attempts at parole since 2016 and after serving more than 50 years behind bars. California Governor Gavin Newsom announced Friday, July 7, that he...

California Gov. Gavin Newsom — who blocked efforts for Leslie Van Houten to be paroled five times previously — announced Friday, July 7, that he won’t contest a California appellate court’s decision to allow for her parole. Newsom had until Monday, July 10, to file a challenge with the Supreme Court.

“The Governor is disappointed by the Court of Appeal’s decision to release Ms. Van Houten but will not pursue further action as efforts to further appeal are unlikely to succeed,” Erin Mellon, spokesperson for the governor’s office, said in a statement via NBC News.

California Governor Gavin Newsom said Friday that he won’t ask the state Supreme Court to block parole for Charles Manson follower Leslie Van Houten.

The governor’s office said it was unlikely that the state’s high court would consider an appeal of a lower court ruling that Van Houten should be released. That means Van Houten will likely be freed after serving 53 years for participating in the murders of Leno and Rosemary Labianca, who were killed in 1969 at their Los Feliz home.

The murders came two nights after the murder of actress Sharon Tate and four others in Benedict Canyon. Van Houten did not participate in the Tate mansion killings.

“More than 50 years after the Manson cult committed these brutal killings, the victims’ families still feel the impact,” the statement said.

Van Houten, now in her 70s, was serving a life sentence. She could be freed in two...

Leslie Van Houten, a member of the Manson Family who was convicted of committing two of the cult’s murders, will be released from prison in a matter of weeks, Van Houten’s attorney said Friday.

The California Parole Board had recommended Van Houten be released in 2022, a recommendation California Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed. On May 30 of this year, an appeals court overturned Newsom’s veto and ordered Van Houten to be freed.

Newsom had until July 12 to challenge that ruling, but ultimately opted not to do so.

“The Governor is disappointed by the Court of Appeal’s decision to release Ms. Van Houten but will not pursue further action as efforts to further appeal are unlikely to succeed,” Newsom’s spokesperson said in a statement to NBC on Friday. “The California Supreme Court accepts appeals in very few cases, and generally does not select cases based on this type of fact-specific determination,...

Leslie Van Houten, 73, who assisted Charles Manson in killing two people, was recommended for parole on Tuesday.

She has been recommended for parole many times since her imprisonment but was rejected each time by former California Gov. Jerry Brown (D) and current Gov. Gavin Newsom (D).

Van Houten was a member of the cult called the Manson Family. They were convicted of killing nine people, most notably actress Sharon Tate.

Van Houten took part in the 1969 murders of Leno Labianca, who was a supermarket manager, and his wife, Rosemary. She was 19 years old at the time of the murders.

In Memoriam 2022: 100 Great Celebrities Who Died In 2022

The now 73-year-old was convicted in 1971 and again in 1978, leading to her life imprisonment sentence.

Van Houten is still a danger to society, Newsom maintained. When he rejected her parole, he explained that her explanations for her participation in the Labianca killings were “inconsistent” and “inadequate.

Click here to read the full article.

Even before its March 2012 merger with the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, the Screen Actors Guild expressed consternation over the revelation of actors’ ages without their permission by IMDb, the premier online entertainment industry database that boasts of its commitment “to being the most complete source of film, TV and celebrity information.”

Ken Howard, SAG’s then-president, issued a press release in the fall of 2011 complaining that “IMDb publishes the actual dates of birth of thousands of actors without their consent, most of them not celebrities but rank-and-file actors whose names are unknown to the general public.” The release added, “When their actual ages then become known to casting personnel, the 10+ year age range that many of them can portray suddenly shrinks, and so do their opportunities to work.” Howard might well have added that the same held true for motion picture and television writers who,...

Jerry Brown in Marina Zenovich’s Jerry Brown: The Disrupter: “It’s a very strange world. It’s Alice in Wonderland.” Photo: courtesy of Marina Zenovich

Marina Zenovich’s inspiring Jerry Brown: The Disrupter features on-camera in-person interviews with former California governors Arnold Schwarzenegger and Gray Davis, former assembly speaker Willie Brown, former treasurer Kathleen Brown (Jerry’s sister), Anne Gust Brown (his wife), Peter Coyote, journalists Todd Purdum, Miriam Pawel, George Skelton, Dan Walters, and Warren Olney.

Marina Zenovich with Anne-Katrin Titze on Jerry Brown: “He’s a searcher, he’s curious, he’s inquisitive, he’s intelligent.”

Some of the famous people supporting Jerry Brown’s runs for governor and president are never mentioned by name, they just show up in the background. And the Dead Kennedys’ California Über Alles is strategically placed on the soundtrack.

“The harder you swim upstream the faster you go downstream,” Jerry Brown...

Click here to read the full article.

The San Francisco Film Festival will kick off its upcoming Doc Stories showcase with a world premiere of director Marina Zenovich’s Jerry Brown: The Disrupter, about California Governor Jerry Brown’s political career.

Sffilm’s documentary film showcase has also booked director Chris Smith’s Sr., a doc about filmmaker Robert Downey Sr. as its closing night film.

The filmmaker’s son, Robert Downey Jr., co-produced the film.

The Doc Stories programmers also booked Laura Poitras’ All the Beauty and the Bloodshed, the Venice Golden Lion Winner and a film about artist Nan Goldin, as its Centerpiece screening.

And there’s Doc Stories slots for directors Jesse Short Bull and Laura Tomaselli’s Lakota Nation vs. United States, which is executive produced by Mark Ruffalo and Marisa Tomei; Sacha Jenkins’ Louis Armstrong’s Black & Blues; Jeff Malmberg’s Mickey: The Story of a Mouse,...

Hollywood soon might be required to do more than just talk about the importance of diversity in the industry, if a new addition to an extension of California’s lucrative film and television tax credits becomes law.

With new provisions added Wednesday, the latest version of Senate Bill 485 (read it here) wending its way through the state Assembly in Sacramento and toward a second reading makes it very clear that productions need to widen their demographic aperture if they want to be eligible for big-bucks incentives from the Golden State. Almost certain to be signed by re-election seeking Gov. Gavin Newsom as a part of the overall legislation extending the 330 million annual tax credits until 2030, the addition that passed a vital vote on reads:

This bill, for credit allocations made on or after July 1, 2023, would revise the definition of qualified motion picture for purposes of the credit to require an...

There’s going to be some serious California financial meat on the bones of Star War series Skeleton Crew.

Hauling in a near-record 20.9 million in Golden State tax incentives, the Disney+ series starring Jude Law was among seven shows awarded lucrative credits today. As you can see in the list below, the 2023-premiering Skeleton Crew was joined by high-profile including Shonda Rhimes’ White House drama The Residence for Netflix, Robert Downey Jr’s adaption of Viet Thanh Nguyen’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Sympathizer for HBO.

Along with the millions handed out in the latest round of the nearly decade-long revitalized incentive program, there are two relocating series. Both HBO’s about-to-premiere Rap Sh!t from Issa Rae and Peacock/Universal TV’s Killing It were given tax credits in anticipation of moves from Florida and Louisiana, respectively. Rap Sh!t has yet to be greenlighted for Season 2, but successful...

Jeff Wald, longtime manager, producer and boxing promoter, died on Friday in Los Angeles. He was 77.

Wald’s death was confirmed to Variety by his daughter Traci Wald. A cause of death was not available.

“To the very end, he was laughing and fighting for the life he lived with epic proportions in every way,” Traci Wald Donat wrote. “He was surrounded by the family he loved so much and the music that was the soundtrack to his life of eternal optimism. We are heartbroken by the loss of our husband, father, friend and fierce advocate for women’s rights and justice for all.”

Born Jeffrey Sommers in 1944, Wald began his career in Chicago as the talent buyer for Mister Kelly’s, The London House and the Happy Medium. In 1968, he moved to Los Angeles and formed a company alongside Ron De Blasio, with George Carlin and The Turtles on its roster,...

What should have been a triumphal media moment for California Governor Gavin Newsom was scuttled on Wednesday by technical difficulties. Newsom had set his first televised press conference in at least two weeks to announce his much-anticipated pick to replace Xavier Becerra as the state’s attorney general.

The presentation began with a jubilant Newsom extemporizing from the podium, recalling his personal history with the San Francisco venue from which he was speaking and name-checking potentates. The governor, as is his habit, preambled for over 7 minutes, during which time the state YouTube feed glitched and sputtered, drawing angry comments from users on the site.

Finally, as Newsom went into a more proper introduction of his nominee for the post, the stream stopped entirely. You can see the moment below. The event was carried live by at least one local TV station, KRON4, but that outlet also cut away before the presentation was over.

A new poll of 900 Californians shows embattled governor Gavin Newsom narrowly beating the recall vote he seems almost certain to face this fall.

Of likely voters, 52.5% say they would vote against recalling the governor. In that same category, 34.6% say they would vote in favor of the effort. Among all voters, the delta narrows, with 45.7% saying they would vote “No” and 40% asserting they would vote “Yes” to recall Newsom. Those numbers are slightly better for the governor than the results of another such survey released March 15.

The poll was conducted from March 16-19 by Probolsky Research via telephone and online among prospective California voters. The survey carried a margin of error of 3.3 percentage points.

Republicans queried overwhelmingly want to oust Newsom, but centrist voters unaligned with either party narrowly favor of allowing the governor to finish his term. The 2.4% gap among centrist voters is, however, inside the poll’s margin of error.

Chloé Zhao won top honors Saturday night at the 33rd annual USC Libraries Scripter Awards for Nomadland, her adaptation of Jessica Bruder’s nonfiction book, Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century. “This is so beautiful,” Zhao said, holding up the trophy, and thanking Bruder for her book and for her “love of the road and the American people.” Then she said, “I feel so lucky to be able to tell stories for a living.”

The win makes Zhao a top contender for an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay, but not a sure bet. The Scripters – which honor the year’s best film and TV adaptations and the works on which they’re based – have, over the past decade, been one of the most reliable bellwethers of Oscar gold – until recently. Scripter winners went on to win eight consecutive Academy Awards, but finished out of the money at the last two Academy Awards.

Dangling $86.9 million in front of some big-ticket projects from Oscar winners and former Desperate Housewives, the California Film Commission was feeling particularly generous this morning.

Joel and Ethan Coen’s new Scarface, the Eva Longoria helmed Flamin Hot, Steven Soderbergh’s HBO Max-set Kimi with Zoë Kravitz, which Deadline exclusively reported on last week, and the Reese Witherspoon produced Ashley’s War are among 22 projects awarded lucrative tax credits in the latest round from the Golden State’s $330 million annual program. Playing to the jobs-based program’s bottom line, the 11 independent and 11 “non-independent,” as the Colleen Bell-run Cfc quaintly terms them, films are anticipated to generate some big bucks for coronavirus battered California.

To be specific, the return on investment is expected to haul in about $642 million in overall spending in the state. Of that, over $430 million will go into the pockets of below-the-line workers and in-state vendors. Almost...

President Joe Biden’s Department of Justice won’t be challenging California’s net neutrality laws.

The DOJ on Monday voluntarily dismissed a suit that was filed in September 2018, almost immediately after then-Governor Jerry Brown signed the nation’s toughest net neutrality bill into law. Sb-822 prevents internet service providers from speeding up, slowing down or being anything other than agnostic when it comes to website traffic. The complaint sought to block the law as unconstitutional because it conflicted with the FCC’s repeal of such protections.

The dispute was paused for nearly two years while a D.C. appeals court considered ...

President Joe Biden’s Department of Justice won’t be challenging California’s net neutrality laws.

The DOJ on Monday voluntarily dismissed a suit that was filed in September 2018, almost immediately after then-Governor Jerry Brown signed the nation’s toughest net neutrality bill into law. Sb-822 prevents internet service providers from speeding up, slowing down or being anything other than agnostic when it comes to website traffic. The complaint sought to block the law as unconstitutional because it conflicted with the FCC’s repeal of such protections.

The dispute was paused for nearly two years while a D.C. appeals court considered ...

Joe Biden reportedly has selected California’s attorney general Xavier Becerra to lead the Department of Health and Human Services.

The New York Times first reported that Becerra would be selected for the post. He has been attorney general of California since 2017, when he was appointed by then-Gov. Jerry Brown to the post to succeed Kamala Harris after she was elected to the Senate. Becerra was easily elected to a four-year term in 2018.

Becerra had been thought to be in line for U.S. attorney general or for the Senate seat that will be vacated when Harris becomes vice president. Gov. Gavin Newsom will get to appoint the next Senator and, if Becerra is confirmed to the cabinet post, also would fill the attorney general post.

Becerra has been at the forefront of legal challenges to Trump administration policies on immigration and the environment, and also filed a brief defending...

Alice Gu’s moving documentary The Donut King isn’t just a sugary concoction. Although the documentary has its sweet moments, it’s a rather nuanced and often heartbreaking tale of Ted Ngoy, a Cambodian refugee who escaped to southern California in 1975 and through hard work and dedication built a donut empire. Affectionately known as “Uncle Ted,” the 77-year-old entrepreneur was originally a major in the Cambodian army and made the difficult decision to escape just as the Khmer Rouge led a bloody revolution. He and wife Chrissy land in La, working odd jobs nearly 24 hours a day until he stumbles into a donut shop and falls in love with a taste that reminds him of home. Determined to get into the business he takes a job at the fast-growing Winchell’s chain which grew alongside car culture, interstates, and urban sprawl in the 1950s as two donuts and a...

Actor and filmmaker Stanley Tucci will front series “The Californian Century,” set to air on BBC Radio 4.

Tucci will play a cynical screenwriter who narrates the stories of ten people who helped build California over the last 100 years. They include Francis Boggs, the first person to direct a full movie in California; Hattie McDaniel, the first black actor to win an Oscar for her role in “Gone With The Wind”; rapper Ice-t; and Jerry Brown, the longest serving governor of the state.

The 10-part series is created, written and produced by BBC journalist Laurence Grissell.

Tucci said: “Having spent a lot of time working in California, I was very interested in narrating this series about the people who made the biggest impact on the state during its most fruitful century.”

Richard Knight, BBC Radio 4’s factual commissioning editor, added: “California’s political, social and cultural significance is huge – touching...

Last week filmgoers were treated to a rather nifty feature documentary, Fiddler: A Miracle Of Miracles, all about the creation of the beloved stage classic “Fiddler on the Roof”. Well, let’s continue the “musical mood” with another doc about a very popular lady singer. Uh oh, the last big female singer feature docs were 2015’s Amy (Ms. Winehouse) and last year’s Whitney (Ms. Houston), so could this be about another songstress struck down at far too young an age? Happily, I can give a resounding “No!”. She appears in new footage and narrates several sequences. However, there’s more than a hint of tragedy at the film’s conclusion. But the journey is quite magical, as she dazzles in a wide range of musical styles and genres. All this audio delight comes courtesy of Linda Ronstadt: The Sound Of My Voice.

Her screen story starts in the...

One of the many reminders of the often discounted greatness of Linda Ronstadt arrives about 30 minutes into Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman’s documentary Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice. We see the biggest female rock star of the time (1976) in a studio with her band, filming what’s essentially an early music video. The song — Karla Bonoff’s sad-sack ballad of epic proportions, “Lose Again” — builds in gale-force winds with each verse and chorus. The band appears to be instrument-synching with the track, but Ronstadt, standing behind a microphone,...

It’s been 10 years since Linda Ronstadt wrapped up her career as a performer with a show at the Municipal Auditorium in San Antonio, Texas, but she still vividly remembers how she felt that night. “I saw every concert I ever sang,” she says on the phone from San Francisco, where the singer been living a quiet life since becoming diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2012. “They say your life flashes before your eyes when you die. But it does when you retire from singing, too.”

Ronstadt has maintained a...

Janis Joplin may have had more edge, but Linda Ronstadt sold way more records, making her a viable candidate for the title of world’s first woman rock star. In their celebratory and often heartbreaking new documentary, Oscar-winning filmmakers Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman explore the singer’s melodious voice, advanced musicality, Mexican heritage, and battle with Parkinson’s disease. The new trailer for the documentary “Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice,” out this September, opens with a quote from Dolly Parton, announcing: “Linda could literally sing anything.”

Bonnie Raitt breaks it down for younger audiences who may be less familiar with the singer: “Linda was like the queen. She was like what Beyoncé is now.”

Per the official synopsis: “Ronstadt is our guide through her early years of singing Mexican canciones with her family; her folk days with the Stone Poneys; and her reign as the ‘rock queen...

Amy Lemisch is exiting her post as California Film Commissioner after 15 years on the job.

Lemisch will leave the state agency on May 10. Gov. Gavin Newsom, who took office in January after Jerry Brown was termed out, could announce her replacement soon. Newsom’s office did not respond to a request for comment.

Lemisch was appointed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2004 and re-appointed by Brown. Prior to the appointment, Lemisch worked as a producer with Penny Marshall’s Parkway Productions. Her credits include producer on “With Friends Like These”; co-producer on “Riding in Cars With Boys,” “The Preacher’s Wife” and “Renaissance Man”; and associate producer on “A League of Their Own,” “Awakenings” and “Calendar Girl.”

During the latter years of Schwarzenegger’s tenure, which ended in 2011, Lemisch was part of the campaign to boost tax credits in California to combat runaway production, resulting in an annual allocation of $100 million.

The curtain is about to fall on Amy Lemisch’s 15-year tenure as California Film Commissioner. Deadline has confirmed that the long serving Executive Director will exit the post responsible for overseeing the state’s rich film and TV tax credit program on May 10.

Now Gov. Gavin Newsom is keen to install his own appointees to the Cfc, as often is the case with a new regime. Lemisch, however, was first named to her post by then-rookie Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2004.

Under pressure as production fled the home of Hollywood for more tax lucrative realms like Georgia, the state introduced an incentive program in 2009 that the Cfc ran. The band-aid program was a mere $100 million, didn’t allow films with budgets over $75 million to apply and was conducted as a much criticized lottery.

Still, in a Sacramento dominated by northern Cali pols, Lemisch was re-upped by his Jerry Brown upon...

California’s legislature passed sweeping new privacy legislation Thursday that will likely have a major impact on both technology as well as media and entertainment companies, and that could lead to other states following suit. The law was passed in mere days to prevent voters from passing even stricter rules come November.

Ab 375, also known as the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018, passed both the State Assembly and the Senate without any opposition Thursday afternoon, and was signed into law by governor Jerry Brown soon after. When it goes into effect in 2020, the law will give consumers the right to request all the data businesses are collecting on them, as well as the right to request that businesses don’t sell any of their data.

The law also comes with strict disclosure rules about data collected by businesses, and it empowers the California Attorney General to fine businesses for non-compliance.

Updated with MPAA statement: Gov. Jerry Brown signed a a five-year extension of California’s film incentives program Wednesday, extending the state’s production tax credit system to 2025. The move will provide an additional $1.65 billion to qualified film and TV shows shot in the state.

The program was part of a $139 billion state budget that marks Brown’s last as governor.

The extension was greeted with euphoria by a coalition of industry unions including the Directors Guild, SAG-aftra, Teamsters Local 399, Laborers Union Local 724 and a members of the California Iatse Council.

“As a coalition that represents working men and women of the entertainment industry, we are elated that the California film and television production tax credit program has been extended through 2025. Our members are those who lose when film and television production leaves this state and they are also the direct beneficiaries when it returns to and stays in California.

With less than six months before his successor is elected, California Gov. Jerry Brown today extended one last gift to Hollywood with the signing of his last state budget and legislation to continue the $330 million film and television tax credit program.

Inking the $201 billion budget Wednesday in Los Angeles, Brown didn’t make any specific comments about the extension of the program until 2025, but he was on a swan-song roll worthy of a Tinseltown tentpole. “When I took office back in 2011 with the state facing a $27 billion deficit, I pledged to work with the Legislature to fix California’s financial mess,” the governor declared as the budget and Sb 871 on the credits were signed. “Today, the final budget I sign delivers on that pledge and prepares us for the future.

While never a proclaimed big priority for the Northern Cali-centric Brown, the growth of the 2009-originated $100 million-a-year, blockbuster-avoiding and lottery...

California Gov. Jerry Brown has signed an extension of California’s production tax credit program for five years beyond its 2020 expiration with $1.6 billion in credits.

The Entertainment Union Coalition, a coalition of California Iatse Council, Directors Guild of America, International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 399, LiUNA Local 724, and SAG-aftra, made the announcement Wednesday. Brown approved the legislation as part of signing the state’s overall 2018-19 budget.

“As a coalition that represents working men and women of the entertainment industry, we are elated that the California film and television production tax credit program has been extended through 2025. Our members are those who lose when film and television production leaves this state and they are also the direct beneficiaries when it returns to and stays in California,” the group said.

The program, which allocates as much as 25% of the budget to credits, was more than tripled in size in 2014 to $330 million annually...

Democrats are praying for a Blue Wave in the midterms — and Hollywood is going to be a big part of the fundraising push.

The industry is orchestrating a behind-the-scenes blitz that will inject millions into the campaign coffers of candidates across the country — from the outlying exurbs of Houston to the strands of Newport and Huntington Beach, Calif.

So far, the entertainment industry has pumped nearly $21 million into House and Senate races this election cycle, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. That places it 21st on the list of some 80 industries tracked by political donations, according to data, but Hollywood’s high-profile status and tight-knit network make it an attractive draw for candidates.

And entertainment dollars are likely to get much more important as November approaches, as Democrats aim to win back the House and the Senate and the Gop does everything it can to preserve its majorities.

The...

Barack Obama is coming to Beverly Hills next week to rake in dough for the Democrats, but Jeffrey Katzenberg made it rain money for the party on Monday.

In a hosted fundraiser last night at Spago, the former DreamWorks Animation boss and now WndrCo chief and spouse Marilyn helped raise $4.5 million for Democrats running in this year’s deeply contested midterm elections.

“California is critical in Democrat’s efforts to win back the House this fall!” proclaimed the invite to the $25,000 to $250,000 ticketed intimate event for the House Majority Pac. With just 23 seats needed to unlock the Gop and Donald Trump’s leg hold on the House of Representatives, seat rich Cali was certainly represented at the Canon Drive hangout with soon-to-be retiring Gov. Jerry Brown and once and perhaps future House Speaker Nancy Pelosi among those in attendance.

Some of the old gang were missing as Monday also had frequent Dems donors J.

Jeffrey Katzenberg hosted a fundraiser on Monday night in Beverly Hills that raised more than $4.5 million for the House Majority Pac, seeking to win back Democratic control of the House, organizers said.

The event, held at Spago in Beverly Hills, was priced at $25,000-per-person, with tickets rising to $250,000 per person for co-chairs. Among the guests were House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and California Gov. Jerry Brown. A source said that Pelosi and Brown talked about issues including climate change, healthcare, the border, and the nuclear weapons threat.

“America’s best days are ahead of us, but only if Democrats win back the House and put an end to the divisiveness and intolerance coming from this White House,” Katzenberg said in a statement. “House Majority Pac has led the way countering the flood of desperate spending that Gop outside groups are funneling into critical House races.”

The money will go to candidates in California,...

I already had a headache from fretting about the ballot measure to split California. Who gets the water? What happens to Prop 13? Where’s Yosemite? Can we still repeal the gas tax? Are the prisons in one state, the criminals in another? What about the bullet train? How do we divvy up Jerry Brown’s legacy?

Then I came up against a bigger worry: Who gets the movies?

I don’t mean the studios, such as they are in the 21st century. Those are mostly in Los Angeles, so they would be in the rump “California,” not in the newly named “Southern California,” which would include some inland counties and everything south of L.A. (including San Diego Comic-Con), nor “Northern California,” which gets all that stuff above a line that runs roughly from Monterey to Fresno.

And there’s no point quibbling about the tab for film incentives. It’s just a renegotiation.

A U.S. District Court judge struck down a California law allowing actors to request that their ages be removed from their IMDb pages, declaring the rule to be unconstitutional. The law, which was backed by SAG-AFTRA and signed into law by California Gov. Jerry Brown last year, was meant to mitigate age discrimination in Hollywood, but was challenged in a lawsuit filed by IMDb against SAG-aftra and California Attorney General Xavier Bercerra. Today, District Judge Vince Chhabria granted IMDb’s request for summary judgment, saying that the law not only violated the First Amendment, but was not properly designed to tackle the...