All Screen articles in 4 May 2007 – Page 2

  • Features

    United Kingdom - Hints of Wales

    2007-05-04T00:00:00Z

    Pauline Burt is in the enviable position of running a national film agency that does not have to beg producers to shoot in the region.Burt is the chief executive of the new Film Agency for Wales, which was launched in July 2006 and effectively replaced Sgrin, which had also been ...

  • Features

    United States - Found in transition

    2007-05-04T00:00:00Z

    Newly ensconced as head of worldwide marketing and distribution at Los Angeles-based Lakeshore Entertainment, former Paramount Classics co-head David Dinerstein is quietly ushering in a revolution.The quality of projects produced and sold by Lakeshore will stay the same of course, but Dinerstein is plotting an expanded production slate typically falling ...

  • Features

    Market focus - Talk of the virtual town

    2007-05-04T00:00:00Z

    Distributors are finding ways to capitalise on and measure the internet buzz of a film before its release with the help of digital marketing specialists.Historically, word of mouth has been nearly impossible to measure or track, offering marketers only limited anecdotal information. But the advent of blogs and viral online ...

  • Features

    Kosovo/Macedonia - Dogme learns new tricks

    2007-05-04T00:00:00Z

    In late April, Aneta Lesnikovska screened her debut feature Does It Hurt' - The First Balkan Dogma in Skopje, Macedonia. The screening in her homeland followed various festival outings, starting with the world premiere in the Tiger Competition in Rotterdam and also including the Bermuda International Film Festival where the ...

  • Features

    In focus - Specialty divisions - Niche labels reveal new look

    2007-05-04T00:00:00Z

    These are changing times for the specialised divisions of the Hollywood studios. Over the past two years, Fox Searchlight and Universal's Focus Features have restructured their management teams, Warner Independent Pictures has replaced its president, Disney's Miramax Films has started a new life without Harvey and Bob Weinstein, and Paramount ...

  • Features

    Editorial - Screen says - dividing the spoils

    2007-05-04T00:00:00Z

    Multi-award winning screenwriter William Nicholson this week related a fundamental truth he has learned about the film industry. "If you want power over your work, be prepared to take the risks and pay the money." His advice to screenwriters demanding greater financial, moral and creative power over their work is ...

  • Features

    Distribution - Making a splash

    2007-05-04T00:00:00Z

    Expectations are high for the Australia and New Zealand box office this year - and not just because of the number of high-profile studio sequels scheduled to open over the summer months.Admissions have been rising steadily in recent years - from 76 million in 1997 to 83.6 million in 2006 ...

  • Features

    Digital Rights - Territory report - Was this the opening salvo'

    2007-05-04T00:00:00Z

    Earlier this year Canada's performers' union, the Alliance of Canadian Television, Cinema and Radio Artists (Actra), held its first-ever strike. The six-week stoppage may come to be seen as one of the initial skirmishes in the North America digital rights war.Actra, representing 21,000 performers across the country, is the most ...

  • Features

    Digital Rights - Territory report - France

    2007-05-04T00:00:00Z

    France's union system differs greatly from the US. While there are lobby groups and associations, there are no guilds per se which resemble the Hollywood heavies such as the WGA, DGA and SAG. The closest thing to those organisations is the Societe des Auteurs et Compositeurs Dramatiques (Sacd) which represents ...

  • Features

    Digital Rights - Territory report - The UK

    2007-05-04T00:00:00Z

    The UK's film unions regard the digital revolution with a mix of excitement and trepidation. In the short term, there is the threat of job losses. Lab technicians and cinema projectionists are among those already affected by moves away from celluloid. Production crews are also experiencing change as new technology ...

  • Features

    United Kingdom - Crime Pays

    2007-05-04T00:00:00Z

    If the film world has not heard from producer Peter James in a while, it is because he is revelling in his new incarnation as a bestselling crime author.James, who has long juggled film producing with writing novels, has moved up to the international literary premier league. New instalments in ...

  • Features

    United States - From Coast To Coast

    2007-05-04T00:00:00Z

    GreeneStreet Films International (Gsfi) chief Ariel Veneziano's decision to move from New York to Los Angeles last October underscores the strides the division has taken.In the last year or so Veneziano has worked furiously to beef up the sales arm of John Penotti and Fisher Stevens' New York-based GreeneStreet Films, ...

  • Features

    Digital rights - The new media issue from both sides

    2007-05-04T00:00:00Z

    The Writers Guild of America positionFor writers, a simple principle lies at the heart of discussions of new or non-traditional media such as the internet, mobile phones and other digital platforms. "If the companies get paid, we get paid. That's our view," explains WGA West executive director and lead negotiator ...

  • Features

    Digital rights - Unions - The bill of rights

    2007-05-04T00:00:00Z

    The start of a new round of labour talks often has Hollywood on edge. But this summer the anxiety level will be higher than usual when representatives of the Writers Guild of America (WGA) and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (Amptp) begin negotiations over a new contract ...

  • Features

    Digital Rights - Territory report - Australia

    2007-05-04T00:00:00Z

    The agreements covering film production in Australia are in place until 2009, so all is calm between the unions right now. Digital and new media is not an issue - yet - because the agreements in place already capture the small amount of money flowing from new technologies.Actors' fees are ...

  • Features

    Cannes do attitudes

    2007-05-04T00:00:00Z

    It is difficult to imagine what the mood was like at the inaugural Cannes film festival, which this year reaches its 60th birthday.The concept of an event celebrating cinema in all its manifestations and pitting films against each other competitively was still relatively novel back in 1946. The seaside resort ...

  • Features

    Digital Rights - Talking points - Any other business'

    2007-05-04T00:00:00Z

    Home-video residualsThe home-video residual formula established in the mid-1980s before the video market took off has been a thorn in the guilds' sides ever since. The formula is variously characterised as being based on the 20% royalty on video sales that goes to the producer of a film, or as ...

  • Reviews

    Live!

    2007-05-03T17:41:00Z

    Dir: Bill Guttentag. US. 2007. 96mins.Bill Guttentag's hilarious satire of reality/game show media culture, Live! takes its subject to the wall with a live televised Russian Roulette competition. Presented as a The Making Of story, Live! also attacks the ghoulish opportunism of independent documentaries. Live! will show viewers of ...

  • News

    RAI's 01 Distribution names Adriano Coni as its new president

    2007-05-03T17:37:00Z

    RAI Cinema, the film unit of Italy's state run broadcaster RAI has named Adriano Coni as new president of 01 Distribution, the distribution arm of RAI Cinema. Coni previously acted as chief of both RAI Cinema's marketing and human resource divisions.01 Distribution has been without a president since its previous ...

  • Reviews

    Smiley Face

    2007-05-03T15:19:00Z

    Dir: Gregg Araki. US. 2007. 87mins.Smiley Face opens as a would-be LA actress's pot-induced journey stumbles to an end, with blonde stoner Jane (Anna Faris) reflecting on the binge that, as the omniscient narrator (Roscoe Lee Browne) puts it, took a young woman 'from point A to point Z.' The ...