All articles by Adam Minns – Page 51
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Macclesfield retires from UIP
Mike Macclesfield is retiring as vice president of international sales and development at United International Pictures (UIP), the joint distribution partnership of Paramount Pictures, Universal Pictures and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.Macclesfield, who has served more than 26 years at UIP, will step down at the end of this year. Julian Stanford, senior vice ...
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BSkyB takes control of Open
UK satellite broadcaster BSkyB is taking control of interactive TV service Open in a deal that values the company at about $1.8bn (£1.2bn).BSkyB is raising its stake in Open from 32.5% to 80.1%, acquiring the holdings of banking group HSBC and Japanese electronics company Matsushita. HSBC is selling its ...
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Byers clears ITV consolidation with conditions
UK trade and industry secretary Stephen Byers has paved the way for consolidation of the ITV commercial broadcast network by clearing the proposed merger between TV companies Carlton Communications and United News & Media, and a possible rival bid for either from Granada Media. However, Byers said he would only ...
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Edinburgh festival to host Luzhin premiere
Marleen Gorris' The Luzhin Defence and Bill Eagles' Beautiful Creatures are amongst the world premieres at next month's Edinburgh International Film Festival (August 13-27).Artistic director Lizzie Francke has also confirmed that the festival will be book-ended by Lars von Trier's opening film Dancer In The Dark and Wong Kar-Wai's closing ...
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Carlton sells Quantel to management team for $77m
UK media group Carlton Communications had ended its search for a buyer for editing equipment maker Quantel by striking a $76.9m (£51m) deal with a management buy-out team, Carlton said on Thursday.The buy-out team, which includes chairman Richard Taylor, struck the deal after securing backing from Lloyds TSB Development Capital. ...
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Granada readies $3bn warchest ahead of ITV battle
Granada Media secured at least $2bn (£1.3bn) from its float today (July 11) as it shapes up for a possible three-way fight for control of the UK's commercial TV broadcasters.The media division, which is being spun off from its parent Granada Group, fixed the price of its offer at 515 ...
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Cirjanic to head TV sales at FilmFour Int'l
The UK's FilmFour has appointed Nada Cirjanic to the newly-created post of TV sales manager at overseas sales arm FilmFour International.Cirjanic joins FilmFour on August 21 from Granada Media International, where she managed TV, video and format sales to France, Italy and Turkey for two years. She will be responsible ...
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Metrodome beefs up slate with Vampire, HAL titles
UK distributor Metrodome Distribution has acquired a raft of titles including the critically well-received Shadow Of The Vampire and Miramax International's About Adam and Elephant Juice.Metrodome head of distribution Rupert Preston has also acquired Sundance title Chuck And Buck from Summit Entertainment and UK comedy Sorted, which was picked up ...
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Ian Holm to play fantastical Napoleon in Emperor
UK actor Ian Holm is to play Napoleon in FilmFour's The Emperor's New Clothes, a historical fantasy being produced by The Full Monty's Uberto Pasolini and directed by Palookaville's Alan Taylor.Pasolini's UK production outfit Redwave Films confirmed that Holm, whose credits include The Madness Of King George, is to ...
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Jobs go as BBC creates new media arm
UK public broadcaster the BBC is slashing more than 200 jobs as it launches BBC Technology, a commercially-driven operation providing IT services to the BBC and external companies.The job losses will come from existing technology and operations subsidiary BBC Resources, part of which will be brought into the main organisation. ...
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FilmFour backs GI 'n' drugs action movie
The UK's FilmFour is majority financing Buffalo Soldiers, an action-laden but edgy tale of drug-swilling US soldiers stationed in West Germany circa 1989.The adaptation of Robert O'Connor's darkly-humorous novel, budgeted south of $15m, is scheduled to shoot in the autumn in Germany. Already being described by FilmFour insiders as Trainspotting ...
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BAFTA confirms pre-Oscars date change
The Oscar campaign trail just took a detour to London. The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) this week confirmed it will move next year's film awards to a pre-Academy Awards slot, a move expected to boost the event's global significance by establishing it as a prime pointer ...
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Sturridge set to direct Disgrace for Granada Film
Charles Sturridge, director of FairyTale: A True Story, is to shoot an adaptation of 1999 Booker Prize-winning novel Disgrace for the UK's Granada Film.The novel, written by J M Coetzee, follows a university professor who travels to South Africa after having been caught having an affair with a student. Sturridge ...
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Intermedia seals first-look deal with Winslet
In its first long-term deal outside the US since floating in May, Intermedia has struck an exclusive first-look pact with Kate Winslet and Jim Threapleton's UK-based production outfit Telltale Films.UK and US-based Intermedia will handle worldwide distribution on films from the Shepperton Studios-based company, formed last year by the husband-and-wife ...
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Alibi picks up Sky's Most Fertile Man
UK-based sales company Alibi Films International has acquired worldwide rights outside the UK and Eire to Sky Pictures' comedy The Most Fertile Man In Ireland.The Samson Films and Hot Films production, currently in post, follows a young man who discovers he has the highest sperm count in Ireland. He becomes ...
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UK's Millennium takes three from UGC
France's UGC has sold a trio of titles headed by Regis Wargnier's East-West to UK independent distributor Millennium Film Distributors.East-West, starring Catherine Deneuve and Sandrine Bonnaire, joins Le Libertin, a comedy with Vincent Perez and Fanny Ardant, and Claude Miller's La Chambre Des Magiciennes.Rive, who operates both Millennium and Gala ...
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UK actors join Gilliam's Quixote cast
The UK's Miranda Richardson, Christopher Eccleston and Bill Paterson have joined the cast of Terry Gilliam's The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, Gilliam's office confirmed on Monday.The actors join Johnny Depp, Vanessa Paradis and Jean Rochefort in the $30m plus production, which is to start shooting in Spain and the ...
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Mill Film ups Hughes to head operations
The UK's Mill Film has appointed Neil Hughes to the newly created position of facilities and operations manager as the effects house beefs up its facilities.As well as looking after the day-to-day management of the company, Hughes, formerly production accountant for Mill Film, will maintain and develop relations between Mill ...
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Ecosse, Shivas to produce Disraeli biopic
Welsh actor Ioan Gruffudd is being lined up to star as Benjamin Disraeli in the provisionally titled Dizzy, a feature dramatising the life of the brilliant British prime minister being produced by Mark Shivas and Ecosse Films.Gruffudd would play Disraeli at 28 years old in the film, which revolves around ...
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Welland tackles miners' struggle for Working Title
Academy Award-winner Colin Welland has written Tower, a dramatisation of the true story of embattled South Wales miners, for the UK's Working Title Films, Ireland's David P Kelly Productions and director Marc Evans.The feature, budgeted at roughly $10m, follows the 1994 story of the last 239 miners at the last ...