The SAG National Board of Directors met via videoconference in Los Angeles and New York: Los Angeles, (January 31, 2010) – Screen Actors Guild National Board of Directors voted today to seek engagement with AFTRA in a joint bargaining agreement for negotiation of the Television/Theatrical Contract. Approved 82 to 18…

NEW YORK, NY (January 31, 2010) – Sony Pictures Classics announced today that they have acquired all US rights to the Dutch film, WINTER IN WARTIME from High Point Films, the theatrical division of Carey Fitzgerald's London based High Point Media Group. The film is directed by Martin Koolhoven (SCHNITZEL PARADISE) and…

The Sundance trophies have been handed out. The film crowd has left Park City to the skiers. So what kind of market was it? Better than expected, even if most of the deals were small ones. And compared to the zero that was Toronto, a veritable avalanche of very low 7-figure sales took place in Park City, with more…

Since he dropped out of Harvey, Steven Spielberg's first project under the reconstituted DreamWorks has been a subject of much speculation. Now I hear who’s at the center of the director’s biopic of George Gershwin, which DreamWorks acquired last fall. It's Zachary Quinto — Sylar in the NBC drama-fantasy Heroes, and…

UPDATES Hollywood Signings & Hirings & Firings WME talent agent Michael Cooper is jumping to CAA, bringing with him clients Josh Brolin, Charlie Hunnam, and a few others. Cooper was considered William Morris chief Jim Wiatt's go-to guy because he used to be an assistant on the CEO’s desk. At one point, Cooper was…

SATURDAY PM/SUNDAY AM: Now that 20th Century Fox’s Avatar is the highest grossing movie of all time (not adjusted for inflation or higher 3D ticket prices), it passed the $2 billion mark in worldwide grosses and remained No. 1 at the weekend box office for the 7th straight week. Today, after just 45 days of release…

Women ruled at the DGA tonight for top honors in both film and TV drama direction. The DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film has traditionally been one of the Industry’s most accurate barometers for the Best Director Academy Award. Only 6 times since the DGA Awards began in 1948 has the…

Emails are pouring in about the “untimely, senseless, and tragic” passing of Karen Schmeer, a respected member of the American Cinema Editors, at age 39. She was a gifted editor of documentaries who, according to news reports, was run down by robbers during their getaway as she was crossing a street in New York…

Here are the complete list of 2010 winners: (continuously updated): The Grand Jury Prize for U.S. Dramatic Film went to Winter’s Bone, the Debra Granik-directed drama set deep in the Ozark Mountains, where a teenage girl heads out to find her crystal meth-making father, who has gone missing. The film was acquired…

I reported months ago that Sony Television, which has had considerable success hawking the syndicated talk show starring Oprah discovery Dr. Oz, was going to pimp still another Harpo discovery, Chicago designer and decorator Nate Berkus. Well, now it’s sold. A deal was concluded late last night between Sony TV and NBC…

This is hilarious. I’ve learned that a slew of Kristen Stewart fans somehow got the personal e-mails of Sundance buyers who were circling her Jake Scott-directed film Welcome To The Rileys. In their avalanche of messages, twitters and texts, the Twihards are imploring the execs to buy and release the film starring the…

After a marathon negotiation session that ended this morning, IFC acquired screen rights to The Killer Inside Me, the Michael Winterbottom-directed adaptation of Jim Thompson’s best known work, the 1952 pulp fiction novel. Wild Bunch's Carole Baraton and WME Global head Graham Taylor closed a deal worth between $1…