Baseline 1st Look: Developing Stories

FIRST LOOK NEWSLETTER

Brought to you by Baseline, a part of The New York Times

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Baseline Intelligence presents Primetime TV Insight – Fall TV Preview Edition.
  •   New Series and Fall Schedule Analysis
  •   Primetime TV Trends
  •   Authored by Award Winning TV Analyst Steve Sternberg

The first of Baseline Intelligence's Professional Research Reports on the television industry, "Primetime TV Insight" brings industry expert Steve Sternberg's 20 years of experience analyzing and reporting on television viewing trends, research, and programming to bear in a key new three edition report. Edition releases in mid June 2010.

Click Here to learn more or pre-order your copy.

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DEVELOPING STORIES

THE TALENT TICKER

Ruben Fleischer will direct “Babe in the Woods,” Columbia Pictures’ comedy about a Yale University freshman who becomes a target of the New Jersey mob. Screenwriter Mike White also produces under his Rip Cord Productions banner…Jennifer Jason Leigh and Alanis Morissette will reprise their roles as the neurotic sister and adventurous obstetrician, respectively, of Mary-Louise Parker on the upcoming season of Showtime’s “Weeds”…Freida Pinto is in talks to star opposite James Franco in “Rise of the Apes,” 20th Century Fox’s “Planet of the Apes” prequel…In his first fulltime series role, Mos Def joins the cast of HBO’s new single-camera comedy, “Enlightened,” as Laura Dern’s new boss…Cynthia Nixon is set for a four-episode arc on Showtime’s new series “The Big C,” playing Laura Linney’s disruptive college roommate…Toby Kebbel stars in “The Veteran,” portraying a soldier struggling to adapt to his new life in the U.K. after a tour of duty in Afghanistan. Matthew Hope writes and directs.

IN DEVELOPMENT THIS WEEK
Ready Player One
Feature
Point Blank Productions, Infinitum Nihil
Warner Bros. Pictures, De Line Pictures
P: Donald De Line
W: Ernest Cline (source material)
Sci-fi adventure in which a teen finds himself competing in a treasure hunt against ruthless opponents in a virtual world called Oasis.

Taken From Me: The Tiffany Rubin Story
TV movie
Lifetime Entertainment Television
EP: David Rosemont, Anne Carlucci, Damon Lee
W: Michael Bortman, Elizabeth Hunter
Real-life drama of Tiffany Rubin, a young mother forced to sidestep official channels and turn to outside help when her six-year-old son is kidnapped by his father and taken to South Korea.

Priceless
Feature
GK Films
P: Graham King
W: Jarrad Paul, Andrew Mogel
Thriller adaptation based on the true story of Robert K. Wittman, the founder of the FBI’s Art Crime Team who often went undercover, unarmed, to catch art thieves and black market traders around the world.

HOT PROPERTIES
House of Lies
TV pilot
Showtime Networks
Single-camera comedy based on the book, House of Lies: How Management Consultants Steal Your Watch and Then Tell You the Time, written by Martin Kihn and published by Business Plus on March 21, 2005.

Elliot Allagash
Feature
Indian Paintbrush, Right of Way Films
Based on the novel, Elliot Allagash, written by Simon Rich and published by Random House in May 2010.

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ON THE SET

THIS WEEK IN PRODUCTION

Margin Call
start – 06/21/2010
J.C. Chandor writes and directs this independent thriller about investment bank employees during a tumultuous 24-hour period of the recent economic collapse. Kevin Spacey stars.

Camelot
start – 06/23/2010
10-part Starz! series retells the legend of King Arthur's court. Joseph Fiennes, Eva Green and Jamie Campbell Bower star.

The Thing
wrap – 06/25/2010
Horror film remake of the shape-shifting creature from outer space that terrorizes a group of people trapped at a remote facility. Matthijs Van Heijningen directs for Universal Pictures.

Bond of Silence
wrap – 06/23/2010
Kim Raver stars in Lifetime's upcoming TV movie, as a woman determined to uncover the circumstances of her husband’s death when he is killed trying to break up a wild teenage party.

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A Large Audience for ‘Catch’ Episode About Captain’s Stroke
By Brian Stelter
Interest in the death of the Capt. Phil Harris propelled “Deadliest Catch” to its highest ratings ever, the Discovery Channel said Wednesday. The Tuesday episode of “Deadliest Catch,” which ended with Harris being rushed to the hospital after having a stroke, was watched by 5.4 million people, according to the Nielsen Company’s ratings. More on this here...

ZelnickMedia Acquires Firm Behind ‘Gossip Girl'
By Brian Stelter
Alloy, the teen-focused media company behind the “Gossip Girl” franchise, is being acquired by an investor group led by the private equity firm ZelnickMedia for approximately $126.5 million. More on this here...

A ‘Thankful’ Spitzer Anticipates Some Criticism
By Bill Carter
Eliot Spitzer described himself as “extremely thankful” to be getting an opportunity to revive his reputation as a television news host after the tawdry circumstances of his forced resignation as governor of New York. More on this here...
Are you following the Media Decoder on NYTimes.com?

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FROM THE BLOG

Decline of Western Civilization Part III: Daytime Soap Opera



Check out this great blog post from Baseline Intelligence on the decline of the Daytime Soap Opera. Author Jim Romanovich is the President of Worldwide Media and Entertainment for Associated Television International.  He is entering his 25th year in show business as an actor, producer, and distributor.

"The decline in ratings for the daytime soaps was apparent for most with the exception of the Young and The Restless, which actually had a three year resurgence, claiming the top position from General Hospital in 1988 with an 8.1 rating and climbed to an 8.6 rating by 1993. In 2010, they have dropped to a 3.7 rating and are still number one despite losing more than half of their audience."

Read More >>

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Horror Writing Horror



Check out this interesting blog post from the ScriptJournal Blog on writing horror screenplays.  Author Ben Magid entered the entertainment industry in 2006 with the sale of PAN to New Line Cinema, a revisionist take on Peter Pan that garnered mention on the Black List. He went on to write HACK/SLASH for Rogue Pictures, scheduled to shoot early 2010.

"Here's an odd conundrum that applies to writing horror scripts: oftentimes, what reads scary on the page doesn't play scary on the screen, and vice versa. It's an odd effect, and most producers and execs don't grasp this. Horror is very much about mood and tone and how well a director can shoot the story."

Read More >>

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June 19 - June 25, 2010

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ON THE MOVE

EXECS

Ember Truesdell promoted to VP of Development at Flower Films

Heather Kadin named President of Television at Kurtzman/Orci

Amy Suh promoted to Director of Development at Tom Welling Productions

Karen Peterkin now VP of Development and Production at Dubose Entertainment

Craig Ferguson now Story Editor for Owen Wilson’s untitled company

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AGENCIES

Abigail Breslin now managed by Jason Weinberg and Alissa Vradenburg/Untitled Entertainment

Regan Frisby now manager at The Beddingfield Company

Don Mischer repped by Sandy Wernick and Amy Weiss/Brillstein Entertainment Partners

Agent Chris Hart joins UTA

Actor Kenny Wormald repped by Amanda Glazer/Kohner Agency and manager Jared Schwartz/Caliber Media

Jairo Alvarado will joins 3 Arts Entertainment as manager

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DEAL DECK

Hazy Mills signs new two-year, overall deal with NBC through June 2012.

Apostle Pictures signs new two-year, overall deal with Fox Television Studios through June 2012.

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ADDRESSES

Act 4 Entertainment (aka Johnson-Roessler Company)
1323 Ocean Ave.
Santa Monica, CA  90401
310-458-4399
  
Glastonbury Festival
28 Northload St.
Glastonbury, Somerset
United Kingdom  BA6 9JJ
011-44-0145-883-4596

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DID YOU KNOW?

Before becoming an actor, Chris Pratt – starring as Andy Dwyer on the sitcom “Parks and Recreation” (NBC, 2009- ) – worked as a waiter at a Bubba Gump Shrimp Company in Hawaii. Fate intervened when he waited on actress Rae Dawn Chong, charming her so much that she cast him in the movie she was then directing, “Cursed Part 3” (2000).

Vanessa Marcil – who will reprise her popular role of Brenda Barrett on “General Hospital” (ABC, 1963- ) – is the great-granddaughter of French mime, Marcel Marceau.

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DIG DEEPER

•  Projects in Development

•  Film Profit & ROI
•  Int'l Performance Data
•  Global Release Schedule
•  Major Film Attachments
•  Studio Term Deals
•  Film Revenue & Costs

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CONTRIBUTORS
Senior Managing Editor - Gregg Segall    |     Film - Laure Jason     |     On The Move - Salvatore Capone
Did You Know? - Jenna Girard    |     Television - Ayanna Meyers       

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