Sony films headed to mobile phones

By Andrew Wallenstein 21 minutes ago

LAS VEGAS (Hollywood Reporter) -
Sony Pictures Television
is looking to launch the first movie network on mobile phones
in the United States.

The studio has signed a deal with AT&T and MediaFLO USA to
launch the linear channel as one of two exclusive channels
coming to the newly announced AT&T Mobile TV with FLO service
in May.

The channel, to be known as PIX, will be stocked with such
titles as "Ghostbusters," "Philadelphia" and "Stand by Me."

Mobile has been viewed mostly as a marketing platform for
theatricals in the U.S. With the domestic mobile video category
for even shortform clips lagging behind markets in Europe and
Asia, Sony is looking to entice viewers with more diverse
content offerings.

"What you see a lot on the carrier decks is promotional
content that people can snack a little on," said Eric Berger,
vp mobile entertainment at Sony Pictures Television. "There's
nothing currently there as deeply entertaining as these
movies."

Films have been made available on handsets on an on-demand
basis. Sony was one of several studios that contributed titles
to content aggregator MSpot, which teamed with Sprint to launch
MSpot Movies in 2006.

Sony always has been bullish on films via mobile. The
studio also was the first in the U.S. to embed full-length
titles on memory cards for handsets.

Although the prospect of viewers sitting in front of a
two-inch screen for two hours seems dim, Berger noted that the
objective isn't to keep people watching for the duration of a
film.

"We recognize that people are on the go with their mobile
phone and coming and going," he said. "This isn't for people
looking to view a movie for the first time. It's OK to miss the
beginning."

With AT&T on board, PIX will be available on the biggest
mobile provider in the U.S., though the company has yet to
disclose the price of the FLO tier. With PIX a part of FLO,
Sony allows AT&T to differentiate its service from Verizon
Wireless, which has been carrying FLO for the past year.

PIX will be available alongside nonexclusive mobile
channels including NBC, CBS, ESPN and Nickelodeon, which offer
altered forms of their traditional linear programming lineups
via multicast transmission.

Sony is negotiating with other U.S. carriers to carry PIX
but did not divulge which specific companies are in
discussions. As for pricing, each distribution partner likely
will use a different business model. For instance, PIX could
end up ad-supported on one carrier while free of commercials on
another that will charge an extra fee.

Sony eventually might convert PIX to an on-demand model and
might take the brand online as well. The full-length linear
strategy is just one of many different content plays with which
the studio is experimenting. "We're not doubling down and
saying it's only about longform," Berger said. "We'll continue
to do innovative things in the shortform universe as well."

Films will run on PIX for a month, with additions coming
weekly. Other titles coming to PIX include "Memento," "The
Karate Kid," "Layer Cake," "Resident Evil" and "Roxanne."

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter

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French architect Nouvel wins Pritzker

By JACOB ADELMAN, Associated Press Writer

LOS ANGELES - Jean Nouvel, the French architect whose hyper-modern buildings have been acclaimed for their eclectic nature and departure from tradition, has won the 2008 Pritzker Architecture Prize, it was announced Sunday.

Nouvel joins Frank Gehry, Tadao Ando and I.M. Pei in receiving the top honor in the field in recognition of his high-rises, museums and performance halls around the world.

"I think they understood very well that I fight for specific architecture against generic architecture," Nouvel said by phone from his office in Paris. "Every project is an adventure."

Nouvel, 62, became the second Pritzker laureate to be chosen from France after Christian de Portzamparc, the 1994 recipient.

A formal ceremony will be held in June at the Library of Congress in Washington. Nouvel will receive a $100,000 grant and a bronze medallion.

The Pritzker jury of architects, critics, academics and others praised Nouvel for his "persistence, imagination, exuberance, and, above all, an insatiable urge for creative experimentation."

Nouvel said his structures reflect time, place and occupants rather than simply adhering to stylistic dogma or historical precedent.

"I think every site, every program, has a right to a specific work, to a complete involvement of the architect," he said. "I am always researching the missing piece of the puzzle, and I like to analyze the site and conditions and give my answer after."

Among the 200 projects singled out by the Pritzker jury were Arab World Institute in Paris, which is festooned with motor-controlled apertures to control natural light, and Guthrie Theater, a boxy structure in Minneapolis with exterior screens that show scenes from past performances at the storied playhouse.

Currently planned by Nouvel are a tower alongside New York's Museum of Modern Art that cuts a jagged profile to a height comparable to the Chrysler Building, and a narrow condo building dubbed the "Green Blade" in the Century City area of Los Angeles with verdant gardens visible behind its glass walls.

"He is an architect who is really always pushing the envelope, whose work is uneven — all of us agree on that — but his successes are so spectacular," said architectural historian and author Victoria Newhouse, a Pritzker juror.

University of Southern California architecture school dean Qingyun Ma said he was surprised to see the award go to Nouvel because the French architect completed his signature works so long ago.

He said he expected the Pritzker jurors to select a younger, lesser known architect whom the prize could promote to a wider audience.

But he said Nouvel was deserving of the award because of his achievements as an architect and his penchant for constantly reinventing himself stylistically.

"It's a good surprise," Ma said. "He has been leading the field for quite a while."

Nouvel was born and grew up in southwest France. He became a movie fan early in life and still takes architectural inspiration from film, comparing an unfolding story to the way he wants people to experience moving through his buildings.

As a teenager, he wanted to be an artist but agreed to pursue a career as an architect as a compromise with his parents, who feared he wouldn't be able to make a living in the visual arts.

After an early career that included directing the Paris Biennale arts exhibition, Nouvel found some of his earliest acclaim with his Arab World Institute, a research and study center that the Pritzker jurors praised for its "modern twist on traditional Arabic latticework."

Commissions followed in more than two dozen countries on five continents, placing Nouvel among jet-setting "starchitects" in demand for high-profile projects around the world.

Nouvel said he begins each project by clearing his mind of his previous work and conceptualizing based on the cultural and environmental forces at work around the building site.

"Architecture is always linked to the surrounding culture," he said. "I've always said architecture is the petrification of a cultural moment."

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Hollywood braces for more labor talks

By LYNN ELBER, AP Entertainment Writer

LOS ANGELES - In a Century Plaza Hotel ballroom earlier this week, 600 people gathered to hear Hollywood heavyweights tally the fallout from the writers strike.

Meanwhile, in another corner of the hotel, union officials representing movie and TV actors huddled to finalize a battle plan for their upcoming contract talks.

Hollywood is hoping their story has a different ending.

Or better yet, a complete rewrite of the plot — one without a strike.

"It seems completely out of the question that there would be," said actress Ashley Jones, a star on CBS' daytime drama "The Bold and The Beautiful" who also works on primetime TV series and movies.

"But," she continued, "you never know."

With new shows just starting to return to TV, the entertainment industry finally seems to be shaking off the devastating impact of the 100-day strike by the Writers Guild of America that ended Feb. 12 and took an estimated $2.5 billion toll on the local economy. But the industry remains on edge as leaders of the Screen Actors Guild have said publicly they will push for an even better deal than the one writers got.

The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represents studios, has urged the two unions representing actors to begin bargaining by April 1 — three months before the contract covering movies and primetime shows is set to expire on June 30. And pressure for a speedy resolution has come from A-list actors Tom Hanks, George Clooney, Meryl Streep and Robert De Niro, who took out ads in trade publications calling for talks to start immediately.

However, Screen Actors Guild PresidentAlan Rosenberg and Executive Director Doug Allen — a former pro football linebacker — don't seem ready to sign on the dotted line.

The two men "are equally as assertive as the writers guild leadership," said entertainment industry lawyer Jonathan Handel, a former writers guild associate counsel who has closely followed industry contract talks.

The tough stance of the Screen Actors Guild has been tempered by the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, which has shown a willingness to compromise, Handel said. Both guilds declined requests for interviews, saying their leaders were immersed in preparations for the talks, and the alliance has not commented on contract issues.

A key issue for actors is expected to be compensation for TV shows and movies delivered via digital media. Writers and directors also stressed that demand in their separate negotiations earlier this year.

Those unions won key victories, including jurisdiction over programs produced for distribution online and new and better compensation for shows and movies streamed or downloaded online.

Other issues for actors may involve DVD residuals and forced endorsements by actors of products placed in films or on TV shows.

Actor Steve Blackwood, a former regular on NBC's "Days of Our Lives," said a cut of future digital-media money is worth a fight.

"In five to 10 years, everybody's going to be watching TV shows on the Internet," Blackwood said. "If we settle too quickly because no one wants to strike again, then actors will really beef later if they find out the union settled for less than they should get."

Blackwood wants to see union leaders fight hard at the bargaining table but conceded most actors who went unemployed during the writers strike would like to see a quick contract deal. The boards of the two unions plan to meet Saturday to finalize their bargaining plan and possibly set a start date for the talks.

On Thursday, a committee that reviewed member surveys on pay and benefits made a recommendation to be considered at the meeting.

The 120,000-member Screen Actors Guild represents actors in movies, TV and other media. The 70,000-member TV and radio federation represents, among others, actors, singers, announcers and journalists.

Leaders of the unions have already met informally with studio executives who proved crucial to closing the earlier deals with directors and writers. But the meetings so far haven't been substantive, according to two people close to the situation who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly.

Greg Daniels, executive producer of NBC's "The Office," said the actors unions could see this as a good time to press their case.

Movie studios were expected to be in a de facto strike mode as of April, unwilling to start filming new projects that won't be wrapped before July 1 — the date of a possible walkout.

Robert David Hall, a star on CBS' "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" who recently served as a Screen Actors Guild board member, joined writers picket lines while his show was knocked out of production by the strike. There is no appetite for another walkout, he said, but actors must put their faith in union leaders.

"Nobody can guarantee there will or won't be a strike. My sense is there won't be, but you have to go through the process," Hall said.

The industry's wariness was evident at Tuesday's panel discussion at the Century Plaza Hotel organized by the Hollywood Radio & Television Society.

Only prominent entertainment attorney Ken Ziffren, who was credited with helping resolve the writers strike, answered when the moderator asked if anyone was concerned about a possible actors strike.

"My short version is that if the parties involved in the negotiations stay in the room instead of going to the press," Ziffren said, "we'll get it done and we'll get it done well."

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