IRON MAN, SPEED RACER and WHAT HAPPENS IN VEGAS together accounted for $90,000,000 of the total weekend boxoffice. IRON MAN, with $50,000,000 for the weekend has passed a total of $177,000,000 in two weeks. SPEED RACER and WHAT HAPPENS IN VEGAS each pulled in about $20,000,000 in the opening weekend for each. That’s good news [...]

Says state should keep productions in state Associated Press May 9, 2008, 04:54 PM SACRAMENTO — Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger says California must increase tax incentives to movie and television studios as a way to keep them from moving their productions out of state. He says incentives being offered by other states are luring studios away [...]

On Wednesday, SAG negotiators proclaimed SAG and AMPTP were ‘within a few hours’ from a done deal when talks were ended. Time to move on to the AFTRA talks which had been delayed at SAG’s request in an attempt to finish the negotiations. AMPTP says the SAG proclamation of a near deal is mistaken, the [...]

AMPTP Negotiator Talks About SAG on FunnyOrDie.com A few moments of levity. Thanks to Roger Wilko for the video.

Austin Film Society’s Austin Studios will host the Texas Film Commission P.A. Workshop on Saturday, May 31st & Sunday, June 1st. P.A.’s (production assistants) are entry-level crew members on a film production. They provide support and assistance to almost all areas and departments. This two-day intensive program will teach the ins and outs of successful [...]

There is a terrific article by Steven Zeitchik in today’s Hollywood Reporter: Strike effect mirrors class struggle. A few excerpts: “A strike absolutely makes it possible to get the quality of people you normally wouldn’t have a shot at,” said Mark Gill, co-founder of the Film Department, which is prepping as many as four movies [...]

The Screen Actors Guild has run out of time to make a new feature-primetime deal with the majors and has been pushed aside in favor of AFTRA. After 18 days of talks, the congloms pulled the plug early Tuesday evening on the SAG negotiations. The two sides met for a short time after a self-imposed [...]

First let me dispel a few myths. “Auditions are about finding the best actor for the job.” Get that out of your head. And conversely, “I didn’t get the job, so I must not have been good.” Very, very wrong-get that out of your head immediately! So begins Actor Markus Flanagan’s book, ONE LESS BITTER [...]

Here’s an interesting roundtable discussion from The Hollywood Reporter on the state of independent film. Where is the money coming from, how do you get distribution, what is the role of the international market in the indie film world and what about film festivals????? Stephen Galloway of The Hollywood Reporter discussed those and other matters [...]

In a sign of serious progress at the SAG negotiations, the guild and the majors have agreed to extend bargaining on a new feature-primetime deal until next Tuesday. The SAG talks had been scheduled to conclude Friday after three weeks of no major moves by either side but the guild’s willingness to scale back one [...]