The brand new the new sony Classics nabs 'West of Memphis'

The brand new the new sony Pictures Classics has acquired worldwide rights to Amy Berg's docu in regards to the West Memphis Three, "West of Memphis," which was produced by Healing For Healing For Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh, additionally to first-time producers Damien Echols and Lorri Davis. Pic, which first demonstrated at Sundance, tales the completely new analysis all over the West Memphis Three, which ultimately broke the problem open and introduced for the freedom of three innocent males: Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley Junior. Berg's film examines the problematic police analysis to the 1993 killings of three youthful boys in West Memphis, Arkansas, and unveils nuances of Echols' fight in order to save his existence while situated on dying row for 18 years. SPC talked about the sale with Jackson and Walsh's manager, Ken Kamins, who also may serve as the film's professional producer. "Last Season, Healing For Healing For Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh and Lorri Davis approached me to produce a film which recorded the defense's battle to overturn the guilty choices inside the situation in the West Memphis Three," mentioned Berg. "After trading greater than couple of years on the ground filming in Arkansas, the blatant injustice in the situation was very apparent my hope is always that 'West of Memphis' can lead to full exoneration for Damien, Jason and Jessie. Furthermore, I am hoping the film will be the platform for just about any bigger discussion in regards to the failures within our criminal justice system country wide. I'm very excited with this particular effective story being making its approach to theaters and understand that obtaining the new the new sony Pictures Classics as our partner might be the surest approach to catapult our film for the biggest possible audience." "We are very proud being joining track of The brand new the new sony Pictures Classics round the relieve 'West of Memphis,'" added Walsh and Jackson. "We have been coping with Lorri Davis, Damien Echols and also the defense team in the last seven years, and throughout that time we found realize that it hadn't been merely a story from the terrible injustice it's also an account about hope about how precisely a few found each other, saved each other, and loved each other using the most difficult of occasions. This can be Damien and Lorri's film, which we're very excited to discuss it while using world." "We are honored the new the new sony Pictures Classics will probably be coping with us to produce 'West of Memphis' all over the world,In . mentioned Davis and Echols. "We are excited and to tell the truth overcome in the chance to inform our personal story. Coping with Fran, Peter and Amy remains most likely the very best and fulfilling of encounters for people. We view this film just like a way to obtain inspiration, plus it carries our existence bloodstream from it.In . "With 'Deliver Us From Evil,' Amy Berg increased to become significant documentary filmmaker. Seeing 'West of Memphis' at Sundance, we felt Amy had surpassed herself using this amazing anatomy and analysis of injustice," mentioned a disagreement in the new the new sony Pictures Classics. "We anticipate cooperating along with her and producers Fran Walsh, Healing For Healing For Peter Jackson, Damien Echols and Lorri Davis to get this exciting and important drama to audiences everywhere." Contact Rob Sneider at rob.sneider@variety.com

Layoffs at Summit begin: 3 execs out

In the wake of its acquisition by Lionsgate, Summit Entertainment began layoffs early this week, as head of TV distribution Alex Fragen, home entertainment head Steve Nickerson and Bobby Gerber, EVP home entertainment sales, are on the way out, Variety has learned. The trio of execs got the news midday Monday, sources close to the company said. They were expected to remain with the company until early next month. Fragen, Nickerson and Gerber all started with Summit in 2007, just as the company was finding its footing as a full service production and distribution studio. The layoffs were just the first of several expected as Lionsgate begins to integrate its operations with Summit, which the mini-major acquired in a January cash-and-stock deal totaling $412.5 million. Lionsgate co-chairman and CEO Jon Feltheimer acknowledged at the time that overlap would cause layoffs. A month later, Summit co-founder and president of international David Garrett began preparing his exit, as Variety first reported Feb. 12. Lionsgate would not confirm the layoffs Monday. "The integration of Lionsgate and Summit is ongoing," a studio spokesman said. "We're not going to comment on specific individuals until our key management team is fully in place." Fragen, who was well-liked at Summit and was responsible for its lucrative deal with HBO, was named president of domestic television distribution shortly after Summit relaunched itself in 2007. He was responsible for overseeing distribution for free and pay TV, video-on-demand, pay-per-view, and hotel and airline sales. His duties would ostensibly transfer to Jim Packer, Lionsgate's prexy of worldwide TV distribution and digital. Nickerson, a consumer electronics and homevid vet, also came on at that time, and was tasked with establishing Summit's homevid arm with Gerber, who worked with Nickerson at Toshiba and Warner Bros. Nickerson came off eight years at Warners homevid at the time of his hire, including senior VP of worldwide high-definition media. Most of Summit's homevideo releases are distributed by Fox, a deal that's likely to sunset as Lionsgate's robust home video arm takes over Summit titles. More shakeups and layoffs were expected at the newly merged companies. The departure of Garrett - a highly effective and much beloved foreign-sales maven based out of London - leaves a major hole to fill for Lionsgate, which targeted Summit in part on the strength of its overseas sales division. Contact the Variety newsroom at news@variety.com

Some Dance Company: A David Fernandez Celebration

Some Dance Company: A David Fernandez Celebration February 22, 2012 Photo by David Fernandez Watch some of the best dancers in the world perform acclaimed work. Stars from NY City Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, the Dance Theatre of Harlem Ensemble, and more are donating their talents for a one-night-only performance honoring master teacher, dancer, and choreographer David Fernandez. The evening will feature excerpts of Fernandez's work, with all net proceeds being donated to Career Transition for Dancers. Feb. 27. El Museo del Barrio, El Teatro, 1230 Fifth Avenue at 104th Street, Manhattan. 7 p.m. $30, $50, and $100 ($100 ticket includes a contribution to benefit Career Transition for Dancers, as well as an invitation to a champagne reception with the performers following the event). davidferndance.com/tickets.htm. Some Dance Company: A David Fernandez Celebration February 22, 2012 PHOTO CREDIT David Fernandez Watch some of the best dancers in the world perform acclaimed work. Stars from NY City Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, the Dance Theatre of Harlem Ensemble, and more are donating their talents for a one-night-only performance honoring master teacher, dancer, and choreographer David Fernandez. The evening will feature excerpts of Fernandez's work, with all net proceeds being donated to Career Transition for Dancers. Feb. 27. El Museo del Barrio, El Teatro, 1230 Fifth Avenue at 104th Street, Manhattan. 7 p.m. $30, $50, and $100 ($100 ticket includes a contribution to benefit Career Transition for Dancers, as well as an invitation to a champagne reception with the performers following the event). davidferndance.com/tickets.htm.

Online viewing vexes Canuck broadcasters

MONTREAL -- It's a fair bet that Leonard Katz, acting head of Canuck broadcast watchdog the CRTC for just three weeks, can't wait for the authorities to find a new topper to take the job off his hands. Canada's Supreme Court last week ruled that Internet services providers are exempt from the country's 1991 Broadcasting Act, confirming the Federal Court of Appeal's decision. This means that, unlike commercial channels and pubcaster the CBC, ISPs do not have to abide by Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission rules about funding local content or devoting airtime to it. Actors union ACTRA and the broadcasters says the CRTC should force new-media outlets to follow those rules. "Broadcasting is broadcasting and that includes online broadcasting," said ACTRA national executive director Stephen Waddell. "Online broadcasters should provide shelf space for Canadian programming and contribute to Canadian broadcasting." The TV nets share Waddell's view. CTV, for example, wrote to the CRTC last year to complain that "Canadian broadcasters and (distributors) continue to be weighted down by regulatory obligations, while foreign online broadcasters have no such requirements." ISPs maintain they have no control over their customers' choice of content and so are exempt. However, this could change if operators start Internet branded TV services. The Appeals Court warned "that if ISPs begin to actively make content decisions and lose their neutrality, they might be subject to regulation." Meanwhile, the Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case raised by cable and satellite operators who argue that they should not have to pay a monthly fee to carry over-the-air networks including CTV and Global. The networks lobbied the CRTC to get this fee, pleading that they were strapped for cash as a result of the changing broadcast biz. However, since then, there have been major mergers and now all three main commercial TV networks are controlled by distribs -- Bell owns CTV, Shaw owns Global and Rogers owns City-tv. Katz must deal with this situation until the government finds a replacement for former CRTC chairman Konrad von Finckenstein, who stepped down in late January at the end of his five-year term. Katz has been vice-chairman of the regulator since 2007. Contact the Variety newsroom at news@variety.com

Pilot Season: Melrose Place's Katie Cassidy lands Female Lead in CW's Arrow

Katie Cassidy Eco-friendly Arrow, meet your Black Canary. Melrose Place reboot star Katie Cassidy has arrived the feminine lead in CW's Arrow, starring Hung's Stephen Amell as Electricity super hero Eco-friendly Arrow within this modern retelling from the legendary archer's adventures. Pilot Season: Stephen Amell Lands Leading Role within the CW's Arrow Cassidy, whose credits likewise incorporate Gossip Girl and Supernatural, will have Laurel, a youthful legal clinic attorney who shares an intimate past with Oliver, the Eco-friendly Arrow's alter-ego. Electricity fans will observe that Laurel is Dinah "Laurel" Lance, also known as the 2nd Black Canary. Siblings & Sisters' Greg Berlanti and Marc Guggenheim will executive-produce using the Vampire Diaries' Andrew Kreisberg. As formerly introduced, David Ramsey and Susanna Thompson will even star.

Quibbling competition

Colin Firth and George Clooney Russell Crowe and Jean Dujardin Gillian Anderson and Judi DenchMark Coulier and Meryl Streep sophistication Grosvenor House. Tilda Swinton with Tom Hiddleston Crowds observed a galactic alignment of stars over the British Academy Films Awards' red-colored-colored carpet on Sunday evening. The presence of best actor noms George Clooney, Kaira Pitt, Jean Dujardin, Gary Oldman and Michael Fassbender elevated the chilled London mercury with a few levels outdoors the Royal Opera House. Penelope Cruz, Octavia Spencer, Michelle Williams and Cuba Gooding Junior. had also all flown straight into attend the party, along with Hugh Jackman and Russell Crowe, who hit happens becoming an Aussie comedy double act. Faux rivalries were apparent, as Clooney poked light-hearted fun at Pitt, outing him since the noms' outcast. "Most of us have become quite good pals. Well, everybody but Pitt. Nobody likes him, imaginable.Inch Site visitors visited towards the regular publish-kudos venue, Grosvenor House, where there's dining, consuming and dancing for the dulcet tones of Emeli Sande. Contact the number newsroom at news@variety.com

Leslie Carter, Sister of Nick and Aaron Carter, Dies at 25

Carter family Leslie Carter - the sister of pop performers Nick and Aaron Carter - has died, Access Hollywood reviews.See other stars we have lostThe 25-year-old ambitious singer, who made an appearance around the family's 2006 reality show House of Carters, died Tuesday in upstate NY. No further particulars about her dying were immediately available.Browse the relaxation of present day news"Us is grieving at this time and it is a personal matter. We're deeply saddened for losing our beloved sister, daughter, and daughter, Leslie Carter," the Carter family stated. "We request the most privacy throughout this hard time.InchPicture Gallery: The CartersShe was married in 2008, and delivered daughter Alyssa Jane Ashton last April 1.

'Gossip Girl' Cast and Producers Reflect on the Road to 100 Episodes

When the CW launched in 2006, both its name and mission were something of a mystery. Formed from the ashes of the defunct UPN and The WB networks, the joint venture of CBS Corp. and Warner Bros. was desperately seeking programming that would not only lure younger viewers but also create an identity for its brand. "Gossip Girl" became that show. Based on Cecily von Ziegesar's young-adult books, the show centered on a circle of uber-privileged, impossibly attractive prep school students on Manhattan's Upper East Side whose world revolves around sex, drugs, high fashion and, naturally, text-messaging. What the series long has lacked in traditional Nielsen ratings (it's averaging only 1.7 million viewers this season) it has more than made up for in pop-culture cachet. As it readies for its 100th episode (Jan. 30) in what is most likely its penultimate season, "Gossip Girl" can lay claim to nearly 11 million Facebook fans, 197 international editions and an enviable median viewer age of 32. Along the way, a series that spoke to the digital generation has raised eyebrows, created stars and defined a network.A SHOW IS BORN Leslie Morgenstein, Alloy Entertainment CEO: We had taken a couple of cracks at developing the "Gossip Girl" books elsewhere. There was a script at Fox, and then we took a shot at a feature. The rights came back to us a couple months before the CW merger. We spent some time talking about how both Fox and The WB really broke through with sexy teen soaps: 90210 on Fox, "Dawson's Creek" on The WB. It seemed to us like "Gossip Girl" had the potential to be that for The CW. We talked to our studio partners, who got the books to [then-CW entertainment chief] Dawn Ostroff.Peter Roth, Warner Bros. TV President: In 2007, The CW was in its infancy and looking for a signature series. These books spoke magnificently well to the possibilities of the network. As far as a producing team, Josh [Schwartz] and Stephanie [Savage] were the only choice. Coming off of "The O.C.," I've always thought of Josh as the pied piper of this generation. Dawn Ostroff, former CW Entertainment Chief: We knew we wanted to go after 18- to 34-year-old women and do scripted content that was going to be bold. "Gossip Girl" fit so many of the characteristics that we were looking for. Josh Schwartz, Co-Creator: Just as The O.C. was ending, Alloy sent me the first "Gossip Girl" book. I thought it was interesting, so I sent it to Stephanie. I said, "If you like this, we should do it."Rick Haskins, the CW Executive vp Marketing and Digital Programs: It was fresh and fun and really captured how people talk about each other. It spoke for the first time to a digital audience in a very honest way. The premise of "Gossip Girl" -- a blogger with her own reporting website -- was very much a precursor to the reign of Facebook. Stephanie Savage, co-creator: We pitched the network our take of how we would do this show.Schwartz: It was a super-elaborate pitch of this NY fairy tale -- very archetypal characters: a princess, a knight in shining armor. I remember when it was all over, Dawn said: "You guys know we already bought this, right? You didn't really need to do that much."Ostroff: It was very easy to see their vision. There were so few notes. There's just no way we wouldn't have made this. When we saw their pitch, we thought: "This is it! This is everything we want!"SEEKING STARDOM Schwartz: When we first started casting, we read a lot of blogs that said, "You need to cast Blake Lively as Serena van der Woodsen." We were like, "Isn't that the girl from the [Sisterhood of the] Traveling Pants movie?" After we convinced her to do television, the network was concerned that she was "too California." So we dressed her up in boarding school attire -- clothes out of Stephanie's closet -- and straightened her hair to prove that she could look NY.Savage: I had worked with Penn Badgley [on WB's "The Mountain"] and had told him several times to stop doing WB pilots. Then I had to go back and say, "OK, one more!" Schwartz: Ed Westwick came in and blew us away. He originally read for Nate, but Stephanie and I looked at each other and wrote, "Chuck?" on a piece of paper. Once we cast him, he had to figure out his green card. We got several calls that he actually wasn't going to get it in time.Savage: The network was like: "You have to have a backup choice. We can't delay production. It would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars."Schwartz: But we refused to make the pilot if Ed wasn't Chuck Bass. Chace Crawford was very new and probably read 30 times.Chace Crawford, actor: I went back and forth to countless auditions because [CBS president and CEO] Les Moonves needed to sign off on me. They stuck me in this empty room with a hundred vacant chairs around a conference table. I sat down and this girl swiveled around in her chair, and it was Leighton [Meester].Schwartz: Leighton was a blonde when she came in to read, but Blake was the blonde, so we asked her to color her hair. A risky move on her part in the middle of pilot season, but she did a sink-rinse dye job to audition as a brunette.Leighton Meester, actress: I started auditioning back in December 2006. The process was really long. At the time, I wanted to move to NY, but I didn't have a reason or any money. So when my agent sent me the "Gossip Girl" script, I thought Blair was perfect for me. Originally the script had my character suffering from an eating disorder, but they ended up taking it out.Schwartz: Taylor Momsen [who played Jenny Humphrey and has since left the series] was an innocent 13-year-old when she came in. She played us the sweetest, poppiest Gwen Stefani music. (Laughs.) As for Matthew Settle and Kelly Rutherford, we really had to fight to get more money to pay for them. It was important to have adults to anchor the show.CREATING A STIR Haskins: The hardest thing about launching a new show is that people don't know the characters yet. You have to do an overall concept sell. We launched with a tagline: "You're nobody until you're talked about."Schwartz: When it premiered in September, it got a lot of buzz, but we didn't necessarily come out of the gate and pop a number. Ostroff: It was incredibly frustrating. Nielsen doesn't have a great grasp on measuring younger viewers. You couldn't go anywhere in the country without finding people obsessed with the show. Where "Gossip Girl" ranked No. 100 on the Nielsen list, it was No. 13 when you looked at the power-content ratings -- a combination of Nielsen ratings, traffic online and buzz.Schwartz: Everyone told us these shows take time.Meester: When we first started filming, people would walk by and ask, "What are you filming?" Once we aired, the whole mania started.Crawford: We were shooting on the Upper East Side one afternoon and must have been outside three all-girl schools. Within an hour, 10 girls multiplied to 300. I mean, we weren't the Beatles. Ed and I were crossing Park Avenue and had a ring of girls around us. We got stuck on the median and our make-up people had to fight them off. They were getting their hair pulled and had to throw elbows to get us through.Ostroff: I'll never forget, I had someone come in from China to talk to us because the series was the No. 1 downloaded show in China -- obviously not legally, but it had created a huge phenomenon.Schwartz: Then the writers strike hit. It was devastating and scary. Initially, we wondered whether the show would ever come back.Meester: I thought every episode was going to be the last one.Schwartz: We ended up being one of the few shows that came back that year with new episodes, but because we had been off the air for so long, The CW had to relaunch the show.Haskins: We used an outside research company and went to different markets to sit in living rooms with viewers: Chicago, Atlanta, Denver, Dallas and NY. We began to see how viewers were talking about the show. They would text each other about it, even if they were sitting on the same couch. That really was our "Aha!" moment. We realized we could flip our marketing and talk about this show the way they talked about it.OMFG Haskins: When I saw the "OMFG" ads, I knew that was it, but then I had to sell it internally. A lot of people didn't know what "OMFG" meant, so I had them call in assistants to get their reaction. The assistants would either smile or gasp. Once that happened, I had 100 percent support.Ostroff: As controversial as it may have been, the campaign set the tone for the network and the brand.Haskins: That's when "Gossip Girl" went from 60 to 120 miles per hour. We planted a very strong flag in the marketplace, and to this day we're known as the "OMFG network."Savage: We loved it. It was using the language of the show to promote the show. It felt smart and had attitude.Haskins: A lot of companies would not put "OMFG" on billboards or [run it on] certain cable stations, so we created two alternatives: for some an emoticon and for others we changed "OMFG" to "OMG."Crawford: I remember Jay Leno doing a bit where he asked an old grandma what "OMFG" meant. (Laughs.) Oh, and being shirtless on a poster with some girl.Haskins: The message got out loud and clear. We had a lot of negative things said about it. For phase two, we took negatives and turned them around. We used the "Mind-blowingly inappropriate" and "Every parent's nightmare" quotes to sell the show. The Parents Television Council gave me the nickname the "snake in the grass at The CW."Lisa Gregorian, Warner Bros. TV Chief Marketing Officer: It was provocative, but we didn't want to do it just for the sake of getting attention. The show had to back it up.Haskins: The next year we did the "WTF" campaign. We'd show provocative scenes that were coming, and then we'd cut to a card that said, "WTF?" before panning out and seeing "Watch This Fall." We were in a groove; we really understood what the brand was and, more importantly, we understood how to talk to our viewers.Savage: Like the campaign, the show is edgy, but we have a great relationship with the network's standards-and-practices people. Whenever we do anything where we feel like we might be controversial, we have a lot of conversations. When we did our threesome episode in season three, we definitely caught some flack.Meester: We're not whitewashing on this show. We're talking about issues people hold back on: drinking, drug use, sex. We're not pretending it's glamorous; we're just portraying something teenagers do.Morgenstein: I live on the Upper East Side, and the reactions shifted from moms of young teen girls being upset about the show to those same moms being fans of the show and wanting set visits. BREAKING OUT Savage: All of a sudden, people wanted to do cameos. During Lily and Bart's wedding episode, I was working with [baker] Sylvia Weinstock on the cake and thought: "Sylvia is a NY celebrity. She should come to the wedding." [Socialite] Tinsley Mortimer came to our white party, then Michael Kors, Tim Gunn and Vera Wang.Ostroff: It started a fashion craze. During the second season, there was a front-page article in The NY Times about "Gossip Girl's" fashion and how stores like Bloomingdale's couldn't keep the show's clothes on shelves. People watch the show the way they read a magazine: They want to know where to get the clothes, where to get the music and where to go in NY.Schwartz: NY really embraced us. When you're first shooting, nobody wants you there. All of a sudden, bars and restaurants were opening their doors. Our NY magazine cover was a big deal because it was a larger NY cultural magazine. The pinnacle, though, was Rolling Stone. It's really very gratifying because you believe in these actors early, but there's no evidence to suggest you're correct yet.Meester: You always want to grow and change, and the show has allowed me time off to pursue other projects and parts of the business. The biggest highlight for me is the 100th episode. It was a dream because my character wears this gorgeous Vera Wang dress. And because it took eight days to film, I wore my wedding gown way more than a typical bride would.BIDDING FAREWELL Mark Pedowitz, CW President: This is the first CW show to hit 100 episodes, and we have great pride in it. We hope that it lasts for a long, long time. Time will tell how things go.Schwartz: We're very proud of the 100th episode, but my favorite scene has to be Chuck and Blair's first moment in the back of the limo [during season one]. There's also a shot of Dan kissing Serena on a cobblestone street in the Meatpacking District -- it's moments like that when you say, "This is the show."Roth: This was defining, much the same way CSI has been defining for CBS and Lost and Desperate Housewives were defining for ABC.Gregorian: And it's resonated worldwide. It's in 197 territories and No. 1 with young adults and women on the channels they are on in Australia, New Zealand, France, Germany, Finland, Greece, Romania, Sweden and the U.K.Schwartz: You hope that these shows can serve as time capsules. Hopefully this one will be remembered for the characters, how we were ruled by gossip and technology in a way that feels true. And hopefully we're remembered for capturing NY and what it was to be young there.Savage: We have no plans to wrap things up this season. The actors' contracts expire at the end of next season, so that feels like probably an organic ending point.Roth: I certainly hope we get at least one more season. We're contracted for another one. The show has had an extraordinary impact on all of us, and I'd be thrilled to be able to appropriately say farewell after six remarkable seasons.MEET THE PARENTS: On the eve of "Gossip Girl's" 100th episode, here are the key strategists behind the CW series that shaped and defined the 6-year-old, femme-focused network.Dawn Ostroff, Former CW Entertainment Chief: The "Gossip Girl" cheerleader greenlighted the series shortly after launching The CW network in 2006.Peter Roth, Warner Bros. Television President: As a top executive at The CW's co-parent, Roth has played an instrumental role in the series' success.Josh Schwartz, Co-Creator: After making his mark as one of TV's youngest showrunners on Fox's The O.C., he was the network's first choice to develop the young-skewing series.Stephanie Savage, Co-Creator: Together with Schwartz, Savage launched production company Fake Empire, which is developing The Carrie Diaries for The CW.Leslie Morgenstein, Executive Producer: The Alloy Entertainment chief executive has overseen the young adult books on which the series is based.Joshua Safran, Executive Producer: The onetime screenplay scribe has penned 18 episodes for the teen soap series, including the 100th episode: "Father and the Bride." The Hollywood Reporter