Innholdsfortegnelse for 4/19/2023 i Variety

Investing in education is a time-honored path to a successful career. It has certainly worked for “Abbott Elementary” star Janelle James. The multi-hyphenate is riding the tail of her swiftly rising star after emerging as a fan favorite in her role as a school principal, the fast-talking, conspiracy-theory-believing, man-hunting reality-TV devotee Ava Coleman. Variety senior TV features editor Emily Longeretta’s profile gets to the heart of James’ climb, which came about through a mix of stand-up comedy, writing for such shows as “Black Monday” and “The Rundown With Robin Thede” and acting gigs. James is a bit transactional in the way that’s common to performers who regularly go on tour, who never quite know when and where their next meal is coming from. “During our interview over breakfast,” Longeretta says,…

For every publicly visible and contentious Johnny Depp vs. Amber Heard trial, there are dozens more that never see the light of day. More often than not, a showbiz lawsuit that begins with the plaintiff and defendant slinging accusations back and forth in the headlines ends quietly with a below-the-fold story announcing that a confidential settlement has been reached. Yet, for those players who haven’t been through the process, what goes on behind the scenes remains something of a mystery. Such settlements are often achieved through third-party mediation, which, unlike arbitration, never mandates a binding decision. According to a survey of judges and attorneys published by the American Bar Assn. in December 2020, mediation is the fairest way to resolve civil cases, followed by jury trials, bench trials and,…

This year, Variety’s Power of Law breakfast will treat attendees to not one but two keynote conversations with industry players: veteran showrunner Damon Lindelof, interviewed by Variety Co-Editor-in-Chief Cynthia Littleton, and Fuzzy Door president Erica Huggins, interviewed by Variety Chief Production Officer Claudia Eller. At the Power of Law event — where City National Bank will be presenting partner and Signature Resolution an official partner — the pair will offer their insights into the rapidly evolving entertainment landscape to an audience of invited attorneys who form this year’s Legal Impact Report honorees. Damon Lindelof Storyteller and Disruptor The prolific, award-winning creator, known for his ambitious and genre-bending scripts, will share with Variety Co-Editor-in-Chief Cynthia Littleton his thoughts on how the creative community is adjusting to the upheaval in the content…

Before deciding on comedy as his true calling, Martin Lawrence seriously considered a career as a professional boxer, even becoming a Golden Gloves contender. He credits that pugilistic discipline for equipping him with the resilience and tenacity necessary to survive in the entertainment industry. “Boxing gave me the training, the consistency and, most importantly, the focus,” Lawrence tells Variety. “To study your craft, to want to be good at your craft and to be excellent at it — you can reach those heights and just be the best that you could be.” Lawrence went the distance and then some in his 30-plus-year career in stand-up comedy, television and film. He’ll celebrate those accomplishments April 20 with one of the industry’s most iconic honors: a star on the Hollywood Walk of…

Senior TV features editor Emily Longeretta took a break from Emmy issues to write her first Variety cover story. She couldn’t pass up waffles and bacon with Janelle James in Beverly Hills. Senior TV editor Brian Steinberg, who writes about challenges facing late-night TV, is a big fan of the daypart and often tweets news about the shows under the name NITE OWL. “Laying out these lists is like playing Tetris; you have to crack the code,” says associate art director Doug Thomson, who designed this week’s Power of Law compilation. He’s previously designed lists for Variety’s Hitmakers, Lifestyle Leaders and Power of Women issues. Photographer JD Barnes captured Janelle James in New York on April 5: “Working with Janelle and Variety was such a great collaboration. The trust provided…

THE EVIL DEAD 1981 Wildest moment: As the Deadites die in the final scene, demonic hands burst from their bodies, spraying blood and guts. EVIL DEAD II 1987 Wildest moment: Ash uses a chain saw to carve into the decapitated head of his now-Deadite girlfriend, showering blood. ARMY OF DARKNESS 1993 Wildest moment: After a mini-Ash jumps down his throat, Ash chugs hot water as the mini-Ash in his stomach screams. EVIL DEAD 2013 Wildest moment: As blood rains from the sky, Mia bisects the entire body of a Deadite with a chain saw. EVIL DEAD RISE 2023 Wildest moment: Deadite Bridget uses a cheese grater to demolish the leg of Beth in an all-time gross-out scene.…

If you Google Janelle James, the first thing that comes up is that she got her big break from Chris Rock. Wrong! Rock did hire her as a comedian on his 2017 “Total Blackout Tour,” but James says that’s as far as it goes. “He’s done a lot,” she says, carefully choosing words to describe someone who is credited too frequently for her rise. “He’s done enough for me. He didn’t make my career or anything.” She adds, “I was never close with Chris Rock. We went on tour together, and then I didn’t speak to him after that.” And of course, she followed what happened to him at the Oscars, but hasn’t watched his Netflix special. She doesn’t want to be cornered into talking about him or the slap in…

Entertainment attorney Craig Emanuel, Variety’s 2023 Power of Law honoree, remembers the day he got a phone call asking if he would be interested in meeting with Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson. “I knew that they were meeting with a lot of lawyers around town, and I really didn’t think we were going to get selected,” says Emanuel. “A lot of the other law firms were boutique entertainment firms that had huge client lists.” “Months went by, and I thought, you know, nothing’s happening,” Emanuel continues. “And then Richard Lovett, president of CAA, who reps Tom and Rita, called me one evening on the phone. I was at dinner with my partners, and Richard said, ‘I’ve got some good news, you have a new client.’” Now sitting in the brightly…

Michael Trope remembers the day he entered the living room of his childhood home in the Brentwood section of Los Angeles to find Cary Grant sipping a martini. Michael’s father, famed attorney Sorrell Trope, was representing Grant in his 1968 divorce from Dyan Cannon. “My father used to love to tell the story about how Cary Grant became his client,” says Michael Trope, an L.A.-based trial lawyer and former sports agent. “Cary Grant went to a mattress store to buy a mattress,” Michael Trope continues. “He was talking to the mattress salesman and testing out mattresses because he wanted to buy a bed. And he started complaining to this mattress salesman about his divorce. The mattress salesman then said, ‘Oh, I went through a divorce. And I had a great…

Lisa Alter Partner Katie Baron Partner Alter Kendrick & Baron Alter and Baron closed deals worth over $3 billion during the past 12 months. They represented Primary Wave in the acquisition of music publishing and master recording catalogs of iconic artists such as the Doors, the Ramones, Def Leppard, Alice in Chains, Huey Lewis and the News, and the Strokes. They also helped Influence Media Partners team with BlackRock Alternative Investors and Warner Music Group on a new fund and transactions that included acquiring stakes in the catalogs of Blake Shelton, Future and Tainy. Advice for would-be music lawyers: “Saying ‘I don’t want to know about any other disciplines’ is shortsighted and will not make you the most valuable attorney,” says Alter. “In the short term, this business may become even…

As marketing experts prepare for this year’s Variety Entertainment Marketing Summit presented by Deloitte, many are focused on discovering new ways to create authentic relationships with consumers. While contemporary culture evolves faster than ever and the tastes of Gen Z and Gen Alpha are continually shifting, finding new ways to reach audiences has never been more challenging. “People are just consuming our messaging in a thousand different ways,” says Ellene V. Miles, senior VP, intersectional marketing, Sony Pictures Entertainment/Motion Picture Group. “So that sort of blanket one size fits all approach isn’t as viable. I think being authentic to these audiences and meeting them where they live and meeting them with messaging that really speaks to them is critical to success, critical to awareness, and critical to the whole…

FILM REVIEW Director: Kevin Heffernan Starring: Adrianna Palicki, Jay Chandrasekhar, Kevin Heffernan, Steve Lemme Not to be confused with an adaptation of “The Hunchback of Notre-Dame,” comedy troupe Broken Lizard’s “Quasi” tells a story that’s truer to the Oxford definition of its title than the 1831 Victor Hugo novel that inspired it. Kevin Heffernan settles uneasily into the director’s seat usually occupied by colleague Jay Chandrasekhar for an underdog story more interested in leveraging funny pronunciations of French words for underwhelming laughs than in creating real characters — much less a visual backdrop that doesn’t look like a second-rate Renaissance Faire. Set in a 13th-century France that narrator and sometime Broken Lizard collaborator Brian Cox helpfully informs us “sucked,” the film centers on Quasimodo (Steve Lemme), a social outcast tasked…

Monday morning started out just like any other day for Ryan Seacrest. The alarm went off at 5:45 a.m. and he got straight to work. Except this time, he wasn’t in New York City leaving for the “Live With Kelly and Ryan” studio, where he’d do “Host Chat” perched next to Kelly Ripa. Instead, he threw off the covers and leaned into a microphone at his bedside to start “On Air With Ryan Seacrest” on Los Angeles’ KIIS-FM. You see, last Friday marked his final episode of “Live,” and after six years of working six jobs at once, life as he knew it had changed. “I’ve become more comfortable letting things just happen without thinking about what has to come next. It can really go in any direction.”—Ryan Seacrest “The…

Three years ago, T.J. Newman was handing out peanuts and pouring drinks for passengers. Last month, she was hustling between Zoom calls with Nicole Kidman and Jerry Bruckheimer as they tried to outbid each other for the rights to “Drowning,” her upcoming novel about a jetliner that crashes into the ocean. It’s all part of an improbable Cinderella story that’s taken Newman, a flight attendant turned bestselling writer, from manning first-class cabins to becoming one of Hollywood’s most in-demand talents. Newman admits she still hasn’t accepted her change in fortunes. “Any time I board a plane, I still want to get up and collect trash or help someone put their bag in an overhead bin,” she says. “I have to remind myself: You can sit and order a drink instead…

Maddie Luke doesn’t work in television but can tell you quickly why TV’s late-night sector is showing signs of struggle. The 26-year-old, who works at the New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx, doesn’t have a cable subscription and so can’t watch any late-night programs in their entirety. Instead, she says, “I just follow the socials. When it comes to TV, I don’t mind watching a guest that I’m interested in, but sometimes I’m not interested in what’s next.” Megha Kakaraparti, a 26-year-old product manager from Leesburg, Va., sketches out another scenario. She uses her late-night hours to catch up on her favorite crime procedurals. When she does take notice of a late-night show, “it’s just clips on TikTok or YouTube or just something I see on Instagram that’s trending,”…

Growing up in Australia, civil rights in the U.S. were not part of Craig Emanuel’s school curriculum. So when the future power attorney moved to Los Angeles in the 1980s, he “read everything” he could get his hands on. “I was fascinated,” says Emanuel. “And when it was the 50th anniversary of the marches on the Edmund Pettus Bridge [in 2015], I turned to [my wife] and said, ‘I want to go to Selma.’” An avid photographer, Emanuel has “saved every negative [he’s] shot” from the age of 6. He’d photographed historic events like President Barack Obama’s inauguration and wanted to do the same in Selma, Ala. Upon the suggestion of a colleague, Emanuel reached out to the Faith & Politics Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit, nonpartisan organization founded in…

John V. Berlinski Principal Ronald J. Nessim Principal Julia B. Cherlow Principal Bird, Marella, Boxer, Wolpert, Nessim, Drooks, Lincenberg & Rhow The launch of major studios’ in-house streaming platforms put Hollywood self-dealing into hyperdrive, and the Bird Marella team has made headlines litigating the fallout. Berlinski resolved producer Katie O’Connell Marsh’s multiyear litigation against Gaumont Television related to the Netflix series “Narcos” on the eve of trial in November 2022 and is currently repping Chuck Norris in a lawsuit alleging underpayment of profit participation for his series “Walker, Texas Ranger.” He also currently reps Genting Group, the second-largest casino operator in the world, in ongoing matters related to the development and operation of Genting SkyWorlds, a billion-dollar Fox-themed amusement park outside of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Nessim and Cherlow engineered an…

Alex Akhavan Associate, Entertainment, Technology & Advertising Sheppard, Mullin Akhavan is the lead attorney and point of contact for Disney TV Animation and pro bono client L.A. Opera. He’s also handled unscripted and scripted TV and movie projects for Amazon Studios and helped TelevisaUnivision launch its streaming platform, ViX. Akhavan served as lead outside counsel for Amazon scripted series “Swarm,” leading negotiations with creators Donald Glover and Janine Nabers, along with Dominique Fishback, Malia Obama, Damson Idris and Chloe Bailey. He’s the go-to for Amazon’s unscripted slate and closed deals with Skydance Sports for “Good Rivals,” Rihanna’s Fenty brand for “Savage X,” Bunim-Murray for “Lizzo’s Watch Out for the Big Grrrls” and Springhill (Lebron James and Maverick Carter) for “Top Class.” The attorney leveraged his knowledge of VFX to manage…

Every year, CinemaCon bestows honors on the people in front of the camera and behind the scenes during their annual convention. Here’s a look at who is receiving accolades in 2023. CINEMACON PASSEPARTOUT AWARD Niels Swinkels, Universal Pictures Intl. An optimist about cinema despite the COVID catastrophe, even Swinkels is surprised by the size of snap-back. The recipient of Cinema-Con’s Passepartout Award for excellence in the international marketplace will receive his kudo at the International Day lunch and awards ceremony on April 24. “What went beyond my expectations has been seeing box office records being broken so quickly after the pandemic, both locally and globally,” says Swinkels, exec VP & managing director of Universal Pictures Intl. “For Universal, we’ve seen certain territories achieve the biggest animation grosses of all time…

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“What I loved the most is a community felt represented in their favorite TV show.” Shortly before Billy Harris landed the role of footballer Colin Hughes on the Apple TV+ smash “Ted Lasso,” he found himself without representation when his agent left the company. Rather than be discouraged, he sent a note to casting director Theo Park asking to be kept in mind for an upcoming project. “Lo and behold, a day later, this email came in about a show called ‘Ted Lasso,’” Harris recalls. Now Harris is at the epicenter of a major storyline. It all began in Season 2 when Colin made a passing comment about the gay dating website Grindr; fans began to speculate about the character’s sexuality. The third episode of Season 3 confirmed that Colin…