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Dialogue with Richard D. Zanuck

Film, Latest News,

Venerable producer discusses the biz, Tim Burton and how to pitch

Although Richard D. Zanuck has spent more than five decades in the movie business,
the Oscar-winning producer is only interested in looking ahead — specifically toward
the May 11 release of his sixth film with Tim Burton, “Dark Shadows.”

“The rules may have changed, but if we want to stay in the business, we have to
consider these the good old days,” he says. Zanuck recently sat down in his Beverly
Hills home with Christy Grosz to discuss the film that surprised him the most, the
unpredictability of box office and the resilience that being a producer requires.

CG: Is there a secret to producing you learned early on that would benefit young
producers?

RZ: You have to be able to take rejection. You have to really be able to look in the
mirror and ask yourself, “How many doors have to be slammed in my face?” Because
if you’re not up to that, you’ll get eaten up.

With “Driving Miss Daisy,” we were turned down by every studio, sometimes two or
three times. We would plead the case, but when you start talking about an old lady
and a black chauffeur, you can just see the executive’s eyes roll in the back of his
head. That took four years. “Cocoon” was about eight years. And the picture that we
ended up calling “Deep Impact” was a story that David Brown and I had been
working on for 18 years. We hadn’t been working on it all that time. We just put it
away. Then suddenly we thought maybe we should go back and present that idea.
The secret is, don’t give up. If it’s a great idea, it somehow will break through.

CG: When you’re pitching ideas, is that stubborn persistence also a factor?

RZ: If I’m pitching, I’m not running for the door: I’m staying in my seat; let them
run for the door. When I have a piece of material, much like casting a picture, I try to
match the studio head (with) the property. I think, “This will touch so and so. This
will excite somebody over there.” I’m trying to narrow down the chances of being
eliminated.

CG: Do you think there are misconceptions about what a producer does?

RZ: I think there’s been a devaluation of the concept. Maybe too many people have
used the term “producer” when they weren’t qualified. That’s what the Producers
Guild has been fighting for years. I was the chairman of the producers’ branch of the
Academy for about 10 years, and we were constantly trying to find ways to prevent
this proliferation of credits. A producer should contribute from the very beginning
until the very end, in all aspects. I’m there at the set every day, on every shot. Not
that the director, particularly Tim (Burton), needs me, but just in case. There are
producers who don’t even watch the dailies, who have some contact with the project
and get their name slapped on there. That’s what we’ve been trying to get rid of.

CG: How the role of the producer changed over the years?

RZ: I grew up in that era of moguls. Each studio at that time had a staff of producers
who worked exclusively for them. They all reported to the studio head, but they were
really in charge of the movie from beginning to end. Directors in those days were not
nearly as powerful — they came in, directed, and sometimes would go right to

another picture, not even go through the editing process. It was up to the editorial
department and the producer. It wasn’t all coordinated through the eyes of a
director.

CG: Is there any way you can predict something like “Alice in Wonderland” making a
billion dollars?

RZ: If anybody could predict those things, they wouldn’t be working. They’d be
enjoying life by the pool. “Alice” had wonderful ingredients, but a billion dollars is a
big number to hit. As it was growing and we were releasing in more territories and
we were getting these unbelievable numbers, we’d ask ourselves, “Why?” It’s one of
those things you don’t understand. But it was a story that had been around for 160
years. It was so well known, but you still can’t really figure it.

CG: Are there movies that have surprised you?

RZ: When I was head of (Fox), it was “Valley of the Dolls.” I used to preview in San
Francisco a lot. We’d take a small jet out of the Santa Monica Airport and fly up
there, have dinner at Ernie’s, and then preview and then fly back. We thought we had
made a good picture, corny but something that audiences would really enjoy. And the
(reaction) cards were unbelievably bad. It was just terrifying. On the way back, I was
afraid the director, Mark Robson, was going to jump out of the plane, he was so
beside himself. But we released it a few weeks later, and it became a big, big hit.

Mostly, it doesn’t work that way. When a preview’s bad, it’s going to play bad. I still
get an awful feeling before a preview, nervousness and anxiety. That’s just how I am.
You spend a year working on something, and you’re using somebody else’s money,
and you want it to be successful.

CG: “Dark Shadows” puts you together with Tim Burton for the sixth film in a row.
What about that collaboration works so well?

RZ: This would be a dream come true for any producer. I’ve worked with so many
top directors — William Wyler and George Cukor and Franklin Schaffner and
Vincente Minnelli — and each one is brilliant in their own right. But Tim is the only
real artist, literally an artist, of the group. His creative genius is to combine the
physical image with some emotional values, and people don’t give him enough credit.
Working with Tim, it’s like I was in the early days with (Steven) Spielberg. I try to
free them up as much as I can. I want that mind to be uncluttered, so it can work on
the picture.

Studios think a director just walks on set and things happen, but (directors) have to
do endless weeks, months of homework if they’re any good. Most agents and studios
know that they have to go through me if they want something answered. I’ll only
bring the important things to Tim.

Between set-ups, Tim will pick out a spot about 50 feet long and pace. I’ve never seen
him sit down. One time we put one of those pedometers (on him) at the beginning of
the picture, and it was amazing how many miles (it registered) — he could have
walked around the world. (Sometimes) I’ll walk and pace along with him. I’ll say, “I
know you’re doing your laundry list, but we have to have an answer on this or that.” I
think it’s part of his way of thinking, but also keeping people at bay.

But it’s an amazing collaboration for me at this point of my life. Not that I wouldn’t
have gone on (producing) without meeting Tim, but it’s made it so much more
fascinating. It’s really been a wonderful part to a long, long career.

Richard D. Zanuck: At a glance

Made producing debut in 1959 with Richard Fleischer’s “Compulsion,” which
screened in competition at Cannes. The pic took acting prizes at the fest for Orson
Welles, Dean Stockwell and Bradford Dillman.

Named prexy of Twentieth Century Fox in 1962 at age 28. Formed the
Zanuck/Brown Co. in 1971, which, with partner David Brown, produced such hits as
“Jaws,” “The Sting” and “Cocoon.”

In 1991, Zanuck and Brown were honored with the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial
Award by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Zanuck’s father, Darryl
F. Zanuck, had been given the Thalberg honor in 1944.

Nominated for Oscar’s best picture:

“Jaws ,” 1975
“The Verdict,” 1982
“Driving Miss Daisy,” 1989 (winner)

Number of films produced with director Tim Burton: 6

“Dark Shadows,” 2012
“Alice in Wonderland,” 2010
“Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street,” 2007
“Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” 2005
“Big Fish,” 2003
“Planet of the Apes,” 2001

By CHRISTY GROSZ – VARIETY – Sat., May. 5, 2012

The future is now for TV over the internet

Latest News, Online Media, Television, , ,

The topic at issue was nothing less than the future of TV, and the powerful TV
executive had a tale to tell about his teenage daughter and the impact of the
phenomenon known as IPTV. Dad had suggested Downton Abbey that Seven
screened last year to much acclaim and even higher ratings. The forthcoming season
two, due on Seven soon, is eagerly anticipated. But his daughter was unexpectedly
enthusiastic: “Dad, season one was great but season two is even better!”

That she was able to watch the program at all, before it hit Australian screens, was
due to IPTV. It stands for internet protocol television, and means watching TV over
the internet. Some say it is about to change everything. Certainly, there’s a
bewildering array of brands to choose from, including Apple TV, FetchTV, Foxtel,
GoogleTV, Quickflicks and ABC iView.

But for young people, IPTV is not over the horizon, it is here. “They are doing it
already and doing it in droves,” says David Castran, chief executive of research
analyst Audience Development Australia. “The research indicates that for people 25
to 54 in Sydney and Melbourne, 30 per cent of their TV viewing is that, but it is DIY:
do it yourself.”

And DIY, for the most part, still means illegally. While legal IPTV is a nascent
industry, illegal piracy has taken off. And what they want, by and large, is US drama.

Stephen Brook is media editor of The Australian – May 05, 2012

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Google: The future is now for television viewing over the internet

Australia: land of thieves and hoarders

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WE ARE the army of the night, but not necessarily the same night. We want
everything and we want it … when convenient. We are nine million strong, and
growing.

The commercial TV networks hate us because they say we “steal” their programs
without doing our consumerist duty of watching the ads. But they don’t mind
boasting about us when it suits them to say a show that looks like a flop is actually a
hit.

We are the timeshifters. And some of us, maybe most of us, are also cultural
hoarders.

The ratings measurement agency OzTAM estimates that 44 per cent of Australian
households now have the ability to record programs for later viewing (fast-
forwarding through the commercials). OzTAM has added technology to the people-
meter boxes attached to TV sets in a sample of 3,100 capital city homes so that it can
now measure what people record and watch within seven days of the original
broadcast.

That gives us a new insight into the way Australians manipulate their favourite
medium. A nation of multitaskers, in the habit of getting everything it wants, has
comfortably added timeshifting to its array of skills.

When The Voice started on Channel Nine a couple of weeks ago, observers thought it
had wiped Australia’s favourite drama, Revenge, off the ratings map. The mainland
capitals audience for Revenge dropped from nearly 2 million to just over 1 million.

But when OzTAM’s timeshifting figures appeared a week later, we realised
the Revenge fans were not fickle at all – they had simply postponed their pleasure in
order to be among the early adopters of The Voice. On that night, 294,000 people in
the mainland capitals set their recorders to capture Revenge, while they were
watching The Voice.

It joined an elite group of record breakers that included an episode of Homeland in
February (309,000 timshifters), an episode of Angry Boys in May last year
(280,000) and an episode of Underbelly Razor in February (280,000).

In a normal week, our bonus viewing looks more like this …

The most recorded regular shows: 1 Private Practice(audience boosted 65 per
cent by timeshifts); 2 The Amazing Race (audience boosted 54 per cent);
3 Alcatraz (boosted 49 per cent); 4 The Good Wife (up 34 per cent); 5 Desperate
Housewives (up 33 per cent).

Those titles might lead you to suspect that most timeshifters are women, and you’d
be right. Of the 294,000 people who set their recorders to capture
Revenge against The Voice, 230,000 were women. Could this be because Dad insists
on controlling the remote on the night? Mum programs the recorder, but she learned
long ago it’s good to let Dad think he’s in charge of something.

But there’s a group beyond the timeshifters that OzTAM does not measure – people
who record shows and watch them more than seven days later. They are engaged in
what we might call cultural hoarding.
OPINION” DAVID DALE – SMH – May 6, 2012

British ISPs forced to block The Pirate Bay

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Britain’s High Court has ordered the country’s internet service providers to block
file-sharing website The Pirate Bay. A High Court judge told Sky, Everything
Everywhere, TalkTalk, O2 and Virgin Media to prevent access to the Swedish site,
which helps millions of people download copyrighted music, movies and computer
games.

Music industry group BPI welcomed the order by justice Richard Arnold that the
service providers block the site within the next few weeks. BPI chief executive Geoff
Taylor said sites like The Pirate Bay “destroy jobs in the U.K. and undermine
investment in new British artists.”

The service providers said they would comply with the order. A sixth provider, BT,
has been given several weeks to consider its position, but BPI said it expected BT
would also block the website. Providers who refuse could find themselves in breach
of a court order, which can carry a large fine or jail time.

The announcement follows a February ruling by the same judge that the operators
and users of The Pirate Bay have “a common design to infringe” the copyright of
music companies.

In Australia, the movie industry sued ISP iiNet in an attempt to force it to prevent
customers from downloading illegal material from the web, but the courts have
consistently ruled in favour of ISPs. Last month the High Court’s five
judges unanimously dismissed the film industry’s final appeal, but experts say ISPs
will still need to take some action to prevent piracy.

The Pirate Bay has been a thorn in the side of the entertainment industry for years.
In 2010, a Swedish appeals court upheld the copyright infringement convictions of
three men behind the site, but it remains in operation.

The website, which has more than 20 million users around the world, does not host
copyright-protected material itself, but provides a forum for its users to download
content through so-called torrent files. The technology allows users to transfer parts
of a large file from several different users, increasing download speeds.

Defenders of such sites say old creative industry business models have been
overtaken by technology that allows music, movies and games to be acquired at the
touch of a finger on computers, tablets, phones and other devices.

Both O2 and Virgin said banning orders against copyright-breaching sites had to be
accompanied by other measures that reflected consumers’ behavior. O2 said in a
statement that “music rights holders should continue to develop new online business
models to give consumers the content they want, how they want it, for a fair price.”

May 1, 2012 – 7:36AM – AP

China plans $1.27 billion production hub

Film, Latest News

BEIJING — Chinese entrepreneur Bruno Wu’s Harvest Seven Stars Entertainment is
linking up with Tianjin city government to build Chinawood, a $1.27 billion film and
media hub over a whopping 8.6 million square feet.

The base is aimed at U.S. and other foreign productions and will provide a hub for
co-productions, which are exempt from Chinese import quotas. Some 35% of the
investment is earmarked for film financing, the group said in a statement.

The initial build, comprising 377,000 square feet of offices, is nearing completion
and will open in October.

Wu has been busily building bridges with Hollywood in recent months, having linked
up with Jake Eberts and Justin Lin on projects already this year, and launched $800
million private equity fund, Harvest Seven Stars Media Fund, in February.

Among Chinawood’s functions will be a co-production film financing platform, a co-
production service center with post facilities, a facility for 3D conversion and a
distribution and marketing center.

Wu said that the East Asian film market was on track to be worth $10 billion by 2015,
and China would make up half of that market, rapidly catching up with North
America.

“It is crucial, as well as inevitable, that we offer the products and services to facilitate
substantial cooperation between the two territories. This project is a significant step
towards closing that gap by providing expertise and facilities in all areas of financing,
legal, co-production, distribution, marketing, sales and infrastructure,” he said.

The group said discussions were underway with a number of other companies from
around the globe.

Tianjin is a coastal city, around 30 minutes from Beijing by high-speed train. It has
been growing in recent years by aggressively attracting high-tech industries to set up
there.

By CLIFFORD COONAN – Variety – Sun., Apr. 29, 2012

Seeking indigenous ghost stories

Film, Latest News,

The creators of the film, SAMSON & DELILAH are offering the opportunity for
people to be a part of their exciting new project. They’re on the look out for
Indigenous people who have had first-hand encounters with ghosts!

Have you seen a ghost? Know someone who has? Had a weird experience that you
just can’t explain? Yes? Then they want to hear from you!

Director, Warwick Thornton and producer, Kath Shelper are in pre-production for a
new project based around Indigenous ghost stories and encounters with the after-
life. Stories that are poignant and relevant to Indigenous issues is what they’re after
– and the blacker the better!

You won’t have to appear on screen, but they would love to hear about your first-
hand experiences.

If you have a ghost story, or know someone who does, please visit the Scarlett
Pictures website at http://scarlettpictures.com.au/ for more information, or contact:

Facebook: www.facebook.com/ozghosts
Phone:
(02) 9319 6133
Email: ghosts@scarlettpictures.com.au
Post: PO Box 322, Potts Point, NSW, 1335

Thornton & Shelper’s feature film debut, SAMSON & DELILAH stunned the film
world by taking out the coveted Camera d’Or (Golden Camera) at the Cannes
International Film Festival and went on to win multiple awards, including Best
Picture at the AFI Awards.

Media release from Scarlett Pictures – Monday 30 April 2012

New media rules get harsh review from networks

Latest News, Television

A proposal by the federal government’s Convergence Review to create a new
regulatory watchdog has received a harsh welcome from media companies who say
such a move would create excessive regulation and compliance costs for the media
industry, according to a report by The Australian Financial Review.

The review’s final report introduced additional regulation intended to force more
media groups to produce local video content.

The report, released Monday, also abolished existing ownership rules and
recommends a “public interest test” for big media mergers and acquisitions. “Foxtel
is concerned that overall the review recommends needless new regulation that will
stifle competition and innovation and does not recognise market reality,” Foxtel chief
executive Richard Freudenstein said, according to the AFR. “In particular, a new
public interest test would be broad and subjective, and by the review’s own
admission, it may increase regulatory burden.”

Ten Network Holdings chief James Warburton reportedly said there was “no
justification” for the proposed changes when free-to-air broadcasters “invest more
than $1.2 billion in local productions.”

The changes would define all major media companies as Content Service Enterprises
required to increase Australian video production, although digital companies such as

Google, Facebook and Apple would not be included in the definition.

The review committee’s head, Glen Boreham, defended the idea of a new watchdog.
“It’s not a super regulator,” he said, according to The Australian. “The new body may
be smaller than the existing one.”

Published 5:06 AM, 1 May 2012 – Business Spectator

Convergence Review strongly supports Australian content

Film, Latest News, Television

The final report of the Convergence Review strongly supports the social and cultural
value of Australian content and makes it very clear that, without intervention, it will
drop to unacceptable levels. It is proposed that the current rules applying to free-to-
air and subscription television be repealed but that a new technology-neutral regime
be uniformly applied to all players, including the networks’ digital multichannels,
internet-delivered channels with television-like content and on-demand services.

To be one of the “content service enterprises” subject to the new regime, a service
must be screening or offering professional television-like drama, documentary

and/or children’s programs, and meet not-yet-determined minimum revenue and
audience thresholds. This means that platforms that predominantly run user-
generated material and social media sites escape the recommendations. If a service
falls into this category it will be required to invest a percentage of its revenue into
Australian drama, documentary and children’s programs, or into a “converged
content production fund” with a very broad remit.

Having a transitional period is recommended on the Australian content front, during
which subquotas on the main commercial free-to-air are increased by 50 per cent —
to make up for how little local content is on the multichannels – and the 10 percent
minimum expenditure requirement on eligible drama subscription channels is
extended to children’s and documentary programming.

The review committee states that there is a continuing case for government support
for Australian production – again, it is drama, documentary and children’s
programming that needs intervention – and it has stuck by its guns in
recommending that the value of the producer offset should go up from 20 to 40 per
cent for “premium” television content, putting it on the same footing as features.

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By Sandy George – INSIDEFILM – [Mon 30/04/2012]

The Mystery of a Hansom Cab telemovie

Latest News, Television

Filming has today started on a new 19th century mystery tele-movie for the ABC in
Melbourne.

The Mystery of a Hansom Cab is produced by Burberry Entertainment by producer
Margot McDonald with direction from Underbelly director Shawn Seet. It has been
adapted from the Fergus Hume novel of the same name by Glen Dolman, who wrote
the screenplay of Bob Hawke biopic Hawke.

Cast includes Offspring’s John Waters, Beaconsfield‘s Shane Jacobson, Underbelly
Razor‘s Chelsie Preston Crayford and Anna McGahan as well as Helen Morse of The
Eye of the Storm and Oliver Ackland of The Slap.

Ewan Burnett, CEO of Burberry Entertainment said: “We are thrilled to be making
this stunning period piece, which exquisitely depicts Melbourne in the midst of a
19th century population and economic boom.”

Carole Sklan, head of ABC TV Fiction said: “We’re delighted to be bringing this
compelling Australian murder mystery to ABC TV. It is a true classic, the story keeps
surprising, and the creative team at Burberry have brought together a wonderful
cast.”

April 30th, 2012 – mUmBRELLA

The rise of the zomcom: how zombie films have taken over the world

Film, Latest News

It seems every country wants a piece of zombie-film action and as new Cuban
zombie satire Juan of the Dead proves, this well-worn genre is showing no signs of
dying out.

Ghoulish satire … Alejandro Brugués’s zomcom Juan of the Dead is Cuba’s latest
offering to the zombie genre.

Zombie films are becoming like burrito chains, or Olympic games: every nation’s got
to have one. Since the neo-zombie renaissance begun in earnest by Danny Boyle’s 28
Days Later (2002), we’ve had American zombies (thereturn of George A Romero;
the Dawn of the Dead remake; The Walking Dead), London-commuter zombies
(Shaun of the Dead), Spanish zombies (REC), Thai zombies (SARS Wars), Serbian
zombies (Zone of the Dead) and Taiwanese zombies (the forthcoming Zombie 108).

This week sees the arrival in UK cinemas of the Cuban incarnation, in Alejandro
Brugués’s zomcom Juan of the Dead.

They pop up everywhere; they show no respect for international border
demarcations. Now that globalisation has started to emit a sickly smell, what better
ambassadors than a shambling cadaver with a manky eye cavity? The postwar
zombie film always liked to travel, with its penchant for sordid exoticist expeditions
like Zombie Flesh Eaters and Zombi Holocaust; and its apocalyptic urges meant that
destined to go global. Now that we’re officially, as the Žižek says, living in the end
times, the genre has really come into its own.

A couple of years back we were recoiling from zombie banks, and with people talking
about “gangrenous” states like Greece, it seems the bits are still dropping off the
global economy.

Zombies are the 99%, the proletariat of the undead – and so the perfect vehicle for
detailing fears about mass civic breakdown. There was always grotesque humour in

even the most serious zombie films, and the renaissance of the last decade has made
the comedy dominant. In the true tradition of the decadent frisson, we’re loving the
grisly spectacle of our decline. John Wyndham’s “cosy catastrophe” – the genre of
literature in which the breakdown of civilisation is weirdly good to the protagonists –
has been superseded by the carnival catastrophe, à la Zombieland.

Juan of the Dead – hailing a couple of hundred miles west from the zombie’sHaitian
birthplace – is the most laidback entry yet; its great contribution to the form is the
first zombie tango, between Alexis Díaz de Villegas’s Havana slacker and a ex-drag
queen ghoul he is handcuffed to. The film delights in expending its satiric munitions
on behalf of the Cuban home crowd. The government tries to claim the undead
hordes are American-backed dissidents, and Juan and buddy wriggle out of the
limiting strictures of armageddon with a little shifty private enterprise, Ghostbusters-
style: “Juan of the Dead, we kill your loved ones, how may I help you?”

Well done to Brugués, because it’s quite a subversive film. And, as the first recent
Cuban production I can remember to receive this level of international attention, it
has a significance that goes well beyond the self-inflicted Shaun of the Dead
comparisons: it’s another sign of Cuba – as Raúl Castro continues to liberalise –
slowly rejoining the global market economy. Given the undead boom, a zombie
calling card’s not a bad one if you want to demonstrate a sense of humour and
commercial film-making nous.

I’d be intrigued to know what either Castro thinks of Juan. Forty years ago, you
imagine many Cubans would have shared Romero’s politics, and resisted tooth and
nail being subsumed into the ranks of the mindless capitalist walking dead.

Now they’re climbing into the same boat as the rest of us, the zomcom suddenly
makes sense. The first wave of zombie pictures viewed dismemberment/ engulfment
as an occasion of pure disbelieving horror; now we know that consumer culture
dismembers your bank balance and engulfs your psyche, and we shrug. What can you
do – especially if get the taste for consuming? Being chained to Simon Pegg’s couch,
like a decomposing Nick Frost in Shaun of the Dead, and still getting to play
PlayStation is starting to look like a sign of the times.

We’re all the undead now – and the list of those with a viable resistance plan is
dwindling. No wonder every country is lining up for a piece of zombie-film action.
But, as Kim Newman pointed out in his Guardian webchat last week, the fetish is
starting to feel worn out. Perhaps that’s because there seems to be no other ending
for zombie films than submission to the throng, whether it’s done in Shaun and
Juan’s carnival spirit or in the rage-filled blitz of Danny Boyle’s revenants.

If you take zombie films as social allegories, then the lack of narrative imagination
(hard when your brains have been scooped out) is a worrying thing. I wouldn’t expect
a revolution any time soon: if there’s one thing that doesn’t phase this genre, it’s
overuse.

Phil Hoad – Tuesday 1 May 2012  BSTguardian.co.uk