NEWS, NOTES AND TRENDS ON L.A.’S ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY
Hoping to get the inside track on fresh talent, NBC is developing a farm team for actors, writers and comics by featuring them in a small theater in the SoHo section of Manhattan.
The experiment PS NBC begins Jan. 6 at the theater in the Here Arts Center, with evening shows Monday through Thursday.
New York was chosen rather than L.A. because there is less pressure to be polished and ready to sign a deal, according to Marc Hirschfeld, the NBC executive vice president for talent who came up with the idea.
“We wanted a performance space that was out of the harsh L.A. limelight,” Hirschfeld said. “L.A. is notorious for having a standup do five good minutes at the Improv and get snapped up. But a lot of these (new) people are not ready.”
Participation will be free, and the theater will be open to the public and industry executives, even those from rival networks. NBC will sign performers to 30-day holding deals. If someone is booked, there will be rehearsal space available along with the stage and a stage manager.
“I think the reason why they’re doing this is so they can develop their own talent and get in on the ground floor,” said Budd Friedman, owner of the Improv. “They want to have first crack at the talent.”
In Los Angeles, HBO has opened Performance Space, a venue aimed at developing comedy much of it alternative. NBC’s plan is much broader, encompassing drama as well.
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Disney’s “The Insider” is the latest in a long line of Hollywood do-good movies.
The problem is that the film, which chronicles the evils of the tobacco industry, has earned a mere $25 million at the box office after reportedly costing $68 million to make.
Will that change now that the Los Angeles Film Critics named it the best picture of the year and also gave nods to stars Russell Crowe and Christopher Plummer, and cinematographer Dante Spinotti? And what if Golden Globe or Oscar nominations are in the works?
Paul Dergarabedian, president of Exhibitor Relations Inc., which follows box-office returns, said an early round of awards “can help it by getting those who are the target audience out of easy chairs to see this film.”
Still, Dergarabedian said that “The Insider” was never destined to be a blockbuster, “If you look at the most frequent movie-goers, the demographics aren’t there,” he said.
Speaking of “The Insider,” Walt Disney Co. Chairman Michael Eisner called “60 Minutes” Executive Producer Don Hewitt to “commiserate” with him about the way the veteran news executive was portrayed in the film. But Eisner “did not apologize to him,” according to John Dreyer, a Disney spokesman. In the film, Hewitt is portrayed as caving in to CBS corporate demands to gut a story on “60 Minutes” about the tobacco industry. Once “The Insider” was in theaters, Eisner called Hewitt and said he knew what it was like to be “at the other end of a narrative.”
