Film News Brief from @FilmNewsBriefs

The Screen Actors Guild has reached a tentative three-year deal with negotiators repping about 40 of its own business representatives at its Hollywood headquarters. SAG had no comment about the pact, under which the unionized employees agreed to a contract offer with 2% annual wage increases. The employees, represented by Local 986 of the Intl. Brotherhood of Teamsters, had sought gains of 5% in the first year and 4% in the second and third years. SAG is set to begin joint negotiations with the American Federation of Television & Radio Artists on Sept. 27 for a new master feature-primetime contract with the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers. Had the business agents not reached a deal, it would have raised the possibility of SAG being picketed by its own employees during the AMPTP talks.

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118023911.html?categoryId=4076&cs=1

Continuing to spurn Carl Icahn, Lionsgate has officially rejected the billionaire’s sweetened bid for the company, asserting that his hostile offer doesn’t fairly value the minimajor and has too many conditions. Icahn hiked his bid for Lionsgate on Aug 31. to $7.50 a share offer but insisted that Lionsgate rescind its July 20 debt-for-equity deal with Lionsgate director Mark Rachesky, or convert Rachesky’s shares into nonvoting stock. Lionsgate responded yesterday after the stock market closed in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing, recommending to its shareholders that they not tender their stock. Icahn’s offer expires Oct. 22 and he’s asked the Supreme Court of British Columbia to reverse the issuance of Lionsgate stock to Rachesky with a hearing set for Oct. 12. The company’s July 20 swap of debt for equity increased Rachesky’s stake to 29% and reduced Icahn’s stake from 38% to 33%.

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118023894.html?categoryId=4076&cs=1

Christina Hendricks (”Mad Men”) is going for a ride with Ryan Gosling and Carey Mulligan, inking a deal to star in indie pic “Drive.” Albert Brooks, Bryan Cranston and Oscar Isaacs also star. Nicolas Winding Refn (”Bronson,” “Pusher”) is directing the action thriller, from Bold Films, OddLot Entertainment and Marc Platt Prods. Based on James Sallis’ crime novel of the same name and adapted by scribe Hossein Amini, “Drive” revolves around a Hollywood stunt driver (Gosling) who moonlights as a getaway driver in L.A.’s criminal underworld. He finds himself a target after agreeing to aid the ex-con boyfriend of his beautiful neighbor (Mulligan) in a job that goes dangerously awry. The only way he can keep her safe and stay alive is to do what he does best: drive.

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118023890.html?categoryId=4076&cs=1

BBC Worldwide America has named former Dow Jones exec Ann Sarnoff chief operating officer. She will report to former Viacom colleague and BBC Worldwide America prexy Herb Scannell. Sarnoff will oversee advertising and affiliate sales for BBC America, along with digital assets including digital syndication and BBC.com. She is Scannell’s second senior exec appointment, following the August hiring of Perry Simon as general manager, channels.

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118023889.html?categoryId=14&cs=1

Dish Network officially unveiled its online video portal in beta, in fact integrating it with Dish’s SlingLoaded DVR directly from the site to allow Dish subscribers to view what’s on their hard drives and add recordings to their playlists. (A good bit of content being tested right now is also available to non-subscribers, so feel free take it for a test spin.) The site is wonderful for sampling shows you haven’t gotten around to watching. Browse thumbnail images by genre, view clips and full episodes online or schedule upcoming TV airings on your Dish DVR from the site or the company’s handy iPhone and iPad app. DishOnline’s search engine combs each show, clip and movie’s metadata to pull up available content to watch or rent but it apparently doesn’t search for upcoming shows — too bad. There’s even a smattering of shows from a range of broadband producers, including Revision3, Wine Library TV and Vuguru. There are also a few recommendations listed on the home page, but the system appears to lack intuitive filters, personalization settings and the ability to learn what to push to you based on what you spend your time watching. Such TV Everywhere efforts won’t attract the kind of digital savvy viewers who are leaving Pay TV until such features are added and perfected.

http://beta.dishonline.com/

Universal has made it official, announcing that it’s acquired the rights to produce three films and a TV series based on Stephen King’s “The Dark Tower.” The studio had been in talks for five months among King, Akiva Goldsman’s Weed Road and Brian Grazer and Ron Howard’s Imagine Entertainment. King’s seven-book series is set in an alternate world resembling the Old West and focuses on the last member of an ancient order of “gunslingers” and his quest toward a tower that’s also the center of all universes. First book, “The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger” was published in 1982. Final book, “The Dark Tower VII,” was published in 2004. Howard will direct the first film and the first season of TV, which will be written by Goldsman — who will produce the film through Weed Road with Howard and Grazer for Imagine. Plans are for are the first film in the trilogy to be immediately followed by the TV series that will bridge the second film. Howard, Grazer and Goldsman will executive produce the TV series for Universal Media Studios.

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118023885.html?categoryId=2560&cs=1

Debmar-Mercury has tapped syndie programming exec and producer Alexandra Jewett to senior vp, programming and production. Jewett will report to Lonnie Burstein, exec vp of programming and production. In her newly created role, Jewett will be responsible for overseeing all Debmar-Mercury programming originating from the East Coast, including its new gabber “The Wendy Williams Show,” and will also assist in the development of all projects.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/television/news/e3if17a900f88f548cea375c1f3436c92e6

Spyglass co-toppers Gary Barber and Roger Birnbaum have signed a non-binding letter of intent with MGM to take the executive reins of the studio after the Lion completes bankruptcy reorganization. Details of the pact weren’t immediately available. But a studio insider said the duo would serve as co-chairmen and co-CEOs of MGM once their deal is completed. It wasn’t immediately clear if the studio would owe Spyglass a breakup fee if the parties fail to close on the deal. More than 100 Lion lenders must approve any prepackaged reorganization plan, but no date yet has been set for the vote. Barber and Birnbaum signed their letter of intent last week.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/film/news/e3if17a900f88f548ce87aad976a6b140ce

Oscilloscope Laboraties has acquired North American rights to James Franco’s directorial debut, “Saturday Night,” a documentary which recounts the making of an episode of “Saturday Night Live.” The doc follows the week-long creation of a “Saturday Night Live” episode guest-hosted by John Malkovich. “Saturday” was produced by Miles Levy and Vince Jolivette of Rabbit Bandini.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/film/news/e3if17a900f88f548ce564eeb26920f298b

Turner has picked up four new pilots for its TNT and TBS cablers, including an update of “Dallas” and a new entry from “Leverage” exec producer Dean Devlin. New pilots include two crime procedurals — “Perception,” from Kenneth Biller (”Star Trek: Voyager”) and an untitled drama from Allan Loeb (”Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps”). TNT is also reviving “Dallas” via scribe Cynthia Cidre. Over at TBS, Devlin is behind “Brain Trust,” about a quirky detective. To get more info on what each series is about (as well as more details about the “Dallas” reboot), head on over to Variety.com for the full skinny.

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118023872.html?categoryId=4076&cs=1

Months after word first surfaced that CNN was looking to hire “America’s Got Talent” judge Piers Morgan to headline a new yakker, the news cabler finally admitted to such a deal. One of the worst-kept secrets in TV – the other being Fox’s new “American Idol” judges – has come true: Morgan will indeed replace Larry King’s 9 p.m. slot on CNN starting in January. King previously announced plans to step down from his long-running show by the end of this year.

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118023865.html?categoryId=14&cs=1

Sony Pictures Classics has acquired all U.S. rights to “Barney’s Version,” which is in competish at the Venice Film Festival. Pic, which is produced by Robert Lantos and is helmed by Richard J. Lewis, is based on Mordecai Richler’s comic novel, and stars Paul Giamatti, Minnie Driver, Dustin Hoffman and Rosamund Pike. Giamatti plays a seemingly ordinary man who lives an extraordinary life.

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118023854.html?categoryId=4076&cs=1

After days of speculation, NBC officially announced its plans for the 36th season of “Saturday Night Live” — which kicks off Sept. 25 with guest host Amy Poehler. Poehler will be joined by musical guest Katy Perry, as well as new “SNL” featured players Vanessa Bayer, Paul Brittain, Taran Killam and Jay Pharoah. Exiting the show, as previously reported, is Will Forte. Featured player Jenny Slate isn’t expected to return.

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118023853.html?categoryId=4027&cs=1

Looking to make his mark as Showtime’s new entertainment prexy, David Nevins has turned to a familiar face: John Wells. Scribe Tom Perrotta is adapting his bestseller “The Wishbones” for Showtime through Wells’ Warner Bros. TV-based production company. Half-hour comedy reps Nevins’ first official piece of development at the pay cabler. “The Wishbones” centers on a group of guys who form a wedding band in their small town but aspire to rock ‘n’ roll greatness. Putnam originally published Perrotta’s novel in 1997; the book has gone through a decade of feature development hell before it was finally positioned as a comedy series project for Showtime. Wells (through John Wells Prods.) and Perrotta will serve as exec producers, while Warner Bros. TV is the studio.

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118023847.html?categoryId=14&cs=1

Andrea Bowen (”Desperate Housewives”) has been set to star in the upcoming indie feature “Preacher’s Daughter.” Michelle Mower will direct from her own script, with Adam Donaghey and Susan Elkins producing. “Preacher’s Daughter” centers on the estranged daughter of a small-town minister who’s forced to return to the strict, religious home of her youth — where she must confront the troubled relationships that caused her to leave four years before.

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118023846.html?categoryId=13&cs=1

Joel McHale is in final negotiations to star opposite Jessica Alba in Robert Rodriguez’s “Spy Kids 4″ reboot for Dimension. He will star as a spy-hunting reporter married to Alba’s character, the stepmother to his kids. “Spy Kids 4″ has already been set for release on Aug. 19. The first three pics — written and directed by Rodriguez — were released in 2001, 2002 and 2003 and cumed $360 million worldwide. Alexa Vega and Daryl Sabara played the children of spy parents Antonio Banderas and Carla Gugino.

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118023844.html?categoryId=4026&cs=1

Judd Apatow will be one of the executive producers of an untitled HBO project written by 24-year-old filmmaker Lena Dunham. HBO has merely ordered a pilot so we won’t find out for some time if the project will become a full-fledged series, but the premise and the pedigree of the show are interesting. The series, which Dunham will write, direct and star in, will depict the “assorted humiliations and rare triumphs” of a group of young women in their early 20s. Not exactly the first thing one would think of with Apatow, but intriguing, nonetheless.

http://www.tvsquad.com/2010/09/08/judd-apatow/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+weblogsinc%2Ftvsquad+%28TV+Squad%29

Tao Ruspoli (”Fix”) has been set to direct indie coming-of-age comedy “Bad Apples,” set in the social world of overprivileged L.A. teens. Sriram Das of Das Films is producing from a script by tyro scribes Wendy Kush and Dylan Meyer, daughter of writer-director Nicholas Meyer. “Bad Apples” centers on the social hierarchy in an exclusive L.A. prep school that’s thrown into chaos when a popular junior fakes a drug habit in order to get sent to rehab — where she develops a real one.

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118023834.html?categoryId=13&cs=1

The story of Ronald Reagan’s life — from boyhood to Hollywood actor to leader of the free world — is about to spill out on the big screen in a way quite different from the miniseries that caused such a stir seven years ago. The feature film, titled “Reagan” and sporting a $30 million production budget, is set for release late next year and will be based on two best-selling biographies of the 40th U.S. president by Paul Kengor: “The Crusader” and “God and Ronald Reagan.” Mark Joseph, who optioned the books four years ago, is co-producing with Ralph Winter and Jonas McCord wrote the script.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/film/news/e3if8cf70233aa65f1b67c1bfb36f234a8d

Universal’s bringing “R.I.P.D.” to life, tapping Robert Schwentke to direct the supernatural actioner, based on Peter Lenkov’s Dark Horse comic about a police department of the dead. Ryan Reynolds signed last spring to star in “R.I.P.D.,” centered on two officers — one recently dead and one who’s been dead for hundreds of years. The team of Phil Hay & Matt Manfredi is writing the screenplay. Mike Richardson, founder and President of Dark Horse, and Lawrence Gordon will produce for Dark Horse Entertainment. Neal Moritz is producing through his Original Film banner.

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118023849.html?categoryId=13&cs=1