Trade Round-Up: WGA Wants A Piece Of Reality TV
· The WGA goes on the "warpath" to unionize reality TV writers, editors, and producers. The producers call the Guild's aggressive tactics "most unfortunate and unproductive, and even self-destructive." Let the rhetoric escalate, but please make sure that in the end, the people responsible for Dancing with the Stars are severely punished. [Variety]
· Movie theater giants AMC and Loews plan a merger, driving popcorn prices to $50 a bucket and prompting studios to consider bombing their multiplexes. [THR]
· Fox and Marvel sue over Sony and Revolution's Zoom, claiming that the Tim Allen comedy is "confusingly similar" to the X-Men franchise. A modest proposal to avoid the ugliness of litigation: Fox "reluctantly agrees" to send X3 director Brett Ratner to shepherd the rival production to success. [Variety]
· Adelphia founder/robber baron James Rigas is sentenced to 15 years in prison (and his son to 20) on bank fraud and conspiracy charges. We hate to make this all about us, but is our cable (or, God forbid, our internet access) going to go black? [THR]
· Producers Karen and Howard Baldwin obtain the rights to Rodney Dangerfield's life story from his widow and plan to develop a biopic. But get ready for a bummer: "...while he was making everyone forget their troubles by laughing at his, Rodney's own life was a heavy-hearted one." [Variety]