Brad Pitt and Brad Grey break: Plan B for Paramount exit (exclusive)

The relationship between the production of Brad Pitt and CEO of Paramount Brad Grey company is about to end, according to sources with knowledge of the situation.

Production company Plan B of Pitt, which is the highest on the recent hit 12 years a slave and World War Z, out of his home in eight years when his contract with Paramount expires at the end of 2013. Plan B, Pitt running with Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner, is directed to a three year contract with Arnon Milchan'snew Regency, producer for 12 years. RatPac Entertainment, the company's production and financial upstart founded by Australian billionaire James Packer and filmmaker Brett Ratner, will be a partner finance on Plan B films.

"Our society is built on working with the best talent in the business. '' "By providing Plan B, with their filmmaker solid relationships and stellar pool of talent into the fold with RatPac, we do just that," Brad Weston, president and CEO of new Regency, said in a statement.
"There very few partners in this company who are able to balance artistic integrity and commercial viability. Working hand in hand with the new Regency and RatPac, we feel that we have found a perfect fit, "a spokesman for Plan B, in a statement.

Gray, formerly a producer director before taking the position of head of the Paramount studio, co-founded the Plan B with Pitt and Jennifer Aniston woman in 2002. The company has had an agreement with Paramount since 2005.

During the paramount relationship, Pitt company had done a number of independent-style films (time of nothing, The Tree of Life) with other partners, but his biggest hit by far (and the only Pitt starring himself) was the epic of zombie World War Z, which grossed 540 million $ worldwide this summer. THR reported earlier Tuesday that a sequel is being prepared with Director Bayona, who has helmed the tragedy of tsunami in 2012 the Impossible.

PHOTOS: 12 years slave ": exclusive Portraits of Star-producer Brad Pitt and his cast"

There were tensions between Paramount and Plan B during the production of Marc Forster- World War Z and more recently more than 12 years a slave. In October, THR reported that a dispute arose because the Paramount executives believed that plan B had breached the deal by the company with the studio failing to provide an opportunity to finance and distribute 12 years. In April 2012, a few weeks before Director Steve McQueen began filming the drama of slavery, new Regency agreed to co-finance and distribute the image via Fox Searchlight. The film won the first award buzz and running well at the box office, having narrated more than 35 million $ to this day.

However, the relationship between Pitt and grey would always amicable, and the studio will continue to collaborate on projects that have been developed during the term of Plan B at Paramount.

Plan B is familiar with the new Regency. More than 12 years, the two companies partnered with Mr. and Mrs. Smith and have just wrapped shooting on a true story, based on the book "true story: murder, memoir, Mea Culpa" by Michael Finke. This film starring James Franco, Jonah Hill and Felicity Jones and released by 20th Century Fox.

RatPac made a big push in Hollywood. Earlier this year, the company reached an agreement to supply up to 400 million $ in financing to Warner Bros.

"Plan B has become a consistent supplier of equipment of high level and talent. As a new company, we are able to partner with Arnon and his team at new Regency on this case, it gives us a big jolt to what we are trying to accomplish,"Packer and Ratner said in a statement.

THR COVER STORY: How a Mantra of Brad Pitt, "game on, F - ers!,' powered his Oscar competitor 12 years a slave"

Paramount has recently added producer Jerry Bruckheimer to its list, perhaps to fill the void of Plan B.

E-mail: Kim.Masters@THR.com
Twitter: @KimMasters

View the original article here

'Switched at Birth' Creator Developing Family Thriller for ABC Family (Exclusive)

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

ABC Family is doubling down on Switched at Birth creator Lizzy Weiss.

The youth-skewing cable network is reteaming with Weiss for Into Thin Air, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.

Into Thin Air is described as a high-concept family drama with thriller elements. Exact story details are being kept under wraps.

STORY: ABC Family Renews 'Switched at Birth,' 'Orders More 'Twisted,' 'Fosters'

Weiss created the project and will executive produce alongside Switched at Birth EP Paul Stupin. Into Thin Air marks the duo's second project at the cabler, following the Vanessa Marano-Katie Leclerc starrer, which will return for its third season on Jan. 13.

Switched has been a sturdy performer for ABC Family, earning a third-season renewal in July after taking home the Peabody Award and Television Critics Association prize for youth programming in 2012.

Weiss, who also penned the feature film Blue Crush, is repped by UTA and attorneys Bryan Wolf and Pam Black. Stupin, who served as an exec producer on Dawson's Creek, Beautiful People and Make it or Break It, is with WME.

Into Thin Air arrives as ABC Family is readying three comedy pilots from Tori Spelling, Ashley Tisdale and Bunheads duo Grant Levy and Dominik Rothbard. On the drama side, the youth-skewing cabler is readying an adaptation of The Hand That Rocks the Cradle as well as The Final Girls, a horror-thriller starring Jamie Lee Curtis. This year, ABC Family successfully launched dramas Twisted and The Fosters, which have both been picked up for additional episodes.

E-mail: Lesley.Goldberg@THR.com
Twitter: @Snoodit

View the original article here

Study: Just Prior to Anniversary of Sandy Hook Massacre, TV Is Awash in Violence (Exclusive)

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

A conservative watchdog group is invoking the upcoming one-year anniversary of the massacre in Newtown, Conn., as well as some comments President Barack Obama recently made while visiting a film studio, to drive home its point that Hollywood is being hypocritical, by glamorizing gun violence while also advocating for more gun control.

According to a report expected Tuesday, a week ahead of the anniversary of the mass murders at Sandy Hook Elementary School on Dec. 14, 2012, some of television’s highest-rated shows featured at least 145 acts of violence, including 101 involving guns and 39 deaths.

PHOTOS: 'The Walking Dead's' Most Shocking Deaths

Authors of the study, which comes from the Culture and Media Institute, used Nielsen ratings to determine the most popular 20 dramas on television, then it watched the 14 episodes that aired from Dec. 1-7, just ahead of the anniversary of the real-life murders of 27 children and adults.

The study says “at least” 145 acts of violence were in the 14 shows because three of them -- The Walking Dead, NCIS: Los Angeles and Sons of Anarchy -- featured such lengthy and significant gun battles that it was impossible to determine the number of participants.

Those three shows also constituted the most violent on television in the week leading up to the anniversary of Sandy Hook. The Walking Dead earned the top spot with 20 acts of violence, even though the researchers didn’t count violence directed at zombies, only live humans.

In the run-up to Saturday's anniversary of the Sandy Hook massacre, the report predicts: “Americans can expect to hear demands for gun control from sanctimonious Hollywood stars, just as they did in the wake of the shooting. Their demands were hypocritical then, and they’re even more hypocritical now.”

The report notes that Hollywood has taken several victory laps for helping to change minds about gay marriage, in no small part with shows like Modern Family and others portraying same-sex relationships in positive ways. On the flip side, though, Hollywood is “afraid” to acknowledge its connection to gun violence.

STORY: 'Sons of Anarchy's' School Shooting Draws Ire of Parents Television Council

In one part of the report, author Matt Philbin writes of Obama’s recent visit with major Hollywood donors.

“He’s cozy with A-list actors and power brokers, and he’s asked for their help selling his agenda through their products,” the report says, before quoting from Obama’s remarks at DreamWorks Animation last month. “We have got to make sure we are not glorifying it,” the president said of gun violence. “The stories we tell matter. And you tell stories more powerfully than anybody else.”

The CMI is a department of the Media Research Center, which will release a video accompaniment to the report. The short video, embedded below, is a montage of violence featured on TV in the past week or so.

"We're coming up on the one-year anniversary of Sandy Hook and we're seeing this incredible volume of violence, and we saw it before Sandy Hook and we've seen it all year since," said MRC vp of business and culture Dan Gainor.

The study also criticizes a public service announcement that featured Hollywood actors like Jamie Foxx and Jeremy Renner advocating for more gun control. That video also is below.

“Talk about tone-deaf,” said Gainor. “Quickly after Newtown, Hollywood released their video about how guns are bad. And now they’ve had a year to clean up their act, and TV is still a bloodbath.”

STORY: Study: PG-13 Films Combine as Much Violence, Sex and Alcohol as R-Rated Titles

The study also cites comments from anti-gun activists like Jim Carrey, who tweeted: “Any1 who would run out to buy an assault rifle after the Newtown massacre has very little left in their body or soul worth protecting.” The study notes the tweet came prior to the opening of Kick-Ass 2, a violent film Carrey stars in.

Sylvester Stallone of the Rambo and Expendables franchises also is cited, as are Bette Midler, Quentin Tarantino and Michael Moore.

“Tarantino makes the most violent movies I’ve ever seen, and he doesn’t want to talk about that element of them. That’s irresponsible,” said Gainor. “Violence is much more realistic and gruesome on TV today. Maybe normal people can watch it and not be affected, but abnormal people cannot. At minimum, it’s coarsening our culture.”

Email: Paul.Bond@THR.com

View the original article here