Lasseter Angers Animators; Showtime Presidents; 'Criminal Minds' Ending; New 'Green Book' Apology; LA's Battle for Venice Beach

What's news: The homelessness problem in Venice is a microcosm of Los Angeles' housing dichotomy. Plus: John Lasseter's return angers animators, CBS eyes a record-breaking Super Bowl and the battle for credit for the new Lion King. — Will Robinson [The Hollywood Reporter - Today In Entertainment]( January 11, 2019 What's news: The homelessness problem in Venice is a microcosm of Los Angeles' housing dichotomy. Plus: John Lasseter's return angers animators, CBS eyes a record-breaking Super Bowl and the battle for credit for the new Lion King. — Will Robinson ^Battle for Venice: With swelling transient encampments abutting seven-figure homes, the beachside enclave has emerged as a flashpoint for the inequality shaping Los Angeles — and a real-world test case for the liberal ideology of the area’s showbiz residents, Scott Johnson and Peter Kiefer report: + The crisis: Venice is now home to the largest concentration of homeless anywhere on L.A.'s Westside, with nearly 1,000 non-domiciled people. During the past 18 months, several encampments have swelled in more residential areas where homes can easily sell for eight figures and up. Tents, many of them equipped with mini refrigerators, cupboards, televisions and heaters, vie with pedestrian traffic + Venice conundrum: Sleepless in Seattle and Community producer Gary Foster, who works with the homeless advocacy group The People Concern, was surprised by the number of residents who expressed exasperation with — if not outright disdain for — the transient population. "They tend to be liberal, they want to do good in the world, but they're balancing their beliefs with how that might impact the value of their real estate," says Foster. + Little police action: The people living in the encampments say they have been unfairly maligned, even as they admit there is little policing when they do break the law. City rules dictate that tents be taken down between the hours of 6 a.m. and 9 p.m. But police rarely enforce the code. "We get away with a lot," says Randy "Dee" Collins, 25, who adds his family has long owned property in Venice and that he has chosen a life on the street against their wishes. + Unfair demonization: John Maceri, executive director of The People Concern, takes issue with residents who complain about the problem and then go on to criticize every proposed remedy. "The criminal element needs to be dealt with, but statistically, homeless people aren't committing more crimes than other people, it's just more visible and they are easier to blame," he says. [Full story.]( 'Lion King' Divide Attribution confusion: As Disney readies a new version of the 1994 classic Lion King, as well as Dumbo and Aladdin, for 2019, long-standing credit and residuals disparities upset story artists who worked on the earlier versions, Jonathan Handel reports: + No residuals: The original Lion King, like most animation, was not made under Writers Guild of America jurisdiction. Instead, the writers, like the majority of visual artists on the film, performed their work subject to the jurisdiction of The Animation Guild. TAG offers few credit protections and no residuals, as are routine under the WGA rules. + Crediting issues: Storyboard artist Jorgen Klubien is one of 17 people who received story credit on 1994’s Lion King. Eight more received an “additional story material” credit. TAG has virtually no rules regarding credit, but if the film had been WGA, Klubien might never have received a story credit at all, because WGA rules prohibit more than two writers or teams from sharing story credit. * Scribe complications: Original writer Tom Disch and another early scribe, Ron Bass, got no credit at all, while Linda Woolverton — who received shared screenplay credit — says that Disney gave her a royalty on the Broadway Lion King. But, she recently told THR, “I’m not happy that I don’t get to participate” in the 2019 remake. Nor does the remake entitle her to guild residuals. [Full story.]( Elsewhere in film... ► XYZ hires former Global Road exec Tatyana Joffe to lead int'l sales. The sales veteran — most recently executive vp international sales at Global Road/IM Global — joins XYZ ahead of next month's European Film Market in Berlin, where she [will lead]( the sales team. In her role, Joffe will oversee territories including Western Europe, Latin America and Australia/NZ, reporting to XYZ partner Nick Spicer. ► Sam Raimi to produce Lionsgate horror pic Behind. The female-fronted film is [based on]( the acclaimed short of the same name by Angel Gomez, who will produce. ► New David Spade-starring, Adam Sandler-produced Netflix movie finds director. Father of the Year helmer Tyler Spindel [will reteam]( with Spade, the streaming giant and Happy Madison Productions for The Wrong Missy. ► Henry Winkler joins Wes Anderson movie French Dispatch. The film, which is already shooting in France, has its roll call [filled]( with the usual Anderson players such as Bill Murray, Frances McDormand, Tilda Swinton, Adrian Brody and Bob Balaban as well as company newcomers such as Benicio del Toro and Timothee Chalamet. ► Deadpool's Brianna Hildebrand joins John Cena in Playing With Fire. The Paramount Players project follows wildfire fighters that spend Christmas weekend at the station taking care of three rambunctious kids they rescued. Hildebrand [will be playing]( the eldest of the orphaned siblings. ► Jennifer Hudson-starring Aretha Franklin biopic finds director. Liesl Tommy, the first black woman to earn a Tony Award nomination for best direction of a play, [will helm]( Respect for MGM, with Nashville creator Callie Khouri penning the script. ► Diane Keaton's new comedy Poms gets Mother's Day release. STXfilms [will open]( the comedy on May 10 to take advantage of the Mother’s Day weekend. ► Green Book writer apologizes for resurfaced anti-Muslim tweet. "I spent my life trying to bring this story of overcoming differences and finding common ground to the screen, and I am [incredibly sorry]( to everyone associated with Green Book," Nick Vallelonga said. ► Roy Wood Jr. to host NYC WGA Awards. Jimmy Fallon, Ellie Kemper, Mj Rodriguez, Tony Shalhoub and Kenan Thompson [will present]( at the Feb. 17 ceremony. Around town... ► Hollywood unions line up in support of possible L.A. teachers strike. SAG-AFTRA, IATSE, the Teamsters and musicians union issued statements, but the WGA and DGA were silent. A labor stoppage [would idle]( a reported 30,000 teachers in the nation’s second-largest school district, unless negotiations Friday or over the weekend produce a breakthrough. ► LAPD HQ reopens after suspicious package prompts evacuation. An hour after the LAPD's first tweet, the police department [disclosed]( that the package, an envelope, contained a "powdery substance" and was still under investigation. Shortly thereafter, the department tweeted that the envelope was cleared and "determined to be safe" by its HazMat unit. ^John Lasseter's return to Hollywood divides animators: While the high-profile hire could prompt women in animation to avoid working with Skydance, some in the industry believe the exec will be a recruiting boon, not a hindrance, Rebecca Keegan reports: + Harsh blowback: "People are shell-shocked," says Megan Dong, an animation director. "As long as he's there, I wouldn't work at Skydance. And every female artist or creative who I've spoken to today has said they'd never work at Skydance as long as he's involved. It's just a terrible message to send to women." + "'We just don't care'": "It's a small industry, and we all work together," says Betsy Bauer, a visual development artist. "It's like nothing matters. He got to go sit in the time-out chair for a year and now he's allowed to come back. At least Disney did the right thing. What Skydance is doing is just validating his behavior. It's saying, 'We know that that happened. And we just don't care.'" [Full story.]( Latest reviews... ► Sony's A Dog's Way Home. "The film pretty much packs every canine cliché imaginable into its running time, but one look into the soulful eyes of its four-legged star will melt all but the coldest of hearts," Frank Scheck writes. [Review.]( * What critics are saying. Only some critics are moved, to the tune of 71 percent on [Rotten Tomatoes]( and a 46 on [Metacritic](. On the festival circuit... ► Berlin adds Netflix drama Elisa & Marcela to competition lineup. The black-and-white feature from The Bookshop director Isabel Coixet will be the first film acquired by Netflix to screen in competition in Berlin. [Details.]( ► Berlin completes Generation lineup. Highlights of Berlin's sidebar of youth and children's films include the Canadian drama A Colony from director Genevieve Dulude-Decelles and the world premiere of Goldie from director Sam de Jong, starring Slick Woods. [Details.]( And the winner is... ► Hale County This Morning, This Evening earns top prize at Cinema Eye Honors. At the ceremony, hosted by documentary filmmaker Steve James, both Bing Liu’s Minding the Gap and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin’s Free Solo won three trophies each. [Winners.]( ► The Hate U Give, The Favourite win top honors at L.A. Online Film Critics Society Awards. Brie Larson, John Cho, Amandla Stenberg and Rami Malek were among the stars at the second annual ceremony. [Winners.]( For your consideration... ► A Star Is Born, Bohemian Rhapsody among Guild of Music Supervisors Awards nominees. The awards, which will be handed out Feb. 13, recognize the highest achievements in music supervision and exemplary work in 18 categories across movies, television, games, advertising and trailers. [Nominees.]( ► South Korea's Burning tops Asian Film Awards noms. The movie earns eight nominations, while Japan's Shoplifters, India's Sanju and China's Shadow follow with six each as Chinese films and co-productions garner a total of 34 nods. [Nominees.]( Console wars... ► Bungie splits from Activision, secures publishing rights to Destiny franchise. The two companies [signed]( a 10-year publishing deal in 2010. In 2000, the company signed a deal with Microsoft, which secured Halo: Combat Evolved as a launch title for the new Xbox console. Seven years later, Bungie broke from Microsoft to become a privately held independent company, while Microsoft maintained a minority stake. ► God of War leads D.I.C.E. Awards nominations. Sony Santa Monica's action adventure game scored 12 nominations, while Marvel's Spider-Man and Rockstar's Red Dead Redemption 2 [also received]( multiple noms. From the stage... ► SAG-AFTRA, IATSE declare support for Actors Equity strike. Equity itself issued a statement warning non-union actors and stage managers that they will be [permanently prohibited]( from joining the union in the future if they take work that is subject to the strike. In memoriam... ► RIP Verna Bloom. The actress who starred in Haskell Wexler's groundbreaking Medium Cool and played the boozing, philandering wife of the college dean in the John Landis comedy Animal House died Wednesday at 80. [Obit.]( Coming attractions... ► Trailer: Velvet Buzzsaw sees Jake Gyllenhaal, Toni Collette haunted by demonic art. The trailer for the official Sundance 2019 selection shows works of art exacting their revenge on greedy victims by grabbing them and severing their limbs. [Watch.]( Oscars forecast. After the Golden Globes, and in the midst of Oscars voting, awards columnist Scott Feinberg updates his look at the Academy Awards. How did Green Book and Bohemian Rhapsody [change](? [COLD WAR, a decades-spanning love story between two fatefully mismatched people in post-war Europe has been named Best Foreign Language Film by the National Board of Review and New York Film Critics Circle directed by 2018 Cannes Best Director Pawel Pawlikowski. For Your Consideration In All Categories]( CBS' Super Bowl Prize Record-setting big game: CBS expects to pull in about $500 million for the day with 30-second Super Bowl spots going for more than $5 million a pop and the network's inventory 90 percent sold out 24 days before the game, Marisa Guthrie reports: + Ratings watch: Interim CBS Corp. CEO Joe Ianniello and CBS Sports chairman Sean McManus would not offer specific tune-in predictions, except to state the obvious: that the Super Bowl would be the most watched event of 2019. Last year's game on NBC drew a little over 103 million viewers, a 7 percent decline compared with the year before. Good news for CBS? NFL ratings, on the whole, are up 6 percent vs. last season. * Football follow-ups: CBS will bow its new James Corden-hosted competition show, The World's Best after the Super Bowl followed by Late Show With Stephen Colbert. Corden's Late Late Show will have a special Sunday airing on Jan. 20, after CBS' primetime coverage of the AFC Championship Game. + Trump interview?: CBS is still in discussions with the White House about getting Donald Trump to sit for the traditional pre-Super Bowl interview. Last year, President Trump declined NBC's invitation. [Full story.]( In other football news... ► Tribune reaches new carriage deal with Charter/Spectrum. The agreement [covers]( 33 local TV stations and WGN America, and comes ahead of the second weekend of the NFL playoffs. Spectrum customers looking for NFL playoff games during the blackout with Tribune had to turn to the NFL and Yahoo Sports mobile apps to watch the matchups. Elsewhere in TV... ► Showtime makes Gary Levine, Jana Winograde co-presidents of entertainment. David Nevins, [now holding]( the top creative post at all CBS. Corp. in addition to staying on as Showtime CEO, makes several other changes at his cable crown jewel. * Other moves. Amy Israel has been promoted to EVP of scripted programming, while Vinnie Malhotra now holds the same rank in nonfiction. They’ll report to Levine and Winograde, focusing in development and creative oversight across all genres. ► Warner Bros. promotes Jay Levine to new TV & digital post. Levine will [report directly]( to Warner Bros. chairman and CEO Kevin Tsujihara on all matters related to television, and to the studio’s chief digital officer and executive vice president of strategy and business development Thomas Gewecke for the digital side of things. ► Angela Robinson inks Paramount TV overall deal. The two-year pact [will see]( the L Word and How to Get Away With Murder writer, director and producer develop new projects for the studio. ► New Fox won't bid for Disney's regional sports networks. Private equity firms Apollo Global Management, KKR and Blackstone Group and Sinclair Broadcast Group are among rival media companies to have reportedly expressed interest in making first round bids. Disney earlier agreed to [spin off]( the sports channels to win regulatory approval to buy Fox's film and TV assets for $71 billion. ► CBS to end Criminal Minds with season 15. The upcoming season will be 10 episodes long and [will be shot]( on the heels of the current season. By the time it wraps, Criminal Minds will have completed 325 episodes, making it one of the longest running TV dramas. ► Al Pacino eyeing Jordan Peele's Amazon drama. The role in The Hunt would be the Oscar winner's first regular part in a TV series [should he sign on]( to the Peele-produced drama. ► Financial Times affiliated outlet removes Moonves quotes from disputed interview. A news article [published]( in December claimed to have an interview with the former CBS chief — but his reps have denied that he spoke to the outlet. ► CBS News in talks to hire former Sen. Jeff Flake. The moderate former congressman from Arizona [was spotted]( at the network's Manhattan office on Friday. His future in television has been rumored for a while now, ever since he announced in the fall of 2017 that he would not seek re-election. ► NBC orders legal dramas from CSI, The Brave creators. Prism [comes from]( Carol Mendelsohn and writer Daniel Barnz; Bluff City Law is from Dean Georgaris. ► Netflix won't film TV show in North Carolina due to state's anti-LGBTQ law. The streamer's upcoming North Carolina-set drama OBX [will shoot]( in South Carolina instead, due to N.C.'s HB2 "bathroom bill." ► Netflix orders fantasy series from Bird Box, Arrival writer. The eight-episode Shadow and Bone is [based on]( two sets of novels by author Leigh Bardugo. ► Netflix picks up Catherine Reitman's sitcom Workin' Moms for U.S. The mommy comedy, now in its third season, is [created by and stars]( the daughter of Hollywood director Ivan Retiman. ^TV's Top 5 podcast: In this week's episode, Daniel Fienberg and Lesley Goldberg maintain their streak of discussing Kevin Hart and the Oscars in every podcast. They also tackle what's hot in fact and fiction: Fact: Surviving R. Kelly is one of the breakout hits of the new year. What makes it so notable and is it worth watching? Fiction: HBO's Game of Thrones spinoff pilot is filling out its cast. Who are the stars? Who's directing? And why should you care? Plus: Why the heck is Paradise Hotel returning to Fox and what does it say about the state of TV? [Listen]( | [Subscribe]( Digital digest... ► Amazon's IMDb launches free streaming service Freedive. The service will be available via the web and Amazon Fire TV devices. Freedive [features]( non-current TV shows such as Fringe, Heroes and The Bachelor. It also has a library of movies, including Foxcatcher, Memento and The Illusionist. ► Instagram ad sales booming. Despite the various scandals affecting parent company Facebook, "Cowen says the photo-sharing app’s share of digital video budgets from ad buyers will double from 2018 to 2020," Kamaron Leach reports. [[Bloomberg](] ► Brent Montgomery’s Wheelhouse invests in digital studio Portal A. The latest partnership for the year-old content hub [will partner]( with the San Francisco and Los Angeles-based studio to build on its youth-driven and millennial-focused content. ► Breaking Bad mobile game will put players in the empire business. Vince Gilligan says the FTX Games project will [allow fans]( to interact with characters they know "in a completely new way." Latest reviews... ► NBC's Brooklyn Nine-Nine. "The Brooklyn Nine-Nine that [premiered] Thursday night on NBC is essentially the Brooklyn Nine-Nine you remember from Fox. That's a very good thing, indeed," Daniel Fienberg reassures. [Review.]( ► CBS' Fam. "There is a great comedy that could be made with this cast and, despite the game efforts of said cast through the first three episodes, Fam is not that comedy," Fienberg writes. [Review.]( ► Showtime's Black Monday. "[There's] a lot of talent wasted working on something that seems thrown together, unstructured and ill-advised," Tim Goodman writes. [Review.]( ► Amazon & BBC's Informer. "[This series] mostly manages to be deeper and vastly more believable [than Bodyguard]," Goodman writes. "American audiences seeking something a little different should jump on this one as well." [Review.]( From last night... ► The Good Place makes time for courtship amid chaos in "The Book of Dougs." William Jackson Harper breaks down the mismatched but heartfelt relationship his and Kristen Bell's characters have forged. [Spoilers.]( Legal briefs... ► Georgia prosecutor seeking information about R. Kelly after Surviving docuseries. The Lifetime series, which aired earlier this month, [looks at]( the singer's history and allegations that he has sexually abused women and girls. CAA signs Twitch streamer DrDisrespect. Known as DrDisrespect, Herschel "Guy" Beahm IV has more than [3 million followers]( on the Amazon-owned live streaming platform. Music of 'Green Book' Inside the craft: Green Book composer and Mahershala Ali performance double Kris Bowers is the latest to be featured on THR's Magic Hour, an original creators series profiling the process behind the most inspiring creatives in the entertainment industry: + Learning Don Shirley's music: Bowers was given three weeks to learn all the music for the film and record it, but he said that hardest thing in the process was that "there was no sheet music for any of this stuff, so I had to transcribe all of it by ear." He then learned all of the music, wrote it all out for the other instruments and spent eight to nine hours a day practicing all of it. + Seeing similarities: "[Don Shirley] felt like he was too black for white people and too white for black people. I had a similar thing growing up," Bowers said. He said he feels compelled "to help with that representation," saying, "whether it's just me being me or helping by bringing other people along, or finding other younger talented people and exposing them to the fact that this is actually a possibility." [Watch]( | [Magic Hour]( What else we're reading... — "How My Makeout Session Ended Up in the SNL Opening Credits." Keren Lerner shares: "During the week, I’m a web developer at New York Magazine, toiling in the JavaScript trenches. My boyfriend Marc is an attorney. But every week on Saturday night, for .3476 seconds, we become the SNL Opening Credits Kiss Couple." [[Vulture](] — "What’s Next for Red-Carpet Activism?" Kenzie Bryant reports: “Sometimes you just want to breathe, and put on a pretty dress or a tux, and walk down the red carpet, and wave to the fans. And there’s nothing wrong with that. You’ve got to have balance in your life." [[Vanity Fair](] — "The Flawed Logic of R. Kelly’s Most Unlikely Supporters." Saida Grundy writes: "The myths also validate the self-defeating views of women who see their status as primarily linked to their male counterparts, whereby men’s interests and protections stand in for the interests and protections of the race writ large." [[The Atlantic](] — "The Precarious Spectacle of the Girl Boss in Lindsay Lohan’s Beach Club." Naomi Fry writes: "To watch Beach Club is to sense a real desperation beneath the show’s forced, Lean In-style pablum." [[The New Yorker](] — "How to Write a Video Game Story." Colin Campbell learns: "The big difference between movies or novels and video games is that, because they’re interactive, the audience is actually part of the experience in a way other media doesn’t offer. So the journey they’re going through is the same as that of the protagonist. That creates challenges as well as opportunities." [[Polygon](] What else we're watching... + "John Goodman misses working with Roseanne." [[Late Night](] + "Why Bradley Whitford misses The West Wing." [[Late Show](] + "Claire Foy on moon landing conspiracy theories." [[Jimmy Kimmel](] + "Lana Condor, Noah Centineo made a real-life To All the Boys pact." [[Tonight Show](] Today's birthdays: Aja Naomi King, 34, Devin Ratray, 42, Amanda Peet, 47, Mary J. Blige, 48, Malcolm D. Lee, 49, Phyllis Logan, 63. Enjoy reading this? Six days a week, look for Today in Entertainment in your inbox to stay up-to-date on the industry. Sign up for this newsletter (and others) at [THR.com/Newsletters](. Follow The News Is this email not displaying correctly? [View it in your browser.]( ©2019 The Hollywood Reporter. 5700 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90036 All rights reserved. [Unsubscribe]( | [Manage Preferences]( | [Privacy Policy]( | [Terms of Use]( January 11, 2019