Los Angeles is going through a rough patch right now — well, for a few years actually — but there’s a silver lining ahead, at least for some film and television productions that can secure subsidies in California’s newly expanded tax credit program.
That was the gist of the blue skies mood in Burbank at The Ranch Lot Studios where a group of state and local officials, union leaders and Hollywood notables gathered to take a victory lap over the passage of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s proposal, which lifts incentives for film and TV projects from $330 million to $750 million annually, in the legislature.
America’s creators are mounting a campaign to push back on any use of their work without permission or compensation, seeking to head off potential abuses of their intellectual property.
Disney Chief Executive Bob Iger, along with legal chief Horacio Gutierrez met with White House officials recently to discuss worries about AI models infringing on the company’s intellectual property and using the studio’s characters in inappropriate ways, according to people familiar with the talks.
And the big, beautiful bill doesn’t do much, but give AI free rain for the next 10 years without states stopping it..
Despite all the newfound noise about reigning in artificial intelligence, especially in Hollywood, doesn’t it all feel a bit… too late?
This push to regulate, resist, or somehow reclaim control should have started back in 2018 or 2019—before AI quietly embedded itself into every corner of our lives. Instead, here we are in 2025, trying to put the genie back in the bottle long after it’s rewritten the rules of the game.
AI is no longer just some futuristic novelty. It’s not in beta. It’s in everything. From marketing algorithms to political ads, customer service bots to dating profiles—AI already knows what you want, how you think, and what you’re likely to click before you do. It’s learning you, selling to you, and sometimes pretending to be you.
So when Hollywood writers and creatives try to mount a comeback, demanding protections and creative control, you can’t help but wonder: where was all this urgency years ago?
The momentum feels more like a rear-guard action than a revolution. AI isn’t on the way—it’s already running the show.
The crime was known in 1996. But no one did the time. Then or now. While no one was ever named a suspect, the old event has come back again with a new report being issued..
Initially fearing food poisoning, all had in fact unknowingly eaten lobster chowder spiked with the drug phencyclidine, which is also known as PCP and angel dust.
The wild story continues..
“Some people were laughing, some people were crying, some people were throwing up,” actor Bill Paxton told Entertainment Weekly at the time.
The commissioner’s report was made in response to a freedom of information request complaint. While Halifax police initially released 10 pages of records, much of it was heavily redacted.
“The responsive records consist of HRP’s rapid incident report,” Nova Scotia information and privacy commissioner Tricia Ralph explained. “This report is essentially 10 pages of narrative text regarding HRP’s investigation into the alleged lacing of food with PCP. It details who HRP officers talked to and what those people said.”
Halifax Regional Police did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
A suspect was never named and the case was reportedly closed in February 1999.
The “Titanic” crew was in Atlantic Canada to film the movie’s modern-day scenes, which did not involve stars Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio. The crew members all recovered from the unexpected experience.
Depp fans paid the court fees for the release of documents from Heard’s therapist, Dr. Dawn Hughes. The raw notes, scribbled on a legal pad, were part of last year’s high-profile trial in which Depp largely prevailed. They describe a hostile “Aquaman” set where an allegedly intoxicated Jason Momoa dressed like Depp and pushed to have Heard booted from the role of aquatic superhero Mera.
MORE..
A rep for Momoa declined comment, but a DC spokesperson pushed back on Heard’s characterization, saying, “Jason Momoa conducted himself in a professional manner at all times on the set of ‘Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom.’” Others echoed that sentiment. “Jason works his ass off, likes to have a beer once in a while like everyone, but doesn’t show up drunk to set,” says an insider who was on the London set in 2021, adding that the two stars got along and were seen joking together. “And he isn’t dressing like Johnny Depp. He has always dressed in that bohemian style.”
As Hollywood faces rains from Tropical Storm Hilary, another storm continues to play out: The ongoing writers strike may have just upgraded to hurricane status..
MORE..
The WGA West escalated its fight against the AMPTP in the ongoing writer’s strike by calling on the government to regulate Disney, Netflix, and Amazon for monopolistic practices!!
Released on Thursday, the report from the WGA West, titled “The New Gatekeepers: How Disney, Amazon, and Netflix Will Take Over Media,” said that studios have been engaging in “anti-competitive practices” by “abusing their dominance to further disadvantage competitors, raise prices for consumers, and push down wages for the creative workforce.”
“Without intervention, these conglomerates will seize control of the media landscape and the streaming era’s advances for creativity and choice will be lost. These new gatekeepers have amassed market power through mergers and other anti-competitive practices, offering an alarming window into the future of media,” the report said.
The escalations reveals the extreme measures both sides are going to publicly. This appears to be producing a drought of upcoming Hollywood entertainment..
The WGA and the AMPTP have agreed to resume bargaining for a deal that could end the guild’s ongoing strike.
In a message to members Thursday, the guild said that Carol Lombardini, president of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, “has asked the WGA Negotiating Committee to meet with AMPTP negotiators on Friday. We expect the AMPTP to provide responses to WGA proposals.”
“Our committee returns to the bargaining table ready to make a fair deal, knowing the unified WGA membership stands behind us and buoyed by the ongoing support of our union allies,” the guild said.
The Cannes audience is going wild cheering for Martin Scorcese and the cast of Killers of the Flower Moon. Brilliant film. May be the longest standing ovation ever. The Applause sounds like hard rain on a rooftop.
Scorsese turned the story of the murders of the Osage Indians in Oklahoma into a mob allegory and a cinema classic at the same time. It’s a thrillingly intimate and powerful film that is the equal of any of the directors’ other hits and his best film since “Wolf of Wall Street.” Or maybe ever. Scorsese is a mind blowing director aided by editor Thelma Schoonmaker, another genius.
— Read on www.showbiz411.com/2023/05/20/martin-scorseses-brilliant-killers-of-the-flower-moon-opens-to-thunderous-ovation-in-cannes
Speaking at a press conference on Friday (May 19th), Ford defended using the technology. “I know that that is my face,” he said, per Entertainment Weekly. “It’s not a kind of Photoshop magic – that’s what I looked like 35 years ago. Because Lucasfilm has every frame of film that we’ve made together over all of these years.”
He continued: “This process, this scientific mining of this library, this was put to good [use]… It’s just a trick unless it’s supported by a story, and it sticks out like a sore thumb if it’s not honest, it’s not real… I mean, emotionally real. And so I think it was used very skillfully.”
— Read on faroutmagazine.co.uk/harrison-ford-defends-the-use-of-de-aging-new-indiana-jones/
When I do read her, I see that she can be nasty, abrasive and vindictive. I see that she trumpets “exclusives” that are no such thing. She is a prolific name-caller, a practice that is beneath the dignity of such a talented writer. She is not snarky, the way Perez Hilton was before he got nice. She is frankly bilious.
Now she has passed away from the grip of this planet..
Nikki Finke dead.
Hollywood probably relieved ..
This is how the AP reported it:
Veteran journalist Nikki Finke, who founded the entertainment trade site Deadline and who in her heyday was an elbows-out columnist serving up juicy industry scoops and gossip skewering Hollywood’s elite, has died at age 68.
According to a family representative, Finke died Sunday morning in Boca Raton, Fla., after a prolonged illness.
Finke was revered and feared in the industry for exposing secrets, first through her L.A. Weekly column, Deadline Hollywood, which she eventually built into a website.
She founded Deadline Hollywood Daily in 2006 on a Friday and quickly began building her audience by live-blogging the 78th Academy Awards that Sunday. T
he site was largely a one-woman operation until 2009, when Penske Media Corp. acquired it and hired Finke as editor in chief..
Not that Hollywood elites are prone to vicious or dark thoughts, *wink wink,* but we are sure that many are breathing a collective sigh of relief ..
For as many times Nikki Finke gave us a juicy celeb tidbit, she probably took two to the grave with her..
THE OSCARS SLAP BACK: WILL SMITH BANNED FOR TEN YEARS!
Will Smith will not be allowed to attend the Academy Awards for the next 10 years, as a result of his slapping comedian Chris Rock on stage during this year’s Oscar ceremony, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences announced in a statement obtained by CNN.
“The Board has decided, for a period of 10 years from April 8, 2022, Mr. Smith shall not be permitted to attend any Academy events or programs, in person or virtually, including but not limited to the Academy Awards,” Academy President David Rubin and CEO Dawn Hudson said in a statement on Friday.The decision was made during a Board of Governors meeting held earlier in the day in Los Angeles.
The meeting, initially scheduled for April 18, was expedited after Smith announced his resignation from the Academy last week.
