Well don't act so surprised. With all the terrible fortune befalling Harvey and Bob Weinstein lately: from the lawsuits and counter-lawsuits over Project Runway, to the failed MGM distribution deal, to the fact that the Weinstein Co. can't scramble together a Academy Award-pitching movie this season to save their life, it was inevitable that the ecomonic pressure would finally catch up to the high-living duo.
And now it's official: The Weinstein Company is cutting 11% of their workforce. What does that mean for your movie going experience?
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If Harvey and Bob were peeved with MGM when Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer renegged at the end days of their distributions deal with the brothers, they are now pissing themselves in rage. MGM made a deal with the devil in order to be the first film company to feature full-length movies on Google's YouTube service.
Which seems like, "Sure, okay, but we already have Hulu, so why does it matter that you can watch The Wizard of Oz in one whole part now?"
Well, basically it's a big fuck you to all the copyright infringement cases that Google has haggled over production companies with in the past.
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Oh, now we get why NBC issued that injunction to keep the Weinsteins from moving their baby, Project Runway, from Bravo to Lifetime. At first everyone thought it was just because NBC wasn't given their rights of first refusal when Lifetime offered to buy the show for double the price per episode, something that obviously would help out the drowning Harvey and Bob as they try to keep their company afloat amid massive setback after massive setback.
Turns out, NBC isn't as vindictive as everyone thought, or maybe they are: the peacock is trying to stall the move in order to ready their copycat show.
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Several of the bigwigs over at the Weinstein Brothers production company have left on the down-low, giving more credence to the rumors that Harvey and Bob are floundering to make it past awards seasons. So far, the company has two major contenders on the table; Woody Allen's Vicky Cristina Barcelona, and The Reader. But MGM already dropped their distribution deal with the brothers, several months before the contracts were up for renegotiation.
And let's not even mention all the problems Harvey is having with the court injunction keeping Project Runway from moving to Lifetime. Now, five executives in vp/co-head positions have moved on, or are in the process to do so by the end of the year? Um, not a good sign.
But according to Harv, everything is a-okay in the land of Weinstein:
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What is the idiom about those who fly too close to the sun? For Harvey Weinstein, the "sun" in this analogy would be the apex of Hollywood success, the bright shining stardom that the producer and his brother Bob found themselves in the middle of for the last two decades. But lately Harvey has lost his shine: First, MGM dumped all of the movies they were planning on promoting for the brothers back onto Weinstein's lap, then there was the injunction to keep Weinstein from moving Project Runway to Lifetime. And now, Weinstein is paying one million dollars to charity in penance for lying to the New York Post about the producer's relationship with the late Sydney Pollack during the last days of the actor/director's life.
JOSSIP BREAKS IT DOWN — Since Friday's announcement that a court ruling would keep The Weinstein Company from moving Project Runway from NBC Universal's Bravo to Lifetime, where it got a sweeter deal, the TV press and most homosexuals have been wondering what, exactly, this means for the future of the series. Is Heidi Klum going to lose her shit and auf everybody? Is Tim Gunn going to be able to make it work? Who will Nina Garcia stab with her heel? Time-sensitive questions, people! So given the current situation — which keeps Lifetime from airing the show, and leaves its status on Bravo with a very giant cursive question mark — here's how the decision is going to affect interested parties: CONTINUED »
Says NBC Uni in a just-delivered statement: "NBC Universal is pleased that the court granted our motion for a preliminary injunction against The Weinstein Company. The overwhelming evidence demonstrated that The Weinstein Company violated NBC Universal's right of first refusal to future cycles of Project Runway. After hearing all of the evidence, the court issued an order prohibiting The Weinstein Company from taking the show or any spin-off to Lifetime."
This means: "The Weinstein Co. and Lifetime will not be able to promote, market or exhibit “Project Runaway” until further notice [...] As part of the Friday order, NBC Universal was told to put up a $20 million bond. The Weinstein Co. had asked New York State Supreme Court Judge Richard B. Lowe to set a $200 million bond, which it said was the value of its deal with Lifetime."
Update: And says The Weinstein Co. in a statement: "We are glad that the court held that NBC Universal cannot exhibit the program on Bravo and that court required NBC Universal to post a minimum $20 million bond. Obviously we will be appealing and remain committed to our Partners."
Blame it on the High Holy Days around the corner, but Jews are certainly getting their fair share in the press recently for reasons other than owning the entire industry. Not that you couldn't do this exercise any old week, but just looking back in the past five days, count how many Jew-centric stories are in the news: Harvey Weinstein in the press again, Sarah Silverman shlepping for America, hell, even Bill O'Reilly feels the need to comment on the Jewiest show about Jews, albeit a decade too late.
Now, in honor of Rosh Hashanah this weekend, The Jewish Channel launched a series of webisodes, featuring New York elite Jews talking about their yearly mitzvahs. Unfortunately, Woody Allen isn't involved, but Rachel Sklar is, so things equal out? Maybe?
First of the episodes, after the jump:
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Though MGM is dumping all their distribution for Weinstein films back on Harvey's lap, the studio may finally be seeing some pay-out for their co-ownership in United Artists. With Tom Cruise at the helm after partner Paula Wagner left, there's been some nail-biting to see whether or not UA would actually produce any films; so far, the only thing they've managed to get out recently was Lion for Lambs, and that was what? A year ago?
And despite promises of $500 million from Merrill Lynch, Cruise seems to be just sitting on his studio's pile of money, twiddling his thumbs and pushing around the release date of his ego project, Valkyrie, based on the life would-be Hitler assassin, Claus von Stauffenberg.
So MGM is smart to be nervous with Cruise leading the charge at UA, which is why they rushed out this trailer for Valkyrie before word got around about the MGM/Weinstein split-up:
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MGM dropped Kevin Smith's controversial (well, it had a controversial poster) feature, Zack and Miri Make a Porno, from their fall lineup and back into the lap of Harvey Weinstein and Co., despite a contract saying that the lion studios would continue distributing Weinstein films until January. MGM already pulled their logo from the stick figure posters and the trailer for the film, slated to open Oct. 31st.
Super annoying, because the brothers Weinstein are already up to their eyeballs trying to finance their own films, let alone get distribution on them. Pain in the ass MGM decided to reneg on Porno, either because of the flack it already received from the MPAA, or because they are having enough budget problems of their own with United Artists, which the studio co-owns with Tom Cruise, of all people.
United Artists was promised $500 million dollars by Merrill Lynch before the banks began to tank, and as late as last week MGM said the money would be available to UA no matter what. But with this economy, who knows.
Or the third option for why the studio dropped the Seth Rogan/Elizabeth Banks feature, as well as Academy contenders The Road and Reader, back on the Weinsteins: CONTINUED »
Upsetting homosexuals everywhere, Lifetime will not air its first season of Project Runway this fall, but instead move the stolen series to a January debut. It's a pretty surprising development, given all the hype Harvey Weinstein leveraged as he cajoled the B-list network into paying a higher fee for the franchise. Officially, Lifetime just wants to have enough time to promote the show's changing network, eschewing the idea that the about-to-end fifth season is actually a pretty decent marketing promo for the series. But there's also the small matter of the on-going lawsuit between NBC Universal (Bravo's owner, who feels shafted in losing the series with Harvey's cigar smoked backroom dealings) and The Weinstein Co. (Runway's owners), which hopes to keep Lifetime or anybody else from exploiting Nina Garcia's critical takedowns. CONTINUED »
Every time Tim Gunn uttered the words "make it work" during the first season of Project Runway, he was paid precisely this amount: $0. And during the second season? Just $2,500 per episode. That's according to his testimony in New York State Supreme Court, where proceedings are underway between NBC Universal and The Weinstein Company, which ripped Runway away from NBC's Bravo for Lifetime. Other tidbits from the ongoing trial? NBC chief Jeff Zucker has instructed Bravo to air marathon repeats of Runway during the same timeslot Lifetime will air new episodes of the show's sixth season. Did we mention Zucker is BFF's with Harvey Weinstein?
While Project Runway 4 winner Christian Siriano takes shots at the over-tanned contestant currently trying to out-tagline him on season five, none other than Harvey Weinstein comes out looking like the good guy in this week's round up of Runway gossip. Weinstein, supposedly, was willing to take his name off the Emmy application for the show, since only fifteen producers get to be attached to any single nomination. And since Weinstein has done little for the brand except milk its revenue potential for all the hair and makeup sponsorship deals it's worth, he so graciously agreed not to have his efforts acknowledged with the possibility of winning a silly little statute. How generous, and nicely spun, of him.
Harvey Weinstein, who is worth, like, a gazillion dollars, and made all that money through ridiculously successful movies and then by selling his company, is mad that the American public, and the media, do not appreciate the art house films he's so passionate about. And that's why there is crap filling the cineplex! Also, Weinstein is making these complaints on Portfolio's new blog "Playas," a ridiculous name matched only by the equally ridiculous VIP velvet rope logo. And the ridiculous Harvey Weinstein.
Though it's pretty clear that Project Runway is headed to Lifetime for the show's sixth season, NBC Universal isn't taking Harvey Weinstein's bull sitting down, which explains why Jeff Zucker was in a New York court yesterday trying to convince a judge that they lost the show on Bravo because of the Hollywood mogul's shadowy ways. The Weinstein Company wants NBC's breach of contract suit — which claims Weinstein didn't give NBC right of the first refusal option that was promised — dismissed, while 30 Rock wants an injunction to keep the series from going to Lifetime until the trial is over with. Us? We just want this trial to continue forever and ever! Also, photographers in the courtroom. CONTINUED »
Ever since NBC Universal execs learned they would officially be losing Project Runway on Bravo, they've been working overtime to tear the brand apart. Why should they bother promoting a show that Harvey Weinstein ripped away from them to take to Lifetime, where he's set to bag a bigger payday from production and product placement fees?
At first, the negativity was subtle. Bravo execs kept quiet as they stole Runway's brilliant production team, Magical Elves, away from the show in an exclusive deal. And then the more obvious signs arrived.
Project Runway's fifth season, and the last for Bravo, premieres on Wednesday. And by the time it arrives, and certainly by the time it wraps, its varnish will be worn, damaged, or gone altogether.
So just how is Bravo systematically sabotaging the Project Runway brand? CONTINUED »
An "explosive" Harvey and Bob Weinstein book might one day hit bookstore shelves, but don't expect its arrival anytime soon. That's because the still-anonymous author likely doesn't even have an agent, like alone a book deal, based on the report Page Six filed today — sourced by the author himself.
The scribe, a former Weinstein employee using the pseudonym "The Final Nail," wrote Page Six insisting "our database of Miramax files is huge" and that there was no nondisclosure agreement even signed, and even included a phone call recording, from 1996, between Harvey and Joe Roth, then president of Walt Disney Studios, where they're caught complaining about Michael Ovitz's $138 million severance package from Disney.
All potentially scandalous stuff — but none of that means a book will ever get printed. CONTINUED »
Harvey Weinstein's brilliant, and inevitable, business model for Project Runway now includes a new cash infusion: dollars from the magazine. When he was first shopping the show around in the early 200s, most magazines passed on the opportunity to be attached, and Elle was the only taker. It's been a brand boon for the Hachette fashion book, but after the fifth season, they're gonna lose it. And whoever wants the opportunity to work with Runway, now on Lifetime, will have to pay for the privilege. Seven figures, anyone?
Was Harvey Weinstein so furious with Page Six's report about Sharon Stone's amfAR antics that he bum rushed every other gossip in the industry asking for a counter attack?
That's what we've been hearing since the Post's item ran on Saturday, which chronicled Stone, who hosted the event, which raised $10 million, crawling into Diddy's lap to discuss his crack budget and spending hours on "self-indulgent commentary."
Weinstein, whose Weinstein Company helped underwrite the event, scored at least one coup: Fox 411's Roger Friedman battled back against Page Six, as we discussed earlier today, defending Stone's hosting abilities. Nevermind that Friedman and Weinstein are friends, and part of the gossip's Cannes column was spent talking about the film Polanski: Wanted and Desired, which Weinstein's company will be distributing abroad.
ELLE-O, GOODBYE Harvey Weinstein wants Nina Garcia back on Project Runway whether she accepts Elle's backhanded offer or not. [WWD]
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