Gawker
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d-i-v-o-r-c-e
Brad Grey Gets a Smiley Face On His Divorce Papers
Ha. Brad Grey, the forever-head of Paramount Pictures, is divorcing his wife of 25 years, Jill. The ex-missus just signed the papers and, out of either amity or cruel spite, she added a smiley face. More »
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Comment by Mount_Prion: In her defense, she usually signs her name with a colon and closed parenthesis, and wasn't expecting the autoformat. 2 Responses | Other threads
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deals
Lengthy New Deal Requires Referral to Brad Grey as 'Pope Ceo II'
Hooray! Brad Grey will be at Paramount at least as long as his immediate predecessors, with a reported new contract extending his leadership through 2014. More »
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By STVComment by Kitten_Witawip: What makes you think having a contract means he is going to be around for the duration of the term... more » | Other threads
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brad grey
Hollywood PrivacyWatch: Moguls Jogging Edition! 11/5 — As I was taking my 'shortcut' on Carmelita to bypass the traffic jam that is SMB in Beverly Hills on my way to Santa Monica, I saw a handsome but SHORT older guy in… ahem… gray shorts and gray shirt, running with a taller, younger bald man whose biceps and pecs let me know he was definitely a trainer. And who is in all of the neck to thigh gray but BRAD GREY. I've always thought of him as handsome in a baby-faced daddy way, and well, now I know he is. He was sweaty, sure, but that's a good thing! [Hollywood PrivacyWatch is written by and for Defamer readers; send your sightings to tips@defamer.com.] -
brad grey
Hedge-Funders Take a Public Bath at Paramount
Today's Hollywood Reporter points out "rare public evidence" of a looming crisis we first told you about seven months ago: Melrose I, hedge-fund financing that helped pay for a raft of underachieving Paramount films dating back to 2004, saw its investment grade plunge six notches recently in an assessment by Moody's Investor Service. It was bad enough at the time for the money men to threaten Brad Grey with court — and even if the lawsuit never came, the day of reckoning did. More »
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By STVComment by DarkKnightShyamalan: Not for nothing, that sounds like a line from The Grinch. "Its investment grade plunged six notches that day." more » | Other threads
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steven spielberg
DreamWorks Remembers David Geffen as Loving, Studio-Shopping Father
A tender postmortem in today's New York Times reminds the world yet again that seriously — like, really, this time — David Geffen is leaving DreamWorks. Having shepherded the monolith through the Hollywood establishment from conception to its first marriage (and divorce) before giving the frazzled bride away a second time in an arranged marriage to its dashing Indian suitor, Geffen's tenure is remembered fondly by his 'Works co-founders Steven Spielberg and Jeffrey Katzenberg. Not that they'll admit to knowing what they're doing without him. More »
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By STVComment by WGARefugee: So what are they really not saying here? I don't buy Geffen not telling his best friend why he was... 1 Responses | Other threads
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defamer
Wall Street Meanies Harsh On Paramount's Summer of Love
For every blockbuster this summer with Paramount's name attached — from Iron Man to Indy 4 to Kung Fu Panda — there's been a looming crisis to greet it at the studio gate. The latest wake-up call comes from Deutsche Bank, from whom we're learning the 'Mount split recently after the the studio balked at the conditions of a $450 million financing deal. This follows word that unhappy Wall Streeters wanted free-spender Brad Grey's head and that DreamWorks' Indian-funded defection was imminent. Mix The Love Guru in just for fun, and it's enough to almost make you forget Paramount is supposedly on a roll. More »
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By STVComment by SteamyMcFirecrotch: @Breadbowl: Weeee waaaant the Florie Dories! Weeeee waaaant the Florie Dories! more » | Other threads
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defamer
It's Always the Kids Who Suffer Most in a Vengeful Studio Divorce
Despite the defiant source who today told the LA Times the DreamWorks/Reliance deal could yet fall apart, we think we'll just go about retrofitting our office anyway in preparation for the worst. Like "custody battle" worst, as Claudia Eller mentions in parsing the 'Works divorce from Viacom/Paramount: Who gets Ben Stiller? Who gets Eddie Murphy? Who gets the retiring David Geffen's parking space and the office's unparalleled catalog of faxable lunch menus? And who gets the movies? More » -
come to papa
Sumner Redstone Apparently Finds Right Price to Forgive 'Good Friend' Tom Cruise
The Tom Cruise Image Rehabilitation Tour rolls on today with a public pardon from Viacom kingpin Sumner Redstone, who followed his prodigal son's subdued Oprah stint with a reassurance that, you know, all that erratic-behavior outrage from a couple years back? Just kidding! And Mission: Impossible 4? It's "up to Brad Grey." Or, loosely translated, "Are we on number four? Already? Well, I'll be": More »
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By STVComment by FlangeSqueal: What a creepy pic of the Teeny One with the Super-Annuated, Liver-Spotted, Red-Hair Dyed King-Maker! If ONLY little Tommy could just... more » | Other threads
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defamer
Paramount, Showtime, CBS Spend Weekend Fighting in Grandpa Sumner Redstone's Sandbox of Death
While most of us fled the office to enjoy early spring, Sumner Redstone spent another relaxing weekend watching his corporate children at Viacom gouge each others' eyes out. And this time around he got his money's worth, with Paramount finally breaking free from CBS/Showtime to start its own pay-cable and VOD service with MGM and Lionsgate. It's an untidy, somewhat shocking scenario that we (and seemingly the rest of the Web) can't yet make sense of, but join us after the jump to parse the winners and losers at a glance. More »
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By STVComment by JacobFreeze: The Post [www.nypost.com] sees the evil hand of Philippe Dauman in this mess, but with Viacom and CBS stock prices... more » | Other threads
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defamer
After A Failed First Marriage, DreamWorks Ready To Start Dating Again
It's been nearly six months since CompletelyImmaterialGate rocked the industry, and no amount of conciliatory gestures has yet managed to heal the wounds inflicted by Viacom CEO Phillippe Dauman's callous verbal flip-off of national directing treasure Steven Spielberg. With the expiration date on the frequently uncomfortable arranged marriage between Viacom-owned Paramount and DreamWorks nearing, the NY Times takes a hard look at the pretzled logistics of what becomes two powerhouse studios going their separate ways: More »
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By SethComment by Superstarsteve: Joint custody results in half baked, half hearted "pretend" families. This kids know what's going on because they know... more » | Other threads
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money talks
Exclusive: Brad Grey's Next Court Battle Could Involve Investor Backlash
While we're generally for keeping all-around courtroom bore Brad Grey out of Hollywood's legal spotlight in the future, a source tells Defamer that the Paramount boss and his Viacom overlords could face mutiny from hedge-funders unhappy with the way their studio investment is shaking out. Specifically, we hear the money men behind Melrose Partners — which joined the 'Mount in 2004 under the Sherry Lansing/Jonathan Dolgen regime — may take legal action challenging the underperformance of its $231 million equity fund after Grey came aboard in early 2005. More »
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By STVComment by tribalpottery: The Paramount takeover of Dreamworks is equally as bad. Brad Grey's been on the chopping block for awhile now.... more » | Other threads
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defamer
Brad Grey Insists Under Oath That He Didn't Want To Know How The Pellicano Sausage Was Made
There was little that could have come from Brad Grey's testimony at the Anthony Pellicano trial today that would have matched the sensationalism of the last bombshell to emerge from this ongoing saga of backdoor Hollywood intrigue—i.e., the Chris Rock: Accused Rapist tapes. Still, there was plenty of opportunity for another Moment, the diminutive studio emperor having a sizable axe to grind with Garry Shandling, who pulled no punches on the stand in a brutally frank testimony against his former manager. (It would surely have included some waterworks had the Larry Sanders Show star not years ago had his face pulled tighter than a conga drum, effectively sealing every one of his above-the-neck mucus membranes tighter than Tutankhamen's tomb.) As it turns out, Grey did not use the opportunity to take some public jabs at his nemesis, instead delivering straightforward statements relieving himself of all knowledge of Pellicano's shadowy surveillance methods: More »
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By SethComment by gwendemarco: @Little Mintz Sunshine: And the last time the car wash guy missed the stain on his passenger seat. more » | Other threads
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defamer
This Is Garry Shandling's Searing Indictment Of Former Manager Brad Grey. How Do You Like It So Far?
If the old adage about the lawyer who represents himself having a fool for a client is true, then Anthony Pellicano's cross-examination today of Garry Shandling at his own trial (Underwhelming Hollywood with Nothing of Juicy Significance Since 2002™) was like the Comedy Store main room. When asked by the court what he does for a living, Deadline Hollywood Daily reports, Shandling responded, "That's a bad sign. I'm a comedian." To which the judge responded, "Not to me you're not." (To which the entire jury snapped in unison and remarked, "Ooooooh girl.") Shandling was there in connection with a long-running feud with onetime manager Brad Grey over lost earnings from his The Larry Sanders Show deal, during which Scary Hollywood Lawyer Bert Fields, a regular subscriber to Pellicano's eavesdropping services, allegedly used the P.I. to tap Shandling's calls. From DHD's courtroom report: More »
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By SethComment by zachwoodford: What is going on with those lips? I wonder if he thinks that looks sexy. more » | Other threads
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defamer
Give Us Your Poor, Your Tired, Your Headless Masses Longing To See 'Cloverfield'
If Harry Knowles's ecstatic, Greatest Single Experience of All Time Including My First Breath, First Kiss, and the First Time I Tasted Cherry Garcia review of Cloverfield wasn't enough to get you excited about Paramount's latest release, perhaps we can tempt you with this headless Statue of Liberty replica currently erected on their lot. More » -
brad grey
Fulfilling the prophecy foretold by octogenarian gossip-oracle Liz Smith in the entrail-reading that yielded her June 2007 item on the couple's trial separation, Paramount's Brad Grey has been served with divorce papers by his wife of 25 years; with the filing, the studio boss now moves one step closer to completing the mandatory Hollywood rite of passage represented by the dissolution of a power-player's first marriage. [CelebTV.com]
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By MarkComment by TheStarterWife: DAMMIT! I offered myself up to Zucker too soon! more » | Other threads
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defamer
Paramount Still Trying To Save Its DreamWorks Marriage
Hoping to put CompletelyImmaterialGate behind them and soothe the concerns of certain underappreciated national treasures who may feel that their parent studio has been selfishly claiming credit for his successes, Paramount has announced that it will start reporting the box office generated by Steven Spielberg's company under a newly created "DreamWorks-Paramount" label. More » -
defamer
Paramount's Brad Grey Also Refuses To Admit That Losing Spielberg Will Emotionally Cripple Him
The emotional feud touched off when Viacom CEO Phillippe Dauman tried to preemptively break Steven Spielberg's heart by telling the world that the national treasure's possible departure from Paramount would not send the executive into a Valium-overdosing tailspin of despair (and which incited outraged DreamWorks partner Jeffrey Katzenberg to publicly attempt to claw out Dauman's eyes) spills into the pages of today's LAT, where studio emperor Brad Grey was induced to comment on HolyShitWhatIfSpielbergLeavesUsGate. For his part, Grey—who convinced boss Sumner Redstone to buy DreamWorks in late 2005 so that his studio might actually have some movies to release the following year—seems to be toeing the company line: More » -
but if any writers ask, tell them we've suffered record losses
Studios Already Shredding Hundred Dollar Bills For Use As "Summer Of Prosperity" Parade Confetti
We're nothing if not suckers for a nice feel-good story, especially when it's accompanied by a fun chart where Spider-Man scales a pillar representing the obscene amounts of money some of our favorite movie studios are making: With four different films crossing the $300 million mark, Hollywood is enjoying its Best Summer Ever, a period of prosperity that is erasing all memory of that nasty, alleged "Slump" of 2005, when executives were forced to answer all kinds of rude questions about why their shitty product wasn't selling. During this new Golden Age of Very Profitable Threequels, they instead get to crow about how smart they are in the pages of Variety: More » -
defamer
On a conference call about how much richer Shrek the Third is making him, DreamWorks Animation's Jeffrey Katzenberg passes up a perfectly good opportunity to throw Paramount emperor Brad Grey under the bus: "'We feel they have done an outstanding job of marketing and distributing our products to date,' Katzenberg said. 'We continue to have very, very good relationships over there with all of the management from Brad on down.'" [Variety] -
relationships
Brad & Steven & Sumner & David
Following Thursday's controversy-kickstarting BusinessWeek story "Paramount and DreamWorks: Splitsville?," in which it was suggested that a strained relationship between Steven Spielberg and Paramount might cause the director and his partners to jilt Brad Grey's DreamWorks-dependent studio empire when Spielberg's contract expires late next year, has seemingly induced much pants-soiling from within the walls of the Melrose lot. Hoping to halt the spread of further bowel failures over the rumored state of the DW/Paramount union, votes of confidence have been issued by Spielberg and David Geffen, who took breaks from their filmmaking and shuffleboard-playing duties, respectively, to (at least temporarily) envelop Grey in a warm, reassuring hug. In a story about the alleged looming split, Var's Peter Bart passes along Geffen's regards for the Paramount team: More »
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By MarkComment by sassypants: Indiana Jones 4 is filming in Connecticut??????? more » | Other threads
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defamer
A Mighty Kerfluffle
· Paramount Vantage just can't win with A Mighty Heart: They curl Angelina Jolie's hair and slather her in bronzer so she seems less Caucasian-y, and they catch shit. They invite the Council on American-Islamic Relations to co-sponsor a panel discussion on religious tolerance, and a Jewish activist likens it to "David Duke co-sponsoring 'Schindler's List.'" At least Jolie isn't pissing off reporters by asking them to sign waivers demanding they don't ask questions about her personal life, because they hardly need another headache. [Variety] More »
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By MarkComment by secretagentman: Another Oscar nom: Susan Kohner in "Imitation of Life." I'm sensing a pattern here ... Trivia for the day....Susan Kohner is... more » | Other threads
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defamer
Paramount's Brad Grey Back On The Market On A Trial Basis
While the Grazers opted for the somewhat noisier method of announcing the end of their marriage in Page Six last Thursday, today Paramount emperor Brad Grey and his wife of 25 years whispered news of a trial separation to gossip dowager Liz Smith, perhaps hoping that the superannuated columnist would become distracted by filling various dishes placed around her home with hard candy and forget to publish the item. Unfortunately for the Greys, professionalism prevailed, and now all the industry mourns the loss of yet another high-profile relationship: More » -
oscars
Academy Moves To Make Producer-Credit Rules Marginally Less Stringent
All around town, producers whose often-fuzzy roles in bringing together the various elements necessary to get prestige projects before rolling cameras are throwing open their windows and offering up an exultant "Huzzah! to the Hollywood heavens, as the Academy has ever so slightly loosened its Draconian rules about the number of people allowed to storm the Kodak Theatre stage in the unlikely event of a Best Picture win. Reports the NY Times: More » -
defamer
Shrek's $122 Million Earns Paramount Employees A Longer Memorial Day Weekend
Let it never be said that Paramount emperor Brad Grey is not a beneficent ruler: To celebrate the success of partner DreamWorks Animation's Shrek the Third, he's setting his subjects free a day early for the Memorial Day weekend, an act of generosity that should remind everyone on the Melrose lot that the Paramount Pictures logo can be found somewhere on the one-sheet of the latest. record-breaking installment of the previously established DW mega-franchise. Grey's e-mail to the company follows, which stops just short of promising all of his underlings an all-expenses-paid week in Cancun should the opening weekend performance of upcoming co-production Transformers bring still more glory to the Paramount name: More » -
paramount
Messy Paramounties Put On Notice During 'Uncleanliness Is Next To Joblessness' Month
Thumbing his or her nose at a Draconian tidiness initiative announced earlier today at Paramount, a Defamer operative sends along this memo declaring March Clean Up Your Fucking Mess, What, Were You Born In A Barn Or Something? Month over on the Melrose lot: More »
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By MarkComment by gwendemarco: P.S. Weston will fit in a banker's box if you bend him just so. You'll need a few others for... more » | Other threads
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trade
Trade Round-Up: Viacom's Healthy Q4 Only Deepens Sumner's Love For Brad
· With a successful Dreamgirls and World Trade Center DVD release in the year's fourth quarter, Viacom has Paramount and DreamWorks to thank for coming out $86 million in the black. To celebrate, Sumner Redstone ordered Brad Grey to follow the trail of rose petals leading down the hall and into his candle-lit office, where, inside, the scantily clad Viacom overlord lay splayed over his desk for the taking. [Variety] More »
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By SethComment by raincoaster: Seconded. My admiration for the near-perfection of the metaphor is negated by the sheer projectile vomiting ICK FACTOR. more » | Other threads
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oscars
Oscar SnubWatch: Brad Grey Uncredited, Again
Blogging from the press room at the Academy Awards, Variety's On the Town asked Officially Oscar-Recognized The Departed producer Graham King the uncomfortable, inevitable question about Paramount emperor Brad Grey's losing appeal to have the opportunity to hop onstage and clutch the Best Picture statuette he helped win for a rival studio: More » -
paramount
Brad Grey Teaches Politicians A Little Something About How To Conspicuously Work A Room
When we earlier pointed out today's NY Times story on Hollywood's field trip to Washington, we were so stricken with concern for the plight of the Oscar-nominated working man that we completely missed the illustrating photo of Paramount emperor Brad Grey demonstrating the table-hopping skills that recently have won him so many fans back in Los Angeles. While we obviously can't know what Grey was discussing with Patrick Leahy as he subtly boxed out Warner Bros. chairman Barry Meyer, we imagine that he assuring the senator that wouldn't be disappointed if his peers in Washington choose not to recognize the studios' anti-piracy agenda, as Grey expects to receive a producing credit on the runaway production issue that's the frontrunner to win Congress's approval. More » -
dreamworks
Brad Grey And Steven Spielberg In Dire Need Of A Good Marriage Counselor
While the tense relationship between Paramount and DreamWorks has recently been compared to that of the Trojans and the treacherous, studio-hijacking Greeks waiting to be wheeled inside the Melrose lot's fortified walls to slit emperor Brad Grey's throat, in carping to the NY Times about Paramount's annoying tendency to take credit for his studio's hard work, director Steven Spielberg offered a different analogy to describe the dynamic: More » -
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By MarkComment by Tiger_Tanaka: Just play Joni Mitchell's "Free Man in Paris", paint some lamb's blood over your front door, and your pets/children will... more » | Other threads
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paramount
Brad Grey Tries To Nail Shut Door on DreamWorks 'Trojan Horse' Before Invading Hordes Can Overthrow Him From Within
Today's LAT examines the tensions that have been festering between Paramount emperor Brad Grey and the invading "dream team" that came along inside the $1.6 billion DreamWorks "Trojan Horse" he bought a year ago, whose superior moviemaking experience might enable them to "eventually topple management and grab control." The Times relates Grey's recent upsetting of DreamWorks colleagues team by making unwanted speeches at Dreamgirls' bicoastal premieres, behind-the-scenes efforts made by David Geffen to inject miniaturized DW operative Jeffrey Katzenberg into corporate parent Viacom's executive bloodstream, and a snit that developed over the way the Paramount chief handled the reorganization of the studio after the firing of Gail Berman: More » -
defamer
Academy Announces Twenty Percent Reduction In Brad Grey's Best Picture Chances
According to a press release that just landed in our inbox (which confirms this earlier Slate story), it seems that the Academy's Executive Committee on Whether Or Not To Ignore All These Annoying Recommendation Letters About Why Brad Grey Deserves To Get A Producing Credit On The Departed has finally ruled on the Paramount emperor's appeal to get a piece of the Warner Bros.' film's Oscar glory, deciding to crush Grey's "uncouth and distasteful" double-nomination dreams. Even though he's now freed from the embarrassing possibility of having to brush by his own defeated Babel crew on his way to deliver a potential victory speech for a competitor's movie, he should still spend some time practicing suppressing the politically ill-advised urge to point to himself and mouth, "That's my movie, assholes," should the camera pan to him following the annoucement of a Departed Best Picture win. More » -
defamer
Brad Grey Just Happy To Be 'Nominee To Be Determined'
When the ominous words "nominees to be determined" accompanied the announcement of The Departed's nomination for Best Picture, industry tongues reflexively clicked, heads were gravely shaken in disapproval, and the eyes of vulnerable children were shielded as if in the presence of a well-endowed drifter who unexpectedly exposed himself near a grade-school crosswalk, for it seemed clear that Paramount emperor Brad Grey had appealed the Academy for a producer credit on the film of rival studio Warner Bros (a credit recently denied by the Producers Guild), a prideful sin compounded by the fact that his own studio's Babel is also in the race for the shiniest Oscar of them all. Today's LAT reports that Academy officials are keeping quiet on the matter of Grey's presumed petition, unconvincingly asserting that they have no idea why their fax machine has recently been clogged with missives from esteemed members of the Hollywood community noting that, "For like an entire year, Brad just wouldn't shut up about how much time he spent producing this Departed thing": More » -
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By MarkComment by Double Banger: Um, is that Ben Stiller on stage, or a Ben Stiller hologram? It looks like R2D2 is projecting an... more » | Other threads
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By MarkComment by Double Banger: Is it just me, or does the Sumner Redstone public vote of confidence seem just as assuring as getting a... more » | Other threads
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trade roundup
Trade Round-Up: Gail BermanWatch!
· Gail BermanWatch:Var reads this morning's LAT story about Berman's imminent departure from Paramount and puts in some calls at the studio, getting a no comment and a promise that a statement about the situation is forthcoming. Meanwhile, the Reporter updates that "a source close to the executive" says Berman is negotiating a separation settlement. We're on pins and needles over here as we await the forwarding of a heartbreaking press release. [Variety, THR] More »
defamer
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Sun Jul 5
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