ABC orders drama quartet

ABC added four dramas to the pilot slate, such as the latest from "Desperate Average women" creator Marc Cherry. Cherry's "Devious Service personnel," among three pick-ups from ABC Galleries, is definitely an adaptation of the Mexican format centered on four amibitious Beverly Hillsides service personnel. Sabrina Wind will even professional produce. Also originating from ABC Galleries are "Zero Hour," which Lorenzo DiBonaventura and Serta McDermott will professional produce with author Paul Scheuring ("Prison Break"), and "Penoza," composed by Melissa Rosenberg ("Twilight," "Dexter") with Endemol Galleries, Alon Aranya and Howard Klein professional creating. 'Zero" informs the storyline of the natural skeptic who will get roped right into a massive conspiracy, while "Penoza" adjusts a Nederlander format around the widow of the assassinated criminal who's pulled into his role in a crime syndicate. The main one outsider pick for ABC on Tuesday was "Gotham," written and professional created by Michael Eco-friendly ("Nobleman") together with his manager Erwin Stoff through twentieth century Fox Television. "Gotham" focuses on a lady cop who finds out a formerly unseen magical world within NY City. Contact Jon Weisman at jon.weisman@variety.com

NTV wins Japan's 2011 TV ratings crown

TOKYO -- Nippon Television Network, one of Japan's five commercial networks, won the ratings crown last year. NTV came top in all three major categories -- primetime (7 p.m.-11 p.m.), Golden Time (7 p.m.-10 p.m.) and all-day (6 a.m.-midnight), beating arch-rival Fuji TV for the triple crown for the first time in eight years. A big factor in NTV's ratings success was "I'm Mita, Your Housekeeper," a drama about a deadpan but canny housemaid, played by Nanako Matsushima, who heals a dysfunctional family through mental jujitsu. The final episode of the series garnered a sky-high 40 rating on Dec. 23 -- equivalent to a top sporting event such as a World Cup soccer match involving the home team. NTV prexy Yoshio Okubo was non-committal when asked about the prospect of a "Mita" sequel or spin-off pic at a presser announcing the ratings results, saying, "We'd like to but it's a question as whether we can make it a reality." The network also got off to a fast start this year, beating the competition in all ratings categories in January. Contact the Variety newsroom at news@variety.com

New Clip From Guy On The Ledge

Obtain a peek at the precarious thrillerIt's comforting to understand, with a few films, that guess what happens you are getting. Because this exclusive clip from Guy On The Ledge shows, Asger Leth's film truly does have a guy (Mike Worthington) on the ledge, encircled by people trying to puzzle out exactly what the bloody heck he's doing there.The title aside, this is just one of individuals thrillers which is more fun the less you understand it, because the plot originates into something rather unpredicted (this clip is comparatively spoiler-free, don't be concerned). We let you know that Erectile dysfunction Burns and Anthony Mackie play cops, that ElizabethBanks is really a hostage negotiator introduced directly into talk Worthington lower, which Jamie Bell is Worthington's brother, who's as much as something over the way.Guy OnA Ledge has gone out within the UKon Feb 3 so don't jump until then!

John Reid joins Live Nation Europe

Live Nation Entertainment's Live Nation Europe division has hired former Warner Music Intl. Boss-vice chairman John Reid as leader of concerts. Reid involves Live Nation after 11 years at WMI, where he helmed global marketing for functions like Madonna, Michael Buble and Bruno Mars. He ankled the business in November carrying out a major restructuring of the global management (Daily Variety, November. 10). He was formerly prexy of Island Def Jam Records U.S., chairman-Boss of Polygram Canada and worldwide marketing director at London Records. At the beginning of his career, he would be a painter and tour manager, coping with functions such as the Beastie Boys and Run-DMC. Live Nation Europe Boss Simon Lewis mentioned of Reid in the statement: "His pedigree talks alone, which he's certainly an greatly valuable talent to own around after we still develop our business across Europe. John will probably be pivotal in broadening our touring artist portfolio and strengthening our show marketing capabilities after we mind into that which you be ready to be another strong year." Contact the number newsroom at news@variety.com

Michelle Williams Talks Golden Globe Win

First Published: January 16, 2012 10:13 AM EST Credit: AFP/Getty Images Caption Michelle Williams poses with the trophy for Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture Comedy or Musical for My Week with Marilyn at the 69th annual Golden Globe Awards at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly HillsBEV -- Michelle Williams took home the Golden Globe for her portrayal of Hollywood legend Marilyn Monroe an honor that her 6-year-old daughter Matilda helped her acheive. I was learning how to be in [Marilyn] I was getting there and one of the ways that I practiced her was in the princesses in the bedtime stories, the actress told Access Hollywoods Billy Bush, when asked of her process for nailing down Marilyns voice while reading to her daughter. [My princesses] all had a kind of breathy quality, she explained. During her acceptance speech on Sunday night, Michelle thanked Matilda whom she had with the late Heath Ledger saying her bravery and exuberance is the example that I take with me in my work and in my life. I consider myself a mother first and an actress second, she said on the Globes stage. I want to say thank you [to Matilda] for sending me off to this job every day with a hug and a kiss. As for her best winglady and former Dawsons Creek co-star, Busy Philipps, the Golden Globe winner was happy to have her friend by her side on the big night. She is [fun.] Shes the best date, Michelle added. Copyright 2012 by NBC Universal, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Mehandjiyska to mind Global Screen

BERLIN -- Sonia Mehandjiyska, former Vice president worldwide sales at U.S.-based Echo Bridge Ing., is joining the recently-created worldwide distrib Global Screen, the brand new partnership between Bavaria Media and Telepool. Mehandjiyska, who begins February. 1, will handle theatrical and television world sales and report straight to Global Screen CEOs Rolf Moser and Thomas Weymar. Mehandjiyska, who had been born in Bulgaria and was raised in Cuba and Mexico, started her career at Gibraltar Intl. in La in 2003, before becoming director of worldwide sales at MRG Corporation. (Lightning Ing., Mainline Delivering) in Santa Monica. In '09, she became a member of the London office of Echo Bridge Ing. as Vice president worldwide sales. "With Mrs. Mehandjiyska, we've guaranteed an experienced and experienced hands with this crucial position," Weymar stated. "She's been in your own home in theatrical and television distribution for a long time, talks six languages and can decisively bolster our market position together with her worldwide background leadership capabilities." Because the new worldwide arm of pubcaster ARD-controlled sales and distribution models Telepool and Bavaria Media, Global Screen holds privileges to among the biggest film libraries in Europe. Additionally towards the Bavaria Film group catalog, Bavaria Media has output handles pubcasters WDR and SWR. Telepool handles TV and theatrical distribution for pubwebs BR, MDR, Swiss Radio and television (SRF), and ARD production unit Degeto, in addition to leading commercial funnel RTL. Both firms in addition have a number of output and distribution handles worldwide and domestic partners. Global Screen can make its debut in the Berlinale's European Film Market the following month. Contact Erectile dysfunction Meza at staff@variety.com

'Artist' soundtrack points up temp tiff

'The Artist'Kim Novak's ad in the Jan. 9 edition of Daily Variety, saying she felt "violated" by the use of music from "Vertigo" in "The Artist," generated dozens of stories and even more blogosphere entries, many focused on her incendiary rhetoric (especially her opening line, "I want to report a rape").Mostly lost in the discussion was a bigger issue: When is the inclusion of pre-existing music appropriate in a new film? And how pervasive -- and artistically questionable -- is the whole temp-track process that led to the controversy?In the Weinstein Co.'s "The Artist," which has racked up kudos and is a strong Oscar-race contender, director Michel Hazanavicius departs from composer Ludovic Bource's original score during the film's climactic scene, as despondent actor George (Jean Dujardin) is about to attempt suicide. For six minutes and 20 seconds, we hear Bernard Herrmann's music for an equally climactic scene from Alfred Hitchcock's 1958 film, when detective Scottie (James Stewart) transforms Judy (Novak) into the image of his lost love and they kiss passionately.Hazanavicius did what many directors have done before him: License the "temp" music he liked so much in that scene. Famous instances include Stanley Kubrick's all-classical "2001: A Space Odyssey"; Oliver Stone's use of Samuel Barber's "Adagio for Strings" in "Platoon"; Ridley Scott's needle-drops of Jerry Goldsmith's "Freud" and a Howard Hanson symphony in "Alien"; and more recently Tom Hooper's use of Beethoven's Seventh Symphony during the finale of "The King's Speech."Bource wrote music that was designed to replace the Herrmann. His cue, titled "My Suicide," is on the soundtrack album. But Hazanavicius has said in interviews that he preferred the "Vertigo" music, and chose to license a 1992 re-recording of it.The Academy music branch had ruled that Bource's score (80 minutes of original music) remains eligible for Oscar consideration despite the prominent presence of the "Vertigo" excerpt.Virtually every film is now temped, composers say, pretty much from the time editing begins. As composer Alan Silvestri ("Captain America") notes, with his tongue only slightly in cheek, "The temp track is like a hammer. In the hands of a skilled artist, it's an instrument for great beauty; in the hands of a homicidal maniac, it's an instrument of death."The temp often serves as a guide for the director, helping him find the right rhythm, tone or mood. But, as Silvestri points out, "music is, for many people, a mysterious thing. For a non-musical filmmaker, a temp score brings something unknown into the known, and it allows the filmmaker to retain a level of control that they might not have if they were relying on the composer to bring that voice."And if they've been living with temp music in that cut for weeks or even months before the composer comes onboard, the composer may have a difficult time prying his director away from it."You're really restricting the artistry of the composer," says former music editor Daniel Carlin, now chair of the film-scoring program at Boston's Berklee College of Music. "The evolution of film music has been altered tremendously by temp scores, because composers are forced to remain close to what's already been written. They don't have the innovative freedom to go off into a new direction."Herrmann thought using existing music in films was "vulgar," reports his biographer, Steven C. Smith. "It's hard to imagine him being anything but furious about his 'Vertigo' music being heard in another movie, even if the intention was partly an homage."Novak would like "Vertigo" to remain intact and not see or hear pieces of it in other films. But the reality is that film music is a commodity that can be licensed and placed in other visual media: "Vertigo" music was tracked into FX's "American Horror Story" last fall; the "Cheers" theme is now being used to sell State Farm Insurance.Temp tracks are here to stay. As Silvestri says, "That genie will not be put back in the bottle." It's up to the director to choose, wisely and carefully, to avoid the kind of brouhaha that "The Artist" has seen. Contact the Variety newsroom at news@variety.com

Andy Cohen Ready To Dominate Late Evening, Planning Take advantage of Fiennes Pajama Party

First Launched: The month of the month of january 8, 2012 5:44 PM EST Credit: Getty Images Caption Host/executive producer Andy Cohen talks onstage through the watch What Continues: Live panel through the Bravo NBCUniversal part of the 2012 Winter TCA Tour within the Langham Huntington Hotel and Health health spa, Pasadena, around the month of the month of january 7, 2012LOS ANGELES, Calif. -- Andy Cohens Watch What Continues: Live begins its new trend tonight, growing to five nights each week, as well as the Bravo executive and host has some large things available for your initial few episodes. Four words: Take advantage of Fiennes Pajama Party, Andy told reporters within the Television Experts Association Winter Session in Pasadena, on Saturday, in the approaching event, set to air survive The month of the month of january 20. Each week from Thursday we have our first annual Take advantage of Fiennes Pajama Party. We have me, Take advantage of Fiennes and Carol Hunter in PJs inside the clubhouse. Other site visitors arranged for your initial few days include Rosie ODonnell and Jimmy Fallon. The late evening Bravo show, which unlike the comfort lately evening, really airs instantly (for your Colonial), and doesn't pre-interview site visitors, also sets itself apart having its small set The Clubhouse patterned after Andys own family room. The show also serves its site visitors cocktails. Weve had people who dont drink and everybodys welcome, Andy mentioned. You don't have to drink, its optional. Andy is wanting to develop the type of site visitors his show allures since its five nights each week, and also the wish list includes St. Louis Cardinals third baseman David Freese. He won the earth series for people, In my opinion hes amazing In my opinion Michelle Obama might be incredible, its an election year, Andy mentioned, adding, Dont laugh, whenever a couple of from the room jeered. Madonna might be amazing, Diana Ross, numerous my diva symbols which i really like funny people, I especially love funny ladies, so fill the clubhouse with funny in addition to Im good, he added. Sandra Bernhard joins the show just like a correspondent, and Andy mentioned spend leave her with own unique undertake current occasions. Sandras likely to be perched within the bar and shes gonna execute a live rant in regards to the week in popular culture as only she is going to do, he mentioned. Watch What Continues: Live starts tonight at 11 PM EST/PST on Bravo. Copyright 2012 by NBC Universal, Corporation. All rights reserved. These elements is probably not launched, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Exclusive: Ringer Lands Awkward's Nikki DeLoach for Sexy Role

Nikki DeLoach Awkward's Nikki Deloach has signed on for a recurring role on The CW's Ringer, TVGuide.com has learned exclusively. DeLoach, who portrays the mother of Jenna Hamilton (Ashley Rickards) on the MTV series, has been cast as Shaylene, the oft-mentioned stripper whose murder Bridget (Sarah Michelle Gellar) witnessed. The smart and savvy exotic dancer will be seen through flashbacks. Exclusive: Ringer bosses on what's ahead following the shocking fall finale The 32-year-old actress, whose credits include Days of Our Lives and Windfall, will first appear in the March 6 episode. Ringer returns Tuesday, Jan. 31 at 9/8c on The CW.

Payne keeps it casual

Payne'The Descendants'Alexander Payne recently spoke with Variety's Christy Grosz about "The Descendants," the difficulties in finding naturalistic child actors, star power, and why he abhors shooting scenes that take place inside a car.Grosz: Do you spend time rehearsing before shooting? Payne: Not too much. I like to accompany the actors to the locations. It's not fair to begin shooting a man in his house (when) he only went to that house the day of shooting. The actor should ideally visit the locations well in advance, even rehearse on site. Rehearsing is sort of casual. You read through lines, you talk about it, but I'm not a hardcore rehearsal director like Sidney Lumet was or Kurosawa was or Coppola is. I think it came from the fact that I never had the budget to bring actors to the location, to pay their hotel room per diem for very long before we started shooting. CG: You famously rejected George Clooney for a role in "Sideways," even though he really wanted to be in the film. What made him the right choice this time around? AP: Well, he's the right age, and second, his dark coloring leads me to believe that he could be one-sixteenth Hawaiian and maybe have a little Portuguese blood in there somewhere. But ever since I met him on "Sideways," I thought he and I would work well together, and I really like him as an American star and actor. I think we -- meaning we film viewers and film practitioners -- are lucky to have him in our midst. He's a good, disciplined, professional, generous actor, and he's got that star quality where women wish to be with him in one way and heterosexual men wish to be friends with him. And plus, he's just good human being. CG: How many younger actresses did you end up auditioning before you found Amara Miller and Shailene Woodley? AP: Amara was cast three weeks before shooting, maybe even two weeks before shooting. Shailene I had about three months before shooting. I auditioned her in December of '09; we started shooting in March. Between John Jackson, the casting director, and me, I'm sure we saw over 200 girls for Shailene's part and certainly over 300 for Amara's part. CG: Is it a matter of finding a more naturalistic actress? AP: I feel like actors, the ones who are 17 are 17 going on 30, and the 10-year-olds can just be irritating in how precocious and cutesy they are when they come in. The main problem with the 10-year-olds was that by the time they auditioned for me, they would be so overly rehearsed by the stage parents that their performance for me was lifeless. In the audition, I asked them to try it a little bit this way or a little bit that way, and they are unable. My advice to parents: "Make sure your child knows the dialogue, but do not rehearse the child." CG: Your last few films have had locations that almost have served as ancillary characters in the plot. Do the characters inform the locations during the script process or is it the other way around? AP: Both. We knew that Matt King needed to have one of those rambling old plantation-style houses that people inhabit in Hawaii, but actually picking the house is the result of tons and tons of searching and discussion between the production designer and myself. "Sideways" and "The Descendants" have one thing in common, which is that I wanted to use real locations mentioned in the novels. Here's a very good example of what you're asking about. I wanted to cast Robert Forster as the angry father-in-law. Well, Robert Forster speaks with a very strong Rochester, N.Y., accent, so then (casting director) John Jackson and I think, "How does this man fit in this world we're showing?" Clearly he's ex-military because there's a lot of ex-military in Hawaii. So then that has a ripple effect on location scouting and production design to suggest where an ex-military man might live in Honolulu. We found a neighborhood where they live, and of course it has a ripple effect on costume. That all came from choosing the right actor. CG: You found a creative solution to a problem. AP: But they're not problems. To use another overused word, in fact, they're opportunities, and that's what film is. "Who is he? Oh he's this." It's a wonderful new color to put into the film. Making a film is not executing everything that has been predetermined. It's discovering what the film is, discovering who these people are. Through the act of making the film, you find elements which you yourself never could have thought of and which enrich the film. CG: Where does your next project, "Nebraska," stand in terms of shooting? AP: I started casting but have made no offers or decisions. I cast for about six or eight weeks over the summer, and then we put a pause in the process because we hadn't quite figured out the black-and-white question. I'm making the film in black and white. It's just as well, anyway, because I had a lot of promotion stuff and lovely festivals to attend for "The Descendants." I actually say that without irony. I'm going to start to gear up to shoot in May. After the first of the year, we will begin in earnest in pre-production. CG: The story sounds like it has one of those middle-aged, damaged characters that seem to pervade your work. AP: What I think it has more in common with previous stuff I've done is a road-trip aspect, which puzzles me because I can't stand road-trip films, and I can't stand shooting in cars, yet all I seem to do is make them. CG: What's so horrible about shooting in cars? AP: The hardest thing in the world is to shoot people eating dinner around a table. Similarly, people driving in cars. There are no new angles. They've all been done a thousand times, plus the mechanics of doing it are hideous. The camera car, the walkie-talkie, trying to keep it realistic looking, the police motorcade that must accompany you -- all of those things conspire to mar the intimacy of what you're shooting. I think they had it right in old Hollywood where they would do it in the studio with rear-screen projection. CG: Earlier in your career, some critics accused you of mocking your characters, but that argument doesn't seem to come up anymore. Have you changed or do you think critics have come around to your way of thinking?AP: I have no idea. I reserve the right to mock anyone at any point. But I will say this, and this might sound slightly defensive, but sometimes, and I'll mention "About Schmidt," I accused some of the critics who accused me of condescension. I thought they were themselves the snobbiest and most condescending critics. The same charge has sometimes been leveled against "Fargo." "Oh, they're mocking those Minnesota people." Well, (the Coen brothers are) from Minnesota, and Minnesota people were peeing in their pants at that film it was so funny. The thing is, I don't think (writing partner) Jim Taylor and I put ourselves above the characters. If we make fun of them, we include ourselves on some level. It's never with a feeling of superiority. (Pauses, deadpan) Except sometimes. Contact Christy Grosz at christy.grosz@variety.com

Matthew Fox to star in Peter Webber pic

Fox"Lost" star Matthew Fox is heading to a tropical, as he's set to topline Peter Webber's Japan-set political thriller "Emperor," the industry co-production between Fellers Film and Krasnoff/Promote Entertainment.Inspired by true occasions, "Emperor" is definitely an epic story of affection and understanding set amongst the questions from the days following a Japanese surrender in the finish of World war 2, when General Douglas MacArthur offered because the p facto ruler of Japan as supreme commander from the taking up forces.Fox will have Gen. Bonner Fellers, among MacArthur's leading Japanese experts, who's billed with reaching a choice of historic importance: should Emperor Hirohito be attempted and hanged like a war criminal?Pic will even explore the storyline of Fellers' romance having a Japanese exchange student he'd met years before within the U.S., and the mission to locate her within the ravaged publish-war landscape.Webber ("The Lady Having a Gem Earring") will direct from the script by David Klass and Vera Blasi. Yoko Narahashi ("The Final Samurai") and Eugene Nomura will produce with Gary Promote ("Ghost Driver") and Russ Krasnoff ("The Soloist").Production is skedded to begin in the finish from the month, with lensing to occur in Nz and Japan. CAA is handling U.S. privileges and extra casting is going to be introduced soon."We're thrilled to become dealing with Matthew Fox who's an excellent actor and whose maturity and appeal fits perfectly with this film's aesthetic," stated Promote, who presently professional produces NBC's "Community" with Krasnoff.Fox will quickly be viewed fighting Tyler Perry in "I, Alex Mix," and that he also co-stars alongside Kaira Pitt in Marc Forster's zombie pic "World War Z." Thesp is repped by WME, Management 360 and attorney Craig Jacobson. Contact Shaun Sneider at shaun.sneider@variety.com