Movie & TV News
by C. Wayne Owens

If you're interested in what's happening in the entertainment world, then signup for this newsletter. Wayne scours all the top websites for the latest entertainment news and sends them out every day for your pleasure. There's a particular emphasis here on Science Fiction and Fantasy. Big news items like Star Wars, Star Trek, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and just about anything by Steven Spielberg.

Movie & TV News

"Minority" Reports Product Placement
Audiences headed to see Steven Spielberg's Minority Report, prepare
yourselves, you're about to see the latest and greatest in Hollywood
advertainment.
Aside from star Tom Cruise, a hefty portion of the screen time is devoted to
advertisements, with more than 15 major brands, ranging from the Gap and
American Express to Lexus, Nokia, Pepsi and Reebok, interlaced throughout
the sci-fi noir flick. Coproducers and distributors 20th Century Fox and
DreamWorks have not only solicited product placements as a key part of
Spielberg's futuristic vision (Spielberg convened a conference of futurists
before filming to help him paint a realistic portrait of the 52 years
hence), but the studios also see their marriage with the brands as a way to
rein in production costs, since companies pay good money to have their wares
on the big screen.
According to Daily Variety, ad placement by major brands knocked off roughly
$25 million from Minority's $102 million budget. And the result? A good
number of the companies--such as Burger King, Century 21, Guinness, Fox,
Aquafina, Revo, USA Today and even Ben & Jerry's--have video billboards of
their logos prominently featured in the movie. Some brands cleverly blend
into the background while others actually play an intrinsic part of the
plot. One scene in the film takes place in a futuristic Gap store, while
another has some of the billboards giving
a personalized pitch to characters as they walk by. For example, as Cruise's
character tries evading the cops, he's identified by a billboard which calls
out to him saying, "John Anderton, you look like you could use a Guinness!"
"The movie is filled with fictional commercials and the onslaught is
presented as intrusive; each has been geared to speak directly to the
individual consumer about, paradoxically, escape. The movie turns product
placement into omnipresent white noise fodder," opines Elvis Mitchell of the
New York Times, who praises the film as "a tour de force" and "magnificently
creepy." Toyota ponied up $5 million to secure a prime spot for a
futuristic Lexus the company designed itself,
dubbed the Mag-Lev, which Cruise uses in the movie to climb the sides of
buildings. Phonemaker Nokia spent $2 million to design nifty sci-fi headsets
through which most of the characters use to communicate. "With traditional
product placement, everyone's trying to find a way to integrate the
advertisements into the body of the story," Jeff Boortz, president of 3 Ring
Circus, a company Spielberg tapped to create many of the ads, told Variety.
"When you're trying not to apologize for that, you can do more with a brand,
making it more recognizable wherever it goes." Of course, Spielberg helped
usher in the advent of product placement by making E.T. a Reese's Pieces
junkie way back in 1982.
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"Millionaire" Back In Legal Hot Seat
Looks like a deaf teacher's accusations against Who Wants to Be a
Millionaire will be heard after all. A federal appeals court on Tuesday
reinstated a lawsuit filed in 2000 by a man who claimed the ABC quiz show
violated the Americans with Disabilities Act by requiring potential
contestants to take a touch-tone phone quiz--one which doesn't accommodate
the hearing impaired. A federal judge tossed out Peter F. Liberti Jr.'s
claim back in 2000, claiming the ADA wasn't broad enough to require equal
access to a game show's phone-in quiz system. But this week, the 11th U.S.
Circuit Court of Appeals decided otherwise, saying Liberti does have a valid
claim, and likened the phone qualifying system to other "places of public
accommodation" that are covered by the ADA. According to the Associated
Press, the panel has ordered the judge to review his original decision.
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Librarian Slices Net Royalty Rate
The government on Thursday slashed the royalty fee for songs streamed over
the Internet. The decision by Librarian of Congress James Billington in the
closely watched case means webcasters will have to pay copyright holders a
rate that amounts to 70 cents per song for each 1,000 listeners of
Internet-only webcasts.
Billington, who oversees the Copyright Office, found that "significant
portions" of the original proposal by a special Copyright Arbitration
Royalty Committee, which set a higher rate for Internet-only programs, "were
arbitrary or contrary to law." For more got to:
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=index&cid=91
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Cat's Out Of The Bag In 'Garfield' Fraud
A California man has admitted to one count of mail fraud after posing as
rightful owner of TV's feline "Garfield and Friends" and collecting more
than $328,000 in royalties doled out by the Motion Picture Assn. of America.
Trouble was, Raul Galaz had no connection to "Garfield," or to the other
eight TV programs he tried -- unsuccessfully -- to collect royalties on.
Those shows included "Unsolved Mysteries," "The People's Court," "Walker,
Texas Ranger" and "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles." The MPAA said it's the
first time someone has been prosecuted for bilking the retransmission
royalty system, which has been in place since 1978 and falls under the
umbrella of the U.S. Copyright Office.
Galaz pleaded guilty Wednesday to one count of mail fraud in U.S. District
Court in Washington, D.C., and faces up to five years in prison and a
$250,000 fine, plus any restitution.Galaz, who set up nine bogus companies,
filed a series of claims for the nine TV shows between July 1995 and August
1998. Because no one else had filed claims for "Garfield," the MPAA cut four
checks to Galaz. At some point, though, suspicions were raised, and an MPAA
staffer went back and cross-checked various records. The staffer deduced
that Galaz was up to no good and took the evidence to the copyright
office. The DOJ was then notified. "I don't know how he thought he could
get away with this," an MPAA executive said. "It was simultaneously brazen
and dumb."
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Singer Bows In Film About Singer
Charlotte Church, another Great British export, will make her big screen
debut next year in The Family Business - the tale of a Cardiff papergirl who
dreams of becoming a singer. According to The Mirror, the film will be in a
Billy Elliot style and the16-year-old, is hoping this will be the start of a
Hollywood acting career.