English Entertainment
Hallmark showcases a ‘Dummy’, takes a ‘Spin’ next month
MUMBAI: Hallmark will air the film Dummy on 29 May at 9:45 pm. The film stars Oscar winner Adrien Brody The Pianist and Mila Jovovich.
The main protagonist Steven lives with his eccentric parents and his sister Heidi in the suburbs. They love him, but don’t really understand him or his passion for following the unusual dream of becoming a ventriloquist.
But in a world surrounded by misfits and eccentrics his dream makes sense. His best friend Fangora is a punk rocker with a lot of attitude, a lot of bad advice, and a unique style. His sister Heidi is a wildly emotional wedding planner obsessed with Michael her ex-fiancé who is currently stalking her. Heidi meanwhile needs a band for the wedding she is planning and in desperation hires Fangora.
Happy to have her first gig, Fangora throws herself into teaching her punk rock band mates traditional wedding music. The results are surprising to say the least. When the wedding day arrives, everyone takes part including Fangora and her band, Steven and his dummy as entertainment, Heidi as the wedding planner, and Lorena as a guest.
Michael even shows up unexpectedly in a violent last ditch effort to get Heidi back. Steven in a surprising show of strength and resolution comes to her rescue, gaining the respect of his respect of his friends and family, and the recognition and love of Lorena.
Hallmark will also air the film Spin on 22 May at 9:45 pm. It stars Ryan Merriman, Stanley Tucci and Dana Delany. Eight -year old Eddie’s parents are killed when the plane his father is piloting crashes into a mountain near their home. Eddie’s uncle Frank, who is also a pilot, is left to care for the boy. Soon, however, Frank takes a long-term job abroad and Eddie is left to be raised by ranch manager Ernesto and his school-teacher wife Margaret.
When Frank returns ten years later and fulfills his brother’s wish that Eddie be taught to fly, Eddie struggles to find his bearings as a young man with mixed emotions toward his uncle, his love for the couple who raised him, the loss of his birth parents, and his blossoming first love with Francesca.
Based on the novel by Donald Everett Axinn, Spin is a story of life and loss; courage and conviction and the will to be a family born of wings.
English Entertainment
Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders approve Paramount deal
Investors wave through a $111 billion megamerger but deliver a stinging, if toothless, rebuke over half-a-billion-dollar goodbye packages
NEW YORK: The shareholders said yes to the deal. They said no to the cheque. At a virtual special meeting on Thursday that lasted barely ten minutes, Warner Bros. Discovery investors voted overwhelmingly to approve Paramount Skydance’s $111 billion acquisition of the company — and then turned around and voted against the lavish exit pay packages lined up for chief executive David Zaslav and his fellow outgoing executives.
Not that it will make much difference. The compensation vote is purely advisory and non-binding. The Warner Bros. Discovery board can, and almost certainly will, pay out as planned.
But the symbolism stings. It is the second consecutive year that WBD shareholders have voted against the executive compensation packages, and this time they had good reason. Zaslav’s exit deal is, by any measure, extraordinary. Under the terms filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, he is set to receive $34.2 million in cash severance, $517.2 million in equity in the combined company, and $44,195 in continued health coverage — a total of at least $550 million. On top of that, Warner Bros. Discovery has agreed to reimburse Zaslav up to $335 million for taxes assessed by the Internal Revenue Service on his accelerated stock vesting, though the company says that figure will decline depending on when the deal closes. As of March 11, Zaslav also held $115.85 million in vested WBD stock awards — and last month sold a further $114 million worth of WBD shares.
Shareholder advisory firm ISS recommended voting against the compensation measure, citing “problematic” tax reimbursements to Zaslav and the full vesting of his stock awards.
Zaslav will be bound by a two-year non-competition covenant and a two-year non-solicitation of customers and employees after the deal closes.
His lieutenants are not walking away empty-handed either. J.B. Perrette, chief executive and president of global streaming and games, is in line for $142 million, comprising $18.2 million in cash severance and $123.9 million in equity. Bruce Campbell, chief revenue and strategy officer, will receive an estimated $121.5 million, including $18.8 million in severance and $102.7 million in equity. Chief financial officer Gunnar Wiedenfels is set for $120 million, made up of $6.6 million in cash severance and $113.1 million in equity. Gerhard Zeiler, president of international, will get $82.6 million, including $11.9 million in severance and $70.7 million in equity.
The deal itself, clinched in February after Netflix declined to raise its bid for Warner Bros., still needs regulatory clearance from the Justice Department and European authorities. Several state attorneys general are also weighing legal action to block it.
Senator Elizabeth Warren, Democrat of Massachusetts, was unsparing. “The Paramount-Warner Bros. merger isn’t a done deal,” she said after the shareholder vote. “State attorneys general across the country are stepping up to stop this antitrust disaster. We need to keep up this fight.”
If it does go through, the combined entity would be a formidable beast, bringing together Paramount Skydance’s stable — CBS, CBS News, Paramount Pictures, Paramount+, BET, MTV and Nickelodeon — with WBD’s portfolio of HBO, Max, Warner Bros. film and TV studios, DC, CNN, TBS, TNT, HGTV and Discovery+. Paramount has said it expects $6 billion in cost savings from the merger, which is Wall Street shorthand for mass layoffs on a significant scale.
The ten-minute meeting was presided over by chairman Samuel Di Piazza Jr., with Zaslav, Campbell, Wiedenfels and chief communications officer Robert Gibbs in virtual attendance. Di Piazza was bullish. “We appreciate the support and confidence our stockholders have placed in us to unlock the full value of our world-class entertainment portfolio,” he said. “With Paramount, we look forward to creating an exceptional combined company that will expand consumer choice and benefit the global creative talent community.”
Zaslav echoed the sentiment. “Over the past four years, our teams have transformed Warner Bros. Discovery and returned the company to industry leadership,” he said. “Today’s stockholder approval is another key milestone toward completing this historic transaction that will deliver exceptional value to our stockholders.”
Paramount Skydance struck a similar note. “Shareholder approval marks another important milestone towards completing our acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery,” it said in a statement, adding that it looked forward to “closing the transaction in the coming months.”
The shareholders have spoken on the merger. On the pay, they were ignored before the vote was even counted.
