English Entertainment
‘Apprentice’ producer Mark Burnett files lawsuit
MUMBAI: Reality TV guru Mark Burnett whose company produces the business based reality show The Apprentice has sued an entertainment company.
The company in question has been accused of telling advertisers that it has exclusive rights to broker agreements to place products on the show. In India the show airs on Star World.
Media reports indicate that in a lawsuit filed last week, Burnett Productions claimed that Madison Road Entertainment charged advertisers up to 250 per cent more than it eventually paid to Burnett to get brands included in the on-air contestant challenges.
On a more positive note 10 of the biggest names in the rock and rap music industry, including Lil’ Kim, Eve and Fat Joe, join the host Donald Trump and the remaining 10 candidates during tomorrows 10 March 2005 episode.
The Apprentice regularly challenges contestants to design products or advertising campaigns for such companies as Burger King and Pepsi, which pay to be included in the show. In tomorrow’s episode Candidates join forces with music television network Fuse as they petition these 10 celebrities to donate a “personal experience” that will be auctioned off live on Fuse’s popular “Daily Download” programme.
After enlisting each of the music artists for a donation, “Magna” and “Net Worth” select team members to pitch the auction items live on television. The team that brings in the most money will be declared the winner and the proceeds benefit the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation.
The blending of the corporate and rock worlds spark some truly hilarious moments as candidates struggle to “vibe” with the artists and to speak their “language”. One of the women encounters an overly flirtatious rocker and one of the men’s sexist comments offends the women on his team.
English Entertainment
Ellison takes his Paramount-Warner Bros case straight to theater owners
The Skydance chief goes to CinemaCon with promises and a skeptical crowd waiting
CALIFORNIA: David Ellison strode into a room packed with thousands of cinema owners and executives at CinemaCon in Las Vegas on Thursday and did something rather bold: he looked them in the eye and asked them to trust him.
The chief executive of Paramount Skydance vowed that his company would release a minimum of 30 films a year if regulators greenlight its proposed $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros Discovery, a deal that has made theater owners deeply, and loudly, nervous.
“I wanted to look every single one of you in the eye and give you my word,” Ellison told the crowd. “Once we combine with Warner Bros, we are going to make a minimum of 30 films annually across both studios.”
It was a confident pitch. Whether it landed is another matter. Cinema operators have already called on regulators to block the deal, and scepticism in the room was hardly concealed.
Ellison pushed back by pointing to recent form. Paramount, born from the merger of Paramount Global and Skydance Media last August, plans to release 15 films this year, nearly double the eight it put out in 2025. Progress, he argued, was already underway.
He also threw theater owners a bone they have long been chasing: all films, he pledged, would run exclusively in cinemas for a minimum of 45 days, drawing applause from a crowd that has spent years fighting for exactly that commitment across the industry.
“People can speculate all they want,” Ellison said, “but I am standing here today telling you personally that you can count on our complete commitment. And we’ll show you we mean it.”
Fine words. The regulators, however, will have the last one.
