The Business

Barry Michels and Phil Stutz are two of the busiest shrinks in Hollywood. We talk about their unconventional techniques and hear from a couple of their former clients.

This week, two formidable men in very different show business worlds: painter/filmmaker Julian Schnabel and reality TV icon Simon Cowell.

Maria Bamford, Al Madrigal and Paul F. Tompkins on the hard-knocks life of a professional comedian…

Comedy Central exec Elizabeth Porter on those raunchy celebrity roasts, which are meant to be outrageous and  raunchy, but most of all utterly hilarious.

Director Tom Shadyac (Ace Ventura, Bruce Almighty, The Nutty Professor) has made the new documentary. I Am is a spiritual journey in which he reevaluates his life while talking with great minds about big social problems. He tells Kim that some in the business think he's "nuts," but that others, like his longtime agent and lawyer, are coming around to understand him. Then I.M. Global CEO Stuart Ford gives us his take on the state of the international film market as he saw it in Berlin during the European Film Market.

Filmmaker Kevin Smith talks candidly about his admiration for Wayne Gretzky, his love of marijuana and his innovative plan to distribute his new movie, Red State, himself. We met with Smith as he embarks on a cross country tour screening the film in major venues. He discusses his rationale for bucking the traditional marketing route, reflects on his career in Hollywood, how smoking pot makes him more at ease with himself, and how some of his box office failures made him re-evaluate his ambition as a filmmaker.  

Composer-singer-songwriter Randy Newman has had 20 Oscar nominations and one win. This year he's nominated in the Best Song category for "We Belong Together" from Toy Story 3. But despite his success he says he wishes he was really good. Then, David Friendly, the producer behind the Big Momma's House franchise, talks about being a white guy in the urban comedy business.

Ever since entering the business, filmmaker Darren Aronofsky has been as much a savvy entrepreneur as an auteur director. Now with Black Swan receiving five Oscar nominations and reaching $100 million at the box office, he's still not sure Hollywood will embrace his next passion project. But before he finds out he'll direct his first studio tent-pole movie, The Wolverine, starring Hugh Jackman.

When television writer-producer Shawn Ryan created The Shield he helped make basic cable a go-to place for sophisticated original scripted programming. With his new Fox series, The Chicago Code, Ryan hopes to bring his brand of storytelling to a broader audience.

He may not be the biggest Hollywood name behind The Social Network, but without his relationship with author Ben Mezrich Hollywood may not have made this movie. Producer Dana Brunetti, recounts how he and now-partner Kevin Spacey wooed Facebook co-founder Eduardo Severin into telling them the story. He also explains his his own fascination with Facebook.