The Business

Did the Academy's documentary short list short some docs? Plus, Hugo Chavez takes on Hollywood.

In an industry where honesty is such a lonely word, the creator of a hit TV show says what he thinks on line. We talk to Kurt Sutter of Sons of Anarchy about his blog, Sutterink.  Plus an Academy Award-winning writer on how show business is like every other business we know.

A Hollywood rags-to-riches-to-rags story might have a happy ending after all. We talk to Troy Duffy, the controversial director of The Boondock Saints.  Plus, a not-so-fresh report from the American Film Market with Troma’s Lloyd Kaufman.

The Motion Picture Academy hands out the first Thalberg Memorial Award since 2000, but what exactly it?  Plus, DVD's are dying. What will take their place, and how will it change the way we watch – and pay for – movies?

Writer/actor/producer Grant Heslov moves to the director's chair on the new George Clooney movie, The Men Who Stare at Goats. Plus, "I'll make you a star! - for 5,000 bucks."

This week, how Warner Brothers used interactive tricks to power a surprisingly strong opening weekend for Where the Wild Things Are. Plus television writer/producer Dan Harmon toiled in basic cable on Comedy Central and VH1.  Now, as creator of NBC's Community he tells us how the game is different on a big broadcast network. And, as always, the Hollywood news banter.

A new book argues that media moguls act like spoiled brats, squandering the shareholders' money on toys that they don't really need. Plus, how do you create a TV spin-off that's original but not too original? We ask the producer of the CBS shows NCIS and the brand new NCIS: Los Angeles.

This week, how the recession and major changes in the entertainment industry are impacting the lives of film and TV writers. Plus, Disney and Universal are the latest studios to shake up the executives suites and send a tremor through the industry.

A producer who was haunted by passing on the Blair Witch Project produces a low-budget horror film with big hopes of redemption.  Plus Irving Thalberg changed the studio system. Now his life is on display.

This week, fans came out in full force to a recent celebration of all things Disney. But major changes are afoot in the Magic Kingdom. Plus, was the Toronto Film Festival a bloodbath for indie filmmakers or just a shift in the life cycle of independent film?