The Business

The closely-contested, presidential race has brought Americans back into the political process, not to mention doing wonders for TV ratings. Plus, and the winner is…not the press covering the Emmys. And finally, the daughter of a black-listed writer comes to Hollywood.

How will the Wall Street meldown affect Hollywood studios and their coporate parents?

Do salacious rumors swirling around NBC's embattled programming chief signal his ouster? What has he done that's so bad, and what good is being overlooked?  Plus, a world without Don LaFontaine.

Are Hollywood celebrities irrelevant in an election when their candidate's a star? Plus, mommy and me go to the movies.

Hollywood's been sniffing around Atlas Shrugged since Ayn Rand published it in 1957. So why hasn't it been made into a movie? We talk to the first guy to get the go-ahead from Rand -- in 1974.

We revisit our conversation on Hollywood assistants, with authors Peter Nowalk and Hillary Stamm. Plus, how does a studio spend $100 million on a movie when they don't own the rights?

Hollywood's studios are slashing producer deals in record numbers. What are these producer pacts? What does it all mean for the kinds of movies that we'll be seeing?  We talk to Adam Fields, who's had pacts with most of the majors. Plus, what's in a production company name?

This week on The Business, six degrees of celebrity philanthropy with, of course, Kevin Bacon - actor, musician and on-line philanthropist.

We talk to Shelley Billik, the Vice President of Environmental Initiatives at Warner Bros. Entertainment.  She's spent the last sixteen years explaining to the industry that recycling vintage Halston doesn't make you an environmentalist.

Dennis Palumbo, screenwriter turned psychologist, puts Hollywood on the couch.