The Business

The UPN and the WB lived but a short decade, but they changed television forever. Now, the former president of entertainment at the WB and a veteran TV journalist have written a compelling and cautionary tale for anyone thinking about starting a new network. Plus, get out your calculators—it's the tax-incentive derby.

Ang Lee turned a gay cowboy movie into Oscar gold and box-office green, but can his new film overcome a rating of NC-17? Plus, the high-risk gamble of self-distributing a low-budget film.

After a high-profile legal battle to take his name off American History X and replace it with a wacky pseudonym, Tony Kaye became persona non grata in Hollywood. Nearly a decade later, he's back with a new documentary in theaters and two features on the way.

Mad Men is a series on the cable network AMC, set in the New York ad world of the 1960's.  While the show showcases a variety of real world products, not all of them pay for the privilege.

The William Morris mailroom is the high-stress, low-pay, sanctum sanctorum of show biz. It can lead you straight to the top or leave you in strait jacket. Plus, what does it mean when a writer takes his name off a film?

A conversation about the vital, essential, but ultimately disposable Hollywood writer with Oscar-winner Akiva Goldsman.  Plus, an agency assistant says 'goodbye, farewell, auf wiedersehen, adieu' in an e-mail that got Hollywood's tongues awaggin.'

Samuel Goldwyn said, "The harder I work, the luckier I get." We catch up with writer/director Richard Shepard who got "lucky" at the Sundance Film Festival in 2005.  Plus, residuals, revisited.

The $37 billion business that mainstream journalists and Hollywood can no longer afford to ignore--it's a look at the burgeoning video game industry.  Plus, we revisit our chat with agent to the (underage) stars, Bonnie Liedtke.

Who gets paid what and why in Hollywood? We talk back-end, quotes and residuals with agent and manager-turned-producer Gavin Polone.  Plus, halting the slippery slope for out-of-control celebrities who might be on their way to prison.

It's a case of life imitating art imitating life! We talk with a filmmaker who had to convince U2 to OK his movie about a man trying to convince U2 to play a concert. Plus, are we seeing the last residuals of residuals?"